CHAPTER II. 



Notes of a Road Journey from New York to 

 Boston. — The Turnpikes. — Life in the 

 Farming Regions. — Religion in the " Hill 

 Towns'' — The " Commercial Room " at 

 Hartford. — An Aged Amherst Instructor, 

 — A Soldier of Napoleon. — The Old Stage 

 House. 



I WAS once visiting in Southern California a 

 ranch owned by an old Mexican gentleman 

 Vv'ho was unavoidably annexed when the terri- 

 tory was acquired by the United States. The 

 proprietor, whose surroundings indicated pros- 

 perity although its modern accompaniments 

 were wanting, nevertheless possessed an ele- 

 gant carriage, which particularly attracted my 

 attention because it was not in keeping wath 

 the other accessories of the estate. *'That,** 

 said my venerable friend, as he tapped it with 

 his cane, '* belongs to my granddaughter. She 

 was educated in San Francisco, and I bought 



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