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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3133-0.txt b/3133-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f8bc1a --- /dev/null +++ b/3133-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3742 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Baddeck and That Sort of Thing, by Charles Dudley Warner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Baddeck and That Sort of Thing + +Author: Charles Dudley Warner + +Release Date: August 20, 2016 [EBook #3133] +Last Updated: February 24, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BADDECK AND THAT SORT OF THING *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + +BADDECK AND THAT SORT OF THING + +By Charles Dudley Warner + + + + +PREFACE + +TO JOSEPH H. TWICHELL + +It would be unfair to hold you responsible for these light sketches of a +summer trip, which are now gathered into this little volume in response +to the usual demand in such cases; yet you cannot escape altogether. For +it was you who first taught me to say the name Baddeck; it was you who +showed me its position on the map, and a seductive letter from a home +missionary on Cape Breton Island, in relation to the abundance of trout +and salmon in his field of labor. That missionary, you may remember, we +never found, nor did we see his tackle; but I have no reason to believe +that he does not enjoy good fishing in the right season. You understand +the duties of a home missionary much better than I do, and you know +whether he would be likely to let a couple of strangers into the best +part of his preserve. + +But I am free to admit that after our expedition was started you +speedily relieved yourself of all responsibility for it, and turned +it over to your comrade with a profound geographical indifference; you +would as readily have gone to Baddeck by Nova Zembla as by Nova Scotia. +The flight over the latter island was, you knew, however, no part of our +original plan, and you were not obliged to take any interest in it. +You know that our design was to slip rapidly down, by the back way of +Northumberland Sound, to the Bras d'Or, and spend a week fishing there; +and that the greater part of this journey here imperfectly described +is not really ours, but was put upon us by fate and by the peculiar +arrangement of provincial travel. + +It would have been easy after our return to have made up from libraries +a most engaging description of the Provinces, mixing it with historical, +legendary, botanical, geographical, and ethnological information, and +seasoning it with adventure from your glowing imagination. But it +seemed to me that it would be a more honest contribution if our account +contained only what we saw, in our rapid travel; for I have a theory +that any addition to the great body of print, however insignificant +it may be, has a value in proportion to its originality and +individuality,--however slight either is,--and very little value if it +is a compilation of the observations of others. In this case I know +how slight the value is; and I can only hope that as the trip was very +entertaining to us, the record of it may not be wholly unentertaining to +those of like tastes. + +Of one thing, my dear friend, I am certain: if the readers of this +little journey could have during its persual the companionship that the +writer had when it was made, they would think it altogether delightful. +There is no pleasure comparable to that of going about the world, in +pleasant weather, with a good comrade, if the mind is distracted neither +by care, nor ambition, nor the greed of gain. The delight there is +in seeing things, without any hope of pecuniary profit from them! We +certainly enjoyed that inward peace which the philosopher associates +with the absence of desire for money. For, as Plato says in the Phaedo, +“whence come wars and fightings and factions? whence but from the +body and the lusts of the body? For wars are occasioned by the love of +money.” So also are the majority of the anxieties of life. We left +these behind when we went into the Provinces with no design of acquiring +anything there. I hope it may be my fortune to travel further with you +in this fair world, under similar circumstances. + +NOOK FARM, HARTFORD, April 10, 1874. + +C. D. W. + + + + +BADDECK AND THAT SORT OF THING + + + + +I + + “Ay, now I am in Arden: the more fool I; when I was at home, + I was in a better place; but travellers must be content.” + --TOUCHSTONE. + +Two comrades and travelers, who sought a better country than the United +States in the month of August, found themselves one evening in apparent +possession of the ancient town of Boston. + +The shops were closed at early candle-light; the fashionable inhabitants +had retired into the country, or into the second-story-back, of their +princely residences, and even an air of tender gloom settled upon the +Common. The streets were almost empty, and one passed into the burnt +district, where the scarred ruins and the uplifting piles of new brick +and stone spread abroad under the flooding light of a full moon like +another Pompeii, without any increase in his feeling of tranquil +seclusion. Even the news-offices had put up their shutters, and a +confiding stranger could nowhere buy a guide-book to help his wandering +feet about the reposeful city, or to show him how to get out of it. +There was, to be sure, a cheerful tinkle of horse-car bells in the air, +and in the creeping vehicles which created this levity of sound were a +few lonesome passengers on their way to Scollay's Square; but the two +travelers, not having well-regulated minds, had no desire to go there. +What would have become of Boston if the great fire had reached this +sacred point of pilgrimage no merely human mind can imagine. Without +it, I suppose the horse-cars would go continually round and round, +never stopping, until the cars fell away piecemeal on the track, and +the horses collapsed into a mere mass of bones and harness, and the +brown-covered books from the Public Library, in the hands of the fading +virgins who carried them, had accumulated fines to an incalculable +amount. + +Boston, notwithstanding its partial destruction by fire, is still a good +place to start from. When one meditates an excursion into an unknown +and perhaps perilous land, where the flag will not protect him and +the greenback will only partially support him, he likes to steady and +tranquilize his mind by a peaceful halt and a serene start. So we--for +the intelligent reader has already identified us with the two travelers +resolved to spend the last night, before beginning our journey, in the +quiet of a Boston hotel. Some people go into the country for quiet: we +knew better. The country is no place for sleep. The general absence of +sound which prevails at night is only a sort of background which brings +out more vividly the special and unexpected disturbances which are +suddenly sprung upon the restless listener. There are a thousand +pokerish noises that no one can account for, which excite the nerves to +acute watchfulness. + +It is still early, and one is beginning to be lulled by the frogs and +the crickets, when the faint rattle of a drum is heard,--just a few +preliminary taps. But the soul takes alarm, and well it may, for a roll +follows, and then a rub-a-dub-dub, and the farmer's boy who is handling +the sticks and pounding the distended skin in a neighboring horse-shed +begins to pour out his patriotism in that unending repetition of +rub-a-dub-dub which is supposed to represent love of country in the +young. When the boy is tired out and quits the field, the faithful +watch-dog opens out upon the stilly night. He is the guardian of his +master's slumbers. The howls of the faithful creature are answered +by barks and yelps from all the farmhouses for a mile around, and +exceedingly poor barking it usually is, until all the serenity of the +night is torn to shreds. This is, however, only the opening of the +orchestra. The cocks wake up if there is the faintest moonshine and +begin an antiphonal service between responsive barn-yards. It is not +the clear clarion of chanticleer that is heard in the morn of English +poetry, but a harsh chorus of cracked voices, hoarse and abortive +attempts, squawks of young experimenters, and some indescribable thing +besides, for I believe even the hens crow in these days. Distracting +as all this is, however, happy is the man who does not hear a goat +lamenting in the night. The goat is the most exasperating of the animal +creation. He cries like a deserted baby, but he does it without any +regularity. One can accustom himself to any expression of suffering that +is regular. The annoyance of the goat is in the dreadful waiting for +the uncertain sound of the next wavering bleat. It is the fearful +expectation of that, mingled with the faint hope that the last was the +last, that aggravates the tossing listener until he has murder in his +heart. He longs for daylight, hoping that the voices of the night will +then cease, and that sleep will come with the blessed morning. But he +has forgotten the birds, who at the first streak of gray in the east +have assembled in the trees near his chamber-window, and keep up for an +hour the most rasping dissonance,--an orchestra in which each artist +is tuning his instrument, setting it in a different key and to play +a different tune: each bird recalls a different tune, and none sings +“Annie Laurie,”--to pervert Bayard Taylor's song. + +Give us the quiet of a city on the night before a journey. As we +mounted skyward in our hotel, and went to bed in a serene altitude, we +congratulated ourselves upon a reposeful night. It began well. But as we +sank into the first doze, we were startled by a sudden crash. Was it an +earthquake, or another fire? Were the neighboring buildings all tumbling +in upon us, or had a bomb fallen into the neighboring crockery-store? It +was the suddenness of the onset that startled us, for we soon perceived +that it began with the clash of cymbals, the pounding of drums, and the +blaring of dreadful brass. It was somebody's idea of music. It opened +without warning. The men composing the band of brass must have stolen +silently into the alley about the sleeping hotel, and burst into the +clamor of a rattling quickstep, on purpose. The horrible sound thus +suddenly let loose had no chance of escape; it bounded back from wall +to wall, like the clapping of boards in a tunnel, rattling windows and +stunning all cars, in a vain attempt to get out over the roofs. But such +music does not go up. What could have been the intention of this assault +we could not conjecture. It was a time of profound peace through the +country; we had ordered no spontaneous serenade, if it was a serenade. +Perhaps the Boston bands have that habit of going into an alley and +disciplining their nerves by letting out a tune too big for the alley, +and taking the shock of its reverberation. It may be well enough for the +band, but many a poor sinner in the hotel that night must have thought +the judgment day had sprung upon him. Perhaps the band had some remorse, +for by and by it leaked out of the alley, in humble, apologetic retreat, +as if somebody had thrown something at it from the sixth-story window, +softly breathing as it retired the notes of “Fair Harvard.” + +The band had scarcely departed for some other haunt of slumber and +weariness, when the notes of singing floated up that prolific alley, +like the sweet tenor voice of one bewailing the prohibitory movement; +and for an hour or more a succession of young bacchanals, who were +evidently wandering about in search of the Maine Law, lifted up their +voices in song. Boston seems to be full of good singers; but they will +ruin their voices by this night exercise, and so the city will cease +to be attractive to travelers who would like to sleep there. But this +entertainment did not last the night out. + +It stopped just before the hotel porter began to come around to rouse +the travelers who had said the night before that they wanted to be +awakened. In all well-regulated hotels this process begins at two +o'clock and keeps up till seven. If the porter is at all faithful, he +wakes up everybody in the house; if he is a shirk, he only rouses the +wrong people. We treated the pounding of the porter on our door with +silent contempt. At the next door he had better luck. Pound, pound. An +angry voice, “What do you want?” + +“Time to take the train, sir.” + +“Not going to take any train.” + +“Ain't your name Smith?” + +“Yes.” + +“Well, Smith”-- + +“I left no order to be called.” (Indistinct grumbling from Smith's +room.) + +Porter is heard shuffling slowly off down the passage. In a little while +he returns to Smith's door, evidently not satisfied in his mind. Rap, +rap, rap! + +“Well, what now?” + +“What's your initials? A. T.; clear out!” + +And the porter shambles away again in his slippers, grumbling something +about a mistake. The idea of waking a man up in the middle of the night +to ask him his “initials” was ridiculous enough to banish sleep for +another hour. A person named Smith, when he travels, should leave his +initials outside the door with his boots. + +Refreshed by this reposeful night, and eager to exchange the stagnation +of the shore for the tumult of the ocean, we departed next morning for +Baddeck by the most direct route. This we found, by diligent study +of fascinating prospectuses of travel, to be by the boats of the +International Steamship Company; and when, at eight o'clock in the +morning, we stepped aboard one of them from Commercial Wharf, we +felt that half our journey and the most perplexing part of it was +accomplished. We had put ourselves upon a great line of travel, and +had only to resign ourselves to its flow in order to reach the desired +haven. The agent at the wharf assured us that it was not necessary to +buy through tickets to Baddeck,--he spoke of it as if it were as easy a +place to find as Swampscott,--it was a conspicuous name on the cards of +the company, we should go right on from St. John without difficulty. +The easy familiarity of this official with Baddeck, in short, made +us ashamed to exhibit any anxiety about its situation or the means of +approach to it. Subsequent experience led us to believe that the only +man in the world, out of Baddeck, who knew anything about it lives in +Boston, and sells tickets to it, or rather towards it. + +There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning +of it, when the traveler is settled simply as to his destination, +and commits himself to his unknown fate and all the anticipations of +adventure before him. We experienced this pleasure as we ascended to the +deck of the steamboat and snuffed the fresh air of Boston Harbor. What +a beautiful harbor it is, everybody says, with its irregularly indented +shores and its islands. Being strangers, we want to know the names of +the islands, and to have Fort Warren, which has a national reputation, +pointed out. As usual on a steamboat, no one is certain about the +names, and the little geographical knowledge we have is soon hopelessly +confused. We make out South Boston very plainly: a tourist is looking +at its warehouses through his opera-glass, and telling his boy about a +recent fire there. We find out afterwards that it was East Boston. We +pass to the stern of the boat for a last look at Boston itself; and +while there we have the pleasure of showing inquirers the Monument and +the State House. We do this with easy familiarity; but where there +are so many tall factory chimneys, it is not so easy to point out the +Monument as one may think. + +The day is simply delicious, when we get away from the unozoned air of +the land. The sky is cloudless, and the water sparkles like the top of +a glass of champagne. We intend by and by to sit down and look at it +for half a day, basking in the sunshine and pleasing ourselves with the +shifting and dancing of the waves. Now we are busy running about from +side to side to see the islands, Governor's, Castle, Long, Deer, and the +others. When, at length, we find Fort Warren, it is not nearly so grim +and gloomy as we had expected, and is rather a pleasure-place than a +prison in appearance. We are conscious, however, of a patriotic emotion +as we pass its green turf and peeping guns. Leaving on our right +Lovell's Island and the Great and Outer Brewster, we stand away north +along the jagged Massachusetts shore. These outer islands look cold and +wind-swept even in summer, and have a hardness of outline which is very +far from the aspect of summer isles in summer seas. They are too low and +bare for beauty, and all the coast is of the most retiring and humble +description. Nature makes some compensation for this lowness by an +eccentricity of indentation which looks very picturesque on the map, +and sometimes striking, as where Lynn stretches out a slender arm with +knobby Nahant at the end, like a New Zealand war club. We sit and watch +this shore as we glide by with a placid delight. Its curves and low +promontories are getting to be speckled with villages and dwellings, +like the shores of the Bay of Naples; we see the white spires, the +summer cottages of wealth, the brown farmhouses with an occasional +orchard, the gleam of a white beach, and now and then the flag of some +many-piazzaed hotel. The sunlight is the glory of it all; it must have +quite another attraction--that of melancholy--under a gray sky and with +a lead-colored water foreground. + +There was not much on the steamboat to distract our attention from the +study of physical geography. All the fashionable travelers had gone on +the previous boat or were waiting for the next one. The passengers +were mostly people who belonged in the Provinces and had the listless +provincial air, with a Boston commercial traveler or two, and a few +gentlemen from the republic of Ireland, dressed in their uncomfortable +Sunday clothes. If any accident should happen to the boat, it was +doubtful if there were persons on board who could draw up and pass the +proper resolutions of thanks to the officers. I heard one of these Irish +gentlemen, whose satin vest was insufficient to repress the mountainous +protuberance of his shirt-bosom, enlightening an admiring friend as to +his idiosyncrasies. It appeared that he was that sort of a man that, if +a man wanted anything of him, he had only to speak for it “wunst;” and +that one of his peculiarities was an instant response of the deltoid +muscle to the brain, though he did not express it in that language. He +went on to explain to his auditor that he was so constituted physically +that whenever he saw a fight, no matter whose property it was, he lost +all control of himself. This sort of confidence poured out to a single +friend, in a retired place on the guard of the boat, in an unexcited +tone, was evidence of the man's simplicity and sincerity. The very act +of traveling, I have noticed, seems to open a man's heart, so that he +will impart to a chance acquaintance his losses, his diseases, his table +preferences, his disappointments in love or in politics, and his most +secret hopes. One sees everywhere this beautiful human trait, this +craving for sympathy. There was the old lady, in the antique bonnet and +plain cotton gloves, who got aboard the express train at a way-station +on the Connecticut River Road. She wanted to go, let us say, to Peak's +Four Corners. It seemed that the train did not usually stop there, but +it appeared afterwards that the obliging conductor had told her to get +aboard and he would let her off at Peak's. When she stepped into the +car, in a flustered condition, carrying her large bandbox, she began to +ask all the passengers, in turn, if this was the right train, and if +it stopped at Peak's. The information she received was various, but the +weight of it was discouraging, and some of the passengers urged her to +get off without delay, before the train should start. The poor woman +got off, and pretty soon came back again, sent by the conductor; but her +mind was not settled, for she repeated her questions to every person +who passed her seat, and their answers still more discomposed her. “Sit +perfectly still,” said the conductor, when he came by. “You must get +out and wait for a way train,” said the passengers, who knew. In this +confusion, the train moved off, just as the old lady had about made +up her mind to quit the car, when her distraction was completed by the +discovery that her hair trunk was not on board. She saw it standing on +the open platform, as we passed, and after one look of terror, and a +dash at the window, she subsided into her seat, grasping her bandbox, +with a vacant look of utter despair. Fate now seemed to have done its +worst, and she was resigned to it. I am sure it was no mere curiosity, +but a desire to be of service, that led me to approach her and say, +“Madam, where are you going?” + +“The Lord only knows,” was the utterly candid response; but then, +forgetting everything in her last misfortune and impelled to a burst of +confidence, she began to tell me her troubles. She informed me that +her youngest daughter was about to be married, and that all her +wedding-clothes and all her summer clothes were in that trunk; and as +she said this she gave a glance out of the window as if she hoped it +might be following her. What would become of them all now, all brand +new, she did n't know, nor what would become of her or her daughter. And +then she told me, article by article and piece by piece, all that that +trunk contained, the very names of which had an unfamiliar sound in a +railway-car, and how many sets and pairs there were of each. It seemed +to be a relief to the old lady to make public this catalogue which +filled all her mind; and there was a pathos in the revelation that +I cannot convey in words. And though I am compelled, by way of +illustration, to give this incident, no bribery or torture shall ever +extract from me a statement of the contents of that hair trunk. + +We were now passing Nahant, and we should have seen Longfellow's cottage +and the waves beating on the rocks before it, if we had been near +enough. As it was, we could only faintly distinguish the headland and +note the white beach of Lynn. The fact is, that in travel one is almost +as much dependent upon imagination and memory as he is at home. Somehow, +we seldom get near enough to anything. The interest of all this coast +which we had come to inspect was mainly literary and historical. And no +country is of much interest until legends and poetry have draped it +in hues that mere nature cannot produce. We looked at Nahant for +Longfellow's sake; we strained our eyes to make out Marblehead on +account of Whittier's ballad; we scrutinized the entrance to Salem +Harbor because a genius once sat in its decaying custom-house and made +of it a throne of the imagination. Upon this low shore line, which lies +blinking in the midday sun, the waves of history have beaten for two +centuries and a half, and romance has had time to grow there. Out of +any of these coves might have sailed Sir Patrick Spens “to Noroway, to +Noroway,” + + “They hadna sailed upon the sea + A day but barely three, + + Till loud and boisterous grew the wind, + And gurly grew the sea.” + +The sea was anything but gurly now; it lay idle and shining in an August +holiday. It seemed as if we could sit all day and watch the suggestive +shore and dream about it. But we could not. No man, and few women, can +sit all day on those little round penitential stools that the company +provide for the discomfort of their passengers. There is no scenery in +the world that can be enjoyed from one of those stools. And when the +traveler is at sea, with the land failing away in his horizon, and has +to create his own scenery by an effort of the imagination, these stools +are no assistance to him. The imagination, when one is sitting, will +not work unless the back is supported. Besides, it began to be cold; +notwithstanding the shiny, specious appearance of things, it was cold, +except in a sheltered nook or two where the sun beat. This was nothing +to be complained of by persons who had left the parching land in +order to get cool. They knew that there would be a wind and a draught +everywhere, and that they would be occupied nearly all the time in +moving the little stools about to get out of the wind, or out of the +sun, or out of something that is inherent in a steamboat. Most people +enjoy riding on a steamboat, shaking and trembling and chow-chowing +along in pleasant weather out of sight of land; and they do not feel any +ennui, as may be inferred from the intense excitement which seizes them +when a poor porpoise leaps from the water half a mile away. “Did you see +the porpoise?” makes conversation for an hour. On our steamboat there +was a man who said he saw a whale, saw him just as plain, off to the +east, come up to blow; appeared to be a young one. I wonder where all +these men come from who always see a whale. I never was on a sea-steamer +yet that there was not one of these men. + +We sailed from Boston Harbor straight for Cape Ann, and passed close by +the twin lighthouses of Thacher, so near that we could see the lanterns +and the stone gardens, and the young barbarians of Thacher all at play; +and then we bore away, straight over the trackless Atlantic, across that +part of the map where the title and the publisher's name are usually +printed, for the foreign city of St. John. It was after we passed these +lighthouses that we did n't see the whale, and began to regret the hard +fate that took us away from a view of the Isles of Shoals. I am not +tempted to introduce them into this sketch, much as its surface needs +their romantic color, for truth is stronger in me than the love of +giving a deceitful pleasure. There will be nothing in this record that +we did not see, or might not have seen. For instance, it might not be +wrong to describe a coast, a town, or an island that we passed while we +were performing our morning toilets in our staterooms. The traveler +owes a duty to his readers, and if he is now and then too weary or too +indifferent to go out from the cabin to survey a prosperous village +where a landing is made, he has no right to cause the reader to suffer +by his indolence. He should describe the village. + +I had intended to describe the Maine coast, which is as fascinating +on the map as that of Norway. We had all the feelings appropriate to +nearness to it, but we couldn't see it. Before we came abreast of +it night had settled down, and there was around us only a gray and +melancholy waste of salt water. To be sure it was a lovely night, with a +young moon in its sky, + + “I saw the new moon late yestreen + Wi' the auld moon in her arms,” + +and we kept an anxious lookout for the Maine hills that push so boldly +down into the sea. At length we saw them,--faint, dusky shadows in the +horizon, looming up in an ashy color and with a most poetical light. +We made out clearly Mt. Desert, and felt repaid for our journey by the +sight of this famous island, even at such a distance. I pointed out the +hills to the man at the wheel, and asked if we should go any nearer to +Mt. Desert. + +“Them!” said he, with the merited contempt which officials in this +country have for inquisitive travelers,--“them's Camden Hills. You won't +see Mt. Desert till midnight, and then you won't.” + +One always likes to weave in a little romance with summer travel on a +steamboat; and we came aboard this one with the purpose and the language +to do so. But there was an absolute want of material, that would hardly +be credited if we went into details. The first meeting of the passengers +at the dinner-table revealed it. There is a kind of female plainness +which is pathetic, and many persons can truly say that to them it is +homelike; and there are vulgarities of manner that are interesting; and +there are peculiarities, pleasant or the reverse, which attract one's +attention: but there was absolutely nothing of this sort on our boat. +The female passengers were all neutrals, incapable, I should say, +of making any impression whatever even under the most favorable +circumstances. They were probably women of the Provinces, and took +their neutral tint from the foggy land they inhabit, which is neither a +republic nor a monarchy, but merely a languid expectation of something +undefined. My comrade was disposed to resent the dearth of beauty, +not only on this vessel but throughout the Provinces generally,--a +resentment that could be shown to be unjust, for this was evidently not +the season for beauty in these lands, and it was probably a bad year for +it. Nor should an American of the United States be forward to set up +his standard of taste in such matters; neither in New Brunswick, Nova +Scotia, nor Cape Breton have I heard the inhabitants complain of the +plainness of the women. + +On such a night two lovers might have been seen, but not on our boat, +leaning over the taffrail,--if that is the name of the fence around the +cabin-deck, looking at the moon in the western sky and the long track of +light in the steamer's wake with unutterable tenderness. For the sea was +perfectly smooth, so smooth as not to interfere with the most perfect +tenderness of feeling; and the vessel forged ahead under the stars of +the soft night with an adventurous freedom that almost concealed the +commercial nature of her mission. It seemed--this voyaging through the +sparkling water, under the scintillating heavens, this resolute pushing +into the opening splendors of night--like a pleasure trip. “It is the +witching hour of half past ten,” said my comrade, “let us turn in.” (The +reader will notice the consideration for her feelings which has omitted +the usual description of “a sunset at sea.”) + +When we looked from our state-room window in the morning we saw land. +We were passing within a stone's throw of a pale-green and rather +cold-looking coast, with few trees or other evidences of fertile soil. +Upon going out I found that we were in the harbor of Eastport. I +found also the usual tourist who had been up, shivering in his winter +overcoat, since four o'clock. He described to me the magnificent +sunrise, and the lifting of the fog from islands and capes, in language +that made me rejoice that he had seen it. He knew all about the harbor. +That wooden town at the foot of it, with the white spire, was Lubec; +that wooden town we were approaching was Eastport. The long island +stretching clear across the harbor was Campobello. We had been obliged +to go round it, a dozen miles out of our way, to get in, because the +tide was in such a stage that we could not enter by the Lubec Channel. +We had been obliged to enter an American harbor by British waters. + +We approached Eastport with a great deal of curiosity and considerable +respect. It had been one of the cities of the imagination. Lying in the +far east of our great territory, a military and even a sort of naval +station, a conspicuous name on the map, prominent in boundary disputes +and in war operations, frequent in telegraphic dispatches,--we had +imagined it a solid city, with some Oriental, if decayed, peculiarity, a +port of trade and commerce. The tourist informed me that Eastport looked +very well at a distance, with the sun shining on its white houses. When +we landed at its wooden dock we saw that it consisted of a few piles of +lumber, a sprinkling of small cheap houses along a sidehill, a big hotel +with a flag-staff, and a very peaceful looking arsenal. It is doubtless +a very enterprising and deserving city, but its aspect that morning +was that of cheapness, newness, and stagnation, with no compensating +picturesqueness. White paint always looks chilly under a gray sky and on +naked hills. Even in hot August the place seemed bleak. The tourist, who +went ashore with a view to breakfast, said that it would be a good place +to stay in and go a-fishing and picnicking on Campobello Island. It has +another advantage for the wicked over other Maine towns. Owing to the +contiguity of British territory, the Maine Law is constantly evaded, in +spirit. The thirsty citizen or sailor has only to step into a boat +and give it a shove or two across the narrow stream that separates the +United States from Deer Island and land, when he can ruin his breath, +and return before he is missed. + +This might be a cause of war with, England, but it is not the most +serious grievance here. The possession by the British of the island of +Campobello is an insufferable menace and impertinence. I write with +the full knowledge of what war is. We ought to instantly dislodge the +British from Campobello. It entirely shuts up and commands our harbor, +one of our chief Eastern harbors and war stations, where we keep a flag +and cannon and some soldiers, and where the customs officers look out +for smuggling. There is no way to get into our own harbor, except in +favorable conditions of the tide, without begging the courtesy of a +passage through British waters. Why is England permitted to stretch +along down our coast in this straggling and inquisitive manner? She +might almost as well own Long Island. It was impossible to prevent our +cheeks mantling with shame as we thought of this, and saw ourselves, +free American citizens, land-locked by alien soil in our own harbor. + +We ought to have war, if war is necessary to possess Campobello and Deer +Islands; or else we ought to give the British Eastport. I am not sure +but the latter would be the better course. + +With this war spirit in our hearts, we sailed away into the British +waters of the Bay of Fundy, but keeping all the morning so close to the +New Brunswick shore that we could see there was nothing on it; that is, +nothing that would make one wish to land. And yet the best part of going +to sea is keeping close to the shore, however tame it may be, if the +weather is pleasant. A pretty bay now and then, a rocky cove with +scant foliage, a lighthouse, a rude cabin, a level land, monotonous and +without noble forests,--this was New Brunswick as we coasted along it +under the most favorable circumstances. But we were advancing into the +Bay of Fundy; and my comrade, who had been brought up on its high tides +in the district school, was on the lookout for this phenomenon. The very +name of Fundy is stimulating to the imagination, amid the geographical +wastes of youth, and the young fancy reaches out to its tides with +an enthusiasm that is given only to Fingal's Cave and other pictorial +wonders of the text-book. I am sure the district schools would become +what they are not now, if the geographers would make the other parts +of the globe as attractive as the sonorous Bay of Fundy. The recitation +about that is always an easy one; there is a lusty pleasure in the mere +shouting out of the name, as if the speaking it were an innocent sort of +swearing. From the Bay of Fundy the rivers run uphill half the time, +and the tides are from forty to ninety feet high. For myself, I confess +that, in my imagination, I used to see the tides of this bay go +stalking into the land like gigantic waterspouts; or, when I was better +instructed, I could see them advancing on the coast like a solid wall +of masonry eighty feet high. “Where,” we said, as we came easily, +and neither uphill nor downhill, into the pleasant harbor of St. +John,---“where are the tides of our youth?” + +They were probably out, for when we came to the land we walked out upon +the foot of a sloping platform that ran into the water by the side of +the piles of the dock, which stood up naked and blackened high in the +air. It is not the purpose of this paper to describe St. John, nor to +dwell upon its picturesque situation. As one approaches it from the +harbor it gives a promise which its rather shabby streets, decaying +houses, and steep plank sidewalks do not keep. A city set on a hill, +with flags flying from a roof here and there, and a few shining spires +and walls glistening in the sun, always looks well at a distance. St. +John is extravagant in the matter of flagstaffs; almost every well-to-do +citizen seems to have one on his premises, as a sort of vent for his +loyalty, I presume. It is a good fashion, at any rate, and its more +general adoption by us would add to the gayety of our cities when we +celebrate the birthday of the President. St. John is built on a steep +sidehill, from which it would be in danger of sliding off, if its houses +were not mortised into the solid rock. This makes the house-foundations +secure, but the labor of blasting out streets is considerable. We note +these things complacently as we toil in the sun up the hill to the +Victoria Hotel, which stands well up on the backbone of the ridge, and +from the upper windows of which we have a fine view of the harbor, +and of the hill opposite, above Carleton, where there is the brokenly +truncated ruin of a round stone tower. This tower was one of the first +things that caught our eyes as we entered the harbor. It gave an antique +picturesqueness to the landscape which it entirely wanted without this. +Round stone towers are not so common in this world that we can afford to +be indifferent to them. This is called a Martello tower, but I could +not learn who built it. I could not understand the indifference, almost +amounting to contempt, of the citizens of St. John in regard to this +their only piece of curious antiquity. “It is nothing but the ruins of +an old fort,” they said; “you can see it as well from here as by going +there.” It was, however, the one thing at St. John I was determined to +see. But we never got any nearer to it than the ferry-landing. Want of +time and the vis inertia of the place were against us. And now, as I +think of that tower and its perhaps mysterious origin, I have a longing +for it that the possession of nothing else in the Provinces could +satisfy. + +But it must not be forgotten that we were on our way to Baddeck; that +the whole purpose of the journey was to reach Baddeck; that St. John was +only an incident in the trip; that any information about St. John, which +is here thrown in or mercifully withheld, is entirely gratuitous, and is +not taken into account in the price the reader pays for this volume. But +if any one wants to know what sort of a place St. John is, we can tell +him: it is the sort of a place that if you get into it after eight +o'clock on Wednesday morning, you cannot get out of it in any direction +until Thursday morning at eight o'clock, unless you want to smuggle +goods on the night train to Bangor. It was eleven o'clock Wednesday +forenoon when we arrived at St. John. The Intercolonial railway train +had gone to Shediac; it had gone also on its roundabout Moncton, +Missaquat River, Truro, Stewiack, and Shubenacadie way to Halifax; the +boat had gone to Digby Gut and Annapolis to catch the train that way for +Halifax; the boat had gone up the river to Frederick, the capital. We +could go to none of these places till the next day. We had no desire to +go to Frederick, but we made the fact that we were cut off from it an +addition to our injury. The people of St. John have this peculiarity: +they never start to go anywhere except early in the morning. + +The reader to whom time is nothing does not yet appreciate the annoyance +of our situation. Our time was strictly limited. The active world is +so constituted that it could not spare us more than two weeks. We must +reach Baddeck Saturday night or never. To go home without seeing Baddeck +was simply intolerable. Had we not told everybody that we were going to +Baddeck? Now, if we had gone to Shediac in the train that left St. John +that morning, we should have taken the steamboat that would have carried +us to Port Hawkesbury, whence a stage connected with a steamboat on the +Bras d'Or, which (with all this profusion of relative pronouns) would +land us at Baddeck on Friday. How many times had we been over this route +on the map and the prospectus of travel! And now, what a delusion it +seemed! There would not another boat leave Shediac on this route till +the following Tuesday,--quite too late for our purpose. The reader sees +where we were, and will be prepared, if he has a map (and any feelings), +to appreciate the masterly strategy that followed. + + + + +II + + During the pilgrimage everything does not suit the tastes of + the pilgrim.--TURKISH PROVERB. + +One seeking Baddeck, as a possession, would not like to be detained a +prisoner even in Eden,--much less in St. John, which is unlike Eden in +several important respects. The tree of knowledge does not grow there, +for one thing; at least St. John's ignorance of Baddeck amounts to a +feature. This encountered us everywhere. So dense was this ignorance, +that we, whose only knowledge of the desired place was obtained from +the prospectus of travel, came to regard ourselves as missionaries of +geographical information in this dark provincial city. + +The clerk at the Victoria was not unwilling to help us on our journey, +but if he could have had his way, we would have gone to a place on +Prince Edward Island which used to be called Bedeque, but is now named +Summerside, in the hope of attracting summer visitors. As to Cape +Breton, he said the agent of the Intercolonial could tell us all about +that, and put us on the route. We repaired to the agent. The kindness of +this person dwells in our memory. He entered at once into our longings +and perplexities. He produced his maps and time-tables, and showed us +clearly what we already knew. The Port Hawkesbury steamboat from Shediac +for that week had gone, to be sure, but we could take one of another +line which would leave us at Pictou, whence we could take another across +to Port Hood, on Cape Breton. This looked fair, until we showed the +agent that there was no steamer to Port Hood. + +“Ah, then you can go another way. You can take the Intercolonial railway +round to Pictou, catch the steamer for Port Hawkesbury, connect with the +steamer on the Bras d'Or, and you are all right.” + +So it would seem. It was a most obliging agent; and it took us half an +hour to convince him that the train would reach Pictou half a day too +late for the steamer, that no other boat would leave Pictou for Cape +Breton that week, and that even if we could reach the Bras d'Or, we +should have no means of crossing it, except by swimming. The perplexed +agent thereupon referred us to Mr. Brown, a shipper on the wharf, who +knew all about Cape Breton, and could tell us exactly how to get there. +It is needless to say that a weight was taken off our minds. We pinned +our faith to Brown, and sought him in his warehouse. Brown was a prompt +business man, and a traveler, and would know every route and every +conveyance from Nova Scotia to Cape Breton. + +Mr. Brown was not in. He never is in. His store is a rusty warehouse, +low and musty, piled full of boxes of soap and candles and dried fish, +with a little glass cubby in one corner, where a thin clerk sits at a +high desk, like a spider in his web. Perhaps he is a spider, for the +cubby is swarming with flies, whose hum is the only noise of traffic; +the glass of the window-sash has not been washed since it was put in +apparently. The clerk is not writing, and has evidently no other use for +his steel pen than spearing flies. Brown is out, says this young votary +of commerce, and will not be in till half past five. We remark upon the +fact that nobody ever is “in” these dingy warehouses, wonder when the +business is done, and go out into the street to wait for Brown. + +In front of the store is a dray, its horse fast-asleep, and waiting +for the revival of commerce. The travelers note that the dray is of a +peculiar construction, the body being dropped down from the axles so +as nearly to touch the ground,--a great convenience in loading and +unloading; they propose to introduce it into their native land. The +dray is probably waiting for the tide to come in. In the deep slip lie a +dozen helpless vessels, coasting schooners mostly, tipped on their beam +ends in the mud, or propped up by side-pieces as if they were built for +land as well as for water. At the end of the wharf is a long English +steamboat unloading railroad iron, which will return to the Clyde full +of Nova Scotia coal. We sit down on the dock, where the fresh sea-breeze +comes up the harbor, watch the lazily swinging crane on the vessel, +and meditate upon the greatness of England and the peacefulness of the +drowsy after noon. One's feeling of rest is never complete--unless he +can see somebody else at work,--but the labor must be without haste, as +it is in the Provinces. + +While waiting for Brown, we had leisure to explore the shops of King's +Street, and to climb up to the grand triumphal arch which stands on top +of the hill and guards the entrance to King's Square. + +Of the shops for dry-goods I have nothing to say, for they tempt the +unwary American to violate the revenue laws of his country; but he may +safely go into the book-shops. The literature which is displayed in the +windows and on the counters has lost that freshness which it once may +have had, and is, in fact, if one must use the term, fly-specked, like +the cakes in the grocery windows on the side streets. There are old +illustrated newspapers from the States, cheap novels from the same, and +the flashy covers of the London and Edinburgh sixpenny editions. But +this is the dull season for literature, we reflect. + +It will always be matter of regret to us that we climbed up to the +triumphal arch, which appeared so noble in the distance, with the trees +behind it. For when we reached it, we found that it was built of wood, +painted and sanded, and in a shocking state of decay; and the grove to +which it admitted us was only a scant assemblage of sickly locust-trees, +which seemed to be tired of battling with the unfavorable climate, and +had, in fact, already retired from the business of ornamental shade +trees. Adjoining this square is an ancient cemetery, the surface of +which has decayed in sympathy with the mouldering remains it covers, and +is quite a model in this respect. I have called this cemetery ancient, +but it may not be so, for its air of decay is thoroughly modern, and +neglect, and not years, appears to have made it the melancholy place of +repose it is. Whether it is the fashionable and favorite resort of the +dead of the city we did not learn, but there were some old men sitting +in its damp shades, and the nurses appeared to make it a rendezvous for +their baby-carriages,--a cheerful place to bring up children in, and to +familiarize their infant minds with the fleeting nature of provincial +life. The park and burying-ground, it is scarcely necessary to say, +added greatly to the feeling of repose which stole over us on this sunny +day. And they made us long for Brown and his information about Baddeck. + +But Mr. Brown, when found, did not know as much as the agent. He had +been in Nova Scotia; he had never been in Cape Breton; but he presumed +we would find no difficulty in reaching Baddeck by so and so, and so and +so. We consumed valuable time in convincing Brown that his directions +to us were impracticable and valueless, and then he referred us to Mr. +Cope. An interview with Mr. Cope discouraged us; we found that we +were imparting everywhere more geographical information than we were +receiving, and as our own stock was small, we concluded that we should +be unable to enlighten all the inhabitants of St. John upon the subject +of Baddeck before we ran out. Returning to the hotel, and taking our +destiny into our own hands, we resolved upon a bold stroke. + +But to return for a moment to Brown. I feel that Brown has been let off +too easily in the above paragraph. His conduct, to say the truth, was +not such as we expected of a man in whom we had put our entire faith for +half a day,--a long while to trust anybody in these times,--a man whom +we had exalted as an encyclopedia of information, and idealized in +every way. A man of wealth and liberal views and courtly manners we had +decided Brown would be. Perhaps he had a suburban villa on the heights +over-looking Kennebeckasis Bay, and, recognizing us as brothers in a +common interest in Baddeck, not-withstanding our different nationality, +would insist upon taking us to his house, to sip provincial tea with +Mrs. Brown and Victoria Louise, his daughter. When, therefore, Mr. Brown +whisked into his dingy office, and, but for our importunity, would +have paid no more attention to us than to up-country customers without +credit, and when he proved to be willingly, it seemed to us, ignorant +of Baddeck, our feelings received a great shock. It is incomprehensible +that a man in the position of Brown with so many boxes of soap and +candles to dispose of--should be so ignorant of a neighboring province. +We had heard of the cordial unity of the Provinces in the New Dominion. +Heaven help it, if it depends upon such fellows as Brown! Of course, +his directing us to Cope was a mere fetch. For as we have intimated, it +would have taken us longer to have given Cope an idea of Baddeck, than +it did to enlighten Brown. But we had no bitter feelings about Cope, for +we never had reposed confidence in him. + +Our plan of campaign was briefly this: To take the steamboat at eight +o'clock, Thursday morning, for Digby Gut and Annapolis; thence to go by +rail through the poetical Acadia down to Halifax; to turn north and east +by rail from Halifax to New Glasgow, and from thence to push on by stage +to the Gut of Canso. This would carry us over the entire length of Nova +Scotia, and, with good luck, land us on Cape Breton Island Saturday +morning. When we should set foot on that island, we trusted that we +should be able to make our way to Baddeck, by walking, swimming, or +riding, whichever sort of locomotion should be most popular in that +province. Our imaginations were kindled by reading that the “most superb +line of stages on the continent” ran from New Glasgow to the Gut of +Canso. If the reader perfectly understands this programme, he has the +advantage of the two travelers at the time they made it. + +It was a gray morning when we embarked from St. John, and in fact a +little drizzle of rain veiled the Martello tower, and checked, like +the cross-strokes of a line engraving, the hill on which it stands. The +miscellaneous shining of such a harbor appears best in a golden haze, or +in the mist of a morning like this. We had expected days of fog in this +region; but the fog seemed to have gone out with the high tides of the +geography. And it is simple justice to these possessions of her Majesty, +to say that in our two weeks' acquaintance of them they enjoyed as +delicious weather as ever falls on sea and shore, with the exception of +this day when we crossed the Bay of Fundy. And this day was only one of +those cool interludes of low color, which an artist would be thankful +to introduce among a group of brilliant pictures. Such a day rests the +traveler, who is overstimulated by shifting scenes played upon by the +dazzling sun. So the cool gray clouds spread a grateful umbrella above +us as we ran across the Bay of Fundy, sighted the headlands of the Gut +of Digby, and entered into the Annapolis Basin, and into the region of +a romantic history. The white houses of Digby, scattered over the downs +like a flock of washed sheep, had a somewhat chilly aspect, it is true, +and made us long for the sun on them. But as I think of it now, I prefer +to have the town and the pretty hillsides that stand about the basin +in the light we saw them; and especially do I like to recall the high +wooden pier at Digby, deserted by the tide and so blown by the wind that +the passengers who came out on it, with their tossing drapery, brought +to mind the windy Dutch harbors that Backhuysen painted. We landed a +priest here, and it was a pleasure to see him as he walked along the +high pier, his broad hat flapping, and the wind blowing his long skirts +away from his ecclesiastical legs. + +It was one of the coincidences of life, for which no one can account, +that when we descended upon these coasts, the Governor-General of the +Dominion was abroad in his Provinces. There was an air of expectation of +him everywhere, and of preparation for his coming; his lordship was the +subject of conversation on the Digby boat, his movements were chronicled +in the newspapers, and the gracious bearing of the Governor and Lady +Dufferin at the civic receptions, balls, and picnics was recorded with +loyal satisfaction; even a literary flavor was given to the provincial +journals by quotations from his lordship's condescension to letters in +the “High Latitudes.” It was not without pain, however, that even in +this un-American region we discovered the old Adam of journalism in the +disposition of the newspapers of St. John toward sarcasm touching +the well-meant attempts to entertain the Governor and his lady in the +provincial town of Halifax,--a disposition to turn, in short, upon the +demonstrations of loyal worship the faint light of ridicule. There were +those upon the boat who were journeying to Halifax to take part in the +civic ball about to be given to their excellencies, and as we were going +in the same direction, we shared in the feeling of satisfaction which +proximity to the Great often excites. + +We had other if not deeper causes of satisfaction. We were sailing along +the gracefully moulded and tree-covered hills of the Annapolis Basin, +and up the mildly picturesque river of that name, and we were about to +enter what the provincials all enthusiastically call the Garden of Nova +Scotia. This favored vale, skirted by low ranges of hills on either +hand, and watered most of the way by the Annapolis River, extends from +the mouth of the latter to the town of Windsor on the river Avon. We +expected to see something like the fertile valleys of the Connecticut +or the Mohawk. We should also pass through those meadows on the Basin of +Minas which Mr. Longfellow has made more sadly poetical than any other +spot on the Western Continent. It is,--this valley of the Annapolis,--in +the belief of provincials, the most beautiful and blooming place in the +world, with a soil and climate kind to the husbandman; a land of fair +meadows, orchards, and vines. It was doubtless our own fault that this +land did not look to us like a garden, as it does to the inhabitants of +Nova Scotia; and it was not until we had traveled over the rest of +the country, that we saw the appropriateness of the designation. The +explanation is, that not so much is required of a garden here as in some +other parts of the world. Excellent apples, none finer, are exported +from this valley to England, and the quality of the potatoes is said to +ap-proach an ideal perfection here. I should think that oats would ripen +well also in a good year, and grass, for those who care for it, may be +satisfactory. I should judge that the other products of this garden are +fish and building-stone. But we anticipate. And have we forgotten the +“murmuring pines and the hemlocks”? Nobody, I suppose, ever travels +here without believing that he sees these trees of the imagination, so +forcibly has the poet projected them upon the uni-versal consciousness. +But we were unable to see them, on this route. + +It would be a brutal thing for us to take seats in the railway train +at Annapolis, and leave the ancient town, with its modern houses and +remains of old fortifications, without a thought of the romantic +history which saturates the region. There is not much in the smart, +new restaurant, where a tidy waiting-maid skillfully depreciates our +currency in exchange for bread and cheese and ale, to recall the early +drama of the French discovery and settlement. For it is to the French +that we owe the poetical interest that still invests, like a garment, +all these islands and bays, just as it is to the Spaniards that we owe +the romance of the Florida coast. Every spot on this continent that +either of these races has touched has a color that is wanting in the +prosaic settlements of the English. + +Without the historical light of French adventure upon this town and +basin of Annapolis, or Port Royal, as they were first named, I confess +that I should have no longing to stay here for a week; notwithstanding +the guide-book distinctly says that this harbor has “a striking +resemblance to the beautiful Bay of Naples.” I am not offended at this +remark, for it is the one always made about a harbor, and I am sure the +passing traveler can stand it, if the Bay of Naples can. And yet +this tranquil basin must have seemed a haven of peace to the first +discoverers. + +It was on a lovely summer day in 1604, that the Sieur de Monts and his +comrades, Champlain and the Baron de Poutrincourt, beating about the +shores of Nova Scotia, were invited by the rocky gateway of the Port +Royal Basin. They entered the small inlet, says Mr. Parkman, when +suddenly the narrow strait dilated into a broad and tranquil basin, +compassed with sunny hills, wrapped with woodland verdure and alive with +waterfalls. Poutrincourt was delighted with the scene, and would fain +remove thither from France with his family. Since Poutrincourt's day, +the hills have been somewhat denuded of trees, and the waterfalls are +not now in sight; at least, not under such a gray sky as we saw. + +The reader who once begins to look into the French occupancy of Acadia +is in danger of getting into a sentimental vein, and sentiment is the +one thing to be shunned in these days. Yet I cannot but stay, though the +train should leave us, to pay my respectful homage to one of the most +heroic of women, whose name recalls the most romantic incident in +the history of this region. Out of this past there rises no figure so +captivating to the imagination as that of Madame de la Tour. And it +is noticeable that woman has a curious habit of coming to the front in +critical moments of history, and performing some exploit that eclipses +in brilliancy all the deeds of contemporary men; and the exploit usually +ends in a pathetic tragedy, that fixes it forever in the sympathy of the +world. I need not copy out of the pages of De Charlevoix the well-known +story of Madame de la Tour; I only wish he had told us more about her. +It is here at Port Royal that we first see her with her husband. Charles +de St. Etienne, the Chevalier de la Tour,--there is a world of romance +in these mere names,--was a Huguenot nobleman who had a grant of Port +Royal and of La Hive, from Louis XIII. He ceded La Hive to Razilli, +the governor-in-chief of the provinces, who took a fancy to it, for +a residence. He was living peacefully at Port Royal in 1647, when the +Chevalier d'Aunay Charnise, having succeeded his brother Razilli at La +Hive, tired of that place and removed to Port Royal. De Charnise was +a Catholic; the difference in religion might not have produced any +unpleasantness, but the two noblemen could not agree in dividing the +profits of the peltry trade,--each being covetous, if we may so express +it, of the hide of the savage continent, and determined to take it off +for himself. At any rate, disagreement arose, and De la Tour moved over +to the St. John, of which region his father had enjoyed a grant from +Charles I. of England,--whose sad fate it is not necessary now to recall +to the reader's mind,--and built a fort at the mouth of the river. But +the differences of the two ambitious Frenchmen could not be composed. +De la Tour obtained aid from Governor Winthrop at Boston, thus verifying +the Catholic prediction that the Huguenots would side with the enemies +of France on occasion. De Charnise received orders from Louis to arrest +De la Tour; but a little preliminary to the arrest was the possession of +the fort of St. John, and this he could not obtain, although be sent all +his force against it. Taking advantage, however, of the absence of De +la Tour, who had a habit of roving about, he one day besieged St. John. +Madame de la Tour headed the little handful of men in the fort, and made +such a gallant resistance that De Charnise was obliged to draw off his +fleet with the loss of thirty-three men,--a very serious loss, when the +supply of men was as distant as France. But De Charnise would not +be balked by a woman; he attacked again; and this time, one of the +garrison, a Swiss, betrayed the fort, and let the invaders into +the walls by an unguarded entrance. It was Easter morning when this +misfortune occurred, but the peaceful influence of the day did not +avail. When Madame saw that she was betrayed, her spirits did not quail; +she took refuge with her little band in a detached part of the fort, and +there made such a bold show of defense, that De Charnise was obliged to +agree to the terms of her surrender, which she dictated. No sooner had +this unchivalrous fellow obtained possession of the fort and of this +Historic Woman, than, overcome with a false shame that he had made terms +with a woman, he violated his noble word, and condemned to death all +the men, except one, who was spared on condition that he should be the +executioner of the others. And the poltroon compelled the brave woman +to witness the execution, with the added indignity of a rope round her +neck,--or as De Charlevoix much more neatly expresses it, “obligea sa +prisonniere d'assister a l'execution, la corde au cou.” + +To the shock of this horror the womanly spirit of Madame de la Tour +succumbed; she fell into a decline and died soon after. De la Tour, +himself an exile from his province, wandered about the New World in his +customary pursuit of peltry. He was seen at Quebec for two years. While +there, he heard of the death of De Charnise, and straightway repaired +to St. John. The widow of his late enemy received him graciously, and +he entered into possession of the estate of the late occupant with the +consent of all the heirs. To remove all roots of bitterness, De la +Tour married Madame de Charnise, and history does not record any ill of +either of them. I trust they had the grace to plant a sweetbrier on +the grave of the noble woman to whose faithfulness and courage they owe +their rescue from obscurity. At least the parties to this singular +union must have agreed to ignore the lamented existence of the Chevalier +d'Aunay. + +With the Chevalier de la Tour, at any rate, it all went well thereafter. +When Cromwell drove the French from Acadia, he granted great territorial +rights to De la Tour, which that thrifty adventurer sold out to one +of his co-grantees for L16,000; and he no doubt invested the money in +peltry for the London market. + +As we leave the station at Annapolis, we are obliged to put Madame de la +Tour out of our minds to make room for another woman whose name, and we +might say presence, fills all the valley before us. So it is that woman +continues to reign, where she has once got a foothold, long after her +dear frame has become dust. Evangeline, who is as real a personage as +Queen Esther, must have been a different woman from Madame de la Tour. +If the latter had lived at Grand Pre, she would, I trust, have made +it hot for the brutal English who drove the Acadians out of their +salt-marsh paradise, and have died in her heroic shoes rather than float +off into poetry. But if it should come to the question of marrying the +De la Tour or the Evangeline, I think no man who was not engaged in the +peltry trade would hesitate which to choose. At any rate, the women who +love have more influence in the world than the women who fight, and so +it happens that the sentimental traveler who passes through Port Royal +without a tear for Madame de la Tour, begins to be in a glow of tender +longing and regret for Evangeline as soon as he enters the valley of the +Annapolis River. For myself, I expected to see written over the railway +crossings the legend, + +“Look out for Evangeline while the bell rings.” + +When one rides into a region of romance he does not much notice his +speed or his carriage; but I am obliged to say that we were not hurried +up the valley, and that the cars were not too luxurious for the plain +people, priests, clergymen, and belles of the region, who rode in them. +Evidently the latest fashions had not arrived in the Provinces, and we +had an opportunity of studying anew those that had long passed away in +the States, and of remarking how inappropriate a fashion is when it has +ceased to be the fashion. + +The river becomes small shortly after we leave Annapolis and before we +reach Paradise. At this station of happy appellation we looked for the +satirist who named it, but he has probably sold out and removed. If +the effect of wit is produced by the sudden recognition of a remote +resemblance, there was nothing witty in the naming of this station. +Indeed, we looked in vain for the “garden” appearance of the valley. +There was nothing generous in the small meadows or the thin orchards; +and if large trees ever grew on the bordering hills, they have given +place to rather stunted evergreens; the scraggy firs and balsams, in +fact, possess Nova Scotia generally as we saw it,--and there is nothing +more uninteresting and wearisome than large tracts of these woods. We +are bound to believe that Nova Scotia has somewhere, or had, great pines +and hemlocks that murmur, but we were not blessed with the sight of +them. Slightly picturesque this valley is with its winding river and +high hills guarding it, and perhaps a person would enjoy a foot-tramp +down it; but, I think he would find little peculiar or interesting after +he left the neighborhood of the Basin of Minas. + +Before we reached Wolfville we came in sight of this basin and some of +the estuaries and streams that run into it; that is, when the tide goes +out; but they are only muddy ditches half the time. The Acadia College +was pointed out to us at Wolfville by a person who said that it is a +feeble institution, a remark we were sorry to hear of a place described +as “one of the foremost seats of learning in the Province.” But our +regret was at once extinguished by the announcement that the next +station was Grand Pre! We were within three miles of the most poetic +place in North America. + +There was on the train a young man from Boston, who said that he was +born in Grand Pre. It seemed impossible that we should actually be near +a person so felicitously born. He had a justifiable pride in the fact, +as well as in the bride by his side, whom he was taking to see for +the first time his old home. His local information, imparted to her, +overflowed upon us; and when he found that we had read “Evangeline,” his +delight in making us acquainted with the scene of that poem was pleasant +to see. The village of Grand Pre is a mile from the station; and perhaps +the reader would like to know exactly what the traveler, hastening on to +Baddeck, can see of the famous locality. + +We looked over a well-grassed meadow, seamed here and there by beds of +streams left bare by the receding tide, to a gentle swell in the ground +upon which is a not heavy forest growth. The trees partly conceal the +street of Grand Pre, which is only a road bordered by common houses. +Beyond is the Basin of Minas, with its sedgy shore, its dreary flats; +and beyond that projects a bold headland, standing perpendicular against +the sky. This is the Cape Blomidon, and it gives a certain dignity to +the picture. + +The old Normandy picturesqueness has departed from the village of Grand +Pre. Yankee settlers, we were told, possess it now, and there are no +descendants of the French Acadians in this valley. I believe that Mr. +Cozzens found some of them in humble circumstances in a village on the +other coast, not far from Halifax, and it is there, probably, that the + +“Maidens still wear their Norman caps and their kirtles of homespun, +And by the evening fire repeat Evangeline's story, While from its +rocky caverns the deep-voiced, neighboring ocean Speaks, and in accents +disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.” + +At any rate, there is nothing here now except a faint tradition of the +French Acadians; and the sentimental traveler who laments that they were +driven out, and not left behind their dikes to rear their flocks, and +cultivate the rural virtues, and live in the simplicity of ignorance, +will temper his sadness by the reflection that it is to the expulsion he +owes “Evangeline” and the luxury of his romantic grief. So that if the +traveler is honest, and examines his own soul faithfully, he will not +know what state of mind to cherish as he passes through this region of +sorrow. + +Our eyes lingered as long as possible and with all eagerness upon these +meadows and marshes which the poet has made immortal, and we regretted +that inexorable Baddeck would not permit us to be pilgrims for a day in +this Acadian land. Just as I was losing sight of the skirt of trees at +Grand Pre, a gentleman in the dress of a rural clergyman left his seat, +and complimented me with this remark: “I perceive, sir, that you are +fond of reading.” + +I could not but feel flattered by this unexpected discovery of my +nature, which was no doubt due to the fact that I held in my hand one +of the works of Charles Reade on social science, called “Love me Little, +Love me Long,” and I said, “Of some kinds, I am.” + +“Did you ever see a work called 'Evangeline'?” + +“Oh, yes, I have frequently seen it.” + +“You may remember,” continued this Mass of Information, “that there is +an allusion in it to Grand Pre. That is the place, sir!” + +“Oh, indeed, is that the place? Thank you.” + +“And that mountain yonder is Cape Blomidon, blow me down, you know.” + +And under cover of this pun, the amiable clergyman retired, unconscious, +I presume, of his prosaic effect upon the atmosphere of the region. With +this intrusion of the commonplace, I suffered an eclipse of faith as to +Evangeline, and was not sorry to have my attention taken up by the river +Avon, along the banks of which we were running about this time. It is +really a broad arm of the basin, extending up to Windsor, and beyond in +a small stream, and would have been a charming river if there had been a +drop of water in it. I never knew before how much water adds to a river. +Its slimy bottom was quite a ghastly spectacle, an ugly gash in the land +that nothing could heal but the friendly returning tide. I should think +it would be confusing to dwell by a river that runs first one way and +then the other, and then vanishes altogether. + +All the streams about this basin are famous for their salmon and shad, +and the season for these fish was not yet passed. There seems to be an +untraced affinity between the shad and the strawberry; they appear and +disappear in a region simultaneously. When we reached Cape Breton, we +were a day or two late for both. It is impossible not to feel a little +contempt for people who do not have these luxuries till July and August; +but I suppose we are in turn despised by the Southerners because we do +not have them till May and June. So, a great part of the enjoyment of +life is in the knowledge that there are people living in a worse place +than that you inhabit. + +Windsor, a most respectable old town round which the railroad sweeps, +with its iron bridge, conspicuous King's College, and handsome church +spire, is a great place for plaster and limestone, and would be a good +location for a person interested in these substances. Indeed, if a man +can live on rocks, like a goat, he may settle anywhere between Windsor +and Halifax. It is one of the most sterile regions in the Province. +With the exception of a wild pond or two, we saw nothing but rocks +and stunted firs, for forty-five miles, a monotony unrelieved by one +picturesque feature. Then we longed for the “Garden of Nova Scotia,” and +understood what is meant by the name. + +A member of the Ottawa government, who was on his way to the +Governor-General's ball at Halifax, informed us that this country is +rich in minerals, in iron especially, and he pointed out spots where +gold had been washed out. But we do not covet it. And we were not sorry +to learn from this gentleman, that since the formation of the Dominion, +there is less and less desire in the Provinces for annexation to the +United States. One of the chief pleasures in traveling in Nova Scotia +now is in the constant reflection that you are in a foreign country; and +annexation would take that away. + +It is nearly dark when we reach the head of the Bedford Basin. The noble +harbor of Halifax narrows to a deep inlet for three miles along the +rocky slope on which the city stands, and then suddenly expands into +this beautiful sheet of water. We ran along its bank for five miles, +cheered occasionally by a twinkling light on the shore, and then came +to a stop at the shabby terminus, three miles out of town. This basin is +almost large enough to float the navy of Great Britain, and it could +lie here, with the narrows fortified, secure from the attacks of +the American navy, hovering outside in the fog. With these patriotic +thoughts we enter the town. It is not the fault of the railroad, but its +present inability to climb a rocky hill, that it does not run into the +city. The suburbs are not impressive in the night, but they look better +then than they do in the daytime; and the same might be said of the city +itself. Probably there is not anywhere a more rusty, forlorn town, and +this in spite of its magnificent situation. + +It is a gala-night when we rattle down the rough streets, and have +pointed out to us the somber government buildings. The Halifax Club +House is a blaze of light, for the Governor-General is being received +there, and workmen are still busy decorating the Provincial Building +for the great ball. The city is indeed pervaded by his lordship, and +we regret that we cannot see it in its normal condition of quiet; the +hotels are full, and it is impossible to escape the festive feeling that +is abroad. It ill accords with our desires, as tranquil travelers, to be +plunged into such a vortex of slow dissipation. These people take their +pleasures more gravely than we do, and probably will last the longer for +their moderation. Having ascertained that we can get no more information +about Baddeck here than in St. John, we go to bed early, for we are to +depart from this fascinating place at six o'clock. + +If any one objects that we are not competent to pass judgment on the +city of Halifax by sleeping there one night, I beg leave to plead the +usual custom of travelers,--where would be our books of travel, if more +was expected than a night in a place?--and to state a few facts. The +first is, that I saw the whole of Halifax. If I were inclined, I could +describe it building by building. Cannot one see it all from the citadel +hill, and by walking down by the horticultural garden and the Roman +Catholic cemetery? and did not I climb that hill through the most +dilapidated rows of brown houses, and stand on the greensward of the +fortress at five o'clock in the morning, and see the whole city, and the +British navy riding at anchor, and the fog coming in from the Atlantic +Ocean? Let the reader go to! and if he would know more of Halifax, go +there. We felt that if we remained there through the day, it would be a +day of idleness and sadness. I could draw a picture of Halifax. I could +relate its century of history; I could write about its free-school +system, and its many noble charities. But the reader always skips such +things. He hates information; and he himself would not stay in this dull +garrison town any longer than he was obliged to. + +There was to be a military display that day in honor of the Governor. + +“Why,” I asked the bright and light-minded colored boy who sold papers +on the morning train, “don't you stay in the city and see it?” + +“Pho,” said he, with contempt, “I'm sick of 'em. Halifax is played out, +and I'm going to quit it.” + +The withdrawal of this lively trader will be a blow to the enterprise of +the place. + +When I returned to the hotel for breakfast--which was exactly like the +supper, and consisted mainly of green tea and dry toast--there was a +commotion among the waiters and the hack-drivers over a nervous little +old man, who was in haste to depart for the morning train. He was a +specimen of provincial antiquity such as could not be seen elsewhere. +His costume was of the oddest: a long-waisted coat reaching nearly to +his heels, short trousers, a flowered silk vest, and a napless hat. He +carried his baggage tied up in mealbags, and his attention was divided +between that and two buxom daughters, who were evidently enjoying their +first taste of city life. The little old man, who was not unlike a +petrified Frenchman of the last century, had risen before daylight, +roused up his daughters, and had them down on the sidewalk by four +o'clock, waiting for hack, or horse-car, or something to take them +to the station. That he might be a man of some importance at home was +evident, but he had lost his head in the bustle of this great town, +and was at the mercy of all advisers, none of whom could understand +his mongrel language. As we came out to take the horse-car, he saw his +helpless daughters driven off in one hack, while he was raving among his +meal-bags on the sidewalk. Afterwards we saw him at the station, flying +about in the greatest excitement, asking everybody about the train; and +at last he found his way into the private office of the ticket-seller. +“Get out of here!” roared that official. The old man persisted that +he wanted a ticket. “Go round to the window; clear out!” In a very +flustered state he was hustled out of the room. When he came to the +window and made known his destination, he was refused tickets, because +his train did not start for two hours yet! + +This mercurial old gentleman only appears in these records because he +was the only person we saw in this Province who was in a hurry to do +anything, or to go anywhere. + +We cannot leave Halifax without remarking that it is a city of great +private virtue, and that its banks are sound. The appearance of its +paper-money is not, however, inviting. We of the United States lead the +world in beautiful paper-money; and when I exchanged my crisp, handsome +greenbacks for the dirty, flimsy, ill-executed notes of the Dominion, +at a dead loss of value, I could not be reconciled to the transaction. +I sarcastically called the stuff I received “Confederate money;” but +probably no one was wounded by the severity; for perhaps no one knew +what a resemblance in badness there is between the “Confederate” notes +of our civil war and the notes of the Dominion; and, besides, the +Confederacy was too popular in the Provinces for the name to be a +reproach to them. I wish I had thought of something more insulting to +say. + +By noon on Friday we came to New Glasgow, having passed through a +country where wealth is to be won by hard digging if it is won at all; +through Truro, at the head of the Cobequid Bay, a place exhibiting more +thrift than any we have seen. A pleasant enough country, on the whole, +is this which the road runs through up the Salmon and down the +East River. New Glasgow is not many miles from Pictou, on the great +Cumberland Strait; the inhabitants build vessels, and strangers drive +out from here to see the neighboring coal mines. Here we were to dine +and take the stage for a ride of eighty miles to the Gut of Canso. + +The hotel at New Glasgow we can commend as one of the most unwholesome +in the Province; but it is unnecessary to emphasize its condition, for +if the traveler is in search of dirty hotels, he will scarcely go amiss +anywhere in these regions. There seems to be a fashion in diet which +endures. The early travelers as well as the later in these Atlantic +provinces all note the prevalence of dry, limp toast and green tea; they +are the staples of all the meals; though authorities differ in regard +to the third element for discouraging hunger: it is sometimes boiled +salt-fish and sometimes it is ham. Toast was probably an inspiration of +the first woman of this part of the New World, who served it hot; but +it has become now a tradition blindly followed, without regard to +temperature; and the custom speaks volumes for the non-inventiveness +of woman. At the inn in New Glasgow those who choose dine in their +shirt-sleeves, and those skilled in the ways of this table get all they +want in seven minutes. A man who understands the use of edged tools +can get along twice as fast with a knife and fork as he can with a fork +alone. + +But the stage is at the door; the coach and four horses answer the +advertisement of being “second to none on the continent.” We mount +to the seat with the driver. The sun is bright; the wind is in the +southwest; the leaders are impatient to go; the start for the long ride +is propitious. + +But on the back seat in the coach is the inevitable woman, young and +sickly, with the baby in her arms. The woman has paid her fare through +to Guysborough, and holds her ticket. It turns out, however, that she +wants to go to the district of Guysborough, to St. Mary's Cross Roads, +somewhere in it, and not to the village of Guysborough, which is away +down on Chedabucto Bay. (The reader will notice this geographical +familiarity.) And this stage does not go in the direction of St. Mary's. +She will not get out, she will not surrender her ticket, nor pay her +fare again. Why should she? And the stage proprietor, the stage-driver, +and the hostler mull over the problem, and sit down on the woman's hair +trunk in front of the tavern to reason with her. The baby joins its +voice from the coach window in the clamor of the discussion. The baby +prevails. The stage company comes to a compromise, the woman dismounts, +and we are off, away from the white houses, over the sandy road, out +upon a hilly and not cheerful country. And the driver begins to tell us +stories of winter hardships, drifted highways, a land buried in snow, +and great peril to men and cattle. + + + + +III + + “It was then summer, and the weather very fine; so pleased + was I with the country, in which I had never travelled + before, that my delight proved equal to my wonder.” + -- BENVENUTO CELLINI. + +There are few pleasures in life equal to that of riding on the box-seat +of a stagecoach, through a country unknown to you and hearing the driver +talk about his horses. We made the intimate acquaintance of twelve +horses on that day's ride, and learned the peculiar disposition +and traits of each one of them, their ambition of display, their +sensitiveness to praise or blame, their faithfulness, their playfulness, +the readiness with which they yielded to kind treatment, their +daintiness about food and lodging. + +May I never forget the spirited little jade, the off-leader in the third +stage, the petted belle of the route, the nervous, coquettish, mincing +mare of Marshy Hope. A spoiled beauty she was; you could see that as +she took the road with dancing step, tossing her pretty head about, and +conscious of her shining black coat and her tail done up “in any simple +knot,”--like the back hair of Shelley's Beatrice Cenci. How she ambled +and sidled and plumed herself, and now and then let fly her little heels +high in air in mere excess of larkish feeling. + +“So! girl; so! Kitty,” murmurs the driver in the softest tones of +admiration; “she don't mean anything by it, she's just like a kitten.” + +But the heels keep flying above the traces, and by and by the driver +is obliged to “speak hash” to the beauty. The reproof of the displeased +tone is evidently felt, for she settles at once to her work, showing +perhaps a little impatience, jerking her head up and down, and +protesting by her nimble movements against the more deliberate trot +of her companion. I believe that a blow from the cruel lash would have +broken her heart; or else it would have made a little fiend of the +spirited creature. The lash is hardly ever good for the sex. + +For thirteen years, winter and summer, this coachman had driven this +monotonous, uninteresting route, with always the same sandy hills, +scrubby firs, occasional cabins, in sight. What a time to nurse his +thought and feed on his heart! How deliberately he can turn things over +in his brain! What a system of philosophy he might evolve out of his +consciousness! One would think so. But, in fact, the stagebox is no +place for thinking. To handle twelve horses every day, to keep each to +its proper work, stimulating the lazy and restraining the free, humoring +each disposition, so that the greatest amount of work shall be obtained +with the least friction, making each trip on time, and so as to leave +each horse in as good condition at the close as at the start, taking +advantage of the road, refreshing the team by an occasional spurt of +speed,--all these things require constant attention; and if the driver +was composing an epic, the coach might go into the ditch, or, if no +accident happened, the horses would be worn out in a month, except for +the driver's care. + +I conclude that the most delicate and important occupation in life is +stage-driving. It would be easier to “run” the Treasury Department +of the United States than a four-in-hand. I have a sense of the +unimportance of everything else in comparison with this business in +hand. And I think the driver shares that feeling. He is the autocrat of +the situation. He is lord of all the humble passengers, and they feel +their inferiority. They may have knowledge and skill in some things, but +they are of no use here. At all the stables the driver is king; all the +people on the route are deferential to him; they are happy if he will +crack a joke with them, and take it as a favor if he gives them better +than they send. And it is his joke that always raises the laugh, +regardless of its quality. + +We carry the royal mail, and as we go along drop little sealed canvas +bags at way offices. The bags would not hold more than three pints of +meal, and I can see that there is nothing in them. Yet somebody along +here must be expecting a letter, or they would not keep up the mail +facilities. At French River we change horses. There is a mill here, and +there are half a dozen houses, and a cranky bridge, which the driver +thinks will not tumble down this trip. The settlement may have seen +better days, and will probably see worse. + +I preferred to cross the long, shaky wooden bridge on foot, leaving the +inside passengers to take the risk, and get the worth of their money; +and while the horses were being put to, I walked on over the hill. And +here I encountered a veritable foot-pad, with a club in his hand and a +bundle on his shoulder, coming down the dusty road, with the wild-eyed +aspect of one who travels into a far country in search of adventure. He +seemed to be of a cheerful and sociable turn, and desired that I should +linger and converse with him. But he was more meagerly supplied with the +media of conversation than any person I ever met. His opening address +was in a tongue that failed to convey to me the least idea. I replied +in such language as I had with me, but it seemed to be equally lost upon +him. We then fell back upon gestures and ejaculations, and by these I +learned that he was a native of Cape Breton, but not an aborigine. By +signs he asked me where I came from, and where I was going; and he was +so much pleased with my destination, that he desired to know my name; +and this I told him with all the injunction of secrecy I could convey; +but he could no more pronounce it than I could speak his name. It +occurred to me that perhaps he spoke a French patois, and I asked him; +but he only shook his head. He would own neither to German nor Irish. +The happy thought came to me of inquiring if he knew English. But he +shook his head again, and said, + +“No English, plenty garlic.” + +This was entirely incomprehensible, for I knew that garlic is not a +language, but a smell. But when he had repeated the word several +times, I found that he meant Gaelic; and when we had come to this +understanding, we cordially shook hands and willingly parted. One seldom +encounters a wilder or more good-natured savage than this stalwart +wanderer. And meeting him raised my hopes of Cape Breton. + +We change horses again, for the last stage, at Marshy Hope. As we turn +down the hill into this place of the mournful name, we dash past a +procession of five country wagons, which makes way for us: everything +makes way for us; even death itself turns out for the stage with four +horses. The second wagon carries a long box, which reveals to us the +mournful errand of the caravan. We drive into the stable, and get down +while the fresh horses are put to. The company's stables are all alike, +and open at each end with great doors. The stable is the best house in +the place; there are three or four houses besides, and one of them is +white, and has vines growing over the front door, and hollyhocks by the +front gate. Three or four women, and as many barelegged girls, have come +out to look at the procession, and we lounge towards the group. + +“It had a winder in the top of it, and silver handles,” says one. + +“Well, I declare; and you could 'a looked right in?” + +“If I'd been a mind to.” + +“Who has died?” I ask. + +“It's old woman Larue; she lived on Gilead Hill, mostly alone. It's +better for her.” + +“Had she any friends?” + +“One darter. They're takin' her over Eden way, to bury her where she +come from.” + +“Was she a good woman?” The traveler is naturally curious to know what +sort of people die in Nova Scotia. + +“Well, good enough. Both her husbands is dead.” + +The gossips continued talking of the burying. Poor old woman Larue! It +was mournful enough to encounter you for the only time in this world in +this plight, and to have this glimpse of your wretched life on lonesome +Gilead Hill. What pleasure, I wonder, had she in her life, and what +pleasure have any of these hard-favored women in this doleful region? It +is pitiful to think of it. Doubtless, however, the region isn't doleful, +and the sentimental traveler would not have felt it so if he had not +encountered this funereal flitting. + +But the horses are in. We mount to our places; the big doors swing open. + +“Stand away,” cries the driver. + +The hostler lets go Kitty's bridle, the horses plunge forward, and we +are off at a gallop, taking the opposite direction from that pursued by +old woman Larue. + +This last stage is eleven miles, through a pleasanter country, and we +make it in a trifle over an hour, going at an exhilarating gait, that +raises our spirits out of the Marshy Hope level. The perfection of +travel is ten miles an hour, on top of a stagecoach; it is greater speed +than forty by rail. It nurses one's pride to sit aloft, and rattle past +the farmhouses, and give our dust to the cringing foot tramps. There is +something royal in the swaying of the coach body, and an excitement in +the patter of the horses' hoofs. And what an honor it must be to guide +such a machine through a region of rustic admiration! + +The sun has set when we come thundering down into the pretty Catholic +village of Antigonish,--the most home-like place we have seen on the +island. The twin stone towers of the unfinished cathedral loom up large +in the fading light, and the bishop's palace on the hill--the home of +the Bishop of Arichat--appears to be an imposing white barn with +many staring windows. At Antigonish--with the emphasis on the last +syllable--let the reader know there is a most comfortable inn, kept by a +cheery landlady, where the stranger is served by the comely handmaidens, +her daughters, and feels that he has reached a home at last. Here we +wished to stay. Here we wished to end this weary pilgrimage. Could +Baddeck be as attractive as this peaceful valley? Should we find any inn +on Cape Breton like this one? + +“Never was on Cape Breton,” our driver had said; “hope I never shall be. +Heard enough about it. Taverns? You'll find 'em occupied.” + +“Fleas? + +“Wus.” + +“But it is a lovely country?” + +“I don't think it.” + +Into what unknown dangers were we going? Why not stay here and be happy? +It was a soft summer night. People were loitering in the street; the +young beaux of the place going up and down with the belles, after the +leisurely manner in youth and summer; perhaps they were students from +St. Xavier College, or visiting gallants from Guysborough. They look +into the post-office and the fancy store. They stroll and take their +little provincial pleasure and make love, for all we can see, as if +Antigonish were a part of the world. How they must look down on Marshy +Hope and Addington Forks and Tracadie! What a charming place to live in +is this! + +But the stage goes on at eight o'clock. It will wait for no man. There +is no other stage till eight the next night, and we have no alternative +but a night ride. We put aside all else except duty and Baddeck. This is +strictly a pleasure-trip. + +The stage establishment for the rest of the journey could hardly be +called the finest on the continent. The wagon was drawn by two horses. +It was a square box, covered with painted cloth. Within were two narrow +seats, facing each other, affording no room for the legs of passengers, +and offering them no position but a strictly upright one. It was a most +ingeniously uncomfortable box in which to put sleepy travelers for the +night. The weather would be chilly before morning, and to sit upright +on a narrow board all night, and shiver, is not cheerful. Of course, the +reader says that this is no hardship to talk about. But the reader is +mistaken. Anything is a hardship when it is unpleasantly what one does +not desire or expect. These travelers had spent wakeful nights, in the +forests, in a cold rain, and never thought of complaining. It is +useless to talk about the Polar sufferings of Dr. Kane to a guest at a +metropolitan hotel, in the midst of luxury, when the mosquito sings all +night in his ear, and his mutton-chop is overdone at breakfast. One +does not like to be set up for a hero in trifles, in odd moments, and in +inconspicuous places. + +There were two passengers besides ourselves, inhabitants of Cape Breton +Island, who were returning from Halifax to Plaster Cove, where they were +engaged in the occupation of distributing alcoholic liquors at retail. +This fact we ascertained incidentally, as we learned the nationality +of our comrades by their brogue, and their religion by their lively +ejaculations during the night. We stowed ourselves into the rigid box, +bade a sorrowing good-night to the landlady and her daughters, who stood +at the inn door, and went jingling down the street towards the open +country. + +The moon rises at eight o'clock in Nova Scotia. It came above the +horizon exactly as we began our journey, a harvest-moon, round and red. +When I first saw it, it lay on the edge of the horizon as if too +heavy to lift itself, as big as a cart-wheel, and its disk cut by a +fence-rail. With what a flood of splendor it deluged farmhouses and +farms, and the broad sweep of level country! There could not be a more +magnificent night in which to ride towards that geographical mystery of +our boyhood, the Gut of Canso. + +A few miles out of town the stage stopped in the road before a +post-station. An old woman opened the door of the farmhouse to receive +the bag which the driver carried to her. A couple of sprightly little +girls rushed out to “interview” the passengers, climbing up to ask their +names and, with much giggling, to get a peep at their faces. And upon +the handsomeness or ugliness of the faces they saw in the moonlight they +pronounced with perfect candor. We are not obliged to say what their +verdict was. Girls here, no doubt, as elsewhere, lose this trustful +candor as they grow older. + +Just as we were starting, the old woman screamed out from the door, in +a shrill voice, addressing the driver, “Did you see ary a sick man 'bout +'Tigonish?” + +“Nary.” + +“There's one been round here for three or four days, pretty bad off; 's +got the St. Vitus's. He wanted me to get him some medicine for it up to +Antigonish. I've got it here in a vial, and I wished you could take it +to him.” + +“Where is he?” + +“I dunno. I heern he'd gone east by the Gut. Perhaps you'll hear of +him.” All this screamed out into the night. + +“Well, I'll take it.” + +We took the vial aboard and went on; but the incident powerfully +affected us. The weird voice of the old woman was exciting in itself, +and we could not escape the image of this unknown man, dancing about +this region without any medicine, fleeing perchance by night and alone, +and finally flitting away down the Gut of Canso. This fugitive mystery +almost immediately shaped itself into the following simple poem: + + “There was an old man of Canso, + Unable to sit or stan' so. + When I asked him why he ran so, + Says he, 'I've St. Vitus' dance so, + All down the Gut of Canso.'” + +This melancholy song is now, I doubt not, sung by the maidens of +Antigonish. + +In spite of the consolations of poetry, however, the night wore on +slowly, and soothing sleep tried in vain to get a lodgment in the +jolting wagon. One can sleep upright, but not when his head is every +moment knocked against the framework of a wagon-cover. Even a jolly +young Irishman of Plaster Cove, whose nature it is to sleep under +whatever discouragement, is beaten by these circumstances. He wishes he +had his fiddle along. We never know what men are on casual acquaintance. +This rather stupid-looking fellow is a devotee of music, and knows how +to coax the sweetness out of the unwilling violin. Sometimes he goes +miles and miles on winter nights to draw the seductive bow for the Cape +Breton dancers, and there is enthusiasm in his voice, as he relates +exploits of fiddling from sunset till the dawn of day. Other +information, however, the young man has not; and when this is exhausted, +he becomes sleepy again, and tries a dozen ways to twist himself into +a posture in which sleep will be possible. He doubles up his legs, he +slides them under the seat, he sits on the wagon bottom; but the +wagon swings and jolts and knocks him about. His patience under +this punishment is admirable, and there is something pathetic in his +restraint from profanity. + +It is enough to look out upon the magnificent night; the moon is now +high, and swinging clear and distant; the air has grown chilly; the +stars cannot be eclipsed by the greater light, but glow with a chastened +fervor. It is on the whole a splendid display for the sake of four +sleepy men, banging along in a coach,--an insignificant little vehicle +with two horses. No one is up at any of the farmhouses to see it; no one +appears to take any interest in it, except an occasional baying dog, or +a rooster that has mistaken the time of night. By midnight we come to +Tracadie, an orchard, a farmhouse, and a stable. We are not far from the +sea now, and can see a silver mist in the north. An inlet comes lapping +up by the old house with a salty smell and a suggestion of oyster-beds. +We knock up the sleeping hostlers, change horses, and go on again, dead +sleepy, but unable to get a wink. And all the night is blazing with +beauty. We think of the criminal who was sentenced to be kept awake till +he died. + +The fiddler makes another trial. Temperately remarking, “I am very +sleepy,” he kneels upon the floor and rests his head on the seat. This +position for a second promises repose; but almost immediately his head +begins to pound the seat, and beat a lively rat-a-plan on the board. The +head of a wooden idol couldn't stand this treatment more than a minute. +The fiddler twisted and turned, but his head went like a triphammer on +the seat. I have never seen a devotional attitude so deceptive, or one +that produced less favorable results. The young man rose from his knees, +and meekly said, + +“It's dam hard.” + +If the recording angel took down this observation, he doubtless made a +note of the injured tone in which it was uttered. + +How slowly the night passes to one tipping and swinging along in a +slowly moving stage! But the harbinger of the day came at last. When +the fiddler rose from his knees, I saw the morning-star burst out of the +east like a great diamond, and I knew that Venus was strong enough to +pull up even the sun, from whom she is never distant more than an eighth +of the heavenly circle. The moon could not put her out of countenance. +She blazed and scintillated with a dazzling brilliance, a throbbing +splendor, that made the moon seem a pale, sentimental invention. +Steadily she mounted, in her fresh beauty, with the confidence and vigor +of new love, driving her more domestic rival out of the sky. And this +sort of thing, I suppose, goes on frequently. These splendors burn and +this panorama passes night after night down at the end of Nova Scotia, +and all for the stage-driver, dozing along on his box, from Antigonish +to the strait. + +“Here you are,” cries the driver, at length, when we have become wearily +indifferent to where we are. We have reached the ferry. The dawn has not +come, but it is not far off. We step out and find a chilly morning, and +the dark waters of the Gut of Canso flowing before us lighted here and +there by a patch of white mist. The ferryman is asleep, and his door is +shut. We call him by all the