228 
RURAL HOURS. 
name from the number of oaks standing on its banks in former 
times ; most of these have been felled years ago, and the river 
now runs among open fields, just beyond the factory, however, a 
few hoary old trunks are seen rising far above the younger trees 
and shrubs ; but these are sycamores, and with their white bark 
and scanty branches, they look like lingering ghosts of the fallen 
forest. The banks of this stream are the only ground in the neigh- 
borhood, I believe, where sycamores are found, and there are but 
a few, scattered here and there, along its track. 
The factory, a stone building of some size, with its usual neigh- 
bors, a mill and a store, make up a little hamlet, with a cluster of 
red wooden cottages, and a yellow house for the agent. A couple 
of thriving maples, good-sized trees, have been left standing in 
the open space crossed by the road, much to the credit of those 
who have spared them — " may their shadows never be less !" It 
is a pity that a few more were not scattered about with a bench 
or two in the shade ; the spot would then make a neat hamlet 
green. 
Some people think that public seats would not answer in our 
part of the world ; it is said that if made of stone they would be 
cracked and broken; if made of wood chipped and defaced by 
the knives of the thoughtless men and boys of a country neigh- 
borhood. But surely it is time we began to learn a lesson of civ- 
ilization in this respect ; to put things to their proper uses is one 
of the first precepts of good sense and good manners. Benches 
were not made to be chipped, nor knives to mutilate and deface 
with. One would like an experiment of this kind to be fairly 
tried ; if it failed, then it would be time enough to complain ; and 
wherever it succeeds, it must be very creditable to the rural com- 
