"'Stand fast, root! bear well, top!

Pray G.o.d send us a good howling crop-- Every twig, apples big; Every bough, apples enow.'

"All then shouted in chorus, while one of the party played on a cow's horn, and the trees were well rapped with the sticks which they carried.

This ceremony is thought to have been a relic of some heathen sacrifice, and it is quite absurd enough to be that."

"What is 'a howling crop,' Miss Harson?" asked Clara. "That name sounds so queer!"

"I don't know what it can be," replied her governess, "unless it refers to the strange expression sometimes used, 'howling with delight.' We hear more commonly of 'howling with pain,' but 'a howling crop' must be one that makes the owner scream, as well as dance for joy."

"Why, _I_ scream only when I'm frightened," said Edith, who began to think that there were much sillier people in the world than herself.

"At garter-snakes," added Malcolm, giving his sister a sly pinch; but Edith did not mind his pinches, because he always took good care not to hurt her.

Miss Harson said that the best way was not to scream at all, as it was both a silly and a troublesome habit, and the sooner her charges broke themselves of it the better she should like it. Clara and Edith both promised to try--just as they had promised before, when the ants were so troublesome; but they were nine months older now, and seemed to be getting a little ashamed of the habit.

"Are apples mentioned anywhere in the Bible?" asked Miss Harson, presently.

Clara and Malcolm were busy thinking, but nothing came of it, until their governess said,

"Turn to the book of Proverbs, Clara, and find the twenty-fifth chapter and the eleventh verse."

Clara read very carefully:

"'A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.' But what does it mean?" she asked.

"It probably means 'framed in silver' or 'in silver frames[11],'" was the reply; "and then it is easy to understand how important our words are, and that 'fitly-spoken' ones are as valuable and lasting as golden apples framed in silver. The apple tree is mentioned in Joel, where it is said that 'all the trees of the field are withered[12],' and both apple trees and apples are mentioned in several places of the Old Testament. But, to tell the whole truth, scholars are not agreed as to whether the Hebrew word denotes the apple or some other fruit that grew in the land of Israel."

[11] The Revised Version renders the phrase "in baskets of silver."

[12] Joel i. 12.

The children had all enjoyed the "apple-talk," and they felt that the fruit which they were so accustomed to seeing would now have a new meaning for them.

CHAPTER X.

_A FRUITFUL FAMILY: THE PEACH, ALMOND, PLUM AND CHERRY_.

Snowdrops, crocuses, hyacinths and tulips were blooming out of doors and in-doors; the gra.s.s looked green and velvety, and the fruit trees were, as John expressed it, "all a-blow." The peach trees, without a sign of a leaf, looked, as every one said of them, like immense bouquets of pink flowers, while pear, cherry and plum trees seemed as if they were dressed in white.

One cloudy, windy day, when the petals fell off in showers and strewed the ground, Edith declared that it was snowing; but she soon saw her mistake, and then began to worry because there would be no blossoms left for fruit.

"If the flowers stayed on, there would be no fruit," said Miss Harson.

"Let me show you just where the little green germ is."

"Why, of course!" said Malcolm; "it's in the part that stays on the tree."

Edith listened intently while her governess showed her the ovary of a blossom safe on the twig where it grew, and explained to her that it was this which, nourished by the sap of the tree, with the aid of the sun and air, would ripen into fruit, while the petals were merely a fringe or ornament to the true blossom.

At Elmridge, scattered here and there through garden and grounds, as Mr.

Kyle liked to have them, there were some fruit trees of every kind that would flourish in that part of the country, but there was no orchard; and for this reason Miss Harson had taken the children to see the grand apple-blossoming at Farmer Grove's. Two very large pear trees stood one on either side of the lawn, and there were dwarf pear trees in the garden.

"I think pears are nicer than apples," said Clara as they stood looking at the fine trees, now perfectly covered with their snowy blossoms.

