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 is was by their taste. "They are hard and sour before they are full grown, and so the taste is not pleasant, and nobody wants 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 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.
11. The Series of Writing Lessons. c.[F] 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.
Footnote:
[F] The articles to which this letter is prefixed were communicated for the work, by different teachers at the request of the author.