16 NORTH CAROLINA 



honor, as a matter of course, and for the 

 rest — well, there is a kind of variety that is 

 only another kind of sameness. " An excel- 

 lent dinner," said a facetious fellow-traveler 

 of mine on a similar occasion, as, knife and 

 fork in hand, he hovered doubtfully over the 

 table, and, like Emerson's snowflake, *' seemed 

 nowhere to alight," — "a most excellent din- 

 ner ; but then, you see, it is nothing but ham 

 and eggs with variations." If this sounds 

 like grumbling, it is only against a " system," 

 as we say in these days, not against a person. 

 My generous hostess had spared no pains, 

 and from any point of view had given me 

 far more than my money's worth ; stinting 

 herself only when it came to setting a price 

 upon her bounty. That unavoidable business 

 she approached, in response to the usual 

 overtures on my part, with all manner of 

 delicate indirections, holding back the deci- 

 sive word till the very last moment, as if her 

 tongue could not bring itself to utter a figure 

 so extortionate. The truth was, she said, 

 she had made nothing by giving dinners the 

 year previous, and so felt obliged to charge 

 five cents more the present season ! ^ 



^ If I seem to have said too much about the vulgar 



