I know of no more pleasing employment than to ride about the country with a companion very early in the spring, looking at farms with a view to purchasing if not paying for them.
Seems to be the forethought or the afterthought of the WHERE I LIVED, AND WHAT I LIVED FOR section in Walden:
"I have thus surveyed the country on every side within a dozen miles of where I live. In imagination I have bought all the farms in succession, for all were to be bought, and I knew their price. I walked over each farmer's premises, tasted his wild apples, discoursed on husbandry with him, took his farm at his price, at any price, mortgaging it to him in my mind; even put a higher price on it - took everything but a deed of it - took his word for his deed, for I dearly love to talk - cultivated it, and him too to some extent, I trust, and withdrew when I had enjoyed it long enough, leaving him to carry it on. This experience entitled me to be regarded as a sort of real-estate broker by my friends."
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Seems to be the forethought or the afterthought of the WHERE I LIVED, AND WHAT I LIVED FOR section in Walden:
"I have thus surveyed the country on every side within a dozen miles of where I live. In imagination I have bought all the farms in succession, for all were to be bought, and I knew their price. I walked over each farmer's premises, tasted his wild apples, discoursed on husbandry with him, took his farm at his price, at any price, mortgaging it to him in my mind; even put a higher price on it - took everything but a deed of it - took his word for his deed, for I dearly love to talk - cultivated it, and him too to some extent, I trust, and withdrew when I had enjoyed it long enough, leaving him to carry it on. This experience entitled me to be regarded as a sort of real-estate broker by my friends."
Searchable Walden: http://www.princeton.edu/~batke/thoreau/
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