Paine Albert Bigelow
The Hollow Tree Snowed-in Book

Then Mr. Robin spoke up and said that he thought Mr. Dog's story had a good moral in it, and he said that his story (Mr. Robin's, of course) was that kind of a story, too. Perhaps he'd better tell it now, he said, while their minds were running that way, though as for Mr. 'Possum's mind it seemed to be more on how good Erastus might be cooked than how good he had become in his behavior. He was sorry, he said, that his story didn't have any ducks in it, young or old, but that perhaps Mr. 'Possum and the others would be willing to wait for the nice pair of cooked ones now hanging in Mr. Crow's pantry, to be served at the end of the literary exercises.

But Mr. 'Possum said "No," he wasn't willing to wait any longer – that Mr. Dog's story and the mention of those nice cooked fowls was more than he could bear, and that if it was all the same to Mr. Robin and the others he voted to have supper first, and then he'd be better able to stand a strictly moral story on a full stomach.

Mr. Crow and Mr. 'Coon said that was a good idea, and Mr. Rabbit said he thought they'd better postpone Mr. Robin's story until the next evening, as Mr. 'Possum had taken up so much time with his arguments that he must be hungrier than usual, and if he put in as much more time eating, it would be morning before they were ready to go on with the literary programme.

Then they all looked at the clock and saw that it really was getting late, though that was the only way they could tell, for the snow covered all the windows and made no difference between day and night in the Hollow Tree.

THE "SNOWED-IN" LITERARY CLUB – Part II

MR. RABBIT STARTS SOME NEW AMUSEMENTS

IT was still dark in the Hollow Tree when the Deep Woods People woke up next morning, but they knew what was the matter now, and could tell by the clock and the fire that it was day outside, even before Mr. 'Possum ran up to his room and looked out the window and came back shivering, because he said the snow was blowing and drifting and some had drifted in around his windows and made his room as cold as all outdoors. He said he was willing to stay by the fire while this spell lasted, and take such exercise as he needed by moving his chair around to the table when he wanted to eat.

Mr. 'Coon said that Mr. 'Possum might exercise himself on a little wood for the cook-stove in Mr. Crow's kitchen if he wanted any breakfast, and that if this spell kept up long enough, they wouldn't have anything left but exercise to keep them alive.

So Mr. 'Possum went down-stairs after an armful of stove-wood, and he stayed a good while, though they didn't notice it at the time. Then they all helped with the breakfast, and after breakfast they pushed back all the things and played "Blind Man's Buff," for Mr. Rabbit said that even if moving his chair from the fire to the table and back again was enough exercise for Mr. 'Possum, it wasn't enough for him, and the others said so, too.

So then Mr. Rabbit said they must choose who would be "It" first, and they all stood in a row and Mr. Rabbit said:

 
"Hi, ho, hickory dee —
One for you and one for me;
One for the ones you try to find,
And one for the one that wears the blind,"
 

which was a rigmarole Mr. Rabbit had made up himself to use in games where somebody had to be "It," and Mr. Rabbit said it around and around the circle on the different ones – one word for each one – until he came to the word "blind" and that was Mr. 'Possum, who had to put on the handkerchief and do more exercising than any of them, until he caught Mr. Turtle, who had to be "It" quite often, because he couldn't get out of the way as well as the others.

And Mr. 'Possum was "It" a good deal, too, and Mr. 'Coon, and all the rest, though Mr. Robin was "It" less than anybody, because he was so little and spry that he could get out of the way.

Then when they were tired of "Blind Man's Buff" they played "Pussy Wants a Corner" and "Forfeits," and Mr. 'Possum had to make a speech to redeem his forfeit, and he began:

"Ladies and Gentlemen" (though there were no ladies present) – "I am pleased to see you all here this evening" (though it wasn't evening) "looking so well dressed and well fed. It is better to be well fed than well dressed. It is better to be well dressed than not dressed at all. It is better to be not dressed at all than not fed at all. Ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for your kind attention and applause" – though they hadn't applauded yet, but they did, right away, and said it was a good speech, and Mr. Crow said it reminded him that it was about dinner-time, and that he would need some more wood.

So Mr. 'Possum got right up to get the stove-wood again, which everybody thought was very good of Mr. 'Possum, who wasn't usually so spry and willing.

