ON THE MISTAKES OF CITIZENS IN COUNTRY LIFE. 



309 



through their memory, fancy th.a.t farming 

 itself is the grand occupation and panacea 

 of country life. This is a profound error. 

 There is no -permanent interest in any pur- 

 suit which we are not successful in ; and 

 farming, at least in the older states, is an 

 art as difficult as navigation. We mean 

 by this — profitable farming, for there is no 

 constant satisfaction in any other ; and 

 though some of the best farmers in the 

 Union are retired citizens, yet not more 

 than one in twenty succeeds in making his 

 land productive. It is well enough, there- 

 fore, for the citizen about retiring, to look 

 upon this resource with a little diffidence. 



If our novice is fond of horticulture, there 

 is some hope for him. In the first place, 

 if he pursues it as an amusement, it is in- 

 exhaustible, because there is no end to 

 new fruits and flowers, or to the combina- 

 tions which he may produce by their aid. 

 And besides this, he need not draw heavily 

 on his banker, or purchase a whole town- 

 ship, to attain his object. Only grant a 

 downright taste for fruits and flowers, and 

 a man may have occupation and amuse- 

 ment for years, in an hundred feet square 

 of good soil. 



Among the happiest men in the country, 

 as we have hinted, are those who find an in- 

 tense pleasure in nature, either as artists or 

 naturalists. To such men, there is no wea- 

 riness ; and the}^ should choose a country 

 residence not so much with a view to what 

 can be made by improving it, as to where it 

 is, what grand and beautiful scenery sur- 

 rounds it, and how much inspiration its 

 neighborhood will offer them. 



Men of society, as we have already said, 

 should, in settling in the country, never 

 let go the cord that binds them to their 

 fellows. A suburban country-life will most 

 nearly meet their requirements; or, at 

 least, they should select a site where some 



friends of congenial minds have already 

 made a social sunshine in the " wilder- 

 ness of woods and forests." 



Above all, we should counsel all persons 

 not to underrate the cost of building and 

 improving in the country. Do not imagine 

 that a villa, or even a cottage orn^e, takes 

 care of itself. If you wish for rural beauty, 

 at a cheap rate, either on the grand or the 

 moderate scale, choose a spot where the 

 two features of home scenery are trees and 

 grass. You may have five hundred acres of 

 natural park — that is to say, fine old woods, 

 tastefully opened, and threaded with walks 

 and drives, for less cost, in preparation and 

 annual outlay, than it will require to main- 

 tain five acres of artificial pleasure-grounds. 

 A pretty little natural glen, filled with old 

 trees, and made alive by a clear perennial 

 stream, is often a cheaper and more unwea- 

 rying source of enjoyment than the gayest 

 flower garden. Not that we mean to dis- 

 parage beautiful parks, pleasure-grounds, 

 or flower gardens ; we only wish our read- 

 ers, about settling in the country, to under- 

 stand that they do not constitute the high- 

 est and most expressive kind of rural beau- 

 ty, — as they certainly do the most expensive. 



It is so hard to be content with simplicity ! 

 Why, we have seen thousands expended 

 on a few acres of ground, and the result 

 was, after all, only a showy villa, a green- 

 house, and a flower garden, — not half so 

 captivating to the man of true taste as a cot- 

 tage embosomed in shrubbery, a little park 

 filled with a few fine trees, a lawn kept 

 short by a flock of favorite sheep, and a 

 knot of flowers woven gaily together in 

 the green turf of the terrace under the par- 

 lor windows. But the man of wealth so 

 loves to astonish the admiring world by the 

 display of riches, and it is so rare to find 

 those who comprehend the charm of grace 

 and beauty in their simple dress ! 



