THE EXHILARATIONS OF THE ROAD 29 



It is said that Englishmen when they first come 

 to this country are for some time under the impres- 

 sion that American women all have deformed feet, 

 they are so coy of them and so studiously careful to 

 keep them hid. That there is an astonishing differ- 

 ence between the women of the two countries in 

 this respect, every traveler can testify; and that 

 there is a difference equally astonishing between the 

 pedestrian habits and capabilities of the rival sisters, 

 is also certain. 



The English pedestrian, no doubt, has the advan- 

 tage of us in the matter of climate; for, notwith- 

 standing the traditional gloom and moroseness of 

 English skies, they have in that country none of 

 those relaxing, sinking, enervating days, of which 

 we have so many here, and which seem especially 

 trying to the female constitution, — days which 

 withdraw all support from the back and loins, and 

 render walking of all things burdensome. Theirs is 

 a climate of which it has been said that " it invites 

 men abroad more days in the year and more hours 

 in the day than that of any other country." 



Then their land is threaded with paths which 

 invite the walker, and which are scarcely less im- 

 portant than the highways. I heard of a surly 

 nobleman near London who took it into his head 

 to close a footpath that passed through his estate 

 near his house, and open another one a little farther 

 off. The pedestrians objected; the matter got into 

 the courts, and after protracted litigation the aristo- 

 crat was beaten. The path could not be closed or 



