The Brussels Post, 1888-8-10, Page 30
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AUG. 10, 1888. THE BRUSSELS POST. 8"
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"ROUGHING IT IN THE BUSH.
;; bosom, to pine out my joyless existence in a
foreign clime ? Oh, that I might be permit.
rod to return and die upon your wave en -
ciliated shortie, and rent my weary head and
heart beneath your delay -covered ood at
last I Ah, these are vain outbursts of fool-
ing -anelaneholy relapses of the aping home•
eiokness 1 Canada I thou art a noble, free,
and tieing mu:dry-- the great festering
mother of the orphans of civilization. The
off.pring of Britain, thou must he great,
and I will and do lave thee, land of my
adoption, and of my children's birth ; and,
oh, dearer still to a mother's heart—land of
their graves 1
CHAPTER 1V. on the ground—like a man wile had lost his
ideas, and wile diligently employed in
To0. W nsoxs 'stut X2 oxsearching For
them. f (Atwood eo meet
him
"well owl fellows, this fellow wns 030 oddest 1 ono dray in this dreamy moot.
beim seen many strange rich In nay da e, t ut 1 ani err " llow do you do bir, Wilson ?" He
met with his equal' stared at me for several minutes as it doubt.
ful of my presence or identity.
What was it you said?'
I repeated the queetiun ; and he summeresummered,nored,
with ono of hie incredulous smiles,
Was ft to me 1 ou spoke ? Oh, I am
quite well, or I should not be walking here.
By the way, did you see my dog?"
"flow should I know your dog?"
They say he resembles me, lie's a queer
dog, too; hue I never could bud out the
ikenoss. Good nigher 1"
This was at noonday; but Tom had a
habit of taking light for darhnem, and dark-
ness for light, hu all leo did or said, He
must have had different eyes and 00.x0, and
a different way of seeing, hearing, and cum•
preheoding, than is poseessed by the gener-
ality of ilia species ; and to such a length
did he carry Ode abstr'.Wien of soul and
sense, that he would often leave you abrupt-
ly in the middle of a sentence ; and 0 you
chanced to meet him some weeks after, he
would rename the conversation with the very
word at which he had cut short the thread
of your discourse.
A lady once told him in jot, that her
younger brother, a lad of twelve yore old,
had palled his donkey Brttham, in honour of
the great singer of that name. Tom made
no answer, but started abruptly away.
Three months after, she happened -to en-
counter him on the same spot, when he
accosted her, without any previous saluta-
tion.
You were telling me abort() a donkey,
Miss—, a donkey of your brother's—
Braham, I think you called him—yea,
Braham ; a strange name for an acs 1 I
wonder what the great Mr. Brehm would
say to that. Ha, ha, ba?"
' Your memory must bo excellent, Mr.
Wilson, to enable you to remember each a
trifling oircumetahce all this time."
"Trifling, do you call it? Why, I have
thought of nothing else ever sines.'
From traits such as these my readers will
be tempted to imagine him brother to the
animal who had dwelt so long in hie
thoughts ; but there were times when he
surmounted this strange absenoe of mind,
and could talk and act as sensibly us other
folks.
On the death of his father, he emigrated
to New South Wales, where he contrived to
doze away seven yearn of kbe valueless ex,
istence, Buffering his convict eervante to rob
hien of everything, and fleetly to burn his
dwelling. He returned to his native village,
dressed as an Italian mendicant, with a
monkey perched upon hie shoulder, and
playing airs of his own composition upon a
hurdy-gurdy. In this diagniao he sought
the dwelling of an old bachelor uncle, and
solicited his charity. But who that had
ouoe seen our friend TOM could ever forget
him? Nature had no counterpart of one who
in mind and form was alike original, The
good natured old soldier, at a glance,
cliecoverod his hopeful nephew, received him
Onto his house with kindness, and had
afforded him an aoylum ever since.
One little anecdote of him at this period
will illustrate the quiet love of mischief with
which he was imbued. Travelling from
W— to London in the stagecoach (rail•
ways were not invented in these clays), he
entered into conversation with an intelligent
farmer who sat next him; New South
W ales, and his residence in that colony,
forming the leading topic. A dissenting
minister who happened to be his tris -a tis,
and who had annoyed him by making Bever•
al impertinent remarks, suddenly asked
hint, with a sneer, how many years he bad
been there.
" Seven," returned Tom, in a solemn
tone, without deigning a glance at his com•
panion.
1 thought so,0 responded the other,
thrusting his hands into his breeches
pockets. "And pray, ear, what were you
sent there for?''
" Stealing pigs," returned the incorrigible
Tom, with the gravity of a judge. The
words were scarcely pronounced when the
questioner called the coachman to stop, pre
ferring A ride outside in the rain to a seat
within with a thief. Tom greatly enjoyed
the hoax, which ho used to tell with the
merriest of all grave faces.
