`` Peter is a real smart boy , '' she said to me . `` It 's such a pity he is a hired boy . '' But , if we could not pass the ordeal , we got any amount of fun out of it , at least . Evening after evening the orchard re-echoed to our peals of laughter . `` Bless the children , '' said Uncle Alec , as he carried the milk pails across the yard . `` Nothing can quench their spirits for long . '' CHAPTER XXVII . THE ORDEAL OF BITTER APPLES I could never understand why Felix took Peter 's success in the Ordeal of Bitter Apples so much to heart . He had not felt very keenly over the matter of the sermons , and certainly the mere fact that Peter could eat sour apples without making faces did not cast any reflection on the honour or ability of the other competitors . But to Felix everything suddenly became flat , stale , and unprofitable , because Peter continued to hold the championship of bitter apples . It haunted his waking hours and obsessed his nights . I heard him talking in his sleep about it . If anything could have made him thin the way he worried over this matter would have done it . For myself , I cared not a groat . I had wished to be successful in the sermon contest , and felt sore whenever I thought of my failure . But I had no burning desire to eat sour apples without grimacing , and I did not sympathize over and above with my brother . When , however , he took to praying about it , I realized how deeply he felt on the subject , and hoped he would be successful . Felix prayed earnestly that he might be enabled to eat a bitter apple without making a face . And when he had prayed three nights after this manner , he contrived to eat a bitter apple without a grimace until he came to the last bite , which proved too much for him . But Felix was vastly encouraged .
`` Another prayer or two , and I 'll be able XXXXX eat a whole one , '' he said jubilantly .
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