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+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #50780 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/50780)
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature,
-Science, and Art, No. 723, by Various
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world 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.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. 723
-       November 3, 1877
-
-Author: Various
-
-Editor: William Chambers
-        Robert Chambers
-
-Release Date: December 28, 2015 [EBook #50780]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBER'S JOURNAL ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL
-
-OF
-
-POPULAR
-
-LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.
-
-FOURTH SERIES
-
-CONDUCTED BY WILLIAM AND ROBERT CHAMBERS.
-
-NO. 723.      SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1877.      PRICE 1½_d._]
-
-
-
-
-THE GAELIC NUISANCE.
-
-
-It is not a very creditable fact that after centuries of national
-consolidation, there should be communities within the British Islands
-who use different vernacular tongues and are ignorant of English. In
-other words, there are large numbers of persons who cannot in ordinary
-circumstances be directly communicated with. They can neither send
-nor intelligibly receive letters through the post-office. Summoned as
-witnesses on civil or criminal trials, they are in the position of
-foreigners, and stand in need of interpreters. Cut off from English
-books and newspapers, a correct knowledge of history, of science and
-art, and of passing events is scarcely possible. They necessarily
-vegetate amidst vague legends and superstitions. Theirs is a life of
-stagnation and impoverishment, in the spot where they were born; for
-anything like voluntary emigration to improve circumstances is only
-exceptional. And all this has been complacently tolerated, if not
-pampered, for hundreds of years by a nation full of enterprise, and
-which, with no injustice, aspires to be in the front rank of general
-civilisation.
-
-We are quite aware that much the same thing can be said of most of
-the continental nations. All are a little behind in this respect. The
-ancient Breton language survives in France, as does the Basque in
-Spain. Switzerland, Germany, and Russia are respectively a jumble of
-spoken tongues. In Holland and Belgium, we have the Dutch, French,
-Flemish, and Walloon. To accommodate the inhabitants of Brussels, the
-names of the streets are stuck up in two languages. These continental
-diversities do not greatly surprise us. In frequent wars, revolutions,
-conquests, annexations, along with want of means, and a host of
-inveterate prejudices to be encountered, we have an explanation of
-the strange mixture of languages and dialects which still prevails in
-continental Europe.
-
-The case is somewhat different in the United Kingdom, where everything
-but old prejudices would seem to favour a uniform native language
-which all can use and understand. Yet, as we have said, there exist
-communities who are still less or more ignorant of English. Centuries
-have rolled on, and notwithstanding all appliances, groups of people
-are yet found speaking a language which was common a thousand years
-ago, but now occupies an obscure and fragmentary position. We do not
-say that matters have not been advancing towards uniformity. Little
-by little, outlying communities have been satisfactorily Anglicised,
-not by anything like legal compulsion, but by what might be termed a
-natural process of assimilation. We may speak of two important cases.
-In the Shetland and Orkney Islands the Norwegian language existed
-until within the last two centuries. It is now totally gone, and the
-vernacular is a pure English; vastly to the advantage of the natives,
-who besides being open to common civilising influences, are prepared
-for pushing their fortunes in any part of the British dominions;
-some of them indeed making no mean figure in current literature. The
-other case is that of Galloway, a district embracing two counties in
-the south-west of Scotland, where the Gaelic prevailed longest in
-any part of the Lowlands. 'The wild Scots of Galloway' was once a
-well-known phrase. It has passed away along with the Gaelic speech.
-The Gallowegians--abounding in men of genius--are now a lively and
-prosperous English-speaking and English-writing people. For them the
-change has been a very happy one.
-
-With a knowledge of these two instances of social improvement, there
-is the more reason to regret the protracted existence of non-English
-speaking races. No one will say that any good has come of the continued
-prevalence of Erse, the old Irish tongue; nor of Manx in the Isle of
-Man; nor of Welsh, though that, as regards literature, is considerably
-ahead of any branch of the once universal Celtic tongue. Considering
-what spirit is demonstrated in the way of books, newspapers, and
-otherwise, Welsh rises to a comparatively prominent position; but there
-always remains the unpleasant reflection, that interesting as the
-Welsh tongue may be, it distinctly mars national unity, and must be a
-drawback on those adhering to it alone, and reared in ignorance of
-English. To this cause is doubtless attributable the lingering of many
-whimsical superstitions in the Principality.
-
-Should any one desire to see what mischiefs are effected by adherence
-to a language long since out of date, he should visit some parts of the
-Highlands and the Western Islands of Scotland, where, by a well-meant
-but mistaken policy, Gaelic is still perseveringly maintained. Some
-years since, it was our fortune to pay a visit to Barra, one of the
-Outer Hebrides; and the feeling which rose in our mind was that what we
-beheld was a specimen of Scotland as it existed in the sixth century,
-when St Columba spread a knowledge of Christianity in the western
-Caledonian regions. We seemed to step back twelve hundred years. It
-was a marvellous kind of look into antiquity. In their language, in
-their rude dwellings of stone and turf, in their religious forms, and
-in their dress, the people belonged to a far-back age. Their existence
-was an anachronism. And the curious thing was to find this condition of
-affairs within four-and-twenty hours of Glasgow, with its enterprise
-and prodigiously busy population. We have seen the Micmacs living in
-a way little better than dogs in the wilds of Nova Scotia, but one is
-not greatly astonished to see Indians dwelling in a state of primitive
-wretchedness. The sentiment of wonder is raised on finding natives
-within the British Islands still living as their ancestors did at a
-time coeval with Vortigern and the Saxon Heptarchy. There they are, for
-anything we can see, unimprovable. Speaking Gaelic and nothing else,
-they, in their dismal isolation, are left behind in all ordinary means
-of advancement. Who has not heard of the institutions plausibly and
-benevolently set on foot to enlighten the aborigines of the Highlands
-and Islands? Well, here, after all that is done, things are much as
-they were in the era of St Columba--people living almost like savages,
-without the ability to hold intercourse with strangers, or the power
-to improve their circumstances, in consequence of knowing no other
-tongue than Gaelic. That language is their bane. It keeps them poor, it
-keeps them ignorant. So far as they are concerned, the art of printing
-might as well never have been invented. The intelligence communicated
-by books and newspapers is for them wholly unavailing. Practically,
-they are living hundreds of years before the ingenious discoveries of
-Gutenberg and Coster. To think that with all the costly apparatus of
-national education, such should be going on within the compass of the
-British Islands!
-
-It is no use to mince a matter so grave in its results. The upholding
-of Gaelic as a vernacular tongue is, in our opinion, an error to be
-lamented and abandoned. In saying so, we are reminded that an effort
-has been made by an eminently enthusiastic Professor to gather funds
-for the purpose of endowing a Celtic Chair in the University of
-Edinburgh. To that effort, which is likely to prove successful, we make
-no special objection. Let Celtic, like any other ancient language, by
-all means be cultivated among the higher aims of philology. Students
-who like to pursue learned inquiries of this kind may do so. But it is
-a wholly different thing to maintain a system of elementary teaching
-in schools which tends to perpetuate Gaelic as a spoken tongue to the
-exclusion of English. Apart from social intercommunication, there may
-be a difficulty in substituting English for Gaelic. Teaching to read
-English alone in Gaelic-speaking districts is said to be of little use.
-The pupils learn to pronounce the words without attaching any meaning
-to them. Impressed with this awkward consequence, the Society for the
-support of Gaelic schools, which has been in existence upwards of
-seventy years, suggests that the best way to promote a knowledge of and
-taste for English is to begin by teaching pupils to read Gaelic. 'The
-people,' it is represented, 'having once got a taste for learning, are
-not satisfied with their children being able to read Gaelic; a number
-of them pay the teacher for instructing them also in reading English
-and writing at extra hours.' There may be some truth in this view of
-the matter; but unfortunately we are confronted with the greater truth,
-that considerable numbers in the Highlands and Islands still speak
-Gaelic, and are ignorant of English to any useful purpose.
-
-If it be absolutely necessary that schoolmasters must begin by teaching
-to read the Gaelic, they ought not to end there, but proceed to
-offer, by a close translation, the requisite knowledge of English.
-There are surely teachers qualified to make Gaelic-speaking children
-understand the meaning of English words. The trouble to be taken
-may be considerable, but there are few things either great or good
-which can be effected without trouble. We cannot doubt that Highland
-school-boards might find a way to make pupils understand English
-provided they have the will to do so. Indifference and the grudging
-of expense perhaps lie quite as much at the root of the difficulty as
-traditional prejudice. It is open to conjecture that, but for undue
-fostering, Gaelic would stand a fair chance of disappearing altogether
-from the Highlands and Islands, as it did in Galloway and elsewhere
-simply through the operation of natural causes.
-
-The question, Gaelic or no Gaelic, has, we fear, been too long treated
-in a sentimental point of view. For example, we see it fervently
-argued that Highlanders should be able to understand and relish the
-ancient Gaelic poetry, as if an acquaintanceship with a few old songs
-and ballads were a primary concern in life. Poor people nailed to
-a sterile soil by their hereditary ignorance of English, are to be
-congratulated for their knowledge of some poem which the world at large
-never heard of, and does not care about! Happy people, to whom food,
-clothing, and cultured intelligence are as nothing in comparison to the
-enviable pleasure of singing a ditty ascribed to Fingal or some more
-modern and less apocryphal Celtic bard! It is gratifying to know that
-Highlanders themselves are a little scandalised by these and similarly
-absurd propositions. Sensibly, they observe that it is time to get
-rid of Gaelic, as being entirely out of date, and only an impediment.
