38 JfY FARM. 



in his shirt sleeves, and proposed joining me directly 

 under some trees which stood a little way to the 

 north. I recollect dimly a little country coquetry 

 of his, about unwillingness to sell, or to name a price ; 

 and yet how he kindly pointed out to me the farm- 

 lands, which lay below upon the flat, and the valley 

 where his cows were feeding just southward, and 

 how the hills rolled up grandly westward, and were 

 hemmed in to the north by a heavy belt of timber. 



I think we are all hypocrites at a bargain. I sus- 

 pect I threw out casual objections to the house, and 

 the distance, and the roughness ; and yet have an un- 

 easy recollection of thanking my friend for having 

 brought to my notice the most charming spot I had 

 yet seen, and one which met my wish in nearly every 

 particular. 



It seems to me that the ride to town must have 

 been very short, and my dinner a hasty one : I know 

 I have a clear recollection of wandering over those 

 hills, and that plateau of farmland, afoot, that very 

 afternoon. I remember tramping through the wood, 

 and testing the turf after the manner of my lank 

 friend upon the Hudson. I can recall distinctly the 

 aspect of house, and hills, as they came into view on 

 my second drive from the town ; how a great stretch 

 of forest, which lay in common, flanked the whole, so 

 that the farm could be best and most intelligibly 



