THE HILL-SIDE
AFTER THE STORY
‘How much did the pitcher hold?’ asked Sweet Fern.
‘It did not hold quite a quart,’ answered the student; ‘but you might keep pouring milk out of it, till you should fill a hogshead, if you pleased. The truth is, it would run on for ever, and not be dry even at midsummer,–which is more than can be said of yonder rill, that goes babbling down the hill-side.’
‘And what has become of the pitcher now?’ inquired the little boy.
‘It was broken, I am sorry to say, about twenty-five thousand years ago,’ replied Cousin Eustace. ‘The people mended it as well as they could, but, though it would hold milk pretty well, it was never afterwards known to fill itself of its own accord. So, you see, it was no better than any other cracked earthen pitcher.’
167
