106 THROUGH LIBRARY WINDOWS 



garden and we wonder not it has been the sub- 

 ject of the poets' song and the family's pride. 

 Solomon in his Kohaleth accords it high praise : 

 "As the Apple Tree among the trees of the 

 wood, so is my Beloved among the Sons. I sat 

 down under his shadow with great delight and 

 his fruit was sweet to my taste." How sug- 

 gestive of a wide-spreading apple tree, dense in 

 foliage, golden in fruit, standing outside the 

 orchard and offering its best to the weary way- 

 farer. Such an one I saw in a farming region 

 by the roadside the other day and drove under 

 it, rested and fed my horse from it, and ate 

 freely and gave audible thanks — the tree heard 

 and so did the birds and so He Who created 

 and gave it. Ruth, apt at quoting, repeated 

 Bryant's poem: "Come let us plant the apple 

 tree, etc.," and also a bit from that dramatic 

 poem "Bitter Sweet," beginning: 



"Hearts like apples are hard and sour. 

 Till crushed by Pain's resistless power." 



But the apple tree thrives best in the orchard 

 under the touch and care of man. It needs 

 training and grafting and enriching. The 

 palm tree of the East holds her fruit away up 

 out of reach and mocks us; the strawberry is 



