“Yes, I suppose so; all things adapt themselves to circumstances.”
“Do they now, sir?”
“Yes; but you don’t know what I mean.”
“No, sir, I’m blessed if I do.”
“How stupid! why don’t you ask then?”
“’Cause I don’t want to bother you, sir, when you’re getting tired.”
“What nonsense! Always ask if you don’t understand me. I meant that I have read about plants and animals altering in time to suit the place where they are. If dogs are taken up into the arctic regions they get in time to have a very thick fur under the hair; and if they are taken into a hot country like this, they have a very fine silky coat.”
“Do they now, sir?” said Ned. “Now I wouldn’t have thought that a dog would have so much gumption. But I don’t know, dogs are very knowing.”
“I don’t think the dog has anything to do with it, Ned; it is a natural law. Now, if a fir tree is in a sheltered place, where the soil is deep and sandy, it grows to a tremendous size; but if the seed falls in a rocky place, where it has to get its roots down cracks to find food, and cling tightly against the cold freezing winds, it keeps down close to the ground, and gets to be a poor scrubby bush a few feet high, or less.”
“Then the trees have got gumption too, sir. That’s better than being blown down.”