-Two years ago, in a Glasgow newspaper, one who subscribed himself a
-'Western Highlander,' took exception to the unreasonable clamour that
-had been got up for the maintenance of Gaelic as a spoken tongue. He
-says very rationally: 'We Highlanders have a language that, whatever
-its beauties, suffices merely for speech; a language by which we
-cannot acquire knowledge in art, science, history, commerce, or--if we
-exclude the Bible--even religion. With a poor and infertile soil, we
-live alongside a people rich in every gift of nature, possessing every
-advantage that can insure worldly prosperity. We are debarred from all
-the stores of wisdom locked up in the English language. Thus heavily
-weighted, we cannot hope to rival our neighbours' wealth, but we can
-wish and strive to make the best of our opportunities. We intend to win
-our way if industry and thrift can do it. We can endeavour to improve
-our infertile soil, to attract capital to our agriculture, to establish
-better communication with the rest of the world. Proud as we are of the
-mountain and the glen, we know that we cannot live by scenic beauty
-alone. We are tired too of kilted glory, and of dressing and acting
-up to Cockney sentiment about the savage Celt. We wish to recognise
-and study the conditions of existence, the methods of supporting life
-and securing comfort. And to do all this, if our much-loved language
-has become an impediment rather than a gain, why, let it go. We shall
-remain good Highlanders regardless of any particular mode of speech.
-At a time when the first whisperings of prosperity are beginning to
-reach us, when steamers deeper and deeper laden ply to every corner of
-the west, when the completion of a railway will soon make Oban a great
-commercial centre, when comforts hitherto undreamt of are everywhere
-obtainable--is it right at such a time of promise to intensify our
-disadvantages and to make our backwardness more backward still?' Shrewd
-remarks these, well worth taking to heart.
-
-It cannot be ascertained from any official Reports what is the exact
-number of persons--men, women, and children--whose language is wholly
-confined to Gaelic. In the second Report of the Education Commission
-published in 1867, it is said to be 'probable that the population of
-the parishes within which Gaelic continues to be the only language
-which is understood by the majority of the people cannot exceed a
-hundred and fifty thousand; these being chiefly the parishes of the
-Hebrides, which are wholly insular, and the mainland parishes of the
-west coast of the counties of Sutherland, Ross, Inverness, and Argyle.'
-It is believed that since 1867, the number whose speech is limited
-to Gaelic has diminished through various influences, among which
-commercial intercourse by means of steam-vessels and otherwise has
-been conspicuous. We should almost aver that Hutcheson's magnificent
-fleet of steam-vessels, whether devoted to the carrying of goods or
-passengers, had done more to introduce a knowledge of English, along
-with conditions of prosperity, into the Hebrides than any other
-appliance whatsoever. In the remoter or lesser islands which are little
-visited by strangers, there is a corresponding backwardness. Barra we
-have already spoken of as still in a singularly primitive condition. At
-Coll, Tyree, and some other islands, the knowledge of English is also
-unhappily deficient. In comparatively recent times, a great change in
-proprietorship has come over these islands. The old families--such as
-the Macneils and Macleans--have mostly disappeared, and new landlords
-with the means and desire to improve the condition of the soil and the
-population, find themselves obstructed by the difficulty of holding
-any intelligent intercourse with the natives. The disadvantage is
-mutual, for on all hands the Gaelic-speaking inhabitants are unable
-to make their wants and feelings known to those who wish to be their
-friends. A melancholy case of a rigid adherence to Gaelic, is that of
-the extremely remote island of St Kilda. Here, as was described a few
-months ago by Mr J. Sands in our pages, the natives speak Gaelic and
-nothing else; in Gaelic they are preached to by a minister originally
-from the mainland; he and his wife being the only individuals who know
-English. Of course the natives can hold no epistolary correspondence
-with the exterior world, on whose sympathy they are forced to rely. A
-present of English books would be valueless, for they could not read
-them. They could not emigrate unless accompanied by an interpreter,
-much after the manner of a party of travellers in the East under the
-guidance of a dragoman. We ask, Is that a position in which any of Her
-Majesty's subjects should continue to be placed through the effect of
-custom or prejudice? Such an afflicting condition of affairs is little
-better than a national disgrace.
-
-It is hard to run counter to long-cherished and in the main amiable
-feelings. It is hard to find fault with persons and institutions whose
-motives in encouraging Gaelic have been alike pious and benevolent.
-But circumstances oblige us to be candid in a matter so momentous to
-public welfare. The Gaelic language may be as copious and energetic as
-the Greek; it may be not less suitable for poetry than the Italian; it
-has strong archæological claims as a relic of the tongue which in its
-various forms was at one time spoken all over the British Islands, if
-not over all Europe; but it has survived its usefulness, and is out
-of place as a vernacular. In short, looking to the wants of modern
-society, and seeing the mischief it produces, we are--however hateful
-the term--warranted in characterising Gaelic as a NUISANCE, which every
-one should aid in removing with all reasonable speed.
-
-    W. C.
-
-
-
-
-FROM DAWN TO SUNSET.
-
-BY 'ALASTER GRÆME.'
-
-
-IN THREE PARTS.--PART II.
-
-
-CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH.
-
-No one but Mistress Margaret and Marjory knew that Deborah and Kingston
-Fleming were betrothed. Meantime Deborah, with her love-secret folded
-like a flower within her heart, devoted herself to her father, and
-Kingston remained with them. But Deborah's presence was required at
-Lincoln; the tenantry were anxious to welcome the new mistress; and
-like a dutiful daughter, fondly hoping that the change would restore
-her father, she determined, by Kingston's advice, to go there at once,
-and to leave Enderby to undergo thorough repair. So they left the dear
-old place. 'What will happen,' thought Deborah Fleming, 'ere I see
-Enderby again?' Mistress Margaret would not leave Enderby, for certain
-private and sufficient reasons of her own; so she pleaded to be left
-behind. She was in daily expectation of receiving a secret summons to
-follow her husband, and her heart clung to her old father and the old
-place.
-
-They arrived at Lincoln Castle in the late summer gloaming. Groups of
-solemn cedars were just visible, and the little melancholy bats were
-flitting round like spirits; the grand old ivied keep loomed darkly
-before them; and beyond, under a glimmering archway, were lights and
-figures. Deborah shuddered; she knew not whether to weep or pray, as
-she laid her head on her father's shoulder, and thought of herself
-entering in triumph as Adam Sinclair's bride. She felt a traitor,
-taking Kingston there, her lover, her betrothed, even though he was
-going away that night; and the grim presence of Adam Sinclair pervaded
-all the place. The same in the gorgeous rooms, gloomy though full of
-brilliant lights. On one side walked her tall kinsman-lover, and on the
-other stalked the spectre of Adam Sinclair. Deborah shivered, and clung
-to Kingston's arm. She went out with him under the stars to bid him
-good-bye. Two tall cedars met overhead, and the night-wind just sighed
-amongst their branches; the night-flowers were exhaling their fragrant
-odours.
-
-'Deb,' whispered Kingston, 'I have half a mind to leave thee, love!
-Men of rank and position would flock to woo my beautiful one. Thou'rt
-very young. Wait; and let me come and know thy mind hereafter. _Wait_,
-Deb. I speak no jest. Wert thou poor, I would make thee wed me now; but
-love--as thou art--I cannot. Wait, Deb; and I will exact no promise
-from thee.'
-
-'Thou never didst know me, King, and never will! My love was quick to
-come, but it was and ever will be changeless. Dear, I have seen many
-men; and more than thou wott'st of have made love to me. But what are
-they all to thee? From childhood, _thou_ hast been my love; I feel no
-shame to tell it thee. And wilt thou, for my poor fortune, leave me?
-Why, thou dost tempt me to fling it all away as dross, rather than lose
-thy love. King, if thou leavest me, I shall _die_! For old kin's sake,
-thou couldst not! Remember that we are kin near and dear! Thy father
-and mine were boys at Enderby, and played in the same old haunts;
-companions near and dear. Ah well, King as thou lovest me, promise soon
-to come back!'
-
-He took her face between his hands and hesitated. Perilously dear was
-she to him; but oh! that golden casket in which his jewel lay--he hated
-it! Kingston Fleming was proud where he loved.
-
-'If thou wilt not promise,' said Deborah, 'thou shalt not go! _I_ shall
-do the wooing!--Oh, I am too bold! But my heart saith thou lovest me.
-Then fling this pride away. King, darling, do not break my heart!'
-
-He was vanquished. Vows, caresses, sighs, and the lovers parted.
-
-
-PART III.--NIGHT.
-
-
-CHAPTER THE FIRST.
-
-The young and beautiful Lady of Lincoln won all hearts; not that she
-visited any but the poor in those days; but the fame of her beauty and
-sweetness spread abroad even so; and the 'Rose of Enderby,' though
-not to be seen, was known to be brightening the stern old castle. The
-tall gaunt father and the beautiful girl lived in utter seclusion,
-except when amongst the poor--always together. Strangely enough, he
-never tried to wander. She never had him left alone day or night; but
-he never seemed happy save with Deborah. And still she watched for
-and prayed for a change in him. She talked to him, waited on him,
-sang to him from morning till night. Out in the broad sunny court that
-lay between the door and the entrance-gates, Deborah and her father,
-and often old Marjory with them, would sit and look up the long grass
-avenue that stretched far away, a vista of giant trees, ever twilight,
-where the antlered deer would trot past, to seek fresh shade and
-pasturage, and where the far-away murmur of country life, the lowing
-of cows, the tinkle of a sheep-bell, the bark of a dog, the shout
-of a boy, or the cries of children at play, would be wafted to them
-musically.
-
-One morning, left alone, Sir Vincent said to his child: 'Where are we,
-Deb?'
-
-Often he had asked the same question before; and she answered as
-before: 'At Lincoln Castle, father.'
-
-But he went on: 'Who lives here?'
-
-'You and I, father, and I hope Charlie soon. Adam Sinclair gave us this
-place. Wasn't it good of him?'
