South Bend. As far as
Kalamazoo and for some distance beyond the roads were hilly and
for the most part sandy,--a disgrace to so rich and prosperous a
State.

Through Paw Paw and Dowagiac some good stretches of gravel were
found and good time was made. It was dark when we reached the
Oliver House in South Bend, a remarkably fine hotel for a place of
the size.

The run into Chicago next day was marked by no incident worthy of
note. As already stated, the roads of Indiana are generally good,
and fifteen miles an hour can be averaged with ease.

It was four o'clock, Sunday, September 28, when the machine pulled
into the stable whence it departed nearly two months before. The
electricity was turned off, with a few expiring gasps the motor
stopped.

Taking into consideration the portions of the route covered twice,
the side trips, and making some allowance for lost roads, the
distance covered was over twenty-six hundred miles; a journey, the
hardships and annoyances of which were more, far more, than
counterbalanced by the delights.

No one who has not travelled through America on foot, horseback,
or awheel knows anything about the variety and charm of this great
country. We traversed but a small section, and yet it seemed as if
we had spent weeks and months in a strange land. The sensations
from day to day are indescribable. It is not alone the novel
sport, but the country and the people along the way seemed so
strange, possibly because automobiling has its own point of view,
and certainly people have their own and widely varying views of
automobiling. In the presence of the machine people everywhere
become for the time-being childlike and naive, curious and
enthusiastic; they lose the veneer of sophistication, and are as
approachable and companionable as children. Automobiling is
therefore doubly delightful in these early days of the sport. By
and by, when the people become accustomed to the machine, they
will resume their habit of indifference, and we shall see as
little of them as if we were riding or driving.

With some exceptions every one we met treated the machine with a
consideration it did not deserve. Even those who were put to no
little inconvenience with their horses seldom showed the
resentment which might have been expected under the circumstances.
On the contrary, they seemed to recognize the right of the strange
car to the joint use of the highway, and to blame their horses for
not behaving bette