PETER MARTIN AT HOME


Peter Martin, with his children, Charlie and Mary, lived in the oldest
part of Millsburgh, where the quiet streets are arched with great trees
and the modest houses, if they seem to lack in modern smartness, more
than make good the loss by their air of homelike comfort. The Martin
cottage was built in the days before the success of Adam Ward and his
new process had brought to Millsburgh the two extremes of the Flats and
the hillside estates. The little home was equally removed from the
wretched dwellings of Sam Whaley and his neighbors, on the one hand,
and from the imposing residences of Adam Ward and his circle, on the
other.

The house--painted white, with old-fashioned green shutters--is only a
story and a half, with a low wing on the east, and a bit of porch in
front, with wooden seats on either side the door. The porch step is a
large uncut stone that nature shaped to the purpose, and the walk that
connects the entrance with the front gate is of the same untooled flat
rock. On the right of the walk, as one enters, a space of green lawn, a
great tree, and rustic chairs invite one to rest in the shade; while on
the left, the yard is filled with old-fashioned flowers, and a row of
flowering shrubs and bushes extends the full width of the lot along the
picket fence which parallels the board walk of the tree-bordered
street. The fence, like the house, is painted white.

The other homes in the neighborhood are of the same modest, well kept
type.