The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1872-11-01
evening State guurnai.
FRIDAY EvE'G. NOVEMBER, 1. 1872.
Walks.

- - "oih 40 hi6b VI I'll n convenience,
whether leading from door to highway, OF
to the stable court, or through gardens,
or to the wood, it is essentially, and most
of all, a convenience ; and to despoil it OF
this quality by interposing circles or curves
which have no meaning, or sufficient cause,
is mere affectation. Not to say, however.
that all paths should be straight. The
farmer whose home Is at a considerable re-
move from the highway, and who drives
his team thither. avoiding rock and tree
and hillock, will give to his line
of approach a grace that it would
be hard to excel by counterfeit. Pat, stag
gering from the orchard, under a bushel Of
Bartlett pears, and Selling upon every ac-
cidental aid in the surface of the d~eciivity
to relieve the fatigue of his walk-zizzay-
eing, as it were in easy curves, is uncon-
ciously laying down. though noe a grace
full man, o very graceful line of march.
And it is the delicate Interpretation of these
everyday ~defexities, and this instructive
righteousness IF | may so saw, which sup
plies, or should supply, the landscape gar.
deners with their best formula.
There is no liver in the country Sc prac.
teal, or of so humble an estate, but be will
have his half dozen paths divergent from
his door, and these he may keep dry and
in always seryiceable condition, by simply
removing the soil from them to the depth
of eighteen or twenty inches, and bury
ing in them the scattered stones and
debris, which ale feeding weed-crops
in idle corners; he will thus re-
lieye himself OF the useless material
that might cumber the highway (;
besides possessing himself of the greater
part of the top soil removed, for admixture
with his composts, And this substitution
may progress season by season ; as the
garden rakings or refuse material accumu-
late, he has only to remove q few cubic
yards of earth from his paths, bury the
waste, and reserve the more available por-
tons of the mould.
The same Jules of construction are good
for all r~oad-ways, more especially for the
farmer who want any yielding metal be-
meath his heavy carriage of spring. The
perfection OF roads of course supposes per-
feet drainage, and a deep bed of stone
material; but ! am only suggesting methods
which are in keeping with ordinary farm
Economies.
There must needs be directness in all
paths communicating with o~ut-buildings,
and the exigencies of economic and effect
i've culture demand the straight lines in the
kitchen-garden, but when / takea friend
20 some pretty point Of view, or q little
parterre Of flowers dropped in the turf, we
are not hurried /; the dainty curves make q
pleasant cheatery of the approach. Thus
there is a charming accord between the
best rules for landscape outlay and the
wants Of the country-liver; where econo-
my of tiliage or Of labor demands direct
ness the paths should be direct, and where
economy Of pleasure suggests loiter.
Inc, the paths may loiter. And so,
they loiter away through pleasant wooded
coppices - doubling upon themselves on
some rocky pitch Of h~ills-short reaches,
concealed each one from the other-blinded
by thick MISUNDERSTANDING in curves
until from under 2 low branching birch tree
,here bursts upon the eye q grand view of
farm, and forest, and city and sea ; always
d charming view indeed, though We toi!sd
straight toward it, in broad sunshine, but
she winding throughout the coppice, unsus-
pecting-busied with ferns and lichens, and
shut in by dark over-growth against any
glimpse of sky, makes it ten-fold ravish-
Ing.
What if such walks be not nicely grave
elied-Wh4t If you come upon no grubbing
gardeners? If only they be easy and SER
viceable Z l love their train stairs, and
their fine MOSES creeping INTO green mats;
love their irregular borders, with a fern
era gentian nodding over the bounds-a
pretty sylvan welcome to your tread.
There are little foot-paths | know-only
beaten by the patter of young faet--wind-
ing away through lawn or orchard, to
sofne fayorite apple-tree. frequented most
after some brisk wind-storm has passed
ever, that | think | admire more than any
gTayelled walks in the world.
And there are other simple f~oot-paths,
which remember lettering through day
after day, in the rural districts of England,
with . sense of enjoyment that never be-
longed to sannterings in the alleys of Yer.
sailles.
A man does not know England, or Eng
lish landscape, or English country feeling,
Until he has broken away from railways,
from cities, from towns, and clambered
over stiles and lost himself in the fields.
Talk Of Chatsworth, and Blenheim, and
Eaton Hall! Does a man know the pleas
ure Of healthy digestion by eating whip
~syllabub? Did Turner 60 to Beivoir
Castle park for the landscapes which link us
to Gods earth I
What q Joy and delight in those field foot
paths of sEnglandl Not the paths of
owners only; not cautiously gravel
led walks; but all mems paths,
where any wayfarer may go; worn
smooth by poor feet and rich feet, idle
feet and working feet; open across the
fields from time immemorial; Gods
paths for his people, which no man may
shut, winding, coiling over stiles, leaping
on stepping-stones through brooks with
curves more graceful than Uogarth's
hieroglyphics of the Great Master written
on the land, which being interpreted, say
Love one another.
We call ours q country of privilege, yet
what rich man gives right of way over his
grounds? What footpath or stile to cheat
the laboror OF his fatigue Pr Marvel, in