Daydreaming is interesting in that, while one remains awake, consciousness shifts out of the present. In his short story “A Lonely Ride,” Bret Harte meditates upon how it is especially active when one is alone.
The Stagecoach
A young man stands outside a hotel beside the stagecoach, which will take him from Wingdam to Slumgullion, California and opens the stagecoach door. Much to his astonishment, three people come up to the carriage and either spit on it or in it. Moreover, the stagecoach is empty. He will ride by himself with only the driver outside for company.
Slightly disturbed that he will be the only one in the coach, the man implies to the driver that he would like to sit atop with him, but the driver takes no notice. Yet, despite this uneasiness, the young man throws his bags inside and launches himself in after them.
The coach rides forward at a leisurely pace and the young man tries to settle in. Despite having so much room to himself, he can’t get comfortable and his mind begins wandering, reliving past events and exaggerating everything he thinks of.
He relives his experience at the hotel, where he feels that he was a bit ostracized. The rhythm of the coach irritably calls up one particular sentence he overheard uttered by an old man: “I sez to Mariar, ‘Mariar’ sez I, ‘praise to the face is open disgrace.” The coach rocks and bumps and the young man mentally recites in rhythm: “Praise-to-the-face-is-open-disgrace.”
