14000 MILES 



made no plans, but our thoughts had traveled Maine- 

 ward, until at the last moment the Catskills were sug- 

 gested. The heat which often lingers about the Fourth 

 was at its height, and the thought of Princeton's bracing 

 air was so refreshing we gladly started in that direction. 

 We drove leisurely, taking in the pretty views and 

 gathering flowers, camped by the roadside two hours at 

 noon, and then on through Princeton to Rutland. We 

 visited that pretty town three years ago, when the Maus- 

 chopauge House was being built, and we resolved then to 

 spend a night some time under its roof. It is finely 

 located, commanding extensive views, and is in every 

 way a charming place to spend a scorching summer night. 

 The cool breezes blowing through our room, the glorious 

 sunset, and the one lone rocket, the very last of the 

 Fourth, that shot up seemingly from a dense forest, two 

 miles away, and impressed us more than a whole pro- 

 gram of Boston pyrotechnics, calling forth the remark, 

 ''How much more we enjoy a little than we do a great 

 deal," to which a lady, kindly entertaining us, replied, 

 "Oh, you are too young to have learned that," all these 

 are fresh in our memory. 



Just as we were leaving in the morning, our kindly 

 lady introduced us to a stately looking Boston lady, and 

 told her of our habit of driving about the country. "Oh," 

 she says, "that is charming. I do not like woman's 

 rights, but this is only a bit of Boston independence." 



It was hot after we left breezy Rutland, and we drove 

 the twelve miles to North Brookfield very leisurely, 

 taking our lunch before we visited our friends there, and 

 at once declaring our determination to leave before 



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