The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1885-06-06
CHAPTER II.
LEAVES FROM A YOUNG GENTLEMAN's JOUR-


NAL
Before setting forth on this memorable |
pilgrimage to nowhere, I promised a certain |
friend of mine, in literary Bohemia, to keep |
notes of my adventures, with a view to flu |
ture publication, illustrated by my own bril- |
liant sketches. l fear the promise was a
rash one-firstly, because am constitution |
ally lazy and averse to literary exertion; and, !
secondly, because have, as yet, met with no
adventures worth writing about Not that /
have altogether lost my first enthusiasm for
the idea. There would be novelty in the
title, at any rate, Cruises in a Caravan by
Charles Brinkley, with illustrations by the
author; Photographic frontispiecc, the Cara
van, with Tim as large as life, smirking self
consciously in delight at having his pictur'
taken. My friend b has promised to find
me publisher, if l will only perseverc
Well, we shall see. If the book does not
progress it will be entirely my own fault; for
have any amount of time on my hands.
Paint as hard as l may all day, have al
ways the long evenings when l must either
write, read or do nothing.
$50 am beginning this evening, exactly
fortnight after my first start from Chester.
purchased the caravan there from morose
individual, with one eye, who had it built
with u view TO the exhibition Of n Wild Man
of Patagonia; but said Wild Man having
taken it into his head to return to County
Cork, where he was born. and tho morose in
diyidual hnvingno definite idea Of a noveltyto
take his place, the caravan came into the
market. Having secured this travelling
palace, duly furnished with window-blinds,
piece of carpet, n chair-hctstead, a table, a
stove, cooking utensils, not TO speak of my
own artistic paraphernalia, l sent over to
Mulrany, County Mayo, for my old servant
| Tim-nn- Chalnig, or Tim o the Fcrry-other-
wise Tim Linney; and with his assistance,
| when he arrived, purchased strong mare
at Chester Fair. All these preliminaries
being settled, we started ono fine morning
soon after dnybreak, duly bound for explora-
tions along the macadamized highways and
byways of North Wales.
81 am pleased to say that Tim, after he
had recovered the first shock of seeing peri.
patetic dwelling house. took tc the idea won.
derfully. Sure it's just like the ould cabin at
home he averred, 'barrin' the wheels, and
the windies, and the chimley, and thu basto to
Pull it along;' and think the res nEblanca
would have been complete In his eyes If there
had only been two or three pigs to trot ner-
rily behind the back door. AS for myself,
look to tho noraad life as naturally as if
had never in my life been in civilized habi-
tation. To be ablo to go where one pleased,
to dawdlo as ono plcases, TO stop and sleep
whore one pleased, was certainly a new SEN
sation. My friends, observing my sluggish
ways, had often compared me to that inter
estins creature, the snail; now the rescm-
blance was complete, for was snail indocl,
with my house comfortably fixed upon my
shoulders, crawling TRANQUILITY along.
"Of course, the caravan has is inconveni.
cnccs. inside to quote the elprant smile OF
or progcntOrs, therois scarcel : room enough
to swing II cat in; and when ny bcd is made,
and Tins hammock is swung just inside the
door, the place forms tho tinic5t of sleeping
chambers. Then our cooking arrangements
are primitive, and, as Tim has no idea what.
ever in the culinary art, beyond being able tC
boil potatoes in their skins and make very
doubtful 'st!rabout, there is a certain want
Of variety in our TcpaStS
"Bcsides the incon,Sniencos which have
mentioned, hut which were, perhaps hardly
worth chronicliug, the caravan has socia
drawbacks, more particularly embarrassing
to modest man like myself. 1t is confusing
for example, on entering a town, or good
sized village, to be surrounded by the entirt
juvenile population, who cheer us vocifcrously
under the impression that we Constitute {
SHOW and afterward, on ascertaining theil
, mistake, pursue us with opprobriOus Jeers
and it is distressing to romark that our mod
Of life, instead of inviting confidence, causes u
to be regarded with suspicion by the vicar o
the parish and the local policemen. We ar
exposed, moreover, to ebulltions of bucoli
humor, which have taken the form of horse
! play on more than one occasion. Tim ha
had several fights with the Welsh peasantry
and has generally come Off victorious, thougl
on one occasion he would have been over
powered by numbers If had not gone; TO hi
, assistance. Generally speaking nothing vii
remove from the rural population an ide
' that the caravan forms an exhibition of som
sort When airily alight and stroll throug
, avillage, sketchbook in hand, have inya
, riably at my heels long attendant train Q
all ages, obviously under tho impression tina
| am looking for II suitable pitch, and al
/ going to perform
"To avoid these end similar Inconvenience.
n we generally halls for the night in some 81
clude1 spot-somo roadside nook or outlyin
q common. But thc-o is fatal attraction i
q tho caravan; it seems TO draw spectators q
/, it were, out Of the very bowels Of the eartl
No matter how desolate the place We hay
y chosen, We have scarcely made ourselvC
n comfortable when an audience others, an
stragglers drop in, amazed aud Y iS1'moutheC