Besides being a devoted admirer of the
fair sex, and always imagining himself in
love with some unattainable beauty, he had
a passionate orazo for mmsio, and played
upon the viulbe and flute with considerable
taste and execution. The sound of a
favourite melody operated upon the breath
ing automaton like magic, Inc frozen faoul•
the experienced a sudden thaw, and the
stream of life leaped and gambolled far a
while with unoontrollable vivacity. He
laughed, danced, sang, and made love in a
breath, committing a thousand mad vagaries
to make you acquainted with his existence.
My husband had a remarkably sweet•
toned flute, and this flute Tom regarded
with a apeoiss of idolatry.
" I break the Tenth Commandment,
Moodie, whenever I hear you play upon
that flute. Take care of your black wife,"
(a name hq had bestowed upon the coveted
treasure), ' or 1 shall uortainly run off with
her."
"1 am half afraid of you, Tom, I am
sure 0 1 were to die, end leave you my blank
wife as a legacy, you would be too much
overjoyed to lament my death,"
Such was the strange„ whimsical bring
who oontemplated an emigration to Canada.
How ire succeeded in the specudatbon the ee-
quef will show.
It was late in the evening before my hue -
band and his friend Tom Wilson returned
from V ------, I had provided a hob sup•
per and a pup of ooffeo after their long w alk,
and they did ample justice:, to my care.
Tom was in unusual high spirits, and ap•
peered wholly bent upon his Canadian ex.
perdition,
" Mr. C--- must have been very elo-
quent, Mr. Wilson," said 1, " to engage
your attention for so many hours."
"Perhaps ire was," returned Tom, after
a pause of some minutes, during whioh he
seemed to be groping for words in the salt•
that bade Mateo to all competition. Ho cellar, having deliberately turned out its
could quiz with a smile, and pub down iu• contents upon the table-oloth. " We wore
About a rronthpreview' to our emigration
to Canada, my busbeud said to me, ", Yeti
need not expect me home to dmuer today ;
I am going with my friend iVilson to Y—
to hoar Mr. 0— lecture upon emigration
to Canada. He has just returned from the
North American provinces, and his leotm•oe
are attended by mat numbers of persona who
are anxious to obtaiu Imformation on the
subject. I got a note from your friend
B— this morning, begging me to some
over and listen to Ma palaver ; and se Wile
son thinks of emigrating in Inc spring, he
will be my walking oompauion."
"Tom Wilson going to Canada 1" said I,
as the door °lheed on my better half, " Wnab
a back•woodomao he will make I What a
loss to the Bingle ladies of S— I What
will they do without him at their balls Wad
picnics ?'
One of my sisters, who was writing at a
table near me, was highly amused at this
unexpected announcement, She fell back
in her chair and indulged in 0. long and
hearty laugh. I am certain that most of my
eadere would have joiuod iu her laugh, had
they known the objeot which provoked her
mirth, "Poor Toni is such a dreamer,"
said my sister, "it would be an ant of char-
ity in Moodie to pomade him from under-
taking euoh a wild•goose ohaso ; only that 1
fanny my good brother is possessed with the
same mania,"
"Nay, God forbid I' said I. "I hope
this Mr. —, with the unpronounceable
name, 'will disgust them with his eloquence ;
for B— writes me word, in his droll
way, that he is a coarse, vulgar follow, and
hake the dignity of a bear. Oh 1 I am aer•
tain they will return quite sickened with
the Canadian project." Thus I laid the
flattering unction to my soul, little dream-
ing that I and mine should share in the
strange adventures of this oddist of all odd
creatures.
If might be made a subject of aurioue in
quiry to those who delight in human absurd-
ities, 0 ever there were a oharaoter drawn
in works of fiction so extravagantly rldiou•
)nus as some which daily experience presents
to our view. We have encountered people
in the broad thoroughfares of life more ea.
centric than ever we read of in books ; pace
pie who, if all their foolish saying and doings
were duly recorded, would vie with the
drollest creations of Hood, or George Col-
man, and put to theme the flights of Baron
Munchausen. Not that Tom Wilson was
a romancer ; oh no I He was the very prose
of prose, a man in a mist, who seemed afraid
of moving about for fear of knookiog his
head against a tree, and finding a halter
suspended to its branahee—a men ae helpless
and as indolent 0.e a baby.
Mr. Thomas, or Tom Wilson, as he wan
familiarity called by all his friends and ac-
quaintances, was the son of a gentleman
who possessed a large landed property in
the neighborhood ; but an extravagant and
profligate expenditure of the income whioh
he derived from a fine estate whioh had des-
cended from father to ion through many
generations, had greatly reduced the air•
oumetancea of the alder Wilson. Still, his
family held a oertain high rank and stand.
ing in their native country, of whioh his
evil courses, bad ae they were, could not
wholly deprive them. The young people—
and a very large family they made of eons
' and daughters, twelve in number—worn ob-
jects of interest and commiseration to all
who know them, while the worthleee father
was justly held in contempt. Our hero
was the youngest of the six sone ; and from
his childhood ho was famous for his nothing-
to doishness. He was too indolent to en-
gat,e heart and soul in the manly sports of
• nie comrades ; and he never thought it
sa tee'ary to commence ]corning his lessons
*nal the school had been in an hour. Aa
rte grew up to man's notate, ho might be
aeon dawdling about in a black frook•ooat,
jean trousers, and white kid gloves, making
lazy bows to the pretty girls of his ao-
quaintanee ; or dressed in a green shooting•
pact, with a gun across his shoulder,
sauntering down the wooded lanae, with a
brown spaniel dodging at his heels, and
looking ae sleepy and indolent as his
master.
