358 
RURAL HOURS. 
mill on one side of the highway, and on the other fills the vats of 
a tannery ; several roads draw toward the point from different di- 
rections, and a little hamlet is springing up here, which has been 
chosen as the site of a school-house. 
The building itself, standing within bow-shot of the saw-mill, is 
of stone, and one of the best in the neighborhood. The situation 
is good, and the spot might easily have been made very pleasant 
by merely leaving a few scattered trees here and there ; but they 
have been all swept away to feed the saw-mill, and the banks of 
the ravine, beautifully shaded only a short time since, are now be- 
coming every day more bare. A spring of water, where the chil- 
dren fill their pitchers, falls with a pleasant trickling sound into a 
rude trough hard by ; a single tree, with a bench in the shade, 
would have given a friendly, rural look to the spot, but neither 
shade nor seat is there. Even a tuft of young hemlocks, which 
stood on the bank near the spring, have been recently cut down. 
The smaller towns and villages of this country have generally 
a pleasing character, a cheerful, flourishing aspect, with their trees, 
their gardens, and neat door-yards, which give them an advan- 
tage over the more close and confined villages of the Old World. 
But with the hamlet, the mere cluster of a dozen buildings, the 
case is diflferent. The European hamlet is often a very pictur- 
esque spot, for it frequently happens that the cottages have grown 
up about some half-ruined tower, or ancient bridge, or old well, 
or a quaint-looking mill, or perhaps some old religious stone. 
With us the central point of a hamlet can seldom boast of more 
attractions than a smithy, or a small store and post-office, or a 
naked school-house, while the spirit which takes pleasure in local 
public improvement, seems to lie dormant until aroused by the 
