58 ON THE BEACU AT DAYTON A. 



The smaller cottages were nearly all empty 

 at that season. At different times I made 

 use of many of them, when the sun was hot, 

 or I had been long afoot. Once I was rest- 

 ing thus on a flight of front steps, when a 

 three-seated carriage came down the beach 

 and pulled up opposite. The driver wished 

 to ask me a question, I thought ; no doubt I 

 looked very much at home. From the day I 

 had entered Florida, every one I met had 

 seemed to know me intuitively for a New 

 Englander, and most of them I could not 

 imagine how had divined that I came from 

 Boston. It gratified me to believe that I 

 was losing a little of my provincial manner, 

 under the influence of more extended travel. 

 But my pride had a sudden fall. The car- 

 riage stopped, as I said ; but instead of in- 

 quiring the way, the driver alighted, and all 

 the occupants of the carriage proceeded to 

 do the same, eight women, with baskets 

 and sundries. It was time for me to be start- 

 ing. I descended the steps, and pulled off 

 my hat to the first comer, who turned out to 

 be the proprietor of the establishment. With 

 a gracious smile, she hoped they were " not 

 frightening me away." She and her friends 



