THE APPLE. 



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street ; when you can carry them in your pocket and 

 your hand not constantly find its way to them ; when 

 your neighbor has apples and you have none, and you 

 make no nocturnal visits to his orchard ; when your 

 lunch-basket is without them and you can pass a win- 

 ter's night by the fireside with no thought of the fruit 

 at your elbow, then be assured you are no longer a boy, 

 either in heart or years. 



The genuine apple-eater comforts himself with an 

 apple in their season as others with a pipe or cigar. 

 When he has nothing else to do, or is bored, he eats 

 an apple. While he is waiting for the train he eats an 

 apple, sometimes several of them. When he takes a 

 walk he arms himself with apples. His travelling bag 

 is full of apples. He offers an apple to his companion, 

 and takes one himself. They are his chief solace when 

 on the road. He sows their seed all along the route. 

 He tosses the core from the car window and from the 

 top of the stage-coach. He would, in time, make the 

 land one vast orchard. He dispenses with a knife. 

 He prefers that his teeth shall have the first taste. 

 Then he knows the best flavor is immediately beneath 

 the skin, and that in a pared apple this is lost. If you 

 will stew the apple, he says, instead of baking it, by 

 all means leave the skin on. It improves the color 

 and vastly heightens the flavor of the dish. 



The apple is a masculine fruit ; hence women are 

 poor apple-eaters. It belongs to the open air, and re- 

 quires an open air taste and relish. 



