WHERE I LIVED, AND WHAT I LIVED EOR. 
At a certain season of our life we are accustomed 
to consider every spot as the possible site of a house. 
I have thus surveyed the country on every side within 
a dozen miles of where I live. In imagination I have 
bought all the farms in succession, for all were to be 
bought, and I knew their price. I walked over each 
farmer’s premises, tasted his wild apples, discoursed on 
husbandry with him, took his farm at his price, at an}f 
price, mortgaging it to him in my mind; even put a 
higher price on it, — took every thing but a deed of 
it, — took his word for his deed, for I dearly love to 
talk, — cultivated it, and him too to some extent, I trust, 
and withdrew when I had enjoyed it long enough, leav¬ 
ing him to carry it on. This experience entitled me to 
be regarded as a sort of real-estate broker by my friends. 
Wherever I sat, there I might live, and the landscape 
radiated from me accordingly. What is a house but a 
sedes , a seat ? —* better if a country seat. I discovered 
many a site for a house not likely to be soon im¬ 
proved, which some might have thought too far from the 
village, but to my eyes the village was too far from it. 
( 88 ) 
