Going About The Country - With Your Eyes Open

Marcus Woodward, Owen Jones

Description

This classic book offers the reader advice and instructions on how to best appreciate nature, the countryside, and walking in the Great Outdoors. It aims to enlighten the reader as to what to look out for and how to identify various things ranging from trees to wildlife and beyond. “Going About The Country - With Your Eyes Open” is highly recommended for nature lovers and is perfect for those looking for new ways to appreciate their natural surroundings. Contents include: "Eyes that See”, “The Art of Sitting Down”, “Woodcraft”, “Eyes and no Eyes in the Woods”, “Signs and Tokens”, “The Woodman's Secrets”, “How to Call the Birds and Beasts”, “Some Uses of Hazel and Ash”, “How to Know the Trees”, “Our Friend the Gamekeeper”, “Thoughts on Trespassing”, “Odd Hours of Sport”, etc. Many vintage books such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition complete with a specially-commissioned new biography of the author.

Sujets

• Love
• Love (disambiguation)
• Outdoor enthusiast

Informations

• Publié par: Read Books Ltd.
• Date de parution: 31 janvier 2018
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781528784276
• Langue: English

Extrait

GOING ABOUT THE COUNTRY WITH YOUR EYES OPEN
Copyright 2017 Read Books Ltd. This book is copyright and may not be reproduced or copied in any way without the express permission of the publisher in writing
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
BY THE SAME AUTHORS UNIFORM WITH THIS VOLUME
WOODCRAFT
Illustrated with Thumb-nail Sketches by C OLBRON P EARSE .

SOME PRESS OPINIONS.
Country boys are often almost as ignorant of natural history as their town cousins, though with less excuse: and the value of the Boy Scout movement in country districts is almost as much in stimulating intelligence and initiative through the powers of observation as in founding a new order of chivalry. . . . Is a little book packed full of the kind of outdoor lore which fascinates almost every boy, and many older persons. . . . The whole book will form delightful reading for boys in towns, and an inspiration for their visits to the country.
The Times.
A truly delightful companion for the rambler and woodman.
Pall Mall Gazette.
Packed from end to end with observations and instructions which turn the countryside and its small inhabitants from a series of perplexing puzzles into a vast book which every intelligent person can read for himself. - The Globe.
The youthful naturalist is encouraged to make his deductions, to become a Sherlock Holmes of the fields. . . . The book is complete, efficient: written with a single eye and simple plain purpose. - Evening Standard.
A book which would make a delightful present for any country child.
Country Life.
Boys will certainly like this book. - Manchester Guardian.

