"
So Jane was to have her forge. We selected 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.
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