summer all the time, and is so hot that the people don't do anything but
lie under the trees and sleep. And there are other countries where it is
winter all the time, and the people dress in furs and make their houses
of snow and ice. I read all about it in a book once, but it didn't tell
why it was so. I knew, of course, the sun had something to do with it."

"Why, you know, Don," said Frank, "we learned all that in our geography
at school."

"Yes," said Donald, "but I never thought about that in the geography as
meaning any real country."

"What did you think it meant?" asked Uncle Robert.

"Oh," said Donald, "just a lesson in the book."

"Well," said Frank, "I always thought it was some country, but I never
knew where. I didn't think much about it after I said the lesson."

"I should think not," said Uncle Robert, not sorry that the teacher had
gone away and the school had been closed.

"I wish when books tell things they'd tell why they're so," said Frank.

"Perhaps if we think about these things," said Uncle Robert, "we may be
able to answer some of the 'whys' for ourselves."

"We can tell by the thermometer just how warm it is every day," said
Susie, "but it won't tell us why."