ALSO BY MARCUS WOODWARD
In same Style and Prices
In Nature s Ways
A book for all young Lovers of Natural History. Being an Introduction to Gilbert White s immortal Natural History of Selborne. Illustrated by J. A. S HEPHERD .
With Preface by W ILFRID M ARK W EBB , Secretary of the Selborne Society.
This is a White s Selborne for the young; giving passages from the original under different headings and, side by side, some talk about the bird or beast referred to; with plenty of illustrations by Mr. J. A. Shepherd, full of his usual vitality. - Times .
We think this volume cannot fail to interest and instruct the young.
Field.
White s History of Selborne is here amplified and explained for young readers. Mr. Woodward has that gift of humour without which all writing on nature is a weariness unto the flesh for young readers, and for many readers who are no longer young. Mr. J. A. Shepherd s illustrations catch the spirit of the letterpress, and are of a piece with the work that has made his reputation as an artist. - Literary World.
GOING ABOUT THE COUNTRY
WITH YOUR EYES OPEN
BY
OWEN JONES
AND
MARCUS WOODWARD
AUTHORS OF WOODCRAFT , A GAMEKEEPER S NOTEBOOK ETC .
ILLUSTRATED BY T. PEDDIE
Owen Jones
Owen Jones was born on 15 th February 1809 in London, England.
He was the son of the successful furrier, Welsh antiquary, and principal founder of the Gwyneddigion Society in London, Owen Jones. Due to this, his family were central to Welsh cultural and academic societies in London and the young Jones was a fluent Welsh speaker.
Jones attended Charterhouse and then another private school, before at the age of sixteen becoming a pupil of the architect L. Vulliamy. He remained under his tuition for six years whilst also conducting his studies at the Royal Academy. Jones continued to pursue his love of design by travelling extensively around Europe and the East, a journey on which he would become deeply impressed with Arabic form and ornament, a style that greatly influenced his future work. During his time in Granada he made numerous drawings of the Alhambra and in 1936 he published the first part of Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Details of the Alhambra. This is an excellent work but it was not financially successful.
In 1851 he became the superintendent of the works of the Great Exhibition and in the following year was given the role of the joint director of the decoration of the Crystal Palace. He specially designed for it the Egyptian, Greek, Roman, and Alhambra courts. He also undertook other large projects including the decorating of the palace of the Viceroy of Egypt, designing St. James s Hall in London, and decorating Christ Church, Streatham, in 1841. In 1857 he received the gold medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, which was followed by the medal of the Paris Exhibition in 1867, and a subsequent award at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873. His importance in the field of interior decoration lives on today with his concepts of colour and ornament influencing English wall-paper, carpets, and furniture.
Jones died on 19 th April 1874 at his home in Argyll Place, Regent Street, London, and is buried in Kensal Green cemetery.
BY WAY OF PREFACE
M ANY go about the country, but not all have eyes open for those simple clues by which alone the riddles of the country may be read, or its treasuries found, to the tenfold multiplying of pleasure, that is without end and without price.
In this book (which we have been writing ever since we were boys, and are still far from an end; it may be described as a sequel to our other essay, Woodcraft ) we have not written so much on the flowers and butterflies we know and love, or about little birds and beasts, but have tried to record a few of those countless simple matters so often overlooked, which make going about the country the most delightful and abiding of all pleasures. We have made some mention also of the sports and crafts of the country folk.
Our purpose is to show the value, whether for pleasure or profit, of the habit of observation and proper reasoning. So we have turned to some of the less-worn pages of the great open book of the country, the best of all books in the world, and have tried to read a little between its lines.
The country is never dull; those who go about with their eyes open find thirty-six interests in every yard. And of these things, the more you know the better you enjoy what you know, and the more you find to know and to enjoy.
O. J. AND M. W.
CONTENTS
I.
E YES THAT S EE
II.
T HE A RT OF S ITTING D OWN
III.
W OODCRAFT
IV.
E YES AND NO E YES IN THE W OODS
V.
S IGNS AND T OKENS
VI.
T HE W OODMAN S S ECRETS
VII.
H OW TO C ALL THE B IRDS AND B EASTS
VIII.
S OME U SES OF H AZEL AND A SH
IX.
H OW TO K NOW THE T REES
X.
T ALES OF A S PY-GLASS
XI.
O UR F RIEND THE G AMEKEEPER
XII.
T HOUGHTS ON T RESPASSING
XIII.
O DD H OURS OF S PORT
XIV.
T HE F RESH -W ATER L OBSTERS
XV.
F ISHING FOR P IKE
XVI.
G OING-ABOUT B OOTS
XVII.
T HE F OOTPATH W AY
XVIII.
B Y THE W AY
XIX.
A C HAPTER ON D OGS
XX.
S OME A WKWARD L OADS
XXI.
A NIMALS IN F EAR
XXII.
T O C HECK-MATE R ATS
XXIII.
R AT-CATCHER S S ECRETS
XXIV.
R UNS -S OME H IGHWAYS AND B YWAYS OF THE F IELDS
XXV.
T HE W IDE-AWAKE J AY
XXVI.
P ITS , H EAPS , AND C LAMPS
XXVII.
H OW TO V IEW A F OX
XXVIII.
T HE L ITTLE G ENTLEMAN IN B LACK V ELVET
XXIX.
G IPSY C RAFTS
XXX.
T HE F AMILY A FFAIRS OF THE R OOKS
XXXI.
W ILD C REATURES B ATHS
XXXII.
O N F INDING F EATHERS
XXXIII.
B IRDS THAT P OISE
XXXIV.
W HEN S NOW F ALLS
XXXV.
T HE S HEPHERD
XXXVI.
G OING TO S LEEP FOR THE W INTER
XXXVII.
Y OUNG B IRDS OR O LD
XXXVIII.
H OW TO H ANDLE W ILD C REATURES
XXXIX.
A C HAPTER OF A CCIDENTS
XL.
W HERE THE W ILD R OSES G O
XLI.
C ROSSES BY THE R OADSIDE

I NDEX
Going About the Country
With Your Eyes Open

I
EYES that SEE
S OME people, going about the country, see only what is thrust before their eyes. The observer sets his eyes to search out hidden things, and sees a hundred times as much as the casual onlooker. He soon finds out the usual state of things in any country where he may be. Then he has an eagle eye for any unusual happening. And he sees, without specially looking, when and where matters are amiss.
He sees also how people do their work and manage affairs-great affairs and small. He is as deeply interested to observe how this man stops a runaway horse as how that man carries a heavy load of rabbits. He is always learning, because there is no knowledge which may not be applied, in some way or another, to some problem in his own life, at some time or other.
Going about the country, you may notice, one morning, that a field where a cow usually feeds is empty. You wonder why, and begin to find out. You note, first of all, that the gate is closed as usual. Going to the gate, you find a few hairs clinging to the latch. Then you argue that the cow, by rubbing against the latch with her head and horns, has managed to release it, and has passed through, and the gate, swinging to, has fastened the catch. Looking into the neighbouring fields, at last you find the cow, quietly feeding on clover. And you know that cows in clover are cows out of place. A cow in a clover- or a corn-field is very likely to over-eat herself, and fatally. So you may warn the farmer, and perhaps save the life of a cow worth twenty pounds. And this useful work you have found t