-
-'Adam Sinclair?' He looked bewildered, and shook his head. 'I know
-naught of him, Deb. Deb, little Deb, I was thinking of Kate Shaw. I saw
-her yesterday.'
-
-'Who was she, father, dear?'
-
-He stared at her. 'Why, your mother!'
-
-Her heart fluttered. 'My mother! And did you see her yesterday?'
-
-'Ay; she was walking under the trees yonder. But she looked ill, sadly
-ill; her hair was as white as mine. She gave me such a look!'
-
-Deborah went and kneeled by her father, and put her arms around him.
-'Poor sweet father! This could not be. Thou knowest my mother died
-long, long ago. And was her name Kate Shaw, father?'
-
-'Ay;' and he smiled. Wrapt and intent, his eyes seemed gazing far
-through and away. 'She was Kate Shaw, Deb; a gipsy lass, and beautiful
-as the dawn. No one like her! Such eyes, such feet, such grace! Sweet
-Kate! sweet Kate!'
-
-Deborah knew that her mother's name had been Kate. She marvelled,
-trembled.
-
-'I walked with her yesterday, Deb; didn't I? Yes; under the trees at
-Enderby; and I found she loved me. Little witch! She was hard, hard to
-win; so coy, so whimsical! She had a gipsy lover too. I made short work
-of _him_.'
-
-'Didst shoot him, father?'
-
-Sir Vincent laughed aloud, then feigned to look greatly scandalised
-amid his mirth. 'Shoot him? Fie, fie, Deb! Ask me not what I did,
-child. Why, one day she cared for him, the next for me. I could not
-stand it. A Fleming too! The Flemings woo maidens honourably. 'Fore
-heaven, I made Kate my Lady Fleming--my sweet little wife Kate! But I
-let her go no more to the camp. Sometimes I think she pines. She talks
-sometimes about her mother, in her dreams--that old hag! My wife must
-give up all, and cleave to me. Kate, Kate! dear love!' Then he said no
-more, nor did Deborah; but she marvelled at what she had heard, and
-what could have recalled her mother so vividly.
-
-It happened one afternoon a few days after this and their arrival at
-Lincoln, Dame Marjory entered with a pale face. 'My Lady Deb, there's
-a poor woman round there at the gates wantin' to see thee; she is very
-ill. She lies there; 'tis like she's dyin'; so Master Coleman thinks.
-She can't be moved away.'
-
-'I will come,' cried Deborah. 'Send Coleman to father. I will speak to
-her.' Beautiful, pitiful, Deborah appeared in her long black robes to
-the vision of the dying woman, bending down to her. She was an old, old
-woman, with wild and wintry hair; death in her face, but life in her
-great burning eyes, and those were fixed on Deborah. Deborah started
-back. It was _the_ gipsy! A hundred doubts and certainties rushed
-surging to her brain. The gipsy beckoned her nearer.
-
-'Speak to her,' whispered old Marjory emphatically. 'Go nearer.' And
-then Marjory, standing by gaunt and grim, waved the other servants away.
-
-Deborah kneeled and bent her ear to the dying woman's lips. 'Girl,'
-said the faint voice, 'I forgive and forget! Let me die like a woman,
-not like a dog. I am thy mother's mother, an' I have been round day an'
-night to seek thee. _She_ cast me off--Kate Shaw, thy mother. Because
-she was my Lady Fleming, she forgot her old mother. I was the dirt
-under her feet. Thy servants turned me off, Mistress. But take me into
-your grand house an' let me die in peace.'
-
-Deborah rose to her feet, and turned like a ghost on Marjory. 'Nurse,'
-she whispered, 'is this my grandmother?'
-
-'Yes, Mistress Deborah; it is true.'
-
-Then Deborah beckoned to the men, and bid them bear the dying woman in
-and lay her on a bed. And then Deborah, with Marjory on the other side,
-sat down beside her. She seemed almost gone; the breath came labouring.
-But the breeze that swept in at the open windows seemed to revive her.
-It blew on the long white locks straggling across the brow; on those
-glazing eyes, so dark, sunken, piteous--eyes that burned up again, and
-sought Deborah's face as the embers of a dying fire flicker up and
-throw into the room an unexpected light.
-
-'My girl,' she said, 'if Kate had been like _thee_! Hark! I hated, an'
-yet I always loved thee! _Thou'dst_ ne'er ha' treated me like a dog.
-An', ah me! I loved her like my soul!'
-
-'Grandmother,' answered Deborah sweetly and with a clear utterance,
-that pierced to the dying ears, 'my mother loved you. Only the other
-day I heard that great as she was, she never forgot you, even in her
-dreams. Day and night she thought of you; but her promise to her
-husband kept her from you, though she pined to see you once again.
-Oh, be merciful then! Forgive her! You are going now to meet again. O
-forgive her! that God may let ye meet in heaven!'
-
-The great eyes stirred not from Deborah's face. 'Shall I win to
-heaven, lass? Speak to me o' heaven.' And Deborah described to her
-that beautiful place, that land glorious with promise and with bliss,
-that 'eye hath not seen, nor heart of man conceived.' The dying gipsy
-listened with her soul in her eyes. Then said she, very faintly:
-'I am goin'. O Jesus, let me come! O Kate--my Kate!' Then, with
-wonderful sudden life and fire: 'Hi! you, my lass! Where's the boy? the
-rogue--"wild Charlie" they called him. Where's _he_?'
-
-'In Ireland. Gone to fight for the Irish, grandmother.'
-
-She laughed exultantly. 'Why, I tell thee why--_his mother_ was Irish,
-an' he knew it. Mad boy, mad boy!'
-
-Deborah laid her white hand on the old brown trembling hand, and
-smiled. She watched to see again and again a strange look of Charlie
-in that faded face and those large and wistful eyes. A great new-born
-love was flooding Deborah's heart for the dying vagrant. But death was
-taking the wanderer away. 'O Jesus, let me come!' Deborah heard her say
-again.
-
-The fire died out; the flame sank low; the embers of life just
-smouldered, nothing more.... The fresh wind blew in vain on the wild
-gipsy face. She was gone.
-
-Scarcely had Katharine Shaw been laid in her grave when Sir Vincent
-Fleming became very ill--so ill, that Deborah despatched a letter
-post-haste to Mistress Margaret Fleming, begging her to make known the
-fact to Charlie at once. But Mistress Fleming had started for Dublin;
-and this is how it befell. One morning a letter came to her. She often
-received such; but this one had cost her a laugh and a cry of joy. Just
-as she was in the perusal, old Jordan entered, and stared in wonderment
-at the glorious happiness of her face. 'Why, my maid,' he said, 'what
-hast got there? It's naught but paper, is it?'
-
-'No, dad; but something writ upon it. Father,' she said, and rose and
-slid the beautiful arm around his neck, 'haven't I been a good daughter
-to thee? Proud and pursed up with mine own conceit, the lads o' the
-village have always called me. But, father, "Mistress Dinnage" has been
-a good daughter unto thee?'
-
-'Ay, ay, lass, thou hast! What wouldst be comin' at? What ails thee
-now, Mistress?'
-
-'Why, I come to ask thy blessing on me. Don't look scared, father; no
-shame will ever fall on thee through Mistress Dinnage. But I will out
-with it, for I can never beat about the bush. Father, I am Charles
-Fleming's lawful wife!'
-
-Jordan seized his child by the shoulders, and his old grotesque visage
-grew dignified and terribly stern in its earnestness as he almost
-shrieked: 'Not--not unbeknown to the Master--an' Mistress Deborah?'
-
-'Unbeknown that we are wedded, but not that we love, father. Mistress
-Deborah has known and wished it long; and Sir Vincent--he has seen us
-twice together, father, when we were walking secretly, an' has smiled
-on us. Mistress Deborah has heard him say a hundred times that he would
-fain, if he had wealth, have for his daughter-in-law an "honest poor
-man's child." So father, dear father, ye must not be angered.'
-
-'Child, child! thou'st done wrong in keepin' it hid. Married?
-What--_married_? Honestly?'
-
-'Ay,' was the proud answer. 'Charles Fleming and Margaret Dinnage went
-to Daxford Church, and were wed; we came out man and wife. Ask Master
-Rawdon. Father, he's in Ireland; but it's kept secret from all but
-Mistress Deborah. He's gone soldiering, father; and in this letter he
-asks me to go. Father, I am his wife!'
-
-'Ay, an' _Jordan's daughter_, Meg,' said the old man brokenly. 'I'm
-a'most dazed. And thou'rt goin' to leave the old man alone--alone!'
-
-'Only for a little time, father--a little, little time; for soon
-Charlie, when all the trouble's over, will come home to Enderby. It's
-all arranged between Lady Deb and me. A fine home-comin' it'll be, an'
-it please thee, Master Dinnage! Father, I won't go for long, dear. But
-o' nights, thinkin' o' Charlie, I well nigh go distraught. There is
-danger, father, as thou know'st! Hundreds o' men are slain. I must be
-_there_. I must go, dear; but I won't be long.'
-
-'Go, go!' muttered Jordan irefully. 'Thou'dst allus the bit atween thy
-teeth, Mistress Dinnage; so had thy poor dear mother. Go along! I've
-no need o' thee; yon brave young fellow hath. Thou'lt be killed next,
-girl, killed, ay, an' wus than killed, at the hands o' the wild Irish.
-But, go, go! I don't want thee here.'
-
-Anger, pride, and sorrow struggled fiercely in the brave old heart;
-but 'Mistress Dinnage' knew how to take him. 'Father,' she said,
-sorrowfully regarding him, with her head slightly on one side, and her
-hands playing nervously with her apron, in her earnest pleading, 'if
-thou wert newly wed, an' so parted from mother by land an' sea--an' she
-in trouble, needin' thee sore--thou'dst wade through fire an' water,
-only to win to _her_. My heart is broke in twain 'tween thee both--one
-half is at home with thee, an' the other gone to Charlie. Though I
-don't speak or cry, my heart is wounded with every man that's killed,
-an' trouble wears me sore. Think of mother, my father! Think when thou
-wert first wed, what it would be for one to part thee--think o' it, an'
-bid me go!'
