80 NATURE STUDY MADE EASY 



When, from the orchard row, he pours 

 Its fragrance through our open doors ; 



A world of blossoms for the bee, 

 Flowers for the sick girl's silent room, 

 For the glad infant sprigs of bloom, 



We plant with the apple tree. 



What plant we in this apple tree ? 

 Fruits that shall swell in sunny June, 

 And redden in the August noon, 

 And drop, when gentle airs come by, 

 That fan the blue September sky, 



While children come, with cries of glee, 

 And seek them where the fragrant grass 

 Betrays their bed to those who pass, 



At the foot of the apple tree. 



And when, above this apple tree, 

 The winter stars are quivering bright, 

 And winds go howling through the night, 

 Girls, whose young eyes o'erflow with mirth, 

 Shall peel its fruit by cottage hearth, 



And guests in prouder homes shall see, 

 Heaped with the grape of Cintra's vine 

 And golden orange of the line, 



The fruit of the apple tree. 



WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT. 



