ix FESTIVAL OF GREEN DRAKE 153 



we will go to work seriously. At the next 

 fence there is a row of willows which spread 

 a cool belt of shade right across the meadow 

 from the river to the brook which we first 

 crossed, and under the willows runs one of 

 the main ditches that connect the two. This 

 ditch gives in miniature the whole history 

 of its parent river. At our feet it is but the 

 tiniest rill, a foot wide and an inch or two 

 deep, babbling softly over its miniature bed 

 of gravel. A few yards lower another rill 

 even smaller joins it joyously, adding its 

 atom of importance. Another and yet 

 another flow in, swelling the original rill 

 and increasing its responsibilities until it 

 measures a full yard from bank to bank. 

 Then we find another stream of equal 

 volume joining strength, sweeping in with 

 all the dignity that one full-grown river 

 displays when it merges its identity with 

 another, eddying round its bank and marking 

 the conflict of two currents with a little 

 whirlpool. Henceforth our ditch is to be 

 taken respectfully. It flows with the strong 

 even glide of the chalk stream, and is 

 spanned with two plank bridges. 



It is not wholly that I might point out 