-
-So Mistress Margaret won the day.
-
-
-
-
-OUR INDIAN PETS.
-
-
-Among the many, many good things swept from India by the great Mutiny
-storm was the time-honoured order of Griffs--that is, officers under a
-year's service in the country. Every regiment owned one or two members,
-and in large stations they were usually to be found by the half-dozen.
-They were generally the life of the station, and in every way were
-our _prime_ pets. What would Mrs General and Mrs Brigadier have done
-without their griffs to patronise and make use of in various ways,
-such as filling up sudden vacancies at their dinner-tables, or helping
-to fill their ball-rooms? Griffs invariably started Indian life with
-the three animals which are also included in the list of 'our Indian
-pets'--namely the horse or his humble representative the pony, the dog,
-and the monkey. No griff considered his establishment complete without
-these three animals; there would be a general uniformity among the
-monkeys; but a collection of griff horses, ponies, and dogs formed a
-rare aggregation of screws and curs of all sorts, sizes, and colours.
-
-There is a peculiar charm about Indian life which is rarely seen
-at home, and that is the compactness and domesticity of each
-establishment. In each household the master, and if he is married,
-his wife and children, is in direct contact with his servants and his
-animals; all are housed near him; and the daily morning stroll leads
-him from the stables to the farm-yard, then to the garden, and so
-home by the tree beneath which the monkey is chained, the dogs being
-in close attendance. The horses are brought up to be fed under their
-master's eye, and generally receive a crust of bread, a biscuit, or a
-chupátee (an unleavened wheaten cake like a pancake; the 'unleavened
-bread' of Scripture) from his or his wife's hands; the dogs have the
-free run of the house, and at their stated hours have their meals
-under some one's eyes; while the farm-yard is under the direct charge
-of the mistress, who fusses about among the cows, looks after the eggs
-and chickens, and makes over the victims selected for the table. Then
-on the march we are in still closer contact with our servants and
-animals; for a few steps only separate us from all. Emerging from the
-tent, a few paces to the rear bring us to the cook's tent, and behind
-or beside it is that belonging to the servants. Behind them are our
-horses and dogs, the latter generally tied up during the day and loose
-at night.
-
-So it happens that in cantonments, and more especially on the march,
-we are virtually monarchs of all we survey; and I well remember that
-in the pleasant days of my griffinage, on the occasion of my first
-march, I felt quite patriarchal as I sat in the tent-door with all my
-earthly belongings around me; the bearer (valet) and the other servants
-attending to their various duties, my dear Caboolee horse Tom dozing in
-the sunshine, my faithful setter Belle lying at my feet, and my monkeys
-Jacko and Moony busy with their own affairs.
-
-And now to 'our Indian pets;' and I purpose passing some of mine
-in pleasant review; but in doing so I shall not record anything
-remarkable, or what any kind observer of animals and their habits
-cannot fully indorse.
-
-One of my first purchases was a horse we called Tom, a gray,
-thoroughbred, thick-necked, and sturdy Caboolee, for whom I paid
-ninety rupees (nine pounds); and right valuable did he turn out. I
-bought him in 1854, rode him from one end of the presidency to the
-other, through the Mutiny, and up to 1866, when I pensioned him. In
-1869 he was attacked by black cancer, and at length I was sorrowfully
-obliged to put an end to his existence, to save him from a cruel,
-lingering death. There was nothing about him externally different
-from other thoroughbred Caboolees; but being made a great pet of,
-his mental abilities shone more remarkably, especially under daily
-observation. For instance, he had a strong sense of the comic. If I
-spoke to him when mounted, he would turn his head as much as he could
-and look at me; or he would take a cake or bit of sugar-cane out of
-my stretched-out hand, and munch it as he went along; or if I tickled
-one ear with my cane, he would unmistakably present the other ear to
-be similarly treated. He was a great thief, and I had great difficulty
-in restraining him from plunder when riding through crops. He was very
-fond of my wife's horse Punch, and neither would be stabled apart from
-the other; and it was most amusing to watch their nose-rubbings across
-the stall partition. Much, however, as he loved Punch, he would never
-allow him to precede him in the walk or canter, nor would he move until
-the dogs had been let loose and had jumped up to his nose. He knew his
-name perfectly, and would trot up to me when called, from any part
-of the field. He carried me unflinchingly through the Mutiny until
-wounded, and thought nothing of our weary rides of between thirty and
-forty miles a night.
-
-On one memorable occasion we were escaping from a threatened attack,
-and I had dismounted to look at the girths; a shot from the rear
-elicited the exclamation: 'I wonder where that bullet has gone to;'
-and I again mounted, but had hardly gone two paces when Tom began to
-limp. I got off at once, and then found that the bullet had struck him
-just outside the off-knee, had run round under the skin, and lodged
-in front. I tried to cut it out then and there; but the horse was too
-restive, and I again mounted, but only to find the poor brute getting
-more and more lame. I was now well behind, and the rest of our party
-urged me to come on. As I still lagged, they cried out to abandon the
-horse, as we were being pursued. This I grudgingly did, and trudged
-on hurriedly to join our party; having done this, I looked back, and
-saw poor old Tom hobbling after me. I could not stand this, so brought
-him on at once. When we reached comparative safety some days after, I
-extracted the bullet.
-
-I have already mentioned Punch my wife's horse. He was ridden as a
-charger through the battle of Gujrát in January 1849, and with his
-rider, had a remarkable escape from a shell, which exploded between
-his rider's foot and his own off-shoulder. The wound inflicted left a
-scar, into the hollow of which you could thrust half a fist. He was a
-perfect lady's horse, and quite free from vice, possessing a gentle and
-affectionate disposition. He was fonder of Tom than Tom was of him,
-and used to exhibit great anxiety when, in his opinion, his friend
-was longer absent from his stall than usual, his return to which was
-greeted by a loud neigh of welcome. I have never seen so gentle or
-loving a horse. He quite understood the difference between adults and
-children, and would allow the latter to take all kinds of liberties
-with him, and was perfectly aware how to behave when they mounted him,
-as they always did when he returned from the morning or evening ride.
-He was a darling horse, and like true friends, his and Tom's best
-qualities came out under trial. Both had suddenly to exhibit their best
-points when the Mutiny broke out, and both behaved nobly. When Tom
-was disabled, I rode Punch, and during these weary days and nights he
-fully understood his position; many a time had we to snatch an hour or
-two of sleep when we could on the bare road; I would lie down with the
-bridle round my arm, and he would sleep standing beside me. One morning
-we broke down together, and both fell asleep while progressing, being
-rudely awoke by finding ourselves in a large roadside bush. Poor old
-Punch was subject to a disorder which eventually carried him off in
-November 1864, in the twenty-third year of his age. Unlike Tom, he was
-hale and hearty to the last. Peace to the memory of these two humble
-and faithful friends! Several horses have subsequently been in my
-stables, and I might narrate something about each, did time and space
-allow, but none of them ever took our affections so completely as did
-Tom and Punch; they were our first and best equine loves.
-
-Let me pass some of my dogs in review; and how tender are the memories
-which some of their names recall! Dear old Belle, an English brown and
-white setter, leads the way: she was too old for active service, had
-been left in the country by her former master, and had passed from one
-hand to the other, getting thinner and thinner with each change. When
-I got her she seemed to think a new master a matter of course, and
-accepted the change without emotion; but when she saw that she had
-really found a permanent master and a comfortable home, then all her
-pent-up affection welled forth, and she seemed to feel that she could
-not shew enough of it. She was my constant and faithful companion in
-the early years of my service, and I felt her loss keenly when carried
-off by distemper, which on that occasion killed all my dogs. Her last
-acts were to lick my hand and feebly wag her tail as I bent over her
-prostrate form.
-
-Belle number two comes on the scene: a small black and white spaniel,
-which I had as a pup. She was specially noted for an intimacy she
-struck up with another dog Topsy, and a cat; and the romps of the three
-were most amusing, but at the same time most destructive to a bed of
-melons they always selected for their invariable game of Hide-and-seek.
-The gardener protested in vain against their romps, though he allowed
-that Belle effectually protected the melon-bed from the jackals at
-night. She accompanied me in our flight in the Mutiny; but, poor
-little thing, was lost on the road. Topsy was a great pet; a very
-singular-looking little animal of a mixed breed, very peppery, full
-of life, and immensely affectionate. Her peculiarities were--intense
-antipathy to jackals, whose howl she would at once imitate if you
-called to her: 'Jackals, Tops;' and the clear manner in which she
-articulated grand-mam-má-á-á, if you interrupted her growling with your
-finger. She accompanied her mistress to England as a co-refugee from
-the Mutiny, and was made much of in consequence, returning to this
-country only to die prematurely, dear little Tops.
-
-Rosie! Rosie! Here is a small liver and white smooth terrier, very
-affectionate, and noted for her antipathy to musk-rats and squirrels;
-the former she invariably killed, and the latter she tried hard to,
-but rarely succeeded, as they were too agile, and always got up the
-nearest tree. I have had to drag her away from the foot of a palm-tree,
-at which she had been sitting all the morning watching a squirrel. Her
-first litter consisted of one pup, about which she made an immense
-fuss, and was inclined to resent a great liberty I took with her. I
-found one day a starving outcast kitten, and bringing it home, put
-Rosie on her side, and told her to be kind to it. The kitten ravenously
-seized a teat; and Rosie was very uneasy, not quite making out the
-animal which was draining her, and evidently suspecting it to be a
-squirrel. After a day or two she took to the stranger; and the kitten
-at once made itself quite at home; rather too much so, for she would
-claw at the pup most unmercifully, while it yelled complainingly, the
-mother not knowing what to make of the arrangement. But the tables were
-turned as soon as the pup got its teeth and legs; and then it fiercely
-maintained its rights, and there used to be regular scrimmages over a
-favourite teat; Rosie looking on in blank amazement, and wincing under
-the scratches of her strange pup. The three pulled on together in a
-way; but there was never much love lost among them.
