Every one else read it also , and the whole table was in a roar , for the trick had been whispered about ; so every one understood the sequel . Emil , Ned , and Tommy did not know where to look , and had not a word to say for themselves ; so they wisely joined in the laugh , cut up the melons , and handed them round , saying , what all the rest agreed to , that Stuffy had taken a wise and merry way to return good for evil . Dan had no garden , for he was away or lame the greater part of the summer ; so he had helped Silas wherever he could , chopped wood for Asia , and taken care of the lawn so well , that Mrs. Jo always had smooth paths and nicely shaven turf before her door . When the others got in their crops , he looked sorry that he had so little to show ; but as autumn went on , he bethought himself of a woodland harvest which no one would dispute with him , and which was peculiarly his own . Every Saturday he was away alone to the forests , fields , and hills , and always came back loaded with spoils ; for he seemed to know the meadows where the best flag-root grew , the thicket where the sassafras was spiciest , the haunts where the squirrels went for nuts , the white oak whose bark was most valuable , and the little gold-thread vine that Nursey liked to cure the canker with . All sorts of splendid red and yellow leaves did Dan bring home for Mrs. Jo to dress her parlor with , graceful-seeded grasses , clematis tassels , downy , soft , yellow wax-work berries , and mosses , red-brimmed , white , or emerald green . `` I need not sigh for the woods now , because Dan brings the woods to me , '' Mrs. Jo used to say , as she glorified the walls with yellow maple boughs and scarlet woodbine wreaths , or filled her vases with russet ferns , hemlock sprays full of delicate cones , and hardy autumn flowers ; for Dan 's crop suited her well . The great garret was full of the children 's little stores and for a time was one of the sights of the house . Daisy 's flower seeds in neat little paper bags , all labelled , lay in a drawer of a three-legged table . Nan 's herbs hung in bunches against the wall , filling the air with their aromatic breath . Tommy had a basket of thistle-down with the tiny seeds attached , for he meant to plant them next year , if they did not all fly away before that time . Emil had bunches of pop-corn hanging there to dry , and Demi laid up acorns and different sorts of grain for the pets . But Dan 's crop made the best show , for fully one half of the floor was covered with the nuts he brought . All kinds were there , for he ranged the woods for miles round , climbed the tallest trees , and forced his way into the thickest hedges for his plunder . Walnuts , chestnuts , hazelnuts , and beechnuts lay in separate compartments , getting brown , and dry , and sweet , ready for winter revels . There was one butternut-tree on the place , and Rob and Teddy called it theirs . It bore well this year , and the great dingy nuts came dropping down to hide among the dead leaves , where the busy squirrels found them better than the lazy Bhaers . Their father had told them -LRB- the boys , not the squirrels -RRB- they should have the nuts if they would pick them up , but no one was to help . It was easy work , and Teddy liked it , only he soon got tired , and left his little basket half full for another day . But the other day was slow to arrive , and , meantime , the sly squirrels were hard at work , scampering up and down the old elm-trees stowing the nuts away till their holes were full , then all about the crotches of the boughs , to be removed at their leisure .
Their funny little ways amused the boys , till one day Silas said , `` Hev you sold them nuts to the XXXXX ? ''
Asia Daisy Demi Silas butternut-tree elm-trees left mosses squirrels wax-work