was for sale and she ascertained that this report was true the present possessor was a very good man in a moral point of view but indolent and and he had been drifting down the stream for some time and was now under the necessity of selling his place our heroine s calculations in respect to the possibility of her being able to be the too were not so as she expected there was her present house and farm worth as she thought full one half of the other for there was a great deal more land then she had quite a little sum laid by in notes on interest and in money all safe in a little tin or the his mother goes to inquire about the house familiar scenes box in the keeping of a farmer down in the valley this she thought from a rough calculation would be enough for half of the remainder then for the other quarter she thought she might gradually work that off with the help of and the blessing of god one day when she was down at the corner she concluded with great fear and trembling to go and see the present owner of the house and ascertain exactly how the case stood it was the middle of the afternoon and as she walked slowly up toward the house she almost expected that he would be away at his work she would however at any rate have an opportunity to see the house again and this was a great point she walked slowly along the little avenue looking at every object and building bright castles in the air and at length gave a gentle knock at the front door come in was the answer from the room and she opened the door the house consisted of two good rooms with a above the door opened at once into the larger one and as the visitor entered it a thousand recollections and associations crowded at once upon her mind there was the chimney corner where she had spent the first years of her married life and the great fire place with its and unchanged the window looking out upon the lot the back door and even the poles over head suspended from the ceiling were the same in the corner which was formerly occupied by her spinning wheel sat a middle aged man in a lounging attitude with his hat upon his head and his in his waistcoat pockets he was a good man in the main honest benevolent and kind but and in fact was his sin and had been his ruin and yet he was perfectly self satisfied and self complacent for he considered all his and head interview with the owner of the doom ity as only a habit of trusting in god his losses and almost altogether from want of industry or good management he called mysterious and though he was dejected and unhappy yet he was not dissatisfied with himself he invited his visitor to walk in and take a seat without however changing his position she began to tell him that she understood he wished to sell his farm and they entered into conversation about it presently his wife came in from the other room she sat down near a window and occupied herself with looking at the stranger a great boy with his hat upon his head and a long in his hand sauntered in soon after and followed his mother s example the conversation went on however without any interruption from these causes and the visitor learned that the man wished to sell his house and had no objection to take her farm in part pay as he must have some farm to go to of land than this i have had rather a hard time of it said he by way of himself for being obliged to sell his house we have been sick a good deal and have lost a good deal of stock in these hard but i don t complain it is all for the best i know she asked him what kind of payment he would require for the balance and he replied that he must have the rest in money in fact said he the place is to squire and i want to sell it so as to raise the money to pay off that and buy me another cheaper farm if i can i have been getting for a long time and he lent me the money to pay up every thing with and took a he is a fine man he has done every thing to help me squire has the necessity of raising the money for the whole of the balance seemed at first to put an end to the mother s hopes or the � v conversation in the evening about buying the house s promises though she had the good sense not to say so the man said that he had nearly given up the idea of selling his house before the next season and as squire was willing to wait he should probably not sell till fall but that some time in the course of the spring or summer he would come and look at his visitor s farm and see whether they could trade she walked slowly home turning round many a time as she moved out toward the main road so as to get a glimpse of the premises from every new position and point of view she in her mind the possibility of raising the money in any way and was calculating how much her own and s united industry might be made to produce in the course of the coming season when she arrived at her own door that evening while she was busy at her spinning wheel and sat upon the broad hearth with his feet out toward the fire she told him of the result of 