NIGHTINGALE ROAD 



where, as if the ringing scabbards of charging cav- 

 alry were heard, or the peculiar thumping rattle 

 of rifles as they come to the "present" before a 

 storm of bullets. It is no wonder that towns- 

 folk exhibit a fear of cattle which makes their 

 friends laugh when they visit the country after such 

 experiences as these. This should be put down 

 with a firm hand. 



By the roadside here the hay tiers, who cut up 

 the hay-ricks into trusses, use balances a trifling 

 matter, but sufficient to mark a difference, for in 

 the west such men use a steelyard slung on a 

 prong, the handle of the prong on the shoulder and 

 the points stuck i'n the rick, with which to weigh 

 the trusses. Wooden cottages, wooden barns, 

 wooden mills are also characteristic. 



Mouchers come along the road at all times and 

 seasons, gathering sacksful of dandelions in spring, 

 digging up fern roots and cowslip mars for sale, 

 cutting briars for standard roses, gathering water- 

 cresses and mushrooms, and in the winter cutting 

 rushes. 



There is a rook with white feathers in the wing 

 which belongs to an adjacent rookery, and I have 

 observed a blackbird also streaked with white. 

 One January day, when the snow was on the 

 ground and the frost was sharp, when the pale sun 

 seemed to shine brightest round the rim of the disk, 

 61 



