22 A GREAT INSTITUTION. 



back from " the other side of Jordan," and sit for a little 

 while on their own tombstones in sight of the railroads, and 

 see the trains as they go rushing like a tornado along their 

 native valleys. - 



I had made up my mind that morning, all at once, to go 

 into the country. It was a sudden resolve, but I acted upon 

 it. Going into the country is a very different thing from 

 what it used to be. There is no packing of trunks, or tak- 

 ing leave of friends. You take your satchel or travelling 

 bag, kiss your wife in a hurry at the door, and jump aboard 

 of the cars ; the whistle sounds, the locomotive breathes 

 hoarsely for a moment, and you a?e off like a shot. In ten 

 minutes the suburbs are behind you; the fields and,farms are 

 flying to the rear ; you dash through the woods and see the 

 trees dodging and. leaping behind and around each other, 

 performing the dance of the witches " in most admired con- 

 fusion ;" in three hours you are among the hills of Massa- 

 chusetts, the mountains of Vermont, on the borders of the 

 majestic Hudson, in the beautiful valley of the Mohawk, a 

 hundred miles from the good city of Albany, where you can 

 tramp among the wild or tame things of nature to your 

 h^eart's content. 



I had for the moment no particular place in view. 

 What I wanted was, to get outside of the city, among the 

 hills, where I could see the old woods, the streams, the 

 mountains, and get a breath of fresh air, such as I used to 

 breathe. I wanted to be free and comfortable for a month ; 

 to lay around loose in a promiscuous way among the hills, 



