Percy: Just think of it! Why, they would get hurt, and how strange we would look!
Mother: But we can see only the front part of the eye. Why would it not be as well to have eyes shaped like these?
Percy: We could not roll them every way, as we can now, and they would not look well.
Mother: Then you think they have the very best shape they could have. I think so, too. Now you may each feel around your eyes and tell what you find.
Amy: There is hard bone all around them.
Helen: They seem to be in a hollow place in the skull.
Mother: Yes; and this hollow place is called a socket. They are placed this way to protect them from harm, as we would place precious jewels in a strong casket. The eye, like a round ball, fills the socket or cave in which it lives and moves, and behind and around it is a soft cushion of fat.
Elmer: A ball hit my eye to-day, and it just seemed to go in, so it didn’t hurt much. This must be because it was resting on such a soft cushion.
Mother: And we see how the eyes are kept from in´ju-ry, too, by the little porches, or eyebrows, above. The stiff hairs, like a hairy arch, keep the sweat from running into them, and they also add beauty to the face. Then there is a pair of curtains for each one.
Amy: I know what they are,—the eyelids.