"In the valley, green and neat,
I see the print of little feet,
And way, way yonder in the glen
I see a host of little men."
"Dear me!" sighed Mary Louise. "I am too tired to walk any further."
"Jump on my back!" cried a happy voice, and up trotted a little pony named Dapple Gray.
"Oh, how nice," laughed Mary Louise, and climbing up on the saddle, rode off on this pretty little pony, and pretty soon, not so very far, they came to the place where the little men were at work. And what do you suppose they were doing. Why, you'd never guess if I gave you until the 4th of July.
They were making maple sugar out of the sap from the maple trees. First they boiled the sap in great big pots and then put it away to cool in queer little dishes of various shapes, and when the sugar hardened it was in the forms of funny little fish, queer little houses, strange animals, and, goodness knows, what not.
"Oh, we are the Sugar Candy Men,
And we work all day in the snow
To make the maple sugar cakes
To sell in the town below,"
sang one little man who wore a red peaked hat and long turned-up pointed shoes.
But when little Mary Louise rode up, they all stopped their work and looked at her, and the little man with the long turned up pointed shoes pulled off his red peaked cap and asked:
"What brings you here, Mary Louise? Are you fond of maple sugar candy?"
"I know lots of little boys and girls who are," answered Mary Louise with a smile.