many evening trips with the old mare and much figuring we had the thing
done, all but the windows, door, and shingles on the roof. Well, I knew
where there was an old door and two window-sash taken off our
chicken-house to let in the air during Summer. And one rainy night three
bunches of shingles found their way from Perkins' lumber-yard to the foot
of the hill on the Adams Farm.

In another five days the place was finished. It was ten by sixteen, and
had four bunks, two windows, a paneled front door, a back entrance and a
porch--altogether a rather pretentious camp for a gang of young ruffians.

But it was a labor of love, and we certainly had worked mighty hard. Our
love was given particularly to the three house-builders and to Perkins,
down in town.

Of course we had to have a stove.

This we got from Bowen's hardware-store for two dollars and forty cents.
He wanted four dollars, and we argued for some time. The stove was a
secondhand one and good only for scrap-iron anyway. Scrap was worth fifty
cents a hundred, and this stove weighed only two hundred fifty, so we
convinced the man our offer was big. At that we made him throw in a
frying-pan.

For dishes and cutlery, I believe each of our mothers' pantries
contributed. Then a stock of grub was confiscated. The storeroom in the
Phalansterie furnished Heinz beans, chutney, and a few others of the
fifty-seven. John had run an ad in "The Philistine" for Heinz and taken
good stuff in exchange.