28 WINTER SUNSHINE 



It is indeed astonishing with what ease and hilar- 

 ity the English walk. To an American it seems a 

 kind of infatuation. When Dickens was in this 

 country, I imagine the aspirants to the honor of a 

 walk with him were not numerous. In a pedestrian 

 tour of England by an American, I read that, "after 

 breakfast with the Independent minister, he walked 

 with us for six miles out of town upon our road. 

 Three little boys and girls, the youngest six years 

 old, also accompanied us. They were romping and 

 rambling about all the while, and their morning 

 walk must have been as much as fifteen miles ; but 

 they thought nothing of it, and when we parted 

 were apparently as fresh as when they started, and 

 very loath to return." 



I fear, also, the American is becoming disquali- 

 fied for the manly art of walking by a falling oif in 

 the size of his foot. He cherishes and cultivates 

 this part of his anatomy, and apparently thinks his 

 taste and good breeding are to be inferred from its 

 diminutive size. A small, trim foot, well booted 

 or gaitered, is the national vanity. How we stare 

 at the big feet of foreigners, and wonder what may 

 be the price of leather in those countries, and where 

 all the aristocratic blood is, that these plebeian ex- 

 tremities so predominate ! If we were admitted to 

 the confidences of the shoemaker to Her Majesty or 

 to His Royal Highness, no doubt we should modify 

 our views upon this latter point, for a truly large 

 and royal nature is never stunted in the extremities ; 

 a little foot never yet supported a great character. 



