“I have eaten only six to-day,” was the modest reply, “and they were little russets, too.”

“Oh, Malcolm, Malcolm!” said Miss Harson, laughing; “what shall I do with you?  Why, you would soon make an apple-famine in most places.  Three apples a day must be your allowance for the present; and if at any time we go to live in an orchard, you may have six.”

“Why, we have only one,” exclaimed little Edith, “and we don’t want any more.—­Do we, Clara?”

[Illustration:  Apple Blossoms.]

“If you don’t want ’em,” said Malcolm, “there’s no sense in eating ’em.—­But I’ll remember, Miss Harson.  I suppose three at one time ought to be enough.”

Malcolm’s expression, as he said this, was so doleful that every one laughed at him; and his governess continued: 

“The apple tree is said to produce a greater variety of beautiful fruit than any other tree that is known, and apples are liked by almost every one.  They are a very wholesome fruit and nearly as valuable as bread and potatoes for food, because they can be used in so many different ways, and the poorer qualities make very nourishing food for nearly all animals.”

“Rex fairly snatches the apple out of my hand when I go to give him one,” said Malcolm.

“So does Regina,” added Clara, who trembled in her shoes whenever she offered these dainties to the handsome carriage-horses.

Edith had not dared to venture on such a feat yet, and therefore she had nothing to say.

“All horses are fond of apples,” said Miss Harson, “and the fruit is very thoroughly appreciated.  Ancient Britain was celebrated for her apple-orchards, and the tree was reverenced by the Druids because the mistletoe grew abundantly on it.  In Saxon times, when England became a Christian country, the rite of coronation, or crowning of a king, was in such words as these:  ’May the almighty Lord give thee, O king, from the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, abundance of corn and wine and oil!  Be thou the lord of thy brothers, and let the sons of thy mother bow down before thee.  Let the people serve thee and the tribes adore thee.  May the Almighty bless thee with the blessings of heaven above, and the mountains and the valleys with the blessings of the deep below, with the blessings of grapes and apples!  Bless, O Lord, the courage of this prince, and prosper the work of his hands; and by thy blessing may his land be filled with apples, with the fruit and dew of heaven from the top of the ancient mountains, from the apples of the eternal hills, from the fruit of the earth and its fullness!’ You will see from this how highly apples were valued in England in those ancient times.”

“I should like to pick them up when they are ripe,” said Clara, and Malcolm expressed a desire to hire himself out by the day to Mr. Grove when that time arrived.