WAY-SIDE HINTS 



forlorn condition, giving refuge, may be, to 

 condemned sleepers, or wreck of wheels — pos- 

 sibly tenanted by some burly night porter, who 

 thrusts his stove-pipe through the roof of a 

 dismantled car— showing just that disarray, 

 in short, which declares no pride or proof of 

 ownership. If there chance to be any half- 

 filled pits upon the premises, enterprising Celtic 

 citizens of the neighborhood count them good 

 spots into which to shoot their garbage. All 

 this the town authorities regard as a matter 

 which concerns only the distinguished cor- 

 poration of the road. Thus, between them, 

 the most unkempt and noisome wilderness 

 about the half of such of our country towns as 

 are pierced by railways is apt to lie in the 

 purlieus of the station. Yet railway directors 

 are, some of them, professing Christians, and 

 so are town authorities — at times. What now 

 if these good people {hcec verhi magnificen- 

 tia!) viovild lay their heads together to compass 

 what might prove a gain to the town thrift, 

 and so indirectly to the road, without positive 

 loss to either? What if the town were to ex- 

 tend the area of the corporation lands at its 

 own cost, so far as to establish a little bowling 

 green, that should give piquant welcome to 

 every stranger, and grow to be an object of 



163 



