,,the ,,gentle ,,art ,,of ,,tramping ,,books ,,by ,,stephen ,,graham ,,the ,,gentle ,,art ,,of ,,tramping ,,the ,,dividing ,,line ,,of ,,europe ,,in ,,quest ,,of ,,el ,,dorado ,,tramping ,,with ,a ,,poet ,,in ,,the ,,rockies ,,europe-,,whither ,,bound8 ,,the ,,challenge ,,of ,,the ,,dead ,,children ,,of ,,the ,,slaves ,a ,,private ,,in ,,the ,,guards ,,the ,,quest ,,of ,,the ,,face ,,russia ,,in #aiaf ,,priest ,,of ,,the ,,ideal ,,through ,,russian ,,central ,,asia ,,the ,,way ,,of ,,martha ,,and ,,the ,,way ,,of ,,mary ,,russia ,,and ,,the ,,world ,,with ,,poor ,,emigrants ,,to ,,america ,,with ,,the ,,russian ,,pilgrims ,,to ,,jerusalem ,,changing ,,russia ,a ,,tramp',s ,,sketches ,,undiscovered ,,russia ,a ,,vagabond ,,in ,,the ,,caucasus ,,the ,,gentle ,,art ,,of ,,tramping ,,by ,,stephen ,,graham ,illustration ,,new ,,york ,d4 ,,appleton ,,and ,,company ,,mcmxxvi ,,copyright--#aibf--;,,by ,d4 ,,appleton ,,and ,,company ,,printed ,,in ,,the ,,united ,,states ,,of ,,america ,,contents ,,chapter ,,headings ,,by ,r4 ,h4 ,,hull ,,chapter ,,page ,i ,,we ,,set ,,out #a ,,ii ,,boots #g ,,iii ,,the ,,knapsack #ae ,,iv ,,clothes #bb ,v ,,carrying ,,money #cb ,,vi ,,the ,,companion #ch ,,vii ,,whither ,,away8 #dg ,,viii ,,the ,,art ,,of ,,idleness #gh ,,ix ,,emblems ,,of ,,tramping #hh ,x ,,the ,,fire #ig ,,xi ,,the ,,bed #ajc ,,xii ,,the ,,dip #aad ,,xiii ,,drying ,,after ,,rain #aba ,,xiv ,,marching ,,songs #abh ,,xv ,,scrounging #ace ,,xvi ,,seeking ,,shelter #adb ,,xvii ,,the ,,open #aeb ,,xviii ,,the ,,tramp ,,as ,,cook #afj ,,xix ,,tobacco #agc ,,xx ,,books #agi ,,xxi ,,long ,,halts #ahi ,,xxii ,,foreigners #aie ,,xxiii ,,the ,,artist',s ,,notebook #bjh ,,xxiv ,,maps #bcc ,,xxv ,,trespassers' ,,walk #bdj ,,xxvi ,a ,,zigzag ,,walk #bea ,,the ,,gentle ,,art ,,of ,,tramping ,illustration ,,chapter ,,one ,,we ,,set ,,out ,it is a gentle art2 know how to tramp and you know how to live4 ,manners makyth man1 and tramping makyth manners4 ,know how to meet your fellow wanderer1 how to be passive to the beauty of ,nature and how to be active to its wildness and its rigor4 ,tramping brings one to reality4 ,if you would have a portrait of ,man you must not depict him in high hat and carrying in one hand a small shiny bag1 nor would one draw him in gnarled corduroys and with red handkerchief about his neck1 nor with lined brow on a high bench watching a hand that is pushing a pen1 nor with pick and shovel on the road4 ,you cannot show him carrying a rifle1 you dare not put him in priest's garb with conventional cross on breast4 ,you will not point to ,king or ,bishop with crown or miter4 ,but most fittingly you will show a man with staff in hand and burden on his shoulders1 striving onward from light to darkness upon an upward road1 shading his eyes with his hand as he seeks his way4 ,you will show a figure something like that posthumous picture of ,tolstoy1 called 8,tolstoy pilgrimaging toward eternity40 ,so when you put on your old clothes and take to the road1 you make at least a right gesture4 ,you get into your right place in the world in the right way4 ,even if your tramping expedition is a mere jest1 a jaunt1 a spree1 you are apt to feel the benefits of getting into a right relation toward ,god1 ,nature1 and your fellow man4 ,you get into an air that is refreshing and free4 ,you liberate yourself from the tacit assumption of your everyday life4 ,what a relief to escape from being voter1 taxpayer1 authority on old brass1 brother of man who is an authority on old brass1 author of best seller1 uncle of author of best seller4 ,what a relief to cease being for a while a grade-three clerk1 or grade-two clerk who has reached his limit1 to cease to be identified by one's salary or by one's golf handicap4 ,it is undoubtedly a delicious moment when ,miles the gardener seeing you coming along in tramping rig omits to touch his hat as you pass4 ,of course it is part of the gentle art not to be offended4 ,it is no small part of the gentle art of tramping to learn to accept the simple and humble rle and not to crave respect1 honor1 obeisance4 ,it is a mistake to take to the wilderness clad in new plus-fours1 sports jacket1 ,west-,end tie1 jeweled tie pin1 or in gaiters1 or carrying a silver-topped cane4 ,one should not carry visiting cards1 but try to forget the three-storied house remembering ,diogenes and his tub4 ,i suppose one should draw a distinction between professional tramping and just tramping1 especially as this whole book is to be called ,the ,gentle ,art of ,tramping4 ,i am not writing of the ,american hobo1 nor of the ,british casual1 nor of railroaders and beach combers or other enemies of society--8won't works0 and parasites of the charitable4 ,while among these there are many very strange and interesting exceptions1 yet in general they are not highly estimable people1 nor is their way of life beautiful or worth imitation4 ,they learn little on their wanderings beyond how to cadge1 how to steal1 how to avoid dogs and the police4 ,they are not pilgrims but outlaws1 and many would be highway robbers had they the vitality and the pluck necessary to hold up wayfarers4 ,most of them are but poor walkers1 so that the word tramp is often misapplied to them4 ,the tramp is a friend of society2 he is a seeker1 he pays his way if he can4 ,one includes in the category 8tramp0 all true ,bohemians1 pilgrims1 explorers afoot1 walking tourists1 and the like4 ,tramping is a way of approach1 to ,nature1 to your fellowman1 to a nation1 to a foreign nation1 to beauty1 to life itself4 ,and it is an art1 because you do not get into the spirit of it directly you leave your back door and make for the distant hill4 ,there is much to learn1 there are illusions to be overcome4 ,there are prejudices and habits to be shaken off4 ,first of all there is the physical side3 you need to study equipment1 care of health1 how to sleep out of doors1 what to eat1 how to cook on the camp fire4 ,these things you teach yourself4 ,for the rest ,nature becomes your teacher1 and from her you will learn what is beautiful and who you are and what is your special quest in life and whither you should go4 ,you relax in the presence of the great healer and teacher1 you turn your back on civilization and most of what you learned in schools1 museums1 theaters1 galleries4 ,you live on manna vouchsafed to you daily1 miraculously4 ,you stretch out arms for hidden gifts1 you yearn toward the moonbeams and the stars1 you listen with new ears to bird's song and the murmurs of trees and streams4 ,if ever you were proud or quarrelsome or restless1 the inflammation goes down1 fanned by the coolness of humility and simplicity4 ,from day to day you keep your log1 your daybook of the soul1 and you may think at first that it is a mere record of travel and of facts2 but something else will be entering into it1 poetry1 the new poetry of your life1 and it will be evident to a seeing eye that you are gradually becoming an artist in life1 you are learning the gentle art of tramping1 and it is giving you an artist's joy in creation4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,two ,,boots ,boots and the ,man ,i sing6 ,for you cannot tramp without boots4 ,the commonest distress of hoboes is thinness of sole4 ,jog on1 jog on the foot-path way ,and merrily hint the stile-a ,the merry heart goes all the way ,the sad tires in a mile-a4 ,the sad heart1 in this case1 often has just a thin sole4 ,two friends set out last spring to tramp from ,bavaria to ,venice1 luggage in advance1 knapsack on shoulder4 ,but they had not the right sort of boots1 and they lingered in the mountain inns quaffing steins of brown beer to take their thoughts away from their toes4 ,they are in those mountains yet4 ,you should have leather-lined boots with most substantial soles4 ,they may squeak1 they may feel clumsy as sabots when you first put them on4 ,they may feel like comfortable baskets on your feet4 ,slight and elegant boots seldom stand the strain1 or1 if they do1 your feet do not4 ,i have tramped in little steel-soled boots in the ,caucasus1 and in plaited birch-bark boots1 lapti1 in the ,north1 but ,i do not recommend novelties in footwear4 ,it is difficult to better a new pair of ,army boots4 ,but the best ,i ever had were a pair of chrome leather fishing boots which ,i once bought in a wayside shop in the ,catskill ,mountains4 ,my feet were in a poor state1 having got frozen by night and blistered by day in a disgusting pair of light boots4 ,i got into these capacious fishing boots one evening and never felt another twinge all the way to ,chicago4 ,as regards ,army boots1 men suffered on the march because often they were wearing other men's boots worn and shaped already to a different pair of feet and then patched and cobbled4 ,one cannot with advantage wear dead men's boots4 ,of course1 one should go gradually with a really stout pair of boots4 ,beware of the zest of the first and second day's tramping4 ,it is so easy to cripple oneself on the second day out4 ,you dispose of the first surface blisters1 and then you get the deeper1 more painful1 blisters1 and those you cannot squeeze4 ,they intend to squeeze you4 ,one should wear thick woolen socks1 or even two pairs of socks at the same time4 ,when the socks wear out one can even increase the number of pairs to three1 though it is better to discard socks that have worn to hard shreds4 ,i do not believe in soaping socks1 though it does not hurt to put them on damp4 ,one should try to get a dip every day1 in mountain stream or lake4 ,an ideal combination is sea-bathing and tramping4 ,the salt-water exercise certainly helps the feet4 ,it takes several days to get town-nurtured feet into condition4 ,with that in mind one should not overdo it at the beginning4 ,mile averages are a curse4 ,so are definite programs4 ,like a good cricketer1 you should play yourself in before you begin to score4 ,of all tramping the most delightful is in the mountains2 the most trying is along great highways4 ,both have their place in the ideal tramp's life4 ,but experience teaches where the most fun is to be found4 ,mountain walking is really much less tiring because1 first of all1 there is no dust1 then there is more contrast and mental distraction1 and last1 not least1 one's feet hit the earth at varying angles1 employing more muscles4 ,the sole does not hit a road with monotonous regularity upon the same dry spot of blistering skin4 ,i find that in the mountains a boot of rather lighter sole is preferable1 with either brads or ,phillips rubbers4 ,one must nevertheless beware of shoddy4 ,after the second scramble amid rocks ,i have seen the whole sole of a boot part company with the upper4 ,i have seen the heel come off4 ,well established lines of workingmen's boots are safer than fair-seeming boots for clerks4 ,on the other hand1 boots whose nails come through are a nuisance1 digging holes in the soles of one's feet4 ,boots which are letting iron in should be hammered inside with a stone1 but if1 as often happens1 some sharp nail edge cannot be smoothed it is as well to put in a certain amount of paper till a cobbler can be found to right the wrong4 ,metal plates1 8bradies10 on the outside of the soles are of little use as they get very smooth and slippery4 ,brads also wear to be more slippery than plain leather4 ,the new type of very hard rubber patches made by ,phillips and others are ideal for climbing4 ,it is to be remembered that tramping across country in the mountains one comes to steep and dangerous descents1 and upon occasion one risks one's neck on the grip of one's feet4 ,that is where the ,army type of rubbers comes in4 ,as an auxiliary it is not a bad plan to have a light pair of tennis shoes in the pack1 as you can get over some obstacles in prehensile rubber shoes which one could never negotiate in boots4 ,but hard rubber bars across one's leather soles are in any case very good4 ,these rubbers would 8draw0 your feet on an exposed level road4 ,but in the mountains one's feet keep cooler1 and the comfort of a safe grip on slippery rocks is not to be disdained4 ,when in the ,rockies with ,vachel ,lindsay he had bradded boots1 but they got very shiny and smooth1 and he could slide in them4 ,in certain dangerous descents we made ,i could see that much-worn bradded boots were clearly at a disadvantage4 ,it is a good plan on a long tramp to carry a duplicate pair of boots in the pack4 ,while it adds to the weight carried there is a counter-balancing pleasure in a change of footgear now and then4 ,it is moreover possible that in wild country one may wear out one solid pair of boots in a month or so4 ,uppers have a way of bursting in the mountains1 especially when one indulges in rushing down great slopes of silt with myriads of knife-edged little stones4 ,by the way1 one should beware of toasting one's feet in front of camp fires1 or of leaving one's boots too near the embers when sleeping out4 ,if not using them as the foundation of a pillow1 it is well to put them in a fresh and airy place1 smearing a little grease on them perhaps1 to keep the uppers soft and pliable4 ,beware1 however1 of the grease getting near the bread4 ,boots are1 of course1 not a poetic subject4 ,kipling used the word to express the boredom of route marching3 ,i've marched six weeks in ',ell an' certify ,it is not fire1 devils1 dark or anything ,but boots1 boots1 boots1 boots1 boots4444 ,the boot1 like the thumbscrew1 was an instrument of torture of the ,inquisition4 ,but nevertheless1 it must be remembered1 old boots bring good luck4 ,that is why one ties them to the hymeneal coach4 ,on life's tramp together1 may the blissful pair have the comfort and easy-going happiness of a well-worn boot4 ,the tramp gets affectionately attached to his boots when they have served him long and well1 and may even wax patriotic in looking at them and say1 like ,dickens in ,america1 8,this1 sir1 is a ,british boot40 ,poems addressed to boots are hard to find1 and one must assume that poets for the most part do not tramp4 ,for if they tramp there inevitably comes the pathetic moment when looking upon discarded boots by starlight the poet says3 8,oh1 boot1 have you not served me well1 old boot1 old friend60 ,there is a lost poetry in boots--8lines addressed to my favorite boots10 8lines written after taking off my most cruel boots10 8lines written before putting on my boots40 ,the last1 on the occasion of putting them on swollen and blistered feet1 might be the occasion of a long1 reflective poem4 ,but enough1 we at least have our boots on1 and are ready to proceed with the story of our tramping art4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,three ,,the ,,knapsack ,it is wonderful how much you can carry when it is for pleasure4 ,soldiers grumble like camels at the loads put on their shoulders4 ,under some one's orders they shall march with packs on their backs to such a point to-day1 to such another point ,with your best foot first and the road a-sliding past1 ,an' every bloomin' camping ground exactly like the last4 ,the camel groans1 the soldier grouses1 but the gay tramp puts ever something more into his capacious rucksack for pleasure or profit4 ,there's a hunk of tobacco1 there's his favorite volume of poems1 his sketchbook--his danger is in putting in too much and not putting in the right things4 ,i assume he is to be equipped for sleeping la belle toile4 ,i may mention one or two things he might overlook4 ,first1 the pack itself should be well made4 ,i have found in the past that ,germans and ,austrians make the best rucksacks1 and even the best in ,london seemed to be imported from these countries4 ,the one ,i have now was purchased some years ago in ,vienna1 but ,i think it was the best to be found there4 ,there were many shoddy ones about4 ,the shopkeeper pretended that the one ,i chose was not for sale1 and ,i spent twelve hours getting it4 ,not that it is remarkable1 but it is a genuinely well made article4 ,exterior pockets which will not burst are a necessary2 interior pockets are also useful4 ,the worst of the interior of a rucksack is that after a while everything in it gets mixed4 ,spare boots and linen get sprinkled with coffee2 different foods mingle4 ,some paper wrapper bursts and the sugar spills over everything4 ,then writing papers1 books1 or notebooks get greasy4 ,but this is avoided if one provides oneself with half-a-dozen cotton bags which tie with tapes4 ,if these are not obtainable at home they are to be found in some sort of form at a ,woolworth's or a cheap draper's4 ,it is a small detail1 but a matter of comfort3 if you feel so disposed you wash out these little cotton bags when they get dirty4 ,another valuable extra to put in the rucksack is a few yards of mosquito netting which can be bought quite cheaply1 sometimes called brides' veil in the shops1 sometimes leno1 sometimes butter-muslin4 ,with this you can defy the mosquito at nights1 and by day you can enjoy the luxury of a sun-bath siesta watching the flies which cannot bite your nose4 ,apropos of the mosquito netting the choice of hat is important4 ,do not take a cap4 ,you need a brim4 ,and do not take a straw hat4 ,you cannot lie down comfortably with a straw hat on4 ,a tweed hat is best4 ,the brim has a double use4 ,it shields your eyes from the sun1 but also1 when you lie down where flies and mosquitoes abound1 you had best sleep in your hat and use the brim to lift the mosquito net an inch from your face4 ,n4,b4--,a tramping hat does not get old enough to throw away4 ,the old ones are the best4 ,of course1 once you have slept a night wearing your hat it is not much more use for town wear4 ,it has become more tramp than you are4 ,i am in favor of carrying a blanket4 ,it is less cumbersome than a sleeping sack and more hygienic4 ,if1 however1 insects are very troublesome1 as in the tropics1 and there are 8land crabs0 and scorpions and tarantulas and what not about1 a light sleeping sack may be improvised by sewing together three sides of a pair of small sheets4 ,this ,i have done3 it gets rather airless and smelly4 ,it is best to turn it inside out in the morning and give it plenty of sun4 ,but a blanket will do3 take a couple if you are chilly4 ,this makes weight on the back1 but it is also a softening comfort and fits the rucksack upon the shoulders on a long hike4 ,there is no point whatever in carrying an overcoat1 though a waterproof cape or an oilskin comes in useful4 ,a blanket and a cape form a useful combination4 ,one can sleep on the cape with the blanket over one4 ,in one of the little cotton bags you will carry your toilet requisites1 soap and towel and comb4 ,some men like to let their beard grow on a long tramp and thus dispense with razor and brush4 ,still1 there are few things more refreshing than the cold shave at dawn1 the rushing stream1 the lather scattering itself on ferns and flowers1 the brandishing arm1 the freshening cheek4 ,a vital consideration at that time in the morning is the coffeepot4 ,i am in favor of carrying an ordinary metal cafetire2 some prefer a kettle1 but it bumps too much on the back2 others a pail1 but the water in it is apt to get smoky4 ,in the ,united ,states there are so many clean empty cans lying about that it is perhaps unnecessary to carry anything of the kind4 ,the cowboys never carry anything in the nature of a coffeepot4 ,they confidently reckon on finding a lard can4 ,indeed1 if you make camp in the ,west or ,south where some have camped before you1 you may find carefully preserved the coffee can used by the last party4 ,all ,america is camping out in the summer1 so it is a simple matter to find the black patch of some one else's erstwhile sleeping pitch4 ,however1 ,i dislike the places where people have been before1 their orange peel and biscuit wrappings1 their trampled grass and jaded scrub4 ,give me a virginal patch of woodland or moorland1 or a happy grassy corner of the long dusty road1 and there startle the earwigs and the birds with the crackle of a first bonfire4 ,therefore1 ,i consider it ideal to take a coffeepot with you1 a metal one that gets blacker and blacker as you go along4 ,it can best be carried outside the knapsack1 angling from the center strap and resting in the hollow between the bulging pockets4 ,i had forgotten the enamel mug1 the knife and the spoon4 ,but you must not4 ,do not carry a fork2 it is unnecessary4 ,a small enamel plate is useful4 ,pepper and salt mixed to taste may be carried in a little bag4 ,some sort of safe box for butter is to be recommended4 ,take plenty of old handkerchiefs or worst quality new ones2 they come in useful4 ,remember a glove for taking the coffeepot off the fire4 ,if you do not you will be burning all your handkerchiefs1 your hat1 your shirt1 or anything else that you may be tempted to use4 ,there are occasions when the coffeepot seems to get almost red hot before it boils4 ,there are giddy moments when it loses its balance and will topple over and spill its precious contents unless you are ready to dash in with gloved hand to save it4 ,for the rest of the contents of your knapsack you will be guided by your special desires and aims4 ,loaded and bulging in the morning1 it will gradually feel lighter and look more shapely as movement sorts the various things into their best positions4 ,at night you turn out many things and use what remains as a pillow4 ,some carry a pillow1 but it is too bulky4 ,an air pillow is not to be despised1 but it generally seems to let you down during the night4 ,your knapsack will grudge being left in the dew4 ,it will feel happier with your head resting upon it4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,four ,,clothes #a4 ,,attire 8,needy knife grinder10 said the poet1 8your hat has got a hole in it1 and so have your breeches40 ,that was not necessary4 ,you should carry a housemaid's tidy1 or whatever it may be called1 the tiny compendium of needles and thread sometimes offered upon hotel dressing tables1 and sew up the holes4 ,i fear the knife grinder's hat was of felt1 a broken billycock hat1 but we tramps have nothing to do with felt hats4 ,the bowlers and the derbys and the trilbys are not our style4 ,there was a time when men tramped in shovel hats1 and ,i can see ,parson ,adams trudging along1 his lank locks crowned with this lugubrious headgear4 ,and ,abraham ,lincoln walked abroad in his rusty topper4 ,but we have changed all that4 ,we tramp in tweed hats or caps or without hats at all4 ,we do not feel superior1 but we know we are more comfortable4 ,also we no longer wear cravats4 ,in fact1 a collar and tie may be secreted in a pocket of the knapsack to be unwillingly put on when it is necessary to visit a post office or a bank1 a priest1 or the police4 ,but otherwise we go forth with free necks and throats1 top button of shirt preferably undone4 ,and we do not tramp in spats or gaiters1 nor in fancy waistcoats4 ,the waistcoat is an article of attire which can be cheerfully eliminated as entirely unwanted4 ,undervests also are rather de trop4 ,there are many things a man can shed4 ,i am not qualified to say what a woman can do without1 but she needs no hat with feathers1 no hatpin4 ,as ,i think of her in the wilderness it seems to me she can get rid of everything she commonly wears with the exception perhaps of a hair net1 and then dress herself afresh in 8rational attire40 ,the green and brown misses in the 8lovely garnish of boys0 are now so familiar in the ,united ,states that it is almost superfluous to describe them4 ,a khaki blouse and knickers1 green putties or stockings1 and a stout pair of shoes are almost everything2 very simple1 very practical1 and if one must think of looks while on tramp1 not unbecoming4 ,materials are more important than shapes4 ,a homespun1 a tweed1 a cord1 are better than flannel or serge or shoddy cloth4 ,tramping is destructive of material2 sun1 rain1 camp-fire sparks1 and hot smoke seem to reduce the resistance of cloth very rapidly4 ,after a month1 a sort of dry rot will show itself1 and as you go through a wood every rotten stick or tiny thorn you happen to touch will tear a tatter in your trousers4 ,it can be annoying and amusing4 8,when ,i am tired of looking at the view ,i look at your trousers10 said ,lindsay to me1 in the ,rockies1 he in the virtuous superiority of green corduroy2 ,i in old clothes which ,i thought ,i might as well wear out on tramp4 ,i certainly wore them out3 in fact1 we had to turn from the wilds towards civilization1 and the poet bought me a ready-to-wear pair of cowboy's bags4 ,but workmen's trousers1 suspended by workmen's braces1 are the best4 ,braces marked 8,for ,policemen and ,firemen0 are sold in the ,united ,states4 ,they are undoubtedly stout and will stand the strain of many jumps4 ,you will have a cosy feeling of nothing defective in your straps1 a feeling akin to that of a good conscience--much to be desired4 ,what remains8 ,a jacket4 ,it may as well be a tweed one with half-a-dozen roomy pockets4 ,i once saw a character reader at a fair who said3 8,show me your hat and ,i will tell you who you are40 ,he had plenty to guide him4 ,i gave him mine4 ,he said3 8,you1 sir1 are a thinker4 ,your thoughts have been oozing out of your head and have spoilt an excellent lining40 ,he held my hat up to the crowd4 8,this is the hat10 said he1 8of a man who buys at the best shop1 but wears his hat a very long while4 ,he is both proud and economical1 and is probably a ,scotsman40 ,had ,i taken off my jacket he could probably have told me a good deal more2 made bulgy with books1 yet pinched by the clips of fountain pens1 ink-stained1 wine-stained1 sun-bleached and rain-washed1 fretted by camp-fire sparks1 frayed and yet not torn by envious thorns2 the whole well stretched1 well slept in1 well tramped in4 ,other parts of one's attire wear out1 come and go1 but the jacket remains1 granted a good sound indestructible jacket4 ,such a jacket is warm wear4 ,no1 not in the morning1 not for some hours after sunrise2 not in the evening1 not during the twilight hours4 ,during the heat of the day if you wish you can take it off and1 tying it into a neat bundle1 fix it to the knapsack4 ,it is pleasant to have the air break fresh on one's perspiring chest4 ,but the warm jacket is your friend1 and after two days' out of home you understand it4 ,the stout jacket stands by you in the hours when you need support4 ,you soon get used to its weight1 and its thickness helps to bed the knapsack between the shoulders4 ,carlyle wrote a book on clothes1 the inwardness of which was that man1 the straggling bifurcate animal1 discovered in ,eden that he was really ugly and a shame to be seen1 and he has been trying to hide himself ever since1 in fig leaves and phrases1 phylacteries and philosophies4 ,that shall provide the tramp's motto3 a fig leaf and a phrase4 ,but1 oh1 ,sartor1 oh1 ,mr4 ,mallaby-,deeley1 a stout fig leaf6 #b4 ,,motley 8,invest me in my motley2 give me leave to speak my mind4444 ,motley's the only wear40 ,the privilege of the ,court ,fool is that he can tell the plain ordinary truth to the ,king1 even with the executioner standing by1 ax in hand1 and risk not his head4 ,but he must be wearing his cap and bells4 ,let him come but dressed as a courtier and make the same painful jest1 and the headsman will step forth to relieve him of his poor-quality thinking piece4 ,the ,greek who was employed to tell his ,alexander after each glorious triumph that he too must die1 must have worn some shred of motley4 ,you cannot say that sort of thing without the dress which liberates4 ,it was the same with ,diogenes4 ,he got in so many home truths in an intolerant age because he lived in a tub4 ,that tub was his motley4 ,our tramps' gear is ours4 ,there are clothes which rob you of your liberty1 and other clothes which give it you again4 ,in the sinister garb called morning dress you are a close prisoner of civilization2 but in the tramp's morning dress you do not need to 8mind your step40 ,oh1 the difference between one who has worn silk in the ,temple and the same man lying in a cave in smoke-scented tweeds4 ,of course1 it takes some time to break him down4 ,he is still wearing a shadow topper and invisible cutaway coat weeks after he has started into the wilds4 ,the same with a lady of fashion2 she puts a hat over the glory of her hair to hide the primitive ,eve--she will be still thinking of this false headgear long after she has changed into a forest nymph4 ,motley has a double advantage not used by ,shakespeare in his admirable clownings4 ,it not only perhaps enables a man to jest shrewdly with the prince2 it enables a prince1 if he will put it on1 to talk freely with an ordinary poor man4 ,the cat can look at the ,king and the ,king can look at the cat4 ,class is the most disgusting institution of civilization1 because it puts barriers between man and man4 ,the man from the first-class cabin cannot make himself at home in the steerage4 ,he can have conversations with his fellow man down there1 but fellow man will be standing to attention like private in presence of officer1 or standing defiant like prisoner in presence of a condemnatory court4 ,it is not the fault of the bottom dog1 the proletarian4 ,he scents a manner4 ,your bearing cannot be adjusted to equality4 ,you are not on the level with him4 ,you cannot rid your voice of its kind note4 8,damn it1 don't be kind to me10 say the eyes of the third-class passenger4 ,but you cannot get rid of that absurd1 unwanted1 kind look--that 8tell me1 my dear man0 expression4 8,how are you1 aged man10 ,i said1 8,and how is it you live80 ,but his answer trickled through my brain ,like water through a sieve4 ,yes1 whatever he replies will seem a little bit irrelevant1 like the answers to the visiting rector going the round of his parish1 he having the next drag hunt on his mind4 ,but in the tramps' motley you can say what you like1 ask what questions you like1 free from the taint of class4 ,it also puts you right with regard to yourself4 ,you see yourself as others see you1 and that is a refreshing grace wafted in upon an opinionated mind4 ,the freedom of speech and action and judgment which it gives you will breed that boldness of bearing which1 after all1 is better than mere good manners4 ,it allows you to walk on your heels as well as on your toes1 and to eat without a finicking assortment of forks4 ,it aids your digestion of truth and of food1 and aids nutrition as good air does good porridge4 ,all that highfalutin' advice which ,kipling wrote in 8,if0 may be left in its glum red lettering pasted on your bedroom wall1 if you will only put on your tramp's motley4 8,what must ,i do to inherit eternal life80 ,the answer to that question is not adequately stated in that 8,if0 of talking to mobs without losing your virtue and to ,kings without losing the common touch1 or in the 8,if0 of making a heap of all your winnings and staking them in a game of pitch and toss4 ,the answer of the ,evangel is ,take up the ,cross and ,follow ,me1 which may be interpreted indulgently for our purpose here3 ,take up thy staff and the common burden for thy shoulders1 the motley of the pilgrim and the tramp4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,five ,,carrying ,,money 8,put money in thy purse10 is often given to the young man as a jewel of wisdom4 ,but we give the contrary advice3 take it out4 ,the less you carry the more you will see1 the less you spend the more you will experience4 ,of course1 if you have a strong enough will to resist temptation you can carry what you like1 but even then you are at the disadvantage of being worth a robber's attention4 ,i sometimes pride myself that ,i set out for ,jerusalem with the ,russian pilgrims having ten pounds1 and that ,i brought back five of the pounds to ,russia4 ,the most ,i paid for lodging in ,jerusalem was three farthings a day4 ,had ,i quit for a hotel ,i should have lost most of the experience of the pilgrimage4 ,when ,i made my study of the emigrants to ,america ,i went steerage and came back steerage4 ,i stayed in a workman's lodging house in ,new ,york and ,i tramped to ,chicago on less than a dollar a day4 ,of course it is very expensive in ,america1 always was1 unless you care to work your way4 ,for my part1 ,i think working one's way even more expensive4 ,a shilling a day ought to be ample for tramping in any part of the world--if you cook on your own camp fire and sleep out4 ,but ,america is an exception4 ,there you will need three-parts of a dollar4 ,in ,europe generally1 after the ,war1 one needs to consider the currency situation4 ,the ,tyrol has been a place of cheap food and wine2 now it is much dearer4 ,france and ,italy1 on the other hand1 are cheaper4 ,it is well to carry notes of low denominations1 as it is almost always difficult to get change in the country4 ,if you have a larger note1 a reserve1 to take you1 let us say1 by boat or train somewhere1 at some point of your adventure1 or to bring you home1 it is as well to sew it in your jacket lining4 ,it is a mistake to put it in your knapsack or in a pocket of a shirt4 ,once ,i put a five-pound note in a secret pocket of a shirt and forgot all about it till after ,i received my linen one day1 washed and ironed1 from a peasant girl4 ,suddenly ,i remembered1 and feverishly picked up the