"He said they
did it first and foremost to keep up the spirits of the owner--the
man who wanted to sell the house. He said that when a man was trying
to part with a house he had to listen to so much abuse of it from
people who came to see it that if somebody did not stick up for the
house--say all that could be said for it, and gloss over its defects-
-he would end by becoming so ashamed of it he would want to give it
away, or blow it up with dynamite. He said that reading the
advertisement in the agent's catalogue was the only thing that
reconciled him to being the owner of the house. He said one client
of his had been trying to sell his house for years--until one day in
the office he read by chance the agent's description of it. Upon
which he went straight home, took down the board, and has lived there
contentedly ever since. From that point of view there is reason in
the system; but for the house-hunter it works badly.
"One agent sent me a day's journey to see a house standing in the
middle of a brickfield, with a view of the Grand Junction Canal. I
asked him where was the river he had mentioned. He explained it was
the other side of the canal, but on a lower level; that was the only
reason why from the house you couldn't see it. I asked him for his
picturesque scenery. He explained it was farther on, round the bend.
He seemed to think me unreasonable, expecting to find everything I
wanted just outside the front-door.
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