Story from Elsie Burton’s Diary
During the two months of each year, the Allan Standishs and their two daughters, Patricia and Beatrice, came to stay in their large two story home on the ranch. They lived in Palo Alto most of the year where the girls went to school. Mr. and Mrs. Miles Standish also had a rather nice place on the ranch and were at home there when they were not traveling.
The girls, Patty and Bea, would sometimes become bored with their activities. I could never understand how that could be possible when they had an entire room set aside for a playroom with every kind of toy imaginable, a lovely large yard, beautifully landscaped, a swimming pool, and a horse to ride. But they did and would beg their mother to request that I come to play. I was about two years older than Patty and six years older than Bea.
One day during their swimming break, Mrs. Standish became tired of my dog paddle, so much splashing. She took it upon herself to teach me the side stroke. It is done all underwater, so no splashing.
One thing about those swimming episodes that bothered me was the dressing rooms. They were down a short garden path from the pool. There were two rooms, one for the girls and one for the boys. Now the entire house and grounds were encircled by a nine foot high two foot thick private fence. A section of this fence provided one wall of the dressing rooms. I knew my brothers, and I knew that if one wished, that privacy could be easily violated. From stories I have heard since, it was on more than one occasion.
Another recollection of the grounds at the ranch is of a grape arbor on the path from the house to the pool. They were covered with concord grapes, the kind that slip out of their skin when squeezed. Those grapes were so refreshing on hot summer days!
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