shirt and went to the secret pocket1 the girl smiling at me as ,i did so4 ,the note was there1 fresh and crisp4 ,i was astonished4 8,you washed and ironed this bit of paper80 ,i asked4 8,no10 she said simply1 8,i found it in and took it out4 ,but ,i put it back after ironing40 ,in ,america it is as well to carry travelers' checks1 as they can be cashed even in a small village1 and they are safer than notes4 ,in ,europe such checks are difficult to cash except in large cities4 ,they are unfamiliar to the bankers of provincial towns4 ,even in large towns you may have to wander from bank to bank seeking a correspondent of the original bank from which you have taken the traveler's check4 ,a good plan is to have five-pound notes sent to you by registered post by a bank at the time at which you are likely to require them4 ,they can be sent poste restante1 but it is unwise to leave the packet too long unclaimed1 as in some countries they send back letters to sender after a week4 ,money can be sent by wire in this way4 ,money can also be sent by a bank in response to a wire if you have arranged a code signature before leaving home4 ,this is a very simple matter if you are bad enough tramp to have a balance intact4 ,after two months1 or less1 in the open1 living the life of a tramping hermit1 you are likely1 upon occasion1 to have a joyous reaction towards excess4 ,and this may express itself in a gay and giddy week-end1 in hotels and restaurants and places of music and dance4 ,you may spend more on a romp than you do on the tramp4 ,round and round the market place the monkey chased the weasel6 ,you are that monkey never catching that weasel4 ,that's the way the money goes4 ,pop goes the weasel6 ,oh1 that weasel1 that weasel of false heart's desire6 ,haven't we chased it upon occasion6 ,i am ,memory and ,torment1 ,i am ,town1 ,i am all that ever went with evening dress6 ,thus sang the banjo in the wilderness4 ,you lie in the heights of the mountain under the stars1 with empty pockets and empty stomach1 and you look at the many lights1 the blent illumination of the ,milky ,way1 and think--of ,broadway1 the ,great ,white ,way1 burning its great stream of electricity1 burning your candle and its own4 ,the spree is not1 however1 entirely legitimate to the tramping expedition4 ,tramping is first of all a rebellion against housekeeping and daily and monthly accounts4 ,you may escape from the spending mania1 but first of all you escape from the inhibition1 that is the word1 the inhibition of needing to earn a living4 ,in tramping you are not earning a living1 but earning a happiness4 ,there was a verse of poetry of which ,ruskin1 in his satirical mood1 was inordinately fond3 ,as for the bird in the thicket1 ,thrush or ouzel in leafy niche1 ,she was far too rich ,to care for a morning concert to which ,she was welcome without a ticket4 ,well1 ours is the morning concert1 without ticket and without program1 without classification of box or stall4 ,you do not pay as you enter1 nor grumble as you go out4 ,indeed there is a very good reason4 ,performers and friends of the performers do not pay4 ,you come as a friend of the thrush1 or you are a thrush yourself4 ,we shall see as we tramp the woods together which it is4 ,but in any case the thrush never takes round the hat4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,six ,,the ,,companion 8,give me a companion of my way1 be it only to mention how the shadows lengthen as the sun declines10 wrote ,hazlitt4 ,an ideal companion is ideal4 ,however1 we all know that companionship prolonged may be trying even to good friends4 ,if you live for some time in the same room with any one you discover that fact4 ,indeed1 you discover a good deal about your companion that you had not suspected before you were intimate1 and he about you4 ,eventually a cloud no bigger than a man's hand becomes a storm1 and you quarrel over what seems afterwards to have been nothing at all4 ,even man and wife of ideal choice find that out4 ,but there is perhaps no greater test of friendship than going on a long tramp4 ,you discover to one another all the egoisms and selfishnesses you possess4 ,you may not see your own3 you see your companion's faults4 ,in truth1 if you want to find out about a man1 go for a long tramp with him4 ,still there are rewards4 ,if you do not quarrel irreparably and part on the road you will probably find your friendship greatly increased by the experience of the wilds together4 ,i like tramping alone1 but a companion is well worth finding4 ,he will add to the experience2 perhaps double it4 ,you have naturally long conversations4 ,you comment on ,nature around you1 and on tramping experiences4 ,you talk of books and pictures1 of poems1 of people1 but above all1 almost inevitably1 of yourself4 ,tramping makes you self-revelatory4 ,and this is an enormous boon4 ,if you have patience you will get to see your friend in a new light2 you will fill in the picture which up to then you have but vaguely sketched4 ,the richest people in life are the good listeners4 ,if1 however1 you also must talk1 must reveal your life1 your heart1 your prejudices and passions1 it will often happen that you will express yourself to yourself1 as much as to your friend4 ,self-confession is growth of the mind1 an enriching of the consciousness4 ,in talk which seems idle enough you may be reaching out toward the infinite4 ,the early morning tramp is a striving time1 one of reaching out1 of vigorous assertions4 ,the afternoon may mock the morning with jesting1 with ribald songs1 8,songs that make you cough and blow your nose10 as ,kipling says4 ,but the evening will make amends4 ,there is a great poetic time after the camp fire has been lit1 the coffee brewed1 the sleeping place laid out4 ,you sit by the embers as the twilight deepens and talk till the stars shine brightly upon you4 ,that is the time of confidences1 of tenderness1 of melancholy1 of the 8might-have-been0 and the 8if only40 ,you are full of the songs of the birds to which you have listened all day4 ,music will come out again4 ,but there are many types of companionship3 the two undergraduates en vacance1 the two cronies of the same town1 the middle-aged man and his young disciple1 sweethearts1 bachelor girls1 father and son1 man and wife1 friend and friend4 ,young athletes will go to the furthest distance2 lovers the shortest4 ,but the lovers may be out the longest time4 ,i am inclined to measure a tramp by the time taken rather than by the miles4 ,if a hundred miles is covered in a week it is a longer tramp than if it is rushed in three days4 ,there is great happiness in taking a month over it4 ,however1 it is hardly possible to walk less than seven miles a day if one sleeps out of doors4 ,a point to make sure about in companionship is distribution of kit4 ,you do not need two coffeepots1 two sugar bags--a number of duplicates can be avoided4 ,see your companion has the right boots4 ,the slower walker should set the pace4 ,it is absurd for one to walk the other off his feet just to show what a walker he is4 ,there is great difference in walking capacity4 ,some can do forty miles a day without turning a hair2 many can hardly keep up fifteen4 ,if your companion breaks his feet or turns an ankle you may have to wait some days with him while he recovers4 ,the first days of tramping are in this respect the most dangerous4 ,it is so easy to blister the feet if one marches too far in hot weather4 ,one or two blisters may be remedied1 but there comes a morning when you cannot get your boots on4 ,the best companions are those who make you freest4 ,they teach you the art of life by their readiness to accommodate themselves4 ,after freedom1 ,i enjoy in a companion a well stocked mind1 or observant eyes1 or wood lore of any kind4 ,it is nice sometimes to tramp with a living book4 ,of course1 one should carry a notebook or diary or some broad-margined volume of poems4 ,you can annotate ,keats from your life on the road4 ,but whether you do that or merely record the daily life in a page-a-day journal1 you are enriching yourself enormously by what you can write about4 ,lovers1 ,i imagine1 will carry no diary4 ,their impressionable hearts are the tablets on which they write4 ,every one has a tendency to write down the unforgettable3 it is obviously unnecessary4 ,loving pairs1 however1 seldom take their staffs and their packs and make for the wild4 ,even in our free days they are somewhat afraid of it4 ,but it is to be recommended as an admirable preparation for married life4 ,it is a romantic adventure1 but it leads to reality4 ,if you have to carry your beloved1 you will probably have to carry her for the rest of your life4 ,you cannot tell till you've spent a night in the rain1 or lost the way in the mountains1 and eaten all the food1 whether you have both stout hearts and a readiness for every fate4 ,if not a tramp before marriage1 then a tramp directly after comes not amiss1 a honeymoon spent tramping4 ,it is an ideal way to begin life4 ,for tramping is the grammar of living4 ,few people learn the grammar--but it is worth while4 ,there are few more felicitous proposals of marriage set down in literature than the ,autocrat at the ,breakfast ,table's1 8,will you take the long road with me80 ,life deux is much more of an adventure than life seul1 much more of a tramping expedition1 less of a 8carriage forward10 8fragile10 8lift with care10 and 8use no hooks0 affair4 ,one1 be it the man1 be it the woman1 pulls the other from security4 ,it is a more difficult way of life2 it needs learning4 ,on the road the weak and strong points of character are revealed4 ,there are those who complain1 making each mile seem like three2 there are those who have untapped reserves of cheerfulness1 who sing their companions through the tired hours4 ,but in drawing-rooms1 trains1 tennis parties1 theater1 and dance hall1 they would never show either quality4 ,the road shows sturdiness1 resourcefulness1 pluck1 patience1 energy1 vitality1 or per contra1 the lack of these things4 ,it is something to face the first night together under the stars1 the fears of lurking robbers or wild animals1 fears of the unnamed4 ,the first night out together of a man and his wife is a memorable occasion4 ,you go back to the primitive1 but there is something very cosy and comfortable about it--the only man in the world with the only woman4 ,darkness settles down upon you in a stranger way than it does upon man and man4 ,there is more poetry in the air and in your mind4 ,more tenderness is enkindled than ceiling and walls of house ever saw1 tenderness of a certain sheltering care which it is luxurious to give4 ,night is dark and still and intense1 and you can hear two hearts beating while you look outward and upward1 and dimly discern the passage of bats' wings in the air4 ,the first night1 however1 is seldom without alarm2 the cold wet nose of a hedgehog touching your beloved's cheek may cause her to rend the air with a shriek1 a field mouse at her toes cause her scarcely less alarm4 ,it is good to pack her in a really capacious sleeping bag2 it excludes rodents4 ,and if you are not too big you can snuggle into it yourself1 if the lady proves to be nervous and you are on such terms of fellowship as to make it possible4 ,a night of murmurings and deepening shadows and freshness1 and then1 perhaps1 of a gentle rain before dawn1 and of glimmerings of new day and sweetness of wild flowers and birds' songs before sunrise4 ,you watch the boles of the great trees grow into stateliness in the twilight1 and the night is over4 ,with an arm round your fair one you go to the point where in orange and scarlet the great friend of all the living is lifting himself once more out of the east to show us the way of life4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,seven ,,whither ,,away8 ,the principle motive of the wander-spirit is curiosity--the desire to know what is beyond the next turning of the road1 and to probe for oneself the mystery of the names of the places in maps4 ,in a subconscious way the born wanderer is always expecting to come on something very wonderful--beyond the horizon's rim4 ,the joys of wandering are often balanced by the pains2 but there is something which is neither joy nor pain which makes the desire to wander or explore almost incurable in many human beings4 ,the child experiences his first wander-thrill when he is taken to places where he has never been before4 ,i remember from the age of nine a barefoot walk with my mother along the ,lincolnshire sands from ,sutton to ,skegness1 and the romantic and strange sights on the way4 ,what did we not build out of that adventure8 ,and who does not remember the pleasurable thrill1 the pleasure that's all but pain1 of being lost in a wood1 or in a strange countryside1 and meeting some crazy individual who humored the idea by apostrophizing a little brook in this style3 8,i am now marching upon the banks of the mighty ,congo08 ,the imagination wishes to be stirred with the romance of places1 and is stirred4 ,in a great city like ,london or ,new ,york1 even though living there1 certainly ,i for one am homesick2 not for a home and an armchair1 but for a rolling road and a stout pair of boots1 and my own stick fire by the roadside at dawn1 and the old pot which is slow to boil4 8,where10 ,i am asked1 8would you go a-tramping now if you were absolutely fancy-free and passports and ,bolsheviks were unknown80 ,it would probably be in ,russia1 where ,i have vagabondized over thousands of miles already4 ,i should like to resume my six-thousand-mile journey southwest to northwest1 which was interrupted by the ,war in ,august1 #aiad4 ,but1 alas1 the ,moscow of the ,bolsheviks does not encourage adventure of that kind4 ,again1 ,i'd like to buy a boat at ,perm and slip down to the ,petchora ,river1 and go with the stream thousands of miles north1 selling the boat to the ,samoyedes at the mouth of the river1 thence tramping perhaps by the tundra roads or sledging it to ,mesen4 ,what a romance1 what a journey1 as it seems to me now1 in complete inexperience of it6 ,or ,i'd like to take a party of literary men across the ,altai1 and in a verdant valley live for half a year without letters and newspapers1 and each write his own book1 express his own peculiar happiness in his own words4 ,or ,i'd like to plunge south from ,verney1 in ,seven-,rivers-,land1 or from ,kashgar1 and climb to the mountain passes into ,india2 and as ,i think of it a sense of the last poem of ,davidson creeps into the memory3 ,alone ,i climb ,the ragged path that leads me out of ,time4 ,so much for ,russia4 ,i'd love to tramp the whole length of ,japan1 and peer into all the ways of the modern ,japanese4 ,there1 however1 speaks another interest1 and that is not so much to explore strange lands as to explore strange people4 ,life teaches the wanderer that peoples are extra pages to geography1 and the fascination can at times be irresistible4 ,you long to be familiar with ,russians1 ,frenchmen1 ,germans1 ,chinamen1 ,arabs1 ,americans1 and the rest4 ,and it takes you afield1 it takes you far1 far away from #a1 ,alpha ,villas1 or the sweet shady side of ,pall ,mall4 ,i've long wished to wander for years in the tents of the nomads of the ,central ,mongolian ,plain4 ,i came on them accidentally1 tramping in ,turkestan2 surely among the most interesting peoples in the world1 and the oldest1 with customs of the most intense human interest4 ,nothing less than a year with them would do2 and that means a year without civilization1 for no postman seeks the wandering tents of the ,kirghis and the ,kalmouk4 ,i should like also to pursue a study which ,i once began of the monasteries of the ,copts1 and tramp in the ,sahara desert1 to follow the clues of early ,christianity up the ,nile from ,alexandria and the ,thebaid1 and ,i would make some study of ,abyssinian ,christianity in its native haunts4 ,or1 on the other side of the world1 ,i'd like to tramp the communal estate of the ,dukhobors1 of which ,i obtained a glimpse in #aibb in western ,canada4 ,or ,i'd like just now to tramp as a beggar through the heart of the new ,ireland4 ,these1 and many other fascinating adventures1 haunt the mind like ,maeterlinck's souls of the unborn children in that charming drama of the ideal--8,the ,betrothal40 ,if ,i don't do them this time on earth1 and can't do them1 friends are apt to say3 8,well1 next time40 ,one lifetime will hardly suffice to find out all there is to know and to enjoy in the world and in man4 ,vachel ,lindsay1 with whom ,i enjoyed a wonderful six weeks when we crossed ,glacier ,park1 going by compass1 and passed the frontier between the ,united ,states and ,canada1 is eager for a resumption of the trail4 ,next time it shall be ,mount ,mc,kinley in ,alaska1 or ,crater ,lake1 in the far northwest of the ,states4 ,perhaps some day ,i'll go4 ,only recently ,i received from him1 by one post1 six long letters and a packet of coffee from ,going-to-the-,sun ,mountain4 8,come at once10 said ,vachel4 ,but ,i was in ,finland at the time4 ,otherwise ,i'd have flung off for ,alaska or ,crater ,lake4 ,the difficulty is to say 8,no0 to such suggestions4 ,it would be a traveling more with ,nature than with man--through enormous wildernesses4 ,imagination could draw a wonderful picture of what such places would be like1 but there is one crude unmannerly truth that the traveler always comes upon in the course of his experience of new places1 and that is1 that imagination1 though very charming1 is nearly always wrong4 ,knowledge of living detail shows the world to be full of the unexpected1 the unanticipated1 the unimagined4 ,there is a type of tramping which belongs more to the future2 a new type1 and an even more fascinating one1 and that is the taking of cross sections of the world1 the cutting across all roads and tracks1 the predispositions of humdrum pedestrians1 and making a sort of virginal way across the world4 ,this can be tried first of all as a haphazard tramp--a setting out to walk without the name of any place you want to get to4 ,hence the zigzag walk1 of which ,i write later4 ,keep taking the first turning on the left and the next on the right1 and see where it leads you4 ,in towns this gives you a most alluring adventure4 ,you get into all manner of obscure courts and alleys you would never have noticed in the ordinary way4 ,but in the country1 beaucoup zigzag1 as they say in ,france1 does not work4 ,you get tied up in a hopeless tangle of lanes which go back upon themselves4 ,as a result of a week's tramping you may find yourself only two steps from the place you started from4 ,you feel like a lost ant that1 after infinite trouble1 has got back to the heap4 ,it is dull to be an ant4 ,in the country a real cross section and haphazard adventurous tramp is one which can be known as 8,trespasser's ,walk40 ,you take with you a little compass1 decide to go west or east1 as fancy favors1 and then keep resolutely to the guidance of the magnetic needle4 ,it takes you the most extraordinary way1 and shows what an enormous amount of the face of the earth is kept away from the feet of ordinary humanity by the fact of 8private property40 ,on the other side of the hedge that skirts the public way is an entirely different atmosphere and company4 ,in ten minutes in our beautiful ,sussex you can find yourself as remote from ordinary familiar ,england as if you were in the midst of a great reservation4 ,and you may tramp a whole day upon occasion without meeting a single human being4 ,i want to do it in ,russia some time--tramp across her by the compass1 visit the hamlets which are five miles from the road1 visit those which are fifty from the road1 a hundred and fifty from the road4 ,in that way ,i should find a ,russia as yet unknown1 unrevealed4 ,it would be a strange and fantastic quest of happiness4 8,there's no sense in it10 ,i can hear the stay-at-home repeat4 ,and if he came with me it would not be long before he parted company and went back4 8,there's no sense in going further40 ,and he is quite right if he doesn't hear the explorer's whisper in his heart3 ,one everlasting whisper1 day and night1 repeated--so3 8,something hidden4 ,go and find it4 ,go and look behind the ,ranges-- ,something lost behind the ,ranges4 ,lost and waiting for you4 ,go60 ,the ,japanese question to the ,polar explorer3 8,what did you find when you got to the ,pole80 is a foolish one4 ,you may bring nothing back in your hands from an expedition1 but you have garnered within4 ,you have garnered for yourself and also for others4 ,it is always worth while to quit for a time the rabbit hutches of civilization and do something which stay-at-home folk call flying in the face of fortune4 8,is it not comfortable enough where you are80 they ask4 ,however1 tramping1 as ,i am writing of it1 is not ,polar exploration1 nor footing it along the rocky ways of the mountains to ,lhasa4 ,it is a smaller1 gentler1 matter4 ,it is merely accepting the call of ,nature2 taking those two weeks which ,wells described in his ,modern ,utopia--and taking more4 ,but it matters greatly where one chooses to go4 ,some countries are better than others1 some districts better than other districts4 ,england cannot be said to be excellent tramping country2 very good for a walking tour where one seeks an inn each night1 but not good for a tramp in which one hopes to sleep la belle toile4 ,even when the weather is fine the dews are heavy4 ,in the occasional dry1 hot summers which occur it is however1 delightful to adventure forth in the ,west ,country or in ,cumberland1 or even in the ,highlands4 ,one or two jaunts are very attractive1 for instance1 to tramp the old ,roman ,wall from ,carlisle to ,wallsend at ,newcastle1 or to tramp the ,scottish border from ,berwick to the ,solway4 ,one passes over remarkably wild and desolate country4 ,i think especially of the track from ,jedburgh to ,newcastleton1 and a forlorn district called1 if ,i remember rightly1 ,knot of the ,hill1 which1 however1 is very much of the hill4 ,one meets upon occasion uncouth1 friendly mountain shepherds with plenty of philosophy in them4 ,there are some wild tramps in ,wales1 especially in the marches4 ,the ,shropshire border is most interesting4 ,if1 however1 one dives westward for places such as ,dinas ,mawddy or ,dolgelly1 one should take provisions for a couple of days4 ,it is easy to lose yourself1 and when you come upon people they speak only ,welsh1 and one has some trouble in making oneself understood4 ,dartmoor and western ,ireland and the mountains and coastways of ,donegal afford remarkable scope for adventurers with pack on back4 ,one ought to be very careful in ,great ,britain about wayside fires4 ,even when one is careful to put them out thoroughly with water before leaving one is apt to get into trouble with the farmers1 the police1 etc4 ,one should also remember that if found sleeping behind haystacks1 or in barns1 one is liable to be haled before the justice and charged with vagrancy4 ,not that the tramp need be ashamed1 when motorists appear there in strings charged with obstruction and speeding and the like4 ,as a practical detail1 however1 it may be mentioned that sleepers are very rarely discovered4 ,america is1 of course1 the tramp's paradise1 a country made by tramps4 ,i do not mean the hoboes which infest the railroads to-day1 but the ,johnny ,appleseeds of time past1 who went exploring beyond the horizon and the sunset4 ,the first thing to be said about the ,new ,world is its enormous stretch and variety4 ,many people have walked the three thousand miles from ,new ,york to ,san ,francisco4 ,i even came across a woman who had done it in high-heeled boots4 ,it is no novelty4 ,a more difficult transcontinental jaunt would be the four thousand miles of the ,unguarded ,line--the frontier of ,canada and the ,united ,states4 ,this is a good literary expedition1 and any one who did it and described it well would make his name4 ,my friend ,wilfrid ,ewart had it in mind to do1 and he went prospectively over the details of such a vagabondage4 ,but he was unfortunately killed in ,mexico4 ,such a tramp would not be confined to frontier posts1 but should be crisscross1 now in the ,republic1 now in the ,empire4 ,another tramp which has seldom been done1 except by laborers1 is to follow the wheat harvest north from ,texas4 ,the harvesting starts in ,june in the ,south1 and great gangs of harvesters work northward with the summer4 ,this implies a readiness to work in the fields4 ,it is arduous1 but a great experience4 ,you garner wheat3 you garner gold4 ,if you take lifts when offered you may get all the way to ,oregon by ,september and find the corn still standing there4 ,in ,america1 however1 the roads are killing4 ,you can only tramp in the early hours of the morning and the cool of the evening--at least1 in summer4 ,the noontide is too hot1 the many cars throw up too much dust4 ,cross-country tramping is much happier and provides more adventures4 ,but the man in the car is much more hospitable in ,america than in any other part of the world4 ,when tired of some waterless1 treeless countryside1 you can come on to the highway1 hail a passing car1 and be taken a long step further forward4 ,the leisured and educated ,americans do not tramp for pleasure and find some difficulty in understanding it4 ,there is a well-known motto3 ,why walk if you can ride8 ,and ,americans without automobiles make their more fortunate brothers carry them4 ,a hand wave from a pedestrian brings a car to a halt and you jump in4 ,journeys have been made from ,new ,york to ,los ,angeles1 ,boston to ,new ,orleans1 8stepping cars10 all the way4 ,it is not to be recommended1 however1 as it is an abuse of a delightful hospitality4 ,still1 unless you are studying ,american civilization1 it is hardly worth while to tramp from town to town4 ,the wildernesses are so much more interesting4 ,it is worth while for any one thinking out a novel walk to apply to the ,department of ,forests and ,national ,parks at ,washington4 ,a ,national ,park1 conventional as it sounds1 may easily prove to be a reserve of territory as extensive as an ,english county4 ,they are commonly referred to by propagandists as 8vast natural playgrounds0--but as yet they are but little used4 ,yellowstone ,park is the only one which is visited by great numbers of people4 ,the others are in nowise overrun4 ,indeed1 the railway journeys to them are generally so long that the masses of the eastern cities cannot profit by them4 ,there are two specially marvelous ones1 ,sequoia and ,yosemite1 notable for their trees2 the highest and the oldest trees in the world are to be found in these primeval wildernesses4 ,the ,grand ,canyon can afford at least a week's walking4 ,it is a mistake to go down it on horse or mule1 and when down in the depths there is a marvelous journey for the pedestrian along the rocky flank of the fast-running ,colorado ,river4 ,if at ,grand ,canyon in ,august it is well to visit the ,hopi ,indians and see the ,snake ,dance4 ,however1 it is really better to visit the ,canyon later in the year4 ,at ,christmas it is delightful4 ,at midsummer it is really too oppressive down below4 ,when ,i went down there was snow above and soft vernal airs three thousand feet under1 spring flowers in bloom1 and one could sit happily by one's wood fire in the afternoon sunshine4 ,tramping in the ,south of the ,united ,states is very pleasant in autumn and spring1 especially in ,florida and ,alabama4 ,in the summer it is too hot and the mosquitoes unusually thick4 ,a very interesting ,november tramp is from ,atlanta1 the largest city in ,georgia1 to ,savannah on the coast4 ,in this way you can follow1 as ,i did1 the track of ,sherman's army in its famous march to the sea4 ,but there are places less far afield than these4 ,there is hardly any wilder country anywhere than in upper ,new ,york ,state4 ,a tramp through ,new ,england is likely to be congenial to most ,englishmen3 the people are so much nearer to the ,english4 ,canada also presents enormous fields for pleasure tramping1 or for tramping which is almost exploration4 ,the far ,northwest especially is wild and little traversed4 ,europe1 however1 has equally strong claims on those who tramp1 being even more diversified than is ,america4 ,the language difficulty is the chief drawback4 ,there are a hundred or so tongues4 ,customs and laws are also bewildering4 ,still1 the best way to see the ,pyrenees or the ,alps is pack on back4 ,the charming works of ,hilaire ,belloc on the 8,path to ,rome0 and the ,pyrenees are memorials of excellent tramping in ,europe4 ,a pilgrimage from inn to inn in ,france1 especially going south through the wine country1 is utterly pleasant4 ,one dispenses with a coffeepot in these parts1 a liter bottle is better4 ,fill it with the vin du pays wherever you go2 a bottle of ,chablis in the village of ,chablis1 a bottle of ,nuits ,st4 ,georges in the village of ,nuits ,st4 ,georges1 a bottle of ,pommard at ,pommard1 identifying the country by the wine of wayside inns4 ,it is well to taste and try what any countryside1 town1 or hostelry is famous for1 be it ,creole gumbo or stuffed peppers1 be it even snails1 even frogs' legs4 ,i remember in younger days the disgust of the waiter in a little hotel opposite ,chartres ,cathedral when ,i rejected a plateful of snails which1 with a clatter1 he had put before me--a flagon of red wine1 a chunk of bread1 and a plateful of ,roman snails4 ,i said 8,no6 ,take them away60 ,the waiter shrugged his shoulders4 ,que diable6 ,if ,i didn't want snails why did ,i come to that hotel8 ,snails were their specialty4 ,however1 ,i confess now ,i have eaten snails4 ,the first time was at ,pont de ,vaux1 near ,mcon of ,burgundy fame4 ,the snails came on as a third course at the ,htellerie de la ,renaissance1 cleverly disguised1 and before ,i knew it ,i was saying1 8,i like these2 ,i wonder what they are60 ,they were purveyed upon a silver tray1 or nickel1 ,i suppose2 they had been taken out of their shells and put into tiny pots1 one snail one pot4 ,there were a dozen or so tiny pots on the tray1 each no more than half an inch across the top1 and in each a snail floated in a little bath of melted butter and spice4 ,there was a slender two-pronged fork which looked like a toothpick1 and you ate the snail with that4 ,very tasty6 ,very novel6 ,perhaps that was how the ,romans ate them4 ,perhaps in ancient ,egypt they ate them in that way1 and these are the original fleshpots4 ,be that as it may1 ,i felt much amused and intrigued and turned with a friendly gesture to my bottle of local ,mcon4 ,i was more pro-,french after that1 having got over a prejudice1 ,i could no longer say1 8,disgusting people2 they eat snails60 ,france is a delightful country for a spring escapade4 ,go ,south and stay in the country inns1 and disenchant the ,northern seriousness6 ,it's a great idea4 ,go out from ,paris to ,fontainebleau1 where the birds are singing in choirs in the silvery lichened trees4 ,you can sprawl at your length in the sun in ,may4 ,it is cold sleeping out1 but there are inns4 ,you will walk amid wild daffodils and budding hyacinths4 ,summer is coming north to meet you at ,joigny or ,dijon4 ,you enter the ,cte d',or country and spectacular stone villages among green hills4 ,from ,dijon by red-earth vineyards whence the well cut vines are sprouting an elemental eye-placating green4 ,your eyes need placating after the dreary ,north with its cities and industries4 ,the vineyards have low stone walls which incidentally make excellent seats for the wanderer on which to munch his bread and ,camembert and stand his bottle of ,burgundy4 ,you come to ,beaune1 a name on a bottle1 on a wine list1 now a place well established in your mind and heart4 ,so also ,pommard1 ,volnay1 ,mersault1 ,nuits1 ,mcon1 to mention but a few4 ,it is a longish distance1 but another journey or a continuation might be from ,lyons along the banks of the ,rhne or eastward to ,lake ,geneva and ,switzerland4 ,it is very hot on the ,rhne1 but there is an added interest in the old ,roman cities you pass through4 ,avignon might be your center1 and from ,avignon there are delightful pilgrimages to the fountain of ,vaucluse1 where ,petrarch and ,laura met1 to ,tarascon1 the byword for obscurity in ,france1 to famous ,arles and its amphitheater4 ,but certainly the most wild and delightful tramp would be over the mountains by compass to ,cannes1 through untraversed and solitary ,provence4 ,this can be done in later summer4 ,for although it is extremely hot on the ,riviera1 the whole way there is at a height1 and one drops down to the coast by a precipitous road from the perfume factories of ,grasse4 ,tramping expeditions of even more beauty can be made on the ,french side of the ,pyrenees1 in the country of the ,basques4 ,pious ,catholics may be inclined to make for ,lourdes and will encounter the sick in body going for health1 and perhaps coming in the opposite direction1 rejoicing cripples who have been made whole4 ,whether credulous or incredulous1 the tramp will find ,lourdes a religious curiosity well worth approaching in the spirit of a true pilgrim on foot4 ,a tramp from ,biarritz to ,carcassonne1 across the ankle of the ,franco-,iberian peninsula