OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES 



many years ago somewhere in County Kent, 

 England. 



Either the sketcher's work was very bad, or 

 else the engraver has failed to give the char- 

 acter of its rough rooflet; which, if I remem- 

 ber rightly, was but a thatch of broom, or of 

 sedge. Yet who does not see written all over it 

 — plain as it is : Loiter if you like! Come in, if 

 you like ! And I love to think that some little 



maid, under it— in some by-gone year — said 

 her good-night to some parting Leander. Who 

 shall laugh at this, that has ever been young? 

 Are not the little maids and the Leanders 

 always growing up about us? I always felt 

 sure when I found such covered wickets that 

 no curmudgeon lived within. 



A second example of somewhat more or- 

 derly proportions, but identical in expression, 

 I take from my note-book of travel, finding it 



86 



