St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1893-12-28
3llistrllamu.
THE RIGHT or WAY.

tends to illustrate characteristic
of the English people. 1t shows, !
think, to what lengths an English
man will go to gain his rights when
an American would say, "Oh, what
is the use 7" or, "Never mind" One
of the reasons England is such a
comfortable place in which to live
is due to the fact that the English
people have this peculiar habit OF
lighting for their rights, by letters
to the Times, or by taking the num-
bers of cabmen and policemen and
appearing against them in the morn
ing, or by sending war-ships into
strange harbors where the window
panes of some English merchants
have been smashed If there were
elevated roads in London, the clerk
who lives in Kensington would not
hang and swing from a strap on his
way to and from the city. He
would see that he was given the
seat for which he had paid. The
American is to busy and too good
natured to fight for his rights, so
he continues to stand from Rector
street to Harlem, and to walk over
unclean streets, and see the beauti-
full green park at the Battery taken
from him and turned into railroad
terminus. He will learn in time,
that the reason the Englishman has
better roads and better streets and
better protection for his life and
property is because he "makes
kick about it, and protests and
growls aud is generally disagreeable
until he gets what he wants. Good
nature is not always a virtue, and
sometimes the easy-going person is
a very selfish one, too. Equally
strong with his desire to have his
rights is the Englishman's Difference
for the rights of Others. He shows
this Difference by respecting the
English law, which makes these
rights good. There was young
woman in England who told me
she and seven or eight other young
people had tramped in single file
through gentleman's dining-room
one evening, while he and his guests
were at dinner, in order to establish
a right of way. The Englishman
had built his house on a meadow
directly across pathway that had
been used for centuries, and once
year the young people of the neigh
boring estates marched across his
lawn, and up his stairs, and through
his house, in order that he should
remember that the right of way still
existed, She was an exceedingly
shy and wel-bred young person,
and OF a family quite as old as the
right OF way, but 1t apparently did
not strike her that she was rude in
trampihg through strangers
house, or, indeed, that she was do
ing anything but a public duty.
And the interesting point of the
story to me was that the English
householder instead of getting a
Winchester and driving the Young
treSpassers off Of his lawn, should
nave had so full an appreciation of
their right to question his right that
he simply bit his lips and went to
law about it.
There wasa Irishman in the same
county who lived in a small cottage
on an estate, and who was in the
habit of crossing from it to another
through the gateway of a very dis
tlnguished and noble gentleman.
He had done this for twenty years.
and when the noble gentlemen came
INTO some more money and hung
two fine iron gates between the
posts, the Irish laborer took a crow.
bar and broke the hinges on which
they hung, and tramped over them
On his way. He was put in jail for
THIS tor month, at the end of which
time he went after his crowbar and
tore the gates down again. When
ne had been in Jail five times in six
months, the people round about
took up his case, and the right of
way was declared a just one, and
the gates came down forever. The
Englishman will 90 farther than
this, he will not only fight for his
rights, but he will fight for some
other mans rights; he will go out
OF MS road to tramp through a
gentleman's property simply because
the people in the neighborhood are
dlspntng for right of way with him.
| heard Of three young barristers
when was in London who went on
walking tour, and who laid their
ronte entirely with the purpose in
view of taking in all the disputed
rights of way in the counties
through which they passed, and
who cheerfully sacrificed themselves
tor the good of Others by forcing
their way into houses and across
private grounds and by tearing
down hedges Harpcr's Weekly.