244 HIGHWAYS AWD BYWAYS. 



streaks of fog hung over the winding river, shutting 

 portions of it and the valley from view. Some of its 

 edges were just ruffled by a puff of the morning breeze, 

 while here and there it rose in billowy waves and floated 

 up the valley; but whether in bars of defined outlines, or 

 in undulating waves, it seemed the poetical feature in 

 the landscape. The ancients supposed the mists and 

 vapors to be the breath of the river gods. Kuskin inter- 

 prets the fog to be the Daphne of Grecian mythology, 

 and the sun dis})elling it, Apollo. He says " Daphne is 

 the daughter of one of the great river gods of Arcadia; 

 the earth is her mother; she, in her first fife, is the mist 

 fining the valley; the sun pursuing, and effacing it from 

 dell to dell, is literally Apollo pursuing Daphne." 

 Emily suggests that " more likely these mists are the 

 curtains that Amphitrite hangs before her beautiful 

 nymphs while they are making their morning toilets." 

 But all fanciful interpretations were dispelled by little 

 Anemone, who innocently said, '* Why, mamma, that is 

 only fog hanging over the river." 



The journey back to Buffalo was more direct, but 

 made by easy stages, much of it in the early morning, 

 or late in the afternoon. At no time did we hurry; but 

 whenever the horse showed any signs of weariness, Ave 

 looked for the nearest place of entertainment. N'othing 

 tires a S3^mpathetic driver more than to ride after 

 a fatigued or hungry animal. In pleasantly discours- 

 ing of " Eoad Horses," in the April Atlantic, H. C. 

 Merwin says : "In fact, a good roadster is something 

 like a satisfactory bank account — your pleasure in his 



