GALSWORTHY’S “THE APPLE TREE”: This work by John Galsworthy (pictured) is surely one of the greatest short stories in the English language. It sensitively and artistically delineates the deep feelings, the rapture, the ecstasy, the tragedy, and the compromises and social strictures that surround erotic and romantic love.

I think it also says something new to modern men and women who live in a world of cheapened sex, who may not yet understand how deeply Cupid’s arrow may — and indeed, ought to — pierce.

“The Apple Tree” has passed into the public domain, and so one may read it online for free. But there is nothing quite like experiencing this story in an oaken-paneled library or in a meadow dotted with wildflowers — so buy a copy or make a printout and read it someplace far from flickering LCD screens.