The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1897-09-17
Letter from Helen L. Manning.
MedfeId, Mass, Sept. 10, 1897


meant to have given my Owosso friends
glimpse of this old New England village
long ere this, but somehow the summer has
slipped away so rapidly that September is
we'll along before 1t seems as IL July were
ended. The hot wave of the last few days
has certainly been very suggestive of July.
1t is almost three months since 1 found a
home under hospitable farmhouse roof, in
company with several friends, about half a
mile from the village. 1t has been good to
withdraw from the noisy city and live for a
season near to natures heart, to enjoy the
bird ch0ruses and to revel In the natural
flower gardens of woods and waysides, to
worship sometimes of Sunday morning in
the sanctuary of the pine woods, where the
soughing of the wind seemed to say, 1.-The
Lord is in His holy temple; let the whole
earth keep silence before Him."
Medfeld is not a fashionable resort, one
reason probably being that 1t is not of very
easy access from Boston. The electric car
service will probably be extended to Med
field by another year, and that will be an
Improvement.
Three of the residents of the Ben Adhem
House came here early In the season, and
later, our Kindergarten, Mrs. Sarah A.
Smith, brought fifteen children from the
hot, close tenement district in which our
work lies, and kept them here for month.
She made lovely home atmosphere for
them in an old deserted farm house and
they had broad acres of meadow and wood
land to play In, with an abundance of SIM
pie, wholesome food to eat. Informal ma
ture lessons were given them, for they were
| utterly ignorant Of the commonest things
concerning farm and country life. One
day they were taken to see fine herd OF
forty-fye Jersey cows MIXED. Tommy
watched the process intently and then grave
| y asked "But how do they put the milk in
to the cow" One little fellow developed
considerable aptitude as a naturalist. But
the best lesson that any of them learned
was the possibility of dwelling together In
peace, unity and mutual hepfulness. Too
much cannot be said of the love and tact Of
our Mrs. Smith, who was the inspiring and
controlling genius of the enterprise. The
Medfield people, too, won our lasting graft
tude by their sympathetic cooperation and
financial support.
Sharon, ten miles away, ranks as the most
salubrious region of the state, but Walpole,
Medfeld, and other neighboring towns, are
practically as fine in location. Sharon,
however, is a very aristocratic summer re-
sort and has many elegant cottages along Its
heights. On charming day about the
middle of August party Of four of us, rep
resenting the states Of Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Massachusetts, and Michigan, and just as
many religious denominations, took the
drive through Walpole to Sharon and return,
making round of twenty miles without
stopping. We were jolly, happy compa-
ny, but our eyes and hearts were ever open
to the beautiful, and beauty marked the
ever shifting landscape. have enjoyed a
good many lovely drives this summer, but
this was the finest, though the visit to Hun
Unveils Italian gardens on Lake Waban,
Wellesley, ranks second.
The historic Charles River, so digniied
and majestic in its course through Boston,
dwindles to an insignificant and extremely
crooked rivulet, flowing sluggishly amid
marshy banks, by the time 1t gets ten miles
or so from Boston. 1 ought to reverse this
statement and tell how much dignity slug
gIsh, narrow stream can assume in going a
few miles from country to city, but noted
its appearance In travelling out from Boston,
though all the time knew the river was
travelling the other way.
The land grant of Med6eld along the
Charles was one Of the earliest from the
crown to the colonists. The little village
was partially destroyed by fire during King
Phillips war, but It was rebuilt, and its in