`` The birds build their nests in it . A pair of wild canaries come here every summer . And ferns grow out between the stones of the well as far down as you can see . The water is lovely . Uncle Edward preached his finest sermon about the Bethlehem well where David 's soldiers went to get him water , and he illustrated it by describing his old well at the homestead -- this very well -- and how in foreign lands he had longed for its sparkling water . So you see it is quite famous . '' `` There 's a cup just like the one that used to be here in father 's time , '' exclaimed Felix , pointing to an old-fashioned shallow cup of clouded blue ware on a little shelf inside the curb . `` It is the very same cup , '' said the Story Girl impressively . `` Is n't it an amazing thing ? That cup has been here for forty years , and hundreds of people have drunk from it , and it has never been broken . Aunt Julia dropped it down the well once , but they fished it up , not hurt a bit except for that little nick in the rim . I think it is bound up with the fortunes of the King family , like the Luck of Edenhall in Longfellow 's poem . It is the last cup of Grandmother King 's second best set . Her best set is still complete . Aunt Olivia has it . You must get her to show it to you . It 's so pretty , with red berries all over it , and the funniest little pot-bellied cream jug . Aunt Olivia never uses it except on a family anniversary . '' We took a drink from the blue cup and then went to find our birthday trees . We were rather disappointed to find them quite large , sturdy ones .
It seemed to us that they should still be in the sapling stage corresponding XXXXX our boyhood .
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