156 FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 



XXVIII. 



DURING the past week the frequent clink 

 of the hammer has been heard upon the 

 hill, and the walls have grown apace, heavy 

 walls, with mighty stones in them, which 

 make the inclosed space of the cottage 

 look curiously small. But no hammer 

 stroke has been heard on the face of the 

 stones, and as they rise above the surface 

 of the ground, the lichens and mosses give 

 them an appearance of ancientness which 

 is good to see. The masons have become 

 interested in carrying out the enterprise as 

 it was planned, and bid fair to produce a 

 work with which they may quite properly 

 be content. 



The well has proved refractory, and it 

 may yet need to be carried further into the 

 bowels of the earth. But the fruit trees 

 and most of the other plantings have taken 

 kindly to their new home, and notwith 

 standing this second dry spell, with its 

 intense heat, I must on the whole be sat 

 isfied with the appearance of the growing 



