MR. URBAN AND A COUNTRY HOUSE 



certain well-known parties, who, (though they 

 may not advertise in the journals,) are under- 

 stood to be in correspondence with such land- 

 holders as are willing to sell, but entertain a 

 horror of seeing their homes and lands tram- 

 pled over day after day by whatever curious 

 people may obtain a search ticket from the es- 

 tablished and ordinary real estate agents. A 

 home is a home, even to the humblest ; and to 

 those whose needs demand a peremptory sale the 

 interposition of some adroit agent who makes 

 the visit of a purchaser appear to be only the 

 visit of a curious friend, is an immense relief. 

 Still more important is it that such negotia- 

 tor be competent to give advice based upon 

 long experience and observation. There is 

 many a man, my friend Urban among them, 

 who, conceiving a longing for the quietude or 

 other indulgences of the country, has yet the 

 most dim and vague notions of what he is 

 really in search of. Is it simply a quiet reach 

 of garden ground which may supply all the 

 enjoyment of the lesser fruits? Is it sea air 

 alone — or mountain air, simply — without a 

 thought or care of anything beyond? Is it 

 shade and trees, and a taste of wildness*? Is it 

 the care of fine cattle and the requisite atten- 

 tion and expenditure? Is it a two months' 



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