l8 WE FARM FOR A HOBBY 



State House. From the end of the north wing to 

 the front door it is sixty-three feet long. The wing 

 is thirty-three feet long and thirty feet wide; the 

 main body of the house is thirty by forty-five. On 

 the ground floor are two living rooms, my study, 

 dining room, kitchen, and pantry; on the second 

 floor five bedrooms, dressing room, and three baths. 

 There are three attic bedrooms, bath, and store 

 room. And to be sure! there are four "practical'* 

 fireplaces and a secret staircase. 



The total cost for interest at five per cent, in- 

 surance, taxes, and average repairs for the last 

 three years is exactly thirteen hundred and twenty- 

 nine dollars a year. The property pays part of the 

 interest, so what I actually put out is $689 per 

 year. Add the five-year-average year bill for heat, 

 light, and power, and our "rent" is exactly one 

 hundred dollars a month. It is incredible it should 

 work out at an even figure. I am always suspicious 

 of even figures; if you are not you ought to be, 

 too: if they do nothing else, more often than not 

 they reveal the superficial, inexact mind. Never- 

 theless, there it is. ... And to add artistic veri- 

 similitude: in the three-year-average repair bill 

 included in the even hundred dollars there is one 

 item of $93.18 for opening and connecting a long- 

 unused well one summer when our water supply 

 was low. 



Thirty years ago my father, for a brief season, 



