30 THE JONATHAN PAPERS 



when she was requested to, she did it very 

 much as an old lady might go down a precip 

 ice she let herself down, half sitting, with 

 occasional gentle groans, rocking from side to 

 side like a boat in a chop sea. Now all New 

 England is practically either uphill or down 

 hill, and, if we had been in any haste, these 

 characteristics of Kit might have annoyed us; 

 but inasmuch as we did not care where we 

 went or when we got there, what difference 

 did it make? In fact, it was rather a relief to 

 be thus firmly bound to sobriety. 



In one respect we could not be absolutely 

 irresponsible, however. We found it advisable 

 to seek out our night s lodging while it was 

 yet light enough for the farmer s wife to look 

 us over and see that we were respectable. 

 Our first night out we failed to realize this, and 

 we paid for it by being forced to put up at a 

 commonplace village inn, instead of a farm 

 house. After that we managed to begin our 

 search for a hostess about milking-time, and 

 we had little further trouble. Indeed, one of 

 the pleasures of the week was the hospitality 

 we received; and our opinion of the New 

 England farmer, his wife and his children, 