The slowness of all Tom's movements was
strangely contrasted with his slight, elegant,
and symmetrical figure ; that looked as 0
it only awaited the will of the owner to be
he most motive pieoo of human machinery
that ever responded to the impluaee of youth
and health. But then, his facie 1 What
penoil could faithfully delineate features at
once so, comical and lugburious—features
that one moment expressed the moat solemn
seriousness, and the next, tho most grotesque
and absurd abaodonmenb to mirth? In him,
all extra( es appeared to meet ; the man
wait a eontradiutroo to himself. Tom was a
person of few worde, and so intensely lazy,
that it required a strong effort of will to
enable him to answer the queabions of in-
quiring friends ; and when et length aroused
to exercise his colloquial powers, he perform-
ed the task in so original a manner, thab it
never failed to upset the gravity of the in-
terrogator. When he raised his large,
prominent, loaden•ooloured eyes front the
ground, and looked the iuquieor steadily in
the face, the effect was irresistible ; the
laugh would come,—do your best to resist
it.
Poor Tom took this mistimed merriment
iu very good part, generally auswering with
a ghastly conbortiou whioh he meant for a
smile, or, if ho did trouble himself to find
words, with, " Web that's funny 1 What
makes you laugh? Ab me I suppose? I don't
wonder at it; I often laugh atntyself."
"• Tom would have been a breasnre to en
undertaker. He would have been celebrat•
od'as a mute ; ho looked as if ho had been
born in a shroud, and rooked in a watt
Who gravity with whioh he could answer a
ridionloae or impertinent question tom•
plubely disarmed and turned the shafts of
malice hack upon his oppoueut. 1f Tom
was himself an objeot of ridionle to many,
ho had a way of quietly ridieulfng others,
solemn) with an incredulous stare. A grave
wink from those dreamy eyes would destroy
the vetaoity of a travelled dandy for over.
hungry after our long walk and he gash u0
an excellent dinner.'
"But that had nothing to do with the
Tom was not without use in his day and sabotaoee of ha lecture.
generation; queer and awkward as he was, "It was the substance, after all," said
h
might suapeothis sanity—a matter alwaye
doubtful—but his honeety of heart and pur-
o wee the soul of truth and honour, You mood's,, laughing ; '" and his Audience seers•
ed to think 00, by the attention they paid
to 11 clurieg the disauoaion. But come,
Wilson, give my wife some aeoounb el the
intellectual part of the entertainment."
" What I 1--1 -1 -S give an aoaaunt of
the lecture? Why, my dear follow, I never
listened to one word of ib 1"
"1 though!) you wont to Y. -----• on our.
peso to obtain information on the aubjeob of
pose never,
When you mob 'Tom in the streets, he was
drowsed with pooh neatnees and oare (to bo
sure it took him half the day to melte hie
toilet), 'hat it lad massy persons to imagine
that the very ugly young man considered
himself au Adorns • and 1 must ooefoes that
contained the snbotauco of hie lecture and
only cost a shilling, I thought that it was
better to same the substenee than endeavor
to patch the shadow—so I bought the book,
Arid traria' myself the pain of lis -ening to
to the oratory of the writer, Mrs. Moodie 1
lie lead a shoeiclogdelivery, a drawling, i•0.]•
gar vetoer; and he spoke with well a nasal
twoog that I uould not bear to look at him,
or Beton to him. He made each grummet'.
cal blundersthat my aides oohed with
laughing at him, Oh, I wish that you could
have seen the wretch 1 But hero is the d0•
Dumont, written in the same style in whioh
it isspokon, Read ft; you have a treat in
store."
I took the pamphlet, not a little amused
at his description of Mr. C--, for whom
1 fait an uncharitable dislike.
"Acid how did you contrive to entertain
yourself, Mr. Wilson, during his long ad•
dram ?"
"By thinking how many fools were col -
looted together to listen to one greater than
the root, By the way, Moodie, did you
notice Farmer Flitch?'
" No ; where did he sib 7"
"At the foot of the table. You must
have have moo hien, he was too big to be
overlooked. What a delightiul squint he
had 1 What a ridiculous likeness there
was between him and the roast pig he was
carving 1 I was wondering all dinnertime
how that man contrived to cup up that pig ;
for ouc eye was fixed upon the oiling, and
the other leering very affectionately at me.