holds many picturesque sights of strange people and of feudal towns4 ,but mountainous ,nature will rule the hearts of all those who come under the influence of the sublime4 ,this is delightful country for sleeping out1 provided mosquito netting be carried4 ,inns1 however1 are not so numerous1 and one should be prepared to make one's own coffee on one's own brushwood fire4 ,spain1 despite some pleasant volumes recording walking tours1 is really untouched4 ,it is a remarkable country1 and the people1 the most conservative and delightful in ,europe1 look somewhat askance upon ,bohemians4 ,there are tens of thousands of beggars who are accepted as philosophically as flies in summer1 but the man in tweeds with knapsack on his back is regarded as some sort of strange wild animal4 ,one is almost bound to be called upon to explain oneself to the police1 and to find oneself described officially as a vagrant4 ,jan and ,cora ,gordon1 two delightful vagabonds1 got over the difficulty by carrying guitars1 and they were understood as itinerant musicians4 ,in the end1 because they played so well1 they won over the affections of many somber ,spaniards4 ,among other tramping friends of mine1 ,i ought to mention ,mr4 ,forse1 the tramping vicar of ,southborne1 who has made several tours on foot in ,spain and issues his impressions as supplements to his parish magazine4 ,i often envied him his experiences4 ,it was my impression in ,spain that it is not wise to wear tweeds4 ,black is the accepted color for all people4 ,all respectable beggars wear black4 ,on the other hand1 state visits are also made in black4 ,with regard to the climate of ,spain1 it is easy to be deceived4 ,it is much colder than most people think4 ,northern ,spain is mostly elevated plateau and is exposed to bitter winds in the spring4 ,andalusia1 however1 and the ,south generally1 is serene and warm1 hot even1 but subject to unpleasant dust storms4 ,incidentally1 it may be mentioned that the easiest way to get to ,spain is via ,southampton and ,gibraltar4 ,the railway journey from ,france is apt to be very uncomfortable4 ,after these two countries1 northern ,italy1 ,switzerland1 and ,germany come naturally to mind4 ,of these1 by far the cheapest is northern ,italy1 and there is more untrodden ground4 ,it is well to take passports for ,austria as well1 so as to be free of the ,austrian ,tyrol if you wish to enter4 ,austria1 however1 as a result of the ,war1 lost a great deal of magnificent territory to ,italy1 and there is plenty of room in the latter country4 ,southern ,germany is1 of course1 very fine1 and not inhospitable1 though the cost of provisions has gone up prodigiously4 ,perhaps that will be remedied--as one remembers ,germany in the old days as one of the cheapest countries for travel in the world4 ,bavaria is1 however1 still ,bavaria1 and if beer attract1 the brown brau is as good as ever4 ,the ,bavarians were the only ,germans who did not ,gott-strafe ,england1 ,america1 and the rest1 and they are quite pleasant neighbors4 ,the ,germans themselves are good walkers1 love rucksacks1 and the tramp will attract no unpleasant curiosity as in ,spain4 ,switzerland may best be enjoyed afoot4 ,it is common ground for the walkers of all nationalities--a ,league of ,nations center for those who love ,god's handiwork in ,nature4 ,it is1 however1 a rendezvous for the lazier type of tourist1 and the 8lounge lizard0 is apt to set the pace for all4 ,it is dangerous to spend more than one night consecutively in one of the large hotels or tourist round-ups4 ,it is a desecration of one's opportunities to use them for dancing and gentle promenades4 ,the program of the visitor to ,switzerland is apt to be a little unambitious4 ,people go with heaps of luggage and find themselves tied to it1 returning inevitably to it even from delightful daily expeditions1 like cows from pasture4 ,the end of a happy day should be the stepping-stone to one still happier4 ,a fortnight or three weeks spent going continuously with sunset and dawn joined by your resting place in the hills has a larger content that the equivalent days spent going out to a certain point and then returning to a hotel4 ,czechoslovakia is also a country of athleticism1 and one encounters good will there at every point4 ,there is a good deal of delightful ground1 especially in the ,carpathians4 ,it is rougher going than in ,france1 but the people you meet are simpler4 ,more rations need to be carried as villages are further apart and are apt to have less in them than one might imagine4 ,here are few canned goods4 ,but there is plenty of good fruit4 ,an expedition well worth making is to ,ushorod1 in the long narrow strip of territory inhabited by the ,carpathian ,russians4 ,as regards the rest of ,southern ,europe1 conditions are frequently difficult4 ,the ,balkans are bare and sun-beaten1 and largely uncivilized4 ,there is plenty of scope for adventure1 especially in ,albania1 where an armed guard is usually required4 ,dalmatia is extremely interesting1 especially the primitive ,croats living in the interior4 ,but the country is mostly treeless and subject to the southern sun and the ,sirocco4 ,early morning is the best time for walking4 ,it is often very cool then--but there is little shelter from the noontide ardor4 ,spalato and ,ragusa are excellent starting points1 especially the former4 ,montenegro has very interesting people and the country is obscure enough to please the stoutest adventurer4 ,i have written considerably in my books concerning tramping in ,russia and ,siberia4 ,i have been over many thousands of miles of ,russia afoot4 ,the happiest times were in the ,caucasus1 by the ,gorge of ,dariel road1 over the ,cross ,pass1 or by the ,rion valley over ,mamison1 or on the ,caucasian shore of the ,black ,sea4 ,when it is too hot to live in a house in a town1 it is heaven on the mountains4 ,since the ,war1 and the ,revolution1 the ,caucasus has1 unfortunately1 become much more dangerous for travelers of all kinds4 ,the tribes are warlike1 and have been badly treated by ,bolsheviks and ,europeans in general4 ,robbers are merciless4 ,pacification should1 however1 succeed within the next ten years1 and the ,caucasus become open again4 ,weapons are not of much use to a tramp in these parts4 ,if he carry a revolver he should be secretive about it--for a revolver is a great lure4 ,you are almost certain to be robbed if it is known you have a revolver--for the revolver's sake4 ,it is best to go unarmed and match intelligence against force when necessary4 ,the native horsemen will be found to be of a brow-beating kind1 carrying perchance several mortal weapons4 ,it is best to meet them face to face--but smiling--never let them get you scared4 ,they may want to turn you back or force you to work in their fields4 ,but a smiling answer turneth away wrath1 and it is well to keep them talking and watch for your chance to escape4 ,it should be remarked that the scope for tramping is not great before the middle of ,may1 or after the middle of ,october4 ,the passes1 the lowest of which is over nine thousand feet1 fill up with snow2 you get into whirling blizzards and lose the only trail4 ,on ,mamison1 especially1 it is easy to go wrong1 as it is extremely desolate4 ,i crossed once before the snows had melted1 an experience never to be forgotten or to be repeated4 ,it is better in the ,caucasus to provide for sleeping out4 ,there are inns1 dukhans1 bedless1 dirty1 and you can obtain hospitality in the villages4 ,but the guest is scared only as long as he is under the roof4 ,next morning1 after an hour's grace wherein to hide his tracks1 he may become the quarry of mine host4 ,villages1 the native auli1 may be entered by day1 but it is safer to keep out of them4 ,they do not possess much which cannot be found in the wayside inn4 ,provisions are very scarce2 such things as tea1 sugar1 bread1 ham1 generally unobtainable4 ,eggs1 and a species of bread baked from millet seed1 are the commonest fare4 ,the latter needs a good deal of red wine to wash even a small quantity down4 ,it is called churek1 and it is good for chickens4 ,in the summer and autumn wild fruits of many kinds abound2 strawberries1 plums1 grapes1 and a number of species not known or sold in towns4 ,the kizil1 with its bloodlike juice1 is excellent boiled with plenty of sugar4 ,wild grapes make good fruit but are inclined to blister the lips4 ,there is an endless abundance of grapes upon the slopes of the ,black ,sea shore4 ,the wine is heady1 and is apt to put you to sleep in the noontide4 ,it is better enjoyed in the evening4 ,it is marketed in skins--but is none the less good for coming out of a tight pig4 ,the only other parts of ,russia to compare with the ,caucasus are the ,crimea1 the ,urals1 and the ,altai4 ,the delightful ,crimea is all too limited in extent4 ,it is very beautiful1 and possessed of marvelously good air4 ,it is more invigorating in the ,crimea than in the ,caucasus4 ,it is also easier and safer tramping4 ,it may take some time to recover from ,bolshevism1 but ,i daresay it is more delightful in desolation than it was in the days when it was the national pleasure ground of the ,russian middle and upper classes4 ,the ,urals are tame beside the ,caucasus1 but they have a poetry of their own4 ,the many lakes and little hills and birch forests make a welcoming land4 ,one ought to know something of geology and mineralogy when tramping in the ,urals4 ,it is one of the most remarkable parts of ,europe from a geological point of view4 ,every stone is interesting4 ,the man who can combine geology and tramping is likely to have a very interesting experience1 and one that might even add to science in its results4 ,the ,ural region1 it should be noted1 is very extensive1 and is for the most part unprospected--especially northward4 ,the chief difficulty in tramping becomes ultimately absence of people1 and of food4 ,the gnats also swarm badly at night4 ,the ,altai is also more or less untrodden country2 vast majestic mountain ranges separating ,siberia from ,china1 forested and beautiful1 now rather difficult of access1 even for a starting point4 ,of course1 ,i went to ,russia1 not merely to tramp for tramping's sake1 but in order to fill in life1 which is limited at home4 ,i found tramping to be the quickest way to a nation's heart4 ,many regions in which ,i have tramped ,i could not recommend for the pleasure--thus1 ,archangel to ,moscow through the wet and gloomy forests of the ,north1 or ,tashkent to ,vernoe1 across the ,central ,asian desert4 ,that sort of expedition ,i would call student tramping1 and recommend it heartily as a means of learning the truth about a country4 ,no number of museums or handbooks or columns of statistics can give you the sum of reality obtained quite simply and without particular effort1 upon the road4 ,i have not tramped in ,india or ,china or ,japan1 these problematical countries4 ,but1 while there may not be much pleasure in footing it there1 ,i believe it to be a way toward the understanding of their peoples4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,eight ,,the ,,art ,,of ,,idleness ,the world is large enough1 or is only too small1 as takes your fancy or speaks your experience4 ,but blue sky by day and fretted vault of heaven by night give you the foil of the infinite1 making your petty exploit a brave adventure4 ,after surveying the map of the world1 thinking on this country and on that with gusto of a ,marco ,polo1 you may modestly decide to take a little trip in ,hertfordshire1 like ,mr4 ,wyndham ,lewis1 who1 on a certain journalistic occasion1 set forth to the discovery of ,rutland4 ,instead of going1 like ,kennan1 into the wilds of ,siberia for a year or so1 you may decide to go across the ,new ,forest during the ,whitsuntide week-end1 a little voyage au tour de ma chambre4 ,there are thrills unspeakable in ,rutland1 more perhaps than on the road to ,khiva4 ,quality makes good tramping1 not quantity4 ,the virtue to be envied in tramping is that of being able to live by the way4 ,in that indeed does the gentle art of tramping consist4 ,if you do not live by the way1 there is nothing gentle about it4 ,it is then a stunt1 a something done to make a dull person ornamental4 ,i listen with pained reluctance to those who claim to have walked forty or fifty miles a day4 ,but it is a pleasure to meet the man who has learned the art of going slowly1 the man who disdained not to linger in the springy morning hours1 to listen1 to watch1 to exist4 ,life is like a road2 you hurry1 and the end of it is grave4 ,there is no grand crescendo from hour to hour1 day to day1 year to year2 life's quality is in moments1 not in distance run4 ,fallen trees are to be sat on1 laddered trees to climb1 flowers to be picked1 nests to be looked into1 song birds to hear1 falcons to be watched4 ,the river invites you to strip4 ,you sit under the cascade in the noontide2 you climb into caves to cool and dry4 ,the green roof of the mole's track is to be followed till you find the gentleman in velvet in his home4 ,the sound of the tapping of the woodpecker shall guide you to the loose-barked tree where with watchful eye a bird of beauty is hunting the unmannerly wood louse4 ,you shall approach gently the deer who1 in a group1 wait for you with startled eyes4 ,they run from the crashing and speedy--they can be won by the gentle4 ,wild nature is not so wild as we think1 or we are wilder--it is not so far from us1 and we are nearer4 ,you can enter a wider family if you are gentle4 ,the rabbit which tempts your stones will come and smell at your toes1 the birds will hop on you and sing as you lie in the grass1 even the alleged ferocious animals1 such as bears1 will come and take bread from your hands--if they feel you are near to them4 ,he prayeth best who loveth best ,all things both great and small means he liveth best4 ,pan is indeed more truly our god than ,diana4 ,the chaste ,diana1 the great huntress1 is a romantic figure--but not one of us4 ,she would not have us with her1 we will not have her with us4 ,we will keep company with wood nymphs and satyrs1 and will help to turn the animals another way when we hear ,diana's horn resounding in the forest4 ,she shall go on and find the world a wilderness in front of her--the living and the loving all slipping behind4 ,nature unfolds herself slowly like a snail if you are still in front of her4 ,you cannot know what you are walking over till you cease walking4 ,the lizard which has eyed you furtively from under a stone comes forth and squeaks to you--you make friends with him1 in fact4 ,and as you sit on the hillside1 or lie prone under the trees of the forest1 or sprawl wet-legged on the shingly beach of a mountain stream1 the great door1 that does not look like a door1 opens4 ,the noontide meal is a siesta which can be very pleasantly prolonged4 ,it only takes half an hour to make the fire and boil the pot1 but you have left no 8back in half an hour0 notice in any town2 there should be no 8got to be0 anywhere at any time1 no hotel that you are making for twenty miles the other side of the range2 no rendezvous with a young cousin or an old man at the crossroads at sundown1 but a blessed insouciance regarding men and things4 ,the grand desideratum is to have found an agreeable spot4 8,we can put in forty minutes here60--8,my friend1 hours60 ,the ants shall carry away the sausage rind and the beetles devour the cucumber peeling2 bees shall sip where sweet coffee has fallen1 shy rodents shall clear earth's table of crumbs--while the heart wells up with joyful conversation1 or the eyes drowsily settle on their lower lids4 ,there is a joyous1 light-green glittering sleep between the hours of two and four1 hours not lost nor to be missed in the temporal economy of the tramp4 ,there arrive light and happy dreams1 the soft-stepping arrires penses of the tramping life4 ,the whole soul has relaxed1 the mainspring of citizenship has run down1 and will ring no alarms4 ,it means a change in the condition of passivity4 ,you are at home to fairies and fancies and to the spider of happiness who spins golden webs4 ,it is a fallacy to think that during the siesta you do not tramp2 you are tramping1 wandering in unknown parts1 exploring the primitive1 opening doors1 making new connections with the great unity of which you have been a nonconscious part4 ,you wake with no headache1 but with1 instead1 a freshness and eagerness4 ,you do not start at the unfamiliar scene2 you know yourself to be at home4 ,you look upon your companion still sleeping--did you ever look upon your friend asleep--not in a bed in a hotel1 or on a red sofa after dinner1 or in the dim corner of a jolting train--but in ,nature's house8 ,there you will feel him nearer1 more of a friend1 more kindred4 ,the same wood sprites have hopped on you both while you slumbered and dreamed4 ,you continue the way with more camaraderie1 doing an indolent eight or nine miles before sundown4 ,the afternoon walk is likely to be different from the morning one2 you are less eager1 more passive and indulgent and sociable4 ,one is on the lookout for a fellow tramp--for an exchange of thoughts4 ,if you are by yourself1 you have at least the alter ego of your thoughts1 and if with another there is his mind4 ,one should not1 however1 always be shy of a chance third--the man who comes out of ,nature to meet you4 ,things happen hors de programme which we could never put into our program4 ,that is why programs of coming life should be of the most general character1 none of that 8to-day ,i brew1 to-morrow ,i bake0 type of miscalculation4 8,to-day ,i do not know what ,i shall do2 to-morrow ,i know less0 is better4 8,someday or other the ,queen's daughter ,i take0 is sufficient--if not too much4 ,leave plenty of room for ,god--the devil may use some of the spare room1 but no matter1 he is only a secondary character in our affairs4 ,the tramp carries no wrist watch4 ,he has no zero hour--no zero plus forty-three at which he must take his section over the top4 ,in his cave he has no presentation timepiece mounted on lions or mermaids4 ,as he walks he does not raise his eyes to scan ,big ,ben through the gloom--for his life is not parceled out in ,parliamentary quantities4 ,he has no dashed repeater in his pouch1 no alarm clock at his ear4 ,the deathwatch does not sound in the wall of his forest house2 he does not live and sleep beside that coffin on end called a grandfather1 8his life-seconds numbering tick-tock-tick40 ,he listens for no morning hooter2 he boils his eggs without a measure of sliding sand2 he punches no time clock when he begins his day's tramp1 and at the end the last trump shall catch him unawares--an irrelevancy4 ,the most profound philosophers have been engaged for any number of years trying to explain time1 and they are all agreed that it is an illusion4 ,the universe would go on existing if all human beings were destroyed1 but what we call 8time0 would not4 ,time1 they are assured1 must be relative4 ,the little beetle which we tread upon feels a pang as great as when a giant dies4 ,his normal life may be five months only--but he has as extensive a notion of his life as we have of what we call the normal span--our fourscore years4 ,the insect which lives only an hour fits the fourscore years of impressions into it somehow4 8,if you can fill the unforgiving minute with sixty seconds worth of distance run0--the insect does it1 better than you can4 ,the fact is1 the minutes are not unforgiving4 ,we have to reverse many of the ,grub ,street maxims3 8,take care of the minutes1 ,freddy1 and the hours will take care of themselves40 ,no1 take care of the hours and the minutes can go hang4 ,take care of your life and your days will be all right4 ,lord ,chesterfield's ,letters to his ,son and ,arnold ,bennett's ,how to ,live on ,twenty-four ,hours a ,day are of little value to us4 ,we will not read in our baths1 nor memorize ,french verbs while we fry4 ,or we will1 if we like1 but not upon the compulsion of filling time4 ,you will discern that going tramping is at first an act of rebellion2 only afterwards do you get free from rebelliousness as ,nature sweetens your mind4 ,town makes men contentious2 the country smooths out their souls4 ,the worship of time as a reality is such a powerful superstition that the mind returns to it often after it has got free4 ,it returns again and again1 reciting its outworn creed3 ,thou shalt have one birthday a year and one only2 six days shalt thou labor1 but only the seventh is the ,lord thy ,god's4 ,the tramp repeats it1 and then unpacks his heart with stinging words4 ,the mood passes4 ,we1 too1 can be sweet and indulgent about time and time-tables1 bivouacking in eternity4 ,we may even carry a compass clock and1 lying in the grass1 holding it in our hands1 exclaim facetiously with ,touchstone3 8,it is ten o'clock1 in another hour it will be eleven0--and moralize equally facetiously1 for1 8so from year to year we ripe and ripe and then from year to year we rot and rot--and thereby hangs a tale40 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,nine ,,emblems ,,of ,,tramping ,the fire is the altar of the open-air life4 ,its wandering smokes go upward like men's thoughts2 its sparks are like human lives4 ,the coffeepot is the emblem of conviviality4 ,the roughhewn staff1 the tramp's third leg1 is the emblem of his will to jog on4 ,the knapsack1 like ,pilgrim's burden1 is the confession of mortality1 and of the load which every son of ,adam carried on his shoulders4 ,every door and gate which he sees means the way out1 not the way in4 ,there are three emblems of life3 the first is the open road1 the second is the river1 and the third is the wilderness4 ,the road is the simplest of these emblems--with its milestones for years1 its direction posts to show you the way1 its inns for feasting1 its churches for prayer1 its crossroads of destiny1 its happy corners of love and meeting1 its sad ones of bereavement and farewell2 its backward vista of memory1 its forward one of hope4 ,life certainly is like a road1 or a network of roads2 like a highway for some1 like a pleasant country road for others1 like a crooked lane for some1 like a path that bends back to its beginnings for most4 ,there is the narrow way of the ,puritans1 a passage between walls of righteousness2 there is the broad way of the epicureans1 so broad they mistake the breadth for the length and lose themselves on it4 ,but1 broad or narrow1 the road seems inadequate as an emblem of the tramping life4 ,there shall be roads in our life but our life shall not be always in roads4 ,the road smacks rather of duty and purpose1 of utility1 and of 8getting there40 ,our penchant is to get off the road4 ,i do not care to link tramping with utility4 ,it may be good for the physical health1 but that shall not be its object2 it may be good for broadening the mind and deepening the sources of pleasure1 but these are not the goal4 ,tramping is a straying from the obvious4 ,even the crookedest road is sometimes too straight4 ,you learn that it is artificial1 that originally it was not made for mere tramping4 ,roads were made for armies and then for slaves and laborers1 and for 8transport40 ,few have been made for pleasure4 ,but was life merely meant for pleasure8 ,perhaps not4 ,but it was meant for happiness or for the quest of happiness4 ,you are more likely to meet your enemies1 if you have any1 upon the road than off it4 ,but then also you are more likely to meet friends there1 too4 ,you may seek your friends with success on the road4 ,and if you wish counsel they are there to help you4 8,life is like a road10 says a ,kirghiz proverb4 8,if you go astray it is not your enemies who will show you the way1 but your friends40 ,still1 where the ,kirghiz live1 in ,central ,asia1 there are few roads and you cannot go astray on them4 ,the proverb must refer to mountain tracks4 8,life is like a mountain track40 ,yes1 that is better4 ,let the mountain track be our first emblem of life4 ,for the ,sokols and the ,scouts1 the roads shall mean much more1 because their lives are auxiliary to military efficiency4 ,they learn to be ready to resist an enemy of their homeland4 ,a good scout becomes a good volunteer soldier1 a good route marcher4 ,but scout and sokol are transitional4 ,the ,scout movement is like a tug to take an ocean-going ship out of harbor4 ,there comes a point when the ship can make its destiny under its own steam4 ,the ,scout and ,guide movement helps boys and girls out of the rut of home and village1 starts them moving1 and once set going1 many of them keep moving all their lives and never once stagnate4 ,on the roads that lead out into the great world they march in their companies1 with scoutmasters and commanders4 ,then the road is a glorious symbol of freedom and life4 ,the second emblem is the river1 which1 clear and innocent1 finds the easiest and most charming way from birth to eternity4 ,we were born on an invisible river which keeps gliding and singing and filling and flowing4 ,we do not know where we go1 but we know we are on the stream4 ,we do not always perceive the movement1 but we observe that the landscape has changed4 ,so when we look on a river we are affected by its hidden relationship to our own life4 ,the river interprets our mood4 ,the road suggests ,god as a taskmaster who would have us work2 the river suggests ,him as a poet who would have us live in poetry4 ,the ,creator must be a poet--not a ,general or a ,judge or a ,master ,builder2 there is so much of pure poetry in ,his creation4 ,the river1 like a child's definition of a parable1 is an earthly story with a heavenly meaning4 ,when we look on a river with a poet's eyes we see in it the reflection of an invisible river1 the river of ,time1 the river of man's life1 the river of ,eternity4 8,man may come and man may go1 but ,i go on for ever40 ,there is a strange and wonderful vigilance about the river which rolls past us where we sleep in the grass1 murmuring and calling the whole night long1 something of the vigilance of the starry sky4 ,you sleep1 but an eternal sleepless sentry paces by all the while4 ,then in the morning1 when we bathe in the river1 we are our own ,john the ,baptists1 out in the wilderness1 baptizing ourselves with water1 and saying3 8,repent1 for the ,kingdom of ,heaven is at hand4 ,turn away from the road for ,heaven is near by40 ,and we eat that wild honey of the wilderness1 which the prophet ate when his baptizing was done4 ,when we wash in the stream we are washing ourselves with life4 ,when we swim in the stream1 especially against the stream1 we are joying the heart of an unseen ,mother who takes pride in us all1 knowing that1 although we must at last flow out with the stream1 we can triumph over it for moments4 ,and1 drinking from the stream1 we partake of the water which flows from the mountain of ,god--,nature's communion cup4 ,the third emblem of life is the wilderness--that place to which wise men and poets and saints are driven in the last resort4 8,there is a pleasure in the pathless woods10 wrote ,byron4 8,there is society where none intrudes40 ,the wilderness tells you more1 when you are attune to it4 ,that is seldom the experience of the tramp on his first long divagation from the beaten track4 ,the wilderness tires him1 the forests blind him1 the mountains wear him down1 the endless plain rises under him and he smites his feet4 ,but there comes a point when there is a symmetry even in the wildest disarray of ,nature1 when man's symmetry of parks and garden cities and roads and rides is a poor joke1 a strange aberration of the human mind4 ,the universe is a most complicated lock with innumerable wards and windings and combination numbers4 ,if the starry sky at night is a lock--you would say there is no key in the world to fit it4 ,no key in the world truly--but in the human heart somewhere there is a wonderful key4 8,have ,i not in my bosom a key called #8,promise8'0 said ,pilgrim4 ,when you find that key you can plunge it into the cunning aperture of ,nature or ,night4 ,but you must know the combination numbers1 and even then it will not turn if you do not first sing a verse of the ,song of the ,heart4 ,quite a fairy tale4 ,even so4 ,life is a fairy tale1 one of a series1 like the ,arabian ,nights4 ,and if it is a fairy tale rather than what ,darwin and ,herbert ,spencer and ,einstein have averred1 how much more important to us all the fairy tale becomes4 ,fairy tales are begun in the midst of woods1 in strange forgotten glades1 and at moments between dawn and the morning1 and sunset and night4 8,fairy tales10 wrote ,novalis1 8are dreams of our homeland--which is everywhere and nowhere40 ,and to be everywhere and nowhere at the same time means to be in the wilds1 and preferably quite lost4 ,the absolute tramp1 whom1 ,i may say1 ,i have never met1 is a man with no address1 no card1 no reliable passport1 no recognizable finger prints4 ,but of course he is no ape man1 no ,tarzan1 or son of ,tarzan4 ,choice1 not accident1 leads him to the wilds4 ,the starry sky is the emblem of home1 the highest roof in the universe4 ,the sun is the mind1 by whose light man seeks his way2 the moon is the reflection of the mind on the heart1 and is the emblem of melancholy and poetry4 ,however1 of all these emblems1 the coffeepot is apt to be the most real and vital4 ,you will be on your knees morning and evening before your altar fire1 abasing your brow and blowing the flames which are beneath it4 ,sun1 moon1 forest1 river1 road--these pass1 but the coffeepot remains4 ,it is so in life generally1 and the tramp1 however much a poet he may be1 is a mortal like the rest of us4 ,the moon may be hidden by a cloud1 but that is not nearly so calamitous as having left the coffeepot at the last camping place4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,ten ,,the ,,fire ,do not forget the matches6 ,our dear friends and the girl guides can imitate the savages1 and strike a light by rubbing two sticks together1 or they carry steel and flint and tinder1 and are always ready with a spark4 ,but that is beyond us4 ,it is difficult to light the two sticks4 ,remember the odd scraps of dry paper--especially on a wet day4 ,even a scoutmaster finds difficulty in making fire with wet sticks4 ,making a fire is a considerable diversion4 ,unless you are very hungry it should take time4 ,you find the suitable place1 fix your stones1 gather the wood1 fill the coffeepot1 make yourself at home1 and only then strike the match4 ,it is a mistake to light the fire before the coffeepot is ready4 ,you will ascertain the direction of the wind1 and put down your knapsack in a position where sparks will not fly on to it4 ,and you will place your stones or tripod in such a position that the wind will drive the flames on to it4 ,if your coffeepot is on the wrong side of the wind it may take a long time to boil4 ,you must be careful to choose stones which are high enough and ledgy enough to afford a draught for the fire1 and a secure lodgement for the coffeepot4 ,to start the fire you need the thinnest and tiniest of bits of wood--the little dead stems which lurk in the grass4 ,the long dry stalks of withered wild flowers are even better than wood1 and if you have these you need no paper to start the fire4 ,they burn like dry stubble--which is1 in fact1 what they are4 ,dead grass1 however1 is of little good2 it burns1 burns out1 smokes1 and gives little heat4 ,the second line of fuel is the smart little bits of crackling wood to be found nearly everywhere4 ,the third line is of stout bits of wood4 ,the fourth1 if you feel like it1 is the really substantial timber you may haul to the scene4 ,to boil your pot you do not need this last1 but1 remembering you will sit an hour or so by the camp fire1 you do well to have a supply beside you4 ,the fire laid1 lit1 crackling1 the pot warming and heating1 you may relax your attention1 spread out the victuals1 take off your boots1 enjoy the beginning of the night's rest4 ,it is wonderful coffee that comes out on these occasions4 ,you might not care for it indoors1 but you revel in it as the product of your own camp fire4 ,you may have difficulty in lighting your fire in the damp1 but it can be got going even in the wettest weather1 granted1 of course1 that there is suitable fuel4 ,the secret is to possess plenty of paper4 ,you prepare a number of balls of paper and put them in a dry place until you have collected fuel4 ,your fuel will be first of all withered stems of weeds and bits of perfectly dead wood4 ,if there are trees about look for dead branches in them4 ,a dead branch in a tree is always drier and more combustible than a dead branch in the grass4 ,the wet on it will prove to be surface damp1 easily dried off4 ,be careful to avoid a very wet base for your fire4 ,a rocky ledge or heap of stones is better4 ,having that1 then even in drenching rain you may start your fire1 carefully sheltering it with waterproof cape or blanket1 while with the burning paper balls you dry and inflame the withered weeds and dead wood4 ,very soon you will have a flaming fire which has the heat in itself to dry its own fuel1 even if it be both substantial and very wet4 ,get a big fire going1 and you can defy the elements4 ,should you be traveling in the vicinity of a railway line you will often find many bits of coal scattered from locomotives4 ,these are not to be disdained on a rainy day1 as they greatly add to the heat at the bottom of your furnace4 ,you fight the wet with heat rather than with flame4 ,it is a pleasant triumph on a rainy day to watch your pot boil on a gay fire1 and to feel the clothes on your back a-drying all the while4 ,the fire in the rain is a triumph2 the night fire in darkness under the stars is the happiest1 but it disputes happiness with the dawn fire4 ,remember that on the black patch of your evening fire you will rebuild the bonfire next morning after your night la belle toile4 ,it is commonly more easy to light the fire in the morning4 ,there may be dew1 but you have a dry patch to build on4 ,if you have had forethought you have covered both the place and some dry fuel to make easy your morning task4 ,you are less tired1 less excited1 in the morning1 and you know just where to look for the auxiliary fuel1 the stuff that makes the first little fire burn up well4 ,i love to see the blue smokes crawling upward in the dawn1 while1 with bare legs1 one struts about doing the domestic work of morning out of doors4 ,it is part of the very poetry of the tramping life4 ,you give a proper affirmative then to ,browning's ,morning's at seven ,all's right with the world4 ,only morning is apt to be at five1 and then the world is even more all right than at the bourgeois hour of seven4 ,the good tramp does not spend too long1 however1 by his morning fire4 ,it is his best time for being on the move4 ,all ,nature's loveliness awaits him as1 with gossamer in his hair1 and light burden on heart and shoulder1 he fares forth for the day4 ,he makes his coffee1 and then carefully puts out the fire1 so as to be sure not to start some conflagration on the waste or in the forest4 ,and he goes onward toward midday1 and that other fire which is midday between the other two4 ,then he seeks a shady place1 a happy resting spot1 viewing the mountains1 or beside a stream for preference4 ,and once more1 ,god's open-air kitchen is smoking4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,eleven ,,the ,,bed ,rise with the lark and with the lark to bed1 ,observe some solemn sentimental owl2 ,but first1 before we make ourselves a fool or fowl1 ,let us enquire if the larks have any beds at all4 ,they have1 they have4 ,the tramp is a lark of a kind1 and makes a little nest each night4 ,it is apt to be a pleasant place4 ,there are few 8restless pillows0 in the open-air bed4 ,england1 of course1 is not the country for it4 ,there is so much rain and dew that the sleeper out of doors is like to develop fungoid4 ,but in ,america the ordinary population is so pris of the fresh1 uncovered night1 that nearly everyone outside the great cities sleeps at least on the porch1 or in a garden hammock slung between trees4 ,i am prejudiced in favor of that kind of tramping where one sleeps out4 ,strictly speaking1 if one sleeps in hotels or houses1 it is not a tramp but a walking tour4 ,you cannot afford to be divorced from ,nature1 and the winds at sundown4 ,the continuity of day and night in the open is golden gain4 ,the objections against it in a dry healthful climate are commonly trivial4 ,for instance1 danger4 ,some think it dangerous4 ,they believe they may be attacked by robbers or by wild beasts4 ,but robbers do not search the woods and the wilderness for likely victims4 ,unless1 by your behavior you should attract attention1 there is not the slightest risk of interference on the part of man4 ,i can imagine some rather rich dandified intemperate pair going singing along the road from some wayside pothouse when they have incontinently advertised their intention of sleeping out4 ,the bad lad of the village1 or some local wag1 has overheard1 and determines on a hold-up4 ,the victims have themselves to blame4 ,as evening comes on1 the tramp should become more shy4 ,it is a mistake to choose one's evening camp in full view of the highway4 ,for one's own subsequent peace of mind it is better to have been unobserved4 ,though if you are a stout fellow1 why worry8 ,i have had midnight visitors before now1 and have stirred up the embers of the fire to make another pot of coffee1 but it has generally been pleasant and interesting1 a diversion4 ,as regards wild beasts1 that is a danger greatly overestimated4 ,if you are thoroughly wild1 the wild beasts will know it and respect you4 ,they much prefer to bite the white1 the soft1 the civilized and the timid4 ,the puma is an unsociable lady but she may generally be reckoned upon to leave you alone1 even if she does resent your sleeping on her grounds4 ,the bear1 with his inquisitive snout1 may come snuffing for your provisions1 but he will not attack you unless you are going to attack him4 ,it should be understood that wild animals have an uncanny power of sensing your state of mind and your intentions4 ,they know if you are scared1 and they know if you are going to jump up and strike at them4 ,they know also if you have no fear1 and if you are friendly4 ,if you are calm and easy-going you can often make up to a bear and feed him4 ,i imagine that was the secret of those early ,christians who were famous for their friendship with the fiercest of animals4 ,more dangerous1 however1 are reptiles1 and one should avoid lying down in a basket of snakes4 ,in a snake-swarming country it is as well to avoid caves1 especially those with many ledges4 ,dry ditches also1 though sometimes attractive hollows for the spreading out of bedding1 are often the home of snakes4 ,you have observed them there by day4 ,they remain at night4 ,as regards the open1 it is easy to beat out the brush so as to make sure that no rattler is going to be disturbed later on4 ,sleeping against walls has also its dangers1 not only from snakes but from scorpions4 ,the scorpion is a loathsome creature2 even seeing one is rather a shock1 and the bite is reputed to be specially poisonous4 ,in tarantula country a sleeping bag or a hammock is preferable to a bed spread on the ground4 ,but when all hazards have been considered1 a bed out of doors is safer than a bed in a house4 ,the roof will not fall in2 there is no danger of fire4 ,experience1 however1 tells when it comes to choosing a resting place and making it comfortable4 ,it is not a happy thing to plump down at the end of the day at random upon feeling tired4 ,you cannot sleep pleasantly on a heap of stones1 or in a marsh1 or on a canting surface4 ,you need to think of the chances of rain1 or of mosquitoes1 or creeping damp4 ,the commonest mistake is that of leaving the choice of a resting place till too late4 ,it is sometimes fantastically difficult to make oneself comfortable if one starts about it after nightfall1 or in the late twilight4 ,you need time4 ,any time after five o'clock in the afternoon1 should you come upon an ideal spot for spending the night1 it is better to give up tramping for the day there and then and take over your billet4 ,if it is raining you need the shelter of heavily foliaged trees1 or of a cave1 or of an overhanging rock1 or of a bridge over a river1 or of a barn4 ,if it is at all likely to rain you need to have such refuges near you1 so that you can decamp readily and easily1 and without mislaying half your kit4 ,of all these1 the overhanging rock is the most pleasant1 and like it1 the large slanting tree trunk1 or some protruding bank of earth and turf4 ,rain is not such a calamity in the tramp's night as might appear1 though a long spell of rainy weather may be depressing4 ,even if one gets a little wet at night it is not too unpleasant4 ,i have known pleasure in a soaking night out of doors4 ,one reckons1 however1 upon sunshine next morning and the chance of drying off before ten o'clock4 ,much discomfort is caused by stones at night4 8,stones ,thy pillow1 earth ,thy bed10 says the ,lenten hymn1 but earth thy pillow1 stones thy bed1 is more in the natural order4 ,the tired body finds the stones but the hand does not4 ,it is well to make a good clearance of stones from the natural hollow you have chosen4 ,a goodly stone may help at the head1 but the best pillow is generally one's pack1 or one's boots with a softer covering4 ,if possible1 it is better not to settle down to sleep on sloping ground--for you slide all night and may slide into a much worse position than that originally chosen4 ,in the mountains1 where there is little level ground1 it is better to seek a hole or a hollow or a natural shelf or recess4 ,if you have to sleep on the edge of a precipice1 it is as well to choose a place which has the chance barricade of a tree or a bush or a rock4 ,tramps are much afraid of rolling2 but if proper precautions are taken one can sleep even where the eagle builds4 ,in the valleys1 it is well to avoid sleeping too low4 ,inviting dells are often covered with but a thin carpet of sun-dried earth under which is bog4 ,marsh damp creeps upward in the early hours of the morning1 and you wake in an unpleasant fog4 ,insects and reptiles abound in such places1 and a bad night with them may spoil a good day4 ,there are so many ideal spots for sleeping the night1 and they are so diverse that it would be folly to catalogue or to enumerate4 ,you see them as you go along4 ,you get into the habit of spotting them4 ,even in the morning you remark as you go along3 8,ah1 a good place for spending a night60 ,it is a little like choosing villas in a locality generally agreeable4 ,one has this point1 the other has this special convenience4 ,the view counts for a good deal4 ,night is a visit to the opera4 ,you want to see all the stars2 you want a good stall4 ,the views of the landscape1 of the trees1 of the sky--these are charms of residence4 ,you suit yourself regarding shelter from the wind or exposure to the wind1 southern aspect1 and all that4 ,some like to lie in the wind1 others in the calm4 ,as regards aspect1 it is not where the sun shines at noon that interests you1 but from what gap it dawns4 ,moon aspect also is not an inconsiderable matter4 ,as regards mere comfort1 much may be done if there is time4 ,you can make yourself a mattress of wild flowers1 and wallow like a tramp in clover4 ,you can pile up dried weeds under you4 ,you can improve on your pillow1 smooth down your lonely pillow1 in fact4 ,you can ingeniously use various contents of your knapsack to give more warmth or softness4 ,those who feel the cold can put in hot rocks4 ,the hot rock is a cowboy device4 ,you take some fair-sized stones1 heat them in your camp fire1 then wrap them up in whatever comes handy and place at the foot of the bed--this gives a sort of hot-water bottle4 ,when tramping in high mountains you almost inevitably approach the snow line at times1 and it is cold even in ,july4 ,the hot rocks come in useful4 ,personally1 ,i do not feel cold much1 but ,i have tried hot rocks and have been surprised to realize that they retain their warmth even till morning4 ,their chief drawback is the scorch they may give you if by chance you undo the wrapping and put your leg on a naked stone4 ,some walkers get so enamored of hot rocks that they will sleep hugging a big one to their bosom4 ,of course1 one soon discovers that a night in the shelter of a great rock is warmer than a night in the unprotected open1 and a night in a cave warmer even than that4 ,caves facing westward over the sea keep the sun low in them all night2 caves on the western sides of mountains do the same4 ,but this does not apply to profound caves which may be very cool4 ,a night in a cave is an adventure1 but it is likely to be less pleasant than a night outside4 ,the floor of a cave is uncommonly hard1 and a ridge in the floor may wear you out if you try to sleep across it4 ,the pleasant part of a cave for sleeping is the mouth of it4 ,it is just as well1 by the way1 to make sure that the cave is uninhabited before establishing yourself for the night4 ,in more civilized parts ,i have spent very pleasant nights under bridges4 ,i cannot recommend railway bridges1 as the trains shake down dirt1 but river and road bridges have frequently very sweet natural homes for wanderers1 close in where the first timbers meet the ground4 ,one should1 however1 arrive in time to choose a place which has not been used before you by some domestic animal1 since you may find insects in such places4 ,in certain countries the hammock is an ideal convenience for sleeping1 but it needs getting used to1 and there are some people who always fall out of them in the night4 ,in the jungles of the tropics or of subtropical countries1 it is the accepted mode4 ,you need enough mosquito netting to swathe your body three times and1 wrapped in that1 you swing in your boat of rope4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,twelve ,,the ,,dip ,some tramps have a groundless fear of water4 ,in ,russia they call it vodaboyazn1 which means simply 8water fright10 and is a better word than hydrophobia1 which means the same thing1 but is connected in the mind with mad dogs4 ,here1 no mad dog is in question4 ,water3 a liquid recommended for external use1 is greatly despised by certain winebibbers who affect to be afraid that it will get into the wine4 ,the fact is1 most of them have got the water fright4 ,after a stout bottle of ,burgundy and a cigar1 what more dreadful torture can be imagined than sitting under a fountain of water4 ,it is better to sit in an old leather chair in a ,piccadilly window than on a chair in the rocks under a flowing cascade4 8,i am for that ,piccadilly window10 says the confirmed lizard--and not a few tramps are at one with the clubman4 ,however1 once you get the water fright it is almost incurable1 and perhaps not worth writing about4 ,coldness of the water is a prejudice4 ,the coldest dip in the sea is easier to take than the ordinary cold bath in a cramped bathroom4 ,the immediate activity of the body conquers the cold4 ,in a bathroom most people have to be painfully passive4 ,but truly1 in those seasons of the year when one is able to sleep out of doors one need not fear the temperature of the water4 ,the morning swim is such an embellishment of the open-air life that many are tempted to plan their whole expedition with that in view4 ,thus they would rather tramp along the sea-shore or in a region of many lakes than traverse a region of little rivers and springs1 but no water of depth4 ,the dip means a great deal extra in happiness1 health and vigor4 ,i think ,i prefer the lake to the sea--that is1 after a night out of doors4 ,it is colder and fresher4 ,its unruffled gray and silver seems to have been spread specially for you to plunge into4 ,it is a different matter to come from an hotel bed out to the margin of the mere and wade into early morning loveliness4 ,that is good1 but it is not the best4 ,you miss the continuity of experience4 ,a night with the moon and wild flowers1 with fleeting clouds and seeming-fleeting stars1 with cool and warm airs wandering1 with wood whispers and the nightingale's song1 has its fitting envoi in twenty minutes' plashing after dawn4 ,nature learns that the tramp is awake4 ,you scoop a coffeepot full of water from the same pool wherein you bathe4 ,you see the coffeepot standing on the bank like a faithful bird awaiting your return from the water4 ,mother-naked1 you plunge and strive and indulge in various forms of joyous excess4 ,the gray dawn sky above is gentle as loving eyes4 ,the blue smoke of your fire has lost itself and plays with the morning air as you do with the water4 ,after that1 still dripping1 you carry the coffeepot to the fire4 ,you dry as you walk4 ,it may be your pleasure as a man to return to the lakeside and shave4 ,you stand in the freshness with no one near and brandish a lathered shaving brush2 you may not get all the hair off1 but what more delicious shave than this6 ,the next item in the program may be the morning wash4 ,you can wash out a shirt1 a pair of socks1 a towel1 the sugar bag1 what you will1 and dry them as the morning sun warms up4 ,this is a necessary matter now and then4 ,it is not convenient to save up bits of washing for some village lass to do1 or for some town laundry2 it means delay in uncongenial places4 ,the dip is also associated in the mind with fishing4 ,dawn is the hour when they jump1 and the angler-tramp loves the dawn shadows of the morning twilight4 ,he catches his breakfast before he bathes1 guts his fish1 gets ready his frying pan--for you do not want to wait too long for food once you have been in the water4 ,but it is not only at dawn that one bathes4 ,any good stream or pool at any time is a good pretext for a dip4 ,there is some danger of overdoing it at the beginning1 especially when it is sea bathing4 ,the afternoon bathe is sometimes tiring1 if one has bathed also before noon4 ,a good plan is to bathe morning1 noon and night1 but not too long at any time4 ,if you are a thoroughgoing lazy tramp you can sun bathe for an hour or so also1 but of course you will not get far along the coast in the course of a day4 ,in lake and sea there is the temptation of swimming1 but most commonly1 in mountain tramping1 swimming is not possible4 ,the rivers are too tumultuous1 the lakes are boggy or shallow4 ,but there is considerable pleasure4 ,no happier noontide can be imagined than on the stairs of a cascade where a little river1 plunging from a pass1 makes its rocky and foaming descent to gentler levels4 ,you sit well inside a water-worn slippery armchair1 while living crystal comes down on your head and neck1 on shoulders and back4 ,in the ,rockies and in the ,alps1 in the ,caucasus1 and in the ,carpathians--wherever there are mountains1 there are such places and such delights4 ,when you reach the snow line there is pleasure enough in snow bathing1 though one should beware of it when the body has got very hot with arduous climbing4 ,the snow often has a comparatively solid crust1 but when this is broken it is soft underneath4 ,it depends on your constitution whether you can stand it at a high altitude1 but otherwise it is pleasant sometimes in mid-,july to plaster oneself with the so-unfamiliar snow4 ,the evening swim1 too1 is a pleasure1 taking the tiredness out of your limbs and adding to the happiness of your relaxation when1 later1 you lie with your blanket over you under the stars4 ,it has not the joy of the dawn swim1 not the joie de vivre of that of noontide4 ,but it has the peace of an evening hymn or child's prayer4 ,if you are a ,celt or a ,slav1 it has melancholy1 the poetry of sadness4 ,it tunes the soul to the night mood and the awakening of the dim stars and the coming on of that intense silence1 that stopped breath of ,nature1 which one senses in the first hours of the night4 ,from baptism comes grace4 ,the spirit of the water has found place in the bosom of the wanderer4 ,he may be a pagan at heart1 but he has come nearer to being a ,christian if he has thus bathed three times a day4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,thirteen ,,drying ,,after ,,rain ,wet weather is not the tramp's worst enemy1 but it leaves him with the problem of drying his clothes4 ,it may not damp his spirits1 but will probably damp his attire4 ,the walk in the rain1 or worse than that1 the walk through rain-laden thickets after the rain has ceased1 the night slept in the rain when it begins to drizzle at eleven and you think naught of it1 and to rain steadily at twelve and there is no refuge1 and to pour gently at one and in torrents at two1 and it is all the same because you are already as wet as can be--these are modifications of ,nature's blessings1 pleasant or unpleasant in themselves according to taste and breeding1 but having1 as a natural sequence1 the common duty of drying4 ,the wet dawn peers through the trees2 pale morning looks faintly upon a washed-out camp1 and two ,rip ,van ,winkles1 feeling a hundred years older1 lift up heavy and rusty limbs1 and reflect that it has been a wet night4 ,the problem is to get dry4 ,the first means is a fire4 ,grant the matches have kept dry2 or if they have not been kept in a canister1 that one of the tramps happens to have a briquet6 ,with a petrol lighter one is independent of wet matches4 ,then the fire must be carefully begun1 nursed and nourished4 ,perhaps one can find an old ruined and red-rusty bucket on the waste--a gift of ,providence4 ,the fire may be well started in that4 ,if you feel cold you may bring fuel to the fire spot on the run--dead fuel of branch and withered weed1 heaps of it4 ,one needs to get a good fire going1 a big fire1 a drier4 8,it can be done10 as a millionaire self-made man used to say4 8,can't must be overcome40 ,you know at sight when your fire has got the upper hand of the surrounding damp4 ,that is your moment for executing a war dance around it4 ,the longer you dance the quicker you dry4 ,but do not forget reserves of fuel4 ,you need a fire on which you could roast a sheep4 ,for you have to dry1 not only your clothes1 but the blanket1 the knapsack1 and your spare linen4 ,you find a corner for your pot4 ,it will boil and provide coffee while you are engaged with drying4 ,somehow or other the blanket has to be hoisted up on to a line4 ,you need string1 which ,i hope you have brought4 ,if there is a tree or a telegraph post or any other post1 or preferably two convenient trees1 two convenient posts1 you can tie up the blanket and let it dry in the heat of the fire4 ,if these are absent there may be a corner of a wired enclosure4 ,you must shift your fire to the place where you can rig up the blanket4 ,it is seldom that absence of uprights of any kind reduces you to holding the blanket in your own hands in front of the fire and drying it so4 ,indeed1 if no convenience offers1 you may simply dry off your clothes and then tramp on till you find a spot better equipped for blanket drying4 ,you will not1 as a rule1 have to tramp far4 ,clothes1 however1 do not dry as quickly as expected4 ,especially the tweed jacket and its shoulders take an unconscionable time a-drying4 ,it is not good for one's health to tramp with a heavy knapsack on wet shoulders4 ,the weight drives the damp inward1 and as the back warms and perspires it takes potential rheumatism from the steam of the jacket4 ,a night out in the rain will not give you rheumatism2 many nights in the wet will not give you rheumatism4 ,it is not getting wet which gives you these pains1 it is the way you dry4 ,you are1 in fact1 safer scampering naked in the wet than drying slowly in a heap of wet clothes4 ,perhaps it is not amiss to remark here that a waterproof worn over wet clothes is a sure way to cultivate rheumatism4 ,the damp cannot escape outwards--and so goes inward to your very bones4 ,your shirt will dry quickest and easiest4 ,wearing that1 you can dry the rest of your clothes at the fire1 the lightest first4 ,if your boots are soaked it is better not to try and dry them by a fire4 ,leather liketh not fire4 ,there is little harm in wearing wet boots and trusting them to dry themselves as best they can4 ,it is a happy occasion1 this of drying off4 ,one's spirits are naturally exalted by it4 ,it is victory of a kind4 ,the tramp sings as he circles the fire4 ,there is a music which belongs to the mood1 and it is a pity no great musician has composed 8,while waiting for my clothes to dry by an early morning fire40 ,the musicians have not tramped enough4 ,however1 in this light-hearted frolic1 let us not allow our linen to be ruined4 ,beware of the long flames which try to lick your trousers as they hang there in the wind2 beware of the scorching heat which browns and ruins a shirt2 beware of the showers of sparks which rise when you throw a new log on the fire4 ,for some good reason1 sparks are more plentiful after rain than in the dry4 ,your fire may be sending up sparks all the while1 big1 substantial living sparks1 which1 settling on your drying blanket1 may fret it with holes4 ,i have had a blanket made holey by this before now4 ,the spark settles on the wool1 ignites it gently1 and starts a hole which may be as big as a cigar end before you notice it4 ,as the blanket gets nearer being perfectly dry you need to retire it from the intimate ardors of the fire4 ,your fire1 in any case1 has been getting hotter and hotter4 ,you have not noticed that it is beginning to scorch your clothes and your wraps4 ,that is the way of drying off4 ,it suits all weathers4 ,but if1 while you are engaged upon it1 the sun breaks forth1 promising natural heat1 you may relax your energies from the fireside and place your hopes on the morning warmth4 ,nothing is more delightful than the sun bath after rain4 ,you enjoy it1 your clothes enjoy it1 blanket enjoys it1 knapsack enjoys it1 coffee enjoys it4 ,as you are all spread out on the hillside the butterflies settle on your bare chest trying to take honey from you1 and flit thence to the knapsack which1 perchance moistened with sugar1 gives an even pleasanter reaction to the proboscis of a ,vanessa4 ,a third dry-off is in a farmhouse at the kindly hands of a farm wife1 who hangs your blanket and jacket in her kitchen1 while her husband regales you in the parlor with homebrew and a hunk of fruit pie4 ,there are other less satisfactory ways of drying2 using newspapers as blotting paper and stuffing the legs of your trousers with them4 ,but first find your dry newspapers4 ,another method is to get up into a tree and sit there till you are dry4 ,the last ,i have tried1 but shivered so steadily that ,i gave it up1 resumed my way1 and walked myself dry4 ,it is part of a genuine tramping outing to get once thoroughly wet--and dry off4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,fourteen ,,marching ,,songs ,man is a singing animal1 but civilization has silenced many songs4 ,in so many places ,i see exposed the lugubrious mourning card--,,silence6 ,silence in court1 silence in the office6 ,how annoyed we can get to feel when some one begins singing in a carriage of a train4 ,we crave silence and our newspapers1 silence and our pipes4 ,we will not sing or listen to singing on the way to our work4 ,indeed1 singing is not fitting2 we might rather sing coming home but not going out4 ,but coming home1 we are all in too much of a hurry1 and the crowds irritate us1 and we have not had our supper4 ,to tell the truth1 we had but a slight lunch and no wine4 ,we never got into the singing mood4 ,our mentors are against singing4 8,sing in the morning1 you'll sob before evening10 says one4 8,sing on a ,friday1 you'll weep on the ,sunday10 says the ,catholic4 ,children sing naturally and exuberantly on any and all occasions1 but father and mother and elder brother and uncle and friend cannot bear it4 ,send them to the garden1 send them to the nursery6 ,we so dislike random singing that we pay street musicians--to go away1 and they have learned that bad singing brings more coppers than their better efforts4 ,they are professional irritants4 ,yet singing is very natural1 and when one takes to the road the singing impulse comes to the bosom4 ,light-heartedness begets song4 ,we sing as we walk1 we walk as we sing1 and the kilometers fall behind4 ,after a long spell of the forced habit of not singing one finds oneself accidentally singing1 and there is surprise4 ,good ,heavens6 ,i'm singing4 ,and singing what8 ,not the latest song1 by any means1 but something remembered from childhood and school days1 the happy innocent strains of days gone by4 ,songs give birth to songs1 memories to memories4 ,the ear and the heart explore the lost repertoire of music4 ,you sing all the old songs you ever knew1 and snatches of this1 snatches of that1 still-remembered fragments of melody1 tunes heard ,god knows where4 ,the voice glides from one thing to another in a rhapsody of open-air happiness4 ,it is singing of freedom1 of escape1 of absence of care and anxiety1 of beauty4 8,sing me a song of a lad that is gone0--it is singing that song over and over again on never-tiring ears4 8,say1 could that lad be ,i80--it is asking the question1 and your light heart is answering1 8,yes1 yes1 that lad was ,i4 ,the tiresome somber fellow who worked in a town was not ,i4 ,i was imprisoned in him4 ,now ,i am free and ,i sing40 ,at first it does not matter what you sing4 ,you sing some old love song of the heart1 some hymn by which your mother once sang you to sleep1 some boy's song1 sung on the way to school or some 8,promise of ,life10 some learned song1 once lisped over the shoulder of a young girl at the piano1 some haunting ballad or lyric out of the ,celtic twilight1 or some lilting country air of an ,english countryside4 ,absurdly you stamp it out as you walk3 ,oh1 let the night be ever so dark ,and never so wet and wine-dy1 ,i must have a will and turn back again ,to the girl ,i left behind me4 ,and while you are going forward you are really going back1 and there is a girl waiting for you ahead on your track--the playmate girl of ,nature whom you did once leave behind4 ,you sing as you go to her4 ,you drift from old ,english songs to ,negro minstrelsy1 and still--it is some one waiting for you1 praying for you4 ,she is waiting for you 8there by the door1 in oh-old ,singapore40 ,somewhere there is a 8corn-fed bride0--where the black-eyed ,susans grow4 ,you shift to operetta and to the reveries of opera1 especially in the evenings1 to serenades1 to boat songs and songs about stars and fair women's eyes4 8,sing in the morning and you will sing all day10 say ,i4 8,sing on a ,friday and you will sing better on ,sunday40 ,you shall sing by the camp fire in the morning1 and sing as you dip in the stream1 sing as you climb the rugged mountain road1 sing yourself to noontide and the pass1 like a lark rising upward in sheer joy of living4 ,you shall sing of home as you descend in the afternoon1 and sing in the dark under the night sky by your fading fire4 ,what is a tramping day if it does not liberate a voice1 so that you can sing out your soul to the free sky4 ,a slightly different temperament achieves the same happiness reciting poetry1 repeating every verse ever conned for love of thought or sound4 ,this is singing of a kind4 ,songs heard are sweet1 but the unheard may be sweeter4 ,the heart can be lifted up by poetry even more than by song4 ,and the inner meaning and sense of a poem becomes one's own on the march when it lends it rhythms and verbal emotions to express the hidden yearnings of one's own being4 ,and the two can be combined--poetry and song4 ,there are those who sing all poetry and call recitation singing4 ,they incant and intone as they tramp4 ,they are lifted up in an ecstasy which makes them independent of physical tiredness or difficulties or meannesses or past misfortunes or ill-treatment4 ,song and poetry enfranchise you in the universe4 ,the tramp for moments becomes citizen of the universe and knows all secrets1 all mysteries1 all depths1 all heights4 ,he comes back to earth anon1 but he has seen and understood4 ,such happiness is explored in one's personal repertoire of poetry and song that the tramp who makes tramping a great part of his life does well to add to what he has1 taking pains to note down the words of haunting airs and verses4 ,in ,italy1 in ,france1 ,spain1 ,germany1 and ,slav countries1 one inevitably hears melodies one would like to remember4 ,there is folk music1 and it can only be learned in the countries where it is natural4 ,there is something in the singing of it which escapes all notation4 ,the ear1 the mood of the soul1 can alone enable you to imitate it1 to repeat just what you have heard1 what moved you4 ,even those who know little of music can capture these songs if they will take the trouble to copy the words and make the native singers repeat and repeat till the songs come back again truly from your lips4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,fifteen ,,scrounging ,one might call it by a better name2 it means getting a meal for nothing when you can4 ,in certain unspoiled parts of the world there are outlandish folk who will take the wanderer in1 give him meat and drink1 and send him on his way rejoicing4 ,you can still get a swig of milk and a heaped pile of bannocks in the ,north4 ,they will fill you with apples in ,hereford and cream in ,devon4 ,a good deal depends on your appearance4 ,it is not always fair1 when you have been turned away1 to think you have met with inhospitality4 ,you may have a fearsome appearance4 ,you have omitted the daily shave2 your hat may have a hole in it4 ,some one may have been at the house asking ungraciously for something just before you came4 ,one should not trade upon hospitality4 ,but it is pleasant now and then to knock up a farmer for a dinner1 or rather1 a farmer's wife1 when the farmer has gone to the fields4 ,for she is much more tender-hearted4 ,unfortunately1 in ,america1 the professional hobo has spoilt the field for ,nature's knight-errant4 ,the hobo shamelessly works whole neighborhoods1 leaving nothing to chance or choice1 and will bang every door in a village till he gets what he calls a 8hand-out40 ,the supposed tramp hieroglyphics are of little value--8,good feed here10 8',ware dog2 want you to work for it10 etc4 ,you have to make good where these sharks have failed1 