it cuts a circle an' comes back to the fellow, at throwed. I
can't see myself, an' I don't know how small I'm lookin'; but I'd
rather lose ten year o' my life 'an to have anybody catch me
lookin' as little as you do right now. I guess we look about the
way we feel in this world. I'm feelin' near the size o' Goliath
at present; but your size is such 'at it hustles me to see any
MAN in you at all. An' you wanted to make me feel small! My,
oh, my! An' you so young yet, too!

"An' if it hadn't a-compassed a matter o' breakin' your word,
what 'ud you want to kill the redbird for, anyhow? Who give you
rights to go 'round takin' such beauty an' joy out of the world?
Who do you think made this world an' the things 'at's in it?
Maybe it's your notion 'at somebody about your size whittled it
from a block o' wood, scattered a little sand for earth, stuck a
few seeds for trees, an' started the oceans with a waterin' pot!
I don't know what paved streets an' stall feedin' do for a man,
but any one 'at's lived sixty year on the ground knows 'at this
whole old earth is jest teemin' with work 'at's too big for
anything but a God, an' a mighty BIG God at that!

"You don't never need bother none 'bout the diskivries o'
science, for if science could prove 'at the earth was a red hot
slag broken from the sun, 'at balled an' cooled flyin' through
space until the force o' gravity caught an' held it, it doesn't
prove what the sun broke from, or why it balled an' didn't cool.
Sky over your head, earth under foot, trees around you, an' river
there--all full o' life 'at you ain't no mortal right to touch,
'cos God made it, an' it's His! Course, I know 'at He said
distinct 'at man was to have `dominion over the beasts o' the