424 



VI HAT IS THE GOOD OF IT? 



[IIM 



1 



I: 



Fig. 3. Dingball's Gutter. 



dry land, and some serious illnesses resulted. In 

 winter, Dingball made a regular chore of being 

 ready with every thaw to pump out the cellar. 



This point is so important that I have had it fully 

 illustrated in Fig. 3. Just at the spot where car- 

 r i a g e s 

 stop b y 

 the main 

 entrance, 

 the road - 

 was made 

 flat, and 

 originally 

 three o r 



four inches sunken. In the Dingball point of view 

 this broad gutter was needful to carry the water 

 back and sideways from the house to a certain un- 

 derdrain of his which never seemed to operate. 

 But in winter this expanded gutter would fill with 

 snow and ice, and whenever a sudden thaw and 

 rain came, the flood had to go into the cellar win- 

 dows. 



The women finally took the matter in hand, and 

 it was Mrs. Tarryer who first arrived at the true 

 sense of the situation. She saw that snow-broth 

 could never run out of that flat place, but would 

 stay there and freeze, with the results above stated. 

 She induced Lady Schnipticket to let M'Tavish, who 

 had a stronger mind for grades than Dingball, lend 

 a neighborly hand in the business. By filling, nar- 

 rowing and rounding the road — forming a shallow, 

 parallel gutter in the sward on the side nearest the 

 house, that water could run away in, the whole 

 trouble was prevented. (Fig. 4.) 



Few house-keepers are so amphibious as to be sat- 

 isfied with water in their cellars, and Mrs. Camper- 

 down is not one of them. This incident naturally 

 tended to cement the friendship forming between 

 the three ladies in question, till now they constitute 

 a very strong party in Tarry town. 



Some of the turf on the side of the road away 

 from the house, which Dingball, according to his 

 obtuse kind, had been heavily top-dressing with 

 earth compost for years, thus raising it consider- 

 ably, was ordered up and lowered to ensure surface 

 drainage. 



These changes, with all the roads and walks in 

 the rear of the house made rotund and water-shed- 

 ding, and with due attention to shallow drainage by 

 iron pipes under the traveled path wherever there 

 is occasion, have relieved the Camperdown property 

 from every suspicion of muddiness at any season. 



The autumn leaves of the place raked and left in 

 piles till they become somewhat laminate and man- 

 ageable, are carefully spread like a carpet on these 

 dry roads and walks during drizzly or damp weather. 



Besides giving soft, clean and noiseless footing, 

 these leaves serve to protect the gravel from wash- 

 ing rains during winter and spring, making wheeling 

 or walking as pleasant as possible. 



Parson Camperdown is apt to say, after dinner, 

 that his road improvements save enough in mud, 

 dust and door-mats to pay all expenses. And Mrs. 

 Camperdown declares that even Dingball feels re- 

 lieved from his ruinous and absurd digging of road 

 surfaces, and finds abundant time now for useful 

 things — making plants, shrubs and trees fruitful — 

 subduing weeds, insects, fungi — keeping his out- 

 houses, composts, etc., tidy. 



In replying to the delegation of school teachers. 

 Lady Schnipticket said that we should never im- 

 prove public roads while private parties were de- 

 stroying their own walks and drives by foolish 

 management. "It is your business to teach the 

 children better. As the child Jesus disputed the 

 doctors 

 who after- 

 wards slew 

 him, so it 

 is the busi- 

 n e s s of 

 c h i 1 d r en 

 continually 

 to watch 

 lest their 



heritage is wasted in costly and useless and blund- 

 ering labor. Why should the roads of new Amer- 

 ica lead to some destructive center like the roads 

 of dead empires ? " This as she waved the party 

 towards a bountiful lunch table. I have noticed 

 that a good lunch is quite a binder for reform re- 

 marks, applied at the right time. 





1 



\ 







1 





















Fig. 



Mrs Tarryer's Gutter. 



WHAT IS THE 



A GOOD many people seem to think it is wise 

 to indulge in a general wail over the de- 

 cay of country life. Perhaps they feel bet- 

 ter for it ; like certain kinds of women, it 

 does them good to cry. To hear these persons talk 



GOOD OF IT ? 



you would certainly think that the land is full of 

 abandoned farms and that the cultivation of the 

 ground is sure to result in loss and disaster. All 

 the young men are going off to the cities in search 

 of the fortunes they never can find in the country ! 