It was very droll ; was it not ?"
"And what do you intend doing with
youreel f when yon arrive in Canada ?" said I,
" Find out some large hollow tree, and
live like Bruin in the winter by sucking my
paws. In the summer there will be plenty
of mast and acorns to satisfy the wants of
an abstemious fallow,"
"But joking apart, my dear fellow," said
my husband, anxious to induce him to
abandon a scheme so hopeless, "do you
think that you are at all qualified for a life
of toil and hardship ?"
"Are you i' returned Tom, raising his
large, bushy, blaok eyebrows to the top of
his forehead, and fixing his leaden eyes
steadfastly upon his interrogator, with an
air of euoh absurd gravity that we burst
into a hearty laugh.
"Now what do you laugh for? Tam sure
I asked you a very serious question."
" But your method of putting it is so un-
usual that you mueb excuse us for laughing."
" I don't want you to weep," said Tom ;
"but as to our qualifications, Moodie, I
think them pretty equal, I know you
think otherwise, but I will explain. Let
I rather inclined to this opinion. He always emigration to Cahadte ? but when the fol•
mood the publics etreets with a slow, dalrb- Well, and se 1 did ; > t w
I P y y p Iced out his paint/Mob, and said that it
orate tread, .and with his a eo fixed intently law it
Whilst talking over our oommg separation
with my slater 0—, we oteervod Tom
Wilson walking elowly up the path that led
to the house. He was dressed in a new
nhooting•jaokec, with his gun lying careen.
ly across his shoulder, and an ugly pointer
clog following at a little distance.
" Well, Mrs, Moodie, I am off," said Tom,
shaking hands with my sister instead of me.
"I euppoee I sha'l 005 Moodie in London.
What do you think of my deg?" patting him
affectionately.
"I think him an ugly beast," said
" Po you mean to take him with you?"
" An ugly beast 1—Duchess a beast ? Why,
she is a perfect beauty 1—Beauty and the
beast 1 He, ba ha I I gave two guineas for
her last night," (1 thought of the old adage, )
" Mrs. Moodie, your sister is no judge of a
dog."
Very likely," returned C—, laughing.
"And you go to town to night Mr. Wilson?
I thought ae you aame up to the house that
you were equipped for shooting."
"To be sure ; there is capital shooting in
Canada."
"So I have heard—plenty of bears and
wolves ; I suppose you take out your deg
and gun in anticipation f'
"True," said Tom.
" But you surely are nob going to take
that dog with you?"
" Indeed I am. She is a mod valuab e
brute. The very best venture I could take.
My brother Charles has engaged our pi s•
sage in the same vessel."
"It would be a pity to part you," said I.
" May you prove as lucky a pair as Whit-
tington and his oat."
" Whittington 1 Whittington!" said Tom,
staring at my sister, and beaming todream,
which he invariably did in the company of
women. " Who was the gentleman?"
"A very old friend of mine, one whom 1
have known sinceI was a very little girl,"
said my sister; "but I have not time to
tell you more about him now. If you go to
St. Paul's Churchyard, and inquire for Sir.
me see ; while was I going to say ?—ah, I
have ib 1 You go with the intention of Richard Whittington and hie cat, you will
clearing land, and tvocking for yourself, and get his history for a mere trifle."
doing a great deal. 1 have tried thab before Do nob nand her, Mr. Wilson, she is
in New South Wales, and I know that ib cluizzing yon," quoth I; I wish you a safe
won't answer. Gentlemen cant work like
labourers, and if they maid they won't—it
is not in them, and that you will find out.
You expect, by going to Canada, to make
your fortune, or at least secure a comfort
able independence. I anticipate no such re-
sults ; yet I mean to go, partly out of a
whim, partly to eacasfy my curiosity are over. What adventures we shall have
whether it is a better country than New to tell ono another I It will be napital.
South Wales; and lastly, in the hope of Good bye,'
bettering my condition in a small way,
which at present is so bad that it can scarce- " Tom has sailed,„ said Captain Charles
ly be worse. I mean to purchase a farm Wilson, stepping into my little parlour a
with the three hundred pounds I received few daye ter his eccentric brother's last
last week from the sale of my father's visit. "I saw him end Duchess safe on
property ; and if the Canadian soil yields board. Odd as be is, I parted with a full
only half what Mr. C— says in does, I heart ; I felt ae if we /never should meet
need nob starve. But the refined habits in again. Poor Tem! he is the ouly brother
whioh you have been brought nes, and your left me now that I can love. Robert and I
unfortunate literary propensities—(I say never agreed very well, and there is little
unfortunate, because yon trill seldom meet oltanee of our meeting in this world. He is
people in a colony who pan or will eympa- married, and settled down for life in Wales;
thine with you in these pursuits)—they wall and the reef, John, Richard, George, are all
make you an object of mistrust and envy to gone—all I'
those who cannot appreoiats them, and will Was Toon in good spirits when you
be a source of constant mortification and parted?”
disappointment to yourselt. Thank God 1 " Yes. He is a perfect contradiction. Ho
voyage across the Atlantis); I win I 'could
add a happy meeting with your friends.
