A wooden fence, and a row of mulberry and spruce
trees stood guarding the two embankments that were terraced down to the
brook and meadow. On the embankments were shrubs and flower beds. A
couple of rods to the right stood a graceful elm, beside a gateway that
opened on a pathway to the garden and fields.
Passing by the front of the house I found that two wings had been added
to it in the rear, leaving shed and carriage room beneath. Directly in
front of me, and facing due east, was a large barn raised upon stone
posts, which was open on the south side to the large barnyard, and
between the barn and house was a driveway or road, leading over the
premises.
In the kitchen, which was directly in the rear of the dining room,
there was a clatter of dishes, and a few persons were going from place
to place outside.
Some one was in the barn attending to the cattle. He had on a tarpaulin
straw hat, and a farmer's frock of blue mixture that hung down below
the tops of his cowhide boots. I looked sharply at the man, and found
it was Mr. George Ripley. The "second horn" sounded; it aroused the
dog, who howled pitifully or musically--in bad unison with it. Soon the
persons from the other houses came to breakfast, strolling leisurely
along.
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