-
-My monkeys Jacko and Moony I bought as a griff at Umballah for the
-large sum of one rupee. They were just emerging from babyhood, and so
-required some care and looking after. I never taught them anything;
-for such education, as with dogs, always necessitates more or less
-severity; but I carefully cultivated the talents they possessed.
-The looking-glass was always a standing joke. Either monkey would
-cautiously approach its image, making the usual recognition grimaces,
-which of course were duly returned; then it would sit close up to the
-glass, and now and then look sideways at the reflection; or it would
-put a hand behind the glass, as if feeling for the other monkey. If I
-seized the hand, a fight with the glass at once ensued, which I kept up
-with my hand, and then suddenly dropped the glass. The amazement of the
-monkey at the sudden disappearance of its adversary was most ludicrous
-to behold.
-
-Moony was very fond of a delicacy well known in India as mango-fool.
-The spirit of mischief induced me one day to add a teaspoonful of
-spirits of wine to her daily saucer of mango-fool, and for the first
-and last time in my life I saw an intoxicated monkey; her antics and
-attempts to keep the perpendicular were most absurd. She certainly
-attempted to dance and clap her hands, but ultimately was obliged
-gradually to subside and yield to the soporific influence of the
-spirits. As a great treat I used occasionally to loosen both monkeys
-and let them scamper up a large tree. At first they appreciated my
-kindness and came down at call to be tied up for the night; but the
-sweets of liberty were too great, and they gradually began to be tardy
-in their descent, and at last Moony preferred to spend the night in the
-tree. To prevent the return of such behaviour, I bombarded Moony next
-day with my goolél or pellet-bow (a weapon with which in those days I
-was remarkably skilful), and soon brought her to my feet. Both monkeys
-were familiar with the goolél, for I often harmlessly tested their
-agility by shelling them with it; but Moony now learned for the first
-time the punishment it could inflict; and ever thereafter, if I merely
-called out (when she hesitated to descend) to the bearer: 'Goolél lao'
-(Pellet-bow bring), she would hurry down the tree repentant. This
-story savours somewhat of the American colonel and opossum; but it is
-strictly true.
-
-Moony had her first young one when about fifteen months old; and the
-fuss she made with it, and the fierce affection she exhibited, were
-interesting to behold. Her babe was still at the breast when the
-Mutiny broke out. Among the ruffians who burned my bungalow was one
-who provoked her in some way or other. She attacked him at once, but
-was killed by one blow of a láthee (stout bamboo staff), her young one
-sharing her fate. Jacko escaped in the confusion, and became a vagrant.
-
-A native gentleman once presented me with a black gibbon (_Hylobates
-agilis_), called by the natives from its yell, Hookoo or Hoolook. Its
-tremendous teeth and unearthly yell impressed me unfavourably, and
-I kept it in confinement, much against my will, as it always seemed
-so gentle. The poor brute soon died. Some time after, when staying
-with a dear and congenial friend at Alipore, near Calcutta, I became
-acquainted with a second gibbon, which was quite tame, and allowed to
-be at large. We at once exchanged confidences, and the poor creature's
-loving affection for me became quite overpowering. So thoroughly did
-I trust it, that I allowed my boy of three years of age to play with
-her, and the way the two rolled over on the turf was most amusing
-to behold. The agility of the animal was simply marvellous. I have
-seen it go round the large house hanging by its finger-tips to the
-cornice beading which went round. To run up the rain-pipes was as easy
-to it as a ladder would be to a man; in fact, it could go anywhere
-and everywhere, and so often vexed us by its depredations. It found
-out where my boy's milk was kept, and helped itself in this strange
-fashion. Its great length of arm prevented it from drinking direct
-from the vessel, as monkeys do, the arms always intervening between
-the vessel and the animal's mouth; so she was obliged to sit at some
-distance from the vessel, and scoop out its contents with her fingers,
-letting the milk drop from them into her mouth. She did not drink from
-the hollowed hand, but let the fingers drip the liquid into the mouth.
-One day the gibbon had annoyed my friend by eating some of his papers,
-and in the afternoon we were conversing together in his study, when
-suddenly it appeared, and sidled up to me. With a half-angry laugh, my
-friend made a gesture as if to throw a book at it, and exclaimed: 'Get
-out, you mischievous brute.' She accordingly got out, in her silent
-mysterious manner, and we went on talking. We then adjourned to the
-roof for a view, and I drew my friend's attention to the gibbon, which
-was timidly surveying us from behind a distant chimney. Playfully
-shaking his fist at her, we walked together to the opposite end of the
-roof and leaned over the parapet. Presently I saw the gibbon stealing
-quietly towards us along the parapet. As soon as she saw that she was
-observed, she boldly ran up to me, threw her long arms around me, and
-nestled into my breast. Could I resist such an appeal for forgiveness
-and protection? We were both much touched by it, and winked at many of
-her subsequent misdoings.
-
-So much for our principal pets: minor ones are cats, pigeons, parrots,
-cockatoos, minas, squirrels, and the mongoose. I might devote an
-article to each of these animals; but time and space warn me to stop.
-
-
-
-
-THE ADMIRAL'S SECOND WIFE.
-
-
-CHAPTER X.--ONLY TWO LETTERS!
-
-At length the day for the party arrives. A hundred or more invitations
-have been accepted, and much expectation and curiosity is evoked at
-Seabright about the coming grand entertainment. Lady Dillworth's
-eagerness intensifies, and doubts spring up in her mind. What if the
-charade should prove a failure after all? She is nervous at having to
-sing in character, and angry with herself for her trepidation. She even
-tells Walter of her cowardice; and after the last rehearsal, as he goes
-away, she implores him to help her as much as he possibly can.
-
-'Do, do come early, and manage everything, for I feel as if I
-were going to break down in the very midst. Recollect, the whole
-responsibility of making it a success rests on you.'
-
-Walter promises all she requires; but Katie is not convinced, and her
-doubts increase as the time draws near.
-
-The morning of that day does not begin auspiciously. A fierce storm
-has been raging for many hours. When the Admiral glances over the
-newspapers at breakfast, his face becomes grave as he reads down the
-long list of disasters and wrecks. Presently the footman hands him a
-letter, and then his face becomes still graver.
-
-'Anything wrong, Herbert?' asks her Ladyship.
-
-'A ship aground on the Short Reefs,' replies he shortly.
-
-'O dear, how dreadful! What is the name of the ship, Sir Herbert?' asks
-Liddy clasping her hands, and opening her eyes very wide.
-
-'The _Daring_; and unless they get her off at the top of spring-tide, I
-fear she will go to pieces on the rocks.'
-
-The Admiral drinks his coffee quickly, and prepares to leave the room.
-
-'Where are you going, Herbert? You haven't taken half a breakfast.'
-
-'I can't stay, Kate; for I must give orders about sending off help to
-the _Daring_.'
-
-'Are any lives lost?'
-
-'Not so far, I'm thankful to say. I hope we shall have her afloat
-before long;' and he goes to the library with the letter in his hand.
-
-Lady Dillworth is very busy that morning, and not the least of her
-engagements is trying on her 'Lucia' dress. Before she goes up to her
-dressing-room on this important business, she runs into the library to
-ask Sir Herbert what time he is to be home to dinner. But the room is
-empty. The Admiral must have been called out suddenly, for a letter,
-still glowing with wet ink, lies open on his desk. His wife glances at
-it in passing, then pauses, and bends over it closely. The words are
-few, written off in her husband's bold dashing hand, and the contents
-are evidently for her father. It is an order for the _Leo_ to be
-despatched at once to the assistance of the unfortunate _Daring_.
-
-Lady Dillworth stands aghast. How can the charade party get on without
-Captain Reeves? It will be an utter disappointment, and she will be
-overwhelmed with mortification and vexation in the eyes of all her
-guests!
-
-'Why did Herbert fix on the _Leo_? There are numbers of other ships;
-any one of them would do as well. The _Leoni_, for instance,' she
-exclaims half aloud.
-
-In an instant the pen is in her hand, and with an impulse that seems
-irresistible she adds two letters to the _Leo's_ name, and is surprised
-to see how exactly she has imitated her husband's writing.
-
-'Of course I must tell Herbert, and explain why I did it. What will he
-think of my daring?' she asks laughingly, as she returns the pen to its
-place.
-
-Then she goes up-stairs, and is soon closeted with her dressmaker; and
-the recollection of ships and all such matters is soon banished from
-her memory; for the dress is an odious fit! The alterations required
-are legion. Madame Darcy may be clever at fashionable modern dress;
-but in medieval costume she has failed utterly. Katie waits patiently
-while the assistant, with scissors and needle, brings the garment into
-wearable shape. After the woman is gone, Lady Dillworth recollects
-about the letter, and returns to the library to tell her husband of the
-change she has made in it. But the letter has vanished, and the footman
-meets her with a message.
-
-'My Lady, Sir Herbert told me to say he would not be home to dinner.'
-
-'Did your master say where he was going?'
-
-'No, my Lady; but the groom told me he was called off to Hillview, and
-was to go by the twelve o'clock train; and it's half-past twelve now,
-my Lady.'
-
-So there is no help for it; the explanation cannot be given now; and
-Katie is fain to console herself by thinking that one ship is as good
-as another, and it can't matter much whether the _Leo_ or the _Leoni_
-goes off to the rescue.
