first sight. For a severe, be-silked Mrs. Vanadam there was awe. For the
portly General with mutton-chop whiskers, overlooking eyes and the air
of a dictator, there was awe, also, not unmingled with envy. For the
tall man in the frock-coat, whose face reminded him of his Uncle Silas,
there had been shrinking antagonism at the first glance--which keen
first impression was presently dulled and all but effaced by the
enthusiasm, the suave tongue, and the benignant manner. Which proves
that insight, like the film of a recording camera, should have the dark
shutter snapped on it if the picture is to be preserved.

Thomas Jefferson made way when the party, marshaled by the enthusiast,
prepared for its descent on the Marlboro. Afterward, the royalties
having departed and a good-natured porter giving him leave, he was at
liberty to examine the wheeled palace at near-hand, and even to climb
into the vestibule for a peep inside.

Therewith, castles in the air began to rear themselves, tower on wall.
Here was the very sky-reaching summit of all things desirable: to have
one's own brass-bound hotel on wheels; to come and go at will; to give
curt orders to a respectful and uniformed porter, as the awe-inspiring
gentleman with the mutton-chop whiskers had done.

Time was when Thomas Jefferson's ideals ran quite otherwise: to a lodge
in some vast wilderness, like the rock-strewn slopes of high Lebanon; to
the company of the birds and trees, of the wide heavens and the shy wild
creatures of the forest. But it is only the fool or the weakling who may
not reconsider.

Notwithstanding, when the day of revelations was come to an end, and the
ambling horse was inching the ancient buggy up the homeward road, the