But where shall we find friends in a strange
land?"
" All in good time," I said. " I hope to
have the pleasure of meeting you in (the
backwoods of Canada before three months
BRAZIL'S E?tIANCIPATED SLAVES.
Their Grallt mle In fire rtoyal Family—Pub.
lir IteJ0teings in Rio Janeiro.
Reiter Basta Cordoira, an attache of the
litre:lien Legation at Washington and e
member of the lemporor's household, reoeiv.
oda batch of letters from Brazil remedy
telling how the abolition of slavery had
been received, "The country le enjoying
thegreateuteuiet acid poaue," held Senor
Cordeire. "My letters eay that the fernier
slave are cheerfully working for wages for
their old rneeters.
They are creating 0.o disordore, ennimitting
no thefts, nor are they idling away their
time. In ilio Janeiro whoa the Primes Re.
gent apptan in the streets the Meeks strop•
gle with each other for the privilege of dos•
ing her areas or sometimes her hand, and
utter their gratitude in shonte and cheers.
Tho anal act abolishing slavery took effect;
May 13, and for fifteen days there was publio
feasting all over the empire, In Rio Janeiro
business was suspended, and the entire pop.
elation gave up the time to amueemanb and
rejoicing. The four rasing Plebe united and
gave races every day without charge. The
uewepepers combined, and ieeued May 13 a
paper written by all the editors. The the
store wore free to every body. There were
great public tables spread for all to eat, and
balls in every park and square,
It is impossible to say how many slaves
were liberated, In 1883 there were 1,000,
100. Since that great numbers have been
voluntarily freed, and I suppose that there
were not more than 2,000,000 treed by law,
The causes which led to emancipation were
the Emperor, the pride of the Brazilians,
and the small profits in elave labor, Brazil
was the only eivtlized country in the world
holding slaves, Brazilians are liberty loving
and progreesive, and the press end the
Emperor stirred up a powerful public sen•
timentfor emancipation. Only nine Deputies
voted against it.
To be Abreast with Society.
"De faotoff der matter vas ," says Uncle
Jacob, " dot we upends ebuet about
half of our money because somebody else
vas do it. Ve shunt pays mit a tribute mit
society. If Mr. A bents mit hie fence,
den Mr B, if he vas an enderhriz•
ing man vas shad bainb his. Elfery
body could get along mitout a goat many
tinge dot dey haf, but live would
not be pleasant mib dem. Imight say to
my viva and daughter : ' Now den, dere
vas no use in paying out blendy off money
for der vinder's clothing. Here vas grain.
sacks and burtilizer bags dot vas goot
varm cloth. Ve vill vash dot and make
dot into olothee and keep varm and healdy.'
Now, dot cotdtl be done unci off ve vas
iifing mit some desert island vere nobody
vas grrttaize, I haf no doubt dot v0 vould
year abuse tinge Aad be shunt as happy
as never vas, But yen ve goes in mit der
society off any gommunity vs vas shoat
haf to come up mit der standard off clot
gommunity mi: our dress uud our vela off
liking and all dere oder tinea. Dar
conoeguenee vas dot ver knows vas uzeless
ehust pecause oder beebl.r does it and ve
Oaks it vas fearful dot we falls behind.
Der trouble mit society vas dot it vee
cultivate bride so fast dot ve vas ingrease
our expense ehust like a snow -boll vile ver
vas keep up alit it."
A Spider and a Frog.
A gentleman tells ns that in company with
another he was walking along the banks of
a stream when their attention was drawn to
a noise near them in the water. It was as-
certained that the noise was caused by a
fight between a monater spider and a frog.
Whenever the two would Dome together the
spider would seize the frog with 015 poison-
ous fangs; the frog would then by a supreme
effort shake his enemy off and hop away to a
alwa s lou ho and crt)s m the wren peculiar -looking plant whioh grow near, and
I have no literary propensities ; but, in y g g after biting off a portion of its leaves and
spite of the latter advantage, in all probabil• place. 'Charles,he said, with a loud laugh, eating them would return to the combat
ity I shall make no exertion at all ; so that tall the girls to get some new music against with renewed energy. The two gentlemen
hark ye 1 if I never Dome watched this interesting combat fora long
time, when one of them concluded he would
keep the frog away from the plant, which it
seemed to be using as an antidote for the poi.
son of the spider. Se when the frog, se usu•
el, started for the plant after being bitten,
he kepb him away ; the poor fellow made
frantic efforts to get at it, but was prevented
and in a few memento the poieon of the spi-
der, nob being counter toted, took effect, and
the poor frog expired immediately.
your energy damped by dbsgusb and disap- 1 return : and,
porntmeut, and my laziness will end in the back, I leave them my Kangaroo Waltz asa
same thing, and wo shall both return like legacy."'