Then in the afternoon they had games again, but nice quiet games, for they were all glad to sit down, and they played "Button! Button! Who's Got the Button?" and nobody could tell when Mr. 'Possum had the button, for his face didn't show it, because he was nearly always looking straight into the fire, and seemed to be thinking about something away off. And when the fire got low, he always jumped up and offered to go down into the store-room after the wood, and they all said how willing and spry Mr. 'Possum was getting all at once, and when he stayed a good while down-stairs they didn't think anything about it – not at the time – or if they did they only thought he was picking out the best pieces to burn. They played "Drop the Handkerchief," too, and when they got through Mr. Rabbit performed some tricks with the handkerchief and the button that made even Mr. 'Possum pay attention because they were so wonderful.

There was one trick especially that Mr. Rabbit did a great many times because they liked it so much, and were so anxious to guess how it was done. Mr. Rabbit told them it was a trick that had come down to him from his thirty-second great-grandfather, and must never be told to any one.

It was a trick where he laid the button in the centre of the handkerchief and then folded the corners down on it, and pressed them down each time so that they could see that the button was still there, and he would let them press on it, too, to prove it, and then when he would lift up the handkerchief by the two corners nearest him there would be no button at all, and he would find it on the mantel-shelf or perhaps on Mr. Crow's bald head, or in Mr. 'Possum's pocket, or some place like that. But one time, when Mr. Rabbit had done it over and over, and maybe had grown a little careless, he lifted the handkerchief by the corners nearest him, and there was the button sticking fast, right in the centre of the handkerchief, for it had a little beeswax on it, to make it stick to one of the corners next to Mr. Rabbit, and by some mistake Mr. Rabbit had turned the button upside down!

Then they all laughed, and all began to try it for themselves, and Mr. Rabbit laughed too, though perhaps he didn't feel much like it, and told them that they had learned one of the greatest secrets in his family, and that he would now tell them the adage that went with it if they would promise never to tell either the secret or the adage, and they all promised, and Mr. Rabbit told them the adage, which was:

 
"When beeswax grows on the button-tree,
No one knows what the weather'll be."
 

"That," said Mr. Rabbit, "is a very old adage. I don't know what it means exactly, but I'm sure it means something, because old adages always do mean something, though often nobody can find out just what it is, and the less they seem to mean the better they are, as adages. There are a great many old adages in our family, and they have often got my ancestors out of trouble. When we didn't have an old one to fit the trouble we made a new one, and by-and-by it got old too, and useful in different ways, because by that time it didn't seem to mean anything special, and could be used almost anywhere."

Then the Deep Woods People all said there was never anybody who knew so much and could do so many things as Mr. Jack Rabbit, and how proud they all were to have him in their midst, and Mr. Rabbit showed them how to do all the tricks he knew, and they all practised them and tried them on each other until Mr. Crow said he must look after the supper, and Mr. 'Possum ran right off after an armful of stove-wood, and everybody helped with everything there was to do, for they were having such a good time and were so hungry.

And after supper they all sat around the fire again and smoked a little before anybody said anything, until by-and-by Mr. Rabbit said that they would go on now with the literary club, and that Mr. Robin might read the story he had mentioned the night before.

So Mr. Robin got up, and stood on a chair, and made a nice bow. He said it was not really his own story he had written, but one that his grandmother used to tell him sometimes, though he didn't think it had ever been put into a book.

Then Mr. Rabbit spoke up and said that that didn't matter, that of course everybody couldn't be original, and that the story itself was the main thing and the way you told it. He said if Mr. Robin would go right on with the story now it would save time. So then they all knocked the ashes out of their pipes – all except Mr. Robin, who began right off to read his story:

THE DISCONTENTED FOX

MR. ROBIN TELLS HOW A FOX LEARNED A GOOD LESSON BY TAKING A LONG JOURNEY

ONCE upon a time there was a Fox who lived at the foot of a hill and had a nice garden. One morning when he began to hoe in it he got tired, and the sun was very hot. Then the Fox didn't like to hoe any more, and made up his mind that it wasn't very pleasant to have a garden, anyway.

So then he started out to travel and find pleasant things. He put on his best clothes, and the first house he came to belonged to a Rabbit who kept bees. And the Rabbit showed the Fox his bees and how to take out the honey. And the Fox said, "What pleasant work!" and wanted to take out honey too. But when he did there was a bee on the honey, and it stung the Fox on the nose. And that hurt the Fox, and his nose began to swell up, and he said: "This is not pleasant work at all!" and of course it wasn't – not for him– though the Rabbit seemed to enjoy it more than ever.

