Norma: A Flower Scout

by Lillian Elizabeth Roy

“I ain’t found no board what’s big enough for making islands,” shouted Sam.

“I told you to fetch all the strong boards you could find, ’cause I’ll make them big enough!”

Sam went back to do as he was told, and Mr. Ames came up out of the hollow to start mixing the materials for the concrete. The scouts all stood around during this interesting process, as they wished to learn how to do the work in order to be able to build whatever they needed in the future.

A temporary floor of heavy planks was laid and upon this the farmer proposed mixing the cement. He took a bag of cement, added a barrow full of fine sand, another barrow full of gravel and scrap junk,—such as bits of iron, trap-rock, slate and other hard sharp splinters—and mixed all thoroughly together. Before he began adding water to this preparation, he called to Sam to carry the boards he had brought from the barn down to the place where the largest island was to be built.

A number of boards were adjusted to form a frame about the size of the basis for the island, and these were braced and fastened in place to keep them from being pushed outwards once the concrete was poured into the mold. Then the farmer called to Sam to help him in mixing the cement and other materials. The water was slowly added and Sam kept mixing with a steel hoe, until the composition was the required consistency to easily pour.

When Mr. Ames gave the word, every one helped filling buckets and pans and boxes and carrying them over to the island. They were quickly emptied into the large mold, and the scouts ran back for more concrete. Here and there Mr. Ames pressed a rock or a number of smaller stones into the soft preparation, and as this hardened and set, the rocks became embedded as firmly as if cast that way by Nature.

When the concrete reached the top edge of the board mold Mr. Ames topped it off with a rim of rocks, and into this hollowed center, more concrete was poured until the mold was filled still higher. Its full height from the floor of the basin now reached to about thirty inches, and this was considered high enough. The large rocks were now placed as Mrs. James directed, so that the effect was one of Nature’s handiworks. In between the crevices and hollows made by the large and jagged rocks, the soil would be filled when the concrete was set. And in this soil the vines and plants or shrubs would be planted.

The side of the island nearest the shore had been kept smooth and flat as the concrete rose higher about the rocks, and upon this wide flat wall the end of the rustic bridge was to be laid.

The two smaller islands were now formed in the same way, Mrs. James being careful to superintend the sides which had to be left smooth for the bridges to rest upon.

It took all morning and into the middle of the afternoon to finish the concrete work on the islands, but once they were done, the scouts felt that the hardest part of the water gardening was completed. Mr. Ames then began work on the concrete dam, but was concerned to discover that all the sand had been used for the islands.