Where they couldn't reach by hand, they stood on barrels or ladders, and used a long handled picker, so as not to bruise the fruit.

Laddie helped with everything through the day, worked at his books at night, and whenever he stepped outside he looked in the direction of Pryors'.

He climbed to the topmost limbs of the trees with a big basket, picked it full and let it down with a long piece of clothesline.

I loved to be in the orchard when they were working; there were plenty of summer apples to eat yet; it was fun to watch the men, and sometimes I could be useful by handing baskets or heaping up apples to be buried for us.
One night father read about a man who had been hanged for killing another man, and they cut him down too soon, so he came alive, and they had to hang him over; and father got all worked up about it.

He said the man had suffered death the first time to "all intents and purposes," so that fulfilled the requirements of the law, and they were wrong when they hanged him again.