That is curious too." "Yes, very curious indeed," says Mary.

"The _leaves_ of trees seem to be always green," continues her father, "though the flowers are of various colors." "Yes, father," says Mary.

"Except," adds her father, "when they turn yellow, and red, and brown, in the fall of the year." A conversation like this, without attempting any thing like an answer to the question with which it commenced, is as satisfactory to the child, and perhaps as useful in developing its powers and increasing its knowledge of language, as any attempt to explain the phenomenon would be; and the knowledge of this will make it easy for the mother to dispose of many a question which might seriously interrupt her if she conceived it necessary either to attempt a satisfactory explanation of the difficulty, or not to answer it at all.
_Be always ready to say "I don't know_." 5.

The mother should be always ready and willing to say "I don't know," in answer to children's questions.
Parents and teachers are very often somewhat averse to this, lest, by often confessing their own ignorance, they should lower themselves in the estimation of their pupils or their children.

So they feel bound to give some kind of an explanation to every difficulty, in hopes that it may satisfy the inquirer, though it does not satisfy themselves.