That which makes women
beautiful for ever; which renews the strength of man; which is a sweet
and excellent food, and which provides medicine for various ills, cannot
be said to lack many of the attributes of the elixir of life, and is
surely entitled to a special paean in a land languishing for population.
Distinctive and significant as the virtues possessed by the papaw are,
yet because of its universality and because it yields its fruits with
little labour, it gets but scant courtesy. It is tolerated merely; but
if we had it not, if it were as far as that vast shore washed by the
farthest sea, men would adventure for such merchandise--and adventure at
the bidding of women. How few there are who recognise in the everyday
papaw one of the most estimable gifts of kindly Nature?
Some who dwell in temperate climes claim for the apple and the onion
superlative qualities. In the papaw the excellences of both are blended
and combined. The onion may induce to slumber, but the sleep it produces
is it not a trifle too balmy? The moral life and high standard of
statesmanship of an American Senator are cited as examples of the
refining influences of apples.
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