“That sounds very fine,” said the owner, “but it is too slow a way for me. I could have planted five times as many in a day. You take too much trouble.” So he dismissed the man and the next day he planted his orchard in his own way.
He dug the holes just large enough to hold the roots by twisting them together, and many of the rootlets were broken or injured as they were forced into place; he did not get the soft, rich earth from the woods, nor was he careful in packing the dirt around the roots, and then he did not fill the holes with water.
“Now, see there,” he said to himself, “I have planted a whole orchard in one day.”
But see what happened! The trees the owner planted so carelessly lived for awhile, and put out a few leaves. They bore some little apples, and then the owner cut them down. But the six trees the other man planted grew up strong and healthy. In a few years they were well shaped and tall and began to bear quantities of the most beautiful apples. When the owner was an old man they still were standing, and everybody would say, “What wonderful apple trees! What splendid fruit!”
But the old man knew he could have had a whole orchard like that if he had planted them all as the six were planted.
JACK AND THE GIANT
One should always be willing to help the aged and infirm whether he is paid for it or not.
Once there was a little boy named Jack who lived near a great wood. One day while he was picking up sticks in the wood he saw an old woman bending under a huge bundle of fagots.
“My poor woman,” said Jack, “I will take your bundle for you.”