Solaris Farm: A Story of the Twentieth CenturyEdson, Milan C. (Milan Chappel)
General
Solaris Farm: A Story of the Twentieth Century
Edson, Milan C. (Milan Chappel)
Agriculture, Cooperative; Cooperation; Utopias
The well lighted, well ventilated rooms in the basement were used as
store rooms, a suitable number being set apart for the servants, as
dressing rooms, dining room and sitting room. In a large bay window
extension at the rear of the main hall, a sumptuously furnished elevator
connected the basement with all of the halls, the roof and the towers.
The rooms on the second and third floors were arranged in suites of
three: reception, sleeping and bath. In size, fittings and furnishings,
they were models of comfort and luxury.
The four octagonal tower rooms were uniformly twenty-five feet in
diameter, with lofty dome ceilings. The right front tower was occupied
by Fern Fenwick as her private study and work room. It was fitted and
furnished much the same as the library. The left front tower was
arranged as a seance room for spiritual manifestations, and more
especially for the different phases of mediumship possessed by Mrs.
Bainbridge, including materialization. As before stated, the right hand
tower at the rear was perfectly equipped as an observatory, while the
rooms under it were devoted to the demonstration of kindred sciences.
The left tower at the rear was furnished and arranged as a laboratory.
The rooms under it were set apart for experiment and demonstrations in
chemistry, metallurgy, photography and several other sciences of like
nature.
An able corps of carefully trained servants, under the direction of Mrs.
Bainbridge, the housekeeper, made it easy to keep this remarkable
establishment in perfect order. One and all, these model servants were
devoted to their lovely young mistress, and this devotion was based on
their keen appreciation of her noble ideas in regard to the true purpose
of human life, to her high estimation of its sacredness. They were eager
to serve her faithfully and well for less than ordinary wages, contented
and confident in the knowledge that, in accordance with her clear sense
of justice, they were sure of being retired on half pay after having
reached the age of fifty-five. This brief description of the exterior
and interior of Fenwick Hall, its equipment, its lovely mistress and its
people, will but faintly suggest its extraordinary possibilities as a
potent factor in the upper circles of Washington life. Almost three
years have passed since the transition of Fennimore Fenwick, which left
his only daughter, Fern Fenwick, as the sole heir to his vast wealth.
With the exception of three months each summer, spent at Fairy Fern
Cottage, or some mountain resort near it, she had remained quietly at
Fenwick Hall, busily engaged in rebuilding and refitting it. Meanwhile
under the instruction of able teachers, she had been hard at work in
efforts to supplement her excellent collegiate education with a better
knowledge of history and by a more complete mastery of the subtle
secrets of the higher sciences, as exponents of the powers, properties
and purposes of the inherent forces belonging to the various
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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