bad pennies to our native shores. But, as I " What a strange oreatute?"
have neither wife nor child to involve in my "Strange, indeed ; you don't know half
failure, I think, without much self -flattery, his oddities. He has very little money to
that my prospects aro better than yours.' take out with bier, but he actually paid for
This was the longest speech I ever heard two berths in the ship, that ho might not
Tom utter; and, evidently astonished at °hence to have a person who snored sleep
himself, ho sprang up abruptly from the near him. Thirty pounde thrown away
table, oversee a pup of coffee into my lip, upon the mere chance of a Buoying merman -
and, wishing us good day (it was eleven,ion 1 ' Beoides, Charles,' quoth he, '1 eau -
o'clock at night), he ran out of the house. not endure to share my little cabin with
There was more truth in poor Tom's i others ; they will use my towels, and combs,
words than at that moment we werewillimg land brushes, like that confounded rascal
to allow; for youth and hope were on our 'who slept in the same berth with me eom-
aide in those clays, and we were most ready' ing from New South Wales, who had the
to follow the suggestions of the latter. ' impudence to olean his teeth w h my tooth -
My husband finally determined to ami• !brush. Here I shall be all •clone, happy
grate to Canada, and in the hurry and ,and comfortable as a prince, and Duchess
beetle of a sudden preparation to depart, :shall sleep iu the after -berth, and be my
Tom and ae, affairs ware for whflo for.. Then. Acid so we parted,' continued Cap -
tarn Charles. "flay God take care of hien,
go How dark and heavily did that frightful I for he never could take care of himself."
anticipation weigh upon my heart 1 As the I That puts me in mind of the reason be
time for our departure drew near, the gave for not going with us. He was afraid
thought of leaving my friends and native i that my baby would keep him awake of a
land beoatne too intensely painful that it; night. He hates children, and says that he
haunted me even in sleep. I seldom awoke never will marry on that account."
without finding my pillow wet with tears.
The glory of May was upon the earth—of
an English 1ley. The woods were bursting
into leaf, the meadows and hedgerows
(To BID aollTlNUEn.)
The Subsidence of Mountains.
were flushed with flowers, and every grove According to ha Gazette Geoprophique the
and aupscwood echoed to the warbling of Cordillera of the Andes are gradually sink•
birds and the humming of bees. To leave ing. In 1745 the pity of Quito was 0,590
England at all was dreadful—to leave her at feet above sea level, in 1813 it was only
such a season was doubly so. I went to 9,370; in 1831, 9,507, and scarcely 9,520 in
take a laeb look at the old Hall, the beloved 1867. This amounts to a lowering of sevon-
hotno of my childhood and youth ; to wan• i ty-nix feet in 122 yearn, or at the rate of
der onoa more beneath the shades of its about seven and a half inches per annum.
venerable oaks—to rest once more upon the I Wo are also told that the farm of Antisana
velveb sward that earpetotl their roots, It has sunk 154 feet in sixbyfour years, or
was while reposing beneath those noble more than, two and a half feob per suntan.
trees that I lead first indulged in those da• i This is the highoet inhabited spot on the
lioious dreams which aro a foretaste of bile lAndes about 4,000 fent higher than Quito,
enjoyments of the opirit•land, In them tho the higheab city on the alobo, Tho peak of
soul broathee forth rte aspirations in a lan. Piohineha was, awarding to the same meth°•
goage unknown to common minds ; and rity, 218 feet lower in 1807 than in 1745, a
that language is Poetry. Here annually, sinking of nearly two hob per annum. Amin -
from year to year, I had renewed my ,meed. ing the mummy of these liignrev, they pre -
ship with the fireb primroses and violate, 'tent a onerous geologies.' grobb - , ospeoially
and listened with the untiring ear of love to as there ie eo reword of a s , reepoading
the spring roundelay of the blackbird, I change at sea levet or at the toot of these
whistled from among his bower of May same mountains, which lseieod rather steep -
blossoms. Hero, I had discoursed sweet ly to the Parana If the plasticity or visooe-
worde to the tinkling brook, and learned • fey of the oarsli's crust be euoh ea 1 have ooze
from the melody of waters the nntsio of nat. j tended in this magazine, it foiluive eland of
ural shunds. In these beloved aolitudos necessity that mole a mass of mountain land
all the holy emotions which stir the human' as that in this region of Qeito and Chimbor•
heart in its depth had been freely poured raze must be equeeeing itself downward in -
forth, and found a response to the harmoo• 1 to the suborust of the globe by ire own aim -
ions voice of Nature, bearing aloft the choral,mous weight. Although the h'ghast of these
Bong of earth to the throne of the Creator. peaks are net quite so high as the highest of
How bard it wag to tear myself from' the Himalayas, the ()emendation of °lova-
soonee endeared to me by the most beautiful tion iu a given area, or, othorwit° stated, the
and sorrowful reoolleations, let those who' mass standing above sea level in proporti:n
have loved and suffered as 1 did, say, llow• to tho baro on which ib stands, is greater
over the world has frowned upon me, Na- than can be found in any other part of the.
ture, arrayed an bol' groan loveliness had world, and its dowuthrust is similarly pro.
ever mniled 'Open mo like an indulgent' eminent, Such down squeezing and oinking
mother, holding out her loving arms to 00. must be a000mpanied with eorrospondisg
fold to her bosom her erring bitb devoted, lateral thrust, or elbowing that should pro.
illilid,
!duce enrthquelto disturbances on every kilo.
