A Pumpkin and a Prince 



measured and compared; the treading 

 of the rich fruitage of the vines, the 

 celebration of the gathering of the 

 sheaves — a custom handed down in va- 

 rious forms through all the generations ; 

 and one that shall not be lost so long as 

 men shall sow and toil and reap. 



My earliest personal experience as 

 an exhibitor was with a pumpkin. 

 Then as now in some localities it was 

 customary to plant the seeds of this 

 humble but vigorous and prolific vine 

 in the cornfields, and one year as the 

 corn was approaching its maturity one 

 of the hundreds of pumpkins hidden 

 away underneath the rustling blades 

 gave promise of attaining prodigious 

 size. Day by day I watched its steady 

 progress. It looked a prizewinner sure 

 enough, and I claimed the privilege of 

 entering it in the coming county com- 

 petition. The big Percheron horses 

 and pigs — the latter as good as I have 

 ever seen since — were being pjepared 

 for the same great event, but my hopes 



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