The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1894-10-15
Converted Into PlayhOuses for Chill
dren-Handy for Other Purposes.
Boston Transcript.


Scores of articles have been written tell
ing what becomes of faithful, WORKOUT
street-car horses, but never yet has a
go to. Ask Brighton people. The back
yards out there are full of them, and every
day their number is increasing. Strangers
cannot understand how so many of the
cars have got off the track. 1t seems to
them as if there must have been a tidal
cars into the next town. There the Cam
bridge railroad" is stranded. it's coaches
cast high and dry against side hills and
into hollows.
What was to be done with the old cars?
the street-railroad companies asked them
selves. 1t would cost more to split them
up than they would fetch for kindling.
But Cambridge has a bright man named
dering if it would not be the cheapest way
to take the ears out by the shipload and
dump them into some place where they
stepped in and bid Cor thirty-six of them.
He got thirty,six- Then he adroitly put
Brighton and told the children they might
use it for a playhouse. The children were
'tickled about to death" They sat up
nights TO use the car, and never did the
Sarah Bernhardts car attract more at
tention. The little folks came for miles
fence. Then they went home and leased
for a street car, and kept right on teasing.
cycle in an out-of-the-way town; It ere
ated a demand. In a few days Mr.. Sturte-
want began to make sales. 1t got so at
Sturtevant would ask, unconsciously,
How many?" as if he were selling eggs.
found that they must nave several; and
now one can tell about how many young
ones Brighton men have got by counting
the cars in his yard and allowing three chill
dren to each car. Mothers found they could
put their small children inside and, shut
6 Of see ene gooT ff w IeaVf the eh ehea pest @ "a yeet too'
in many cases TO provide shade. The cars
could be secured for s. apiece, while not
nurseries for that money. Them, also, ii
was necessary TO wait for trees to grow.
and by the car method a whole nursery
was forthcoming. So the cars were secured,
dragged by horses into back yards, and the
trucks removed from under them. Then the
brakes were taken off, and now there they
lie like disn1antled. ships, and like a ship
something of sentiment clusters around
them. At first they were thought of only
as play houses. One purchaser concluded
to turn his into a hen house Another is a
contractor, and pays his men every Satur-
day night from the old car. Another, a
Kendrick-street man, has fixed up his as
a carpenter shop for his boy. One woman
In Cambridge wanted to buy ten cars, and,
wheeling them down to the seaShore, con
vert them into cottages and bath houses,
shifting their position with the tide. She
thought that two or more could be joined
together, one TO be used for a sleeping
car. But the owners of the beach would
not sell her land for this purpose.
The contractor before mentioned is build
ing n basement under one OF his cars and
is painting it. He talks of putting a railing
round the top and buying a few lowers,
so that he can have a roof garden. More
than one car has been pre-empted for noe,
turnal lunch purposes. The cats find
them a glorious place to snooze while the
wind plays gently with the quaint old dim
ity curtains. One boy has converted half
of his car into a dove house. The BARRIERS
and Chinese laundrymen are now after
cars, but the supply is running short. If
they cannot get any they say they may
buy watering carts and put windows in
them. One OF the playhouses is used dur
| ing the evenings as a clubhouse by children
of a larger growth. The lamps are handy,
and when p light is necessary the blinds
are pulled up TO shut off the sight o. card
playing. One mother has rugged up a cord
running from the house 10 the bell in the
car and can call her offspring without NOV
ing. Several mothers have taken the straps
out of the cars and are using them 10 eX-
cellent advantage. Some OF the cars have
colored glass. gothic-shaped windows, and
ii is rumored that the Salvation Army
wants one for a chapel.