"
"Oh, no — I don't mean flies — I mean geography."
"Geography!" said Preston. "Oh, you are at the Crimea yet, are
you? I'll show it to you, Daisy, when we go in."
"Preston, is the use of geography only to know where places
are?"
"Well, that's pretty convenient," said Preston. "Daisy, just
look for that bunch of grey silk — I had it here a minute
ago."
"But Preston, tell me what _is_ the use of it?"
"Why, my dear little Daisy — thank you! — you'd be all abroad
without it."
"All abroad!" exclaimed Daisy.
"It comes to about that, I reckon. You wouldn't understand
anything. How can you? Suppose I show you my pictures of the
North American Indians — they'll be as good as Chinese to you,
if you don't know geography."
Daisy was silent, feeling puzzled.
"And," said Preston, binding his fly, "when you talk of the
Crimea, you will not know whether the English came from the
east or the west, nor whether the Russians are not living
under the equator and eating ripe oranges."
"Don't they eat oranges?" said Daisy, seriously. But that
question set Preston off into a burst of laughter, for which
he atoned as soon as it was over by a very gentle kiss to his
little cousin.
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