A Bouquet of Song Birds 



Probably it is rather late in the day to seek 

 a fresh extenuation of an offence said to have 

 been committed in the oldest orchard known 

 to history. But I feel that our great fallen 

 progenitor — albeit he doubtless rose by falling 

 — had considerable excuse, if it was an apple- 

 tree around which he lingered, being so pre- 

 eminently " pleasant to the sight and good for 

 food." If it had been a forbidden plum or 

 pear, w^e might have all escaped. Had his 

 taste been otherwise, and he had limited his 

 walks to the maple avenues of Paradise, who 

 can measure its effect upon the world's tragedy ? 

 But time works its revenges. After the lapse 

 of ages the tempting apple in its turn also fell, 

 and from its fall Sir Isaac Newton plucked the 

 formula of the universal law of gravitation. 



The attractiveness of the apple-tree's earlier 

 years is largely lost in its old age ; its temper 

 becomes tart, and its figure scraggly. Possibly 

 we may see in this the faint and long-projected 

 shadow of that "primal eldest curse" pro- 

 nounced upon all the participants, at the con- 

 clusion of that fateful scene of yore. There is 

 a rumor that the world's moralizing began at 

 an apple-tree, and we may as well let it end 

 there. We shall get the most satisfaction out 



39 



