The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-18
THE LETTER OF THE LAW.
How Two Boys Went Swimming on
the Tennis Court.
Copyright, 1901, by Charles Battell

Copyright, 1901, by Charles Battell
Loomis.
The Cartwright house stood on a lit
tie hill overlooking Lafayette Valley.
Its nearest neighbor was half mile
distant, and it had been chosen by
Mr.. Cartwright as an ideal place for
his boys to grow UP in, as it was the
real country, and yet was not many
miles distant from the city. About
ten rods to the right of the house ran
saucy little brook that said a good
deal for its size, and which, after wind
ing along at the bottom of what had
tumbled through the broken stonework
of the disused dam and hurried away
to the Panabwa river.
Years before Mr.. Cartwright had
bought the place there had been a pref
ty pond there, deep enough to furnish
| swimming and rowing to the small
boys of the vicinity, but that was be-
fore the freshet of '79 broke down the
dam. Up in the barn lay a rowboat
that had borne many a party of chill
dren over the calm waters of the pond
in the old days, but it was now used
as receptacle for odds and ends, and
float.
When Mr.. Cartwright bought the
place he talked some of restoring the
dam, but he had decided that it would
not be worth the expense, and that
anyway, it was safer to have a brook
where only feet could be wet, than to
have lake, where 1t would be easy
for boys to drown themselves. You
see, Mrs. Cartwright, the boys moth
er, had been born and brought up in
the city, and she was almost as much
afraid of water as a hen is. But Frank
and Ralph were fine swimmers, thanks
to the instruction of Jim, the coach
man, and they would have hailed the
pond with delight.
One day Mrs. Cartwright had to go
| to town on the same train that took
her husband to his office. She did NOT
like the idea of leaving the boys alone
with the servants, but there was moth
| ing else to do, so, with many misgiv-
ings, she babe them goodbye.
| You'll be sure to be good boys and
not worry the girls and not bother Jim,
and remember to feed the hens and col
lect the eggs and do some wedding in
the strawberry patch, won't your"
SAID she as she went down the path
| to the carriage.
On, don't tell them so many things
or they'll forget them ALL" said Mr..
Cartwright. Boys, l want you to COL
lect all the stones you can find in the
north lot and pile them all up. That
ought to keep you busy, and I'll give
you dollar between you if you make
a good pile of them"
"Oh, and don't go in swimming any,
! where" said their mother.
NO, not unless the water rises as
nlgn as the tennis court" said Mr.
Cartwright in his whimsical way.
AS the tennis court was fifteen feet
from the brook and as even spring fresh
cts never touched it, this was putting
swimming out OF the question, and the
day.
Cant we go down to the swimming
hole If Jim goes along?" said Frank.
| NO, not while we are away You'll
find that collecting stones is a great
| deal more fun"
After Jim ha6 driven the Cartwrishts
away the boys flung themselves down
in the grass and thought of the cool
swimming hole with regret. but thew
had given their word to their parents
and they would not go in swimming
unless the water did come I'D to the
tennis court. And it was such a clear
August day, with not a rain cloud in
sight.
Lets go up and look at those
stones.' said Frank after awhile.
They found that there were stones
a-plenty, most of them about the size
of squashes. Mr.. Cartwright had cal
culated that If the boys worked as boys
are in the habit of working, it would be
an all day job. and when the boys
4 saw the field they decided that it was
worth more than q dollar to do such
hard work as that on a summers day.
Frank picked up a stone and flung
it at a crow that was perched on
fence. Say, Ralph, papa didn't tell
us where he wanted those stones piled
Why not do it in the brook where the
old dam stood. 1t might raise the water
some. and papa didn't say we couldn't
! go in wading."
With such an end in view, the work
] took on the nature of play. and they