The painter's overalls were made of strong white cloth, and they were all splashed up with paint, all colors. But he had painted a great deal more than David had. So David finished the clapboard, and then he got up on his feet, and the foreman took him and lifted him down to the ground. "Thank you," said the painter. "Thank you," said the other painter. "You're welcome," David said. "Good-bye." "Good-bye," said both the painters. And David began to run to his cart. "Good-bye, Davie," the foreman said. David stopped a moment and looked around. "Good-bye," he said. Then his cat came running to meet him, and he grabbed up the handle of his cart, and he kept on running, dragging his cart, and his shovel and his hoe rattled away like everything in the bottom of it. And when he got to his house, he didn't stop running, but just dropped the handle of the cart, and he climbed up the steps as fast as he could and ran into the house. "Mother," he called, "I painted two boards and I got some paint on my overalls. But you ought to see the painter's overalls. They're _awful_ painty." And that's all. IX THE TREE-MEN STORY Once upon a time there was a little boy, and he was almost five years old, and his name was David. And there weren't any other children near for him to play with, so he used to play happily all by himself. He had his cat and his cart and his shovel and his hoe, and he always wore his overalls when he was playing. Behind David's house were some thin woods. And in those woods were oak trees, several kinds, but he didn't know the difference between the kinds. And there were cedar trees and chestnut trees and birch trees of three kinds; and there were white pine trees and pitch pine trees, and the pitch pine trees were sticky all over. David knew the pitch pine trees, because he had got his clothes all covered with their stickiness. And there were a few great sycamore trees, and some ash trees, and some beech trees, and a lot of other kinds that I can't remember the names of. All summer there were lots of birds in these woods and about the edge of them; and in the winter, when all those summer birds had gone away, other birds came. And four blue jays stayed there all the year, and the crows stayed, of course, but they didn't live in those woods especially. And there were chickadees and juncos, which are one kind of snowbird; and there were a lot of little birds which looked like sparrows, and there were red-polled linnets, and occasionally a flock of cedar-birds would cover the cedars like gray snowflakes, and once David's mother called him to come quick and see the pine grosbeaks. And when David came, he saw a great flock of birds which looked gray, but three of them had the most beautiful rose-colored feathers on their breasts and shoulders and heads, making them look as if they had tied rose-colored aprons about their necks. David watched them until they flew away.