2S6 WAYFARING NOTIONS 



terms with the fares, and in two hours I counted 

 two tall hats among the lot, and they — the tiles 

 — were of the white sporting coachman's order. 

 Civilisation had spread so far Northwards that 

 little nippers cadged for coppers for all the world 

 as if they had been brought up under the Windsor 

 School Board, who turn out beggars of this sort 

 by the hundred. But chaff there was not, save 

 for one gentleman who, as an overflow customer, 

 sitting on the splash-board, with his feet resting 

 on the pole, gallantly intimated to your humble 

 servant that there was room for two and nowt to 

 pay. Of cyclists were many good riders, mostly 

 going fearlessly at a great pace, and able to do 

 so safely, too, since the tide of traffic set one way 

 only ; but never a motor in five miles out and 

 home. 



New features in the proceedings I am un- 

 fortunately unable to chronicle. The clans gather 

 from all parts, and, as is their clannish way, stuck 

 together pretty much, doing the day in groups, 

 so to speak. Where one went to try the ale the 

 rest went, too, and partook. So long as the 

 majority were pleased with the fire in the pub. 

 room, and the smell — as of a week's wash, for- 

 gotten for a fortnight, being slowly brought to 

 the boil — there they were and there they rested. 

 Resolving themselves into a committee of inspec- 

 tion, they sampled the outsides of the cooks' shops 

 before committing themselves to an order. Being 

 at last satisfied as to profitable selection, the 

 group would go in and for the joint picked, and 

 all order cuts off that same. Together they had 

 started by trip train, neatly labelled with names 

 of towns where it called ; together they were 

 shot out like coals at a siding ; all of a row they 



