IV 



THE RAILWAY EMBANKMENT 



" With her a sweet companion came, 

 One alway smiling ' Peace ! ' she said." 



WILLIAM H. DAVIES. 



LANDSCAPES and gardens we do not want to have all 

 to ourselves ; companions may often help us to their 

 full enjoyment. But to watch wild life in the finer line 

 and shade, freedom from intrusion is a great thing. 

 The unsympathetic stranger is embarrassing. Figures 

 and voices of wayfarers, even of toilers in the field or 

 wood much more of holiday-makers should belong 

 to the distance, be embraced in a kind of bird's-eye view. 

 If, however, the occasional passer-by does not actually 

 encroach on our preserve, is unconscious even of our 

 existence, he may be almost welcome. To a hermit 

 behind a hedge, the footfall of a passer-by can be quite 

 agreeable : it may add something to the triumph of 

 solitude to feel that we are in such complete seclusion 

 that even a wayfarer a few yards off goes by without 

 suspecting our presence. 



35 



