| Show t Q < r f r TH STRONGEST BOY I THE WHOLE WORLD BY CHARLES BATTELL LOOMIS Lewis Jackson was just eight years old and to look at him you would not have suspected that he was anything more than a happy hearty ordinary country boy As a matter of fact however how-ever he was the strongest boy in the world and all on account of the Iron i r Greenings You see Mr Jackson Lewis father had a large apple 3glea f orchard and right in the middle of it was a tree of greenings and the day that Lewis was born the old man f c tr I4 S vpra l ujJ 1Tossing Them Over the Fence r s if They Had Been Pebbles 2He Shouted to Everybody to ump buried a lot of rusty irons and iron barrel hoops and the scraps of a cst iron stove at the foot of the tree because be-cause i had never borne an apple and he thought the strength of the iron rust night do I good That was in December and early In May that tree was so covered with apple blossoms that it looked as if an immense Hock of butterflies had descended on it and X were resting preparatory to flying F somewhere else That summer the tree was loaded with greenings and Lewis brother a harumscarum child of six gave the seven months old baby one of the apples to eat not only that hut cut it up for him and Instead of dying in convulsions the infant who had been sickly before thrived upon if The village physician was called into in-to rook at the child and he immediately immedi-ately said that he was what is called a pudenza amachyrtis that is one to whom apples are necessary He advised ad-vised them to throw away all their milk and to let the child eat all the apples be couldbut only from the one tree He Is likely to absorb s much iron that he will be the strongest child In the world He analyzed one of the apples when he got home and found that i was 90 per cent iron and only 30 per cent apple so of course any child who ate nothing else would absorb so much iron that hh muscles would be hard a anvils Mr Jackson was one of thore men who aUvays think they have the best of everything His cattle were the heaviest in the country the fruit was the finest his wife made the best cheese his dog was the best sheep dog his Sunday hat was the cheapest that any man had ever worn to church so you may imagine that the chance of having the strongest son in the world appealed to him and he told his wife to make enough apple butter from those greenings to supply the baby when the apples themselves were all eaten or until more apples were ripe < As n consequence when little Lewis wa eight years old he was just a Y strong as a pair of cattle and he liked Cd nothing better than to show his strength I he hadnt been good natured Im pure I dont know what might have happened beaus he could have pulled the schoolhouse to pieces and could uproot saplings of several years growth Of course it was a great saving tolls to-lls father such a strong son Hed clear a Held of rocks in a single day wrenching them out of the earth and tossing them over the fence a i they had been pebbles instead of bowlders Then too he did all the ploughing Hed start out in the morning with some apples in his pocket and a plough at his heels and by noon hed have done the work of a pair of cattle and would have thought it fun too flat i for any reason he was unable to eat for a few hours his strength left him and he was Just like other boys He used to carry a supply of apples in his popkets but one day when he was pulling a load of feed up from the village vil-lage he found hed eaten his last apple and his strength left him and he had to leave the wagon by the side of the road and run home for an apple Then who he returned he picked up the shafts and skipped up the hills like n colt In a meadow on a frosty morning There is a high mountain near the Jackson place called I Nomadnet tuck I is twenty miles high and is considered by some geographers to be the highest mountain in New England although whether New England extends tends a far into the air a that is a L > thing that I rather doubt so the mountain moun-tain may not be in New England after all Anyway the view from the top Is fine and on a clear day you can see maIf the sun from Its apex Onc summer Mr Jacjcson had ahouseful df boarders board-ers and they were alV crazy to go to the top of this niountainl but he had nohorse and Lewis was too busy with farm work to take them up in the big carryall I I get my buckwheat all planted by the Fourth of July Ill give Lewis a holiday and he ca drag you to the top Its too far to walk and the road Is too rough for my cattle but Lewis has been faithful all tho spring and Im willing to let him have a day of pleasure if he wants to Fourth of July was a beautiful clear day Bright and early in the morning Lewis cleaned the carryall which would hold twelve persons then he greased the wheels and ate five of the largest apples that he could find on I the tree I think I see some of my readers laughing at me and saying that greenings arent ripe on the Fourth I but the iron greenings were After the boy had eaten them he felt his hard that he muscles and they were r I cracked pig nuts on them Right after breakfast the picnickers camo out and clambered into the wagon There were three stout old ladies two fat old gentlemen three chubby young girls and four portly young men besides a huge basket of i lunch Dont forget to put in some iron I greenings for me said Lewis and then went into the barn to get his harness har-ness on I Five minutes later they started Be sure to keep strong and be back in I time to do the chores said his father I Lewis trotted off like a young gazelle and thanks to the five apples under his I vest he soon reached the top although I It was a twenty mile climb twent mie clmb over a rough mountain road j The picnickers felt well repaid for his j efforts I was a clear day and sure enough they could see the sun as plainly I plain-ly as if it had not been 01000980 miles away After they had looked at the sun until their eyes ached they were ready I for lunch The rest of the party ate such foolish things as pies and cake and sandwiches and milk but Lewis i sniffed at such things and ate nothing but five greenings He knew that they I would be sufiicient to carry him home with full strength Poor boy he did I not know that a mistake had been made and that ordinary greenings had i i been brought up I you ask how there I came to be ordinary greenings on the Fourth I must ask you not to interrupt I 1 meLate Late in the afternoon they climbed I into the wagon and Lewis ben back ing it down I was easier than pulling j for there was no danger of his being 1 run over He had one about a mile at a rattling pace when he felt hungry I and his strength left him as quickly asa as-a 5ocnt piece drops through a hole in your trousers pocket He shouted to everybody to jump hut he didnt I j speak quickly enough and just then the wagon came to a turn in the road 1 and plunged off a sheer precipice seven i i miles high Brave little Lewis sprang upon the I dashboard and determined to go down I I with his party but he felt that they wee all in a ticklish position and he I wished he had chosen his apples himself I I him-self He looked above him In desperation despera-tion and saw a balloonist who had been making a Fourth of July ascension He made a megaphone of his hat and I called to the aeronaut to come down and help them Quick as a flash tI5 I good natured balloonist let out gas and I dropped alongside of the descending picnickers who were beginning to faint I from fright lie made the wagon fast I to the basket ofthe balloon and then I they we it down tasfly enough and In less than ten minutesthey had alighted I in a meadow about a mile from the house Then Lewis thanked the houle aeronaut smut and ran home to get some apples After he had eaten them he returned and pulled the wagon load of picnickers picnick-ers back to the farm where he arrived Just at chore time But after that eventful day Lewis always carried a supply of apples in a bag along oven his shoulders And if it hadnt been for the kind balloonist the picnicker would have had a nastv I I fall Its nO joke to drsp seven miles |
