FINDING THE PLACE 27 



about Massachusetts and New York, and almost 

 everywhere come upon spots so beautiful, so homeful, 

 that I long to purchase and develop each one of them. 

 Somebody will do it yet, and America is bound to be 

 one great garden, while our highways constitute a 

 public garden for the benefit of all of us. 



Meanwhile, if your lot is not too closely condi- 

 tioned, take up one of these noble bits of property. 

 Do not trifle with it, but what you do should be done 

 with the one controlling purpose of forever enjoying 

 that landscape. 



" Well," said a wise and witty Irishman who 

 brought me a load of hay, "-if I could forever see 

 that valley, sir, full of villages and orchards, I'd 

 not ask Peter to use his keys for me. That village 

 in front sits on the middle of the valley, like a dia- 

 mond sits in a queen's ring." 



The scene had awakened all the poetry that sleeps 

 in the Celtic mind. That is the value of a home in 

 the country; not merely to feed the body, but also to 

 feed the soul. 



The conditions, however, are so various that every- 

 one cannot select from the standpoint of landscape 

 and outlook. The teamster will do wisely who looks 

 to proximity to his work and fertility of the soil as 

 the two sure requisites. He wants enough land to 

 feed his horse or horses and to furnish garden room. 



" Well, sir," said a heady fellow, " I'd like it out 

 here on these hilly slopes, only you see I must be at 

 my work in the city by seven in the morning, and I 



