MR. URBAN AND A COUNTR Y HOUSE. 2 1 3 



not advertise in the journals,) are understood to be 

 in correspondence with such landholders as are will- 

 ing to sell, but entertain a horror of seeing their 

 homes and lands trampled over day after day by 

 whatever curious people may obtain a search ticket 

 from the established and ordinary real estate agents. 

 A home is a home, even to the humblest ; and to 

 those whose needs demand a peremptory sale, the 

 interposition of some adroit agent who makes the 

 visit of a purchaser appear to be only the visit of a 

 curious friend, is an immense relief. 



Still more important is it that such negotiator be 

 competent to give advice based upon long experience 

 and observation. There is many a man, my friend 

 Urban among them, who, conceiving a longing for 

 the quietude or other indulgences of the country, has 

 yet the most dun and vague notions of what he is 

 really in search of. Is it simply a quiet reach of 

 garden ground which may supply all the enjoyment 

 of the lesser fruits ? Is it sea air alone or mountain 

 air, simply without a thought or care of anything 

 beyond ? Is it shade and trees, and a taste of wild- 

 ness ? Is it the care of fine cattle and the requisite 

 attention and expenditure ? Is it a two months' 

 disport with a model-farm in summer, without much 

 regard to the returns ? Is it the establishment of a 

 country home which shall be complete in all its equip- 



