PREFACE

Chapter I. Motives to the Walk—­The Iron Horse and his Rider—­ The Losses and Gains by Speed—­The Railway Track and Turnpike Road:  Their Sceneries Compared.

Chapter II.  First Day’s Observations and Enjoyment—­Rural Foot-paths; Visit to Tiptree Farm—­Alderman Mechi’s Operations—­ Improvements Introduced, Decried and Adopted—­Steam Power, Under-draining, Deep Tillage, Irrigation—­Practical Results.

Chapter III.  English and American Birds—­The Lark and its Song.

Chapter IV.  Talk with an Old Man on the Way—­Old Houses in England—­Their American Relationships—­English Hedges and Hedge-row Trees—­Their Probable Fate—­Change of Rural Scenery without them.

Chapter V. A Footpath Walk and its Incidents—­Harvest Aspects—­ English and American Skies—­Humbler Objects of Contemplation—­The Donkey:  Its Uses and Abuses.

Chapter VI.  Hospitalities of “Friends”—­Harvest Aspects:  English Country Inns; their Appearance, Names and Distinctive Characteristics—­The Landlady, Waiter, Chambermaid and Boots—­Extra Fees and Extra Comforts.

Chapter VII.  Light of Human Lives—­Photographs and Biographs—­The late Jonas Webb, his Life, Labors and Memory.

Chapter VIII.  Threshing Machine—­Flower Show—­The Hollyhock and its Suggestions—­The Law of Co-operative Activities in Vegetable, Animal, Mental and Moral Life.

Chapter IX.  Visit to a Three-Thousand-Acre Farm—­Samuel Jonas; His Agricultural Operations, their Extent, Success and General Economy.

Chapter X. Royston and its Specialities—­Entertainment in a Small Village—­St. Ives—­Visits to Adjoining Villages—­A Fen-Farm—­ Capital Invested in English and American Agriculture Compared—­ Allotments and Garden Tenantry—­Barley Grown on Oats.

Chapter XI.  The Miller of Houghton—­An Hour in Huntingdon—­Old
Houses—­Whitewashed Tapestry and Works of Art—­“The Old Mermaid” and
“The Green Man”—­Talk with Agricultural Laborers—­Thoughts on their
Condition, Prospects and Possibilities.

Chapter XII.  Farm Game—­Hallett Wheat—­Oundle—­Country Bridges—­
Fotheringay Castle—­Queen Mary’s Imprisonment and Execution—­
Burghley House:  The Park, Avenues, Elms and Oaks—­Thoughts on
Trees, English and American.

Chapter XIII.  Walk to Oakham—­The English and American Spring—­The
English Gentry—­A Specimen of the Class—­Melton Mowbray and its
Specialities—­Belvoir Vale and its Beauty—­Thoughts on the Blind
Painter.

Chapter XIV.  Nottingham and its Characteristics—­Newstead Abbey—­
Mansfield—­Talk in a Blacksmith’s Shop—­Chesterfield, Chatsworth and
Haddon Hall—­Aristocratic Civilisation, Present and Past.

Chapter XV.  Sheffield and its Individuality—­The Country, Above Ground and Under Ground—­Wakefield and Leeds—­Wharf Vale—­Farnley Hall—­Harrogate; Ripley Castle; Ripon; Conservatism of Country Towns—­Fountain Abbey; Studley Park—­Rievaulx Abbey—­Lord Faversham’s Shorthorn Stock.