The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1870-11-03

BY T. W. lHcGISsoN.

But who cares whittier footpath
leads7 The charm is in the path itself,
its promise of something that the high
road cannot yield. Away from habita-
ticns, you know that the fisherman, the
geologist, the botanist have been there,
or that the cows have been driven home
and that somewhere there are bars and
a milk-pail Even in the midst of hous-
es, the path suggests school. children
with their luncheon. baskets, or work.
men seeking eagerly the monday inter-
val or the twilight rest. A footpath
cannot be quite spoiled, so long as it
remains such; you can make a mere ay-
enue for fast horses or snowy women,
but this humber track keeps its sim
plicity, aud il queen comes walking
thrC u yh it, she comes but as a village
maid. On Sunday, when it is not eti-
quette for our fashionables to drive, but
only to walk along the cliffs, | am
struck by the more innocent and whole
some look impaired by that novel posi-
ton; I have seen a fine lady pause un-
der such circumstances and pick Wild
flower; she knew how to do it. A foot
path imparts its own character, while
that of street or road is imposed upon
it by those who dwell beside it or pass
over it; indeed, reads become pictur-
esque only when they are called lanes
and make believe that they are but
paths.
The very irregularity of footpath
makes half its charm. So much
Of lettering and Incidence and impulse
have gone to its formation, that all
which is stiff and military have been
left out / observed that the very dlkes
Of the Southern rice plantations did not
succeed in being rectiinear, though
the general effect was that of Tennison's
"fowery squares" Even the country
road, which is but an enlarged footpath,
is never quite straight, as Thoreau long
since observed, noting it with his sur
veyor's eye. | read in his unpublished
diary: "The law that plants tho rushes
in waving lines along the edge OF a
pond, aud that curves the pond shore
itself, necessarily beats against tho
straight fences aud highways Of men,
and makes them conform to the line Of
beauty at last" 1t is this unintention-
al adaptation that makes tootpath so in
destructible. Instead ofstriking across
the natural lines, it conforms to them,
nestles into the hollow, skirts the prec-
ipice, avoids the morass. An uncon-
scious landscape gardener, it seeks the
most convenient course, never doubt
ing that grace will follow. Thus Mitch
el, at his "Edgewood" farm, wishing to
decide on the most picturesque avenue
to his front door, ordered heavy load
of stone to be hauled across the field,
and bade the driver seek the easiest
grades, at whatever cost of curvature,
The avenue followed the path thus
made.
And when a footpath falls thus unob.
trusively into its place, all natural for.
Ces seem to sympathize with it, and
help 1t to fulfil its destiny. Once make
q well-defned track through n wood,
and presently the overhowed brooks
seek it for a channel, the obstructod
winds draw through it, the fox aud
woodchuck travel by it, the cathird
and robin build near it, the bee and
swallow make high-road Of its con-
venient thoToughfare. In winter the
first SHOWS mark itIwith a white lines as
you wander through you hear the blue.
jays cry, and see the hurrying flight Of
the sparrow; tho graceful outlines Of
leafless bushes are revealed, and the
Clinging bird's-nests, "leaves that do
not fall" give happy memories Of sum.
mer homes Thus nature meets man
halfway. The paths ofthe wild forest
and of the rural neighborhOod are not
all the same thing indeed, "spotted
trail, marked only by the woodman's
axe-marks on the trees, is not foot
path. Thoreau, who is sometimes fool
ishly accused of having sought to be n
mere savage, understood this distinc-
ton well. "a man changes by his
presence" he says in his unpuO-
lished diary, "the very nature of the
trees The poets is in alogger's path,
but a woodman's, -the logger and pio-
nesr have proceeded him, aud banished
deoaying wood and the spongy mosses
which feed on il, and built hearths aud
humanized nature for him. Fora per.
manent residence, there can be no com
parison between this and the wilderness.
Our woods are sylvan, and their inhab-
itants are woodsmen aud rustiosi that
is, selrdggia, and its inhabitants are
aiUages" What Thoreau loved, like
all men Of healthy minds, was tho oc-
casional experience Of untamed wild
ness. II love to see occasionally" he
adds, ''a man from whom the usaea III
chem hangs as gracefully as from a
spruce. Prom As ATLANTIC MoSruur
for NOgember.