OF AN ASS 135 



it back. " It is the only one that I have which 

 will stay in five minutes," said Mercy. 



And I walk up all the hills. 



And I really love the ass. He has an adorable 

 nose. 



On hills I find that a certain form of address 

 is perhaps less useless with the ass than any other 

 stimulus. It is necessary to imagine oneself a 

 member of the criminal classes, to assume a vile, 

 raucous, but muffled utterance, and to take words 

 upon one's lips which no gentleman could possibly 

 use. It is not necessary to articulate these words 

 distinctly, thank Heaven ! But though they be 

 dissembled under mouthings, the intention to 

 utter them must be there, and the criminal mind 

 must be assumed as far as possible. This 

 machinery, set going, produces such intimidating 

 sounds that I have seen my wife shrink from 

 me involuntarily, though she knows my golden 

 nature to its core ; as for the ass, they have driven 

 him once as much as fifty paces at over four miles 

 an hour. 



To pull on the bridle as one walks up hill by 

 the ass's side is madness. He believes that you 

 are trying to pull him up the hill. And he lets 

 you. 



So time ends, eternity has grown very old, and 

 we reach the summit and our picnic ground. 



