“Herbert Charles! What are you doing?” Father grabbed Bertie’s shoulder. “you stay here.” Father ran over to the man. “I am so sorry. I apologize for the poor behavior of my child. Here, can I help you with your box?”
The man looked at Father, then at Bertie. His eyes squinted a little bit. “No, that is all right. I need no help.” He picked up his box and quickly went to one of the waiting carriages.
“Say, is that Mr. Keeley in the carriage,” whispered Dawsey.
“Yes it….”
Father got back to the boys. “What were you thinking? Bertie you could have hurt that man. Plus, why are you throwing that ball at him in the first place? Get in the buckboard now! All of you,” Father yelled at the children. They all got in the back of the buckboard and were soon headed west to Old Lancaster Pike. Father and Mr. Binns sat in the front seat. They loudly talked about what just happened. But the children remained silent, at least for a while.
But after some time, Dawsey nudged Bertie and quietly spoke to Bertie. “Did thee see that man get into the carriage with Mr. Keely?”
“Yes, I did. He was the man that pulled the lever. Plus, I will bet that box he dropped has the control with the lever. I just wish that we could have seen it.”
“What are you two talking about and why did you throw that ball? You got us all in trouble. I do not like it when father yells at us,” said Vicki.
Bertie and Dawsey retold their story about the marvelous machine…
They paid no attention to where they were going. When they left Fairmont Park they soon arrived at Old Lancaster Pike. This is a road with gentle turns that leads through what was once wooded farmland. But now, the farms had been converted to estates for the rich. But if the boys had looked, most of what they would see were farms with horses. They also might have seen the occasional copse with oaks or poplars. Sporadically, they would have seen ornate gatehouses at the entrance way to an estate. Some estates were hidden by trees or hillocks. But when the estates could be seen, the boys would have seen large, three story houses with wraparound porches and lots of chairs and tables. There were three main styles of houses: houses made of flat rock, houses with little ornamentation, and wood houses with lots of ornamentation that look like small castles. But the boys missed all of that.
When the buckboard turned left on to City Line Avenue there was more traffic. But there were not more houses to be seen, at least not until they approached Overbrook Station. When they crossed over the railroad tracks the busy city reappeared on the left side of City Line Avenue. On the right side was the Seminary of St. Charles Boromeo. Nobody paid any attention to that. Nobody in the buckboard was Catholic. After they crossed over Lancaster Avenue the large estates reappeared on the right. The busy city remained on the left until they crossed over Cobbs Creek. They had left Philadelphia and were now in Delaware County. The houses and businesses along the street dwindled until all that was left were the large estates.
It stayed like this for an hour or so until they got close to Springfield Friends Meeting where Mr. Binns turned onto a road leading behind a pharmacy. Behind it was a farmhouse. Mr. Binns turned into the farmhouse gate and stopped. A woman, several children, and a dog came out to the buck board.
“Welcome to our house,” said Mrs. Binns.
Photo courtesy of
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