Like my old friend, others may be surprised at my claim to be an
amateur landscape architect in a small way, and my family have been
known to employ a great landscape man to make quite sure that I did
not ruin the place. The problem was, just where to put the new home at
Pocantico Hills, which has recently been built. I thought I had the
advantage of knowing every foot of the land, all the old big trees
were personal friends of mine, and with the views of any given point I
was perfectly familiar--I had studied them hundreds of times; and
after this great landscape architect had laid out his plans and had
driven his lines of stakes, I asked if I might see what I could do
with the job.

In a few days I had worked out a plan so devised that the roads caught
just the best views at just the angles where in driving up the hill
you came upon impressive outlooks, and at the ending was the final
burst of river, hill, cloud, and great sweep of country to crown the
whole; and here I fixed my stakes to show where I suggested that the
roads should run, and finally the exact place where the house should
be.

"Look it all over," I said, "and decide which plan is best." It was a
proud moment when this real authority accepted my suggestions as
bringing out the most favoured spots for views and agreed upon the
site of the house. How many miles of roads I have laid out in my time,
I can hardly compute, but I have often kept at it until I was
exhausted. While surveying roads, I have run the lines until darkness
made it impossible to see the little stakes and flags. It is all very
vain of me to tell of these landscape enterprises, but perhaps they
will offset the business talks which occupy so much of my story.