HAPPY HOLLOW FARM 77 



children's children will find their part of the 

 work awaiting them in giving beauty to Happy 

 Hollow. That's our idea of the making of a 

 home. We had made no more than a begin- 

 ning; but we were content, for the beginning 

 was flawless. 



Labor cost in this building had been just 

 next to nothing. To write the figures seems 

 to be making a jest of the matter as if the 

 job must have been "scamped" and crude. It 

 wasn't. Our master builder drew three dol- 

 lars a day and he worked as one of the car- 

 penters. The other woodworkers were paid 

 two dollars a day, and the mason four dol- 

 lars. Sometimes, when he could use them 

 to advantage, the boss would have half a 

 dozen men working with him; at other times 

 he would use only two or three. He knew 

 how to keep his crew keyed up and every man 

 interested in what he was doing. There wasn't 

 a "grouch" amongst them. Most likely Laura 

 was responsible for the unvarying good tem- 

 per of the men; she cooked for them while they 

 were at work. You know how that helps. 



I doubt if our performance might be dupli- 

 cated, in the matter of low cost, in any other 

 state on the map ; but the long and short of it 



