ntor of these scandals was a crutched and
limping fellow, who being himself stunted and dwarfed below the waist was
trying to sneer into disuse all walking the world over, or one who was
paunched by fat living beyond carrying power, larding the lean earth,
fearing lest he sweat himself to death, some Falstaff who unbuttons him
after supper and sleeps on benches after noon. Rather these words should
connote the strong, the self-reliant, the youthful. He is a tramp, we
should say, who relies most on his own legs and resources, who least
cushions himself daintily against jar in his neighbor's tonneau, whose eye
shines out seldomest from the curb for a lift. The wayfarer must go forth
in the open air. He must seek hilltop and wind. He must gather the dust of
counties. His prospects must be of broad fields and the smoking chimneys
of supper.

But the goer afoot must not be conceived as primarily an engine of muscle.
He is the best walker who keeps most widely awake in his five senses. Some
men might as well walk through a railway tunnel. They are so concerned
with the getting there that a black night hangs over them. They plunge
forward with their heads down as though they came of an antique race of
road builders. Should there be mileposts they are busied with them only,
and they will draw dials from their pokes to time themselves. I fell into
this iniquity on a walk in Wales from Bala to Dolgelley. Although I set
out leisurely enough, with an eye for the lake and hills, before many
hours had elapsed I had acquired the milepost habit and walked as if for a
wager. I covered the last twenty miles in less than five hours, and when
the brown stone village came in sight and I had thumped down the last hill
and over the peaked bridge, I was a dilapidated and foot-sore vagrant and
nothing more. To this day Wales for me is the land where one's feet have
the ugly habit of foregathering in the end of the shoes.

Worse still than the athletic walker is he who takes Dame Care out for a
stroll. He forever runs his machinery, plans his business ventures and
introduces his warehouse to the countryside.

Nor must walking be conceived as merely a means of resting. One should set
out refreshed and for this reason morning is the best time. Yours must be
an exultant mood. "Full many a glorious morning have I seen flatter the
mountain-tops with sovereign eye." Your brain is off at a speed that was
impossible in your lack-luster days. You have a