224 
RURAL HOURS. 
ridges, half tilled, half Avood, screening cultivated A'alleys, sprin- 
kled with farms and hamlets, among which some pretty stream 
generally winds its way. The waters in our immediate neighbor- 
hood all flow to the southward, though only a few miles to the 
north of our village, the bi'ooks are found running in an opposite 
course, this valley lying just within the borders of the dividing 
ridge. The river itself, though farther south it Becomes one of 
the great streams of the country, cannot boast of much breadth 
so near its source, and running quietly among the meadows, half 
screened by the groves and thickets, scarcely shows in the gen- 
eral view. 
The Avhole sm-face of the country is arable ; veiy little marsh 
or bog is found in the lower lands, and there are no barren tracts 
upon the hills. Rocks rarely break through the surface, except 
here and there where a low cliff mns along the hill-sides, and 
these are usually shaded by the forest. This general fertility, 
this blending of the fields of man and his tillage Avith the woods, 
the great husbandry of Providence, gives a fine character to the 
country, Avhich it could not claim when the lonely savage roamed 
through Avooded valleys, and Avhich it must lose if ever cupidity, 
and the haste to groAV rich, shall destroy the forest entirely, and 
leave these hills to posterity, bald and bare, as those of many 
older lands. No perfection of tillage, no luxuriance of produce 
can make up to a country for the loss of its forests ; you may turn 
the soil into a A'ery garden croAvded with the richest crops, if shorn 
of Avood, like Sampson shorn of his locks, it may Avear a florid as- 
pect, but the noblest fruit of the earth, that Avhich is the greatest 
proof of her strength, Avill be Avanting. 
Cross-roads occur frequently, and many more are seen in the 
