y of the animals are afraid of our car. We
pass old Abingdon Parish Church, and stop to read the names on the tombs
with the coats-of-arms in the church yard. A little farther on we turn
down a long lane and drive for a mile and a half through fields and
trees. Then we come through a gate on to the green lawn of "Newstead,"
an old estate where they are good enough to take a few paying guests.
Sheep and turkeys walk calmly about on the grass under the shade of
noble oak trees. Before us are the blue waters of the Bay. We are on
that particular arm of Mobjack Bay known as the North River. Here is
the enchanting region of which Thomas Dixon Jr., wrote some twelve years
ago when he described his own home in a book called "The Life Worth
Living." A long motor boat ride convinces us that Mr. Dixon's
descriptions are not exaggerated. All along the river (which is really
an arm of Chesapeake Bay) stand pleasant homes surrounded by green lawns
and shaded by fine trees. It is so sheltered here that one has the
advantages of the real country, as well as of the real sea.

The chestnut oak, the magnolia, the willow oak, the crape myrtle, the
fig and the grape all flourish luxuriantly. The grass is thick and
green; and yet sail boats and motor boats ride at anchor at private
piers and your man can dredge your own oysters from your own oyster-bed
just in front of your grass and flowers. The estate of which Mr. Dixon
wrote so delightfully is only ten minutes by motor boat from "Newstead."

A mild climate, rich vegetation, fertile soil, birds and flowers and
fruits, the best eating in the world, what more does Virginia need to
make her a paradise on land and by sea? _Only good roads_, and then the
motorist will enjoy her rare charms as they have never yet been enjoyed.

We retrace our journey through the thick woods, past fine oaks and
beeches to the Yorktown ferry. Crossing again to Yorktown we drive on to
Old Point Comfort, taking a little time to visit the extensive buildings
of the famous Hampton Institute. At Old Point Comfort we take the boat
for Cape Charles City. It is our plan to drive straight up the Maryland
Peninsula, having first spent the night in a comfortable little hotel at
Cape Charles City.

It is a lovely September morning, clear and bright, as we drive north
along bumpy roads, through beautiful forests of pine and oak. We are in
Accomac County, Virginia, on the southern end of what is called the
Delaware-Maryland