ey
thought they would chirk you up a little by presenting you with a large,
sweet, juicy, red apple. Their little hearts were throbbing with
good-will; they had an unconquerable desire to bring a smile to your
lips and a gleam of happiness to your eye. To prove this to you, I will
now dissect this large, sweet, juicy, red apple. I will eat half and you
will eat the other. If it isn't a good apple, I'll eat my hat." He
carefully cut the apple, which Edna had given him, pared and quartered
it, stuck a piece on the end of his knife and offered it to the old man,
who pushed it away contemptuously. "Let me insist," Ben went on. "We are
not playing Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. There is no serpent in
sight, not so much as a worm, and if you find so much as a grain of red
pepper I'll acknowledge myself beaten."

The old man muttered incoherently as Ben finished his harangue, but made
no motion to take the apple. "You don't know what you are missing," Ben
went on. "Now just for the sake of old times, let's try to be jolly and
remember when we were boys. Why, many a time you and I have raced down
this shaded street, shouting with mirth, have climbed the wall by the
orchard and stuffed our pockets with apples like these. You never could
take a joke, as I remember, but still you weren't a bad fellow, and I'll
bet you were a wonder at baseball. I shouldn't wonder if your batting
didn't beat the town. The way you swing around that stick of yours shows
there is 'life in the old land yet.'"

The old man's face had relaxed a little and he no longer muttered under
his breath. Ben winked at the boys who had drawn nearer and were
enjoying the situation to the utmost. "Now, just for old times' sake,"
continued Ben, "just tell me what was the last real, good, old-fashioned
trick you ever played?" The old man cast a half-suspicious look at the
smiling young man by his side, but made no reply. "Too bad you forget,"
said Ben, "but I'll bet an apple to an oyster you don't forget that last
game you played."

"Who told you about it?" snapped out the old man.

"Never mind. Do you suppose such a game as that will ever be forgotten?
I'm going to tell these boys all about it some day, see if I don't."

Nathan wheeled around in his chair and glanced over the row of young
faces before him. Then he leaned back in his chair and sighed.

"I'll bet you wouldn't mind a good game now, but you've no use for these
boys and they haven't much for you