The Squirrel’s Arithmetic

High on the branch of a walnut tree A bright-eyed squirrel sat. What was he thinking so earnestly? And what was he looking at? The forest was green around him, The sky blue over his head; His nest was in a hollow limb, And his children snug in bed. He was doing a problem o’er and o’er, Busily thinking was he; How many nuts for this winter’s store He could hide in the hollow tree. He sat so still on the swaying bough You might have thought him asleep. Oh, no; he was trying to reckon now The nuts the babies could eat. Then suddenly he frisked about, And down the tree he ran. “The best way to do, without a doubt, Is to gather all I can.”