The Coolidge examiner., 1938-04-28


intersections, speed limits are dis
played at intervals, and stop lights
blink atop pencil-thick posts.
Prominent in the outskirts of town
is the hunt course, where small.
pink-coated horsemen in realistic
postures and accouterments ride TO
hounds. The course. with its white
fences, lies in a lovely rural land
Scape bounded by a luxuriant shrub
berry forest and rows of towering
evergreens that a five-year-old can
hurdle in one stride.
The comfortable Grantley Arms.
with hospitable innkeeper offering
hearty welcome to travellers de-
scending from a coach, recalls the
days of Tom Jones'" Its red-tiled,
hah-timbered elegance looms i'm
pressively do the loW-held eye)
above the wheel-rutted. hoof- pitted
courtyard. a place always crowded
with passengers, grooms, horses,
and curious idlers.
Two windmills and a water mill
commemorate old-time methods Of
handling grain. Carved figures of
millers carrying bags supply human
touches to scenes of rustic charm.
Painted cattle, posed as if grazing.
are scattered over rich pasturage.
Laborers may be seen out in the
fields, fertilizing plowed ground.
planting, or harvesting.
Modern Bekonscotian country-lov-
erS find rest from daily toll in bath
ing and boating on the lake. A
swimming float, literally Just a
step" from the edge of town, is
usually crowded with aquatic dew
otees who sun-bathe on grass or
dock, or float in the cooling waters.
Lucky it is that the tiny natators
are made of wood. or else a fish Of
no great size might gobble half
dozen of them for breakfast
Gay Parties at the Lake.
On Bekonscot road. at the edge Of
town. a roadhouse does a booming
business, principally. gossip says,
because it is so handy TO a tiled
swimming pool with several bath
houses and a two-foot diving tower
with five springboards
Close at hand, a flag bedecked
pier pavilion juts into the lake. Here
little citizens lounge against the
rails, basking in sunlight reflected
from scarcely rippled waters. Boat
ing parties depart from this dock.
In the evening relayed monograph
music supplies dance rhythms for
Bekonscotian might owls"
Bridges, Lilliput-size but strong
enough to support human explor-
ers, connect two islands in the
rectangular pond occupying the CEN
ter of the village plan and consti-
tuting the outer harbor of Bekon-
scots port.
On the central island knee
high lighthouse directs commercial
shipping, cabin cruisers, and belat-
ed sailing craft, while another, on
mainland promontory, guards the
entrance to the port proper. This
is reached by an estuary leading
back from the lake half a mile Q5
feet to literalistsD.
Tiny tugs assist scale-model
ocean liners, freighters, and war
ships into this basin, where they tie
up at new concrete docks.
Behind the docks concrete steps
lead up to freight station, South
pool Docks manned after Southamp-
ton and Liverpool. two of Eng
lands leading ports),
Bekonscot Railway.
This depot is on spur of the
famous Bekonscot railway, 1900
feet of electrified metal rails bound
by three-inch wooden ties to an
unsurpassed roadbed (of tarred
chips. From four tracks under the
spreading glass and steel dome of
Maryloo station (another combina-
ton name. from Marylebone and
Waterloo, London stations) faithful
reproductions of famous trains pull
out on scheduled runs over the big
recurved loop of double track which
circles through the town, out into
the rural country beyond, then back
through town again to near its
starting point.
Intelligently, the railway follows
the landscape, instead of the land
scape following the railway, which
is the commoner way in miniature
layouts. Cuts and fills, bridges and
tunnels, accentuate the illusion of
man-size transportation system.
Several trains, frequently changed,
run at once, their course and speed
regulated from central control
points. ''Freights" pull a little
YEARLY into sidings while limiteds
fash by on through tracks.
Arm and color-hght signals
switches, and silent, efficient loco
motive engines all obey surges
swift electricity.