Part 3 (1/2)
The question of luncheon soon came to the front, for should we be favored with fine weather, much of the poetry and romance of the journey was sure to cl.u.s.ter round the midday halt. It was by a process of natural selection that she who had proved her genius for making salads on many occasions during the voyage should be unanimously appointed to fill the important position of stewardess, and given full and unlimited control of the hampers. Our stewardess only lived up to a well-deserved reputation by surprising us day after day with luncheons far excelling any dinner. Two coaching hampers, very complete affairs, were obtained in London. These the stewardess saw filled at the inn every morning with the best the country could afford, under her personal supervision, a labor of love. Our Pard's sweet tooth led him to many early excursions before breakfast in quest of sweets and flowers for us. Aleck was butler, and upon him we placed implicit reliance, and with excellent reason too, for the essential corkscrew and the use thereof--which may be rated as of prime necessity upon such a tour--and Aleck never failed us as superintendent of the bottles.
It was in obedience to the strictest tenets of our civil service reform a.s.sociation that the most important appointment of all was made with a unanimity which must ever be flattering to the distinguished gentleman who received the highly responsible appointment of General Manager. Just here let me say, for the peace of mind of any gentleman who may be tempted to try the coaching experiment upon a large scale, and for an extended tour: _Don't_, unless you have a dear friend with a clear head, an angelic disposition, a great big heart, and the tact essential for governing, who for your sake is willing to relieve you from the cares incident to such a tour--that is, if you expect to enjoy it as a recreation, and have something that will linger forever after in the memory as an adventure in wonderland. Should you however be one of those rare men who have a real liking for details, and so conceited as to think that you never get things done so well as when your own genius superintends them, being in this respect the antipode of a modest man like myself--who never does by any chance find any one who can so completely bungle matters as himself--it may of course be different. As for me, the very first inquiry I shall make of myself when I am about to take the road again--as pray heaven I may some day, and that ere long--will be this: Now who can I get for Prime Minister, one who will like to govern and allow me to laugh and frolic with the party without a care? The position of a king in a const.i.tutional monarchy is the very ideal for a chief to emulate. It is delightful to feel so very certain that one ”can do no wrong,” even if infallibility be obtained, as Queen Victoria's is, because she is no longer allowed to do anything. Such was the case with the Scribe during the Coaching Tour. Happy man!
[Sidenote: _Grouping._]
There must always be a tendency toward grouping in a large party: groups of four or five, and in extreme cases a group of two; and especially is this so when married people, cousins or dear friends, are of the company. To prevent anything like this, and insure our being one united party, I asked the gentlemen not to occupy the same seat twice in succession--a rule which gave the ladies a different companion at each meal, and a change upon the coach several times each day. This was understood to apply in a general way to our strolls, although in this case the General Manager, with rare discretion, winked at many infringements, which insured him grateful const.i.tuents of both s.e.xes.
Young people should never be held too strictly to such rules, and a chaperon's duties, as we all know, are often most successfully performed by a wise and salutary neglect. Our General Manager and even the Queen Dowager were considerate.
We generally started about half-past nine in the morning, half an hour earlier or later as the day's journey was to be long or short; and here let me record, to the credit of all, that not in any instance had we ever to wait for any of the party beyond the five minutes allowed upon all well managed lines for ”variation of watches.” The horn sounded, and we were off through the crowds which were usually around the hotel door awaiting the start. Nor even at meals were we less punctual or less mindful of the comfort of others. I had indeed a model party in every way, and in none more praiseworthy than in this, that the Charioteers were always ”on time.” The Prima Donna's explanation may have reason in it: ”Who wouldn't be ready and waiting to mount the coach! I'd as soon be late, and a good deal sooner, maybe, for my wedding: and as for meals, there was even a better reason why we were always ready then: we couldn't wait.” We did indeed eat like hawks, especially at luncheon--a real boy's hunger--the ravenous gnawing after a day at the sea gathering whilks. I thought this had left me, but that with many another characteristic of glorious youth came once more to make daft callants of us. O those days! those happy, happy days! Can they be brought back once more? Will a second coaching trip do it? I would be off next summer. But one hesitates to put his luck to the test a second time, lest the perfect image of the first be marred. We shall see.
During the evening we had learned the next day's stage--where we were to stay over night, and, what is almost as important, in what pretty nook we were to rest at midday; on the banks of what cla.s.sic stream or wimpling burn, or in what shady, moss-covered dell. Several people of note in the neighborhood dropped into the inn, as a rule, to see the American coaching party, whose arrival in the village had made as great a stir as if it were the advance show-wagon of Barnum's menagerie. From these the best route and objects of interest to be seen could readily be obtained. The ordnance maps which we carried kept us from trouble about the right roads; not only this, they gave us the name of every estate we pa.s.sed, and of its owner.
