Knutsford, an admirable centre, is reached immediately, by train. But it must not be overlooked that there is a very pleasant field-way thereto from Mobberley, and that the path to Mobberley itself, one of the most ancient of the Cheshire villages, is always interesting,--starting, that is to say, from Ashley station. Every portion of it is quiet and enjoyable, and those who love seclusion would scarcely find another so exactly suited to their taste. Soon after entering the fields, the path dives through a little dell threaded by the Birkin (an affluent of the Bollin), then goes on through lanes which in May are decked plenteously with primroses. The way, perhaps, is rather intricate,--so much the better for the exercise of our sagacity. Let not the "day of small things" be despised. The Birkin is one of the little streams that in the great concourse called the Mersey does honour at last to the British Tyre. Drayton notices it in the Poly-olbion (1622)-- From hence he getteth Goyte down from her Peakish spring, And Bollen, that along doth nimbler Birkin bring.[7] The church, as would be anticipated, presents much that is interesting to the ecclesiologist. Near the chancel stands the accustomed and here undilapidated old village graveyard yew, emblem of immortality, life triumphing over death, therefore so suitable,--this particular one at Mobberley the largest and most symmetrical within a circuit of many miles. Across the road, hard by, an ash-tree presents a singularly fine example of the habit of growth called "weeping,"--not the ordinary tent-form seen upon lawns, but lofty, and composed chiefly of graceful self-woven ringlets, a cupola of green tresses, beautiful at all seasons, and supplying, before the leaves are out, a capital hint to every one desirous of learning trees--as they deserve to be learned. For to this end trees must be contemplated almost every month in the year, when leafless as well as leafy. A grand tree is like a great poem--not a thing to be glanced at with a thoughtless "I have read it," but to be studied, and with remembrance of what once happened on the summit of mount Ida.