i 4 8 HAMPSHIRE STREAMS AND WOODLANDS 



these sylvan homes to weaken the first and natural 

 impression that each and every one of these solitary 

 cottages enjoy some peculiar and accidental advantage 

 of setting and surrounding to which it owes its charm. 

 The real reason for their beauty and their comfort is 

 not far to seek. The cottage was built where it stands 

 only because Nature had marked out the spot as a 

 natural home for man. Shelter from the wind, water 

 for the pony and cattle, a patch of good soil for a 

 garden, and a glade of green grass for the cow to graze 

 upon, may be all found together for the seeking in the 

 wide woodlands ; and the spot where a company of 

 hurdle-makers choose to light their mid- day fire, and 

 raise a faggot-shelter in the winter, soon sees the 

 growth of the woodman's home. A little reflection 

 soon shows the reason, and even the necessity r , for the 

 beauty of the whole. The water in the little stream 

 was the first condition of the building of the house. 

 The stream made the rustic bridge necessary, and its 

 own moisture decorated the under-side of the planks 

 with moss and tiny ferns. The ancient trees, with the 

 close turf under them, are not accidental either. The 

 woodman wanted a few rods of pasture, and found it 

 where the spreading oaks and sycamores had killed the 

 undergrowth below. His orchard flourishes, and fallen 

 apple-blossom smothers the garden-plot, for where the 

 oak grows there the apple grows also, and the autumns 

 of centuries have enriched the ground with vegetable 

 mould. The woodlands are the poor man's best home ; 

 and while Nature gives the stream, the tiny park and 



