138 .RIVERSIDE LETTERS XVHl 



a footpath which is your favourite Sunday 

 walk, burning internally, having been struck 

 the day before, a sense of the insecurity of 

 life, to which the town-dweller is a stranger, 

 naturally creeps over you. The wind is, how- 

 ever, always tempered to the shorn lamb, and 

 I must confess that there are many compensa- 

 tions for these discomforts of " winter and 

 rough weather." Sunrise over a flooded 

 meadow is very beautiful. Market people 

 crossing a flooded piece of road in waggons 

 or boats make a good subject for a picture. 

 Clean snow is a splendid thing for the chil- 

 dren to play in, whilst the work of clearing 

 it away from the paths or off the laden boughs 

 is an invigorating and interesting occupation, 

 and remarkably good for one's liver. 



The bad state of the roads often affords a 

 ready excuse for breaking an appointment to 

 which you may be indifferent. As to that 

 wall that came down, I was greatly relieved 

 at finding that it was my neighbour who had 

 to pay for rebuilding it. 



