That day being Saturday, I told Thompson that I would come out early
Monday morning, bringing with me a rough map of the place as I had
planned it, and we would go over it with a chain and drive some
outlining stakes. I then returned to Exeter, found the carpenter and the
plumber, and accepted their estimates,--$630 and $325, respectively. The
farm-house moved, finished, furnished, and heated, but not painted or
papered, would cost $2630. Painting, papering, window-shades, and odds
and ends cost $275, making a total of $2905. It proved a good
investment, for it was a comfortable and convenient home for the men and
women who afterward occupied it. It has certainly been appreciated by
its occupants, and few have left it without regret. We have always tried
to make it an object lesson of cleanliness and cheerfulness, and I don't
think a man has lived in it for six months without being bettered. It
seemed a good deal of money to put on an old farm-house for farm-hands,
but it proved one of the best investments at Four Oaks, for it kept the
men contented and cheerful workers.




CHAPTER VIII

WE PLAT THE FARM


On Monday I was out by ten o'clock, armed with a surveyor's chain.
Thompson had provided a lot of stakes, and we ran the lines, more or
less straight, in general accord with my sketch plan. We walked,
measured, estimated, and drove stakes until noon. At one o'clock we were
at it again, and by four I was fit to drop from fatigue. Farm work was