Another point of great interest was the canal, along whose tow path President Garfield followed his mules as a lad. Miss Palmer knew a great deal about the martyred president and so interested were the children that they could scarcely believe the journey was at an end when the conductor called out the name of the place that was their destination. A big three-seated wagon was in waiting and when they were all piled comfortably aboard, including Peter Pan and Bedelia, whom nurse had carried while the rest of the Teddy bear family journeyed in a trunk, the fine gray farm horses started off at a trot along the uneven and rutty country road.
How sweet the breath of the spring was, how fresh and beautiful the landscape! The voice of the river rose like a tinkle of silvery bells and Sally cried out in delight that she saw a blue jay. And indeed she did, for a pair of them rose, startled from their nest, and flew off to a neighboring tree, their azure wings flashing like jewels in the sunshine.
The drive was all too short and the children were half regretful when the wagon drew up in front of the “Bungalow,” as Mrs. North had fancifully named the beautiful old farm house, which, with its gleaming white paint and moss-green shingles, presented a most attractive picture against the soft spring landscape.
And now Mrs. Hale who, with her husband, had taken care of the farm ever since it had been the property of Dr. North, came bustling out, full of a hearty welcome. She was a round and rosy woman, with bright eyes and a jolly laugh that, when you heard it, made you want to laugh, too.
She held up her hands and laughed till she shook when introduced to Peter Pan and Bedelia, for the Teddy bear tribe had not yet penetrated to her part of the world. After that they all went in to luncheon, set forth in the big, square dining-room, a room that projected from one side of the house and three sides of which were composed of windows, from which one might look out for miles and miles over the beautiful wooded hills with the sparkling river running its glittering way between them.
The dining-room together with the broad, gallery-like verandahs that ran around the three sides of the house had been a modern innovation recently added and the verandahs had suggested to Mrs. North the quaint appellation of the “Bungalow.”
Mrs. North had spent a part of her girlhood in India, where her father had been an English officer, and had absorbed a good deal of the Oriental which showed in a love of warm, glowing colors and luxurious surroundings. She was a very pretty woman, so girlish looking that she had more than once been taken for Bob’s elder sister.
Dr. North had expressed down from the city a quantity of beautiful piazza furniture and when the happy party came out of the dining-room after a meal that taxed even Bob’s capacity, they found a delightful resting place awaiting them. Fine mats of Japanese make covered the piazza floor and a gay red carpet draped the stone steps, for Papa Doctor had not forgotten his little daughter’s predilection for sitting upon them.
Handsome chairs and settees with one or two tables filled the spaces of the piazza, the settees heaped with pretty cushions, while two hammocks hung in opposite corners.