names known among men. We pound upon his +house, but he makes no sign. Before he awakes and comes out, growling, +the sky in the east is lightened a shade, and the star of the dawn +sparkles less brilliantly. But the process is slow. The twilight is +long. There is a surprising deliberation about the preparation of the +sun for rising, as there is in the movements of the boatman. Both appear +to be reluctant to begin the day. + +The ferryman and his shaggy comrade get ready at last, and we step into +the clumsy yawl, and the slowly moving oars begin to pull us upstream. +The strait is here less than a mile wide; the tide is running strongly, +and the water is full of swirls,--the little whirlpools of the rip-tide. +The morning-star is now high in the sky; the moon, declining in the +west, is more than ever like a silver shield; along the east is a faint +flush of pink. In the increasing light we can see the bold shores of the +strait, and the square projection of Cape Porcupine below. + +On the rocks above the town of Plaster Cove, where there is a black +and white sign,--Telegraph Cable,--we set ashore our companions of +the night, and see them climb up to their station for retailing the +necessary means of intoxication in their district, with the mournful +thought that we may never behold them again. + +As we drop down along the shore, there is a white sea-gull asleep on +the rock, rolled up in a ball, with his head under his wing. The rock +is dripping with dew, and the bird is as wet as his hard bed. We pass +within an oar's length of him, but he does not heed us, and we do not +disturb his morning slumbers. For there is no such cruelty as the waking +of anybody out of a morning nap. + +When we land, and take up our bags to ascend the hill to the white +tavern of Port Hastings (as Plaster Cove now likes to be called), the +sun lifts himself slowly over the treetops, and the magic of the night +vanishes. + +And this is Cape Breton, reached after almost a week of travel. Here is +the Gut of Canso, but where is Baddeck? It is Saturday morning; if we +cannot make Baddeck by night, we might as well have remained in +Boston. And who knows what we shall find if we get there? A forlorn +fishing-station, a dreary hotel? Suppose we cannot get on, and are +forced to stay here? Asking ourselves these questions, we enter the +Plaster Cove tavern. No one is stirring, but the house is open, and we +take possession of the dirty public room, and almost immediately drop to +sleep in the fluffy rocking-chairs; but even sleep is not strong enough +to conquer our desire to push on, and we soon rouse up and go in pursuit +of information. + +No landlord is to be found, but there is an unkempt servant in the +kitchen, who probably does not see any use in making her toilet more +than once a week. To this fearful creature is intrusted the dainty +duty of preparing breakfast. Her indifference is equal to her lack of +information, and her ability to convey information is fettered by her +use of Gaelic as her native speech. But she directs us to the stable. +There we find a driver hitching his horses to a two-horse stage-wagon. + +“Is this stage for Baddeck?” + +“Not much.” + +“Is there any stage for Baddeck?” + +“Not to-day.” + +“Where does this go, and when?” + +“St. Peter's. Starts in fifteen minutes.” + +This seems like “business,” and we are inclined to try it, especially as +we have no notion where St. Peter's is. + +“Does any other stage go from here to-day anywhere else?” + +“Yes. Port Hood. Quarter of an hour.” + +Everything was about to happen in fifteen minutes. We inquire further. +St. Peter's is on the east coast, on the road to Sydney. Port Hood is +on the west coast. There is a stage from Port Hood to Baddeck. It would +land us there some time Sunday morning; distance, eighty miles. + +Heavens! what a pleasure-trip. To ride eighty miles more without sleep! +We should simply be delivered dead on the Bras d'Or; that is all. Tell +us, gentle driver, is there no other way? + +“Well, there's Jim Hughes, come over at midnight with a passenger from +Baddeck; he's in the hotel now; perhaps he'll take you.” + +Our hope hung on Jim Hughes. The frowzy servant piloted us up to his +sleeping-room. “Go right in,” said she; and we went in, according to the +simple custom of the country, though it was a bedroom that one would not +enter except on business. Mr. Hughes did not like to be disturbed, but +he proved himself to be a man who could wake up suddenly, shake his +head, and transact business,--a sort of Napoleon, in fact. Mr. Hughes +stared at the intruders for a moment, as if he meditated an assault. + +“Do you live in Baddeck?” we asked. + +“No; Hogamah,--half-way there.” + +“Will you take us to Baddeck to-day?” + +Mr. Hughes thought. He had intended to sleep--till noon. He had then +intended to go over the Judique Mountain and get a boy. But he was +disposed to accommodate. Yes, for money--sum named--he would give up his +plans, and start for Baddeck in an hour. Distance, sixty miles. Here +was a man worth having; he could come to a decision before he was out of +bed. The bargain was closed. + +We would have closed any bargain to escape a Sunday in the Plaster Cove +hotel. There are different sorts of hotel uncleanliness. There is +the musty old inn, where the dirt has accumulated for years, and slow +neglect has wrought a picturesque sort of dilapidation, the mouldiness +of time, which has something to recommend it. But there is nothing +attractive in new nastiness, in the vulgar union of smartness and filth. +A dirty modern house, just built, a house smelling of poor whiskey and +vile tobacco, its white paint grimy, its floors unclean, is ever so much +worse than an old inn that never pretended to be anything but a rookery. +I say nothing against the hotel at Plaster Cove. In fact, I recommend +it. There is a kind of harmony about it that I like. There is a harmony +between the breakfast and the frowzy Gaelic cook we saw “sozzling” about +in the kitchen. There is a harmony between the appearance of the house +and the appearance of the buxom young housekeeper who comes upon the +scene later, her hair saturated with the fatty matter of the bear. The +traveler will experience a pleasure in paying his bill and departing. + +Although Plaster Cove seems remote on the map, we found that we were +right in the track of the world's news there. It is the transfer station +of the Atlantic Cable Company, where it exchanges messages with +the Western Union. In a long wooden building, divided into two main +apartments, twenty to thirty operators are employed. At eight o'clock +the English force was at work receiving the noon messages from London. +The American operators had not yet come on, for New York business would +not begin for an hour. Into these rooms is poured daily the news of the +world, and these young fellows toss it about as lightly as if it were +household gossip. It is a marvelous exchange, however, and we had +intended to make some reflections here upon the en rapport feeling, so +to speak, with all the world, which we experienced while there; but +our conveyance was waiting. We telegraphed our coming to Baddeck, and +departed. For twenty-five cents one can send a dispatch to any part +of the Dominion, except the region where the Western Union has still a +foothold. + +Our conveyance was a one-horse wagon, with one seat. The horse was +well enough, but the seat was narrow for three people, and the entire +establishment had in it not much prophecy of Baddeck for that day. But +we knew little of the power of Cape Breton driving. It became evident +that we should reach Baddeck soon enough, if we could cling to that +wagon-seat. The morning sun was hot. The way was so uninteresting that +we almost wished ourselves back in Nova Scotia. The sandy road was +bordered with discouraged evergreens, through which we had glimpses of +sand-drifted farms. If Baddeck was to be like this, we had come on +a fool's errand. There were some savage, low hills, and the Judique +Mountain showed itself as we got away from the town. In this first +stage, the heat of the sun, the monotony of the road, and the scarcity +of sleep during the past thirty-six hours were all unfavorable to our +keeping on the wagon-seat. We nodded separately, we nodded and reeled in +unison. But asleep or awake, the driver drove like a son of Jehu. Such +driving is the fashion on Cape Breton Island. Especially downhill, +we made the most of it; if the horse was on a run, that was only an +inducement to apply the lash; speed gave the promise of greater possible +speed. The wagon rattled like a bark-mill; it swirled and leaped about, +and we finally got the exciting impression that if the whole thing +went to pieces, we should somehow go on,--such was our impetus. Round +corners, over ruts and stones, and uphill and down, we went jolting and +swinging, holding fast to the seat, and putting our trust in things in +general. At the end of fifteen miles, we stopped at a Scotch farmhouse, +where the driver kept a relay, and changed horse. + +The people were Highlanders, and spoke little English; we had struck +the beginning of the Gaelic settlement. From here to Hogamah we should +encounter only the Gaelic tongue; the inhabitants are all Catholics. +Very civil people, apparently, and living in a kind of niggardly thrift, +such as the cold land affords. We saw of this family the old man, who +had come from Scotland fifty years ago, his stalwart son, six feet and a +half high, maybe, and two buxom daughters, going to the hay-field,--good +solid Scotch lassies, who smiled in English, but spoke only Gaelic. +The old man could speak a little English, and was disposed to be +both communicative and inquisitive. He asked our business, names, and +residence. Of the United States he had only a dim conception, but his +mind rather rested upon the statement that we lived “near Boston.” He +complained of the degeneracy of the times. All the young men had gone +away from Cape Breton; might get rich if they would stay and work the +farms. But no one liked to work nowadays. From life, we diverted the +talk to literature. We inquired what books they had. + +“Of course you all have the poems of Burns?” + +“What's the name o' the mon?” + +“Burns, Robert Burns.” + +“Never heard tell of such a mon. Have heard of Robert Bruce. He was a +Scotchman.” + +This was nothing short of refreshing, to find a Scotchman who had never +heard of Robert Burns! It was worth the whole journey to take this +honest man by the hand. How far would I not travel to talk with an +American who had never heard of George Washington! + +The way was more varied during the next stage; we passed through some +pleasant valleys and picturesque neighborhoods, and at length, winding +around the base of a wooded range, and crossing its point, we came upon +a sight that took all the sleep out of us. This was the famous Bras +d'Or. + +The Bras d'Or is the most beautiful salt-water lake I have ever seen, +and more beautiful than we had imagined a body of salt water could be. +If the reader will take the map, he will see that two narrow estuaries, +the Great and the Little Bras d'Or, enter the island of Cape Breton, on +the ragged northeast coast, above the town of Sydney, and flow in, at +length widening out and occupying the heart of the island. The water +seeks out all the low places, and ramifies the interior, running away +into lovely bays and lagoons, leaving slender tongues of land and +picturesque islands, and bringing into the recesses of the land, to the +remote country farms and settlements, the flavor of salt, and the fish +and mollusks of the briny sea. There is very little tide at any time, so +that the shores are clean and sightly for the most part, like those of +fresh-water lakes. It has all the pleasantness of a fresh-water lake, +with all the advantages of a salt one. In the streams which run into it +are the speckled trout, the shad, and the salmon; out of its depths are +hooked the cod and the mackerel, and in its bays fattens the oyster. +This irregular lake is about a hundred miles long, if you measure it +skillfully, and in some places ten miles broad; but so indented is it, +that I am not sure but one would need, as we were informed, to ride a +thousand miles to go round it, following all its incursions into the +land. The hills about it are never more than five or six hundred +feet high, but they are high enough for reposeful beauty, and offer +everywhere pleasing lines. + +What we first saw was an inlet of the Bras d'Or, called, by the driver, +Hogamah Bay. At its entrance were long, wooded islands, beyond which +we saw the backs of graceful hills, like the capes of some poetic +sea-coast. The bay narrowed to a mile in width where we came upon it, +and ran several miles inland to a swamp, round the head of which we must +go. Opposite was the village of Hogamah. I had my suspicions from the +beginning about this name, and now asked the driver, who was liberally +educated for a driver, how he spelled “Hogamah.” + +“Why-ko-ko-magh. Hogamah.” + +Sometimes it is called Wykogamah. Thus the innocent traveler is misled. +Along the Whykokomagh Bay we come to a permanent encampment of the +Micmac Indians,--a dozen wigwams in the pine woods. Though lumber is +plenty, they refuse to live in houses. The wigwams, however, are +more picturesque than the square frame houses of the whites. Built up +conically of poles, with a hole in the top for the smoke to escape, and +often set up a little from the ground on a timber foundation, they are +as pleasing to the eye as a Chinese or Turkish dwelling. They may be +cold in winter, but blessed be the tenacity of barbarism, which retains +this agreeable architecture. The men live by hunting in the season, +and the women support the family by making moccasins and baskets. These +Indians are most of them good Catholics, and they try to go once a year +to mass and a sort of religious festival held at St. Peter's, where +their sins are forgiven in a yearly lump. + +At Whykokomagh, a neat fishing village of white houses, we stopped for +dinner at the Inverness House. The house was very clean, and the tidy +landlady gave us as good a dinner as she could of the inevitable green +tea, toast, and salt fish. She was Gaelic, but Protestant, as the +village is, and showed us with pride her Gaelic Bible and hymn-book. A +peaceful place, this Whykokomagh; the lapsing waters of Bras d'Or made +a summer music all along the quiet street; the bay lay smiling with its +islands in front, and an amphitheater of hills rose behind. But for the +line of telegraph poles one might have fancied he could have security +and repose here. + +We put a fresh pony into the shafts, a beast born with an everlasting +uneasiness in his legs, and an amount of “go” in him which suited his +reckless driver. We no longer stood upon the order of our going; we +went. As we left the village, we passed a rocky hay-field, where the +Gaelic farmer was gathering the scanty yield of grass. A comely Indian +girl was stowing the hay and treading it down on the wagon. The driver +hailed the farmer, and they exchanged Gaelic repartee which set all the +hay-makers in a roar, and caused the Indian maid to darkly and sweetly +beam upon us. We asked the driver what he had said. He had only inquired +what the man would take for the load--as it stood! A joke is a joke down +this way. + +I am not about to describe this drive at length, in order that the +reader may skip it; for I know the reader, being of like passion and +fashion with him. From the time we first struck the Bras d'Or for thirty +miles we rode in constant sight of its magnificent water. Now we were +two hundred feet above the water, on the hillside, skirting a point or +following an indentation; and now we were diving into a narrow valley, +crossing a stream, or turning a sharp corner, but always with the Bras +d'Or in view, the afternoon sun shining on it, softening the outlines of +its embracing hills, casting a shadow from its wooded islands. Sometimes +we opened on a broad water plain bounded by the Watchabaktchkt hills, +and again we looked over hill after hill receding into the soft and hazy +blue of the land beyond the great mass of the Bras d'Or. The reader can +compare the view and the ride to the Bay of Naples and the Cornice Road; +we did nothing of the sort; we held on to the seat, prayed that the +harness of the pony might not break, and gave constant expression to +our wonder and delight. For a week we had schooled ourselves to expect +nothing more from this wicked world, but here was an enchanting vision. + +The only phenomenon worthy the attention of any inquiring mind, in this +whole record, I will now describe. As we drove along the side of a +hill, and at least two hundred feet above the water, the road suddenly +diverged and took a circuit higher up. The driver said that was to avoid +a sink-hole in the old road,--a great curiosity, which it was worth +while to examine. Beside the old road was a circular hole, which nipped +out a part of the road-bed, some twenty-five feet in diameter, filled +with water almost to the brim, but not running over. The water was dark +in color, and I fancied had a brackish taste. The driver said that a few +weeks before, when he came this way, it was solid ground where this well +now opened, and that a large beech-tree stood there. When he returned +next day, he found this hole full of water, as we saw it, and the large +tree had sunk in it. The size of the hole seemed to be determined by the +reach of the roots of the tree. The tree had so entirely disappeared, +that he could not with a long pole touch its top. Since then the water +had neither subsided nor overflowed. The ground about was compact +gravel. We tried sounding the hole with poles, but could make nothing of +it. The water seemed to have no outlet nor inlet; at least, it did not +rise or fall. Why should the solid hill give way at this place, and +swallow up a tree? and if the water had any connection with the lake, +two hundred feet below and at some distance away, why didn't the water +run out? Why should the unscientific traveler have a thing of this kind +thrown in his way? The driver did not know. + +This phenomenon made us a little suspicious of the foundations of this +island which is already invaded by the jealous ocean, and is anchored to +the continent only by the cable. + +The drive became more charming as the sun went down, and we saw the +hills grow purple beyond the Bras d'Or. The road wound around lovely +coves and across low promontories, giving us new beauties at every turn. +Before dark we had crossed the Middle River and the Big Baddeck, on long +wooden bridges, which straggled over sluggish waters and long reaches +of marsh, upon which Mary might have been sent to call the cattle home. +These bridges were shaky and wanted a plank at intervals, but they +are in keeping with the enterprise of the country. As dusk came on, +we crossed the last hill, and were bowling along by the still gleaming +water. Lights began to appear in infrequent farmhouses, and under cover +of the gathering night the houses seemed to be stately mansions; and we +fancied we were on a noble highway, lined with elegant suburban seaside +residences, and about to drive into a town of wealth and a port of great +commerce. We were, nevertheless, anxious about Baddeck. What sort of +haven were we to reach after our heroic (with the reader's permission) +week of travel? Would the hotel be like that at Plaster Cove? Were our +thirty-six hours of sleepless staging to terminate in a night of misery +and a Sunday of discomfort? + +We came into a straggling village; that we could see by the starlight. +But we stopped at the door of a very unhotel-like appearing hotel. It +had in front a flower-garden; it was blazing with welcome lights; it +opened hospitable doors, and we were received by a family who expected +us. The house was a large one, for two guests; and we enjoyed the luxury +of spacious rooms, an abundant supper, and a friendly welcome; and, in +short, found ourselves at home. The proprietor of the Telegraph House +is the superintendent of the land lines of Cape Breton, a Scotchman, +of course; but his wife is a Newfoundland lady. We cannot violate the +sanctity of what seemed like private hospitality by speaking freely of +this lady and the lovely girls, her daughters, whose education has been +so admirably advanced in the excellent school at Baddeck; but we can +confidently advise any American who is going to Newfoundland, to get a +wife there, if he wants one at all. It is the only new article he can +bring from the Provinces that he will not have to pay duty on. And +here is a suggestion to our tariff-mongers for the “protection” of New +England women. + +The reader probably cannot appreciate the delicious sense of rest and +of achievement which we enjoyed in this tidy inn, nor share the +anticipations of undisturbed, luxurious sleep, in which we indulged as +we sat upon the upper balcony after supper, and saw the moon rise over +the glistening Bras d'Or and flood with light the islands and headlands +of the beautiful bay. Anchored at some distance from the shore was +a slender coasting vessel. The big red moon happened to come up just +behind it, and the masts and spars and ropes of the vessel came out, +distinctly traced on the golden background, making such a night picture +as I once saw painted of a ship in a fiord of Norway. The scene was +enchanting. And we respected then the heretofore seemingly insane +impulse that had driven us on to Baddeck. + + + + +IV + + “He had no ill-will to the Scotch; for, if he had been + conscious of that, he never would have thrown himself into + the bosom of their country, and trusted to the protection of + its remote inhabitants with a fearless confidence.” + --BOSWELL'S JOHNSON. + +Although it was an open and flagrant violation of the Sabbath day as it +is kept in Scotch Baddeck, our kind hosts let us sleep late on Sunday +morning, with no reminder that we were not sleeping the sleep of the +just. It was the charming Maud, a flitting sunbeam of a girl, who waited +to bring us our breakfast, and thereby lost the opportunity of going +to church with the rest of the family,--an act of gracious hospitality +which the tired travelers appreciated. + +The travelers were unable, indeed, to awaken into any feeling of +Sabbatical straitness. The morning was delicious,--such a morning as +never visits any place except an island; a bright, sparkling morning, +with the exhilaration of the air softened by the sea. What a day it was +for idleness, for voluptuous rest, after the flight by day and night +from St. John! It was enough, now that the morning was fully opened +and advancing to the splendor of noon, to sit upon the upper balcony, +looking upon the Bras d'Or and the peaceful hills beyond, reposeful and +yet sparkling with the air and color of summer, and inhale the balmy +air. (We greatly need another word to describe good air, properly +heated, besides this overworked “balmy.”) Perhaps it might in some +regions be considered Sabbath-keeping, simply to rest in such a soothing +situation,--rest, and not incessant activity, having been one of the +original designs of the day. + +But our travelers were from New England, and they were not willing to +be outdone in the matter of Sunday observances by such an out-of-the-way +and nameless place as Baddeck. They did not set themselves up as +missionaries to these benighted Gaelic people, to teach them by example +that the notion of Sunday which obtained two hundred years ago in +Scotland had been modified, and that the sacredness of it had pretty +much disappeared with the unpleasantness of it. They rather lent +themselves to the humor of the hour, and probably by their demeanor +encouraged the respect for the day on Cape Breton Island. Neither by +birth nor education were the travelers fishermen on Sunday, and they +were not moved to tempt the authorities to lock them up for dropping +here a line and there a line on the Lord's day. + +In fact, before I had finished my second cup of Maud-mixed coffee, my +companion, with a little show of haste, had gone in search of the kirk, +and I followed him, with more scrupulousness, as soon as I could without +breaking the day of rest. Although it was Sunday, I could not but notice +that Baddeck was a clean-looking village of white wooden houses, of +perhaps seven or eight hundred inhabitants; that it stretched along +the bay for a mile or more, straggling off into farmhouses at each end, +lying for the most part on the sloping curve of the bay. There were a +few country-looking stores and shops, and on the shore three or four +rather decayed and shaky wharves ran into the water, and a few schooners +lay at anchor near them; and the usual decaying warehouses leaned about +the docks. A peaceful and perhaps a thriving place, but not a bustling +place. As I walked down the road, a sailboat put out from the shore +and slowly disappeared round the island in the direction of the Grand +Narrows. It had a small pleasure party on board. None of them were +drowned that day, and I learned at night that they were Roman Catholics +from Whykokornagh. + +The kirk, which stands near the water, and at a distance shows a pretty +wooden spire, is after the pattern of a New England meeting-house. When +I reached it, the house was full and the service had begun. There was +something familiar in the bareness and uncompromising plainness +and ugliness of the interior. The pews had high backs, with narrow, +uncushioned seats. The pulpit was high,--a sort of theological +fortification,--approached by wide, curving flights of stairs on either +side. Those who occupied the near seats to the right and left of the +pulpit had in front of them a blank board partition, and could not +by any possibility see the minister, though they broke their necks +backwards over their high coat-collars. The congregation had a striking +resemblance to a country New England congregation of say twenty years +ago. The clothes they wore had been Sunday clothes for at least that +length of time. + +Such clothes have a look of I know not what devout and painful +respectability, that is in keeping with the worldly notion of rigid +Scotch Presbyterianism. One saw with pleasure the fresh and rosy-cheeked +children of this strict generation, but the women of the audience were +not in appearance different from newly arrived and respectable Irish +immigrants. They wore a white cap with long frills over the forehead, +and a black handkerchief thrown over it and hanging down the neck,--a +quaint and not unpleasing disguise. + +The house, as I said, was crowded. It is the custom in this region to +go to church,--for whole families to go, even the smallest children; +and they not unfrequently walk six or seven miles to attend the service. +There is a kind of merit in this act that makes up for the lack of +certain other Christian virtues that are practiced elsewhere. The +service was worth coming seven miles to participate in!--it was about +two hours long, and one might well feel as if he had performed a work +of long-suffering to sit through it. The singing was strictly +congregational. Congregational singing is good (for those who like it) +when the congregation can sing. This congregation could not sing, but it +could grind the Psalms of David powerfully. They sing nothing else but +the old Scotch version of the Psalms, in a patient and faithful long +meter. And this is regarded, and with considerable plausibility, as an +act of worship. It certainly has small element of pleasure in it. +Here is a stanza from Psalm xlv., which the congregation, without any +instrumental nonsense, went through in a dragging, drawling manner, and +with perfect individual independence as to time: + +“Thine arrows sharply pierce the heart of th' enemies of the king, And +under thy sub-jec-shi-on the people down do bring.” + +The sermon was extempore, and in English with Scotch pronunciation; and +it filled a solid hour of time. I am not a good judge of sermons, and +this one was mere chips to me; but my companion, who knows a sermon +when he hears it, said that this was strictly theological, and Scotch +theology at that, and not at all expository. It was doubtless my fault +that I got no idea whatever from it. But the adults of the congregation +appeared to be perfectly satisfied with it; at least they sat bolt +upright and nodded assent continually. The children all went to sleep +under it, without any hypocritical show of attention. To be sure, the +day was warm and the house was unventilated. If the windows had been +opened so as to admit the fresh air from the Bras d'Or, I presume +the hard-working farmers and their wives would have resented such an +interference with their ordained Sunday naps, and the preacher's sermon +would have seemed more musty than it appeared to be in that congenial +and drowsy air. Considering that only half of the congregation could +understand the preacher, its behavior was exemplary. + +After the sermon, a collection was taken up for the minister; and I +noticed that nothing but pennies rattled into the boxes,--a melancholy +sound for the pastor. This might appear niggardly on the part of these +Scotch Presbyterians, but it is on principle that they put only a penny +into the box; they say that they want a free gospel, and so far as they +are concerned they have it. Although the farmers about the Bras d'Or are +well-to-do they do not give their minister enough to keep his soul in +his Gaelic body, and his poor support is eked out by the contributions +of a missionary society. It was gratifying to learn that this was +not from stinginess on the part of the people, but was due to their +religious principle. It seemed to us that everybody ought to be good in +a country where it costs next to nothing. + +When the service was over, about half of the people departed; the +rest remained in their seats and prepared to enter upon their Sabbath +exercises. These latter were all Gaelic people, who had understood +little or nothing of the English service. The minister turned himself +at once into a Gaelic preacher and repeated in that language the long +exercises of the morning. The sermon and perhaps the prayers were +quite as enjoyable in Gaelic as in English, and the singing was a great +improvement. It was of the same Psalms, but the congregation chanted +them in a wild and weird tone and manner, as wailing and barbarous to +modern ears as any Highland devotional outburst of two centuries ago. +This service also lasted about two hours; and as soon as it was over +the faithful minister, without any rest or refreshment, organized the +Sunday-school, and it must have been half past three o'clock before that +was over. And this is considered a day of rest. + +These Gaelic Christians, we were informed, are of a very old pattern; +and some of them cling more closely to religious observances than to +morality. Sunday is nowhere observed with more strictness. The community +seems to be a very orderly and thrifty one, except upon solemn and +stated occasions. One of these occasions is the celebration of +the Lord's Supper; and in this the ancient Highland traditions are +preserved. The rite is celebrated not oftener than once a year by +any church. It then invites the neighboring churches to partake with +it,--the celebration being usually in the summer and early fall months. +It has some of the characteristics of a “camp-meeting.” People come from +long distances, and as many as two thousand and three thousand assemble +together. They quarter themselves without special invitation upon the +members of the inviting church. Sometimes fifty people will pounce upon +one farmer, overflowing his house and his barn and swarming all about +his premises, consuming all the provisions he has laid up for his +family, and all he can raise money to buy, and literally eating him out +of house and home. Not seldom a man is almost ruined by one of these +religious raids,--at least he is left with a debt of hundreds of +dollars. The multitude assembles on Thursday and remains over Sunday. +There is preaching every day, but there is something besides. Whatever +may be the devotion of a part of the assembly, the four days are, +in general, days of license, of carousing, of drinking, and of other +excesses, which our informant said he would not particularize; we +could understand what they were by reading St. Paul's rebuke of the +Corinthians for similar offenses. The evil has become so great and +burdensome that the celebration of this sacred rite will have to be +reformed altogether. + +Such a Sabbath quiet pervaded the street of Baddeck, that the fast +driving of the Gaels in their rattling, one-horse wagons, crowded +full of men, women, and children,--released from their long sanctuary +privileges, and going home,--was a sort of profanation of the day; and +we gladly turned aside to visit the rural jail of the town. + +Upon the principal street or road of Baddeck stands the dreadful +prison-house. It is a story and a quarter edifice, built of stone and +substantially whitewashed; retired a little from the road, with a square +of green turf in front of it, I should have taken it for the residence +of the Dairyman's Daughter, but for the iron gratings at the lower +windows. A more inviting place to spend the summer in, a vicious person +could not have. The Scotch keeper of it is an old, garrulous, obliging +man, and keeps codfish tackle to loan. I think that if he had a prisoner +who was fond of fishing, he would take him with him on the bay in +pursuit of the mackerel and the cod. If the prisoner were to take +advantage of his freedom and attempt to escape, the jailer's feelings +would be hurt, and public opinion would hardly approve the prisoner's +conduct. + +The jail door was hospitably open, and the keeper invited us to enter. +Having seen the inside of a good many prisons in our own country +(officially), we were interested in inspecting this. It was a favorable +time for doing so, for there happened to be a man confined there, +a circumstance which seemed to increase the keeper's feeling of +responsibility in his office. The edifice had four rooms on the +ground-floor, and an attic sleeping-room above. Three of these rooms, +which were perhaps twelve feet by fifteen feet, were cells; the third +was occupied by the jailer's family. The family were now also occupying +the front cell,--a cheerful room commanding a view of the village +street and of the bay. A prisoner of a philosophic turn of mind, who +had committed some crime of sufficient magnitude to make him willing to +retire from the world for a season and rest, might enjoy himself here +very well. + +The jailer exhibited his premises with an air of modesty. In the rear +was a small yard, surrounded by a board fence, in which the prisoner +took his exercise. An active boy could climb over it, and an +enterprising pig could go through it almost anywhere. The keeper said +that he intended at the next court to ask the commissioners to build +the fence higher and stop up the holes. Otherwise the jail was in good +condition. Its inmates were few; in fact, it was rather apt to be empty: +its occupants were usually prisoners for debt, or for some trifling +breach of the peace, committed under the influence of the liquor that +makes one “unco happy.” Whether or not the people of the region have +a high moral standard, crime is almost unknown; the jail itself is an +evidence of primeval simplicity. The great incident in the old jailer's +life had been the rescue of a well-known citizen who was confined on a +charge of misuse of public money. The keeper showed me a place in the +outer wall of the front cell, where an attempt had been made to batter +a hole through. The Highland clan and kinsfolk of the alleged defaulter +came one night and threatened to knock the jail in pieces if he was not +given up. They bruised the wall, broke the windows, and finally smashed +in the door and took their man away. The jailer was greatly excited at +this rudeness, and went almost immediately and purchased a pistol. He +said that for a time he did n't feel safe in the jail without it. The +mob had thrown stones at the upper windows, in order to awaken him, and +had insulted him with cursing and offensive language. + +Having finished inspecting the building, I was unfortunately moved by I +know not what national pride and knowledge of institutions superior to +this at home, to say, + +“This is a pleasant jail, but it doesn't look much like our great +prisons; we have as many as a thousand to twelve hundred men in some of +our institutions.” + +“Ay, ay, I have heard tell,” said the jailer, shaking his head in pity, +“it's an awfu' place, an awfu' place,--the United States. I suppose it's +the wickedest country that ever was in the world. I don't know,--I don't +know what is to become of it. It's worse than Sodom. There was that +dreadful war on the South; and I hear now it's very unsafe, full of +murders and robberies and corruption.” + +I did not attempt to correct this impression concerning my native land, +for I saw it was a comfort to the simple jailer, but I tried to put a +thorn into him by saying, + +“Yes, we have a good many criminals, but the majority of them, the +majority of those in jails, are foreigners; they come from Ireland, +England, and the Provinces.” + +But the old man only shook his head more solemnly, and persisted, “It's +an awfu' wicked country.” + +Before I came away I was permitted to have an interview with the +sole prisoner, a very pleasant and talkative man, who was glad to see +company, especially intelligent company who understood about things, he +was pleased to say. I have seldom met a more agreeable rogue, or one so +philosophical, a man of travel and varied experiences. He was a lively, +robust Provincial of middle age, bullet-headed, with a mass of curly +black hair, and small, round black eyes, that danced and sparkled with +good humor. He was by trade a carpenter, and had a work-bench in his +cell, at which he worked on week-days. He had been put in jail on +suspicion of stealing a buffalo-robe, and he lay in jail eight months, +waiting for the judge to come to Baddeck on his yearly circuit. He did +not steal the robe, as he assured me, but it was found in his house, and +the judge gave him four months in jail, making a year in all,--a month +of which was still to serve. But he was not at all anxious for the end +of his term; for his wife was outside. + +Jock, for he was familiarly so called, asked me where I was from. As I +had not found it very profitable to hail from the United States, and had +found, in fact, that the name United States did not convey any definite +impression to the average Cape Breton mind, I ventured upon the bold +assertion, for which I hope Bostonians will forgive me, that I was from +Boston. For Boston is known in the eastern Provinces. + +“Are you?” cried the man, delighted. “I've lived in Boston, myself. +There's just been an awful fire near there.” + +“Indeed!” I said; “I heard nothing of it.' And I was startled with the +possibility that Boston had burned up again while we were crawling along +through Nova Scotia. + +“Yes, here it is, in the last paper.” The man bustled away and found his +late paper, and thrust it through the grating, with the inquiry, “Can +you read?” + +Though the question was unexpected, and I had never thought before +whether I could read or not, I confessed that I could probably make +out the meaning, and took the newspaper. The report of the fire “near +Boston” turned out to be the old news of the conflagration in Portland, +Oregon! + +Disposed to devote a portion of this Sunday to the reformation of this +lively criminal, I continued the conversation with him. It seemed that +he had been in jail before, and was not unaccustomed to the life. He was +not often lonesome; he had his workbench and newspapers, and it was a +quiet place; on the whole, he enjoyed it, and should rather regret it +when his time was up, a month from then. + +Had he any family? + +“Oh, yes. When the census was round, I contributed more to it than +anybody in town. Got a wife and eleven children.” + +“Well, don't you think it would pay best to be honest, and live with +your family, out of jail? You surely never had anything but trouble from +dishonesty.” + +“That's about so, boss. I mean to go on the square after this. But, you +see,” and here he began to speak confidentially, “things are fixed about +so in this world, and a man's got to live his life. I tell you how +it was. It all came about from a woman. I was a carpenter, had a good +trade, and went down to St. Peter's to work. There I got acquainted with +a Frenchwoman,--you know what Frenchwomen are,--and I had to marry her. +The fact is, she was rather low family; not so very low, you know, but +not so good as mine. Well, I wanted to go to Boston to work at my trade, +but she wouldn't go; and I went, but she would n't come to me, so in two +or three years I came back. A man can't help himself, you know, when he +gets in with a woman, especially a Frenchwoman. Things did n't go very +well, and never have. I can't make much out of it, but I reckon a man 's +got to live his life. Ain't that about so?” + +“Perhaps so. But you'd better try to mend matters when you get out. +Won't it seem rather good to get out and see your wife and family +again?” + +“I don't know. I have peace here.” + +The question of his liberty seemed rather to depress this cheerful and +vivacious philosopher, and I wondered what the woman could be from whose +companionship the man chose to be protected by jail-bolts. I asked the +landlord about her, and his reply was descriptive and sufficient. He +only said, + +“She's a yelper.” + +Besides the church and the jail there are no public institutions in +Baddeck to see on Sunday, or on any other day; but it has very good +schools, and the examination-papers of Maud and her elder sister would +do credit to Boston scholars even. You would not say that the place +was stuffed with books, or overrun by lecturers, but it is an orderly, +Sabbath-keeping, fairly intelligent town. Book-agents visit it with +other commercial travelers, but the flood of knowledge, which is said +to be the beginning of sorrow, is hardly turned in that direction yet. +I heard of a feeble lecture-course in Halifax, supplied by local +celebrities, some of them from St. John; but so far as I can see, this +is a virgin field for the platform philosophers under whose instructions +we have become the well-informed people we are. + +The peaceful jail and the somewhat tiresome church exhaust one's +opportunities for doing good in Baddeck on Sunday. There seemed to be no +idlers about, to reprove; the occasional lounger on the skeleton wharves +was in his Sunday clothes, and therefore within the statute. No one, +probably, would have thought of rowing out beyond the island to fish for +cod,--although, as that fish is ready to bite, and his associations +are more or less sacred, there might be excuses for angling for him +on Sunday, when it would be wicked to throw a line for another sort of +fish. My earliest recollections are of the codfish on the meeting-house +spires in New England,--his sacred tail pointing the way the wind went. +I did not know then why this emblem should be placed upon a house of +worship, any more than I knew why codfish-balls appeared always upon the +Sunday breakfast-table. But these associations invested this plebeian +fish with something of a religious character, which he has never quite +lost, in my mind. + +Having attributed the quiet of Baddeck on Sunday to religion, we did not +know to what to lay the quiet on Monday. But its peacefulness continued. +I have no doubt that the farmers began to farm, and the traders to +trade, and the sailors to sail; but the tourist felt that he had come +into a place of rest. The promise of the red sky the evening before was +fulfilled in another royal day. There was an inspiration in the air that +one looks for rather in the mountains than on the sea-coast; it seemed +like some new and gentle compound of sea-air and land-air, which was the +perfection of breathing material. In this atmosphere, which seemed to +flow over all these Atlantic isles at this season, one endures a great +deal of exertion with little fatigue; or he is content to sit still, and +has no feeling of sluggishness. Mere living is a kind of happiness, and +the easy-going traveler is satisfied with little to do and less to see, +Let the reader not understand that we are recommending him to go to +Baddeck. Far from it. The reader was never yet advised to go to any +place, which he did not growl about if he took the advice and went +there. If he discovers it himself, the case is different. We know too +well what would happen. A shoal of travelers would pour down upon Cape +Breton, taking with them their dyspepsia, their liver-complaints, their +“lights” derangements, their discontent, their guns and fishing-tackle, +their big trunks, their desire for rapid travel, their enthusiasm about +the Gaelic language, their love for nature; and they would very likely +declare that there was nothing in it. And the traveler would probably be +right, so far as he is concerned. There are few whom it would pay to go +a thousand miles for the sake of sitting on the dock at Baddeck when +the sun goes down, and watching the purple lights on the islands and +the distant hills, the red flush in the horizon and on the lake, and the +creeping on of gray twilight. You can see all that as well elsewhere? +I am not so sure. There is a harmony of beauty about the Bras d'Or +at Baddeck which is lacking in many scenes of more pretension. No. We +advise no person to go to Cape Breton. But if any one does go, he need +not lack occupation. If he is there late in the fall or early in the +winter, he may hunt, with good luck, if he is able to hit anything with +a rifle, the moose and the caribou on that long wilderness peninsula +between Baddeck and Aspy Bay, where the old cable landed. He may also +have his fill of salmon fishing in June and July, especially on the +Matjorie River. As late as August, at the time, of our visit, a hundred +people were camped in tents on the Marjorie, wiling the salmon with +the delusive fly, and leading him to death with a hook in his nose. The +speckled trout lives in all the streams, and can be caught whenever he +will bite. The day we went for him appeared to be an off-day, a sort of +holiday with him. + +There is one place, however, which the traveler must not fail to visit. +That is St. Ann's Bay. He will go light of baggage, for he must hire +a farmer to carry him from the Bras d'Or to the branch of St. Ann's +harbor, and a part of his journey will be in a row-boat. There is no +ride on the continent, of the kind, so full of picturesque beauty and +constant surprises as this around the indentations of St. Ann's harbor. +From the high promontory where rests the fishing village of St. Ann, the +traveler will cross to English Town. High bluffs, bold shores, exquisite +sea-views, mountainous ranges, delicious air, the society of a member of +the Dominion Parliament, these are some of the things to be enjoyed at +this place. In point of grandeur and beauty it surpasses Mt. Desert, and +is really the most attractive place on the whole line of the Atlantic +Cable. If the traveler has any sentiment in him, he will visit here, not +without emotion, the grave of the Nova Scotia Giant, who recently laid +his huge frame along this, his native shore. A man of gigantic height +and awful breadth of shoulders, with a hand as big as a shovel, there +was nothing mean or little in his soul. While the visitor is gazing at +his vast shoes, which now can be used only as sledges, he will be +told that the Giant was greatly respected by his neighbors as a man of +ability and simple integrity. He was not spoiled by his metropolitan +successes, bringing home from his foreign triumphs the same quiet and +friendly demeanor he took away; he is almost the only example of a +successful public man, who did not feel bigger than he was. He performed +his duty in life without ostentation, and returned to the home he loved +unspoiled by the flattery of constant public curiosity. He knew, having +tried both, how much better it is to be good than to be great. I should +like to have known him. I should like to know how the world looked to +him from his altitude. I should like to know how much food it took at +one time to make an impression on him; I should like to know what effect +an idea of ordinary size had in his capacious head. I should like to +feel that thrill of physical delight he must have experienced in merely +closing his hand over something. It is a pity that he could not have +been educated all through, beginning at a high school, and ending in a +university. There was a field for the multifarious new education! If we +could have annexed him with his island, I should like to have seen him +in the Senate of the United States. He would have made foreign nations +respect that body, and fear his lightest remark like a declaration of +war. And he would have been at home in that body of great men. Alas! +he has passed away, leaving little influence except a good example of +growth, and a grave which is a new promontory on that ragged coast swept +by the winds of the untamed Atlantic. + +I could describe the Bay of St. Ann more minutely and graphically, if it +were desirable to do so; but I trust that enough has been said to make +the traveler wish to go there. I more unreservedly urge him to go there, +because we did not go, and we should feel no responsibility for his +liking or disliking. He will go upon the recommendation of two gentlemen +of taste and travel whom we met at Baddeck, residents of Maine and +familiar with most of the odd and striking combinations of land and +water in coast scenery. When a Maine man admits that there is any place +finer than Mt. Desert, it is worth making a note of. + +On Monday we went a-fishing. Davie hitched to a rattling wagon something +that he called a horse, a small, rough animal with a great deal of “go” + in him, if he could be coaxed to show it. For the first half-hour +he went mostly in a circle in front of the inn, moving indifferently +backwards or forwards, perfectly willing to go down the road, but +refusing to start along the bay in the direction of Middle River. Of +course a crowd collected to give advice and make remarks, and women +appeared at the doors and windows of adjacent houses. Davie said he did +n't care anything about the conduct of the horse,--he could start him +after a while,--but he did n't like to have all the town looking at +him, especially the girls; and besides, such an exhibition affected the +market value of the horse. We sat in the wagon circling round and round, +sometimes in the ditch and sometimes out of it, and Davie “whaled” the +horse with his whip and abused him with his tongue. It was a pleasant +day, and the spectators increased. + +There are two ways of managing a balky horse. My companion knew one of +them and I the other. His method is to sit quietly in the wagon, and at +short intervals throw a small pebble at the horse. The theory is that +these repeated sudden annoyances will operate on a horse's mind, and he +will try to escape them by going on. The spectators supplied my friend +with stones, and he pelted the horse with measured gentleness. Probably +the horse understood this method, for he did not notice the attack at +all. My plan was to speak gently to the horse, requesting him to go, and +then to follow the refusal by one sudden, sharp cut of the lash; to wait +a moment, and then repeat the operation. The dread of the coming lash +after the gentle word will start any horse. I tried this, and with a +certain success. The horse backed us into the ditch, and would probably +have backed himself into the wagon, if I had continued. When the animal +was at length ready to go, Davie took him by the bridle, ran by his +side, coaxed him into a gallop, and then, leaping in behind, lashed +him into a run, which had little respite for ten miles, uphill or down. +Remonstrance on behalf of the horse was in vain, and it was only on the +return home that this specimen Cape Breton driver began to reflect how +he could erase the welts from the horse's back before his father saw +them. + +Our way lay along the charming bay of the Bras d'Or, over the sprawling +bridge of the Big Baddeck, a black, sedgy, lonesome stream, to Middle +River, which debouches out of a scraggy country into a bayou with ragged +shores, about which the Indians have encampments, and in which are the +skeleton stakes of fish-weirs. Saturday night we had seen trout jumping +in the still water above the bridge. We followed the stream up two or +three miles to a Gaelic settlement of farmers. The river here flows +through lovely meadows, sandy, fertile, and sheltered by hills,--a green +Eden, one of the few peaceful inhabited spots in the world. I could +conceive of no news coming to these Highlanders later than the defeat +of the Pretender. Turning from the road, through a lane and crossing a +shallow brook, we reached the dwelling of one of the original McGregors, +or at least as good as an original. Mr. McGregor is a fiery-haired +Scotchman and brother, cordial and hospitable, who entertained our +wayward horse, and freely advised us where the trout on his farm were +most likely to be found at this season of the year. + +It would be a great pleasure to speak well of Mr. McGregor's residence, +but truth is older than Scotchmen, and the reader looks to us for truth +and not flattery. Though the McGregor seems to have a good farm, his +house is little better than a shanty, a rather cheerless place for the +“woman” to slave away her uneventful life in, and bring up her scantily +clothed and semi-wild flock of children. And yet I suppose there must +be happiness in it,--there always is where there are plenty of children, +and milk enough for them. A white-haired boy who lacked adequate +trousers, small though he was, was brought forward by his mother to +describe a trout he had recently caught, which was nearly as long as +the boy himself. The young Gael's invention was rewarded by a present of +real fish-hooks. We found here in this rude cabin the hospitality that +exists in all remote regions where travelers are few. Mrs. McGregor +had none of that reluctance, which women feel in all more civilized +agricultural regions, to “break a pan of milk,” and Mr. McGregor even +pressed us to partake freely of that simple drink. And he refused to +take any pay for it, in a sort of surprise that such a simple act of +hospitality should have any commercial value. But travelers themselves +destroy one of their chief pleasures. No doubt we planted the notion +in the McGregor mind that the small kindnesses of life may be made +profitable, by offering to pay for the milk; and probably the next +travelers in that Eden will succeed in leaving some small change there, +if they use a little tact. + +It was late in the season for trout. Perhaps the McGregor was aware of +that when he freely gave us the run of the stream in his meadows, and +pointed out the pools where we should be sure of good luck. It was a +charming August day, just the day that trout enjoy lying in cool, deep +places, and moving their fins in quiet content, indifferent to the +skimming fly or to the proffered sport of rod and reel. The Middle +River gracefully winds through this Vale of Tempe, over a sandy bottom, +sometimes sparkling in shallows, and then gently reposing in the broad +bends of the grassy banks. It was in one of these bends, where the +stream swirled around in seductive eddies, that we tried our skill. We +heroically waded the stream and threw our flies from the highest bank; +but neither in the black water nor in the sandy shallows could any trout +be coaxed to spring to the deceitful leaders. We enjoyed the distinction +of being the only persons who had ever failed to strike trout in that +pool, and this was something. The meadows were sweet with the newly cut +grass, the wind softly blew down the river, large white clouds sailed +high overhead and cast shadows on the changing water; but to all these +gentle influences the fish were insensible, and sulked in their cool +retreats. At length in a small brook flowing into the Middle River we +found the trout more sociable; and it is lucky that we did so, for I +should with reluctance stain these pages with a fiction; and yet the +public would have just reason to resent a fish-story without any fish +in it. Under a bank, in a pool crossed by a log and shaded by a tree, +we found a drove of the speckled beauties at home, dozens of them a foot +long, each moving lazily a little, their black backs relieved by their +colored fins. They must have seen us, but at first they showed no desire +for a closer acquaintance. To the red ibis and the white miller and the +brown hackle and the gray fly they were alike indifferent. Perhaps the +love for made flies is an artificial taste and has to be cultivated. +These at any rate were uncivilized-trout, and it was only when we +took the advice of the young McGregor and baited our hooks with the +angleworm, that the fish joined in our day's sport. They could not +resist the lively wiggle of the worm before their very noses, and we +lifted them out one after an other, gently, and very much as if we were +hooking them out of a barrel, until we had a handsome string. It may +have been fun for them but it was not much sport for us. All the small +ones the young McGregor contemptuously threw back into the water. The +sportsman will perhaps learn from this incident that there are plenty +of trout in Cape Breton in August, but that the fishing is not +exhilarating. + +The next morning the semi-weekly steamboat from Sydney came into the +bay, and drew all the male inhabitants of Baddeck down to the wharf; +and the two travelers, reluctant to leave the hospitable inn, and the +peaceful jail, and the double-barreled church, and all the loveliness of +this reposeful place, prepared to depart. The most conspicuous person on +the steamboat was a thin man, whose extraordinary height was made +more striking by his very long-waisted black coat and his very short +pantaloons. He was so tall that he had a little difficulty in keeping +his balance, and his hat was set upon the back of his head to preserve +his equilibrium. He had arrived at that stage when people affected as +he was are oratorical, and overflowing with information and good-nature. +With what might in strict art be called an excess of expletives, he +explained that he was a civil engineer, that he had lost his rubber +coat, that he was a great traveler in the Provinces, and he seemed to +find a humorous satisfaction in reiterating the fact of his familiarity +with Painsec junction. It evidently hovered in the misty horizon of his +mind as a joke, and he contrived to present it to his audience in that +light. From the deck of the steamboat he addressed the town, and then, +to the relief of the passengers, he decided to go ashore. When the boat +drew away on her voyage we left him swaying perilously near the edge +of the wharf, good-naturedly resenting the grasp of his coat-tail by +a friend, addressing us upon the topics of the day, and wishing us +prosperity and the Fourth of July. His was the only effort in the nature +of a public lecture that we heard in the Provinces, and we could not +judge of his ability without hearing a “course.” + +Perhaps it needed this slight disturbance, and the contrast of this +hazy mind with the serene clarity of the day, to put us into the most +complete enjoyment of our voyage. Certainly, as we glided out upon the +summer waters and began to get the graceful outlines of the widening +shores, it seemed as if we had taken passage to the Fortunate Islands. + + + + +V + + “One town, one country, is very like another;... there are + indeed minute discriminations both of places and manners, + which, perhaps, are not wanting of curiosity, but which a + traveller seldom stays long enough to investigate and + compare.”--DR. JOHNSON. + +There was no prospect of any excitement or of any adventure on the +steamboat from Baddeck to West Bay, the southern point of the Bras d'Or. +Judging from the appearance of the boat, the dinner might have been an +experiment, but we ran no risks. It was enough to sit on deck forward of +the wheel-house, and absorb, by all the senses, the delicious day. With +such weather perpetual and such scenery always present, sin in this +world would soon become an impossibility. Even towards the passengers +from Sydney, with their imitation English ways and little insular +gossip, one could have only charity and the most kindly feeling. + +The most electric American, heir of all the nervous diseases of all the +ages, could not but find peace in this scene of tranquil beauty, and +sail on into a great and deepening contentment. Would the voyage could +last for an age, with the same sparkling but tranquil sea, and the same +environment of hills, near and remote! The hills approached and fell +away in lines of undulating grace, draped with a tender color which +helped to carry the imagination beyond the earth. At this point the +narrative needs to flow into verse, but my comrade did not feel like +another attempt at poetry so soon after that on the Gut of Canso. A +man cannot always be keyed up to the pitch of production, though his +emotions may be highly creditable to him. But poetry-making in these +days is a good deal like the use of profane language,--often without the +least provocation. + +Twelve miles from Baddeck we passed through the Barra Strait, or the +Grand Narrows, a picturesque feature in the Bras d'Or, and came into its +widest expanse. At the Narrows is a small settlement with a flag-staff +and a hotel, and roads leading to farmhouses on the hills. Here is a +Catholic chapel; and on shore a fat padre was waiting in his wagon +for the inevitable priest we always set ashore at such a place. +The missionary we landed was the young father from Arichat, and in +appearance the pleasing historical Jesuit. Slender is too corpulent a +word to describe his thinness, and his stature was primeval. Enveloped +in a black coat, the skirts of which reached his heels, and surmounted +by a black hat with an enormous brim, he had the form of an elegant +toadstool. The traveler is always grateful for such figures, and is not +disposed to quarrel with the faith which preserves so much of the ugly +picturesque. A peaceful farming country this, but an unremunerative +field, one would say, for the colporteur and the book-agent; and winter +must inclose it in a lonesome seclusion. + +The only other thing of note the Bras d'Or offered us before we reached +West Bay was the finest show of medusm or jelly-fish that could be +produced. At first there were dozens of these disk-shaped, transparent +creatures, and then hundreds, starring the water like marguerites +sprinkled on a meadow, and of sizes from that of a teacup to a +dinner-plate. We soon ran into a school of them, a convention, a herd +as extensive as the vast buffalo droves on the plains, a collection as +thick as clover-blossoms in a field in June, miles of them, apparently; +and at length the boat had to push its way through a mass of them which +covered the water like the leaves of the pondlily, and filled the deeps +far down with their beautiful contracting and expanding forms. I did not +suppose there were so many jelly-fishes in all the world. What a repast +they would have made for the Atlantic whale we did not see, and what +inward comfort it would have given him to have swum through them once +or twice with open mouth! Our delight in this wondrous spectacle did +not prevent this generous wish for the gratification of the whale. It +is probably a natural human desire to see big corporations swallow up +little ones. + +At the West Bay landing, where there is nothing whatever attractive, +we found a great concourse of country wagons and clamorous drivers, to +transport the passengers over the rough and uninteresting nine miles to +Port Hawkesbury. Competition makes the fare low, but nothing makes the +ride entertaining. The only settlement passed through has the promising +name of River Inhabitants, but we could see little river and less +inhabitants; country and people seem to belong to that commonplace order +out of which the traveler can extract nothing amusing, instructive, or +disagreeable; and it was a great relief when we came over the last hill +and looked down upon the straggling village of Port Hawkesbury and the +winding Gut of Canso. + +One cannot but feel a respect for this historical strait, on account +of the protection it once gave our British ancestors. Smollett makes +a certain Captain C----tell this anecdote of George II. and his +enlightened minister, the Duke of Newcastle: “In the beginning of the +war this poor, half-witted creature told me, in a great fright, that +thirty thousand French had marched from Acadie to Cape Breton. 'Where +did they find transports?' said I. 'Transports!' cried he; 'I tell you, +they marched by land.' By land to the island of Cape Breton?' 'What! is +Cape Breton an island?' 'Certainly.' 'Ha! are you sure of that?' When I +pointed it out on the map, he examined it earnestly with his spectacles; +then taking me in his arms, 'My dear C----!' cried he, you always bring +us good news. I'll go directly and tell the king that Cape Breton is an +island.'” + +Port Hawkesbury is not a modern settlement, and its public house is +one of the irregular, old-fashioned, stuffy taverns, with low rooms, +chintz-covered lounges, and fat-cushioned rocking-chairs, the decay and +untidiness of which are not offensive to the traveler. It has a low +back porch looking towards the water and over a mouldy garden, damp and +unseemly. Time was, no doubt, before the rush of travel rubbed off the +bloom of its ancient hospitality and set a vigilant man at the door +of the dining-room to collect pay for meals, that this was an abode of +comfort and the resort of merry-making and frolicsome provincials. On +this now decaying porch no doubt lovers sat in the moonlight, and vowed +by the Gut of Canso to be fond of each other forever. The traveler +cannot help it if he comes upon the traces of such sentiment. There +lingered yet in the house an air of the hospitable old time; the swift +willingness of the waiting-maids at table, who were eager that we should +miss none of the home-made dishes, spoke of it; and as we were not +obliged to stay in the hotel and lodge in its six-by-four bedrooms, we +could afford to make a little romance about its history. + +While we were at supper the steamboat arrived from Pictou. We hastened +on board, impatient for progress on our homeward journey. But haste was +not called for. The steamboat would not sail on her return till morning. +No one could tell why. It was not on account of freight to take in or +discharge; it was not in hope of more passengers, for they were all on +board. But if the boat had returned that night to Pictou, some of the +passengers might have left her and gone west by rail, instead of wasting +two, or three days lounging through Northumberland Sound and idling in +the harbors of Prince Edward Island. If the steamboat would leave at +midnight, we could catch the railway train at Pictou. Probably the +officials were aware of this, and they preferred to have our company +to Shediac. We mention this so that the tourist who comes this way may +learn to possess his soul in patience, and know that steamboats are not +run for his accommodation, but to give him repose and to familiarize +him with the country. It is almost impossible to give the unscientific +reader an idea of the slowness of travel by steamboat in these regions. +Let him first fix his mind on the fact that the earth moves through +space at a speed of more than sixty-six thousand miles an hour. This is +a speed eleven hundred times greater than that of the most rapid +express trains. If the distance traversed by a locomotive in an hour is +represented by one tenth of an inch, it would need a line nine feet long +to indicate the corresponding advance of the earth in the same time. +But a tortoise, pursuing his ordinary gait without a wager, moves eleven +hundred times slower than an express train. We have here a basis of +comparison with the provincial steamboats. If we had seen a tortoise +start that night from Port Hawkesbury for the west, we should have +desired to send letters by him. + +In the early morning we stole out of the romantic strait, and by +breakfast-time we were over St. George's Bay and round his cape, and +making for the harbor of Pictou. During the forenoon something in the +nature of an excursion developed itself on the steamboat, but it had so +few of the bustling features of an American excursion that I thought +it might be a pilgrimage. Yet it doubtless was a highly developed +provincial lark. For a certain portion of the passengers had the +unmistakable excursion air: the half-jocular manner towards each +other, the local facetiousness which is so offensive to uninterested +fellow-travelers, that male obsequiousness about ladies' shawls and +reticules, the clumsy pretense of gallantry with each other's wives, +the anxiety about the company luggage and the company health. It became +painfully evident presently that it was an excursion, for we heard +singing of that concerted and determined kind that depresses the spirits +of all except those who join in it. The excursion had assembled on the +lee guards out of the wind, and was enjoying itself in an abandon of +serious musical enthusiasm. We feared at first that there might be some +levity in this performance, and that the unrestrained spirit of the +excursion was working itself off in social and convivial songs. But it +was not so. The singers were provided with hymn-and-tune books, and +what they sang they rendered in long meter and with a most doleful +earnestness. It is agreeable to the traveler to see that the provincials +disport themselves within bounds, and that an hilarious spree here does +not differ much in its exercises from a prayer-meeting elsewhere. But +the excursion enjoyed its staid dissipation amazingly. + +It is pleasant to sail into the long and broad harbor of Pictou on a +sunny day. On the left is the Halifax railway terminus, and three rivers +flow into the harbor from the south. On the right the town of Pictou, +with its four thousand inhabitants, lies upon the side of the ridge that +runs out towards the Sound. The most conspicuous building in it as we +approach is the Roman Catholic church; advanced to the edge of the town +and occupying the highest ground, it appears large, and its gilt cross +is a beacon miles away. Its builders understood the value of a striking +situation, a dominant position; it is a part of the universal policy of +this church to secure the commanding places for its houses of worship. +We may have had no prejudices in favor of the Papal temporality when we +landed at Pictou, but this church was the only one which impressed us, +and the only one we took the trouble to visit. We had ample time, for +the steamboat after its arduous trip needed rest, and remained some +hours in the harbor. Pictou is said to be a thriving place, and its +streets have a cindery appearance, betokening the nearness of coal mines +and the presence of furnaces. But the town has rather a cheap and rusty +look. Its streets rise one above another on the hillside, and, except +a few comfortable cottages, we saw no evidences of wealth in the +dwellings. The church, when we reached it, was a commonplace brick +structure, with a raw, unfinished interior, and weedy and untidy +surroundings, so that our expectation of sitting on the inviting hill +and enjoying the view was not realized; and we were obliged to descend +to the hot wharf and wait for the ferry-boat to take us to the steamboat +which lay at the railway terminus opposite. It is the most unfair thing +in the world for the traveler, without an object or any interest in the +development of the country, on a sleepy day in August, to express any +opinion whatever about such a town as Pictou. But we may say of it, +without offence, that it occupies a charming situation, and may have an +interesting future; and that a person on a short acquaintance can leave +it without regret. + +By stopping here we had the misfortune to lose our excursion, a loss +that was soothed by no know ledge of its destination or hope of seeing +it again, and a loss without a hope is nearly always painful. Going out +of the harbor we encounter Pictou Island and Light, and presently see +the low coast of Prince Edward Island,--a coast indented and agreeable +to those idly sailing along it, in weather that seemed let down out of +heaven and over a sea that sparkled but still slept in a summer +quiet. When fate puts a man in such a position and relieves him of all +responsibility, with a book and a good comrade, and liberty to make +sarcastic remarks upon his fellow-travelers, or to doze, or to look +over the tranquil sea, he may be pronounced happy. And I believe that my +companion, except in the matter of the comrade, was happy. But I could +not resist a worrying anxiety about the future of the British Provinces, +which not even the remembrance of their hostility to us during our +mortal strife with the Rebellion could render agreeable. For I could +not but feel that the ostentatious and unconcealable prosperity of “the +States” over-shadows this part of the continent. And it was for once in +vain that I said, “Have we not a common land and a common literature, +and no copyright, and a common pride in Shakespeare and Hannah More +and Colonel Newcome and Pepys's Diary?” I never knew this sort of +consolation to fail before; it does not seem to answer in the Provinces +as well as it does in England. + +New passengers had come on board at Pictou, new and hungry, and not +all could get seats for dinner at the first table. Notwithstanding the +supposed traditionary advantage of our birthplace, we were unable +to dispatch this meal with the celerity of our fellow-voyagers, and +consequently, while we lingered over our tea, we found ourselves at the +second table. And we were rewarded by one of those pleasing sights that +go to make up the entertainment of travel. There sat down opposite to +us a fat man whose noble proportions occupied at the board the space +of three ordinary men. His great face beamed delight the moment he came +near the table. He had a low forehead and a wide mouth and small +eyes, and an internal capacity that was a prophecy of famine to his +fellow-men. But a more good-natured, pleased animal you may never see. +Seating himself with unrepressed joy, he looked at us, and a great smile +of satisfaction came over his face, that plainly said, “Now my time has +come.” Every part of his vast bulk said this. Most generously, by his +friendly glances, he made us partners in his pleasure. With a Napoleonic +grasp of his situation, he reached far and near, hauling this and that +dish of fragments towards his plate, giving orders at the same time, and +throwing into his cheerful mouth odd pieces of bread and pickles in an +unstudied and preliminary manner. When he had secured everything within +his reach, he heaped his plate and began an attack upon the contents, +using both knife and fork with wonderful proficiency. The man's +good-humor was contagious, and he did not regard our amusement as +different in kind from his enjoyment. The spectacle was worth a journey +to see. Indeed, its aspect of comicality almost overcame its grossness, +and even when the hero loaded in faster than he could swallow, and was +obliged to drop his knife for an instant to arrange matters in his mouth +with his finger, it was done with such a beaming smile that a pig would +not take offense at it. The performance was not the merely vulgar thing +it seems on paper, but an achievement unique and perfect, which one is +not likely to see more than once in a lifetime. It was only when the +man left the table that his face became serious. We had seen him at his +best. + +Prince Edward Island, as we approached it, had a pleasing aspect, and +nothing of that remote friendlessness which its appearance on the map +conveys to one; a warm and sandy land, in a genial climate, without +fogs, we are informed. In the winter it has ice communication with +Nova Scotia, from Cape Traverse to Cape Tormentine,--the route of the +submarine cable. The island is as flat from end to end as a floor. When +it surrendered its independent government and joined the Dominion, one +of the conditions of the union was that the government should build a +railway the whole length of it. This is in process of construction, and +the portion that is built affords great satisfaction to the islanders, +a railway being one of the necessary adjuncts of civilization; but that +there was great need of it, or that it would pay, we were unable to +learn. + +We sailed through Hillsborough Bay and a narrow strait to Charlottetown, +the capital, which lies on a sandy spit of land between two rivers. Our +leisurely steamboat tied up here in the afternoon and spent the night, +giving the passengers an opportunity to make thorough acquaintance with +the town. It has the appearance of a place from which something has +departed; a wooden town, with wide and vacant streets, and the air of +waiting for something. Almost melancholy is the aspect of its freestone +colonial building, where once the colonial legislature held its +momentous sessions, and the colonial governor shed the delightful aroma +of royalty. The mansion of the governor--now vacant of pomp, because +that official does not exist--is a little withdrawn from the town, +secluded among trees by the water-side. It is dignified with a winding +approach, but is itself only a cheap and decaying house. On our way to +it we passed the drill-shed of the local cavalry, which we mistook for a +skating-rink, and thereby excited the contempt of an old lady of whom +we inquired. Tasteful residences we did not find, nor that attention +to flowers and gardens which the mild climate would suggest. Indeed, +we should describe Charlottetown as a place where the hollyhock in the +dooryard is considered an ornament. A conspicuous building is a large +market-house shingled all over (as many of the public buildings are), +and this and other cheap public edifices stand in the midst of a large +square, which is surrounded by shabby shops for the most part. The town +is laid out on a generous scale, and it is to be regretted that we could +not have seen it when it enjoyed the glory of a governor and court and +ministers of state, and all the paraphernalia of a royal parliament. +That the productive island, with its system of free schools, is about to +enter upon a prosperous career, and that Charlottetown is soon to become +a place of great activity, no one who converses with the natives can +doubt; and I think that even now no traveler will regret spending an +hour or two there; but it is necessary to say that the rosy inducements +to tourists to spend the summer there exist only in the guide-books. + +We congratulated ourselves that we should at least have a night of +delightful sleep on the steamboat in the quiet of this secluded harbor. +But it was wisely ordered otherwise, to the end that we should improve +our time by an interesting study of human nature. Towards midnight, when +the occupants of all the state-rooms were supposed to be in profound +slumber, there was an invasion of the small cabin by a large and +loquacious family, who had been making an excursion on the island +railway. This family might remind an antiquated novel-reader of the +delightful Brangtons in “Evelina;” they had all the vivacity of the +pleasant cousins of the heroine of that story, and the same generosity +towards the public in regard to their family affairs. Before they had +been in the cabin an hour, we felt as if we knew every one of them. +There was a great squabble as to where and how they should sleep; and +when this was over, the revelations of the nature of their beds and +their peculiar habits of sleep continued to pierce the thin deal +partitions of the adjoining state-rooms. When all the possible +trivialities of vacant minds seemed to have been exhausted, there +followed a half-hour of “Goodnight, pa; good-night, ma;” “Goodnight, +pet;” and “Are you asleep, ma?” “No.” “Are you asleep, pa?” “No; go to +sleep, pet.” “I'm going. Good-night, pa; good-night, ma.” “Goodnight, +pet.” “This bed is too short.” “Why don't you take the other?” “I'm all +fixed now.” “Well, go to sleep; good-night.” “Good-night, ma; goodnight, +pa,”--no answer. “Good-night,pa.” “Goodnight, pet.” “Ma, are you +asleep?” “Most.” “This bed is all lumps; I wish I'd gone downstairs.” + “Well, pa will get up.” “Pa, are you asleep?” “Yes.” “It's better now; +good-night, pa.” “Goodnight, pet.” “Good-night, ma.” “Good-night, pet.” + And so on in an exasperating repetition, until every passenger on the +boat must have been thoroughly informed of the manner in which this +interesting family habitually settled itself to repose. + +Half an hour passes with only a languid exchange of family feeling, and +then: “Pa?” “Well, pet.” “Don't call us in the morning; we don't want +any breakfast; we want to sleep.” “I won't.” “Goodnight, pa; goodnight, +ma. Ma?” “What is it, dear?” “Good-night, ma.” “Good-night, pet.” + Alas for youthful expectations! Pet shared her stateroom with a young +companion, and the two were carrying on a private dialogue during +this public performance. Did these young ladies, after keeping all the +passengers of the boat awake till near the summer dawn, imagine that +it was in the power of pa and ma to insure them the coveted forenoon +slumber, or even the morning snooze? The travelers, tossing in their +state-room under this domestic infliction, anticipated the morning +with grim satisfaction; for they had a presentiment that it would be +impossible for them to arise and make their toilet without waking up +every one in their part of the boat, and aggravating them to such an +extent that they would stay awake. And so it turned out. The family +grumbling at the unexpected disturbance was sweeter to the travelers +than all the exchange of family affection during the night. + +No one, indeed, ought to sleep beyond breakfast-time while sailing along +the southern coast of Prince Edward Island. It was a sparkling morning. +When we went on deck we were abreast Cape Traverse; the faint outline of +Nova Scotia was marked on the horizon, and New Brunswick thrust out Cape +Tomentine to greet us. On the still, sunny coasts and the placid sea, +and in the serene, smiling sky, there was no sign of the coming tempest +which was then raging from Hatteras to Cape Cod; nor could one imagine +that this peaceful scene would, a few days later, be swept by a fearful +tornado, which should raze to the ground trees and dwelling-houses, +and strew all these now inviting shores with wrecked ships and drowning +sailors,--a storm which has passed into literature in “The Lord's-Day +Gale” of Mr Stedman. + +Through this delicious weather why should the steamboat hasten, in order +to discharge its passengers into the sweeping unrest of continental +travel? Our eagerness to get on, indeed, almost melted away, and we were +scarcely impatient at all when the boat lounged into Halifax Bay, past +Salutation Point and stopped at Summerside. This little seaport is +intended to be attractive, and it would give these travelers great +pleasure to describe it, if they could at all remember how it looks. But +it is a place that, like some faces, makes no sort of impression on +the memory. We went ashore there, and tried to take an interest in the +ship-building, and in the little oysters which the harbor yields; but +whether we did take an interest or not has passed out of memory. A +small, unpicturesque, wooden town, in the languor of a provincial +summer; why should we pretend an interest in it which we did not feel? +It did not disturb our reposeful frame of mind, nor much interfere with +our enjoyment of the day. + +On the forward deck, when we were under way again, amid a group reading +and nodding in the sunshine, we found a pretty girl with a companion and +a gentleman, whom we knew by intuition as the “pa” of the pretty girl +and of our night of anguish. The pa might have been a clergyman in a +small way, or the proprietor of a female boarding-school; at any rate, +an excellent and improving person to travel with, whose willingness to +impart information made even the travelers long for a pa. It was no +part of his plan of this family summer excursion, upon which he had come +against his wish, to have any hour of it wasted in idleness. He held +an open volume in his hand, and was questioning his daughter on its +contents. He spoke in a loud voice, and without heeding the timidity of +the young lady, who shrank from this public examination, and begged her +father not to continue it. The parent was, however, either proud of his +daughter's acquirements, or he thought it a good opportunity to shame +her out of her ignorance. Doubtless, we said, he is instructing her +upon the geography of the region we are passing through, its early +settlement, the romantic incidents of its history when French and +English fought over it, and so is making this a tour of profit as well +as pleasure. But the excellent and pottering father proved to be no +disciple of the new education. Greece was his theme and he got his +questions, and his answers too, from the ancient school history in his +hand. The lesson went on: + +“Who was Alcibiades? + +“A Greek.” + +“Yes. When did he flourish?” + +“I can't think.” + +“Can't think? What was he noted for?” + +“I don't remember.” + +“Don't remember? I don't believe you studied this.” + +“Yes, I did.” + +“Well, take it now, and study it hard, and then I'll hear you again.” + +The young girl, who is put to shame by this open persecution, begins to +study, while the peevish and small tyrant, her pa, is nagging her with +such soothing remarks as, “I thought you'd have more respect for your +pride;” “Why don't you try to come up to the expectations of your +teacher?” By and by the student thinks she has “got it,” and the public +exposition begins again. The date at which Alcibiades “flourished” was +ascertained, but what he was “noted for” got hopelessly mixed with what +Themistocles was “noted for.” The momentary impression that the battle +of Marathon was fought by Salamis was soon dissipated, and the questions +continued. + +“What did Pericles do to the Greeks?” + +“I don't know.” + +“Elevated 'em, did n't he? Did n't he elevate Pem?” + +“Yes, sir.” + +“Always remember that; you want to fix your mind on leading things. +Remember that Pericles elevated the Greeks. Who was Pericles? + +“He was a”-- + +“Was he a philosopher?” + +“Yes, sir.” + +“No, he was n't. Socrates was a philosopher. When did he flourish?” + +And so on, and so on. + +O my charming young countrywomen, let us never forget that Pericles +elevated the Greeks; and that he did it by cultivating the national +genius, the national spirit, by stimulating art and oratory and the +pursuit of learning, and infusing into all society a higher intellectual +and social life! Pa was this day sailing through seas and by shores that +had witnessed some of the most stirring and romantic events in the early +history of our continent. He might have had the eager attention of his +bright daughter if he had unfolded these things to her in the midst of +this most living landscape, and given her an “object lesson” that she +would not have forgotten all her days, instead of this pottering over +names and dates that were as dry and meaningless to him as they were +uninteresting to his daughter. At least, O Pa, Educator of Youth, if you +are insensible to the beauty of these summer isles and indifferent to +their history, and your soul is wedded to ancient learning, why do you +not teach your family to go to sleep when they go to bed, as the classic +Greeks used to? + +Before the travelers reached Shediac, they had leisure to ruminate upon +the education of American girls in the schools set apart for them, and +to conjecture how much they are taught of the geography and history of +America, or of its social and literary growth; and whether, when they +travel on a summer tour like this, these coasts have any historical +light upon them, or gain any interest from the daring and chivalric +adventurers who played their parts here so long ago. We did not hear +pa ask when Madame de la Tour “flourished,” though “flourish” that +determined woman did, in Boston as well as in the French provinces. In +the present woman revival, may we not hope that the heroic women of our +colonial history will have the prominence that is their right, and that +woman's achievements will assume their proper place in affairs? When +women write history, some of our popular men heroes will, we trust, +be made to acknowledge the female sources of their wisdom and their +courage. But at present women do not much affect history, and they are +more indifferent to the careers of the noted of their own sex than men +are. + +We expected to approach Shediac with a great deal of interest. It had +been, when we started, one of the most prominent points in our projected +tour. It was the pivot upon which, so to speak, we expected to swing +around the Provinces. Upon the map it was so attractive, that we once +resolved to go no farther than there. It once seemed to us that, if we +ever reached it, we should be contented to abide there, in a place so +remote, in a port so picturesque and foreign. But returning from the +real east, our late interest in Shediac seemed unaccountable to us. +Firmly resolved as I was to note our entrance into the harbor, I could +not keep the place in mind; and while we were in our state-room and +before we knew it, the steamboat Jay at the wharf. Shediac appeared +to be nothing but a wharf with a railway train on it, and a few shanty +buildings, a part of them devoted to the sale of whiskey and to cheap +lodgings. This landing, however, is called Point du Chene, and the +village of Shediac is two or three miles distant from it; we had a +pleasant glimpse of it from the car windows, and saw nothing in its +situation to hinder its growth. The country about it is perfectly level, +and stripped of its forests. At Painsec Junction we waited for the +train from Halifax, and immediately found ourselves in the whirl of +intercolonial travel. Why people should travel here, or why they should +be excited about it, we could not see; we could not overcome a feeling +of the unreality of the whole thing; but yet we humbly knew that we had +no right to be otherwise than awed by the extraordinary intercolonial +railway enterprise and by the new life which it is infusing into +the Provinces. We are free to say, however, that nothing can be +less interesting than the line of this road until it strikes the +Kennebeckasis River, when the traveler will be called upon to admire +the Sussex Valley and a very fair farming region, which he would like to +praise if it were not for exciting the jealousy of the “Garden of Nova +Scotia.” The whole land is in fact a garden, but differing somewhat from +the Isle of Wight. + +In all travel, however, people are more interesting than land, and so +it was at this time. As twilight shut down upon the valley of the +Kennebeckasis, we heard the strident voice of pa going on with the +Grecian catechism. Pa was unmoved by the beauties of Sussex or by the +colors of the sunset, which for the moment made picturesque the scraggy +evergreens on the horizon. His eyes were with his heart, and that was in +Sparta. Above the roar of the car-wheels we heard his nagging inquiries. + +“What did Lycurgus do then?” + +Answer not audible. + +“No. He made laws. Who did he make laws for?” + +“For the Greeks.” + +“He made laws for the Lacedemonians. Who was another great lawgiver?” + +“It was--it was--Pericles.” + +“No, it was n't. It was Solon. Who was Solon?” + +“Solon was one of the wise men of Greece.” + +“That's right. When did he flourish?” + +When the train stops at a station the classics continue, and the +studious group attracts the attention of the passengers. Pa is well +pleased, but not so the young lady, who beseechingly says, + +“Pa, everybody can hear us.” + +“You would n't care how much they heard, if you knew it,” replies this +accomplished devotee of learning. + +In another lull of the car-wheels we find that pa has skipped over to +Marathon; and this time it is the daughter who is asking a question. + +“Pa, what is a phalanx?” + +“Well, a phalanx--it's a--it's difficult to define a phalanx. It's a +stretch of men in one line,--a stretch of anything in a line. When did +Alexander flourish?” + +This domestic tyrant had this in common with the rest of us, that he was +much better at asking questions than at answering them. It certainly was +not our fault that we were listeners to his instructive struggles with +ancient history, nor that we heard his petulant complaining to his cowed +family, whom he accused of dragging him away on this summer trip. We are +only grateful to him, for a more entertaining person the traveler does +not often see. It was with regret that we lost sight of him at St. John. + +Night has settled upon New Brunswick and upon ancient Greece before we +reach the Kennebeckasis Bay, and we only see from the car windows +dimly a pleasant and fertile country, and the peaceful homes of thrifty +people. While we are running along the valley and coming under the +shadow of the hill whereon St. John sits, with a regal outlook upon a +most variegated coast and upon the rising and falling of the great tides +of Fundy, we feel a twinge of conscience at the injustice the passing +traveler must perforce do any land he hurries over and does not study. +Here is picturesque St. John, with its couple of centuries of history +and tradition, its commerce, its enterprise felt all along the coast and +through the settlements of the territory to the northeast, with its +no doubt charming society and solid English culture; and the summer +tourist, in an idle mood regarding it for a day, says it is naught! +Behold what “travels” amount to! Are they not for the most part the +records of the misapprehensions of the misinformed? Let us congratulate +ourselves that in this flight through the Provinces we have not +attempted to do any justice to them, geologically, economically, or +historically, only trying to catch some of the salient points of the +panorama as it unrolled itself. Will Halifax rise up in judgment against +us? We look back upon it with softened memory, and already see it again +in the light of history. It stands, indeed, overlooking a gate of the +ocean, in a beautiful morning light; and we can hear now the +repetition of that profane phrase, used for the misdirection of wayward +mortals,---“Go to Halifax!” without a shudder. + +We confess to some regret that our journey is so near its end. Perhaps +it is the sentimental regret with which one always leaves the east, for +we have been a thousand miles nearer Ireland than Boston is. Collecting +in the mind the detached pictures given to our eyes in all these +brilliant and inspiring days, we realize afresh the variety, the extent, +the richness of these northeastern lands which the Gulf Stream pets and +tempers. If it were not for attracting speculators, we should delight +to speak of the beds of coal, the quarries of marble, the mines of gold. +Look on the map and follow the shores of these peninsulas and islands, +the bays, the penetrating arms of the sea, the harbors filled with +islands, the protected straits and sounds. All this is favorable to +the highest commercial activity and enterprise. Greece itself and its +islands are not more indented and inviting. Fish swarm about the shores +and in all the streams. There are, I have no doubt, great forests which +we did not see from the car windows, the inhabitants of which do +not show themselves to the travelers at the railway-stations. In the +dining-room of a friend, who goes away every autumn into the wilds of +Nova Scotia at the season when the snow falls, hang trophies--enormous +branching antlers of the caribou, and heads of the mighty moose--which I +am assured came from there; and I have no reason to doubt that the noble +creatures who once carried these superb horns were murdered by my friend +at long range. Many people have an insatiate longing to kill, once in +their life, a moose, and would travel far and endure great hardships +to gratify this ambition. In the present state of the world it is more +difficult to do it than it is to be written down as one who loves his +fellow-men. + +We received everywhere in the Provinces courtesy and kindness, which +were not based upon any expectation that we would invest in mines or +railways, for the people are honest, kindly, and hearty by nature. What +they will become when the railways are completed that are to bind St. +John to Quebec, and make Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Newfoundland only +stepping-stones to Europe, we cannot say. Probably they will become like +the rest of the world, and furnish no material for the kindly persiflage +of the traveler. + +Regretting that we could see no more of St. John, that we could scarcely +see our way through its dimly lighted streets, we found the ferry to +Carleton, and a sleeping-car for Bangor. It was in the heart of the +negro porter to cause us alarm by the intelligence that the customs +officer would, search our baggage during the night. A search is a blow +to one's self-respect, especially if one has anything dutiable. But as +the porter might be an agent of our government in disguise, we preserved +an appearance of philosophical indifference in his presence. It takes +a sharp observer to tell innocence from assurance. During the night, +awaking, I saw a great light. A man, crawling along the aisle of the +car, and poking under the seats, had found my traveling-bag and was +“going through” it. + +I felt a thrill of pride as I recognized in this crouching figure an +officer of our government, and knew that I was in my native land. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Baddeck and That Sort of Thing +by Charles Dudley Warner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BADDECK AND THAT SORT OF THING *** + +***** This file should be named 3133-0.txt or 3133-0.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/3/3133/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/3133-0.zip b/3133-0.