The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1901-10-15
ON AN ABANDONED FARM.
Means of Transportation and
Other Practical Matters.

Wlliiulil A1ellIy bishop IellS III eli
fury of his fortunes in a new coun-
try home.
81 shall touch briefly on the prac-
teal aspects of the case. l had feared
at first to have to spend half my time
hurrying to the market-town 10 pro-
vision the family, and L thought it
worth doing even then. But, quite
to the contrary, the housekeeping
has proved to be ever easier than in
town. This is much due to the daily
stage. Though a numbering, slow
conveyance for travel or for bringing
ont ones friends to the farm, it is a
capital for procuring sup
plies. We signal it by a blue placard
swung out of the window, and it
stops under Il maple-trees by sever
in the morning. The amiable driver
takes q prepared list, and he is back
again before noon, bringing, say,
meat from the butcher's-and of ex-
cellent quality, too, even by town
standards-fruit and confectionery,
q new broom and some cotton cloth
for the servant, embroidery-thread
for the mistress, light lumber and
cans of paint for this deponent, and
a drum for the son of the house. For
such miscellaneous shopping his own
charge is about ten cents. The stage
driver is the Mercury, the special
providence, of the jewellers all along
his line. An old oma awaits to
give him huckleberries to sell, an
other hands up an old saucepan to
be soldered. The complete history
of n of his trips would make an in
%structive and amusing compendium
of rural existence. Besides this re-
source, other butchers, bakers, fish
men and fruit-men, too, drive by, on
certain days of the week, jingle their
little bells at our door, and await
our pleasure.
'The servant question is often al
legged as n of the drawbacks to a
country life, but here again, judging
from u experience and observation,
we are obliged to think the dread is
exaggerated. Our own domestic has
followed Il fortunes throughout.
"Nora" has plenty of merits, to which
| here gladly pay tribute, but she
cannot be greatly different from her
kind, and yet, SO far from being dis
contented or lonesome" she shows
and declares great satisfaction with
the new life and with the respite
from that of the, city. She likes to
compare the way things are done here
with that of her farmhouse home
in Ireland Ito the great advantage
of the latter). 1t is a pleasure to see
Nora cruising down the shrubbery,
popping ripe raspberries into her
mouth, or sitting in the orchard With
her lap full of apples; and if the
kitchen fire were not so hot-though
the next time l am going to try one
of the patent stoves that go with oil
or g~asoline-she would get as much
benefit out of it all as the rest of us
Thus far an epidemic of good health
has prevailed among us all, and we
have had n 10 doctors bills to pay.
"Our experiment has been an un.
mistakable success; the life is agree
able, it is healthy, and it is cheap
You have noticed that the one con
c%lusion reached by nearly all persons
who have passed their summer at the
usual boarding-house, hotel, or hired
cottage, is that they never want to
go to that place again. We do not
say that and we do not think it. We
keep the farm much in mind i'll the
winter-time, we talk it over with
pleasure, we recall how we used to
watch the birds there, and the fire
flies, and those larger firefies, the
stars, and we are anxious to get back
to it at the earliest moment.
"Such is what IN of the improved
methods of transportation has done
for us. AS they become more com
mon, they must influence immensely
the filling up of the farms with sum.
mer residents. Perhaps, indeed, the
next step may be a general scramble
for these farms, and the call upon
those who have not read the signs
of the times, and seized the occasion
by the forelock, to pay much higher
prices than those hat have hitherto
prevailed.
I'VE won u country home, so to
express it, by the bicycle, but we
rather expect to have to hold it by
the automobile, unless it be by the
trolley, for already they talk Of q
link to connect the two systems
above and below us. Why will not
some one bring out a motor-car-
riage, for two persons-and a third
light II at a pinch-costing not
much above 5000, and capable of be.
ing slowed away in small quarters:
Such a conveyance is bound to come
sooner or later. Why not give it tc
us Don and not later?"
NictOrin's Royal Unclcs.
Hundreds of writer's and speakers
have asserted during the last sis
months that when the late Queen Vic.
toria assembled the throne, in 1887
the crown had fallen into contempt
owing to the extreme unpopularity
OF George Nv. and William IN. This
is all rubbish and nonsense. George
Nv nuUht yarv likaIy to bova haa,