hidden space, the village lay along its white highway.

The stage dropped with short, sharp rushes down
the winding road; the houses lost the toy-like aspect
of distance; cowbells clashed faintly; a dog's
bark quivered, suspended in hushed space. The
stage passed the first, scattered houses, and was
speedily in the village: each dwelling had, behind a
white picket fence, a strip of sod and a tangle of
simple, gay flowers -- scarlet, white, purple and yellow,
now coated with a fine, chalky, summer dust.
The dwellings were, for the most part, frame, with a
rare structure of brick under mansard slates green
with moss. The back yards were fenced from the
fields, on which hay had been cut and stood in high
ricks, now casting long, mauve shadows over the
close, brilliant green. The stage passed the white
board structure of the Methodist Church, and
stopped before the shallow portico of the post-office.

[[31]]

p030 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p031w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p032

v?