PARSONS] CHILDREN'S SCHOOL FARM 257 



to partition off kitchen, front hall and parlor. Our guide ex- 

 plained that they had had a busy day, cleaning and arranging the 

 closets, scrubbing the floors and washing soiled clothes. The 

 ironing table was being made ready for the snowy linen waving in 

 the breeze and brilliant sunshine, from the clothes-line just high 

 enough for such tiny housekeepers, or bleaching on the grass 

 which they had planted with their own hands. The tea-kettle 

 was singing a merry tune, for the little willing hosts or hostesses 

 serve tea with sweet hospitality to guests every afternoon. Hav- 

 ing entered our names in the guest-book, and viewed the beautiful 

 Hudson and Jersey shores from the parlor windows, we are again 

 passed from house committee thence to piazza committee and 

 finally to garden committee, which latter furnishes us with a 

 guide to explain the mysteries of the Farm. Down " Broad- 

 way," as the center path has been named, amid groups of busy 

 little farmers each tending a claim 4x8 feet containing a stalk of 

 corn in the center of a row of beets, to the right and left of 

 which grow carrots, peas, lettuce, radishes, and onions, here and 

 there a teacher holds the attention of an interested group as he 

 explains the wonders of growth, soil, etc. Another is having 

 children crush a leaf of the corn, to show how much water it con- 

 tains ; their amazement grows as they see the drops fall as from 

 a wet cloth. Our little guide explains what hard work it has been 

 to make the paths so straight and even, and how faithful they 

 have had to be, under the guidance of their teacher, to make the 

 flower beds look so well. The observation plots of grain, toma- 

 toes, pumpkin, strawberries, potatoes, weeds, and the tool-house 

 are all visited. Our tour of inspection over, we are escorted 

 again to the shady piazza with the full intention of hurrying 

 away, but the comfortable rustic chair beside the silver birch table 

 and the appearance of a smiling little hostess bearing a tray con- 

 taining a refreshing cup of tea, puts our intention to flight ; we 

 sip our tea in this quiet, restful, busy little world ; the fascinating 

 scene holds us in its spell ; Wall Street, politics and strife for- 

 gotten ; every moment is filled with quiet interest. 



A little figure comes down " Broadway," rake in one hand, a 

 big bunch of radishes in the other, the left eye sightless from a 

 Fourth of July accident, his hair seemingly having taken fright 

 at the start as it grows all askew, a variety of clothing much too 

 small adding to the caricature meant for a boy. A couple of weeks 



