A COUNTRY TOUR.

Yesterday I took a trip to a quiet country resort. On entering the town I was surprised at the scarcity of men in the place. There were plenty of women—fashionably dressed and otherwise—to be seen in the houses or gardens, but I rarely encountered one of the male sex in my travels through the streets. This, I at first supposed, was owing to the number of gentlemen residing there whocarry on business in the city by the sea, and are consequently in the latter place during the day. I was informed, however, by the proprietor of the hotel at which I stopped, that such was not the case. He assured me it was mainly owing to the fact that the County Court commenced that morning, and most of the male inhabitants, as was their custom on such occasions, had taken to the surrounding woods and mountains to escape jury duty.

The place is beautifully situated between high green hills, and said to possess the healthiest climate of any town in the State. During the summer months people flock there from all parts of the country. Healthy people pay high prices at the hotels for the privilege of living there, and sickly people do likewise, for the privilege of dying there.

The peculiarities of the town, and the distinctive manners and customs of the inhabitants, have been ably described by a poet whose effusions have not yet been translated into the foreign languages. Following is a part of the poem which bears directly on the town in question:—

“Here rest we now by sulphur well,Where invalids and nurses dwell;Where yelping dogs run through the streetLike wolves across a prairie wide,And cattle wild as bison meetYou face to face, on every side;With tails in air, and frothy nose,And leveled horns, they round you close.“Where people sit around the door,In lazy groups of three or four,And still their chronic thirst abateWith copious draughts of ‘sulphur straight.’”

“Here rest we now by sulphur well,

Where invalids and nurses dwell;

Where yelping dogs run through the street

Like wolves across a prairie wide,

And cattle wild as bison meet

You face to face, on every side;

With tails in air, and frothy nose,

And leveled horns, they round you close.

“Where people sit around the door,In lazy groups of three or four,And still their chronic thirst abateWith copious draughts of ‘sulphur straight.’”

“Where people sit around the door,

In lazy groups of three or four,

And still their chronic thirst abate

With copious draughts of ‘sulphur straight.’”

There was quite an excitement in the town before I left. A fire broke out in an ash barrel situated in the rear yard of the house at which I was stopping, and for a time threatened to destroy the ashes. There is no estimating the amount of damage the citizens might have suffered if the fire had spread to a wash-tub that stood close by, and which at the time contained a portion of the town’s washing. Business was generally suspended, and stock in the insurance companies went down immediately. The citizens breathed more freely, however, when the efficient and energetic Fire Department turned out promptly as one man, and hastened to thecity water-works, situated on a slight eminence in the centre of the town, and, turning on the water, succeeded in extinguishing the flames. The only damage done was the partial burning of the barrel and the scorching of the wash-tub and five dog-houses. The dogs were lying under the kitchen stove at the time, and escaped injury.

THE FIRE DEPARTMENT.

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