Dinner at Noon. 105 



from your tramp amply rewarded, and, it may 

 be safely added, mentally refreshed. Not a 

 bird that does not repay the rambler for all his 

 trouble in following it into its most secret 

 haunts. You are always instructed as well as 

 entertained, and more sure of seeing and hear- 

 ing wisdom of act and utterance than when with 

 crowds of men ; for while there is no bird that 

 does not make mistakes, they are never such 

 lifelong blunderers as ourselves. After an early 

 morning outing, you return with a deeper in- 

 sight into the world about you and discover 

 fountains of pleasure-giving knowledge that had 

 hitherto been unsuspected, though perhaps dur- 

 ing all your life within easy reach. 



But what has all this to do with dinner at 

 noon ? Do you remember that my outings 

 commence at dawn, and I feel tardy if not in 

 advance of the rising sun? It is not strange 

 that, old as I am, I still cling to that delight of 

 childhood, a bite between meals, fit subject, by 

 the way, for a reminiscential essay, and, as mid- 

 day draws near, am ready for a substantial meal. 

 Dinner at noon is not, from this point of view, 

 to be sneered at. And after it? As nature 



