WHEN DOGWOOD BLOOMS 57 



I began to listen very sharply, for he is the 

 queer neighbor whom nobody likes, and yet every- 

 body calls him Uncle Hiram. 



Philip went on : "I climbed right up one of 

 his Dogwood trees, took out my jack-knife, and 

 had cut off three big branches when I heard a 

 great, gruff voice calling out to me. I knew it 

 must belong to Uncle Hiram. Before I could get 

 down and run, he was under the tree, and held up in 

 the air a monstrous shining saw. It was the big- 

 gest saw in the whole world. 



"'Come down from there 1' Uncle Hiram 

 called. ' Come down and let me saw your arms 

 off ; it's a good thing for such young chaps as you 

 to know how it feels to be without a limb or two I ' 



" I wasn't frightened, of course, only I thought 

 it best to stay up in the very top of that 

 tree. It was more than half a day before I came 

 down, and when I did I had promised Uncle 

 Hiram never to cut off a Dogwood limb again as 

 long as I lived. Uncle Hiram knows I mean to 

 keep my word, and he talks with me sometimes 

 now. He says I'll make a more useful man than 

 if he had taken my arms off that day." 



We were near Old Adam when Philip told us 

 this story, and the sun was shining very brightly. 

 The rock looked much whiter than on days when 

 clouds hang over the sun. I was just telling Sallie 

 that before she went home we were to have a 

 picnic, and eat our luncheon on Old Adam, when 



