The Cider Mill

The Cider-Mill

Marion Franklin Ham

Through the years I send you greeting, 

Long-forgotten cider-mill; 

Like an echo from my childhood, 

I can hear your music still, 

Creaking, creaking, 

Slowly creaking, 

While the horse goes round; 

Keeping time, in woful squeaking, 

To the laughter and the shrieking, 

And the shouts of merriment ; 

Till again I catch the scent 

Of the russet pomace steaming ; 

And again, in wistful dreaming, 

I can see the mellow splendor 

Of the luscious apple gleaming, 

Heaped upon the swarded ground. 

Oh, the amber-tinted cider! 

How it bubbled, how it flowed! 

In the gold of Autumn sunshine, 

How it glistened, how it glowed! 

How it darkled, 

How it sparkled, 

With a glitter as it ran! 

How it gurgled, trickling, rushing, 

Foaming, frothing, leaping, gushing, 

As no other liquid can! 

Then, in wanton idleness, 

How it loitered, slipping, slipping, 

While the honey-bees were sipping 

Draughts of beaded nectar 

From the brown drops dripping, dripping 

O'er the red lips of the press!

Idle dreams ! Again I draw 

Through a yellow barley-straw 

Magic vintage, sweeter, rarer, 

Than Olympian wine, forsooth ; 

And my eager lips I steep, 

Drinking long and drinking deep, 

Till my shrivelled cheeks are ruddy 

With the long-lost glow of youth. 

Long embalmed in dusty silence, 

Shrouded with the rust of years, 

Old companion, here I pledge you 

In a brimming cup of tears. 

Vacant places, 

Vanished faces, 

From the shadows speak to me. 

Boyish lips now mute forever, 

Hands estranged, that I may never 

Clasp save in eternity, 

With your song has passed away 

Boyhood's wealth of lusty treasure, 

Sunny hours of careless pleasure; 

And my heart, grown old in sorrow, 

Marches to a sadder measure. 

You and I have had our days. 

At Apple-Pickin' Time

At Apple-Pickin' Time.

by Mary A. Roberts

When a frosty carpet sparkles in the hollow 'neath the hill. 

And the night-chilled earth is waking from the dawning white and still, 

Oh, the air is crisp and bracing as a breeze from o'er the brine, 

Full of Nature's pungent nectar at apple-pickin' time! 

The leaves are golden yellow, the nuts are turning brown, 

And milkweed seeds sail weightless on their air-ships' silky down; 

Bold spiders, daring aeronauts, in filmy fastness float, 

A cobweb cable streaming from every wind-tossed boat; 

The air from purple vintage is heavy with new wine, 

Farewell madrigals the blackbirds sing at apple-pickin' time. 

Oh, the wealth of bearing orchards ! Oh, Hesperides' globes of gold! 

And apples red as rubies that Autumn's full hands hold! 

Fragrant as the fabled attar is the Pippin in its prime; 

Short-lived Autumn is a prodigal at apple-pickin' time.

The Apple Rhyme

THE APPLE RHYME
Author Unknown
In my garden grows a tree
Of apple-blossom, where for me
A blackbird perches every day, 

Sings his song and flies away.
So since fairies make for birds
Music out of fairy words,
I have learned from it a rhyme
For folk to sing at apple-time,
Which (if you live where apples grow),
You'll find a useful thing to know.


Apple Time
Author Unknown
Shower-time, flower-time, earth is new and fair;
May-time, hay-time, blossoms everywhere;
Nest-time, best time, days have longer grown;
Leaf-time, brief time, make it all your own;
Berry-time, cherry-time, songs of bird and bee;
But, of all the happy times, apple-time for me.
Wheat-time, sweet time, in the closing year;
Sheaf-time, leaf-time, now will disappear;
Yellow ones and mellow ones, dropping from the tree;
Rusty Coats and Pippins, apple-time for me.


In Apple-Time
Author Unknown
When the red is on the apple,
And the apple 's on the tree,
When Myrtilla with her basket
Flings a saucy glance at me,
All the joys of all the seasons
Ripen in a rosy glee,
When the red is on the apple,
And the apple 's on the tree.

Jelly Fish

Jelly fish photo by Matthias M.

       The jelly fish is the popular name of several different animals found in the sea and so called because of the transparent, jelly-like substance constituting most of the body. They are often called sea blubbers or sea nettles, from their shape or their long stringing tentacles, with which they seize their prey. In the water they move rapidly and present a singularly-beautiful appearance. One of the most common forms is a bell-like body which swims gracefully through the water by alternately expanding and contracting. The animals are sometimes cast up on sea beaches, but out of the water they lose their beauty and have the appearance of formless masses of jelly.

Are Jellyfish the Weirdest Animals In the Ocean?

by It's Okay To Be Smart

More About Jelly Fish from The Web:

• Sea Animals Minus Back-Bones

Frigate Bird

       A frigate bird or man-of-war bird is a tropical web-footed bird, related to the pelican. It takes its name from the savage attacks it makes upon gulls and other birds, when they are carrying their prey. In flight the frigate bird is powerful and graceful, and its prey is taken upon the wing. In the breeding season the pouch under the male's bill, which he is able to inflate, be- comes a bright scarlet. The birds breed in large colonies on rocky cliffs or in the tops of tall trees on uninhabited islands. The upper plumage is dark brown.

More About The Frigate Bird From The Web:

• Male Frigate Birds Prepare to Mate
• Frigate birds ride air currents like a roller coaster
• Nesting Frigate Birds and Turtle Babies

Apple Time

APPLE TIME. 

By George Cooper

Come and see the chubby faces 

Peep from under lifted leaves 

Which the noisy breeze displaces 

What a jolly tune it weaves! 

Crimson faces, scarlet faces, 

Faces green, and gold, and brown; 

For a troop of tricksy goblins 

Only last night wandered down, 

In apple-time! 

How the rough old Boughs are tossing 

In the cool and crispy air! 

Do you hear the children crossing 

O'er the meadows, here and there? 

Goblin faces, peeping, hiding 

Seem to greet them every one; 

And the orchard-rows are ringing 

With the frolic and the fun, 

In apple-time! 

Oh, the little hands that dip in 

Baskets shallow, baskets deep, 

Where the Russet and the Pippin 

Mingle in a shining heap! 

Long before the sunset's glory 

Orchard boughs are lone and bare; 

But another golden Autumn 

Sees the goblin faces there, 

In apple-time!  

Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving Stencils

       These old-fashioned Thanksgiving stencils are for personal crafts and classroom decor. There is a portrait of a Native American chief with a feather headdress, a ship for exploring and the discovery by sea and an old-fashioned turkey.