72 THE TREE BOOK 



ing remains but a tiny scar on the stem where 

 they were attached. 



For a few days, the stems of the little maple 

 seedlings are a delicate green, with a skin of 

 leaf-like texture. They are so fragile we are 

 almost afraid to touch them, and a few meet 

 with disaster in a heavy wind. Gradually, how- 

 ever, the baby trunks stiffen and assume a 

 woody texture, and we decide to set out the most 

 promising ones, here and there on the lawn, in 

 places where we think their shade wiU be ap- 

 preciated in the years to come. We are very 

 careful to take up plenty of soil with them, so as 

 not to disturb the little rootlets, and the seed- 

 lings never seem to know that they have been 

 moved. They put out another pair of leaves, 

 the stems grow stouter, and we think happily of 

 the time when the birds will be nesting amid 

 their silvery temples. 



But alas, for "the best laid plans of mice and 

 men!" Brother Fred, whose business it is to 

 mow the lawn, turns in old Brindle to do the 

 stunt while he goes fishing, and when we get 

 home from school, all that remains of our pre- 

 cious seedlings is two poor forlorn little plant- 

 letB, both bitten back to their first two large 

 leaves ! It is most vexing, and we try to forget 