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..ffa3001 --- /dev/null +++ b/3133-0.zip diff --git a/3133-h.zip b/3133-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..76e39fc --- /dev/null +++ b/3133-h.zip diff --git a/3133-h/3133-h.htm b/3133-h/3133-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c80c034 --- /dev/null +++ b/3133-h/3133-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,4152 @@ +<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> + +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd" > + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en"> + <head> + <title> + Baddeck and That Sort of Thing, by Charles Dudley Warner + </title> + <style type="text/css" xml:space="preserve"> + + body { margin:5%; background:#faebd7; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; margin-top: .25em; margin-bottom: .25em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; margin-left: 15%; margin-right: 15%; } + hr { width: 50%; text-align: center;} + .foot { margin-left: 20%; margin-right: 20%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 90%; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; font-style: italic; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%;} + .mynote {background-color: #DDE; color: #000; padding: .5em; margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 95%;} + .toc { margin-left: 10%; margin-bottom: .75em;} + .toc2 { margin-left: 20%;} + div.fig { display:block; margin:0 auto; text-align:center; } + .figleft {float: left; margin-left: 0%; margin-right: 1%;} + .figright {float: right; margin-right: 0%; margin-left: 1%;} + pre { font-style: italic; font-size: 90%; margin-left: 10%;} + +</style> + </head> + <body> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> +Project Gutenberg's Baddeck and That Sort of Thing, by Charles Dudley Warner + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Baddeck and That Sort of Thing + +Author: Charles Dudley Warner + +Release Date: August 20, 2016 [EBook #3133] +Last Updated: February 24, 2018 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: UTF-8 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BADDECK AND THAT SORT OF THING *** + + + +Produced by David Widger + + + + + + +</pre> + <h1> + BADDECK AND THAT SORT OF THING + </h1> + <p> + <br /><br /> + </p> + <h2> + By Charles Dudley Warner + </h2> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <h2> + Contents + </h2> + <h3> + <a href="#link2H_PREF"> PREFACE </a><br /><br /> <a href="#link2H_4_0002"> + BADDECK AND THAT SORT OF THING </a><br /> + </h3> + <table summary="” style="> + <tr> + <td> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0003"> I </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0004"> II </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0005"> III </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0006"> IV </a> + </p> + <p class="toc"> + <a href="#link2H_4_0007"> V </a> + </p> + </td> + </tr> + </table> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_PREF" id="link2H_PREF"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <h2> + PREFACE + </h2> + <h3> + TO JOSEPH H. TWICHELL + </h3> + <p> + It would be unfair to hold you responsible for these light sketches of a + summer trip, which are now gathered into this little volume in response to + the usual demand in such cases; yet you cannot escape altogether. For it + was you who first taught me to say the name Baddeck; it was you who showed + me its position on the map, and a seductive letter from a home missionary + on Cape Breton Island, in relation to the abundance of trout and salmon in + his field of labor. That missionary, you may remember, we never found, nor + did we see his tackle; but I have no reason to believe that he does not + enjoy good fishing in the right season. You understand the duties of a + home missionary much better than I do, and you know whether he would be + likely to let a couple of strangers into the best part of his preserve. + </p> + <p> + But I am free to admit that after our expedition was started you speedily + relieved yourself of all responsibility for it, and turned it over to your + comrade with a profound geographical indifference; you would as readily + have gone to Baddeck by Nova Zembla as by Nova Scotia. The flight over the + latter island was, you knew, however, no part of our original plan, and + you were not obliged to take any interest in it. You know that our design + was to slip rapidly down, by the back way of Northumberland Sound, to the + Bras d'Or, and spend a week fishing there; and that the greater part + of this journey here imperfectly described is not really ours, but was put + upon us by fate and by the peculiar arrangement of provincial travel. + </p> + <p> + It would have been easy after our return to have made up from libraries a + most engaging description of the Provinces, mixing it with historical, + legendary, botanical, geographical, and ethnological information, and + seasoning it with adventure from your glowing imagination. But it seemed + to me that it would be a more honest contribution if our account contained + only what we saw, in our rapid travel; for I have a theory that any + addition to the great body of print, however insignificant it may be, has + a value in proportion to its originality and individuality,—however + slight either is,—and very little value if it is a compilation of + the observations of others. In this case I know how slight the value is; + and I can only hope that as the trip was very entertaining to us, the + record of it may not be wholly unentertaining to those of like tastes. + </p> + <p> + Of one thing, my dear friend, I am certain: if the readers of this little + journey could have during its persual the companionship that the writer + had when it was made, they would think it altogether delightful. There is + no pleasure comparable to that of going about the world, in pleasant + weather, with a good comrade, if the mind is distracted neither by care, + nor ambition, nor the greed of gain. The delight there is in seeing + things, without any hope of pecuniary profit from them! We certainly + enjoyed that inward peace which the philosopher associates with the + absence of desire for money. For, as Plato says in the Phaedo, “whence + come wars and fightings and factions? whence but from the body and the + lusts of the body? For wars are occasioned by the love of money.” So + also are the majority of the anxieties of life. We left these behind when + we went into the Provinces with no design of acquiring anything there. I + hope it may be my fortune to travel further with you in this fair world, + under similar circumstances. + </p> + <p> + NOOK FARM, HARTFORD, April 10, 1874. + </p> + <p> + C. D. W. + </p> + <p> + <br /> <br /> + </p> + <hr /> + <p> + <br /> <br /> <a name="link2H_4_0002" + id="link2H_4_0002"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h1> + BADDECK AND THAT SORT OF THING + </h1> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0003" id="link2H_4_0003"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + I + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “Ay, now I am in Arden: the more fool I; when I was at home, + I was in a better place; but travellers must be content.” + —TOUCHSTONE. +</pre> + <p> + Two comrades and travelers, who sought a better country than the United + States in the month of August, found themselves one evening in apparent + possession of the ancient town of Boston. + </p> + <p> + The shops were closed at early candle-light; the fashionable inhabitants + had retired into the country, or into the second-story-back, of their + princely residences, and even an air of tender gloom settled upon the + Common. The streets were almost empty, and one passed into the burnt + district, where the scarred ruins and the uplifting piles of new brick and + stone spread abroad under the flooding light of a full moon like another + Pompeii, without any increase in his feeling of tranquil seclusion. Even + the news-offices had put up their shutters, and a confiding stranger could + nowhere buy a guide-book to help his wandering feet about the reposeful + city, or to show him how to get out of it. There was, to be sure, a + cheerful tinkle of horse-car bells in the air, and in the creeping + vehicles which created this levity of sound were a few lonesome passengers + on their way to Scollay's Square; but the two travelers, not having + well-regulated minds, had no desire to go there. What would have become of + Boston if the great fire had reached this sacred point of pilgrimage no + merely human mind can imagine. Without it, I suppose the horse-cars would + go continually round and round, never stopping, until the cars fell away + piecemeal on the track, and the horses collapsed into a mere mass of bones + and harness, and the brown-covered books from the Public Library, in the + hands of the fading virgins who carried them, had accumulated fines to an + incalculable amount. + </p> + <p> + Boston, notwithstanding its partial destruction by fire, is still a good + place to start from. When one meditates an excursion into an unknown and + perhaps perilous land, where the flag will not protect him and the + greenback will only partially support him, he likes to steady and + tranquilize his mind by a peaceful halt and a serene start. So we—for + the intelligent reader has already identified us with the two travelers + resolved to spend the last night, before beginning our journey, in the + quiet of a Boston hotel. Some people go into the country for quiet: we + knew better. The country is no place for sleep. The general absence of + sound which prevails at night is only a sort of background which brings + out more vividly the special and unexpected disturbances which are + suddenly sprung upon the restless listener. There are a thousand pokerish + noises that no one can account for, which excite the nerves to acute + watchfulness. + </p> + <p> + It is still early, and one is beginning to be lulled by the frogs and the + crickets, when the faint rattle of a drum is heard,—just a few + preliminary taps. But the soul takes alarm, and well it may, for a roll + follows, and then a rub-a-dub-dub, and the farmer's boy who is + handling the sticks and pounding the distended skin in a neighboring + horse-shed begins to pour out his patriotism in that unending repetition + of rub-a-dub-dub which is supposed to represent love of country in the + young. When the boy is tired out and quits the field, the faithful + watch-dog opens out upon the stilly night. He is the guardian of his + master's slumbers. The howls of the faithful creature are answered + by barks and yelps from all the farmhouses for a mile around, and + exceedingly poor barking it usually is, until all the serenity of the + night is torn to shreds. This is, however, only the opening of the + orchestra. The cocks wake up if there is the faintest moonshine and begin + an antiphonal service between responsive barn-yards. It is not the clear + clarion of chanticleer that is heard in the morn of English poetry, but a + harsh chorus of cracked voices, hoarse and abortive attempts, squawks of + young experimenters, and some indescribable thing besides, for I believe + even the hens crow in these days. Distracting as all this is, however, + happy is the man who does not hear a goat lamenting in the night. The goat + is the most exasperating of the animal creation. He cries like a deserted + baby, but he does it without any regularity. One can accustom himself to + any expression of suffering that is regular. The annoyance of the goat is + in the dreadful waiting for the uncertain sound of the next wavering + bleat. It is the fearful expectation of that, mingled with the faint hope + that the last was the last, that aggravates the tossing listener until he + has murder in his heart. He longs for daylight, hoping that the voices of + the night will then cease, and that sleep will come with the blessed + morning. But he has forgotten the birds, who at the first streak of gray + in the east have assembled in the trees near his chamber-window, and keep + up for an hour the most rasping dissonance,—an orchestra in which + each artist is tuning his instrument, setting it in a different key and to + play a different tune: each bird recalls a different tune, and none sings + “Annie Laurie,”—to pervert Bayard Taylor's song. + </p> + <p> + Give us the quiet of a city on the night before a journey. As we mounted + skyward in our hotel, and went to bed in a serene altitude, we + congratulated ourselves upon a reposeful night. It began well. But as we + sank into the first doze, we were startled by a sudden crash. Was it an + earthquake, or another fire? Were the neighboring buildings all tumbling + in upon us, or had a bomb fallen into the neighboring crockery-store? It + was the suddenness of the onset that startled us, for we soon perceived + that it began with the clash of cymbals, the pounding of drums, and the + blaring of dreadful brass. It was somebody's idea of music. It + opened without warning. The men composing the band of brass must have + stolen silently into the alley about the sleeping hotel, and burst into + the clamor of a rattling quickstep, on purpose. The horrible sound thus + suddenly let loose had no chance of escape; it bounded back from wall to + wall, like the clapping of boards in a tunnel, rattling windows and + stunning all cars, in a vain attempt to get out over the roofs. But such + music does not go up. What could have been the intention of this assault + we could not conjecture. It was a time of profound peace through the + country; we had ordered no spontaneous serenade, if it was a serenade. + Perhaps the Boston bands have that habit of going into an alley and + disciplining their nerves by letting out a tune too big for the alley, and + taking the shock of its reverberation. It may be well enough for the band, + but many a poor sinner in the hotel that night must have thought the + judgment day had sprung upon him. Perhaps the band had some remorse, for + by and by it leaked out of the alley, in humble, apologetic retreat, as if + somebody had thrown something at it from the sixth-story window, softly + breathing as it retired the notes of “Fair Harvard.” + </p> + <p> + The band had scarcely departed for some other haunt of slumber and + weariness, when the notes of singing floated up that prolific alley, like + the sweet tenor voice of one bewailing the prohibitory movement; and for + an hour or more a succession of young bacchanals, who were evidently + wandering about in search of the Maine Law, lifted up their voices in + song. Boston seems to be full of good singers; but they will ruin their + voices by this night exercise, and so the city will cease to be attractive + to travelers who would like to sleep there. But this entertainment did not + last the night out. + </p> + <p> + It stopped just before the hotel porter began to come around to rouse the + travelers who had said the night before that they wanted to be awakened. + In all well-regulated hotels this process begins at two o'clock and + keeps up till seven. If the porter is at all faithful, he wakes up + everybody in the house; if he is a shirk, he only rouses the wrong people. + We treated the pounding of the porter on our door with silent contempt. At + the next door he had better luck. Pound, pound. An angry voice, “What + do you want?” + </p> + <p> + “Time to take the train, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “Not going to take any train.” + </p> + <p> + “Ain't your name Smith?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, Smith”— + </p> + <p> + “I left no order to be called.” (Indistinct grumbling from + Smith's room.) + </p> + <p> + Porter is heard shuffling slowly off down the passage. In a little while + he returns to Smith's door, evidently not satisfied in his mind. + Rap, rap, rap! + </p> + <p> + “Well, what now?” + </p> + <p> + “What's your initials? A. T.; clear out!” + </p> + <p> + And the porter shambles away again in his slippers, grumbling something + about a mistake. The idea of waking a man up in the middle of the night to + ask him his “initials” was ridiculous enough to banish sleep + for another hour. A person named Smith, when he travels, should leave his + initials outside the door with his boots. + </p> + <p> + Refreshed by this reposeful night, and eager to exchange the stagnation of + the shore for the tumult of the ocean, we departed next morning for + Baddeck by the most direct route. This we found, by diligent study of + fascinating prospectuses of travel, to be by the boats of the + International Steamship Company; and when, at eight o'clock in the + morning, we stepped aboard one of them from Commercial Wharf, we felt that + half our journey and the most perplexing part of it was accomplished. We + had put ourselves upon a great line of travel, and had only to resign + ourselves to its flow in order to reach the desired haven. The agent at + the wharf assured us that it was not necessary to buy through tickets to + Baddeck,—he spoke of it as if it were as easy a place to find as + Swampscott,—it was a conspicuous name on the cards of the company, + we should go right on from St. John without difficulty. The easy + familiarity of this official with Baddeck, in short, made us ashamed to + exhibit any anxiety about its situation or the means of approach to it. + Subsequent experience led us to believe that the only man in the world, + out of Baddeck, who knew anything about it lives in Boston, and sells + tickets to it, or rather towards it. + </p> + <p> + There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of it, + when the traveler is settled simply as to his destination, and commits + himself to his unknown fate and all the anticipations of adventure before + him. We experienced this pleasure as we ascended to the deck of the + steamboat and snuffed the fresh air of Boston Harbor. What a beautiful + harbor it is, everybody says, with its irregularly indented shores and its + islands. Being strangers, we want to know the names of the islands, and to + have Fort Warren, which has a national reputation, pointed out. As usual + on a steamboat, no one is certain about the names, and the little + geographical knowledge we have is soon hopelessly confused. We make out + South Boston very plainly: a tourist is looking at its warehouses through + his opera-glass, and telling his boy about a recent fire there. We find + out afterwards that it was East Boston. We pass to the stern of the boat + for a last look at Boston itself; and while there we have the pleasure of + showing inquirers the Monument and the State House. We do this with easy + familiarity; but where there are so many tall factory chimneys, it is not + so easy to point out the Monument as one may think. + </p> + <p> + The day is simply delicious, when we get away from the unozoned air of the + land. The sky is cloudless, and the water sparkles like the top of a glass + of champagne. We intend by and by to sit down and look at it for half a + day, basking in the sunshine and pleasing ourselves with the shifting and + dancing of the waves. Now we are busy running about from side to side to + see the islands, Governor's, Castle, Long, Deer, and the others. + When, at length, we find Fort Warren, it is not nearly so grim and gloomy + as we had expected, and is rather a pleasure-place than a prison in + appearance. We are conscious, however, of a patriotic emotion as we pass + its green turf and peeping guns. Leaving on our right Lovell's + Island and the Great and Outer Brewster, we stand away north along the + jagged Massachusetts shore. These outer islands look cold and wind-swept + even in summer, and have a hardness of outline which is very far from the + aspect of summer isles in summer seas. They are too low and bare for + beauty, and all the coast is of the most retiring and humble description. + Nature makes some compensation for this lowness by an eccentricity of + indentation which looks very picturesque on the map, and sometimes + striking, as where Lynn stretches out a slender arm with knobby Nahant at + the end, like a New Zealand war club. We sit and watch this shore as we + glide by with a placid delight. Its curves and low promontories are + getting to be speckled with villages and dwellings, like the shores of the + Bay of Naples; we see the white spires, the summer cottages of wealth, the + brown farmhouses with an occasional orchard, the gleam of a white beach, + and now and then the flag of some many-piazzaed hotel. The sunlight is the + glory of it all; it must have quite another attraction—that of + melancholy—under a gray sky and with a lead-colored water + foreground. + </p> + <p> + There was not much on the steamboat to distract our attention from the + study of physical geography. All the fashionable travelers had gone on the + previous boat or were waiting for the next one. The passengers were mostly + people who belonged in the Provinces and had the listless provincial air, + with a Boston commercial traveler or two, and a few gentlemen from the + republic of Ireland, dressed in their uncomfortable Sunday clothes. If any + accident should happen to the boat, it was doubtful if there were persons + on board who could draw up and pass the proper resolutions of thanks to + the officers. I heard one of these Irish gentlemen, whose satin vest was + insufficient to repress the mountainous protuberance of his shirt-bosom, + enlightening an admiring friend as to his idiosyncrasies. It appeared that + he was that sort of a man that, if a man wanted anything of him, he had + only to speak for it “wunst;” and that one of his + peculiarities was an instant response of the deltoid muscle to the brain, + though he did not express it in that language. He went on to explain to + his auditor that he was so constituted physically that whenever he saw a + fight, no matter whose property it was, he lost all control of himself. + This sort of confidence poured out to a single friend, in a retired place + on the guard of the boat, in an unexcited tone, was evidence of the man's + simplicity and sincerity. The very act of traveling, I have noticed, seems + to open a man's heart, so that he will impart to a chance + acquaintance his losses, his diseases, his table preferences, his + disappointments in love or in politics, and his most secret hopes. One + sees everywhere this beautiful human trait, this craving for sympathy. + There was the old lady, in the antique bonnet and plain cotton gloves, who + got aboard the express train at a way-station on the Connecticut River + Road. She wanted to go, let us say, to Peak's Four Corners. It + seemed that the train did not usually stop there, but it appeared + afterwards that the obliging conductor had told her to get aboard and he + would let her off at Peak's. When she stepped into the car, in a + flustered condition, carrying her large bandbox, she began to ask all the + passengers, in turn, if this was the right train, and if it stopped at + Peak's. The information she received was various, but the weight of + it was discouraging, and some of the passengers urged her to get off + without delay, before the train should start. The poor woman got off, and + pretty soon came back again, sent by the conductor; but her mind was not + settled, for she repeated her questions to every person who passed her + seat, and their answers still more discomposed her. “Sit perfectly + still,” said the conductor, when he came by. “You must get out + and wait for a way train,” said the passengers, who knew. In this + confusion, the train moved off, just as the old lady had about made up her + mind to quit the car, when her distraction was completed by the discovery + that her hair trunk was not on board. She saw it standing on the open + platform, as we passed, and after one look of terror, and a dash at the + window, she subsided into her seat, grasping her bandbox, with a vacant + look of utter despair. Fate now seemed to have done its worst, and she was + resigned to it. I am sure it was no mere curiosity, but a desire to be of + service, that led me to approach her and say, “Madam, where are you + going?” + </p> + <p> + “The Lord only knows,” was the utterly candid response; but + then, forgetting everything in her last misfortune and impelled to a burst + of confidence, she began to tell me her troubles. She informed me that her + youngest daughter was about to be married, and that all her + wedding-clothes and all her summer clothes were in that trunk; and as she + said this she gave a glance out of the window as if she hoped it might be + following her. What would become of them all now, all brand new, she did n't + know, nor what would become of her or her daughter. And then she told me, + article by article and piece by piece, all that that trunk contained, the + very names of which had an unfamiliar sound in a railway-car, and how many + sets and pairs there were of each. It seemed to be a relief to the old + lady to make public this catalogue which filled all her mind; and there + was a pathos in the revelation that I cannot convey in words. And though I + am compelled, by way of illustration, to give this incident, no bribery or + torture shall ever extract from me a statement of the contents of that + hair trunk. + </p> + <p> + We were now passing Nahant, and we should have seen Longfellow's + cottage and the waves beating on the rocks before it, if we had been near + enough. As it was, we could only faintly distinguish the headland and note + the white beach of Lynn. The fact is, that in travel one is almost as much + dependent upon imagination and memory as he is at home. Somehow, we seldom + get near enough to anything. The interest of all this coast which we had + come to inspect was mainly literary and historical. And no country is of + much interest until legends and poetry have draped it in hues that mere + nature cannot produce. We looked at Nahant for Longfellow's sake; we + strained our eyes to make out Marblehead on account of Whittier's + ballad; we scrutinized the entrance to Salem Harbor because a genius once + sat in its decaying custom-house and made of it a throne of the + imagination. Upon this low shore line, which lies blinking in the midday + sun, the waves of history have beaten for two centuries and a half, and + romance has had time to grow there. Out of any of these coves might have + sailed Sir Patrick Spens “to Noroway, to Noroway,” + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “They hadna sailed upon the sea + A day but barely three, + + Till loud and boisterous grew the wind, + And gurly grew the sea.” + </pre> + <p> + The sea was anything but gurly now; it lay idle and shining in an August + holiday. It seemed as if we could sit all day and watch the suggestive + shore and dream about it. But we could not. No man, and few women, can sit + all day on those little round penitential stools that the company provide + for the discomfort of their passengers. There is no scenery in the world + that can be enjoyed from one of those stools. And when the traveler is at + sea, with the land failing away in his horizon, and has to create his own + scenery by an effort of the imagination, these stools are no assistance to + him. The imagination, when one is sitting, will not work unless the back + is supported. Besides, it began to be cold; notwithstanding the shiny, + specious appearance of things, it was cold, except in a sheltered nook or + two where the sun beat. This was nothing to be complained of by persons + who had left the parching land in order to get cool. They knew that there + would be a wind and a draught everywhere, and that they would be occupied + nearly all the time in moving the little stools about to get out of the + wind, or out of the sun, or out of something that is inherent in a + steamboat. Most people enjoy riding on a steamboat, shaking and trembling + and chow-chowing along in pleasant weather out of sight of land; and they + do not feel any ennui, as may be inferred from the intense excitement + which seizes them when a poor porpoise leaps from the water half a mile + away. “Did you see the porpoise?” makes conversation for an + hour. On our steamboat there was a man who said he saw a whale, saw him + just as plain, off to the east, come up to blow; appeared to be a young + one. I wonder where all these men come from who always see a whale. I + never was on a sea-steamer yet that there was not one of these men. + </p> + <p> + We sailed from Boston Harbor straight for Cape Ann, and passed close by + the twin lighthouses of Thacher, so near that we could see the lanterns + and the stone gardens, and the young barbarians of Thacher all at play; + and then we bore away, straight over the trackless Atlantic, across that + part of the map where the title and the publisher's name are usually + printed, for the foreign city of St. John. It was after we passed these + lighthouses that we did n't see the whale, and began to regret the + hard fate that took us away from a view of the Isles of Shoals. I am not + tempted to introduce them into this sketch, much as its surface needs + their romantic color, for truth is stronger in me than the love of giving + a deceitful pleasure. There will be nothing in this record that we did not + see, or might not have seen. For instance, it might not be wrong to + describe a coast, a town, or an island that we passed while we were + performing our morning toilets in our staterooms. The traveler owes a duty + to his readers, and if he is now and then too weary or too indifferent to + go out from the cabin to survey a prosperous village where a landing is + made, he has no right to cause the reader to suffer by his indolence. He + should describe the village. + </p> + <p> + I had intended to describe the Maine coast, which is as fascinating on the + map as that of Norway. We had all the feelings appropriate to nearness to + it, but we couldn't see it. Before we came abreast of it night had + settled down, and there was around us only a gray and melancholy waste of + salt water. To be sure it was a lovely night, with a young moon in its + sky, + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “I saw the new moon late yestreen + Wi' the auld moon in her arms,” + </pre> + <p> + and we kept an anxious lookout for the Maine hills that push so boldly + down into the sea. At length we saw them,—faint, dusky shadows in + the horizon, looming up in an ashy color and with a most poetical light. + We made out clearly Mt. Desert, and felt repaid for our journey by the + sight of this famous island, even at such a distance. I pointed out the + hills to the man at the wheel, and asked if we should go any nearer to Mt. + Desert. + </p> + <p> + “Them!” said he, with the merited contempt which officials in + this country have for inquisitive travelers,—“them's + Camden Hills. You won't see Mt. Desert till midnight, and then you + won't.” + </p> + <p> + One always likes to weave in a little romance with summer travel on a + steamboat; and we came aboard this one with the purpose and the language + to do so. But there was an absolute want of material, that would hardly be + credited if we went into details. The first meeting of the passengers at + the dinner-table revealed it. There is a kind of female plainness which is + pathetic, and many persons can truly say that to them it is homelike; and + there are vulgarities of manner that are interesting; and there are + peculiarities, pleasant or the reverse, which attract one's + attention: but there was absolutely nothing of this sort on our boat. The + female passengers were all neutrals, incapable, I should say, of making + any impression whatever even under the most favorable circumstances. They + were probably women of the Provinces, and took their neutral tint from the + foggy land they inhabit, which is neither a republic nor a monarchy, but + merely a languid expectation of something undefined. My comrade was + disposed to resent the dearth of beauty, not only on this vessel but + throughout the Provinces generally,—a resentment that could be shown + to be unjust, for this was evidently not the season for beauty in these + lands, and it was probably a bad year for it. Nor should an American of + the United States be forward to set up his standard of taste in such + matters; neither in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, nor Cape Breton have I + heard the inhabitants complain of the plainness of the women. + </p> + <p> + On such a night two lovers might have been seen, but not on our boat, + leaning over the taffrail,—if that is the name of the fence around + the cabin-deck, looking at the moon in the western sky and the long track + of light in the steamer's wake with unutterable tenderness. For the + sea was perfectly smooth, so smooth as not to interfere with the most + perfect tenderness of feeling; and the vessel forged ahead under the stars + of the soft night with an adventurous freedom that almost concealed the + commercial nature of her mission. It seemed—this voyaging through + the sparkling water, under the scintillating heavens, this resolute + pushing into the opening splendors of night—like a pleasure trip. + “It is the witching hour of half past ten,” said my comrade, + “let us turn in.” (The reader will notice the consideration + for her feelings which has omitted the usual description of “a + sunset at sea.”) + </p> + <p> + When we looked from our state-room window in the morning we saw land. We + were passing within a stone's throw of a pale-green and rather + cold-looking coast, with few trees or other evidences of fertile soil. + Upon going out I found that we were in the harbor of Eastport. I found + also the usual tourist who had been up, shivering in his winter overcoat, + since four o'clock. He described to me the magnificent sunrise, and + the lifting of the fog from islands and capes, in language that made me + rejoice that he had seen it. He knew all about the harbor. That wooden + town at the foot of it, with the white spire, was Lubec; that wooden town + we were approaching was Eastport. The long island stretching clear across + the harbor was Campobello. We had been obliged to go round it, a dozen + miles out of our way, to get in, because the tide was in such a stage that + we could not enter by the Lubec Channel. We had been obliged to enter an + American harbor by British waters. + </p> + <p> + We approached Eastport with a great deal of curiosity and considerable + respect. It had been one of the cities of the imagination. Lying in the + far east of our great territory, a military and even a sort of naval + station, a conspicuous name on the map, prominent in boundary disputes and + in war operations, frequent in telegraphic dispatches,—we had + imagined it a solid city, with some Oriental, if decayed, peculiarity, a + port of trade and commerce. The tourist informed me that Eastport looked + very well at a distance, with the sun shining on its white houses. When we + landed at its wooden dock we saw that it consisted of a few piles of + lumber, a sprinkling of small cheap houses along a sidehill, a big hotel + with a flag-staff, and a very peaceful looking arsenal. It is doubtless a + very enterprising and deserving city, but its aspect that morning was that + of cheapness, newness, and stagnation, with no compensating + picturesqueness. White paint always looks chilly under a gray sky and on + naked hills. Even in hot August the place seemed bleak. The tourist, who + went ashore with a view to breakfast, said that it would be a good place + to stay in and go a-fishing and picnicking on Campobello Island. It has + another advantage for the wicked over other Maine towns. Owing to the + contiguity of British territory, the Maine Law is constantly evaded, in + spirit. The thirsty citizen or sailor has only to step into a boat and + give it a shove or two across the narrow stream that separates the United + States from Deer Island and land, when he can ruin his breath, and return + before he is missed. + </p> + <p> + This might be a cause of war with, England, but it is not the most serious + grievance here. The possession by the British of the island of Campobello + is an insufferable menace and impertinence. I write with the full + knowledge of what war is. We ought to instantly dislodge the British from + Campobello. It entirely shuts up and commands our harbor, one of our chief + Eastern harbors and war stations, where we keep a flag and cannon and some + soldiers, and where the customs officers look out for smuggling. There is + no way to get into our own harbor, except in favorable conditions of the + tide, without begging the courtesy of a passage through British waters. + Why is England permitted to stretch along down our coast in this + straggling and inquisitive manner? She might almost as well own Long + Island. It was impossible to prevent our cheeks mantling with shame as we + thought of this, and saw ourselves, free American citizens, land-locked by + alien soil in our own harbor. + </p> + <p> + We ought to have war, if war is necessary to possess Campobello and Deer + Islands; or else we ought to give the British Eastport. I am not sure but + the latter would be the better course. + </p> + <p> + With this war spirit in our hearts, we sailed away into the British waters + of the Bay of Fundy, but keeping all the morning so close to the New + Brunswick shore that we could see there was nothing on it; that is, + nothing that would make one wish to land. And yet the best part of going + to sea is keeping close to the shore, however tame it may be, if the + weather is pleasant. A pretty bay now and then, a rocky cove with scant + foliage, a lighthouse, a rude cabin, a level land, monotonous and without + noble forests,—this was New Brunswick as we coasted along it under + the most favorable circumstances. But we were advancing into the Bay of + Fundy; and my comrade, who had been brought up on its high tides in the + district school, was on the lookout for this phenomenon. The very name of + Fundy is stimulating to the imagination, amid the geographical wastes of + youth, and the young fancy reaches out to its tides with an enthusiasm + that is given only to Fingal's Cave and other pictorial wonders of + the text-book. I am sure the district schools would become what they are + not now, if the geographers would make the other parts of the globe as + attractive as the sonorous Bay of Fundy. The recitation about that is + always an easy one; there is a lusty pleasure in the mere shouting out of + the name, as if the speaking it were an innocent sort of swearing. From + the Bay of Fundy the rivers run uphill half the time, and the tides are + from forty to ninety feet high. For myself, I confess that, in my + imagination, I used to see the tides of this bay go stalking into the land + like gigantic waterspouts; or, when I was better instructed, I could see + them advancing on the coast like a solid wall of masonry eighty feet high. + “Where,” we said, as we came easily, and neither uphill nor + downhill, into the pleasant harbor of St. John,—-“where are + the tides of our youth?” + </p> + <p> + They were probably out, for when we came to the land we walked out upon + the foot of a sloping platform that ran into the water by the side of the + piles of the dock, which stood up naked and blackened high in the air. It + is not the purpose of this paper to describe St. John, nor to dwell upon + its picturesque situation. As one approaches it from the harbor it gives a + promise which its rather shabby streets, decaying houses, and steep plank + sidewalks do not keep. A city set on a hill, with flags flying from a roof + here and there, and a few shining spires and walls glistening in the sun, + always looks well at a distance. St. John is extravagant in the matter of + flagstaffs; almost every well-to-do citizen seems to have one on his + premises, as a sort of vent for his loyalty, I presume. It is a good + fashion, at any rate, and its more general adoption by us would add to the + gayety of our cities when we celebrate the birthday of the President. St. + John is built on a steep sidehill, from which it would be in danger of + sliding off, if its houses were not mortised into the solid rock. This + makes the house-foundations secure, but the labor of blasting out streets + is considerable. We note these things complacently as we toil in the sun + up the hill to the Victoria Hotel, which stands well up on the backbone of + the ridge, and from the upper windows of which we have a fine view of the + harbor, and of the hill opposite, above Carleton, where there is the + brokenly truncated ruin of a round stone tower. This tower was one of the + first things that caught our eyes as we entered the harbor. It gave an + antique picturesqueness to the landscape which it entirely wanted without + this. Round stone towers are not so common in this world that we can + afford to be indifferent to them. This is called a Martello tower, but I + could not learn who built it. I could not understand the indifference, + almost amounting to contempt, of the citizens of St. John in regard to + this their only piece of curious antiquity. “It is nothing but the + ruins of an old fort,” they said; “you can see it as well from + here as by going there.” It was, however, the one thing at St. John + I was determined to see. But we never got any nearer to it than the + ferry-landing. Want of time and the vis inertia of the place were against + us. And now, as I think of that tower and its perhaps mysterious origin, I + have a longing for it that the possession of nothing else in the Provinces + could satisfy. + </p> + <p> + But it must not be forgotten that we were on our way to Baddeck; that the + whole purpose of the journey was to reach Baddeck; that St. John was only + an incident in the trip; that any information about St. John, which is + here thrown in or mercifully withheld, is entirely gratuitous, and is not + taken into account in the price the reader pays for this volume. But if + any one wants to know what sort of a place St. John is, we can tell him: + it is the sort of a place that if you get into it after eight o'clock + on Wednesday morning, you cannot get out of it in any direction until + Thursday morning at eight o'clock, unless you want to smuggle goods + on the night train to Bangor. It was eleven o'clock Wednesday + forenoon when we arrived at St. John. The Intercolonial railway train had + gone to Shediac; it had gone also on its roundabout Moncton, Missaquat + River, Truro, Stewiack, and Shubenacadie way to Halifax; the boat had gone + to Digby Gut and Annapolis to catch the train that way for Halifax; the + boat had gone up the river to Frederick, the capital. We could go to none + of these places till the next day. We had no desire to go to Frederick, + but we made the fact that we were cut off from it an addition to our + injury. The people of St. John have this peculiarity: they never start to + go anywhere except early in the morning. + </p> + <p> + The reader to whom time is nothing does not yet appreciate the annoyance + of our situation. Our time was strictly limited. The active world is so + constituted that it could not spare us more than two weeks. We must reach + Baddeck Saturday night or never. To go home without seeing Baddeck was + simply intolerable. Had we not told everybody that we were going to + Baddeck? Now, if we had gone to Shediac in the train that left St. John + that morning, we should have taken the steamboat that would have carried + us to Port Hawkesbury, whence a stage connected with a steamboat on the + Bras d'Or, which (with all this profusion of relative pronouns) + would land us at Baddeck on Friday. How many times had we been over this + route on the map and the prospectus of travel! And now, what a delusion it + seemed! There would not another boat leave Shediac on this route till the + following Tuesday,—quite too late for our purpose. The reader sees + where we were, and will be prepared, if he has a map (and any feelings), + to appreciate the masterly strategy that followed. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0004" id="link2H_4_0004"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + II + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + During the pilgrimage everything does not suit the tastes of + the pilgrim.—TURKISH PROVERB. +</pre> + <p> + One seeking Baddeck, as a possession, would not like to be detained a + prisoner even in Eden,—much less in St. John, which is unlike Eden + in several important respects. The tree of knowledge does not grow there, + for one thing; at least St. John's ignorance of Baddeck amounts to a + feature. This encountered us everywhere. So dense was this ignorance, that + we, whose only knowledge of the desired place was obtained from the + prospectus of travel, came to regard ourselves as missionaries of + geographical information in this dark provincial city. + </p> + <p> + The clerk at the Victoria was not unwilling to help us on our journey, but + if he could have had his way, we would have gone to a place on Prince + Edward Island which used to be called Bedeque, but is now named + Summerside, in the hope of attracting summer visitors. As to Cape Breton, + he said the agent of the Intercolonial could tell us all about that, and + put us on the route. We repaired to the agent. The kindness of this person + dwells in our memory. He entered at once into our longings and + perplexities. He produced his maps and time-tables, and showed us clearly + what we already knew. The Port Hawkesbury steamboat from Shediac for that + week had gone, to be sure, but we could take one of another line which + would leave us at Pictou, whence we could take another across to Port + Hood, on Cape Breton. This looked fair, until we showed the agent that + there was no steamer to Port Hood. + </p> + <p> + “Ah, then you can go another way. You can take the Intercolonial + railway round to Pictou, catch the steamer for Port Hawkesbury, connect + with the steamer on the Bras d'Or, and you are all right.” + </p> + <p> + So it would seem. It was a most obliging agent; and it took us half an + hour to convince him that the train would reach Pictou half a day too late + for the steamer, that no other boat would leave Pictou for Cape Breton + that week, and that even if we could reach the Bras d'Or, we should + have no means of crossing it, except by swimming. The perplexed agent + thereupon referred us to Mr. Brown, a shipper on the wharf, who knew all + about Cape Breton, and could tell us exactly how to get there. It is + needless to say that a weight was taken off our minds. We pinned our faith + to Brown, and sought him in his warehouse. Brown was a prompt business + man, and a traveler, and would know every route and every conveyance from + Nova Scotia to Cape Breton. + </p> + <p> + Mr. Brown was not in. He never is in. His store is a rusty warehouse, low + and musty, piled full of boxes of soap and candles and dried fish, with a + little glass cubby in one corner, where a thin clerk sits at a high desk, + like a spider in his web. Perhaps he is a spider, for the cubby is + swarming with flies, whose hum is the only noise of traffic; the glass of + the window-sash has not been washed since it was put in apparently. The + clerk is not writing, and has evidently no other use for his steel pen + than spearing flies. Brown is out, says this young votary of commerce, and + will not be in till half past five. We remark upon the fact that nobody + ever is “in” these dingy warehouses, wonder when the business + is done, and go out into the street to wait for Brown. + </p> + <p> + In front of the store is a dray, its horse fast-asleep, and waiting for + the revival of commerce. The travelers note that the dray is of a peculiar + construction, the body being dropped down from the axles so as nearly to + touch the ground,—a great convenience in loading and unloading; they + propose to introduce it into their native land. The dray is probably + waiting for the tide to come in. In the deep slip lie a dozen helpless + vessels, coasting schooners mostly, tipped on their beam ends in the mud, + or propped up by side-pieces as if they were built for land as well as for + water. At the end of the wharf is a long English steamboat unloading + railroad iron, which will return to the Clyde full of Nova Scotia coal. We + sit down on the dock, where the fresh sea-breeze comes up the harbor, + watch the lazily swinging crane on the vessel, and meditate upon the + greatness of England and the peacefulness of the drowsy after noon. One's + feeling of rest is never complete—unless he can see somebody else at + work,—but the labor must be without haste, as it is in the + Provinces. + </p> + <p> + While waiting for Brown, we had leisure to explore the shops of King's + Street, and to climb up to the grand triumphal arch which stands on top of + the hill and guards the entrance to King's Square. + </p> + <p> + Of the shops for dry-goods I have nothing to say, for they tempt the + unwary American to violate the revenue laws of his country; but he may + safely go into the book-shops. The literature which is displayed in the + windows and on the counters has lost that freshness which it once may have + had, and is, in fact, if one must use the term, fly-specked, like the + cakes in the grocery windows on the side streets. There are old + illustrated newspapers from the States, cheap novels from the same, and + the flashy covers of the London and Edinburgh sixpenny editions. But this + is the dull season for literature, we reflect. + </p> + <p> + It will always be matter of regret to us that we climbed up to the + triumphal arch, which appeared so noble in the distance, with the trees + behind it. For when we reached it, we found that it was built of wood, + painted and sanded, and in a shocking state of decay; and the grove to + which it admitted us was only a scant assemblage of sickly locust-trees, + which seemed to be tired of battling with the unfavorable climate, and + had, in fact, already retired from the business of ornamental shade trees. + Adjoining this square is an ancient cemetery, the surface of which has + decayed in sympathy with the mouldering remains it covers, and is quite a + model in this respect. I have called this cemetery ancient, but it may not + be so, for its air of decay is thoroughly modern, and neglect, and not + years, appears to have made it the melancholy place of repose it is. + Whether it is the fashionable and favorite resort of the dead of the city + we did not learn, but there were some old men sitting in its damp shades, + and the nurses appeared to make it a rendezvous for their baby-carriages,—a + cheerful place to bring up children in, and to familiarize their infant + minds with the fleeting nature of provincial life. The park and + burying-ground, it is scarcely necessary to say, added greatly to the + feeling of repose which stole over us on this sunny day. And they made us + long for Brown and his information about Baddeck. + </p> + <p> + But Mr. Brown, when found, did not know as much as the agent. He had been + in Nova Scotia; he had never been in Cape Breton; but he presumed we would + find no difficulty in reaching Baddeck by so and so, and so and so. We + consumed valuable time in convincing Brown that his directions to us were + impracticable and valueless, and then he referred us to Mr. Cope. An + interview with Mr. Cope discouraged us; we found that we were imparting + everywhere more geographical information than we were receiving, and as + our own stock was small, we concluded that we should be unable to + enlighten all the inhabitants of St. John upon the subject of Baddeck + before we ran out. Returning to the hotel, and taking our destiny into our + own hands, we resolved upon a bold stroke. + </p> + <p> + But to return for a moment to Brown. I feel that Brown has been let off + too easily in the above paragraph. His conduct, to say the truth, was not + such as we expected of a man in whom we had put our entire faith for half + a day,—a long while to trust anybody in these times,—a man + whom we had exalted as an encyclopedia of information, and idealized in + every way. A man of wealth and liberal views and courtly manners we had + decided Brown would be. Perhaps he had a suburban villa on the heights + over-looking Kennebeckasis Bay, and, recognizing us as brothers in a + common interest in Baddeck, not-withstanding our different nationality, + would insist upon taking us to his house, to sip provincial tea with Mrs. + Brown and Victoria Louise, his daughter. When, therefore, Mr. Brown + whisked into his dingy office, and, but for our importunity, would have + paid no more attention to us than to up-country customers without credit, + and when he proved to be willingly, it seemed to us, ignorant of Baddeck, + our feelings received a great shock. It is incomprehensible that a man in + the position of Brown with so many boxes of soap and candles to dispose of—should + be so ignorant of a neighboring province. We had heard of the cordial + unity of the Provinces in the New Dominion. Heaven help it, if it depends + upon such fellows as Brown! Of course, his directing us to Cope was a mere + fetch. For as we have intimated, it would have taken us longer to have + given Cope an idea of Baddeck, than it did to enlighten Brown. But we had + no bitter feelings about Cope, for we never had reposed confidence in him. + </p> + <p> + Our plan of campaign was briefly this: To take the steamboat at eight o'clock, + Thursday morning, for Digby Gut and Annapolis; thence to go by rail + through the poetical Acadia down to Halifax; to turn north and east by + rail from Halifax to New Glasgow, and from thence to push on by stage to + the Gut of Canso. This would carry us over the entire length of Nova + Scotia, and, with good luck, land us on Cape Breton Island Saturday + morning. When we should set foot on that island, we trusted that we should + be able to make our way to Baddeck, by walking, swimming, or riding, + whichever sort of locomotion should be most popular in that province. Our + imaginations were kindled by reading that the “most superb line of + stages on the continent” ran from New Glasgow to the Gut of Canso. + If the reader perfectly understands this programme, he has the advantage + of the two travelers at the time they made it. + </p> + <p> + It was a gray morning when we embarked from St. John, and in fact a little + drizzle of rain veiled the Martello tower, and checked, like the + cross-strokes of a line engraving, the hill on which it stands. The + miscellaneous shining of such a harbor appears best in a golden haze, or + in the mist of a morning like this. We had expected days of fog in this + region; but the fog seemed to have gone out with the high tides of the + geography. And it is simple justice to these possessions of her Majesty, + to say that in our two weeks' acquaintance of them they enjoyed as + delicious weather as ever falls on sea and shore, with the exception of + this day when we crossed the Bay of Fundy. And this day was only one of + those cool interludes of low color, which an artist would be thankful to + introduce among a group of brilliant pictures. Such a day rests the + traveler, who is overstimulated by shifting scenes played upon by the + dazzling sun. So the cool gray clouds spread a grateful umbrella above us + as we ran across the Bay of Fundy, sighted the headlands of the Gut of + Digby, and entered into the Annapolis Basin, and into the region of a + romantic history. The white houses of Digby, scattered over the downs like + a flock of washed sheep, had a somewhat chilly aspect, it is true, and + made us long for the sun on them. But as I think of it now, I prefer to + have the town and the pretty hillsides that stand about the basin in the + light we saw them; and especially do I like to recall the high wooden pier + at Digby, deserted by the tide and so blown by the wind that the + passengers who came out on it, with their tossing drapery, brought to mind + the windy Dutch harbors that Backhuysen painted. We landed a priest here, + and it was a pleasure to see him as he walked along the high pier, his + broad hat flapping, and the wind blowing his long skirts away from his + ecclesiastical legs. + </p> + <p> + It was one of the coincidences of life, for which no one can account, that + when we descended upon these coasts, the Governor-General of the Dominion + was abroad in his Provinces. There was an air of expectation of him + everywhere, and of preparation for his coming; his lordship was the + subject of conversation on the Digby boat, his movements were chronicled + in the newspapers, and the gracious bearing of the Governor and Lady + Dufferin at the civic receptions, balls, and picnics was recorded with + loyal satisfaction; even a literary flavor was given to the provincial + journals by quotations from his lordship's condescension to letters + in the “High Latitudes.” It was not without pain, however, + that even in this un-American region we discovered the old Adam of + journalism in the disposition of the newspapers of St. John toward sarcasm + touching the well-meant attempts to entertain the Governor and his lady in + the provincial town of Halifax,—a disposition to turn, in short, + upon the demonstrations of loyal worship the faint light of ridicule. + There were those upon the boat who were journeying to Halifax to take part + in the civic ball about to be given to their excellencies, and as we were + going in the same direction, we shared in the feeling of satisfaction + which proximity to the Great often excites. + </p> + <p> + We had other if not deeper causes of satisfaction. We were sailing along + the gracefully moulded and tree-covered hills of the Annapolis Basin, and + up the mildly picturesque river of that name, and we were about to enter + what the provincials all enthusiastically call the Garden of Nova Scotia. + This favored vale, skirted by low ranges of hills on either hand, and + watered most of the way by the Annapolis River, extends from the mouth of + the latter to the town of Windsor on the river Avon. We expected to see + something like the fertile valleys of the Connecticut or the Mohawk. We + should also pass through those meadows on the Basin of Minas which Mr. + Longfellow has made more sadly poetical than any other spot on the Western + Continent. It is,—this valley of the Annapolis,—in the belief + of provincials, the most beautiful and blooming place in the world, with a + soil and climate kind to the husbandman; a land of fair meadows, orchards, + and vines. It was doubtless our own fault that this land did not look to + us like a garden, as it does to the inhabitants of Nova Scotia; and it was + not until we had traveled over the rest of the country, that we saw the + appropriateness of the designation. The explanation is, that not so much + is required of a garden here as in some other parts of the world. + Excellent apples, none finer, are exported from this valley to England, + and the quality of the potatoes is said to ap-proach an ideal perfection + here. I should think that oats would ripen well also in a good year, and + grass, for those who care for it, may be satisfactory. I should judge that + the other products of this garden are fish and building-stone. But we + anticipate. And have we forgotten the “murmuring pines and the + hemlocks”? Nobody, I suppose, ever travels here without believing + that he sees these trees of the imagination, so forcibly has the poet + projected them upon the uni-versal consciousness. But we were unable to + see them, on this route. + </p> + <p> + It would be a brutal thing for us to take seats in the railway train at + Annapolis, and leave the ancient town, with its modern houses and remains + of old fortifications, without a thought of the romantic history which + saturates the region. There is not much in the smart, new restaurant, + where a tidy waiting-maid skillfully depreciates our currency in exchange + for bread and cheese and ale, to recall the early drama of the French + discovery and settlement. For it is to the French that we owe the poetical + interest that still invests, like a garment, all these islands and bays, + just as it is to the Spaniards that we owe the romance of the Florida + coast. Every spot on this continent that either of these races has touched + has a color that is wanting in the prosaic settlements of the English. + </p> + <p> + Without the historical light of French adventure upon this town and basin + of Annapolis, or Port Royal, as they were first named, I confess that I + should have no longing to stay here for a week; notwithstanding the + guide-book distinctly says that this harbor has “a striking + resemblance to the beautiful Bay of Naples.” I am not offended at + this remark, for it is the one always made about a harbor, and I am sure + the passing traveler can stand it, if the Bay of Naples can. And yet this + tranquil basin must have seemed a haven of peace to the first discoverers. + </p> + <p> + It was on a lovely summer day in 1604, that the Sieur de Monts and his + comrades, Champlain and the Baron de Poutrincourt, beating about the + shores of Nova Scotia, were invited by the rocky gateway of the Port Royal + Basin. They entered the small inlet, says Mr. Parkman, when suddenly the + narrow strait dilated into a broad and tranquil basin, compassed with + sunny hills, wrapped with woodland verdure and alive with waterfalls. + Poutrincourt was delighted with the scene, and would fain remove thither + from France with his family. Since Poutrincourt's day, the hills + have been somewhat denuded of trees, and the waterfalls are not now in + sight; at least, not under such a gray sky as we saw. + </p> + <p> + The reader who once begins to look into the French occupancy of Acadia is + in danger of getting into a sentimental vein, and sentiment is the one + thing to be shunned in these days. Yet I cannot but stay, though the train + should leave us, to pay my respectful homage to one of the most heroic of + women, whose name recalls the most romantic incident in the history of + this region. Out of this past there rises no figure so captivating to the + imagination as that of Madame de la Tour. And it is noticeable that woman + has a curious habit of coming to the front in critical moments of history, + and performing some exploit that eclipses in brilliancy all the deeds of + contemporary men; and the exploit usually ends in a pathetic tragedy, that + fixes it forever in the sympathy of the world. I need not copy out of the + pages of De Charlevoix the well-known story of Madame de la Tour; I only + wish he had told us more about her. It is here at Port Royal that we first + see her with her husband. Charles de St. Etienne, the Chevalier de la + Tour,—there is a world of romance in these mere names,—was a + Huguenot nobleman who had a grant of Port Royal and of La Hive, from Louis + XIII. He ceded La Hive to Razilli, the governor-in-chief of the provinces, + who took a fancy to it, for a residence. He was living peacefully at Port + Royal in 1647, when the Chevalier d'Aunay Charnise, having succeeded + his brother Razilli at La Hive, tired of that place and removed to Port + Royal. De Charnise was a Catholic; the difference in religion might not + have produced any unpleasantness, but the two noblemen could not agree in + dividing the profits of the peltry trade,—each being covetous, if we + may so express it, of the hide of the savage continent, and determined to + take it off for himself. At any rate, disagreement arose, and De la Tour + moved over to the St. John, of which region his father had enjoyed a grant + from Charles I. of England,—whose sad fate it is not necessary now + to recall to the reader's mind,—and built a fort at the mouth + of the river. But the differences of the two ambitious Frenchmen could not + be composed. De la Tour obtained aid from Governor Winthrop at Boston, + thus verifying the Catholic prediction that the Huguenots would side with + the enemies of France on occasion. De Charnise received orders from Louis + to arrest De la Tour; but a little preliminary to the arrest was the + possession of the fort of St. John, and this he could not obtain, although + be sent all his force against it. Taking advantage, however, of the + absence of De la Tour, who had a habit of roving about, he one day + besieged St. John. Madame de la Tour headed the little handful of men in + the fort, and made such a gallant resistance that De Charnise was obliged + to draw off his fleet with the loss of thirty-three men,—a very + serious loss, when the supply of men was as distant as France. But De + Charnise would not be balked by a woman; he attacked again; and this time, + one of the garrison, a Swiss, betrayed the fort, and let the invaders into + the walls by an unguarded entrance. It was Easter morning when this + misfortune occurred, but the peaceful influence of the day did not avail. + When Madame saw that she was betrayed, her spirits did not quail; she took + refuge with her little band in a detached part of the fort, and there made + such a bold show of defense, that De Charnise was obliged to agree to the + terms of her surrender, which she dictated. No sooner had this + unchivalrous fellow obtained possession of the fort and of this Historic + Woman, than, overcome with a false shame that he had made terms with a + woman, he violated his noble word, and condemned to death all the men, + except one, who was spared on condition that he should be the executioner + of the others. And the poltroon compelled the brave woman to witness the + execution, with the added indignity of a rope round her neck,—or as + De Charlevoix much more neatly expresses it, “obligea sa prisonniere + d'assister a l'execution, la corde au cou.” + </p> + <p> + To the shock of this horror the womanly spirit of Madame de la Tour + succumbed; she fell into a decline and died soon after. De la Tour, + himself an exile from his province, wandered about the New World in his + customary pursuit of peltry. He was seen at Quebec for two years. While + there, he heard of the death of De Charnise, and straightway repaired to + St. John. The widow of his late enemy received him graciously, and he + entered into possession of the estate of the late occupant with the + consent of all the heirs. To remove all roots of bitterness, De la Tour + married Madame de Charnise, and history does not record any ill of either + of them. I trust they had the grace to plant a sweetbrier on the grave of + the noble woman to whose faithfulness and courage they owe their rescue + from obscurity. At least the parties to this singular union must have + agreed to ignore the lamented existence of the Chevalier d'Aunay. + </p> + <p> + With the Chevalier de la Tour, at any rate, it all went well thereafter. + When Cromwell drove the French from Acadia, he granted great territorial + rights to De la Tour, which that thrifty adventurer sold out to one of his + co-grantees for L16,000; and he no doubt invested the money in peltry for + the London market. + </p> + <p> + As we leave the station at Annapolis, we are obliged to put Madame de la + Tour out of our minds to make room for another woman whose name, and we + might say presence, fills all the valley before us. So it is that woman + continues to reign, where she has once got a foothold, long after her dear + frame has become dust. Evangeline, who is as real a personage as Queen + Esther, must have been a different woman from Madame de la Tour. If the + latter had lived at Grand Pre, she would, I trust, have made it hot for + the brutal English who drove the Acadians out of their salt-marsh + paradise, and have died in her heroic shoes rather than float off into + poetry. But if it should come to the question of marrying the De la Tour + or the Evangeline, I think no man who was not engaged in the peltry trade + would hesitate which to choose. At any rate, the women who love have more + influence in the world than the women who fight, and so it happens that + the sentimental traveler who passes through Port Royal without a tear for + Madame de la Tour, begins to be in a glow of tender longing and regret for + Evangeline as soon as he enters the valley of the Annapolis River. For + myself, I expected to see written over the railway crossings the legend, + </p> + <p> + “Look out for Evangeline while the bell rings.” + </p> + <p> + When one rides into a region of romance he does not much notice his speed + or his carriage; but I am obliged to say that we were not hurried up the + valley, and that the cars were not too luxurious for the plain people, + priests, clergymen, and belles of the region, who rode in them. Evidently + the latest fashions had not arrived in the Provinces, and we had an + opportunity of studying anew those that had long passed away in the + States, and of remarking how inappropriate a fashion is when it has ceased + to be the fashion. + </p> + <p> + The river becomes small shortly after we leave Annapolis and before we + reach Paradise. At this station of happy appellation we looked for the + satirist who named it, but he has probably sold out and removed. If the + effect of wit is produced by the sudden recognition of a remote + resemblance, there was nothing witty in the naming of this station. + Indeed, we looked in vain for the “garden” appearance of the + valley. There was nothing generous in the small meadows or the thin + orchards; and if large trees ever grew on the bordering hills, they have + given place to rather stunted evergreens; the scraggy firs and balsams, in + fact, possess Nova Scotia generally as we saw it,—and there is + nothing more uninteresting and wearisome than large tracts of these woods. + We are bound to believe that Nova Scotia has somewhere, or had, great + pines and hemlocks that murmur, but we were not blessed with the sight of + them. Slightly picturesque this valley is with its winding river and high + hills guarding it, and perhaps a person would enjoy a foot-tramp down it; + but, I think he would find little peculiar or interesting after he left + the neighborhood of the Basin of Minas. + </p> + <p> + Before we reached Wolfville we came in sight of this basin and some of the + estuaries and streams that run into it; that is, when the tide goes out; + but they are only muddy ditches half the time. The Acadia College was + pointed out to us at Wolfville by a person who said that it is a feeble + institution, a remark we were sorry to hear of a place described as + “one of the foremost seats of learning in the Province.” But + our regret was at once extinguished by the announcement that the next + station was Grand Pre! We were within three miles of the most poetic place + in North America. + </p> + <p> + There was on the train a young man from Boston, who said that he was born + in Grand Pre. It seemed impossible that we should actually be near a + person so felicitously born. He had a justifiable pride in the fact, as + well as in the bride by his side, whom he was taking to see for the first + time his old home. His local information, imparted to her, overflowed upon + us; and when he found that we had read “Evangeline,” his + delight in making us acquainted with the scene of that poem was pleasant + to see. The village of Grand Pre is a mile from the station; and perhaps + the reader would like to know exactly what the traveler, hastening on to + Baddeck, can see of the famous locality. + </p> + <p> + We looked over a well-grassed meadow, seamed here and there by beds of + streams left bare by the receding tide, to a gentle swell in the ground + upon which is a not heavy forest growth. The trees partly conceal the + street of Grand Pre, which is only a road bordered by common houses. + Beyond is the Basin of Minas, with its sedgy shore, its dreary flats; and + beyond that projects a bold headland, standing perpendicular against the + sky. This is the Cape Blomidon, and it gives a certain dignity to the + picture. + </p> + <p> + The old Normandy picturesqueness has departed from the village of Grand + Pre. Yankee settlers, we were told, possess it now, and there are no + descendants of the French Acadians in this valley. I believe that Mr. + Cozzens found some of them in humble circumstances in a village on the + other coast, not far from Halifax, and it is there, probably, that the + </p> + <p> + “Maidens still wear their Norman caps and their kirtles of homespun, + And by the evening fire repeat Evangeline's story, While from its + rocky caverns the deep-voiced, neighboring ocean Speaks, and in accents + disconsolate answers the wail of the forest.” + </p> + <p> + At any rate, there is nothing here now except a faint tradition of the + French Acadians; and the sentimental traveler who laments that they were + driven out, and not left behind their dikes to rear their flocks, and + cultivate the rural virtues, and live in the simplicity of ignorance, will + temper his sadness by the reflection that it is to the expulsion he owes + “Evangeline” and the luxury of his romantic grief. So that if + the traveler is honest, and examines his own soul faithfully, he will not + know what state of mind to cherish as he passes through this region of + sorrow. + </p> + <p> + Our eyes lingered as long as possible and with all eagerness upon these + meadows and marshes which the poet has made immortal, and we regretted + that inexorable Baddeck would not permit us to be pilgrims for a day in + this Acadian land. Just as I was losing sight of the skirt of trees at + Grand Pre, a gentleman in the dress of a rural clergyman left his seat, + and complimented me with this remark: “I perceive, sir, that you are + fond of reading.” + </p> + <p> + I could not but feel flattered by this unexpected discovery of my nature, + which was no doubt due to the fact that I held in my hand one of the works + of Charles Reade on social science, called “Love me Little, Love me + Long,” and I said, “Of some kinds, I am.” + </p> + <p> + “Did you ever see a work called 'Evangeline'?” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes, I have frequently seen it.” + </p> + <p> + “You may remember,” continued this Mass of Information, + “that there is an allusion in it to Grand Pre. That is the place, + sir!” + </p> + <p> + “Oh, indeed, is that the place? Thank you.” + </p> + <p> + “And that mountain yonder is Cape Blomidon, blow me down, you know.” + </p> + <p> + And under cover of this pun, the amiable clergyman retired, unconscious, I + presume, of his prosaic effect upon the atmosphere of the region. With + this intrusion of the commonplace, I suffered an eclipse of faith as to + Evangeline, and was not sorry to have my attention taken up by the river + Avon, along the banks of which we were running about this time. It is + really a broad arm of the basin, extending up to Windsor, and beyond in a + small stream, and would have been a charming river if there had been a + drop of water in it. I never knew before how much water adds to a river. + Its slimy bottom was quite a ghastly spectacle, an ugly gash in the land + that nothing could heal but the friendly returning tide. I should think it + would be confusing to dwell by a river that runs first one way and then + the other, and then vanishes altogether. + </p> + <p> + All the streams about this basin are famous for their salmon and shad, and + the season for these fish was not yet passed. There seems to be an + untraced affinity between the shad and the strawberry; they appear and + disappear in a region simultaneously. When we reached Cape Breton, we were + a day or two late for both. It is impossible not to feel a little contempt + for people who do not have these luxuries till July and August; but I + suppose we are in turn despised by the Southerners because we do not have + them till May and June. So, a great part of the enjoyment of life is in + the knowledge that there are people living in a worse place than that you + inhabit. + </p> + <p> + Windsor, a most respectable old town round which the railroad sweeps, with + its iron bridge, conspicuous King's College, and handsome church + spire, is a great place for plaster and limestone, and would be a good + location for a person interested in these substances. Indeed, if a man can + live on rocks, like a goat, he may settle anywhere between Windsor and + Halifax. It is one of the most sterile regions in the Province. With the + exception of a wild pond or two, we saw nothing but rocks and stunted + firs, for forty-five miles, a monotony unrelieved by one picturesque + feature. Then we longed for the “Garden of Nova Scotia,” and + understood what is meant by the name. + </p> + <p> + A member of the Ottawa government, who was on his way to the + Governor-General's ball at Halifax, informed us that this country is + rich in minerals, in iron especially, and he pointed out spots where gold + had been washed out. But we do not covet it. And we were not sorry to + learn from this gentleman, that since the formation of the Dominion, there + is less and less desire in the Provinces for annexation to the United + States. One of the chief pleasures in traveling in Nova Scotia now is in + the constant reflection that you are in a foreign country; and annexation + would take that away. + </p> + <p> + It is nearly dark when we reach the head of the Bedford Basin. The noble + harbor of Halifax narrows to a deep inlet for three miles along the rocky + slope on which the city stands, and then suddenly expands into this + beautiful sheet of water. We ran along its bank for five miles, cheered + occasionally by a twinkling light on the shore, and then came to a stop at + the shabby terminus, three miles out of town. This basin is almost large + enough to float the navy of Great Britain, and it could lie here, with the + narrows fortified, secure from the attacks of the American navy, hovering + outside in the fog. With these patriotic thoughts we enter the town. It is + not the fault of the railroad, but its present inability to climb a rocky + hill, that it does not run into the city. The suburbs are not impressive + in the night, but they look better then than they do in the daytime; and + the same might be said of the city itself. Probably there is not anywhere + a more rusty, forlorn town, and this in spite of its magnificent + situation. + </p> + <p> + It is a gala-night when we rattle down the rough streets, and have pointed + out to us the somber government buildings. The Halifax Club House is a + blaze of light, for the Governor-General is being received there, and + workmen are still busy decorating the Provincial Building for the great + ball. The city is indeed pervaded by his lordship, and we regret that we + cannot see it in its normal condition of quiet; the hotels are full, and + it is impossible to escape the festive feeling that is abroad. It ill + accords with our desires, as tranquil travelers, to be plunged into such a + vortex of slow dissipation. These people take their pleasures more gravely + than we do, and probably will last the longer for their moderation. Having + ascertained that we can get no more information about Baddeck here than in + St. John, we go to bed early, for we are to depart from this fascinating + place at six o'clock. + </p> + <p> + If any one objects that we are not competent to pass judgment on the city + of Halifax by sleeping there one night, I beg leave to plead the usual + custom of travelers,—where would be our books of travel, if more was + expected than a night in a place?—and to state a few facts. The + first is, that I saw the whole of Halifax. If I were inclined, I could + describe it building by building. Cannot one see it all from the citadel + hill, and by walking down by the horticultural garden and the Roman + Catholic cemetery? and did not I climb that hill through the most + dilapidated rows of brown houses, and stand on the greensward of the + fortress at five o'clock in the morning, and see the whole city, and + the British navy riding at anchor, and the fog coming in from the Atlantic + Ocean? Let the reader go to! and if he would know more of Halifax, go + there. We felt that if we remained there through the day, it would be a + day of idleness and sadness. I could draw a picture of Halifax. I could + relate its century of history; I could write about its free-school system, + and its many noble charities. But the reader always skips such things. He + hates information; and he himself would not stay in this dull garrison + town any longer than he was obliged to. + </p> + <p> + There was to be a military display that day in honor of the Governor. + </p> + <p> + “Why,” I asked the bright and light-minded colored boy who + sold papers on the morning train, “don't you stay in the city + and see it?” + </p> + <p> + “Pho,” said he, with contempt, “I'm sick of + 'em. Halifax is played out, and I'm going to quit it.” + </p> + <p> + The withdrawal of this lively trader will be a blow to the enterprise of + the place. + </p> + <p> + When I returned to the hotel for breakfast—which was exactly like + the supper, and consisted mainly of green tea and dry toast—there + was a commotion among the waiters and the hack-drivers over a nervous + little old man, who was in haste to depart for the morning train. He was a + specimen of provincial antiquity such as could not be seen elsewhere. His + costume was of the oddest: a long-waisted coat reaching nearly to his + heels, short trousers, a flowered silk vest, and a napless hat. He carried + his baggage tied up in mealbags, and his attention was divided between + that and two buxom daughters, who were evidently enjoying their first + taste of city life. The little old man, who was not unlike a petrified + Frenchman of the last century, had risen before daylight, roused up his + daughters, and had them down on the sidewalk by four o'clock, + waiting for hack, or horse-car, or something to take them to the station. + That he might be a man of some importance at home was evident, but he had + lost his head in the bustle of this great town, and was at the mercy of + all advisers, none of whom could understand his mongrel language. As we + came out to take the horse-car, he saw his helpless daughters driven off + in one hack, while he was raving among his meal-bags on the sidewalk. + Afterwards we saw him at the station, flying about in the greatest + excitement, asking everybody about the train; and at last he found his way + into the private office of the ticket-seller. “Get out of here!” + roared that official. The old man persisted that he wanted a ticket. + “Go round to the window; clear out!” In a very flustered state + he was hustled out of the room. When he came to the window and made known + his destination, he was refused tickets, because his train did not start + for two hours yet! + </p> + <p> + This mercurial old gentleman only appears in these records because he was + the only person we saw in this Province who was in a hurry to do anything, + or to go anywhere. + </p> + <p> + We cannot leave Halifax without remarking that it is a city of great + private virtue, and that its banks are sound. The appearance of its + paper-money is not, however, inviting. We of the United States lead the + world in beautiful paper-money; and when I exchanged my crisp, handsome + greenbacks for the dirty, flimsy, ill-executed notes of the Dominion, at a + dead loss of value, I could not be reconciled to the transaction. I + sarcastically called the stuff I received “Confederate money;” + but probably no one was wounded by the severity; for perhaps no one knew + what a resemblance in badness there is between the “Confederate” + notes of our civil war and the notes of the Dominion; and, besides, the + Confederacy was too popular in the Provinces for the name to be a reproach + to them. I wish I had thought of something more insulting to say. + </p> + <p> + By noon on Friday we came to New Glasgow, having passed through a country + where wealth is to be won by hard digging if it is won at all; through + Truro, at the head of the Cobequid Bay, a place exhibiting more thrift + than any we have seen. A pleasant enough country, on the whole, is this + which the road runs through up the Salmon and down the East River. New + Glasgow is not many miles from Pictou, on the great Cumberland Strait; the + inhabitants build vessels, and strangers drive out from here to see the + neighboring coal mines. Here we were to dine and take the stage for a ride + of eighty miles to the Gut of Canso. + </p> + <p> + The hotel at New Glasgow we can commend as one of the most unwholesome in + the Province; but it is unnecessary to emphasize its condition, for if the + traveler is in search of dirty hotels, he will scarcely go amiss anywhere + in these regions. There seems to be a fashion in diet which endures. The + early travelers as well as the later in these Atlantic provinces all note + the prevalence of dry, limp toast and green tea; they are the staples of + all the meals; though authorities differ in regard to the third element + for discouraging hunger: it is sometimes boiled salt-fish and sometimes it + is ham. Toast was probably an inspiration of the first woman of this part + of the New World, who served it hot; but it has become now a tradition + blindly followed, without regard to temperature; and the custom speaks + volumes for the non-inventiveness of woman. At the inn in New Glasgow + those who choose dine in their shirt-sleeves, and those skilled in the + ways of this table get all they want in seven minutes. A man who + understands the use of edged tools can get along twice as fast with a + knife and fork as he can with a fork alone. + </p> + <p> + But the stage is at the door; the coach and four horses answer the + advertisement of being “second to none on the continent.” We + mount to the seat with the driver. The sun is bright; the wind is in the + southwest; the leaders are impatient to go; the start for the long ride is + propitious. + </p> + <p> + But on the back seat in the coach is the inevitable woman, young and + sickly, with the baby in her arms. The woman has paid her fare through to + Guysborough, and holds her ticket. It turns out, however, that she wants + to go to the district of Guysborough, to St. Mary's Cross Roads, + somewhere in it, and not to the village of Guysborough, which is away down + on Chedabucto Bay. (The reader will notice this geographical familiarity.) + And this stage does not go in the direction of St. Mary's. She will + not get out, she will not surrender her ticket, nor pay her fare again. + Why should she? And the stage proprietor, the stage-driver, and the + hostler mull over the problem, and sit down on the woman's hair + trunk in front of the tavern to reason with her. The baby joins its voice + from the coach window in the clamor of the discussion. The baby prevails. + The stage company comes to a compromise, the woman dismounts, and we are + off, away from the white houses, over the sandy road, out upon a hilly and + not cheerful country. And the driver begins to tell us stories of winter + hardships, drifted highways, a land buried in snow, and great peril to men + and cattle. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0005" id="link2H_4_0005"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + III + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “It was then summer, and the weather very fine; so pleased + was I with the country, in which I had never travelled + before, that my delight proved equal to my wonder.” + — BENVENUTO CELLINI. +</pre> + <p> + There are few pleasures in life equal to that of riding on the box-seat of + a stagecoach, through a country unknown to you and hearing the driver talk + about his horses. We made the intimate acquaintance of twelve horses on + that day's ride, and learned the peculiar disposition and traits of + each one of them, their ambition of display, their sensitiveness to praise + or blame, their faithfulness, their playfulness, the readiness with which + they yielded to kind treatment, their daintiness about food and lodging. + </p> + <p> + May I never forget the spirited little jade, the off-leader in the third + stage, the petted belle of the route, the nervous, coquettish, mincing + mare of Marshy Hope. A spoiled beauty she was; you could see that as she + took the road with dancing step, tossing her pretty head about, and + conscious of her shining black coat and her tail done up “in any + simple knot,”—like the back hair of Shelley's Beatrice + Cenci. How she ambled and sidled and plumed herself, and now and then let + fly her little heels high in air in mere excess of larkish feeling. + </p> + <p> + “So! girl; so! Kitty,” murmurs the driver in the softest tones + of admiration; “she don't mean anything by it, she's + just like a kitten.” + </p> + <p> + But the heels keep flying above the traces, and by and by the driver is + obliged to “speak hash” to the beauty. The reproof of the + displeased tone is evidently felt, for she settles at once to her work, + showing perhaps a little impatience, jerking her head up and down, and + protesting by her nimble movements against the more deliberate trot of her + companion. I believe that a blow from the cruel lash would have broken her + heart; or else it would have made a little fiend of the spirited creature. + The lash is hardly ever good for the sex. + </p> + <p> + For thirteen years, winter and summer, this coachman had driven this + monotonous, uninteresting route, with always the same sandy hills, scrubby + firs, occasional cabins, in sight. What a time to nurse his thought and + feed on his heart! How deliberately he can turn things over in his brain! + What a system of philosophy he might evolve out of his consciousness! One + would think so. But, in fact, the stagebox is no place for thinking. To + handle twelve horses every day, to keep each to its proper work, + stimulating the lazy and restraining the free, humoring each disposition, + so that the greatest amount of work shall be obtained with the least + friction, making each trip on time, and so as to leave each horse in as + good condition at the close as at the start, taking advantage of the road, + refreshing the team by an occasional spurt of speed,—all these + things require constant attention; and if the driver was composing an + epic, the coach might go into the ditch, or, if no accident happened, the + horses would be worn out in a month, except for the driver's care. + </p> + <p> + I conclude that the most delicate and important occupation in life is + stage-driving. It would be easier to “run” the Treasury + Department of the United States than a four-in-hand. I have a sense of the + unimportance of everything else in comparison with this business in hand. + And I think the driver shares that feeling. He is the autocrat of the + situation. He is lord of all the humble passengers, and they feel their + inferiority. They may have knowledge and skill in some things, but they + are of no use here. At all the stables the driver is king; all the people + on the route are deferential to him; they are happy if he will crack a + joke with them, and take it as a favor if he gives them better than they + send. And it is his joke that always raises the laugh, regardless of its + quality. + </p> + <p> + We carry the royal mail, and as we go along drop little sealed canvas bags + at way offices. The bags would not hold more than three pints of meal, and + I can see that there is nothing in them. Yet somebody along here must be + expecting a letter, or they would not keep up the mail facilities. At + French River we change horses. There is a mill here, and there are half a + dozen houses, and a cranky bridge, which the driver thinks will not tumble + down this trip. The settlement may have seen better days, and will + probably see worse. + </p> + <p> + I preferred to cross the long, shaky wooden bridge on foot, leaving the + inside passengers to take the risk, and get the worth of their money; and + while the horses were being put to, I walked on over the hill. And here I + encountered a veritable foot-pad, with a club in his hand and a bundle on + his shoulder, coming down the dusty road, with the wild-eyed aspect of one + who travels into a far country in search of adventure. He seemed to be of + a cheerful and sociable turn, and desired that I should linger and + converse with him. But he was more meagerly supplied with the media of + conversation than any person I ever met. His opening address was in a + tongue that failed to convey to me the least idea. I replied in such + language as I had with me, but it seemed to be equally lost upon him. We + then fell back upon gestures and ejaculations, and by these I learned that + he was a native of Cape Breton, but not an aborigine. By signs he asked me + where I came from, and where I was going; and he was so much pleased with + my destination, that he desired to know my name; and this I told him with + all the injunction of secrecy I could convey; but he could no more + pronounce it than I could speak his name. It occurred to me that perhaps + he spoke a French patois, and I asked him; but he only shook his head. He + would own neither to German nor Irish. The happy thought came to me of + inquiring if he knew English. But he shook his head again, and said, + </p> + <p> + “No English, plenty garlic.” + </p> + <p> + This was entirely incomprehensible, for I knew that garlic is not a + language, but a smell. But when he had repeated the word several times, I + found that he meant Gaelic; and when we had come to this understanding, we + cordially shook hands and willingly parted. One seldom encounters a wilder + or more good-natured savage than this stalwart wanderer. And meeting him + raised my hopes of Cape Breton. + </p> + <p> + We change horses again, for the last stage, at Marshy Hope. As we turn + down the hill into this place of the mournful name, we dash past a + procession of five country wagons, which makes way for us: everything + makes way for us; even death itself turns out for the stage with four + horses. The second wagon carries a long box, which reveals to us the + mournful errand of the caravan. We drive into the stable, and get down + while the fresh horses are put to. The company's stables are all + alike, and open at each end with great doors. The stable is the best house + in the place; there are three or four houses besides, and one of them is + white, and has vines growing over the front door, and hollyhocks by the + front gate. Three or four women, and as many barelegged girls, have come + out to look at the procession, and we lounge towards the group. + </p> + <p> + “It had a winder in the top of it, and silver handles,” says + one. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I declare; and you could 'a looked right in?” + </p> + <p> + “If I'd been a mind to.” + </p> + <p> + “Who has died?” I ask. + </p> + <p> + “It's old woman Larue; she lived on Gilead Hill, mostly alone. + It's better for her.” + </p> + <p> + “Had she any friends?” + </p> + <p> + “One darter. They're takin' her over Eden way, to bury + her where she come from.” + </p> + <p> + “Was she a good woman?” The traveler is naturally curious to + know what sort of people die in Nova Scotia. + </p> + <p> + “Well, good enough. Both her husbands is dead.” + </p> + <p> + The gossips continued talking of the burying. Poor old woman Larue! It was + mournful enough to encounter you for the only time in this world in this + plight, and to have this glimpse of your wretched life on lonesome Gilead + Hill. What pleasure, I wonder, had she in her life, and what pleasure have + any of these hard-favored women in this doleful region? It is pitiful to + think of it. Doubtless, however, the region isn't doleful, and the + sentimental traveler would not have felt it so if he had not encountered + this funereal flitting. + </p> + <p> + But the horses are in. We mount to our places; the big doors swing open. + </p> + <p> + “Stand away,” cries the driver. + </p> + <p> + The hostler lets go Kitty's bridle, the horses plunge forward, and + we are off at a gallop, taking the opposite direction from that pursued by + old woman Larue. + </p> + <p> + This last stage is eleven miles, through a pleasanter country, and we make + it in a trifle over an hour, going at an exhilarating gait, that raises + our spirits out of the Marshy Hope level. The perfection of travel is ten + miles an hour, on top of a stagecoach; it is greater speed than forty by + rail. It nurses one's pride to sit aloft, and rattle past the + farmhouses, and give our dust to the cringing foot tramps. There is + something royal in the swaying of the coach body, and an excitement in the + patter of the horses' hoofs. And what an honor it must be to guide + such a machine through a region of rustic admiration! + </p> + <p> + The sun has set when we come thundering down into the pretty Catholic + village of Antigonish,—the most home-like place we have seen on the + island. The twin stone towers of the unfinished cathedral loom up large in + the fading light, and the bishop's palace on the hill—the home + of the Bishop of Arichat—appears to be an imposing white barn with + many staring windows. At Antigonish—with the emphasis on the last + syllable—let the reader know there is a most comfortable inn, kept + by a cheery landlady, where the stranger is served by the comely + handmaidens, her daughters, and feels that he has reached a home at last. + Here we wished to stay. Here we wished to end this weary pilgrimage. Could + Baddeck be as attractive as this peaceful valley? Should we find any inn + on Cape Breton like this one? + </p> + <p> + “Never was on Cape Breton,” our driver had said; “hope I + never shall be. Heard enough about it. Taverns? You'll find 'em + occupied.” + </p> + <p> + “Fleas? + </p> + <p> + “Wus.” + </p> + <p> + “But it is a lovely country?