HOSPITALITY NORTH AND SOUTH 201 



this, which he delicately conveyed to me, he was a master 

 in such art, was that he could not take in any one of his pupils 

 without taking all, and as he had grown daughters, it would not 

 be fit that all the somewhat motley throng should be thus ad- 

 mitted. That was indeed evident. Once at Nahant, while I was 

 wandering alone on the shore, he discovered me and led me 

 forthwith to his summer home, taking pains by his manner to 

 show that he was glad thus to be hospitable when it could come 

 in the way of an accident. 



It was my custom to walk much in the country about Boston, 

 usually alone, and across lots. On Sundays, except when hard 

 pressed for time, I usually set out in the early morning and 

 came back at dark. At first, I tried to make friends with the * 

 country folk as I would have done at home with the certainty 

 of a welcome and a meal, with no gratuity therefor save my 

 courtesy. I found at once that this did not fit the time and 

 place. I never gained an entrance to a house or to the acquaint- 

 ance of a person, though I thought I was rather apt in dealing 

 with my fellows. At the time I did not see what afterward was 

 clear enough, that this lack of hospitality was due to the 

 fact that a great town was near by, and that here as elsewhere, 

 even in the South, it had made an end of hospitality to the 

 neighbor. In the other country districts of New England, I 

 have observed no notable difference in this regard as compared 

 with the Southern country, except that the stages of approach 

 are more slowly made; there being in the North no accepted 

 tradition that the stranger at the gate has of right a welcome. 

 There is no difference in the human nature involved in the 

 action ; for that matter I have found, the world about, hospi- 

 tality to be a characteristic of the genus Homo, having as good 

 a categoric value as the naked hide or the withered ears. 



These walks alone or with a companion, commonly Emerson 

 or Hyatt, gave me a host of small adventures with people and 

 things that were dear to me and helped much in my growth. 

 At first, and until I began to get the gauge of the New-Eng- ^ 



