THE RESPONSIVENESS OF 
THE PEAR 
Wuat Has BEEN Done Is But THE BEGINNING 
to personify inanimate objects writes to 
ask which tree among our cultivated ones 
I regard as the most “human.” 
And then, without awaiting reply, my corre- 
spondent supplies the answer: 
“The pear, of course,” he says with full assur- 
ance. | 
But when he goes on to state the reasons for 
this decision, I am not quite sure that his argument 
carries conviction. 
Perhaps the most striking bit of analogy that 
he offers is the fact that a pear tree sometimes 
fails to reach maturity until it is from fifteen to 
twenty years old, coupled with the cognate fact 
that the tree may continue to thrive for three 
score years and ten or even longer. 
He cites a good many other analogies, or sup- 
A CORRESPONDENT who is seemingly prone 
[Votume [V—Cuapter IV] 
