128 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
with all New England stretching out before you, what 
more delightful than to take the road at any time be- 
tween April and November! It is pleasant to start in 
the freshness of a summer morning, with the prospect 
of seeing a new country, and with the comfortable 
assurance that it is a matter of no consequence if 
you become lost in traversing unknown paths. Your 
horse, I assume, has rested well, there is a cheerful 
air of anticipation about his ears, and the wheels turn 
smoothly and lightly on the newly oiled axles. It is 
pleasant to stop at noon in a patch of woods, beside 
some mountain stream or at the edge of a lake, where 
better quarters can be had than any tavern or summer 
hotel affords. ‘The roadster is taken out, the dog lies 
down at the foot of a tree, stretching himself with a 
sigh of content, and a sort of gypsy camp springs up 
on the instant. After a half-hour’s rest comes lun- 
cheon for man and beast; the steed taking his oats 
out of a pail or nose-bag, the dog sharing lamb-sand- 
wiches with the two other carnivorous members of the 
party. This meal concluded, —and there is no law 
against lighting a small fire in order to have a cup of 
hot tea or cocoa, —time remains for a nap, or for read- 
ing a novel, or, better yet, for reclining at ease and 
absorbing impressions from nature. <A fresh start is 
made about two o’clock, or later if the weather be 
very hot, the Houyhnhnm having first been made to 
look spick and span, and able for his task. It is pleas- 
ant then to drive past green fields and groves of pine 
in the pensive light of late afternoon, and to watch the 
shadows lengthening on the mountains; it is pleasant 
as the cows are coming home, as the sun is setting, 
and as the frogs begin their nightly chorus, to ap- 
