OUT-Ol^-TOWN PLACES 



—the sway of his rod, and the whiz of his reel 

 under the dash of some struggling victim. 



It is a mistake, therefore, I think, to aim at 

 the completion of a country home in a season, 

 or in two, or some half a dozen. Its attrac- 

 tiveness lies, or should lie, in its prospective 

 growth of charms. Your city home — when 

 once the architect, and plumber, and uphol- 

 sterer have done their work — is in a sense com- 

 plete, and the added charms must lie in the 

 genial socialities and hospitalities with which 

 you can invest it; but with a country home, 

 the fields, the flowers, the paths, the hundred 

 rural embellishments, may be made to develop 

 a constantly recurring succession of attractive 

 features. This year, a new thicket of shrub- 

 bery, or a new gate-way on some foot-path; 

 next year, the investment of some out-lying 

 ledge with floral wonders; the season after 

 may come the establishment of a meadow (by 

 judicious drainage) where some ugly marsh 

 has offended the eye ; and the succeeding sum- 

 mer may show the redemption of the harsh 

 briary up-land that you have scourged into fer- 

 tility and greenness. This year, a thatched 

 rooflet to some out-lying stile; next year, a 

 rustic seat under the trees which have begun 

 to offer a tempting shade. This year, the curb- 



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