St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1884-06-28
A TUSSLE WITH A TREE,

A TUSSLE WITH A TREE.
| imagined it would take me abou
hall an hour to put up some boxes fo
the accommodation of the blue bird:
amid the branches of the magniiicen
oak which stands in the rear of m,
house
This oak is the pride of my estate
1t is erect, lofty, symmetrical. now il
Its fullest vigor-a temple not built
with hands-more marvellous in con.
struction than any palace ever erected
and, In my brother mans estimation,
good chiefly for tirewood or railroad
lies.
In the endeavor to place the bird
houses on it ! find that perversity dwe.ls
among its branches. Or perhaps its
desire Is not to be meddled with in any
way-a feature of stroug character
and marked individuality, whether in
men. women or oaks.
wanted to put the boxes on the oak
about twenty feet from the ground. l
erected a ladder against the Tree. The
tree refused to allow the ladder to rest
solidly against its massive trunk.
Whichever way directed that ladder
1t fell against small but stout branches
stout as steel springs. These fought
the ladder and warded it off against
too near approach.
/ tried to insinuate the ladder between
these grabbed. obstinate little branches
They resisted intelligently all such tac-
tics. Where the ladders end edged in
little on one side, cats claw of a
10 - Al.
other. Meantime /, myself. the human,
moving machine at the ladders foot,
was expending much force in these vain
efforts. For it was an old and very
heavy ladder-a house painters ladder.
l saw that must cut these branches
oil. l could not reach them from the
ground so to do. Nor could saw them
of by getting on the ladder as it leaned
against them, since to do this might be
to saw myself off in a sense. The axe
failed to cut them of because I could
not get in position to deal an effective
blow. | had recourse to a handsaw.
l would saw from the top of my STEP
ladder.
Posting the step-ladder at the foot of
the tree proved another difficult opera
tion, for the ground was uneven, and it
was necessary to level off a place to
give the base secure hold.
AT this time it occurred to me that I
was long way off from placing those
blue bird boxes. Every move thus
developed and necessary in this under
taking seemed to carry me farther from
the aim first sought-that of mailing the
boxes to the tree. l had commenced
with the endeavor to place ladder
against the trunk, found mind and body
intercepted by those obstinate branches,
had left the branches and now found
myself at work with pick and shovel
on the ground. l thought to myself:
Il wonder how far l must travel away |
from those boxes in this fashion in order |
to get them? Is this one of those af. |
fairs in life, seeming SO easy of accom-
plishment. really SO difficult, which
looks as if it could be done in a day,
and which may require years9 At all
events, the affair is assuming the aspect
of sort of game. or rather combat, be-
tween myself and this tree, and I'm
going TO drop all hurry and anxiety to
place the boxes and see which of us.
myself or the tree, are to be masters of
the situation
The step-ladder sided with the tree,
and was unreasonably particular in
getting level base-now toppling as /
stood on it over on this side, now on
that in decripit, helpless sort of
fashion. 1t was striking example, in
Its seeming efforts to overturn me, of
what friend calls 1.-The total depravlty
Of inanimate things
At last L mounted this ladder and
commenced operations with the saw on
branch No. l. The branch being
green and full of sap, the saw stuck
and hung in an obstinate manner
Being On the top board of the step-lad- i,
der my footing was shaky and uncertain.
sawed, worried by the thought of -.
possible broken neck or leg, and ex-
perlenced great wear and tear of mind ,
and body in consequence. Branch No. 4:
required change of location for the
step ladder and another secure level for ,
its base. So did branch No. ). By
he time the three branches were off I .
found myself forgetting the original in ,
,cnt of all this work. and even wonder {
ng at times what was working for. I
The branches were at last out of NV
way and all seemed plain sailing. Liz
'aised the heavy ladder against the G
rec. 1t rested securely against the | .
runk. / mounted it with one of the +
,oxes in my hands, got two thirds of the a
way to the ladders top, heard some 6
hing crack ominously and found that
he left ladder upright had a diagonal /
plit running throught it, was threaten Z
ng every instant to part and that my 4
leck was in greater danger than ever. =
descended rapidly. but carefully. from Z