Page:Frank Owen - Rare Earth, 1931.djvu/137

 was low all over the room, a boy couldn't grow at all."

"But," objected Enoch, "why couldn't it be high evywheres?"

"Why that," chuckled Benda, "would be too much wasted space. And it would have a tendency to make a boy grow quicker. Perhaps it would result in his having a neck like a giraffe or an ostrich."

"Do 'raffes live in rooms 'at has high ceilin's?"

"Don't know," reflected Benda. "Never lived with a giraffe. For that matter I never lived with an ostrich either. But sometimes I think they get long necks because they are forever reaching for the moon. Not much use reaching for the moon, Enoch. It's far better to stick to the earth. It never pays to want the moon. Many men have learned that."

"Did you, daddy?"

It was some moments before Benda answered, then he said slowly, "I hardly know. Perhaps I did. Anyway I tried to pluck a star from the sky and you can't do that either. It is