The Rescue of an Old Place 



perhaps, a few vegetables for ourselves. 

 A tree or two to shade us, and some 

 Pines on the hillside to relieve its dreari- 

 ness, were in our programme, as well as 

 the Willows along the street ; but we felt 

 that we had twice as much land as we 

 needed, and should probably part with a 

 lot on each side of us before very long, 

 instead of wishing, as we now do, for a few 

 acres more. 



As in everything else that one begins 

 in an amateurish way, we looked no fur- 

 ther along the road we are to travel than 

 the end of its first enticing curve, and lit- 

 tle we recked where it was to lead us. 

 To get rid of barrenness was our obvious 

 business, but there was no method in our 

 endeavor beyond the mere putting in of 

 all the trees and shrubs we could muster 

 from the resources of the place, or through 

 the kindness of our friends. 



For the first two years it required our 

 best energies to make these live, and there 

 was not much thought beyond digging 

 around them, watering them when dry, and 

 pruning them into shape. But the third 

 summer, when the bare poles began to 

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