Our house was one of the best in the place, and since I had
come of age I had greatly improved it. I had a fair inheritance from my
mother, and this my grandmother desired me to expend without reference
to what I was receiving and would receive from her. To her son's son
would come ultimately everything that she possessed.

Being thus able to carry out my ideas concerning the comfort and
convenience of a bachelor, I had built a wing to my grandmother's house,
which was occupied only by myself. It communicated by several doors with
the main building, and these doors were nearly always open; but it was
satisfactory to me to think that if I chose I might shut and lock them,
and thus give my apartment the advantages of a separate house. The
ground floor of my establishment consisted of a large and handsome
library and study, with a good-sized anteroom opening from it, and above
were my sleeping and dressing rooms. With the exception of the time
devoted to reading, reflection, and repose, I lived with my grandmother.

Neither of us, however, confined ourself to this village life. The
winters my grandmother generally spent with a married sister in a
neighboring city, and I was accustomed to visit and journey whenever it
pleased me. Recently I had spent a year in Europe, and on my return I
joined my grandmother for a while, before going to our village home.

II.

RELATING TO MY YEAR IN EUROPE.

I do not suppose that any one ever enjoyed travel and residence in
England and on the Continent more than I did; but I do not now intend to
give any account of my experiences, nor of the effect they had upon me,
save in one regard. I had traveled and lived for the most part alone,
and one of the greatest pleasures connected with my life in Europe was
the anticipation of telling my friends who had never crossed the ocean
what I had seen, heard, and done.

But when I returned to America I met with a great disappointment: my
glowing anticipations were not realized. I could find scarcely any one
who cared to know what I had seen, heard, or done.

At this I was as much surprised as disappointed. I believed that I
possessed fair powers of description and narration, and many of my
traveling experiences were out of the common. In fact, I had endeavored
to see things the ordinary traveler does not see, and to do things which
he seldom does. I found, however, that my unusual experiences were of no
advantage to me in making people