The time seems therefore opportune for a member of the Beaver family to present to the worshippers of the mighty Eagle an edition of a little book touching upon the wrongs and the rights of those of the republic, and from distant lands, who travel upon the 74,000 miles traversed by the iron horse, or the hundreds of thousands of leagues frequented by nags of more mortal frame, on the American continent.
The following is a Canadian book, revised, enlarged, abridged (the watery element being omitted),[1] and rendered a more suitable place to the palate of Uncle Sam by the admixture of many more of the wise sayings of the men learned in the law of the United States. Originally published anonymously, the author has been induced, by the kind notices of his little book that have appeared, to acknowledge his bantling; and he would seize this opportunity of rendering thanks to those critics who, when writing of the first edition of his work, dipped their pens into a solution of sugar and honey and not into an extract of wormwood, vinegar and gall.
R. V. R. Jr.
Kingston, Ontario,
June, 1876.
WRONGS AND RIGHTS OF A TRAVELLER.
CHAPTER I.
DRIVING.
New Year’s Day.—Collision with Old Bolus.—Must I pay for my Servant’s Deeds.—Deaf Man run over.—Effects of an Avalanche.—Housemaid injured by Coachman.—Wives, Snakes or Eels.—Icy Walks.—Falling Snow.—Board Walks.—Driver and driven.—Right Side or Wrong.—Look out.—Walkers.—Sunday Driving and Visiting.—Church-going.—Sunday Laws.
My life, so far as the readers of this sketch are concerned, may be taken to have commenced on the New Year’s morning after I had married a wife, and set up a trap with the necessary accompaniments of a horse or two and a man.
It was my intention, pursuant to the time-honored custom, to go out in the afternoon with a friend to call upon my extensive circle of lady acquaintances. At 10 A. M. Mrs. Lawyer came into my library frantic and breathless; the palpitations of her heart having somewhat subsided, and her heaving bosom sunk to rest, she exclaimed:—