But how did they manage the river in the days that you--" Lived in she was going to say; but correcting herself, said--"in the days of which you have record ?" "They _mis_managed it," quoth I.

"Up to the first half of the nineteenth century, when it was still more or less of a highway for the country people, some care was taken of the river and its banks; and though I don't suppose anyone troubled himself about its aspect, yet it was trim and beautiful.

But when the railways--of which no doubt you have heard--came into power, they would not allow the people of the country to use either the natural or artificial waterways, of which latter there were a great many.

I suppose when we get higher up we shall see one of these; a very important one, which one of these railways entirely closed to the public, so that they might force people to send their goods by their private road, and so tax them as heavily as they could." Ellen laughed heartily.

"Well," she said, "that is not stated clearly enough in our history-books, and it is worth knowing.