Page:A protest against the extension of railways in the Lake District - Somervell (1876).djvu/63

 holiday in the Black Country, or take a run down, via Furness Abbey, to Barrow and its neigbourhood [sic], and try how they like the change from Grasmere.

Surely now, if ever, a firm stand must be made, and the opinion of all wise and gentle persons stoutly expressed.

The Petition, of which a draft is annexed, is intended for presentation to Parliament should any Bill be introduced proposing to extend any line of railway into the district; and all visitors who have the smallest care for its preservation are earnestly asked, not only to sign their own names, but to induce their friends in other parts of the country to do so. There are many who would gladly sign, whose names might be obtained in this way; and it is only by the hearty cooperation of all that the work can be efficiently done.

I have ventured, reluctantly, to reprint the following Letter, in no desire to perpetuate a controversy, but because it states plainly one or two things which are only hinted at in the foregoing Protest.

I do so in the hope that it may be found useful by those who are endeavouring to rouse in the public mind some sense of the utter folly of permitting all the lovely places in our country to be destroyed, one after another, by the advancing tide of what we are pleased to flatter ourselves by calling 'Progress.' Surely we must be blind to the real meaning of the word, or else to the nature of the realities which we use it to denominate, if we suppose that the change from the peaceful life of the country to the feverish stir of our filthy towns, and the endless mechanical drudgery of our degenerate and degrading manufactures, is truly progressive. While, therefore, we urge the importance of preserving the Lake District more particularly on the ground of its especial beauty, and national