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't think it.” + </p> + <p> + Into what unknown dangers were we going? Why not stay here and be happy? + It was a soft summer night. People were loitering in the street; the young + beaux of the place going up and down with the belles, after the leisurely + manner in youth and summer; perhaps they were students from St. Xavier + College, or visiting gallants from Guysborough. They look into the + post-office and the fancy store. They stroll and take their little + provincial pleasure and make love, for all we can see, as if Antigonish + were a part of the world. How they must look down on Marshy Hope and + Addington Forks and Tracadie! What a charming place to live in is this! + </p> + <p> + But the stage goes on at eight o'clock. It will wait for no man. + There is no other stage till eight the next night, and we have no + alternative but a night ride. We put aside all else except duty and + Baddeck. This is strictly a pleasure-trip. + </p> + <p> + The stage establishment for the rest of the journey could hardly be called + the finest on the continent. The wagon was drawn by two horses. It was a + square box, covered with painted cloth. Within were two narrow seats, + facing each other, affording no room for the legs of passengers, and + offering them no position but a strictly upright one. It was a most + ingeniously uncomfortable box in which to put sleepy travelers for the + night. The weather would be chilly before morning, and to sit upright on a + narrow board all night, and shiver, is not cheerful. Of course, the reader + says that this is no hardship to talk about. But the reader is mistaken. + Anything is a hardship when it is unpleasantly what one does not desire or + expect. These travelers had spent wakeful nights, in the forests, in a + cold rain, and never thought of complaining. It is useless to talk about + the Polar sufferings of Dr. Kane to a guest at a metropolitan hotel, in + the midst of luxury, when the mosquito sings all night in his ear, and his + mutton-chop is overdone at breakfast. One does not like to be set up for a + hero in trifles, in odd moments, and in inconspicuous places. + </p> + <p> + There were two passengers besides ourselves, inhabitants of Cape Breton + Island, who were returning from Halifax to Plaster Cove, where they were + engaged in the occupation of distributing alcoholic liquors at retail. + This fact we ascertained incidentally, as we learned the nationality of + our comrades by their brogue, and their religion by their lively + ejaculations during the night. We stowed ourselves into the rigid box, + bade a sorrowing good-night to the landlady and her daughters, who stood + at the inn door, and went jingling down the street towards the open + country. + </p> + <p> + The moon rises at eight o'clock in Nova Scotia. It came above the + horizon exactly as we began our journey, a harvest-moon, round and red. + When I first saw it, it lay on the edge of the horizon as if too heavy to + lift itself, as big as a cart-wheel, and its disk cut by a fence-rail. + With what a flood of splendor it deluged farmhouses and farms, and the + broad sweep of level country! There could not be a more magnificent night + in which to ride towards that geographical mystery of our boyhood, the Gut + of Canso. + </p> + <p> + A few miles out of town the stage stopped in the road before a + post-station. An old woman opened the door of the farmhouse to receive the + bag which the driver carried to her. A couple of sprightly little girls + rushed out to “interview” the passengers, climbing up to ask + their names and, with much giggling, to get a peep at their faces. And + upon the handsomeness or ugliness of the faces they saw in the moonlight + they pronounced with perfect candor. We are not obliged to say what their + verdict was. Girls here, no doubt, as elsewhere, lose this trustful candor + as they grow older. + </p> + <p> + Just as we were starting, the old woman screamed out from the door, in a + shrill voice, addressing the driver, “Did you see ary a sick man + 'bout 'Tigonish?” + </p> + <p> + “Nary.” + </p> + <p> + “There's one been round here for three or four days, pretty + bad off; 's got the St. Vitus's. He wanted me to get him some + medicine for it up to Antigonish. I've got it here in a vial, and I + wished you could take it to him.” + </p> + <p> + “Where is he?” + </p> + <p> + “I dunno. I heern he'd gone east by the Gut. Perhaps you'll + hear of him.” All this screamed out into the night. + </p> + <p> + “Well, I'll take it.” + </p> + <p> + We took the vial aboard and went on; but the incident powerfully affected + us. The weird voice of the old woman was exciting in itself, and we could + not escape the image of this unknown man, dancing about this region + without any medicine, fleeing perchance by night and alone, and finally + flitting away down the Gut of Canso. This fugitive mystery almost + immediately shaped itself into the following simple poem: + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “There was an old man of Canso, + Unable to sit or stan' so. + When I asked him why he ran so, + Says he, 'I've St. Vitus' dance so, + All down the Gut of Canso.'” + </pre> + <p> + This melancholy song is now, I doubt not, sung by the maidens of + Antigonish. + </p> + <p> + In spite of the consolations of poetry, however, the night wore on slowly, + and soothing sleep tried in vain to get a lodgment in the jolting wagon. + One can sleep upright, but not when his head is every moment knocked + against the framework of a wagon-cover. Even a jolly young Irishman of + Plaster Cove, whose nature it is to sleep under whatever discouragement, + is beaten by these circumstances. He wishes he had his fiddle along. We + never know what men are on casual acquaintance. This rather stupid-looking + fellow is a devotee of music, and knows how to coax the sweetness out of + the unwilling violin. Sometimes he goes miles and miles on winter nights + to draw the seductive bow for the Cape Breton dancers, and there is + enthusiasm in his voice, as he relates exploits of fiddling from sunset + till the dawn of day. Other information, however, the young man has not; + and when this is exhausted, he becomes sleepy again, and tries a dozen + ways to twist himself into a posture in which sleep will be possible. He + doubles up his legs, he slides them under the seat, he sits on the wagon + bottom; but the wagon swings and jolts and knocks him about. His patience + under this punishment is admirable, and there is something pathetic in his + restraint from profanity. + </p> + <p> + It is enough to look out upon the magnificent night; the moon is now high, + and swinging clear and distant; the air has grown chilly; the stars cannot + be eclipsed by the greater light, but glow with a chastened fervor. It is + on the whole a splendid display for the sake of four sleepy men, banging + along in a coach,—an insignificant little vehicle with two horses. + No one is up at any of the farmhouses to see it; no one appears to take + any interest in it, except an occasional baying dog, or a rooster that has + mistaken the time of night. By midnight we come to Tracadie, an orchard, a + farmhouse, and a stable. We are not far from the sea now, and can see a + silver mist in the north. An inlet comes lapping up by the old house with + a salty smell and a suggestion of oyster-beds. We knock up the sleeping + hostlers, change horses, and go on again, dead sleepy, but unable to get a + wink. And all the night is blazing with beauty. We think of the criminal + who was sentenced to be kept awake till he died. + </p> + <p> + The fiddler makes another trial. Temperately remarking, “I am very + sleepy,” he kneels upon the floor and rests his head on the seat. + This position for a second promises repose; but almost immediately his + head begins to pound the seat, and beat a lively rat-a-plan on the board. + The head of a wooden idol couldn't stand this treatment more than a + minute. The fiddler twisted and turned, but his head went like a + triphammer on the seat. I have never seen a devotional attitude so + deceptive, or one that produced less favorable results. The young man rose + from his knees, and meekly said, + </p> + <p> + “It's dam hard.” + </p> + <p> + If the recording angel took down this observation, he doubtless made a + note of the injured tone in which it was uttered. + </p> + <p> + How slowly the night passes to one tipping and swinging along in a slowly + moving stage! But the harbinger of the day came at last. When the fiddler + rose from his knees, I saw the morning-star burst out of the east like a + great diamond, and I knew that Venus was strong enough to pull up even the + sun, from whom she is never distant more than an eighth of the heavenly + circle. The moon could not put her out of countenance. She blazed and + scintillated with a dazzling brilliance, a throbbing splendor, that made + the moon seem a pale, sentimental invention. Steadily she mounted, in her + fresh beauty, with the confidence and vigor of new love, driving her more + domestic rival out of the sky. And this sort of thing, I suppose, goes on + frequently. These splendors burn and this panorama passes night after + night down at the end of Nova Scotia, and all for the stage-driver, dozing + along on his box, from Antigonish to the strait. + </p> + <p> + “Here you are,” cries the driver, at length, when we have + become wearily indifferent to where we are. We have reached the ferry. The + dawn has not come, but it is not far off. We step out and find a chilly + morning, and the dark waters of the Gut of Canso flowing before us lighted + here and there by a patch of white mist. The ferryman is asleep, and his + door is shut. We call him by all the names known among men. We pound upon + his house, but he makes no sign. Before he awakes and comes out, growling, + the sky in the east is lightened a shade, and the star of the dawn + sparkles less brilliantly. But the process is slow. The twilight is long. + There is a surprising deliberation about the preparation of the sun for + rising, as there is in the movements of the boatman. Both appear to be + reluctant to begin the day. + </p> + <p> + The ferryman and his shaggy comrade get ready at last, and we step into + the clumsy yawl, and the slowly moving oars begin to pull us upstream. The + strait is here less than a mile wide; the tide is running strongly, and + the water is full of swirls,—the little whirlpools of the rip-tide. + The morning-star is now high in the sky; the moon, declining in the west, + is more than ever like a silver shield; along the east is a faint flush of + pink. In the increasing light we can see the bold shores of the strait, + and the square projection of Cape Porcupine below. + </p> + <p> + On the rocks above the town of Plaster Cove, where there is a black and + white sign,—Telegraph Cable,—we set ashore our companions of + the night, and see them climb up to their station for retailing the + necessary means of intoxication in their district, with the mournful + thought that we may never behold them again. + </p> + <p> + As we drop down along the shore, there is a white sea-gull asleep on the + rock, rolled up in a ball, with his head under his wing. The rock is + dripping with dew, and the bird is as wet as his hard bed. We pass within + an oar's length of him, but he does not heed us, and we do not + disturb his morning slumbers. For there is no such cruelty as the waking + of anybody out of a morning nap. + </p> + <p> + When we land, and take up our bags to ascend the hill to the white tavern + of Port Hastings (as Plaster Cove now likes to be called), the sun lifts + himself slowly over the treetops, and the magic of the night vanishes. + </p> + <p> + And this is Cape Breton, reached after almost a week of travel. Here is + the Gut of Canso, but where is Baddeck? It is Saturday morning; if we + cannot make Baddeck by night, we might as well have remained in Boston. + And who knows what we shall find if we get there? A forlorn + fishing-station, a dreary hotel? Suppose we cannot get on, and are forced + to stay here? Asking ourselves these questions, we enter the Plaster Cove + tavern. No one is stirring, but the house is open, and we take possession + of the dirty public room, and almost immediately drop to sleep in the + fluffy rocking-chairs; but even sleep is not strong enough to conquer our + desire to push on, and we soon rouse up and go in pursuit of information. + </p> + <p> + No landlord is to be found, but there is an unkempt servant in the + kitchen, who probably does not see any use in making her toilet more than + once a week. To this fearful creature is intrusted the dainty duty of + preparing breakfast. Her indifference is equal to her lack of information, + and her ability to convey information is fettered by her use of Gaelic as + her native speech. But she directs us to the stable. There we find a + driver hitching his horses to a two-horse stage-wagon. + </p> + <p> + “Is this stage for Baddeck?” + </p> + <p> + “Not much.” + </p> + <p> + “Is there any stage for Baddeck?” + </p> + <p> + “Not to-day.” + </p> + <p> + “Where does this go, and when?” + </p> + <p> + “St. Peter's. Starts in fifteen minutes.” + </p> + <p> + This seems like “business,” and we are inclined to try it, + especially as we have no notion where St. Peter's is. + </p> + <p> + “Does any other stage go from here to-day anywhere else?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. Port Hood. Quarter of an hour.” + </p> + <p> + Everything was about to happen in fifteen minutes. We inquire further. St. + Peter's is on the east coast, on the road to Sydney. Port Hood is on + the west coast. There is a stage from Port Hood to Baddeck. It would land + us there some time Sunday morning; distance, eighty miles. + </p> + <p> + Heavens! what a pleasure-trip. To ride eighty miles more without sleep! We + should simply be delivered dead on the Bras d'Or; that is all. Tell + us, gentle driver, is there no other way? + </p> + <p> + “Well, there's Jim Hughes, come over at midnight with a + passenger from Baddeck; he's in the hotel now; perhaps he'll + take you.” + </p> + <p> + Our hope hung on Jim Hughes. The frowzy servant piloted us up to his + sleeping-room. “Go right in,” said she; and we went in, + according to the simple custom of the country, though it was a bedroom + that one would not enter except on business. Mr. Hughes did not like to be + disturbed, but he proved himself to be a man who could wake up suddenly, + shake his head, and transact business,—a sort of Napoleon, in fact. + Mr. Hughes stared at the intruders for a moment, as if he meditated an + assault. + </p> + <p> + “Do you live in Baddeck?” we asked. + </p> + <p> + “No; Hogamah,—half-way there.” + </p> + <p> + “Will you take us to Baddeck to-day?” + </p> + <p> + Mr. Hughes thought. He had intended to sleep—till noon. He had then + intended to go over the Judique Mountain and get a boy. But he was + disposed to accommodate. Yes, for money—sum named—he would + give up his plans, and start for Baddeck in an hour. Distance, sixty + miles. Here was a man worth having; he could come to a decision before he + was out of bed. The bargain was closed. + </p> + <p> + We would have closed any bargain to escape a Sunday in the Plaster Cove + hotel. There are different sorts of hotel uncleanliness. There is the + musty old inn, where the dirt has accumulated for years, and slow neglect + has wrought a picturesque sort of dilapidation, the mouldiness of time, + which has something to recommend it. But there is nothing attractive in + new nastiness, in the vulgar union of smartness and filth. A dirty modern + house, just built, a house smelling of poor whiskey and vile tobacco, its + white paint grimy, its floors unclean, is ever so much worse than an old + inn that never pretended to be anything but a rookery. I say nothing + against the hotel at Plaster Cove. In fact, I recommend it. There is a + kind of harmony about it that I like. There is a harmony between the + breakfast and the frowzy Gaelic cook we saw “sozzling” about + in the kitchen. There is a harmony between the appearance of the house and + the appearance of the buxom young housekeeper who comes upon the scene + later, her hair saturated with the fatty matter of the bear. The traveler + will experience a pleasure in paying his bill and departing. + </p> + <p> + Although Plaster Cove seems remote on the map, we found that we were right + in the track of the world's news there. It is the transfer station + of the Atlantic Cable Company, where it exchanges messages with the + Western Union. In a long wooden building, divided into two main + apartments, twenty to thirty operators are employed. At eight o'clock + the English force was at work receiving the noon messages from London. The + American operators had not yet come on, for New York business would not + begin for an hour. Into these rooms is poured daily the news of the world, + and these young fellows toss it about as lightly as if it were household + gossip. It is a marvelous exchange, however, and we had intended to make + some reflections here upon the en rapport feeling, so to speak, with all + the world, which we experienced while there; but our conveyance was + waiting. We telegraphed our coming to Baddeck, and departed. For + twenty-five cents one can send a dispatch to any part of the Dominion, + except the region where the Western Union has still a foothold. + </p> + <p> + Our conveyance was a one-horse wagon, with one seat. The horse was well + enough, but the seat was narrow for three people, and the entire + establishment had in it not much prophecy of Baddeck for that day. But we + knew little of the power of Cape Breton driving. It became evident that we + should reach Baddeck soon enough, if we could cling to that wagon-seat. + The morning sun was hot. The way was so uninteresting that we almost + wished ourselves back in Nova Scotia. The sandy road was bordered with + discouraged evergreens, through which we had glimpses of sand-drifted + farms. If Baddeck was to be like this, we had come on a fool's + errand. There were some savage, low hills, and the Judique Mountain showed + itself as we got away from the town. In this first stage, the heat of the + sun, the monotony of the road, and the scarcity of sleep during the past + thirty-six hours were all unfavorable to our keeping on the wagon-seat. We + nodded separately, we nodded and reeled in unison. But asleep or awake, + the driver drove like a son of Jehu. Such driving is the fashion on Cape + Breton Island. Especially downhill, we made the most of it; if the horse + was on a run, that was only an inducement to apply the lash; speed gave + the promise of greater possible speed. The wagon rattled like a bark-mill; + it swirled and leaped about, and we finally got the exciting impression + that if the whole thing went to pieces, we should somehow go on,—such + was our impetus. Round corners, over ruts and stones, and uphill and down, + we went jolting and swinging, holding fast to the seat, and putting our + trust in things in general. At the end of fifteen miles, we stopped at a + Scotch farmhouse, where the driver kept a relay, and changed horse. + </p> + <p> + The people were Highlanders, and spoke little English; we had struck the + beginning of the Gaelic settlement. From here to Hogamah we should + encounter only the Gaelic tongue; the inhabitants are all Catholics. Very + civil people, apparently, and living in a kind of niggardly thrift, such + as the cold land affords. We saw of this family the old man, who had come + from Scotland fifty years ago, his stalwart son, six feet and a half high, + maybe, and two buxom daughters, going to the hay-field,—good solid + Scotch lassies, who smiled in English, but spoke only Gaelic. The old man + could speak a little English, and was disposed to be both communicative + and inquisitive. He asked our business, names, and residence. Of the + United States he had only a dim conception, but his mind rather rested + upon the statement that we lived “near Boston.” He complained + of the degeneracy of the times. All the young men had gone away from Cape + Breton; might get rich if they would stay and work the farms. But no one + liked to work nowadays. From life, we diverted the talk to literature. We + inquired what books they had. + </p> + <p> + “Of course you all have the poems of Burns?” + </p> + <p> + “What's the name o' the mon?” + </p> + <p> + “Burns, Robert Burns.” + </p> + <p> + “Never heard tell of such a mon. Have heard of Robert Bruce. He was + a Scotchman.” + </p> + <p> + This was nothing short of refreshing, to find a Scotchman who had never + heard of Robert Burns! It was worth the whole journey to take this honest + man by the hand. How far would I not travel to talk with an American who + had never heard of George Washington! + </p> + <p> + The way was more varied during the next stage; we passed through some + pleasant valleys and picturesque neighborhoods, and at length, winding + around the base of a wooded range, and crossing its point, we came upon a + sight that took all the sleep out of us. This was the famous Bras d'Or. + </p> + <p> + The Bras d'Or is the most beautiful salt-water lake I have ever + seen, and more beautiful than we had imagined a body of salt water could + be. If the reader will take the map, he will see that two narrow + estuaries, the Great and the Little Bras d'Or, enter the island of + Cape Breton, on the ragged northeast coast, above the town of Sydney, and + flow in, at length widening out and occupying the heart of the island. The + water seeks out all the low places, and ramifies the interior, running + away into lovely bays and lagoons, leaving slender tongues of land and + picturesque islands, and bringing into the recesses of the land, to the + remote country farms and settlements, the flavor of salt, and the fish and + mollusks of the briny sea. There is very little tide at any time, so that + the shores are clean and sightly for the most part, like those of + fresh-water lakes. It has all the pleasantness of a fresh-water lake, with + all the advantages of a salt one. In the streams which run into it are the + speckled trout, the shad, and the salmon; out of its depths are hooked the + cod and the mackerel, and in its bays fattens the oyster. This irregular + lake is about a hundred miles long, if you measure it skillfully, and in + some places ten miles broad; but so indented is it, that I am not sure but + one would need, as we were informed, to ride a thousand miles to go round + it, following all its incursions into the land. The hills about it are + never more than five or six hundred feet high, but they are high enough + for reposeful beauty, and offer everywhere pleasing lines. + </p> + <p> + What we first saw was an inlet of the Bras d'Or, called, by the + driver, Hogamah Bay. At its entrance were long, wooded islands, beyond + which we saw the backs of graceful hills, like the capes of some poetic + sea-coast. The bay narrowed to a mile in width where we came upon it, and + ran several miles inland to a swamp, round the head of which we must go. + Opposite was the village of Hogamah. I had my suspicions from the + beginning about this name, and now asked the driver, who was liberally + educated for a driver, how he spelled “Hogamah.” + </p> + <p> + “Why-ko-ko-magh. Hogamah.” + </p> + <p> + Sometimes it is called Wykogamah. Thus the innocent traveler is misled. + Along the Whykokomagh Bay we come to a permanent encampment of the Micmac + Indians,—a dozen wigwams in the pine woods. Though lumber is plenty, + they refuse to live in houses. The wigwams, however, are more picturesque + than the square frame houses of the whites. Built up conically of poles, + with a hole in the top for the smoke to escape, and often set up a little + from the ground on a timber foundation, they are as pleasing to the eye as + a Chinese or Turkish dwelling. They may be cold in winter, but blessed be + the tenacity of barbarism, which retains this agreeable architecture. The + men live by hunting in the season, and the women support the family by + making moccasins and baskets. These Indians are most of them good + Catholics, and they try to go once a year to mass and a sort of religious + festival held at St. Peter's, where their sins are forgiven in a + yearly lump. + </p> + <p> + At Whykokomagh, a neat fishing village of white houses, we stopped for + dinner at the Inverness House. The house was very clean, and the tidy + landlady gave us as good a dinner as she could of the inevitable green + tea, toast, and salt fish. She was Gaelic, but Protestant, as the village + is, and showed us with pride her Gaelic Bible and hymn-book. A peaceful + place, this Whykokomagh; the lapsing waters of Bras d'Or made a + summer music all along the quiet street; the bay lay smiling with its + islands in front, and an amphitheater of hills rose behind. But for the + line of telegraph poles one might have fancied he could have security and + repose here. + </p> + <p> + We put a fresh pony into the shafts, a beast born with an everlasting + uneasiness in his legs, and an amount of “go” in him which + suited his reckless driver. We no longer stood upon the order of our + going; we went. As we left the village, we passed a rocky hay-field, where + the Gaelic farmer was gathering the scanty yield of grass. A comely Indian + girl was stowing the hay and treading it down on the wagon. The driver + hailed the farmer, and they exchanged Gaelic repartee which set all the + hay-makers in a roar, and caused the Indian maid to darkly and sweetly + beam upon us. We asked the driver what he had said. He had only inquired + what the man would take for the load—as it stood! A joke is a joke + down this way. + </p> + <p> + I am not about to describe this drive at length, in order that the reader + may skip it; for I know the reader, being of like passion and fashion with + him. From the time we first struck the Bras d'Or for thirty miles we + rode in constant sight of its magnificent water. Now we were two hundred + feet above the water, on the hillside, skirting a point or following an + indentation; and now we were diving into a narrow valley, crossing a + stream, or turning a sharp corner, but always with the Bras d'Or in + view, the afternoon sun shining on it, softening the outlines of its + embracing hills, casting a shadow from its wooded islands. Sometimes we + opened on a broad water plain bounded by the Watchabaktchkt hills, and + again we looked over hill after hill receding into the soft and hazy blue + of the land beyond the great mass of the Bras d'Or. The reader can + compare the view and the ride to the Bay of Naples and the Cornice Road; + we did nothing of the sort; we held on to the seat, prayed that the + harness of the pony might not break, and gave constant expression to our + wonder and delight. For a week we had schooled ourselves to expect nothing + more from this wicked world, but here was an enchanting vision. + </p> + <p> + The only phenomenon worthy the attention of any inquiring mind, in this + whole record, I will now describe. As we drove along the side of a hill, + and at least two hundred feet above the water, the road suddenly diverged + and took a circuit higher up. The driver said that was to avoid a + sink-hole in the old road,—a great curiosity, which it was worth + while to examine. Beside the old road was a circular hole, which nipped + out a part of the road-bed, some twenty-five feet in diameter, filled with + water almost to the brim, but not running over. The water was dark in + color, and I fancied had a brackish taste. The driver said that a few + weeks before, when he came this way, it was solid ground where this well + now opened, and that a large beech-tree stood there. When he returned next + day, he found this hole full of water, as we saw it, and the large tree + had sunk in it. The size of the hole seemed to be determined by the reach + of the roots of the tree. The tree had so entirely disappeared, that he + could not with a long pole touch its top. Since then the water had neither + subsided nor overflowed. The ground about was compact gravel. We tried + sounding the hole with poles, but could make nothing of it. The water + seemed to have no outlet nor inlet; at least, it did not rise or fall. Why + should the solid hill give way at this place, and swallow up a tree? and + if the water had any connection with the lake, two hundred feet below and + at some distance away, why didn't the water run out? Why should the + unscientific traveler have a thing of this kind thrown in his way? The + driver did not know. + </p> + <p> + This phenomenon made us a little suspicious of the foundations of this + island which is already invaded by the jealous ocean, and is anchored to + the continent only by the cable. + </p> + <p> + The drive became more charming as the sun went down, and we saw the hills + grow purple beyond the Bras d'Or. The road wound around lovely coves + and across low promontories, giving us new beauties at every turn. Before + dark we had crossed the Middle River and the Big Baddeck, on long wooden + bridges, which straggled over sluggish waters and long reaches of marsh, + upon which Mary might have been sent to call the cattle home. These + bridges were shaky and wanted a plank at intervals, but they are in + keeping with the enterprise of the country. As dusk came on, we crossed + the last hill, and were bowling along by the still gleaming water. Lights + began to appear in infrequent farmhouses, and under cover of the gathering + night the houses seemed to be stately mansions; and we fancied we were on + a noble highway, lined with elegant suburban seaside residences, and about + to drive into a town of wealth and a port of great commerce. We were, + nevertheless, anxious about Baddeck. What sort of haven were we to reach + after our heroic (with the reader's permission) week of travel? + Would the hotel be like that at Plaster Cove? Were our thirty-six hours of + sleepless staging to terminate in a night of misery and a Sunday of + discomfort? + </p> + <p> + We came into a straggling village; that we could see by the starlight. But + we stopped at the door of a very unhotel-like appearing hotel. It had in + front a flower-garden; it was blazing with welcome lights; it opened + hospitable doors, and we were received by a family who expected us. The + house was a large one, for two guests; and we enjoyed the luxury of + spacious rooms, an abundant supper, and a friendly welcome; and, in short, + found ourselves at home. The proprietor of the Telegraph House is the + superintendent of the land lines of Cape Breton, a Scotchman, of course; + but his wife is a Newfoundland lady. We cannot violate the sanctity of + what seemed like private hospitality by speaking freely of this lady and + the lovely girls, her daughters, whose education has been so admirably + advanced in the excellent school at Baddeck; but we can confidently advise + any American who is going to Newfoundland, to get a wife there, if he + wants one at all. It is the only new article he can bring from the + Provinces that he will not have to pay duty on. And here is a suggestion + to our tariff-mongers for the “protection” of New England + women. + </p> + <p> + The reader probably cannot appreciate the delicious sense of rest and of + achievement which we enjoyed in this tidy inn, nor share the anticipations + of undisturbed, luxurious sleep, in which we indulged as we sat upon the + upper balcony after supper, and saw the moon rise over the glistening Bras + d'Or and flood with light the islands and headlands of the beautiful + bay. Anchored at some distance from the shore was a slender coasting + vessel. The big red moon happened to come up just behind it, and the masts + and spars and ropes of the vessel came out, distinctly traced on the + golden background, making such a night picture as I once saw painted of a + ship in a fiord of Norway. The scene was enchanting. And we respected then + the heretofore seemingly insane impulse that had driven us on to Baddeck. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0006" id="link2H_4_0006"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + IV + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “He had no ill-will to the Scotch; for, if he had been + conscious of that, he never would have thrown himself into + the bosom of their country, and trusted to the protection of + its remote inhabitants with a fearless confidence.” + —BOSWELL'S JOHNSON. +</pre> + <p> + Although it was an open and flagrant violation of the Sabbath day as it is + kept in Scotch Baddeck, our kind hosts let us sleep late on Sunday + morning, with no reminder that we were not sleeping the sleep of the just. + It was the charming Maud, a flitting sunbeam of a girl, who waited to + bring us our breakfast, and thereby lost the opportunity of going to + church with the rest of the family,—an act of gracious hospitality + which the tired travelers appreciated. + </p> + <p> + The travelers were unable, indeed, to awaken into any feeling of + Sabbatical straitness. The morning was delicious,—such a morning as + never visits any place except an island; a bright, sparkling morning, with + the exhilaration of the air softened by the sea. What a day it was for + idleness, for voluptuous rest, after the flight by day and night from St. + John! It was enough, now that the morning was fully opened and advancing + to the splendor of noon, to sit upon the upper balcony, looking upon the + Bras d'Or and the peaceful hills beyond, reposeful and yet sparkling + with the air and color of summer, and inhale the balmy air. (We greatly + need another word to describe good air, properly heated, besides this + overworked “balmy.”) Perhaps it might in some regions be + considered Sabbath-keeping, simply to rest in such a soothing situation,—rest, + and not incessant activity, having been one of the original designs of the + day. + </p> + <p> + But our travelers were from New England, and they were not willing to be + outdone in the matter of Sunday observances by such an out-of-the-way and + nameless place as Baddeck. They did not set themselves up as missionaries + to these benighted Gaelic people, to teach them by example that the notion + of Sunday which obtained two hundred years ago in Scotland had been + modified, and that the sacredness of it had pretty much disappeared with + the unpleasantness of it. They rather lent themselves to the humor of the + hour, and probably by their demeanor encouraged the respect for the day on + Cape Breton Island. Neither by birth nor education were the travelers + fishermen on Sunday, and they were not moved to tempt the authorities to + lock them up for dropping here a line and there a line on the Lord's + day. + </p> + <p> + In fact, before I had finished my second cup of Maud-mixed coffee, my + companion, with a little show of haste, had gone in search of the kirk, + and I followed him, with more scrupulousness, as soon as I could without + breaking the day of rest. Although it was Sunday, I could not but notice + that Baddeck was a clean-looking village of white wooden houses, of + perhaps seven or eight hundred inhabitants; that it stretched along the + bay for a mile or more, straggling off into farmhouses at each end, lying + for the most part on the sloping curve of the bay. There were a few + country-looking stores and shops, and on the shore three or four rather + decayed and shaky wharves ran into the water, and a few schooners lay at + anchor near them; and the usual decaying warehouses leaned about the + docks. A peaceful and perhaps a thriving place, but not a bustling place. + As I walked down the road, a sailboat put out from the shore and slowly + disappeared round the island in the direction of the Grand Narrows. It had + a small pleasure party on board. None of them were drowned that day, and I + learned at night that they were Roman Catholics from Whykokornagh. + </p> + <p> + The kirk, which stands near the water, and at a distance shows a pretty + wooden spire, is after the pattern of a New England meeting-house. When I + reached it, the house was full and the service had begun. There was + something familiar in the bareness and uncompromising plainness and + ugliness of the interior. The pews had high backs, with narrow, + uncushioned seats. The pulpit was high,—a sort of theological + fortification,—approached by wide, curving flights of stairs on + either side. Those who occupied the near seats to the right and left of + the pulpit had in front of them a blank board partition, and could not by + any possibility see the minister, though they broke their necks backwards + over their high coat-collars. The congregation had a striking resemblance + to a country New England congregation of say twenty years ago. The clothes + they wore had been Sunday clothes for at least that length of time. + </p> + <p> + Such clothes have a look of I know not what devout and painful + respectability, that is in keeping with the worldly notion of rigid Scotch + Presbyterianism. One saw with pleasure the fresh and rosy-cheeked children + of this strict generation, but the women of the audience were not in + appearance different from newly arrived and respectable Irish immigrants. + They wore a white cap with long frills over the forehead, and a black + handkerchief thrown over it and hanging down the neck,—a quaint and + not unpleasing disguise. + </p> + <p> + The house, as I said, was crowded. It is the custom in this region to go + to church,—for whole families to go, even the smallest children; and + they not unfrequently walk six or seven miles to attend the service. There + is a kind of merit in this act that makes up for the lack of certain other + Christian virtues that are practiced elsewhere. The service was worth + coming seven miles to participate in!—it was about two hours long, + and one might well feel as if he had performed a work of long-suffering to + sit through it. The singing was strictly congregational. Congregational + singing is good (for those who like it) when the congregation can sing. + This congregation could not sing, but it could grind the Psalms of David + powerfully. They sing nothing else but the old Scotch version of the + Psalms, in a patient and faithful long meter. And this is regarded, and + with considerable plausibility, as an act of worship. It certainly has + small element of pleasure in it. Here is a stanza from Psalm xlv., which + the congregation, without any instrumental nonsense, went through in a + dragging, drawling manner, and with perfect individual independence as to + time: + </p> + <p> + “Thine arrows sharply pierce the heart of th' enemies of the + king, And under thy sub-jec-shi-on the people down do bring.” + </p> + <p> + The sermon was extempore, and in English with Scotch pronunciation; and it + filled a solid hour of time. I am not a good judge of sermons, and this + one was mere chips to me; but my companion, who knows a sermon when he + hears it, said that this was strictly theological, and Scotch theology at + that, and not at all expository. It was doubtless my fault that I got no + idea whatever from it. But the adults of the congregation appeared to be + perfectly satisfied with it; at least they sat bolt upright and nodded + assent continually. The children all went to sleep under it, without any + hypocritical show of attention. To be sure, the day was warm and the house + was unventilated. If the windows had been opened so as to admit the fresh + air from the Bras d'Or, I presume the hard-working farmers and their + wives would have resented such an interference with their ordained Sunday + naps, and the preacher's sermon would have seemed more musty than it + appeared to be in that congenial and drowsy air. Considering that only + half of the congregation could understand the preacher, its behavior was + exemplary. + </p> + <p> + After the sermon, a collection was taken up for the minister; and I + noticed that nothing but pennies rattled into the boxes,—a + melancholy sound for the pastor. This might appear niggardly on the part + of these Scotch Presbyterians, but it is on principle that they put only a + penny into the box; they say that they want a free gospel, and so far as + they are concerned they have it. Although the farmers about the Bras d'Or + are well-to-do they do not give their minister enough to keep his soul in + his Gaelic body, and his poor support is eked out by the contributions of + a missionary society. It was gratifying to learn that this was not from + stinginess on the part of the people, but was due to their religious + principle. It seemed to us that everybody ought to be good in a country + where it costs next to nothing. + </p> + <p> + When the service was over, about half of the people departed; the rest + remained in their seats and prepared to enter upon their Sabbath + exercises. These latter were all Gaelic people, who had understood little + or nothing of the English service. The minister turned himself at once + into a Gaelic preacher and repeated in that language the long exercises of + the morning. The sermon and perhaps the prayers were quite as enjoyable in + Gaelic as in English, and the singing was a great improvement. It was of + the same Psalms, but the congregation chanted them in a wild and weird + tone and manner, as wailing and barbarous to modern ears as any Highland + devotional outburst of two centuries ago. This service also lasted about + two hours; and as soon as it was over the faithful minister, without any + rest or refreshment, organized the Sunday-school, and it must have been + half past three o'clock before that was over. And this is considered + a day of rest. + </p> + <p> + These Gaelic Christians, we were informed, are of a very old pattern; and + some of them cling more closely to religious observances than to morality. + Sunday is nowhere observed with more strictness. The community seems to be + a very orderly and thrifty one, except upon solemn and stated occasions. + One of these occasions is the celebration of the Lord's Supper; and + in this the ancient Highland traditions are preserved. The rite is + celebrated not oftener than once a year by any church. It then invites the + neighboring churches to partake with it,—the celebration being + usually in the summer and early fall months. It has some of the + characteristics of a “camp-meeting.” People come from long + distances, and as many as two thousand and three thousand assemble + together. They quarter themselves without special invitation upon the + members of the inviting church. Sometimes fifty people will pounce upon + one farmer, overflowing his house and his barn and swarming all about his + premises, consuming all the provisions he has laid up for his family, and + all he can raise money to buy, and literally eating him out of house and + home. Not seldom a man is almost ruined by one of these religious raids,—at + least he is left with a debt of hundreds of dollars. The multitude + assembles on Thursday and remains over Sunday. There is preaching every + day, but there is something besides. Whatever may be the devotion of a + part of the assembly, the four days are, in general, days of license, of + carousing, of drinking, and of other excesses, which our informant said he + would not particularize; we could understand what they were by reading St. + Paul's rebuke of the Corinthians for similar offenses. The evil has + become so great and burdensome that the celebration of this sacred rite + will have to be reformed altogether. + </p> + <p> + Such a Sabbath quiet pervaded the street of Baddeck, that the fast driving + of the Gaels in their rattling, one-horse wagons, crowded full of men, + women, and children,—released from their long sanctuary privileges, + and going home,—was a sort of profanation of the day; and we gladly + turned aside to visit the rural jail of the town. + </p> + <p> + Upon the principal street or road of Baddeck stands the dreadful + prison-house. It is a story and a quarter edifice, built of stone and + substantially whitewashed; retired a little from the road, with a square + of green turf in front of it, I should have taken it for the residence of + the Dairyman's Daughter, but for the iron gratings at the lower + windows. A more inviting place to spend the summer in, a vicious person + could not have. The Scotch keeper of it is an old, garrulous, obliging + man, and keeps codfish tackle to loan. I think that if he had a prisoner + who was fond of fishing, he would take him with him on the bay in pursuit + of the mackerel and the cod. If the prisoner were to take advantage of his + freedom and attempt to escape, the jailer's feelings would be hurt, + and public opinion would hardly approve the prisoner's conduct. + </p> + <p> + The jail door was hospitably open, and the keeper invited us to enter. + Having seen the inside of a good many prisons in our own country + (officially), we were interested in inspecting this. It was a favorable + time for doing so, for there happened to be a man confined there, a + circumstance which seemed to increase the keeper's feeling of + responsibility in his office. The edifice had four rooms on the + ground-floor, and an attic sleeping-room above. Three of these rooms, + which were perhaps twelve feet by fifteen feet, were cells; the third was + occupied by the jailer's family. The family were now also occupying + the front cell,—a cheerful room commanding a view of the village + street and of the bay. A prisoner of a philosophic turn of mind, who had + committed some crime of sufficient magnitude to make him willing to retire + from the world for a season and rest, might enjoy himself here very well. + </p> + <p> + The jailer exhibited his premises with an air of modesty. In the rear was + a small yard, surrounded by a board fence, in which the prisoner took his + exercise. An active boy could climb over it, and an enterprising pig could + go through it almost anywhere. The keeper said that he intended at the + next court to ask the commissioners to build the fence higher and stop up + the holes. Otherwise the jail was in good condition. Its inmates were few; + in fact, it was rather apt to be empty: its occupants were usually + prisoners for debt, or for some trifling breach of the peace, committed + under the influence of the liquor that makes one “unco happy.” + Whether or not the people of the region have a high moral standard, crime + is almost unknown; the jail itself is an evidence of primeval simplicity. + The great incident in the old jailer's life had been the rescue of a + well-known citizen who was confined on a charge of misuse of public money. + The keeper showed me a place in the outer wall of the front cell, where an + attempt had been made to batter a hole through. The Highland clan and + kinsfolk of the alleged defaulter came one night and threatened to knock + the jail in pieces if he was not given up. They bruised the wall, broke + the windows, and finally smashed in the door and took their man away. The + jailer was greatly excited at this rudeness, and went almost immediately + and purchased a pistol. He said that for a time he did n't feel safe + in the jail without it. The mob had thrown stones at the upper windows, in + order to awaken him, and had insulted him with cursing and offensive + language. + </p> + <p> + Having finished inspecting the building, I was unfortunately moved by I + know not what national pride and knowledge of institutions superior to + this at home, to say, + </p> + <p> + “This is a pleasant jail, but it doesn't look much like our + great prisons; we have as many as a thousand to twelve hundred men in some + of our institutions.” + </p> + <p> + “Ay, ay, I have heard tell,” said the jailer, shaking his head + in pity, “it's an awfu' place, an awfu' place,—the + United States. I suppose it's the wickedest country that ever was in + the world. I don't know,—I don't know what is to become + of it. It's worse than Sodom. There was that dreadful war on the + South; and I hear now it's very unsafe, full of murders and + robberies and corruption.” + </p> + <p> + I did not attempt to correct this impression concerning my native land, + for I saw it was a comfort to the simple jailer, but I tried to put a + thorn into him by saying, + </p> + <p> + “Yes, we have a good many criminals, but the majority of them, the + majority of those in jails, are foreigners; they come from Ireland, + England, and the Provinces.” + </p> + <p> + But the old man only shook his head more solemnly, and persisted, “It's + an awfu' wicked country.” + </p> + <p> + Before I came away I was permitted to have an interview with the sole + prisoner, a very pleasant and talkative man, who was glad to see company, + especially intelligent company who understood about things, he was pleased + to say. I have seldom met a more agreeable rogue, or one so philosophical, + a man of travel and varied experiences. He was a lively, robust Provincial + of middle age, bullet-headed, with a mass of curly black hair, and small, + round black eyes, that danced and sparkled with good humor. He was by + trade a carpenter, and had a work-bench in his cell, at which he worked on + week-days. He had been put in jail on suspicion of stealing a + buffalo-robe, and he lay in jail eight months, waiting for the judge to + come to Baddeck on his yearly circuit. He did not steal the robe, as he + assured me, but it was found in his house, and the judge gave him four + months in jail, making a year in all,—a month of which was still to + serve. But he was not at all anxious for the end of his term; for his wife + was outside. + </p> + <p> + Jock, for he was familiarly so called, asked me where I was from. As I had + not found it very profitable to hail from the United States, and had + found, in fact, that the name United States did not convey any definite + impression to the average Cape Breton mind, I ventured upon the bold + assertion, for which I hope Bostonians will forgive me, that I was from + Boston. For Boston is known in the eastern Provinces. + </p> + <p> + “Are you?” cried the man, delighted. “I've lived + in Boston, myself. There's just been an awful fire near there.” + </p> + <p> + “Indeed!” I said; “I heard nothing of it.' And I + was startled with the possibility that Boston had burned up again while we + were crawling along through Nova Scotia. + </p> + <p> + “Yes, here it is, in the last paper.” The man bustled away and + found his late paper, and thrust it through the grating, with the inquiry, + “Can you read?” + </p> + <p> + Though the question was unexpected, and I had never thought before whether + I could read or not, I confessed that I could probably make out the + meaning, and took the newspaper. The report of the fire “near Boston” + turned out to be the old news of the conflagration in Portland, Oregon! + </p> + <p> + Disposed to devote a portion of this Sunday to the reformation of this + lively criminal, I continued the conversation with him. It seemed that he + had been in jail before, and was not unaccustomed to the life. He was not + often lonesome; he had his workbench and newspapers, and it was a quiet + place; on the whole, he enjoyed it, and should rather regret it when his + time was up, a month from then. + </p> + <p> + Had he any family? + </p> + <p> + “Oh, yes. When the census was round, I contributed more to it than + anybody in town. Got a wife and eleven children.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, don't you think it would pay best to be honest, and + live with your family, out of jail? You surely never had anything but + trouble from dishonesty.” + </p> + <p> + “That's about so, boss. I mean to go on the square after this. + But, you see,” and here he began to speak confidentially, “things + are fixed about so in this world, and a man's got to live his life. + I tell you how it was. It all came about from a woman. I was a carpenter, + had a good trade, and went down to St. Peter's to work. There I got + acquainted with a Frenchwoman,—you know what Frenchwomen are,—and + I had to marry her. The fact is, she was rather low family; not so very + low, you know, but not so good as mine. Well, I wanted to go to Boston to + work at my trade, but she wouldn't go; and I went, but she would n't + come to me, so in two or three years I came back. A man can't help + himself, you know, when he gets in with a woman, especially a Frenchwoman. + Things did n't go very well, and never have. I can't make much + out of it, but I reckon a man 's got to live his life. Ain't + that about so?” + </p> + <p> + “Perhaps so. But you'd better try to mend matters when you get + out. Won't it seem rather good to get out and see your wife and + family again?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know. I have peace here.” + </p> + <p> + The question of his liberty seemed rather to depress this cheerful and + vivacious philosopher, and I wondered what the woman could be from whose + companionship the man chose to be protected by jail-bolts. I asked the + landlord about her, and his reply was descriptive and sufficient. He only + said, + </p> + <p> + “She's a yelper.” + </p> + <p> + Besides the church and the jail there are no public institutions in + Baddeck to see on Sunday, or on any other day; but it has very good + schools, and the examination-papers of Maud and her elder sister would do + credit to Boston scholars even. You would not say that the place was + stuffed with books, or overrun by lecturers, but it is an orderly, + Sabbath-keeping, fairly intelligent town. Book-agents visit it with other + commercial travelers, but the flood of knowledge, which is said to be the + beginning of sorrow, is hardly turned in that direction yet. I heard of a + feeble lecture-course in Halifax, supplied by local celebrities, some of + them from St. John; but so far as I can see, this is a virgin field for + the platform philosophers under whose instructions we have become the + well-informed people we are. + </p> + <p> + The peaceful jail and the somewhat tiresome church exhaust one's + opportunities for doing good in Baddeck on Sunday. There seemed to be no + idlers about, to reprove; the occasional lounger on the skeleton wharves + was in his Sunday clothes, and therefore within the statute. No one, + probably, would have thought of rowing out beyond the island to fish for + cod,—although, as that fish is ready to bite, and his associations + are more or less sacred, there might be excuses for angling for him on + Sunday, when it would be wicked to throw a line for another sort of fish. + My earliest recollections are of the codfish on the meeting-house spires + in New England,—his sacred tail pointing the way the wind went. I + did not know then why this emblem should be placed upon a house of + worship, any more than I knew why codfish-balls appeared always upon the + Sunday breakfast-table. But these associations invested this plebeian fish + with something of a religious character, which he has never quite lost, in + my mind. + </p> + <p> + Having attributed the quiet of Baddeck on Sunday to religion, we did not + know to what to lay the quiet on Monday. But its peacefulness continued. I + have no doubt that the farmers began to farm, and the traders to trade, + and the sailors to sail; but the tourist felt that he had come into a + place of rest. The promise of the red sky the evening before was fulfilled + in another royal day. There was an inspiration in the air that one looks + for rather in the mountains than on the sea-coast; it seemed like some new + and gentle compound of sea-air and land-air, which was the perfection of + breathing material. In this atmosphere, which seemed to flow over all + these Atlantic isles at this season, one endures a great deal of exertion + with little fatigue; or he is content to sit still, and has no feeling of + sluggishness. Mere living is a kind of happiness, and the easy-going + traveler is satisfied with little to do and less to see, Let the reader + not understand that we are recommending him to go to Baddeck. Far from it. + The reader was never yet advised to go to any place, which he did not + growl about if he took the advice and went there. If he discovers it + himself, the case is different. We know too well what would happen. A + shoal of travelers would pour down upon Cape Breton, taking with them + their dyspepsia, their liver-complaints, their “lights” + derangements, their discontent, their guns and fishing-tackle, their big + trunks, their desire for rapid travel, their enthusiasm about the Gaelic + language, their love for nature; and they would very likely declare that + there was nothing in it. And the traveler would probably be right, so far + as he is concerned. There are few whom it would pay to go a thousand miles + for the sake of sitting on the dock at Baddeck when the sun goes down, and + watching the purple lights on the islands and the distant hills, the red + flush in the horizon and on the lake, and the creeping on of gray + twilight. You can see all that as well elsewhere? I am not so sure. There + is a harmony of beauty about the Bras d'Or at Baddeck which is + lacking in many scenes of more pretension. No. We advise no person to go + to Cape Breton. But if any one does go, he need not lack occupation. If he + is there late in the fall or early in the winter, he may hunt, with good + luck, if he is able to hit anything with a rifle, the moose and the + caribou on that long wilderness peninsula between Baddeck and Aspy Bay, + where the old cable landed. He may also have his fill of salmon fishing in + June and July, especially on the Matjorie River. As late as August, at the + time, of our visit, a hundred people were camped in tents on the Marjorie, + wiling the salmon with the delusive fly, and leading him to death with a + hook in his nose. The speckled trout lives in all the streams, and can be + caught whenever he will bite. The day we went for him appeared to be an + off-day, a sort of holiday with him. + </p> + <p> + There is one place, however, which the traveler must not fail to visit. + That is St. Ann's Bay. He will go light of baggage, for he must hire + a farmer to carry him from the Bras d'Or to the branch of St. Ann's + harbor, and a part of his journey will be in a row-boat. There is no ride + on the continent, of the kind, so full of picturesque beauty and constant + surprises as this around the indentations of St. Ann's harbor. From + the high promontory where rests the fishing village of St. Ann, the + traveler will cross to English Town. High bluffs, bold shores, exquisite + sea-views, mountainous ranges, delicious air, the society of a member of + the Dominion Parliament, these are some of the things to be enjoyed at + this place. In point of grandeur and beauty it surpasses Mt. Desert, and + is really the most attractive place on the whole line of the Atlantic + Cable. If the traveler has any sentiment in him, he will visit here, not + without emotion, the grave of the Nova Scotia Giant, who recently laid his + huge frame along this, his native shore. A man of gigantic height and + awful breadth of shoulders, with a hand as big as a shovel, there was + nothing mean or little in his soul. While the visitor is gazing at his + vast shoes, which now can be used only as sledges, he will be told that + the Giant was greatly respected by his neighbors as a man of ability and + simple integrity. He was not spoiled by his metropolitan successes, + bringing home from his foreign triumphs the same quiet and friendly + demeanor he took away; he is almost the only example of a successful + public man, who did not feel bigger than he was. He performed his duty in + life without ostentation, and returned to the home he loved unspoiled by + the flattery of constant public curiosity. He knew, having tried both, how + much better it is to be good than to be great. I should like to have known + him. I should like to know how the world looked to him from his altitude. + I should like to know how much food it took at one time to make an + impression on him; I should like to know what effect an idea of ordinary + size had in his capacious head. I should like to feel that thrill of + physical delight he must have experienced in merely closing his hand over + something. It is a pity that he could not have been educated all through, + beginning at a high school, and ending in a university. There was a field + for the multifarious new education! If we could have annexed him with his + island, I should like to have seen him in the Senate of the United States. + He would have made foreign nations respect that body, and fear his + lightest remark like a declaration of war. And he would have been at home + in that body of great men. Alas! he has passed away, leaving little + influence except a good example of growth, and a grave which is a new + promontory on that ragged coast swept by the winds of the untamed + Atlantic. + </p> + <p> + I could describe the Bay of St. Ann more minutely and graphically, if it + were desirable to do so; but I trust that enough has been said to make the + traveler wish to go there. I more unreservedly urge him to go there, + because we did not go, and we should feel no responsibility for his liking + or disliking. He will go upon the recommendation of two gentlemen of taste + and travel whom we met at Baddeck, residents of Maine and familiar with + most of the odd and striking combinations of land and water in coast + scenery. When a Maine man admits that there is any place finer than Mt. + Desert, it is worth making a note of. + </p> + <p> + On Monday we went a-fishing. Davie hitched to a rattling wagon something + that he called a horse, a small, rough animal with a great deal of “go” + in him, if he could be coaxed to show it. For the first half-hour he went + mostly in a circle in front of the inn, moving indifferently backwards or + forwards, perfectly willing to go down the road, but refusing to start + along the bay in the direction of Middle River. Of course a crowd + collected to give advice and make remarks, and women appeared at the doors + and windows of adjacent houses. Davie said he did n't care anything + about the conduct of the horse,—he could start him after a while,—but + he did n't like to have all the town looking at him, especially the + girls; and besides, such an exhibition affected the market value of the + horse. We sat in the wagon circling round and round, sometimes in the + ditch and sometimes out of it, and Davie “whaled” the horse + with his whip and abused him with his tongue. It was a pleasant day, and + the spectators increased. + </p> + <p> + There are two ways of managing a balky horse. My companion knew one of + them and I the other. His method is to sit quietly in the wagon, and at + short intervals throw a small pebble at the horse. The theory is that + these repeated sudden annoyances will operate on a horse's mind, and + he will try to escape them by going on. The spectators supplied my friend + with stones, and he pelted the horse with measured gentleness. Probably + the horse understood this method, for he did not notice the attack at all. + My plan was to speak gently to the horse, requesting him to go, and then + to follow the refusal by one sudden, sharp cut of the lash; to wait a + moment, and then repeat the operation. The dread of the coming lash after + the gentle word will start any horse. I tried this, and with a certain + success. The horse backed us into the ditch, and would probably have + backed himself into the wagon, if I had continued. When the animal was at + length ready to go, Davie took him by the bridle, ran by his side, coaxed + him into a gallop, and then, leaping in behind, lashed him into a run, + which had little respite for ten miles, uphill or down. Remonstrance on + behalf of the horse was in vain, and it was only on the return home that + this specimen Cape Breton driver began to reflect how he could erase the + welts from the horse's back before his father saw them. + </p> + <p> + Our way lay along the charming bay of the Bras d'Or, over the + sprawling bridge of the Big Baddeck, a black, sedgy, lonesome stream, to + Middle River, which debouches out of a scraggy country into a bayou with + ragged shores, about which the Indians have encampments, and in which are + the skeleton stakes of fish-weirs. Saturday night we had seen trout + jumping in the still water above the bridge. We followed the stream up two + or three miles to a Gaelic settlement of farmers. The river here flows + through lovely meadows, sandy, fertile, and sheltered by hills,—a + green Eden, one of the few peaceful inhabited spots in the world. I could + conceive of no news coming to these Highlanders later than the defeat of + the Pretender. Turning from the road, through a lane and crossing a + shallow brook, we reached the dwelling of one of the original McGregors, + or at least as good as an original. Mr. McGregor is a fiery-haired + Scotchman and brother, cordial and hospitable, who entertained our wayward + horse, and freely advised us where the trout on his farm were most likely + to be found at this season of the year. + </p> + <p> + It would be a great pleasure to speak well of Mr. McGregor's + residence, but truth is older than Scotchmen, and the reader looks to us + for truth and not flattery. Though the McGregor seems to have a good farm, + his house is little better than a shanty, a rather cheerless place for the + “woman” to slave away her uneventful life in, and bring up her + scantily clothed and semi-wild flock of children. And yet I suppose there + must be happiness in it,—there always is where there are plenty of + children, and milk enough for them. A white-haired boy who lacked adequate + trousers, small though he was, was brought forward by his mother to + describe a trout he had recently caught, which was nearly as long as the + boy himself. The young Gael's invention was rewarded by a present of + real fish-hooks. We found here in this rude cabin the hospitality that + exists in all remote regions where travelers are few. Mrs. McGregor had + none of that reluctance, which women feel in all more civilized + agricultural regions, to “break a pan of milk,” and Mr. + McGregor even pressed us to partake freely of that simple drink. And he + refused to take any pay for it, in a sort of surprise that such a simple + act of hospitality should have any commercial value. But travelers + themselves destroy one of their chief pleasures. No doubt we planted the + notion in the McGregor mind that the small kindnesses of life may be made + profitable, by offering to pay for the milk; and probably the next + travelers in that Eden will succeed in leaving some small change there, if + they use a little tact. + </p> + <p> + It was late in the season for trout. Perhaps the McGregor was aware of + that when he freely gave us the run of the stream in his meadows, and + pointed out the pools where we should be sure of good luck. It was a + charming August day, just the day that trout enjoy lying in cool, deep + places, and moving their fins in quiet content, indifferent to the + skimming fly or to the proffered sport of rod and reel. The Middle River + gracefully winds through this Vale of Tempe, over a sandy bottom, + sometimes sparkling in shallows, and then gently reposing in the broad + bends of the grassy banks. It was in one of these bends, where the stream + swirled around in seductive eddies, that we tried our skill. We heroically + waded the stream and threw our flies from the highest bank; but neither in + the black water nor in the sandy shallows could any trout be coaxed to + spring to the deceitful leaders. We enjoyed the distinction of being the + only persons who had ever failed to strike trout in that pool, and this + was something. The meadows were sweet with the newly cut grass, the wind + softly blew down the river, large white clouds sailed high overhead and + cast shadows on the changing water; but to all these gentle influences the + fish were insensible, and sulked in their cool retreats. At length in a + small brook flowing into the Middle River we found the trout more + sociable; and it is lucky that we did so, for I should with reluctance + stain these pages with a fiction; and yet the public would have just + reason to resent a fish-story without any fish in it. Under a bank, in a + pool crossed by a log and shaded by a tree, we found a drove of the + speckled beauties at home, dozens of them a foot long, each moving lazily + a little, their black backs relieved by their colored fins. They must have + seen us, but at first they showed no desire for a closer acquaintance. To + the red ibis and the white miller and the brown hackle and the gray fly + they were alike indifferent. Perhaps the love for made flies is an + artificial taste and has to be cultivated. These at any rate were + uncivilized-trout, and it was only when we took the advice of the young + McGregor and baited our hooks with the angleworm, that the fish joined in + our day's sport. They could not resist the lively wiggle of the worm + before their very noses, and we lifted them out one after an other, + gently, and very much as if we were hooking them out of a barrel, until we + had a handsome string. It may have been fun for them but it was not much + sport for us. All the small ones the young McGregor contemptuously threw + back into the water. The sportsman will perhaps learn from this incident + that there are plenty of trout in Cape Breton in August, but that the + fishing is not exhilarating. + </p> + <p> + The next morning the semi-weekly steamboat from Sydney came into the bay, + and drew all the male inhabitants of Baddeck down to the wharf; and the + two travelers, reluctant to leave the hospitable inn, and the peaceful + jail, and the double-barreled church, and all the loveliness of this + reposeful place, prepared to depart. The most conspicuous person on the + steamboat was a thin man, whose extraordinary height was made more + striking by his very long-waisted black coat and his very short + pantaloons. He was so tall that he had a little difficulty in keeping his + balance, and his hat was set upon the back of his head to preserve his + equilibrium. He had arrived at that stage when people affected as he was + are oratorical, and overflowing with information and good-nature. With + what might in strict art be called an excess of expletives, he explained + that he was a civil engineer, that he had lost his rubber coat, that he + was a great traveler in the Provinces, and he seemed to find a humorous + satisfaction in reiterating the fact of his familiarity with Painsec + junction. It evidently hovered in the misty horizon of his mind as a joke, + and he contrived to present it to his audience in that light. From the + deck of the steamboat he addressed the town, and then, to the relief of + the passengers, he decided to go ashore. When the boat drew away on her + voyage we left him swaying perilously near the edge of the wharf, + good-naturedly resenting the grasp of his coat-tail by a friend, + addressing us upon the topics of the day, and wishing us prosperity and + the Fourth of July. His was the only effort in the nature of a public + lecture that we heard in the Provinces, and we could not judge of his + ability without hearing a “course.” + </p> + <p> + Perhaps it needed this slight disturbance, and the contrast of this hazy + mind with the serene clarity of the day, to put us into the most complete + enjoyment of our voyage. Certainly, as we glided out upon the summer + waters and began to get the graceful outlines of the widening shores, it + seemed as if we had taken passage to the Fortunate Islands. + </p> + <p> + <a name="link2H_4_0007" id="link2H_4_0007"> + <!-- H2 anchor --> </a> + </p> + <div style="height: 4em;"> + <br /><br /><br /><br /> + </div> + <h2> + V + </h2> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + “One town, one country, is very like another;... there are + indeed minute discriminations both of places and manners, + which, perhaps, are not wanting of curiosity, but which a + traveller seldom stays long enough to investigate and + compare.”—DR. JOHNSON. +</pre> + <p> + There was no prospect of any excitement or of any adventure on the + steamboat from Baddeck to West Bay, the southern point of the Bras d'Or. + Judging from the appearance of the boat, the dinner might have been an + experiment, but we ran no risks. It was enough to sit on deck forward of + the wheel-house, and absorb, by all the senses, the delicious day. With + such weather perpetual and such scenery always present, sin in this world + would soon become an impossibility. Even towards the passengers from + Sydney, with their imitation English ways and little insular gossip, one + could have only charity and the most kindly feeling. + </p> + <p> + The most electric American, heir of all the nervous diseases of all the + ages, could not but find peace in this scene of tranquil beauty, and sail + on into a great and deepening contentment. Would the voyage could last for + an age, with the same sparkling but tranquil sea, and the same environment + of hills, near and remote! The hills approached and fell away in lines of + undulating grace, draped with a tender color which helped to carry the + imagination beyond the earth. At this point the narrative needs to flow + into verse, but my comrade did not feel like another attempt at poetry so + soon after that on the Gut of Canso. A man cannot always be keyed up to + the pitch of production, though his emotions may be highly creditable to + him. But poetry-making in these days is a good deal like the use of + profane language,—often without the least provocation. + </p> + <p> + Twelve miles from Baddeck we passed through the Barra Strait, or the Grand + Narrows, a picturesque feature in the Bras d'Or, and came into its + widest expanse. At the Narrows is a small settlement with a flag-staff and + a hotel, and roads leading to farmhouses on the hills. Here is a Catholic + chapel; and on shore a fat padre was waiting in his wagon for the + inevitable priest we always set ashore at such a place. The missionary we + landed was the young father from Arichat, and in appearance the pleasing + historical Jesuit. Slender is too corpulent a word to describe his + thinness, and his stature was primeval. Enveloped in a black coat, the + skirts of which reached his heels, and surmounted by a black hat with an + enormous brim, he had the form of an elegant toadstool. The traveler is + always grateful for such figures, and is not disposed to quarrel with the + faith which preserves so much of the ugly picturesque. A peaceful farming + country this, but an unremunerative field, one would say, for the + colporteur and the book-agent; and winter must inclose it in a lonesome + seclusion. + </p> + <p> + The only other thing of note the Bras d'Or offered us before we + reached West Bay was the finest show of medusm or jelly-fish that could be + produced. At first there were dozens of these disk-shaped, transparent + creatures, and then hundreds, starring the water like marguerites + sprinkled on a meadow, and of sizes from that of a teacup to a + dinner-plate. We soon ran into a school of them, a convention, a herd as + extensive as the vast buffalo droves on the plains, a collection as thick + as clover-blossoms in a field in June, miles of them, apparently; and at + length the boat had to push its way through a mass of them which covered + the water like the leaves of the pondlily, and filled the deeps far down + with their beautiful contracting and expanding forms. I did not suppose + there were so many jelly-fishes in all the world. What a repast they would + have made for the Atlantic whale we did not see, and what inward comfort + it would have given him to have swum through them once or twice with open + mouth! Our delight in this wondrous spectacle did not prevent this + generous wish for the gratification of the whale. It is probably a natural + human desire to see big corporations swallow up little ones. + </p> + <p> + At the West Bay landing, where there is nothing whatever attractive, we + found a great concourse of country wagons and clamorous drivers, to + transport the passengers over the rough and uninteresting nine miles to + Port Hawkesbury. Competition makes the fare low, but nothing makes the + ride entertaining. The only settlement passed through has the promising + name of River Inhabitants, but we could see little river and less + inhabitants; country and people seem to belong to that commonplace order + out of which the traveler can extract nothing amusing, instructive, or + disagreeable; and it was a great relief when we came over the last hill + and looked down upon the straggling village of Port Hawkesbury and the + winding Gut of Canso. + </p> + <p> + One cannot but feel a respect for this historical strait, on account of + the protection it once gave our British ancestors. Smollett makes a + certain Captain C——tell this anecdote of George II. and his + enlightened minister, the Duke of Newcastle: “In the beginning of + the war this poor, half-witted creature told me, in a great fright, that + thirty thousand French had marched from Acadie to Cape Breton. 'Where + did they find transports?' said I. 'Transports!' cried + he; 'I tell you, they marched by land.' By land to the island + of Cape Breton?' 'What! is Cape Breton an island?' + 'Certainly.' 'Ha! are you sure of that?' When I + pointed it out on the map, he examined it earnestly with his spectacles; + then taking me in his arms, 'My dear C——!' cried + he, you always bring us good news. I'll go directly and tell the + king that Cape Breton is an island.'” + </p> + <p> + Port Hawkesbury is not a modern settlement, and its public house is one of + the irregular, old-fashioned, stuffy taverns, with low rooms, + chintz-covered lounges, and fat-cushioned rocking-chairs, the decay and + untidiness of which are not offensive to the traveler. It has a low back + porch looking towards the water and over a mouldy garden, damp and + unseemly. Time was, no doubt, before the rush of travel rubbed off the + bloom of its ancient hospitality and set a vigilant man at the door of the + dining-room to collect pay for meals, that this was an abode of comfort + and the resort of merry-making and frolicsome provincials. On this now + decaying porch no doubt lovers sat in the moonlight, and vowed by the Gut + of Canso to be fond of each other forever. The traveler cannot help it if + he comes upon the traces of such sentiment. There lingered yet in the + house an air of the hospitable old time; the swift willingness of the + waiting-maids at table, who were eager that we should miss none of the + home-made dishes, spoke of it; and as we were not obliged to stay in the + hotel and lodge in its six-by-four bedrooms, we could afford to make a + little romance about its history. + </p> + <p> + While we were at supper the steamboat arrived from Pictou. We hastened on + board, impatient for progress on our homeward journey. But haste was not + called for. The steamboat would not sail on her return till morning. No + one could tell why. It was not on account of freight to take in or + discharge; it was not in hope of more passengers, for they were all on + board. But if the boat had returned that night to Pictou, some of the + passengers might have left her and gone west by rail, instead of wasting + two, or three days lounging through Northumberland Sound and idling in the + harbors of Prince Edward Island. If the steamboat would leave at midnight, + we could catch the railway train at Pictou. Probably the officials were + aware of this, and they preferred to have our company to Shediac. We + mention this so that the tourist who comes this way may learn to possess + his soul in patience, and know that steamboats are not run for his + accommodation, but to give him repose and to familiarize him with the + country. It is almost impossible to give the unscientific reader an idea + of the slowness of travel by steamboat in these regions. Let him first fix + his mind on the fact that the earth moves through space at a speed of more + than sixty-six thousand miles an hour. This is a speed eleven hundred + times greater than that of the most rapid express trains. If the distance + traversed by a locomotive in an hour is represented by one tenth of an + inch, it would need a line nine feet long to indicate the corresponding + advance of the earth in the same time. But a tortoise, pursuing his + ordinary gait without a wager, moves eleven hundred times slower than an + express train. We have here a basis of comparison with the provincial + steamboats. If we had seen a tortoise start that night from Port + Hawkesbury for the west, we should have desired to send letters by him. + </p> + <p> + In the early morning we stole out of the romantic strait, and by + breakfast-time we were over St. George's Bay and round his cape, and + making for the harbor of Pictou. During the forenoon something in the + nature of an excursion developed itself on the steamboat, but it had so + few of the bustling features of an American excursion that I thought it + might be a pilgrimage. Yet it doubtless was a highly developed provincial + lark. For a certain portion of the passengers had the unmistakable + excursion air: the half-jocular manner towards each other, the local + facetiousness which is so offensive to uninterested fellow-travelers, that + male obsequiousness about ladies' shawls and reticules, the clumsy + pretense of gallantry with each other's wives, the anxiety about the + company luggage and the company health. It became painfully evident + presently that it was an excursion, for we heard singing of that concerted + and determined kind that depresses the spirits of all except those who + join in it. The excursion had assembled on the lee guards out of the wind, + and was enjoying itself in an abandon of serious musical enthusiasm. We + feared at first that there might be some levity in this performance, and + that the unrestrained spirit of the excursion was working itself off in + social and convivial songs. But it was not so. The singers were provided + with hymn-and-tune books, and what they sang they rendered in long meter + and with a most doleful earnestness. It is agreeable to the traveler to + see that the provincials disport themselves within bounds, and that an + hilarious spree here does not differ much in its exercises from a + prayer-meeting elsewhere. But the excursion enjoyed its staid dissipation + amazingly. + </p> + <p> + It is pleasant to sail into the long and broad harbor of Pictou on a sunny + day. On the left is the Halifax railway terminus, and three rivers flow + into the harbor from the south. On the right the town of Pictou, with its + four thousand inhabitants, lies upon the side of the ridge that runs out + towards the Sound. The most conspicuous building in it as we approach is + the Roman Catholic church; advanced to the edge of the town and occupying + the highest ground, it appears large, and its gilt cross is a beacon miles + away. Its builders understood the value of a striking situation, a + dominant position; it is a part of the universal policy of this church to + secure the commanding places for its houses of worship. We may have had no + prejudices in favor of the Papal temporality when we landed at Pictou, but + this church was the only one which impressed us, and the only one we took + the trouble to visit. We had ample time, for the steamboat after its + arduous trip needed rest, and remained some hours in the harbor. Pictou is + said to be a thriving place, and its streets have a cindery appearance, + betokening the nearness of coal mines and the presence of furnaces. But + the town has rather a cheap and rusty look. Its streets rise one above + another on the hillside, and, except a few comfortable cottages, we saw no + evidences of wealth in the dwellings. The church, when we reached it, was + a commonplace brick structure, with a raw, unfinished interior, and weedy + and untidy surroundings, so that our expectation of sitting on the + inviting hill and enjoying the view was not realized; and we were obliged + to descend to the hot wharf and wait for the ferry-boat to take us to the + steamboat which lay at the railway terminus opposite. It is the most + unfair thing in the world for the traveler, without an object or any + interest in the development of the country, on a sleepy day in August, to + express any opinion whatever about such a town as Pictou. But we may say + of it, without offence, that it occupies a charming situation, and may + have an interesting future; and that a person on a short acquaintance can + leave it without regret. + </p> + <p> + By stopping here we had the misfortune to lose our excursion, a loss that + was soothed by no know ledge of its destination or hope of seeing it + again, and a loss without a hope is nearly always painful. Going out of + the harbor we encounter Pictou Island and Light, and presently see the low + coast of Prince Edward Island,—a coast indented and agreeable to + those idly sailing along it, in weather that seemed let down out of heaven + and over a sea that sparkled but still slept in a summer quiet. When fate + puts a man in such a position and relieves him of all responsibility, with + a book and a good comrade, and liberty to make sarcastic remarks upon his + fellow-travelers, or to doze, or to look over the tranquil sea, he may be + pronounced happy. And I believe that my companion, except in the matter of + the comrade, was happy. But I could not resist a worrying anxiety about + the future of the British Provinces, which not even the remembrance of + their hostility to us during our mortal strife with the Rebellion could + render agreeable. For I could not but feel that the ostentatious and + unconcealable prosperity of “the States” over-shadows this + part of the continent. And it was for once in vain that I said, “Have + we not a common land and a common literature, and no copyright, and a + common pride in Shakespeare and Hannah More and Colonel Newcome and Pepys's + Diary?” I never knew this sort of consolation to fail before; it + does not seem to answer in the Provinces as well as it does in England. + </p> + <p> + New passengers had come on board at Pictou, new and hungry, and not all + could get seats for dinner at the first table. Notwithstanding the + supposed traditionary advantage of our birthplace, we were unable to + dispatch this meal with the celerity of our fellow-voyagers, and + consequently, while we lingered over our tea, we found ourselves at the + second table. And we were rewarded by one of those pleasing sights that go + to make up the entertainment of travel. There sat down opposite to us a + fat man whose noble proportions occupied at the board the space of three + ordinary men. His great face beamed delight the moment he came near the + table. He had a low forehead and a wide mouth and small eyes, and an + internal capacity that was a prophecy of famine to his fellow-men. But a + more good-natured, pleased animal you may never see. Seating himself with + unrepressed joy, he looked at us, and a great smile of satisfaction came + over his face, that plainly said, “Now my time has come.” + Every part of his vast bulk said this. Most generously, by his friendly + glances, he made us partners in his pleasure. With a Napoleonic grasp of + his situation, he reached far and near, hauling this and that dish of + fragments towards his plate, giving orders at the same time, and throwing + into his cheerful mouth odd pieces of bread and pickles in an unstudied + and preliminary manner. When he had secured everything within his reach, + he heaped his plate and began an attack upon the contents, using both + knife and fork with wonderful proficiency. The man's good-humor was + contagious, and he did not regard our amusement as different in kind from + his enjoyment. The spectacle was worth a journey to see. Indeed, its + aspect of comicality almost overcame its grossness, and even when the hero + loaded in faster than he could swallow, and was obliged to drop his knife + for an instant to arrange matters in his mouth with his finger, it was + done with such a beaming smile that a pig would not take offense at it. + The performance was not the merely vulgar thing it seems on paper, but an + achievement unique and perfect, which one is not likely to see more than + once in a lifetime. It was only when the man left the table that his face + became serious. We had seen him at his best. + </p> + <p> + Prince Edward Island, as we approached it, had a pleasing aspect, and + nothing of that remote friendlessness which its appearance on the map + conveys to one; a warm and sandy land, in a genial climate, without fogs, + we are informed. In the winter it has ice communication with Nova Scotia, + from Cape Traverse to Cape Tormentine,—the route of the submarine + cable. The island is as flat from end to end as a floor. When it + surrendered its independent government and joined the Dominion, one of the + conditions of the union was that the government should build a railway the + whole length of it. This is in process of construction, and the portion + that is built affords great satisfaction to the islanders, a railway being + one of the necessary adjuncts of civilization; but that there was great + need of it, or that it would pay, we were unable to learn. + </p> + <p> + We sailed through Hillsborough Bay and a narrow strait to Charlottetown, + the capital, which lies on a sandy spit of land between two rivers. Our + leisurely steamboat tied up here in the afternoon and spent the night, + giving the passengers an opportunity to make thorough acquaintance with + the town. It has the appearance of a place from which something has + departed; a wooden town, with wide and vacant streets, and the air of + waiting for something. Almost melancholy is the aspect of its freestone + colonial building, where once the colonial legislature held its momentous + sessions, and the colonial governor shed the delightful aroma of royalty. + The mansion of the governor—now vacant of pomp, because that + official does not exist—is a little withdrawn from the town, + secluded among trees by the water-side. It is dignified with a winding + approach, but is itself only a cheap and decaying house. On our way to it + we passed the drill-shed of the local cavalry, which we mistook for a + skating-rink, and thereby excited the contempt of an old lady of whom we + inquired. Tasteful residences we did not find, nor that attention to + flowers and gardens which the mild climate would suggest. Indeed, we + should describe Charlottetown as a place where the hollyhock in the + dooryard is considered an ornament. A conspicuous building is a large + market-house shingled all over (as many of the public buildings are), and + this and other cheap public edifices stand in the midst of a large square, + which is surrounded by shabby shops for the most part. The town is laid + out on a generous scale, and it is to be regretted that we could not have + seen it when it enjoyed the glory of a governor and court and ministers of + state, and all the paraphernalia of a royal parliament. That the + productive island, with its system of free schools, is about to enter upon + a prosperous career, and that Charlottetown is soon to become a place of + great activity, no one who converses with the natives can doubt; and I + think that even now no traveler will regret spending an hour or two there; + but it is necessary to say that the rosy inducements to tourists to spend + the summer there exist only in the guide-books. + </p> + <p> + We congratulated ourselves that we should at least have a night of + delightful sleep on the steamboat in the quiet of this secluded harbor. + But it was wisely ordered otherwise, to the end that we should improve our + time by an interesting study of human nature. Towards midnight, when the + occupants of all the state-rooms were supposed to be in profound slumber, + there was an invasion of the small cabin by a large and loquacious family, + who had been making an excursion on the island railway. This family might + remind an antiquated novel-reader of the delightful Brangtons in “Evelina;” + they had all the vivacity of the pleasant cousins of the heroine of that + story, and the same generosity towards the public in regard to their + family affairs. Before they had been in the cabin an hour, we felt as if + we knew every one of them. There was a great squabble as to where and how + they should sleep; and when this was over, the revelations of the nature + of their beds and their peculiar habits of sleep continued to pierce the + thin deal partitions of the adjoining state-rooms. When all the possible + trivialities of vacant minds seemed to have been exhausted, there followed + a half-hour of “Goodnight, pa; good-night, ma;” “Goodnight, + pet;” and “Are you asleep, ma?” “No.” + “Are you asleep, pa?” “No; go to sleep, pet.” + “I'm going. Good-night, pa; good-night, ma.” “Goodnight, + pet.” “This bed is too short.” “Why don't + you take the other?” “I'm all fixed now.” “Well, + go to sleep; good-night.” “Good-night, ma; goodnight, pa,”—no + answer. “Good-night,pa.” “Goodnight, pet.” “Ma, + are you asleep?” “Most.” “This bed is all lumps; I + wish I'd gone downstairs.” “Well, pa will get up.” + “Pa, are you asleep?” “Yes.” “It's + better now; good-night, pa.” “Goodnight, pet.” “Good-night, + ma.” “Good-night, pet.” And so on in an exasperating + repetition, until every passenger on the boat must have been thoroughly + informed of the manner in which this interesting family habitually settled + itself to repose. + </p> + <p> + Half an hour passes with only a languid exchange of family feeling, and + then: “Pa?” “Well, pet.” “Don't call + us in the morning; we don't want any breakfast; we want to sleep.” + “I won't.” “Goodnight, pa; goodnight, ma. Ma?” + “What is it, dear?” “Good-night, ma.” “Good-night, + pet.” Alas for youthful expectations! Pet shared her stateroom with + a young companion, and the two were carrying on a private dialogue during + this public performance. Did these young ladies, after keeping all the + passengers of the boat awake till near the summer dawn, imagine that it + was in the power of pa and ma to insure them the coveted forenoon slumber, + or even the morning snooze? The travelers, tossing in their state-room + under this domestic infliction, anticipated the morning with grim + satisfaction; for they had a presentiment that it would be impossible for + them to arise and make their toilet without waking up every one in their + part of the boat, and aggravating them to such an extent that they would + stay awake. And so it turned out. The family grumbling at the unexpected + disturbance was sweeter to the travelers than all the exchange of family + affection during the night. + </p> + <p> + No one, indeed, ought to sleep beyond breakfast-time while sailing along + the southern coast of Prince Edward Island. It was a sparkling morning. + When we went on deck we were abreast Cape Traverse; the faint outline of + Nova Scotia was marked on the horizon, and New Brunswick thrust out Cape + Tomentine to greet us. On the still, sunny coasts and the placid sea, and + in the serene, smiling sky, there was no sign of the coming tempest which + was then raging from Hatteras to Cape Cod; nor could one imagine that this + peaceful scene would, a few days later, be swept by a fearful tornado, + which should raze to the ground trees and dwelling-houses, and strew all + these now inviting shores with wrecked ships and drowning sailors,—a + storm which has passed into literature in “The Lord's-Day Gale” + of Mr Stedman. + </p> + <p> + Through this delicious weather why should the steamboat hasten, in order + to discharge its passengers into the sweeping unrest of continental + travel? Our eagerness to get on, indeed, almost melted away, and we were + scarcely impatient at all when the boat lounged into Halifax Bay, past + Salutation Point and stopped at Summerside. This little seaport is + intended to be attractive, and it would give these travelers great + pleasure to describe it, if they could at all remember how it looks. But + it is a place that, like some faces, makes no sort of impression on the + memory. We went ashore there, and tried to take an interest in the + ship-building, and in the little oysters which the harbor yields; but + whether we did take an interest or not has passed out of memory. A small, + unpicturesque, wooden town, in the languor of a provincial summer; why + should we pretend an interest in it which we did not feel? It did not + disturb our reposeful frame of mind, nor much interfere with our enjoyment + of the day. + </p> + <p> + On the forward deck, when we were under way again, amid a group reading + and nodding in the sunshine, we found a pretty girl with a companion and a + gentleman, whom we knew by intuition as the “pa” of the pretty + girl and of our night of anguish. The pa might have been a clergyman in a + small way, or the proprietor of a female boarding-school; at any rate, an + excellent and improving person to travel with, whose willingness to impart + information made even the travelers long for a pa. It was no part of his + plan of this family summer excursion, upon which he had come against his + wish, to have any hour of it wasted in idleness. He held an open volume in + his hand, and was questioning his daughter on its contents. He spoke in a + loud voice, and without heeding the timidity of the young lady, who shrank + from this public examination, and begged her father not to continue it. + The parent was, however, either proud of his daughter's + acquirements, or he thought it a good opportunity to shame her out of her + ignorance. Doubtless, we said, he is instructing her upon the geography of + the region we are passing through, its early settlement, the romantic + incidents of its history when French and English fought over it, and so is + making this a tour of profit as well as pleasure. But the excellent and + pottering father proved to be no disciple of the new education. Greece was + his theme and he got his questions, and his answers too, from the ancient + school history in his hand. The lesson went on: + </p> + <p> + “Who was Alcibiades? + </p> + <p> + “A Greek.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes. When did he flourish?” + </p> + <p> + “I can't think.” + </p> + <p> + “Can't think? What was he noted for?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't remember.” + </p> + <p> + “Don't remember? I don't believe you studied this.” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, I did.” + </p> + <p> + “Well, take it now, and study it hard, and then I'll hear you + again.” + </p> + <p> + The young girl, who is put to shame by this open persecution, begins to + study, while the peevish and small tyrant, her pa, is nagging her with + such soothing remarks as, “I thought you'd have more respect + for your pride;” “Why don't you try to come up to the + expectations of your teacher?” By and by the student thinks she has + “got it,” and the public exposition begins again. The date at + which Alcibiades “flourished” was ascertained, but what he was + “noted for” got hopelessly mixed with what Themistocles was + “noted for.” The momentary impression that the battle of + Marathon was fought by Salamis was soon dissipated, and the questions + continued. + </p> + <p> + “What did Pericles do to the Greeks?” + </p> + <p> + “I don't know.” + </p> + <p> + “Elevated 'em, did n't he? Did n't he elevate Pem?