y may
form one of the advantages of residing in the country, we have no
right to put down as a saving of money the value of articles we should
never have thought of purchasing."

"I must allow," said Mr. N., "that you appear to have been strictly
honest in your entries as regards the value of the produce you have
received, but you do not appear to have put down your losses. You keep
a one-sided ledger. You have the credit, but not the debit entry. You
say nothing of the money you have lost by pigeons and rabbit-keeping."

Now the utmost we had lost by our pigeons in the six months was $2 25,
and he knew perfectly well how profitable they had since been to us.
He used jokingly to say, that we fed our guest with them in every mode
of cookery so frequently, that they would alter the old grace of "for
rabbits hot," &c., and substitute the word "pigeon" in its place; so
we thought it was ungenerous to reproach the poor birds with the
scanty number they gave us the first few weeks they were in our
dove-cote.

Silenced on that point, he returned to our unfortunate rabbit
speculation, and complained that we had kept no account of the money
we had lost by them.

Here H. stopped him saying,

"Pray, Mr. N., did you not purchase your children a pony, and did it
not catch cold and die in a month afterwards? I suppose Mrs. N. did
not enter that in her housekeeper's book as meat at so much a pound,
and why should we put down the cost of the rabbits in our farming
accounts? No; of course it was entered among the 'sundries.'"

"But you must allow," said Mr. N., "that if you had done as I advised
you, and taken a house in a street leading into one of the squares,
you would have lived more cheaply than here. Why, your gardener's
wages must more than swallow up any profit which you may _think_ you
make from your farm. You must acknowledge you would have saved that
expense."

"Granted," said I; "but we should most likely have paid quite as much
to a doctor. We never got through a year in town without a heavy bill
to one; and we must have had all the expense and trouble of taking the
children out of town during the hot weather, while the have had
excellent health ever since they have been here; and with the
exception, when some kind friend like yourself has asked one of them
on a visit, neither of them has left home since we came here. Of one
thing I am quite sure, that we are much happier than we should have
been in London; and th