126 OUT-OF-TOWN PLACES. 



which regales the eye along the rural by-roads of 

 England. 



While town authorities continue to be appointed 

 for their political aptitude, it is useless to hope for 

 any mending of such defects, or for any deliberate 

 scheme of improvement. The most that can be done 

 is by the combination of adjoining proprietors, in 

 which they will have little to hope from the coopera- 

 tion of any town board of advisers. As an instance 

 in point I have repeatedly offered to undertake full 

 charge of the half-mile of highroad leading through 

 farm lands of my own, guaranteeing a more serviceable 

 condition than the road has yet known, and a dimi- 

 nution of cost to the town of at least twenty per 

 cent., yet the proposition is ignored. The officials 

 would lose their little private jobbing in way of 

 repairs, and some future board might annul any such 

 disorderly and unheard of contract. 



I have alluded to the planting of trees along high- 

 ways a practice which many towns have favored by 

 public action, and one contributing largely to the 

 enjoyment of a summer's drive, as well as adding to 

 the inviting aspect of our country villages. The same 

 practice obtains along the great public highways of 

 France, but not so generally in England where the 

 sunshine is not so common or so fierce as to call for 

 special protection. Even the country houses of Great 



