66 



Said the Maple Tree to the Red Cow, " Yon complain because 

 you have to walk for a drink of water. Is that not better than to 

 long for it and be obliged to wait until it comes to you from the 

 clouds ? All of us plant-fellows in this neighborhood need water 

 badly, and some whose roots do not extend deep into the soil have 

 suffered unto death. It is for this reason that the grass has famished 

 and you no longer find a nearby lunch as you found it earlier in the 

 season. I would, indeed, consider it a privilege to travel all day, if 

 I could then have a refresh- 

 ing drink. But alas ! when 

 I made this spot my liome, 

 it was to be the only place I 

 should ever live during all 

 my life. Food is as difficult 

 for me to obtain as water. 

 In the earlier part of the 

 season when ]-ains were 

 more plentiful, you found a 

 daily lunch within a stone's 

 throw of this spot ; but now 

 when there is nothino; here 



to your liking, you are able to wander to any part of the pasture in 

 search of the best food. I must content myself with what I can 

 find in this one spot. When a drought comes, like the present one, 

 and there is not enough moisture to satisfy ray thirst, nor to float 

 sufiicient plant-food to my roots, I must endure a double suffering 

 — thirst and hunger. In the cold weather you can seek the warm 

 and sunny side of a straw stack, while I must stand out here on this 

 bleak and unprotected knoll with the winds of winter whistling 

 through my bending limbs." 



" I should not complain," continued the Maple Tree, " for Nature 

 is kind to us all, and we can see her kindness if we look for it in the 

 right way. She has provided blessings for us all, but not of the 

 same kind or in the same way. She has planned that plants never 

 move their homes ; that where they make a start in life, there they 

 must remain. She affords all plants great opportunities, how- 



458 



39.— The red cmo. 



