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58

XI

When we moved to 410 Douglas Street, I began a new life. We lived in a lower flat but it was quite new and nice with three small bedrooms, living room, dining room, bathroom, kitchen, butler's pantry, and nice side porch. We were very comfortable but Mother had had to sell the Maxwell (she didn't drive anyhow) and let Nellie McDermott go. The Oak Street car line traversed our block of Douglas Street but I didn't mind that as I enjoyed the trollies and they were very convenient this way besides. Between Douglas and Highland Avenue, the car line traversed Graves Street which was narrow and unpaved and there was a single track accordingly so that the cars went from a double track to a single track just about in front of our house. There was a signal light at each end of the single track section which was operated by a trolley switch, requiring the cars to grind down a bit noisily in from of our apartment in order to operate the switch but this device merely served to intrigue me -- and I am ashamed to admit that to this day, I don't know just how one of those trolley switches worked! Our apartment had a fair-sized front yard and was up a few feet above the street level which made it more attractive, and there were good-sized trees shading the whole street. We also had a good backyard which terminated at the rear of the yards of the houses on Highland Avenue, which was right behind us, the Teffts living almost behind us. So we were not removed very far from our former dwelling place but just enough to be in a less than top-rated neighborhood. Upstairs in our place lived two elderly maiden ladies, the Misses Huntington, who were of good family and very genteel but with whom we had little in common. Next door to the east was an Episcopal parsonage occupied by the Rev. Jones, a kind and pleasant man who went out of his way to be nice to us. Next door to the west, lived the Robert Gilman family composed of the parents, maybe 40ish, and two daughters, Dorothea, maybe 20, and Frances, who was my age. More about these people later. However, although we lived within a few minutes walk of my old cronies, gradually I lost close touch with most of them and began to travel with a different crowd, that is, the children of my new immediate neighbors. Another factor in this transition was the fact that Mother felt she should resign from the Sedgwick Farm Club to save money, so that deprived me of innumerable of my old contacts both summer and winter. In other words, I found myself going through the same kind of experience that assailed Spencer Pierce when they had to sell their home on Highland and move into a modest place in the outskirts -- except for one very important thing and that was that Penny Pierce still had his father and I didn't have mine. However, Mother and I seemed to get along quite well and I found myself becoming quite rapidly, one of the Douglas Street crowd and enjoying it. I have no recollection of having felt sorry for myself or bitter at Fate because of what had happened. Life went on, and it was still fun and as it unfolded on Douglas Street, it was also different, largely because we were growing older.