TREES AND LANES 



49 



exactly ; he is the same age as my youngest son, and 

 that's twenty-seven." When he had made an end of the 

 poor old beast, the farmer observing Avhat a thick long 

 coat the donkey had, took off the skin and had it 

 cured at the tannery. Some months later, seeing 

 what a handsome pelt it made, I bought it of him, 

 and now my friends take it for the skin of a polar 

 bear, for it is almost white, and the mass of soft hair 

 is nearly three inches deep. 



Full of interest as are the hedges, with their trees 

 and bushes and flowery growths, the roads and lanes 

 that pass unfenced through wood or waste are more 

 beautiful still, indeed an unmade woodland track is 

 the nearest thing to a road-poem that anything of the 

 kind can show. It is full of a sympathetic mystery 

 that inclines the mind to open wide in readiness to 

 receive any impression that may be presented. The 

 trees meet overhead ; the light coming through the 

 thick leafage is dim and green ; the drowsy hum of 

 many little winged creatures comes faintly from far over- 

 head ; the track Avinds, and one cannot see far onward. 

 What will the next reach disclose ? Some living wild 

 thing, scarcely fearful because the way is so seldom used 

 — squirrel, rabbit, red-deer, wild-boar? charcoal-burners, 

 coming from the yet wilder wooded heights beyond ? a 

 knight in shining armour ? a ring of fairies dancing under 

 an oak ? all equally possible in the dim green forest light. 



And most mysterious of all are the tracks that 

 pass through the woods of tall pines, for these woods 



D 



