Voyages of the Wagon. 103 



like a ship, seeming buoyant, and floating as it were 

 easil_y on the wheels. Then the painting takes sev- 

 eral weeks, and after that the lettering of the name ; 

 and when at last completed it is placed outside by 

 the road, that every farmer and laborer who goes 

 by ma}' pause and admire. In about twelve months, 

 if the builder be expeditious (for him), the new 

 vessel may reach her port under the open shed at 

 the farm, and then her life of vo^^ages begins. 



Her cargoes are hay and wheat and huge moun- 

 tainous loads of straw, and occasionally hurdles for 

 the shepherd. Nor are her voyages confined to the 

 narrow seas of the field adjoining home ; now and 

 then she goes on adventurous expeditions to distant 

 marlvct towns, carrying ma^'hap a cargo of oak- 

 bark, stripped from fallen trees, to the tan-yard. 

 Then she is well victualled for the voyage, and her 

 course mapped out on the chart in order to avoid 

 the Scylla of steep hills and stony ways and the 

 Charybdis of tollgates, besides being duly cautioned 

 against the sirens that chant so sweeth' from the 

 taps of the roadside inns. Or she sails down to the 

 far-away railwa}' station after coal — possiblj' two 

 or more vessels in the same convoy — if the steam 

 plough be at work and requires the constant services 

 of these tenders. 



She has her own special crew — her captain the 

 carter — and for forecastle men a lad or two, and 

 often a couple of able-bodied seamen in the shape 

 of laborers, to help to load up. When on the more 

 distant voyages to unknown shores, she takes a 

 supercargo — the farmer's son —to check the bills 

 of lading ; for on those strange coasts who knows 