So the Fox travelled on, and the next house he came to belonged to a Crow who made pies. And the Fox looked at him awhile and said, "What pleasant work!" And the Crow let the Fox help him, and when the Fox went to take a pie out of the oven he burnt his fingers quite badly. Then he said, "No, it is not pleasant work – not for me!" and that was true, though the Crow seemed to enjoy it more than ever.

So the Fox went on again, and the next house he came to belonged to a 'Coon who milked cows. And the Fox watched him milk, and pretty soon he said: "What pleasant work that is! Let me milk." So the 'Coon let the Fox milk, and the Cow put her foot in the milk-pail and upset it all over the Fox's nice new clothes. And the Fox was mad, and said: "This work is not in the least pleasant!" and he hurried away, though the 'Coon seemed to enjoy it more than ever.

And the next house the Fox came to belonged to a Cat who played the fiddle. And the Fox listened awhile and said: "What pleasant work that must be!" and he borrowed the Cat's fiddle. But when he started down the road playing, a Man ran around the corner and shot a loud gun at him, and that was not pleasant, either, though the Cat seemed to enjoy it more than ever.

So the Fox kept on travelling and doing things that he thought would be pleasant, but that did not turn out to be pleasant – not for him– until by-and-by he had travelled clear around the world and had come up on the other side, back to his own garden again. And his garden was just the same as he had left it, only the things had grown bigger, and there were some weeds.

And the Fox jumped over the fence and commenced to hoe the weeds, and pretty soon he said, "Why, this is pleasant!" Then he hoed some more, and said, "Why, what pleasant work this is!"

So he kept on hoeing and finding it pleasant until by-and-by the weeds were all gone, and the Rabbit and the Crow and the Cat and the 'Coon came and traded him honey and pies and milk and music for vegetables, because he had the best garden in the world. And he has yet!

When Mr. Robin got through and sat down, Mr. Squirrel spoke up and said it was a good story because it had a moral lesson in it and taught folks to like the things they knew best how to do, and Mr. 'Possum said yes, that might be so, but that the story couldn't be true, because none of those animals would have enjoyed seeing that Fox leave them, but would have persuaded him to stay and help them, and would have taught him to do most of the work.

Then Mr. Robin spoke up and said that Mr. 'Possum thought everybody was like himself, and that anyway Mr. 'Possum didn't need the lesson in that story, for he already liked to do the things he could do best, which were to eat and sleep and let other people do the work, though of course he had been very good about getting the wood, lately, which certainly was unusual.

Then Mr. 'Possum said he didn't see why Mr. Robin should speak in that cross way when he had only meant to be kind and show him the mistake in his story, so he could fix it right. And Mr. Rabbit said that as Mr. 'Possum seemed to know so much how stories and poems ought to be written, perhaps he'd show now what he could do in that line himself.

Mr. 'Possum said he hadn't written anything because it was too much trouble, but that he would tell them a story if they would like to hear it – something that had really happened, because he had been there, and was old enough to remember.

But before he began Mr. Robin said that as they had not cared much about his story he would like to recite a few lines he had thought of, which would perhaps explain how he felt, and all the animals said, "Of course, go right on," and Mr. Robin bowed and recited a little poem he had made, called

ONLY ME

By C. Robin

 
How came a little bird like me
A place in this fine group to win?
My mind is small – it has to be —
The little place I keep it in.
How came a little bird like me
To be here in the Hollow Tree?
 
 
When all the others know so much,
And are so strong and gifted too,
How can I dare to speak of such
As I can know, and think, and do?
How can a little bird like me
Belong here in the Hollow Tree?
 

Well, when Mr. Robin finished that, all the others spoke right up and said that Mr. Robin must never write anything so sad as that again. They said his story was just as good as it could be, and that Mr. Robin was one of the smartest ones there; and Mr. 'Possum burst into tears, and said that he hadn't meant anything at all by what he had said about the story, and that some time, when they were all alone, Mr. Robin must tell it to him again, and he would try to have sense enough to understand it.

Then he ran over to Mr. Robin, and was going to embrace him and weep on his shoulder, and would very likely have mashed him if Mr. Turtle hadn't dragged him back to his seat and told him that he had done damage enough to people's feelings without killing anybody, and the best thing he could do now would be to go on with a story of his own if he had any.

