through his journey; often enough to liberally supply
him even on his return trip--cold roasted spare ribs of pork, doughnuts,
loaves of "rye an' Injun" bread, and invariably a bountiful mass of
frozen bean porridge. This latter was made and frozen in a tub, and when
space was hard to find in the crowded vehicle, the solid mass was
furnished with a loop of twine by which to hang it to the side of the
pung. A small hatchet with which to chop off a chunk of porridge formed
the accompaniment of this unalluring Arctic provender. Oats and hay to
feed his horses did the farmer also carry.

There were plenty of taverns in which he could obtain food if he needed
it, in which, indeed, he did obtain liquid sustenance to warm his bones
and stir his tongue, and make palatable the half-thawed porridge which
he ate in front of the cheerful tavern fire. But it was the invariable
custom, no matter what the wealth of the farmer, to carry a supply of
food for the journey. This kind of itinerant picnic was called
"tuck-a-nuck "--a word of Indian origin, or "mitchin," while the box or
hamper or bucket that held the provisions was called a "mitchin-box." I
can fancy that no thrifty or loving housewife allowed the man of her
household to go to market with too meanly filled a mitchin-box, but took
an honest pride in sending him off with a full stock of rich doughnuts,
well-baked bread, well-filled pies, and at least well-cooked porridge,
which he could devour without shame before the eyes of his neighbors.

The traveller did not carry his meals from home because the tavern fare
was expensive; at the inn where he paid ten cents a night for his
lodging, he was uniformly charged but twelve and a half cents for a
"cold bite," and but twenty-five cents for a regular meal; but it was
not the fashion to purchase meals at the tavern; the host made his
profits from the liquor he sold and from the sleeping-room he gave.
Sometimes the latter was simple enough. A great fire was built in the
fireplace of either front room--the bar-room and parlor--and round it,
in a semicircle, feet to the fire and heads on their rolled-up buffalo
robes, slept the tired travellers. A few sybaritic or rheumatic tillers
of the soil paid for half a bed in one of the double-bedded rooms which
all taverns then contained, and got a full bed's worth, in deep hollows
and high billows of live-geese feathers, warm homespun blankets, and
patchwork quilts.

It was certainly a gay