Spilogue 



A tree can be a swing and a slide and a jungle gym, and for many 

 children, my special apple tree has been all these things. But for many 

 other youngsters for my own four grandchildren, I am glad to say 

 it has been more. For them as for me, it is an enchanted place. 



Here they first saw a determined robin building her nest from bits 

 of grass and pellets of mud. Here they first watched a golden spider 

 weaving a web between goldenrod stalks. Here they spied a timid, 

 tiny, whitefooted mouse scurrying through orchard grass, searching 

 for weed seeds. 



A child who sees with clear eyes will perceive the excitement, sense 

 the mysteries, and catch the rhythm and the meanings of nature's work. 

 The enchanted place need not be an apple orchard; always, nearby, 

 there is a park or a lake or a brook or a garden. We speed down high- 

 ways without seeing the places where the wild creatures live, where 

 things fly or walk or crawl or grow toward the sun. When we pause, 

 when children and parents together learn to look and listen, the world 

 is suddenly a richer place. 



It is far better to become friends with a staring owl in an old apple 

 tree than to see a hundred stuffed owls in a museum. You can read and 

 read about the friendliness of almost all of nature's creatures, but how 

 much better it is to learn this lesson from an opossum or a sparrow 

 hawk or even from a black and white striped skunk. That little fellow 

 is aloof, but he's amiable unless he believes that you are about to attack 

 him. Yet even then he tries to ease the situation. First he stops in his 

 tracks and eyes you intently, as if asking you to leave. Then as a second 

 warning he slowly moves his head from side to side and stamps the 

 ground with his forepaws. Finally he raises his long bushy tail and arches 



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