[Sidenote: _Aristocratic Gypsies._]
The horses have to be considered in selecting a luncheon-place, which should be near an inn, where they can be baited. This was rarely inconvenient; but upon a few occasions, when the choice spot was in some glen or secluded place, we took oats along, and our horses were none the worse off for nibbling the road-side gra.s.s and drinking from the brook.
Nor did the party look less like the aristocratic Gypsies they felt themselves to be from having their coach standing on the moor or in the glen, and the horses picketed near by, as if we were just the true-born Gypsies. And was there ever a band of Gypsies happier than we, or freer from care? Didn't we often dash off in a roar:
”See! the smoking bowl before us, Mark our jovial ragged ring!
Round and round take up the chorus, And in raptures let us sing.
A fig for those by law protected!
Liberty's a glorious feast!
Courts for cowards were erected, Churches built to please the priest.”
Halt! Ho for luncheon! Steps, Joe. Yes, sir! The committee of two dismount and select the choicest little bit of sward for the table. It is not too warm, still we will not refuse the shade of a n.o.ble chestnut or fragrant birk, or the side of a tall hedge, on which lie, in one magnificent bed, ma.s.ses of honeysuckle, over which nod, upon graceful sprays, hundreds of the prettiest wild roses, and at whose foot grow the foxglove and wandering willie.
It is no easy matter to decide which piece of the velvety lawn is finest; but here come Joe and Perry with armfuls of rugs to the chosen spot. The rugs are spread two lengthwise a few feet apart, and one across at the top and bottom, leaving for the table in the centre the fine clovered turf with b.u.t.tercups and daisies pied. The ladies have gathered such handfuls of wild flowers! How fresh, how unaffected, and how far beyond the more pretentious bouquets which grace our city dinners! These are Nature's own dear children, fresh from her lap, besprinkled with the dews of heaven, unconscious of their charms. How touchingly beautiful are the wild flowers! real friends are they, close to our hearts, while those of the conservatory stand outside, fas.h.i.+onable acquaintances only.
[Sidenote: _Wild Flowers._]
Give us the wild flowers, and take your prize varieties; for does not even Tennyson (a good deal of a cultivated flower himself) sing thus of the harshest of them all, though to a Scotsman sacred beyond all other vegetation:
... ”the stubborn thistle bursting Into glossy purples, which outredden All voluptuous garden roses.”
And in that wonder of our generation, the ”Light of Asia,” it is no garden beauties who are addressed:
”Oh, flowers of the field! Siddartha said, Who turn your tender faces to the sun-- Glad of the light, and grateful with sweet breath Of fragrance and these robes of reverence donned, Silver and gold and purple--none of ye Miss perfect living, none of ye despoil Your happy beauty....
What secret know ye that ye grow content, From time of tender shoot to time of fruit, Murmuring such sun-songs from your feathered crowns?”
You may be sure that while in Scotland old Scotia's dear emblem, and that most graceful of all flowers, the Scottish bluebell, towered over our bouquets, and that round them cl.u.s.tered the others less known to fame.
It was an easy matter to tie the flowers round sticks and press these into the soft lawn, and then there was a table for you--equal it who can! Round this the travellers range themselves upon the rugs, sometimes finding in back to back an excellent support, for they sat long at table; and see at the head--for it's the head wherever she sits--the Queen Dowager is comfortably seated upon the smaller of the two hampers.
The larger placed on end before her gives her a private table: she has an excellent seat, befitting her dignity. Joe and Perry have put the horses up at the inn, and are back with mugs of foaming ale, bottles of Devons.h.i.+re cider, lemonade, and pitchers of fresh creamy milk, that all tastes may be suited. The stewardess and her a.s.sistants have set table, and now luncheon is ready. No formal grace is necessary, for our hearts have been overflowing with grat.i.tude all the day long for the blessed happiness showered upon us. We owe no man a grudge, harbor no evil, have forgiven all our enemies, if we have any--for we doubt the existence of enemies, being ourselves the enemy of none. Our hearts open to embrace all things, both great and small; we are only sorry that so much is given to us, so little to many of our more deserving fellow-creatures.
Truly, the best grace this, before meat or after!
”He prayeth best who loveth best All things both great and small; For the dear G.o.d who loveth us, He made and loveth all.”
In these days we feel for the Deevil himself, and wish with Burns that he would take a thought and mend; and, as Howells says, ”if we had the naming of creation we wouldn't call snakes snakes” if the christening took place while we were coaching.
[Sidenote: _Good Appet.i.tes._]