Men and women, boys and
girls, drawn together in groups by special likings for the work to be
done, made labor not only light but really pleasant.
Our entertainments, too, were in these happy days almost exclusively
free from the limitations of four walls and a ceiling. Rambles in the
woods and fields, excursions to Chestnut Hill or Cow Island, rowing
parties on Charles River, ball-games, athletic contests, swimming
matches, everything the Greeks ever did and more than they ever thought
of. Even our meals conveniently simple as they were, frequently took the
form of impromptu picnics on the Knoll.
The center of summer festivities was a natural amphitheater in the
beautiful pine-woods. Here was a little hollow, clear of trees which
served admirably well as an auditorium, and a bank at one end, leveled
down with very little artifice, made a spacious stage, or, if required,
a suitable rostrum. Here we had plays worth seeing and concerts worth
hearing. Here, too, Sunday services were sometimes held, to the
scandalizing of our Puritan neighbors, though when Dr.
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