A Tale from the Skidway 55 



and twenty-five feet tall, and sixty feet up to 

 the first limb. 



" ' My great-grandfather said he could re- 

 member when it was much smaller, and his 

 great-grandfather remembered when it was 

 not much taller than a man. It seems like 

 sacrilege to sell such a tree/ 



" ' Pooh,' said the lumber merchant. ' If it 

 stays here it will some day fall to earth of 

 old age and then it will do no one any good. 

 What is your price for the tree? ' 



" ' One hundred and fifty dollars,' said my 

 owner, ' and I would not sell it at that price 

 if I didn't need the money. This pine is the 

 most majestic and beautiful thing on the farm 

 and I feel as though I was selling my own 

 great-great-grandfather.' 



" The lumber merchant looked up at my 

 straight symmetrical bowl and measured me 

 with his eye. To his matter-of-fact vision I 

 was just so many thousand feet of sawed 

 lumber. It was plain to see that I pleased 

 him, for he rubbed his hands together in a 

 satisfied way and said, * I'll take it.' 



