liberal-hearted landed proprietor among us grudges him six feet
of rocky pasture?

Nevertheless, cheap, after all, as our land is, and much as it is
trodden under foot, I, for one, am proud of it for what it bears;
and chiefly for its three great lions--the Great Oak, Ogg
Mountain, and my chimney.

Most houses, here, are but one and a half stories high; few
exceed two. That in which I and my chimney dwell, is in width
nearly twice its height, from sill to eaves--which accounts for
the magnitude of its main content--besides showing that in this
house, as in this country at large, there is abundance of space,
and to spare, for both of us.

The frame of the old house is of wood--which but the more sets
forth the solidity of the chimney, which is of brick. And as the
great wrought nails, binding the clapboards, are unknown in these
degenerate days, so are the huge bricks in the chimney walls. The
architect of the chimney must have had the pyramid of Cheops
before him; for, after that famous structure, it seems modeled,
only its rate of decrease towards the summit is considerably
less, and it is truncated. From the exact middle of the mansion
it soars from the cellar, right up through each successive floor,
till, four feet square, it breaks water from the ridge-pole of
the roof, like an anvil-headed whale, through the crest of a
billow. Most people, though, liken it, in that part, to a razed
observatory, masoned up.

The reason for its peculiar appearance above the roof touches