THE EXHILARATIONS OF THE ROAD 31 



Ben Jonson strode, larking it to Scotland, so long 

 ago. I read with longing of the pedestrian feats of 

 college youths, so gay and light-hearted, with their 

 coarse shoes on their feet and their knapsacks on 

 their backs. It would have been a good draught of 

 the rugged cup to have walked with Wilson the orni- 

 thologist, deserted by his companions, from Niagara 

 to Philadelphia through the snows of winter. I 

 almost wish that I had been born to the career of a 

 German mechanic, that I might have had that de- 

 licious adventurous year of wandering over my coun- 

 try before I settled down to work. I think how 

 much richer and firmer-grained life would be to me 

 if I could journey afoot through Florida and Texas, 

 or follow the windings of the Platte or the Yellow- 

 stone, or stroll through Oregon, or browse for a sea- 

 son about Canada. In the bright, inspiring days of 

 autumn I only want the time and the companion to 

 walk back to the natal spot, the family nest, across 

 two States and into the mountains of a third. What 

 adventures we would have by the way, what hard 

 pulls, what prospects from hills, what spectacles 

 we would behold of night and day, what passages 

 with dogs, w T hat glances, what peeps into windows, 

 what characters we should fall in with, and how 

 seasoned and hardy we should arrive at our desti- 

 nation ! 



For companion I should want a veteran of the (/' 

 war! Those marches put something into him I 