But Mr. 'Possum said he was too sleepy now, so Mr. Dog sang the poem which he had promised the evening before because, he said, singing would be a nice thing to go to sleep on. Mr. Dog's song was called

THE CAT WHO WOULD BE KING

 
There was cat who kept a store,
With other cats for customers.
His milk and mice
All packed in ice —
His catnip all in canisters.
 
 
Fresh milk he furnished every day —
Two times a day and sometimes three —
And so this cat
Grew rich and fat
And proud as any cat could be.
 
 
But though so fat and rich he grew
He was not satisfied at all —
At last quoth he,
"A king I'll be
Of other cats both great and small."
 
 
Then hied he to the tinner cat,
Who made for him a tinsel crown,
And on the street,
A king complete,
He soon went marching up and down.
 
 
Now, many cats came out to see,
And some were filled with awe at him;
While some, alack,
Behind his back
Did laugh and point a paw at him.
 
 
Mice, milk, and catnip did he scorn;
He went to business less and less —
And everywhere
He wore an air
Of arrogance and haughtiness.
 
 
His clerks ate catnip all day long —
They spent much time in idle play;
They left the mice
From off the ice —
They trusted cats who could not pay.
 
 
While happy in his tin-shop crown
Each day the king went marching out,
Elate because
He thought he was
The kind of king you read about.
 
 
But lo, one day, he strolled too far,
And in a dim and dismal place
A cat he met,
Quite small, and yet
A solemn look was in his face.
 
 
One fiery eye this feline wore —
A waif he was of low degree —
No gaudy dress
Did he possess,
Nor yet a handsome cat was he.
 
 
But lo, he smote that spurious king
And stripped him of his tinsel crown,
Then like the wind
Full close behind
He chased His Highness into town.
 
 
With cheers his subjects saw him come.
He did not pause – he did not stop,
But straight ahead
He wildly fled
Till he was safe within his shop.
 
 
He caught his breath and gazed about —
A sorry sight did he behold:
No catnip there
Or watchful care —
No mice and milk and joy of old.
 
 
He heaved a sigh and dropped a tear —
He sent those idle clerks away —
Quoth he, "My pride
Is satisfied;
This kingdom business does not pay."
 
 
With care once more he runs his store,
His catnip all in canisters —
His milk and mice
All packed in ice,
And humbly serves his customers.
 

MR. 'POSSUM'S GREAT STORY

MR. 'POSSUM TELLS THE STRANGE ADVENTURES OF THE 'POSSUM FAMILY, TO THE SURPRISE OF HIS FRIENDS

"NOW this," said the Story Teller, "is the story that Mr. 'Possum told the 'Snowed-In' Literary Club in the Hollow Tree. It must be a true story, because Mr. 'Possum said so, and, besides, anybody that knows Mr. 'Possum would know that he could never in the world have made it up out of his head."

The Little Lady doesn't quite like that.

"But Mr. 'Possum is smart," she says. "He knows ever so much."

"Oh yes, of course, and that's why he never has to make up things. He just tells what he knows, and this time he told

HOW UNCLE SILAS AND AUNT MELISSY MOVED

"You may remember," he said, "my telling you once about Uncle Silas and Aunt Melissy Lovejoy, who lived in a nice place just beyond the Wide Paw-paw Hollows, and how Uncle Silas once visited Cousin Glenwood in town and came home all dressed up, leading a game chicken, and with a bag of shinny-sticks, and a young man to wait on him; and how Aunt Melissy – instead of being pleased, as Uncle Silas thought she would be – got mad when she saw him, and made him and the young man take off all their nice clothes and go to work in the garden, and kept them at it with that bag of shinny-sticks until fall.²

"Well, this story is about them, too. I went to live with them soon after that, because I lost both of my parents one night when Mr. Man was hunting in the Black Bottoms for something to put in a pan with some sweet potatoes he had raised that year, and I suppose I would have been used with sweet potatoes too if I hadn't come away from there pretty lively instead of trying our old playing-dead trick on Mr. Man and his friends.

"I thought right away that Mr. Man might know the trick, so I didn't wait to try it myself, but took out for the Wide Paw-paw Hollows, to visit Uncle Silas Lovejoy, who was an uncle on my mother's side, and Aunt Melissy and my little cousins; and they all seemed glad to see me, especially my little cousins, until they found they had to give me some of their things and most of their food, because I was young and growing, besides being quite sad about my folks, and so, of course, had to eat a good deal to keep well and from taking my loss too hard.

