190 A Walk from 



chimney, and glanced around at the sides of that old 

 English kitchen, pannelled with plates and platters and 

 dishes of all sizes and uses. And this fire was kindled 

 and this tea-kettle was singing for me really because 

 I was an American ! I could not forget that so I 

 deemed it my duty to keep up the character. There- 

 fore, I told the missus and her bright-eyed niece a great 

 many stories about America; some of which excited 

 their admiration and wonder. Thus I sat at the little, 

 round, three-legged table, inside the outspreading 

 chimney, for an hour or more, and made as cosy and 

 pleasant a meal of it as ever I ate. Besides all this, I 

 had the best bed in the house, and several "Good 

 nights!" on retiring to it, uttered with hearty good- 

 will by voices softened to an accent of kindness. 

 Next morning I was introduced into the best parlor, 

 and had a capital breakfast, and then resumed my 

 walk with a pleasant memory of my entertainment 

 in that village inn. 



I passed through a fertile and interesting section to 

 St. Ives, in Huntingdonshire. Here I remained with 

 some friends for a week, visiting neighboring villages 

 by day and returning at night. St. Ives is a pleasant, 

 well-favored town, just large enough to constitute a 

 coherent, neighborly, and well-regulated community. 

 It is the centre-piece of a rich, rural picture, which, 