-
-The day passes quickly. When it grows dark, Katie and Liddy, still
-in their morning dresses, and shivering a little from the cold, find
-their way up to Lady Dillworth's 'boudoir'--a cosy retreat, with
-its bright fire and closely drawn curtains. Here are Katie's books,
-her writing-table, and all the odds and ends that somehow gather in
-work-boxes and baskets. Here are periodicals uncut, for she has not had
-much time for reading of late, and drawing materials which are rarely
-touched.
-
-On a round table near the fire is spread a delicately pink-tinted
-set of tea-things; and Dresden china baskets filled with tea-cakes
-and shortbread give promise of a dainty little meal. Miss Delmere,
-in a most becoming morning dress, with a warm blue shawl round her
-shoulders, plunges herself into the depths of a large arm-chair, places
-her feet on the fender-stool, and looks up brightly out of her merry
-blue eyes.
-
-'How cosy this is, Kate! I'm quite enjoying it.' She pours a supply of
-cream into her fragrant tea and sips with keen relish.
-
-'I wish Herbert were here,' sighs Katie in reply.
-
-'Is he dining at Hillview this evening?'
-
-'I hardly know, for he left no message about that; but I rather think
-he will dine at Belton Park, which is only a couple of miles from
-Hillview.'
-
-'Is Lady Ribson gone back to Scotland yet?'
-
-'No; she leaves Belton Park to-morrow; and I'm _so_ sorry I have never
-once seen her, for Herbert is very desirous we should know each other.
-I believe old Lady Ribson is his _beau idéal_ of what a woman should
-be. She is his god-mother; and her niece Bessie was his first wife.'
-
-'You've never had time to go to Belton Park, Katie.'
-
-'I know that; but I'm sorry now I didn't "_make_ time," by setting
-other things aside. This hateful charade business has taken up every
-spare minute.'
-
-'Hateful!' echoes Liddy reproachfully.
-
-'Perhaps that is too strong a term; but the preparations have swallowed
-up all my time and everything else.'
-
-'Don't begin to croak at the last minute. _I_ mean to enjoy myself
-thoroughly!' exclaims Liddy, putting her cup down for more tea. Then
-she asks confidentially: 'Do you think Sir Herbert altered? Captain
-Reeves says he never saw a man aged so much in so short a time: he
-thinks the Admiral looks very ill.'
-
-Lady Dillworth starts up impatiently: 'I don't know why Captain Reeves
-should think any such thing. My husband is _not_ ill; I have never once
-heard him complain.'
-
-'Ah! his is one of those grand reserved natures that would rather
-suffer anything than make a moan,' says Liddy, stirring her tea calmly.
-
-'Why did you not tell me about Herbert's looking ill before, Liddy? I
-declare you make me quite uneasy.'
-
-'Oh, I daresay it's all imagination on Walter's part. I'm sorry I ever
-mentioned it,' Liddy replies quickly.
-
-'You needn't regret telling me; for if there _is_ anything the matter,
-I ought to know it.'
-
-Liddy is vexed at having introduced so disquieting a subject, for Katie
-remains silent and thoughtful during the rest of the repast, then goes
-languidly up-stairs to dress for the party.
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.--THE CHARADE PARTY.
-
-The bitter storm raging over the country, and spreading woe and terror
-and desolation far out at sea, does not much affect the expected
-guests. Carriage after carriage drives in at the gates of Government
-House; and ere long, many eager eyes are fixed on the drop-scene,
-the owners of them ready to be pleased or otherwise by the coming
-performance. Curiosity and criticism are on the alert; some of the
-audience are just as much inclined to find fault as to admire. When
-Lady Dillworth 'comes on' she feels unaccountably agitated at seeing
-her 'dear friends' sitting in solemn state on rows of chairs, all
-ready to detect her slightest shortcomings. For the moment she feels
-as though she would fain dart away beyond their range of vision. But
-this nervousness speedily vanishes. Amidst the bursts of applause that
-greet her, she begins to catch somewhat of the spirit of a successful
-_débutante_, and her pulse throbs triumphantly. Her voice rings out in
-strains of pathetic melody; she forgets her qualms, her trepidation,
-and almost even her own identity, so carried away is she by the
-intensely tragic music.
-
-During the first part, the singing goes on faultlessly, then a somewhat
-awkward sense of failure begins to steal over the performers. Major
-Dillon and Walter differ about some minor points, and the former nearly
-bewilders the others with his eccentric proceedings. The chorus get
-out of tune, and the Major reproves them so vigorously that he nearly
-banishes all sense of harmony out of their heads.
-
-Liddy Delmere is much amused, and she and Walter make themselves
-conspicuous with ill-timed mirth. This is unfortunate, as the irate
-mother of the hapless 'Lucia' should be grave and dignified. But Liddy
-forgets her part, the words and air and everything, and only remembers
-Walter Reeves is beside her. Lady Dillworth calls her to order with one
-of her haughtiest looks.
-
-'Liddy, Liddy! do be reasonable. Don't you see what wretched idiots
-we are making of ourselves? We are only bringing down ridicule on our
-heads.'
-
-Then in a pause, when she is not wanted to sing, Katie slips away to a
-room adjoining, that has been fitted up temporarily for the performers.
-She lifts the window-blind, and looks out on the rather grim garden,
-dimly lighted up with flickering coloured lamps. Dense clumps of
-evergreens glitter with raindrops, and cast deep uncertain shadows on
-the grass. The bare branches of the beech-trees are swaying wildly in
-the wind, and flinging themselves about like gaunt weird arms. Above in
-the troubled sky, heavy masses of storm-cloud are driven rapidly past,
-giving glimpses now and then of an almost full moon.
-
-'Oh, what a fearful night this must be at sea!' muses Katie, and
-then a sudden shudder comes over her as her thoughts fly off to the
-unfortunate ship _Daring_, perhaps even now wrecked and broken up on
-the fatal Short Reefs.
-
-'What have I done? what have I done?' she exclaims wildly, as like a
-lightning flash, a sudden revelation of the possible result of her act
-that morning comes before her. She has prevented the _Leo_ from going
-to sea by altering her husband's order; her own meddling fingers have
-kept back the very aid that might have saved the ship. The _Leo_ is
-at that moment safely riding at her anchor in Seabright harbour; her
-captain is sporting himself in delightful ease. But what about the
-_Daring_? Where is she?
-
-Even now the pitiless waves may be dashing over her, even now she may
-be breaking up on the sharp rocks. Perhaps the storm that rages past is
-bearing on its wild wings the awful death-shrieks of sailors as they go
-down into the pitiless waters.
-
-Ah, they may be crying for help, that never comes!--help, _she_ has
-kept back from them, foolishly, wickedly kept back! Souls, precious
-souls, may be going to their doom, in life's full prime, with
-unrepented sins on their heads; and she indirectly may be the one
-who has hurled them to their end. These thoughts rush through Lady
-Dillworth's mind with a crushing force, and with a vividness that makes
-her heart bound, her whole frame tremble. In the howling of the wind,
-as it sobs with wild violence through the trees, she fancies she hears
-the cries of the sailors writhing in agony amidst the surging waves.
-She thinks they are calling on _her_--accusing _her_, and her brain
-whirls and her heart beats almost to madness.
-
-'"There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet." O God! help these
-poor men in their distress--lay not their death to my charge!' she
-cries almost aloud, and then she looks up, and sees Liddy Delmere
-watching her with alarm.
-
-'O Lady Dillworth! what _is_ the matter? How pale and ill you look!
-Shall I call any one? Shall I get anything?'
-
-'Be quiet, Liddy; I insist. I feel faint; but you need not proclaim the
-fact to the whole world.'
-
-Katie covers her face with her hands, and stands for a minute trying to
-recover herself--trying--while the angry wind howls like an avenging
-spirit in her ears. Presently she looks up: 'I feel better now. What do
-you want of me, Liddy?'
-
-'Have you forgotten our duet comes on when this chorus is over? Are you
-well enough to sing?' asks Miss Delmere, as she gazes with amazement at
-Lady Dillworth's haggard face and startled eyes.
-
-'O yes; I will sing. Don't be uneasy; I shall not break down.' She
-takes Liddy's arm, and they make their appearance on the stage just
-in time. Much license has been taken with the score of _Lucia di
-Lammermoor_--new songs and duets have been introduced, and it is one of
-the latter in which Katie is now required to take a part.
-
-With a great effort she composes herself, and begins. As she goes
-on, her voice regains its rich fullness; no one would suppose such a
-tempest of agony had so lately swept over her.
-
-While she is sustaining a rather prolonged cadence, she sees the
-Admiral enter the room. He stands for a minute looking at her, and
-listening; then he catches a glimpse of Walter Reeves, and goes
-quickly towards him. Though in the middle of her duet, Katie notices
-the start her husband gives and the quick frown that gathers on his
-brow. She sees him beckon Walter aside; the heads are bowed a moment as
-an excited whisper passes, then they leave the room together. Ere her
-part is over, she sees Walter return alone, and quietly make his way
-among the groups of people till he gets near the stage again, and there
-he takes up his position. The moment Lady Dillworth is free she is at
-his side, questioning and eager.
-
-'I saw Sir Herbert here a minute ago. Where is he now?'
-
-'He went out to find your father, for he said he must see him at
-once. I offered to go; but Sir Herbert would not hear of that.--How
-splendidly you sang in that duet, Lady Dillworth! Your voice came out
-in perfection.'
-
-'Why did he want to see my father?' she asks impatiently.
-
-'Sir Herbert did not say; but something appears to have annoyed him
-very much. I never saw him more put out, though he gave no explanation.'
-
-Katie changes the subject abruptly.
-
-'Is it very stormy at sea to-night, Captain Reeves? I mean, is there
-any danger to ships?'