and it can be done occasionally by sheer good humor and high spirits4 ,a hot meal is worth having occasionally1 even if one has to make friends with baby1 or rescue the cat or blarney the farm wife4 ,a good method of approach is by offering to buy something4 ,one has always to be buying milk for one's coffee4 ,the purchase may lead to a friendly interest and the interest to a seat at the table with the family1 or at least in the kitchen4 ,generally1 speaking1 it is better for the family to have you in their midst4 ,you come from far1 you have stories to tell1 you have the record of wild life4 ,the children's eyes open as you discourse4 ,the good man drops his fork--but you do not drop yours4 ,thus the tramp may sometimes1 for a change1 spend a pleasant noontide or evening at a farm1 fill up with a change of food1 get some good drink1 and then round it off with a pleasant sleep in a barn4 ,for this the shoddy make-up of the professional hobo is out of place4 ,it is of no use imitating his 8hard luck0 stories1 no use to talk hypocritically of seeking work which it is difficult to get4 ,one should avoid the skulking look which begets suspicion1 and the sneaking round the kitchen door4 ,a brave and debonair gait pays best4 ,you enter as a gentleman and cannot afford to be treated as a potential thief or bandit4 ,so much harm has1 alas1 been done by cynical and callous tramps who have abused hospitality where they have found it1 cursing1 nevertheless1 where it has been denied4 ,one should endeavor to give something in return--not money--where hospitality has been found1 and so help to restore a good thing in the world4 ,by one's manners1 by one's talk1 by a little memento or token here and there1 one pays for hospitality received4 ,in return for hospitality of the body--food or lodging1 one should always give hospitality of the mind or spirit1 sympathy1 fellow feeling1 bonhomie1 a readiness to be at the disposal of your host4 ,there are1 however1 accidental modes of scrounging which have no palliatives4 ,who1 can resist robbing an orchard of a few apples8 ,oh1 those ,ohio apples6 ,i've eaten many a one at dawn without paying for it1 big as your fist1 streaked with cheek-red1 sweet as a kiss4 ,i have lifted the strawberries1 too1 from the strawberry beds--the birds were not always to blame--and ,i have picked the watched pear which was growing daily with nectarine4 ,one does not burn everlastingly for this in the hereafter4 ,all ,i can say is1 that if ,i settle on the land in my old age1 some tramps may then rob me for my sins4 ,another useful gain to the tramp's kitchen is fish4 ,unless1 however1 he is a fisherman he may find fish difficult to obtain4 ,but upon occasion1 tramping beside lakes and rivers1 one may fall in with fishermen who1 as a rule1 will gladly part with a portion of the catch1 a proletarian for cash1 a gentleman for naught4 8,do you eat all you catch80 ,i once asked of a tweed-clad angler4 8,good heavens1 no60 he replied4 8,i throw most of what ,i catch back in the stream40--8,well1 throw a couple in this frying pan60 ,one should beware1 however1 of making seemingly facetious remarks to the melancholy angler1 who has fished all night and caught nothing4 ,like the apostles1 he needs a miracle to cheer him up4 ,when the ,indian corn is ripe there is again delightful food for stealing1 and no one will call you thief4 ,just go into one of those wonderful bearded fields and select your cobs4 ,take them to the camp fire and bake them or boil them4 ,it's a great addition to dinner or supper4 ,have you saved a little butter to melt on the hot cob8 ,what luxury6 ,this is not a tramp's life4 ,there are ,american millionaires who1 could they be clairvoyant in their expensive hotels1 would weep with envy4 ,the beloved ,master of all ,christian folk showed us the way when1 walking with his pupils1 he plucked the corn4 ,he would have loved corn on the cob1 but ,palestine is a sterile place4 ,you have lifted the corn1 you may go further1 less legitimately1 and scrounge a small marrow1 and again a melon4 ,in certain countries that means no loss to any one4 ,but let us be diffident of taking the only melon1 the only marrow4 ,the best fun is1 however1 amid the wild fruit1 the berries1 the grapes1 the plums4 ,one lives on the kindly fruits of the earth4 ,you come on a hillside rusty-brown with little strawberries1 and only the birds to share them with you4 ,one spends hours grazing on strawberries4 ,wild grapes1 too1 one eats with the mouth from the vine without picking them4 ,scrounging by and large is not the noblest thing in a tramp's life1 but it means much to him2 there is happiness in it4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,sixteen ,,seeking ,,shelter ,sometimes1 at high altitudes in the ,alps1 the ,rockies1 and elsewhere1 one comes upon bleak empty shelters built for protection against wind and snow4 ,ordinary tramping is not mountaineering1 but1 nevertheless1 it leads one upon occasion to wild and desolate exalted regions4 ,there seems to be no particular danger except that of failing to obtain provisions after supplies have run out4 ,but there is a danger1 often unforeseen2 the coming on of a great storm4 ,a raging blizzard of snow is sometimes blinding and perishing4 ,all is veiled in driving whiteness4 ,the wind is piercing4 ,after a few steps the track1 if there is one1 is lost2 landmarks have disappeared from view1 and it is safer to stop than to go on4 ,not a few people have met their deaths in an unexpected snowstorm in the upper ,alps4 ,they may be in fairly safe mountain country1 but it is easy to misjudge distance in such circumstances1 and go over a cliffside by a random step in the snow4 ,unless you can find some sort of shelter you are changed to a snow man in a few minutes1 and get disgustingly numbed4 ,even if you lie down flat in the snow the storm pierces to your bones4 ,fortunately1 one can generally see a storm coming1 and find a rock or a cave or some sort of kraal or shepherd's house4 ,the cave is a good place in which to await the storm and then watch it pass4 ,thunderstorms may be almost as perilous as blizzards1 and certainly more frightening4 ,you are up where the clouds meet2 the electric currents surge through you4 ,something dark comes driving up the wedge between the ranges1 roaring below through the ravine4 ,it is the oncoming wind and rain4 ,thunders prodigious and bellowing1 break out upon the right and left4 ,you suddenly find yourself in an island of pale subdued light1 with clouds rolling up to you from below4 ,it is an experience worth having if you possess the nerve to take it calmly4 ,the lightnings are sometimes amazingly intimate1 wrapping you1 wreathing you1 bathing you with fire1 almost searing your eyeballs4 ,criss-cross1 flash1 blare1 effusion1 confusion4 ,the explosions are dumbfounding and the many echoes confound in one great infernal battle music4 ,there is an oncoming enemy who always threatens1 and never seems quite to arrive4 ,or you are in the midst of the mle with torrents battling across and across you4 ,you get soaked1 the knapsack gets soaked1 the boots get soaked1 the rock under you becomes a water channel2 the cliffs on all sides discharge water against you1 to say nothing of what is raging out of the sky4 ,once more1 it is better to watch it from a cave4 ,there is the enormous advantage of keeping relatively dry4 ,in a great storm a certain amount of rain is bound to blow into any cave1 but there is the advantage of feeling safer1 whether one is or not4 ,the lightnings do not play quite so much about your eyes4 ,you are also out of the way of those rain-loosened boulders which have a way of detaching themselves in a storm1 and coming violently from above1 falling sometimes at your feet or dashing past your knees to fall another two thousand feet into the abyss below you4 ,in the cave a falling rock is merely a feature of interest1 while you watch the grand spectacle of a thunderstorm in the mountains4 ,if the storm last too long1 one can generally glean a coffeepot full of water1 light a fire at the mouth of the cave1 and make some coffee or tea4 ,in like manner one can take shelter from mountain gales which sometimes spring up with hurricane force and make perilous the passage of some knife-edge track4 ,it is not wise to brave the elements when one false step risks your life4 ,such gales commonly die down before sunset1 and the succeeding calm can be waited for with patience4 ,these are heroic occasions1 but there are others less heroic which bid us seek shelter4 ,one may be down below in the quiet country1 and yet as devastating a thunderstorm intervene1 or heavy drenching rain1 or a bone-searching northeaster4 ,but down below it is easier to find refuge4 ,there are keepers' huts in forests1 holes dug by animals1 hollow trees1 there are deserted houses1 barns1 outhouses1 bridges4 ,there are human homes1 inns1 hotels--even railway stations and covered vans4 ,obtaining shelter1 except on wide and desolate moors1 is not so difficult4 ,on moorland there is nothing for it but to put on one's waterproof cape1 over knapsack and all1 and brave it out4 ,you will find of what enormous value the waterproof cape can be1 not only being your ground sheet at night1 but saving you your provisions and kit1 from a deluge of rain4 ,it sometimes happens that a storm beginning in the afternoon will last all night4 ,one must judge by the look of the sky4 ,on a shelterless moor or plateau it is no gain to shut one's eyes to the dire possibilities of the situation4 ,it is an occasion when the art of idleness can be put aside4 ,if it is necessary to walk a steady twenty miles to some place of shelter for the night1 it is as well to set the mind to it4 ,after the first mile in the rain the tramp becomes pleasant2 after five or ten miles one begins to sing4 ,one generally finishes in the highest of spirits1 even though soaked to the skin4 ,then shines the opportunity of the good inn or the farmhouse with kitchen fire4 ,one hangs up all to dry and1 sitting in a pair of mine host's breeches1 makes mirth with a vast platter of ham and eggs1 to say nothing of a chicken stewed in its own soup1 and a bottle of ,burgundy1 or a deep draught of cider1 or a ,yorkshire tea4 ,after that1 one burrows deep into the unfamiliar softness of a feather bed and listens to the rain still pouring on the just and the unjust outside4 ,it may happen1 however1 that this idyllic dnouement is not realized2 you make no house in twenty miles4 ,you are fain at last to get into a stone breaker's hut1 or a wet cave or a deserted cabin4 ,you come to a house with only three rafters left of its ruined roof1 and you snuggle somehow into its one dry corner1 possibly making a fire in a convenient place of bits of flooring1 and old newspapers4 ,by this you dry off a little1 boil your pot1 and make the best of a wet world4 ,after all1 one's not likely to take cold or feel any ill effects4 ,the open air gives strength and health to resist cold and damp4 ,the body goes hot as you lie in the draught of the ruin2 it finds its own heat and will dry your shirt for you as you lie there in the cold and the dark4 ,you find1 however1 that it is more cold in a ruined or empty house than in the open4 ,the less ruined the house1 the more cold4 ,in some places you come upon many empty houses4 ,the owners are far away2 the houses are locked1 the windows shut4 ,there is nothing inside2 every room gapes at you from its dreary window4 ,it is always easy to get inside4 ,owners leave some door or window free4 ,you get in on to the kitchen sink1 into the dreary kitchen1 open its further door and come to the silent parlor1 climb the stairs1 half fearing to meet a ghost1 and come upon those weird bedchambers where no one sleeps4 ,it takes some nerve to settle down there for the night4 ,the wind whistles in the keyholes1 creeps with a knife-edge under the door1 searching your cold toes4 ,you lie and quake1 fearing you do not know what--the house imps1 the sprites of dead children1 the opening of the dread door in front of you and the coming in of some ghostly aged grandma1 holding a candle in one hand4 ,not a danger1 but one feels one would scream1 one would rend the roof of the house with a great yell of horror4 ,i have slept in such places1 but do not recall them with gladness4 ,the best place is to open the front or the back door and lie down to sleep on the threshold1 looking out upon the free spacious rain-drenched open-air world4 ,or the tramp may seem to have better luck4 ,he comes in the water-washed twilight into view of some lamp-lighted window and makes for it1 as a ship for a harbor--any port in a storm4 ,it is common to buoy oneself up with unusual hopes about that window and the home behind it4 ,the tired man thinks of a happy cosy home1 joy in welcome1 warmth in hospitality4 ,but too often the light proves to be a will-o'-the-wisp4 ,the house may be a home1 but you are not wanted there4 ,the man of the house will tell you of a place five miles on where you can stay2 he will tell you of a hearsay inn1 and you must trudge on till you see another light4 ,on such occasions the weary wanderer may feel bitter4 ,he feels hurt4 ,he feels he had a right to be taken indoors4 ,but he does not think of his wild looks1 his forbidding aspect1 his drenched and perhaps holey breeches4 ,it is getting late4 ,the man in the desolate house is simply afraid to take him in1 fears he may be robbed in the night1 or worse4 ,in these inhospitable days it is better to use a little stealth--put one's foot in the door1 so to speak1 get a hot supper first1 win a few kind looks from the lady1 talk of bed later4 ,it takes half an hour or so to introduce oneself for a bed4 ,it is only the rare chance where all seems to have been prepared as for an expected guest1 a spare corner even laid at the table where the family is supping1 an occasion to rejoice over and remember for a long time4 ,i well remember one such time when ,i had been a long while in the snow1 and landed up at a desolate ranch4 ,it was as if a long-lost son had arrived4 ,i was at once in the bosom of the family with a pack of new sisters and young brothers1 to say nothing of a cowboy father and a farm-wife mother4 ,very pleasant6 ,rare6 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,seventeen ,,the ,,open ,he is blooded to the open and the sky2 ,he is taken in a snare which shall not fail4 ,i think of storms and of heavy rain and biting wind as exceptional4 ,they give feature in the midst of halcyon days and nights4 ,the tramping life is not in caves and huts and holes and inns1 but in the open4 ,the life opens us with its very breadth4 ,is your friend too thin2 do not diet him under a white ceiling1 but give him air4 ,air will fill him4 ,it is not the air alone that cures and fills1 but what you breathe in with the air4 ,you breathe in the spirit of the open4 ,you breathe in the wideness of the sky2 you reach out to the free horizon4 ,it makes a man big1 it builds a man within4 ,the lark sings as it rises1 conquering the world2 it is sheer joy in the open which causes that sweet bird breast to heave in music far in the heavens above4 ,and as we rise1 and the earth in its grandeur falls away to right and left1 our being heaves in a life which is joy4 ,ours is a bird's happiness4 ,it is a joyous moment which delivers us from the control of a narrow gorge4 ,we wind in and out of the shadow of great rocks4 ,enormous cliffs hang over the way4 ,i think1 for instance1 of the great gorge of ,dariel in the ,caucasus4 ,it is interesting1 but it is oppressive4 ,you come to it from the glorious northern plateau1 the ,terek ,steppes1 where there is space and sun for miles of ,indian corn4 ,you follow the river into the gloom of the way it has cut through the range4 ,it is somewhat enchanting4 ,you come in sight of a shut-off corner1 and it calls to your feet4 ,you must see what is round that corner4 ,but when you get there you find a road merely to another magnetic shut-off corner4 ,you must go on4 ,the next corner reveals another corner1 always darker1 gloomier4 ,the noise of the rushing river increases as the great walls enclosing it come nearer together4 ,you feel yourself becoming smaller and smaller1 as if seen from above4 ,you and your friend are a couple of small animals groveling at the bottom of a pit4 ,on the right you see the ruins of ,queen ,tamara's castle and that fatal window where her unfortunate guests were hurled into the river--the castle to which the ,demon came4 ,you feel yourself on your guard1 as if some mysterious fate were in store for you4 ,i have slept several times in a recess below that castle1 and experienced an eerie feeling which is not caused entirely by history and tradition1 but by something dreadful in the actual geography of the place4 ,thence1 however1 it is a splendid tramp up to the slopes of the great ,kazbek mountain4 ,you get into an exalted region1 among stars and young clouds1 and feel as if you had got away from the ,devil and come nearer to ,god4 ,this grand open upper mountain country is continued to ,kobi1 which is a little ,georgian village1 hidden somewhere in a spacious basin of rose-colored porphyry4 ,an ideal place in many respects4 ,i have often thought of going there to live for a fair space of time4 ,but since the ,war the region has become much more dangerous to strangers4 ,of course1 it may be urged that for glorious open country1 it is hard to rival ,salisbury ,plain and the ,wiltshire ,downs4 ,that is true4 ,it is fine country for a short tramping expedition4 ,it widens the mind4 ,a great thing to have a mind as wide and tolerant as the ,great ,plain1 as healthy as the ,downs4 ,the ,steppes1 however1 make a greater impression--being so vast1 so wild1 so untamed1 untameable4 ,there is an exuberance of earth which ,i would not miss4 ,there is an infinity greater than our domestic infinities4 ,it will soon strike you when tramping that the word infinite does not always mean the same3 there are grades in infinity and measures of the immeasurable4 ,thus there is a further and greater infinity upon the ,steppes1 upon the ,veldt1 upon the ,canadian cornlands1 than1 for instance1 on a clear day in the ,fens4 ,there is also greater measure upward4 ,the tent pole of the sky is longer4 ,clearer air gives a greater sense of the upward depth of space4 ,at night this is especially noticeable4 ,the stars are not pasted on black canvas1 all one level surface4 ,there is depth in the outer sky4 ,you can see the planets poised2 you can see behind the moon4 ,one may dream of prison in a cave1 or gain a morbid fear of the narrowing walls of a ravine1 but open country disenchants the mind4 ,freedom1 room to breathe1 is at least suggested to the senses4 ,the wind does not attack in storm battalions1 but comes equably and large-heartedly across the plain4 ,the wind is a sane traveler1 flicking the tops of the grasses as you do with your staff4 ,it does not behave like a madman with a sword2 it is not a wild cat springing from tree to tree4 ,not that you cannot get the worst of the wildness of a wind upon the moor--but it has a quality that gives courage1 that puts heart into a man4 ,hence the ,borrovian3 8,there's a wind on the heath1 brother60 ,the wind there is one's friend4 ,traveling on the ,central ,asian plain ,i remember a steady wind that blew all night long1 as if it were engaged on the whole-time job of keeping the starry sky polished and swept4 ,all night the ends of my sleeping sack flapped in the wind and ,i looked through trembling eyelashes at the moonlit snowy peaks of the great mountain wall between the 8,tableland of ,fools0 and ,india4 ,a wind that came all the way out of the heart of ,china1 never ceased to blow1 and yet never raised the desert sand4 ,the great wind of the old world was blowing1 as it has blown for ages4 ,it blew out of the past1 turning the monotonous page of history books1 blew out of dreams and legends of forgotten man1 as out of the storybooks of the ,caliphs1 a wind which arose ,god knows where1 far beyond the trails of the caravans1 in the heart of the ,east4 ,you lie in a marvelous stillness4 ,the stars become your men and women4 ,you become a man of ,chaldea1 and the constellations revive4 ,there steals into your heart1 and oh1 how you needed it1 the sweet influence of the ,pleiades4 ,spellbound1 you watch a ballet1 a story up above4 ,there are men on elephants and men tending camels1 long strings of camels1 ropes of camels1 gulf streams of camels wending their way out of the ,south of the ,universe into the bleak ,north4 ,there are jeweled queens and striding harlequins and hesitating dwarfs4 ,there are thirteen-year-old brides1 with streaming luminous hair1 riding on high-stepping ponies1 riding the ways of the dark sky1 till bid for by the heroes who come striding along the great ways from ,arcturus4 ,the civilized world has been removed like a table that has been cleared1 a table cluttered with papers and dishes4 ,civilization has been swept to one side4 ,you cannot see it now2 it is far away--indeed1 out of your ken entirely4 ,you are reduced to a child--whatever your age4 ,you are a petted child of the universe4 ,you shall be all by yourself in the midst of the world1 and the ,divine picture book shall be put in your hands for you to open1 to look at1 to turn the marvelous page4 ,so you lie there enthralled1 with dilated1 excited1 bright-shining eyes2 just you1 so many feet by so many1 and look up at infinite breadth and infinite depth4 ,what is a cabinet thought about the stars1 a 8,whoever looked upon them shining ,nor turned to earth without repining40 compared with the rapturous poetic experience of having lived nights with them1 reading them in the great open chamber of the ,universe6 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,eighteen ,,the ,,tramp ,,as ,,cook ,then did he study some half hour ,but as the ,comick saith his heart was in the kitchen4 ,i think ,coleridge was annoyed by the man who interrupted him with the words 8,them's the jockeys for me10 referring to some steak puddings which had been brought before his eyes4 ,coleridge was regarding some choice bit of ,scottish scenery1 the ,falls of ,clyde1 ,i think1 and a rough1 unlikely-looking fellow had used what ,coleridge had considered absolutely the right adjective concerning them--majestic--and the poet turned on him to learn more of this verbal grace4 ,then a toad leapt from the mouth of the princess who had previously given a pearl4 8,them's the jockeys for me10 said he1 regarding the steak puddings4 ,it is recorded somewhere in ,coleridge's ,table ,talk4 ,i read it some twenty or twenty-five years ago1 and the two expressions have remained with me--8majestic0 and 8them's the jockeys40 ,in fact1 ,i adopted the word majestic as applied to scenery there and then1 that1 and the ,shakespearian 8majestical40 8,it seemed ,i did him wrong1 being so majestical40 ,it has almost become a vice of style4 ,that1 however1 is by the way4 ,the poetry of our life1 and of our book1 shall be interlarded with--,i may not say puddings2 one does not lard with puddings1 with the fatness of cooking and eating4 ,the dawn stars make one hungry4 ,noontide makes one hungry1 and so does afternoon4 ,the tramp is loath to tighten his belt4 ,i have described1 in another book1 how one should make coffee1 and ,i will not repeat4 ,but the first thing about it is love1 as ,i wrote in a verse during my tramp with ,vachel ,lindsay1 8,coffee should be made with love2 that's the first ingredient10 and 8the chief cause of coffee being just indifferent is your indifference towards the coffee40 ,i feel this is also true of the most of cooking4 ,you must bring a loving heart to the primus or the camp fire4 ,no soured personality can be trusted to stir the beans1 far less make the coffee4 ,i have not examined the psychology of good cooks1 but ,i imagine few of them are bitter1 few of them are egoists4 ,watch a thoroughgoing egoist over the camp fire1 cooking for you4 ,but ,i ask too much--take the pan from him1 take the pot away4 ,he will be saying to you1 8,i had a very interesting letter from ,thomas ,hardy apropos of a letter ,i wrote to the ,times1 approving entirely what ,i said--0 ,meanwhile the coffeepot has tilted on its stone and is pouring its goodness to the ants and the beetles4 ,it is a miching malicho1 it means mischief4 ,you must take over from him1 let him sit himself on a rock and pour forth1 but not tend the fire and let the coffeepot pour forth4 ,lindsay wrote a reply to my recipe for making coffee4 ,his was a recipe for making tea4 ,he did not omit love4 ,but as well as tea leaves he recommended leaves of various books to be put in the pot4 ,i do not know that ,i care for this tea from book leaves and1 ,i suppose1 old bindings4 ,i have had it indoors1 given me by some dusty recluse1 in his portentous library4 ,qua tea it was not so excellent1 qua soporific1 it was good4 ,one may put in a little philosophy1 however1 with both tea and coffee4 8,hast any philosophy in thee1 shepherd80 ,we need a little for our repast1 but we want no soda to bring out the flavor4 ,lindsay1 being an ,american1 knew little of tea4 ,that is why we traveled almost exclusively on coffee4 ,in any case1 a practical detail to be noted1 it is not wise to make coffee and tea from the same pot4 ,the flavors adhere even to a very well rinsed vessel and spoil one another4 ,if there are two of you1 each may carry his own pot1 one for tea1 one for coffee4 ,but it is simpler to be unanimous as regards the choice of beverage4 ,in ,russia ,i tramped almost always on tea1 because the tea is so good there and needs no milk4 ,in some districts milk is difficult to obtain4 ,in ,america1 however1 8evaporated0 and 8condensed0 in cans are obtainable everywhere1 and are conveniently carried4 ,you need only make two tiny perforations in the lid of the condensed milk tin4 ,you blow through one1 and it drives a thin stream of milk out at the other4 ,you cover these perforations with a leaf or a piece of paper1 and thus sealed1 the can is carried safely in the rucksack4 ,of course1 if you open with a can opener it is likely to be difficult to keep your milk for more than one meal--or it will make an unpleasant mixture in your rucksack4 ,china tea has the advantage that it needs no milk4 ,indeed1 milk spoils it4 ,it should be made very weak1 and it is then more refreshing than ,indian tea4 ,i prefer a good ,chinese blend1 especially on tramp4 ,it is not1 however1 possible to prepare tea in any elegant fashion4 ,there is no 8five o'clock0 in the wilds4 ,you brew a pot of tea at any hour which taste suggests4 ,the luxurious may carry a small teapot and merely boil the water in the can or coffeepot4 ,but the rougher method is not without appeal4 ,you can sift two spoonfuls of tea into your coffeepot when the water is boiling and at once take it off the fire4 ,a better plan is to cut off a small square from your mosquito netting and tie the tea in that4 ,your first mugful will be rather weak1 but your second1 third and fourth1 progressively stronger unless you are able to pull out the little bag of swollen tea leaves4 ,wash the bit of netting1 and it is ready for next time4 ,it will last several weeks if you do not lose it4 ,i find you can walk further after tea1 but coffee makes you more sociable4 ,you talk more after coffee4 ,if ,mrs4 ,thrale had made the great ,doctor coffee instead of tea ,boswell would have missed much more of what he said4 ,though tea indoors is very different from tea out of doors4 ,as a domestic drink it is productive of high spirits1 but out of doors it enkindles purpose4 ,you walk and think and are silent4 ,it is good for artists and writers4 ,forms and ideas rise unbidden to the mind4 ,what good thinking comes after the morning tea on the road--whole chapters1 whole stories1 curious conceits and fancies6 ,but after coffee you cannot keep anything to yourself1 and if you have no companion you take to singing4 ,if1 however1 you are very tired or wet through with rain1 coffee has more power to restore4 ,it is better then to make it without milk4 ,put seven or eight lumps of sugar in the pot and heat water and sugar together1 not too much water4 ,when quite hot1 sizzling1 float a double portion or even treble portion of coffee on top4 ,do not1 for this potation1 use mosquito netting4 ,the coffee should then be watched--for it may rise suddenly and become wasted4 ,it is as well to stir it1 and then a useful device is the using of cross sticks4 8,if you make the sign of the cross over a pot of coffee it will not boil over10 say the cowboys4 ,and it is a curious fact that two dead twigs1 placed crosswise over the top of the coffeepot1 seem to cast a spell on the brew4 ,the brew should simmer for a quarter of an hour or more4 ,then add a little cold water and stir up4 ,the grouts will go to the bottom1 leaving a fine liquor4 ,though very strong1 this type of coffee is not bitter4 ,you sip it2 it lasts a long while4 ,it is much better than medicine for you1 and will drive out any amount of damp from your system4 ,i think it better than coffee and rum1 or warm damson gin1 or any of the concomitants of aspirin4 ,no tramp should carry aspirin4 ,it is depressing to mind and soul1 and generally causes you to give up adventures4 ,bread and cheese and coffee make a good combination1 as of course do cake and coffee1 any sort of coffee and cake4 ,bread and sardine and coffee go down very well1 to say nothing of fried trout4 ,directly you get your fish1 scrape it and clean it1 a dirty job1 but you get used to it1 wash it and fry it4 ,if you can eat it within a quarter of an hour of its swimming in the stream you get some of the hidden and lost potentialities of trout1 the inner worth of those delightful pink spots1 those scales your color-loving eye is loath to scrape4 ,however1 remember the coffee4 ,it can simmer gently while you fry4 ,bully beef is redeemed by coffee1 so is ,maconochie4 ,eggs go well1 but they must be fried4 ,boiled eggs go better with tea4 ,wash them and then boil them in the same water from which you will make the tea4 ,it improves the tea4 ,but be careful of the eggs as they boil that they do not dance together and crack one another4 ,for in that case your tea water will be spoiled4 ,in ,poland1 and in ,border ,states and in ,russia there are excellent hard bannocks which soften when heated4 ,you slit them and insert butter4 ,in ,russia they are called bubliki2 they sell them in the ,east ,end of all great cities4 ,they go remarkably well with tea4 ,in ,scotland1 ,norway1 ,denmark1 ,sweden1 and ,finland1 there are excellent oaten and rye cakes4 ,they are delightful with ,indian tea and milk2 not so good with ,china tea4 ,america1 marvelous country1 provides the greatest variety of breakfast foods1 cakes1 and pies in the world4 ,what can compare with pumpkin pie1 blackberry pie1 peach pie8 ,you go into an unromantic-looking 8ville0 or 8burg10 and surely come away with an unbroken round of pie to civilize the camp cuisine4 ,on a long tramping expedition one is bound to study to some degree the body and its needs4 ,the ,army marches on its stomach1 so do you4 ,an attack of indigestion can make a strong man almost too weak to move4 ,beware of the cakes of bread sold in the market place in ,mohammedan cities1 what in ,central ,asia the ,sarts and ,uzbeks bake4 ,they are difficult to swallow1 even with wine1 and once inside become a stiff indigestible mass4 ,millet bread is also difficult to assimilate4 ,maize flour bread is also upon occasion bad to tramp on4 ,on the other hand1 no harm comes from any variety of wheaten and oaten biscuit4 ,one of the tramp's temptations is toward wild fruit4 ,he can easily make himself very unwell by eating unripe or bitter ripe fruit--even when boiled with sugar4 ,again1 if the coffeepot gets dirty inside and brown curds adhere to the side you will find you are drinking something rather upsetting with your coffee4 ,there is no need to scrub the outside of the coffeepot but cleanliness within should be de rigueur4 ,dried apricots1 when obtainable1 are ideal to take on tramp1 but they should be washed before cooking4 ,the stones should be broken and the kernels thrown in with the flesh of the fruit and some sugar--an ideal dish4 ,potatoes are difficult to carry1 but when obtained can be easily cooked under the seemingly dead ashes of your camp fire4 ,they are greatly enjoyed1 as all know who have even on a picnic roasted them and dandled them timorously in their fingers4 ,it is just as well to hoist them out of the ashes on the end of a sharpened stick4 ,if the stick will not go in1 the potatoes are probably not yet cooked4 ,similarly1 various birds1 having been plucked of feathers1 can be cooked under the ashes4 ,the fire ought to have been burning an hour or so1 and have accumulated much ember before cooking a bird is tried4 ,but a hollow may be found for your chicken and the ashes carefully raked and heaped over it4 ,perhaps1 however1 the best way to cook a young chicken is to fry it4 ,it is easily fried over the glowing embers and is immensely tasty4 ,chicken1 with a tang of wood smoke is a feast6 ,one cannot think of having a chicken every day4 ,but enough has been said