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “Always remember that; you want to fix your mind on leading things. + Remember that Pericles elevated the Greeks. Who was Pericles? + </p> + <p> + “He was a”— + </p> + <p> + “Was he a philosopher?” + </p> + <p> + “Yes, sir.” + </p> + <p> + “No, he was n't. Socrates was a philosopher. When did he + flourish?” + </p> + <p> + And so on, and so on. + </p> + <p> + O my charming young countrywomen, let us never forget that Pericles + elevated the Greeks; and that he did it by cultivating the national + genius, the national spirit, by stimulating art and oratory and the + pursuit of learning, and infusing into all society a higher intellectual + and social life! Pa was this day sailing through seas and by shores that + had witnessed some of the most stirring and romantic events in the early + history of our continent. He might have had the eager attention of his + bright daughter if he had unfolded these things to her in the midst of + this most living landscape, and given her an “object lesson” + that she would not have forgotten all her days, instead of this pottering + over names and dates that were as dry and meaningless to him as they were + uninteresting to his daughter. At least, O Pa, Educator of Youth, if you + are insensible to the beauty of these summer isles and indifferent to + their history, and your soul is wedded to ancient learning, why do you not + teach your family to go to sleep when they go to bed, as the classic + Greeks used to? + </p> + <p> + Before the travelers reached Shediac, they had leisure to ruminate upon + the education of American girls in the schools set apart for them, and to + conjecture how much they are taught of the geography and history of + America, or of its social and literary growth; and whether, when they + travel on a summer tour like this, these coasts have any historical light + upon them, or gain any interest from the daring and chivalric adventurers + who played their parts here so long ago. We did not hear pa ask when + Madame de la Tour “flourished,” though “flourish” + that determined woman did, in Boston as well as in the French provinces. + In the present woman revival, may we not hope that the heroic women of our + colonial history will have the prominence that is their right, and that + woman's achievements will assume their proper place in affairs? When + women write history, some of our popular men heroes will, we trust, be + made to acknowledge the female sources of their wisdom and their courage. + But at present women do not much affect history, and they are more + indifferent to the careers of the noted of their own sex than men are. + </p> + <p> + We expected to approach Shediac with a great deal of interest. It had + been, when we started, one of the most prominent points in our projected + tour. It was the pivot upon which, so to speak, we expected to swing + around the Provinces. Upon the map it was so attractive, that we once + resolved to go no farther than there. It once seemed to us that, if we + ever reached it, we should be contented to abide there, in a place so + remote, in a port so picturesque and foreign. But returning from the real + east, our late interest in Shediac seemed unaccountable to us. Firmly + resolved as I was to note our entrance into the harbor, I could not keep + the place in mind; and while we were in our state-room and before we knew + it, the steamboat Jay at the wharf. Shediac appeared to be nothing but a + wharf with a railway train on it, and a few shanty buildings, a part of + them devoted to the sale of whiskey and to cheap lodgings. This landing, + however, is called Point du Chene, and the village of Shediac is two or + three miles distant from it; we had a pleasant glimpse of it from the car + windows, and saw nothing in its situation to hinder its growth. The + country about it is perfectly level, and stripped of its forests. At + Painsec Junction we waited for the train from Halifax, and immediately + found ourselves in the whirl of intercolonial travel. Why people should + travel here, or why they should be excited about it, we could not see; we + could not overcome a feeling of the unreality of the whole thing; but yet + we humbly knew that we had no right to be otherwise than awed by the + extraordinary intercolonial railway enterprise and by the new life which + it is infusing into the Provinces. We are free to say, however, that + nothing can be less interesting than the line of this road until it + strikes the Kennebeckasis River, when the traveler will be called upon to + admire the Sussex Valley and a very fair farming region, which he would + like to praise if it were not for exciting the jealousy of the “Garden + of Nova Scotia.” The whole land is in fact a garden, but differing + somewhat from the Isle of Wight. + </p> + <p> + In all travel, however, people are more interesting than land, and so it + was at this time. As twilight shut down upon the valley of the + Kennebeckasis, we heard the strident voice of pa going on with the Grecian + catechism. Pa was unmoved by the beauties of Sussex or by the colors of + the sunset, which for the moment made picturesque the scraggy evergreens + on the horizon. His eyes were with his heart, and that was in Sparta. + Above the roar of the car-wheels we heard his nagging inquiries. + </p> + <p> + “What did Lycurgus do then?” + </p> + <p> + Answer not audible. + </p> + <p> + “No. He made laws. Who did he make laws for?” + </p> + <p> + “For the Greeks.” + </p> + <p> + “He made laws for the Lacedemonians. Who was another great lawgiver?” + </p> + <p> + “It was—it was—Pericles.” + </p> + <p> + “No, it was n't. It was Solon. Who was Solon?” + </p> + <p> + “Solon was one of the wise men of Greece.” + </p> + <p> + “That's right. When did he flourish?” + </p> + <p> + When the train stops at a station the classics continue, and the studious + group attracts the attention of the passengers. Pa is well pleased, but + not so the young lady, who beseechingly says, + </p> + <p> + “Pa, everybody can hear us.” + </p> + <p> + “You would n't care how much they heard, if you knew it,” + replies this accomplished devotee of learning. + </p> + <p> + In another lull of the car-wheels we find that pa has skipped over to + Marathon; and this time it is the daughter who is asking a question. + </p> + <p> + “Pa, what is a phalanx?” + </p> + <p> + “Well, a phalanx—it's a—it's difficult to + define a phalanx. It's a stretch of men in one line,—a stretch + of anything in a line. When did Alexander flourish?” + </p> + <p> + This domestic tyrant had this in common with the rest of us, that he was + much better at asking questions than at answering them. It certainly was + not our fault that we were listeners to his instructive struggles with + ancient history, nor that we heard his petulant complaining to his cowed + family, whom he accused of dragging him away on this summer trip. We are + only grateful to him, for a more entertaining person the traveler does not + often see. It was with regret that we lost sight of him at St. John. + </p> + <p> + Night has settled upon New Brunswick and upon ancient Greece before we + reach the Kennebeckasis Bay, and we only see from the car windows dimly a + pleasant and fertile country, and the peaceful homes of thrifty people. + While we are running along the valley and coming under the shadow of the + hill whereon St. John sits, with a regal outlook upon a most variegated + coast and upon the rising and falling of the great tides of Fundy, we feel + a twinge of conscience at the injustice the passing traveler must perforce + do any land he hurries over and does not study. Here is picturesque St. + John, with its couple of centuries of history and tradition, its commerce, + its enterprise felt all along the coast and through the settlements of the + territory to the northeast, with its no doubt charming society and solid + English culture; and the summer tourist, in an idle mood regarding it for + a day, says it is naught! Behold what “travels” amount to! Are + they not for the most part the records of the misapprehensions of the + misinformed? Let us congratulate ourselves that in this flight through the + Provinces we have not attempted to do any justice to them, geologically, + economically, or historically, only trying to catch some of the salient + points of the panorama as it unrolled itself. Will Halifax rise up in + judgment against us? We look back upon it with softened memory, and + already see it again in the light of history. It stands, indeed, + overlooking a gate of the ocean, in a beautiful morning light; and we can + hear now the repetition of that profane phrase, used for the misdirection + of wayward mortals,—-“Go to Halifax!” without a shudder. + </p> + <p> + We confess to some regret that our journey is so near its end. Perhaps it + is the sentimental regret with which one always leaves the east, for we + have been a thousand miles nearer Ireland than Boston is. Collecting in + the mind the detached pictures given to our eyes in all these brilliant + and inspiring days, we realize afresh the variety, the extent, the + richness of these northeastern lands which the Gulf Stream pets and + tempers. If it were not for attracting speculators, we should delight to + speak of the beds of coal, the quarries of marble, the mines of gold. Look + on the map and follow the shores of these peninsulas and islands, the + bays, the penetrating arms of the sea, the harbors filled with islands, + the protected straits and sounds. All this is favorable to the highest + commercial activity and enterprise. Greece itself and its islands are not + more indented and inviting. Fish swarm about the shores and in all the + streams. There are, I have no doubt, great forests which we did not see + from the car windows, the inhabitants of which do not show themselves to + the travelers at the railway-stations. In the dining-room of a friend, who + goes away every autumn into the wilds of Nova Scotia at the season when + the snow falls, hang trophies—enormous branching antlers of the + caribou, and heads of the mighty moose—which I am assured came from + there; and I have no reason to doubt that the noble creatures who once + carried these superb horns were murdered by my friend at long range. Many + people have an insatiate longing to kill, once in their life, a moose, and + would travel far and endure great hardships to gratify this ambition. In + the present state of the world it is more difficult to do it than it is to + be written down as one who loves his fellow-men. + </p> + <p> + We received everywhere in the Provinces courtesy and kindness, which were + not based upon any expectation that we would invest in mines or railways, + for the people are honest, kindly, and hearty by nature. What they will + become when the railways are completed that are to bind St. John to + Quebec, and make Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and Newfoundland only + stepping-stones to Europe, we cannot say. Probably they will become like + the rest of the world, and furnish no material for the kindly persiflage + of the traveler. + </p> + <p> + Regretting that we could see no more of St. John, that we could scarcely + see our way through its dimly lighted streets, we found the ferry to + Carleton, and a sleeping-car for Bangor. It was in the heart of the negro + porter to cause us alarm by the intelligence that the customs officer + would, search our baggage during the night. A search is a blow to one's + self-respect, especially if one has anything dutiable. But as the porter + might be an agent of our government in disguise, we preserved an + appearance of philosophical indifference in his presence. It takes a sharp + observer to tell innocence from assurance. During the night, awaking, I + saw a great light. A man, crawling along the aisle of the car, and poking + under the seats, had found my traveling-bag and was “going through” + it. + </p> + <p> + I felt a thrill of pride as I recognized in this crouching figure an + officer of our government, and knew that I was in my native land. + </p> +<pre xml:space="preserve"> + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Baddeck and That Sort of Thing +by Charles Dudley Warner + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK BADDECK AND THAT SORT OF THING *** + +***** This file should be named 3133-h.htm or 3133-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/1/3/3133/ + +Produced by David Widger + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +Baddeck and That Sort of Thing + +By Charles Dudley Warner + + + + +NOTE: This work was previously published in [Etext #2671] +The Complete Writings of Charles Dudley Warner Volume 1., +Project Gutenberg The Complete Writings of Charles Dudley Warner +1warn10.txt or 1warn10.zip + + + + +BADDECK AND THAT SORT OF THING + + +PREFACE + +TO JOSEPH H. TWICHELL + +It would be unfair to hold you responsible for these light sketches +of a summer trip, which are now gathered into this little volume in +response to the usual demand in such cases; yet you cannot escape +altogether. For it was you who first taught me to say the name +Baddeck; it was you who showed me its position on the map, and a +seductive letter from a home missionary on Cape Breton Island, in +relation to the abundance of trout and salmon in his field of labor. +That missionary, you may remember, we never found, nor did we see his +tackle; but I have no reason to believe that he does not enjoy good +fishing in the right season. You understand the duties of a home +missionary much better than I do, and you know whether he would be +likely to let a couple of strangers into the best part of his +preserve. + +But I am free to admit that after our expedition was started you +speedily relieved yourself of all responsibility for it, and turned +it over to your comrade with a profound geographical indifference; +you would as readily have gone to Baddeck by Nova Zembla as by Nova +Scotia. The flight over the latter island was, you knew, however, no +part of our original plan, and you were not obliged to take any +interest in it. You know that our design was to slip rapidly down, +by the back way of Northumberland Sound, to the Bras d'Or, and spend +a week fishing there; and that the greater part of this journey here +imperfectly described is not really ours, but was put upon us by fate +and by the peculiar arrangement of provincial travel. + +It would have been easy after our return to have made up from +libraries a most engaging description of the Provinces, mixing it +with historical, legendary, botanical, geographical, and ethnological +information, and seasoning it with adventure from your glowing +imagination. But it seemed to me that it would be a more honest +contribution if our account contained only what we saw, in our rapid +travel; for I have a theory that any addition to the great body of +print, however insignificant it may be, has a value in proportion to +its originality and individuality,--however slight either is,--and +very little value if it is a compilation of the observations of +others. In this case I know how slight the value is; and I can only +hope that as the trip was very entertaining to us, the record of it +may not be wholly unentertaining to those of like tastes. + +Of one thing, my dear friend, I am certain: if the readers of this +little journey could have during its persual the companionship that +the writer had when it was made, they would think it altogether +delightful. There is no pleasure comparable to that of going about +the world, in pleasant weather, with a good comrade, if the mind is +distracted neither by care, nor ambition, nor the greed of gain. The +delight there is in seeing things, without any hope of pecuniary +profit from them! We certainly enjoyed that inward peace which the +philosopher associates with the absence of desire for money. For, as +Plato says in the Phaedo, "whence come wars and fightings and +factions? whence but from the body and the lusts of the body? For +wars are occasioned by the love of money." So also are the majority +of the anxieties of life. We left these behind when we went into the +Provinces with no design of acquiring anything there. I hope it may +be my fortune to travel further with you in this fair world, under +similar circumstances. + +NOOK FARM, HARTFORD, April 10, 1874. + +C. D. W. + + + + +BADDECK AND THAT SORT OF THING + + +Ay, now I am in Arden: the more fool I; when I was at home, +I was in a better place; but travellers must be content."-- +TOUCHSTONE. + +Two comrades and travelers, who sought a better country than the +United States in the month of August, found themselves one +evening in apparent possession of the ancient town of Boston. + +The shops were closed at early candle-light; the fashionable +inhabitants had retired into the country, or into the +second-story-back, of their princely residences, and even an air of +tender gloom settled upon the Common. The streets were almost empty, +and one passed into the burnt district, where the scarred ruins and +the uplifting piles of new brick and stone spread abroad under the +flooding light of a full moon like another Pompeii, without any +increase in his feeling of tranquil seclusion. Even the news-offices +had put up their shutters, and a confiding stranger could nowhere buy +a guide-book to help his wandering feet about the reposeful city, or +to show him how to get out of it. There was, to be sure, a cheerful +tinkle of horse-car bells in the air, and in the creeping vehicles +which created this levity of sound were a few lonesome passengers on +their way to Scollay's Square; but the two travelers, not having +well-regulated minds, had no desire to go there. What would have +become of Boston if the great fire had reached this sacred point of +pilg-rimage no merely human mind can imagine. Without it, I suppose +the horse-cars would go continually round and round, never stopping, +until the cars fell away piecemeal on the track, and the horses +collapsed into a mere mass of bones and harness, and the brown- +covered books from the Public Library, in the hands of the fading +virgins who carried them, had accumulated fines to an incalculable +amount. + +Boston) notwithstanding its partial destruction by fire, is still a +good place to start from. When one meditates an excursion into an +unknown and perhaps perilous land, where the flag will not protect +him and the greenback will only partially support him, he likes to +steady and tranquilize his mind by a peaceful halt and a serene +start. So we--for the intelligent reader has already identified us +with the two travelers resolved to spend the last night, before +beginning our journey, in the quiet of a Boston hotel. Some people +go into the country for quiet: we knew better. The country is no +place for sleep. The general absence of sound which prevails at +night is only a sort of background which brings out more vividly the +special and unexpected disturbances which are suddenly sprung upon +the restless listener. There are a thousand pokerish noises that no +one can account for, which excite the nerves to acute watchfulness. + +It is still early, and one is beginning to be lulled by the frogs and +the crickets, when the faint rattle of a drum is heard,--just a few +preliminary taps. But the soul takes alarm, and well it may, for a +roll follows, and then a rub-a-dub-dub, and the farmer's boy who is +handling the sticks and pounding the distended skin in a neighboring +horse-shed begins to pour out his patriotism in that unending +repetition of rub-a-dub-dub which is supposed to represent love of +country in the young. When the boy is tired out and quits the field, +the faithful watch-dog opens out upon the stilly night. He is the +guardian of his master's slumbers. The howls of the faithful +creature are answered by barks and yelps from all the farmhouses for +a mile around, and exceedingly poor barking it usually is, until all +the serenity of the night is torn to shreds. This is, however, only +the opening of the orchestra. The cocks wake up if there is the +faintest moonshine and begin an antiphonal service between responsive +barn-yards. It is not the clear clarion of chanticleer that is heard +in the morn of English poetry, but a harsh chorus of cracked voices, +hoarse and abortive attempts, squawks of young experimenters, and +some indescribable thing besides, for I believe even the hens crow in +these days. Distracting as all this is, however, happy is the man +who does not hear a goat lamenting in the night. The goat is the +most exasperating of the animal creation. He cries like a deserted +baby, but he does it without any regularity. One can accustom +himself to any expression of suffering that is regular. The +annoyance of the goat is in the dreadful waiting for the uncertain +sound of the next wavering bleat. It is the fearful expectation of +that, mingled with the faint hope that the last was the last, that +ag-gravates the tossing listener until he has murder in his heart. +He longs for daylight, hoping that the voices of the night will then +cease, and that sleep will come with the blessed morning. But he has +forgotten the birds, who at the first streak of gray in the east have +assembled in the trees near his chamber-window, and keep up for an +hour the most rasping dissonance,--an orchestra in which each artist +is tuning his instrument, setting it in a different key and to play a +different tune: each bird recalls a different tune, and none sings +"Annie Laurie,"--to pervert Bayard Taylor's song. + +Give us the quiet of a city on the night before a journey. As we +mounted skyward in our hotel, and went to bed in a serene altitude, +we congratulated ourselves upon a reposeful night. It began well. +But as we sank into the first doze, we were startled by a sudden +crash. Was it an earthquake, or another fire? Were the neighboring +buildings all tumbling in upon us, or had a bomb fallen into the +neighboring crockery-store? It was the suddenness of the onset that +startled us, for we soon perceived that it began with the clash of +cymbals, the pounding of drums, and the blaring of dreadful brass. +It was somebody's idea of music. It opened without warning. The men +composing the band of brass must have stolen silently into the alley +about the sleeping hotel, and burst into the clamor of a rattling +quickstep, on purpose. The horrible sound thus suddenly let loose +had no chance of escape; it bounded back from wall to wall, like the +clapping of boards in a tunnel, rattling windows and stunning all +cars, in a vain attempt to get out over the roofs. But such music +does not go up. What could have been the intention of this assault +we could not conjecture. It was a time of profound peace through the +country; we had ordered no spontaneous serenade, if it was a +serenade. Perhaps the Boston bands have that habit of going into an +alley and disciplining their nerves by letting out a tune too big for +the alley, and taking the shock of its reverberation. It may be well +enough for the band, but many a poor sinner in the hotel that night +must have thought the judgment day had sprung upon him. Perhaps the +band had some remorse, for by and by it leaked out of the alley, in +humble, apologetic retreat, as if somebody had thrown something at it +from the sixth-story window, softly breathing as it retired the notes +of "Fair Harvard." + +The band had scarcely departed for some other haunt of slumber and +weariness, when the notes of singing floated up that prolific alley, +like the sweet tenor voice of one bewailing the prohibitory movement; +and for an hour or more a succession of young bacchanals, who were +evidently wandering about in search of the Maine Law, lifted up their +voices in song. Boston seems to be full of good singers; but they +will ruin their voices by this night exercise, and so the city will +cease to be attractive to travelers who would like to sleep there. +But this entertainment did not last the night out. + +It stopped just before the hotel porter began to come around to rouse +the travelers who had said the night before that they wanted to be +awakened. In all well-regulated hotels this process begins at two +o'clock and keeps up till seven. If the porter is at all faithful, +he wakes up everybody in the house; if he is a shirk, he only rouses +the wrong people. We treated the pounding of the porter on our door +with silent contempt. At the next door he had better luck. Pound, +pound. An angry voice, "What do you want?" + +"Time to take the train, sir." + +"Not going to take any train." + +"Ain't your name Smith?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, Smith"-- + +"I left no order to be called." (Indistinct grumbling from Smith's +room.) + +Porter is heard shuffling slowly off down the passage. In a little +while he returns to Smith's door, evidently not satisfied in his +mind. Rap, rap, rap! + +"Well, what now?" + +"What's your initials? A. T.; clear out!" + +And the porter shambles away again in his slippers, grumbling +something about a mistake. The idea of waking a man up in the middle +of the night to ask him his "initials" was ridiculous enough to +banish sleep for another hour. A person named Smith, when he +travels, should leave his initials outside the door with his boots. + +Refreshed by this reposeful night, and eager to exchange the +stagnation of the shore for the tumult of the ocean, we departed next +morning for Baddeck by the most direct route. This we found, by +diligent study of fascinating prospectuses of travel, to be by the +boats of the International Steamship Company; and when, at eight +o'clock in the morning, we stepped aboard one of them from Commercial +Wharf, we felt that half our journey and the most perplexing part of +it was accomplished. We had put ourselves upon a great line of +travel, and had only to resign ourselves to its flow in order to +reach the desired haven. The agent at the wharf assured us that it +was not necessary to buy through tickets to Baddeck,--he spoke of it +as if it were as easy a place to find as Swampscott,--it was a +conspicuous name on the cards of the company, we should go right on +from St. John without difficulty. The easy familiarity of this +official with Baddeck, in short, made us ashamed to exhibit any +anxiety about its situation or the means of approach to it. +Subsequent experience led us to believe that the only man in the +world, out of Baddeck, who knew anything about it lives in Boston, +and sells tickets to it, or rather towards it. + +There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of +it, when the traveler is settled simply as to his destination, and +commits himself to his unknown fate and all the anticipations of +adventure before him. We experienced this pleasure as we ascended to +the deck of the steamboat and snuffed the fresh air of Boston Harbor. +What a beautiful harbor it is, everybody says, with its irregularly +indented shores and its islands. Being strangers, we want to know +the names of the islands, and to have Fort Warren, which has a +national reputation, pointed out. As usual on a steamboat, no one is +certain about the names, and the little geographical knowledge we +have is soon hopelessly confused. We make out South Boston very +plainly : a tourist is looking at its warehouses through his opera- +glass, and telling his boy about a recent fire there. We find out +afterwards that it was East Boston. We pass to the stern of the boat +for a last look at Boston itself; and while there we have the +pleasure of showing inquirers the Monument and the State House. We +do this with easy familiarity; but where there are so many tall +factory chimneys, it is not so easy to point out the Monument as one +may think. + +The day is simply delicious, when we get away from the unozoned air +of the land. The sky is cloudless, and the water sparkles like the +top of a glass of champagne. We intend by and by to sit down and +look at it for half a day, basking in the sunshine and pleasing +ourselves with the shifting and dancing of the waves. Now we are +busy running about from side to side to see the islands, Governor's, +Castle, Long, Deer, and the others. When, at length, we find Fort +Warren, it is not nearly so grim and gloomy as we had expected, and +is rather a pleasure-place than a prison in appearance. We are +conscious, however, of a patriotic emotion as we pass its green turf +and peeping guns. Leaving on our right Lovell's Island and the Great +and Outer Brewster, we stand away north along the jagged +Massachusetts shore. These outer islands look cold and wind-swept +even in summer, and have a hardness of outline which is very far from +the aspect of summer isles in summer seas. They are too low and bare +for beauty, and all the coast is of the most retiring and humble +description. Nature makes some compensation for this lowness by an +eccentricity of indentation which looks very picturesque on the map, +and sometimes striking, as where Lynn stretches out a slender arm +with knobby Nahant at the end, like a New Zealand war club. We sit +and watch this shore as we glide by with a placid delight. Its +curves and low promontories are getting to be speckled with villages +and dwellings, like the shores of the Bay of Naples; we see the white +spires, the summer cottages of wealth, the brown farmhouses with an +occasional orchard, the gleam of a white beach, and now and then the +flag of some many-piazzaed hotel. The sunlight is the glory of it +all; it must have quite another attraction--that of melancholy--under +a gray sky and with a lead-colored water foreground. + +There was not much on the steamboat to distract our attention from +the study of physical geography. All the fashionable travelers had +gone on the previous boat or were waiting for the next one. The +passengers were mostly people who belonged in the Provinces and had +the listless provincial air, with a Boston commercial traveler or +two, and a few gentlemen from the republic of Ireland, dressed in +their uncomfortable Sunday clothes. If any accident should happen to +the boat, it was doubtful if there were persons on board who could +draw up and pass the proper resolutions of thanks to the officers. I +heard one of these Irish gentlemen, whose satin vest was insufficient +to repress the mountainous protuberance of his shirt-bosom, +enlightening an admiring friend as to his idiosyncrasies. It +appeared that he was that sort of a man that, if a man wanted +anything of him, he had only to speak for it "wunst;" and that one of +his peculiarities was an instant response of the deltoid muscle to +the brain, though he did not express it in that language. He went on +to explain to his auditor that he was so constituted physically that +whenever he saw a fight, no matter whose property it was, he lost all +control of himself. This sort of confidence poured out to a single +friend, in a retired place on the guard of the boat, in an unexcited +tone, was evidence of the man's simplicity and sincerity. The very +act of traveling, I have noticed, seems to open a man's heart, so +that he will impart to a chance acquaintance his losses, his +diseases, his table preferences, his disappointments in love or in +politics, and his most secret hopes. One sees everywhere this +beautiful human trait, this craving for sympathy. There was the old +lady, in the antique bonnet and plain cotton gloves, who got aboard +the express train at a way-station on the Connecticut River Road. +She wanted to go, let us say, to Peak's Four Corners. It seemed that +the train did not usually stop there, but it appeared afterwards that +the obliging conductor had told her to get aboard and he would let +her off at Peak's. When she stepped into the car, in a flustered +condition, carrying her large bandbox, she began to ask all the +passengers, in turn, if this was the right train, and if it stopped +at Peak's. The information she received was various, but the weight +of it was discouraging, and some of the passengers urged her to get +off without delay, before the train should start. The poor woman got +off, and pretty soon came back again, sent by the conductor; but her +mind was not settled, for she repeated her questions to every person +who passed her seat, and their answers still more discomposed her. +"Sit perfectly still," said the conductor, when he came by. "You +must get out and wait for a way train," said the passengers, who +knew. In this confusion, the train moved off, just as the old lady +had about made up her mind to quit the car, when her distraction was +completed by the discovery that her hair trunk was not on board. She +saw it standing on the open platform, as we passed, and after one +look of terror, and a dash at the window, she subsided into her seat, +grasping her bandbox, with a vacant look of utter despair. Fate now +seemed to have done its worst, and she was resigned to it. I am sure +it was no mere curiosity, but a desire to be of service, that led me +to approach her and say, "Madam, where are you going?" + +"The Lord only knows," was the utterly candid ,response; but then, +forgetting everything in her last misfortune and impelled to a burst +of confidence, she began to tell me her troubles. She informed me +that her youngest daughter was about to be married, and that all her +wedding-clothes and all her summer clothes were in that trunk; and as +she said this she gave a glance out of the window as if she hoped it +might be following her. What would become of them all now, all brand +new, she did n't know, nor what would become of her or her daughter. +And then she told me, article by article and piece by piece, all that +that trunk contained, the very names of which had an unfamiliar sound +in a railway-car, and how many sets and pairs there were of each. It +seemed to be a relief to the old lady to make public this catalogue +which filled all her mind; and there was a pathos in the revelation +that I cannot convey in words. And though I am compelled, by way of +illustration, to give this incident, no bribery or torture shall ever +extract from me a statement of the contents of that hair trunk. + +We were now passing Nahant, and we should have seen Longfellow's +cottage and the waves beating on the rocks before it, if we had been +near enough. As it was, we could only faintly distinguish the +headland and note the white beach of Lynn. The fact is, that in +travel one is almost as much dependent upon imagination and memory as +he is at home. Somehow, we seldom get near enough to anything. The +interest of all this coast which we had come to inspect was mainly +literary and historical. And no country is of much interest until +legends and poetry have draped it in hues that mere nature cannot +produce. We looked at Nahant for Longfellow's sake; we strained our +eyes to make out Marblehead on account of Whittier's ballad; we +scrutinized the entrance to Salem Harbor because a genius once sat in +its decaying custom-house and made of it a throne of the imagination. +Upon this low shore line, which lies blinking in the midday sun, the +waves of history have beaten for two centuries and a half, and +romance has had time to grow there. Out of any of these coves might +have sailed Sir Patrick Spens "to Noroway, to Noroway," + +"They hadna sailed upon the sea +A day but barely three, + +Till loud and boisterous grew the wind, +And gurly grew the sea." + +The sea was anything but gurly now; it lay idle and shining in an +August holiday. It seemed as if we could sit all day and watch the +suggestive shore and dream about it. But we could not. No man, and +few women, can sit all day on those little round penitential stools +that the company provide for the discomfort of their passengers. +There is no scenery in the world that can be enjoyed from one of +those stools. And when the traveler is at sea, with the land failing +away in his horizon, and has to create his own scenery by an effort +of the imagination, these stools are no assistance to him. The +imagination, when one is sitting, will not work unless the back is +supported. Besides, it began to be cold; notwithstanding the shiny, +specious appearance of things, it was cold, except in a sheltered +nook or two where the sun beat. This was nothing to be complained of +by persons who had left the parching land in order to get cool. They +knew that there would be a wind and a draught everywhere, and that +they would be occupied nearly all the time in moving the little +stools about to get out of the wind, or out of the sun, or out of +something that is inherent in a steamboat. Most people enjoy riding +on a steamboat, shaking and trembling and chow-chowing along in +pleasant weather out of sight of land; and they do not feel any +ennui, as may be inferred from the intense excitement which seizes +them when a poor porpoise leaps from the water half a mile away. +"Did you see the porpoise?" makes conversation for an hour. On our +steamboat there was a man who said he saw a whale, saw him just as +plain, off to the east, come up to blow; appeared to be a young one. +I wonder where all these men come from who always see a whale. I +never was on a sea-steamer yet that there was not one of these men. + +We sailed from Boston Harbor straight for Cape Ann, and passed close +by the twin lighthouses of Thacher, so near that we could see the +lanterns and the stone gardens, and the young barbarians of Thacher +all at play; and then we bore away, straight over the trackless +Atlantic, across that part of the map where the title and the +publisher's name are usually printed, for the foreign city of St. +John. It was after we passed these lighthouses that we did n't see +the whale, and began to regret the hard fate that took us away from a +view of the Isles of Shoals. I am not tempted to introduce them into +this sketch, much as its surface needs their romantic color, for +truth is stronger in me than the love of giving a deceitful pleasure. +There will be nothing in this record that we did not see, or might +not have seen. For instance, it might not be wrong to describe a +coast, a town, or an island that we passed while we were performing +our morning toilets in our staterooms. The traveler owes a duty to +his readers, and if he is now and then too weary or too indifferent +to go out from the cabin to survey a prosperous village where a +landing is made, he has no right to cause the reader to suffer by his +indolence. He should describe the village. + +I had intended to describe the Maine coast, which is as fascinating +on the map as that of Norway. We had all the feelings appropriate to +nearness to it, but we couldn't see it. Before we came abreast of it +night had settled down, and there was around us only a gray and +melancholy waste of salt water. To be sure it was a lovely night, +with a young moon in its sky, + +"I saw the new moon late yestreen +Wi' the auld moon in her arms," + +and we kept an anxious lookout for the Maine hills that push so +boldly down into the sea. At length we saw them,--faint, dusky +shadows in the horizon, looming up in an ashy color and with a most +poetical light. We made out clearly Mt. Desert, and felt repaid for +our journey by the sight of this famous island, even at such a +distance. I pointed out the hills to the man at the wheel, and asked +if we should go any nearer to Mt. Desert. + +"Them!" said he, with the merited contempt which officials in this +country have for inquisitive travelers,--" them's Camden Hills. You +won't see Mt. Desert till midnight, and then you won't." + +One always likes to weave in a little romance with summer travel on a +steamboat; and we came aboard this one with the purpose and the +language to do so. But there was an absolute want of material, that +would hardly be credited if we went into details. The first meeting +of the passengers at the dinner-table revealed it. There is a kind +of female plainness which is pathetic, and many persons can truly say +that to them it is homelike; and there are vulgarities of manner that +are interesting; and there are peculiarities, pleasant or the +reverse, which attract one's attention : but there was absolutely +nothing of this sort on our boat. The female passengers were all +neutrals, incapable, I should say, of making any impression whatever +even under the most favorable circumstances. They were probably +women of the Provinces, and took their neutral tint from the foggy +land they inhabit, which is neither a republic nor a monarchy, but +merely a languid expectation of something undefined. My comrade was +disposed to resent the dearth of beauty, not only on this vessel but +throughout the Provinces generally,--a resentment that could be shown +to be unjust, for this was evidently not the season for beauty in +these lands, and it was probably a bad year for it. Nor should an +American of the United States be forward to set up his standard of +taste in such matters; neither in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, nor +Cape Breton have I heard the inhabitants complain of the plainness of +the women. + +On such a night two lovers might have been seen, but not on our boat, +leaning over the taffrail,--if that is the name of the fence around +the cabin-deck, looking at the moon in the western sky and the long +track of light in the steamer's wake with unutterable tenderness. +For the sea was perfectly smooth, so smooth as not to interfere with +the most perfect tenderness of feeling; and the vessel forged ahead +under the stars of the soft night with an adventurous freedom that +almost concealed the commercial nature of her mission. It seemed-- +this voyaging through the sparkling water, under the scintillating +heavens, this resolute pushing into the opening splendors of night-- +like a pleasure trip. "It is the witching hour of half past ten," +said my comrade, "let us turn in." (The reader will notice the +consideration for her feelings which has omitted the usual +description of "a sunset at sea.") + +When we looked from our state-room window in the morning we saw land. +We were passing within a stone's throw of a pale-green and rather +cold-looking coast, with few trees or other evidences of fertile +soil. Upon going out I found that we were in the harbor of Eastport. +I found also the usual tourist who had been up, shivering in his +winter overcoat, since four o'clock. He described to me the +magnificent sunrise, and the lifting of the fog from islands and +capes, in language that made me rejoice that he had seen it. He knew +all about the harbor. That wooden town at the foot of it, with the +white spire, was Lubec; that wooden town we were approaching was +Eastport. The long island stretching clear across the harbor was +Campobello. We had been obliged to go round it, a dozen miles out of +our way, to get in, because the tide was in such a stage that we +could not enter by the Lubec Channel. We had been obliged to enter +an American harbor by British waters. + +We approached Eastport with a great deal of curiosity and +considerable respect. It had been one of the cities of the +imagination. Lying in the far east of our great territory, a +military and even a sort of naval station, a conspicuous name on the +map, prominent in boundary disputes and in war operations, frequent +in telegraphic dispatches,--we had imagined it a solid city, with +some Oriental, if decayed, peculiarity, a port of trade and commerce. +The tourist informed me that Eastport looked very well at a distance, +with the sun shining on its white houses. When we landed at its +wooden dock we saw that it consisted of a few piles of lumber, a +sprinkling of small cheap houses along a sidehill, a big hotel with a +flag-staff, and a very peaceful looking arsenal. It is doubtless a +very enterprising and deserving city, but its aspect that morning was +that of cheapness, newness, and stagnation, with no compensating +pictur-esqueness. White paint always looks chilly under a gray sky +and on naked hills. Even in hot August the place seemed bleak. The +tour-ist, who went ashore with a view to breakfast, said that it +would be a good place to stay in and go a-fishing and picnicking on +Campobello Island. It has another advantage for the wicked over +other Maine towns. Owing to the contiguity of British territory, the +Maine Law is constantly evaded, in spirit. The thirsty citizen or +sailor has only to step into a boat and give it a shove or two across +the narrow stream that separates the United States from Deer Island +and land, when he can ruin his breath, and return before he is +missed. + +This might be a cause of war with, England, but it is not the most +serious grievance here. The possession by the British of the island +of Campobello is an insufferable menace and impertinence. I write +with the full knowledge of what war is. We ought to instantly +dislodge the British from Campobello. It entirely shuts up and +commands our harbor, one of our chief Eastern harbors and war +stations, where we keep a flag and cannon and some soldiers, and +where the customs officers look out for smuggling. There is no way +to get into our own harbor, except in favorable conditions of the +tide, without begging the courtesy of a passage through British +waters. Why is England permitted to stretch along down our coast in +this straggling and inquisitive manner? She might almost as well own +Long Island. It was impossible to prevent our cheeks mantling with +shame as we thought of this, and saw ourselves, free American +citizens, land-locked by alien soil in our own harbor. + +We ought to have war, if war is necessary to possess Campobello and +Deer Islands; or else we ought to give the British Eastport. I am +not sure but the latter would be the better course. + +With this war spirit in our hearts, we sailed away into the British +waters of the Bay of Fundy, but keeping all the morning so close to +the New Brunswick shore that we could see there was nothing on it; +that is, nothing that would make one wish to land. And yet the best +part of going to sea is keeping close to the shore, however tame it +may be, if the weather is pleasant. A pretty bay now and then, a +rocky cove with scant foliage, a lighthouse, a rude cabin, a level +land, monotonous and without noble forests,--this was New Brunswick +as we coasted along it under the most favorable circumstances. But +we were advancing into the Bay of Fundy; and my comrade, who had been +brought up on its high tides in the district school, was on the +lookout for this phenomenon. The very name of Fundy is stimulating +to the imagination, amid the geographical wastes of youth, and the +young fancy reaches out to its tides with an enthusiasm that is given +only to Fingal's Cave and other pictorial wonders of the text-book. +I am sure the district schools would become what they are not now, if +the geographers would make the other parts of the globe as attractive +as the sonorous Bay of Fundy. The recitation about that is always an +easy one; there is a lusty pleasure in the mere shouting out of the +name, as if the speaking it were an innocent sort of swearing. From +the Bay of Fundy the rivers run uphill half the time, and the tides +are from forty to ninety feet high. For myself, I confess that, in +my imagination, I used to see the tides of this bay go stalking into +the land like gigantic waterspouts; or, when I was better instructed, +I could see them advancing on the coast like a solid wall of masonry +eighty feet high. "Where," we said, as we came easily, and neither +uphill nor downhill, into the pleasant harbor of St. John,---where +are the tides of our youth?" + +They were probably out, for when we came to the land we walked out +upon the foot of a sloping platform that ran into the water by the +side of the piles of the dock, which stood up naked and blackened +high in the air. It is not the purpose of this paper to describe St. +John, nor to dwell upon its picturesque situation. As one approaches +it from the harbor it gives a promise which its rather shabby +streets, decaying houses, and steep plank sidewalks do not keep. A +city set on a hill, with flags flying from a roof here and there, and +a few shining spires and walls glistening in the sun, always looks +well at a distance. St. John is extravagant in the matter of +flagstaffs; almost every well-to-do citizen seems to have one on his +premises, as a sort of vent for his loyalty, I presume. It is a good +fashion, at any rate, and its more general adoption by us would add +to the gayety of our cities when we celebrate the birthday of the +President. St. John is built on a steep sidehill, from which it +would be in danger of sliding off, if its houses were not mortised +into the solid rock. This makes the house-foundations secure, but +the labor of blasting out streets is considerable. We note these +things complacently as we toil in the sun up the hill to the Victoria +Hotel, which stands well up on the backbone of the ridge, and from +the upper windows of which we have a fine view of the harbor, and of +the hill opposite, above Carleton, where there is the brokenly +truncated ruin of a round stone tower. This tower was one of the +first things that caught our eyes as we entered the harbor. It gave +an antique picturesqueness to the landscape which it entirely wanted +without this. Round stone towers are not so common in this world +that we can afford to be indifferent to them. This is called a +Martello tower, but I could not learn who built it. I could not +understand the indifference, almost amounting to contempt, of the +citizens of St. John in regard to this their only piece of curious +antiquity. "It is nothing but the ruins of an old fort," they said; +"you can see it as well from here as by going there." It was, how- +ever, the one thing at St. John I was determined to see. But we +never got any nearer to it than the ferry-landing. Want of time and +the vis inertia of the place were against us. And now, as I think of +that tower and its perhaps mysterious origin, I have a longing for it +that the possession of nothing else in the Provinces could satisfy. + +But it must not be forgotten that we were on our way to Baddeck; that +the whole purpose of the journey was to reach Baddeck; that St. John +was only an incident in the trip; that any information about St. +John, which is here thrown in or mercifully withheld, is entirely +gratuitous, and is not taken into account in the price the reader +pays for this volume. But if any one wants to know what sort of a +place St. John is, we can tell him: it is the sort of a place that if +you get into it after eight o'clock on Wednesday morning, you cannot +get out of it in any direction until Thursday morning at eight +o'clock, unless you want to smuggle goods on the night train to +Bangor. It was eleven o'clock Wednesday forenoon when we arrived at +St. John. The Intercolonial railway train had gone to Shediac; it +had gone also on its roundabout Moncton, Missaquat River, Truro, +Stewiack, and Shubenacadie way to Halifax; the boat had gone to Digby +Gut and Annapolis to catch the train that way for Halifax; the boat +had gone up the river to Frederick, the capital. We could go to none +of these places till the next day. We had no desire to go to +Frederick, but we made the fact that we were cut off from it an +addition to our injury. The people of St. John have this +peculiarity: they never start to go anywhere except early in the +morning. + +The reader to whom time is nothing does not yet appreciate the +annoyance of our situation. Our time was strictly limited. The +active world is so constituted that it could not spare us more than +two weeks. We must reach Baddeck Saturday night or never. To go +home without seeing Baddeck was simply intolerable. Had we not told +everybody that we were going to Baddeck? Now, if we had gone to +Shediac in the train that left St. John that morning, we should have +taken the steamboat that would have carried us to Port Hawkesbury, +whence a stage connected with a steamboat on the Bras d'Or, which +(with all this profusion of relative pronouns) would land us at +Baddeck on Friday. How many times had we been over this route on the +map and the prospectus of travel! And now, what a delusion it +seemed! There would not another boat leave Shediac on this route +till the following Tuesday,--quite too late for our purpose. The +reader sees where we were, and will be prepared, if he has a map (and +any feelings), to appreciate the masterly strategy that followed. + + + + +II + +During the pilgrimage everything does not suit the tastes of the +pilgrim. --TURKISH PROVERB. + +One seeking Baddeck, as a possession, would not like to be detained a +prisoner even in Eden,--much less in St. John, which is unlike Eden +in several important respects. The tree of knowledge does not grow +there, for one thing; at least St. John's ignorance of Baddeck +amounts to a feature. This encountered us everywhere. So dense was +this ignorance, that we, whose only knowledge of the desired place +was obtained from the prospectus of travel, came to regard ourselves +as missionaries of geographical information in this dark provincial +city. + +The clerk at the Victoria was not unwilling to help us on our +journey, but if he could have had his way, we would have gone to a +place on Prince Edward Island which used to be called Bedeque, but is +now named Summerside, in the hope of attracting summer visitors. As +to Cape Breton, he said the agent of the Intercolonial could tell us +all about that, and put us on the route. We repaired to the agent. +The kindness of this person dwells in our memory. He entered at once +into our longings and perplexities. He produced his maps and time- +tables, and showed us clearly what we already knew. The Port +Hawkesbury steamboat from Shediac for that week had gone, to be sure, +but we could take one of another line which would leave us at Pictou, +whence we could take another across to Port Hood, on Cape Breton. +This looked fair, until we showed the agent that there was no steamer +to Port Hood. + +"Ah, then you can go another way. You can take the Intercolonial +railway round to Pictou, catch the steamer for Port Hawkesbury, +connect with the steamer on the Bras d'Or, and you are all right." + +So it would seem. It was a most obliging agent; and it took us half +an hour to convince him that the train would reach Pictou half a day +too late for the steamer, that no other boat would leave Pictou for +Cape Breton that week, and that even if we could reach the Bras d'Or, +we should have no means of crossing it, except by swimming. The +perplexed agent thereupon referred us to Mr. Brown, a shipper on the +wharf, who knew all about Cape Breton, and could tell us exactly how +to get there. It is needless to say that a weight was taken off our +minds. We pinned our faith to Brown, and sought him in his +warehouse. Brown was a prompt business man, and a traveler, and +would know every route and every conveyance from Nova Scotia to Cape +Breton. + +Mr. Brown was not in. He never is in. His store is a rusty +warehouse, low and musty, piled full of boxes of soap and candles and +dried fish, with a little glass cubby in one corner, where a thin +clerk sits at a high desk, like a spider in his web. Perhaps he is a +spider, for the cubby is swarming with flies, whose hum is the only +noise of traffic; the glass of the window-sash has not been washed +since it was put in apparently. The clerk is not writing, and has +evidently no other use for his steel pen than spearing flies. Brown +is out, says this young votary of commerce, and will not be in till +half past five. We remark upon the fact that nobody ever is "in" +these dingy warehouses, wonder when the business is done, and go out +into the street to wait for Brown. + +In front of the store is a dray, its horse fast-asleep, and waiting +for the revival of commerce. The travelers note that the dray is of +a peculiar construction, the body being dropped down from the axles +so as nearly to touch the ground,--a great convenience in loading and +unloading; they propose to introduce it into their native land. The +dray is probably waiting for the tide to come in. In the deep slip +lie a dozen helpless vessels, coasting schooners mostly, tipped on +their beam ends in the mud, or propped up by side-pieces as if they +were built for land as well as for water. At the end of the wharf is +a long English steamboat unloading railroad iron, which will return +to the Clyde full of Nova Scotia coal. We sit down on the dock, +where the fresh sea-breeze comes up the harbor, watch the lazily +swinging crane on the vessel, and meditate upon the greatness of +England and the peacefulness of the drowsy after noon. One's feeling +of rest is never complete--unless he can see somebody else at work,-- +but the labor must be without haste, as it is in the Provinces. + +While waiting for Brown, we had leisure to explore the shops of +King's Street, and to climb up to the grand triumphal arch which +stands on top of the hill and guards the entrance to King's Square. + +Of the shops for dry-goods I have nothing to say, for they tempt the +unwary American to violate the revenue laws of his country; but he +may safely go into the book-shops. The literature which is displayed +in the windows and on the counters has lost that freshness which it +once may have had, and is, in fact, if one must use the term, fly- +specked, like the cakes in the grocery windows on the side streets. +There are old illustrated newspapers from the States, cheap novels +from the same, and the flashy covers of the London and Edinburgh +sixpenny editions. But this is the dull season for literature, we +reflect. + +It will always be matter of regret to us that we climbed up to the +triumphal arch, which appeared so noble in the distance, with the +trees behind it. For when we reached it, we found that it was built +of wood, painted and sanded, and in a shocking state of decay; and +the grove to which it admitted us was only a scant assemblage of +sickly locust-trees, which seemed to be tired of battling with the +unfavorable climate, and had, in fact, already retired from the +business of ornamental shade trees. Adjoining this square is an +ancient cemetery, the surface of which has decayed in sympathy with +the mouldering remains it covers, and is quite a model in this +respect. I have called this cemetery ancient, but it may not be so, +for its air of decay is thoroughly modern, and neglect, and not +years, appears to have made it the melancholy place of repose it is. +Whether it is the fashionable and favorite resort of the dead of the +city we did not learn, but there were some old men sitting in its +damp shades, and the nurses appeared to make it a rendezvous for +their baby-carriages,--a cheerful place to bring up children in, and +to familiarize their infant minds with the fleeting nature of +provincial life. The park and burying-ground, it is scarcely +necessary to say, added greatly to the feeling of repose which stole +over us on this sunny day. And they made us long for Brown and his +information about Baddeck. + +But Mr. Brown, when found, did not know as much as the agent. He had +been in Nova Scotia; he had never been in Cape Breton; but he +presumed we would find no difficulty in reaching Baddeck by so and +so, and so and so. We consumed valuable time in convincing Brown +that his directions to us were impracticable and valueless, and then +he referred us to Mr. Cope. An interview with Mr. Cope discouraged +us; we found that we were imparting everywhere more geographical +inform-ation than we were receiving, and as our own stock was small, +we concluded that we should be unable to enlighten all the +inhabitants of St. John upon the subject of Baddeck before we ran +out. Returning to the hotel, and taking our destiny into our own +hands, we resolved upon a bold stroke. + +But to return for a moment to Brown. I feel that Brown has been let +off too easily in the above paragraph. His conduct, to say the +truth, was not such as we expected of a man in whom we had put our +entire faith for half a day,--a long while to trust anybody in these +times,--a man whom we had exalted as an encyclopedia of information, +and idealized in every way. A man of wealth and liberal views and +courtly manners we had decided Brown would be. Perhaps he had a +suburban villa on the heights over-looking Kennebeckasis Bay, and, +recognizing us as brothers in a common interest in Baddeck, not- +withstanding our different nationality, would insist upon taking us +to his house, to sip provincial tea with Mrs. Brown and Victoria +Louise, his daughter. When, therefore, Mr. Brown whisked into his +dingy office, and, but for our importunity, would have paid no more +attention to us than to up-country customers without credit, and when +he proved to be willingly, it seemed to us, ignorant of Baddeck, our +feelings received a great shock. It is incomprehensible that a man +in the position of Brown with so many boxes of soap and candles to +dispose of--should be so ignorant of a neighboring province. We had +heard of the cordial unity of the Provinces in the New Dominion. +Heaven help it, if it depends upon such fellows as Brown! Of course, +his directing us to Cope was a mere fetch. For as we have intimated, +it would have taken us longer to have given Cope an idea of Baddeck, +than it did to enlighten Brown. But we had no bitter feelings about +Cope, for we never had reposed confidence in him. + +Our plan of campaign was briefly this: To take the steamboat at eight +o'clock, Thursday morning, for Digby Gut and Annapolis; thence to go +by rail through the poetical Acadia down to Halifax; to turn north +and east by rail from Halifax to New Glasgow, and from thence to push +on by stage to the Gut of Canso. This would carry us over the entire +length of Nova Scotia, and, with good luck, land us on Cape Breton +Island Saturday morning. When we should set foot on that island, we +trusted that we should be able to make our way to Baddeck, by walk- +ing, swimming, or riding, whichever sort of locomotion should be most +popular in that province. Our imaginations were kindled by reading +that the "most superb line of stages on the continent" ran from New +Glasgow to the Gut of Canso. If the reader perfectly understands +this programme, he has the advantage of the two travelers at the time +they made it. + +It was a gray morning when we embarked from St. John, and in fact a +little drizzle of rain veiled the Martello tower, and checked, like +the cross-strokes of a line engraving, the hill on which it stands. +The miscellaneous shining of such a harbor appears best in a golden +haze, or in the mist of a morning like this. We had expected days of +fog in this region; but the fog seemed to have gone out with the high +tides of the geography. And it is simple justice to these +possessions of her Majesty, to say that in our two weeks' +acquaintance of them they enjoyed as delicious weather as ever falls +on sea and shore, with the exception of this day when we crossed the +Bay of Fundy. And this day was only one of those cool interludes of +low color, which an artist would be thankful to introduce among a +group of brilliant pictures. Such a day rests the traveler, who is +overstimulated by shifting scenes played upon by the dazzling sun. +So the cool gray clouds spread a grateful umbrella above us as we ran +across the Bay of Fundy, sighted the headlands of the Gut of Digby, +and entered into the Annapolis Basin, and into the region of a +romantic history. The white houses of Digby, scattered over the +downs like a flock of washed sheep, had a somewhat chilly aspect, it +is true, and made us long for the sun on them. But as I think of it +now, I prefer to have the town and the pretty hillsides that stand +about the basin in the light we saw them; and especially do I like to +recall the high wooden pier at Digby, deserted by the tide and so +blown by the wind that the passengers who came out on it, with their +tossing drapery, brought to mind the windy Dutch harbors that +Backhuysen painted. We landed a priest here, and it was a pleasure +to see him as he walked along the high pier, his broad hat flapping, +and the wind blowing his long skirts away from his ecclesiastical +legs. + +It was one of the coincidences of life, for which no one can account, +that when we descended upon these coasts, the Governor-General of the +Dominion was abroad in his Provinces. There was an air of expec- +tation of him everywhere, and of preparation for his coming; his +lordship was the subject of conversation on the Digby boat, his +movements were chronicled in the newspapers, and the gracious bearing +of the Governor and Lady Dufferin at the civic receptions, balls, and +picnics was recorded with loyal satisfaction; even a literary flavor +was given to the provincial journals by quotations from his +lordship's condescension to letters in the "High Latitudes." It was +not without pain, however, that even in this un-American region we +discovered the old Adam of journalism in the disposition of the +newspapers of St. John toward sarcasm touching the well-meant +attempts to entertain the Governor and his lady in the provincial +town of Halifax,--a disposition to turn, in short, upon the +demonstrations of loyal worship the faint light of ridicule. There +were those upon the boat who were journeying to Halifax to take part +in the civic ball about to be given to their excellencies, and as we +were going in the same direction, we shared in the feeling of +satisfaction which prox-imity to the Great often excites. + +We had other if not deeper causes of satisfaction. We were sailing +along the gracefully moulded and tree-covered hills of the Annapolis +Basin, and up the mildly picturesque river of that name, and we were +about to enter what the provincials all enthusiastically call the +Garden of Nova Scotia. This favored vale, skirted by low ranges of +hills on either hand, and watered most of the way by the Annapolis +River, extends from the mouth of the latter to the town of Windsor on +the river Avon. We expected to see something like the fertile +valleys of the Connecticut or the Mohawk. We should also pass +through those meadows on the Basin of Minas which Mr. Longfellow has +made more sadly poetical than any other spot on the Western +Continent. It is,--this valley of the Annapolis,--in the belief of +provincials, the most beautiful and blooming place in the world, with +a soil and climate kind to the husbandman; a land of fair meadows, +orchards, and vines. It was doubtless our own fault that this land +did not look to us like a garden, as it does to the inhabitants of +Nova Scotia; and it was not until we had traveled over the rest of +the country, that we saw the appropriateness of the designation. The +explanation is, that not so much is required of a garden here as in +some other parts of the world. Excellent apples, none finer, are +exported from this valley to England, and the quality of the potatoes +is said to ap-proach an ideal perfection here. I should think that +oats would ripen well also in a good year, and grass, for those who +care for it, may be satisfactory. I should judge that the other +products of this garden are fish and building-stone. But we +anticipate. And have we forgotten the "murmuring pines and the +hemlocks"? Nobody, I suppose, ever travels here without believing +that he sees these trees of the imagination, so forcibly has the poet +projected them upon the uni-versal consciousness. But we were unable +to see them, on this route. + +It would be a brutal thing for us to take seats in the railway train +at Annapolis, and leave the ancient town, with its modern houses and +remains of old fortifications, without a thought of the romantic +history which saturates the region. There is not much in the smart, +new restaurant, where a tidy waiting-maid skillfully depreciates our +currency in exchange for bread and cheese and ale, to recall the +early drama of the French discovery and settlement. For it is to the +French that we owe the poetical interest that still invests, like a +garment, all these islands and bays, just as it is to the Spaniards +that we owe the romance of the Florida coast. Every spot on this +continent that either of these races has touched has a color that is +wanting in the prosaic settlements of the English. + +Without the historical light of French adventure upon this town and +basin of Annapolis, or Port Royal, as they were first named, I +confess that I should have no longing to stay here for a week; +notwithstanding the guide-book distinctly says that this harbor has +"a striking resemblance to the beautiful Bay of Naples." I am not +offended at this remark, for it is the one always made about a +harbor, and I am sure the passing traveler can stand it, if the Bay +of Naples can. And yet this tranquil basin must have seemed a haven +of peace to the first discoverers. + +It was on a lovely summer day in 1604, that the Sieur de Monts and +his comrades, Champlain and the Baron de Poutrincourt, beating about +the shores of Nova Scotia, were invited by the rocky gateway of the +Port Royal Basin. They entered the small inlet, says Mr. Parkman, +when suddenly the narrow strait dilated into a broad and tranquil +basin, compassed with sunny hills, wrapped with woodland verdure and +alive with waterfalls. Poutrincourt was delighted with the scene, +and would fain remove thither from France with his family. Since +Poutrincourt's day, the hills have been somewhat denuded of trees, +and the waterfalls are not now in sight; at least, not under such a +gray sky as we saw. + +The reader who once begins to look into the French occupancy of +Acadia is in danger of getting into a sentimental vein, and sentiment +is the one thing to be shunned in these days. Yet I cannot but stay, +though the train should leave us, to pay my respectful homage to one +of the most heroic of women, whose name recalls the most romantic +incident in the history of this region. Out of this past there rises +no figure so captivating to the imagination as that of Madame de la +Tour. And it is noticeable that woman has a curious habit of coming +to the front in critical moments of history, and performing some +exploit that eclipses in brilliancy all the deeds of contemporary +men; and the exploit usually ends in a pathetic tragedy, that fixes +it forever in the sympathy of the world. I need not copy out of the +pages of De Charlevoix the well-known story of Madame de la Tour; I +only wish he had told us more about her. It is here at Port Royal +that we first see her with her husband. Charles de St. Etienne, the +Chevalier de la Tour,--there is a world of romance in these mere +names,--was a Huguenot nobleman who had a grant of Port Royal and of +La Hive, from Louis XIII. He ceded La Hive to Razilli, the +governor-in-chief of the provinces, who took a fancy to it, for a +residence. He was living peacefully at Port Royal in 1647, when the +Chevalier d'Aunay Charnise, having succeeded his brother Razilli at +La Hive, tired of that place and removed to Port Royal. De Charnise +was a Catholic; the difference in religion might not have produced +any unpleasantness, but the two noblemen could not agree in dividing +the profits of the peltry trade,--each being covetous, if we may so +express it, of the hide of the savage continent, and determined to +take it off for himself. At any rate, disagreement arose, and De la +Tour moved over to the St. John, of which region his father had +enjoyed a grant from Charles I. of England,--whose sad fate it is not +necessary now to recall to the reader's mind,--and built a fort at +the mouth of the river. But the differences of the two ambitious +Frenchmen could not be composed. De la Tour obtained aid from +Governor Winthrop at Boston, thus verifying the Catholic prediction +that the Huguenots would side with the enemies of France on occasion. +De Charnise received orders from Louis to arrest De la Tour; but a +little preliminary to the arrest was the possession of the fort of +St. John, and this he could not obtain, although be sent all his +force against it. Taking advantage, however, of the absence of De la +Tour, who had a habit of roving about, he one day besieged St. John. +Madame de la Tour headed the little handful of men in the fort, and +made such a gallant resistance that De Charnise was obliged to draw +off his fleet with the loss of thirty-three men,--a very serious +loss, when the supply of men was as distant as France. But De +Charnise would not be balked by a woman; he attacked again; and this +time, one of the garrison, a Swiss, betrayed the fort, and let the +invaders into the walls by an unguarded entrance. It was Easter +morning when this misfortune occurred, but the peaceful influence of +the day did not avail. When Madame saw that she was betrayed, her +spirits did not quail; she took refuge with her little band in a +detached part of the fort, and there made such a bold show of +defense, that De Charnise was obliged to agree to the terms of her +surrender, which she dictated. No sooner had this unchivalrous +fellow obtained possession of the fort and of this Historic Woman, +than, overcome with a false shame that he had made terms with a +woman, he violated his noble word, and condemned to death all the +men, except one, who was spared on condition that he should be the +executioner of the others. And the poltroon compelled the brave +woman to witness the execution, with the added indignity of a rope +round her neck,--or as De Charlevoix much more neatly expresses it, +"obligea sa prisonniere d'assister a l'execution, la corde au cou." + +To the shock of this horror the womanly spirit of Madame de la Tour +succumbed; she fell into a decline and died soon after. De la Tour, +himself an exile from his province, wandered about the New World in +his customary pursuit of peltry. He was seen at Quebec for two +years. While there, he heard of the death of De Charnise, and +straightway repaired to St. John. The widow of his late enemy +received him graciously, and he entered into possession of the estate +of the late occupant with the consent of all the heirs. To remove +all roots of bitterness, De la Tour married Madame de Charnise, and +history does not record any ill of either of them. I trust they had +the grace to plant a sweetbrier on the grave of the noble woman to +whose faithfulness and courage they owe their rescue from obscurity. +At least the parties to this singular union must have agreed to +ignore the lamented existence of the Chevalier d'Aunay. + +With the Chevalier de la Tour, at any rate, it all went well +thereafter. When Cromwell drove the French from Acadia, he granted +great territorial rights to De la Tour, which that thrifty adventurer +sold out to one of his co-grantees for L16,000; and he no doubt +invested the money in peltry for the London market. + +As we leave the station at Annapolis, we are obliged to put Madame de +la Tour out of our minds to make room for another woman whose name, +and we might say presence, fills all the valley before us. So it is +that woman continues to reign, where she has once got a foothold, +long after her dear frame has become dust. Evangeline, who is as +real a personage as Queen Esther, must have been a different woman +from Madame de la Tour. If the latter had lived at Grand Pre, she +would, I trust, have made it hot for the brutal English who drove the +Acadians out of their salt-marsh paradise, and have died in her +heroic shoes rather than float off into poetry. But if it should +come to the question of marrying the De la Tour or the Evangeline, I +think no man who was not engaged in the peltry trade would hesitate +which to choose. At any rate, the women who love have more influence +in the world than the women who fight, and so it happens that the +sentimental traveler who passes through Port Royal without a tear for +Madame de la Tour, begins to be in a glow of tender longing and +regret for Evangeline as soon as he enters the valley of the +Annapolis River. For myself, I expected to see written over the +railway crossings the legend, + +"Look out for Evangeline while the bell rings." + +When one rides into a region of romance he does not much notice his +speed or his carriage; but I am obliged to say that we were not +hurried up the valley, and that the cars were not too luxurious for +the plain people, priests, clergymen, and belles of the region, who +rode in them. Evidently the latest fashions had not arrived in the +Provinces, and we had an opportunity of studying anew those that had +long passed away in the States, and of remarking how inappropriate a +fashion is when it has ceased to be the fashion. + +The river becomes small shortly after we leave Annapolis and before +we reach Paradise. At this station of happy appellation we looked +for the satirist who named it, but he has probably sold out and +removed. If the effect of wit is produced by the sudden recognition +of a remote resemblance, there was nothing witty in the naming of +this station. Indeed, we looked in vain for the "garden" appearance +of the valley. There was nothing generous in the small meadows or +the thin orchards; and if large trees ever grew on the bordering +hills, they have given place to rather stunted evergreens; the +scraggy firs and balsams, in fact, possess Nova Scotia generally as +we saw it,--and there is nothing more uninteresting and wearisome +than large tracts of these woods. We are bound to believe that Nova +Scotia has somewhere, or had, great pines and hemlocks that murmur, +but we were not blessed with the sight of them. Slightly picturesque +this valley is with its winding river and high hills guarding it, and +perhaps a person would enjoy a foot-tramp down it; but, I think he +would find little peculiar or interesting after he left the +neighborhood of the Basin of Minas. + +Before we reached Wolfville we came in sight of this basin and some +of the estuaries and streams that run into it; that is, when the tide +goes out; but they are only muddy ditches half the time. The Acadia +College was pointed out to us at Wolfville by a person who said that +it is a feeble institution, a remark we were sorry to hear of a place +described as "one of the foremost seats of learning in the Province." +But our regret was at once extinguished by the announcement that the +next station was Grand Pre! We were within three miles of the most +poetic place in North America. + +There was on the train a young man from Boston, who said that he was +born in Grand Pre. It seemed impossible that we should actually be +near a person so felicitously born. He had a justifiable pride in +the fact, as well as in the bride by his side, whom he was taking to +see for the first time his old home. His local information, imparted +to her, overflowed upon us; and when he found that we had read +"Evangeline, his delight in making us acquainted with the scene of +that poem was pleasant to see. The village of Grand Pre is a mile +from the station; and perhaps the reader would like to know exactly +what the traveler, hastening on to Baddeck, can see of the famous +locality. + +We looked over a well-grassed meadow, seamed here and there by beds +of streams left bare by the receding tide, to a gentle swell in the +ground upon which is a not heavy forest growth. The trees partly +conceal the street of Grand Pre, which is only a road bordered by +common houses. Beyond is the Basin of Minas, with its sedgy shore, +its dreary flats; and beyond that projects a bold headland, standing +perpendicular against the sky. This is the Cape Blomidon, and it +gives a certain dignity to the picture. + +The old Normandy picturesqueness has departed from the village of +Grand Pre. Yankee settlers, we were told, possess it now, and there +are no descendants of the French Acadians in this valley. I believe +that Mr. Cozzens found some of them in humble circumstances in a +village on the other coast, not far from Halifax, and it is there, +probably, that the + +"Maidens still wear their Norman caps and their kirtles of homespun, +And by the evening fire repeat Evangeline's story, +While from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced, neighboring ocean +Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest." + +At any rate, there is nothing here now except a faint tradition of +the French Acadians; and the sentimental traveler who laments that +they were driven out, and not left behind their dikes to rear their +flocks, and cultivate the rural virtues, and live in the simplicity +of ignorance, will temper his sadness by the reflection that it is to +the expulsion he owes "Evangeline " and the luxury of his romantic +grief. So that if the traveler is honest, and examines his own soul +faithfully, he will not know what state of mind to cherish as he +passes through this region of sorrow. + +Our eyes lingered as long as possible and with all eagerness upon +these meadows and marshes which the poet has made immortal, and we +regretted that inexorable Baddeck would not permit us to be pilgrims +for a day in this Acadian land. Just as I was losing sight of the +skirt of trees at Grand Pre, a gentleman in the dress of a rural +clergyman left his seat, and complimented me with this remark: "I +perceive, sir, that you are fond of reading." + +I could not but feel flattered by this unexpected discovery of my +nature, which was no doubt due to the fact that I held in my hand one +of the works of Charles Reade on social science, called "Love me +Little, Love me Long," and I said, "Of some kinds, I am." + +"Did you ever see a work called 'Evangeline'?" + +"Oh, yes, I have frequently seen it." + +"You may remember," continued this Mass of Information, "that there +is an allusion in it to Grand Pre. That is the place, sir!" + +"Oh, indeed, is that the place? Thank you." + +"And that mountain yonder is Cape Blomidon, blow me down, you know." + +And under cover of this pun, the amiable clergyman retired, +unconscious, I presume, of his prosaic effect upon the atmosphere of +the region. With this intrusion of the commonplace, I suffered an +eclipse of faith as to Evangeline, and was not sorry to have my +attention taken up by the river Avon, along the banks of which we +were running about this time. It is really a broad arm of the basin, +extending up to Windsor, and beyond in a small stream, and would have +been a charming river if there had been a drop of water in it. I +never knew before how much water adds to a river. Its slimy bottom +was quite a ghastly spectacle, an ugly gash in the land that nothing +could heal but the friendly returning tide. I should think it would +be confusing to dwell by a river that runs first one way and then the +other, and then vanishes altogether. + +All the streams about this basin are famous for their salmon and +shad, and the season for these fish was not yet passed. There seems +to be an untraced affinity between the shad and the strawberry; they +appear and disappear in a region simultaneously. When we reached +Cape Breton, we were a day or two late for both. It is impossible +not to feel a little contempt for people who do not have these +luxuries till July and August; but I suppose we are in turn despised +by the Southerners because we do not have them till May and June. +So, a great part of the enjoyment of life is in the knowledge that +there are people living in a worse place than that you inhabit. + +Windsor, a most respectable old town round which the railroad sweeps, +with its iron bridge, conspicuous King's College, and handsome church +spire, is a great place for plaster and limestone, and would be a +good location for a person interested in these substances. Indeed, +if a man can live on rocks, like a goat, he may settle anywhere +between Windsor and Halifax. It is one of the most sterile regions +in the Province. With the exception of a wild pond or two, we saw +nothing but rocks and stunted firs, for forty-five miles, a monotony +unrelieved by one picturesque feature. Then we longed for the +"Garden of Nova Scotia," and understood what is meant by the name. + +A member of the Ottawa government, who was on his way to the +Governor-General's ball at Halifax, informed us that this country is +rich in minerals, in iron especially, and he pointed out spots where +gold had been washed out. But we do not covet it. And we were not +sorry to learn from this gentleman, that since the formation of the +Dominion, there is less and less desire in the Provinces for +annexation to the United States. One of the chief pleasures in +traveling in Nova Scotia now is in the constant reflection that you +are in a foreign country; and annexation would take that away. + +It is nearly dark when we reach the head of the Bedford Basin. The +noble harbor of Halifax narrows to a deep inlet for three miles along +the rocky slope on which the city stands, and then suddenly expands +into this beautiful sheet of water. We ran along its bank for five +miles, cheered occasionally by a twinkling light on the shore, and +then came to a stop at the shabby terminus, three miles out of town. +This basin is almost large enough to float the navy of Great Britain, +and it could lie here, with the narrows fortified, secure from the +attacks of the American navy, hovering outside in the fog. With +these patriotic thoughts we enter the town. It is not the fault of +the railroad, but its present inability to climb a rocky hill, that +it does not run into the city. The suburbs are not impressive in the +night, but they look better then than they do in the daytime; and the +same might be said of the city itself. Probably there is not +anywhere a more rusty, forlorn town, and this in spite of its +magnificent situation. + +It is a gala-night when we rattle down the rough streets, and have +pointed out to us the somber government buildings. The Halifax Club +House is a blaze of light, for the Governor-General is being received +there, and workmen are still busy decorating the Provincial Building +for the great ball. The city is indeed pervaded by his lordship, and +we regret that we cannot see it in its normal condition of quiet; the +hotels are full, and it is impossible to escape the festive feeling +that is abroad. It ill accords with our desires, as tranquil +travelers, to be plunged into such a vortex of slow dissipation. +These people take their pleasures more gravely than we do, and +probably will last the longer for their moderation. Having +ascertained that we can get no more information about Baddeck here +than in St. John, we go to bed early, for we are to depart from this +fascinating place at six o'clock. + +If any one objects that we are not competent to pass judgment on the +city of Halifax by sleeping there one night, I beg leave to plead the +usual custom of travelers,--where would be our books of travel, if +more was expected than a night in a place? --and to state a few +facts. The first is, that I saw the whole of Halifax. If I were +inclined, I could describe it building by building. Cannot one see +it all from the citadel hill, and by walking down by the +horticultural garden and the Roman Catholic cemetery? and did not I +climb that hill through the most dilapidated rows of brown houses, +and stand on the greensward of the fortress at five o'clock in the +morning, and see the whole city, and the British navy riding at +anchor, and the fog coming in from the Atlantic Ocean? Let the +reader go to! and if he would know more of Halifax, go there. We +felt that if we remained there through the day, it would be a day of +idleness and sadness. I could draw a picture of Halifax. I could +relate its century of history; I could write about its free-school +system, and its many noble charities. But the reader always skips +such things. He hates information; and he himself would not stay in +this dull garrison town any longer than he was obliged to. + +There was to be a military display that day in honor of the Governor. + +"Why," I asked the bright and light-minded colored boy who sold +papers on the morning train, "don't you stay in the city and see it?" + +"Pho," said he, with contempt, "I'm sick of 'em. Halifax is played +out, and I'm going to quit it." + +The withdrawal of this lively trader will be a blow to the enterprise +of the place. + +When I returned to the hotel for breakfast--which was exactly like +the supper, and consisted mainly of green tea and dry toast--there +was a commotion among the waiters and the hack-drivers over a nervous +little old man, who was in haste to depart for the morning train. He +was a specimen of provincial antiquity such as could not be seen +elsewhere. His costume was of the oddest: a long-waisted coat +reaching nearly to his heels, short trousers, a flowered silk vest, +and a napless hat. He carried his baggage tied up in mealbags, and +his attention was divided between that and two buxom daughters, who +were evidently enjoying their first taste of city life. The little +old man, who was not unlike a petrified Frenchman of the last +century, had risen before daylight, roused up his daughters, and had +them down on the sidewalk by four o'clock, waiting for hack, or +horse-car, or something to take them to the station. That he might +be a man of some importance at home was evident, but he had lost his +head in the bustle of this great town, and was at the mercy of all +advisers, none of whom could understand his mongrel language. As we +came out to take the horse-car, he saw his helpless daughters driven +off in one hack, while he was raving among his meal-bags on the +sidewalk. Afterwards we saw him at the station, flying about in the +greatest excitement, asking everybody about the train; and at last he +found his way into the private office of the ticket-seller. "Get out +of here! "roared that official. The old man persisted that he +wanted a ticket. "Go round to the window; clear out!" In a very +flustered state he was hustled out of the room. When he came to the +window and made known his destination, he was refused tickets, +because his train did not start for two hours yet! + +This mercurial old gentleman only appears in these records because he +was the only person we saw in this Province who was in a hurry to do +anything, or to go anywhere. + +We cannot leave Halifax without remarking that it is a city of great +private virtue, and that its banks are sound. The appearance of its +paper-money is not, however, inviting. We of the United States lead +the world in beautiful paper-money; and when I exchanged my crisp, +handsome greenbacks for the dirty, flimsy, ill-executed notes of the +Dominion, at a dead loss of value, I could not be reconciled to the +transaction. I sarcastically called the stuff I received +"Confederate money;" but probably no one was wounded by the severity; +for perhaps no one knew what a resemblance in badness there is +between the "Confederate" notes of our civil war and the notes of the +Dominion; and, besides, the Confederacy was too popular in the +Provinces for the name to be a reproach to them. I wish I had +thought of something more insulting to say. + +By noon on Friday we came to New Glasgow, having passed through a +country where wealth is to be won by hard digging if it is won at +all; through Truro, at the head of the Cobequid Bay, a place +exhibiting more thrift than any we have seen. A pleasant enough +country, on the whole, is this which the road runs through up the +Salmon and down the East River. New Glasgow is not many miles from +Pictou, on the great Cumberland Strait; the inhabitants build +vessels, and strangers drive out from here to see the neighboring +coal mines. Here we were to dine and take the stage for a ride of +eighty miles to the Gut of Canso. + +The hotel at New Glasgow we can commend as one of the most +unwholesome in the Province; but it is unnecessary to emphasize its +condition, for if the traveler is in search of dirty hotels, he will +scarcely go amiss anywhere in these regions. There seems to be a +fashion in diet which endures. The early travelers as well as the +later in these Atlantic provinces all note the prevalence of dry, +limp toast and green tea; they are the staples of all the meals; +though authorities differ in regard to the third element for +discouraging hunger: it is sometimes boiled salt-fish and sometimes +it is ham. Toast was probably an inspiration of the first woman of +this part of the New World, who served it hot; but it has become now +a tradition blindly followed, without regard to temperature; and the +custom speaks volumes for the non-inventiveness of woman. At the inn +in New Glasgow those who choose dine in their shirt-sleeves, and +those skilled in the ways of this table get all they want in seven +minutes. A man who understands the use of edged tools can get along +twice as fast with a knife and fork as he can with a fork alone. + +But the stage is at the door; the coach and four horses answer the +advertisement of being "second to none on the continent." We mount +to the seat with the driver. The sun is bright; the wind is in the +southwest; the leaders are impatient to go; the start for the long +ride is propitious. + +But on the back seat in the coach is the inevitable woman, young and +sickly, with the baby in her arms. The woman has paid her fare +through to Guysborough, and holds her ticket. It turns out, however, +that she wants to go to the district of Guysborough, to St. Mary's +Cross Roads, somewhere in it, and not to the village of Guysborough, +which is away down on Chedabucto Bay. (The reader will notice this +geographical familiarity.) And this stage does not go in the +direction of St. Mary's. She will not get out, she will not +surrender her ticket, nor pay her fare again. Why should she? And +the stage proprietor, the stage-driver, and the hostler mull over the +problem, and sit down on the woman's hair trunk in front of the +tavern to reason with her. The baby joins its voice from the coach +window in the clamor of the discussion. The baby prevails. The +stage company comes to a compromise, the woman dismounts, and we are +off, away from the white houses, over the sandy road, out upon a +hilly and not cheerful country. And the driver begins to tell us +stories of winter hardships, drifted highways, a land buried in snow, +and great peril to men and cattle. + + + + +III + +"It was then summer, and the weather very fine; so pleased was I with +the country, in which I had never travelled before, that my delight +proved equal to my wonder."