re the only other members of the family. There
was a garden well stocked with fruit-trees that was the delight of
Kosciuszko's heart. On a hillock covered with hazels he laid out walks,
put up arbours and arranged a maze that wound so craftily among the
thicket that the visitor who entered it found no easy exit. The maze may
still be seen, together with the avenue of trees that was planted by
Kosciuszko himself. His interest in his domain was unfailing. When far
away from home, in the midst of his military preoccupations, while
commanding in the Polish army, he wrote minute directions to his sister
on the importation of fresh trees, the sowing of different grains on the
farm.

Although Kosciuszko was an ardent farmer, his farm brought him no great
returns; and this by reason of the sacrifices that he made to his
principles. As a Polish landowner he had many peasants working on his
property. By the legislation of that day, common to several countries
besides Poland, these peasants were to a great extent under his power,
and were compelled to the _corvee_. Such a condition of things was
intolerable to Kosciuszko. The sufferings of his fellow-men, equal
rights for all, were matters that ever touched him most nearly. Many
others of his countrymen were earnestly setting their faces against this
abuse of serfdom and, even before the measure was passed by law, as far
as possible liberating the serfs on their estates. That at this time
Kosciuszko entirely freed some of his peasants appears certain. It was
not then practicable to give full freedom to the remainder; but he
reduced the forced labour of all the men on his property by one-half,
and that of the women he abolished altogether. His personal loss was
considerable. He was not a rich man. His stipend from America, for one
cause or another, never reached him, and thanks to his brother his
private means were in so involved a condition that he had to summon his
sister to his help and contract various loans and debts.

This favourite sister, Anna Estkowa, lived not far, as distances go in
Poland, from Kosciuszko's home. She and her husband and son were often
guests in Kosciuszko's house, and he in hers. She frequently had to come
to his rescue in housekeeping emergencies, and the correspondence
between them at times takes a very playful note. "Little sister," or "My
own dear little sister," alternates with the title used by the brother
in jest: "Your right honourable ladyship