Pagan Papers

Pagan Papers

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pagan Papers, by Kenneth Grahame
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Title: Pagan Papers
Author: Kenneth Grahame
Release Date: March, 2004 [EBook #5319] [Yes, we are more than one
year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on June 30, 2002]
Edition: 10

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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, PAGAN
PAPERS ***

Pagan Papers was first published in 1893 and the text is in the public
domain. This is a reprint of the first American edition of 1898. The
transcription was done by William McClain ,
2002.
A printed version of this book is available from Sattre Press,
http://pagan_papers.sattre-press.com/. It includes a glossary of French
and Latin phrases.
PAGAN PAPERS by Kenneth Grahame
The Romance of the Road
Among the many places of magic visited by Pantagruel and his
company during the progress of their famous voyage, few surpass that
island whose roads did literally ``go'' to places -- ``ou les chemins
cheminent, comme animaulx'': and would-be travellers, having inquired
of the road as to its destination, and received satisfactory reply, ``se
guindans'' (as the old book hath it -- hoisting themselves up on) ``au
chemin opportun, sans aultrement se poiner ou fatiguer, se trouvoyent
au lieu destiné.''
The best example I know of an approach to this excellent sort of
vitality in roads is the Ridgeway of the North Berkshire Downs. Join it
at Streatley, the point where it crosses the Thames; at once it strikes
you out and away from the habitable world in a splendid, purposeful
manner, running along the highest ridge of the Downs a broad green
ribbon of turf, with but a shade of difference from the neighbouring
grass, yet distinct for all that. No villages nor homesteads tempt it aside
or modify its course for a yard; should you lose the track where it is
blent with the bordering turf or merged in and obliterated by criss-cross
paths, you have only to walk straight on, taking heed of no alternative
to right or left; and in a minute 'tis with you again -- arisen out of the
earth as it were. Or, if still not quite assured, lift you your eyes, and

there it runs over the brow of the fronting hill. Where a railway crosses
it, it disappears indeed -- hiding Alpheus-like, from the ignominy of
rubble and brick-work; but a little way on it takes up the running again
with the same quiet persistence. Out on that almost trackless expanse of
billowy Downs such a track is in some sort humanly companionable: it
really seems to lead you by the hand.
The ``Rudge'' is of course an exceptional instance; but indeed this
pleasant personality in roads is not entirely fanciful. It exists as a
characteristic of the old country road, evolved out of the primitive
prehistoric track, developing according to the needs of the land it
passes through and serves: with a language, accordingly, and a meaning
of its own. Its special services are often told clearly enough; but much
else too of the quiet story of the country-side: something of the old tale
whereof you learn so little from the printed page. Each is instinct,
perhaps, with a separate suggestion. Some are martial and historic, and
by your side the hurrying feet of the dead raise a ghostly dust. The
name of yon town -- with its Roman or Saxon suffix to British root --
hints at much. Many a strong man, wanting his vates sacer, passed
silently to Hades for that suffix to obtain. The little rise up yonder on
the Downs that breaks their straight green line against the sky showed
another sight when the sea of battle surged and beat on its trampled
sides; and the Roman, sore beset, may have gazed down this very road
for relief, praying for night or the succouring legion. This child that
swings on a gate and peeps at you