Highways and byways in Surrey . face to powder. Ripley itself, but for the traffic, would be the prettiestvillage on the road. A long string of low-roofed houses linesthe highway; little white gabled cottages offer tea and refresh-ment ; two old inns share most, I suppose, of the custom offasting travellers. The Anchor, an inn of many gables, hasfixed itself in the affections of bicyclists since the days whenthey rode velocipedes, and its black-beamed Avails and passages RIPLEV BEFORE THE DUST 223 hold drawings of strange souls mounted on wheels whichwould have scared Ixion. The Talbot, which
Highways and byways in Surrey . face to powder. Ripley itself, but for the traffic, would be the prettiestvillage on the road. A long string of low-roofed houses linesthe highway; little white gabled cottages offer tea and refresh-ment ; two old inns share most, I suppose, of the custom offasting travellers. The Anchor, an inn of many gables, hasfixed itself in the affections of bicyclists since the days whenthey rode velocipedes, and its black-beamed Avails and passages RIPLEV BEFORE THE DUST 223 hold drawings of strange souls mounted on wheels whichwould have scared Ixion. The Talbot, which was once theDog (but a talbot is a dog always), is a house of imposingsquareness. You may see the dog painted above the door, aliver-and-white fox-terrier, all proper. Opposite the innsstretches Ripley green, a broad and shining level with manymemories of Surrey cricket, and in particular of Lumpy Stevens, of Send. The motor-car has brought prosperity, even if it is aprosperity that can soil. But the tarnish washes off in night. The MUatre Sheet, Rifiky. and rain. Ripley may look its best early on a Saturdaymorning, before the flood rushes down the road, \\hen thelittle village lies clean and fresh in the sun, and the inns arebusy with white tablecloths and cooking potatoes, and thechildren sit on the edge of the green before the dust comes,there is a sense of orderly bustle and of waiting for a day ofhard work and good money that is pleasant enough. One building only has suffered from the business of theroad. The little church stands behind arches and canopies of >24 AN EMlTV POOR-BOX: clipped yew, its walls almost touching the highway. It is aninteresting little building, though much altered from its oldestform ; the chancel has the remains of clustered pillars, and abeautiful string-course of Caen stone running round it. Butthose have not been the only attractions to visitors. When Iwas there I noticed that the oak collection-box by the doorstood with its lid propped open
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Keywords: ., bookauthorthomsonh, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1920, bookyear1921
