Robin Hood's Barn 



bed-making and preferred for thorough airing 

 those mornings when I answered to the call of 

 a fuU tide. And if my dishes did not "stand," 

 my tidiness was due to the position of the kitchen 

 sink. This was no solitary place of penance to 

 transform the gadabout to drudge. Through the 

 window just above it, I had clear access to the 

 fields and orchard and might watch for all that 

 stirred the world outside. Quite often, as I 

 rinsed, and scoured, and scrubbed, I was specta- 

 tor at a quiet drama. A quail with courting crest 

 erect would come mincing down my path and se- 

 cure of solitude would call softly to his mate. A 

 pair of yeUow warblers, always debonair and im- 

 concerned at my appearance, would calm down 

 to their domestic duties and make discovery of 

 their small nest. Or a heron would fly up from 

 the stream and settling on the wall, would slyly 

 preen his quaker plumage. But as a rule I played 

 unseen official and reviewed maneuvers on the 

 duck pond where a white flotiUa was at sea. A 

 far different business this, that was the mere ac- 

 companiment to pastime, than any earlier en- 

 covmters I had had with pots and pans. Even 



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