But Malcolm, who found it hard work to be happy on three apples a day, stoutly disagreed with his sister on this point, and declared that nothing was so good as apples.

"How about ice-cream?" asked his governess, when she heard this sweeping a.s.sertion.

The young gentleman was silent, for his exploits with this frozen luxury were a constant subject of wonder to his friends and relatives.

"You will notice," said Miss Harson, "that the shape of these trees is much more graceful than that of the apple tree. They are tall and slender, forming what is called an imperfect pyramid. Standard pear trees, like these, give a good shade, and the long, slender branches are well clothed with leaves of a bright, glossy green. This rich color lasts late into the autumn, and it is then varied with yellow, and often with red and black, spots; so that pear-leaves are not to be despised in gathering autumn-leaf treasures. The pear is not so useful a fruit as the apple, nor so showy in color; but it has a more delicate and spicy flavor, and often is of an immense size."

"Yes, indeed!" said Clara. "Don't you remember, Miss Harson, that sometimes Edith and I can have only one pear divided between us at dessert because they are so large?"

"Yes, dear; and I think that half a d.u.c.h.ess pear is as much as can be comfortably managed at once."

"Well," observed Malcolm, "I don't want half an apple.--But, Miss Harson, do they ever have 'pear-howlings' in England?"

"I have never read of any," was the reply, "and I think that strange custom is confined to apple trees. And there is no mention made of either pears or pear trees in the Scriptures."

"What are p.r.i.c.kly-pears?" asked Clara. "Do they have thorns on 'em?"

"There is a plant by this name," replied her governess, "with large yellow flowers, and the fruit is full of small seeds and has a crimson pulp. It grows in sandy places near the salt water; it is abundant in North Africa and Syria, and is considered quite good to eat; but neither plant nor fruit bears any resemblance to our pear trees: it is a cactus."

"Won't you have a story for us this evening, Miss Harson?" asked Edith, rather wistfully.

"Perhaps so, dear--I have been thinking of it--but it will not be about pear trees."

"Oh, I don't care," with a very bright face; "I'd as soon have it about cherry trees, or--'Most anything!"

Miss Harson laughed, and said,

"Well, then, I think it will be about cherries; so you must rest on that. This morning we will go around among the fruit trees and see what we can learn from seeing them."

Of course it was Sat.u.r.day morning and there were no lessons, or they would not have been roaming around "promiscuous," as Jane called it; for the young governess was very careful not to let the getting of one kind of knowledge interfere with the getting of another.

"How do you like these pretty quince trees?" asked Miss Harson as they came to some large bushes with great pinkish flowers.

"I like 'em," replied Edith, "because they're so little. And oh what pretty flowers!"

"Some more relations of the rose," said her governess. "And do you notice how fragrant they are? The tree is always low and crooked, just as you see it, and the branches straggle not very gracefully. The under part of the dark-green leaves is whitish and downy-looking, and the flowers are handsome enough to warrant the cultivation of the tree just for their sake, but the large golden fruit is much prized for preserves, and in the autumn a small tree laden down with it is quite an ornamental object. The quince is more like a pear than an apple. As the book says, 'it has the same tender and mucilaginous core; the seeds are not enclosed in a dry hull, like those of the apple; and the pulp of the quince, like that of the pear, is granulated, while that of the apple displays in its texture a firmer and finer organization.' The fruit, however, is so hard, even when ripe, that it cannot be eaten without cooking. It is said to be a native of hedges and rocky places in the South of Europe."

[Ill.u.s.tration: PEACH-BLOSSOM.]

"These peach trees," said Clara, "look like sticks with pink flowers all over 'em." "They are remarkably bare of leaves when in bloom," was the reply: "the leaves burst forth from their envelopes as the blossoms pa.s.s away; but how beautiful the blossoms are! from the deepest pink to that delicate tint which is called peach-color. But do you know that we have left the apple and rose family now, and have come to the almond family?"

The children were very much surprised to hear this, and they looked at the peach trees with fresh interest.