WILTS AND HORSES 323 



lovely streamlets, not forgetting the river, you 

 got the wrong impression altogether, made to see 

 it at its worst, all bleak, cold, and miserable, with 

 never a touch of comfort in it when you sorely 

 wanted that same. Cold and cheerless in the 

 extreme it was down that way, and hardly any 

 better in sheltered parts of the journey to Cran- 

 borne village. About Cranborne, on the climb 

 towards the unbroken turf downs, one felt quite 

 a grievance against the sun for striking work. 

 Why the deuce wouldn't he put a smart face on 

 things and, at any rate, have a round or two with 

 the chilly winds? Apparently, though in the 

 hollows the primroses were just lovely, hedgerow 

 vegetation was very, very backward, and very 

 wisely so, too, you might think, considering what 

 it would have to put up with in its tender youth 

 from weather like I was experiencing. 



A month later, I should say, than their fellows 

 at, we will take Plumpton, were the bushes and 

 so-called weeds that might have been green if 

 they were not so backward. If it had not been 

 for the lambs and just a bit of show of bloom on 

 the forest trees, you would not have known that 

 spring was on the road at all. You could not 

 make a mistake in another direction — viz., the 

 splendidly strong air, which might be more 

 palatable, perhaps, if it had been put down in 

 front of the fire or in hot water for a few minutes 

 before the contents of its vials were poured forth. 

 There was sufficient wind there to the square foot 

 of most bracing air to keep a sanatorium for the 

 weak-chested going, and, for the other sort of 

 strength, to turn enough mills to generate all 

 the electric supply of the country. If anyone 

 cannot be healthy where Sir Charles Nugent s 



