298 ONLY FIT FOR A RAILKOAD. 



tlirough the flats and valleys of our country ; and 

 those lovely prospects that Nature has presented to us 

 are no more seen by the traveller than by the blind 

 mole Avhich forms her miniature tunnel beneath our 

 feet. 



The sordid wretch may button up his coat, and 

 chuckle at the idea that he saves his wretched pence 

 by being exempt from the accustomed fee to the 

 servants of the road: these, in the littleness of his 

 grovelling mind, he swells into extortions : extortions 

 we will allow they were, but they were petty extor- 

 tions that he might refuse if he chose to be known in 

 his true character, a mean and griping votary of 

 mammon, who would not purchase the cheerful and 

 ready service of the whole world at the expense of the 

 smallest coin in his pocket if he could avail himself of 

 forced assistance mthout it. Give me the welcome 

 smile of the pretty chambermaid, the bustling readiness 

 of the waiter, when we were in the habit of sleeping 

 on the road; the grin of recognition of the horsekeepeer 

 at the change in return for the simple shilling occa- 

 sionally given, with the little flattery expressed to 

 others that we are " one of the 7ight sort.''^ These 

 were all little attentions, purchased if you will have 

 it so, but still attentions that showed we were some 

 one in the scale of existence, and further showed we 

 were "not all deserted on the main" — road I must add, 

 to make the quotation applicable ; but now it is " Take 

 your seat, sir, if you please^^'' or " Now then take your 

 place," the terms and tone depending on the class of 

 carriage we get into : bang goes the door, and then 

 we may go to Derby or the devil for all he cares, to 

 whom we are of no further consideration than the 

 dead pig behind, which travels as fast as ourselves, 



