‘Why, Alice,’ said little Beatrice, ‘you never gave the cow the apple. Were you afraid?’
‘I did try to give her the apple; but her tongue was so very long, that I was afraid that she would get hold of my hand, so I threw her the apple.’
‘I will pick it up, and give it to the poor cow,’ said Beatrice. ‘Do cows like apples?’ she asked, after she had picked it up and given it to the cow, who ate it very quickly.
‘Yes,’ answered Ellen; ‘cows are very fond of apples, and get plenty of them when they feed in our orchard; and horses and pigs and sheep all like apples.’
After Ellen had milked four cows, and showed the little girls a pretty red calf, and given it a pailful of milk and meal to drink, she took Alice and Beatrice to see the hens and the chickens and the ducks. There were such a number of chickens; and two hens had each a large brood of young chickens. The pond was full of ducks; and Ellen told the little girls that though there were plenty of rats about in the farmyard, and rats are very fond of eating young chickens and ducklings, they never lost any of theirs, for they had two cats that always slept and lived in the hen-house, and the hens were so fond of the cats that sometimes they laid their eggs in the cats’ basket. The cats liked the chickens and little ducks, and never let a rat come near them in the night.
The children begged to see the two good cats, but Ellen said, ‘We will now go to the orchard.’
The orchard was a little way off, up the side of one of the hills, and the sun always shone on the trees, for the hill lay to the south, and was warm and sheltered from all cold winds.
‘What lots of apples!’ cried the two children; ‘the trees are quite full; and why are so many on the ground and in a great heap?’
‘Those are for cider, and are to be taken to our cider press; but will you not have some apples to eat?’ said Ellen, ‘I will show you where some very nice eating apples grow, and I will shake the tree for you.’
They walked farther into the orchard, always going higher and higher up the hill side, and they called out every time when they passed a tree which they thought looked fuller of apples than the others, till they came to a tree which was covered with red apples. This tree Ellen began to shake, and the apples came down in such numbers, and so quickly, that Alice and Beatrice were afraid that the apples would fall on their heads.