"I don't know exactly," said mother, "five or six years I should think. But the maple has the story of each birthday shut up safe inside its trunk. If the tree should blow down, or we should ever cut it down we could tell how many years it had lived.
"Each year a layer of soft green wood grows right next to the bark, and when winter comes this wood hardens until it is like the other wood. So when the tree is cut down we see in rings of wood the number of years it has been growing."
—Zelia Margaret Walters.
Hanging Out Signs.
Grace had a sprained ankle when the new little girl moved next door. One afternoon a week later mother came in to tell Grace that the new little girl had come over for a visit.
"I'm glad," said Grace. "Please bring her up, mother, I like her."
"Why," said mother, "you've never seen her."
"Yes, but I could hear her every day from my window," said Grace. "I heard her talk to her little brother, and she's so kind and jolly, and she never says mean things to the dog, and when her mother calls, she says, 'yes, mother,' just as pleasant, and runs right away to see what she wants. She's always singing, too. I know she's nice."