The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1918-07-13

wind upward around that mountain
sticking closer TO It than thread TO a
spool and the womenfolks hollering
bloody murder. And you keep on
winding | am not exaggerating when
I say that in a careless moment ! ex-
perforated over the side OF the auto
mobile and my quid OF gum went
down a thousand feet They call II
the Shelf Road and say there's only
two turning out places in six miles.
II you meet another car coming the
other way, one machine lies down and
let's the other go over its back. If you
can't get your machine to lie down and
the other one won't both of you just
stay up there and die OF old age. We
went up so high we. could hear the
gentle waiting, OF the angels wings
and around corners that were as
sharp as the stone step in front of
the drugstore back home. When |
say that was actually worried for
fear my machine would prove too
long to get around them, you can get
some idea OF how narrow the road
was and how abruptly It turned.
For ten miles We pulled this stunt
and 1t took us from nine in the
morning until four in the afternoon.
Some OF the way ! drove two miles
an hour and the automobiist who
says didn't never has walked the
ridgepole OF his domocile in his sleep.
Rock and sand and dove and castue
and bunch-grass and sagebrush and
prickly-pear--this was the vegetation
that and colors. Red and green and
blue and yellow ochre and scarlet
again--it was wonderful. And then
we started to decend. came down
the entire distance in third-the
engine helping the breaks both foot
and emergency being on tight. got
down to the bottom somehow anil
turned and looked up. And by iing!
I'D do the same thing again.
broke a rear spring on this drive
but 1t was worth IT, We dropped out
of the clouds down here into Canyon
City--a town about as big as Ben
nington or st. Johnsbury. Here we
are today waiting for Monday TO get
the spring fixed We are out here on
the public camping ground now with
all nationalities and oders around us
not to mention the nies-millions and
millions of them and they bite like
the soornful words OF a defeated can.
didate. This morning we had a thun-
dershower It's queer about the thun,
der showers down here. The shower
comes up on one side the heavens
and II rains cats and dogs-and all
he time on the other side the sun is
shining brightly But they never last
very long. Believe me, the air is
great when they've passed over
From here we go down to Pueblo,
Trinidad and into New Mexico, then
across New Mexico and into Arizona
and the Grand Canyon. We are not
going 10 haze time to do this trip en-.
tirely by auto, must be in San
Francisco by the 9th to catch the
boat west and that is only 10 days
away. cannot make the Grand Can
yon and the Desert in 10 days We
viii drive to the Canyon and then &c
( onward from there by rail to Los
Angeles and San Francisco. Have
got to have some time there to dc
story work before leave the country
and won't have it u it takes as much
time to do the rest OF The territory as
I has taken 10 do this much thus far
The speedometer thus far registers
S,10O miles. Win write you agar
from S f. before | sail. My courage
is still good but believe me. II I'm dis
! appointed in my passports before sail
| ing there won't be many tears shed
I'd like to be back in S. j. right now
writing fool editorials that nobod!
reads but the linotype operator.
Yours ever sincerely
Pill