Dear, dear England 1 why WAS 1 forced The foots fully satisfy this requirement of
by a keen necessity to leave you? WVhab the theory, no the °wintry all around the
heinous prime had 1 committed, that I, who region in question fa the very fatherland of
adored you, should be toric from your accred terrible eartlignalite,
Waking from Sleep.
The author of " On Blue 'Water " gives
some curious observations upon the manner
in which we re0ovor posseseien of our senses
whenever we are awakened, 7de thinks
that it is the sense which is most violently
assailed that is first to wake up. He says
I know no place where a man has so
many opportunities for observing the plan.
°meta attending the awakeuing from sleep
as on board ship, where half the people are
awakened from sound Bleep at lease three
times a day.
Often the bright light of my cabin lamp,
rat lighted, has been visible to me some
emends before I could hear or understand
thab I was beteg called to get up, I have
atten called a man, and received an answer
which ted me to believe he was wide awake,
though he wan unoanselous of having ane
ewerud at all.
You may even hold a long and animated
annvorsatinu with suing men ab eight belle
without waking then() up.
Sugar From the Golden Province,
From a report whioh is published in the
columna of the Colonist, ib appears that the
soil and °litrate of British Columbia are
specially favourable for the raising of beets and "stirxE," came tlrout h no good might
suitable for the manufacture of sugar. The t follow and no one might take his advice.
report is based on an analysis of auger beets
grown by persons who hats no particular ex-
perience in the cultivation of the root. It
is stated that the analysis proved thab the
beets were fully up to the standard of those
used in Germany as regards richness in sao-
obarine matter. Much interred is telten in
the subjoot, and afew months ago the Van-
couver City Connell made a grant for the
purchase of boot seed for distribution among
the farmers of tits province, with the object
of inducing combo oxperimenbin the oultiva-
tion of tho sugar•produoing prop. The hope
is entente" by the British Columbia press
that within a short time the manufaatnro of
beet roob sugar will bo an important in.
duotry of the province,
Oententment,
Don't be afraid. We are not going es
write a homily on ooutoobment,nor need;ons-
roadere fear a rehu0h of all the platitudoe of
that some what lieeknoyadsu' jeot. The worldl
has had a surfeit of food of that description,
and yet the family of the droeontentee is es
large and as clamorous as , ver. ' Men mill
never are, but only to be blessed, and multi-
tudea are still crying, as of ,•irl, " Wee will
show us any good ?" The Whetter eat,ecbfsrm
still, as in the other days, oondemne all"i is-
contemtn;eut with our own estate, Envying;
or grieving at the good of our neighbor, and
all the inordinate notions and affections to,
anything that is his." And yet `good Pres-
byterians who, like the two Presidential
candidates, have been brought up on that.
substantial though occasionally somewhat in-
digestible fare, are just aeunsatistiedasothorie
with their own " environments," and aro
often taking a powerfully envious like squint
at their neighbors' " leathern convenience,"
which in the unregenerate language of the
earth is known as "a carriage," Preachers try
the hundred are taking up their parable
on the name subject and are doing their beet
to set forth full " o ntentment with one's
own oendition" as at 0nee a duty and a
privilege, while they are all the while
worrying their own lives out in wishing for
a trip across the Atlantic, or in grumbling
at soma fortunate "brother" who has
scoured this " happy deepatoh" who is at
his congregation's expellee and yet "hipped
to death'' because he wanted the donation
big enough to take his wife as well and,
could not manage it.
There's Talmage a week ago last Sunday
took a regular "header' on the beauties of
bread and water and with his twenty to forty
thousand dollars jingling in his pocket fleer
ed atNebuchadnizzerandmade a regular cir-
cus in contempt of Cleopatra's none and of
Napoleon's greatness and gout. The dear
man I This apostle of sweetness and present
owner of something better than the time
honoured tub of the cynic bad, no doubt,„
something whioh bothered him on that Satur-
day night and it is possible that he dreamed
on Sunday morning of something he wanted
but had not got. Why in that ono oration
he had a whole orowd of classical allusions,.
any half of which would have gladdened a
school boy's heart and filled to repletion u
girl's wonderful " commenoement" theme.
