We love
them for themselves, for their beauty and their persistence
certainly, but really because we have always known them and they more
than any other thing here in the south remind us and are a symbol of
our home. A man of South England must always have them in his heart
for every day of his childhood they have filled his eyes. And to-day
more especially they stand as a sign and a symbol. For not only are
they the first great hills which the Londoner sees, but they offer the
nearest relief and repose from the modern torture and noise of that
enormous place which has ceased to be a city and become a mere asylum
of landless men. From the mean and crowded streets he seeks with an
ever increasing eagerness the space of the Downs, from the noise and
confusion and throng, this silence and this emptiness; from the
breathless street, this free and nimble air, which is better than
wine. And so to-day more than ever the Downs have come to stand as a
symbol of an England half lost, which might seem to be passing away,
but that is, as indeed these hills assure us, eternal and
indestructible, the very England of our hearts, which cannot die.
Pages:
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232
233
234
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244