HOSPITALITY TO STRANGERS. 



131 



the men usually, if not almost invariably, ending up with a dru7ik. 

 The utmost hospitality is extended to strangers, and, as the various 

 houses are often at a distance of eight or ten miles apart, it is fre- 

 quently the case that a person, travelling from one place to another, 

 is of necessity compelled to seek food and a night's lodging ; when 

 such is the case personal quarrels are invariably forgotten, as it is 

 considered the height of meanness, though I use the word only for 

 want of a better, to let personality interfere with, you might say, 

 the necessities of travel. The men are scrupulously a prayerful 

 race ; and, with the great number with whom I was often obliged 

 to "rough it," I know of hardly a case where the men did not each 

 regularly kneel in the morning and at evening before retiring, and 

 say their prayers without the least hesitation, no matter how many 

 were around. 



prm^j 



