A HILLSIDE COTTAGE 



and that, as if actuated by some mechanical spring, 

 produced less extinguishable laughter among the gods 

 behind the cottage window. 



8. 



The little single-track railway that scarcely disturbs 

 the serenity of the village is not only a popular corridor 

 for flowers. It also serves as a means of conveying their 

 seeds to the town. The trains carry all sorts of seeds in 

 the dust of their wake. For example, a pear-shaped bed 

 of the rosebay willow-herb has planted itself between the 

 metals that run from Finsbury Park to King s Cross, in a 

 place where all else is steel or wood or dust and ashes. 

 The flowers are doubtless evidence of the particular skill 

 of this willow-herb in conquering waste spaces with its 

 airy seed and the stalwart daintiness of its purple blossom; 

 but you may see in them an example of the peculiar asso 

 ciations of railways and certain plants. As you steam 

 out of Euston at any time between February and Novem 

 ber you are presented with a scroll of the seasons by the 

 guise of the coltsfoot. Just now the leaves are large and 

 clean and round, more like a Shire s hoof than a coifs 

 foot ; and they are very green. Presently they will illus 

 trate Shelley s West Wind : &quot; yellow and black and pale &quot; 

 ... a &quot; pestilence-stricken multitude,&quot; for wherever it 

 grows, no leaf, except perhaps the sycamore s, is so 

 spotted and mouldered by autumnal decay. In spring 

 the sheer bright yellow flowers, unaccompanied by any 

 leaf, look out at you from the sooty stones of the cutting 

 almost before you leave the station. 



No other plant is quite so distinctive of the railway 

 cutting. You will see those golden flowers or those 

 green circles or those plaguy spots all the way from 



