At our present pace of progress, what will things have come to in a thousand years? May I be there to see.—Author, chap. i.
Our young friend, after returning home with us from the holiday excursion, was to remain all night, so that we might both start by early morn upon our proposed business tour. But I had been much exercised in mind, ever since our tour had been mooted, about a much more extended scheme of travel; and without being over-communicative on the subject to my wife, I had quietly made, with my trusty foreman Gray, such business arrangements as might allow of a more protracted absence, in case my new plans took effect. The opportunity, indeed, seemed a good one for a bit of travelling adventure, to say nothing of a business turn or two that might also fall in one's way. Travel, in these advanced days, when one could launch off from the confinement of one's
