Charles E. Burchfield (1893-1967)

Saturday – June 10, 1922; After dinner, in answer to an advertisement it of a cottage for rent, we took a car out Niagara to Gelston St. The street took our eye; it looked small-townish – Bertha said we might easily imagine that we were walking down a street in Salem. The advertisement proved to be a mistake – so we went on out Niagara in search of adventure –; There is an excitement in riding on a street-car when you have no objective –¬– at a certain point the canal looked so interesting we got off and made for it, came to some locks – we went along these – a flat topped scow which reminded me of the tops of red dusty freights cars on a summers day – and I felt a warm pleasing sensation of having come home to my own for a moment – it seemed all at once like a good life to work in the barren heat of a railroad –