Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1886-11-18
THE GRASSY ROAD.
Plea for Country Beauties which Med
ern Fashions Tend to obIiterate.


neighbor of ours and yours, who has
few champions, who suffers in silence,
who is fast becoming discouraged at the
treatment OF his thankless posteritv
and who thus, year by year. is yielding
up his hold among us. Country people
everywhere among the hills, let me in
troduce to you the ''old grassy road
the mountain turnpike" the old
wood road the ''lane' thus to be-
speak the aid of the local vocabulary in
liking the identity ! would bring to your
mind-for there is an eold Marlborough
road in every towns if not, then more's
the pity.
These ancient highways spread like a
act over our New England hills. a net
whose meShes are fast being lost among
the growth which has sprung up around
them. These old roads are all akin
essentially the same everywhere. Pos
sessing in spirit common origin, the
history of one is repeated in ALL 1t is
the track of the pioneer who opened up
the privileges we now enjoy; it is the
scar OF hard-fought battle; the mark
of courage, fortitude, and heroic self
sacrifice, the road our forefathers trod,
and now in many instances the last elo.
quent visible link between the un-
worthy present and noble ancestral
memories which should be kept green.
would turn the eyes of the Grant into
this forgotten path, and if possible keep
1t worn by reverent footsteps, and
guarded against the impending inva-
sion-that improving hand Of pro
gress."
For it is manifest on every hand that
the acquisition of prosperity among
our country towns is fast croWding
out our rural lanes and ancient roads,
tearing up their venerable landmarks,
obliterating their footprints, smoothing
away their mounds, and ploughino up
their ashes. This seems little less than
sacrilege-the deplorable fruit of that
rage for rural Improvement which is
now a terror in the air, following in the
train of wealth and prosperity and a
certain era in the history OF every grow
ing town Not but that in its proper
place, where it pertains and ministers
to individual home comforts, it may pe
highly proper and desirable; but when
it sweeps the country not unlike
scourge OF locusts, and at length drives
the woud-be country pilgrim or
native inhabitant to the limits of the
township TO find bit of nature 'un-
adorned, " is it not time to cry halt?
Even the great metropolis hath
suburbs-a verdant rim which may be
reached by horse-cars.
In truth | wonder at the apathy with
which these ancient weed-grow foot
prints are viewed by the average village
mind. Even though blind to natural
beauty is there no other awakening
touch to which such might respond
amid surroundings where every visible
feature is eloquent with that spirit which
makes the whole world kin?
1t has been my fortune recently to
have become possessed of an ideal gras-
sy road, or rather, should say, more
properly, OF a companionable charge
which 1t carries tenderly and INSOFAR
ably in its bosom This is nv
farm. 1t is way up there, the old road
circllng along its edge and winding
away somewhere into the clouds. /
have never yet found its end, and never
shall. Ere this have known u certain
restlcssness. but now | am content ITO
breathe my native air in my own
ground. y shall live out my appoint
ed days ere | exhaust this single path:
what need then of guide books to Eu-
rope Ito see the world, the Continent,
the Orient? | could sit within this
realm and fill my portfolio with them
all. Here is my cross and crescent.
What is the roar OF Niagara compared
to this still smaiI voico-the Alpen
peaks, the Matterhorn? Indeed, nv
grassy road has carried me much high
CT than these.
The features of these old roads, as
have said, are alike in all. How natur-
ally are the feet OF the saunterer drawn
thithcr! and even when he would take
his leave to seek some distant hunting
ground or familiar wood or brook, how
irrosistibly is he induced to procrasti-
mattel
This free, unrestrained meanderino
course of the grassy road possesses a
continuous irresistible charm ever
recurring vista with the invariable tan
talizing curve beyond How does that
elusive reckoning curve coquettc with
your fancy! What will be the prospect
hill or valley, shimmcring pond, rip
ping river, or billowing field. dusty
wood, or hazy tremulous distance Of
blue hillsP There is all the mystery of
Il tomorrow haunting that elusive
curve. Yes, witching presence
hovers there; il is the spirit of the path,
Turing you on and ON with cycr-cnticing
promises, never disappointing you,
never satisfying you. Now we shall
catch her in yonder closed covert
among the jumpers; there is no escape;
but 10! she has sped a hundred feet be-
You'd, where in the ouise of jutting
fence beam beneath the reckoning as
pens she points YOU still onward; and
what is that! well-known voice. now
strangely modulated to my fancy, cries
plainly now, if never before, Come,
more yet" Yes, more yet" this is the
very watehword of the grassy road.
There is u segment of eternity IN that
beautiful curve beyond
There are all sorts of lessons as we
turn the leaves, lettering by the way.
Sitting here under my favorite tree, as
is my wont, like Hamlet at the feet of
his mistress, eager and expcctant,
though be it admitted with spirit not
precisely akin to his, l await my enter
tainment. The play begins Immediate
~. A bell note from the country rings
the curtain up; Il tanager fits by rs
though to fire the foot-lights; and ere
we are fairly seated mysterious pres
ence steals upon the stage and rivets our
more ominous prologue
than ! could wish. Note the sombre
garb. the stealthy approach. | recog-
nize him, and his Is an unwelcome
shadow among these bushes. But the
intruder has observed us, and is off
again rs fast rs his black wings can
take him. This is the bird whose ilocks
we observed scampering around the
nose of the cow pasturing in the field
near by. 1t is said that they seek the
insects aroused into activity by her crop
ping, but | half suspectit is rs much the
sweetness of that scented breath that
attracts them. IKliidnl Hamilton CID
SON. IN Harper's Nagazine for NoUem-
Der.
Though the British Isles are rather
small affairs in tho matter of s.andino-