-
-'I should think there _is_. We haven't had such a storm as this since
-last winter. Every roar of the wind only makes me congratulate myself
-on being in such snug quarters. There's a wonderful difference between
-this fairy scene, with its music and mirth and its galaxy of youth
-and beauty, and what one would meet with out on the wild billows
-to-night.--What a charming evening you have given us, Lady Dillworth!'
-
-Katie can hardly keep herself from stamping her little foot with
-impatience, as she looks up at Walter's self-satisfied face, beaming
-with enjoyment; and then she watches the smile with which he presently
-bends down to whisper something to Miss Delmere. Liddy responds with a
-flash of her bright blue eyes, and a heightened colour springs to her
-cheek as she makes room for Walter beside her. Never has she looked
-better than on this evening; the quaint antiquated costume contrasts
-capitally with her fair laughing face. At last the charade comes to
-an end; there is a subdued murmur of applause as everybody says how
-cleverly it has all been done. They make wild guesses at the word, and
-Walter has at last to explain the secret. Lady Dillworth listens to
-the comments of her guests with an abstracted air; and when the last
-carriage drives away, she summons the footman and inquires whether Sir
-Herbert has returned.
-
-Hunter is an old servant of the Admiral's, and has followed his
-master's fortunes in various places and homes, and was with him when
-the first Lady Dillworth died; so he knows his ways, and sees more
-than perhaps his employers give him credit for. He turns a grave face
-towards his mistress, as he replies: 'Yes, my Lady. Master came in just
-when the acting was over; and when he saw the company wasn't gone, he
-told me to tell your Ladyship he was very tired, and would go to bed at
-once, instead of going back to the drawing-room.'
-
-'_Very_ tired, did he say?'
-
-'Yes, my Lady; and he looked weary-like.'
-
-'That will do, Hunter. We want breakfast very early to-morrow morning,
-as Miss Delmere is going away by the first train.'
-
-Then Katie goes up to her boudoir. The fire is still burning brightly,
-and the lamp is throwing a soft light through the curtained room.
-Still in her fancy dress, the stomacher flashing with jewels, she
-seats herself in the arm-chair; and there, while the warmth steals
-over her, she covers her face with her hands, and thinks bitterly,
-confusedly--the loud shrieking of the wind and the fury of the cruel
-storm keeping up a wild accompaniment to her musings.
-
-She wonders what she had better do. Shall she rouse her husband from
-his slumbers, and tell him all, or shall she wait till events call
-forth a confession? Never has she felt such a poor, mean, despicable
-coward. She hates herself for her irresolution; and all the time her
-fancy pictures up the surging whirlpools, the jagged rocks, the dashing
-waves, the yawning gulfs, and the drowning men with their despairing
-eyes, ever calling for the help that does not come!
-
-
-
-
-REMINISCENCES OF QUEBEC.
-
-
-For the following reminiscences connected with the stay of one of
-the British regiments at Quebec during the winter of 1870-71, we are
-indebted to an officer of the garrison. He writes as follows:
-
-Until the close of 1871, Quebec was a fortress occupied by British
-troops; but before the winter set in, the _Orontes_ and other
-store-ships carried away the troops and their possessions, and the
-stronghold passed for ever away from the rule of Great Britain.
-
-Quebec, the principal fortress of Canada, also known as the 'Gibraltar
-of the West,' is built upon the strip of land projecting into the
-confluence of the St Lawrence and St Charles rivers. Originally a
-French settlement, it afterwards became one of the colonies of Great
-Britain, and has continued to be so until the present date.
-
-'There is but one Quebec, and its beautiful scenery,' remarked a valued
-friend to the writer, as one autumn afternoon we scanned the view from
-the Levis Cliffs, and watched the 'Fall fleet' preparing to depart for
-England ere winter had closed the St Lawrence. 'The scenic beauty of
-Quebec,' says an old writer, 'has been the theme of general eulogy.'
-The majestic appearance of Cape Diamond, surmounted by fortifications;
-the cupolas and minarets, like those of an eastern city, blazing
-and sparkling in the sun; the loveliness of the panorama, the noble
-river like a sheet of purest silver, in which one hundred vessels may
-ride with safety; the graceful meandering of the river St Charles
-before it finds its way into the St Lawrence; the numerous village
-spires scattered around; the fertile fields clothed with innumerable
-cottages, the abodes of a rich and moral peasantry; the distant Falls
-of Montmorenci; the rich park-like scenery of Levis; the lovely Isle
-of Orleans; and more distant still the frowning Cape Tourment, and
-the lofty range of purple mountains of the most picturesque forms,
-which bound the prospect, unite to make a _coup d'Å“il_ which without
-exaggeration is scarcely to be surpassed in any part of the world.
-
-In the winter-time there is much more leisure for the merchants than
-in summer, as the St Lawrence from the end of December until the end
-of April is one vast ice-field, isolating Quebec from water-commerce,
-but giving full employment to numbers of 'ice-men' to saw out great
-oblong masses of clear bright ice to fill the ice-houses with this
-much-needed summer luxury. The ice and snow are also turned to account
-in the fashionable amusements of snow-shoeing, tobogganing, skating,
-sleigh-driving, &c. Snow-shoeing is capital exercise, but somewhat
-trying at the commencement; for with a pair of snow-shoes fastened to
-the feet, the beginner is rather apt to find himself immersed in a
-snow-drift, and it is a difficult matter to get upon his legs again.
-This pastime, however, is so well known in theory that we pass to the
-more favourite one of tobogganing. The toboggan or Indian sleigh--one
-or two thin planks neatly curled round at one end--is drawn over the
-snow to the top of a hill. The passengers sit down, carefully 'tucking
-in' all articles of dress; a slight push is given, and away glides the
-toboggan at the rate of from twenty to thirty miles an hour. Starting
-is easy enough; but to descend to the desired spot is not so easy as
-might appear at first sight, and requires some skill in steering; for
-if that important matter be unskilfully performed, the toboggan, like
-a boat, gets 'broadside on' to the hill, twists and turns, shooting
-out its passengers, who rarely escape some hard knocks. If, however,
-the steering is successful, the tourists have, in school-boy phrase,
-a 'jolly ride,' and glide along the level ground at the foot of the
-slope for a considerable distance. There is, of course, the bother of
-pulling the toboggan up to the top of the hill; but such effect has the
-exhilarating dryness of the atmosphere upon one's spirits, and such is
-the charm of the amusement, that this labour is cheerfully undertaken.
-
-One favourite run was down the citadel glacis, through a gap in a fence
-and into a closed yard at the base; another, also from the glacis, but
-running in the direction of the Plains of Abraham. The former being
-the most dangerous slide, was the favourite one, and many hard blows
-were given and received. One young gentleman met his fate in the form
-of a deep cut across his knee, by being tossed out of the toboggan
-among some scrap-iron and old stove-pipes hidden under the snow. Much
-sympathy was felt for him, for the wound took a long while to heal, and
-prevented him tobogganing more that winter. Another gentleman coming
-down the slide by moonlight with two young ladies in his toboggan, in
-place of steering through the fence, steered into it, and his face came
-in contact with a post; unluckily for him, the post was the hardest,
-and he escaped with a broken jaw, and the ladies with more or less
-bruises. There was a laughable upset on another occasion. A lady,
-said to be at least forty (also 'fat and fair'), with a friend of the
-opposite sex, tempted fortune in a toboggan; but as they approached the
-gap above mentioned she lost her nerve, and threw herself out as the
-toboggan was rushing down the steepest part of the slide. In less time
-than the reader will take to peruse this incident, she was on her head
-in the snow, and her feet, incased in very black boots, in the air; she
-then tumbled across the slide; the toboggan with its remaining occupant
-flew lightly over her, and then this frisky matron and her friend
-rolled like a pair of frolicksome lambkins to the foot of the slope,
-the toboggan of course arriving before them.
-
-Skating at Quebec is chiefly carried on at the Rink, a large building
-about one hundred and seventy feet long and seventy wide, the
-earth-floor of which is flooded. The ice is carefully swept daily;
-and each evening the rink-keeper 'dusts' it with just enough water to
-fill up the cuts made in it by the skaters; so that each morning finds
-a fresh field of glittering smooth ice. The wooden shed does three
-duties--namely, keeps out the heat of spring, keeps off the snow, and
-keeps in the cold of winter; so that skating can often be had at the
-Rink and nowhere else.
-
-The band of the Rifles often played at the Rink, which was sometimes
-lighted up at night by gas; and visitors to Quebec had capital
-opportunities of seeing its young ladies exhibit their skill in the
-execution of sundry intricate skating-figures. Some years ago, there
-was a fancy-dress ball on the Quebec rink, and we have extracted
-a portion of its description from one of the local papers of that
-date: 'The bugle sounded at nine o'clock, and the motley crowd of
-skaters rushed on the ice, over which they dashed in high glee,
-their spirits stirred to the utmost by the enlivening music and the
-cheering presence of hundreds of ladies and gentlemen. Over the
-glittering floor sped dozens of flying figures, circling, skimming,
-wheeling, and intermingling with a new swiftness, the bright and
-varied colours, the rich and grotesque costumes succeeding each other,
-or combining with bewildering rapidity and effect. The gentlemen, in
-addition to the usual characters, introduced some novelties: an owl,
-a monkey, a monster bottle, a tailor at work, a boy on horseback--all
-capital representations and by good skaters. Among the ladies were
-representations of "Night" and "Morning," a vivandière, a habitant's
-wife, and other characters that appeared to advantage. The skaters
-presented both a varied and brilliant appearance, their parts being
-well sustained as to costume and deportment, and their movements on the
-ice being characterised by that grace and skill of movement bred of
-long practice. The dances included quadrilles, waltzes, galops, &c.'