--BENVENUTO CELLINI. + +There are few pleasures in life equal to that of riding on the +box-seat of a stagecoach, through a country unknown to you and +hearing the driver talk about his horses. We made the intimate +acquaintance of twelve horses on that day's ride, and learned the +peculiar disposition and traits of each one of them, their ambition +of display, their sensitiveness to praise or blame, their +faithfulness, their playfulness, the readiness with which they +yielded to kind treatment, their daintiness about food and lodging. + +May I never forget the spirited little jade, the off-leader in the +third stage, the petted belle of the route, the nervous, coquettish, +mincing mare of Marshy Hope. A spoiled beauty she was; you could see +that as she took the road with dancing step, tossing her pretty head +about, and conscious of her shining black coat and her tail done up +"in any simple knot,"--like the back hair of Shelley's Beatrice +Cenci. How she ambled and sidled and plumed herself, and now and +then let fly her little heels high in air in mere excess of larkish +feeling. + +"So! girl; so! Kitty," murmurs the driver in the softest tones of +admiration; "she don't mean anything by it, she's just like a +kitten." + +But the heels keep flying above the traces, and by and by the driver +is obliged to "speak hash" to the beauty. The reproof of the +displeased tone is evidently felt, for she settles at once to her +work, showing perhaps a little impatience, jerking her head up and +down, and protesting by her nimble movements against the more +deliberate trot of her companion. I believe that a blow from the +cruel lash would have broken her heart; or else it would have made a +little fiend of the spirited creature. The lash is hardly ever good +for the sex. + +For thirteen years, winter and summer, this coachman had driven this +monotonous, uninteresting route, with always the same sandy hills, +scrubby firs, occasional cabins, in sight. What a time to nurse his +thought and feed on his heart! How deliberately he can turn things +over in his brain! What a system of philosophy he might evolve out +of his consciousness! One would think so. But, in fact, the +stagebox is no place for thinking. To handle twelve horses every +day, to keep each to its proper work, stimulating the lazy and +restraining the free, humoring each disposition, so that the greatest +amount of work shall be obtained with the least friction, making each +trip on time, and so as to leave each horse in as good condition at +the close as at the start, taking advantage of the road, refreshing +the team by an occasional spurt of speed,--all these things require +constant attention; and if the driver was composing an epic, the +coach might go into the ditch, or, if no accident happened, the +horses would be worn out in a month, except for the driver's care. + +I conclude that the most delicate and important occupation in life is +stage-driving. It would be easier to "run" the Treasury Department +of the United States than a four-in-hand. I have a sense of the +unimportance of everything else in comparison with this business in +hand. And I think the driver shares that feeling. He is the +autocrat of the situation. He is lord of all the humble passengers, +and they feel their inferiority. They may have knowledge and skill +in some things, but they are of no use here. At all the stables the +driver is king; all the people on the route are deferential to him; +they are happy if he will crack a joke with them, and take it as a +favor if he gives them better than they send. And it is his joke +that always raises the laugh, regardless of its quality. + +We carry the royal mail, and as we go along drop little sealed canvas +bags at way offices. The bags would not hold more than three pints +of meal, and I can see that there is nothing in them. Yet somebody +along here must be expecting a letter, or they would not keep up the +mail facilities. At French River we change horses. There is a mill +here, and there are half a dozen houses, and a cranky bridge, which +the driver thinks will not tumble down this trip. The settlement may +have seen better days, and will probably see worse. + +I preferred to cross the long, shaky wooden bridge on foot, leaving +the inside passengers to take the risk, and get the worth of their +money; and while the horses were being put to, I walked on over the +hill. And here I encountered a veritable foot-pad, with a club in +his hand and a bundle on his shoulder, coming down the dusty road, +with the wild-eyed aspect of one who travels into a far country in +search of adventure. He seemed to be of a cheerful and sociable +turn, and desired that I should linger and converse with him. But he +was more meagerly supplied with the media of conversation than any +person I ever met. His opening address was in a tongue that failed +to convey to me the least idea. I replied in such language as I had +with me, but it seemed to be equally lost upon him. We then fell +back upon gestures and ejaculations, and by these I learned that he +was a native of Cape Breton, but not an aborigine. By signs he asked +me where I came from, and where I was going; and he was so much +pleased with my destination, that he desired to know my name; and +this I told him with all the injunction of secrecy I could convey; +but he could no more pronounce it than I could speak his name. It +occurred to me that perhaps he spoke a French patois, and I asked +him; but he only shook his head. He would own neither to German nor +Irish. The happy thought came to me of inquiring if he knew English. +But he shook his head again, and said, + +"No English, plenty garlic." + +This was entirely incomprehensible, for I knew that garlic is not a +language, but a smell. But when he had repeated the word several +times, I found that he meant Gaelic; and when we had come to this +understanding, we cordially shook hands and willingly parted. One +seldom encounters a wilder or more good-natured savage than this +stalwart wanderer. And meeting him raised my hopes of Cape Breton. + +We change horses again, for the last stage, at Marshy Hope. As we +turn down the hill into this place of the mournful name, we dash past +a procession of five country wagons, which makes way for us: +everything makes way for us; even death itself turns out for the +stage with four horses. The second wagon carries a long box, which +reveals to us the mournful errand of the caravan. We drive into the +stable, and get down while the fresh horses are put to. The +company's stables are all alike, and open at each end with great +doors. The stable is the best house in the place; there are three or +four houses besides, and one of them is white, and has vines growing +over the front door, and hollyhocks by the front gate. Three or four +women, and as many barelegged girls, have come out to look at the +proces-sion, and we lounge towards the group. + +"It had a winder in the top of it, and silver handles," says one. + +"Well, I declare; and you could 'a looked right in?" + +"If I'd been a mind to." + +"Who has died?" I ask. + +"It's old woman Larue; she lived on Gilead Hill, mostly alone. It's +better for her." + +"Had she any friends?" + +"One darter. They're takin' her over Eden way, to bury her where she +come from." + +"Was she a good woman?" The traveler is naturally curious to know +what sort of people die in Nova Scotia. + +"Well, good enough. Both her husbands is dead." + +The gossips continued talking of the burying. Poor old woman Larue! +It was mournful enough to encounter you for the only time in this +world in this plight, and to have this glimpse of your wretched life +on lonesome Gilead Hill. What pleasure, I wonder, had she in her +life, and what pleasure have any of these hard-favored women in this +doleful region? It is pitiful to think of it. Doubtless, however, +the region isn't doleful, and the sentimental traveler would not have +felt it so if he had not encountered this funereal flitting. + +But the horses are in. We mount to our places; the big doors swing +open. + +"Stand away," cries the driver. + +The hostler lets go Kitty's bridle, the horses plunge forward, and we +are off at a gallop, taking the opposite direction from that pursued +by old woman Larue. + +This last stage is eleven miles, through a pleasanter country, and we +make it in a trifle over an hour, going at an exhilarating gait, that +raises our spirits out of the Marshy Hope level. The perfection of +travel is ten miles an hour, on top of a stagecoach; it is greater +speed than forty by rail. It nurses one's pride to sit aloft, and +rattle past the farmhouses, and give our dust to the cringing foot +tramps. There is something royal in the swaying of the coach body, +and an excitement in the patter of the horses' hoofs. And what an +honor it must be to guide such a machine through a region of rustic +admiration! + +The sun has set when we come thundering down into the pretty Catholic +village of Antigonish,--the most home-like place we have seen on the +island. The twin stone towers of the unfinished cathedral loom up +large in the fading light, and the bishop's palace on the hill--the +home of the Bishop of Arichat--appears to be an imposing white barn +with many staring windows. At Antigonish--with the emphasis on the +last syllable--let the reader know there is a most comfortable inn, +kept by a cheery landlady, where the stranger is served by the comely +handmaidens, her daughters, and feels that he has reached a home at +last. Here we wished to stay. Here we wished to end this weary +pilgrimage. Could Baddeck be as attractive as this peaceful valley? +Should we find any inn on Cape Breton like this one? + +"Never was on Cape Breton," our driver had said; "hope I never shall +be. Heard enough about it. Taverns? You'll find 'em occupied." + +"Fleas? + +"Wus." + +"But it is a lovely country?" + +"I don't think it." + +Into what unknown dangers were we going? Why not stay here and be +happy? It was a soft summer night. People were loitering in the +street; the young beaux of the place going up and down with the +belles, after the leisurely manner in youth and summer; perhaps they +were students from St. Xavier College, or visiting gallants from +Guysborough. They look into the post-office and the fancy store. +They stroll and take their little provincial pleasure and make love, +for all we can see, as if Antigonish were a part of the world. How +they must look down on Marshy Hope and Addington Forks and Tracadie! +What a charming place to live in is this! + +But the stage goes on at eight o'clock. It will wait for no man. +There is no other stage till eight the next night, and we have no +alternative but a night ride. We put aside all else except duty and +Baddeck. This is strictly a pleasure-trip. + +The stage establishment for the rest of the journey could hardly be +called the finest on the continent. The wagon was drawn by two +horses. It was a square box, covered with painted cloth. Within +were two narrow seats, facing each other, affording no room for the +legs of passengers, and offering them no position but a strictly +upright one. It was a most ingeniously uncomfortable box in which to +put sleepy travelers for the night. The weather would be chilly +before morning, and to sit upright on a narrow board all night, and +shiver, is not cheerful. Of course, the reader says that this is no +hardship to talk about. But the reader is mistaken. Anything is a +hardship when it is unpleasantly what one does not desire or expect. +These travelers had spent wakeful nights, in the forests, in a cold +rain, and never thought of complaining. It is useless to talk about +the Polar sufferings of Dr. Kane to a guest at a metropolitan hotel, +in the midst of luxury, when the mosquito sings all night in his ear, +and his mutton-chop is overdone at breakfast. One does not like to +be set up for a hero in trifles, in odd moments, and in inconspicuous +places. + +There were two passengers besides ourselves, inhabitants of Cape +Breton Island, who were returning from Halifax to Plaster Cove, where +they were engaged in the occupation of distributing alcoholic liquors +at retail. This fact we ascertained incidentally, as we learned the +nationality of our comrades by their brogue, and their religion by +their lively ejaculations during the night. We stowed ourselves into +the rigid box, bade a sorrowing good-night to the landlady and her +daughters, who stood at the inn door, and went jingling down the +street towards the open country. + +The moon rises at eight o'clock in Nova Scotia. It came above the +horizon exactly as we began our journey, a harvest-moon, round and +red. When I first saw it, it lay on the edge of the horizon as if +too heavy to lift itself, as big as a cart-wheel, and its disk cut by +a fence-rail. With what a flood of splendor it deluged farmhouses +and farms, and the broad sweep of level country! There could not be +a more magnificent night in which to ride towards that geographical +mystery of our boyhood, the Gut of Canso. + +A few miles out of town the stage stopped in the road before a post- +station. An old woman opened the door of the farmhouse to receive +the bag which the driver carried to her. A couple of sprightly +little girls rushed out to "interview " the passengers, climbing up +to ask their names and, with much giggling, to get a peep at their +faces. And upon the handsomeness or ugliness of the faces they saw +in the moonlight they pronounced with perfect candor. We are not +obliged to say what their verdict was. Girls here, no doubt, as +elsewhere, lose this trustful candor as they grow older. + +Just as we were starting, the old woman screamed out from the door, +in a shrill voice, addressing the driver, "Did you see ary a sick man +'bout 'Tigonish?" + +"Nary." + +"There's one been round here for three or four days, pretty bad off; +'s got the St. Vitus's. He wanted me to get him some medicine for it +up to Antigonish. I've got it here in a vial, and I wished you could +take it to him." + +"Where is he?" + +"I dunno. I heern he'd gone east by the Gut. Perhaps you'll hear of +him." All this screamed out into the night. + +"Well, I'll take it." + +We took the vial aboard and went on; but the incident powerfully +affected us. The weird voice of the old woman was exciting in it- +self, and we could not escape the image of this unknown man, dancing +about this region without any medicine, fleeing perchance by night +and alone, and finally flitting away down the Gut of Canso. This +fugitive mystery almost immediately shaped itself into the following +simple poem: + +"There was an old man of Canso, +Unable to sit or stan' so. +When I asked him why he ran so, +Says he, 'I've St. Vitus' dance so, +All down the Gut of Canso.'" + +This melancholy song is now, I doubt not, sung by the maidens of +Antigonish. + +In spite of the consolations of poetry, however, the night wore on +slowly, and soothing sleep tried in vain to get a lodgment in the +jolting wagon. One can sleep upright, but not when his head is every +moment knocked against the framework of a wagon-cover. Even a jolly +young Irishman of Plaster Cove, whose nature it is to sleep under +whatever discouragement, is beaten by these circumstances. He wishes +he had his fiddle along. We never know what men are on casual +acquaintance. This rather stupid-looking fellow is a devotee of +music, and knows how to coax the sweetness out of the unwilling +violin. Sometimes he goes miles and miles on winter nights to draw +the seductive bow for the Cape Breton dancers, and there is +enthusiasm in his voice, as he relates exploits of fiddling from +sunset till the dawn of day. Other information, however, the young +man has not; and when this is exhausted, he becomes sleepy again, and +tries a dozen ways to twist himself into a posture in which sleep +will be possible. He doubles up his legs, he slides them under the +seat, he sits on the wagon bottom; but the wagon swings and jolts and +knocks him about. His patience under this punishment is admirable, +and there is something pathetic in his restraint from profanity. + +It is enough to look out upon the magnificent night; the moon is now +high, and swinging clear and distant; the air has grown chilly; the +stars cannot be eclipsed by the greater light, but glow with a +chastened fervor. It is on the whole a splendid display for the sake +of four sleepy men, banging along in a coach,--an insignificant +little vehicle with two horses. No one is up at any of the +farmhouses to see it; no one appears to take any interest in it, +except an occasional baying dog, or a rooster that has mistaken the +time of night. By midnight we come to Tracadie, an orchard, a +farmhouse, and a stable. We are not far from the sea now, and can +see a silver mist in the north. An inlet comes lapping up by the old +house with a salty smell and a suggestion of oyster-beds. We knock +up the sleeping hostlers, change. horses, and go on again, dead +sleepy, but unable to get a wink. And all the night is blazing with +beauty. We think of the criminal who was sentenced to be kept awake +till he died. + +The fiddler makes another trial. Temperately remarking, "I am very +sleepy," he kneels upon the floor and rests his head on the seat. +This position for a second promises repose; but almost immediately +his head begins to pound the seat, and beat a lively rat-a-plan on +the board. The head of a wooden idol couldn't stand this treatment +more than a minute. The fiddler twisted and turned, but his head +went like a triphammer on the seat. I have never seen a devotional +attitude so deceptive, or one that produced less favorable results. +The young man rose from his knees, and meekly said, + +"It's dam hard." + +If the recording angel took down this observation, he doubtless made +a note of the injured tone in which it was uttered. + +How slowly the night passes to one tipping and swinging along in a +slowly moving stage! But the harbinger of the day came at last. +When the fiddler rose from his knees, I saw the morning-star burst +out of the east like a great diamond, and I knew that Venus was +strong enough to pull up even the sun, from whom she is never distant +more than an eighth of the heavenly circle. The moon could not put +her out of countenance. She blazed and scintillated with a dazzling +brilliance, a throbbing splendor, that made the moon seem a pale, +sentimental invention. Steadily she mounted, in her fresh beauty, +with the confidence and vigor of new love, driving her more domestic +rival out of the sky. And this sort of thing, I suppose, goes on +frequently. These splendors burn and this panorama passes night +after night down at the end of Nova Scotia, and all for the stage- +driver, dozing along on his box, from Antigonish to the strait. + +"Here you are," cries the driver, at length, when we have become +wearily indifferent to where we are. We have reached the ferry. The +dawn has not come, but it is not far off. We step out and find a +chilly morning, and the dark waters of the Gut of Canso flowing +before us lighted here and there by a patch of white mist. The +ferryman is asleep, and his door is shut. We call him by all the +names known among men. We pound upon his house, but he makes no +sign. Before he awakes and comes out, growling, the sky in the east +is lightened a shade, and the star of the dawn sparkles less +brilliantly. But the process is slow. The twilight is long. There +is a surprising deliberation about the preparation of the sun for +rising, as there is in the movements of the boatman. Both appear to +be reluctant to begin the day. + +The ferryman and his shaggy comrade get ready at last, and we step +into the clumsy yawl, and the slowly moving oars begin to pull us +upstream. The strait is here less than a mile wide; the tide is +running strongly, and the water is full of swirls,--the little +whirlpools of the rip-tide. The morning-star is now high in the sky; +the moon, declining in the west, is more than ever like a silver +shield; along the east is a faint flush of pink. In the increasing +light we can see the bold shores of the strait, and the square +projection of Cape Porcupine below. + +On the rocks above the town of Plaster Cove, where there is a black +and white sign,--Telegraph Cable,--we set ashore our companions of +the night, and see them climb up to their station for retailing the +necessary means of intoxication in their district, with the mournful +thought that we may never behold them again. + +As we drop down along the shore, there is a white sea-gull asleep on +the rock, rolled up in a ball, with his head under his wing. The +rock is dripping with dew, and the bird is as wet as his hard bed. +We pass within an oar's length of him, but he does not heed us, and +we do not disturb his morning slumbers. For there is no such cruelty +as the waking of anybody out of a morning nap. + +When we land, and take up our bags to ascend the hill to the white +tavern of Port Hastings (as Plaster Cove now likes to be called), the +sun lifts himself slowly over the treetops, and the magic of the +night vanishes. + +And this is Cape Breton, reached after almost a week of travel. Here +is the Gut of Canso, but where is Baddeck? It is Saturday morning; +if we cannot make Baddeck by night, we might as well have remained in +Boston. And who knows what we shall find if we get there? A forlorn +fishing-station, a dreary hotel? Suppose we cannot get on, and are +forced to stay here? Asking ourselves these questions, we enter the +Plaster Cove tavern. No one is stirring, but the house is open, and +we take possession of the dirty public room, and almost immediately +drop to sleep in the fluffy rocking-chairs; but even sleep is not +strong enough to conquer our desire to push on, and we soon rouse up +and go in pursuit of information. + +No landlord is to be found, but there is an unkempt servant in the +kitchen, who probably does not see any use in making her toilet more +than once a week. To this fearful creature is intrusted the dainty +duty of preparing breakfast. Her indifference is equal to her lack +of information, and her ability to convey information is fettered by +her use of Gaelic as her native speech. But she directs us to the +stable. There we find a driver hitching his horses to a two-horse +stage-wagon. + +"Is this stage for Baddeck?" + +"Not much." + +"Is there any stage for Baddeck?" + +"Not to-day." + +"Where does this go, and when?" + +"St. Peter's. Starts in fifteen minutes." + +This seems like "business," and we are inclined to try it, especially +as we have no notion where St. Peter's is. + +"Does any other stage go from here to-day anywhere else?" + +"Yes. Port Hood. Quarter of an hour." + +Everything was about to happen in fifteen minutes. We inquire +further. St. Peter's is on the east coast, on the road to Sydney. +Port Hood is on the west coast. There is a stage from Port Hood to +Baddeck. It would land us there some time Sunday morning; distance, +eighty miles. + +Heavens! what a pleasure-trip. To ride eighty miles more without +sleep! We should simply be delivered dead on the Bras d'Or; that is +all. Tell us, gentle driver, is there no other way? + +"Well, there's Jim Hughes, come over at midnight with a passenger +from Baddeck; he's in the hotel now; perhaps he'll take you." + +Our hope hung on Jim Hughes. The frowzy servant piloted us up to his +sleeping-room. "Go right in," said she; and we went in, according to +the simple custom of the country, though it was a bedroom that one +would not enter except on business. Mr. Hughes did not like to be +disturbed, but he proved himself to be a man who could wake up +suddenly, shake his head, and transact business,--a sort of Napoleon, +in fact. Mr. Hughes stared at the intruders for a moment, as if he +meditated an assault. + +"Do you live in Baddeck?" we asked. + +"No; Hogamah,--half-way there." + +"Will you take us to Baddeck to-day? + +Mr. Hughes thought. He had intended to sleep--till noon. He had +then intended to go over the Judique Mountain and get a boy. But he +was disposed to accommodate. Yes, for money--sum named--he would +give up his plans, and start for Baddeck in an hour. Distance, sixty +miles. Here was a man worth having; he could come to a decision +before he was out of bed. The bargain was closed. + +We would have closed any bargain to escape a Sunday in the Plaster +Cove hotel. There are different sorts of hotel uncleanliness. There +is the musty old inn, where the dirt has accumulated for years, and +slow neglect has wrought a picturesque sort of dilapidation, the +mouldiness of time, which has something to recommend it. But there +is nothing attractive in new nastiness, in the vulgar union of +smartness and filth. A dirty modern house, just built, a house +smelling of poor whiskey and vile tobacco, its white paint grimy, its +floors unclean, is ever so much worse than an old inn that never +pretended to be anything but a rookery. I say nothing against the +hotel at Plaster Cove. In fact, I recommend it. There is a kind of +harmony about it that I like. There is a harmony between the +breakfast and the frowzy Gaelic cook we saw "sozzling" about in the +kitchen. There is a harmony between the appearance of the house and +the appearance of the buxom young housekeeper who comes upon the +scene later, her hair saturated with the fatty matter of the bear. +The traveler will experience a pleasure in paying his bill and +departing. + +Although Plaster Cove seems remote on the map, we found that we were +right in the track of the world's news there. It is the transfer +station of the Atlantic Cable Company, where it exchanges messages +with the Western Union. In a long wooden building, divided into two +main apartments, twenty to thirty operators are employed. At eight +o'clock the English force was at work receiving the noon messages +from London. The American operators had not yet come on, for New +York business would not begin for an hour. Into these rooms is +poured daily the news of the world, and these young fellows toss it +about as lightly as if it were household gossip. It is a marvelous +exchange, however, and we had intended to make some reflections here +upon the en rapport feeling, so to speak, with all the world, which +we experienced while there; but our conveyance was waiting. We +telegraphed our coming to Baddeck, and departed. For twenty-five +cents one can send a dispatch to any part of the Dominion, except the +region where the Western Union has still a foothold. + +Our conveyance was a one-horse wagon, with one seat. The horse was +well enough, but the seat was narrow for three people, and the entire +establishment had in it not much prophecy of Baddeck for that day. +But we knew little of the power of Cape Breton driving. It became +evident that we should reach Baddeck soon enough, if we could cling +to that wagon-seat. The morning sun was hot. The way was so +uninteresting that we almost wished ourselves back in Nova Scotia. +The sandy road was bordered with discouraged evergreens, through +which we had glimpses of sand-drifted farms. If Baddeck was to be +like this, we had come on a fool's errand. There were some savage, +low hills, and the Judique Mountain showed itself as we got away from +the town. In this first stage, the heat of the sun, the monotony of +the road, and the scarcity of sleep during the past thirty-six hours +were all unfavorable to our keeping on the wagon-seat. We nodded +separately, we nodded and reeled in unison. But asleep or awake, the +driver drove like a son of Jehu. Such driving is the fashion on Cape +Breton Island. Especially downhill, we made the most of it; if the +horse was on a run, that was only an inducement to apply the lash; +speed gave the promise of greater possible speed. The wagon rattled +like a bark-mill; it swirled and leaped about, and we finally got the +exciting impression that if the whole thing went to pieces, we should +somehow go on,--such was our impetus. Round corners, over ruts and +stones, and uphill and down, we went jolting and swinging, holding +fast to the seat, and putting our trust in things in general. At the +end of fifteen miles, we stopped at a Scotch farmhouse, where the +driver kept a relay, and changed horse. + +The people were Highlanders, and spoke little English; we had struck +the beginning of the Gaelic settlement. From here to Hogamah we +should encounter only the Gaelic tongue; the inhabitants are all +Catholics. Very civil people, apparently, and living in a kind of +niggardly thrift, such as the cold land affords. We saw of this +family the old man, who had come from Scotland fifty years ago, his +stalwart son, six feet and a half high, maybe, and two buxom +daughters, going to the hay-field,--good solid Scotch lassies, who +smiled in English, but spoke only Gaelic. The old man could speak a +little English, and was disposed to be both communicative and +inquisitive. He asked our business, names, and residence. Of the +United States he had only a dim conception, but his mind rather +rested upon the statement that we lived "near Boston." He complained +of the degeneracy of the times. All the young men had gone away from +Cape Breton; might get rich if they would stay and work the farms. +But no one liked to work nowadays. From life, we diverted the talk +to literature. We inquired what books they had. + +"Of course you all have the poems of Burns?" + +"What's the name o' the mon?" + +"Burns, Robert Burns." + +"Never heard tell of such a mon. Have heard of Robert Bruce. He was +a Scotchman." + +This was nothing short of refreshing, to find a Scotchman who had +never heard of Robert Burns! It was worth the whole journey to take +this honest man by the hand. How far would I not travel to talk with +an American who had never heard of George Washington! + +The way was more varied during the next stage; we passed through some +pleasant valleys and picturesque neighborhoods, and at length, +winding around the base of a wooded range, and crossing its point, we +came upon a sight that took all the sleep out of us. This was the +famous Bras d'Or. + +The Bras d'Or is the most beautiful salt-water lake I have ever seen, +and more beautiful than we had imagined a body of salt water could +be. If the reader will take the map, he will see that two narrow +estuaries, the Great and the Little Bras d'Or, enter the island of +Cape Breton, on the ragged northeast coast, above the town of Sydney, +and flow in, at length widening out and occupying the heart of the +island. The water seeks out all the low places, and ramifies the +interior, running away into lovely bays and lagoons, leaving slender +tongues of land and picturesque islands, and bringing into the +recesses of the land, to the remote country farms and settlements, +the flavor of salt, and the fish and mollusks of the briny sea. +There is very little tide at any time, so that the shores are clean +and sightly for the most part, like those of fresh-water lakes. It +has all the pleasantness of a fresh-water lake, with all the +advantages of a salt one. In the streams which run into it are the +speckled trout, the shad, and the salmon; out of its depths are +hooked the cod and the mackerel, and in its bays fattens the oyster. +This irregular lake is about a hundred miles long, if you measure it +skillfully, and in some places ten miles broad; but so indented is +it, that I am not sure but one would need, as we were informed, to +ride a thousand miles to go round it, following all its incursions +into the land. The hills about it are never more than five or six +hundred feet high, but they are high enough for reposeful beauty, and +offer everywhere pleasing lines. + +What we first saw was an inlet of the Bras d'Or, called, by the +driver, Hogamah Bay. At its entrance were long, wooded islands, +beyond which we saw the backs of graceful hills, like the capes of +some poetic sea-coast. The bay narrowed to a mile in width where we +came upon it, and ran several miles inland to a swamp, round the head +of which we must go. Opposite was the village of Hogamah. I had my +suspicions from the beginning about this name, and now asked the +driver, who was liberally educated for a driver, how he spelled +"Hogamah." + +"Why-ko-ko-magh. Hogamah." + +Sometimes it is called Wykogamah. Thus the innocent traveler is +misled. Along the Whykokomagh Bay we come to a permanent encampment +of the Micmac Indians,--a dozen wigwams in the pine woods. Though +lumber is plenty, they refuse to live in houses. The wigwams, +however, are more picturesque than the square frame houses of the +whites. Built up conically of poles, with a hole in the top for the +smoke to escape, and often set up a little from the ground on a +timber foundation, they are as pleasing to the eye as a Chinese or +Turkish dwelling. They may be cold in winter, but blessed be the +tenacity of barbarism, which retains this agreeable architecture. +The men live by hunting in the season, and the women support the +family by making moccasins and baskets. These Indians are most of +them good Catholics, and they try to go once a year to mass and a +sort of religious festival held at St. Peter's, where their sins are +forgiven in a yearly lump. + +At Whykokomagh, a neat fishing village of white houses, we stopped +for dinner at the Inverness House. The house was very clean, and the +tidy landlady gave us as good a dinner as she could of the inevitable +green tea, toast, and salt fish. She was Gaelic, but Protestant, as +the village is, and showed us with pride her Gaelic Bible and +hymn-book. A peaceful place, this Whykokomagh; the lapsing waters of +Bras d'Or made a summer music all along the quiet street; the bay lay +smiling with its islands in front, and an amphitheater of hills rose +behind. But for the line of telegraph poles one might have fancied +he could have security and repose here. + +We put a fresh pony into the shafts, a beast born with an everlasting +uneasiness in his legs, and an amount of "go" in him which suited his +reckless driver. We no longer stood upon the order of our going; we +went. As we left the village, we passed a rocky hay-field, where the +Gaelic farmer was gathering the scanty yield of grass. A comely +Indian girl was stowing the hay and treading it down on the wagon. +The driver hailed the farmer, and they exchanged Gaelic repartee +which set all the hay-makers in a roar, and caused the Indian maid to +darkly and sweetly beam upon us. We asked the driver what he had +said. He had only inquired what the man would take for the load--as +it stood! A joke is a joke down this way. + +I am not about to describe this drive at length, in order that the +reader may skip it; for I know the reader, being of like passion and +fashion with him. From the time we first struck the Bras d'Or for +thirty miles we rode in constant sight of its magnificent water. Now +we were two hundred feet above the water, on the hillside, skirting a +point or following an indentation; and now we were diving into a +narrow valley, crossing a stream, or turning a sharp corner, but +always with the Bras d'Or in view, the afternoon sun shining on it, +softening the outlines of its embracing hills, casting a shadow from +its wooded islands. Sometimes we opened on a broad water plain +bounded by the Watchabaktchkt hills, and again we looked over hill +after hill receding into the soft and hazy blue of the land beyond +the great mass of the Bras d'Or. The reader can compare the view and +the ride to the Bay of Naples and the Cornice Road; we did nothing of +the sort; we held on to the seat, prayed that the harness of the pony +might not break, and gave constant expression to our wonder and +delight. For a week we had schooled ourselves to expect nothing more +from this wicked world, but here was an enchanting vision. + +The only phenomenon worthy the attention of any inquiring mind, in +this whole record, I will now describe. As we drove along the side +of a hill, and at least two hundred feet above the water, the road +suddenly diverged and took a circuit higher up. The driver said that +was to avoid a sink-hole in the old road,--a great curiosity, which +it was worth while to examine. Beside the old road was a circular +hole, which nipped out a part of the road-bed, some twenty-five feet +in diameter, filled with water almost to the brim, but not running +over. The water was dark in color, and I fancied had a brackish +taste. The driver said that a few weeks before, when he came this +way, it was solid ground where this well now opened, and that a large +beech-tree stood there. When he returned next day, he found this +hole full of water, as we saw it, and the large tree had sunk in it. +The size of the hole seemed to be determined by the reach of the +roots of the tree. The tree had so entirely disappeared, that he +could not with a long pole touch its top. Since then the water had +neither subsided nor overflowed. The ground about was compact +gravel. We tried sounding the hole with poles, but could make +nothing of it. The water seemed to have no outlet nor inlet; at +least, it did not rise or fall. Why should the solid hill give way +at this place, and swallow up a tree? and if the water had any +connection with the lake, two hundred feet below and at some distance +away, why didn't the water run out? Why should the unscientific +traveler have a thing of this kind thrown in his way? The driver did +not know. + +This phenomenon made us a little suspicious of the foundations of +this island which is already invaded by the jealous ocean, and is +anchored to the continent only by the cable. + +The drive became more charming as the sun went down, and we saw the +hills grow purple beyond the Bras d'Or. The road wound around lovely +coves and across low promontories, giving us new beauties at every +turn. Before dark we had crossed the Middle River and the Big +Baddeck, on long wooden bridges, which straggled over sluggish waters +and long reaches of marsh, upon which Mary might have been sent to +call the cattle home. These bridges were shaky and wanted a plank at +intervals, but they are in keeping with the enterprise of the +country. As dusk came on, we crossed the last hill, and were bowling +along by the still gleaming water. Lights began to appear in +infrequent farmhouses, and under cover of the gathering night the +houses seemed to be stately mansions; and we fancied we were on a +noble highway, lined with elegant suburban seaside residences, and +about to drive into a town of wealth and a port of great commerce. +We were, nevertheless, anxious about Baddeck. What sort of haven +were we to reach after our heroic (with the reader's permission) week +of travel? Would the hotel be like that at Plaster Cove? Were our +thirty-six hours of sleepless staging to terminate in a night of +misery and a Sunday of discomfort? + +We came into a straggling village; that we could see by the +starlight. But we stopped at the door of a very unhotel-like +appearing hotel. It had in front a flower-garden; it was blazing +with welcome lights; it opened hospitable doors, and we were received +by a family who expected us. The house was a large one, for two +guests; and we enjoyed the luxury of spacious rooms, an abundant +supper, and a friendly welcome; and, in short, found ourselves at +home. The proprietor of the Telegraph House is the superintendent of +the land lines of Cape Breton, a Scotchman, of course; but his wife +is a Newfoundland lady. We cannot violate the sanctity of what +seemed like private hospitality by speaking freely of this lady and +the lovely girls, her daughters, whose education has been so +admirably advanced in the excellent school at Baddeck; but we can +confidently advise any American who is going to Newfoundland, to get +a wife there, if he wants one at all. It is the only new article he +can bring from the Provinces that he will not have to pay duty on. +And here is a suggestion to our tariff-mongers for the "protection" +of New England women. + +The reader probably cannot appreciate the delicious sense of rest and +of achievement which we enjoyed in this tidy inn, nor share the +anticipations of undisturbed, luxurious sleep, in which we indulged +as we sat upon the upper balcony after supper, and saw the moon rise +over the glistening Bras d'Or and flood with light the islands and +headlands of the beautiful bay. Anchored at some distance from the +shore was a slender coasting vessel. The big red moon happened to +come up just behind it, and the masts and spars and ropes of the +vessel came out, distinctly traced on the golden background, making +such a night picture as I once saw painted of a ship in a fiord of +Norway. The scene was enchanting. And we respected then the +heretofore seemingly insane impulse that had driven us on to Baddeck. + + + + +IV + +"He had no ill-will to the Scotch; for, if he had been conscious of +that, he never would have thrown himself into the bosom of their +country, and trusted to the protection of its remote inhabitants with +a fearless confidence."--BOSWELL'S JOHNSON. + +Although it was an open and flagrant violation of the Sabbath day as +it is kept in Scotch Baddeck, our kind hosts let us sleep late on +Sunday morning, with no reminder that we were not sleeping the sleep +of the just. It was the charming Maud, a flitting sunbeam of a girl, +who waited to bring us our breakfast, and thereby lost the +opportunity of going to church with the rest of the family,--an act +of gracious hospitality which the tired travelers appreciated. + +The travelers were unable, indeed, to awaken into any feeling of +Sabbatical straitness. The morning was delicious,--such a morning as +never visits any place except an island; a bright, sparkling morning, +with the exhilaration of the air softened by the sea. What a day it +was for idleness, for voluptuous rest, after the flight by day and +night from St. John! It was enough, now that the morning was fully +opened and advancing to the splendor of noon, to sit upon the upper +balcony, looking upon the Bras d'Or and the peaceful hills beyond, +reposeful and yet sparkling with the air and color of summer, and +inhale the balmy air. (We greatly need another word to describe good +air, properly heated, besides this overworked "balmy.") Perhaps it +might in some regions be considered Sabbath-keeping, simply to rest +in such a soothing situation,--rest, and not incessant activity, +having been one of the original designs of the day. + +But our travelers were from New England, and they were not willing to +be outdone in the matter of Sunday observances by such an out-of- +the-way and nameless place as Baddeck. They did not set themselves +up as missionaries to these benighted Gaelic people, to teach them by +example that the notion of Sunday which obtained two hundred years +ago in Scotland had been modified, and that the sacredness of it had +pretty much disappeared with the unpleasantness of it. They rather +lent themselves to the humor of the hour, and probably by their +demeanor encouraged the respect for the day on Cape Breton Island. +Neither by birth nor education were the travelers fishermen on +Sunday, and they were not moved to tempt the authorities to lock them +up for dropping here a line and there a line on the Lord's day. + +In fact, before I had finished my second cup of Maud-mixed coffee, my +companion, with a little show of haste, had gone in search of the +kirk, and I followed him, with more scrupulousness, as soon as I +could without breaking the day of rest. Although it was Sunday, I +could not but notice that Baddeck was a clean-looking village of +white wooden houses, of perhaps seven or eight hundred inhabitants; +that it stretched along the bay for a mile or more, straggling off +into farmhouses at each end, lying for the most part on the sloping +curve of the bay. There were a few country-looking stores and shops, +and on the shore three or four rather decayed and shaky wharves ran +into the water, and a few schooners lay at anchor near them; and the +usual decaying warehouses leaned about the docks. A peaceful and +perhaps a thriving place, but not a bustling place. As I walked down +the road, a sailboat put out from the shore and slowly disappeared +round the island in the direction of the Grand Narrows. It had a +small pleasure party on board. None of them were drowned that day, +and I learned at night that they were Roman Catholics from +Whykokornagh. + +The kirk, which stands near the water, and at a distance shows a +pretty wooden spire, is after the pattern of a New England +meeting-house. When I reached it, the house was full and the service +had begun. There was something familiar in the bareness and +uncompromising plainness and ugliness of the interior. The pews had +high backs, with narrow, uncushioned seats. The pulpit was high,--a +sort of theological fortification,--approached by wide, curving +flights of stairs on either side. Those who occupied the near seats +to the right and left of the pulpit had in front of them a blank +board partition, and could not by any possibility see the minister, +though they broke their necks backwards over their high coat-collars. +The congregation had a striking resemblance to a country New England +congregation of say twenty years ago. The clothes they wore had been +Sunday clothes for at least that length of time. + +Such clothes have a look of I know not what devout and painful +respectability, that is in keeping with the worldly notion of rigid +Scotch Presbyterianism. One saw with pleasure the fresh and rosy- +cheeked children of this strict generation, but the women of the +audience were not in appearance different from newly arrived and +respectable Irish immigrants. They wore a white cap with long frills +over the forehead, and a black handkerchief thrown over it and +hanging down the neck,--a quaint and not unpleasing disguise. + +The house, as I said, was crowded. It is the custom in this region +to go to church,--for whole families to go, even the smallest +children; and they not unfrequently walk six or seven miles to attend +the service. There is a kind of merit in this act that makes up for +the lack of certain other Christian virtues that are practiced +elsewhere. The service was worth coming seven miles to participate +in!--it was about two hours long, and one might well feel as if he +had performed a work of long-suffering to sit through it. The +singing was strictly congregational. Congregational singing is good +(for those who like it) when the congregation can sing. This +congregation could not sing, but it could grind the Psalms of David +powerfully. They sing nothing else but the old Scotch version of the +Psalms, in a patient and faithful long meter. And this is regarded, +and with considerable plausibility, as an act of worship. It +certainly has small element of pleasure in it. Here is a stanza from +Psalm xlv., which the congregation, without any instrumental +nonsense, went through in a dragging, drawling manner, and with +perfect individual independence as to time: + +"Thine arrows sharply pierce the heart of th' enemies of the king, +And under thy sub-jec-shi-on the people down do bring." + +The sermon was extempore, and in English with Scotch pronunciation; +and it filled a solid hour of time. I am not a good judge of ser- +mons, and this one was mere chips to me; but my companion, who knows +a sermon when he hears it, said that this was strictly theological, +and Scotch theology at that, and not at all expository. It was +doubtless my fault that I got no idea whatever from it. But the +adults of the congregation appeared to be perfectly satisfied with +it; at least they sat bolt upright and nodded assent continually. +The children all went to sleep under it, without any hypocritical +show of attention. To be sure, the day was warm and the house was +unventilated. If the windows had been opened so as to admit the +fresh air from the Bras d'Or, I presume the hard-working farmers and +their wives would have resented such an interference with their +ordained Sunday naps, and the preacher's sermon would have seemed +more musty than it appeared to be in that congenial and drowsy air. +Considering that only half of the congregation could understand the +preacher, its behavior was exemplary. + +After the sermon, a collection was taken up for the minister; and I +noticed that nothing but pennies rattled into the boxes,--a +melancholy sound for the pastor. This might appear niggardly on the +part of these Scotch Presbyterians, but it is on principle that they +put only a penny into the box; they say that they want a free gospel, +and so far as they are concerned they have it. Although the farmers +about the Bras d'Or are well-to-do they do not give their minister +enough to keep his soul in his Gaelic body, and his poor support is +eked out by the contributions of a missionary society. It was +gratifying to learn that this was not from stinginess on the part of +the people, but was due to their religious principle. It seemed to +us that everybody ought to be good in a country where it costs next +to nothing. + +When the service was over, about half of the people departed; the +rest remained in their seats and prepared to enter upon their Sabbath +exercises. These latter were all Gaelic people, who had understood +little or nothing of the English service. The minister turned +himself at once into a Gaelic preacher and repeated in that language +the long exercises of the morning. The sermon and perhaps the +prayers were quite as enjoyable in Gaelic as in English, and the +singing was a great improvement. It was of the same Psalms, but the +congregation chanted them in a wild and weird tone and manner, as +wailing and barbarous to modern ears as any Highland devotional +outburst of two centuries ago. This service also lasted about two +hours; and as soon as it was over the faithful minister, without any +rest or refreshment, organized the Sunday-school, and it must have +been half past three o'clock before that was over. And this is +considered a day of rest. + +These Gaelic Christians, we were informed, are of a very old pattern; +and some of them cling more closely to religious observances than to +morality. Sunday is nowhere observed with more strictness. The +community seems to be a very orderly and thrifty one, except upon +solemn and stated occasions. One of these occasions is the +celebration of the Lord's Supper; and in this the ancient Highland +traditions are preserved. The rite is celebrated not oftener than +once a year by any church. It then invites the neighboring churches +to partake with it,--the celebration being usually in the summer and +early fall months. It has some of the characteristics of a "camp- +meeting." People come from long distances, and as many as two +thousand and three thousand assemble together. They quarter +themselves without special invitation upon the members of the +inviting church. Sometimes fifty people will pounce upon one farmer, +overflowing his house and his barn and swarming all about his +premises, consuming all the provisions he has laid up for his family, +and all he can raise money to buy, and literally eating him out of +house and home. Not seldom a man is almost ruined by one of these +religious raids,--at least he is left with a debt of hundreds of +dollars. The multitude assembles on Thursday and remains over +Sunday. There is preaching every day, but there is something +besides. Whatever may be the devotion of a part of the assembly, the +four days are, in general, days of license, of carousing, of +drinking, and of other excesses, which our informant said he would +not particularize; we could understand what they were by reading St. +Paul's rebuke of the Corinthians for similar offenses. The evil has +become so great and burdensome that the celebration of this sacred +rite will have to be reformed altogether. + +Such a Sabbath quiet pervaded the street of Baddeck, that the fast +driving of the Gaels in their rattling, one-horse wagons, crowded +full of men, women, and children,--released from their long sanctuary +privileges, and going home,--was a sort of profanation of the day; +and we gladly turned aside to visit the rural jail of the town. + +Upon the principal street or road of Baddeck stands the dreadful +prison-house. It is a story and a quarter edifice, built of stone +and substantially whitewashed; retired a little from the road, with a +square of green turf in front of it, I should have taken it for the +residence of the Dairyman's Daughter, but for the iron gratings at +the lower windows. A more inviting place to spend the summer in, a +vicious person could not have. The Scotch keeper of it is an old, +garrulous, obliging man, and keeps codfish tackle to loan. I think +that if he had a prisoner who was fond of fishing, he would take him +with him on the bay in pursuit of the mackerel and the cod. If the +prisoner were to take advantage of his freedom and attempt to escape, +the jailer's feelings would be hurt, and public opinion would hardly +approve the prisoner's conduct. + +The jail door was hospitably open, and the keeper invited us to +enter. Having seen the inside of a good many prisons in our own +country (officially), we were interested in inspecting this. It was +a favorable time for doing so, for there happened to be a man +confined there, a circumstance which seemed to increase the keeper's +feeling of responsibility in his office. The edifice had four rooms +on the ground-floor, and an attic sleeping-room above. Three of +these rooms, which were perhaps twelve feet by fifteen feet, were +cells; the third was occupied by the jailer's family. The family +were now also occupying the front cell,--a cheerful room commanding a +view of the village street and of the bay. A prisoner of a +philosophic turn of mind, who had committed some crime of sufficient +magnitude to make him willing to retire from the world for a season +and rest, might enjoy himself here very well. + +The jailer exhibited his premises with an air of modesty. In the +rear was a small yard, surrounded by a board fence, in which the +prisoner took his exercise. An active boy could climb over it, and +an enterprising pig could go through it almost anywhere. The keeper +said that he intended at the next court to ask the commissioners to +build the fence higher and stop up the holes. Otherwise the jail was +in good condition. Its inmates were few; in fact, it was rather apt +to be empty: its occupants were usually prisoners for debt, or for +some trifling breach of the peace, committed under the influence of +the liquor that makes one "unco happy." Whether or not the people of +the region have a high moral standard, crime is almost unknown; the +jail itself is an evidence of primeval simplicity. The great +incident in the old jailer's life had been the rescue of a well-known +citizen who was confined on a charge of misuse of public money. The +keeper showed me a place in the outer wall of the front cell, where +an attempt had been made to batter a hole through. The Highland clan +and kinsfolk of the alleged defaulter came one night and threatened +to knock the jail in pieces if he was not given up. They bruised the +wall, broke the windows, and finally smashed in the door and took +their man away. The jailer was greatly excited at this rudeness, and +went almost immediately and purchased a pistol. He said that for a +time he did n't feel safe in the jail without it. The mob had thrown +stones at the upper windows, in order to awaken him, and had insulted +him with cursing and offensive language. + +Having finished inspecting the building, I was unfortunately moved by +I know not what national pride and knowledge of institutions superior +to this at home, to say, + +"This is a pleasant jail, but it doesn't look much like our great +prisons; we have as many as a thousand to twelve hundred men in some +of our institutions." + +"Ay, ay, I have heard tell," said the jailer, shaking his head in +pity, "it's an awfu' place, an awfu' place,--the United States. I +suppose it's the wickedest country that ever was in the world. I +don't know,--I don't know what is to become of it. It's worse than +Sodom. There was that dreadful war on the South; and I hear now it's +very unsafe, full of murders and robberies and corruption." + +I did not attempt to correct this impression concerning my native +land, for I saw it was a comfort to the simple jailer, but I tried to +put a thorn into him by saying, + +"Yes, we have a good many criminals, but the majority of them, the +majority of those in jails, are foreigners; they come from Ireland, +England, and the Provinces." + +But the old man only shook his head more solemnly, and persisted, +"It's an awfu' wicked country." + +Before I came away I was permitted to have an interview with the sole +prisoner, a very pleasant and talkative man, who was glad to see +company, especially intelligent company who understood about things, +he was pleased to say. I have seldom met a more agreeable rogue, or +one so philosophical, a man of travel and varied experiences. He was +a lively, robust Provincial of middle age, bullet-headed, with a mass +of curly black hair, and small, round black eyes, that danced and +sparkled with good humor. He was by trade a carpenter, and had a +work-bench in his cell, at which he worked on week-days. He had been +put in jail on suspicion of stealing a buffalo-robe, and he lay in +jail eight months, waiting for the judge to come to Baddeck on his +yearly circuit. He did not steal the robe, as he assured me, but it +was found in his house, and the judge gave him four months in jail, +making a year in all,--a month of which was still to serve. But he +was not at all anxious for the end of his term; for his wife was +outside. + +Jock, for he was familiarly so called, asked me where I was from. As +I had not found it very profitable to hail from the United States, +and had found, in fact, that the name United States did not convey +any definite impression to the average Cape Breton mind, I ventured +upon the bold assertion, for which I hope Bostonians will forgive me, +that I was from Boston. For Boston is known in the eastern +Provinces. + +"Are you?" cried the man, delighted. "I've lived in Boston, myself. +There's just been an awful fire near there." + +"Indeed!" I said; "I heard nothing of it.' And I was startled with +the possibility that Boston had burned up again while we were +crawling along through Nova Scotia. + +"Yes, here it is, in the last paper." The man bustled away and found +his late paper, and thrust it through the grating, with the inquiry, +"Can you read?" + +Though the question was unexpected, and I had never thought before +whether I could read or not, I confessed that I could probably make +out the meaning, and took the newspaper. The report of the fire +"near Boston" turned out to be the old news of the conflagration in +Portland, Oregon! + +Disposed to devote a portion of this Sunday to the reformation of +this lively criminal, I continued the conversation with him. It +seemed that he had been in jail before, and was not unaccustomed to +the life. He was not often lonesome; he had his workbench and +newspapers, and it was a quiet place; on the whole, he enjoyed it, +and should rather regret it when his time was up, a month from then. + +Had he any family? + +"Oh, yes. When the census was round, I contributed more to it than +anybody in town. Got a wife and eleven children." + +"Well, don't you think it would pay best to be honest, and live with +your family, out of jail? You surely never had anything but trouble +from dishonesty." + +"That's about so, boss. I mean to go on the square after this. But, +you see," and here he began to speak confidentially, "things are +fixed about so in this world, and a man's got to live his life. I +tell you how it was. It all came about from a woman. I was a +carpenter, had a good trade, and went down to St. Peter's to work. +There I got acquainted with a Frenchwoman,--you know what Frenchwomen +are,--and I had to marry her. The fact is, she was rather low +family; not so very low, you know, but not so good as mine. Well, I +wanted to go to Boston to work at my trade, but she wouldn't go; and +I went, but she would n't come to me, so in two or three years I came +back. A man can't help himself, you know, when he gets in with a +woman, especially a Frenchwoman. Things did n't go very well, and +never have. I can't make much out of it, but I reckon a man 's got +to live his life. Ain't that about so?" + +"Perhaps so. But you'd better try to mend matters when you get out. +Won't it seem rather good to get out and see your wife and family +again?" + +"I don't know. I have peace here." + +The question of his liberty seemed rather to depress this cheerful +and vivacious philosopher, and I wondered what the woman could be +from whose companionship the man chose to be protected by jail-bolts. +I asked the landlord about her, and his reply was descriptive and +sufficient. He only said, + +"She's a yelper." + +Besides the church and the jail there are no public institutions in +Baddeck to see on Sunday, or on any other day; but it has very good +schools, and the examination-papers of Maud and her elder sister +would do credit to Boston scholars even. You would not say that the +place was stuffed with books, or overrun by lecturers, but it is an +orderly, Sabbath-keeping, fairly intelligent town. Book-agents visit +it with other commercial travelers, but the flood of knowledge, which +is said to be the beginning of sorrow, is hardly turned in that +direction yet. I heard of a feeble lecture-course in Halifax, +supplied by local celebrities, some of them from St. John; but so far +as I can see, this is a virgin field for the platform philosophers +under whose instructions we have become the well-informed people we +are. + +The peaceful jail and the somewhat tiresome church exhaust one's +opportunities for doing good in Baddeck on Sunday. There seemed to +be no idlers about, to reprove; the occasional lounger on the +skeleton wharves was in his Sunday clothes, and therefore within the +statute. No one, probably, would have thought of rowing out beyond +the island to fish for cod,--although, as that fish is ready to bite, +and his associations are more or less sacred, there might be excuses +for angling for him on Sunday, when it would be wicked to throw a +line for another sort of fish. My earliest recollections are of the +codfish on the meeting-house spires in New England,--his sacred tail +pointing the way the wind went. I did not know then why this emblem +should be placed upon a house of worship, any more than I knew why +codfish-balls appeared always upon the Sunday breakfast-table. But +these associations invested this plebeian fish with something of a +religious character, which he has never quite lost, in my mind. + +Having attributed the quiet of Baddeck on Sunday to religion, we did +not know to what to lay the quiet on Monday. But its peacefulness +continued. I have no doubt that the farmers began to farm, and the +traders to trade, and the sailors to sail; but the tourist felt that +he had come into a place of rest. The promise of the red sky the +evening before was fulfilled in another royal day. There was an +inspiration in the air that one looks for rather in the mountains +than on the sea-coast; it seemed like some new and gentle compound of +sea-air and land-air, which was the perfection of breathing material. +In this atmosphere, which seemed to flow over all these Atlantic +isles at this season, one endures a great deal of exertion with +little fatigue; or he is content to sit still, and has no feeling of +sluggishness. Mere living is a kind of happiness, and the easy-going +traveler is satisfied with little to do and less to see, Let the +reader not understand that we are recommending him to go to Baddeck. +Far from it. The reader was never yet advised to go to any place, +which he did not growl about if he took the advice and went there. +If he discovers it himself, the case is different. We know too well +what would happen. A shoal of travelers would pour down upon Cape +Breton, taking with them their dyspepsia, their liver-complaints, +their "lights" derangements, their discontent, their guns and +fishing-tackle, their big trunks, their desire for rapid travel, +their enthusiasm about the Gaelic language, their love for nature; +and they would very likely declare that there was nothing in it. And +the traveler would probably be right, so far as he is concerned. +There are few whom it would pay to go a thousand miles for the sake +of sitting on the dock at Baddeck when the sun goes down, and +watching the purple lights on the islands and the distant hills, the +red flush in the horizon and on the lake, and the creeping on of gray +twilight. You can see all that as well elsewhere? I am not so sure. +There is a harmony of beauty about the Bras d'Or at Baddeck which is +lacking in many scenes of more pretension. No. We advise no person +to go to Cape Breton. But if any one does go, he need not lack +occupation. If he is there late in the fall or early in the winter, +he may hunt, with good luck, if he is able to hit anything with a +rifle, the moose and the caribou on that long wilderness peninsula +between Baddeck and Aspy Bay, where the old cable landed. He may +also have his fill of salmon fishing in June and July, especially on +the Matjorie River. As late as August, at the time, of our visit, a +hundred people were camped in tents on the Marjorie, wiling the +salmon with the delusive fly, and leading him to death with a hook in +his nose. The speckled trout lives in all the streams, and can be +caught whenever he will bite. The day we went for him appeared to be +an off-day, a sort of holiday with him. + +There is one place, however, which the traveler must not fail to +visit. That is St. Ann's Bay. He will go light of baggage, for he +must hire a farmer to carry him from the Bras d'Or to the branch of +St. Ann's harbor, and a part of his journey will be in a row-boat. +There is no ride on the continent, of the kind, so full of +picturesque beauty and constant surprises as this around the +indentations of St. Ann's harbor. From the high promontory where +rests the fishing village of St. Ann, the traveler will cross to +English Town. High bluffs, bold shores, exquisite sea-views, +mountainous ranges, delicious air, the society of a member of the +Dominion Parliament, these are some of the things to be enjoyed at +this place. In point of grandeur and beauty it surpasses Mt. Desert, +and is really the most attractive place on the whole line of the +Atlantic Cable. If the traveler has any sentiment in him, he will +visit here, not without emotion, the grave of the Nova Scotia Giant, +who recently laid his huge frame along this, his native shore. A man +of gigantic height and awful breadth of shoulders, with a hand as big +as a shovel, there was nothing mean or little in his soul. While the +visitor is gazing at his vast shoes, which now can be used only as +sledges, he will be told that the Giant was greatly respected by his +neighbors as a man of ability and simple integrity. He was not +spoiled by his metropolitan successes, bringing home from his foreign +triumphs the same quiet and friendly demeanor he took away; he is +almost the only example of a successful public man, who did not feel +bigger than he was. He performed his duty in life without +ostentation, and returned to the home he loved unspoiled by the +flattery of constant public curiosity. He knew, having tried both, +how much better it is to be good than to be great. I should like to +have known him. I should like to know how the world looked to him +from his altitude. I should like to know how much food it took at +one time to make an impression on him; I should like to know what +effect an idea of ordinary size had in his capacious head. I should +like to feel that thrill of physical delight he must have experienced +in merely closing his hand over something. It is a pity that he +could not have been educated all through, beginning at a high school, +and ending in a university. There was a field for the multifarious +new education! If we could have annexed him with his island, I +should like to have seen him in the Senate of the United States. He +would have made foreign nations respect that body, and fear his +lightest remark like a declaration of war. And he would have been at +home in that body of great men. Alas! he has passed away, leaving +little influence except a good example of growth, and a grave which +is a new promontory on that ragged coast swept by the winds of the +untamed Atlantic. + +I could describe the Bay of St. Ann more minutely and graphically, if +it were desirable to do so; but I trust that enough has been said to +make the traveler wish to go there. I more unreservedly urge him to +go there, because we did not go, and we should feel no responsibility +for his liking or disliking. He will go upon the recommendation of +two gentlemen of taste and travel whom we met at Baddeck, residents +of Maine and familiar with most of the odd and striking combinations +of land and water in coast scenery. When a Maine man admits that +there is any place finer than Mt. Desert, it is worth making a note +of. + +On Monday we went a-fishing. Davie hitched to a rattling wagon +something that he called a horse, a small, rough animal with a great +deal of "go" in him, if he could be coaxed to show it. For the first +half-hour he went mostly in a circle in front of the inn, moving +indifferently backwards or forwards, perfectly willing to go down the +road, but refusing to start along the bay in the direction of Middle +River. Of course a crowd collected to give advice and make remarks, +and women appeared at the doors and windows of adjacent houses. +Davie said he did n't care anything about the conduct of the horse,-- +he could start him after a while,--but he did n't like to have all +the town looking at him, especially the girls; and besides, such an +exhibition affected the market value of the horse. We sat in the +wagon circling round and round, sometimes in the ditch and sometimes +out of it, and Davie "whaled" the horse with his whip and abused him +with his tongue. It was a pleasant day, and the spectators +increased. + +There are two ways of managing a balky horse. My companion knew one +of them and I the other. His method is to sit quietly in the wagon, +and at short intervals throw a small pebble at the horse. The theory +is that these repeated sudden annoyances will operate on a horse's +mind, and he will try to escape them by going on. The spectators +supplied my friend with stones, and he pelted the horse with measured +gentleness. Probably the horse understood this method, for he did +not notice the attack at all. My plan was to speak gently to the +horse, requesting him to go, and then to follow the refusal by one +sudden, sharp cut of the lash; to wait a moment, and then repeat the +operation. The dread of the coming lash after the gentle word will +start any horse. I tried this, and with a certain success. The +horse backed us into the ditch, and would probably have backed +himself into the wagon, if I had continued. When the animal was at +length ready to go, Davie took him by the bridle, ran by his side, +coaxed him into a gallop, and then, leaping in behind, lashed him +into a run, which had little respite for ten miles, uphill or down. +Remonstrance on behalf of the horse was in vain, and it was only on +the return home that this specimen Cape Breton driver began to +reflect how he could erase the welts from the horse's back before his +father saw them. + +Our way lay along the charming bay of the Bras d'Or, over the +sprawling bridge of the Big Baddeck, a black, sedgy, lonesome stream, +to Middle River, which debouches out of a scraggy country into a +bayou with ragged shores, about which the Indians have encampments, +and in which are the skeleton stakes of fish-weirs. Saturday night +we had seen trout jumping in the still water above the bridge. We +followed the stream up two or three miles to a Gaelic settlement of +farmers. The river here flows through lovely meadows, sandy, +fertile, and sheltered by hills,--a green Eden, one of the few +peaceful inhabited spots in the world. I could conceive of no news +coming to these Highlanders later than the defeat of the Pretender. +Turning from the road, through a lane and crossing a shallow brook, +we reached the dwelling of one of the original McGregors, or at least +as good as an original. Mr. McGregor is a fiery-haired Scotchman and +brother, cordial and hospitable, who entertained our wayward horse, +and freely advised us where the trout on his farm were most likely to +be found at this season of the year. + +It would be a great pleasure to speak well of Mr. McGregor's +residence, but truth is older than Scotchmen) and the reader looks to +us for truth and not flattery. Though the McGregor seems to have a +good farm, his house is little better than a shanty, a rather +cheerless place for the "woman " to slave away her uneventful life +in, and bring up her scantily clothed and semi-wild flock of +children. And yet I suppose there must be happiness in it,--there +always is where there are plenty of children, and milk enough for +them. A white-haired boy who lacked adequate trousers, small though +he was, was brought forward by his mother to describe a trout he had +recently caught, which was nearly as long as the boy himself. The +young Gael's invention was rewarded by a present of real fish-hooks. +We found here in this rude cabin the hospitality that exists in all +remote regions where travelers are few. Mrs. McGregor had none of +that reluctance, which women feel in all more civilized agricultural +regions, to "break a pan of milk," and Mr. McGregor even pressed us +to partake freely of that simple drink. And he refused to take any +pay for it, in a sort of surprise that such a simple act of +hospitality should have any commercial value. But travelers +themselves destroy one of their chief pleasures. No doubt we planted +the notion in the McGregor mind that the small kindnesses of life may +be made profitable, by offering to pay for the milk; and probably the +next travelers in that Eden will succeed in leaving some small change +there, if they use a little tact. + +It was late in the season for trout. Perhaps the McGregor was aware +of that when he freely gave us the run of the stream in his meadows, +and pointed out the pools where we should be sure of good luck. It +was a charming August day, just the day that trout enjoy lying in +cool, deep places, and moving their fins in quiet content, +indifferent to the skimming fly or to the proffered sport of rod and +reel. The Middle River gracefully winds through this Vale of Tempe, +over a sandy bottom, sometimes sparkling in shallows, and then gently +reposing in the broad bends of the grassy banks. It was in one of +these bends, where the stream swirled around in seductive eddies, +that we tried our skill. We heroically waded the stream and threw +our flies from the highest bank; but neither in the black water nor +in the sandy shallows could any trout be coaxed to spring to the +deceitful leaders. We enjoyed the distinction of being the only +persons who had ever failed to strike trout in that pool, and this +was something. The meadows were sweet with the newly cut grass, the +wind softly blew down the river, large white clouds sailed high +overhead and cast shadows on the changing water; but to all these +gentle influences the fish were insensible, and sulked in their cool +retreats. At length in a small brook flowing into the Middle River +we found the trout more sociable; and it is lucky that we did so, for +I should with reluctance stain these pages with a fiction; and yet +the public would have just reason to resent a fish-story without any +fish in it. Under a bank, in a pool crossed by a log and shaded by a +tree, we found a drove of the speckled beauties at home, dozens of +them a foot long, each moving lazily a little, their black backs +relieved by their colored fins. They must have seen us, but at first +they showed no desire for a closer acquaintance. To the red ibis and +the white miller and the brown hackle and the gray fly they were +alike indifferent. Perhaps the love for made flies is an artificial +taste and has to be cultivated. These at any rate were uncivilized +-trout, and it was only when we took the advice of the young McGregor +and baited our hooks with the angleworm, that the fish joined in our +day's sport. They could not resist the lively wiggle of the worm +before their very noses, and we lifted them out one after an other, +gently, and very much as if we were hooking them out of a barrel, +until we had a handsome string. It may have been fun for them but it +was not much sport for us. All the small ones the young McGregor +contemptuously threw back into the water. The sportsman will perhaps +learn from this incident that there are plenty of trout in Cape +Breton in August, but that the fishing is not exhilarating. + +The next morning the semi-weekly steamboat from Sydney came into the +bay, and drew all the male inhabitants of Baddeck down to the wharf; +and the two travelers, reluctant to leave the hospitable inn, and the +peaceful jail, and the double-barreled church, and all the loveliness +of this reposeful place, prepared to depart. The most conspicuous +person on the steamboat was a thin man, whose extraordinary height +was made more striking by his very long-waisted black coat and his +very short pantaloons. He was so tall that he had a little +difficulty in keeping his balance, and his hat was set upon the back +of his head to preserve his equilibrium. He had arrived at that +stage when people affected as he was are oratorical, and overflowing +with information and good-nature. With what might in strict art be +called an excess of expletives, he explained that he was a civil +engineer, that he had lost his rubber coat, that he was a great +traveler in the Provinces, and he seemed to find a humorous +satisfaction in reiterating the fact of his familiarity with Painsec +junction. It evidently hovered in the misty horizon of his mind as a +joke, and he contrived to present it to his audience in that light. +>From the deck of the steamboat he addressed the town, and then, to +the relief of the passengers, he decided to go ashore. When the boat +drew away on her voyage we left him swaying perilously near the edge +of the wharf, good-naturedly resenting the grasp of his coat-tail by +a friend, addressing us upon the topics of the day, and wishing us +prosperity and the Fourth of July. His was the only effort in the +nature of a public lecture that we heard in the Provinces, and we +could not judge of his ability without hearing a "course." + +Perhaps it needed this slight disturbance, and the contrast of this +hazy mind with the serene clarity of the day, to put us into the most +complete enjoyment of our voyage. Certainly, as we glided out upon +the summer waters and began to get the graceful outlines of the +widening shores, it seemed as if we had taken passage to the +Fortunate Islands. + + + + +V + +"One town, one country, is very like another; ...... there are indeed +minute discriminations both of places and manners, which, perhaps, +are not wanting of curiosity, but which a traveller seldom stays long +enough to investigate and compare." --DR. JOHNSON. + +There was no prospect of any excitement or of any adventure on the +steamboat from Baddeck to West Bay, the southern point of the Bras +d'Or. Judging from the appearance of the boat, the dinner might have +been an experiment, but we ran no risks. It was enough to sit on +deck forward of the wheel-house, and absorb, by all the senses, the +delicious day. With such weather perpetual and such scenery always +present, sin in this world would soon become an impossibility. Even +towards the passengers from Sydney, with their imitation English ways +and little insular gossip, one could have only charity and the most +kindly feeling. + +The most electric American, heir of all the nervous diseases of all +the ages, could not but find peace in this scene of tranquil beauty, +and sail on into a great and deepening contentment. Would the voyage +could last for an age, with the same sparkling but tranquil sea, and +the same environment of hills, near and remote! The hills approached +and fell away in lines of undulating grace, draped with a tender +color which helped to carry the imagination beyond the earth. At +this point the narrative needs to flow into verse, but my comrade did +not feel like another attempt at poetry so soon after that on the Gut +of Canso. A man cannot always be keyed up to the pitch of +production, though his emotions may be highly creditable to him. But +poetry-making in these days is a good deal like the use of profane +language,--often without the least provocation. + +Twelve miles from Baddeck we passed through the Barra Strait, or the +Grand Narrows, a picturesque feature in the Bras d'Or, and came into +its widest expanse. At the Narrows is a small settlement with a +flag-staff and a hotel, and roads leading to farmhouses on the hills. +Here is a Catholic chapel; and on shore a fat padre was waiting in +his wagon for the inevitable priest we always set ashore at such a +place. The missionary we landed was the young father from Arichat, +and in appearance the pleasing historical Jesuit. Slender is too +corpulent a word to describe his thinness, and his stature was +primeval. Enveloped in a black coat, the skirts of which reached his +heels, and surmounted by a black hat with an enormous brim, he had +the form of an elegant toadstool. The traveler is always grateful +for such figures, and is not disposed to quarrel with the faith which +preserves so much of the ugly picturesque. A peaceful farming +country this, but an unremunerative field, one would say, for the +colporteur and the book-agent; and winter must inclose it in a +lonesome seclusion. + +The only other thing of note the Bras d'Or offered us before we +reached West Bay was the finest show of medusm or jelly-fish that +could be produced. At first there were dozens of these disk-shaped, +transparent creatures, and then hundreds, starring the water like +marguerites sprinkled on a meadow, and of sizes from that of a teacup +to a dinner-plate. We soon ran into a school of them, a convention, +a herd as extensive as the vast buffalo droves on the plains, a +collection as thick as clover-blossoms in a field in June, miles of +them, apparently; and at length the boat had to push its way through +a mass of them which covered the water like the leaves of the +pondlily, and filled the deeps far down with their beautiful +contracting and expanding forms. I did not suppose there were so +many jelly-fishes in all the world. What a repast they would have +made for the Atlantic whale we did not see, and what inward comfort +it would have given him to have swum through them once or twice with +open mouth! Our delight in this wondrous spectacle did not prevent +this generous wish for the gratification of the whale. It is +probably a natural human desire to see big corporations swallow up +little ones. + +At the West Bay landing, where there is nothing whatever attractive, +we found a great concourse of country wagons and clamorous drivers, +to transport the passengers over the rough and uninteresting nine +miles to Port Hawkesbury. Competition makes the fare low, but +nothing makes the ride entertaining. The only settlement passed +through has the promising name of River Inhabitants, but we could see +little river and less inhabitants; country and people seem to belong +to that commonplace order out of which the traveler can extract +nothing amusing, instructive, or disagreeable; and it was a great +relief when we came over the last hill and looked down upon the +straggling village of Port Hawkesbury and the winding Gut of Canso. + +One cannot but feel a respect for this historical strait, on account +of the protection it once gave our British ancestors. Smollett makes +a certain Captain C---- tell this anecdote of George II. and his +enlightened minister, the Duke of Newcastle: "In the beginning of the +war this poor, half-witted creature told me, in a great fright, that +thirty thousand French had marched from Acadie to Cape Breton. +'Where did they find transports?' said I. 'Transports!' cried he; 'I +tell you, they marched by land.' By land to the island of Cape +Breton?' 'What! is Cape Breton an island?' 'Certainly.' 'Ha! are +you sure of that?' When I pointed it out on the map, he examined it +earnestly with his spectacles; then taking me in his arms, 'My dear +C----!' cried he, you always bring us good news. I'll go directly +and tell the king that Cape Breton is an island.'" + +Port Hawkesbury is not a modern settlement, and its public house is +one of the irregular, old-fashioned, stuffy taverns, with low rooms, +chintz-covered lounges, and fat-cushioned rocking-chairs, the decay +and untidiness of which are not offensive to the traveler. It has a +low back porch looking towards the water and over a mouldy garden, +damp and unseemly. Time was, no doubt, before the rush of travel +rubbed off the bloom of its ancient hospitality and set a vigilant +man at the door of the dining-room to collect pay for meals, that +this was an abode of comfort and the resort of merry-making and +frolicsome provincials. On this now decaying porch no doubt lovers +sat in the moonlight, and vowed by the Gut of Canso to be fond of +each other forever. The traveler cannot help it if he comes upon the +traces of such sentiment. There lingered yet in the house an air of +the hospitable old time; the swift willingness of the waiting-maids +at table, who were eager that we should miss none of the home-made +dishes, spoke of it; and as we were not obliged to stay in the hotel +and lodge in its six-by-four bedrooms, we could afford to make a +little romance about its history. + +While we were at supper the steamboat arrived from Pictou. We +hastened on board, impatient for progress on our homeward journey. +But haste was not called for. The steamboat would not sail on her +return till morning. No one could tell why. It was not on account +of freight to take in or discharge; it was not in hope of more +passengers, for they were all on board. But if the boat had returned +that night to Pictou, some of the passengers might have left her and +gone west by rail, instead of wasting two, or three days lounging +through Northumberland Sound and idling in the harbors of Prince +Edward Island. If the steamboat would leave at midnight, we could +catch the railway train at Pictou. Probably the officials were aware +of this, and they preferred to have our company to Shediac. We +mention this so that the tourist who comes this way may learn to +possess his soul in patience, and know that steamboats are not run +for his accommodation, but to give him repose and to familiarize him +with the country. It is almost impossible to give the unscientific +reader an idea of the slowness of travel by steamboat in these +regions. Let him first fix his mind on the fact that the earth moves +through space at a speed of more than sixty-six thousand miles an +hour. This is a speed eleven hundred times greater than that of the +most rapid express trains. If the distance traversed by a locomotive +in an hour is represented by one tenth of an inch, it would need a +line nine feet long to indicate the corresponding advance of the +earth in the same time. But a tortoise, pursuing his ordinary gait +without a wager, moves eleven hundred times slower than an express +train. We have here a basis of comparison with the provincial +steamboats. If we had seen a tortoise start that night from Port +Hawkesbury for the west, we should have desired to send letters by +him. + +In the early morning we stole out of the romantic strait, and by +breakfast-time we were over St. George's Bay and round his cape, and +making for the harbor of Pictou. During the forenoon something in +the nature of an excursion developed itself on the steamboat, but it +had so few of the bustling features of an American excursion that I +thought it might be a pilgrimage. Yet it doubtless was a highly +developed provincial lark. For a certain portion of the passengers +had the unmistakable excursion air: the half-jocular manner towards +each other, the local facetiousness which is so offensive to +uninterested fellow-travelers, that male obsequiousness about ladies' +shawls and reticules, the clumsy pretense of gallantry with each +other's wives, the anxiety about the company luggage and the company +health. It became painfully evident presently that it was an +excursion, for we heard singing of that concerted and determined kind +that depresses the spirits of all except those who join in it. The +excursion had assembled on the lee guards out of the wind, and was +enjoying itself in an abandon of serious musical enthusiasm. We +feared at first that there might be some levity in this performance, +and that the unrestrained spirit of the excursion was working itself +off in social and convivial songs. But it was not so. The singers +were provided with hymn-and-tune books, and what they sang they +rendered in long meter and with a most doleful earnestness. It is +agreeable to the traveler to see that the provincials disport +themselves within bounds, and that an hilarious spree here does not +differ much in its exercises from a prayer-meeting elsewhere. But +the excursion enjoyed its staid dissipation amazingly. + +It is pleasant to sail into the long and broad harbor of Pictou on a +sunny day. On the left is the Halifax railway terminus, and three +rivers flow into the harbor from the south. On the right the town of +Pictou, with its four thousand inhabitants, lies upon the side of the +ridge that runs out towards the Sound. The most conspicuous building +in it as we approach is the Roman Catholic church; advanced to the +edge of the town and occupying the highest ground, it appears large, +and its gilt cross is a beacon miles away. Its builders understood +the value of a striking situation, a dominant position; it is a part +of the universal policy of this church to secure the commanding +places for its houses of worship. We may have had no prejudices in +favor of the Papal temporality when we landed at Pictou, but this +church was the only one which impressed us, and the only one we took +the trouble to visit. We had ample time, for the steamboat after its +arduous trip needed rest, and remained some hours in the harbor. +Pictou is said to be a thriving place, and its streets have a cindery +appearance, betokening the nearness of coal mines and the presence of +furnaces. But the town has rather a cheap and rusty look. Its +streets rise one above another on the hillside, and, except a few +comfortable cottages, we saw no evidences of wealth in the dwellings. +The church, when we reached it, was a commonplace brick structure, +with a raw, unfinished interior, and weedy and untidy surroundings, +so that our expectation of sitting on the inviting hill and enjoying +the view was not realized; and we were obliged to descend to the hot +wharf and wait for the ferry-boat to take us to the steamboat which +lay at the railway terminus opposite. It is the most unfair thing in +the world for the traveler, without an object or any interest in the +development of the country, on a sleepy day in August, to express any +opinion whatever about such a town as Pictou. But we may say of it, +without offence, that it occupies a charming situation, and may have +an interesting future; and that a person on a short acquaintance can +leave it without regret. + +By stopping here we had the misfortune to lose our excursion, a loss +that was soothed by no know ledge of its destination or hope of +seeing it again, and a loss without a hope is nearly always painful. +Going out of the harbor we encounter Pictou Island and Light, and +presently see the low coast of Prince Edward Island,--a coast +indented and agreeable to those idly sailing along it, in weather +that seemed let down out of heaven and over a sea that sparkled but +still slept in a summer quiet. When fate puts a man in such a +position and relieves him of all responsibility, with a book and a +good comrade, and liberty to make sarcastic remarks upon his fellow- +travelers, or to doze, or to look over the tranquil sea, he may be +pronounced happy. And I believe that my companion, except in the +matter of the comrade, was happy. But I could not resist a worrying +anxiety about the future of the British Provinces, which not even the +remembrance of their hostility to us during our mortal strife with +the Rebellion could render agreeable. For I could not but feel that +the ostentatious and unconcealable prosperity of "the States" over- +shadows this part of the continent. And it was for once in vain that +I said, "Have we not a common land and a common literature, and no +copyright, and a common pride in Shakespeare and Hannah More and +Colonel Newcome and Pepys's Diary?" I never knew this sort of +consolation to fail before; it does not seem to answer in the +Provinces as well as it does in England. + +New passengers had come on board at Pictou, new and hungry, and not +all could get seats for dinner at the first table. Notwithstanding +the supposed traditionary advantage of our birthplace, we were unable +to dispatch this meal with the celerity of our fellow-voyagers, and +consequently, while we lingered over our tea, we found ourselves at +the second table. And we were rewarded by one of those pleasing +sights that go to make up the entertainment of travel. There sat +down opposite to us a fat man whose noble proportions occupied at the +board the space of three ordinary men. His great face beamed delight +the moment he came near the table. He had a low forehead and a wide +mouth and small eyes, and an internal capacity that was a prophecy of +famine to his fellow-men. But a more good-natured, pleased animal +you may never see. Seating himself with unrepressed joy, he looked +at us, and a great smile of satisfaction came over his face, that +plainly said, "Now my time has come." Every part of his vast bulk +said this. Most generously, by his friendly glances, he made us +partners in his pleasure. With a Napoleonic grasp of his situation, +he reached far and near, hauling this and that dish of fragments +towards his plate, giving orders at the same time, and throwing into +his cheerful mouth odd pieces of bread and pickles in an unstudied +and preliminary manner. When he had secured everything within his +reach, he heaped his plate and began an attack upon the contents, +using both knife and fork with wonderful proficiency. The man's +good-humor was contagious, and he did not regard our amusement as +different in kind from his enjoyment. The spectacle was worth a +journey to see. Indeed, its aspect of comicality almost overcame its +grossness, and even when the hero loaded in faster than he could +swallow, and was obliged to drop his knife for an instant to arrange +matters in his mouth with his finger, it was done with such a beaming +smile that a pig would not take offense at it. The performance was +not the merely vulgar thing it seems on paper, but an achievement +unique and perfect, which one is not likely to see more than once in +a lifetime. It was only when the man left the table that his face +became serious. We had seen him at his best. + +Prince Edward Island, as we approached it, had a pleasing aspect, and +nothing of that remote friendlessness which its appearance on the map +conveys to one; a warm and sandy land, in a genial climate, without +fogs, we are informed. In the winter it has ice communication with +Nova Scotia, from Cape Traverse to Cape Tormentine,--the route of the +submarine cable. The island is as flat from end to end as a floor. +When it surrendered its independent government and joined the +Dominion, one of the conditions of the union was that the government +should build a railway the whole length of it. This is in process of +construction, and the portion that is built affords great +satisfaction to the islanders, a railway being one of the necessary +adjuncts of civilization; but that there was great need of it, or +that it would pay, we were unable to learn. + +We sailed through Hillsborough Bay and a narrow strait to +Charlottetown, the capital, which lies on a sandy spit of land +between two rivers. Our leisurely steamboat tied up here in the +afternoon and spent the night, giving the passengers an opportunity +to make thorough acquaintance with the town. It has the appearance +of a place from which something has departed; a wooden town, with +wide and vacant streets, and the air of waiting for something. +Almost melancholy is the aspect of its freestone colonial building, +where once the colonial legislature held its momentous sessions, and +the colonial governor shed the delightful aroma of royalty. The +mansion of the governor--now vacant of pomp, because that official +does not exist--is a little withdrawn from the town, secluded among +trees by the water-side. It is dignified with a winding approach, +but is itself only a cheap and decaying house. On our way to it we +passed the drill-shed of the local cavalry, which we mistook for a +skating-rink, and thereby excited the contempt of an old lady of whom +we inquired. Tasteful residences we did not find, nor that attention +to flowers and gardens which the mild climate would suggest. Indeed, +we should describe Charlottetown as a place where the hollyhock in +the dooryard is considered an ornament. A conspicuous building is a +large market-house shingled all over (as many of the public buildings +are), and this and other cheap public edifices stand in the midst of +a large square, which is surrounded by shabby shops for the most +part. The town is laid out on a generous scale, and it is to be +regretted that we could not have seen it when it enjoyed the glory of +a governor and court and ministers of state, and all the +paraphernalia of a royal parliament. That the productive island, +with its system of free schools, is about to enter upon a prosperous +career, and that Charlottetown is soon to become a place of great +activity, no one who converses with the natives can doubt; and I +think that even now no traveler will regret spending an hour or two +there; but it is necessary to say that the rosy inducements to +tourists to spend the summer there exist only in the guide-books. + +We congratulated ourselves that we should at least have a night of +delightful sleep on the steamboat in the quiet of this secluded +harbor. But it was wisely ordered otherwise, to the end that we +should improve our time by an interesting study of human nature. +Towards midnight, when the occupants of all the state-rooms were +supposed to be in profound slumber, there was an invasion of the +small cabin by a large and loquacious family, who had been making an +excursion on the island railway. This family might remind an +antiquated novel-reader of the delightful Brangtons in "Evelina;" +they had all the vivacity of the pleasant cousins of the heroine of +that story, and the same generosity towards the public in regard to +their family affairs. Before they had been in the cabin an hour, we +felt as if we knew every one of them. There was a great squabble as +to where and how they should sleep; and when this was over, the +revelations of the nature of their beds and their peculiar habits of +sleep continued to pierce the thin deal partitions of the adjoining +state-rooms. When all the possible trivialities of vacant minds +seemed to have been exhausted, there followed a half-hour of +"Goodnight, pa; good-night, ma;" "Goodnight, pet;" and "Are you +asleep, ma?" "No." "Are you asleep, pa?" " No; go to sleep, pet." +"I'm going. Good-night, pa; good-night, ma." " Goodnight, pet." +"This bed is too short." " Why don't you take the other?" "I'm all +fixed now." "Well, go to sleep; good-night." "Good-night, ma; +goodnight, pa,"--no answer. "Good-night,pa." "Goodnight, pet." " +Ma, are you asleep?" "Most." "This bed is all lumps; I wish I'd +gone downstairs." "Well, pa will get up." " Pa, are you asleep?" +"Yes." "It's better now; good-night, pa." " Goodnight, pet." +"Good-night, ma." " Good-night, pet." And so on in an exasperating +repetition, until every passenger on the boat must have been +thoroughly informed of the manner in which this interesting family +habitually settled itself to repose. + +Half an hour passes with only a languid exchange of family feeling, +and then: "Pa?" "Well, pet." "Don't call us in the morning; we +don't want any breakfast; we want to sleep." "I won't." "Goodnight, +pa; goodnight, ma. Ma?" "What is it, dear?" "Good-night, ma." +"Good-night, pet." Alas for youthful expectations! Pet shared her +stateroom with a young companion, and the two were carrying on a +private dialogue during this public performance. Did these young +ladies, after keeping all the passengers of the boat awake till near +the summer dawn, imagine that it was in the power of pa and ma to +insure them the coveted forenoon slumber, or even the morning snooze? +The travelers, tossing in their state-room under this domestic +infliction, anticipated the morning with grim satisfaction; for they +had a presentiment that it would be impossible for them to arise and +make their toilet without waking up every one in their part of the +boat, and aggravating them to such an extent that they would stay +awake. And so it turned out. The family grumbling at the unexpected +disturbance was sweeter to the travelers than all the exchange of +family affection during the night. + +No one, indeed, ought to sleep beyond breakfast-time while sailing +along the southern coast of Prince Edward Island. It was a sparkling +morning. When we went on deck we were abreast Cape Traverse; the +faint outline of Nova Scotia was marked on the horizon, and New +Brunswick thrust out Cape Tomentine to greet us. On the still, sunny +coasts and the placid sea, and in the serene, smiling sky, there was +no sign of the coming tempest which was then raging from Hatteras to +Cape Cod; nor could one imagine that this peaceful scene would, a few +days later, be swept by a fearful tornado, which should raze to the +ground trees and dwelling-houses, and strew all these now inviting +shores with wrecked ships and drowning sailors,--a storm which has +passed into literature in "The Lord's-Day Gale " of Mr Stedman. + +Through this delicious weather why should the steamboat hasten, in +order to discharge its passengers into the sweeping unrest of +continental travel? Our eagerness to get on, indeed, almost melted +away, and we were scarcely impatient at all when the boat lounged +into Halifax Bay, past Salutation Point and stopped at Summerside. +This little seaport is intended to be attractive, and it would give +these travelers great pleasure to describe it, if they could at all +remember how it looks. But it is a place that, like some faces, +makes no sort of impression on the memory. We went ashore there, and +tried to take an interest in the ship-building, and in the little +oysters which the harbor yields; but whether we did take an interest +or not has passed out of memory. A small, unpicturesque, wooden +town, in the languor of a provincial summer; why should we pretend an +interest in it which we did not feel? It did not disturb our +reposeful frame of mind, nor much interfere with our enjoyment of the +day. + +On the forward deck, when we were under way again, amid a group +reading and nodding in the sunshine, we found a pretty girl with a +companion and a gentleman, whom we knew by intuition as the "pa" of +the pretty girl and of our night of anguish. The pa might have been +a clergyman in a small way, or the proprietor of a female boarding- +school; at any rate, an excellent and improving person to travel +with, whose willingness to impart information made even the travelers +long for a pa. It was no part of his plan of this family summer +excursion, upon which he had come against his wish, to have any hour +of it wasted in idleness. He held an open volume in his hand, and +was questioning his daughter on its contents. He spoke in a loud +voice, and without heeding the timidity of the young lady, who shrank +from this public examination, and begged her father not to continue +it. The parent was, however, either proud of his daughter's +acquirements, or he thought it a good opportunity to shame her out of +her ignorance. Doubtless, we said, he is instructing her upon the +geography of the region we are passing through, its early settlement, +the romantic incidents of its history when French and English fought +over it, and so is making this a tour of profit as well as pleasure. +But the excellent and pottering father proved to be no disciple of +the new education. Greece was his theme and he got his questions, +and his answers too, from the ancient school history in his hand. +The lesson went on: + +"Who was Alcibiades? + +"A Greek." + +"Yes. When did he flourish?" + +"I can't think." + +"Can't think? What was he noted for?" + +"I don't remember." + +"Don't remember? I don't believe you studied this." + +"Yes, I did." + +"Well, take it now, and study it hard, and then I'll hear you again." + +The young girl, who is put to shame by this open persecution, begins +to study, while the peevish and small tyrant, her pa, is nagging her +with such soothing remarks as, "I thought you'd have more respect for +your pride;" "Why don't you try to come up to the expectations of +your teacher?" By and by the student thinks she has "got it," and +the public exposition begins again. The date at which Alcibiades +"flourished" was ascertained, but what he was "noted for" got +hopelessly mixed with what Thernistocles was "noted for." The +momentary impression that the battle of Marathon was fought by +Salamis was soon dissipated, and the questions continued. + +"What did Pericles do to the Greeks?" + +"I don't know." + +"Elevated 'em, did n't he? Did n't he elevate Pem?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Always remember that; you want to fix your mind on leading things. +Remember that Pericles elevated the Greeks. Who was Pericles? + +"He was a"-- + +"Was he a philosopher?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"No, he was n't. Socrates was a philosopher. When did he flourish? +And so on, and so on. + +O my charming young countrywomen, let us never forget that Pericles +elevated the Greeks; and that he did it by cultivating the national +genius, the national spirit, by stimulating art and oratory and the +pursuit of learning, and infusing into all society a higher +intellectual and social life! Pa was this day sailing through seas +and by shores that had witnessed some of the most stirring and +romantic events in the early history of our continent. He might have +had the eager attention of his bright daughter if he had unfolded +these things to her in the midst of this most living landscape, and +given her an "object lesson" that she would not have forgotten all +her days, instead of this pottering over names and dates that were as +dry and meaningless to him as they were uninteresting to his +daughter. At least, O Pa, Educator of Youth, if you are insensible +to the beauty of these summer isles and indifferent to their history, +and your soul is wedded to ancient learning, why do you not teach +your family to go to sleep when they go to bed, as the classic Greeks +used to? + +Before the travelers reached Shediac, they had leisure to ruminate +upon the education of American girls in the schools set apart for +them, and to conjecture how much they are taught of the geography and +history of America, or of its social and literary growth; and +whether, when they travel on a summer tour like this, these coasts +have any historical light upon them, or gain any interest from the +daring and chivalric adventurers who played their parts here so long +ago. We did not hear pa ask when Madame de la Tour "flourished," +though "flourish" that determined woman did, in Boston as well as in +the French provinces. In the present woman revival, may we not hope +that the heroic women of our colonial history will have the +prominence that is their right, and that woman's achievements will +assume their proper place in affairs? When women write history, some +of our popular men heroes will, we trust, be made to acknowledge the +female sources of their wisdom and their courage. But at present +women do not much affect history, and they are more indifferent to +the careers of the noted of their own sex than men are. + +We expected to approach Shediac with a great deal of interest. It +had been, when we started, one of the most prominent points in our +projected tour. It was the pivot upon which, so to speak, we +expected to swing around the Provinces. Upon the map it was so +attractive, that we once resolved to go no farther than there. It +once seemed to us that, if we ever reached it, we should be contented +to abide there, in a place so remote, in a port so picturesque and +foreign. But returning from the real east, our late interest in +Shediac seemed unaccountable to us. Firmly resolved as I was to note +our entrance into the harbor, I could not keep the place in mind; and +while we were in our state-room and before we knew it, the steamboat +Jay at the wharf. Shediac appeared to be nothing but a wharf with a +railway train on it, and a few shanty buildings, a part of them +devoted to the sale of whiskey and to cheap lodgings. This landing, +however, is called Point du Chene, and the village of Shediac is two +or three miles distant from it; we had a pleasant glimpse of it from +the car windows, and saw nothing in its situation to hinder its +growth. The country about it is perfectly level, and stripped of its +forests. At Painsec Junction we waited for the train from Halifax, +and immediately found ourselves in the whirl of intercolonial travel. +Why people should travel here, or why they should be excited about +it, we could not see; we could not overcome a feeling of the +unreality of the whole thing; but yet we humbly knew that we had no +right to be otherwise than awed by the extraordinary intercolonial +railway enterprise and by the new life which it is infusing into the +Provinces. We are free to say, however, that nothing can be less +interesting than the line of this road until it strikes the +Kennebeckasis River, when the traveler will be called upon to admire +the Sussex Valley and a very fair farming region, which he would like +to praise if it were not for exciting the jealousy of the "Garden of +Nova Scotia." The whole land is in fact a garden, but differing +somewhat from the Isle of Wight. + +In all travel, however, people are more interesting than land, and so +it was at this time. As twilight shut down upon the valley of the +Kennebeckasis, we heard the strident voice of pa going on with the +Grecian catechism. Pa was unmoved by the beauties of Sussex or by +the colors of the sunset, which for the moment made picturesque the +scraggy evergreens on the horizon. His eyes were with his heart, and +that was in Sparta. Above the roar of the car-wheels we heard his +nagging inquiries. + +"What did Lycurgus do then?" + +Answer not audible. + +"No. He made laws. Who did he make laws for?" + +"For the Greeks." + +"He made laws for the Lacedemonians. Who was another great +lawgiver?" + +"It was--it was--Pericles." + +"No, it was n't. It was Solon. Who was Solon?" + +"Solon was one of the wise men of Greece." + +"That's right. When did he flourish?" + +When the train stops at a station the classics continue, and the +studious group attracts the attention of the passengers. Pa is well +pleased, but not so the young lady, who beseechingly says, + +"Pa, everybody can hear us." + +"You would n't care how much they heard, if you knew it," replies +this accomplished devotee of learning. + +In another lull of the car-wheels we find that pa has skipped over to +Marathon; and this time it is the daughter who is asking a question. + +"Pa, what is a phalanx?" + +"Well, a phalanx--it's a--it's difficult to define a phalanx. It's a +stretch of men in one line,--a stretch of anything in a line. When +did Alexander flourish?" + +This domestic tyrant had this in common with the rest of us, that he +was much better at asking questions than at answering them. It +certainly was not our fault that we were listeners to his instructive +struggles with ancient history, nor that we heard his petulant +complaining to his cowed family, whom he accused of dragging him away +on this summer trip. We are only grateful to him, for a more +entertaining person the traveler does not often see. It was with +regret that we lost sight of him at St. John. + +Night has settled upon New Brunswick and upon ancient Greece before +we reach the Kennebeckasis Bay, and we only see from the car windows +dimly a pleasant and fertile country, and the peaceful homes of +thrifty people. While we are running along the valley and coming +under the shadow of the hill whereon St. John sits, with a regal +outlook upon a most variegated coast and upon the rising and falling +of the great tides of Fundy, we feel a twinge of conscience at the +injustice the passing traveler must perforce do any land he hurries +over and does not study. Here is picturesque St. John, with its +couple of centuries of history and tradition, its commerce, its +enterprise felt all along the coast and through the settlements of +the territory to the northeast, with its no doubt charming society +and solid English culture; and the summer tourist, in an idle mood +regarding it for a day, says it is naught! Behold what "travels" +amount to! Are they not for the most part the records of the +misapprehensions of the misinformed? Let us congratulate ourselves +that in this flight through the Provinces we have not attempted to do +any justice to them, geologically, economically, or historically, +only trying to catch some of the salient points of the panorama as it +unrolled itself. Will Halifax rise up in judgment against us? We +look back upon it with softened memory, and already see it again in +the light of history. It stands, indeed, overlooking a gate of the +ocean, in a beautiful morning light; and we can hear now the +repetition of that profane phrase, used for the misdirection of +wayward mortals,---"Go to Halifax!" without a shudder. + +We confess to some regret that our journey is so near its end. +Perhaps it is the sentimental regret with which one always leaves the +east, for we have been a thousand miles nearer Ireland than Boston +is. Collecting in the mind the detached pictures given to our eyes +in all these brilliant and inspiring days, we realize afresh the +variety, the extent, the richness of these northeastern lands which +the Gulf Stream pets and tempers. If it were not for attracting +speculators, we should delight to speak of the beds of coal, the +quarries of marble, the mines of gold. Look on the map and follow +the shores of these peninsulas and islands, the bays, the penetrating +arms of the sea, the harbors filled with islands, the protected +straits and sounds. All this is favorable to the highest commercial +activity and enterprise. Greece itself and its islands are not more +indented and inviting. Fish swarm about the shores and in all the +streams. There are, I have no doubt, great forests which we did not +see from the car windows, the inhabitants of which do not show +themselves to the travelers at the railway-stations. In the +dining-room of a friend, who goes away every autumn into the wilds of +Nova Scotia at the season when the snow falls, hang trophies- +-enormous branching antlers of the caribou, and heads of the mighty +moose--which I am assured came from there; and I have no reason to +doubt that the noble creatures who once carried these superb horns +were murdered by my friend at long range. Many people have an +insatiate longing to kill, once in their life, a moose, and would +travel far and endure great hardships to gratify this ambition. In +the present state of the world it is more difficult to do it than it +is to be written down as one who loves his fellow-men. + +We received everywhere in the Provinces courtesy and kindness, which +were not based upon any expectation that we would invest in mines or +railways, for the people are honest, kindly, and hearty by nature. +What they will become when the railways are completed that are to +bind St. John to Quebec, and make Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and +Newfoundland only stepping-stones to Europe, we cannot say. Probably +they will become like the rest of the world, and furnish no material +for the kindly persiflage of the traveler. + +Regretting that we could see no more of St. John, that we could +scarcely see our way through its dimly lighted streets, we found the +ferry to Carleton, and a sleeping-car for Bangor. It was in the +heart of the negro porter to cause us alarm by the intelligence that +the customs officer would, search our baggage during the night. A +search is a blow to one's self-respect, especially if one has +anything dutiable. But as the porter might be an agent of our +government in disguise, we preserved an appearance of philosophical +indifference in his presence. It takes a sharp observer to tell +innocence from assurance. During the night, awaking, I saw a great +light. A man, crawling along the aisle of the car, and poking under +the seats, had found my traveling-bag and was "going through" it. + +I felt a thrill of pride as I recognized in this crouching figure an +officer of our government, and knew that I was in my native land. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Baddeck and That Sort of Thing, by Warner + diff --git a/old/cwbdk10.zip b/old/cwbdk10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7429635 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cwbdk10.zip diff --git a/old/cwbdk11.txt b/old/cwbdk11.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5c6bf47 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cwbdk11.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3858 @@ +The Project Gutenberg Etext of Baddeck and That Sort of Thing, by Warner +#37 in our series by Charles Dudley Warner + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the laws for your country before redistributing these files!!!!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. + +Please do not remove this. + +This should be the first thing seen when anyone opens the book. +Do not change or edit it without written permission. 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Hart +and may be reprinted only when these Etexts are free of all fees.] +[Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be used in any sales +of Project Gutenberg Etexts or other materials be they hardware or +software or any other related product without express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.10/04/01*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + + + +NOTE: This work was previously published in [Etext #2671] +The Complete Writings of Charles Dudley Warner Volume 1., +Project Gutenberg The Complete Writings of Charles Dudley Warner +1warn10.txt or 1warn10.zip + + + + + +BADDECK AND THAT SORT OF THING + +By Charles Dudley Warner + + + +PREFACE + +TO JOSEPH H. TWICHELL + +It would be unfair to hold you responsible for these light sketches +of a summer trip, which are now gathered into this little volume in +response to the usual demand in such cases; yet you cannot escape +altogether. For it was you who first taught me to say the name +Baddeck; it was you who showed me its position on the map, and a +seductive letter from a home missionary on Cape Breton Island, in +relation to the abundance of trout and salmon in his field of labor. +That missionary, you may remember, we never found, nor did we see his +tackle; but I have no reason to believe that he does not enjoy good +fishing in the right season. You understand the duties of a home +missionary much better than I do, and you know whether he would be +likely to let a couple of strangers into the best part of his +preserve. + +But I am free to admit that after our expedition was started you +speedily relieved yourself of all responsibility for it, and turned +it over to your comrade with a profound geographical indifference; +you would as readily have gone to Baddeck by Nova Zembla as by Nova +Scotia. The flight over the latter island was, you knew, however, no +part of our original plan, and you were not obliged to take any +interest in it. You know that our design was to slip rapidly down, +by the back way of Northumberland Sound, to the Bras d'Or, and spend +a week fishing there; and that the greater part of this journey here +imperfectly described is not really ours, but was put upon us by fate +and by the peculiar arrangement of provincial travel. + +It would have been easy after our return to have made up from +libraries a most engaging description of the Provinces, mixing it +with historical, legendary, botanical, geographical, and ethnological +information, and seasoning it with adventure from your glowing +imagination. But it seemed to me that it would be a more honest +contribution if our account contained only what we saw, in our rapid +travel; for I have a theory that any addition to the great body of +print, however insignificant it may be, has a value in proportion to +its originality and individuality,--however slight either is,--and +very little value if it is a compilation of the observations of +others. In this case I know how slight the value is; and I can only +hope that as the trip was very entertaining to us, the record of it +may not be wholly unentertaining to those of like tastes. + +Of one thing, my dear friend, I am certain: if the readers of this +little journey could have during its persual the companionship that +the writer had when it was made, they would think it altogether +delightful. There is no pleasure comparable to that of going about +the world, in pleasant weather, with a good comrade, if the mind is +distracted neither by care, nor ambition, nor the greed of gain. The +delight there is in seeing things, without any hope of pecuniary +profit from them! We certainly enjoyed that inward peace which the +philosopher associates with the absence of desire for money. For, as +Plato says in the Phaedo, "whence come wars and fightings and +factions? whence but from the body and the lusts of the body? For +wars are occasioned by the love of money." So also are the majority +of the anxieties of life. We left these behind when we went into the +Provinces with no design of acquiring anything there. I hope it may +be my fortune to travel further with you in this fair world, under +similar circumstances. + +NOOK FARM, HARTFORD, April 10, 1874. + +C. D. W. + + + + +BADDECK AND THAT SORT OF THING + + + "Ay, now I am in Arden: the more fool I; when I was at home, + I was in a better place; but travellers must be content."-- + TOUCHSTONE. + +Two comrades and travelers, who sought a better country than the +United States in the month of August, found themselves one +evening in apparent possession of the ancient town of Boston. + +The shops were closed at early candle-light; the fashionable +inhabitants had retired into the country, or into the +second-story-back, of their princely residences, and even an air of +tender gloom settled upon the Common. The streets were almost empty, +and one passed into the burnt district, where the scarred ruins and +the uplifting piles of new brick and stone spread abroad under the +flooding light of a full moon like another Pompeii, without any +increase in his feeling of tranquil seclusion. Even the news-offices +had put up their shutters, and a confiding stranger could nowhere buy +a guide-book to help his wandering feet about the reposeful city, or +to show him how to get out of it. There was, to be sure, a cheerful +tinkle of horse-car bells in the air, and in the creeping vehicles +which created this levity of sound were a few lonesome passengers on +their way to Scollay's Square; but the two travelers, not having +well-regulated minds, had no desire to go there. What would have +become of Boston if the great fire had reached this sacred point of +pilg-rimage no merely human mind can imagine. Without it, I suppose +the horse-cars would go continually round and round, never stopping, +until the cars fell away piecemeal on the track, and the horses +collapsed into a mere mass of bones and harness, and the brown- +covered books from the Public Library, in the hands of the fading +virgins who carried them, had accumulated fines to an incalculable +amount. + +Boston, notwithstanding its partial destruction by fire, is still a +good place to start from. When one meditates an excursion into an +unknown and perhaps perilous land, where the flag will not protect +him and the greenback will only partially support him, he likes to +steady and tranquilize his mind by a peaceful halt and a serene +start. So we--for the intelligent reader has already identified us +with the two travelers resolved to spend the last night, before +beginning our journey, in the quiet of a Boston hotel. Some people +go into the country for quiet: we knew better. The country is no +place for sleep. The general absence of sound which prevails at +night is only a sort of background which brings out more vividly the +special and unexpected disturbances which are suddenly sprung upon +the restless listener. There are a thousand pokerish noises that no +one can account for, which excite the nerves to acute watchfulness. + +It is still early, and one is beginning to be lulled by the frogs and +the crickets, when the faint rattle of a drum is heard,--just a few +preliminary taps. But the soul takes alarm, and well it may, for a +roll follows, and then a rub-a-dub-dub, and the farmer's boy who is +handling the sticks and pounding the distended skin in a neighboring +horse-shed begins to pour out his patriotism in that unending +repetition of rub-a-dub-dub which is supposed to represent love of +country in the young. When the boy is tired out and quits the field, +the faithful watch-dog opens out upon the stilly night. He is the +guardian of his master's slumbers. The howls of the faithful +creature are answered by barks and yelps from all the farmhouses for +a mile around, and exceedingly poor barking it usually is, until all +the serenity of the night is torn to shreds. This is, however, only +the opening of the orchestra. The cocks wake up if there is the +faintest moonshine and begin an antiphonal service between responsive +barn-yards. It is not the clear clarion of chanticleer that is heard +in the morn of English poetry, but a harsh chorus of cracked voices, +hoarse and abortive attempts, squawks of young experimenters, and +some indescribable thing besides, for I believe even the hens crow in +these days. Distracting as all this is, however, happy is the man +who does not hear a goat lamenting in the night. The goat is the +most exasperating of the animal creation. He cries like a deserted +baby, but he does it without any regularity. One can accustom +himself to any expression of suffering that is regular. The +annoyance of the goat is in the dreadful waiting for the uncertain +sound of the next wavering bleat. It is the fearful expectation of +that, mingled with the faint hope that the last was the last, that +ag-gravates the tossing listener until he has murder in his heart. +He longs for daylight, hoping that the voices of the night will then +cease, and that sleep will come with the blessed morning. But he has +forgotten the birds, who at the first streak of gray in the east have +assembled in the trees near his chamber-window, and keep up for an +hour the most rasping dissonance,--an orchestra in which each artist +is tuning his instrument, setting it in a different key and to play a +different tune: each bird recalls a different tune, and none sings +"Annie Laurie,"--to pervert Bayard Taylor's song. + +Give us the quiet of a city on the night before a journey. As we +mounted skyward in our hotel, and went to bed in a serene altitude, +we congratulated ourselves upon a reposeful night. It began well. +But as we sank into the first doze, we were startled by a sudden +crash. Was it an earthquake, or another fire? Were the neighboring +buildings all tumbling in upon us, or had a bomb fallen into the +neighboring crockery-store? It was the suddenness of the onset that +startled us, for we soon perceived that it began with the clash of +cymbals, the pounding of drums, and the blaring of dreadful brass. +It was somebody's idea of music. It opened without warning. The men +composing the band of brass must have stolen silently into the alley +about the sleeping hotel, and burst into the clamor of a rattling +quickstep, on purpose. The horrible sound thus suddenly let loose +had no chance of escape; it bounded back from wall to wall, like the +clapping of boards in a tunnel, rattling windows and stunning all +cars, in a vain attempt to get out over the roofs. But such music +does not go up. What could have been the intention of this assault +we could not conjecture. It was a time of profound peace through the +country; we had ordered no spontaneous serenade, if it was a +serenade. Perhaps the Boston bands have that habit of going into an +alley and disciplining their nerves by letting out a tune too big for +the alley, and taking the shock of its reverberation. It may be well +enough for the band, but many a poor sinner in the hotel that night +must have thought the judgment day had sprung upon him. Perhaps the +band had some remorse, for by and by it leaked out of the alley, in +humble, apologetic retreat, as if somebody had thrown something at it +from the sixth-story window, softly breathing as it retired the notes +of "Fair Harvard." + +The band had scarcely departed for some other haunt of slumber and +weariness, when the notes of singing floated up that prolific alley, +like the sweet tenor voice of one bewailing the prohibitory movement; +and for an hour or more a succession of young bacchanals, who were +evidently wandering about in search of the Maine Law, lifted up their +voices in song. Boston seems to be full of good singers; but they +will ruin their voices by this night exercise, and so the city will +cease to be attractive to travelers who would like to sleep there. +But this entertainment did not last the night out. + +It stopped just before the hotel porter began to come around to rouse +the travelers who had said the night before that they wanted to be +awakened. In all well-regulated hotels this process begins at two +o'clock and keeps up till seven. If the porter is at all faithful, +he wakes up everybody in the house; if he is a shirk, he only rouses +the wrong people. We treated the pounding of the porter on our door +with silent contempt. At the next door he had better luck. Pound, +pound. An angry voice, "What do you want?" + +"Time to take the train, sir." + +"Not going to take any train." + +"Ain't your name Smith?" + +"Yes." + +"Well, Smith"-- + +"I left no order to be called." (Indistinct grumbling from Smith's +room.) + +Porter is heard shuffling slowly off down the passage. In a little +while he returns to Smith's door, evidently not satisfied in his +mind. Rap, rap, rap! + +"Well, what now?" + +"What's your initials? A. T.; clear out!" + +And the porter shambles away again in his slippers, grumbling +something about a mistake. The idea of waking a man up in the middle +of the night to ask him his "initials" was ridiculous enough to +banish sleep for another hour. A person named Smith, when he +travels, should leave his initials outside the door with his boots. + +Refreshed by this reposeful night, and eager to exchange the +stagnation of the shore for the tumult of the ocean, we departed next +morning for Baddeck by the most direct route. This we found, by +diligent study of fascinating prospectuses of travel, to be by the +boats of the International Steamship Company; and when, at eight +o'clock in the morning, we stepped aboard one of them from Commercial +Wharf, we felt that half our journey and the most perplexing part of +it was accomplished. We had put ourselves upon a great line of +travel, and had only to resign ourselves to its flow in order to +reach the desired haven. The agent at the wharf assured us that it +was not necessary to buy through tickets to Baddeck,--he spoke of it +as if it were as easy a place to find as Swampscott,--it was a +conspicuous name on the cards of the company, we should go right on +from St. John without difficulty. The easy familiarity of this +official with Baddeck, in short, made us ashamed to exhibit any +anxiety about its situation or the means of approach to it. +Subsequent experience led us to believe that the only man in the +world, out of Baddeck, who knew anything about it lives in Boston, +and sells tickets to it, or rather towards it. + +There is no moment of delight in any pilgrimage like the beginning of +it, when the traveler is settled simply as to his destination, and +commits himself to his unknown fate and all the anticipations of +adventure before him. We experienced this pleasure as we ascended to +the deck of the steamboat and snuffed the fresh air of Boston Harbor. +What a beautiful harbor it is, everybody says, with its irregularly +indented shores and its islands. Being strangers, we want to know +the names of the islands, and to have Fort Warren, which has a +national reputation, pointed out. As usual on a steamboat, no one is +certain about the names, and the little geographical knowledge we +have is soon hopelessly confused. We make out South Boston very +plainly: a tourist is looking at its warehouses through his opera- +glass, and telling his boy about a recent fire there. We find out +afterwards that it was East Boston. We pass to the stern of the boat +for a last look at Boston itself; and while there we have the +pleasure of showing inquirers the Monument and the State House. We +do this with easy familiarity; but where there are so many tall +factory chimneys, it is not so easy to point out the Monument as one +may think. + +The day is simply delicious, when we get away from the unozoned air +of the land. The sky is cloudless, and the water sparkles like the +top of a glass of champagne. We intend by and by to sit down and +look at it for half a day, basking in the sunshine and pleasing +ourselves with the shifting and dancing of the waves. Now we are +busy running about from side to side to see the islands, Governor's, +Castle, Long, Deer, and the others. When, at length, we find Fort +Warren, it is not nearly so grim and gloomy as we had expected, and +is rather a pleasure-place than a prison in appearance. We are +conscious, however, of a patriotic emotion as we pass its green turf +and peeping guns. Leaving on our right Lovell's Island and the Great +and Outer Brewster, we stand away north along the jagged +Massachusetts shore. These outer islands look cold and wind-swept +even in summer, and have a hardness of outline which is very far from +the aspect of summer isles in summer seas. They are too low and bare +for beauty, and all the coast is of the most retiring and humble +description. Nature makes some compensation for this lowness by an +eccentricity of indentation which looks very picturesque on the map, +and sometimes striking, as where Lynn stretches out a slender arm +with knobby Nahant at the end, like a New Zealand war club. We sit +and watch this shore as we glide by with a placid delight. Its +curves and low promontories are getting to be speckled with villages +and dwellings, like the shores of the Bay of Naples; we see the white +spires, the summer cottages of wealth, the brown farmhouses with an +occasional orchard, the gleam of a white beach, and now and then the +flag of some many-piazzaed hotel. The sunlight is the glory of it +all; it must have quite another attraction--that of melancholy--under +a gray sky and with a lead-colored water foreground. + +There was not much on the steamboat to distract our attention from +the study of physical geography. All the fashionable travelers had +gone on the previous boat or were waiting for the next one. The +passengers were mostly people who belonged in the Provinces and had +the listless provincial air, with a Boston commercial traveler or +two, and a few gentlemen from the republic of Ireland, dressed in +their uncomfortable Sunday clothes. If any accident should happen to +the boat, it was doubtful if there were persons on board who could +draw up and pass the proper resolutions of thanks to the officers. I +heard one of these Irish gentlemen, whose satin vest was insufficient +to repress the mountainous protuberance of his shirt-bosom, +enlightening an admiring friend as to his idiosyncrasies. It +appeared that he was that sort of a man that, if a man wanted +anything of him, he had only to speak for it "wunst;" and that one of +his peculiarities was an instant response of the deltoid muscle to +the brain, though he did not express it in that language. He went on +to explain to his auditor that he was so constituted physically that +whenever he saw a fight, no matter whose property it was, he lost all +control of himself. This sort of confidence poured out to a single +friend, in a retired place on the guard of the boat, in an unexcited +tone, was evidence of the man's simplicity and sincerity. The very +act of traveling, I have noticed, seems to open a man's heart, so +that he will impart to a chance acquaintance his losses, his +diseases, his table preferences, his disappointments in love or in +politics, and his most secret hopes. One sees everywhere this +beautiful human trait, this craving for sympathy. There was the old +lady, in the antique bonnet and plain cotton gloves, who got aboard +the express train at a way-station on the Connecticut River Road. +She wanted to go, let us say, to Peak's Four Corners. It seemed that +the train did not usually stop there, but it appeared afterwards that +the obliging conductor had told her to get aboard and he would let +her off at Peak's. When she stepped into the car, in a flustered +condition, carrying her large bandbox, she began to ask all the +passengers, in turn, if this was the right train, and if it stopped +at Peak's. The information she received was various, but the weight +of it was discouraging, and some of the passengers urged her to get +off without delay, before the train should start. The poor woman got +off, and pretty soon came back again, sent by the conductor; but her +mind was not settled, for she repeated her questions to every person +who passed her seat, and their answers still more discomposed her. +"Sit perfectly still," said the conductor, when he came by. "You +must get out and wait for a way train," said the passengers, who +knew. In this confusion, the train moved off, just as the old lady +had about made up her mind to quit the car, when her distraction was +completed by the discovery that her hair trunk was not on board. She +saw it standing on the open platform, as we passed, and after one +look of terror, and a dash at the window, she subsided into her seat, +grasping her bandbox, with a vacant look of utter despair. Fate now +seemed to have done its worst, and she was resigned to it. I am sure +it was no mere curiosity, but a desire to be of service, that led me +to approach her and say, "Madam, where are you going?" + +"The Lord only knows," was the utterly candid response; but then, +forgetting everything in her last misfortune and impelled to a burst +of confidence, she began to tell me her troubles. She informed me +that her youngest daughter was about to be married, and that all her +wedding-clothes and all her summer clothes were in that trunk; and as +she said this she gave a glance out of the window as if she hoped it +might be following her. What would become of them all now, all brand +new, she did n't know, nor what would become of her or her daughter. +And then she told me, article by article and piece by piece, all that +that trunk contained, the very names of which had an unfamiliar sound +in a railway-car, and how many sets and pairs there were of each. It +seemed to be a relief to the old lady to make public this catalogue +which filled all her mind; and there was a pathos in the revelation +that I cannot convey in words. And though I am compelled, by way of +illustration, to give this incident, no bribery or torture shall ever +extract from me a statement of the contents of that hair trunk. + +We were now passing Nahant, and we should have seen Longfellow's +cottage and the waves beating on the rocks before it, if we had been +near enough. As it was, we could only faintly distinguish the +headland and note the white beach of Lynn. The fact is, that in +travel one is almost as much dependent upon imagination and memory as +he is at home. Somehow, we seldom get near enough to anything. The +interest of all this coast which we had come to inspect was mainly +literary and historical. And no country is of much interest until +legends and poetry have draped it in hues that mere nature cannot +produce. We looked at Nahant for Longfellow's sake; we strained our +eyes to make out Marblehead on account of Whittier's ballad; we +scrutinized the entrance to Salem Harbor because a genius once sat in +its decaying custom-house and made of it a throne of the imagination. +Upon this low shore line, which lies blinking in the midday sun, the +waves of history have beaten for two centuries and a half, and +romance has had time to grow there. Out of any of these coves might +have sailed Sir Patrick Spens "to Noroway, to Noroway," + + "They hadna sailed upon the sea + A day but barely three, + + Till loud and boisterous grew the wind, + And gurly grew the sea." + +The sea was anything but gurly now; it lay idle and shining in an +August holiday. It seemed as if we could sit all day and watch the +suggestive shore and dream about it. But we could not. No man, and +few women, can sit all day on those little round penitential stools +that the company provide for the discomfort of their passengers. +There is no scenery in the world that can be enjoyed from one of +those stools. And when the traveler is at sea, with the land failing +away in his horizon, and has to create his own scenery by an effort +of the imagination, these stools are no assistance to him. The +imagination, when one is sitting, will not work unless the back is +supported. Besides, it began to be cold; notwithstanding the shiny, +specious appearance of things, it was cold, except in a sheltered +nook or two where the sun beat. This was nothing to be complained of +by persons who had left the parching land in order to get cool. They +knew that there would be a wind and a draught everywhere, and that +they would be occupied nearly all the time in moving the little +stools about to get out of the wind, or out of the sun, or out of +something that is inherent in a steamboat. Most people enjoy riding +on a steamboat, shaking and trembling and chow-chowing along in +pleasant weather out of sight of land; and they do not feel any +ennui, as may be inferred from the intense excitement which seizes +them when a poor porpoise leaps from the water half a mile away. +"Did you see the porpoise?" makes conversation for an hour. On our +steamboat there was a man who said he saw a whale, saw him just as +plain, off to the east, come up to blow; appeared to be a young one. +I wonder where all these men come from who always see a whale. I +never was on a sea-steamer yet that there was not one of these men. + +We sailed from Boston Harbor straight for Cape Ann, and passed close +by the twin lighthouses of Thacher, so near that we could see the +lanterns and the stone gardens, and the young barbarians of Thacher +all at play; and then we bore away, straight over the trackless +Atlantic, across that part of the map where the title and the +publisher's name are usually printed, for the foreign city of St. +John. It was after we passed these lighthouses that we did n't see +the whale, and began to regret the hard fate that took us away from a +view of the Isles of Shoals. I am not tempted to introduce them into +this sketch, much as its surface needs their romantic color, for +truth is stronger in me than the love of giving a deceitful pleasure. +There will be nothing in this record that we did not see, or might +not have seen. For instance, it might not be wrong to describe a +coast, a town, or an island that we passed while we were performing +our morning toilets in our staterooms. The traveler owes a duty to +his readers, and if he is now and then too weary or too indifferent +to go out from the cabin to survey a prosperous village where a +landing is made, he has no right to cause the reader to suffer by his +indolence. He should describe the village. + +I had intended to describe the Maine coast, which is as fascinating +on the map as that of Norway. We had all the feelings appropriate to +nearness to it, but we couldn't see it. Before we came abreast of it +night had settled down, and there was around us only a gray and +melancholy waste of salt water. To be sure it was a lovely night, +with a young moon in its sky, + + "I saw the new moon late yestreen + Wi' the auld moon in her arms," + +and we kept an anxious lookout for the Maine hills that push so +boldly down into the sea. At length we saw them,--faint, dusky +shadows in the horizon, looming up in an ashy color and with a most +poetical light. We made out clearly Mt. Desert, and felt repaid for +our journey by the sight of this famous island, even at such a +distance. I pointed out the hills to the man at the wheel, and asked +if we should go any nearer to Mt. Desert. + +"Them!" said he, with the merited contempt which officials in this +country have for inquisitive travelers,--" them's Camden Hills. You +won't see Mt. Desert till midnight, and then you won't." + +One always likes to weave in a little romance with summer travel on a +steamboat; and we came aboard this one with the purpose and the +language to do so. But there was an absolute want of material, that +would hardly be credited if we went into details. The first meeting +of the passengers at the dinner-table revealed it. There is a kind +of female plainness which is pathetic, and many persons can truly say +that to them it is homelike; and there are vulgarities of manner that +are interesting; and there are peculiarities, pleasant or the +reverse, which attract one's attention: but there was absolutely +nothing of this sort on our boat. The female passengers were all +neutrals, incapable, I should say, of making any impression whatever +even under the most favorable circumstances. They were probably +women of the Provinces, and took their neutral tint from the foggy +land they inhabit, which is neither a republic nor a monarchy, but +merely a languid expectation of something undefined. My comrade was +disposed to resent the dearth of beauty, not only on this vessel but +throughout the Provinces generally,--a resentment that could be shown +to be unjust, for this was evidently not the season for beauty in +these lands, and it was probably a bad year for it. Nor should an +American of the United States be forward to set up his standard of +taste in such matters; neither in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, nor +Cape Breton have I heard the inhabitants complain of the plainness of +the women. + +On such a night two lovers might have been seen, but not on our boat, +leaning over the taffrail,--if that is the name of the fence around +the cabin-deck, looking at the moon in the western sky and the long +track of light in the steamer's wake with unutterable tenderness. +For the sea was perfectly smooth, so smooth as not to interfere with +the most perfect tenderness of feeling; and the vessel forged ahead +under the stars of the soft night with an adventurous freedom that +almost concealed the commercial nature of her mission. It seemed-- +this voyaging through the sparkling water, under the scintillating +heavens, this resolute pushing into the opening splendors of night-- +like a pleasure trip. "It is the witching hour of half past ten," +said my comrade, "let us turn in." (The reader will notice the +consideration for her feelings which has omitted the usual +description of "a sunset at sea.") + +When we looked from our state-room window in the morning we saw land. +We were passing within a stone's throw of a pale-green and rather +cold-looking coast, with few trees or other evidences of fertile +soil. Upon going out I found that we were in the harbor of Eastport. +I found also the usual tourist who had been up, shivering in his +winter overcoat, since four o'clock. He described to me the +magnificent sunrise, and the lifting of the fog from islands and +capes, in language that made me rejoice that he had seen it. He knew +all about the harbor. That wooden town at the foot of it, with the +white spire, was Lubec; that wooden town we were approaching was +Eastport. The long island stretching clear across the harbor was +Campobello. We had been obliged to go round it, a dozen miles out of +our way, to get in, because the tide was in such a stage that we +could not enter by the Lubec Channel. We had been obliged to enter +an American harbor by British waters. + +We approached Eastport with a great deal of curiosity and +considerable respect. It had been one of the cities of the +imagination. Lying in the far east of our great territory, a +military and even a sort of naval station, a conspicuous name on the +map, prominent in boundary disputes and in war operations, frequent +in telegraphic dispatches,--we had imagined it a solid city, with +some Oriental, if decayed, peculiarity, a port of trade and commerce. +The tourist informed me that Eastport looked very well at a distance, +with the sun shining on its white houses. When we landed at its +wooden dock we saw that it consisted of a few piles of lumber, a +sprinkling of small cheap houses along a sidehill, a big hotel with a +flag-staff, and a very peaceful looking arsenal. It is doubtless a +very enterprising and deserving city, but its aspect that morning was +that of cheapness, newness, and stagnation, with no compensating +pictur-esqueness. White paint always looks chilly under a gray sky +and on naked hills. Even in hot August the place seemed bleak. The +tour-ist, who went ashore with a view to breakfast, said that it +would be a good place to stay in and go a-fishing and picnicking on +Campobello Island. It has another advantage for the wicked over +other Maine towns. Owing to the contiguity of British territory, the +Maine Law is constantly evaded, in spirit. The thirsty citizen or +sailor has only to step into a boat and give it a shove or two across +the narrow stream that separates the United States from Deer Island +and land, when he can ruin his breath, and return before he is +missed. + +This might be a cause of war with, England, but it is not the most +serious grievance here. The possession by the British of the island +of Campobello is an insufferable menace and impertinence. I write +with the full knowledge of what war is. We ought to instantly +dislodge the British from Campobello. It entirely shuts up and +commands our harbor, one of our chief Eastern harbors and war +stations, where we keep a flag and cannon and some soldiers, and +where the customs officers look out for smuggling. There is no way +to get into our own harbor, except in favorable conditions of the +tide, without begging the courtesy of a passage through British +waters. Why is England permitted to stretch along down our coast in +this straggling and inquisitive manner? She might almost as well own +Long Island. It was impossible to prevent our cheeks mantling with +shame as we thought of this, and saw ourselves, free American +citizens, land-locked by alien soil in our own harbor. + +We ought to have war, if war is necessary to possess Campobello and +Deer Islands; or else we ought to give the British Eastport. I am +not sure but the latter would be the better course. + +With this war spirit in our hearts, we sailed away into the British +waters of the Bay of Fundy, but keeping all the morning so close to +the New Brunswick shore that we could see there was nothing on it; +that is, nothing that would make one wish to land. And yet the best +part of going to sea is keeping close to the shore, however tame it +may be, if the weather is pleasant. A pretty bay now and then, a +rocky cove with scant foliage, a lighthouse, a rude cabin, a level +land, monotonous and without noble forests,--this was New Brunswick +as we coasted along it under the most favorable circumstances. But +we were advancing into the Bay of Fundy; and my comrade, who had been +brought up on its high tides in the district school, was on the +lookout for this phenomenon. The very name of Fundy is stimulating +to the imagination, amid the geographical wastes of youth, and the +young fancy reaches out to its tides with an enthusiasm that is given +only to Fingal's Cave and other pictorial wonders of the text-book. +I am sure the district schools would become what they are not now, if +the geographers would make the other parts of the globe as attractive +as the sonorous Bay of Fundy. The recitation about that is always an +easy one; there is a lusty pleasure in the mere shouting out of the +name, as if the speaking it were an innocent sort of swearing. From +the Bay of Fundy the rivers run uphill half the time, and the tides +are from forty to ninety feet high. For myself, I confess that, in +my imagination, I used to see the tides of this bay go stalking into +the land like gigantic waterspouts; or, when I was better instructed, +I could see them advancing on the coast like a solid wall of masonry +eighty feet high. "Where," we said, as we came easily, and neither +uphill nor downhill, into the pleasant harbor of St. John,---"where +are the tides of our youth?" + +They were probably out, for when we came to the land we walked out +upon the foot of a sloping platform that ran into the water by the +side of the piles of the dock, which stood up naked and blackened +high in the air. It is not the purpose of this paper to describe St. +John, nor to dwell upon its picturesque situation. As one approaches +it from the harbor it gives a promise which its rather shabby +streets, decaying houses, and steep plank sidewalks do not keep. A +city set on a hill, with flags flying from a roof here and there, and +a few shining spires and walls glistening in the sun, always looks +well at a distance. St. John is extravagant in the matter of +flagstaffs; almost every well-to-do citizen seems to have one on his +premises, as a sort of vent for his loyalty, I presume. It is a good +fashion, at any rate, and its more general adoption by us would add +to the gayety of our cities when we celebrate the birthday of the +President. St. John is built on a steep sidehill, from which it +would be in danger of sliding off, if its houses were not mortised +into the solid rock. This makes the house-foundations secure, but +the labor of blasting out streets is considerable. We note these +things complacently as we toil in the sun up the hill to the Victoria +Hotel, which stands well up on the backbone of the ridge, and from +the upper windows of which we have a fine view of the harbor, and of +the hill opposite, above Carleton, where there is the brokenly +truncated ruin of a round stone tower. This tower was one of the +first things that caught our eyes as we entered the harbor. It gave +an antique picturesqueness to the landscape which it entirely wanted +without this. Round stone towers are not so common in this world +that we can afford to be indifferent to them. This is called a +Martello tower, but I could not learn who built it. I could not +understand the indifference, almost amounting to contempt, of the +citizens of St. John in regard to this their only piece of curious +antiquity. "It is nothing but the ruins of an old fort," they said; +"you can see it as well from here as by going there." It was, how- +ever, the one thing at St. John I was determined to see. But we +never got any nearer to it than the ferry-landing. Want of time and +the vis inertia of the place were against us. And now, as I think of +that tower and its perhaps mysterious origin, I have a longing for it +that the possession of nothing else in the Provinces could satisfy. + +But it must not be forgotten that we were on our way to Baddeck; that +the whole purpose of the journey was to reach Baddeck; that St. John +was only an incident in the trip; that any information about St. +John, which is here thrown in or mercifully withheld, is entirely +gratuitous, and is not taken into account in the price the reader +pays for this volume. But if any one wants to know what sort of a +place St. John is, we can tell him: it is the sort of a place that if +you get into it after eight o'clock on Wednesday morning, you cannot +get out of it in any direction until Thursday morning at eight +o'clock, unless you want to smuggle goods on the night train to +Bangor. It was eleven o'clock Wednesday forenoon when we arrived at +St. John. The Intercolonial railway train had gone to Shediac; it +had gone also on its roundabout Moncton, Missaquat River, Truro, +Stewiack, and Shubenacadie way to Halifax; the boat had gone to Digby +Gut and Annapolis to catch the train that way for Halifax; the boat +had gone up the river to Frederick, the capital. We could go to none +of these places till the next day. We had no desire to go to +Frederick, but we made the fact that we were cut off from it an +addition to our injury. The people of St. John have this +peculiarity: they never start to go anywhere except early in the +morning. + +The reader to whom time is nothing does not yet appreciate the +annoyance of our situation. Our time was strictly limited. The +active world is so constituted that it could not spare us more than +two weeks. We must reach Baddeck Saturday night or never. To go +home without seeing Baddeck was simply intolerable. Had we not told +everybody that we were going to Baddeck? Now, if we had gone to +Shediac in the train that left St. John that morning, we should have +taken the steamboat that would have carried us to Port Hawkesbury, +whence a stage connected with a steamboat on the Bras d'Or, which +(with all this profusion of relative pronouns) would land us at +Baddeck on Friday. How many times had we been over this route on the +map and the prospectus of travel! And now, what a delusion it +seemed! There would not another boat leave Shediac on this route +till the following Tuesday,--quite too late for our purpose. The +reader sees where we were, and will be prepared, if he has a map (and +any feelings), to appreciate the masterly strategy that followed. + + + + +II + +During the pilgrimage everything does not suit the tastes of the +pilgrim.--TURKISH PROVERB. + +One seeking Baddeck, as a possession, would not like to be detained a +prisoner even in Eden,--much less in St. John, which is unlike Eden +in several important respects. The tree of knowledge does not grow +there, for one thing; at least St. John's ignorance of Baddeck +amounts to a feature. This encountered us everywhere. So dense was +this ignorance, that we, whose only knowledge of the desired place +was obtained from the prospectus of travel, came to regard ourselves +as missionaries of geographical information in this dark provincial +city. + +The clerk at the Victoria was not unwilling to help us on our +journey, but if he could have had his way, we would have gone to a +place on Prince Edward Island which used to be called Bedeque, but is +now named Summerside, in the hope of attracting summer visitors. As +to Cape Breton, he said the agent of the Intercolonial could tell us +all about that, and put us on the route. We repaired to the agent. +The kindness of this person dwells in our memory. He entered at once +into our longings and perplexities. He produced his maps and time- +tables, and showed us clearly what we already knew. The Port +Hawkesbury steamboat from Shediac for that week had gone, to be sure, +but we could take one of another line which would leave us at Pictou, +whence we could take another across to Port Hood, on Cape Breton. +This looked fair, until we showed the agent that there was no steamer +to Port Hood. + +"Ah, then you can go another way. You can take the Intercolonial +railway round to Pictou, catch the steamer for Port Hawkesbury, +connect with the steamer on the Bras d'Or, and you are all right." + +So it would seem. It was a most obliging agent; and it took us half +an hour to convince him that the train would reach Pictou half a day +too late for the steamer, that no other boat would leave Pictou for +Cape Breton that week, and that even if we could reach the Bras d'Or, +we should have no means of crossing it, except by swimming. The +perplexed agent thereupon referred us to Mr. Brown, a shipper on the +wharf, who knew all about Cape Breton, and could tell us exactly how +to get there. It is needless to say that a weight was taken off our +minds. We pinned our faith to Brown, and sought him in his +warehouse. Brown was a prompt business man, and a traveler, and +would know every route and every conveyance from Nova Scotia to Cape +Breton. + +Mr. Brown was not in. He never is in. His store is a rusty +warehouse, low and musty, piled full of boxes of soap and candles and +dried fish, with a little glass cubby in one corner, where a thin +clerk sits at a high desk, like a spider in his web. Perhaps he is a +spider, for the cubby is swarming with flies, whose hum is the only +noise of traffic; the glass of the window-sash has not been washed +since it was put in apparently. The clerk is not writing, and has +evidently no other use for his steel pen than spearing flies. Brown +is out, says this young votary of commerce, and will not be in till +half past five. We remark upon the fact that nobody ever is "in" +these dingy warehouses, wonder when the business is done, and go out +into the street to wait for Brown. + +In front of the store is a dray, its horse fast-asleep, and waiting +for the revival of commerce. The travelers note that the dray is of +a peculiar construction, the body being dropped down from the axles +so as nearly to touch the ground,--a great convenience in loading and +unloading; they propose to introduce it into their native land. The +dray is probably waiting for the tide to come in. In the deep slip +lie a dozen helpless vessels, coasting schooners mostly, tipped on +their beam ends in the mud, or propped up by side-pieces as if they +were built for land as well as for water. At the end of the wharf is +a long English steamboat unloading railroad iron, which will return +to the Clyde full of Nova Scotia coal. We sit down on the dock, +where the fresh sea-breeze comes up the harbor, watch the lazily +swinging crane on the vessel, and meditate upon the greatness of +England and the peacefulness of the drowsy after noon. One's feeling +of rest is never complete--unless he can see somebody else at work,-- +but the labor must be without haste, as it is in the Provinces. + +While waiting for Brown, we had leisure to explore the shops of +King's Street, and to climb up to the grand triumphal arch which +stands on top of the hill and guards the entrance to King's Square. + +Of the shops for dry-goods I have nothing to say, for they tempt the +unwary American to violate the revenue laws of his country; but he +may safely go into the book-shops. The literature which is displayed +in the windows and on the counters has lost that freshness which it +once may have had, and is, in fact, if one must use the term, fly- +specked, like the cakes in the grocery windows on the side streets. +There are old illustrated newspapers from the States, cheap novels +from the same, and the flashy covers of the London and Edinburgh +sixpenny editions. But this is the dull season for literature, we +reflect. + +It will always be matter of regret to us that we climbed up to the +triumphal arch, which appeared so noble in the distance, with the +trees behind it. For when we reached it, we found that it was built +of wood, painted and sanded, and in a shocking state of decay; and +the grove to which it admitted us was only a scant assemblage of +sickly locust-trees, which seemed to be tired of battling with the +unfavorable climate, and had, in fact, already retired from the +business of ornamental shade trees. Adjoining this square is an +ancient cemetery, the surface of which has decayed in sympathy with +the mouldering remains it covers, and is quite a model in this +respect. I have called this cemetery ancient, but it may not be so, +for its air of decay is thoroughly modern, and neglect, and not +years, appears to have made it the melancholy place of repose it is. +Whether it is the fashionable and favorite resort of the dead of the +city we did not learn, but there were some old men sitting in its +damp shades, and the nurses appeared to make it a rendezvous for +their baby-carriages,--a cheerful place to bring up children in, and +to familiarize their infant minds with the fleeting nature of +provincial life. The park and burying-ground, it is scarcely +necessary to say, added greatly to the feeling of repose which stole +over us on this sunny day. And they made us long for Brown and his +information about Baddeck. + +But Mr. Brown, when found, did not know as much as the agent. He had +been in Nova Scotia; he had never been in Cape Breton; but he +presumed we would find no difficulty in reaching Baddeck by so and +so, and so and so. We consumed valuable time in convincing Brown +that his directions to us were impracticable and valueless, and then +he referred us to Mr. Cope. An interview with Mr. Cope discouraged +us; we found that we were imparting everywhere more geographical +inform-ation than we were receiving, and as our own stock was small, +we concluded that we should be unable to enlighten all the +inhabitants of St. John upon the subject of Baddeck before we ran +out. Returning to the hotel, and taking our destiny into our own +hands, we resolved upon a bold stroke. + +But to return for a moment to Brown. I feel that Brown has been let +off too easily in the above paragraph. His conduct, to say the +truth, was not such as we expected of a man in whom we had put our +entire faith for half a day,--a long while to trust anybody in these +times,--a man whom we had exalted as an encyclopedia of information, +and idealized in every way. A man of wealth and liberal views and +courtly manners we had decided Brown would be. Perhaps he had a +suburban villa on the heights over-looking Kennebeckasis Bay, and, +recognizing us as brothers in a common interest in Baddeck, not- +withstanding our different nationality, would insist upon taking us +to his house, to sip provincial tea with Mrs. Brown and Victoria +Louise, his daughter. When, therefore, Mr. Brown whisked into his +dingy office, and, but for our importunity, would have paid no more +attention to us than to up-country customers without credit, and when +he proved to be willingly, it seemed to us, ignorant of Baddeck, our +feelings received a great shock. It is incomprehensible that a man +in the position of Brown with so many boxes of soap and candles to +dispose of--should be so ignorant of a neighboring province. We had +heard of the cordial unity of the Provinces in the New Dominion. +Heaven help it, if it depends upon such fellows as Brown! Of course, +his directing us to Cope was a mere fetch. For as we have intimated, +it would have taken us longer to have given Cope an idea of Baddeck, +than it did to enlighten Brown. But we had no bitter feelings about +Cope, for we never had reposed confidence in him. + +Our plan of campaign was briefly this: To take the steamboat at eight +o'clock, Thursday morning, for Digby Gut and Annapolis; thence to go +by rail through the poetical Acadia down to Halifax; to turn north +and east by rail from Halifax to New Glasgow, and from thence to push +on by stage to the Gut of Canso. This would carry us over the entire +length of Nova Scotia, and, with good luck, land us on Cape Breton +Island Saturday morning. When we should set foot on that island, we +trusted that we should be able to make our way to Baddeck, by walk- +ing, swimming, or riding, whichever sort of locomotion should be most +popular in that province. Our imaginations were kindled by reading +that the "most superb line of stages on the continent" ran from New +Glasgow to the Gut of Canso. If the reader perfectly understands +this programme, he has the advantage of the two travelers at the time +they made it. + +It was a gray morning when we embarked from St. John, and in fact a +little drizzle of rain veiled the Martello tower, and checked, like +the cross-strokes of a line engraving, the hill on which it stands. +The miscellaneous shining of such a harbor appears best in a golden +haze, or in the mist of a morning like this. We had expected days of +fog in this region; but the fog seemed to have gone out with the high +tides of the geography. And it is simple justice to these +possessions of her Majesty, to say that in our two weeks' +acquaintance of them they enjoyed as delicious weather as ever falls +on sea and shore, with the exception of this day when we crossed the +Bay of Fundy. And this day was only one of those cool interludes of +low color, which an artist would be thankful to introduce among a +group of brilliant pictures. Such a day rests the traveler, who is +overstimulated by shifting scenes played upon by the dazzling sun. +So the cool gray clouds spread a grateful umbrella above us as we ran +across the Bay of Fundy, sighted the headlands of the Gut of Digby, +and entered into the Annapolis Basin, and into the region of a +romantic history. The white houses of Digby, scattered over the +downs like a flock of washed sheep, had a somewhat chilly aspect, it +is true, and made us long for the sun on them. But as I think of it +now, I prefer to have the town and the pretty hillsides that stand +about the basin in the light we saw them; and especially do I like to +recall the high wooden pier at Digby, deserted by the tide and so +blown by the wind that the passengers who came out on it, with their +tossing drapery, brought to mind the windy Dutch harbors that +Backhuysen painted. We landed a priest here, and it was a pleasure +to see him as he walked along the high pier, his broad hat flapping, +and the wind blowing his long skirts away from his ecclesiastical +legs. + +It was one of the coincidences of life, for which no one can account, +that when we descended upon these coasts, the Governor-General of the +Dominion was abroad in his Provinces. There was an air of expec- +tation of him everywhere, and of preparation for his coming; his +lordship was the subject of conversation on the Digby boat, his +movements were chronicled in the newspapers, and the gracious bearing +of the Governor and Lady Dufferin at the civic receptions, balls, and +picnics was recorded with loyal satisfaction; even a literary flavor +was given to the provincial journals by quotations from his +lordship's condescension to letters in the "High Latitudes." It was +not without pain, however, that even in this un-American region we +discovered the old Adam of journalism in the disposition of the +newspapers of St. John toward sarcasm touching the well-meant +attempts to entertain the Governor and his lady in the provincial +town of Halifax,--a disposition to turn, in short, upon the +demonstrations of loyal worship the faint light of ridicule. There +were those upon the boat who were journeying to Halifax to take part +in the civic ball about to be given to their excellencies, and as we +were going in the same direction, we shared in the feeling of +satisfaction which prox-imity to the Great often excites. + +We had other if not deeper causes of satisfaction. We were sailing +along the gracefully moulded and tree-covered hills of the Annapolis +Basin, and up the mildly picturesque river of that name, and we were +about to enter what the provincials all enthusiastically call the +Garden of Nova Scotia. This favored vale, skirted by low ranges of +hills on either hand, and watered most of the way by the Annapolis +River, extends from the mouth of the latter to the town of Windsor on +the river Avon. We expected to see something like the fertile +valleys of the Connecticut or the Mohawk. We should also pass +through those meadows on the Basin of Minas which Mr. Longfellow has +made more sadly poetical than any other spot on the Western +Continent. It is,--this valley of the Annapolis,--in the belief of +provincials, the most beautiful and blooming place in the world, with +a soil and climate kind to the husbandman; a land of fair meadows, +orchards, and vines. It was doubtless our own fault that this land +did not look to us like a garden, as it does to the inhabitants of +Nova Scotia; and it was not until we had traveled over the rest of +the country, that we saw the appropriateness of the designation. The +explanation is, that not so much is required of a garden here as in +some other parts of the world. Excellent apples, none finer, are +exported from this valley to England, and the quality of the potatoes +is said to ap-proach an ideal perfection here. I should think that +oats would ripen well also in a good year, and grass, for those who +care for it, may be satisfactory. I should judge that the other +products of this garden are fish and building-stone. But we +anticipate. And have we forgotten the "murmuring pines and the +hemlocks"? Nobody, I suppose, ever travels here without believing +that he sees these trees of the imagination, so forcibly has the poet +projected them upon the uni-versal consciousness. But we were unable +to see them, on this route. + +It would be a brutal thing for us to take seats in the railway train +at Annapolis, and leave the ancient town, with its modern houses and +remains of old fortifications, without a thought of the romantic +history which saturates the region. There is not much in the smart, +new restaurant, where a tidy waiting-maid skillfully depreciates our +currency in exchange for bread and cheese and ale, to recall the +early drama of the French discovery and settlement. For it is to the +French that we owe the poetical interest that still invests, like a +garment, all these islands and bays, just as it is to the Spaniards +that we owe the romance of the Florida coast. Every spot on this +continent that either of these races has touched has a color that is +wanting in the prosaic settlements of the English. + +Without the historical light of French adventure upon this town and +basin of Annapolis, or Port Royal, as they were first named, I +confess that I should have no longing to stay here for a week; +notwithstanding the guide-book distinctly says that this harbor has +"a striking resemblance to the beautiful Bay of Naples." I am not +offended at this remark, for it is the one always made about a +harbor, and I am sure the passing traveler can stand it, if the Bay +of Naples can. And yet this tranquil basin must have seemed a haven +of peace to the first discoverers. + +It was on a lovely summer day in 1604, that the Sieur de Monts and +his comrades, Champlain and the Baron de Poutrincourt, beating about +the shores of Nova Scotia, were invited by the rocky gateway of the +Port Royal Basin. They entered the small inlet, says Mr. Parkman, +when suddenly the narrow strait dilated into a broad and tranquil +basin, compassed with sunny hills, wrapped with woodland verdure and +alive with waterfalls. Poutrincourt was delighted with the scene, +and would fain remove thither from France with his family. Since +Poutrincourt's day, the hills have been somewhat denuded of trees, +and the waterfalls are not now in sight; at least, not under such a +gray sky as we saw. + +The reader who once begins to look into the French occupancy of +Acadia is in danger of getting into a sentimental vein, and sentiment +is the one thing to be shunned in these days. Yet I cannot but stay, +though the train should leave us, to pay my respectful homage to one +of the most heroic of women, whose name recalls the most romantic +incident in the history of this region. Out of this past there rises +no figure so captivating to the imagination as that of Madame de la +Tour. And it is noticeable that woman has a curious habit of coming +to the front in critical moments of history, and performing some +exploit that eclipses in brilliancy all the deeds of contemporary +men; and the exploit usually ends in a pathetic tragedy, that fixes +it forever in the sympathy of the world. I need not copy out of the +pages of De Charlevoix the well-known story of Madame de la Tour; I +only wish he had told us more about her. It is here at Port Royal +that we first see her with her husband. Charles de St. Etienne, the +Chevalier de la Tour,--there is a world of romance in these mere +names,--was a Huguenot nobleman who had a grant of Port Royal and of +La Hive, from Louis XIII. He ceded La Hive to Razilli, the +governor-in-chief of the provinces, who took a fancy to it, for a +residence. He was living peacefully at Port Royal in 1647, when the +Chevalier d'Aunay Charnise, having succeeded his brother Razilli at +La Hive, tired of that place and removed to Port Royal. De Charnise +was a Catholic; the difference in religion might not have produced +any unpleasantness, but the two noblemen could not agree in dividing +the profits of the peltry trade,--each being covetous, if we may so +express it, of the hide of the savage continent, and determined to +take it off for himself. At any rate, disagreement arose, and De la +Tour moved over to the St. John, of which region his father had +enjoyed a grant from Charles I. of England,--whose sad fate it is not +necessary now to recall to the reader's mind,--and built a fort at +the mouth of the river. But the differences of the two ambitious +Frenchmen could not be composed. De la Tour obtained aid from +Governor Winthrop at Boston, thus verifying the Catholic prediction +that the Huguenots would side with the enemies of France on occasion. +De Charnise received orders from Louis to arrest De la Tour; but a +little preliminary to the arrest was the possession of the fort of +St. John, and this he could not obtain, although be sent all his +force against it. Taking advantage, however, of the absence of De la +Tour, who had a habit of roving about, he one day besieged St. John. +Madame de la Tour headed the little handful of men in the fort, and +made such a gallant resistance that De Charnise was obliged to draw +off his fleet with the loss of thirty-three men,--a very serious +loss, when the supply of men was as distant as France. But De +Charnise would not be balked by a woman; he attacked again; and this +time, one of the garrison, a Swiss, betrayed the fort, and let the +invaders into the walls by an unguarded entrance. It was Easter +morning when this misfortune occurred, but the peaceful influence of +the day did not avail. When Madame saw that she was betrayed, her +spirits did not quail; she took refuge with her little band in a +detached part of the fort, and there made such a bold show of +defense, that De Charnise was obliged to agree to the terms of her +surrender, which she dictated. No sooner had this unchivalrous +fellow obtained possession of the fort and of this Historic Woman, +than, overcome with a false shame that he had made terms with a +woman, he violated his noble word, and condemned to death all the +men, except one, who was spared on condition that he should be the +executioner of the others. And the poltroon compelled the brave +woman to witness the execution, with the added indignity of a rope +round her neck,--or as De Charlevoix much more neatly expresses it, +"obligea sa prisonniere d'assister a l'execution, la corde au cou." + +To the shock of this horror the womanly spirit of Madame de la Tour +succumbed; she fell into a decline and died soon after. De la Tour, +himself an exile from his province, wandered about the New World in +his customary pursuit of peltry. He was seen at Quebec for two +years. While there, he heard of the death of De Charnise, and +straightway repaired to St. John. The widow of his late enemy +received him graciously, and he entered into possession of the estate +of the late occupant with the consent of all the heirs. To remove +all roots of bitterness, De la Tour married Madame de Charnise, and +history does not record any ill of either of them. I trust they had +the grace to plant a sweetbrier on the grave of the noble woman to +whose faithfulness and courage they owe their rescue from obscurity. +At least the parties to this singular union must have agreed to +ignore the lamented existence of the Chevalier d'Aunay. + +With the Chevalier de la Tour, at any rate, it all went well +thereafter. When Cromwell drove the French from Acadia, he granted +great territorial rights to De la Tour, which that thrifty adventurer +sold out to one of his co-grantees for L16,000; and he no doubt +invested the money in peltry for the London market. + +As we leave the station at Annapolis, we are obliged to put Madame de +la Tour out of our minds to make room for another woman whose name, +and we might say presence, fills all the valley before us. So it is +that woman continues to reign, where she has once got a foothold, +long after her dear frame has become dust. Evangeline, who is as +real a personage as Queen Esther, must have been a different woman +from Madame de la Tour. If the latter had lived at Grand Pre, she +would, I trust, have made it hot for the brutal English who drove the +Acadians out of their salt-marsh paradise, and have died in her +heroic shoes rather than float off into poetry. But if it should +come to the question of marrying the De la Tour or the Evangeline, I +think no man who was not engaged in the peltry trade would hesitate +which to choose. At any rate, the women who love have more influence +in the world than the women who fight, and so it happens that the +sentimental traveler who passes through Port Royal without a tear for +Madame de la Tour, begins to be in a glow of tender longing and +regret for Evangeline as soon as he enters the valley of the +Annapolis River. For myself, I expected to see written over the +railway crossings the legend, + +"Look out for Evangeline while the bell rings." + +When one rides into a region of romance he does not much notice his +speed or his carriage; but I am obliged to say that we were not +hurried up the valley, and that the cars were not too luxurious for +the plain people, priests, clergymen, and belles of the region, who +rode in them. Evidently the latest fashions had not arrived in the +Provinces, and we had an opportunity of studying anew those that had +long passed away in the States, and of remarking how inappropriate a +fashion is when it has ceased to be the fashion. + +The river becomes small shortly after we leave Annapolis and before +we reach Paradise. At this station of happy appellation we looked +for the satirist who named it, but he has probably sold out and +removed. If the effect of wit is produced by the sudden recognition +of a remote resemblance, there was nothing witty in the naming of +this station. Indeed, we looked in vain for the "garden" appearance +of the valley. There was nothing generous in the small meadows or +the thin orchards; and if large trees ever grew on the bordering +hills, they have given place to rather stunted evergreens; the +scraggy firs and balsams, in fact, possess Nova Scotia generally as +we saw it,--and there is nothing more uninteresting and wearisome +than large tracts of these woods. We are bound to believe that Nova +Scotia has somewhere, or had, great pines and hemlocks that murmur, +but we were not blessed with the sight of them. Slightly picturesque +this valley is with its winding river and high hills guarding it, and +perhaps a person would enjoy a foot-tramp down it; but, I think he +would find little peculiar or interesting after he left the +neighborhood of the Basin of Minas. + +Before we reached Wolfville we came in sight of this basin and some +of the estuaries and streams that run into it; that is, when the tide +goes out; but they are only muddy ditches half the time. The Acadia +College was pointed out to us at Wolfville by a person who said that +it is a feeble institution, a remark we were sorry to hear of a place +described as "one of the foremost seats of learning in the Province." +But our regret was at once extinguished by the announcement that the +next station was Grand Pre! We were within three miles of the most +poetic place in North America. + +There was on the train a young man from Boston, who said that he was +born in Grand Pre. It seemed impossible that we should actually be +near a person so felicitously born. He had a justifiable pride in +the fact, as well as in the bride by his side, whom he was taking to +see for the first time his old home. His local information, imparted +to her, overflowed upon us; and when he found that we had read +"Evangeline," his delight in making us acquainted with the scene of +that poem was pleasant to see. The village of Grand Pre is a mile +from the station; and perhaps the reader would like to know exactly +what the traveler, hastening on to Baddeck, can see of the famous +locality. + +We looked over a well-grassed meadow, seamed here and there by beds +of streams left bare by the receding tide, to a gentle swell in the +ground upon which is a not heavy forest growth. The trees partly +conceal the street of Grand Pre, which is only a road bordered by +common houses. Beyond is the Basin of Minas, with its sedgy shore, +its dreary flats; and beyond that projects a bold headland, standing +perpendicular against the sky. This is the Cape Blomidon, and it +gives a certain dignity to the picture. + +The old Normandy picturesqueness has departed from the village of +Grand Pre. Yankee settlers, we were told, possess it now, and there +are no descendants of the French Acadians in this valley. I believe +that Mr. Cozzens found some of them in humble circumstances in a +village on the other coast, not far from Halifax, and it is there, +probably, that the + +"Maidens still wear their Norman caps and their kirtles of homespun, +And by the evening fire repeat Evangeline's story, +While from its rocky caverns the deep-voiced, neighboring ocean +Speaks, and in accents disconsolate answers the wail of the forest." + +At any rate, there is nothing here now except a faint tradition of +the French Acadians; and the sentimental traveler who laments that +they were driven out, and not left behind their dikes to rear their +flocks, and cultivate the rural virtues, and live in the simplicity +of ignorance, will temper his sadness by the reflection that it is to +the expulsion he owes "Evangeline" and the luxury of his romantic +grief. So that if the traveler is honest, and examines his own soul +faithfully, he will not know what state of mind to cherish as he +passes through this region of sorrow. + +Our eyes lingered as long as possible and with all eagerness upon +these meadows and marshes which the poet has made immortal, and we +regretted that inexorable Baddeck would not permit us to be pilgrims +for a day in this Acadian land. Just as I was losing sight of the +skirt of trees at Grand Pre, a gentleman in the dress of a rural +clergyman left his seat, and complimented me with this remark: "I +perceive, sir, that you are fond of reading." + +I could not but feel flattered by this unexpected discovery of my +nature, which was no doubt due to the fact that I held in my hand one +of the works of Charles Reade on social science, called "Love me +Little, Love me Long," and I said, "Of some kinds, I am." + +"Did you ever see a work called 'Evangeline'?" + +"Oh, yes, I have frequently seen it." + +"You may remember," continued this Mass of Information, "that there +is an allusion in it to Grand Pre. That is the place, sir!" + +"Oh, indeed, is that the place? Thank you." + +"And that mountain yonder is Cape Blomidon, blow me down, you know." + +And under cover of this pun, the amiable clergyman retired, +unconscious, I presume, of his prosaic effect upon the atmosphere of +the region. With this intrusion of the commonplace, I suffered an +eclipse of faith as to Evangeline, and was not sorry to have my +attention taken up by the river Avon, along the banks of which we +were running about this time. It is really a broad arm of the basin, +extending up to Windsor, and beyond in a small stream, and would have +been a charming river if there had been a drop of water in it. I +never knew before how much water adds to a river. Its slimy bottom +was quite a ghastly spectacle, an ugly gash in the land that nothing +could heal but the friendly returning tide. I should think it would +be confusing to dwell by a river that runs first one way and then the +other, and then vanishes altogether. + +All the streams about this basin are famous for their salmon and +shad, and the season for these fish was not yet passed. There seems +to be an untraced affinity between the shad and the strawberry; they +appear and disappear in a region simultaneously. When we reached +Cape Breton, we were a day or two late for both. It is impossible +not to feel a little contempt for people who do not have these +luxuries till July and August; but I suppose we are in turn despised +by the Southerners because we do not have them till May and June. +So, a great part of the enjoyment of life is in the knowledge that +there are people living in a worse place than that you inhabit. + +Windsor, a most respectable old town round which the railroad sweeps, +with its iron bridge, conspicuous King's College, and handsome church +spire, is a great place for plaster and limestone, and would be a +good location for a person interested in these substances. Indeed, +if a man can live on rocks, like a goat, he may settle anywhere +between Windsor and Halifax. It is one of the most sterile regions +in the Province. With the exception of a wild pond or two, we saw +nothing but rocks and stunted firs, for forty-five miles, a monotony +unrelieved by one picturesque feature. Then we longed for the +"Garden of Nova Scotia," and understood what is meant by the name. + +A member of the Ottawa government, who was on his way to the +Governor-General's ball at Halifax, informed us that this country is +rich in minerals, in iron especially, and he pointed out spots where +gold had been washed out. But we do not covet it. And we were not +sorry to learn from this gentleman, that since the formation of the +Dominion, there is less and less desire in the Provinces for +annexation to the United States. One of the chief pleasures in +traveling in Nova Scotia now is in the constant reflection that you +are in a foreign country; and annexation would take that away. + +It is nearly dark when we reach the head of the Bedford Basin. The +noble harbor of Halifax narrows to a deep inlet for three miles along +the rocky slope on which the city stands, and then suddenly expands +into this beautiful sheet of water. We ran along its bank for five +miles, cheered occasionally by a twinkling light on the shore, and +then came to a stop at the shabby terminus, three miles out of town. +This basin is almost large enough to float the navy of Great Britain, +and it could lie here, with the narrows fortified, secure from the +attacks of the American navy, hovering outside in the fog. With +these patriotic thoughts we enter the town. It is not the fault of +the railroad, but its present inability to climb a rocky hill, that +it does not run into the city. The suburbs are not impressive in the +night, but they look better then than they do in the daytime; and the +same might be said of the city itself. Probably there is not +anywhere a more rusty, forlorn town, and this in spite of its +magnificent situation. + +It is a gala-night when we rattle down the rough streets, and have +pointed out to us the somber government buildings. The Halifax Club +House is a blaze of light, for the Governor-General is being received +there, and workmen are still busy decorating the Provincial Building +for the great ball. The city is indeed pervaded by his lordship, and +we regret that we cannot see it in its normal condition of quiet; the +hotels are full, and it is impossible to escape the festive feeling +that is abroad. It ill accords with our desires, as tranquil +travelers, to be plunged into such a vortex of slow dissipation. +These people take their pleasures more gravely than we do, and +probably will last the longer for their moderation. Having +ascertained that we can get no more information about Baddeck here +than in St. John, we go to bed early, for we are to depart from this +fascinating place at six o'clock. + +If any one objects that we are not competent to pass judgment on the +city of Halifax by sleeping there one night, I beg leave to plead the +usual custom of travelers,--where would be our books of travel, if +more was expected than a night in a place?--and to state a few +facts. The first is, that I saw the whole of Halifax. If I were +inclined, I could describe it building by building. Cannot one see +it all from the citadel hill, and by walking down by the +horticultural garden and the Roman Catholic cemetery? and did not I +climb that hill through the most dilapidated rows of brown houses, +and stand on the greensward of the fortress at five o'clock in the +morning, and see the whole city, and the British navy riding at +anchor, and the fog coming in from the Atlantic Ocean? Let the +reader go to! and if he would know more of Halifax, go there. We +felt that if we remained there through the day, it would be a day of +idleness and sadness. I could draw a picture of Halifax. I could +relate its century of history; I could write about its free-school +system, and its many noble charities. But the reader always skips +such things. He hates information; and he himself would not stay in +this dull garrison town any longer than he was obliged to. + +There was to be a military display that day in honor of the Governor. + +"Why," I asked the bright and light-minded colored boy who sold +papers on the morning train, "don't you stay in the city and see it?" + +"Pho," said he, with contempt, "I'm sick of 'em. Halifax is played +out, and I'm going to quit it." + +The withdrawal of this lively trader will be a blow to the enterprise +of the place. + +When I returned to the hotel for breakfast--which was exactly like +the supper, and consisted mainly of green tea and dry toast--there +was a commotion among the waiters and the hack-drivers over a nervous +little old man, who was in haste to depart for the morning train. He +was a specimen of provincial antiquity such as could not be seen +elsewhere. His costume was of the oddest: a long-waisted coat +reaching nearly to his heels, short trousers, a flowered silk vest, +and a napless hat. He carried his baggage tied up in mealbags, and +his attention was divided between that and two buxom daughters, who +were evidently enjoying their first taste of city life. The little +old man, who was not unlike a petrified Frenchman of the last +century, had risen before daylight, roused up his daughters, and had +them down on the sidewalk by four o'clock, waiting for hack, or +horse-car, or something to take them to the station. That he might +be a man of some importance at home was evident, but he had lost his +head in the bustle of this great town, and was at the mercy of all +advisers, none of whom could understand his mongrel language. As we +came out to take the horse-car, he saw his helpless daughters driven +off in one hack, while he was raving among his meal-bags on the +sidewalk. Afterwards we saw him at the station, flying about in the +greatest excitement, asking everybody about the train; and at last he +found his way into the private office of the ticket-seller. "Get out +of here! "roared that official. The old man persisted that he +wanted a ticket. "Go round to the window; clear out!" In a very +flustered state he was hustled out of the room. When he came to the +window and made known his destination, he was refused tickets, +because his train did not start for two hours yet! + +This mercurial old gentleman only appears in these records because he +was the only person we saw in this Province who was in a hurry to do +anything, or to go anywhere. + +We cannot leave Halifax without remarking that it is a city of great +private virtue, and that its banks are sound. The appearance of its +paper-money is not, however, inviting. We of the United States lead +the world in beautiful paper-money; and when I exchanged my crisp, +handsome greenbacks for the dirty, flimsy, ill-executed notes of the +Dominion, at a dead loss of value, I could not be reconciled to the +transaction. I sarcastically called the stuff I received +"Confederate money;" but probably no one was wounded by the severity; +for perhaps no one knew what a resemblance in badness there is +between the "Confederate" notes of our civil war and the notes of the +Dominion; and, besides, the Confederacy was too popular in the +Provinces for the name to be a reproach to them. I wish I had +thought of something more insulting to say. + +By noon on Friday we came to New Glasgow, having passed through a +country where wealth is to be won by hard digging if it is won at +all; through Truro, at the head of the Cobequid Bay, a place +exhibiting more thrift than any we have seen. A pleasant enough +country, on the whole, is this which the road runs through up the +Salmon and down the East River. New Glasgow is not many miles from +Pictou, on the great Cumberland Strait; the inhabitants build +vessels, and strangers drive out from here to see the neighboring +coal mines. Here we were to dine and take the stage for a ride of +eighty miles to the Gut of Canso. + +The hotel at New Glasgow we can commend as one of the most +unwholesome in the Province; but it is unnecessary to emphasize its +condition, for if the traveler is in search of dirty hotels, he will +scarcely go amiss anywhere in these regions. There seems to be a +fashion in diet which endures. The early travelers as well as the +later in these Atlantic provinces all note the prevalence of dry, +limp toast and green tea; they are the staples of all the meals; +though authorities differ in regard to the third element for +discouraging hunger: it is sometimes boiled salt-fish and sometimes +it is ham. Toast was probably an inspiration of the first woman of +this part of the New World, who served it hot; but it has become now +a tradition blindly followed, without regard to temperature; and the +custom speaks volumes for the non-inventiveness of woman. At the inn +in New Glasgow those who choose dine in their shirt-sleeves, and +those skilled in the ways of this table get all they want in seven +minutes. A man who understands the use of edged tools can get along +twice as fast with a knife and fork as he can with a fork alone. + +But the stage is at the door; the coach and four horses answer the +advertisement of being "second to none on the continent." We mount +to the seat with the driver. The sun is bright; the wind is in the +southwest; the leaders are impatient to go; the start for the long +ride is propitious. + +But on the back seat in the coach is the inevitable woman, young and +sickly, with the baby in her arms. The woman has paid her fare +through to Guysborough, and holds her ticket. It turns out, however, +that she wants to go to the district of Guysborough, to St. Mary's +Cross Roads, somewhere in it, and not to the village of Guysborough, +which is away down on Chedabucto Bay. (The reader will notice this +geographical familiarity.) And this stage does not go in the +direction of St. Mary's. She will not get out, she will not +surrender her ticket, nor pay her fare again. Why should she? And +the stage proprietor, the stage-driver, and the hostler mull over the +problem, and sit down on the woman's hair trunk in front of the +tavern to reason with her. The baby joins its voice from the coach +window in the clamor of the discussion. The baby prevails. The +stage company comes to a compromise, the woman dismounts, and we are +off, away from the white houses, over the sandy road, out upon a +hilly and not cheerful country. And the driver begins to tell us +stories of winter hardships, drifted highways, a land buried in snow, +and great peril to men and cattle. + + + + +III + +"It was then summer, and the weather very fine; so pleased was I with +the country, in which I had never travelled before, that my delight +proved equal to my wonder."--BENVENUTO CELLINI. + +There are few pleasures in life equal to that of riding on the +box-seat of a stagecoach, through a country unknown to you and +hearing the driver talk about his horses. We made the intimate +acquaintance of twelve horses on that day's ride, and learned the +peculiar disposition and traits of each one of them, their ambition +of display, their sensitiveness to praise or blame, their +faithfulness, their playfulness, the readiness with which they +yielded to kind treatment, their daintiness about food and lodging. + +May I never forget the spirited little jade, the off-leader in the +third stage, the petted belle of the route, the nervous, coquettish, +mincing mare of Marshy Hope. A spoiled beauty she was; you could see +that as she took the road with dancing step, tossing her pretty head +about, and conscious of her shining black coat and her tail done up +"in any simple knot,"--like the back hair of Shelley's Beatrice +Cenci. How she ambled and sidled and plumed herself, and now and +then let fly her little heels high in air in mere excess of larkish +feeling. + +"So! girl; so! Kitty," murmurs the driver in the softest tones of +admiration; "she don't mean anything by it, she's just like a +kitten." + +But the heels keep flying above the traces, and by and by the driver +is obliged to "speak hash" to the beauty. The reproof of the +displeased tone is evidently felt, for she settles at once to her +work, showing perhaps a little impatience, jerking her head up and +down, and protesting by her nimble movements against the more +deliberate trot of her companion. I believe that a blow from the +cruel lash would have broken her heart; or else it would have made a +little fiend of the spirited creature. The lash is hardly ever good +for the sex. + +For thirteen years, winter and summer, this coachman had driven this +monotonous, uninteresting route, with always the same sandy hills, +scrubby firs, occasional cabins, in sight. What a time to nurse his +thought and feed on his heart! How deliberately he can turn things +over in his brain! What a system of philosophy he might evolve out +of his consciousness! One would think so. But, in fact, the +stagebox is no place for thinking. To handle twelve horses every +day, to keep each to its proper work, stimulating the lazy and +restraining the free, humoring each disposition, so that the greatest +amount of work shall be obtained with the least friction, making each +trip on time, and so as to leave each horse in as good condition at +the close as at the start, taking advantage of the road, refreshing +the team by an occasional spurt of speed,--all these things require +constant attention; and if the driver was composing an epic, the +coach might go into the ditch, or, if no accident happened, the +horses would be worn out in a month, except for the driver's care. + +I conclude that the most delicate and important occupation in life is +stage-driving. It would be easier to "run" the Treasury Department +of the United States than a four-in-hand. I have a sense of the +unimportance of everything else in comparison with this business in +hand. And I think the driver shares that feeling. He is the +autocrat of the situation. He is lord of all the humble passengers, +and they feel their inferiority. They may have knowledge and skill +in some things, but they are of no use here. At all the stables the +driver is king; all the people on the route are deferential to him; +they are happy if he will crack a joke with them, and take it as a +favor if he gives them better than they send. And it is his joke +that always raises the laugh, regardless of its quality. + +We carry the royal mail, and as we go along drop little sealed canvas +bags at way offices. The bags would not hold more than three pints +of meal, and I can see that there is nothing in them. Yet somebody +along here must be expecting a letter, or they would not keep up the +mail facilities. At French River we change horses. There is a mill +here, and there are half a dozen houses, and a cranky bridge, which +the driver thinks will not tumble down this trip. The settlement may +have seen better days, and will probably see worse. + +I preferred to cross the long, shaky wooden bridge on foot, leaving +the inside passengers to take the risk, and get the worth of their +money; and while the horses were being put to, I walked on over the +hill. And here I encountered a veritable foot-pad, with a club in +his hand and a bundle on his shoulder, coming down the dusty road, +with the wild-eyed aspect of one who travels into a far country in +search of adventure. He seemed to be of a cheerful and sociable +turn, and desired that I should linger and converse with him. But he +was more meagerly supplied with the media of conversation than any +person I ever met. His opening address was in a tongue that failed +to convey to me the least idea. I replied in such language as I had +with me, but it seemed to be equally lost upon him. We then fell +back upon gestures and ejaculations, and by these I learned that he +was a native of Cape Breton, but not an aborigine. By signs he asked +me where I came from, and where I was going; and he was so much +pleased with my destination, that he desired to know my name; and +this I told him with all the injunction of secrecy I could convey; +but he could no more pronounce it than I could speak his name. It +occurred to me that perhaps he spoke a French patois, and I asked +him; but he only shook his head. He would own neither to German nor +Irish. The happy thought came to me of inquiring if he knew English. +But he shook his head again, and said, + +"No English, plenty garlic." + +This was entirely incomprehensible, for I knew that garlic is not a +language, but a smell. But when he had repeated the word several +times, I found that he meant Gaelic; and when we had come to this +understanding, we cordially shook hands and willingly parted. One +seldom encounters a wilder or more good-natured savage than this +stalwart wanderer. And meeting him raised my hopes of Cape Breton. + +We change horses again, for the last stage, at Marshy Hope. As we +turn down the hill into this place of the mournful name, we dash past +a procession of five country wagons, which makes way for us: +everything makes way for us; even death itself turns out for the +stage with four horses. The second wagon carries a long box, which +reveals to us the mournful errand of the caravan. We drive into the +stable, and get down while the fresh horses are put to. The +company's stables are all alike, and open at each end with great +doors. The stable is the best house in the place; there are three or +four houses besides, and one of them is white, and has vines growing +over the front door, and hollyhocks by the front gate. Three or four +women, and as many barelegged girls, have come out to look at the +proces-sion, and we lounge towards the group. + +"It had a winder in the top of it, and silver handles," says one. + +"Well, I declare; and you could 'a looked right in?" + +"If I'd been a mind to." + +"Who has died?" I ask. + +"It's old woman Larue; she lived on Gilead Hill, mostly alone. It's +better for her." + +"Had she any friends?" + +"One darter. They're takin' her over Eden way, to bury her where she +come from." + +"Was she a good woman?" The traveler is naturally curious to know +what sort of people die in Nova Scotia. + +"Well, good enough. Both her husbands is dead." + +The gossips continued talking of the burying. Poor old woman Larue! +It was mournful enough to encounter you for the only time in this +world in this plight, and to have this glimpse of your wretched life +on lonesome Gilead Hill. What pleasure, I wonder, had she in her +life, and what pleasure have any of these hard-favored women in this +doleful region? It is pitiful to think of it. Doubtless, however, +the region isn't doleful, and the sentimental traveler would not have +felt it so if he had not encountered this funereal flitting. + +But the horses are in. We mount to our places; the big doors swing +open. + +"Stand away," cries the driver. + +The hostler lets go Kitty's bridle, the horses plunge forward, and we +are off at a gallop, taking the opposite direction from that pursued +by old woman Larue. + +This last stage is eleven miles, through a pleasanter country, and we +make it in a trifle over an hour, going at an exhilarating gait, that +raises our spirits out of the Marshy Hope level. The perfection of +travel is ten miles an hour, on top of a stagecoach; it is greater +speed than forty by rail. It nurses one's pride to sit aloft, and +rattle past the farmhouses, and give our dust to the cringing foot +tramps. There is something royal in the swaying of the coach body, +and an excitement in the patter of the horses' hoofs. And what an +honor it must be to guide such a machine through a region of rustic +admiration! + +The sun has set when we come thundering down into the pretty Catholic +village of Antigonish,--the most home-like place we have seen on the +island. The twin stone towers of the unfinished cathedral loom up +large in the fading light, and the bishop's palace on the hill--the +home of the Bishop of Arichat--appears to be an imposing white barn +with many staring windows. At Antigonish--with the emphasis on the +last syllable--let the reader know there is a most comfortable inn, +kept by a cheery landlady, where the stranger is served by the comely +handmaidens, her daughters, and feels that he has reached a home at +last. Here we wished to stay. Here we wished to end this weary +pilgrimage. Could Baddeck be as attractive as this peaceful valley? +Should we find any inn on Cape Breton like this one? + +"Never was on Cape Breton," our driver had said; "hope I never shall +be. Heard enough about it. Taverns? You'll find 'em occupied." + +"Fleas? + +"Wus." + +"But it is a lovely country?" + +"I don't think it." + +Into what unknown dangers were we going? Why not stay here and be +happy? It was a soft summer night. People were loitering in the +street; the young beaux of the place going up and down with the +belles, after the leisurely manner in youth and summer; perhaps they +were students from St. Xavier College, or visiting gallants from +Guysborough. They look into the post-office and the fancy store. +They stroll and take their little provincial pleasure and make love, +for all we can see, as if Antigonish were a part of the world. How +they must look down on Marshy Hope and Addington Forks and Tracadie! +What a charming place to live in is this! + +But the stage goes on at eight o'clock. It will wait for no man. +There is no other stage till eight the next night, and we have no +alternative but a night ride. We put aside all else except duty and +Baddeck. This is strictly a pleasure-trip. + +The stage establishment for the rest of the journey could hardly be +called the finest on the continent. The wagon was drawn by two +horses. It was a square box, covered with painted cloth. Within +were two narrow seats, facing each other, affording no room for the +legs of passengers, and offering them no position but a strictly +upright one. It was a most ingeniously uncomfortable box in which to +put sleepy travelers for the night. The weather would be chilly +before morning, and to sit upright on a narrow board all night, and +shiver, is not cheerful. Of course, the reader says that this is no +hardship to talk about. But the reader is mistaken. Anything is a +hardship when it is unpleasantly what one does not desire or expect. +These travelers had spent wakeful nights, in the forests, in a cold +rain, and never thought of complaining. It is useless to talk about +the Polar sufferings of Dr. Kane to a guest at a metropolitan hotel, +in the midst of luxury, when the mosquito sings all night in his ear, +and his mutton-chop is overdone at breakfast. One does not like to +be set up for a hero in trifles, in odd moments, and in inconspicuous +places. + +There were two passengers besides ourselves, inhabitants of Cape +Breton Island, who were returning from Halifax to Plaster Cove, where +they were engaged in the occupation of distributing alcoholic liquors +at retail. This fact we ascertained incidentally, as we learned the +nationality of our comrades by their brogue, and their religion by +their lively ejaculations during the night. We stowed ourselves into +the rigid box, bade a sorrowing good-night to the landlady and her +daughters, who stood at the inn door, and went jingling down the +street towards the open country. + +The moon rises at eight o'clock in Nova Scotia. It came above the +horizon exactly as we began our journey, a harvest-moon, round and +red. When I first saw it, it lay on the edge of the horizon as if +too heavy to lift itself, as big as a cart-wheel, and its disk cut by +a fence-rail. With what a flood of splendor it deluged farmhouses +and farms, and the broad sweep of level country! There could not be +a more magnificent night in which to ride towards that geographical +mystery of our boyhood, the Gut of Canso. + +A few miles out of town the stage stopped in the road before a post- +station. An old woman opened the door of the farmhouse to receive +the bag which the driver carried to her. A couple of sprightly +little girls rushed out to "interview" the passengers, climbing up +to ask their names and, with much giggling, to get a peep at their +faces. And upon the handsomeness or ugliness of the faces they saw +in the moonlight they pronounced with perfect candor. We are not +obliged to say what their verdict was. Girls here, no doubt, as +elsewhere, lose this trustful candor as they grow older. + +Just as we were starting, the old woman screamed out from the door, +in a shrill voice, addressing the driver, "Did you see ary a sick man +'bout 'Tigonish?" + +"Nary." + +"There's one been round here for three or four days, pretty bad off; +'s got the St. Vitus's. He wanted me to get him some medicine for it +up to Antigonish. I've got it here in a vial, and I wished you could +take it to him." + +"Where is he?" + +"I dunno. I heern he'd gone east by the Gut. Perhaps you'll hear of +him." All this screamed out into the night. + +"Well, I'll take it." + +We took the vial aboard and went on; but the incident powerfully +affected us. The weird voice of the old woman was exciting in it- +self, and we could not escape the image of this unknown man, dancing +about this region without any medicine, fleeing perchance by night +and alone, and finally flitting away down the Gut of Canso. This +fugitive mystery almost immediately shaped itself into the following +simple poem: + +"There was an old man of Canso, +Unable to sit or stan' so. +When I asked him why he ran so, +Says he, 'I've St. Vitus' dance so, +All down the Gut of Canso.'" + +This melancholy song is now, I doubt not, sung by the maidens of +Antigonish. + +In spite of the consolations of poetry, however, the night wore on +slowly, and soothing sleep tried in vain to get a lodgment in the +jolting wagon. One can sleep upright, but not when his head is every +moment knocked against the framework of a wagon-cover. Even a jolly +young Irishman of Plaster Cove, whose nature it is to sleep under +whatever discouragement, is beaten by these circumstances. He wishes +he had his fiddle along. We never know what men are on casual +acquaintance. This rather stupid-looking fellow is a devotee of +music, and knows how to coax the sweetness out of the unwilling +violin. Sometimes he goes miles and miles on winter nights to draw +the seductive bow for the Cape Breton dancers, and there is +enthusiasm in his voice, as he relates exploits of fiddling from +sunset till the dawn of day. Other information, however, the young +man has not; and when this is exhausted, he becomes sleepy again, and +tries a dozen ways to twist himself into a posture in which sleep +will be possible. He doubles up his legs, he slides them under the +seat, he sits on the wagon bottom; but the wagon swings and jolts and +knocks him about. His patience under this punishment is admirable, +and there is something pathetic in his restraint from profanity. + +It is enough to look out upon the magnificent night; the moon is now +high, and swinging clear and distant; the air has grown chilly; the +stars cannot be eclipsed by the greater light, but glow with a +chastened fervor. It is on the whole a splendid display for the sake +of four sleepy men, banging along in a coach,--an insignificant +little vehicle with two horses. No one is up at any of the +farmhouses to see it; no one appears to take any interest in it, +except an