A DATS DRIVE IN THREE STATES 21 



is like a well, all the better for being once in 

 a while pumped dry. And yet, while I speak 

 of him in this tone of sincere appreciation, 

 it must be acknowledged that in one respect 

 he did me an ill turn. He robbed me of an 

 illusion. The Yankee is second where I had 

 supposed him an undisputed first. 



Though we were at the half-way house, and 

 in fact had made more than half of our day's 

 journey, the valley of the Chattooga at this 

 point lay so warmly in the sun that the as- 

 pect of things remained decidedly southern. 

 Roses and snowballs were in bloom in the 

 dooryard, and as I came out from dinner a 

 blue-gray gnatcatcher, the only one seen on 

 my entire trip, was complaining from a per- 

 simmon-tree beside the gate. My attention 

 to it, and to sundry other birds of the smaller 

 sorts, — a blue golden- winged warbler, for 

 example, — was matter of surprise to the 

 men of the house, both of whom were now 

 on the veranda. My seeker after knowledge, 

 indeed, asked me plainly, but not without a 

 word of apology, what object I had in view 

 in such studies ; in short, — when I stumbled 

 a bit in my explanation, — whether there 

 was "any money in them." In that form 



