128 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



, iniivn, 



with all New England stretching out before you, what 

 more delightful than to take the road at any time be- 

 tween April and November ! It is pleasant to start in 

 the freshness of a summer morning, with the prospect 

 of seeing a new country, and with the comfortable 

 assurance that it is a matter of no consequence if 

 you become lost in traversing unknown paths. Your 

 horse, I assume, has rested well, there is a cheerful 

 air of anticipation about his ears, and the wheels turn 

 smoothly and lightly on the newly oiled axles. It is 

 pleasant to stop at noon in a patch of woods, beside 

 some mountain stream or at the edge of a lake, where 

 better quarters can be had than any tavern or summer 

 hotel affords. The roadster is taken out, the dog lies 

 down at the foot of a tree, stretching himself with a 

 sigh of content, and a sort of gypsy camp springs up 

 on the instant. After a half-hour's rest comes lun- 

 cheon for man and beast ; the steed taking his oats 

 out of a pail or nose-bag, the dog sharing lamb-sand- 

 wiches with the two other carnivorous members of the 

 party. This meal concluded, — and there is no law 

 against lighting a small fire in order to have a cup of 

 hot tea or cocoa, — time remains for a nap, or for read- 

 ing a novel, or, better yet, for reclining at ease and 

 absorbing impressions from nature. A fresh start is 

 made about two o'clock, or later if the weather be 

 very hot, the Houyhnhnm having first been made to 

 look spick and span, and able for his task. It is pleas- 

 ant then to drive past green fields and groves of pine 

 in the pensive light of late afternoon, and to watch the 

 shadows lengthening on the mountains ; it is pleasant 

 as the cows are coming home, as the sun is setting, 

 and as the frogs begin their nightly chorus, to ap- 



