Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1916-09-20

now, long, long afterward, I smile to
think how alike we all of us are on a
honeymoon.
1t was the next morning that we re-
solved to begin the pool. 81 don't ex-
pect to be married again for several
years." said I, land so I'm going to
take a holiday this week. Well carry
the vegetables to market and bring
back the cement, and begin on our
water garden"
Mike loaded the wagon with peas,
the last Of the rhubarb, and ten quarts
of currants picked by Peter, and off
we started.
what is this horses nameT asked
drive.
"He has none, guess. Mike calls
him 'Giddup.'"
'No, it's Dobbfn. He looks just like
a Dobbin. He has a kind Of conven-
tional, discouraged tail, like Dobbin.
Giddup, Dobbinr'
The horse started to trot. sSThere,
you see, it is his namep' she laughed.
On Bentford Main street we passed
several motors and a trap drawn by
prancing span, and all the occupants
stared at US, or rather at Stella, who
was beaming from her humble seat
on the farm wagon more like an
eighteenth century shepherdess than
New England farmers wife. We added
over three dollars more in the account
book with the market, and read with
delight the grand total Of $1,000 al
ready in two weeks.
"Next year." said I, ''I'll double it!''
Then I spent the So, and some more,
for Portland cement.
We got into our oldest clothes when
we reached home, I put on rubber
boots, and we tackled the pool. Even
with the brook as low as it was, the
engineering feat was not easy for our
unskiIlfuI hands. Peter soon joined
US, and lent at least unlimited enthu-
siasm.
"Peter," said I, you never worked
this hard splitting kindlings."
Peter grinned. "Ho, I, like to make
DAMS" he said.
The first thing we did was to divert
the brook by digging new channel
above the spot where we were to build
the dam, and letting the water flow
around to the left, close to one Of the
flower beds. Then, when the old chan
mel had dried out a little, [ spaded a
trench across it and two feet into the
banks en- each side, and with Peter
helping, filed the trench nearly as full
Of the largest, --LATEST stones we could
find, which we all then tramped upon
to firm down. Then. foot apart, we
stood two boards on edge across the
space. to make a mold for the concrete
above the stones. l sent Peter with
wheelbarrow to pick up load of small
pebbles in the road, of the most irreg-
ular shape he could find, and l myself
dug deeper in the hole where 1 had got
the sand when we built the bird bath,
and brought loads of 1t to the brook
side. We dumped sand, pebbles and
cement into blk box, one pail of ce-
ment to one pafl Of pebbles and three
of sand, and Peter and Stella fought
for the hoe to mix them, while poured
in the water from a watering pot, for
| had read and seen the reason for
the fact that the success of the cement
depends upon every particle being
thoroughly mixed AS fast as we had
box full Of mixture prepared, we
dumped it into the mold between the
boards. It took an astonishing guam
tity of cement-quite all we had, in
fact-and to finish off the top smooth
and level had to get the quarter bag
left from my orchard work and the
bird bath. It was evening when we
had it done, and Peter, who had de-
serted US soon after dinner to play
ball, returned to beg us to take the
boards away, and grew quite unrea-
sOnable when we refused.
That night there was shower, and
the brook rose a trifie. When we
fastened down through the orchard
after breakfast the new channel had
curved itself still farther, as streams
do when once they get started off the
| straight line, and had washed the
southeast flower bed half away. Stella.
with cry of grief, ran down the brook
into the pines, and came back with
| ooOiy HlOA LII
plants in her hands, their trailing roots
washed white, their blooms broken.
"Horrid brook" she said. Lets put
it right back into it's proper place.
don't like it any more"
ga sudden change of habit is always
dangerous said I. ''Put the plants
in the mud somewhere till we can set
'em in again.
We now took away the boards from
the new dam, which had begun to hard
en- nicely. The next thing to do was
to stake out the pool above it. AS the
dam was ten feet below the line be-
tween the proposed bench and the front
door of the house, the other end Of the
pool was marked off 20 feet upstream,
and between the two extremes we dug