THE PRESERVATION OF FOOTPATHS. 17 1 
time we had generally got to the end of the hour, which seemed 
long enough to keep the boys interested. Some of the answers 
I got were amusing : “ What is the meaning of a rodent animal ? ” 
“ One which goes on roads,” I was told. “ Do you know what 
anatomy means ? ” “ That which tells us about gnats,” was the 
reply. As a whole, the boys were very attentive, and much 
interested, but as “ boys will be boys,” there was sometimes 
rather too much noise and larking on the part of a few. When 
we begin again next autumn, I shall have to weed out those who 
came more for fun than study. 
I had the class for eighteen weeks, and was much pleased at 
the great improvement shown in the knowledge of many of the 
boys at the end of the time. I gave a book prize to the one 
who gained most marks. Since then, in order to give them a 
chance of applying the knowledge gained I set them questions 
which they are to answer in writing, and I shall give books on 
Natural History as prizes for the best answers. I also set a 
different lot of easier questions for the whole school to compete 
for, and this I have done for the last two years. My questions 
for 1894 were given in Nature Notes. I can but hope that 
some of your readers may be induced to form classes of a like 
kind for boys or girls, as I cannot but think that increased 
knowledge will induce greater kindness to, and interest in, our 
“ friends in fur and feathers.” 
Hoysell Vicavage, Woking. Rose Turle. 
THE PRESERVATION OF FOOTPATHS AND 
OPEN SPACES.* 
j)ERHAPS there is no subject that affects the convenience 
and very often the welfare and happiness of dwellers 
in rural districts than the preservation of footpaths for 
public use. The best way to estimate their value is 
to imagine what the country would be like without them. One 
has but to reflect on the discomfort of having only the dusty 
high-road to walk on in the heat of summer, all access to cool 
and shady meadows and woods being barred by the time-worn 
but empty threat, “ Trespassers will be prosecuted with the 
utmost rigour of the law.” Numerous as our footpaths happily 
are, there are some parts that are not so abundantly supplied 
with them as they should be, especially large agricultural dis- 
tricts, where, though they are just as much needed as in pas- 
* The Footpath Manual: giving an outline of the Law relating to Public 
Footpaths, Roads, &^c.,for the use of District and Parish Councils, &^c., by Henry 
Allnutt, Secretary to the National Footpaths Preservation Society. London : 42, 
Essex Street, Strand, W.C., 1895, price is. 
