1892.] ESSAYS. 149 



purchase woodland, sold by the children, at auction, after the 

 death of the father and grandfather, a part of whose estate it has 

 been for a century. 



The purchase made, with axe and saw the land is cleared, and 

 desolation total follows. This is the first evident forerunner of one 

 of those abandoned farms we hear so much about here in Massa- 

 chusetts. I know of localities where one man has left his mark on 

 a half-dozen townships, thanks to the stupidity of a people who 

 will not be bothered with what is of such prime importance to 

 their welfare. 



An interesting feature of our countrj' scenery is the numerous 

 shaded roads which wind about through the woods, so little used 

 that narrow ribbons of herbage separate the horse tracks from 

 those made by wheels. It is in some of these out-of-the-way 

 thoroughfares that we find nature, but little changed by the hand 

 of man, and we mark with pleasure the absence of the coarse, 

 exotic, introduced plants, which so soon take possession of neg- 

 lected corners and abandoned fields. It is here that we see the 

 word "border" exemplified in its proper sense. The trodden 

 paths are fringed by low-growing grasses, sedges and homely 

 annuals, like mouse-ear everlasting, sand-spurrey and false pen- 

 nyroyal. The gutter on either side is occupied by various hype- 

 ricums, yarrow and vervain, and if the subsoil is wet, there will 

 be an ari-ay of cquisetums and rushes; beyond, the brambles, 

 huckleberry bushes, cornels and viburnums carry the eye, by 

 easy curves, to the overhanging shelter of young maples, chest- 

 nuts and oaks, accentuated here and there by a dark pine or 

 hemlock ; fit home for the chewink and the brown thrush. But 

 as civilization advances, the word goes forth that the roads must 

 be improved, and some fine day in summer, after haying is done, 

 Keuben and Zebedee come forth with plow, spade and axe to 

 carve from the roadside their annual tribute of taxes. Plow 

 where the resistance is least, cut where vegetation is within easi- 

 est reach ; grub, pick and maul ; carry clay from hollow to hill- 

 top, and sand from hilltop to hollow ; wait for the rain and win- 

 ter to repair the injury as best they can; then next summer and 

 the next, repeat the operation. This is the formula for New 

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