men, even if not possessed of capital, particularly
if they could command an effective co-operation in
the labor of their families, obtained possession of
valuable landed estates. The purchase-money was
not required to be paid until the expiration of twenty-one
years. In the mean time, a moderate annual rent
was fixed upon; seven pounds for each of the first
twelve years, and ten pounds for each of the remaining
nine years. If, at the end of the time, the amount
stipulated had not been paid, or Nurse should abandon
the undertaking, the property was to relapse to Allen.
Disinterested and suitable men, whose appointment was
provided for, were then to estimate the value added
to the estate by Nurse during his occupancy, by the
clearing of meadows or erection of buildings or other
permanent improvements, and all of that value over
and above one 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 each other and with
the old parental home.