86 DANVIS FARM LIFE 



About apple-picking time, and for a month or 

 two after, "apple cuts" or "paring bees" used to 

 be frequent, when all the young folks of a neighbor- 

 hood were invited, never slighting the skilled 

 parer with his machine. After some bushels of 

 apples were pared, quartered, cored, and strung 

 for drying, the kitchen was cleared of its rubbish 

 of cores and skins, and after a feast of "nut- 

 cakes," pumpkin pies, and cider, the plays began 

 to the tunes of "Come, Philander, le's be march- 

 in'," "The needle's eye that doth supply the 

 thread that runs so true," and "We're marchin' 

 onwards towards Quebec where the drums are 

 loud/i/ beatin'," or the fiddle or "'Lisha's" song 

 of "Tol-liddle, tol-liddle, tol-lo-day, do-day-hum, 

 do-day-hum, tolli-day," set all feet to jigging 

 "Twin Sisters," or "French four." These jolly 

 gatherings, though by many years outliving the 

 old-fashioned husking bee, have at last fallen into 

 disuse, and their hearty New England flavor is 

 poorly supplied by the insipid sociables and 

 abominable surprise parties that are now in 

 vogue. 



The husking bees, in which girls took a part, 

 when a red ear was a coveted treasure, are remem- 

 bered only by the old; but the rollicking parties 

 of men that gathered to husk in the fields by 

 moonlight or firelight, or by lantern-light in the 

 barns that rang again with their songs and noisy 



