"Plants have lots of trouble," said Hal. "You have to put their seeds in the ground, keep the weeds away from them, hoe them, water them, and keep the bugs and worms away. Is there anything else that can happen to things in a garden, Daddy?"
"Yes, sometimes heavy hail storms come and beat down the plants, or tear the leaves to ribbons so the plants die, and bear nothing. This often happens to corn, which has broad leaves easily torn by hail."
"What is hail?" asked Hal.
"Well, it's a sort of frozen rain," said Daddy Blake. "Often in a thunder shower the wind plays strange tricks. It whirls the rain drops about, first in some cool air, far above the earth and then whips them into some warm air. The cool air freezes the rain, and when it falls it is not in the shape of beautiful crystals, as is the snow, but is in hard, round balls, sometimes as large as marbles. Often the hail will break windows."
"I hope it doesn't hail in our nice garden," said Hal.
"It will hurt your corn worse than it would my beans," said Mab. "I hope it doesn't hail, too, Hal."
But two or three days after that, one evening when the Blakes were sitting on the steps after having worked in the garden, there came from the West low mutterings of thunder. Then the lightning began to flash and Daddy Blake said:
"We are going to have a shower, I think. Well, it will be good for the garden."
And soon the big drops began splashing down, followed by another sound.
"Oh, it's hailing!" cried Aunt Lolly. "Hear the hail stones!"