14000 MILES 



mouth, the next day, a black cloud spent its wild fury in a 

 few terrific gusts of wind. All was over when we started 

 on our afternoon drive, but when half way to Hampton, 

 the clouds grew black again, and we had barely time to 

 drop the back curtain, put on the sides and unfasten the 

 boot, before a tempest was upon us ; a tempest of wind 

 and rain — not a common rain, but pelting drops with 

 thunder and lightning. We read afterwards that a 

 buggy was blown over not many miles from us, but ours 

 withstood the gale, and Jerry did well, although it seemed 

 almost impossible at times for him to go on against the 

 storm. We drove away from the shower and all was 

 calm when we got to the Whittier House, Hampton, one 

 of our homelike stopping places. 



We followed along the coast to Newburyport, and 

 then the Merrimac River enticed us inland. The expe- 

 rience of the afternoon previous was repeated on our way 

 from Haverhill to Andover. We were scarcely prepared, 

 before another tempest burst upon us, the rain this time 

 driving straight in our faces. It was soon over, however, 

 and we reached Andover unharmed. 



We were now only a day's drive from home, but Bos- 

 ton is only twenty miles from Andover and as our mail 

 reported all well, we could not resist going the longest 

 way round to do another errand or two in Boston, and 

 call on our friends in Reading and Maplewood on the 

 way. 



The drive from Maiden to Boston is distracting, with 

 little that is pleasant to offset the turmoil of the streets. 

 We thought we could leave Jerry at the old stable in 

 Mason street, while we went shopping, but like every- 



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