CHAPTER SEVEN 

 OUT IN THE ORCHARD 



If I have not said that something else is the most 

 beautiful thing in the world, I will here say that the 

 uttermost development of physical beauty is an 

 apple orchard, in full bloom — unless possibly it be 

 the same orchard when the apples are crimson, and 

 bend the limbs down to ask you to share the feast. 

 I remember a gray-haired mother, whom we led 

 gently to her chair under the snow-white blooms 

 that fell noiselessly to match themselves with her 

 snow-white hair. All the painters of the Renais- 

 sance never painted a picture like that. It is a 

 possible everyday picture, where an honest man 

 wills to create a true home in the country. So you 

 see I shall not ask you out into the orchard, just 

 that you may know the commercial value of one 

 hundred apple trees, spaced in rows. Going into 

 the country you will need about twenty apple trees, 

 ten pear trees, ten plum trees, and as many cherry 



