A FAVORITE HAUNT. 



Children, as a rule, especially those 

 born and raised in the rural districts, have 

 some favorite haunt w^here they especially 

 delight to spend their time and vi^here cer- 

 tain pleasant associations are formed, the 

 memory of which is treasured iu' after 

 years. 



The writer was no exception to this 

 rule, and he will endeavor to describe a 

 certain "Deserted Limestone Quarry," 

 which, in his case, was the favorite haunt 

 of childhood. A perusal of the following 

 will give my readers an idea of the gen- 

 eral appearance of the locality. In the 

 center was a large body of deep water, 

 bounded on three sides by steep banks, 

 interspersed with huge rocks and sand- 

 stone boulders. On the fourth side was a 

 cart road leading to the double stone lime 

 kiln, then out of use. The south bank 

 was bordered by a piece of woodland, 

 through which ran a little rippling brook, 

 and the other three sides by pasture 

 fields. Within the deep gulch, and ex- 

 tending around about two-thirds of the 

 body of water, was a combined cart road 

 and pathway, at the extreme end of which, 

 lying under two large, overhanging rocks, 

 was a spring of most delicious water. It 

 was quite deep, but you could see the 

 golden sand and white pebbles at the bot- 

 tom very plainly. Hanging from the 

 banks above mentioned were numerous 

 sumach bushes and blackberry briars. 

 Such were the natural surroundings of 

 my favorite haunt. A charming place, 

 indeed ; quiet, retired, and a veritable par- 

 adise for the admirer of nature's beauties. 



Now a few words regarding the many 

 little friends with which I associated, and 

 whose habits and daily lives I studied. 

 Within the lime kiln a pair of Pewees 

 built their nest; among the briars on the 



bank, the Song Sparrows reigned ; in the 

 piece of woodland referred to were the 

 nests of a Green Heron, of Blue Jays, 

 Crows, Cat Birds, Wood Thrushes, 

 Crested Flycatchers, etc. I also observed 

 Belted Kingfishers on many occasions, 

 but never found a nest. Owing to the 

 large number of insects around the water 

 the quarry was a favorite feeding ground 

 for King Birds, Pewees and Swallows, 

 and they could be seen skimming over the 

 surface of the water from early dawn to 

 the twilight of evening. 



Aside from this large bird population, 

 there were land and water turtles, snap- 

 ping turtles, frogs in all stages of trans- 

 formation, sun and catfish, many beauti- 

 ful butterflies, and a family of little gray 

 rabbits. I had the pleasure of seeing the 

 latter when they were scarcely larger 

 than small kittens. Along the borders of 

 the woods were gray squirrels, ground 

 squirrels and ground hogs. Thus, in this 

 one particular, opportunity was afforded 

 for the study of a large number of nat- 

 ural history subjects. Here, too, was the 

 pleasant odor of fresh green spearmint 

 and the sweet scent of wild roses. In the 

 early spring time a profusion of wild vio- 

 lets (blue and yellow), dog-tooth violets, 

 blood roots, spring beauties, anemones, 

 "jack-in-the-pulpit," belwort and hare- 

 bell were to be found in the strip of wood- 

 land, and later in the season the pasture 

 fields were covered with buttercups and 

 daisies. 



Were all details entered into, a volume 

 could be written concerning this old 

 quarry and the many happy hours spent 

 there, but 1 will not burden my readers 

 with further reminiscences of my favorite 

 haunt. Berton Mercer. 



