HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 65 



lots, till now I'm ready to tackle just any kind 

 of a job offhand, with serene confidence in the 

 outcome. To my way of thinking, that's the 

 best thing about farm work you've got to be 

 prepared for all manner of emergencies that 

 you can't possibly prepare for. Maybe that 

 sounds like an absurdity, but it isn't. 



Well, anyway, we built our chicken house. 

 We took our time to it ; but when it was fin- 

 ished we had a kitchen, a dining room, and a 

 big bedroom ; and the roof didn't leak much. 

 Instead of a campfire, Laura had a kitchen 

 range to do her cooking. We set up our tent 

 under a big tree for a sitting room or an over- 

 flow bedroom; we cleared the undergrowth 

 from a few square rods of ground beside the 

 house and put up a big swing; we cleared out 

 a temporary shelter for the chickens in a wild- 

 plum thicket near by ; we staked out our cow 

 and there we were! Happy? Yes, we were 

 happy. We'd secured a foothold. 



The jungle came right up to our doors. Sit- 

 ting in the house, we couldn't see anything at 

 all but a wall of matted growths. Inquisitive 

 little gray and brown birds would come flitting 

 out of the tangle, teeter on the long, swaying 

 blackberry canes, and peek in at the windows, 



