Our Browning grandparents & youngest daughter, aunt Kitten, lived a short distance west past the lake on the south side of the Boulevard. Our house was on the top of a knoll with a large roofed porch full length along the front facing south overlooking the Boulevard with glimpses of the lake beyond. The driveway curved up from N. Glen Road to a big circle in front with a huge centered walnut tree, then continued to the rear 2 car garage. It had an entry foyer with stairs up & hall to Dining rm.with closets a big living room with fireplace, a music rm, a large dining room, kitchen & pantry with a clothes chute we were able to illegally use to go up or down between 1st & 2nd floors. The 2nd floor had 4 BR's, 3 B. The third floor was narrow with a helps bedroom/bath & big long room that Dad used to set up our elaborate Lionel electric Train.We had many dormer windows because it was a gambrel roof , sloping from the ridge down to the porch roof level.

Dick trapped muskrats on the Little Lake which he skinned, cured & I think sold. Our wonderful childhood in Mountain Lakes set the stage for for our future lives in Florida as Dick became a lifelong hunter & fisherman & I became a lifelong sailor.

My Grandfather Browning & 3 sons, Arnie, Barney [Dad], & Alan,all lived in Mountain Lakes & commuted to Wall Street where they had a brokerage firm. After the market crashed in 1929 they refused to come home & seemed wild to Mother on the phone. so after 2 days she drove to NYC & dragged Barney home.

In marble season, Dick & I once were nearly cleaned out playing "keeps" with bigger kids so Dad got Arnie & Alan to join a game & quickly cleaned out the bullies.

Dick, Pat Orgain & I were allowed to hang out in the fire station by Art & spent many happy days there. The depression caused Pat's father to disallow the use of his electric toy soldier moulding machine so Art allowed us to use it at the fire station.

Dick & I became so farmiliar with all the paths & trails at the Tourne & the surrounding woods that I remember them clearly now & could find them if they still exist.

• Learning to swim & dive at Wildwood Beach on the Little Lake & the grand closing picnic on Labor Day with the contest to come ashore with the floating watermelon.
  
  
• Delivering ten cent Liberty magazines to my 10 loyal customers all over town & spending some of the fifty cent profit at the little drug store near the station. They were delivered at night to my parents by a Princeton student
  
  
• Waiting for the firemen to test the ice & start the siren for the OK to skate.
  
  
• My great & lasting love for Grace Wright.

FOOTNOTE:

My fraternal grandparents {Oren Browning} & family moved to "D" house on the Boulevard during World War1. It was always identified as "D" house by our family. My maternal grandparenrts [Monroe Howell] & family lived in Boonton Park where they had Mr. Hapgood as a guest some of the time that he was developing Mountain Lakes and he named Howell Road for my grandfather. Grandfather Howell bought, leased or created ponds near Mountain Lakes & Boonton where he had ice cut, stored in cork insulated sheds, then shipped by trainloads to New York City in the summer. Some of the nearby ponds were called Howell Ponds. He also was a founder of the Boonton Bank and his son John became the life-long vice president after World War 1.