The Fringe of the Road 97 



one side of the stem. The tough texture and 

 scanty foliage of all these plants make them almost 

 independent of moisture ; and though they may be 

 covered by the dust of arid summers almost con- 

 tinuously from midsummer until Michaelmas, one 

 or the other will be found stubbornly tinging the 

 roadside with its sparse blossoms through the hottest 

 weeks of the year. 



In their long freedom from disturbance the 

 borders of many country roads have gathered 

 a diverse collection of old monuments and land- 

 marks which add much to their present attraction. 

 Parish and county boundary pillars, cut from wood 

 or from stone, according as either material was 

 most accessible, remain from earlier days to give 

 the interest of topographical precision to a journey. 

 On many exposed hillsides the prevailing storms of 

 a hundred winters have almost wholly defaced the 

 incised lettering on the southern or western face, 

 while that on the opposite side can still be distinctly 

 traced by touch if not by sight. Where the wooden 

 posts have been repainted at a later date, some- 

 times the newer lettering has in turn been washed 

 away, and reveals in part the old inscription beneath 

 it. The comparison often shows how the accepted 

 spelling of many parish names has varied even in 

 the space of a couple of generations ; and we are 

 reminded once again how unstable have been many 

 of the commonest elements in English place- 

 names, and how cautiously we need to argue if 

 we attempt to trace them back to their original 

 significance. 

 7 



