Year: 1873

air ia a keen that ron wonder whether frost will XII
the fruit The year has then not shaken on the gray
uncouth remains OF winter and IL giving ony aiah''
green promise of Spring


81 had windfa. that month, and my income was ID
creased 10 5000 year. Ma wife and / ndulged our
country sentiments TO the utmost and thought OF ne
long Summer mornings when we might engage u reiu
farming aud there 10 US visions OF cows STAINING
in the warm sunshine, and Boy then turning hs Sru
wear standing % his ankles In the cool grass, cup III
hand to take toll from the mikmaid's pail Ihe goiue
butter and wrinkled peas, the fresh eggs anu
young broiled chickens, the roast pig IN '"y,
to remind rs OF Charles Lamb - these ana
more. we would have in plenty. 50 one day
we saw an advertisement Of farm IN New
Jersey TO rent We found the place all II was promised
To be. II lay mile from the station on Drah'h Ia
road 20 miles from NewYork II comprised eiSht aereS
with good od-fashioned house and barn, lying on the
southern slope Of the Jersey mountains The vino rom
the west blew over freshly aud when 1t was In the
east there smacking favor OF salt About the
house and bushes for fruit aud for ofnameht
rocks grown gray des snugiy followed out OF the noun
tan a blue brook tumbling over the trap-r0cK' ana ~
its basn watercresses grew We had found IL at Last
Here was perfection We bought IL for 5000 thou-
sand down. On the first Of May we moved there
and began 70 snuff the pure afr. At an outlay OF
some huslreds OF dollars, we soon had pretty
COW in the field pony cropping our door
yard lawn, chickens clueking IN the SUM-
and smart gardener and his wife domiciled In the
wing OF the farmhouse need not describe 10 you 1e
events Of that Summer and Fall Nothing could have
been more happy. To be sure We got fewer proiied
chickens than could have wished and my wife found
the eggs scarce when they seemed plenty enough IN
the gardeners kitchen. And strange to say, when 10
Autumn we came TO count the cost had paid Cor our
eggs chickens milk and berries more than city prices
more, indeed than we could afford to pay. eouh noJ
do business and be farmer, at least not economically.
As Autumn advanced, the railroad, being branch,
began TO lessen the number Of is trains, and casually
heard November that the company during the winter
would not stop its trains at cur station at an
40 that In December we paclsed up and
went back TO the city to board. The gardener
took the farm Off my hands, giving me a second mort
gaze ON the place for my 600 snd for hall the value OF
the stock SO that rent that season was, counting
everything about 81 300. house in the city, with
months country airing for the wife and boywoud not
have cost so MUCH"


Here the Man with Country looked at the ferry clock,
and seeing that he had quarter hour, and even
half hour would the ferry with him, continued


f you will please keep your feet OF that pail OF oys-
ters Will do myself and you justice By telling you the
conclusion OF this comic country-seekng. You
will think that cOuntry-liying for city folk Is
ali an arrant humbug. I assure you that there
is much practical truth in the rural sentiment. People
trust too greatly TO the sentiment and 10 not consider
WELL It was in November, two years ago, while the


winds were bowling and the river choked with pro-
crastinatng iee that wife and with two boys at our


reside determined 10 try the country once more Tor
the last time We exercised a little Judgment, and you
know VIC had some valuable experience We determined
that country living, for man Of family doing business
In NewYor is not possible under any other than the
following eonditions The distance from business must
not be more than Is miles, thereabouts. This will re-
qure an hour in the travelling, each way. Two hours
day are all that man, ordinarily employed, can afford
10 give TO the railway To these be must add the dis
tance 20 ana from ferries.


The eountryplaee ought TO be so situated that IL i
neither crowded into suburban city, isolated IN
the country and IL is desirable that IL should be IN
village where there neighbors, provision stores,
doctor, a church, and school, all within quarter
hours walk The house ought not 70 be more than 10 or
IS minutes walk from the depot The village ought TO
be on the line Of railway, having so great rave! that
trains stop frequently. horse ought not 10 De neces
sarv IL should be considered merely luxury. Do
not have too much land do not have so much that you
are compelled 10 depend upon man. -Four or nye lots
25x1CO each are many business man can find time
TO cultivate in his leisure hours; and If he study
well theresources his land he raise on that space
all the flowers aud shrubs and fine vegetables that he
will have time 10 cultivate. Upon these principles we
sought home in a village lying along the NewYork
Railway The trains with ordinary regularity.
They are probably not detained and bockadeda greater

way s reach home from this ferry in one hour. You
will think that my baggage here indicates that am put
TO great trouble with my marketlng but yeu are mis-
taken These oysters vensoR and other things, are for
my new neighbOr, who does not take to the country
kindly and who believes that nothing is Tt TO be eaten
unless il is purchased in New-YOrk As he is ILL., was
not so cruel as TO refuse to take the trouble
to carry them home for him. But I think you
would say that wife and and the children have de-
IT, hon in fhe We
going on the second year. and Winter and Summer, we
have found no disadvantages great that would be
willing TO exchange for any place In the city. Living In
the country does not require dispense with many
city comforts as you might fancy.


We are compelled to attend matinees IL we'go 20
New-York theater at all and a semi-monthly tour OF
Broadway and the picture galleries much more pleas
ant TO US than it is TO who has an opportunity to
make il every day. II is true that there incon
yenienees in Winter there several delays OF trains
and perhaps twice during that season one pre-
vented from reaching home at night. But 1 am
in no wise sure that the few inconvenience are
not fully paid for, not only in money saved, but in
the pleasures Of those seasons of the year when one may
daily be near the woods, the brooks, and the fields
Country pleasures heathful and cheap II you have
taste for them and know how TO use them without
making them, in the end tiresome aud expensive. We
fad that persons in circumstances have sufficient
extent land in four lots village avenue giving us
70 feet front by about $50 feet depth There Is small
barn on the sdestreet which serves as playhouse
for the children; but livery stablemen in the village
keeps our horse and call for him only when We want
him. on holidays, Sundays, and Summer morn
ines I pay s25 month for his keeping
and he would cost than half that sum-
IL took care of him myself We hnd that while cul
tvatng the flowers OF summer and Winter and raising
the few choice vegetables that tho village cannot
afford. I hud little time latter riding hours TO at
tend to that part Of four lots which Is not IN
grass. small garden well kept will give greater pleas
ure and finer results than two acres lying waste SO
long s there s grass .enough for the children to play
nrer and q stretch Of rich loan eurying about the