Clara and Malcolm were busy thinking, but nothing came of it, until their governess said,
"Turn to the book of Proverbs, Clara, and find the twenty-fifth chapter and the eleventh verse."
Clara read very carefully:
"'A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.' But what does it mean?" she asked.
"It probably means 'framed in silver' or 'in silver frames[11],'" was the reply; "and then it is easy to understand how important our words are, and that 'fitly-spoken' ones are as valuable and lasting as golden apples framed in silver. The apple tree is mentioned in Joel, where it is said that 'all the trees of the field are withered[12],' and both apple trees and apples are mentioned in several places of the Old Testament. But, to tell the whole truth, scholars are not agreed as to whether the Hebrew word denotes the apple or some other fruit that grew in the land of Israel."
[11] The Revised Version renders the phrase "in baskets of silver."
[12] Joel i. 12.
The children had all enjoyed the "apple-talk," and they felt that the fruit which they were so accustomed to seeing would now have a new meaning for them.