ILLINOIS AUDUBON SOCIETY 27 



At Allendale Farm 



Allendale Farm at Lake Villa, Illinois, is a place to live and a school 

 besides where city boys that have not had a good chance are sent to be 

 given the best of chances, beautiful cottage homes on a picturesque lake, 

 real homelife on a real farm of their own, genuine friends, and inspiring 

 leaders. It is an Arabian Nights transformation for a homeless boy in 

 a crowded city to wake up and find himself at Allendale ! 



The Allendale boys make and sell bird houses as one of their ways of 

 doing a good deed while supporting themselves for, as they say in their 

 Bird House Leaflet, "It is not our words, but our work that must count 

 for bird conservation." Mr. Lawrence Buck of Ravinia, a noted architect, 

 designed some of their models, and they offer for sale the St. Armand 

 Model Martin House, the Lawrence Buck Model, the Quincy Model, the 

 Jens Jensen Model, etc. However, notwithstanding the modest disclaimer 

 quoted above, the words of these boys must also count for bird conserva- 

 tion as the following selections from issues of the Allendale Chap Book 

 will show : 



The Burial of a Bird. 

 By George Franklin (Fourth Grade). 



One day, while I was walking along the lane near the bridge, I heard 

 a noise, and I turned to look, and there I saw a man with a gun in his 

 hand. I ran up w T hen he fired the shot. I looked around for a half an 

 hour, until I found something hopping around on the ground. Then I 

 saw a Blackbird. 



He hopped slower and slower until he dropped dead, and then I 

 picked him up. I brought him to Miss Willie, and she gave me a box to 

 bury him in. Then I buried him in Shelter Garden, in the corner, and 

 then I built a cross, and made a wreath of flowers, and I put some flowers 

 on the grave. Then some other boys said the Lord's prayer, and then we 

 went away sad. 



Primary Natural Science. 

 By Harry Pose (Fourth Grade). 



At Allendale Farm, we have a natural science department. We try to 

 help the birds, to study the birds and flowers, to feed the birds in winter, 

 and to see that the flowers are not all picked at Allendale, and, when 

 the birds are hurt, to keep them, and fix up their wounds, and study their 

 nature. 



The Yellow-headed Blackbird w r e have never had before this year. 

 The least bittern is a bird that roams around in the marsh, and once in 

 a while they come in to the shore and we can see them, and also the Sora 



