WHAT I KNOW ABOUT GARDENING. 149 



your pears shall be required of you by a 

 boy ! Along conies an irresponsible urchin, 

 who has not been growing much longer 

 than the tree, with not twenty-five cents' 

 worth of clothing on him, and in five min- 

 utes takes off every pear, and retires into 

 safe obscurity. In five minutes the remorse- 

 less boy has undone your work of years, and 

 with the easy nonchalance, I doubt not, of 

 any agent of fate, in whose path nothing is 

 sacred or safe. 



And it is not of much consequence. The 

 boy goes on his way, to Congress, or to 

 State Prison : in either place he will be ac- 

 cused of stealing, perhaps wrongfully. You 

 learn, in time, that it is better to have had 

 pears and lost them than not to have had 

 pears at all. You come to know that the 

 least (and rarest) part of the pleasure of 

 raising fruit is the vulgar eating it. You 

 recall your delight in conversing with the 

 nurseryman, and looking at his illustrated 

 catalogues, where all the pears are drawn 

 perfect in form and of extra size, and at that 



