Our Farm of Four Acres and the Money we Made by it

of the writer, when it became necessary to leave London, and br

we hope to find a house which will be suitable f

Times' and we shall find dozens of places that will do for us." So that m

sort of place do we

ol-room. It must have a nursery and five good bed-chambers, a chaise-house, and stable for the pony and carriage, a large garden, and three or four acres

ch do you intend to give a-yea

uld say we ought not t

to put up with a far inferior home to the one you contemplate. But come, let us ans

f any one of those charming abodes were soon dashed to the ground; for with the cards came the terms; and we found that a "very moderate rental" meant from $600 to $750 per annum. We looked at each other rather ruefully; and the ungenerous remark of "I told you so" rose to my lips. However, I did not give it utterance, but s

the one which appeared the most eligible, but were a little dis

ny can take us to it in fine weather, and

y as it had appeared on paper. But, alas! it been let the day previous to ou

," and we were rather surprised when we found that this high-sounding name signified a mean-looking place close to the road; and when the door was opened for our admission, that we stepped at once from the small front court into the drawing-room, from which a door opened into a stone kitchen. The rest of the accommodation corresponded with this primitive mode of entrance; the whole place was in what is commonly called a "tumble-down" condition: there was certainly plenty of garden, and two large meadows, but, like the rest of the place,

o be, we asked for "Heathfield House," and were told that no one knew of any residence bearing that name; we were a little perplexed, and consulted the card of admittance to see whether we had brought the wrong one-but no; there it was, "Heathfield House," four miles from Weybridge, surrounded by its own grounds of fo

" sai

ll show i

no sign of a decent habita

r the way," w

aw a "brick carcase: standing on a bare, heath

impossible that can be

from Mr.-?" was the q

was the

you will get out I

nspection quite as empty as they appeared from the road; neither doors nor windows were placed in them, and the staircases were not properly fixed. It was with much trouble we succeeded in reaching the floor whe

s your taking it, I'll engage to

, the doors and windows put in,

ent tone, which expressed indign

ready by the time we required to move, we saw no sign of the c

e," said the showman, "I can get

es, and humbly confessed that ou

for the lawn and gardens, they will be laid out when the house is let; and the heath will be

end with the promise that we would "think of it;" and indeed, we did think, that Mr.-, who was a very respectable house-agent, ought to ascertain what s

e were induced to think must suit us, but when seen proved as deceptive a those I have mentioned. We gained nothing by our travels but

et. "Have you any houses to let at such a distance from town

k, and immediately opened a large ledg

en was our surprise when he closed his large volume with a crash, and with a look of supreme contempt said, "We have nothing of that kind in our books

, to see a house which, from the assurances we had received from the owner, resident in London, must a last be the house, and for which the rent asked was $350; but once more were we doomed to disappointm

k the driver if he knew of any houses to let in the vicinity. He considered, then said he only knew of one, which had been

the driver to take us into this bad neighborhood, and were rewarded for the additional distance we travelled by finding an old-fashioned, but very convenient house, with plenty of good-sized rooms in excellent repair, a very pretty flower-garden,

, new buildings; and once inside, you saw nothing but your own grounds. It possessed the a

th exclaimed, "if the

he disposal of the house. When there, we met with the welcome intelligence, that house, gardens, orchard, meadows, and buildings, were all includ

difficulty in meeting with a respectable habitation for that sum, large enough for our family and with the quantity of land we required, as well as within a moderate distance of London. We have already told the reader how fallacious we found this hope to be. Houses within forty or

ller than we required, or dreadfully out of repair, or else they were built "Cockney fashion," semi-detached, or, as was frequently the case, situa

not been in such a dismantled condition that the agent in whose hands it was placed informed us that though he had orders to put it in complete repair, he would not promise it would be fit for occupation under several months. The office of this gentleman was next door to M

he house was concerned, we might as well have been in the Clapham Road. It is true we looked into gardens, front and back, but that was all; and we had to go through two or three streets of the little town in which we were lo