"But by-and-by Uncle Lovejoy said that he didn't believe that he and the hired man – who was the same one he had brought home to wait on him when he came from town – to be his valet, he said – though he got to be a hired man right after Aunt Melissy met him and got hold of the shinny-sticks – Aunt Melissy being a spry, stirring person who liked to see people busy. I remember how she used to keep me and my little cousins busy until sometimes I wished I had stayed with my folks and put up with the sweet potatoes and let Uncle Silas and his family alone."

Mr. 'Possum stopped to light his pipe, and Mr. Rabbit said that he supposed, of course, Mr. 'Possum knew his story and how to tell it, but that if he ever intended to finish what Uncle Lovejoy had said about himself and the hired man he wished he'd get at it pretty soon.

Mr. 'Possum said of course he meant to, as soon as he could get his breath, and think a minute. "Well, then," he said, "Uncle Silas told Aunt Melissy that he didn't believe he and the hired man could raise and catch enough for the family since I had come to stay with them, and he thought they had better move farther west to a place where the land was better and where Mr. Man's chickens were not kept up in such close, unhealthy places, but were allowed to roost out in the open air, on the fences and in the trees. He said he didn't think their house was quite stylish enough either, which he knew would strike Aunt Melissy, who was a Glenwood, and primpy, and fond of the best things.

"So then we began to pack up right away, and Uncle Silas and Aunt Melissy quarrelled a good deal about what was worth taking and what wasn't, and they took turns scolding the hired man about a good many things he didn't do and almost all of the things he did do, and my little cousins and I had a fine time running through the empty rooms and playing with things we had never seen before, but we had to keep out of Aunt Melissy's reach if we wanted to enjoy it much.

"Well, by-and-by we were all packed up and ready to start. We had everything in bundles or tied together, and Aunt Melissy had arranged a big bundle for Uncle Silas to carry, and several things to tie and hang about on his person in different places, and she had fixed up the hired man too, besides some bundles for me and my little cousins.

"Aunt Melissy said she would take charge of the lunch-basket and lead the way, and she was all dressed up and carried an umbrella, and didn't look much as if she belonged to the rest of our crowd.

"It was pretty early when we started, for it was getting dangerous to camp out in that section, and we wanted to get as far as we could the first day, though we didn't any of us have any idea then how long a trip we would make that day, nor of the way we were going to make it. Nobody could guess a guess like that, even if he was the best guesser in the world and made his living that way."

Mr. 'Possum stopped to light his pipe again, and said that if anybody wanted a chance to guess how far they went that first day and how they travelled, they could guess now. But the Hollow Tree People said they didn't want to guess, and they did want Mr. 'Possum to go ahead and tell them about it.

"Well," said Mr. 'Possum, "we travelled fifty miles that first day, and we travelled it in less than two hours."

"Fifty miles in two hours!" said all the Hollow Tree People. And Jack Rabbit said:

"Why, a menagerie like that couldn't travel fifty miles in two years!"

"But we did, though," said Mr. 'Possum; "we travelled it in a balloon."

"In a balloon!"

"Well, not exactly in a balloon, but with a balloon. It happened just as I'm going to tell you.

"We went along pretty well until we got to the Wide Grass Lands, though Aunt Melissy scolded Uncle Silas a good deal because he got behind and didn't stand up in a nice stylish way with all the things he had to carry, and she used her umbrella once on the hired man because he dropped the clock.

"When we got out to the Wide Grass Lands there was a high east wind blowing, getting ready for a storm, and when we got on top of a little grassy hill close to the Wide Blue Water it blew Uncle Silas and the hired man so they could hardly stand up, and it turned Aunt Melissy's umbrella wrong side out, which made her mad, and she said that it was Uncle Silas's fault and mine, and that she had never wanted to move anyway.

"But just then one of my little cousins looked up in the sky and said, 'Oh, look at that funny bird!' and we all looked up, and there was a great big long bag of a thing coming right toward us, not very high up, and Uncle Silas spoke up and said 'That's a balloon,' for Uncle Silas had seen one in town when he was there visiting Cousin Glenwood, and the hired man, too. Then while we were all standing there watching it, we saw that there was a long rope that hung from the balloon most to the ground, and that it had something tied to the end of it (a big iron thing with a lot of hooks on it), and that it was swooping down straight toward us.

