TREES.
When Willy and his parents returned to the inn, they could talk of nothing but Mr. Joseph Strutt, and the beautiful gardens.
"I declare," said Willy's mother, "I never felt so proud in my life as when he gave me his arm to walk about the gardens; I fancied every body who passed us and smiled, seemed to think how happy I must be; and then he showed me all the curious trees which came from foreign countries; for, said he, I wish these gardens not only to amuse the people, but to teach them something; therefore I have planted trees and shrubs of various sorts, that those who wish to study the properties of plants may learn them, and turn their knowledge to some purpose; thus I have tried to make these gardens useful as well as pleasant."
"But, Mamma," said Willy, "are trees of any other use but to look pretty and shade us from the sun?" This was the last use Willy had made of them, and he did not just then think of any other.
"Willy!" exclaimed his mamma, "was the cherry-tree you climbed this morning of no other use?"
"Oh, to be sure! ripe cherries grow upon it, and they are so good to eat; and then there are apples on apple-trees, and pears on pear-trees, and fruit of some kind or other on all the trees; but no," continued he, "after a little thinking, there is no fruit on the oak tree, nor on the elm, nor on a great many other trees."
"Yes, there is," replied his mamma, "but the fruit is not good for us to eat; the oak bears acorns, which the pigs are fond of."
"And I like them to play with, but not to eat; and I like horse-chestnuts to play with, but I like the good chestnuts to eat."
"Well," observed his mother, "the oak and the elm, and the pine and the beech, and all those trees which do not bear fruit fit for us to eat, are of use to us for other purposes."
"Oh yes, their fruit is fit to play with."
"Something better than that, Willy; cannot you find out?"
Willy thought and thought again, but he would not guess, as some children do, hap-hazard, without any reason; so his mamma helped him a little by bidding him go and stamp upon the floor, in a part of the room where the boards were uncovered.
Willy, who was never fond of standing still, and preferred running or stamping to walking, set off with a hop, skip, and a jump, to the further end of the room, where the floor was uncovered, and began stamping on the boards with all his might; at length he suddenly stopped and exclaimed, "Ah, the boards! the boards are made of wood, and wood is made of the trunk of a tree; so that is the use of trees which do not bear good fruit."
"And of those which do, sometimes," replied his mother: "the wood of the cherry-tree is one of the lightest; so if you want to have some light chairs that children can move about, you must have them made of the planks of the cherry-tree. The oak and the elm, and all those large trees whose fruit is not good to eat, are called forest trees, because they commonly grow in woods or forests; but fruit trees we plant nearer home, in our orchards and gardens, that we may easily gather the fruit."
"Oh yes," cried Willy, "as Anna and I did."
"Well," continued his mother, "trees and plants of all kinds have many more uses than you can understand at your age, or than I can tell you, old as I am. But there is one thing you must remember, which is, that all plants were first created by God Almighty, and that all that He makes is useful and good."
"But, Mamma," said Willy, thoughtfully, "I remember your telling me once never to touch the berries which grew on the laurel bush on the lawn, because they were poisonous; and nurse says there are a great many other plants that are poisonous. Why did God make them, Mamma, for, you know, poisons kill people?"
"God made poisons to cure people," replied she: "do you remember last week when you suffered so much from the ear-ache?"
"Oh, that I do, the pain was so bad. I think I shall never forget it. I could not sleep all night; and as soon as it was light, nurse went to fetch you, and you laid my aching ear on your shoulder, and then you poured three drops of something which looked like water into my drink, and it took the pain away, and I fell asleep. Was it those three drops that cured the pain?"
"Yes, and it was those drops too which sent you to sleep."
"Oh, if I had known that, I do think I should have drunk up the whole of the bottle; it was but a little one, you know."
"Well, my dear, the drops I poured into your drink were poison; if I had given you six drops instead of three, they would have made you ill, and if you had swallowed all that was in the bottle, it would have killed you. So you see that poisons may kill as well as cure. God created plants which are poisonous to cure us when we are ill; they are then wholesome and good for us."
"Then God is very good to have made these plants, though they are poisonous?"
"Yes, my dear. Whatever God creates is for some good purpose, though we cannot always understand it.
"There are a great many poisons of different sorts; most of them take away pain and send you to sleep, others cure particular diseases. Your grandmamma scarcely ever sleeps without taking morphine."
"Yes, I know that," said Willy, "but I did not think, that morphine was a poison. I suppose that is why she keeps it locked up."
"Yes, for fear that the children should hurt themselves with it. But, now, Willy, it is time for you to go to bed; and after all you have seen and done to-day, you must be tired, and will go to sleep without taking any poison."
Willy kissed his papa and mamma, and was just going out of the room, when the waiter brought in a parcel directed to Master Willy.
"That's me," exclaimed Willy: "what can it be?"
"Let us open the parcel," said his mother, "and then we shall find out what it is."
They untied the string, and unfolded the paper which covered the parcel, and what should there be within but a large piece of plumcake!
"Oh! I know what it is," said Willy, "though I never saw it before; it is a piece of the cake Granny slapped so hard, and they have sent it me, because I gave them the teetotum and the marbles."
This proved true; but until Willy explained it, his papa and mamma could not understand what he meant.
Willy begged they would taste the cake, and having eaten a little bit himself, he went to bed and soon fell asleep.