204 WINTER SKETCHES. 



most agreeably ; and I may add that the feast 

 was moistened with a glass of choice Holland 

 gin, which the landlord informed me that he 

 did not sell, but sometimes gave to himself. 

 Poor Fanny had in the meantime employed 

 herself in pulling the sedge from the crib, and 

 trampling it under her feet in disgust. It was 

 her worst experience upon the journey. 



The warm afternoon sun had played havoc 

 with the '■'■ beautiful snow," turning it into yel- 

 low water, which choked the gutters and over- 

 flowed the roads, and when w^e reached the 

 main thoroughfare all was slush and mud. 

 Wading through it, we came to the toll-bridge 

 over the Hackensack, and then to another toll- 

 gate at the causeway turnpike, and so on to 

 a Jersey driveway in feeble imitation of New 

 York avenues, with like shingle road-houses 

 and rows of sheds. We were no longer in the 

 country, but among unpaved and unmacada- 

 mized streets lined with saloons and breweries. 

 Huge lager-beer wagons, drawn by elephantine 

 horses and driven by animated beer casks, 

 splashed along. Then we came to the taper- 

 ing backbone of the Palisade range, which 

 finally loses itself at Hoboken, and, crossing 



