If trees good fruit un'noculated bear,
You may be sure't will afterward be rare.
If fruits are sweet before they've time to yellow,
How luscious will they be when they are mellow!"

He also saw great promise in bright little Jenny, who had heart full of
sympathy and affection. Jenny, Ben, and Uncle Benjamin became one in
heart and companionship.

Beacon Hill was a lovely spot in summer in old Boston days. Below it was
the Common, with great trees and winding ways. It commanded a view of
the wide harbor and far blue sea. It looked over a curve of the river
Charles, and the bright shallow inlet or pond, where the Boston and
Maine depot now stands, that was filled up from the earth of the fine
old hillside. The latter place may have been the scene of Ben's bridge,
which he built in the night in a forbidden way. The place is not
certainly known.

Uncle Benjamin, one Sunday after church, took Ben and little Jenny, who
was a girl then, to the top of the hill. It was a showery afternoon in
summer--now bright, now overcast--and all the birds were singing on the
Common between the showers.

In one of the shining hours between the showers they sat down under an
ancient forest tree, and little Jenny rested her arms on one of the
knees of Uncle Benjamin, and Ben leaned on the other. The old man looked
down on the harbor, which was full of ships, and said:

"I wish I had my sermons that I left behind. I would read one of them to
you now."

"I would rather hear you talk," said Ben, with conscientious frankness.

"So would I," said Jenny, who thought that Ben was a philosopher even at
this early age, and who echoed nearly everything that he said.

"Look over the harbor," said the old man. "There are more and more ships
coming in every year. This is going to be a great city, and America will
become a great country. Ben, I hope there will never be any wars on this
side of the water. War is sloth's maintainer, and the shield of pride;
it makes many poor and few rich, and fewer wise.[A] Ben, this is going
to be a great country, and I want you to be true to the new country."

"I will always be true to my country," said Ben.

"And I will be true to my home," said little Jenny.

"So you will, so you will, my darling little pet; I can see that," said
Uncle Benjamin.

Ben was so pleased at his echo that he put his arm around his sister's
neck and kissed her many times.

The old man's he