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The Life of Thomas Telford-Part9_Samuel Smiles(1812-1904)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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Devonshire pack-horse bending under the 'swagging load' of the



high-piled crooks as an emblem of care toiling along the narrow and

rugged path of life. The force and point of the imagery must be



lost to those who have never seen (and, as in an instance which

came under my own knowledge, never heard of) this unique specimen



of provincialagricultural machinery. The crooks are formed of two

poles,*[11] about ten feet long, bent, when green, into the



required curve, and when dried in that shape are connected by

horizontal bars. A pair of crooks, thus completed, is slung over



the pack-saddle--one 'swinging on each side to make the balance

true.' The short crooks, or crubs, are slung in a similar manner.



These are of stouter fabric, and angular shape, and are used for

carrying logs of wood and other heavy materials. The dung-pots, as



the name implies, were also much in use in past times, for the

removal of dung and other manure from the farmyard to the fallow or



plough lands. The slide, or sledge, may also still occasionally

be seen in the hay or corn fields, sometimes without, and in other



cases mounted on low wheels, rudely but substantially formed of

thick plank, such as might have brought the ancient Roman's harvest



load to the barn some twenty centuries ago."

Mrs. Bray says the crooks are called by the country people



"Devil's tooth-picks." A correspondent informs us that the queer

old crook-packs represented in our illustration are still in use in



North Devon. He adds: "The pack-horses were so accustomed to their

position when travelling in line (going in double file) and so



jealous of their respective places, that if one got wrong and took

another's place, the animal interfered with would strike at the



offender with his crooks."

Footnotes for Chapter III.



*[1] 'Three Years' Travels in England, Scotland, and Wales.'

By James Brome, M.A., Rector of Cheriton, Kent. London, 1726.



*[2] The treatment the stranger received was often very rude.

When William Hutton, of Birmingham, accompanied by another gentleman,



went to view the field of Bosworth, in 1770, "the inhabitants,"

he says, "set their dogs at us in the street, merely because we were



strangers. Human figures not their own are seldom seen in these

inhospitable regions. Surrounded with impassable roads, no



intercourse with man to humanise the mind. nor commerce to smooth

their rugged manners, they continue the boors of Nature."



In certain villages in Lancashire and Yorkshire, not very remote from

large towns, the appearance of a stranger, down to a comparatively



recent period, excited a similar commotionamongst the villagers,

and the word would pass from door to door, "Dost knaw'im?" "Naya."



"Is 'e straunger?" "Ey, for sewer." "Then paus' 'im-- 'Eave a duck

[stone] at 'im-- Fettle 'im!" And the "straunger" would straightway



find the "ducks" flying about his head, and be glad to make his

escape from the village with his life.



*[3] Scatcherd, 'History of Morley.'

*[4] Murray's ' Handbook of Surrey, Hants, and Isle of Wight,' 168.



*[5] Whitaker's 'History of Craven.'

*[6] Scatcherd's 'History of Morley,' 226.



*[7] Vixen Tor is the name of this singular-looking rock. But it

is proper to add, that its appearance is probably accidental, the



head of the Sphynx being produced by the three angular blocks of

rock seen in profile. Mr. Borlase, however, in his ' Antiquities



of Cornwall,' expresses the opinion that the rock-basins on the

summit of the rock were used by the Druids for purposes connected



with their religious ceremonies.

*[8] The provisioning of London, now grown so populous, would be



almost impossible but for the perfect system of roads now

converging on it from all parts. In early times, London, like



country places, had to lay in its stock of salt-provisions against

winter, drawing its supplies of vegetables from the country within



easy reach of the capital. Hence the London market-gardeners

petitioned against the extension of tumpike-roads about a century



ago, as they afterwards petitioned against the extension of

railways, fearing lest their trade should be destroyed by the






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