HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 45 



oak and elm and hickory scrub, wild plum bush 

 and buck-brush, grapevines and thorny smilax 

 seemed to have worked themselves into a 

 frenzy trying to smother out and hide every 

 vestige and token of the home that had once 

 been. To-day we have that spot looking like 

 a park ; but it certainly did look like Billy-be- 

 Blowed that morning. 



"Let's see," I said: "The house measures 

 seventy-two feet across the south front. We'd 

 better mark the southeast corner first, where 

 your room will be." 



Very gravely Laura stooped, groping in the 

 matted growth. She found three smooth, flat 

 stones and laid them up, one upon the other, 

 as a monument. By and by, when we built 

 the house, we put the southeast corner exactly 

 there. 



"Now," I said, "that's all right. Now let's 

 see if I can sort of run the lines for the rest 

 of it." 



Scrambling over stone-heaps, thrusting the 

 brush aside, crushing a way through, I worked 

 across to the western side, measuring it by 

 paces as well as I was able. Standing at the 

 extreme ends, we could barely see each other 

 through the tangle. I was out of breath; my 



