EASY-CHAIR MEMORIES 137 



glades. I became my own footometer and 

 counted my steps. Fifteen hundred steps I 

 counted, and then it seemed to me that, 

 although I was following a well-worn footpath, 

 it was leading me in the wrong direction. The 

 wood in most parts is composed of young trees 

 in full vigour of growth, having their origin and 

 roots in the very heart of old stumps which 

 must have seen many a similar crop growing 

 up from their vitals since they themselves were 

 young. In Burnham Beeches, close at hand, 

 the trees were pollarded once for all in Crom- 

 well's time at about ten feet from the ground. 

 Here the custom seems to have been to cut 

 the original trees close to the ground, leaving 

 the old roots to supply new vigour to an ever- 

 recurring growth. 



There is roomy space between each tree, the 

 ground being now covered by the leafy accumu- 

 lations of many generations, thus forming soft 

 but very treacherous walking, as I soon found ; 

 for, thinking I could save a mile or two, I left 

 the beaten track and made a dash into the 

 unknown. 



I got along bravely for a time, in what I 

 guessed to be a south-westerly direction, but I 



