io6 Next to the Ground 



abandoned crow's nest, or even a hawk's. 

 That certainly did look thriftless — still there 

 was something to be said on the other side. 

 Commonly Joe said it. The squirrels, he 

 told Patsy, knew it was fun to camp out — 

 their leaf-and-stick houses were no more than 

 camps. They did nothing but sleep in them, 

 and that only in chilly or damp weather. 

 They had the whole summer world for home 

 and playground. Why then should they weary 

 themselves to build fine houses ? They were 

 industrious enough, even forehanded, in the 

 fall. They did not wait for frost to open the 

 hickory-nut hulls and the chestnut burs, but 

 gnawed them through and carried the nuts to 

 their winter nests, beginning as soon as ever 

 the kernels were hard. They had sense as 

 well as thrift — sense enough not to mix in bit- 

 ter mast with their sweet stores, but foresight 

 enough to know they might come to need the 

 acorns. And so they buried them, down be- 

 side some rememberable tree, and left them 

 against the spring scarcity. He was not quite 

 sure as to the motive of the burying. He 

 knew the bitter acorns got sweet as they be- 

 gan to sprout — not a very tempting sweet, 

 and with still a rough tang under it, but a 

 sweet the squirrels might reasonably prefer to 

 the original flavor. Joe had tried a sprouting 

 acorn himself, to find out if germination 



