56 With Feet to the Earth 



hour from the top of Mount Willard. 

 After this follow the Saco to North Con- 

 way, where you end your tour with a 

 lovely backward vista. Rudely explained, 

 your walk has extended around three sides 

 of a square. 



This programme is given because it illus- 

 trates a good principle to follow in one's 

 tramps, that, namely, of securing a con- 

 stant crescendo of beauty and interest. In 

 this case Mount Washington is reserved 

 until almost the last, because it is greatest. 

 Speaking for myself, I find that it also 

 heightens the enjoyment of a pedestrian or 

 bicycle tour if every day sends me farther 

 from my starting-point. The excitement 

 has oozed when I face about and start for 

 home, so that it is usually more tolerable 

 to return by rail. Perhaps the reason for 

 this is that, as I usually go northward, the 

 return means a descent into heat and 

 humidity. Thoreau tells of an impulse 

 that seized him always to go southwest. 

 Do most of the Ishmaelites feel this migra- 

 tory instinct ? I do, but it sends me west 

 and north, never south. Perhaps if I were 