to show that the cuisine of the out-of-door life is not utterly primitive4 ,there is a variety of good things for those who are not ascetics4 ,and besides all these good things there enter by chance into the mnage mushrooms1 so shockingly overlooked by town-bred folk2 wine1 especially the vin du pays1 which is sometimes almost a free gift to the wanderer2 honey just taken from the bee2 ,devonshire cream if you are in the ,english ,west ,country1 and also bountiful cider4 ,there are good cheeses2 though out of door all cheese is good4 ,you can take your fresh petit ,suisse along with you in ,france2 your ,gruyre1 your ,stilton--there is some good cheese in every country1 and all manner of rough cream cheeses in the mountains4 ,goat-milk cheese is apt to make one very thirsty1 so one should have wine to go with it4 ,in ,america there is the never-to-be-forgotten strawberry shortcake4 ,you can also get a brick of ice cream if you carry a chilling box4 ,in ,turkish villages you can go into the restaurants and lift such delicacies as stuffed peppers--even the thought of them is an appetiser4 ,the bon viveur can carry with him his petit verre4 ,upon my honor1 this tramping business is not altogether an 8eating of roots in the desert40 ,still1 when provisions run out and you are far from human habitation1 you may be reduced to eating grass4 ,that is the reverse side of the picture4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,nineteen ,,tobacco ,it has been said that whereas a pipe is a man's wife1 a cigarette is his lady friend4 ,in these terms it is difficult to define a cigar1 but it will be agreed that the cigar is unnecessary on tramp4 ,we have no afterdinner mood4 ,a pipe will go a long way1 the cigarette has to be cast off and renewed--the cigar does not enter in4 ,nevertheless1 ,i shall hear of excellent walkers who carried boxes of cigars in their rucksacks and lifted the smoke of ,havana to the noon sky4 ,some fellows even chew an unlighted cigar as they walk4 ,it has frequently been said to me3 8,i should think when you got to some point on your tramps--with great views opening before you1 it was a rare place for a smoke40 ,this moved me in my intolerant years to much mirth4 ,how could ,i share the beauties of ,nature with a pipe6 ,i asked4 ,it seemed to me strange that one should wish to smoke when the fire of one's own thoughts was burning brightly and streaming upward in poetic exhalation4 ,even now ,i cannot go back on my personal experience of years past4 ,one of the most romantic occasions in tramping that ,i remember was during a vagabondage in the ,crimea1 when ,i reached the ,gate of ,baidari and watched for an hour a marvelous changing sunset far over the ,black ,sea and its mountainous shore4 ,it was my busiest hour of the day3 ,i was soaking in that sunset to the core of my intelligence4 ,what rapture1 what prayerful vigilance was mine then1 as in the late twilight1 knapsack on back1 ,i stood on grand platforms over the sea and was1 as it were1 alone1 the one pilgrim in the universe4 ,in those days ,i was a nonsmoker4 ,but even later when1 through offering friends cigarettes1 ,i at last began offering them to myself1 ,i do not associate tobacco with great moments4 ,it is very delightful when riding a horse to light a cigarette and smoke as you amble along1 and it makes a difference on a long train journey to have the narcotic of tobacco1 but to me1 smoking is not naturally associated with tramping4 ,one very memorable moment after ,i had begun to smoke1 was when ,i climbed out of the jungles of ,darien on the ridge where ,balboa saw the ,pacific for the first time4 ,it was pure poetry to see the blue triangle of the ,southern ,sea far o'er the forests and the hills4 ,but where ,balboa and his men sang a 8,te ,deum0 ,i did not sit on a stone and light up a pipe4 ,however1 there is no doubt that smoking in company is a social grace4 ,it gives a sense of unity1 and at the same time1 it is a source of some pleasure4 ,we are always warned that our cigarette ends have set forests afire4 ,but the rest of the cigarette has lighted our faces and lightened our packs4 ,as the soldier finds the route march more supportable if he has permission to smoke1 so also the tramp1 on a long and arduous hill1 can get much help from cigarette or pipe4 ,it gives patience on the way1 and then patience again in camp1 while waiting for the pot to boil4 ,and the final peace pipe at the end of the day settles all experiences into a harmonious unity and prepares the mind for the night4 ,smoking seems to fill up the empty cells in time--when there is nothing else to do a man takes out a cigarette4 ,on the other hand1 after stress or strain it soothes and it prepares the mind for artistic work4 ,at the same time in writing1 it seems to me1 that as good literary work can be done without tobacco as with it4 ,upon occasion1 the cigarette1 and more often the cigar1 will deaden one's sensibilities4 ,the effect is the rising of somber impressions1 rather than bright thinking4 ,tobacco has had considerable influence on modern literature1 though it would be difficult to show just where the difference is4 ,it has made some writers tolerant1 but others merely laconic2 helped some to be witty1 helped others to be merely cynical4 ,thousands of cigarettes have gone to the making of a novel1 and it would be amusing1 and perhaps also interesting1 if one could compute the numbers that went to the various chapters4 ,that is not entirely irrelevant here1 for it is the custom of many writers to think out their work while walking4 ,they walk and they smoke1 and they think1 and the ideas form4 ,curiously enough1 ,i smoked my first cigar on the way to ,havana1 and could not finish it4 ,it almost finished me4 ,i used to say that cigars belonged to a certain later period in a man's life1 when he had succeeded and could lean back in his chair and view the world at ease4 ,it is perhaps an ,english idea4 ,cigars in ,england are a luxury4 ,but it is not so in other parts of the world4 ,in ,england1 when we smoke a cigar1 we smoke largely tax4 ,but in other parts of the world this choicer weed enjoys more freedom from impost4 ,in ,germany1 in ,austria1 in ,holland1 in the ,indies and ,mexico1 and in many other places1 a cigar is no more a luxury than a cigarette--as cheap1 as popular1 and better to smoke4 ,hood could write3 ,honours have passed to men ,my junior at the ,bar4 ,no matter1 ,i can wait1 ,so ,i have my cigar4 but he could hardly have written--,so ,i have my cigarette4 ,the cigar for us means ,nirvana1 release from cares1 relaxation of the whole being4 ,i do not think it either the meet reward or the need of the tramp after his day's march4 ,when he has had wordy warfare with the police concerning the validity of his passport1 when he finds that he has lost all his money and half his kit1 when he has proposed to his sweetheart and been rejected1 or refused1 he may light up a ,havana if he has one4 ,but ,i take comfort in the thought that unless he has lately parted from a rich uncle he is unlikely to have a stock of the commodity1 and will draw rather upon the resources of philosophy which he has somehow stored within4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,twenty ,,books ,you need a book1 but you cannot carry ,gibbon's ,decline and ,fall with you1 even if you feel the need4 ,the tramp's library is limited1 for books are heavy4 ,it is best to tramp with one book only4 ,but it is a missed opportunity not to have one book4 ,for you can gain an intimacy with a book and an author in that way1 which it is difficult to obtain in a library or in the midst of the rush of the books of the season4 ,each will have his choice though many will choose alike4 ,the inexperienced may pop the latest yellow-back into the rucksack1 not grasping that it will be read through in two lazy afternoons1 and that then he will have no book to fall back upon4 ,in the trenches in ,france a happy habit developed of leaving read books upon dry ledges in the dugouts4 ,one often came upon a treasure trove of the kind4 ,but when tramping1 you cannot leave books for others with much hope of their being found4 ,and rarely does one find any stray literature unless it be some tract on the futility of sin4 ,it is better1 therefore1 to take with one a whole-time book4 ,it is good to have a book that is full of meat1 one with broad margins for scribblings and extra pages for thoughts1 poems1 thumb-nail sketches4 ,after a long tramp it is nice to see a book which has been clothed with pencilings4 ,it records in a way the spiritual life of the adventure1 and will recall it to you when in later years you turn over the page again4 ,it is well to take a book that you do not quite understand1 one that you have already nibbled at but have found difficult4 ,i do not mean an abstruse work1 but one you are just on the verge of understanding and making your own4 ,at different stages of development you will have different books4 ,a boy just beginning to think could do worse than take ,the ,autocrat at the ,breakfast ,table1 or ,thoreau's ,walden2 a little later comes ,erewhon or ,ethen4 ,at eighteen ,sartor ,resartus or ,carpenter's ,towards ,democracy1 or ,browning's 8,paracelsus40 ,a good deal depends on temperament as to whether a volume of ,shelley or ,keats will keep you company all the while4 ,you read and reread a poem that you like until it begins to sing in your mind4 ,it becomes your possession4 ,there are marvelous passages lying hidden in a poem like 8,paracelsus03 ,ask the gier-eagle when she stoops at once ,into the vast and unexplored abyss1 ,what full-grown power informs her from the first ,why she not marvels strenuously beating ,the silent1 boundless regions of the sky6 ,it is a poem of a man seeking life1 seeking a way4 ,it ought to move most young men who are on the threshold of life1 unless they are dull or have been infected by cynicism4 ,for my part1 ,i look back loyally to the time when ,i was ,paracelsus and could say his lines as from my own heart3 8',tis time new hopes should animate the world10 ,i whispered as ,i walked1 and the new hopes were my hopes4 ,much of 8,paracelsus0 should go into the true ,tramp's ,anthology1 and with it1 not contradicting it1 ,omar ,khayyam and also ,o',shaughnessy's ,we are the music-makers1 ,and we are the dreamers of dreams ,wandering by lone sea-breakers ,and sitting by desolate streams and then certain delicious lines1 untraced in origin1 which ,algernon ,blackwood is fond of quoting3 ,change is his mistress1 ,chance his counsellor ,love cannot hold him2 ,duty forge no chain ,the wide seas and the mountains call him ,and grey dawns know his camp-fire in the rain4 ,an ideal book to carry on a tramping expedition is undoubtedly an anthology of your own compiling1 a notebook filled with your favorite verses4 ,other books which ,i think of as the tramp grows in goodness and in grace are ,ibsen's 8,peer ,gynt0 or 8,brand10 preferably 8,peer ,gynt10 there is much more in it4 8,peer ,gynt0 is a very remarkable book2 you can read it ten times and still fail to exhaust its poetry1 its thought4 ,it is a great book about life4 ,it is moreover a true tramping book4 ,peer is a vagabond wandering about in the world1 and it is never the world which is in question1 but the state of his soul4 8,brand0 is not so much of a poem as the other1 and is not so memorable4 ,but it raises some of the eternal questions in a powerful way4 ,if you are 8sick of towns and men0 8,brand0 will rather indulge your mood1 for it speaks ,ibsen's impatience with the petty ways and lives of average men and women4 ,socrates' ,dialogues go well in the inner pocket1 and so do ,horace's ,odes1 if you are of a ,horatian turn of mind and can read them4 ,there are many1 especially in ,scotland1 who like to take a ,homer1 and fancy themselves on the hills of ,greece4 ,for a classical scholar there are many books of profound and lasting interest2 a ,plotinus will last you a long while4 ,for you have not merely to read it1 but to resurrect a being who lived centuries ago in a different civilization4 ,the human heart was the same1 but almost everything else had a difference4 ,if the mind is just attracted to ancient philosophy1 ,i know few books to compare with ,pater's ,plato and ,platonism1 for inner worth4 ,i do not1 however1 think his ,marius a good tramping book4 ,nature rebels against its cold chaste beauty4 ,it needs1 ,i think1 a more artificial setting for its enjoyment4 ,few novels are good tramping books4 ,one gets through the story so quickly1 and if there is no more than story there1 the book is finished with4 ,still1 there are a few knapsack companions worth having1 such as ,the ,cloister and the ,hearth1 ,john ,inglesant1 ,wilhelm ,meister1 ,dostoieffsky's ,the ,brothers ,karamazoff4 ,all rather bulky1 ,i am afraid1 for ideas1 though they keep other books thin1 do swell the volume of a novel4 ,a few ideas stated in conversation and baited with picturesque descriptions take three times the space they need in the essay4 ,it is sometimes easier to understand them1 but the expression is diffuse4 ,plays1 however1 come near to being ideal4 ,they take up little space4 ,the dramatist has to censor his own work vigorously with a view to cutting down the excess of verbiage which his ideas naturally claim4 ,he is forced into paradox and epigram4 ,his work is full of hints and suggestions which are undeveloped4 ,it is for you to develop them4 ,as ,ibsen said1 8,i ask the questions2 it is for you to answer them40 ,a ,shakespeare play is a delightful library4 ,i nearly always take one4 ,a drama like ,richard ,,iii or ,othello can be read over and over again4 ,as ,you ,like ,it and ,a ,midsummer ,night's ,dream1 are the great open-air plays4 ,you learn more about them with the birds and the stars to teach you than with the aid of the most genial producer or inspired professor4 ,you make your camp in a natural theater among the trees1 or in an arena among the rocks4 ,there is an audience not altogether invisible4 ,it waits1 it has its programs1 you have the book of the words and the brain full of moving figures4 ,sun and moon are working the limelight from the wings4 ,your camp fire is the footlights4 ,enter ,man4 ,enter ,hamlet4 ,enter ,julius ,csar1 the gods1 the ghosts4 ,the tramp becomes an ancient type1 a magician1 a mystagogue--with a ,shakespeare in his hand1 in the midst of the worlds4 ,if modern drama rouses the fancy1 you can take a ,pirandello or a ,shaw1 and thresh it out--get a real opinion about it4 ,it is worth while when you have to orientate your mind to certain writers of repute to make yourself intimate with at least one of their works4 ,i suppose some may prefer to read a book on the country through which they are tramping1 and in that case a librarian's aid may be sought4 ,there are now scores of volumes on almost every country in the world4 ,it is as well to look over several of them before making a choice--many prove to be slapdash1 ill-informed compositions4 ,does one take accounts of travel in lands other than that one is tramping in8 ,i imagine not4 ,unknown ,arabia is out of place in a tramp through ,california4 ,but a tramp's account of his own life is interesting reading anywhere1 and one naturally thinks of ,w4 ,h4 ,davies' autobiography in this connection4 ,there are few tramp writers4 ,but probably the best short story of ,maxim ,gorky's tells of his tramping life1 and is called 8,the ,fellow ,traveller40 ,jack ,london's ,valley of the ,moon contains some tramping episodes4 ,jack ,london1 ,rudyard ,kipling1 ,cunninghame ,graham1 ,belloc1 ,chesterton1 ,carl ,sandburg1 ,vachel ,lindsay1 are all delightful writers in the tramping mood and ask a place in the knapsack4 ,then there are ,harry ,franck's untiring pedestrian tours in ,patagonia1 ,china1 and elsewhere1 perhaps in too ponderous a form as yet for field use4 ,i once met a tramping publisher1 rara avis1 a very black swan2 he began his life as a colporteur of the ,british and ,foreign ,bible ,society and spent twenty years on the road1 going from ,bibles to leaflets1 which he printed himself1 and thence to booklets1 thence to books and an office and a vast organization4 ,he had a simple way of business4 ,i handed him a manuscript2 he opened a drawer and handed out a wad of notes1 and the transaction was concluded without a word in writing4 ,but ,i suppose that was unusual even in his business4 ,there was a savor of tramp meeting tramp in the affair4 ,the ,bible colporteur ought1 at least1 to know one book the better for his calling4 ,when all is said1 there is one book more worth taking than all the rest2 poetry1 philosophy1 history1 fantasy1 treatise1 novel1 and drama1 you have all in one in the ,bible1 the inexhaustible book of books4 ,you need not take it all1 take the prophecies1 the ,psalms1 the ,gospels4 ,it means much to tramp with one ,gospel in the inner pocket of the coat4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,twenty-,,one ,,long ,,halts ,if your tramping expedition is long2 if you have voted yourself plenty of time2 if1 for example1 you are taking a wander year1 you are under no compulsion to keep on tramping4 ,one advantage of being a true ,bohemian is that you are under no compulsion except that of the heart4 ,you stop when you like1 you go on when you like4 ,you surely come to places in which you are tempted to remain--be it only for a few days4 ,you stay a day1 and the place grows on you2 you stay longer4 ,and then1 when the spirit moves1 you move with it1 move on1 enriched by your delay1 by your idleness4 ,there are short halts and long halts4 ,the short ones are simple and natural2 the longer ones more difficult to make1 but not to be foregone on that account4 ,you come at last to the ideally simple1 or beautiful1 or alluring village4 ,you ought to stay there a while1 make home there for a while4 ,and you have only your tramping kit and no word to recommend you4 ,still1 it can be arranged1 and the very modesty of your approach should help you4 ,you come from below1 not from above2 the villagers will not hide their life from you4 ,they may be shy of the stranger1 but shyness will wear off as they watch you in their midst4 ,do not go to the local priest who1 being a responsible person1 is likely to tell you that it is impossible to stay there and to fill your mind with difficulties4 ,you want to get taken in and hire a room4 ,you have money to pay for it4 ,you should make your appeal direct at the house where you would like to stay4 ,you shall be very civil to the lady1 and drink with mine host4 ,it can be arranged4 ,they will even put themselves to trouble on your behalf4 ,it is so much better to be in a family than in an inn4 ,inside the little family of a home you are inside the bigger family of the village1 and if you are a sociable soul you will soon have many friends4 ,you will get to know the village characters and gossips1 the village children1 the village musicians2 the stories of the village1 its legends1 its superstitions--and then1 its love affairs1 its family entanglements1 its coming weddings and ftes4 ,all this is worth while in the science of living4 ,it is part of a true tramping jaunt to come back from ,nature to man1 not of need to civilization1 but to men and women and children4 ,the village children will prove as near to the wanderer's heart as the birds in the woods--nearer1 for they are wood fairies incarnate1 trapped on the edge of the forest and made to live human lives in the villages4 ,the written pages of your notebook grow in the village1 on the long halt1 as do also the unwritten yet unfading memories within4 ,days and weeks tramping in the open crystallize in impression1 and your past is like a tapestry on your bedroom wall4 ,there is a space cleared for human life and love and happiness1 for dance and for song1 for sociality and talk4 ,here is opportunity for learning new ways of life and new stories and songs4 ,you may soak in folklore and folk music for weeks4 ,how splendid for you if1 when the time comes to go away and resume your trampings you can carry away with you drawings you have made1 songs you have learned to sing1 stories which you can tell4 ,you will carry that village with you to the ends of the earth4 ,and then1 of course1 a village is not merely a village1 not merely the broad and rutted roads and the cottages planted among the pigs and fowls4 ,the village has its ways out1 its views1 its hillsides and streams1 its loveliness on all sides4 ,your long halt is not a sitting still in a human settlement1 but a starwise tour of all the country round about4 ,going on and on in a line of route has its drawbacks4 ,the world is not a straight line1 not even a crooked line1 not even the line of a man's steps upon it--it is an area1 a broad surface4 ,length cannot exist without some measure of breadth1 but at the risk of a paradox one may say the world is breadth without length4 ,so also man's life4 ,we think of it in length of years4 ,but that in a way is error4 ,life is not length of time1 but breadth of human experience4 ,life is not a chain of events1 but an area-something spreading out from a hidden center and welling at once towards all points of the compass4 ,in the long halt1 therefore1 one has not stopped living1 because one has ceased going onward4 ,you get poised on your center4 ,you feel the origins of joy and pain--deep down at the heart's core1 the place from which something in you is welling up all the while1 welling up and overflowing1 flowing away in waves and tides1 to break on a mystical shore4 ,belike you have a child's happiness into which you are unwilling to probe4 ,you ask not whether it is more in one thing than in another4 ,you tramp and you are happy1 and halt and you are happy4 ,or happiness is not your word for what you feel1 not your vein4 ,you muse1 you are at one with life1 you are content1 you ask only to go on in the way in which you are4 ,or your happiness is to feel a divine melancholy wherever you are4 ,it is the same for all4 ,the long halt1 the dwelling among strange kindred1 the choosing of some spot to be beloved in preference for a while--that also enters into the art of life1 of the life of the true ,bohemian and life-wanderer4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,twenty-,,two ,,foreigners 8,you are not taking up with a dirty foreigner80 8,he's quite a decent fellow1 though he is a foreigner4 ,why do you say #8dirty foreigner'80 8,all foreigners are dirty foreigners40 ,to the majority of ,englishmen foreigners are dirty foreigners1 though1 of course1 to ,americans1 one concedes the name cousin4 ,but when you travel about in the world you soon find that in other countries we also are foreigners1 perhaps even 8dirty foreigners40 8,he is ,english80 ,i have heard it asked4 8,he's one of these people who think they own the earth80 ,and all too often in ,europe one hears of 8vulgar ,americans40 ,despite the grand international ideas of this and of preceding ages1 it is just as difficult for foreigners to get on together and esteem one another and understand one another4 ,this becomes very clear upon reading modern works of travel1 and perhaps clearer still upon listening to the personal adventures of people who have been traveling unconventionally in foreign lands4 ,what is strange to us is comic1 it strikes us as a burlesque2 if it irks us we think it distasteful1 even wrong4 ,we take the foreigner to task for not behaving 8like a perfect gentleman10 etc4 ,it is largely a matter of bad manners4 ,if manners could be improved we should more easily get into sympathy with 8foreigners02 if they could be perfected there would not be any foreigners4 ,the language difficulty is enormous4 ,even if we learn to speak a foreign tongue1 we are liable to make mistakes and to have a queer accent4 ,we are at least as bad as those foreigners who come to us and say 8,english as she is spoke40 ,mistakes in language are almost always very malapropos4 ,beaucoup is 8much0 in ,france1 but ill-pronounced it means 8little0 in ,italian 7poco74 ,the word for ,thursday in ,serbian is slang for sixpence in ,russian4 ,an ,american lady wishing to ingratiate herself with some ,germans said she felt as if in ,paradise2 but the word paradise in ,german means tomato1 and her friends stared at her4 ,an acquaintance of mine1 not speaking ,french very well1 was dancing on a ,paris boulevard with some midinettes4 ,feeling rather tired he went up to one of them and whispered in her ear1 8,ma chre danseuse1 je suis en couchant0 so that he seemed to imply a confession that he was a pig4 ,two ,russian ,bolsheviks in ,london were fumbling for a doorkey outside a house at midnight4 ,a policeman came up and asked them what they were doing4 8,i have forged a key10 one of them replied4 ,the bobby1 however1 looked at them indulgently4 8,forgot1 you mean10 said he emphatically4 ,but difficulties of this kind are not confined to foreign wanderings4 ,you can experience them at home1 in ,scotland1 for example1 or on the burring border1 or even in ,yorkshire4 ,i was tramping across ,yorkshire one summer1 and ,i realized how outlandish my ,english sounded4 ,they speak a different language up there4 ,i had to make every one repeat everything twice4 ,they frequently mistook what ,i said4 ,they made me say it twice also4 ,they reckoned ,i did not come from these parts4 ,i went into an inn one night and asked for a room4 ,the landlady1 an elderly dame with a huge red face1 asked me if ,i meant a room4 ,i said 8,yes40 ,she said1 8,ted1 this gentleman wants a room40 8,all right10 he exclaimed1 8in a minute40 8,mine will be my usual drop o' ,scotch10 said an old fellow1 nudging me as he went past4 ,i sat down in the bar parlor4 ,presently the young man came and inquired if ,i'd like water in my room4 8,yes1 ,i suppose so10 ,i answered patiently4 ,then1 in a few minutes1 the young man ,ted came in1 mixing as it seemed to me a cocktail--or what might pass for a cocktail in ,yorkshire4 ,he stood in front of me1 wineglass in hand1 and poured a clear liquid on to a brown one1 cautiously and professionally4 8,tell me when to stop10 he said4 8,that's not for me80 ,i queried4 ,and ,i wondered if it was perhaps a custom to bring guests an unsolicited cocktail as a ritual of welcome4 ,yorkshire has its festive ways4 ,but the boy stopped stirring and pouring1 and looked at me4 8,it must have been somebody else10 he remarked1 and turned to the red-faced landlady4 ,she faced me4 8,yes10 she said hoarsely1 8you ordered the room40 ,then the truth dawned on me4 8,i asked for a room10 said ,i4 8,well1 here it is10 said the young man4 8,not a rum1 but a room6 ,room6 ,room60 ,i exclaimed4 8,yes1 room10 said the landlady4 8,a room for the night1 a lodging10 ,i explained4 8,oh1 a bed10 said she1 with a chagrined face4 8,we have no beds4 ,no1 no beds10 and ,i could see her thinking the matter over in her mind1 the difference between room and rum4 ,she watched to see if ,i would drink what had been put before me4 ,but rum is not my drink1 especially after a day's tramp4 ,i shouldered my knapsack and pushed out of the inn under the disdainful gaze of the red-faced landlady and the stare of the man who was sipping his drop of ,scotch4 ,they say the better educated people of ,edinburgh speak the best ,english in ,great ,britain1 and ,i certainly can use my own tongue fairly well4 ,but judge my amazement when ,i first went to ,america1 and was told ,i did not speak ,english4 ,i was tramping to ,chicago1 and men on the road would say to me1 8,say1 you haven't been over here long4 ,you speak the language broken40 ,prejudices are bred over the difference of saying the word 8well0 with the lips and 8well0 with the throat4 ,even a national laugh can be aggravating4 8,haw1 haw1 there's a merry laugh for you10 says the ,american in 8,so ,this is ,london10 8haw-haw--the marmalade hounds40 ,incidentally1 that sentence from a clever play points to the other great cause of irritating difference in ways4 ,the ,americans do not take marmalade for breakfast4 ,we do4 ,it is almost a source of international misunderstanding4 8,the ,english have such bad table manners10 ,i used to hear said in ,moscow4 ,and yet you should see ,ivanovitch with his soup4 ,we are too greedy at table4 ,we accept second and third helpings1 only intended to be offered1 not intended to be taken4 ,we do not know how to make a glass of tea and a saucer of jam last fifty minutes4 ,we eye the samovar when we want more tea4 ,we do not kiss our hostess's hand after the repast4 ,americans eat with their hats on1 but with their coats off4 ,russians smoke cigarettes between courses4 ,frenchmen take large towels into their collars1 and pick their teeth with toothpicks while they talk4 ,all very disgusting4 ,almost every variation in ways of eating is distasteful4 ,the tramp1 the wanderer in strange lands1 should at least get over this4 ,i am sure ,oliver ,goldsmith and ,george ,borrow1 two delightful wanderers1 never fell foul of any one for lack of speech or eating wrongly4 ,they knew how to counteract the effect of their own foreignness1 and how to accept and enjoy differences in others4 ,but unless the tramp intends to shun men and women altogether he has to face the problem of liking his fellow man1 however unlike to himself4 ,it is part of the art of tramping to know how to meet your fellow man1 how to greet him1 how to know him4 ,you get a companion who calmly tells you he intends to 8pick your brains0 during the tramp4 ,that is very well1 though the expression seems not too kind4 ,it is easier to say 8,i intend to get to know you during our wanderings together0--though there1 of course1 the intention is towards something very difficult4 ,it takes a long time to know a man4 ,you may 8pick his brains0 in half an hour and not get to know him in a lifetime4 ,it is mawkish for a man to talk of love1 except in love1 but it needs a loving heart to know any one really well4 ,the man you tramp with is not a foreigner1 albeit foreign enough in himself1 as you may discover before you discover he is kindred4 ,you are thrown into intimate contact with him4 ,even if the two of you are a couple of egoists strongly self-centered1 something is bound to get across in a long tramp4 ,that is one reason why tramping is such a healthful spiritual experience4 ,the too-too-solid flesh does melt a little1 the too-too-solid heart does warm somewhat toward an outsider4 ,but the chance-met is much more difficult to meet1 to greet1 to understand4 ,of course1 more difficult for some than for others4 ,there are genial sympathetic souls who have an aptitude for taking a stranger at once to the heart4 ,they are bright-eyed people1 friendly at once and friendly for a long while4 ,i have a prejudice in their favor--but1 alas1 there are not very many of them4 ,the warmest thing in the world is human affection2 it is the most covetable1 and it is the sweetest thing to give4 ,and it is also the saddest thing to have refused4 ,i believe the affectionate people take the most blows in life4 ,but also they get the greater rewards4 ,still1 there is shyness1 timidity1 stand-offishness1 which commonly mask the souls of very friendly people4 ,it is difficult to rid oneself of these defective qualities4 ,much travel frequently does it1 and much tramping will do it also4 ,tramping simplifies out many of our foibles4 ,it makes the artificial people more natural4 ,i have seen a man afraid almost of his own shadow in town become a bold and smiling boy upon the road1 not afraid to meet any one and hold frank converse with him4 ,chance meetings may greatly enrich human experience1 especially in a foreign country where one has so much to learn of the ways of one's fellow man4 ,i have found by personal experience that one of the quickest ways in which to learn the life of a people is by tramping among them4 ,the commonest way of attempting to make a study of a new nation is to arrive at the capital city with a wallet full of introductions to notable people4 ,you stay at the best hotel1 call at the ,embassy1 make friends with one of the secretaries1 dine with him and learn his prejudices1 go on the morrow to a friend of his1 who will tell you 8all you need to know40 ,then you may use your introductions1 checking off what the native notabilities say about their country by what you have already heard4 ,the visitor of this type does get impressions4 ,that is undoubted4 ,he feels that he is getting to know the new country very pleasantly1 and yet1 when his visit is over and he returns home1 if he is frank with himself he must confess that he has very little real knowledge of the people4 ,he is obliged to say--,well1 ,i was only there for six weeks2 ,i cannot pretend that ,i know much about it4 ,but sixty weeks of that sort of thing would make little difference4 ,on the other hand1 six weeks tramping gives you unforgettable impressions of reality4 ,you have the great advantage of facing society from the outside of its classes4 ,you are at the bottom of the social system and have the freedom from pride which such a position implies4 ',tis pride that pulls the country down ,then take thy auld cloak about thee4 ,you do not need to put on airs1 put on side1 ape pompous acquaintances1 simper1 trim1 