occasional baying dog, or a rooster that has mistaken the +time of night. By midnight we come to Tracadie, an orchard, a +farmhouse, and a stable. We are not far from the sea now, and can +see a silver mist in the north. An inlet comes lapping up by the old +house with a salty smell and a suggestion of oyster-beds. We knock +up the sleeping hostlers, change. horses, and go on again, dead +sleepy, but unable to get a wink. And all the night is blazing with +beauty. We think of the criminal who was sentenced to be kept awake +till he died. + +The fiddler makes another trial. Temperately remarking, "I am very +sleepy," he kneels upon the floor and rests his head on the seat. +This position for a second promises repose; but almost immediately +his head begins to pound the seat, and beat a lively rat-a-plan on +the board. The head of a wooden idol couldn't stand this treatment +more than a minute. The fiddler twisted and turned, but his head +went like a triphammer on the seat. I have never seen a devotional +attitude so deceptive, or one that produced less favorable results. +The young man rose from his knees, and meekly said, + +"It's dam hard." + +If the recording angel took down this observation, he doubtless made +a note of the injured tone in which it was uttered. + +How slowly the night passes to one tipping and swinging along in a +slowly moving stage! But the harbinger of the day came at last. +When the fiddler rose from his knees, I saw the morning-star burst +out of the east like a great diamond, and I knew that Venus was +strong enough to pull up even the sun, from whom she is never distant +more than an eighth of the heavenly circle. The moon could not put +her out of countenance. She blazed and scintillated with a dazzling +brilliance, a throbbing splendor, that made the moon seem a pale, +sentimental invention. Steadily she mounted, in her fresh beauty, +with the confidence and vigor of new love, driving her more domestic +rival out of the sky. And this sort of thing, I suppose, goes on +frequently. These splendors burn and this panorama passes night +after night down at the end of Nova Scotia, and all for the stage- +driver, dozing along on his box, from Antigonish to the strait. + +"Here you are," cries the driver, at length, when we have become +wearily indifferent to where we are. We have reached the ferry. The +dawn has not come, but it is not far off. We step out and find a +chilly morning, and the dark waters of the Gut of Canso flowing +before us lighted here and there by a patch of white mist. The +ferryman is asleep, and his door is shut. We call him by all the +names known among men. We pound upon his house, but he makes no +sign. Before he awakes and comes out, growling, the sky in the east +is lightened a shade, and the star of the dawn sparkles less +brilliantly. But the process is slow. The twilight is long. There +is a surprising deliberation about the preparation of the sun for +rising, as there is in the movements of the boatman. Both appear to +be reluctant to begin the day. + +The ferryman and his shaggy comrade get ready at last, and we step +into the clumsy yawl, and the slowly moving oars begin to pull us +upstream. The strait is here less than a mile wide; the tide is +running strongly, and the water is full of swirls,--the little +whirlpools of the rip-tide. The morning-star is now high in the sky; +the moon, declining in the west, is more than ever like a silver +shield; along the east is a faint flush of pink. In the increasing +light we can see the bold shores of the strait, and the square +projection of Cape Porcupine below. + +On the rocks above the town of Plaster Cove, where there is a black +and white sign,--Telegraph Cable,--we set ashore our companions of +the night, and see them climb up to their station for retailing the +necessary means of intoxication in their district, with the mournful +thought that we may never behold them again. + +As we drop down along the shore, there is a white sea-gull asleep on +the rock, rolled up in a ball, with his head under his wing. The +rock is dripping with dew, and the bird is as wet as his hard bed. +We pass within an oar's length of him, but he does not heed us, and +we do not disturb his morning slumbers. For there is no such cruelty +as the waking of anybody out of a morning nap. + +When we land, and take up our bags to ascend the hill to the white +tavern of Port Hastings (as Plaster Cove now likes to be called), the +sun lifts himself slowly over the treetops, and the magic of the +night vanishes. + +And this is Cape Breton, reached after almost a week of travel. Here +is the Gut of Canso, but where is Baddeck? It is Saturday morning; +if we cannot make Baddeck by night, we might as well have remained in +Boston. And who knows what we shall find if we get there? A forlorn +fishing-station, a dreary hotel? Suppose we cannot get on, and are +forced to stay here? Asking ourselves these questions, we enter the +Plaster Cove tavern. No one is stirring, but the house is open, and +we take possession of the dirty public room, and almost immediately +drop to sleep in the fluffy rocking-chairs; but even sleep is not +strong enough to conquer our desire to push on, and we soon rouse up +and go in pursuit of information. + +No landlord is to be found, but there is an unkempt servant in the +kitchen, who probably does not see any use in making her toilet more +than once a week. To this fearful creature is intrusted the dainty +duty of preparing breakfast. Her indifference is equal to her lack +of information, and her ability to convey information is fettered by +her use of Gaelic as her native speech. But she directs us to the +stable. There we find a driver hitching his horses to a two-horse +stage-wagon. + +"Is this stage for Baddeck?" + +"Not much." + +"Is there any stage for Baddeck?" + +"Not to-day." + +"Where does this go, and when?" + +"St. Peter's. Starts in fifteen minutes." + +This seems like "business," and we are inclined to try it, especially +as we have no notion where St. Peter's is. + +"Does any other stage go from here to-day anywhere else?" + +"Yes. Port Hood. Quarter of an hour." + +Everything was about to happen in fifteen minutes. We inquire +further. St. Peter's is on the east coast, on the road to Sydney. +Port Hood is on the west coast. There is a stage from Port Hood to +Baddeck. It would land us there some time Sunday morning; distance, +eighty miles. + +Heavens! what a pleasure-trip. To ride eighty miles more without +sleep! We should simply be delivered dead on the Bras d'Or; that is +all. Tell us, gentle driver, is there no other way? + +"Well, there's Jim Hughes, come over at midnight with a passenger +from Baddeck; he's in the hotel now; perhaps he'll take you." + +Our hope hung on Jim Hughes. The frowzy servant piloted us up to his +sleeping-room. "Go right in," said she; and we went in, according to +the simple custom of the country, though it was a bedroom that one +would not enter except on business. Mr. Hughes did not like to be +disturbed, but he proved himself to be a man who could wake up +suddenly, shake his head, and transact business,--a sort of Napoleon, +in fact. Mr. Hughes stared at the intruders for a moment, as if he +meditated an assault. + +"Do you live in Baddeck?" we asked. + +"No; Hogamah,--half-way there." + +"Will you take us to Baddeck to-day?" + +Mr. Hughes thought. He had intended to sleep--till noon. He had +then intended to go over the Judique Mountain and get a boy. But he +was disposed to accommodate. Yes, for money--sum named--he would +give up his plans, and start for Baddeck in an hour. Distance, sixty +miles. Here was a man worth having; he could come to a decision +before he was out of bed. The bargain was closed. + +We would have closed any bargain to escape a Sunday in the Plaster +Cove hotel. There are different sorts of hotel uncleanliness. There +is the musty old inn, where the dirt has accumulated for years, and +slow neglect has wrought a picturesque sort of dilapidation, the +mouldiness of time, which has something to recommend it. But there +is nothing attractive in new nastiness, in the vulgar union of +smartness and filth. A dirty modern house, just built, a house +smelling of poor whiskey and vile tobacco, its white paint grimy, its +floors unclean, is ever so much worse than an old inn that never +pretended to be anything but a rookery. I say nothing against the +hotel at Plaster Cove. In fact, I recommend it. There is a kind of +harmony about it that I like. There is a harmony between the +breakfast and the frowzy Gaelic cook we saw "sozzling" about in the +kitchen. There is a harmony between the appearance of the house and +the appearance of the buxom young housekeeper who comes upon the +scene later, her hair saturated with the fatty matter of the bear. +The traveler will experience a pleasure in paying his bill and +departing. + +Although Plaster Cove seems remote on the map, we found that we were +right in the track of the world's news there. It is the transfer +station of the Atlantic Cable Company, where it exchanges messages +with the Western Union. In a long wooden building, divided into two +main apartments, twenty to thirty operators are employed. At eight +o'clock the English force was at work receiving the noon messages +from London. The American operators had not yet come on, for New +York business would not begin for an hour. Into these rooms is +poured daily the news of the world, and these young fellows toss it +about as lightly as if it were household gossip. It is a marvelous +exchange, however, and we had intended to make some reflections here +upon the en rapport feeling, so to speak, with all the world, which +we experienced while there; but our conveyance was waiting. We +telegraphed our coming to Baddeck, and departed. For twenty-five +cents one can send a dispatch to any part of the Dominion, except the +region where the Western Union has still a foothold. + +Our conveyance was a one-horse wagon, with one seat. The horse was +well enough, but the seat was narrow for three people, and the entire +establishment had in it not much prophecy of Baddeck for that day. +But we knew little of the power of Cape Breton driving. It became +evident that we should reach Baddeck soon enough, if we could cling +to that wagon-seat. The morning sun was hot. The way was so +uninteresting that we almost wished ourselves back in Nova Scotia. +The sandy road was bordered with discouraged evergreens, through +which we had glimpses of sand-drifted farms. If Baddeck was to be +like this, we had come on a fool's errand. There were some savage, +low hills, and the Judique Mountain showed itself as we got away from +the town. In this first stage, the heat of the sun, the monotony of +the road, and the scarcity of sleep during the past thirty-six hours +were all unfavorable to our keeping on the wagon-seat. We nodded +separately, we nodded and reeled in unison. But asleep or awake, the +driver drove like a son of Jehu. Such driving is the fashion on Cape +Breton Island. Especially downhill, we made the most of it; if the +horse was on a run, that was only an inducement to apply the lash; +speed gave the promise of greater possible speed. The wagon rattled +like a bark-mill; it swirled and leaped about, and we finally got the +exciting impression that if the whole thing went to pieces, we should +somehow go on,--such was our impetus. Round corners, over ruts and +stones, and uphill and down, we went jolting and swinging, holding +fast to the seat, and putting our trust in things in general. At the +end of fifteen miles, we stopped at a Scotch farmhouse, where the +driver kept a relay, and changed horse. + +The people were Highlanders, and spoke little English; we had struck +the beginning of the Gaelic settlement. From here to Hogamah we +should encounter only the Gaelic tongue; the inhabitants are all +Catholics. Very civil people, apparently, and living in a kind of +niggardly thrift, such as the cold land affords. We saw of this +family the old man, who had come from Scotland fifty years ago, his +stalwart son, six feet and a half high, maybe, and two buxom +daughters, going to the hay-field,--good solid Scotch lassies, who +smiled in English, but spoke only Gaelic. The old man could speak a +little English, and was disposed to be both communicative and +inquisitive. He asked our business, names, and residence. Of the +United States he had only a dim conception, but his mind rather +rested upon the statement that we lived "near Boston." He complained +of the degeneracy of the times. All the young men had gone away from +Cape Breton; might get rich if they would stay and work the farms. +But no one liked to work nowadays. From life, we diverted the talk +to literature. We inquired what books they had. + +"Of course you all have the poems of Burns?" + +"What's the name o' the mon?" + +"Burns, Robert Burns." + +"Never heard tell of such a mon. Have heard of Robert Bruce. He was +a Scotchman." + +This was nothing short of refreshing, to find a Scotchman who had +never heard of Robert Burns! It was worth the whole journey to take +this honest man by the hand. How far would I not travel to talk with +an American who had never heard of George Washington! + +The way was more varied during the next stage; we passed through some +pleasant valleys and picturesque neighborhoods, and at length, +winding around the base of a wooded range, and crossing its point, we +came upon a sight that took all the sleep out of us. This was the +famous Bras d'Or. + +The Bras d'Or is the most beautiful salt-water lake I have ever seen, +and more beautiful than we had imagined a body of salt water could +be. If the reader will take the map, he will see that two narrow +estuaries, the Great and the Little Bras d'Or, enter the island of +Cape Breton, on the ragged northeast coast, above the town of Sydney, +and flow in, at length widening out and occupying the heart of the +island. The water seeks out all the low places, and ramifies the +interior, running away into lovely bays and lagoons, leaving slender +tongues of land and picturesque islands, and bringing into the +recesses of the land, to the remote country farms and settlements, +the flavor of salt, and the fish and mollusks of the briny sea. +There is very little tide at any time, so that the shores are clean +and sightly for the most part, like those of fresh-water lakes. It +has all the pleasantness of a fresh-water lake, with all the +advantages of a salt one. In the streams which run into it are the +speckled trout, the shad, and the salmon; out of its depths are +hooked the cod and the mackerel, and in its bays fattens the oyster. +This irregular lake is about a hundred miles long, if you measure it +skillfully, and in some places ten miles broad; but so indented is +it, that I am not sure but one would need, as we were informed, to +ride a thousand miles to go round it, following all its incursions +into the land. The hills about it are never more than five or six +hundred feet high, but they are high enough for reposeful beauty, and +offer everywhere pleasing lines. + +What we first saw was an inlet of the Bras d'Or, called, by the +driver, Hogamah Bay. At its entrance were long, wooded islands, +beyond which we saw the backs of graceful hills, like the capes of +some poetic sea-coast. The bay narrowed to a mile in width where we +came upon it, and ran several miles inland to a swamp, round the head +of which we must go. Opposite was the village of Hogamah. I had my +suspicions from the beginning about this name, and now asked the +driver, who was liberally educated for a driver, how he spelled +"Hogamah." + +"Why-ko-ko-magh. Hogamah." + +Sometimes it is called Wykogamah. Thus the innocent traveler is +misled. Along the Whykokomagh Bay we come to a permanent encampment +of the Micmac Indians,--a dozen wigwams in the pine woods. Though +lumber is plenty, they refuse to live in houses. The wigwams, +however, are more picturesque than the square frame houses of the +whites. Built up conically of poles, with a hole in the top for the +smoke to escape, and often set up a little from the ground on a +timber foundation, they are as pleasing to the eye as a Chinese or +Turkish dwelling. They may be cold in winter, but blessed be the +tenacity of barbarism, which retains this agreeable architecture. +The men live by hunting in the season, and the women support the +family by making moccasins and baskets. These Indians are most of +them good Catholics, and they try to go once a year to mass and a +sort of religious festival held at St. Peter's, where their sins are +forgiven in a yearly lump. + +At Whykokomagh, a neat fishing village of white houses, we stopped +for dinner at the Inverness House. The house was very clean, and the +tidy landlady gave us as good a dinner as she could of the inevitable +green tea, toast, and salt fish. She was Gaelic, but Protestant, as +the village is, and showed us with pride her Gaelic Bible and +hymn-book. A peaceful place, this Whykokomagh; the lapsing waters of +Bras d'Or made a summer music all along the quiet street; the bay lay +smiling with its islands in front, and an amphitheater of hills rose +behind. But for the line of telegraph poles one might have fancied +he could have security and repose here. + +We put a fresh pony into the shafts, a beast born with an everlasting +uneasiness in his legs, and an amount of "go" in him which suited his +reckless driver. We no longer stood upon the order of our going; we +went. As we left the village, we passed a rocky hay-field, where the +Gaelic farmer was gathering the scanty yield of grass. A comely +Indian girl was stowing the hay and treading it down on the wagon. +The driver hailed the farmer, and they exchanged Gaelic repartee +which set all the hay-makers in a roar, and caused the Indian maid to +darkly and sweetly beam upon us. We asked the driver what he had +said. He had only inquired what the man would take for the load--as +it stood! A joke is a joke down this way. + +I am not about to describe this drive at length, in order that the +reader may skip it; for I know the reader, being of like passion and +fashion with him. From the time we first struck the Bras d'Or for +thirty miles we rode in constant sight of its magnificent water. Now +we were two hundred feet above the water, on the hillside, skirting a +point or following an indentation; and now we were diving into a +narrow valley, crossing a stream, or turning a sharp corner, but +always with the Bras d'Or in view, the afternoon sun shining on it, +softening the outlines of its embracing hills, casting a shadow from +its wooded islands. Sometimes we opened on a broad water plain +bounded by the Watchabaktchkt hills, and again we looked over hill +after hill receding into the soft and hazy blue of the land beyond +the great mass of the Bras d'Or. The reader can compare the view and +the ride to the Bay of Naples and the Cornice Road; we did nothing of +the sort; we held on to the seat, prayed that the harness of the pony +might not break, and gave constant expression to our wonder and +delight. For a week we had schooled ourselves to expect nothing more +from this wicked world, but here was an enchanting vision. + +The only phenomenon worthy the attention of any inquiring mind, in +this whole record, I will now describe. As we drove along the side +of a hill, and at least two hundred feet above the water, the road +suddenly diverged and took a circuit higher up. The driver said that +was to avoid a sink-hole in the old road,--a great curiosity, which +it was worth while to examine. Beside the old road was a circular +hole, which nipped out a part of the road-bed, some twenty-five feet +in diameter, filled with water almost to the brim, but not running +over. The water was dark in color, and I fancied had a brackish +taste. The driver said that a few weeks before, when he came this +way, it was solid ground where this well now opened, and that a large +beech-tree stood there. When he returned next day, he found this +hole full of water, as we saw it, and the large tree had sunk in it. +The size of the hole seemed to be determined by the reach of the +roots of the tree. The tree had so entirely disappeared, that he +could not with a long pole touch its top. Since then the water had +neither subsided nor overflowed. The ground about was compact +gravel. We tried sounding the hole with poles, but could make +nothing of it. The water seemed to have no outlet nor inlet; at +least, it did not rise or fall. Why should the solid hill give way +at this place, and swallow up a tree? and if the water had any +connection with the lake, two hundred feet below and at some distance +away, why didn't the water run out? Why should the unscientific +traveler have a thing of this kind thrown in his way? The driver did +not know. + +This phenomenon made us a little suspicious of the foundations of +this island which is already invaded by the jealous ocean, and is +anchored to the continent only by the cable. + +The drive became more charming as the sun went down, and we saw the +hills grow purple beyond the Bras d'Or. The road wound around lovely +coves and across low promontories, giving us new beauties at every +turn. Before dark we had crossed the Middle River and the Big +Baddeck, on long wooden bridges, which straggled over sluggish waters +and long reaches of marsh, upon which Mary might have been sent to +call the cattle home. These bridges were shaky and wanted a plank at +intervals, but they are in keeping with the enterprise of the +country. As dusk came on, we crossed the last hill, and were bowling +along by the still gleaming water. Lights began to appear in +infrequent farmhouses, and under cover of the gathering night the +houses seemed to be stately mansions; and we fancied we were on a +noble highway, lined with elegant suburban seaside residences, and +about to drive into a town of wealth and a port of great commerce. +We were, nevertheless, anxious about Baddeck. What sort of haven +were we to reach after our heroic (with the reader's permission) week +of travel? Would the hotel be like that at Plaster Cove? Were our +thirty-six hours of sleepless staging to terminate in a night of +misery and a Sunday of discomfort? + +We came into a straggling village; that we could see by the +starlight. But we stopped at the door of a very unhotel-like +appearing hotel. It had in front a flower-garden; it was blazing +with welcome lights; it opened hospitable doors, and we were received +by a family who expected us. The house was a large one, for two +guests; and we enjoyed the luxury of spacious rooms, an abundant +supper, and a friendly welcome; and, in short, found ourselves at +home. The proprietor of the Telegraph House is the superintendent of +the land lines of Cape Breton, a Scotchman, of course; but his wife +is a Newfoundland lady. We cannot violate the sanctity of what +seemed like private hospitality by speaking freely of this lady and +the lovely girls, her daughters, whose education has been so +admirably advanced in the excellent school at Baddeck; but we can +confidently advise any American who is going to Newfoundland, to get +a wife there, if he wants one at all. It is the only new article he +can bring from the Provinces that he will not have to pay duty on. +And here is a suggestion to our tariff-mongers for the "protection" +of New England women. + +The reader probably cannot appreciate the delicious sense of rest and +of achievement which we enjoyed in this tidy inn, nor share the +anticipations of undisturbed, luxurious sleep, in which we indulged +as we sat upon the upper balcony after supper, and saw the moon rise +over the glistening Bras d'Or and flood with light the islands and +headlands of the beautiful bay. Anchored at some distance from the +shore was a slender coasting vessel. The big red moon happened to +come up just behind it, and the masts and spars and ropes of the +vessel came out, distinctly traced on the golden background, making +such a night picture as I once saw painted of a ship in a fiord of +Norway. The scene was enchanting. And we respected then the +heretofore seemingly insane impulse that had driven us on to Baddeck. + + + + +IV + +"He had no ill-will to the Scotch; for, if he had been conscious of +that, he never would have thrown himself into the bosom of their +country, and trusted to the protection of its remote inhabitants with +a fearless confidence."--BOSWELL'S JOHNSON. + +Although it was an open and flagrant violation of the Sabbath day as +it is kept in Scotch Baddeck, our kind hosts let us sleep late on +Sunday morning, with no reminder that we were not sleeping the sleep +of the just. It was the charming Maud, a flitting sunbeam of a girl, +who waited to bring us our breakfast, and thereby lost the +opportunity of going to church with the rest of the family,--an act +of gracious hospitality which the tired travelers appreciated. + +The travelers were unable, indeed, to awaken into any feeling of +Sabbatical straitness. The morning was delicious,--such a morning as +never visits any place except an island; a bright, sparkling morning, +with the exhilaration of the air softened by the sea. What a day it +was for idleness, for voluptuous rest, after the flight by day and +night from St. John! It was enough, now that the morning was fully +opened and advancing to the splendor of noon, to sit upon the upper +balcony, looking upon the Bras d'Or and the peaceful hills beyond, +reposeful and yet sparkling with the air and color of summer, and +inhale the balmy air. (We greatly need another word to describe good +air, properly heated, besides this overworked "balmy.") Perhaps it +might in some regions be considered Sabbath-keeping, simply to rest +in such a soothing situation,--rest, and not incessant activity, +having been one of the original designs of the day. + +But our travelers were from New England, and they were not willing to +be outdone in the matter of Sunday observances by such an out-of- +the-way and nameless place as Baddeck. They did not set themselves +up as missionaries to these benighted Gaelic people, to teach them by +example that the notion of Sunday which obtained two hundred years +ago in Scotland had been modified, and that the sacredness of it had +pretty much disappeared with the unpleasantness of it. They rather +lent themselves to the humor of the hour, and probably by their +demeanor encouraged the respect for the day on Cape Breton Island. +Neither by birth nor education were the travelers fishermen on +Sunday, and they were not moved to tempt the authorities to lock them +up for dropping here a line and there a line on the Lord's day. + +In fact, before I had finished my second cup of Maud-mixed coffee, my +companion, with a little show of haste, had gone in search of the +kirk, and I followed him, with more scrupulousness, as soon as I +could without breaking the day of rest. Although it was Sunday, I +could not but notice that Baddeck was a clean-looking village of +white wooden houses, of perhaps seven or eight hundred inhabitants; +that it stretched along the bay for a mile or more, straggling off +into farmhouses at each end, lying for the most part on the sloping +curve of the bay. There were a few country-looking stores and shops, +and on the shore three or four rather decayed and shaky wharves ran +into the water, and a few schooners lay at anchor near them; and the +usual decaying warehouses leaned about the docks. A peaceful and +perhaps a thriving place, but not a bustling place. As I walked down +the road, a sailboat put out from the shore and slowly disappeared +round the island in the direction of the Grand Narrows. It had a +small pleasure party on board. None of them were drowned that day, +and I learned at night that they were Roman Catholics from +Whykokornagh. + +The kirk, which stands near the water, and at a distance shows a +pretty wooden spire, is after the pattern of a New England +meeting-house. When I reached it, the house was full and the service +had begun. There was something familiar in the bareness and +uncompromising plainness and ugliness of the interior. The pews had +high backs, with narrow, uncushioned seats. The pulpit was high,--a +sort of theological fortification,--approached by wide, curving +flights of stairs on either side. Those who occupied the near seats +to the right and left of the pulpit had in front of them a blank +board partition, and could not by any possibility see the minister, +though they broke their necks backwards over their high coat-collars. +The congregation had a striking resemblance to a country New England +congregation of say twenty years ago. The clothes they wore had been +Sunday clothes for at least that length of time. + +Such clothes have a look of I know not what devout and painful +respectability, that is in keeping with the worldly notion of rigid +Scotch Presbyterianism. One saw with pleasure the fresh and rosy- +cheeked children of this strict generation, but the women of the +audience were not in appearance different from newly arrived and +respectable Irish immigrants. They wore a white cap with long frills +over the forehead, and a black handkerchief thrown over it and +hanging down the neck,--a quaint and not unpleasing disguise. + +The house, as I said, was crowded. It is the custom in this region +to go to church,--for whole families to go, even the smallest +children; and they not unfrequently walk six or seven miles to attend +the service. There is a kind of merit in this act that makes up for +the lack of certain other Christian virtues that are practiced +elsewhere. The service was worth coming seven miles to participate +in!--it was about two hours long, and one might well feel as if he +had performed a work of long-suffering to sit through it. The +singing was strictly congregational. Congregational singing is good +(for those who like it) when the congregation can sing. This +congregation could not sing, but it could grind the Psalms of David +powerfully. They sing nothing else but the old Scotch version of the +Psalms, in a patient and faithful long meter. And this is regarded, +and with considerable plausibility, as an act of worship. It +certainly has small element of pleasure in it. Here is a stanza from +Psalm xlv., which the congregation, without any instrumental +nonsense, went through in a dragging, drawling manner, and with +perfect individual independence as to time: + +"Thine arrows sharply pierce the heart of th' enemies of the king, +And under thy sub-jec-shi-on the people down do bring." + +The sermon was extempore, and in English with Scotch pronunciation; +and it filled a solid hour of time. I am not a good judge of ser- +mons, and this one was mere chips to me; but my companion, who knows +a sermon when he hears it, said that this was strictly theological, +and Scotch theology at that, and not at all expository. It was +doubtless my fault that I got no idea whatever from it. But the +adults of the congregation appeared to be perfectly satisfied with +it; at least they sat bolt upright and nodded assent continually. +The children all went to sleep under it, without any hypocritical +show of attention. To be sure, the day was warm and the house was +unventilated. If the windows had been opened so as to admit the +fresh air from the Bras d'Or, I presume the hard-working farmers and +their wives would have resented such an interference with their +ordained Sunday naps, and the preacher's sermon would have seemed +more musty than it appeared to be in that congenial and drowsy air. +Considering that only half of the congregation could understand the +preacher, its behavior was exemplary. + +After the sermon, a collection was taken up for the minister; and I +noticed that nothing but pennies rattled into the boxes,--a +melancholy sound for the pastor. This might appear niggardly on the +part of these Scotch Presbyterians, but it is on principle that they +put only a penny into the box; they say that they want a free gospel, +and so far as they are concerned they have it. Although the farmers +about the Bras d'Or are well-to-do they do not give their minister +enough to keep his soul in his Gaelic body, and his poor support is +eked out by the contributions of a missionary society. It was +gratifying to learn that this was not from stinginess on the part of +the people, but was due to their religious principle. It seemed to +us that everybody ought to be good in a country where it costs next +to nothing. + +When the service was over, about half of the people departed; the +rest remained in their seats and prepared to enter upon their Sabbath +exercises. These latter were all Gaelic people, who had understood +little or nothing of the English service. The minister turned +himself at once into a Gaelic preacher and repeated in that language +the long exercises of the morning. The sermon and perhaps the +prayers were quite as enjoyable in Gaelic as in English, and the +singing was a great improvement. It was of the same Psalms, but the +congregation chanted them in a wild and weird tone and manner, as +wailing and barbarous to modern ears as any Highland devotional +outburst of two centuries ago. This service also lasted about two +hours; and as soon as it was over the faithful minister, without any +rest or refreshment, organized the Sunday-school, and it must have +been half past three o'clock before that was over. And this is +considered a day of rest. + +These Gaelic Christians, we were informed, are of a very old pattern; +and some of them cling more closely to religious observances than to +morality. Sunday is nowhere observed with more strictness. The +community seems to be a very orderly and thrifty one, except upon +solemn and stated occasions. One of these occasions is the +celebration of the Lord's Supper; and in this the ancient Highland +traditions are preserved. The rite is celebrated not oftener than +once a year by any church. It then invites the neighboring churches +to partake with it,--the celebration being usually in the summer and +early fall months. It has some of the characteristics of a "camp- +meeting." People come from long distances, and as many as two +thousand and three thousand assemble together. They quarter +themselves without special invitation upon the members of the +inviting church. Sometimes fifty people will pounce upon one farmer, +overflowing his house and his barn and swarming all about his +premises, consuming all the provisions he has laid up for his family, +and all he can raise money to buy, and literally eating him out of +house and home. Not seldom a man is almost ruined by one of these +religious raids,--at least he is left with a debt of hundreds of +dollars. The multitude assembles on Thursday and remains over +Sunday. There is preaching every day, but there is something +besides. Whatever may be the devotion of a part of the assembly, the +four days are, in general, days of license, of carousing, of +drinking, and of other excesses, which our informant said he would +not particularize; we could understand what they were by reading St. +Paul's rebuke of the Corinthians for similar offenses. The evil has +become so great and burdensome that the celebration of this sacred +rite will have to be reformed altogether. + +Such a Sabbath quiet pervaded the street of Baddeck, that the fast +driving of the Gaels in their rattling, one-horse wagons, crowded +full of men, women, and children,--released from their long sanctuary +privileges, and going home,--was a sort of profanation of the day; +and we gladly turned aside to visit the rural jail of the town. + +Upon the principal street or road of Baddeck stands the dreadful +prison-house. It is a story and a quarter edifice, built of stone +and substantially whitewashed; retired a little from the road, with a +square of green turf in front of it, I should have taken it for the +residence of the Dairyman's Daughter, but for the iron gratings at +the lower windows. A more inviting place to spend the summer in, a +vicious person could not have. The Scotch keeper of it is an old, +garrulous, obliging man, and keeps codfish tackle to loan. I think +that if he had a prisoner who was fond of fishing, he would take him +with him on the bay in pursuit of the mackerel and the cod. If the +prisoner were to take advantage of his freedom and attempt to escape, +the jailer's feelings would be hurt, and public opinion would hardly +approve the prisoner's conduct. + +The jail door was hospitably open, and the keeper invited us to +enter. Having seen the inside of a good many prisons in our own +country (officially), we were interested in inspecting this. It was +a favorable time for doing so, for there happened to be a man +confined there, a circumstance which seemed to increase the keeper's +feeling of responsibility in his office. The edifice had four rooms +on the ground-floor, and an attic sleeping-room above. Three of +these rooms, which were perhaps twelve feet by fifteen feet, were +cells; the third was occupied by the jailer's family. The family +were now also occupying the front cell,--a cheerful room commanding a +view of the village street and of the bay. A prisoner of a +philosophic turn of mind, who had committed some crime of sufficient +magnitude to make him willing to retire from the world for a season +and rest, might enjoy himself here very well. + +The jailer exhibited his premises with an air of modesty. In the +rear was a small yard, surrounded by a board fence, in which the +prisoner took his exercise. An active boy could climb over it, and +an enterprising pig could go through it almost anywhere. The keeper +said that he intended at the next court to ask the commissioners to +build the fence higher and stop up the holes. Otherwise the jail was +in good condition. Its inmates were few; in fact, it was rather apt +to be empty: its occupants were usually prisoners for debt, or for +some trifling breach of the peace, committed under the influence of +the liquor that makes one "unco happy." Whether or not the people of +the region have a high moral standard, crime is almost unknown; the +jail itself is an evidence of primeval simplicity. The great +incident in the old jailer's life had been the rescue of a well-known +citizen who was confined on a charge of misuse of public money. The +keeper showed me a place in the outer wall of the front cell, where +an attempt had been made to batter a hole through. The Highland clan +and kinsfolk of the alleged defaulter came one night and threatened +to knock the jail in pieces if he was not given up. They bruised the +wall, broke the windows, and finally smashed in the door and took +their man away. The jailer was greatly excited at this rudeness, and +went almost immediately and purchased a pistol. He said that for a +time he did n't feel safe in the jail without it. The mob had thrown +stones at the upper windows, in order to awaken him, and had insulted +him with cursing and offensive language. + +Having finished inspecting the building, I was unfortunately moved by +I know not what national pride and knowledge of institutions superior +to this at home, to say, + +"This is a pleasant jail, but it doesn't look much like our great +prisons; we have as many as a thousand to twelve hundred men in some +of our institutions." + +"Ay, ay, I have heard tell," said the jailer, shaking his head in +pity, "it's an awfu' place, an awfu' place,--the United States. I +suppose it's the wickedest country that ever was in the world. I +don't know,--I don't know what is to become of it. It's worse than +Sodom. There was that dreadful war on the South; and I hear now it's +very unsafe, full of murders and robberies and corruption." + +I did not attempt to correct this impression concerning my native +land, for I saw it was a comfort to the simple jailer, but I tried to +put a thorn into him by saying, + +"Yes, we have a good many criminals, but the majority of them, the +majority of those in jails, are foreigners; they come from Ireland, +England, and the Provinces." + +But the old man only shook his head more solemnly, and persisted, +"It's an awfu' wicked country." + +Before I came away I was permitted to have an interview with the sole +prisoner, a very pleasant and talkative man, who was glad to see +company, especially intelligent company who understood about things, +he was pleased to say. I have seldom met a more agreeable rogue, or +one so philosophical, a man of travel and varied experiences. He was +a lively, robust Provincial of middle age, bullet-headed, with a mass +of curly black hair, and small, round black eyes, that danced and +sparkled with good humor. He was by trade a carpenter, and had a +work-bench in his cell, at which he worked on week-days. He had been +put in jail on suspicion of stealing a buffalo-robe, and he lay in +jail eight months, waiting for the judge to come to Baddeck on his +yearly circuit. He did not steal the robe, as he assured me, but it +was found in his house, and the judge gave him four months in jail, +making a year in all,--a month of which was still to serve. But he +was not at all anxious for the end of his term; for his wife was +outside. + +Jock, for he was familiarly so called, asked me where I was from. As +I had not found it very profitable to hail from the United States, +and had found, in fact, that the name United States did not convey +any definite impression to the average Cape Breton mind, I ventured +upon the bold assertion, for which I hope Bostonians will forgive me, +that I was from Boston. For Boston is known in the eastern +Provinces. + +"Are you?" cried the man, delighted. "I've lived in Boston, myself. +There's just been an awful fire near there." + +"Indeed!" I said; "I heard nothing of it.' And I was startled with +the possibility that Boston had burned up again while we were +crawling along through Nova Scotia. + +"Yes, here it is, in the last paper." The man bustled away and found +his late paper, and thrust it through the grating, with the inquiry, +"Can you read?" + +Though the question was unexpected, and I had never thought before +whether I could read or not, I confessed that I could probably make +out the meaning, and took the newspaper. The report of the fire +"near Boston" turned out to be the old news of the conflagration in +Portland, Oregon! + +Disposed to devote a portion of this Sunday to the reformation of +this lively criminal, I continued the conversation with him. It +seemed that he had been in jail before, and was not unaccustomed to +the life. He was not often lonesome; he had his workbench and +newspapers, and it was a quiet place; on the whole, he enjoyed it, +and should rather regret it when his time was up, a month from then. + +Had he any family? + +"Oh, yes. When the census was round, I contributed more to it than +anybody in town. Got a wife and eleven children." + +"Well, don't you think it would pay best to be honest, and live with +your family, out of jail? You surely never had anything but trouble +from dishonesty." + +"That's about so, boss. I mean to go on the square after this. But, +you see," and here he began to speak confidentially, "things are +fixed about so in this world, and a man's got to live his life. I +tell you how it was. It all came about from a woman. I was a +carpenter, had a good trade, and went down to St. Peter's to work. +There I got acquainted with a Frenchwoman,--you know what Frenchwomen +are,--and I had to marry her. The fact is, she was rather low +family; not so very low, you know, but not so good as mine. Well, I +wanted to go to Boston to work at my trade, but she wouldn't go; and +I went, but she would n't come to me, so in two or three years I came +back. A man can't help himself, you know, when he gets in with a +woman, especially a Frenchwoman. Things did n't go very well, and +never have. I can't make much out of it, but I reckon a man 's got +to live his life. Ain't that about so?" + +"Perhaps so. But you'd better try to mend matters when you get out. +Won't it seem rather good to get out and see your wife and family +again?" + +"I don't know. I have peace here." + +The question of his liberty seemed rather to depress this cheerful +and vivacious philosopher, and I wondered what the woman could be +from whose companionship the man chose to be protected by jail-bolts. +I asked the landlord about her, and his reply was descriptive and +sufficient. He only said, + +"She's a yelper." + +Besides the church and the jail there are no public institutions in +Baddeck to see on Sunday, or on any other day; but it has very good +schools, and the examination-papers of Maud and her elder sister +would do credit to Boston scholars even. You would not say that the +place was stuffed with books, or overrun by lecturers, but it is an +orderly, Sabbath-keeping, fairly intelligent town. Book-agents visit +it with other commercial travelers, but the flood of knowledge, which +is said to be the beginning of sorrow, is hardly turned in that +direction yet. I heard of a feeble lecture-course in Halifax, +supplied by local celebrities, some of them from St. John; but so far +as I can see, this is a virgin field for the platform philosophers +under whose instructions we have become the well-informed people we +are. + +The peaceful jail and the somewhat tiresome church exhaust one's +opportunities for doing good in Baddeck on Sunday. There seemed to +be no idlers about, to reprove; the occasional lounger on the +skeleton wharves was in his Sunday clothes, and therefore within the +statute. No one, probably, would have thought of rowing out beyond +the island to fish for cod,--although, as that fish is ready to bite, +and his associations are more or less sacred, there might be excuses +for angling for him on Sunday, when it would be wicked to throw a +line for another sort of fish. My earliest recollections are of the +codfish on the meeting-house spires in New England,--his sacred tail +pointing the way the wind went. I did not know then why this emblem +should be placed upon a house of worship, any more than I knew why +codfish-balls appeared always upon the Sunday breakfast-table. But +these associations invested this plebeian fish with something of a +religious character, which he has never quite lost, in my mind. + +Having attributed the quiet of Baddeck on Sunday to religion, we did +not know to what to lay the quiet on Monday. But its peacefulness +continued. I have no doubt that the farmers began to farm, and the +traders to trade, and the sailors to sail; but the tourist felt that +he had come into a place of rest. The promise of the red sky the +evening before was fulfilled in another royal day. There was an +inspiration in the air that one looks for rather in the mountains +than on the sea-coast; it seemed like some new and gentle compound of +sea-air and land-air, which was the perfection of breathing material. +In this atmosphere, which seemed to flow over all these Atlantic +isles at this season, one endures a great deal of exertion with +little fatigue; or he is content to sit still, and has no feeling of +sluggishness. Mere living is a kind of happiness, and the easy-going +traveler is satisfied with little to do and less to see, Let the +reader not understand that we are recommending him to go to Baddeck. +Far from it. The reader was never yet advised to go to any place, +which he did not growl about if he took the advice and went there. +If he discovers it himself, the case is different. We know too well +what would happen. A shoal of travelers would pour down upon Cape +Breton, taking with them their dyspepsia, their liver-complaints, +their "lights" derangements, their discontent, their guns and +fishing-tackle, their big trunks, their desire for rapid travel, +their enthusiasm about the Gaelic language, their love for nature; +and they would very likely declare that there was nothing in it. And +the traveler would probably be right, so far as he is concerned. +There are few whom it would pay to go a thousand miles for the sake +of sitting on the dock at Baddeck when the sun goes down, and +watching the purple lights on the islands and the distant hills, the +red flush in the horizon and on the lake, and the creeping on of gray +twilight. You can see all that as well elsewhere? I am not so sure. +There is a harmony of beauty about the Bras d'Or at Baddeck which is +lacking in many scenes of more pretension. No. We advise no person +to go to Cape Breton. But if any one does go, he need not lack +occupation. If he is there late in the fall or early in the winter, +he may hunt, with good luck, if he is able to hit anything with a +rifle, the moose and the caribou on that long wilderness peninsula +between Baddeck and Aspy Bay, where the old cable landed. He may +also have his fill of salmon fishing in June and July, especially on +the Matjorie River. As late as August, at the time, of our visit, a +hundred people were camped in tents on the Marjorie, wiling the +salmon with the delusive fly, and leading him to death with a hook in +his nose. The speckled trout lives in all the streams, and can be +caught whenever he will bite. The day we went for him appeared to be +an off-day, a sort of holiday with him. + +There is one place, however, which the traveler must not fail to +visit. That is St. Ann's Bay. He will go light of baggage, for he +must hire a farmer to carry him from the Bras d'Or to the branch of +St. Ann's harbor, and a part of his journey will be in a row-boat. +There is no ride on the continent, of the kind, so full of +picturesque beauty and constant surprises as this around the +indentations of St. Ann's harbor. From the high promontory where +rests the fishing village of St. Ann, the traveler will cross to +English Town. High bluffs, bold shores, exquisite sea-views, +mountainous ranges, delicious air, the society of a member of the +Dominion Parliament, these are some of the things to be enjoyed at +this place. In point of grandeur and beauty it surpasses Mt. Desert, +and is really the most attractive place on the whole line of the +Atlantic Cable. If the traveler has any sentiment in him, he will +visit here, not without emotion, the grave of the Nova Scotia Giant, +who recently laid his huge frame along this, his native shore. A man +of gigantic height and awful breadth of shoulders, with a hand as big +as a shovel, there was nothing mean or little in his soul. While the +visitor is gazing at his vast shoes, which now can be used only as +sledges, he will be told that the Giant was greatly respected by his +neighbors as a man of ability and simple integrity. He was not +spoiled by his metropolitan successes, bringing home from his foreign +triumphs the same quiet and friendly demeanor he took away; he is +almost the only example of a successful public man, who did not feel +bigger than he was. He performed his duty in life without +ostentation, and returned to the home he loved unspoiled by the +flattery of constant public curiosity. He knew, having tried both, +how much better it is to be good than to be great. I should like to +have known him. I should like to know how the world looked to him +from his altitude. I should like to know how much food it took at +one time to make an impression on him; I should like to know what +effect an idea of ordinary size had in his capacious head. I should +like to feel that thrill of physical delight he must have experienced +in merely closing his hand over something. It is a pity that he +could not have been educated all through, beginning at a high school, +and ending in a university. There was a field for the multifarious +new education! If we could have annexed him with his island, I +should like to have seen him in the Senate of the United States. He +would have made foreign nations respect that body, and fear his +lightest remark like a declaration of war. And he would have been at +home in that body of great men. Alas! he has passed away, leaving +little influence except a good example of growth, and a grave which +is a new promontory on that ragged coast swept by the winds of the +untamed Atlantic. + +I could describe the Bay of St. Ann more minutely and graphically, if +it were desirable to do so; but I trust that enough has been said to +make the traveler wish to go there. I more unreservedly urge him to +go there, because we did not go, and we should feel no responsibility +for his liking or disliking. He will go upon the recommendation of +two gentlemen of taste and travel whom we met at Baddeck, residents +of Maine and familiar with most of the odd and striking combinations +of land and water in coast scenery. When a Maine man admits that +there is any place finer than Mt. Desert, it is worth making a note +of. + +On Monday we went a-fishing. Davie hitched to a rattling wagon +something that he called a horse, a small, rough animal with a great +deal of "go" in him, if he could be coaxed to show it. For the first +half-hour he went mostly in a circle in front of the inn, moving +indifferently backwards or forwards, perfectly willing to go down the +road, but refusing to start along the bay in the direction of Middle +River. Of course a crowd collected to give advice and make remarks, +and women appeared at the doors and windows of adjacent houses. +Davie said he did n't care anything about the conduct of the horse,-- +he could start him after a while,--but he did n't like to have all +the town looking at him, especially the girls; and besides, such an +exhibition affected the market value of the horse. We sat in the +wagon circling round and round, sometimes in the ditch and sometimes +out of it, and Davie "whaled" the horse with his whip and abused him +with his tongue. It was a pleasant day, and the spectators +increased. + +There are two ways of managing a balky horse. My companion knew one +of them and I the other. His method is to sit quietly in the wagon, +and at short intervals throw a small pebble at the horse. The theory +is that these repeated sudden annoyances will operate on a horse's +mind, and he will try to escape them by going on. The spectators +supplied my friend with stones, and he pelted the horse with measured +gentleness. Probably the horse understood this method, for he did +not notice the attack at all. My plan was to speak gently to the +horse, requesting him to go, and then to follow the refusal by one +sudden, sharp cut of the lash; to wait a moment, and then repeat the +operation. The dread of the coming lash after the gentle word will +start any horse. I tried this, and with a certain success. The +horse backed us into the ditch, and would probably have backed +himself into the wagon, if I had continued. When the animal was at +length ready to go, Davie took him by the bridle, ran by his side, +coaxed him into a gallop, and then, leaping in behind, lashed him +into a run, which had little respite for ten miles, uphill or down. +Remonstrance on behalf of the horse was in vain, and it was only on +the return home that this specimen Cape Breton driver began to +reflect how he could erase the welts from the horse's back before his +father saw them. + +Our way lay along the charming bay of the Bras d'Or, over the +sprawling bridge of the Big Baddeck, a black, sedgy, lonesome stream, +to Middle River, which debouches out of a scraggy country into a +bayou with ragged shores, about which the Indians have encampments, +and in which are the skeleton stakes of fish-weirs. Saturday night +we had seen trout jumping in the still water above the bridge. We +followed the stream up two or three miles to a Gaelic settlement of +farmers. The river here flows through lovely meadows, sandy, +fertile, and sheltered by hills,--a green Eden, one of the few +peaceful inhabited spots in the world. I could conceive of no news +coming to these Highlanders later than the defeat of the Pretender. +Turning from the road, through a lane and crossing a shallow brook, +we reached the dwelling of one of the original McGregors, or at least +as good as an original. Mr. McGregor is a fiery-haired Scotchman and +brother, cordial and hospitable, who entertained our wayward horse, +and freely advised us where the trout on his farm were most likely to +be found at this season of the year. + +It would be a great pleasure to speak well of Mr. McGregor's +residence, but truth is older than Scotchmen, and the reader looks to +us for truth and not flattery. Though the McGregor seems to have a +good farm, his house is little better than a shanty, a rather +cheerless place for the "woman" to slave away her uneventful life +in, and bring up her scantily clothed and semi-wild flock of +children. And yet I suppose there must be happiness in it,--there +always is where there are plenty of children, and milk enough for +them. A white-haired boy who lacked adequate trousers, small though +he was, was brought forward by his mother to describe a trout he had +recently caught, which was nearly as long as the boy himself. The +young Gael's invention was rewarded by a present of real fish-hooks. +We found here in this rude cabin the hospitality that exists in all +remote regions where travelers are few. Mrs. McGregor had none of +that reluctance, which women feel in all more civilized agricultural +regions, to "break a pan of milk," and Mr. McGregor even pressed us +to partake freely of that simple drink. And he refused to take any +pay for it, in a sort of surprise that such a simple act of +hospitality should have any commercial value. But travelers +themselves destroy one of their chief pleasures. No doubt we planted +the notion in the McGregor mind that the small kindnesses of life may +be made profitable, by offering to pay for the milk; and probably the +next travelers in that Eden will succeed in leaving some small change +there, if they use a little tact. + +It was late in the season for trout. Perhaps the McGregor was aware +of that when he freely gave us the run of the stream in his meadows, +and pointed out the pools where we should be sure of good luck. It +was a charming August day, just the day that trout enjoy lying in +cool, deep places, and moving their fins in quiet content, +indifferent to the skimming fly or to the proffered sport of rod and +reel. The Middle River gracefully winds through this Vale of Tempe, +over a sandy bottom, sometimes sparkling in shallows, and then gently +reposing in the broad bends of the grassy banks. It was in one of +these bends, where the stream swirled around in seductive eddies, +that we tried our skill. We heroically waded the stream and threw +our flies from the highest bank; but neither in the black water nor +in the sandy shallows could any trout be coaxed to spring to the +deceitful leaders. We enjoyed the distinction of being the only +persons who had ever failed to strike trout in that pool, and this +was something. The meadows were sweet with the newly cut grass, the +wind softly blew down the river, large white clouds sailed high +overhead and cast shadows on the changing water; but to all these +gentle influences the fish were insensible, and sulked in their cool +retreats. At length in a small brook flowing into the Middle River +we found the trout more sociable; and it is lucky that we did so, for +I should with reluctance stain these pages with a fiction; and yet +the public would have just reason to resent a fish-story without any +fish in it. Under a bank, in a pool crossed by a log and shaded by a +tree, we found a drove of the speckled beauties at home, dozens of +them a foot long, each moving lazily a little, their black backs +relieved by their colored fins. They must have seen us, but at first +they showed no desire for a closer acquaintance. To the red ibis and +the white miller and the brown hackle and the gray fly they were +alike indifferent. Perhaps the love for made flies is an artificial +taste and has to be cultivated. These at any rate were uncivilized +-trout, and it was only when we took the advice of the young McGregor +and baited our hooks with the angleworm, that the fish joined in our +day's sport. They could not resist the lively wiggle of the worm +before their very noses, and we lifted them out one after an other, +gently, and very much as if we were hooking them out of a barrel, +until we had a handsome string. It may have been fun for them but it +was not much sport for us. All the small ones the young McGregor +contemptuously threw back into the water. The sportsman will perhaps +learn from this incident that there are plenty of trout in Cape +Breton in August, but that the fishing is not exhilarating. + +The next morning the semi-weekly steamboat from Sydney came into the +bay, and drew all the male inhabitants of Baddeck down to the wharf; +and the two travelers, reluctant to leave the hospitable inn, and the +peaceful jail, and the double-barreled church, and all the loveliness +of this reposeful place, prepared to depart. The most conspicuous +person on the steamboat was a thin man, whose extraordinary height +was made more striking by his very long-waisted black coat and his +very short pantaloons. He was so tall that he had a little +difficulty in keeping his balance, and his hat was set upon the back +of his head to preserve his equilibrium. He had arrived at that +stage when people affected as he was are oratorical, and overflowing +with information and good-nature. With what might in strict art be +called an excess of expletives, he explained that he was a civil +engineer, that he had lost his rubber coat, that he was a great +traveler in the Provinces, and he seemed to find a humorous +satisfaction in reiterating the fact of his familiarity with Painsec +junction. It evidently hovered in the misty horizon of his mind as a +joke, and he contrived to present it to his audience in that light. +>From the deck of the steamboat he addressed the town, and then, to +the relief of the passengers, he decided to go ashore. When the boat +drew away on her voyage we left him swaying perilously near the edge +of the wharf, good-naturedly resenting the grasp of his coat-tail by +a friend, addressing us upon the topics of the day, and wishing us +prosperity and the Fourth of July. His was the only effort in the +nature of a public lecture that we heard in the Provinces, and we +could not judge of his ability without hearing a "course." + +Perhaps it needed this slight disturbance, and the contrast of this +hazy mind with the serene clarity of the day, to put us into the most +complete enjoyment of our voyage. Certainly, as we glided out upon +the summer waters and began to get the graceful outlines of the +widening shores, it seemed as if we had taken passage to the +Fortunate Islands. + + + + +V + +"One town, one country, is very like another; ...... there are indeed +minute discriminations both of places and manners, which, perhaps, +are not wanting of curiosity, but which a traveller seldom stays long +enough to investigate and compare."--DR. JOHNSON. + +There was no prospect of any excitement or of any adventure on the +steamboat from Baddeck to West Bay, the southern point of the Bras +d'Or. Judging from the appearance of the boat, the dinner might have +been an experiment, but we ran no risks. It was enough to sit on +deck forward of the wheel-house, and absorb, by all the senses, the +delicious day. With such weather perpetual and such scenery always +present, sin in this world would soon become an impossibility. Even +towards the passengers from Sydney, with their imitation English ways +and little insular gossip, one could have only charity and the most +kindly feeling. + +The most electric American, heir of all the nervous diseases of all +the ages, could not but find peace in this scene of tranquil beauty, +and sail on into a great and deepening contentment. Would the voyage +could last for an age, with the same sparkling but tranquil sea, and +the same environment of hills, near and remote! The hills approached +and fell away in lines of undulating grace, draped with a tender +color which helped to carry the imagination beyond the earth. At +this point the narrative needs to flow into verse, but my comrade did +not feel like another attempt at poetry so soon after that on the Gut +of Canso. A man cannot always be keyed up to the pitch of +production, though his emotions may be highly creditable to him. But +poetry-making in these days is a good deal like the use of profane +language,--often without the least provocation. + +Twelve miles from Baddeck we passed through the Barra Strait, or the +Grand Narrows, a picturesque feature in the Bras d'Or, and came into +its widest expanse. At the Narrows is a small settlement with a +flag-staff and a hotel, and roads leading to farmhouses on the hills. +Here is a Catholic chapel; and on shore a fat padre was waiting in +his wagon for the inevitable priest we always set ashore at such a +place. The missionary we landed was the young father from Arichat, +and in appearance the pleasing historical Jesuit. Slender is too +corpulent a word to describe his thinness, and his stature was +primeval. Enveloped in a black coat, the skirts of which reached his +heels, and surmounted by a black hat with an enormous brim, he had +the form of an elegant toadstool. The traveler is always grateful +for such figures, and is not disposed to quarrel with the faith which +preserves so much of the ugly picturesque. A peaceful farming +country this, but an unremunerative field, one would say, for the +colporteur and the book-agent; and winter must inclose it in a +lonesome seclusion. + +The only other thing of note the Bras d'Or offered us before we +reached West Bay was the finest show of medusm or jelly-fish that +could be produced. At first there were dozens of these disk-shaped, +transparent creatures, and then hundreds, starring the water like +marguerites sprinkled on a meadow, and of sizes from that of a teacup +to a dinner-plate. We soon ran into a school of them, a convention, +a herd as extensive as the vast buffalo droves on the plains, a +collection as thick as clover-blossoms in a field in June, miles of +them, apparently; and at length the boat had to push its way through +a mass of them which covered the water like the leaves of the +pondlily, and filled the deeps far down with their beautiful +contracting and expanding forms. I did not suppose there were so +many jelly-fishes in all the world. What a repast they would have +made for the Atlantic whale we did not see, and what inward comfort +it would have given him to have swum through them once or twice with +open mouth! Our delight in this wondrous spectacle did not prevent +this generous wish for the gratification of the whale. It is +probably a natural human desire to see big corporations swallow up +little ones. + +At the West Bay landing, where there is nothing whatever attractive, +we found a great concourse of country wagons and clamorous drivers, +to transport the passengers over the rough and uninteresting nine +miles to Port Hawkesbury. Competition makes the fare low, but +nothing makes the ride entertaining. The only settlement passed +through has the promising name of River Inhabitants, but we could see +little river and less inhabitants; country and people seem to belong +to that commonplace order out of which the traveler can extract +nothing amusing, instructive, or disagreeable; and it was a great +relief when we came over the last hill and looked down upon the +straggling village of Port Hawkesbury and the winding Gut of Canso. + +One cannot but feel a respect for this historical strait, on account +of the protection it once gave our British ancestors. Smollett makes +a certain Captain C---- tell this anecdote of George II. and his +enlightened minister, the Duke of Newcastle: "In the beginning of the +war this poor, half-witted creature told me, in a great fright, that +thirty thousand French had marched from Acadie to Cape Breton. +'Where did they find transports?' said I. 'Transports!' cried he; 'I +tell you, they marched by land.' By land to the island of Cape +Breton?' 'What! is Cape Breton an island?' 'Certainly.' 'Ha! are +you sure of that?' When I pointed it out on the map, he examined it +earnestly with his spectacles; then taking me in his arms, 'My dear +C----!' cried he, you always bring us good news. I'll go directly +and tell the king that Cape Breton is an island.'" + +Port Hawkesbury is not a modern settlement, and its public house is +one of the irregular, old-fashioned, stuffy taverns, with low rooms, +chintz-covered lounges, and fat-cushioned rocking-chairs, the decay +and untidiness of which are not offensive to the traveler. It has a +low back porch looking towards the water and over a mouldy garden, +damp and unseemly. Time was, no doubt, before the rush of travel +rubbed off the bloom of its ancient hospitality and set a vigilant +man at the door of the dining-room to collect pay for meals, that +this was an abode of comfort and the resort of merry-making and +frolicsome provincials. On this now decaying porch no doubt lovers +sat in the moonlight, and vowed by the Gut of Canso to be fond of +each other forever. The traveler cannot help it if he comes upon the +traces of such sentiment. There lingered yet in the house an air of +the hospitable old time; the swift willingness of the waiting-maids +at table, who were eager that we should miss none of the home-made +dishes, spoke of it; and as we were not obliged to stay in the hotel +and lodge in its six-by-four bedrooms, we could afford to make a +little romance about its history. + +While we were at supper the steamboat arrived from Pictou. We +hastened on board, impatient for progress on our homeward journey. +But haste was not called for. The steamboat would not sail on her +return till morning. No one could tell why. It was not on account +of freight to take in or discharge; it was not in hope of more +passengers, for they were all on board. But if the boat had returned +that night to Pictou, some of the passengers might have left her and +gone west by rail, instead of wasting two, or three days lounging +through Northumberland Sound and idling in the harbors of Prince +Edward Island. If the steamboat would leave at midnight, we could +catch the railway train at Pictou. Probably the officials were aware +of this, and they preferred to have our company to Shediac. We +mention this so that the tourist who comes this way may learn to +possess his soul in patience, and know that steamboats are not run +for his accommodation, but to give him repose and to familiarize him +with the country. It is almost impossible to give the unscientific +reader an idea of the slowness of travel by steamboat in these +regions. Let him first fix his mind on the fact that the earth moves +through space at a speed of more than sixty-six thousand miles an +hour. This is a speed eleven hundred times greater than that of the +most rapid express trains. If the distance traversed by a locomotive +in an hour is represented by one tenth of an inch, it would need a +line nine feet long to indicate the corresponding advance of the +earth in the same time. But a tortoise, pursuing his ordinary gait +without a wager, moves eleven hundred times slower than an express +train. We have here a basis of comparison with the provincial +steamboats. If we had seen a tortoise start that night from Port +Hawkesbury for the west, we should have desired to send letters by +him. + +In the early morning we stole out of the romantic strait, and by +breakfast-time we were over St. George's Bay and round his cape, and +making for the harbor of Pictou. During the forenoon something in +the nature of an excursion developed itself on the steamboat, but it +had so few of the bustling features of an American excursion that I +thought it might be a pilgrimage. Yet it doubtless was a highly +developed provincial lark. For a certain portion of the passengers +had the unmistakable excursion air: the half-jocular manner towards +each other, the local facetiousness which is so offensive to +uninterested fellow-travelers, that male obsequiousness about ladies' +shawls and reticules, the clumsy pretense of gallantry with each +other's wives, the anxiety about the company luggage and the company +health. It became painfully evident presently that it was an +excursion, for we heard singing of that concerted and determined kind +that depresses the spirits of all except those who join in it. The +excursion had assembled on the lee guards out of the wind, and was +enjoying itself in an abandon of serious musical enthusiasm. We +feared at first that there might be some levity in this performance, +and that the unrestrained spirit of the excursion was working itself +off in social and convivial songs. But it was not so. The singers +were provided with hymn-and-tune books, and what they sang they +rendered in long meter and with a most doleful earnestness. It is +agreeable to the traveler to see that the provincials disport +themselves within bounds, and that an hilarious spree here does not +differ much in its exercises from a prayer-meeting elsewhere. But +the excursion enjoyed its staid dissipation amazingly. + +It is pleasant to sail into the long and broad harbor of Pictou on a +sunny day. On the left is the Halifax railway terminus, and three +rivers flow into the harbor from the south. On the right the town of +Pictou, with its four thousand inhabitants, lies upon the side of the +ridge that runs out towards the Sound. The most conspicuous building +in it as we approach is the Roman Catholic church; advanced to the +edge of the town and occupying the highest ground, it appears large, +and its gilt cross is a beacon miles away. Its builders understood +the value of a striking situation, a dominant position; it is a part +of the universal policy of this church to secure the commanding +places for its houses of worship. We may have had no prejudices in +favor of the Papal temporality when we landed at Pictou, but this +church was the only one which impressed us, and the only one we took +the trouble to visit. We had ample time, for the steamboat after its +arduous trip needed rest, and remained some hours in the harbor. +Pictou is said to be a thriving place, and its streets have a cindery +appearance, betokening the nearness of coal mines and the presence of +furnaces. But the town has rather a cheap and rusty look. Its +streets rise one above another on the hillside, and, except a few +comfortable cottages, we saw no evidences of wealth in the dwellings. +The church, when we reached it, was a commonplace brick structure, +with a raw, unfinished interior, and weedy and untidy surroundings, +so that our expectation of sitting on the inviting hill and enjoying +the view was not realized; and we were obliged to descend to the hot +wharf and wait for the ferry-boat to take us to the steamboat which +lay at the railway terminus opposite. It is the most unfair thing in +the world for the traveler, without an object or any interest in the +development of the country, on a sleepy day in August, to express any +opinion whatever about such a town as Pictou. But we may say of it, +without offence, that it occupies a charming situation, and may have +an interesting future; and that a person on a short acquaintance can +leave it without regret. + +By stopping here we had the misfortune to lose our excursion, a loss +that was soothed by no know ledge of its destination or hope of +seeing it again, and a loss without a hope is nearly always painful. +Going out of the harbor we encounter Pictou Island and Light, and +presently see the low coast of Prince Edward Island,--a coast +indented and agreeable to those idly sailing along it, in weather +that seemed let down out of heaven and over a sea that sparkled but +still slept in a summer quiet. When fate puts a man in such a +position and relieves him of all responsibility, with a book and a +good comrade, and liberty to make sarcastic remarks upon his fellow- +travelers, or to doze, or to look over the tranquil sea, he may be +pronounced happy. And I believe that my companion, except in the +matter of the comrade, was happy. But I could not resist a worrying +anxiety about the future of the British Provinces, which not even the +remembrance of their hostility to us during our mortal strife with +the Rebellion could render agreeable. For I could not but feel that +the ostentatious and unconcealable prosperity of "the States" over- +shadows this part of the continent. And it was for once in vain that +I said, "Have we not a common land and a common literature, and no +copyright, and a common pride in Shakespeare and Hannah More and +Colonel Newcome and Pepys's Diary?" I never knew this sort of +consolation to fail before; it does not seem to answer in the +Provinces as well as it does in England. + +New passengers had come on board at Pictou, new and hungry, and not +all could get seats for dinner at the first table. Notwithstanding +the supposed traditionary advantage of our birthplace, we were unable +to dispatch this meal with the celerity of our fellow-voyagers, and +consequently, while we lingered over our tea, we found ourselves at +the second table. And we were rewarded by one of those pleasing +sights that go to make up the entertainment of travel. There sat +down opposite to us a fat man whose noble proportions occupied at the +board the space of three ordinary men. His great face beamed delight +the moment he came near the table. He had a low forehead and a wide +mouth and small eyes, and an internal capacity that was a prophecy of +famine to his fellow-men. But a more good-natured, pleased animal +you may never see. Seating himself with unrepressed joy, he looked +at us, and a great smile of satisfaction came over his face, that +plainly said, "Now my time has come." Every part of his vast bulk +said this. Most generously, by his friendly glances, he made us +partners in his pleasure. With a Napoleonic grasp of his situation, +he reached far and near, hauling this and that dish of fragments +towards his plate, giving orders at the same time, and throwing into +his cheerful mouth odd pieces of bread and pickles in an unstudied +and preliminary manner. When he had secured everything within his +reach, he heaped his plate and began an attack upon the contents, +using both knife and fork with wonderful proficiency. The man's +good-humor was contagious, and he did not regard our amusement as +different in kind from his enjoyment. The spectacle was worth a +journey to see. Indeed, its aspect of comicality almost overcame its +grossness, and even when the hero loaded in faster than he could +swallow, and was obliged to drop his knife for an instant to arrange +matters in his mouth with his finger, it was done with such a beaming +smile that a pig would not take offense at it. The performance was +not the merely vulgar thing it seems on paper, but an achievement +unique and perfect, which one is not likely to see more than once in +a lifetime. It was only when the man left the table that his face +became serious. We had seen him at his best. + +Prince Edward Island, as we approached it, had a pleasing aspect, and +nothing of that remote friendlessness which its appearance on the map +conveys to one; a warm and sandy land, in a genial climate, without +fogs, we are informed. In the winter it has ice communication with +Nova Scotia, from Cape Traverse to Cape Tormentine,--the route of the +submarine cable. The island is as flat from end to end as a floor. +When it surrendered its independent government and joined the +Dominion, one of the conditions of the union was that the government +should build a railway the whole length of it. This is in process of +construction, and the portion that is built affords great +satisfaction to the islanders, a railway being one of the necessary +adjuncts of civilization; but that there was great need of it, or +that it would pay, we were unable to learn. + +We sailed through Hillsborough Bay and a narrow strait to +Charlottetown, the capital, which lies on a sandy spit of land +between two rivers. Our leisurely steamboat tied up here in the +afternoon and spent the night, giving the passengers an opportunity +to make thorough acquaintance with the town. It has the appearance +of a place from which something has departed; a wooden town, with +wide and vacant streets, and the air of waiting for something. +Almost melancholy is the aspect of its freestone colonial building, +where once the colonial legislature held its momentous sessions, and +the colonial governor shed the delightful aroma of royalty. The +mansion of the governor--now vacant of pomp, because that official +does not exist--is a little withdrawn from the town, secluded among +trees by the water-side. It is dignified with a winding approach, +but is itself only a cheap and decaying house. On our way to it we +passed the drill-shed of the local cavalry, which we mistook for a +skating-rink, and thereby excited the contempt of an old lady of whom +we inquired. Tasteful residences we did not find, nor that attention +to flowers and gardens which the mild climate would suggest. Indeed, +we should describe Charlottetown as a place where the hollyhock in +the dooryard is considered an ornament. A conspicuous building is a +large market-house shingled all over (as many of the public buildings +are), and this and other cheap public edifices stand in the midst of +a large square, which is surrounded by shabby shops for the most +part. The town is laid out on a generous scale, and it is to be +regretted that we could not have seen it when it enjoyed the glory of +a governor and court and ministers of state, and all the +paraphernalia of a royal parliament. That the productive island, +with its system of free schools, is about to enter upon a prosperous +career, and that Charlottetown is soon to become a place of great +activity, no one who converses with the natives can doubt; and I +think that even now no traveler will regret spending an hour or two +there; but it is necessary to say that the rosy inducements to +tourists to spend the summer there exist only in the guide-books. + +We congratulated ourselves that we should at least have a night of +delightful sleep on the steamboat in the quiet of this secluded +harbor. But it was wisely ordered otherwise, to the end that we +should improve our time by an interesting study of human nature. +Towards midnight, when the occupants of all the state-rooms were +supposed to be in profound slumber, there was an invasion of the +small cabin by a large and loquacious family, who had been making an +excursion on the island railway. This family might remind an +antiquated novel-reader of the delightful Brangtons in "Evelina;" +they had all the vivacity of the pleasant cousins of the heroine of +that story, and the same generosity towards the public in regard to +their family affairs. Before they had been in the cabin an hour, we +felt as if we knew every one of them. There was a great squabble as +to where and how they should sleep; and when this was over, the +revelations of the nature of their beds and their peculiar habits of +sleep continued to pierce the thin deal partitions of the adjoining +state-rooms. When all the possible trivialities of vacant minds +seemed to have been exhausted, there followed a half-hour of +"Goodnight, pa; good-night, ma;" "Goodnight, pet;" and "Are you +asleep, ma?" "No." "Are you asleep, pa?" "No; go to sleep, pet." +"I'm going. Good-night, pa; good-night, ma." "Goodnight, pet." +"This bed is too short." "Why don't you take the other?" "I'm all +fixed now." "Well, go to sleep; good-night." "Good-night, ma; +goodnight, pa,"--no answer. "Good-night,pa." "Goodnight, pet." +"Ma, are you asleep?" "Most." "This bed is all lumps; I wish I'd +gone downstairs." "Well, pa will get up." "Pa, are you asleep?" +"Yes." "It's better now; good-night, pa." "Goodnight, pet." +"Good-night, ma." "Good-night, pet." And so on in an exasperating +repetition, until every passenger on the boat must have been +thoroughly informed of the manner in which this interesting family +habitually settled itself to repose. + +Half an hour passes with only a languid exchange of family feeling, +and then: "Pa?" "Well, pet." "Don't call us in the morning; we +don't want any breakfast; we want to sleep." "I won't." "Goodnight, +pa; goodnight, ma. Ma?" "What is it, dear?" "Good-night, ma." +"Good-night, pet." Alas for youthful expectations! Pet shared her +stateroom with a young companion, and the two were carrying on a +private dialogue during this public performance. Did these young +ladies, after keeping all the passengers of the boat awake till near +the summer dawn, imagine that it was in the power of pa and ma to +insure them the coveted forenoon slumber, or even the morning snooze? +The travelers, tossing in their state-room under this domestic +infliction, anticipated the morning with grim satisfaction; for they +had a presentiment that it would be impossible for them to arise and +make their toilet without waking up every one in their part of the +boat, and aggravating them to such an extent that they would stay +awake. And so it turned out. The family grumbling at the unexpected +disturbance was sweeter to the travelers than all the exchange of +family affection during the night. + +No one, indeed, ought to sleep beyond breakfast-time while sailing +along the southern coast of Prince Edward Island. It was a sparkling +morning. When we went on deck we were abreast Cape Traverse; the +faint outline of Nova Scotia was marked on the horizon, and New +Brunswick thrust out Cape Tomentine to greet us. On the still, sunny +coasts and the placid sea, and in the serene, smiling sky, there was +no sign of the coming tempest which was then raging from Hatteras to +Cape Cod; nor could one imagine that this peaceful scene would, a few +days later, be swept by a fearful tornado, which should raze to the +ground trees and dwelling-houses, and strew all these now inviting +shores with wrecked ships and drowning sailors,--a storm which has +passed into literature in "The Lord's-Day Gale" of Mr Stedman. + +Through this delicious weather why should the steamboat hasten, in +order to discharge its passengers into the sweeping unrest of +continental travel? Our eagerness to get on, indeed, almost melted +away, and we were scarcely impatient at all when the boat lounged +into Halifax Bay, past Salutation Point and stopped at Summerside. +This little seaport is intended to be attractive, and it would give +these travelers great pleasure to describe it, if they could at all +remember how it looks. But it is a place that, like some faces, +makes no sort of impression on the memory. We went ashore there, and +tried to take an interest in the ship-building, and in the little +oysters which the harbor yields; but whether we did take an interest +or not has passed out of memory. A small, unpicturesque, wooden +town, in the languor of a provincial summer; why should we pretend an +interest in it which we did not feel? It did not disturb our +reposeful frame of mind, nor much interfere with our enjoyment of the +day. + +On the forward deck, when we were under way again, amid a group +reading and nodding in the sunshine, we found a pretty girl with a +companion and a gentleman, whom we knew by intuition as the "pa" of +the pretty girl and of our night of anguish. The pa might have been +a clergyman in a small way, or the proprietor of a female boarding- +school; at any rate, an excellent and improving person to travel +with, whose willingness to impart information made even the travelers +long for a pa. It was no part of his plan of this family summer +excursion, upon which he had come against his wish, to have any hour +of it wasted in idleness. He held an open volume in his hand, and +was questioning his daughter on its contents. He spoke in a loud +voice, and without heeding the timidity of the young lady, who shrank +from this public examination, and begged her father not to continue +it. The parent was, however, either proud of his daughter's +acquirements, or he thought it a good opportunity to shame her out of +her ignorance. Doubtless, we said, he is instructing her upon the +geography of the region we are passing through, its early settlement, +the romantic incidents of its history when French and English fought +over it, and so is making this a tour of profit as well as pleasure. +But the excellent and pottering father proved to be no disciple of +the new education. Greece was his theme and he got his questions, +and his answers too, from the ancient school history in his hand. +The lesson went on: + +"Who was Alcibiades? + +"A Greek." + +"Yes. When did he flourish?" + +"I can't think." + +"Can't think? What was he noted for?" + +"I don't remember." + +"Don't remember? I don't believe you studied this." + +"Yes, I did." + +"Well, take it now, and study it hard, and then I'll hear you again." + +The young girl, who is put to shame by this open persecution, begins +to study, while the peevish and small tyrant, her pa, is nagging her +with such soothing remarks as, "I thought you'd have more respect for +your pride;" "Why don't you try to come up to the expectations of +your teacher?" By and by the student thinks she has "got it," and +the public exposition begins again. The date at which Alcibiades +"flourished" was ascertained, but what he was "noted for" got +hopelessly mixed with what Thernistocles was "noted for." The +momentary impression that the battle of Marathon was fought by +Salamis was soon dissipated, and the questions continued. + +"What did Pericles do to the Greeks?" + +"I don't know." + +"Elevated 'em, did n't he? Did n't he elevate Pem?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Always remember that; you want to fix your mind on leading things. +Remember that Pericles elevated the Greeks. Who was Pericles? + +"He was a"-- + +"Was he a philosopher?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"No, he was n't. Socrates was a philosopher. When did he flourish? +And so on, and so on. + +O my charming young countrywomen, let us never forget that Pericles +elevated the Greeks; and that he did it by cultivating the national +genius, the national spirit, by stimulating art and oratory and the +pursuit of learning, and infusing into all society a higher +intellectual and social life! Pa was this day sailing through seas +and by shores that had witnessed some of the most stirring and +romantic events in the early history of our continent. He might have +had the eager attention of his bright daughter if he had unfolded +these things to her in the midst of this most living landscape, and +given her an "object lesson" that she would not have forgotten all +her days, instead of this pottering over names and dates that were as +dry and meaningless to him as they were uninteresting to his +daughter. At least, O Pa, Educator of Youth, if you are insensible +to the beauty of these summer isles and indifferent to their history, +and your soul is wedded to ancient learning, why do you not teach +your family to go to sleep when they go to bed, as the classic Greeks +used to? + +Before the travelers reached Shediac, they had leisure to ruminate +upon the education of American girls in the schools set apart for +them, and to conjecture how much they are taught of the geography and +history of America, or of its social and literary growth; and +whether, when they travel on a summer tour like this, these coasts +have any historical light upon them, or gain any interest from the +daring and chivalric adventurers who played their parts here so long +ago. We did not hear pa ask when Madame de la Tour "flourished," +though "flourish" that determined woman did, in Boston as well as in +the French provinces. In the present woman revival, may we not hope +that the heroic women of our colonial history will have the +prominence that is their right, and that woman's achievements will +assume their proper place in affairs? When women write history, some +of our popular men heroes will, we trust, be made to acknowledge the +female sources of their wisdom and their courage. But at present +women do not much affect history, and they are more indifferent to +the careers of the noted of their own sex than men are. + +We expected to approach Shediac with a great deal of interest. It +had been, when we started, one of the most prominent points in our +projected tour. It was the pivot upon which, so to speak, we +expected to swing around the Provinces. Upon the map it was so +attractive, that we once resolved to go no farther than there. It +once seemed to us that, if we ever reached it, we should be contented +to abide there, in a place so remote, in a port so picturesque and +foreign. But returning from the real east, our late interest in +Shediac seemed unaccountable to us. Firmly resolved as I was to note +our entrance into the harbor, I could not keep the place in mind; and +while we were in our state-room and before we knew it, the steamboat +Jay at the wharf. Shediac appeared to be nothing but a wharf with a +railway train on it, and a few shanty buildings, a part of them +devoted to the sale of whiskey and to cheap lodgings. This landing, +however, is called Point du Chene, and the village of Shediac is two +or three miles distant from it; we had a pleasant glimpse of it from +the car windows, and saw nothing in its situation to hinder its +growth. The country about it is perfectly level, and stripped of its +forests. At Painsec Junction we waited for the train from Halifax, +and immediately found ourselves in the whirl of intercolonial travel. +Why people should travel here, or why they should be excited about +it, we could not see; we could not overcome a feeling of the +unreality of the whole thing; but yet we humbly knew that we had no +right to be otherwise than awed by the extraordinary intercolonial +railway enterprise and by the new life which it is infusing into the +Provinces. We are free to say, however, that nothing can be less +interesting than the line of this road until it strikes the +Kennebeckasis River, when the traveler will be called upon to admire +the Sussex Valley and a very fair farming region, which he would like +to praise if it were not for exciting the jealousy of the "Garden of +Nova Scotia." The whole land is in fact a garden, but differing +somewhat from the Isle of Wight. + +In all travel, however, people are more interesting than land, and so +it was at this time. As twilight shut down upon the valley of the +Kennebeckasis, we heard the strident voice of pa going on with the +Grecian catechism. Pa was unmoved by the beauties of Sussex or by +the colors of the sunset, which for the moment made picturesque the +scraggy evergreens on the horizon. His eyes were with his heart, and +that was in Sparta. Above the roar of the car-wheels we heard his +nagging inquiries. + +"What did Lycurgus do then?" + +Answer not audible. + +"No. He made laws. Who did he make laws for?" + +"For the Greeks." + +"He made laws for the Lacedemonians. Who was another great +lawgiver?" + +"It was--it was--Pericles." + +"No, it was n't. It was Solon. Who was Solon?" + +"Solon was one of the wise men of Greece." + +"That's right. When did he flourish?" + +When the train stops at a station the classics continue, and the +studious group attracts the attention of the passengers. Pa is well +pleased, but not so the young lady, who beseechingly says, + +"Pa, everybody can hear us." + +"You would n't care how much they heard, if you knew it," replies +this accomplished devotee of learning. + +In another lull of the car-wheels we find that pa has skipped over to +Marathon; and this time it is the daughter who is asking a question. + +"Pa, what is a phalanx?" + +"Well, a phalanx--it's a--it's difficult to define a phalanx. It's a +stretch of men in one line,--a stretch of anything in a line. When +did Alexander flourish?" + +This domestic tyrant had this in common with the rest of us, that he +was much better at asking questions than at answering them. It +certainly was not our fault that we were listeners to his instructive +struggles with ancient history, nor that we heard his petulant +complaining to his cowed family, whom he accused of dragging him away +on this summer trip. We are only grateful to him, for a more +entertaining person the traveler does not often see. It was with +regret that we lost sight of him at St. John. + +Night has settled upon New Brunswick and upon ancient Greece before +we reach the Kennebeckasis Bay, and we only see from the car windows +dimly a pleasant and fertile country, and the peaceful homes of +thrifty people. While we are running along the valley and coming +under the shadow of the hill whereon St. John sits, with a regal +outlook upon a most variegated coast and upon the rising and falling +of the great tides of Fundy, we feel a twinge of conscience at the +injustice the passing traveler must perforce do any land he hurries +over and does not study. Here is picturesque St. John, with its +couple of centuries of history and tradition, its commerce, its +enterprise felt all along the coast and through the settlements of +the territory to the northeast, with its no doubt charming society +and solid English culture; and the summer tourist, in an idle mood +regarding it for a day, says it is naught! Behold what "travels" +amount to! Are they not for the most part the records of the +misapprehensions of the misinformed? Let us congratulate ourselves +that in this flight through the Provinces we have not attempted to do +any justice to them, geologically, economically, or historically, +only trying to catch some of the salient points of the panorama as it +unrolled itself. Will Halifax rise up in judgment against us? We +look back upon it with softened memory, and already see it again in +the light of history. It stands, indeed, overlooking a gate of the +ocean, in a beautiful morning light; and we can hear now the +repetition of that profane phrase, used for the misdirection of +wayward mortals,---"Go to Halifax!" without a shudder. + +We confess to some regret that our journey is so near its end. +Perhaps it is the sentimental regret with which one always leaves the +east, for we have been a thousand miles nearer Ireland than Boston +is. Collecting in the mind the detached pictures given to our eyes +in all these brilliant and inspiring days, we realize afresh the +variety, the extent, the richness of these northeastern lands which +the Gulf Stream pets and tempers. If it were not for attracting +speculators, we should delight to speak of the beds of coal, the +quarries of marble, the mines of gold. Look on the map and follow +the shores of these peninsulas and islands, the bays, the penetrating +arms of the sea, the harbors filled with islands, the protected +straits and sounds. All this is favorable to the highest commercial +activity and enterprise. Greece itself and its islands are not more +indented and inviting. Fish swarm about the shores and in all the +streams. There are, I have no doubt, great forests which we did not +see from the car windows, the inhabitants of which do not show +themselves to the travelers at the railway-stations. In the +dining-room of a friend, who goes away every autumn into the wilds of +Nova Scotia at the season when the snow falls, hang trophies- +-enormous branching antlers of the caribou, and heads of the mighty +moose--which I am assured came from there; and I have no reason to +doubt that the noble creatures who once carried these superb horns +were murdered by my friend at long range. Many people have an +insatiate longing to kill, once in their life, a moose, and would +travel far and endure great hardships to gratify this ambition. In +the present state of the world it is more difficult to do it than it +is to be written down as one who loves his fellow-men. + +We received everywhere in the Provinces courtesy and kindness, which +were not based upon any expectation that we would invest in mines or +railways, for the people are honest, kindly, and hearty by nature. +What they will become when the railways are completed that are to +bind St. John to Quebec, and make Nova Scotia, Cape Breton, and +Newfoundland only stepping-stones to Europe, we cannot say. Probably +they will become like the rest of the world, and furnish no material +for the kindly persiflage of the traveler. + +Regretting that we could see no more of St. John, that we could +scarcely see our way through its dimly lighted streets, we found the +ferry to Carleton, and a sleeping-car for Bangor. It was in the +heart of the negro porter to cause us alarm by the intelligence that +the customs officer would, search our baggage during the night. A +search is a blow to one's self-respect, especially if one has +anything dutiable. But as the porter might be an agent of our +government in disguise, we preserved an appearance of philosophical +indifference in his presence. It takes a sharp observer to tell +innocence from assurance. During the night, awaking, I saw a great +light. A man, crawling along the aisle of the car, and poking under +the seats, had found my traveling-bag and was "going through" it. + +I felt a thrill of pride as I recognized in this crouching figure an +officer of our government, and knew that I was in my native land. + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext of BADDECK AND THAT SORT OF THING +by Charles Dudley Warner. + diff --git a/old/cwbdk11.zip b/old/cwbdk11.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..7f50a51 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/cwbdk11.zip |