WAY-SIDE HINTS. 143 



habit of villagers' life cannot be changed so quickly 

 as a railway cutting is made the new world of pro- 

 gress may be upon them before they are aware ; but 

 when actually present, why not meet it with some- 

 thing of the old tidiness and pride ? 



Can any rural philosopher explain us this matter ? 

 Does the whirl of the world into sudden sight of all 

 our disorderly domesticity, break up self-respect, and 

 weaken faith in appearances ? 



Here, and there indeed, I observe one who newly 

 paints his rear door, and trims his hedges, and plants 

 his arbors, and gravels his walks, so as to impress 

 favorably the new passers-by of the rail ; but for one 

 who shows this solicitude respecting the new public, 

 a dozen keep to a stolid indifference, and living with 

 their faces the other way, leave the pigs and a mangy 

 dog to squeal and bark a reception to the world of 

 the railway. 



I cannot quite explain this. Most of us love to 

 carry a name for respectability and good order and 

 decency, and do not like to be discovered kicking the 

 cat or indulging in any similar personal gratifications 

 or wants. It is true we do not know one in a thou- 

 sand of the ten thousand who hurtle past our home- 

 stead ; but how many of those who make up the 

 body of that public opinion, in the eye of which we 

 wish to live with decency and order, do we know ? 



