ADVICE FOR LACKLAND 



extensive than that of my friend Lack- 

 land, is to supply, at your own cost, an occa- 

 sional defect in the road-bed from the 

 screenings of the coal, or the rakings of the 

 garden, by which you may easily secure so 

 even and compact a surface as to escape the at- 

 tention of the road viewers. If, on the other 

 hand, the reach be long, an arrangement can 

 sometimes be made with town-officials to keep 

 its whole extent in perfect condition, for a 

 sum which, if it be small, will be remunerative 

 in the exemption it gives. 



Nothing contributes more to an air of thrift 

 than neat and orderly road-sides; I would not 

 urge any finical arrangement of turf, or clip- 

 ping of the road-track, but only such judi- 

 cious combing down of unsightly roughnesses, 

 such watchfulness against encumbrance, such 

 adaptation of existing shade trees, or such 

 planting of others, as shall show that the ad- 

 joining proprietor does not limit his charities 

 by his own walls, or his eye for neatness by 

 the line of highway. 



Once upon a time, when the writer was in 

 search of a country homestead, he remembers 

 deciding against certain "strongly recom- 

 mended" places, because the highroad to them 

 led through a considerable array of suburban 



lOI 



