view was limited by
the fringe of woods which lay between us and the north-and-south road.

"This is the exact spot for the house," said Polly. "It must face to the
south, with a broad piazza, and the chief entrance must be on the east.
The kitchens and fussy things will be out of sight on the northwest
corner; two stories, a high attic with rooms, and covered all over with
yellow-brown shingles." She had it all settled in a minute.

"What will the paper on your bedroom wall be like?" I asked.

"I know perfectly well, but I shan't tell you."

Seating myself on an out-cropping boulder, I began to study the
geography of the farm. In imagination I stripped it of stock, crops,
buildings, and fences, and saw it as bald as the palm of my hand. I
recited the table of long measure: Sixteen and a half feet, one rod,
perch, or pole; forty rods, one furlong; eight furlongs, one mile. Eight
times 40 is 320; there are 320 rods in a mile, but how much is 16-1/2.
times 320? "Polly, how much is 16-1/2 times 320?"

"Don't bother me now; I'm busy."

(Just as if she could have told in her moment of greatest leisure!) I
resorted to paper and pencil, and learned that there are 5280 feet in
each and every mile. My land was, therefore, 5280 feet long and 2640
feet wide. I must split it in some way, by a road or a lane, to make all
parts accessible. If I divided it by two lanes of twenty feet each, I
could have on either side of these lanes lots 650 feet deep, and these
would be quite manageable. I found that if these lots were 660 feet
long, they would contain ten acres minus the ten feet used for the lane.
This seemed a real discovery, as it simplified my calculations and
relieved me of much mental effort.

"Polly, I am going to make a map of the place,--lay it out just as I
want it."

"You may leave the home forty out of your map; I will look after that,"
said the lady.

In my pocket I found three envelopes somewhat the worse for wear. This
is how one of them looked when my map was finished.

[Illustration:]

I am not especially haughty about this map, but it settled a matter
which had been chaotic in my mind. My plan was to make the farm a
soiling one; to confine the stock within as limited a space as was
consistent with good health, and to feed cultivated forage and crops. In
drawing my map, the forty which Polly had segregated left the northeast
forty standing alone, and I had to cast about for some good way of
treating it