FRUITS AND FLOWERS. 319 



revived in the mind, awakens another, and that another, and so 

 on till all the rills of memory combine in one mighty river, and 

 on its current we are borne back through the years of life, till 

 we stand a child again in all the artlessness of being. And 

 then a mother's love, a father's counsel, and a sister's affection, 

 speak to us with a power which no pulpit voice can equal, and 

 roll upon us tides of virtuous emotions, incite resolutions for 

 good, and elevate the soul to those Pisgah heights of moral 

 excellence, from whose lofty summits we view the goodly land 

 of promise. 



Now of the thousands of bowls of apples that grace the 

 hearth circles of thousands of humble abodes through the land, 

 how many through the law of association, acting upon and 

 stirring the deep waters of the memory, may prove a messenger 

 of good to some participant. ' For how many, at the sight of 

 the dish of ruby cheeks, and the taste of the luscious fruit, 

 would be carried back in memory to the distant homes on the old 

 farms, where, in the simple activities of virtuous, rural life, with 

 its comforts and its joys, the halo of childhood surrounded them, 

 and the gilded skies of youth bended over them, but in which, 

 with adventurous eyes, they fancied they saw the star of fortune 

 move far onward, till it went and stood over some great city or 

 large manufacturing town. And thither they went, there to be 

 taught the old truth, that thousands had learned before them, 

 that " all is not gold that glitters," that the dreams of youth 

 have rarely any counterpart in the realities of mature life ; and 

 how many in these particular hard times sigh for the simple 

 comforts of the rural old farm. 



Who would not wish, even from motives of simple benevo- 

 lence, to do something in the way of elevating the race ? And 

 when this object lies in the direct line of pecuniary profit, every 

 farmer should be stimulated to exert himself to increase very 

 materially his production of good orchard fruits. Thus might 

 man do much, by the cultivation of the apple, to reclaim in 

 the present, and avert from the rising generation, much of that 

 evil which has fallen upon mankind, in consequence of that 

 sad mistake which a certain vmman is said to have made, in 

 the matter of an apple, in the garden of Eden. 



E. F. Bailey, Chairman. 



