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with scales dangling out behind. Mr. Foote also dealt in coal
which he delivered in very dirty wagons that came lumbering up our
hill every autumn. We had to lay in a good winter supply to guard
against shortage when the roads were impassable. Some-times my father
and his friend, Mr. Edward Field, would split a carload and, day after
day, wagons arrived at our house. The driver would put a metal
chute through a cellar window below which sections had been boarded off
to receive the hoard; he would then tip the body of the cart and the
coal would go roar- ing down the chute and into the cellar.
Perhaps the most impressive sight of a summer afternoon was
watching the Misses Case drive by -Miss Marion and Miss Louisa. They had
a beautiful black carriage drawn by a pair of perfectly groomed black
horses. A black coachman sat on the elevated front seat while the
Misses Case sat behind amid luxurious upholstery.
Miss Marion was interested in photography and I, being a
picturesque little Fauntleroy with long curly hair done up in
ribbons, was taken down to her studio several times to be photographed.
I might mention also that I once posed as Lord Fauntleroy at an
exhibition of living tableaux at an amateur theatrical.
Miss Marion's real photographic interest, however, was taking
pictures of flowers (fowwahs, she called them, on account of a speech
defect) and giving illustrated lectures. Once my mother
had charge of raising money for a charity and she asked Miss Case if she
would provide entertainment with a flower lecture.
Miss Case was delighted, and arrangements were made with the Winsor
School in Boston to hold it in their auditorium. Then |
