TENANTS OF AN OLD FARM. 



CHAPTER I. 



TRANSFORMED AND TRANSFERRED. 



At last the old farm-house at Highwood had a tenant. 

 For years it had stood vacant, thanks to the conserv- 

 ative spirit of the owner, a wealthy rural manufac- 

 turer, who refused to lease it save on condition that all 

 its antique style and fixtures should be maintained. 

 Tlianks, also, to the luxurious notions of American 

 housekeepers, no acceptable tenant had yet been found 

 willing to submit to the conditions. 



With that steadiness which marks the return of un- 

 inhabited places to a state of nature, the house and its 

 surroundings had fallen into decay. The premises were 

 in sad contrast with the thrifty appearance of the place 

 in the day of good Farmer Townes, who had lived in it 

 from his infancj^ until death. Thus by a kind destiny 

 Highwood was reserved for us. Very cheerfully we 

 covenanted v/ell and truly to preserve to the place all 

 its primitive features. The ancestral shrines of the 

 Lares and Penates of the old Quaker farmer and his 

 Quaker forefathers should not be disturbed by the in- 



