Nov. 15, 1911 



703 



The Sunday-schools and churches have been 

 massing their energies, aiid working heroic- 

 ally; but the liquor men have beaten them. 

 The hordes of degenerates that these south- 

 ern counties have been producing in years 

 past outnumber the good people. (Of course, 

 they will die oflf after a while — in fact, they 

 are dying faster than the abstainers.) But 

 if this work is permitted to go on, if children 

 are to be born because their fathers were too 

 drunk to be any thing but animals (or not 

 even that much) previous to conception, 

 what kind of human beings are to be ex- 

 pected as the outcome? iNIay God help us 

 in this new warfare. In the first part of 

 our text we are told the i)romise was given 

 to Abram that he should be tfie father of a 

 great nation — that kings should be among 

 his descendants. The great Father of this 

 whole universe in its infancy selected a stock 

 with which to people the earth. Shall not 

 we, in like manner, in this present century, 

 take measures to peoi)le the earth with/yocZ- 

 ly children rather than with vn<iodhj? 



MY APPLE STORY, AND — SOME OTHER 

 THINGS. 



Let me explain first that our five children 

 are all married, and their homes are close 

 by the paternal mansion. Through a kind 

 Providence these homes all contain little 

 prattlers, more or less; and it just now oc- 

 curs to me that, before I get to my apple 

 story, there is something else I want to 

 mention. In one of father Langstroth's 

 axioms in his old original book on the 

 honey-bee he says, in substance, there can 

 be no real prosperity of any colony of bees 

 without frequent accessions of young bees. 



Well, just two days after the golden wed- 

 ding I have told you about, a telephone 

 call announced that Mrs. Root was wanted 

 at the home of her youngest daughter, Mrs. 

 L. AV. Boyden. The call came a little be- 

 fore daylight. Mrs. Root sprang out of bed 

 hastily, saying, "I know what it is." In a 

 short time she rushed back home, her face 

 beaming with smiles, and announced that 

 little "Elizabeth Maud" was safely ferried 

 over the mystic river and landed in one of 

 the five homes close by. There are now five 

 children and ten grandchildren — five boys 

 and five girls. May God help us, each and 

 all, to recognize the sacred responsibility 

 that rests on us as parents and grandpar- 

 ents. And now I am ready to take up my 

 apple story — apples sure, and no mistake. 

 The old home embraces an orchard of about 

 forty trees; and this year the early apples 

 especially gave a bountiful crop. When 

 api)les got to be quite plentiful I admonish- 

 ed the five children, and sons-in-law and 

 daughters-in-law, not to buy any apples 

 from anybody, for we had Yellow Trans- 

 parent, Maiden's Blush, Gravenstein, and 

 Ramboes and Fall Pippins going to waste, 

 and I wanted them to be sure to use up ow 

 apples without buying off the wagons that 

 come along almost every day wanting to 

 sell apiiles. In spite of my caution, how- 



ever, every little while some of the children 

 wouki be- buying apples. They gave as an 

 excuse that they felt sorry for the women 

 who lugged the apples around, and they 

 "looked so lem|)ting," etc. Well, I carried 

 around some of our nice apples to the five 

 homes, and enjoined them again to help 

 use up the apples that were going to waste. 

 Finally some one told me that Blue E\es 

 had been buying some more early apples of 

 a woman. I rushed over toassure her again 

 that we could not get rid of what we had. 

 She did not seem at all disturbed, however; 

 in fact, her eyes were dancing with merri- 

 ment in spite of my scolding. When a 

 l)ause came, she brought out a p: ck basket 

 of apples where I could see them, and laugh- 

 ed outright when she saw me hold up ray 

 hands in surprise. No wonder. 1 do- believe 

 that that peek of little apples was the hand- 

 somest and most tempting looking of any 

 thing of the kind my eyes ever alij;hted on. 

 First, the little beauties were covered with 

 brilliant white and black streaks Then 

 there were little stars — yes, )-eal stars — all 

 over the surface of the api)le. After I had 

 stopi)ed scolding, and had begun to look 

 haj)py, she said, "Now, father, just taste 

 one." I took one bile and then ejaculated, 

 " Did you ever? Where is the woman? has 

 she sold out her load?" As there were chil- 

 dren and grandchildren standing around 

 they had a big laugh to see the joke put up 

 on father, and to see him change his tune, 

 and wheel about so suddenly. The woman 

 had sold out, and no wontler. Everybody 

 who looked at the apples bought some, and 

 when they tasted them they bought more. 

 She said they were called "Early Sp es;" 

 but as I had never heard of any Spy apple 

 except the Northern Si)y I thought it c^uld 

 not be the correct name; and yet I felt sure 

 that such a beautiful and delicious ai»ple 

 must have a name. I jjut some in my 

 ])Ocket and went over to see my friend E. C 

 Cireen, who has for many years, as I have 

 explained, been connected with our Ohio 

 Experiment Station. He said right away 

 that his brother, a nurseryman, had the 

 same apple, and called it "Early Joe." I 

 asked if it was known in pomological cir- 

 cles, and he said he rather thought not. 

 He did not think it was mentioned in any 

 of the catalogs. Since then I have had the 

 matter in mind, and have been planning to 

 write, up the Early .Toe. Imagine, there- 

 fore, my "hap])y^ surprise" in finding it 

 described in a late number of the Country 

 Gentleman, and by i)erhaps the best author- 

 ity on apples we have in our country. I 

 clip the following from an article discussing 

 our best fruits: 



Early Joe l.s one of the most satisfactory of the 

 second-early apples for home use. it ripens very 

 gradually, and can he used tor cooking before it is 

 full grown. The size is small, its color is pale 

 yellowish, with red stripes and distinct liehter 

 dots and tinted shadings, it is of a mild, subacid 

 flavor, ijeculiar and rich. — Prof. H. E. Van de Man. 



This little api)le is literally "bursting 

 full" of delicious juice. It makes a crisp 

 rattle in the mouth — in short, it is just the 



