EYES AND NO EYES 
Said one to me lately, ' I have read your books. 
But do you really see all those things when you walk 
about ? ' 
4 Not in the streets of Dorking town,' I replied. 
' Because really, my dear sir, do you know that in 
all the time that I have been in this neighbourhood I 
have never seen a tithe of what you have written 
about.' 
The old story of ' Eyes and No Eyes,' I said to 
myself ; also that if some folks had eyes at the back 
of their heads, as well as in front, they might wander 
far and see little. 
Another man observed that, although he had 
ridden in a cart for many years in all directions along 
our high roads, he had never come across any of the 
creatures I had written about. As the vehicle he 
used made nearly as much noise in its progress as a 
goods train might do, it was hardly to be expected 
that he would. 
Readers can easily see that my range is not a 
wide one it is only the common objects of the hills, 
dales, and waters of a limited area that I describe ; 
yet some pains have been necessary even to do that, 
and in the pursuit of the rail family alone I have 
often supped sorrow ; while to verify a fact or 
two has cost me week after week of hard tramping 
