air is charged with electric force; the blue ether of
the universe throbs with motion. Nature knows no environment; but
man is fettered, a spirit in a cage, a mournful soul that seeks
companionship in misery. Solitude is a word unknown to nature's
vocabulary. The deepest recesses of the forest teem with life and
joyousness until man appears, then they are filled with solitude.
The wind-swept desert is one of nature's play-grounds until man
appears, then it is barren with solitude. The darkest mountain
cavern echoes with nature's laughter until man appears, then it is
hollow with solitude. The shadow of man is solitude.

Instead of coming out at Becket as we expected, we found ourselves
way down near Otis and West Otis, and passed through North
Blandford and Blandford to Fairfield, where we struck the main
road.

We stopped for dinner at a small village a few miles from
Westfield. There was but one store, but it kept a barrel of stove
gasoline in an apple orchard. The gasoline was good, but the
gallon measure into which it was drawn had been used for oil,
varnish, turpentine, and every liquid a country store is supposed
to keep--not excepting molasses. It was crusted with sediment and
had a most evil smell. Needless to say the measure was rejected;
but that availed little, since the young clerk poured the gasoline
back into the barrel to draw it out again into a cleaner
receptacle.

The gasoline for sale at country stores is usually all right, but
it is handled in all sorts of receptacles; the only safe way is to
ask for a bright and new dipper and let the store-keeper guess at
the measure.

At Westfield the spark began to give trouble; the machine was very
slow in starting, as if the batteries were weak; but that could
not be, for one set was fresh and the other by no means exhausted.
A careful examination of every connection failed to disclose any
breaks in the circuit, and yet the spark was of intermittent
strength,--now good, now weak.

When there is anything wrong with an automobile, there is but one
thing to do, and that is find the source of the trouble and remedy
it. The temptation is to go on if the machine starts up
unexpectedly. We yielded to the temptation, and went on as soon as
the motor started; the day was so fine and we were so anxious to
get to Worcester that we started with the motor,--knowing all the
time that whatever made the motor slow to start would, in all
likelihood, bring us to a stan