bowdlerize1 change clothes according to time of day1 polish finger nails and balance cake1 give the expected smile after futile remark1 avoid contradiction1 or read up the secrets of bon ton at night4 ,as you come along the road at any time of day everything about you says1 8,here ,i am1 the tramp2 take me as ,i am or not at all40 ,the ,church covers the friar so that he is immune from pride and taunt1 fashion and convention4 ,he cannot be reproached2 for his garments are a token that he is bearing the reproach of ,christ4 ,and ,nature covers the tramp in a similar way4 ,he has the chance to feel and be at home in any place in the world1 under any circumstances and with any people4 ,you are never ill-dressed in the ,king's uniform2 you are never ill-dressed in the tramp's4 ,such stability is great gain1 and frees the mind from care and fear of appearances4 ,you can with a gay heart plunge into converse with the heir to the kingdom if he comes your way1 and he will almost infallibly say after his long revealing talk with you3 8,ah1 ,i wish ,i were you60 ,you cause kings to envy you1 but even peasants1 who can be prouder and stiffer than kings1 will feel at home with you4 ,you must also be at home with them4 ,you learn their accent1 their special peasant version of life1 their stories1 their songs4 ,quite by accident you seem to get inside the real life of a nation and you belong to it for the time4 8,it is always worth while talking to a clever man10 says a character in ,dostoyevsky4 ,it is always worth while talking to a stranger4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,twenty-,,three ,,the ,,artist',s ,,notebook ,holding but lightly to material things1 ,happy to stay1 yet eager to begone1 ,he is the poet1 though he never writ ,a line of metre2 he is ,god's free man ,and has the franchise of ,eternity4 ,into his soul through every sense there steal ,immortal melodies4 ,this song of praise1 ,this verdant life1 this fragrance1 the blue sky1 ,those mighty mountains and the distant sea ,are symbols of the everlasting song ,swelling from age to age among the stars4 ,self-expression is life1 ,what gives more satisfaction to one's being than to have expressed oneself4 ,one builds a house and expresses himself1 another writes a poem and expresses himself1 another begets a large family and expresses himself--and looking back1 they can say 8,vixi03 8,i have lived40 ,some years ago they used to sell on the streets little blue revolving spheres for a penny2 spheres with the continents and seas painted on them4 ,they were toys4 ,for a penny you could give your baby the world to play with4 ,that is what he needs1 and what the world was made for4 ,we were given the world to play with1 as blocks with letters on are given to children1 for play and--for expression4 ,the whole object of the world is to help us to say a few words about ourselves4 ,i think it is ,novalis says3 8,the world--all nature--is an encyclopdical index of our own souls40 ,if you would read the cypher of your soul you must use the cypher key of ,nature4 ,if you would learn and read the language of the heart1 the world1 the visible universe1 shall be your dictionary4 ,when ,richard ,jeffries wrote ,the ,story of ,my ,heart it proved to be all birds1 flowers1 bees1 grasses1 skies and trees and airs4 ,it was no cinema story1 no ,tarzan romance4 ,nor was it booklore4 ,he did not go to the ,british ,museum to obtain materials for the story of his heart1 did not 8mug it up0 with the help of great authorities4 ,but in the wild woods and on the ,wiltshire hills he spelt it out with his fingers letter by letter1 like a blind man fingering ,braille4 ,i sometimes think that the gold of all literature and art is self-expression of this kind1 and that after all1 the best passages and the best pictures are 8impressions de voyage40 ,after we die we may be set to write an essay on our life story4 ,it will be 8impressions de voyage40 ,fifty years in an office will be found shriveled up to a dot1 and a few days in the wilds will expand into the whole essay4 ,why do we stare at beautiful things8 ,we see them--is that not enough1 can we not merely glance and pass on8 ,we stop and we stare1 at that mountain side1 at that flower1 at that dreaming lake4 ,we cannot pass at once4 ,we seem to be looking intently1 stargazing at something further off and yet more kindred than the stars1 but we are not using our physical eyes4 ,perhaps we are not using our eyes at all4 ,we are listening4 ,nature is trying to tell us something2 she is speaking to us on a long-distance wave4 ,your mind is haunted4 ,you have forgotten something1 and the flower is trying to tell you4 ,it is reminding you of a forgotten air4 ,something you cannot quite hear1 cannot quite make out4 ,once you belonged to a kingdom where 444 once you knew some one young and fair 444 once you were lost1 still lost1 always lost4444 ,but you could join us yet1 did you dare 444 what is the flower trying to say8 ,what does the mountain say1 and the lone bird on the branch8 ,the heart aches4 ,you lie on the downs2 heaven is alive with birds4 ,the bosom of the sky heaves with their song4 ,and you1 down below on the cropped grass of the hills1 lying on the chalk1 shading the eyes with a hand1 look up--and the heart aches4 ,it aches with homesickness1 with love for that some one of whom the flowers speak and the lark sings4 ,you are camped by the side of a stream1 and a boatman goes past in his boat in the dusk2 you are dreaming by your fire in the morning1 and a wild bird comes unbidden to your wrist2 you are yourself mirrored in the water below a rock just before you are about to plunge2 you watch an eagle bridge a chasm with its flight2 you see cliffs shaped like giants and trees like dwarfs4 ,the snake serpentines through the dust across your path1 drawing a line--thus far and no further--which1 however1 you overstep4 ,you find yourself treading in primeval forest1 where no step of man has ever been heard before4 ,the trees change into great armies marching upward in platoons1 in serried battalions4 ,you come to great walls--termini4 ,you overclimb them3 death1 new life4 ,you are out of touch with below4 ,it is the great plateau3 you can yearn upward with your hands1 you cannot yearn downward to those you have left below4 ,lark's song comes up to you from other people's heaven4 ,you are in upper mountain country among glaciers and scarred rocks1 amid frogs1 amid storms4 ,you dance in the air with the snowflakes4 ,the soul plumbs the depth of the world with a sad thought dropped from the height4 ,listen--the little avalanches--a crack1 a rumble1 a thudding1 a whispering4 ,you reach and stand astride the pass between two countries4 ,god divided up the world1 and you are a pair of compasses in ,his hand4 ,the first tramp left ,eden many years ago4 ,they say he died4 ,but to my mind he is still wandering4 ,god made him wander4 ,he has wandered so far his wits are wandering too4 ,he doesn't remember much about the garden now4 ,it was a pleasant place4 ,it had a snake in it1 however4 ,very pleasant3 a place in which one could lie down and rest for an eternity at a time1 if it were not for the snakes in the grass4 ,the devil got loose in it4 ,still1 it was the only place in which one could feel at home for ever and ever4 ,and outside of it one must wander4 ,life is a wandering and a seeking where it was once a sitting still and an adoring4 ,so the tramp's life is a type of existence4 ,i like the symbolism of the ,jewish ,passover1 the standing dressed for departure into the wilderness4 ,man is not man sitting down2 he is man on the move4 ,le tramp c'est l'homme4 ,even if in small measure the tramp is a pilgrim4 ,his adventure is a spiritual adventure or it is nothing4 ,the clouds part and ,orion is disclosed4 ,the rude pencilings are erased and the main curve remains1 and the curve of your adventure is a broken arc4 8,on earth the broken arc2 in heaven the perfect round10 says ,browning4 ,but given the arc the center can be found4 ,we revolve about the sun1 but there are planets revolving around a sun invisible to us4 ,our souls1 ,i suppose1 revolve about some invisible spiritual sun which we are always thinking about--a center called ,god4 ,so with all our hilarity1 our joyous meetings1 our madcap doings1 with all the fun of the tramping expedition there is the deeper interest underlying all4 ,most people will make the tramp without one conscious deeper thought4 ,it does not matter4 ,their nature is getting something intuitively1 although the mind has no knowledge of it4 ,the gay undergraduate1 all vim and no soul1 shies at religion and has no thought except about climbs1 leaps1 jumps1 food1 sporting chances1 pedestrian achievement6 ,he may not see this glorious jaunt in a poetic light until years afterwards4 ,cunninghame ,graham remarks in one of his clever prefaces that nothing in the present ever seems so good as what is past4 ,some years pass1 and your present1 which is silver to-day1 becomes gold in recollection4 ,you lie in a matter-of-fact mood under the stars in the midst of the mountains4 ,your mind is at rest1 you ask for nothing beyond perhaps good sleep1 and belike you thank neither ,god nor yourself for having got there4 ,but ten years later you look back with a sigh and say 8,how wonderful it was1 ah1 ,i was happy then60 ,the intuitive understanding rises slowly to the mind1 like light traveling from a distant planet to this earth4 ,but you get it at last and see4 ,so the experience is kindred for all manner of minds4 ,the poet may exult too feverishly at first1 and grow tired of his own rhapsodies2 the reflective intellectual may become bored by his own meditations4 ,but neither the poetic rhapsodies nor the intellectual notes record the measure of the tramp4 ,for it is a measure of hidden honey that is being stored1 and you are seldom allowed by ,nature to eat of your own store day by day4 ,we are bees rather than wasps4 ,the true beehive of inner experience is in you1 and yet1 of course1 there are what may be called auxiliary beehives4 ,i believe the conscious experience of a tramp can be greatly increased in a pleasurable way by the use of notebooks4 ,it is worth while keeping a record if only to remind yourself in other years4 ,the details of your spiritual adventures fade out unless you have a good memory or an aide-mmoire4 ,the whole work of some writers is no more than a tramp's notebook1 ,blake1 for instance1 a series of marvelously scrawled hieroglyphics--the story of his journey from one world to another4 ,but one does not need to be a 8writer0 as it is called1 or an 8artist40 ,it is a spurious classification4 ,we are all writers and artists from the day when we scrawl with our toy spades in the wet sand to the day when we put the seal of death to our wills4 ,man as such is an artist4 ,being public1 being printed1 being exhibited1 are matters connected with the minor function of being professionally artistic4 ,giotto drew a perfect circle to show what he could do4 ,we shall draw imperfect ones and be more true to ,art4 ,the fact is he has lost a great deal who has not kept a daybook of the soul4 ,something very sweet happened to ,leigh ,hunt one day and he wrote4 ,time you thief who love to get ,sweets into your list1 put that in4 ,it was entered in his daybook4 ,certain happenings make a day worth while and perhaps forever memorable to you4 8,to-day ,i knew that ,i had conquered all my doubtings10 wrote ,carlyle once in his diary1 recording his transit from scepticism to positive belief4 ,it was an entry in his daybook4 ,as a practical detail1 ,i love page-a-day diaries1 the new sort used mostly in ,america and ,france4 ,it is a nicely bound thin-paper book with a whole page for each day in the year and no postal information or cash columns4 ,unfortunately in ,england such books are generally bound to look like ,bibles and have appropriate ,scripture references at the head of each page4 ,one is reminded of the ,lessons and the ,collects4 ,that is very well1 but we require a minimum of printed matter on our daily page4 ,it is ours1 like our life when we wake up in the morning1 free and open1 and we may write there only what is given to us personally to write4 ,such a notebook should be free from conventions4 ,if we wish to draw sketches in it mixed with written notes1 we will4 ,if we need to overstep the limits of a page we will find a less-covered page among our yesterdays and let to-day spill over to fill out the measure of time past4 ,if you have had a tramping expedition in the midst of an otherwise sedentary year how the empty pages will fill up from the more glorious days6 ,the artist's notebook is free for sketches1 notes1 impressions of moments1 bon mots1 poems1 things overheard1 maps and plans1 names of friends and records of their idiosyncrasies1 paradoxes1 musical notations1 records of folksongs and other songs which you copy in order that you may sing for years afterwards4 ,but it should not contain too much banal detail1 such as petty accounts1 addresses1 druggists' prescriptions1 number of season ticket and fire-insurance policy1 memos to send rent4 ,these things are apt to clutter up your book1 and when you come to ,old ,year's ,night1 and sit waiting for the chime of bells which rings in another year--and you have your daybook before you1 and you go over its pages1 you do not want to pause on a scrawled laundry list or some ,falstaffian account of wine and bread consumed at such and such an inn4 ,the artist's daybook is his own living gospel--something coming after ,matthew1 ,mark1 ,luke1 and ,john--and should be sacred to him1 if he is not merely a flippant and cynical fellow seeing life in large part as a buffonade4 ,a thought recorded1 one that is your own1 written down the day when it occurred1 is a mental snapshot1 and is at least as valuable as the photographs you may take on your journey4 ,yesterday's thought is worth considering again1 if only as the stepping stone of your dead self4 ,the thoughts of some people are constant1 but of others varying and contradictory4 ,it is like landscape4 ,some live their lives in the sight of a great range of mountains--they live in the presence of certain ever-abiding thoughts2 others change their mental scenery from day to day1 in the shallows and flats of the low country4 ,but we all have our epochal days1 our epochal thoughts4 ,we turn to a page in our notebook and say3 8,on this day the thought occurred to me in the light of which ,i have lived ever since40 ,you draw two candles there1 with light rays1 to show the thought of the year4 ,it is much the same if the expression of the thought has been given you by another4 ,your thought of the year may take the form of a quotation4 ,those who search while they read naturally find in the expression of others what their souls need4 ,i remember long periods of living with certain thoughts derived from books--,browning's3 ,he placed thee midst this dance ,of plastic circumstance ,this present thou forsooth would'st fain arrest4 and then at another time ,richter's3 8,we are near awakening when we dream that we dream40 ,persistent thoughts on a path of life's pilgrimage6 ,morning after morning one awakens and the thought awakens with one and goes through the day in company1 in communion with one4 ,each day ,nature puts her magic mirror in our hands4 8,oh child1 do you see yourself to-day80 ,we look1 we look1 and answer wistfully1 8,not to-day1 not to-day40 ,is it that the reflection is dim and vague1 or that our eyes have not yet cleared8 ,shortsighted people see curious distortions of themselves in the glass4 ,but it may even be true that no one has yet seen his own face4 ,you can never be sure that what you see in a glass is what other people see in your face4 ,so also in the spiritual mirror of ,nature1 one seeks to identify oneself and yet never is satisfied4 ,cheek and nose are wandering with the ripples of the lake4 ,every pool in the marsh has its star reflections1 and as you bend o'er one of them your visage is broken by the starlight4 ,on the desolate ,north ,cape1 amid ice floes and leaping seals1 with the bleak homeless winds of the ,arctic about your ears1 you are as near to your own image as in the warmth of ,gibraltar's opening gates4 ,in the center of the ,great ,pyramid your heart turns to dust1 but coming forth it vivifies again and is young as the year of your age4 ,pharaoh's uncovered face is a faded hieroglyphic1 but still it asks thousands of years after death--who am ,i2 whither do ,i go8 ,so life's scroll is full of question marks1 pointers1 index fingers1 records of bearings1 soundings1 answers and partial answers to the question3 ,where am ,i8 ,drake climbs a goodlie and high tree in ,darien and descries afar the ,southern ,sea4 ,it is a picture in his artist's notebook4 ,such an artistic thing to do1 and life made him do it6 ,it was no pose1 his going forth to singe the ,king of ,spain's beard4 ,it was more of a pose1 ,i think1 when he refused to allow his game of bowls to be interrupted by the approach of the ,armada4 ,pose is1 unfortunately1 a prevalent disease of the quest4 ,some natures are betrayed to striking attitudes on the top of molehills4 ,to-day ,i conquered the ,mendips2 henceforth there are no ,mendips4 ,but good hard1 earnest living--tramping and seeking1 will cure most people of the false theatrical4 ,beware of going to ,jerusalem in order that you may come back and tell the world you have been4 ,it spoils all you found on the way4 ,i do not like the palmers2 those who have been and have come back4 ,admitted that it is a vice of ourselves1 we professional littraires1 we go and then partially spill over when we return1 selling the wine of experience for so much4 ,when it is genuine experience you well may3 ,wonder what the vintners buy ,one half so precious as the goods they sell4 ,but1 of course1 one can tell one's story and yet escape pose4 8,make thyself small10 saith ,buddha4 ,make thyself unobtrusive1 lest some one may think that a very ornate and luxurious loud speaker is responsible for the music itself4 ,in an old-fashioned phrase so difficult to stomach nowadays--8,give ,god the glory40 ,the personal diary1 however1 that daybook of the soul1 is not meant for other gaze4 ,i should imagine oneself shy even of the eyes of one's most intimate friend1 wife1 sweetheart1 alter ego4 ,there is a delicacy1 a secrecy about the functions of mind and soul4 ,you do not wish others to see what you have written and blush at the thought of half a line being read over your shoulder4 ,and the better the diary is kept the more private and personal it becomes4 ,i do not consider ,pepys' ,diary to be the type of a good daybook1 though it is extremely valuable as a record of the life of the age in which ,pepys lived4 ,it is one of the great curiosities of literature4 ,as after a lifelong imprisonment one might find the diary of a prisoner1 written to kill time1 so after ,pepys' life one finds this astonishing document1 wherein as it were1 all is written down4 ,but that all of ,pepys' ,diary is not all4 ,it is all that is immaterial4 ,there is much that escaped ,pepys because he was not on the lookout for it4 ,the chief omissions are the answers or attempted answers to the questions3 8,who was ,pepys8 ,whom did ,pepys think he was80 ,the answers to these questions covering the whole of ,pepys' life could well occupy as much space as the famous diary we have4 ,but ,pepys1 perhaps without intention1 described his ,england very well4 ,he set down so much detail that he provided something resembling cinema films of daily life4 ,as you read his pages you drop away from your own century and walk in his4 ,his work is not a selection of phenomena2 you make your selection from it4 ,you can1 in fact1 make a diary from his diary4 ,his many pages become one page1 or half a page1 in your diary4 ,there was in ,russia1 up to the ,revolution1 in which he perished a ,pepysian writer1 more selective1 it is true1 but determined to write down all1 everything that occurred to him from day to day through life4 ,he became naturally voluminous1 and put down all manner of things1 discreet and indiscreet1 some very shocking to decent minds4 ,but in one of his later volumes of fragments and thoughts he wrote1 8,it may be asked what possible interest is there is these things ,i am recording1 but that is my affair4 ,for a long while now ,i have been writing without reader4 ,if some one reads1 that is his lookout2 ,i do not invite him4 ,one resolution ,i have made1 and will carry out1 and that is to print all40 ,so many of his daybook entries have curious tags after them1 such as 8,written on my cuff at ,mme4 ,so-and-,so's reception02 8,written while waiting for the tram on ,nevski40 ,it is fair to him to say that he only recorded thoughts and observations4 ,if he was making love to a ,captain's wife at any time he did not tell of it--but only gave current reflections on love and what women really are4 ,his whole literary output makes one spiritual notebook4 ,few people however have much persistence4 ,the ,january mood is familiar2 this year ,i will keep a diary4 ,the ,february pages of most diaries look pale and consumptive4 ,march may pass without a single entry1 as if throughout that glorious month nothing of moment had passed before one's eyes or occurred to one's being4 ,that is not1 however1 such a default as may appear4 ,one drops the diary2 one resumes it4 ,to-day ,i take stock of life and thought and all good things that are mine2 to-morrow ,i will swing all day on the garden gate singing a nursery rhyme2 the day after ,i shall put on my silk hat and go to the city and a company meeting2 ,i shall promenade at night4 ,something will occur sooner or later and ,i shall say1 8,hah1 my diary1 my tablets1 my ink fountain1 that ,i may write down something special and wonderful and curious that has occurred to me this day40 ,some are so fortunate that their professional and intellectual life blend--the writer1 the artist1 the social worker1 the barrister1 sometimes the lawyer1 the politician1 often the doctor4 ,matters of deep interest professionally have also a personal spiritual interest4 ,but whatever the profession or calling all interests become one on an occasion of travel1 on a tramping expedition or visit to a strange country4 ,then the daybook rests in the inner pocket1 the ready helpmeet of one's thoughts4 ,in visiting foreign countries and studying other peoples1 ,i always look out for what may be called key phenomena4 ,i like to be able to record a fact which means so much more than its bare utterance seems to imply4 ,such a fact1 bursting with brilliant significance is like a luminary on the page4 ,it may be light on your way for the whole of the year4 ,a nation reveals its secret in a sentence4 ,or it may be1 an animal tells its nature by one trait observed4 ,there is a curious satisfaction of the soul in knowing about the ways of men and of beasts4 ,of course1 ,i do not mean that there is any particular satisfaction in recording trivialities and prejudices4 ,a man once wrote in his diary1 8,the ,frenchmen eat frogs3 ,i do not like them40 ,it was not worth his writing down4 ,but one day1 tramping with a hungry ,american1 ,i was astonished to hear him exclaim1 8,i wish ,i could see a frog2 ,i would soon have him in the pot40 ,that rid me of a prejudice1 and ,i sat down complacently afterwards to a dish of frogs' legs4 ,it was worth a line in the diary4 ,a pilgrim once said to me3 8,i do not know you2 to know a man one must eat forty pounds of salt40 ,it was worth a line in my diary4 8,nitchevo10 said a ,russian peasant servant to ,bismarck1 when out hunting they were lost in the snow in the forest4 8,nitchevo10 and it lasted ,bismarck all his life4 ,he never forgot ,nitchevo and was always fond of saying it4 8,he is a gentleman2 he keeps a gig10 ,carlyle overheard1 and it became one of the brevities of his spiritual life--8gigmanity40 8,i am a workingman2 ,i have carried my dinner pail10 some one else said1 defining himself and a workingman at the same time4 ,such definitions and explanations1 pointers1 and street lamps1 are worth keeping4 ,the diary of this kind is sometimes called a ,commonplace book1 which1 however1 seems to me too modest a title1 as one does not inscribe in it one's commonplaces4 ,the ,dean of ,st4 ,paul's published recently large extracts from a wonderful series of 8,commonplace books10 which he had kept during most of his life1 but ,i would rather call them uncommonplace books4 ,truly1 in the ,dean's case these scrapbooks garnered the fruits of reading rather than of life1 and my especial plea is not for the fruits of reading as for the fruits of life4 ,the digest of books is the habit of the good student1 who sets down in brevity the content of whatever he reads and so preserves knowledge for future guidance4 ,but the keeping of the daybook represents a different habit of mind4 ,with many it begins in happy school days or school holidays when natural history diaries were started4 ,the enthusiastic collector of birds' eggs1 butterflies1 or beetles1 makes constant expeditions and delights in chronicling the results4 ,he may do it at length1 or briefly2 may describe habits of species and adventures in tracking them1 or merely set down the names of captures and of the localities4 ,in boyhood one records the marvelous doings of the oak-egger female2 later on one records what man1 the insect1 is doing4 ,it is just as much worth while1 though so much more difficult1 to describe what people look like as to set down what they say4 ,and then most people and things are silent to our ears2 they speak more to our eyes4 ,certain shapes1 certain groups1 speak at times enormously to our eyes4 ,but how record them if we do not describe8 ,it is in description that the keeper of a diary becomes artist4 ,all description is art1 and in describing an event1 an action or a being1 you enter to some extent into the joy of art4 ,you are more than the mere secretary of life1 patiently taking down from dictation1 more than life's mere scribe2 you become its singer1 the expresser of the glory of it4 ,with a verbal description goes also sketching1 the thumb-nail sketch1 the vague impression1 the pictorial pointer4 ,there is no reason for being afraid of bad drawing in one's own personal travel diary2 the main thing is that it be ours and have some relationship to our eyes and the thing seen4 ,i have seldom gone on a tramp1 or a long vagabondage1 without seeing things that made the heart ache with their beauty or pathos1 and other things that set the mind a-tingle with intellectual curiosity4 ,i do not refer to great episodes1 glimpses of important shows and functions1 but to little things1 unexpected visions of life6 ,some were unforgettable in themselves and seemingly needed no tablets other than those of memory1 and yet it was a great addition to inner content and happiness to describe them as they occurred in my daybook of travel4 ,it is good also1 after describing something that has specially affected one1 to add one's observations1 the one line perhaps that records one's mind at the time4 ,for these1 and for other reasons1 the artist's notebook1 the diary1 the common- and uncommonplace book1 the daybook of the soul are to be placed as part of the equipment of life1 when faring forth1 be it on pilgrimage1 be it on tramp1 or be it merely on the common round of daily life4 ,every entry is a shade of self-confession1 and the whole when duly entered is a passage of self-knowledge4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,twenty-,,four ,,maps ,civilization is short of maps4 ,it is not familiar with its own ground plan4 ,this is due1 no doubt1 to the common handicap of commercialism4 ,maps ought to be free for all4 ,when you ask a man the way1 you do not expect him to charge you for it--8the first on the right and the second on the left2 sixpence1 please40 ,maps are almost as cheap to print as wall paper1 and could often be used as such4 ,we need to be familiarized with the look of the chart of the world4 ,it is of good advantage1 especially to children and to young men and women at the gateway of larger life1 to have maps of the world in front of them1 in front of them often4 ,you have inherited a pretty large estate by being born4 ,you might as well know something of the plan of the grounds4 ,stay-at-home natures are bred by absence of wall maps4 ,an interesting place1 the old world1 with some curious corners--but the mapless do not believe in it4 ,geranium follows geranium on the bedroom wall1 and duck follows duck1 and then in the nursery innumerable ,mother ,hubbards look in innumerable empty cupboards for innumerable nonexisting bones1 and then in the study and workroom an endless series of pale violet rails run back and forth or posies of spoiled forget-me-nots bobble before the eyes4 ,we break the monotony with illuminated texts1 samplers1 oleographs of the battle of ,spion ,kop1 portraits of aged relatives in company with 8,the ,laughing ,cavalier40 ,we put 8,god bless our ,home0 in large letters over the hearth--and then forget about maps which are full of blessing4 ,in ,paris1 even at the kiosks on the boulevards you can buy maps of the world for a few francs2 large separate maps of ,europe and ,asia and ,america1 printed in color on paper4 ,you do not need them on canvas4 ,it is almost worth going to ,paris to get supplies of these4 ,thinking of getting married3 go to ,paris and get plenty of maps for the new home4 ,atlases are not so good4 ,you have to take them down from a shelf and consult them4 ,wall maps spare you the trouble2 they consult you4 ,atlases are to be consciously studied2 wall maps are busy studying you while you are thinking of other things4 ,you are reading the ,arabian ,nights but ,arabia is reading you4 ,you are turning over the pages of a picture book with a child2 ,siam is looking over your shoulder at the elephants4 ,you are cooking a curry2 ,india has marked you4 ,as you lie in bed you see that ,czechoslovakia is lying in bed1 too1 with her toes in the ,carpathians4 ,atlases have a serious defect1 in that they split up the world as a butcher does a sheep1 and the joints are hanging in an absurd series on hooks4 ,separate maps of countries and bits of countries1 as for example1 northwest ,germany1 are not so instructive as large composite maps4 ,it is better to look at ,europe as a whole than at ,europe in detail4 ,nevertheless1 a tiny book-page map of the world or ,europe or ,america or ,asia1 is of very little value4 ,there is no merit in the miniature map4 ,the bigger the map the better--up to a point4 ,it should not be so large that one needs a ladder to examine ,greenland4 ,the atlas and the pocket map and the revolving sphere are the auxiliaries of the wall maps--very useful in their place if the first has been provided4 ,when the inspiration for wandering and tramping has come we realize what a boon maps are1 we come to love them1 as inseparable companions4 ,you put local maps of countries and towns and countrysides in your pockets1 and large folded maps of the ,continent in your knapsacks4 ,you unfold them in the desert2 you lie on them1 you crawl about with a magnifying glass examining their small print and the lost names of villages in smudged mountain ranges4 ,you learn by the scale what the length of your thumb or little finger means in kilometers and miles4 ,you survey with a curious joy the dotted line of your peregrinations up to that point4 ,have you seen enough of the world8 ,are you sure you will rest content at ,kensal ,rise or ,pre la ,chaise when the time comes8 ,take a map of the world and a blue pencil1 go back in memory over the whole of your life1 start the pencil at your birthplace1 and begin to draw the line of your goings to and fro upon the world4 ,how you will rejoice in yourself if you can conduct that blue pencil chart across a great ocean1 across ,atlantic or ,pacific6 ,the longer and more bulging and loopy the line the more you will feel you have lived4 ,in the later years of your life you will be able to say3 8,i was born into the world and ,i have seen something of it40 ,of course1 maps have another function besides that of firing your imagination1 and it would be neglectful to omit a further serious consideration4 ,they are for helping you to find your way4 ,how to read maps in detail is a matter of some study1 as there is much more information hidden in a good scientific map of a country than at first meets the eye4 ,when tramping across forest and mountain it is as well to carry with one sections of the ,government survey1 by the aid of which one can often locate oneself when otherwise hopelessly lost4 ,you know also where you must make for for provisions1 and whether you are approaching a marshy region which cannot be traversed on foot1 where the fordings and ferries and bridges of a river or stream are to be found1 where a forest ends1 where open country is resumed4 ,one inevitably spends hours of some days with one's sectional map1 trying to make out what point has been reached1 verifying detail and verifying again4 ,this sort of map ought to be stoutly mounted1 as it comes in for much use and is entirely in a different category from the large composite