WAY-SIDE HINTS 



dows,) upon some lifted plateau of land, 

 where the white houses shone among trees, 

 flanking a level bit of greensward, and geese 

 grazed the common; and where was a whip- 

 ping-post, may be — possibly a 'decaying pair 

 of oaken stocks, and a court-house with its 

 belfry. I do not think such old village com- 

 mons of New England, (and I suspect they 

 were rarely to be seen in other parts of the 

 country,) were ever very nicely kept. The 

 geese cropped the grass short, to be sure ; but a 

 goose is not a tidy animal; the pool, too — if 

 any pondlet of water broke the surface of the 

 level— was apt to show the stamp of adventur- 

 ous hoofs and a muddy margin; for all this, 

 however, such eyelets of green space in the 

 center of country towns, around which and 

 upon which all the gayety and cheer of the 

 settlement might disport itself, were very 

 charming. I do not know but I would re- 

 joice to see the village stocks brought into use 

 again, for the sake of the broad common where 

 they stood : certain it is, that if they were ever 

 serviceable (I speak of the stocks), they would 

 be serviceable now. I think I could mention 

 sundry individuals — not all of them editors — 

 who would look well — sitting in the stocks. 

 And as for the whipping-posts, who would not 



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