es by devices which in others they would pronounce
monstrosities of silliness, and who hug their delusions with a gravity
none the less profound from their own half consciousness of the sham.

* * * * *

It was a theory, we believe, of that profound philosopher, Mr. Weller
senior, that turnpike-keepers were confirmed misanthropes, who, after a
bitter experience in life, had sought that occupation as a means of
venting their spleen against everybody who should come their way. We
have never observed in our own experience--more limited, it is true,
than the meditative Tony's--that the milk of human kindness is specially
sour in the breasts of tollgate-keepers; nevertheless, there are few
occupations in which a man delighting to worry his fellow-creatures in a
small way could more effectually do so. The pike-keeper inflicts daily a
legion of infinitesimal annoyances. He stops people who are in a hurry,
and forces them to find change for the toll--stops them in the fierce
sun, in the drenching rain, in the thick of a snow-storm or at dead of
night. He puts an ignoble end to the excited trotting-match on the road:
he alike mercilessly pulls up Paterfamilias hurrying for the doctor and
the city man struggling to catch the train. Often, though the toll
itself is a trifle, yet the loss of those two minutes which would have
saved the appointment or caught the train, nay, even the bore of pulling
off one's gloves and pulling out one's wallet with the mercury below
zero, tries the traveler's temper. The emancipation of highways from all
taxes levied upon wayfarers is a mark of modern civilization. The
mediaeval plan was to extort a toll from every luckless traveler in the
name of baron or bandit. In our day Algerine corsairs, Italian brigands,
Chinese pirates and Mexican guerillas have continued the thievish custom
of "tributes," and not long ago even Montana Indians established
themselves on the leading roads and levied tolls from the passers-by.
The civilized differs from the savage or feudal practice in rendering an
equivalent for the contributions exacted--that is, it provides from
their proceeds a stout bridge or a smooth turnpike, and keeps it
steadily in repair. But the county or State should take care of highways
and bridges without putting an impost on travel. Especially in the
suburbs of cities is the preservation of tolls a relic of commercial
barbarism. In New England they have gradually b