Perhaps some of our young readers, who have not Charlie’s mechanical turn, may be a little weary of these details. We shall therefore tell them, in confidence, why we have been so minute, and also why we intend to deal a little more—that is, after haying—in these technicalities.
CHAPTER XI.
POMP’S POND.
No matter what year we were at Andover. There was then, and I suppose is now, in that staid old town, a certain pond, called Pomp’s Pond, in which grew any quantity of pond lilies, and some small fish.
These lilies grew in deep water, which was black, full of sediment and slime, and withal not very pleasant to go into. These lilies were in great request among the theological and Phillips Academy students.
The Academy boys were also very fond of fishing there; and the only available boat was a wherry, belonging to a man by the name of Goldsmith, who, to keep the boys from getting her, kept her at his house near by.
When any parties wished to hire her, he hauled her down with his oxen, and, when their time was up, hauled her back again.
We were as fond of lilies and fishing as the next one; but the idea of being tied down to Goldsmith did not agree at all with our notions. We required a larger liberty, and altogether more searoom. We therefore resolved to build a wherry of our own, to go and come when we liked, moonlight nights and all. We had at first intended to make her large enough to take a friend or two with us, but the difficulty that presented itself at the outset was, where we should keep her. If we kept her at the pond, all the Academy boys would be in her from morning till night, and when we wanted her, they would be off in the pond, or the oars would be lost or broken, and besides, she would be too heavy to haul out and hide in the woods.