“Why, I saw the stone lying a little way off, half in the ground, and I went, one day, and got my little hoe, which my father bought for me when I was about as large as you are, to hoe my garden with; and with that I dug the stone out. Then I brought down a little iron bar, and pried it up. My sister put stones under to keep it from falling back again into its old place. At last I got it up so high, that she could put a pole under; and at length we got it entirely out of its hole. Then we pried it along, one end at a time; and finally we got it in its place, and I pried it up, and my sister put the stones under which keep it up.”
Then Lucy looked under the seat, and found that at each end there were several flat stones, one over the other, forming a little pile; and the stone seat rested upon them.
“But, Mary Jay,” said Lucy, “why didn’t you get your father to come and do it for you?”
“Because,” said Mary Jay, “my father is always busy at his work; and, besides, I knew that I should enjoy my seat a great deal more, to do it all myself.”
“But then your sister helped you,” said Lucy.
“Yes,” replied Mary Jay, “my sister helped me; and she and I own the seat together. I come down here sometimes to read.”
“I wish,” said Lucy, “that you would let me come down here sometimes, and study my lesson.”
“Well,” said Mary Jay, “when you get so that you can go alone, I will. If you are down here, there will be nobody to watch you, or help you when you are in difficulty, so that it will be of no use for you to come until you can go alone.”
After this, Lucy and Mary Jay walked slowly back to the house.