November, 1919
THE LANDSWOMAN
Apples
RQ)f the timt" of Eve, which is going a go~
long ~ay back, apples have )>laycd a part 1n
history which only truo hum1hty could ho.ye
supported. For apples are certainly humble fru1t.
Thev aro not grown in hothouses like gr&JX'S or
pcaclu q, nnd tho boy in tho st~et can. munc.h them
without attraeting tho attention \\hie~ wght be
drawn to hi m if he wont about consummg melons
or pineapples (pineapples, by the way, scC'm to havo
ooen named all wrong). John Burrougbs says of
this same boy: " The boy is indeod tho true
applo-cater, and is not to be ques tion<'d how he
came by tho fruit with whjch his pockets aro filled.
I t bclongl- to him, and ho m.ay st~nl it. if it cat?not
he had in any othe r wny. His frutt cahng has httle
l'('{cTt nco to the state of his appetite. Whether
hG bo full of ment or empty of m<'at, ho wants tho
apple just the anmo. Before meal or after m~al,
it novor comes amiss. Tho farm-boy (or farm-gul)
muncheq apples ~tll dny lo?g· He h~ nests of them
in tho haymow, mellowmg, to :whtoh he mak~s
frequent visit~. Tho apple is mdced the {rwt
of youth. As wo grow oJd we crave apples less.
It is an ominous sign. Whon you aro ashamed
to bo seen oating them on the street; whon you
can carry them in your pocket and your hand
not C'onstantly find its way to them ; when your
neighbour hM apples and you have none, and you
malro no nocturnal visits to his orchard; when
your lunch ba..~ket is without thoro and you oan
pass a. winter's night by tho fireqide with no
thought of the fruit at your elbow, then be
a.c:surod you aro no longer a boy, either in heart
or years."
It was an apple, a golden one though, which
defoatr:d fl eet-footed Atalanta, for Hippomenes,
in tho race which she insist~d on running with her
suitors, dropp('d golden apples, given him by
Aphroditf', and tht> lady st{)}>p<'d to pick them up.
And ono of the labourA of H ercules was to fetch
from thf.' garden of the Ho!':perides the golden apples
which the Earth had cauRC'd to grow as a. marriage
gift for H<·ra, the QuoE'n of HE\avcn.
Coming to rath,..r Jater timE's, wo find Si r I saac
Nowton di~coYoring th«' oxistonco of th(\ laws of
gravitntion through sN·ing an apple fall . I was
down in Su ex th • othPr day, visiting an ol d h ouse
\\ bf'ro g£•nrrationR of Newtons have lh-ed. On
~ ing out int<> the garden my first requ<>st was to
h f;ho wn thf' trot' from whi ch Sir I f;aac had seen
ih &llplo full. My disappoi ntmont was great
'"hen it could not be identified ! And tallcin g of
Su ox reminds me again of appl<'s-the ones that
grow at Miss Moore's school for gard('ners at
Glyndo. For last year, when applf's wero cheap at
a. ehilling each, and the very sight of one m ad e
your mouth water, I chanced to go one a.ftern()on
in Ja t.o Ootobcr to ono of the Horticultural Society's
Exhibition~ at Westminster. And t.here I saw,
di played in the space a1Iottcd to Miss :Moore a nd
h er gardon et udcn ts, tho most glorious pyra nrl d
of bea utifully polished apples it has over been my
luck to se t cyf'S on. Lat<'r on, whon I had a. ch a n ce
to chat with Mil':s 1\fooro, I complimon tcd he r on the
beautiful polish of her appl('s, and asked h e r
which of hor girls bnd rubbed thom u p so well
and had evidently put so much elbow grease on th~
job. Her indignation was supreme. Her apples
F
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polished f The 8Un s hining o vor the sea
perhaps by the kjss of the wi nd blo win a ' hol~d
downs, was ro11pon.si ble fo r all tho p oli!h ~b_ 08 S tho
C\"'('t received.
Franldy, I couldn't bcliooy h~
Why you could al~ost sco your faco in tl~oo •.t.
reddy yellow rosy thi~gs, a nd n oth in g would
big
1
her but I must promtso t o go d own to Glyn <'ast•
0
autumn to seo with my o wn eyns thPso iri ~ tlus
spherical mirrors, not burnished by an < hs<'cnt
lmE~pended from tho t]"('CS in the glorious yor 0 hnds,
at Ragged Lan ds.
O.l'ds
L.A.A.S. ha.vo been very busy t his S<'ason p· k'
apples in tho W isbech area, an d it is easy ;:; ~~g
from tho happy f aces on another
a
wll
greatly they havo enjoy ed their job.
y~~ 0 0 ':'
bclicYo me, road t his letter- which I rocoi vcd
t
this morning from on o of them :-
on Y
u Apples, apples everywhere 1
''Trees covered with rosy ' Bra mblers 'and bro k
ing undor 'Newtons, ' 'Lord Nelsons.~ an d sco~~
of others. Somo s m all, some round, and 80
five-pounde rs 1
me
"Onward rolled our t rai n, con veying us to the
great orchard coun t ry of England, which wa~ to b
our destination from the golden month of Augus~
till the snows will cap t h e eart h .
"Weren't w~ a merry, joy ous, h e althy little crowd
that warm, b rlgh t d ay, as w e were carried faster
faster, past orch a rd after o rchard, ti11 the trai ~
should stop with a bump, and a11 our h eads t ry to
squeeze out of on e wi ndow t o find our Welfare
Officer, who would be a waiting u s t Out of t he
t rain and o'!f to bill~ts was the next :r;nove, with any
amou n t of Ins truction s to b e ready In ti mo for the
'lorries' which were to convey us to work on t he
morrow.
" On to t he bridge ' buzzed ' the old lorry, and we
t umbled helter s k elte r ovor each other in our
eagerness to get front placos. Surely we could
manage with out lad dors, or would the farmers
insist on t hese bein g mount-ed t we wond<'rcd.
"Now to work. T en to pick, six to pack, six to
sort, an d fi ve to grade.
"Down the field, or rathe r 'lines,' we wont, as
we were n ow between two huge Army huts, p acked
high wit h b askets, trays and empties of all sorts.
What a n o rchard f How we t en worked ; basket
after bask et was taken up to the bus y p ackers
an d graders, who n ev er stopped a moment, as all
knew so much m ust be ready by 3 o'clock to go to
t he s tati on .
"As t h e d ay wore on, baskets we re piled high with
e very d et ail of p ac kin g complet e . Green covers
finished off fi rst g rade ; blue, seconds, and so on.
"Big fi ve-p ounde rs i n barrel : all placed liko a
jig-saw puzzle, so that they fitted in like a com plete
ro und or squo.re.
"'Tubs this way; h a mpers that!' shouts the
forem a n, a nd wo know the lorries are waWng to
take the fruits of our day's toil to tho s tat ion.
"Now for more bas k ets to s tart awav at tho
'failin gs, ' and o no more hour's work until th~
gong o n the packi ng s h ed s announces ' work over
f or tho day.
"Then w a.y h o mo to bille ts we go, piled hi gh on
eve ry corne r and crank of the lorries, and dow~
into the village along with crowds of carts an
conveyances, all crammed with other h a ppy
t
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rf
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