MY FARM OF EDGEWOOD 



as I was desirous of doing, that the building 

 was of home growth. I had seen very charm- 

 ing Httle farmhouses on the Downs of Hamp- 

 shire, made almost entirely from the flints of 

 the neighboring chalkbeds ; and in, Cumberland 

 and Westmoreland very substantial and ser- 

 viceable cottages are built out of the rudest 

 stones, the farm laborers assisting in the work. 

 Now, there were, scattered along the roadside, 

 as along most country roadsides of New Eng- 

 land, a great quantity of small, ill-shapen stones, 

 drawn thither in past years from the fields, 

 and serving only as the breeding ground for 

 pestilent briers. These stones I determined to 

 convert into a cottage. 



Of course, if such an experiment should in- 

 volve a cost largely exceeding that of a simple 

 wooden house of ordinary construction, its 

 value would be partially negatived; since I 

 was particularly anxious to demonstrate not 

 only the possibility of employing the humblest 

 materials at hand, but also of securing dura- 

 bility and picturesqueness in conjunction with 

 a rigid economy. 



I need not say to any one who has attempted 

 a similar task, that the builders discouraged 

 me: the stones were too round or too small; 

 they had no face ; but I insisted upon my plan 



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