This had been built nearly a century previously, and was as delightful as only the pleasantest kind of old barn can be.

It stood at the meeting-spot of three fences.

A favorite amusement used to be an obstacle race when the barn was full of hay.

The contestants were timed and were started successively from outside the door.

They rushed inside, clambered over or burrowed through the hay, as suited them best, dropped out of a place where a loose board had come off, got over, through, or under the three fences, and raced back to the starting-point.