Home Life 



The following letters describe his final success — all 

 written with his usual optimism and high spirits : 



To Mr. W. G. Wallace 



Parkstone, Dorset. October 26, 1901. 



My dear Will, — At length the long quest has come to 

 an end, and I have agreed to buy three acres of land at 

 Broadstone. Ma and I have just been over again this morn- 

 ing to consider its capabilities, and the exact boundaries 

 that will be the most advantageous, as I have here the great 

 advantage of choosing exactly what I will have. I only 

 wish I could afford five acres instead of three, or even ten ; 

 but the three will contain the very eye of the whole. I 

 enclose you a bit of the 6-inch ordnance on which I have 

 marked the piece I have finally fixed upon in red chalk. 

 The attractive bit is the small enclosure of one acre, left 

 rather paler, which is an old orchard in a little valley 

 sloping downward to the S.S.E. There are, perhaps, a 

 score of trees in it — apples, pears, plums and cherries, I 

 believe, and under them a beautiful green short turf like 

 a lawn — kept so, I believe, by rabbits. From the top of 

 this orchard is a fine view over moor and heather, then 

 over the great northern bay of Poole Harbour, and beyond 

 to the Purbeck Hills and out to the sea and the Old Harry 

 headland. It is not very high — about 140 feet, I think, but 

 being on the edge of one of the plateaus the view is very 

 effective. On the top to the left of the road track is a 

 slightly undulating grass field, of which I have a little less 

 than an acre. To the right of the fence, and coming down 

 to the wood, Is very rough ground densely covered with 

 heather and dwarf gorse, a great contrast to the field. The 

 wood on the right is mixed but chiefly oak, I think, with 

 some large firs, one quite grand ; while the wood on the left 

 is quite different, having some very tall Spanish chestnuts 



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