Lake Umbagog
1907.
August
and luxuriant vegetation. Before the end of July indeed
the road is broadly belted on either hand by flowering
herbaceous plants more or less common, it is true, to the
surrounding region and perhaps even to the greater part
of New England but here found in rather unusual
numbers and perfection and most effectively shown.
Vistas bordered by brilliantly colored flowers are always
attractive and where as here there are inner ranks
of vigorous shrubs and trees to form a solid background
of blended foliage (largely evergreen) the effect is doubly
cheering. Something like it is often attempted by the
makers of cultivated parks and gardens but their
handiwork is too apt to bear the marks of conscious
effort and in this and other ways it usually falls
short of the success which Dame Nature achieves so
easily in dealing with many waste or neglected places.
In Cambridge, as I have said, she is somewhat aided by
the hand of man but such assistance as he renders
here is indirect of course and quite unwitting. Indeed
the sturdy young farmers who wield the scythes
along the roadsides have no thought beyond that of
keeping the public way in fit condition for travel. In
their eyes native plants of every kind are too familiar and
also too troublesome at times to be ever valued even in
places where they are most effective and where they cannot
possibly do harm. But country children delight to
pick the commonest wayside flowers and city people
of whatever age and station seldom fail to find
enjoyment in them. Thus despite general neglect or even
persecution they continue to bloom in the greatest
profusion along most of our New England highways and to
give much wholesome pleasure to at least a portion of human kind.
The Errol Road. (2)