OR, WITH BRAINS, SIR. 243 



northerly three hundred and sixty-three feet, to the estate of 

 Justin Stamford ; thence westerly three hundred and forty-five 

 feet, to the estate of Isaac Kempenfielder ; thence southerly 

 three hundred and sixty-three feet, to the county-road ; thence 

 easterly along said road to the first-named point, the total 

 area being one hundred and thirty-two thousand square feet, 

 a little more than three acres. From this must be taken the 

 land occupied by the buildings and the narrow strip of 

 woods on the north and west sides. The woods on the east 

 belonged to Mrs. Jones, " Widow Comfort," as she was 

 called. After studying this over we walked out to inspect. 

 It seemed very small on paper ; but when we had walked over 

 the frozen ground all around the bounds, we came to the 

 conclusion that our little farm was quite an extensive affair 

 when measured by feet and inches. At any rate, to go all 

 round it was something of a walk. Little as we knew about 

 such things we could not fail to see that, for our purposes, no 

 place could be more favorably located. It was open to the 

 sun all day, while the woods formed a shelter from the most 

 troublesome winds. When we returned from our walk 

 Robert got out writing materials, and, drawing a table up to 

 the window, began to write, while I took my sewing and sat 

 by his side, where I could look out far down the river-valley, 

 and watch the shadows chasing each other over the distant 

 hills. Presently Robert turned to me and said : 



