might as well see him now because your grandmother will want to show
you the chickens when she comes out. We'll lock this door so Mrs. Pig
can't get out into the front barn yard again, and then we'll cross the
road and I'll show you something you'll like."

"Will it be big?" asked Mary Jane as she skipped along beside him.

"Middling big and middling little," answered Grandfather.

"Will it be brown or gray?" asked Mary Jane, thinking of the cow and
the pigs.

"Neither," said Grandfather.

That puzzled Mary Jane, but she couldn't think of anything else to
guess so she kept her eyes carefully ahead as they went down the yard
and across the road, in hopes she Would see the surprise quicker that
way.

Across the road from Grandfather's house was a strip of wooded land
which Grandfather had let grow wild. Grandmother loved the trees and
the wild flowers and liked to feel that they were near to her.

"Oh!" exclaimed Mary Jane as they crossed the road, "see those trees!
Are those the surprise?"

"My, no!" replied Grandfather; "those are only a couple of wild crab
trees--they do look pretty full of bloom as they are, don't they? But
the surprise is a real, live, running around surprise. Here, let me
boost you over the fence; that's more fun than a dozen gates." He set