air.  A noise is heard outside, the big door opens, there is a rush forward, and four people flock in a man in a linen duster, a stout woman, a lad of ten, a smartly dressed young lady, and a dog.  Movement, welcome, ringing of bells, tramping of feet—­the whole machinery has started.  It was adjusted to crack an egg-shell or smash an iron-bound trunk.  The few drops presaged a shower.  The next day there were a hundred on the register; the day after, two hundred; and the day following, an excursion.

With increasing arrivals opportunity was offered for the study of character.  Away from his occupation, away from the cares of the household and the demands of society, what is the self-sustaining capacity of the ordinary American man or woman?  It was interesting to note the enthusiasm of the first arrival, the delight in the view—­Round Top, the deep gorges, the charming vista of the lowlands, a world and wilderness of beauty; the inspiration of the air, the alertness to explore in all directions, to see the lake, the falls, the mountain paths.  But is a mountain sooner found out than a valley, or is there a want of internal resources, away from business, that the men presently become rather listless, take perfunctory walks for exercise, and are so eager for meal-time and mail-time?  Why do they depend so much upon the newspapers, when they all despise the newspapers?  Mr. King used to listen of an evening to the commonplace talk about the fire, all of which was a dilution of what they had just got out of the newspapers, but what a lively assent there was to a glib talker who wound up his remarks with a denunciation of the newspapers!  The man was no doubt quite right, but did he reflect on the public loss of his valuable conversation the next night if his newspaper should chance to fail?  And the women, after their first feeling of relief, did they fall presently into petty gossip, complaints about the table, criticisms of each other’s dress, small discontents with nearly everything?  Not all of them.

An excursion is always resented by the regular occupants of a summer resort, who look down upon the excursionists, while they condescend to be amused by them.  It is perhaps only the common attitude of the wholesale to the retail dealer, although it is undeniable that a person seems temporarily to change his nature when he becomes part of an excursion; whether it is from the elation at the purchase of a day of gayety below the market price, or the escape from personal responsibility under a conductor, or the love of being conspicuous as a part of a sort of organization, the excursionist is not on his ordinary behavior.