maps suitable for home or for folding within the large inner pocket of the knapsack4 ,you thumb them so much because almost inevitably you come upon error1 even in the best survey4 ,it is highly difficult to digest square miles and square inches4 ,every map has an element of artistic impressionism1 and has to be studied somewhat intuitively4 ,what you would mark1 it omits1 because the map maker was of a different temperament4 ,for that you have to allow1 and not lose your patience and tear up your guide4 ,at home it is well to have a map cupboard and preserve and put in it every little map which has ever served you on the road or in foreign cities4 ,you may help others with your old maps upon occasion1 and you may help yourself when thinking of returning at some time upon an old track4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,twenty-,,five ,,trespassers' ,,walk ,you are going to be very ill-mannered and stray on to other people's property4 ,granted that fundamental impertinence you must be as nice as possible about it2 graciously lift your hat to the proprietor when you see him4 ,you should be as careful to do as little damage as possible2 mend the hedge you have broken1 put back the hurdle1 avert your face if a lady is swimming in her private pool4 ,in doing the trespassers' walk it is as well to forego the happiness of a rigid rule4 ,you take your compass2 you decide1 let us say1 to go west southwest1 and it will take you over commons1 over ploughed land1 village greens1 graveyards1 gardens1 over loosely held but large and idle estates1 perhaps through thickly propertied country4 ,it is enough to do the walk roughly4 ,you cannot follow a ruled straight line across sown fields and flower beds and through the lord of the manor's kitchen4 ,you must frame exceptions to the ruling of the compass1 and be guided by the dictates of the heart and of good sense4 ,the main idea is to see just what the land of a given country is like1 and to enjoy it4 ,you have the added thrill of not knowing whom you will meet and on what terms4 ,of course1 ,i do not guarantee that you may not come to grief4 ,you may get on to the grounds of a very peppery squire who1 resenting greatly your trespass on his land1 will assail you in person1 or set his keepers on you1 or even let loose a fierce dog1 or telephone the police4 ,my experience is that you need not fear these chances unless you behave badly4 ,many landowners tacitly allow the neighboring villagers to wander in their grounds if they do not do damage4 ,the parvenu comes and tries to clear every one out1 and keep his pleasaunce entirely for himself1 but even he1 unless he be a ,seigneur of a ,channel island will not fire on a stranger at sight4 ,the fact is1 that in ,england anyway1 there is no absolute right to keep strangers off private property4 ,formerly1 possessed land was much more free to the use of the people in general than it is now4 ,the tradition remains4 ,no farmer objects to your walking alongside his cornfields or across his pastures4 ,it is the people who enclose but do not farm who have most prejudice against strangers4 ,no doubt bitternesses over rights of way have hardened owners' hearts2 no doubt the breakdown of feudal relationship between squire and villager has helped to make the former a recluse2 no doubt the increasing vulgarity and bad manners of people in general have made them less welcome in the eyes and on the estates of the refined and well-to-do4 ,but unless you do damage you are not committing a serious offense by trespassing4 ,and the trespassers' walk is so arduous that it can only be recommended to the few4 ,it is worth while1 not merely as an adventure1 but as a means of getting a true notion of your native land4 ,you can get it hunting2 but then1 not every one hunts4 ,one is inclined to think of ,england as a network of motor roads interspersed with public houses1 placarded by petrol advertisements1 and broken by smoky industrial towns4 ,that ,england is a fair country few will deny1 because you see beautiful cross sections of her from trains4 ,but when you get out at a railway station1 the vision of the carriage window is seldom realized4 ,you are guided away from ,nature1 by gulleys and deep-cut or hedged roads4 ,england becomes to you a dusty road1 a series of dusty roads4 ,there are glorious commons here and there1 and free woods1 but you must travel to find them4 ,you get tired of thoroughly tamed ,sussex and ,surrey and go to the ,welsh hills or the ,cumberland lakes4 ,but ,england is more in ,sussex and ,surrey than it is in the mountains4 ,only it is enclosed1 shut away1 and marked 8private40 ,rain-washed notices put up ages ago tell you that ,,trespassers ,,will ,,be ,,prosecuted4 ,and as we pray daily in old-fashioned phrase to have our trespasses forgiven we invest the idea of trespassing with some awe4 ,so we keep to the road1 even if we are out on a mere idle walk and not bent on reaching any given house or place4 ,even if you take a stile and leave road for footpath your pleasure is enhanced1 and if you leave footpath for the 8trackless0 woods it is even further enhanced4 ,for the trespassers' walk you should be lightly clad and shod1 for you have to jump often4 ,you can start at any point you choose1 and take the guidance of the compass1 or the sun1 or some dominant landmark in the view4 ,you then take a bee line and see where it leads you4 ,as you are neither a bee nor a bird you cannot fly over hedges and walls1 and you cannot go so fast4 ,every field presents its problem1 but every field presents also its pleasure4 ,you will observe the different way the wild flowers look on the other side of the hedge that skirts the road2 they are sheltered and fresh and more numerous and altogether more happy4 ,even that first field is a more pleasant place than the great highway4 ,the second hedge is likely to be lighter and more easy to get through than the first4 ,you come into a broad meadow1 and see beyond it the darkness of a woodland you have never entered4 ,on the fringe of it the rabbits are playing4 ,in the bushes are more nests1 more fluttering of birds4 ,you enter the wood4 ,it is still and dreaming1 apparently utterly unpopulated4 ,it belongs to some quiet family living in a big secluded country house a mile away4 ,there is room for a tribe where but five people and their servants are living4 ,naturally enough1 you meet no one4 ,you are in woodland which is after all but little visited though in the midst of crowded ,england4 ,the berries on the blackberry bushes rot unpicked4 ,no one comes seeking the many mushrooms4 ,even the rabbits are only shot at once a year--to keep their numbers down4 ,you are treading on last year's leaves1 or the leaves of the year before last1 on the leaf mold of ages past4 ,england is carpeted under your feet4 ,you delight in your steps1 in the rise and fall of the land1 in the sunny clearing and the vetch-covered bank where you sit watching little blue and brown butterflies fluttering about you4 ,no one comes to chase you off4 ,at least you are not a trespasser until some one has seen you4 ,you hear no one moving anywhere4 ,you do not even hear the motor cars on the road you left4 ,you have disenchanted the ,england of those roads4 ,this is the real ,england1 the ,england into which you ought to have been born1 rather than that of curbed ways and tarred roads4 ,from the woods you emerge on to a fair pleasaunce1 an upward-reaching greensward1 flanked afar by a white house--the owner's probably4 ,your eyes turn wistfully towards the house and its windows1 but there seems to be no one there1 it might be empty4 ,there is not even a smoke from a chimney4 ,you climb the green slope to another wood1 and passing through it1 come unexpectedly to a gap1 no1 a ditch1 no1 a country road1 a lane1 leading from you do not know where to you do not know what4 ,you go down into it2 you climb up on the other side4 ,you have entered a different type of property4 ,you are in a turnip field1 which you skirt4 ,in your next field you see a fearsome animal all by himself1 grazing at leisure1 and it depends on your courage whether you will face the bull or make an exception to your rule of the game of the walk4 ,it is well to have a notebook and record the rules1 by-laws1 and exceptions of your walk as you frame them4 ,in this notebook also you keep a personal record of the ,england you found the other side of the hedge4 ,upon seeing a bull you decide to pass him in the spirit of an escaping torero1 or you make a rule to meet the danger4 ,you take a bearing by your pocket compass1 and ascertain what tree or landmark you are naturally making for on the other side of the bull's field4 ,and having assured yourself of that1 you reach it by making a detour4 ,then1 proceeding with your tramp1 you go right through a farmhouse yard4 ,if the compass directs that you should go right through the farmhouse you may go in and get some refreshment4 ,you do not avoid the farmer and his spouse1 or farm hands4 ,they are part of your novel adventure1 and are nearly always quite pleased to see you1 even if a bit puzzled at your line of route4 ,it is just as well not to explain what you are up to4 ,they will not take to it4 ,they do not mind your walking across the farm with a given object1 but will fail to understand your notion of following the compass4 ,assuredly they will think you rogue or mad4 ,it is best to talk politics to them1 talk of that terrible fellow ,ramsay ,mac,donald and the dreadful doings of ,labor2 they love that4 ,your interest in the stock will not come amiss4 ,you may ask also of land for sale1 of estates falling vacant1 and changes of ownership4 ,they will tell you much about the owners of the land you travel over4 ,the difficulty is in getting away from a farm and making the crazy exit that your compass dictates4 ,there again a rule may be framed4 ,you may select a point in view ahead and get to it conventionally1 resuming your bee line across country there4 ,you are in for a delightful day or for delightful days of tramping4 ,if you have a cottage in the country1 as ,i had when doing this1 you can do a few hours of this and then return by road or rail home1 resuming1 another day1 at the point where you left off4 ,on the other hand1 if the weather is fine1 there is no reason why you should not sleep out and tramp all the way to the sea4 ,only it will take longer than could be expected1 as getting over hedges and walls and ditches and streams takes time4 ,and it is more tiring than an ordinary walk on a moor or a common4 ,on a long tour of the kind you learn something about ,english life which is not easily obtained in a conventional way1 and the experience should be filled out by learning the names and histories of estates and owners4 ,if you have friends on the way you can have delightful accidental meetings and enriching conversations4 ,if you are seriously studying ,english life there is no reason why you should not frankly call at the houses you see on the way and get what information you can4 ,some people may meet you coldly1 a few boorishly1 but most will be polite and friendly enough4 ,occasionally you will meet people who will be extremely kind and helpful4 ,it is neither so wicked nor so dangerous to be a trespasser as might at first appear4 ,illustration ,,chapter ,,twenty-,,six ,a ,,zigzag ,,walk ,i have mentioned the 8zigzag0 walk4 ,did you ever make one8 ,probably not1 for it is my secret4 ,i invented it4 ,a frequent wish of the traveler and wanderer is to obtain genuinely chance impressions of cities and countries4 ,he would trust neither his own choice of road1 nor the guide's choice1 nor the map4 ,but if he goes forth aimlessly he inevitably finds himself either making for the gayer and better-lighted places1 or returning to his own door4 ,the problem is to let chance and the town take charge of you1 for the world we travel in is more wonderful than human plan or idle hearts desire4 ,one day in ,new ,york1 wishing to explore that great city in a truly haphazard way ,i hit on the following device--a zigzag walk4 ,the first turning to the left is the way of the heart4 ,take it at random and you are sure to find something pleasant and diverting4 ,take the left again and the piquancy may be repeated4 ,but reason must come to the rescue1 and you must turn to the right in order to save yourself from a mere uninteresting circle4 ,to make a zigzag walk you take the first turning to the left1 the first to the right1 then the first to the left again1 and so on4 ,i had a wonderful night's walking thus in ,new ,york1 taking cross sections of that marvelous cosmopolitan city4 ,and many were the surprises and delights and curiosities that the city unfolded to me in its purlieus and alleys and highways and quays4 ,that was several years ago4 ,after ,new ,york ,i saw ,paris for the first time1 and wandered that way there4 ,curiously enough1 ,i started from the conventional and tourist-stricken ,avenue de l',opra1 and the zigzag plan led me across the ,seine to the ,quartier ,latin and ,bohemian ,montparnasse4 ,i saw more of ,paris in a night than many may do in a month4 ,after ,paris ,i tried the experiment in ,cologne4 ,that was after ,i had marched in with my regiment from the wilds of the ,ardennes and southern ,germany4 ,i explored the city in that way4 ,how unusual and real and satisfactory were the impressions obtained by going--not the crowd's way1 but the way of the zigzag1 the diagonal between heart and reason4 ,however1 the most charming and delightful associations of my zigzag walk are not those of the great foreign cities which ,i have known1 but of our mysterious and crooked-streeted capital1 ,london herself4 ,it was ,christmas time and ,i said to my wife3 8,let us do our shopping on the zigzag way40 ,we had not gone forth on such an adventure before1 and were full of excitement1 wondering where we should be led4 ,what exactly we bought on the way ,i do not wholly remember1 but ,london was generous to us in its cross section of houses and shops4 ,on this occasion we started on the road of reason1 since we had a definite purpose in view1 and we took the first on the right1 and the first on the left1 instead of the first on the left1 and the first on the right4 ,it may be thought that made no difference4 ,believe me1 all the difference in the world6 ,the first street we knew quite well1 the second was an asphalt alley1 where scores of children were playing hop-o'-my-thumb on the white-scrawled flagstones4 ,the third street was one of the great film streets of ,london1 with cinema stores from end to end and shop windows lurid with horror posters4 ,the fourth turning brought us to the famous market of ,pulteney1 where all the surplus fruit and job lots of vegetables from ,covent ,garden are exhibited on donkey barrows1 and cried by vociferous hawkers4 ,here we could buy two grapefruit on occasion for a penny1 and the 8rare and refreshing fruit0 which the wizard from ,wales once offered to the poor as a result of legislation could here be obtained by chance and in abundance4 ,from the market we went by a crooked road from ,rupert ,street to ,callard's cake shop in ,regent ,street4 ,happy forethought of ,london6 ,we had coffee and mustard-and-cress sandwiches in this jolly shop1 and bought a cake4 ,then we crossed ,regent ,street1 bought two chickens at ,louis ,gautier's in ,swallow ,street1 and plunged for ,piccadilly4 ,we came out at ,st4 ,james' ,church1 and fortune was kind enough to make it possible to visit ,hatchards4 ,we went in and 8browsed around0 for a while and ordered a copy of ,the ,sweet-scented ,name4 ,our way was then by ,duke ,street1 ,jermyn ,street and some others to ,st4 ,james' ,street with its clubs1 and we turned up ,st4 ,james' ,place4 ,as we passed ,number ,five1 rat-a-tat-tat1 from a little window2 rattling and jumping like the sound of an old-fashioned motor1 went the typing machine of the secretary of the world's greatest newspaper chief4 ,we thought we had arrived at a cul-de-sac and that we should have to retrace our footsteps--one of the natural rules of the walk--but we found an eye of a needle through which the rich men have to pass to get to the ,paradise of the ,green ,park4 ,it is always explained to the rich that the eye of the needle in the ,gospel is only a figure of speech1 and that there was a needle gate through which a camel1 without too great a hump1 could pass1 and the alley from ,st4 ,james' ,place will just admit the not too stout4 ,when we got to the fields beyond1 the great city played with us and led us a comic dance along the paths of the ,green ,park4 ,westminster ,cathedral was in view4 ,there was a large balloon overhead in the murk of the ,london sky1 and many people were looking up at it4 ,our steps took us along various grand crescents of pathway1 and the intention of the city with regard to our ultimate destination began to seem very obscure4 ,there were several knotty points as to which was a turning and which was not1 and when ,i made an artful decision the companion of my way said to me1 8,you want to shape things to your own ends40 8,no10 said ,i4 8,i want to be faithful and just40 ,a stiff discussion set in and we could not get the matter straight4 ,however1 we eventually found ourselves in ,st4 ,james' ,park1 and there was an issue for us into ,birdcage ,walk where1 in the barracks beyond1 we saw the soldiers at drill1 though little did ,i think at the time that ,i was destined to drill there1 and be on sentry there myself in time to come4 ,so the walk went on1 and we passed the ,london ,soldiers' ,home near ,buckingham ,gate1 made our last purchase at a little shop in ,wilfred ,street1 passed ,westminster ,city ,school1 and entered ,victoria ,street by ,palace ,street and took an omnibus home4 ,thus ended the first lap of our zigzag walk through ,london1 and we promised ourselves to return to the point where we had left off and continue this way of chance as soon as a convenient moment came4 ,therefore1 one ,sunday afternoon1 and not long after1 we took the omnibus back to the corner of ,palace ,street and resumed4 ,fate allowed us to miss ,victoria ,station1 and its many lines of rail1 and we entered ,flatdom and ,belgravia1 not the best part of ,belgravia1 but the sadder and more faded streets1 the streets where the lamps of joy had died down and guttered out4 ,then we passed by ,moreton ,terrace to ,lupus ,street 78,what a name for a ,london street60 says ,g4 ,a4 ,b4 ,dewar1 in his sad tale of ,letty--8,is not all ,london wolfish street for our ,lettys8071 ,colchester ,street1 ,chichester ,street1 ,claverton ,street1 streets of faded grandeur1 the ,embankment4 ,then over the river we go by ,chelsea ,bridge and find ourselves in a district hitherto unvisited by us4 ,we entered ,battersea ,park and had such a time in its mazes of paths that we were obliged to make a second rule for our walks1 and that was that henceforward we should enter no parks4 ,a friend to whom we had communicated the secret of our street adventure had warned us that if in the near future we should disappear from ,london life he would come in search of us to the ,maze at ,hampton ,court1 from which1 he was afraid1 once entered1 we should never extricate ourselves4 ,so we made a rule3 ,no parks1 no mazes4 ,incidentally1 however1 we spent a remarkable and amusing hour in that artificial wilderness of ,battersea4 ,if zigzagging should ever become fashionable ,i am afraid that most people will consider it de rigueur to follow out the mazes and labyrinths to the last intricacy and the correct issue1 and that they will not have the courage to cut the ,gordian knot as we did4 ,and starting pedantically they will finish pedantically--in the literal sense1 for is not pes1 pedis1 a foot4 ,there were many ,gordian knots which our footsteps made in the ins and outs of ,london4 ,having given ,battersea ,park the go-by1 we threaded many typically poor streets1 not slum1 just better than that4 ,how deplorable a sight6 ,very poor and dirty houses which you feel moving to be worse1 with broken windows here and there1 and derelict barrows in the roadway4 ,we passed under gloomy railway arches1 so gloomy1 as if crimes had been committed there1 arches where at night spooning couples lurk or solitary bodies furtively eat fish and chips4 ,so we came to a little house which1 in the course of time1 we ought to have visited1 but probably would not1 and there we called in our unexpected way--a call not without its sequence in our after-life4 ,this was all in the realm of ,lavender ,walk and ,battersea ,rise4 ,in one of the streets we came on two demure villas called ,alpha and ,omega1 and very fitly passed from ,battersea to ,wandsworth4 ,another day1 in full fresh air1 we walked along ,bolingbroke ,grove and the fringe of the ,common and ,nightingale ,lane1 through very respectable ,suburbia1 where the houses are just so1 and there are plaster angels in the cemeteries4 ,that day we went home from ,earlsfield ,station4 ,next time we passed ,st4 ,barnabas' ,church with the niches left in the bricks for saints4 ,we made our exit from real ,london1 watching from a railway arch the mad red caterpillars of tube trains going to and fro4 ,the houses grew higher and the roads more spacious1 and great elm trees were in the front gardens4 ,with wild wind and rolling sky1 'twixt ,putney ,heath and the golf links of ,wimbledon1 we finished up one jolly afternoon by coming unexpectedly to tea at the house of another friend to which without jiggery-pokery the zigzag way had led us4 ,the next afternoon on which we ventured forth we wandered to sad ,merton and the fringe of outer ,suburbia4 ,there were fields1 but they had ,destiny's mark upon them2 they were doomed to be imprisoned with brick by the ,london which was encroaching1 encroaching4 ,coming to this pseudo-country we made another rule4 ,when footpaths occur we have the option whether to take them or no4 7,in future1 as ,i have observed1 all footpaths will no doubt be de rigueur47 ,a footpath took us to ,lower ,morden and another footpath took us through much mud1 to farms1 to old houses with meadows in front of them1 and fine trees with many angles4 ,the path degenerated from a rolling series of cart ruts to a faint track along the margin of a field1 and faded away at last into wormrun grass4 ,a dreadful moment4 ,presently1 spying round1 we saw a faded notice on a board--,,no ,,footpath--but1 ,man is man1 and master of his fate1 and we made another rule4 ,in short we cut across the fields to a row of houses protected by fierce-looking barbed-wire entanglements4 ,we got on to another footpath and the footpath became a road and the road became a grand drive4 ,i think we got to ,blenheim ,road1 and that this degenerated to a cart track1 and we were led over fields to the ,west ,barnes ,road1 where trams and busses were running and we saw scrawled in front of us in big white letters--8,,eternity--,,in ,,heaven ,,or ,,hell4 ,vote ,now40 ,we voted4 ,somehow we got to ,raynes ,park1 and were much pleased with the front garden of ,carter's ,seed ,establishment and the many flowerpots and the ice plants4 ,next day we reflected that we had become enmeshed in a net of our own contrivance4 ,our little plan didn't at all fit in with the arrangement of the district4 ,suburbia1 with crocuses in bloom1 got rather on our nerves4 ,by many circumlocutions we returned to ,wimbledon4 ,we did not know the name of the place was ,wimbledon1 but when we discovered this melancholy fact we realized that we had blisters on our feet4 ,another day we walked to ,malden1 where we bought an excellent chicken which we took home in time for supper4 ,then by ,sycamore ,grove we walked to ,poplar ,grove1 and by ,poplar ,grove we walked to ,lime ,grove1 and by ,lime ,grove to ,elm ,road1 by ,elm ,road to ,beech ,grove4 ,we took the option of a footpath and skidded from this region of trees to the main highway1 where the fine ,hampton ,court electric cars speed their handsome way4 ,we went straight into ,kingston without any more beating about the bush4 ,we should ordinarily have gone in by the open highroad1 but an alley forestalled that conventionality1 and we entered by a wee way which took us inside the house of the parish1 and we saw all the children playing everywhere upon the floor4 ,rather slummy4 ,we passed ,milner ,villas 7built #aijb71 we passed ,the ,victoria1 ,the ,six ,bells1 and ,the ,three ,tuns1 passed the ,kingston ,grammar ,school1 where the boys have scarlet caps1 and the ,bunyan ,baptist ,tabernacle where the pastor had the kenspeckle name of ,isaac ,stalberg4 ,there was a strong smell of marmalade from ,st4 ,james' ,works1 and ,kingston ,station was puffing with locomotive steam4 ,night had spread its glamour over everything1 and we walked by several slums down to ,the ,jolly ,brewers1 along paved passages and in the purlieus of the gas works1 by further passages where were no houses1 to the sight of the greenish mud-colored river and the rusty coppery railway bridge4 ,the old stone bridge of ,kingston also stood beautifully in our view4 ,when we returned to ,kingston there was a lonely but lovely walk along ,thames side1 seeking a bridge to give us a turning on the left1 with sun and wind and rain1 and ducks falling through the air with a ssh1 and cunning swans sailing forward expecting food1 and crying gulls4 ,it was the towing path toward ,teddington ,lock4 ,the riverside houses came down to the water with lawns and landing stages1 terraces1 gardens1 formal beauties4 ,the ,thames is a fair stream2 we have made it fair4 ,once it was otherwise1 and ,england also--unnamed1 unloved1 wild1 woody1 marshy4 ,man has made it dear unto himself4 ,in the ever freshening morning we stood on the bridge at ,teddington and looked at the waters rolling over the dam1 and the green park land and the gardens beyond4 ,we wondered very much how we should depart from the other bank of the river1 what direction ,fate would have us take4 ,but we never could guess in advance4 ,generally we would say3 8,i believe to-day we shall land up somewhere in the neighborhood of this place or that10 but our prognostications were never justified4 ,thus1 who would have expected that having passed through ,teddington we should arrive at the other side of ,kingston stone bridge and be called upon to return to our starting point6 ,we wandered through an area of large houses possessing a certain sort of pomp and gloom1 happy in the summer1 not so happy in the winter4 ,and then an area of little ,hope ,cottages and ,may ,villas4 ,somewhere in the neighborhood of ,seymour ,road and ,lower ,teddington ,road we came to a highly disputable loop of roadway which betrayed us to the return over ,kingston ,bridge4 ,we felt highly annoyed when we saw this main plank which we were about to be forced to walk4 ,i1 with ,machiavellian cunning1 proposed to return to that fatal loop of roadway and reinterpret its bearing1 and we stood on the triangular refuge in the middle of the roadway1 and discussed the point hotly4 ,this is distinctly not a walk on which to embark with one's wife4 ,it reveals points of difference4 ,it brings out the hidden crookedness of character1 confirms all obstinacies and predeterminations4 ,it is possible to get more excited over a trivial turning 7mark you1 trivial1 a place where three ways meet7 than over the most portentous decision in real life4 ,i imagine it is always so4 ,in any case1 we stood on the triangle at ,kingston and argued the point4 ,two stout policemen of the cinema picture type stood over on the pavement1 regarding us and nodding their heads together4 8,what do you think is their little game80 one was possibly saying to the other1 and they must have viewed me with a considerable amount of suspicion when ,i returned to that loop and obtained a heretical reading of the truth to suit my purpose4 8,my dear ,watson10 ,i hear the arch-detective saying1 8the simplest of crimes are always the most difficult to fathom40 ,i think it would have puzzled the smartest of plain-clothes men had he followed us on our marvelous way from ,kingston back to ,kingston1 or from ,kingston the second time to ,hampton ,court4 8,onward to ,hampton10 said ,i4 8,we cannot tell what joys await us there40 ,we went into ,bushey ,park1 thus infringing one of our own rules1 but there was an excellent road going through1 and we liked to see the deer grazing near us1 like cows4 ,fortune led us into ,hampton1 that gay and lively river town1 and from ,hampton we wandered among gray reservoirs and green embankments to ,sunbury4 ,possibly ,fate intervened to punish us for our refusal to pass over ,kingston ,bridge1 for soon we found ourselves clinging to the ,thames4 ,it was ,march by now4 ,the blackthorn was in bloom1 the japonica and the almond were in blossom1 the celandine was in bud1 and birds were singing everywhere4 ,at ,ashford there were lots of daffodils1 and ,i remember we passed the girls of the ,high ,school all walking in crocodile and looking very frisky and fresh1 despite the primness of the teacher4 ,we came to the pretty and rural village of ,laleham1 ,arnold's village1 with its old church with thickly ivied tower1 ancient yew trees1 and graves of the ,arnolds and of the village4 ,there were two goodly inns1 the ,turk's ,head1 the ,three ,horseshoes4 ,at the latter we had tea1 and we learned that ,arnold's house had been pulled down and the present ,national ,school had been made with the bricks4 ,we walked along the towing path once more1 but it was now a full1 rushing river and was often in flood1 well over the bank4 ,the ,thames had a wild aspect1 reflecting livid clouds4 ,an icy gale whipped the stream4 ,there was a rush of snow1 and the storm raged across the whiteness of the horizon like smoke4 ,we sheltered in the coping of deserted river houses1 and in order to make progress when the storm abated were obliged to walk on the iron rungs of railings4 ,even so1 we did not escape many a bootful4 ,in this way we passed ,penton ,hook1 and reached1 fairly and truly1 ,staines1 one of the bright capitals of ,father ,thames' kingdom4 ,at ,staines we took the bridge1 or rather the bridge took us over to the other side of the river where we waded all the way to ,runnymede and ,magna ,carta ,island--the way all ,kings evidently have to go4 ,but we signed no charter of rights4 ,had we worn crowns we stood in more likelihood of imitating that other remarkable feat of ,king ,john1 by losing our symbols of royalty in the flood4 ,we were slaves of the road1 and the road led us into the water4 ,i think we should have got to ,windsor ,castle and might conceivably have called on the ,king himself1 the latest after ,king ,john1 but the water gods intervened1 or ,pan had other things in view4 ,for ,i was warped1 we were warped away to ,egham and ,virginia ,water4 ,i was able to call on my artist friend1 ,helen ,cross1 who at that time lived at ,egham and was doing the emblems for my idealistic first novel ,priest of the ,ideal2 a joyous surprise visit1 for ,i could not tell her in advance that ,i was coming4 ,i did not know whether the zigzag way led to her gate4 ,however1 many nice people and some others are on the zigzag path in the jig-saw puzzle of life4 ,we went from ,egham to ,thorpe ,green and ,englefield ,green4 ,we went down ,prune ,hill and to ,whitehall ,farm and the length of many a longish country road4 ,it's a long lane that has no turning2 in fact we were often comforted by that proverb and never found it disproved4 ,all roads in ,england1 except the horrible cul-de-sacs 7which1 pray you1 avoid7 have turnings to the left or to the right1 according to the heart or consonant to the reason4 ,the crookedest has some reason in it1 and even the worst1 though it has a way in1 has also a way out4 ,from ,virginia ,water the zigzag way leads on to ,kennaquhair1 and further to a place which ,i have sometimes heard called the 8back of beyond40 ,at the same time1 it may be said that you will not know the name of the place until you get there4 ,you can put no destination label on your rucksack1 and if any one asks where you are going1 you may tell him in confidence1 whisper the dreadful fact in his ear--8honestly1 you do not know40 ,the adventure is not getting there1 it's the on-the-way4 ,it is not the expected2 it is the surprise2 not the fulfillment of prophecy1 but the providence of something better than that prophesied4 ,you are not choosing what you shall see in the world1 but are giving the world an even chance to see you4 ,i am still on that zigzag way1 pursuing the diagonal between the reason and the heart2 the chart could be made by drawing lines from star to star in the night sky1 not forgetting many dim1 shy1 fitfully glimmering out-of-the-way stars1 which one would not purpose visiting4 ,i said we would not enter a maze1 but we have made one and are in one1 a maze of ,andalusia and ,dalmatia1 of ,anahuac and ,anatolia1 of ,seven ,rivers ,land and ,seven ,kings4 ,the first to the left1 the next to the right6 ,no blind alleys4 ,a long way4 ,beaucoup zigzag1 eh6 ,,the ,,end ,transcriber's ,notes3 ,italics are shown thus3 sloping4 ,variations in spelling and hyphenation are retained4 ,perceived typographical errors have been changed4