104 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
mother. Then he went to the shed to look over the collec- 
tion of bits of old wood that he had both begged and 
gathered far and near for the making of bird-houses. 
A neighbour, who was re-covering his cowshed roof with 
galvanized iron, had let Tommy pick up as many mossy 
shingles as he could carry, and some of these were really 
beautiful with tufts of gray lichens, some with bright red 
tips, blending with mosses of many soft shades of green. 
Tommy selected from the assortment as large a bundle 
as he could carry, and, after cording it securely, went to 
the house to tidy up, for Gray Lady had asked the chil- 
dren of the Kind Hearts’ Club to come at nine o’clock this 
first Saturday, for it would take them some time to look 
at the play and work rooms before settling down to doll- 
dressing and bird-house making. As he crossed the 
kitchen, his mother, who was kneading bread, pointed a 
floury finger toward a garment that hung over the back 
of achair. Tommy picked it up, and then his usual boy- 
ish indifference, which he kept up at home even when he 
was pleased, broke down and he gave an exclamation of 
delight, for there was a new carpenter’s apron with a 
pocket for nails in front, the whole being made of sub- 
stantial blue jean, precisely like the one worn by Jacob 
Hughes himself. 
Gray Lady had asked as many of the boys as owned 
overalls to bring them. 'Tommy’s were very old and had 
many patches, besides being smeared with paint, and he 
hated to have dainty Goldilocks see them, so it seemed to 
the boy that his mother must have seen straight into his 
mind (as mothers have a way of doing) and read what 
he most needed. 
