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ALICE LAUDER.

vidence, and guided by her own invaluable advice). However, she thought there would be no harm in seeking some relaxation in a little journey, and she accordingly proposed to Alice that they should take a run over the mountains by way of the zigzag railway, staying one night at a little town on the other side, and returning by a longer, but less romantic road over the hills. No sooner said than done. It was a great relief to at least one of the party to get away from home, even for a couple of days, and the stimulating air and change of scene raised her spirits as no other tonic could have done. It is true that we carry our own bosom-cares about with us wherever we go (as the experience of ages has put on record), but at least we can relegate them to the position of mere travelling acquaintances , not heart to heart intimates, as they insist on being at our own fireside. We can compel them to take their own ghostly railway tickets, and pay for their own invisible dinners, and as for the wearisome conversation that they insist on pouring into our inward ears, why, we can go on talking just as well with other people all the time, and no one is a bit the wiser. As they rolled along the steel road that hot, sleepy afternoon, Alice felt soothed and able to argue the matter out quite rationally with herself.