Taken To
Stonehenge, She Had A Vision Of A Great Gathering Of People,
And So Real Did They Seem That
She believed in the reality
of it all, and so beautiful did they appear to her that she
was reluctant
To leave, and begged to be taken back to see
it all again. Unfortunately it is not true. A full and
careful inquiry has been made into the story, of which there
are several versions, and its origin traced to a little
story-telling Wiltshire boy who had read or heard of the
white-robed priests of the ancient days at "The Stones," and
who just to astonish other little boys naughtily pretended
that he had seen it all himself!
Chapter Twenty-Three: Following a River
The stream invites us to follow: the impulse is so common that
it might be set down as an instinct; and certainly there is no
more fascinating pastime than to keep company with a river
from its source to the sea. Unfortunately this is not easy in
a country where running waters have been enclosed, which
should be as free as the rain and sunshine to all, and were
once free, when England was England still, before landowners
annexed them, even as they annexed or stole the commons and
shut up the footpaths and made it an offence for a man to go
aside from the road to feel God's grass under his feet. Well,
they have also got the road now, and cover and blind and choke
us with its dust and insolently hoot-hoot at us. Out of the
way, miserable crawlers, if you don't want to be smashed!
Sometimes the way is cut off by huge thorny hedges and fences
of barbed wire - man's devilish improvement on the bramble
- brought down to the water's edge. The river-follower must
force his way through these obstacles, in most cases greatly
to the detriment of his clothes and temper; or, should they
prove impassable, he must undress and go into the water.
Worst of all is the thought that he is a trespasser. The
pheasants crow loudly lest he should forget it. Occasionally,
too, in these private places he encounters men in velveteens
with guns under their arms, and other men in tweeds and
knickerbockers, with or without guns, and they all stare at
him with amazement in their eyes, like disturbed cattle in a
pasture; and sometimes they challenge him. But I must say
that, although I have been sharply spoken to on several
occasions, always, after a few words, I have been permitted to
keep on my way. And on that way I intend to keep until I have
no more strength to climb over fences and force my way through
hedges, but like a blind and worn-out old badger must take to
my earth and die.
I found the Exe easy to follow at first. Further on
exceedingly difficult in places; but I was determined to keep
near it, to have it behind me and before me and at my side,
following, leading, a beautiful silvery serpent that was my
friend and companion.
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