He is a survival of an almost vanished race which the
railways have caused to disappear.
Much destruction of beautiful scenery is, alas! inevitable. Trade and
commerce, mills and factories, must work their wicked will on the
landscapes of our country. Mr. Ruskin's experiment on the painting of
Turner, quoted in our opening chapter, finds its realisation in many
places. There was a time, I suppose, when the Mersey was a pure river
that laved the banks carpeted with foliage and primroses on which the
old Collegiate Church of Manchester reared its tower. It is now, and
has been for years, an inky-black stream or drain running between
stone walls, where it does not hide its foul waters for very shame
beneath an arched culvert. There was a time when many a Yorkshire
village basked in the sunlight. Now they are great overgrown towns
usually enveloped in black smoke. The only day when you can see the
few surviving beauties of a northern manufacturing town or village is
Sunday, when the tall factory chimneys cease to vomit their clouds of
smoke which kills the trees, or covers the struggling leaves with
black soot. We pay dearly for our commercial progress in this
sacrifice of Nature's beauties.
CHAPTER XX
CONCLUSION
Whatever method can be devised for the prevention of the vanishing of
England's chief characteristics are worthy of consideration.
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