14000 MILES 



the trees, and a barn just opposite, where very likely- 

 Charlie could be cared for. 



"Oh, yes !" a woman said, when we asked her. "Leave 



your horse tied there, and will take care of him when 



he comes to dinner." The rocky hillside was also granted 

 us, and we took our wraps and lunch basket and prepared 

 for a two-hours' rest. 



The time passed only too quickly, and on we drove, 

 but saw no place in Stafford Springs that made us regret 

 our pretty camp ; the time for repentance had not come. 

 "Seven miles to Tolland," we were told, and if w€ 

 remember aright it was up hill all the way. Why have 

 we always heard people say "down" to Connecticut? 

 Seriously, that is one reason we never drove there before. 

 "Up" to New Hampshire and Vermont sounds so much 

 cooler and nicer. We wondered then, and the farther we 

 drove the more we wondered, until one day we spoke of 

 it, and a man said — "Why, did you come to Connecticut 

 expecting to find anything but hills?" 



We like hills, and were very glad to find it was "up" to 

 Tolland. When we entered its one broad street, on a 

 sort of plateau, and saw all Tolland at a glance, we ex- 

 claimed, "Just the place we want for Sunday!" And 

 when we were cosily fixed in a corner parlor bedroom on 

 the first floor of a hotel, something like the old "Camper- 

 down" on Lake Memphremagog, we were confirmed in 

 our first impression, and felt perfectly happy. Comfort 

 and an abundance of good things was the aim of the 

 kindly proprietor. We sat at the supper table, happy in 

 thinking all was well, perhaps, unconsciously rejoicing; 

 for it was just at this stage of our journey last year that 



75 



