viii THE EXETER ROAD 



booh description have been suppressed ; nor for this 

 would it seem- necessary to appear apologetic^ even 

 although local patriotism is a Tnilitant force, and 

 resents anything less than a detailed and favour- 

 able description of every village, interesting or not. 



How militant parochial patriots may be the 

 ivriter already knoivs. You may criticise the British- 

 Empire and prophesy its doivnfall if you feel that 

 way inclined, and welcome ; but it is the Unpa^'don- 

 able Sin to say that Little Pedlington is anything 

 less than the cleanest, the neatest, and the busiest 

 for its size of all the Siveet Auburns in the land ! 

 Has not the writer been promised a bad quarter of 

 an hour by the local press, should he revisit Cray- 

 ford, after ivriting of that uncleanly place in the 

 Dover Road ? and have the good folks of Chard 

 still kept the tar and feathers in readiness for him 

 tvho, daring greatly, presumed to say the p>lace tvas 

 so quiet that ivhen the stranger appeared in its 

 streets every head was out of doors and ivindows ? 



Point of view is everything. The stranger finds 

 a place charming because everything in it is old, 

 and quiet reigns supreme. Quietude and aiitiquity, 

 how eminently desirable and delightful tvhen found, 

 he thinks. Not so the dweller in such a spot. He 

 would welcome as a benefactor any one who woidd 

 rebuild his house in modern style, and tvould behold 



