hundred and fifty pounds was to be paid to him. If any part of the
principal sum should be paid prior to the expiration of twenty-one
years, a proportionate part of the farm was to be relieved of all
obligation to Allen, vest absolutely in Nurse, and be disposable by
him. By these terms, Allen felt authorized to fix a very high price
for the farm, it not being payable until the lapse of a long period of
time. If not paid at all, the property would come back to him, with
one hundred and fifty pounds of value added to it. It was not a bad
bargain for him,--a man of independent means derived from other
sources, and so situated as not to be able to carry on the farm
himself. It was a good investment ahead. To Nurse the terms were most
favorable. He did not have to pay down a dollar at the start. The low
rent required enabled him to apply almost the entire income from the
farm to improvements that would make it more and more productive.
Before half the time had elapsed, a value was created competent to
discharge the whole sum due to Allen. His children severally had good
farms within the bounds of the estate, were able to assume with ease
their respective shares of the obligations of the purchase; and the
property was thus fully secured within the allotted time. Allen gave,
at the beginning, a full deed, in the ordinary form, which was
recorded in this county. Nurse gave a duly executed bond, in which the
foregoing conditions are carefully and clearly defined. That was
recorded in Suffolk County; and nothing, perhaps, was known in the
neighborhood, at the time or ever after, of the terms of the
transaction. When the success of the enterprise was fully secured,
Nurse conveyed to his children the larger half of the farm, reserving
the homestead and a convenient amount of land in his own possession.
The plan of this division shows great fairness and judgment, and was
entirely satisfactory to them all. They were required, by the deeds he
gave them, to maintain a roadway by which they could communicate with