Nearly every farmhouse in the Eastern and Northern States has its
setting or its background of apple-trees, which generally date back to
the first settlement of the farm. Indeed, the orchard, more than
almost any other thing, tends to soften and humanize the country,
and to give the place of which it is an adjunct, a settled, domestic
look. The apple-tree takes the rawness and wildness off any scene.
On the top of a mountain, or in remote pastures, it sheds the sentiment
of home. It never loses its domestic air, or lapses into a wild state.
And in planting a homestead, or in choosing a building site for the new
house, what a help it is to have a few old, maternal apple-trees near
by; regular old grandmothers, who have seen trouble, who have been sad
and glad through so many winters and summers, who have blossomed till
the air about them is sweeter than elsewhere, and borne fruit till the
grass beneath them has become thick and soft from human contact, and
who have nourished robins and finches in their branches till they have
a tender, brooding look.
Pages:
180
181
182
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204