54 LIBERTY AND A LIVING. 



York. For the three months in winter we 

 board in the city, the children counting the 

 weeks in their impatience to get back to the 

 fields, even snow-covered fields. Had I now to 

 choose between giving up the city altogether 

 and returning to the old life of desk-work the 

 year round, I should accept the out-door exist- 

 ence without a moment's hesitation, both for 

 myself and my children. It was found that to 

 build a house such as we required was better 

 than continuing to pay rent, and for a year 

 preparations were made for this country home 

 which should satisfy our aesthetic tastes and at 

 the same time cost but little money. 



The house stands upon a bluff, overlooking a 

 bay, which spreads east and west for many 

 miles, bounded on the south by a long strip of 

 barren sand. The water is not more than two 

 minutes' walk away, and at the foot of the 

 country road which leads down from the garden 

 to the beach, there is a little dock jutting out 

 forty or fifty feet into the water, far enough to 

 allow sail-boats to be drawn up to it. In out- 

 side appearance the house has something of the 

 English farm-house. The roof slopes east and 

 west from a central ridge-pole, with no break of 



