276 THE FAT OF THE LAND 
a site for it at once in the grove to the east of 
the house and about 150 yards away, and set 
the carpenter at work. The shop proved to 
be a feature of the place, and soon became 
a favorite resort for old and young for five 
o’clock teas and small gossiping parties. The 
house was a shingled cottage, sixteen by thirty- 
two, divided into two rooms. The first room, 
sixteen by twenty, was the company room, 
but it contained a work bench as well as the 
dainty trappings of a girl’s lounging room. In 
the centre of the wall that separated the rooms 
was a huge brick chimney, with a fireplace in 
the front room and a forge bed in the rear room, 
which was the forge proper. 
I suppose I must charge the $460 which this 
outfit cost to the farm account and pay yearly 
interest on it, for it is a fixture; but I protest 
that it is not essential to the construction of a 
factory farm, and it may be omitted by those 
who have no daughter Jane. 
There were other things hinging on Jane’s 
home-staying which made me think that, from the 
standpoint of economy, I had made a mistake 
in not sending her back to Farmington. It was 
not long before the dog proposition was sprung 
upon me; insidiously at first, until I had half 
committed myself, and then with such force and 
sweep as to take me off my prudent feet. My 
own faithful terrier, which had dogged my heels 
for three years, seemed a member of the family, 
