Читать книгу The Blue Birds at Happy Hills онлайн

29 страница из 47

The Nests were large enough to hold six bunks and a bed. The bunks, three on either side of the square room, were to be for the six Little Citizens occupying that Nest, and the bed at the end would be for the Mother Bird of that particular Nest. Besides the bunks and bed, there was a locker and a clothes-tree at the head of each bunk. The lockers had lids to be closed and locked to hold personal things belonging to the child who was given that section of the Nest. It could also be used as a seat.

Each Nest was about fifteen feet square, and posts held up a sloping roof to shed the rain. This roof extended about two feet over the outer line of the square room to protect the beds and lockers from the rain when it stormed. Another arrangement to keep the inside of the Nest dry, was a canvas curtain that rolled up on spring-rollers in fair weather, but came down in wet or cold weather, to act as a wall or screen. These curtains buttoned down the sides and at the bottom.

A gallery three feet wide extended about the outside of the Nest. This narrow veranda was railed in safely by a three-foot fence to keep the children from falling off the platform of the Nest which was raised a few feet above the ground.