k to the ladder and go down it to
the main floor of the barn, my eyes climbed up Pop's brand new ladder
which goes up to the cupola at the very peak of the roof of our very
high barn. It certainly was a very nice light ladder, and next summer
it would be easy for me to carry it to one cherry tree after another
in our orchard when I helped pick cherries for Mom. It was such a
light ladder, even Little Jim could carry it.... While I was standing
looking up and thinking about wishing spring would hurry up and come,
I all of a sudden wanted to climb up the ladder and look out the
windows of the cupola and see what I could see in the different
directions around the Sugar Creek territory. Also, I wondered if
Snow-white, my favorite pigeon, and her husband had decided to have
their nest in the cupola again this year, and if there were maybe any
eggs or maybe a couple of baby pigeons, although parent pigeons hardly
ever decided to raise any baby pigeons in the winter-time. If there
was anything I liked to look at more than anything else, it was baby
birds in a nest. Their fuzz always reminded me of Big Jim's fuzzy
mustache, he being the only one of the Sugar Creek Gang to begin to
have any.

In a jiffy I was on my way and in another jiffy I was there, standing
on the second from the top rung of the ladder. It was nice and light
up there with the sun still shining in, although pretty soon it would
go down. In one direction I could see Poetry's house, and their big
maple tree right close beside it in the back yard, under which in the
summer-time he always pitched his tent and sometimes he would invite
me to stay all night with him; in another direction, and far away
across our cornfield, was Dragonfly's house which had an orchard right
close by it, where in the fall of the year we could all have all the
apples we wanted, if we wanted them; Big Jim and Circus lived right
across the road from each other, but I couldn't see either one of
their houses, or Little Tom's on account of Little Tom lived across
the bridge on the other side of Sugar Creek.... I could see our red
brick schoolhouse, away on past Dragonfly's house, though. But when I
looked at it, instead of feeling kinda happy inside like I nearly
always did when we had our pretty lady other teacher for a teacher, I
felt kinda saddish. There was the big maple tree which I knew was
right close beside a tall iron pump, near which we had built a snow
fort; and behind that was t