Took a walk in the fields: saw an old wood stile taken away from a
familiar spot which it had occupied all my life. The posts were
overgrown with ivy, and it seemed akin to nature and the spot where
it stood, as though it had taken it on lease for an undisturbed
existence. It hurt me to see it was gone, for my affections claim a
friendship with such things; but nothing is lasting in this world.
Last year Langley Bush was destroyed--an old white-thorn that had
stood for more than a century, full of fame. The gipsies, shepherds,
and herdsmen all had their tales of its history, and it will be long
ere its memory is forgotten.