ii 
Now let us pretend — and even grown-up people, who 
can do difficult sums, and answer questions in history 
and geography better than children, cannot “pretend” 
one half so well — now let us pretend that we are about 
to spend the morning in the orchard. 7 
Here we go, out of the schoolroom into the air and 
sunshine, along the road, up the hill, till we reach the 
stone wall beyond which lies our orchard. 
Ah! it is good to get into the cool of the dear, friendly 
trees. And just now, more than ever, they seem friend- 
ly to you boys and girls; for they are heavy with apples, 
— beautiful red and golden apples, that tempt you to 
clamber up into the green sea of leaves above. 
Now let us “pretend” that you have had your fill, 
and are ready to gather quietly about me 
on the long grass. But first, please, one 
of you bring me an apple. Let it be well- 
grown and rounded, with a rosy, sun- 
burned cheek; for, as wé are to spend 
some little time with this apple, the more 
perfect it is in shape, the richer in color, 
the sounder all the way through, the better. 
It is good to be as much as possible with 
things that are beautiful and wholesome and hearty, 
even though they are only apples. 
Here we have (Fig. 1) a fine specimen. What do 
you know, any of you, about this apple? Perhaps this 
seems a strange question. But when we see something 
that is fine and beautiful, is it strange that we wish to 
know its history? If I see a man or a woman who 
seems to me all that a man or woman should be; if he 
