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itself does not furnish much of the inspiration 1 Pardon us 

 if in tracing out the moral influence of an apple, we advance 

 a little into the regions of metaphysics. 



We are all aware of the potent power of memory to 

 awaken in the breast long forgotten sentiments of goodness, 

 to inspire the halting with energy, the wavering with confi- 

 dence, the desponding with hope, and the fallen with a re- 

 deeming force to arise and walk again the paths of virtue. 

 We all know too, that law of association, whereby one little 

 forgotten incident revived in the mind, awakens another, 

 and that another, and so on till all the rills of memory com- 

 bine 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 coimsel, 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 dis- 

 tant 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 

 bendrd 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. 



