The rent was low, the water good, and no one can imagine how delighted we were.
We did not furnish the whole house at first, but what mattered it?
We had no horse or cow, but the pasture and barn were ready for them.

We did not propose to begin with everything at once.
Our first evening in that house was made up of hours of unalloyed bliss.
We walked from room to room; we looked out on the garden and the lawn; we sat on the little porch while I smoked.
"We were happy at Rudder Grange," said Euphemia; "but that was only a canal-boat, and could not, in the nature of things, have been a permanent home." "No," said I, "it could not have been permanent.

But, in many respects, it was a delightful home.

The very name of it brings pleasant thoughts." "It was a nice name," said Euphemia, "and I'll tell you what we might do: Let us call this place Rudder Grange--the New Rudder Grange! The name will do just as well for a house as for a boat." I agreed on the spot, and the house was christened.
Our household was small; we had a servant--a German woman; and we had ourselves, that was all.
I did not do much in the garden; it was too late in the season.

The former occupant had planted some corn and potatoes, with a few other vegetables, and these I weeded and hoed, working early in the morning and when I came home in the afternoon.