"It's a hard world!" sobbed the Little Red House, squeezing out
another tear.

"Listen!" cried the Big Blue-gum. "Do you hear THAT?"

From far away on the distant ranges came a dull, moaning sound. As
they listened it grew louder, and right in the middle of of it came
another sound--Thump!

"That's wind," said the Blue-gum; "and a big wind, too."

"Let it come!" sighed the Little Red House. "I couldn't be more
miserable than I am."

As he spoke, the moaning grew louder, and there were three or four
quite big thumps one after another.

"What's that thumping?" asked the little House.

"Those are my poor brothers," answered the big Blue-gum very sadly,
"Those are trees going down before the big wind. The birds were
bringing me messages from those poor fellows quite lately; and now I
shall never hear from them again. It's very sad."

"I never thought the wind could blow down big trees," said the Little
House.

"No tree knows when his time will come," the big Blue-gum answered
gravely. "I've had some very narrow escapes in my time, as tree and
sapling on this mountain."