16 THE FAT OF THE LAND 
the next 250, and then continued nearly level for 
a mile or more. We saw what Jane Austen calls 
“a happy fall of land,’ with a southern ex- 
posure, which included about two-thirds of the 
southeast forty, and high land beyond for the 
balance of this forty and the forty lying north 
of it. There was an irregular fringe of forest 
trees on this southern slope, especially well de- 
fined along the eastern border. I saw that Polly 
was pleased with the view. 
« We must enter the home lot from this level 
at the foot of the hill,” said she, “wind grace- 
fully through the timber, and come out near 
those four large trees on the very highest ground. 
That will be effective and easily managed, and 
will give me a chance at landscape gardening, 
which I am just aching to try.” 
«All right,” said I, “you shall have a free 
hand. Let’s drive around the boundaries of our 
land and behold its magnitude before we make 
other plans.” 
We drove westward, my eyes intent upon the 
fields, the fences, the crops, and everything that 
pertained to the place. I had waited so many 
years for the sense of ownership of land that 
I could hardly realize that this was not another 
dream from which I would soon be awakened 
by something real. I noticed that the land was 
fairly smooth except where it was broken by 
half-rotted stumps or out-cropping boulders, that 
the corn looked well and the oats fair, but 
