Some Sample Walks 45 



Mountains hulking and napping along the 

 west, the arctic White Mountains in the 

 northeast. 



Much cider was a-making, too, about 

 that time, and you could have your fill for 

 the asking, either in a glass or absorbed 

 through straws inserted at the bung-hole, 

 with refection of butternuts in the breathing 

 spaces : food and nectar of the gods. Pres- 

 ently snow came, and the Vermont roads 

 took on their six months' iniquity of rut 

 and mud. I had no overcoat. My shoes, 

 strong though they were, well pegged, 

 with rubber soles beneath the leather, a 

 futile device for long walks, began to 

 leak. I climbed and loitered no longer, 

 but made a dash, and reached my journey's 

 end as winter swooped upon the country. 



There is no object of unusual interest in 

 this tramp. My detail is intended as a 

 hint that it is well to take by-roads. The 

 main roads are populous, expensive, hack- 

 neyed. Service is not free nor friendly, 

 but measured by what may be got out of 

 you. Town crowds, town pleasures, town 

 manners, town cooking, and worse than 



