A SUMMER DRIVE IN THE LAKE COUNTRY. ZLd 
vided you bring them with you.” I think it was Wil- 
liam Black, the novelist, who said, “When you have 
dined on ham and eggs and whiskey the night before, 
to breakfast on ham and eggs and tea is a great relief 
the morning after,” but with such a supper and tea as 
were given us last night, a breakfast like Black’s dinner 
would have been welcome by at least one member of 
the party. 
Pretty early the following morning we paid the bill, 
which was a round one, and went on our way weak, but 
rejoicing. Temperance indeed is a good thing, but sad 
as it may seem, truth compels the traveler to chronicle ‘ 
the fact that excellent temperance hotels are even fewer 
and further between than angels’ visits. 
In contrast to this ‘inn,’ I remember another old hotel, 
or country tavern as it was long called, which we have 
always found so full of real comfort and good living, 
that I approach it with a kind of hungry expectancy. 
It was one hot July morning, an hour or so before noon, 
that we first came in sight of the little hamlet in which 
this house stands. It was more country than village. 
A large brook of clear, shining water, overhung with 
thick shade trees, ran along one side of the principal 
street. A long rambling hotel with broad verandas, 
and extensive outlying barns and sheds, attracted 
my attention. An old couple, landlord and landlady, — 
sat on the veranda in large rocking chairs. They 
greeted us with a cheerful good-morning as we drove 
up in front of the house, and to the request for dinner, 
the kindly Hace old lady said that “they had nearly 
