OCR Text |
Show USE FOR OLD HORSE CAR. Two Dozen Form Summer Camp Home in Pretty Valley for Working Work-ing Girls of New York. New York. As of pennies and pins, the final disposition of old street cars lr- a mystery. About two dozen Avenue Ave-nue A cars silently stole away from New York a couple of years ago. Up the Hudson valley they journeyed on flat cars until they landed at Moun-tainville, Moun-tainville, a little hamlet in Orange county, noted especially for its summer sum-mer boarders. After a still overland trip of a mile or more they came to rest on the banks of a little stream that hurries through the valley. Dinner In the Horse Car. Lined up side by side, like tents In a soldiers' encampment, the cars now form a camp which is maintained by the Ethical. Culture society of- New York as a summer retreat for its working girl members. From May to October these girls are privileged to enjoy all the advantages of the camp for $3.50 a week. The matron in charge attends to the cooking and superintends the daily life of the girls. A few girls working their way through school and desiring work for the summer are chosen to help the matron attend to the cleaning. The most substantial cars stand in a row by themselves and form the sleeping apartments. Two cots to a room is the average, but if a third is desired it is added, although this makes the place pretty crowded. The cars are divested of wheels and rest on a firm foundation. Both doors can be kept open if necessary, as well as the windows, thus really affording as much fresh air as though the girls slept out of doors. At a distance another group of cars comprise the kitchen, dining room, pantry and storehouse. The kitchen is as neat and convenient as those on dining cars. A street car is very conveniently con-veniently transformed into a dining room by leaving the seats intact and running a long-table up through the middle. Close at hand under the trees stands the ice chest and nearby a cement sink with drain leading to the stream below the camp. Behind the cars are a croquet ground and tennis court. Throughout the clump of woods that adjoins the camp hammocks are swung, where the tired, footsore shopgirl may rest in quietness. Not the least of the charms of this unique camp is the creek that flows by its very doors. The clear, sparkling water is itself an invitation for a plunge and the girls are not slow to avail themselves of the privilege. The water is not deep, only here and there of sufficient depth for a swim, but wading is a delight that never grows old. |