"
The boys were then all satisfied that it was better that chestnuts
should grow in burrs.
"But why," asked one of the boys, "do not apples grow so?"
"Can any body answer that question?" asked the master.
The boy with the green satchel said that apples had a smooth, tight
skin, which kept out the wet, but he did not see how they were guarded
from animals.
The master said it was by their taste. "They are hard and sour before
they are full grown, and so the taste is not pleasant, and nobody wishes
to eat them, except sometimes a few foolish boys, and these are punished
by being made sick. When the apples are full grown, they change from
sour to sweet, and become mellow--then they can be eaten. Can you tell
me of any other fruits which are preserved in this way?"
One boy answered, "Strawberries and blackberries;" and another said,
"Peaches and pears."
Another boy asked why the peach-stone was not outside the peach, so as
to keep it from being eaten; but the master said that he would explain
this another time. Then he dismissed the scholars, after asking Roger to
wait until the rest had gone, as he wished to see him alone.
Several of the articles which follow were communicated for this work by
different teachers, at the request of the author.
11. THE SERIES OF WRITING LESSONS.--Very many pupils soon become weary
of the dull and monotonous business of writing, unless some plans are
devised to give interest and variety to the exercise; and, on this
account, this branch of education, in which improvement may be most
rapid, is often the last and most tedious to be acquired.
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