192 CONFESSIONS OF A BEACHCOMBER 



of epicureanism ? The true eater of fruit is of a school apart, 

 not to be classed with the individual who, because of the 

 rites and observances of the table, accepts, in no exalted 

 spirit, a portion of fruit at the nether end of a feast. He is 

 one who has attained, or to whom has been vouchsafed, a 

 poignant sense of all that does the least violence to the 

 sense of taste and smell ; but, moreover, who is capable of 

 discovering edification in things as diverse as the loud Jack 

 fruit and the subtle mangosteen who can appreciate each 

 according to its special characteristics, just as a lover of 

 music finds gratification of a varied nature in the grand 

 harmonies of a Gregorian Chant and in the tender cadences 

 of a song of Sullivan's. Are those who have sensitive and 

 correct palates for fruit not to be credited with art and 

 exactitude, as well as critics of music and painting and 

 statuary, and connoisseurs of wine ? 



As with many other fruits, so with the papaw. Only 

 those who grow it themselves, who learn of the relative 

 merits of the produce of different trees, and who can 

 time their acceptance of it from the tree, so that it shall 

 possess all its fleeting elements in the happy blending of 

 full maturity, can know how good and great a papaw really 

 is. The fruit of some particular tree is of course not to 

 be tolerated save as a vegetable, and then what a desirable 

 vegetable it is ? It has a precise and particular flavour, and 

 texture most agreeable. And as a mere fruit there are 

 many more rich and luscious, and highly-flavoured ; many 

 that provoke louder and more sincere acclamations of 

 approval. But the papaw, delicate and grateful, is more 

 than a mere fruit. If we give credence to all that scientific 

 research has made known of it, we shall have to concede 

 that the papaw possesses social influences more potent 

 than many of the political devices of this socialistic 

 age. 



But there may be some who do not know that the 

 humble papaw (Carica papya] belongs to the passion-fruit 

 family (passiflora) a technical title bestowed on account of 

 a fancied resemblance in the parts of the flower to the 



