f work the conclave had
decided were the right ones, the most pressing ones to begin on.

First all the stones were picked up. The smaller boys and girls made
little heaps of the small stones, while the larger rocks, requiring
strength to move, were left to the older boys and girls. To some rocks
the boys were obliged to take the pickaxe and crowbar. These were
rolled, dragged and carted to the gutter at the bottom of the bank.

A sand bank of this description where the wash is great always needs an
embankment of some sort to hold the soil in place. So the boys built a
stone wall. They made this wall of the stones picked from the grounds.
First the height was decided on. This was to be two feet. They drove
stakes, one at the beginning, and so on for every five feet of extent.
After leveling, two inches was measured from top of each stake down and
a cord was strung along from stake to stake. Previously, to be sure that
the stakes were at the same level, one of the boys, squatting down on
the ground so that his eye was on a level with the stake nearest him,
looked or "sighted" along the stakes. Where one stake seemed to rise up
above the others it was hammered down a little to fall into line. Thus a
straight line or top level for the wall was obtained. The wall itself
was not difficult to build. It meant only the selection of stones and
firming them into place.

Close to the wall there was a strip of level land; then the slope arose
from this quite gently. After the stones were picked off the boys raked
the ground all over fine, free from lumps and small stones.

One evening in the village store George's father offered to plough and
harrow the entire grounds if Jack's father would give the grass seed.
The bargain was sealed. But after all, this sandy soil was no sort of
soil to plant grass seed in. The father of one of the girls gave to the
school a few loads of good soil. This was spread over the slope to a
depth of about a foot. Again they raked it all over smooth, filling in
and making as pleasing a grade as possible.

The Chief told them it would have been far better if they could have had
two feet of good soil. Grass needs all of that. Another way to have
improved the soil conditions would have been to plant corn or potatoes
on this ground for one year. With such a crop the boys and girls would
have been constantly working it, stirring it up. This improves soil.

After the soil was spread the next thing was to m