So they wandered over the Green Meadows, Polly leading
the way. Johnny had learned by this time to waste
no time digging. And he had made up his mind
to one thing. What do you think it was? It
was this: He would follow Polly until she found
a place to suit him, but when she did find such a
place she shouldn’t have a chance to change her
mind again.
A NEW HOME AT LAST
Home, no matter where
it be,
Or it be big or small,
Is just the one place
in the world
That dearest is of all.
Johnny Chuck was thinking of this as he worked with
might and main. It was a new house that he was
building, but already he felt that it was home, and
every time he thought of it he felt a queer little
tugging at his heart. You see, while it was his
home, it was Polly Chuck’s home, too, and that
made it doubly dear to Johnny Chuck, even before it
was finished.
And where do you think Johnny was building his new
home? It was clear way over on the edge of Farmer
Brown’s old orchard! Yes, Sir, after all
the fuss Johnny Chuck had made over any other Chuck
living on the Green Meadows, and after driving the
old gray Chuck back to the Old Pasture, Johnny Chuck
had left the Green Meadows himself!
It wasn’t of his own accord that Johnny Chuck
had left the Green Meadows. No, indeed!
He loved them too well for that. But he loved
Polly Chuck more, and although he had grumbled a little,
he had followed her up to the old orchard, and now
they were going to stay there. Sometimes Johnny
shivered when he thought how near were Farmer Brown
and Farmer Brown’s boy and Bowser the Hound.
He had never been so far from his old home on the
Green Meadows before, and it was all very strange
up here. It was very lovely, too. Besides,
it was in this very old orchard that Polly Chuck had
been born, and she knew every part of it. Johnny
felt better when he found that out. So he set
to work to build a home, and this time he meant business.
Polly Chuck could change her mind as many times as
she pleased; that was going to be their home and that
was where they were going to live.
Now Johnny Chuck had grown wise in the ways of the
world since he first ran away from the home where
he was born. Twice since then he had built a
new home, and now this would be better than either
of the others. He paid no heed to Polly, when
she pouted because he did not dig where she wanted
him to. He went from tree to tree, big old apple-trees
they were, and at the very last tree, way down in a
corner near a tumbled-down stone wall, he found what
he wanted—two spreading roots gave him
a chance to dig between them.
Polly watched him get ready for work and she pouted
some more.
“It would be a lot nicer out in that grassy
place, and a lot easier to dig,” said she.
