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which would injure my situation very much as a private residence. To remedy the damage, he proposes to buy my house + land + convert them into a genteel public boarding place, by enlarging the house + connecting with it a convenient passenger station house. He has in view to raise a pond of water in our swale that will cover some 2 acres, by damming the brook near where Janie drinks, - to set out ornamental + fruit trees, - have flower beds + walks +c +c, so that people from the cities may come here, summer, + find it as agreeable + healthful a resort as any other place in Maine. He solicited me very earnestly to set a price on this whole property by the time of the next meeting at Canton. What shall I do? I can find no other location as comfortable + delightful to me as this, - no other, to which, by habit + association, I can feel so much attached. On this spot I have proposed to spend the remainder of my life, + on this spot, to die. Here, I have anticipated having an abiding home [underlined] for my family, - a home to which my absent children could return, where they could meet, as at a central point, after being separated from each other, + where I could discharge the pleasant duties of hospitality to many friends. Upon these grounds, + upon these trees, + upon these surrounding hills + vallies, I have expected to look with increasing attachment as I grow older + more childish [both words underlined], to the end. Shall I now abandon these long cherished considerations, + hopes of enjoyment, for the accomodation of the public, + the comfort of strangers? Set a price on such things? How can I? I ought not