one, which I could really call my own. Nor did
I fail (as is the custom of landed proprietors all
about the world) to parade the poor fellow up
and down over my half a dozen acres; secretly
rejoicing, nevertheless, that the disarray of the
inclement season, and particularly the six inches
of snow then upon the ground, prevented him
from observing the ragged neglect of soil and
shrubbery into which the place has lapsed. It
was idle, however, to imagine that an airy guest
from Monument Mountain, J&pid Summit, and
old Graylock, shaggy with primeval forests,
could see any thing to admire in my poor little
hillside, with its growth of frail and insect-
eaten locust trees. Eustace very frankly called
the view from my hill top tame; and so, no
doubt, it was, after rough, broken, rugged, head-
long Berkshire, and especially the northern parts
of the county, with which his college residence
had made him familiar. But to me there is a
peculiar, quiet charm in these broad meadows
and gentle eminences. They are better than
mountains, because they do not stamp and
stereotype themselves into the brain, and thug
grow wearisome with the same strong impres-

[[8]]

p007 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p008w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p009

v?