"Uncle Silas called out as loud as he could, 'That's the anchor! Look out!' but it was too late to look out, for it was coming as fast as the wind blew the balloon, and Uncle Silas and the hired man being loaded with the things couldn't move very quick, and the rest of us were too scared to know which way to jump, and down came that thing right among us, and I saw it catch among Uncle Silas's furniture and the hired man's, and I heard Uncle Silas say, 'Grab hold, all of you!' and we all did, some one way and some another, and away we went.

"Well, it was certainly very curious how we all were lucky enough to get hold of that anchor, with all our bundles and things; but of course we could do it better than if we had not been given those nice useful tails which belong to our family. I had hold that way, and some of the others did, too. Uncle Silas didn't need to hold on at all, for some of the furniture was tied to him, and he just sat back in a chair that was hung on behind and took it easy, though he did drop some of his things when he first got aboard, and Aunt Melissy scolded him for that as soon as she caught her breath and got over being frightened and was sitting up on her part of the anchor enjoying the scenery.

"I never had such a trip as that before, and never expect to have one again. The balloon went over the Wide Blue Water just after it got our family, and we were all afraid we would be let down in it and drowned; but the people who were in the balloon threw out something heavy which we thought at first they were throwing at us, but it must have been something to make the balloon go up; for we did go up until Aunt Melissy said if we'd just get a little nearer one of those clouds she'd step out on it and live there, as she'd always wanted to do since she was a child.

"Then we all sat up and held on tight, above and below, and said what a nice day it was to travel, and that we'd always travel that way hereafter; and Uncle Silas and the hired man unhooked their furniture, so they could land easier when the time came, and Aunt Melissy passed around the lunch, and we looked down and saw the water and the land again and a lot of houses and trees, and Aunt Melissy said that nobody could ever made her believe the world was that big if she hadn't seen it with her own eyes.

"And Uncle Silas and the hired man said that of course this was going pretty fast, but that they had travelled a good deal faster sometimes when they were in town with Cousin Glenwood, and pretty soon he showed us the town where Cousin Glenwood lived, and he and the hired man tried to point out the house to us, but they couldn't agree about which it was because the houses didn't look the same from up there in the air as they did from down on the ground.

"I know I shall never forget that trip. We saw ever so many different Mr. Men and Mr. Dogs, and animals of every kind, and houses that had chimneys taller than any tree, and a good many things that even Uncle Silas did not know about. Then by-and-by we came to some woods again – the biggest kind of Big Deep Woods – and we saw that we were getting close to the tree-tops, and we were all afraid we would get hit by the branches and maybe knocked off with our things.

"And pretty soon, sure enough, that anchor did drop right down among the trees, and such a clapping and scratching as we did get!

"We shut our eyes and held on, and some of our furniture was brushed off of Uncle Silas and the hired man, and Aunt Melissy lost her umbrella, and I lost a toy chicken, which I could never find again. Then all at once there was a big sudden jerk that jarred Uncle Silas loose, and made Aunt Melissy holler that she was killed, and knocked the breath out of the rest of us for a few minutes.

"But we were all there, and the anchor was fast on the limb of a big tree – a tree almost as big as the Hollow Tree, and hollow, just like it, with a nice handy place to go in.

"So when we got our senses back we picked up all our things that we could find, and moved into the new place, and Aunt Melissy looked at the clock, which was still running, and it was just a little over two hours since we started.

"Then pretty soon we heard Mr. Man and his friends who had been up in the balloon coming, and we stayed close inside till they had taken the anchor and everything away, and after that, when it was getting dark, Uncle Silas and the hired man went out and found, not very far off, where there were some nice chickens that roosted in handy places, and brought home two or three, and Aunt Melissy set up the stove and cooked up a good supper, and we all sat around the kitchen fire, and the storm that the east wind had been blowing up came along sure enough and it rained all night, but we were snug and dry, and went to sleep mostly in beds made down on the floor, and lay there listening to the rain and thinking what a nice journey we'd had and what a good new home we'd found.

"And it was a good place, for I lived there till I grew up, and if I'm not mistaken some of Uncle Silas's and Aunt Melissy's children live there still. I haven't heard from any of them for a long time, but I am thinking of going on a visit over that way in the spring, and if that balloon is still running I'm going to travel with it.