A DAY'S DRIVE IN THREE STATES 15 



house just across the river. He had given 

 the people notice of our coming, on his way 

 down the day before, and the woman would 

 have dinner ready for me. Both houses were 

 very nice places to eat at, he added for my 

 encouragement. So it happened that I break- 

 fasted in South Carolina, dined in Georgia, 

 and supped in North Carolina. The dinner, 

 to which I sat down alone, was bountiful 

 after its kind. If the table did not " groan," 

 it must have been because it was ignorant 

 of a table's duty ; and if I did not make a 

 feast, let the failure be laid to the idiosyn- 

 crasy of a man who once cut short his stay 

 at one of the most inviting places in all Vir- 

 ginia because he was pampered monotonously 

 for five consecutive meals with nothing but 

 fried ham, fried eggs, and soda biscuits. " It 

 is never too late to give up our prejudices," 

 says Thoreau, in one of his lofty moods. 

 Wisdom uttered in that tone is not to be 

 disputed ; but if it is never " too late," I for 

 one have sometimes found it too early. My 

 bill of fare here in Georgia was by no means 

 confined to the three Southern staples just 

 now enumerated (let so much be said in 

 simple justice), but they held the place of 



