THE NEW NEIGHBOR

ALL the neighbors began to call him "Daddy Longlegs." And anyone might
naturally think that he had lived in Pleasant Valley a great many years.
But it was not so. Late in the summer Daddy Longlegs had appeared from
nobody knew where.

Although people often inquired where his old home was, he always
pretended that he didn't hear them--and began to talk about the weather.

And as for Daddy Longlegs' new home in Pleasant Valley, nobody knew much
about that either. No matter how curious anyone might be, it did him no
good at all to ask Daddy Longlegs where he lived. When prying persons
put that question to him, Daddy Longlegs always waved his eight legs in
every direction and answered "Over there!"

Of course such a reply told nothing to anyone. And it led to a good many
disputes among Daddy Longlegs' neighbors. No two could ever agree as to
which of Daddy's legs really pointed toward the place where he dwelt.

Anyhow, the wily gentleman was frequently seen scrambling about the
stone wall by the roadside, near Farmer Green's house. And little Mr.
Chippy, who made his home in the wild grapevine that grew on the wall,
always claimed that Daddy Longlegs was a neighbor of his.

"He's a good neighbor, too," Mr. Chippy told his friends. "He's very
quiet and he never quarrels. And he's always pleasant and ready for a
chat. It's too bad that he's deaf. I've asked him at least a dozen times
how old he is; but he never seems to hear me."

Old Mr. Crow, who liked nothing better than prying into other people's
affairs, slowly shook his head at that. And coughing slightly he
remarked in a hoarse voice that there must be _reasons_ why Daddy
Longlegs wouldn't tell where he came from, nor where he was living,
nor how old he was.

But Mr. Crow wouldn't say what he thought might be the reasons. Although
he was a wise bird, there were some things he didn't know.

Now, in a way Mr. Crow was right. Daddy Longlegs had the best of reasons
for keeping some facts to himself. In the first place, he had never
lived anywhere except in Pleasant Valley. In the second place, he was
scarcely more than two months old when people began to notice him in the
neighborhood of the stone wall. And in the third place, since he was
somewhat timid he thought it just as well if people didn't know where he
made his home.

He was--as his friends often said--an odd person. For instance, he had
always _looked_ old, from the very first. And