CHAPTER III 
Grades, Levels, and Contours 
W HILE it is true that the usual flat sur- 
face of a suburban plot offers few al- 
ternatives in the matter of grading, 
it is also true that such a place is not as de- 
void of interest and possibilities as our ac- 
customed casual view of it presumes it to be. 
For one thing, the unbroken level is not im- 
perative even on the perfectly flat piece of 
ground; and for another, ground that is per- 
fectly flat is not as common as we fancy, or as 
the appearance of most finished suburbs would 
seem to indicate. It is our conception of it as 
flat that is responsible for its becoming so 
with the aid of shovels and barrows and 
scoops and rakes — those flatirons with which 
we smooth all the subtle little character 
wrinkles and coy dimples out of the good earth 
skin. 
This matter of “ grading ” — of ironing the 
face of the earth out smooth — is an obsession 
which I am tempted to believe leads to wilder 
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