CHAPTER XIII.
THE LICKEY HILLS—REDDITCH, AND ITS NEEDLE AND FISH-HOOK MANUFACTURES—SMETHWICK, OLDBURY, WESTBROMWICH, WEDNESBURY, TIPTON, AND WALSALL. AND THEIR INDUSTRIES—TABLE OF EXPORTS OF THE BLACK COUNTRY TO THE UNITED STATES.
IN all the Green Border-Land of the Black Country there are no hills more grateful than the Lickey cluster, overlooking Bromsgrove. And for this peculiar reason are they such happy pic nic rendezvous, especially for men, women, and children of the mine and forge district; they are perfectly Scotch in cut and clothing. They are belted with genuine Scotch firs and larches; they are carpeted with genuine Scotch heather, which feels so elastic under your feet and gives such elasticity clear through you to every lock of your hair. The thymy incense of its purple flood of blossom you breathe in the air, and you feel as if on one of the Ochil Hills. Indeed, each of the cluster realizes to you what the Scotch poet said of that range when glowing under the
