“It seems to me that some one named Peter learned a great deal about his own family when he first came to school to me,” said Old Mother Nature. Peter had grace enough to hang his head and look ashamed. “Of course you may stay, Paddy. In fact, I want you to. There are some things I shall want you to explain. That is why we are holding school over here this morning. Just come up here on your dam where we can all get a good look at you.” Paddy the Beaver climbed out on his dam. It was the first time Happy Jack Squirrel ever had seen him out of water, and Happy Jack gave a little gasp of surprise. “I had no idea he is so big!” he exclaimed. “He is the biggest of all the Rodents in this country, and one of the biggest in all the Great World. Also he is the smartest member of the whole order,” said Old Mother Nature. “He doesn't look it,” said Chatterer the Squirrel with a saucy jerk of his tail. “Which means, I suppose, that you haven't the least doubt that you are quite as smart as he,” said Old Mother Nature quietly, and Chatterer looked both guilty and a little bit ashamed. “I'll admit that you are smart, Chatterer, but often it is in a wrong way. Paddy is smart in the very best way. He is a lumberman, builder and engineer. A lot of my little people are workers, but they are destructive workers. The busier they are, the more they destroy. Paddy the Beaver is a constructive worker. That means that he is a builder instead of a destroyer.” “How about all those trees he cuts down? If that isn't destroying, I don't know what is!” said Chatterer, and with each word jerked his tail as if somehow his tongue and tail were connected. “So it is,” replied Old Mother Nature good-naturedly. “But just think of the number of trees you destroy.” “I never have destroyed a tree in my life!” declared Chatterer indignantly. “Yes, you have,” retorted Old Mother Nature. “I never have!” contradicted Chatterer, quite forgetting to whom he was speaking. But Old Mother Nature overlooked this. “I don't suppose you ever ate a chestnut or a fat hickory nut or a sweet beechnut,” said she softly. “Of course,” retorted Chatterer sharply. “I've eaten ever and ever and ever so many of them. What of it?” In the heart of each one was a little tree, explained Old Mother Nature. “But for you very many of those little trees would have sprung up and some day would have made big trees. So you see for every tree Paddy has destroyed you probably have destroyed a hundred. You eat the nuts that you may live. Paddy cuts down the trees that he may live, for the bark of those trees is his food. Like Prickly Porky he lives chiefly on bark. But, unlike Prickly Porky, he doesn't destroy a tree for the bark alone. He wastes nothing. He makes use of every bit of that tree. He does something for the Green Forest in return for the trees he takes.”