PRELIMINARY 



house of comfortable dimensions, the 

 arrangements of which, though simple, 

 are unusually convenient and practical for 

 a small family in the country. 



"While I was thus occupying myself in the 

 construction of the house, the head of 

 the family, to whom, in Europe, they give 

 the pretty honorary title of " Meister," 

 a title also much in favour amongst our 

 intimates at home, energetically attacked 

 the grounds. He had never before lived 

 in the real country or given any thought to 

 " landscape architecture," as it is called 

 nowadays. But we were building and 

 planning our own place for our own 

 pleasure. There was no one to object to 

 our ideas or criticise our methods, so he 

 took the same course out of doors that I 

 had followed within, and little by little, 

 under his artistic hand, the rough, unkempt 

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