“Aw, I got to go home,” Bony said. But he came back. He knew what Swatty
would do to him if he didn't. So then Swatty made a face at the pieces
of old stump.
“Garsh!” he said. “Garsh! who'd of thunk anybody cared for that old
stump? We didn't know Ladylove cared that much for it, did we? Well,
come on!”
“Come on where?” Bony sort of whined.
“Where do you think?” Swatty asked. “What do I care where? Anywhere we
can get a tree to plant--that's where. We'll get a big tree, like those
maple trees, and we'll fetch it here and plant it; that's what we'll
do! I'll tell you what. We'll take the capstan rope and go out to the
cow pasture and dig up a big tree and let my cow drag it here. We'll
play she's a team of oxen.”
Well, we got to fighting about who would drive the team of oxen and who
would ride on the tree, and we forgot all about being ashamed of pulling
up the stump. We took a spade and the axe, and went out to the pasture,
but when we saw how big a big tree was, we guessed we'd get one that
wasn't so big, and then we guessed we'd get one that wasn't as big
as that, because Swatty said he didn't want his cow to strain herself
pulling it. So the one we got wasn't very big, after all, but it was
more of a tree than that old rotten stump was. It was a willow tree. We
got a willow tree after we'd tried to dig up the roots of an elm tree.
Swatty said that a willow tree didn't need any roots.
The cow didn't like pulling a tree very well, but she got used to it
before we got home--only we couldn't ride on such a little tree. We had
to take turns being the ox-driver. But we got home all right and dug a
hole where the old stump had been, and we planted the tree. She looked
bully. She looked almost like a real tree. So then I went into the house
to get my grandmother, to show her, so she wouldn't feel so bad about
the old stump.
I guess she had forgotten all about it. She was sitting by the window,
reading the limber-backed psalm-book, and when I came in she looked up
and smiled.
“Come on out in the yard, Ladylove,” I said. “I want to show you what me
and Bony and Swatty did.”
She closed the psalm-book with her glasses inside and put the book on
her sewing-table and went with me. I took her right to where the tree
was.
“There!” I said. “Me and Bony and Swatty planted a new tree for you
where that old stump was.”