It was a perfect quarry, out of whioh juven-
ile moralists could take without stint their
finest oornar stones I with perorations
galore whioh would have made the
maternal heart sing for joy. The whale
field was ranged, and /Vero, Nebudohad-
nerzar, Naboth and Napoleon, with Ahi
bbophel, Byron, Cadmus, David, Cromwell,,
Catharine, and William the Conqueror,- to
say notlueg of Adexand,r's dost helping
to make a bung for a beer barrel and multi
tudos of °there too numerous to mention in
any advertisement," all passed ebedowily
across the stage. Why, if a man were not
thankful and centeuted after such a
cataract of commonplaces had been.
poured on bis head, he ought to be
tied—as Raised Hata the creat Baptist
preacher, phrasal it—" to the tail of the
great rea dragon and whipt round the nether
regions to all eternity." By all means, lot
each and every man be "contented"—And the
preacher ficst—thous h perverse people milt
say that discontent to the epriag of all the ac-
tivity that is going tend that lulu for it man
would scarcely oven yet have got beyond the
era of fig leaves, while Talmage's Tabernacle
world be sill Eft tttthfhuc. One does not
know. Men try to ebow how "full con-
tontment " and the eager restlessness by
which the world is at present driven arc•
compatible with each other, but the process
is tedious acid the dietineuos are too many
and too nice for ordiaary use. Even the
preacher is on the drive, and ten chances to
one the Brooklyn orator murmurs in his
sleep something about " fifty years of—say
Brooklyn—being "worth a ayolein Cathay.
It is, in short, a nice thing, contentment,
but where is it to be had and how, when se-
cured, is it to be retained ? Even Talmage
is sceptical about the efficacy of his own
declamation, for after alt this fine °logien over
the "Vanity of Human Wishes," with "bold
Neptune, Plutarch and Nicodenrus" and
multitudes of other bygone worthies " all
standing in the open air," he finishes off with
the following not very jubilant Io triumphsYet, my friends, notwithstanding all these
inducements to a spirit of contentment, I
have to tell you this morning the human
race is divided into two classes—those who
scold and those who got scolded. The oar-
penter wants to be anything but a carpenter,
and the mason anything but a mason, and
the banker anything but a banker, and the
lawyer anything but a lawyer, and the min-
ister anything b • r a mender, and every-
bocl "would be h, py if ho were only sonic -
body else. The anemone wants to be a,
sunflower, and the apple °rcherds throw
down their blossoms because they are
not tall ceders, end the scow wants to
be a schooner, and the stoop world like to bo
a sevootyfour pounder, and parents have
the worst children that ever were, and
everybody has the greeted misfortune, and
everything is upside down, or going to be.
Ah 1 my friends, you never make any ad-
vance through swill a spirit es that, Yon
cannot fret yourself up ; you may fret
yourself down, Amid all this grating of
tones I strike this string of the Gospel
harp :—" bodliness with contentment is
great gain." We brooghb netting into the
world, and it is very oertain we pan carry
nothing out; having food and raimenb lot
us therewith be content.
Ho evidently knows that bis advice will
not be taken, but like the good man as Ire
is, ho will,—es John Foster hints that the
moon might be supposed to do as it looked
out in its silvery sadness over this weary,
wicked earth—'" say his say" in any cavo
The Signs Felled,
"Do you believe in algae 1" asked the
olcl lady of superstitious proolivities. "1
dm believe in them ono," said Fogg, "bob
when 1 read 000 setting forth that goods
ware sating at loos than Dost, city
faith
was slightly shalton, and after I had tried
to eat a meal of addled eggs, a Math smith's
apron masquerading as fried tram, bread
really venerable and butter stronger than
Samson, in a place which bore over its
portei the word 'liefreshtncnts,' 1 became
te oonfirmed sceptic. No, ma'am, to be
frank with you, I don't believe in signs."
Nothing more was said about signs, the
conversation going off at tangent,
The Power of Kindness.
Elihn Burrito, Bpeaking of the power of
kindness, soya: Thera is no power of love
so hard to'gob anti keep as a hind voice. A
kind hand is deaf end dumb. It may be
rough in flesh and ',rood, yet do the wotk of
a nett heart and du it with a soft touoh.But
()hero is no one thing that love so much needs
as a awed voice to tell what it meane and
feels; acid at is hard to get and keep ib fn
the right tone, One mud start in youth.
and be on the watch night and day, at work
and play, to get and keep a voice that ehal
speak at all tunes the thoughts of a kind
heart, It is often in youth that one gats a
voice or a tong that is sharp, and ib etioko
to hien through life, and stirs up bll-will
and grief, and fells like a drop of gall on
the sweet joys el home. Watch it day by
day as apearl of great prioe, for it will be
worth more to you in days to come than the
host l.earl laid in the sea, A. kind vole° is
to the heart what light is to the eye. It
is a light that sings an will) as shines,
Enter Irishman (picking ' n h iup a eix•ottnee
g
bottle from the counter)--er Good mornin',
yes honor. What would be the price of a
bottle this size? Druggist "Two mate;
but if you are going to have anything pub in
ib it will poet only ono carat, lrfehmalb
"Faith, then, yet honor, shove & nark in,"