Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1888-11-12
Tlomth' q Column.
The Girls Favorite Playground.

] wonder if you would ever have
guessed what particular spot on the
place was the little girls favorlte
playground. / frankly confess L
never should have known if they had
not told me.
The farm lay on both sides and on
top of Ok Ridge, high stretch of
ground in Connecticut, running near
ly north and south. The house and
ssgrounds" were on the western slope |
and were very attractive. There was
croquet lawn near the house oval
in shape, with aower beds and shrub
berry just across the path that bound
ed it. Passing through the shrub /
berry at the south end, you presently |
come upon large tennis lawn, sur
rounded with trees on three sides |
and a flower bed on the fourth. You !
could hide away in the eyergreens
that covered the ground thickly at
the south end with their long arms,
so that no. one could see you. You
could swing in the hammock slung
under the pine trees in shade that was
unpierced by the sun at MONDAY.
But this was not their favorite play
ground.
Back of these lawns and extend
ING up the hill to the top was the
orchard. A winding, wooden walk
and stairway, with towering shrubs
on either side, led up through the
orchard TO the summerhouse on top
of the hill. You have passed the
"umbrella," halfway up, and sat
there awhile TO rest, If you were
tired. The umbrella was IA small
summer-house giving at one time
fine view, but now the arbor vit@s
had grown SO tall that they made
walls for the house, So YOU could see
nothing but green branches as you
rested there. What place 10 hide
away and read, to play with dolls,
to have little tea parties, TO sit and
talk and dream But this was not
their favorite playground.
The summer-house on top of the
hill was open on all sides TO air and
light. Delicate pillars supported the
roof. A stairway in one corner led
to a spacious bedroom, and above
that to a square platform surmount-
inc the roof, on which, while stand
ing, you could see i'm the unbroken
line of the horizon from north to
south again seventy miles from east
to west of the Sound. There were
chairs in the summer-house and a
table also a field-glass, and tele-
scope through which at night one
might see the rings and moons of
Saturn. But this was not their ia
| vorite playground.
But there were the greenhouses
and the barns with their hooks and
, corners. One could 60 in front OF
the horses in their stalls and pat
! their noses and give them Jumps OF
p sugar which they eagerly ate. The
. little pony, which the girls rode and
o drove in the pony carriage, would
- stretch up his head TO reach the
: sugar extended by tiny hands tC
; him. The sheep would gather rounc
to get the salt brought them, anC
there was no end of fun in hunting
= hens eggs and in watching the youni
broods of young chickens. But tn
barn-yard with its countless attrac
: tions was not their favorite play
=, ground.
# The top of the house was finished
. off into one large room called tn
!. skv parlor. 1t had windows on tn
north side, and on the south tw
- glass doors opened on verand
, running the length OF the gable. i
- this room the girls had all their play
!, things. There were the dolls of a
80 sizes with beds and bedsteads fc
- them to rest on at night; there wen
. blocks and puzzles games and toys
90 and although, on rainy days, til
= little girls amused themselves here
vet this was not their favorite pla,
q ground.
:, When the summer-house on I'll
~ hill was built there was first prepare
he for its site a square mound, four {
;. five feet high. The earth cOmposir
hr the mound was dug from a propose
nd roadway leading over the ridge
few yards from the summer-hous
Some of the powders that were a
for earthed in this operation were throw
rs. on one side of the road where WI
or the sheep pasture. These bowlde
so were twenty or thirty in numbe
m and they made very ragged fe
.ge ture in the otherwise finished Ian
ms, scape. Why they were permitted
MS. remain, no one knew or, if he kne
for didn't tell. On these rugged rock
inc washed clean by the SHOWS and raj
the that fell on them, the little 81
cut would play for hours and houl
inc Each rock had its name and its ia
ak eied inhabitants. In some of the
ING were holes large enough for bl
ind to battle in, and where birds did Ia
or their bath, and where they came
>loo water TO drink. Some of them h
ave miniature grass plats on them, a
,se. in the interstics between the boz
ier- ders were pretty little hooks A
tho sat in the summer-house with
her. book or my work so as to be M
fun these little girls, | used to won'