Having heard that it was full to overflowing, he
had determined to pass the night at Fairmead, and walk over in the
morning--starting soon after seven, so as to arrive in good time for the
dedication ceremony. When my father heard this, he proposed that they
should walk together, to which Mr. Balmy gladly consented; it was
therefore arranged that they should go to bed early, breakfast soon after
six, and then walk to Sunch'ston. My father then went to his own room,
where he again smoked a surreptitious pipe up the chimney.
Next morning the two men breakfasted together, and set out as the clock
was striking seven. The day was lovely beyond the power of words, and
still fresh--for Fairmead was some 2500 feet above the sea, and the sun
did not get above the mountains that overhung it on the east side, till
after eight o'clock. Many persons were also starting for Sunch'ston, and
there was a procession got up by the Musical Bank Managers of the town,
who walked in it, robed in rich dresses of scarlet and white embroidered
with much gold thread. There was a banner displaying an open chariot in
which the Sunchild and his bride were seated, beaming with smiles, and in
attitudes suggesting that they were bowing to people who were below them.
The chariot was, of course, drawn by the four black and white horses of
which the reader has already heard, and the balloon had been ignored.
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