A HERMIT'S WILD FRIENDS 



habit. I had tried to find a good cup of 

 coffee in the city and had failed, so had de- 

 pended on my own brewing. 



One morning I dropped into the little store 

 at the head of Pavilion Beach, and the pro- 

 prietor asked me to have a cup of coffee. 

 He piloted me into a back shop, where he 

 told me that he served a light lunch with 

 coffee, to the farmers. The coffee was just 

 to my taste, and for twelve years I patron- 

 ized the coffee trade in that little back shop. 

 My note-book shows that during the twelve 

 years I had missed only eighty mornings. 

 I had paid six hundred and forty-five dollars, 

 during that time, for my lunch and coffee, 

 and had walked, on account of my breakfast, 

 seventeen thousand two hundred miles. Whew ! 

 It makes me feel poor and tired to recall it. 

 I do not remember that I remained at home 

 to breakfast on account of a storm. The 

 eighty mornings which I missed in the twelve 

 years were accounted for by absence from 

 the city. 



I would leave my cabin, summer or winter, 

 100 



