The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-06-10

but continually flowed in and out of that clean milk-room.
 What temptation it was to stop in
 the kitchen and chat with our hostess
 often hindering her in her work, no doubt, but 1t was one of the pleasure
 of the life there
 Our hostess did not leave her cook ing to the careless hands of an incom-
 petent maid but all the dainty dishes were concocted by her own hands and a
 quick eye overlooked most carefully
 the palmer cooking. After visit in that kitchen one did not sit down to the
 table with a'dread of finding stray ami
 maj life in the food, or have fear that
 soiled hands went into the dough. We 1 had only to see how things went on in
 that kitchen, to come out with keen
 appetite for the piles of crisp cookies and loaves of delicious bread, to say nothing of Parker-house rolls and dainty desserts, which we always had. AhI as true American always says, We got our moneys worth indeed" For all this comfort and pleasure, we did not feel we were paying more than it was worth, but one repeated cry was. How can they serve us so well, for so little!" We always received our mail
 at least twice a day-in the early morn
 ing and again at evening, our host
 bringing it up from the office about half a mile away. That was a joyful time and as we read we often read bits aloud, so sharing the contents with each other. Soon after breakfast we usually separ- ated into groups for the mornings ,DIo ,,iI ntb climb the hill to the naples and then rest in the swings and hammocks while the more enterprising of the party would climb way up to the birches where, on a clear day you could see Mount Ascutney, miles and miles away. Those of us inclined to be lazy would | take our books and fancy work on the | piazza, or under the trees on the lawn, | lie in the hammocks and feast our l eyes on hills and fields, or take the time | for writing letters, while the more en- | ergetic played croquet and other games. l When we met at the 1 o'clock dinner, | each had so much to tell, it was like a | grand home coming. One of our great | est pleasures were the long drives we ! used to indulge in, to all the surround i ing towns and villages, one special fa- I vorite being the six-mile drive to the old town of Woodstock, going by the | usual turnpike road through Taftsville | and returning by what we called the river road" This way We rode for miles through the woods with the pret- ty, narrow Quechee river on one side of us. all the way into Quechee. Some times we would take this river road Jri1 iob y1ieyht nd not half describe the beauty of the on the river and shining through the trees We felt we were in fairyland and almost expected to see the tiny elves sitting in hooks by the waters edge. Then it was that we coax ed the horses to go slowly and keep us out long past the hour that Quechee was wont to go to bed Let no word or hint of mine suggest to the gentle read ar that bedroom doors were often clos ed in the afternoon and certain of the ladies did not appear until late in the day-that only tips of the gentlemen's shoes could be seen above the sides of the gently swaying hammocks out un- Ter the trees that no voices were heard | except the gentle prattle of the children 1t their play and the far-off calls of the farmers to their oxen, in the distant fields. No let us draw d curtain over he lazy afternoons and only go on to ell of the happy evenings we spent in Quechee-lovely Quechee. No one was ,ver found indoors when the sun was etting. Straight from the tea table to he piazza we went by common consent, There we staid too unless 1t became too ool for some, when we would gather in he paror sometimes even before a fire n the fireplace-always together-never ny cranks who held themselves aloof, n our little band. Then how our active minds invented all kinds of games and < ports for young and old alike entered a nto the spirit of the thing and the old I st man there was as merry as the t oungest child. | So passed the days, each bringing it's c lll share of healthy enjoyment, and S hen, at last the time drew near for ,is t ) separate and come back to our va t ous cares and responsibilities, each ne of us felt that it had been too happy
 time to say Goodbye" lightly and tough most of us had the anticipation s meeting sometimes in New Haven 2 ill we realized that never perhaps, tt )uld we meet, an unbroken band, un- W ar the same happy circumstances. IT ow we tried to make poorlittle jokes to hi aep up our spirits, as we clasped hands hi
 the station Not one of us but felt ol lat the weeks spent in that far away ol