'Where shall I go?' was the first question which Popanilla had sent
forth for a fortnight, and it was addressed to Skindeep.
'Really, your Excellency, I am the last man in the world to answer
questions; but the place which is generally frequented by us when we are
suffering from your complaint is Blunderland.'
'Well, then, to Blunderland let us go!'
Shortly before Popanilla's illness he had been elected a member of the
Vraibleusian Horticultural Society, and one evening he had endeavoured
to amuse himself by reading the following CHAPTER ON FRUIT.
CHAPTER 14
That a taste for fruit is inherent in man is an opinion which is
sanctioned by the conduct of man in all ages and in all countries.
While some nations have considered it profanation or pollution to
nourish themselves with flesh or solace themselves with fish, while
almost every member of the animal creation has in turn been considered
either sacred or unclean, mankind, in all climes and in all countries,
the Hindoo and the Hebrew, the Egyptian and the Greek, the Roman and the
Frank, have, in some degree, made good their boastful claim to reason,
by universally feeding upon those delightful productions of Nature which
are nourished with the dews of heaven, and which live for ever in its
breath.
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