126 HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 



their tops by matted wild grape vines, making 

 little summer nooks. These house grounds 

 have given us no end of delight in the making. 

 We're working on them still, a little at a time. 

 The real work began in that spring of 1910, 

 after the first rough clearing was done. 



For many years this spot had been a dump- 

 ing ground for all the refuse of the farm. 

 Stone heaps were everywhere; and between 

 were rusting and rotting piles of old cans and 

 broken tools and all manner of junk. We had 

 to clear all that away. There were tough old 

 stumps to come out, too, and a litter of loose 

 stone to be picked up. After that, with plow 

 and scraper and harrow, we smoothed the land 

 down, stopping between whiles to grub out a 

 mess of roots or buck-brush or to pry up a huge 

 bowlder. We've moved a train load of rubbish 

 from this corner. It was back-breaking work 

 chopping, tugging, lifting, conquering a 

 square yard at a time, building the yards into 

 square rods painfully. We worked without 

 sympathy from our native neighbors. By that 

 time most of them had given us up as hopeless 

 imbeciles who were "wastin' money somethin' 

 tumble." To do anything on a farm to any 