-
-That this elegant accomplishment can be turned to use is proved by a
-legend of two settlers in the Far West who saved their lives by the
-aid of a pair of skates. One had been captured by Indians, who did
-not intend to let him live long; but amongst his baggage was a pair
-of skates. The Indians' curiosity was excited, and the white man was
-desired to explain their use; he led his captors to the edge of a wide
-lake, where the smooth ice stretched away as far as the eye could see,
-and put on the skates. Exciting the laughter of his captors by tumbling
-about in a clumsy manner, he at length contrived to get a hundred yards
-from them without arousing their suspicion, when he skated away as fast
-as he could, and finally escaped.
-
-The other settler is said to have been skating alone one moonlight
-night; and while contemplating the reflection of the firmament in the
-clear ice, and the vast dark mass of forest surrounding the lake and
-stretching away in the background, he suddenly discovered, to his
-horror, that the adjacent bank was lined with a pack of wolves. He at
-once 'made tracks' for home, followed by these animals; but the skater
-kept ahead, and one by one the pack tailed off; two or three of the
-foremost, however, kept up the chase; but when they attempted to close
-with the skater, by adroitly turning aside he allowed them to pass him.
-And after a few unsuccessful and vicious attempts on the part of the
-wolves, he succeeded in reaching his log-hut in safety.
-
-The cold during the winter of 1870-71 was often extreme, the
-thermometer ranging as low as forty degrees below zero. Upon two days
-the writer had the pleasure of witnessing the beautiful phenomenon
-called silver-thaw--that is, the trees and shrubs encircled with
-ice-crystal, the glitter of which on the twigs and branches in the
-sunlight is wonderfully beautiful. Occasionally the St Lawrence is
-entirely frozen over opposite Quebec, and ice boats (on skates) are
-popular, and the bark glides along at a pace that depends upon the
-wind and quantity of sail carried. Sleighing was much in fashion; and
-it is agreeable enough rushing through the extremely cold but dry
-atmosphere with a pretty young lady nestling against you as you fly
-along the noiseless track to the music of the sleigh bells, which the
-law requires each horse to carry on its harness.
-
-Practical jokes are not unknown at Quebec, and several silly ones
-without wit or purpose were perpetrated that winter; but one of a
-special and decidedly original character played upon the Control
-Department, may be worth recording. The Control Department--at the
-head of which was Deputy-Controller Martindale--was intrusted with
-the providing of fuel, food, ammunition, bedding, transport, &c. for
-the British troops, and for some reason or another that branch of the
-department at Quebec is said to have been somewhat unpopular in the
-garrison.
-
-On the 23d and 24th February the following advertisement appeared in
-the columns of the principal French paper, _l'Evénement_:[1] 'CHATS!
-CHATS! CHATS! 50 CHATS sont demandés pour donner la chasse aux Rats et
-Souris qui infestent les Magasins du Gouvernement. Toute personne qui
-apportera un Chat au Bureau du Député-Contrôleur Martindale, entre 11
-heures et midi un jour quelconque jusqu'au 28 du courant, recevra en
-retour un Dollar (1 $) par Chat.--Par ordre,
-
-    _D. C. MARTINDALE, Député-Contrôleur._
-  _QUEBEC, 23 Fév. 1871--3f._'
-
-The powers of advertising were in this instance wonderfully
-exemplified, for at least eight hundred cats were duly brought to the
-Bureau; but the unfortunate cat-merchants did not receive a dollar.
-Some, being of a speculative turn, had bought up a number of their
-neighbours' cats at prices varying between ten cents and twenty-five
-cents each; and what with the ire of the cat-merchants at the hoax,
-the astonishment and indignation of the Control officers, and the
-caterwauling of the pussies brought in boxes, baskets, bags, &c., the
-scene was one which will long be remembered in Quebec. On Sunday,
-26th February (according to a local custom of treating _government
-advertisements_), the doors of the churches in the country districts
-round Quebec had the 'cat advertisement' duly posted up, so that on
-Monday the 27th a bountiful supply of mousers was brought from suburban
-districts to complete the Control catastrophe.
-
-Of course very strict inquiries were made, with a view of ascertaining
-the author of the hoax; but that individual has not yet presented
-himself to public notice, and judiciously made use of the post-office
-to carry the letter to the _Evénement_ respecting the insertion of the
-advertisement. We also understand the editor of the _Evénement_ was
-politely requested to render his account for the advertisements to the
-Control Department. There is, we believe, an old proverb, 'A cat may
-look at a king;' but many of the inhabitants of the Quebec suburbs did
-not like to look at cats for some time afterwards.
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] Cats! Cats! Cats! 50 Cats are required to capture the rats and mice
-that are infesting the Government Magazines. Whoever shall bring a cat
-to Deputy-Controller Martindale's office between 11 and 12 o'clock on
-any day up till the 28th inst., shall receive one dollar per cat. By
-order, &c.
-
-
-
-
-FRENCH FISHER-FOLK.
-
-
-They live by themselves and to themselves, these French fisher-folk;
-an amphibious race, as completely cut off from the shore-staying
-population as any caste of Hindustan. The quaint village that they
-inhabit consists of half a score of steep and narrow lanes, and as
-many airless courts or alleys, clinging to the cliff as limpets
-anchor to a rock, and topped by the weather-beaten spire of a church,
-dedicated of course to St Peter. Hard by there may be a town rich
-and populous; but its wide streets and display of plate-glass are
-not envied by the piscatorial clan outside. They have shops of their
-own, where sails and shawls, ropes and ornaments, high surf-boots and
-gaudy gown-pieces, jostle one another in picturesque profusion. From
-the upper windows of the private dwellings project gaffs and booms,
-whence dangle, for drying purposes, wet suits of dark-blue pilot cloth
-and dripping pea-coats. Everywhere prevails an ancient and fish-like
-smell, struggling with the wholesome scent of hot pitch simmering for
-the manufacture of tarpaulins and waterproofs. Half the houses are
-draped in nets, some newly tanned to toughen them, others whose long
-chain of corks is still silvered with herring-scales. The very children
-are carving boats out of lumps of dark wreck-wood, or holding a mock
-auction for tiny crabs and spiked sea-urchins. The whole atmosphere of
-the place has a briny and Neptunian savour about it, and is redolent of
-the ocean.
-
-A word now as to the fishers themselves; as proud, self-reliant, and
-independent a race as those hardy Norsemen from whom ethnologists
-believe them to descend by no fictitious pedigree. Of the purity of
-their blood there can be little doubt, since the fish-maiden who mates
-with any but a fisherman is considered to have lost caste; precisely as
-the gipsy girl who marries a Busné is deemed to be a deserter from the
-tribe. Marrying among themselves then, it is not surprising that there
-should be an odd sort of family likeness among them, with one marked
-type of face and form, or rather two, for the men, curiously enough,
-are utterly unlike the women. Your French fisher is scarcely ever above
-the middle height, a compact thick-set little merman, with crisply
-curling hair, gold rings in his ears, and a brown honest face, the
-unfailing good-humour of which is enhanced by the gleam of the strong
-white teeth between the parted lips.
-
-The good looks of the women of this aquatic stock have passed into
-a proverb; but theirs is no buxom style of peasant comeliness. Half
-the drawing-rooms of London or Paris might be ransacked before an
-artist could find as worthy models of aristocratic beauty as that of
-scores of these young fish-girls, reared in the midst of creels and
-shrimp-nets and lobster-traps. Their tall slight figures, clear bright
-complexions, and delicate clean-cut features, not seldom of the Greek
-mould, contrast with the sun-burnt sturdiness of husband, brother, and
-betrothed; while the small hands and small feet combine to give to
-their owners an air of somewhat languid elegance, apparently quite out
-of keeping with a rough life and the duties of a workaday world.
-
-Work, however--hard and trying work, makes up the staple existence of
-French fisher-folks, as of French landsmen. In the shrimp-catching
-season, it must indeed be wild weather which scares the girls who
-ply this branch of industry, with bare bronzed feet and dexterously
-wielded net, among the breakers. Others, a few years older, may be
-seen staggering under weighty baskets of oysters, or assisting at
-the trimming and sorting the many truck-loads of fish freighted for
-far-away Paris. The married women have their household cares, never
-shirked, for no children are better tended than these water-babies,
-that are destined from the cradle to live by net and line; while the
-widows--under government authority--board the English steam-packets,
-and enjoy the sole right of trundling off the portmanteaus of English
-travellers to their hotel.
-
-The men, the real bread-winners of the community, enter well provided
-into the field of their hereditary labour. The big Boulogne luggers,
-strongly manned, and superior in tonnage and number to those which any
-other French port sends forth, are known throughout the Channel, and
-beyond it. They need to be large and roomy, since they scorn to be
-cooped within the contracted limits of the narrow seas, but sail away
-year after year to bleak Norway and savage Iceland; and their skippers,
-during the herring-fishery, are as familiar with the Scottish coast
-as with that of their native Picardy. It is requisite too that they
-should be strong and fit to 'keep,' in nautical parlance, the sea;
-for Boulogne, lying just where the Channel broadens out to meet the
-Atlantic, is exposed to the full force of the resistless south-west
-gale, that once drove Philip II.'s boasted Armada northward to wreck
-and ruin.
-
-These south-west gales, with the abrupt changes of weather due to
-the neighbourhood of the fickle Atlantic, constitute the romance, or
-compose the stumbling-block of the fisherman's life. His calling may
-seem an easy and even an enviable one, to those who on summer mornings
-watch the fishing fleet glide out of harbour; the red-brown sails
-gilded by the welcome sunshine and filled by the balmy breeze, the
-nets festooned, the lines on the reel; keg and bait-can and windlass,
-harmonising well with the groups of seafaring men and lads lounging
-about on board; too many, as the novice thinks, for the navigation of
-the craft. But at any moment, with short warning, the blue sea may
-become leaden-hued, and the sky ragged with torn clouds and veiled with
-flying scud, and the howling storm may drive the fishers far from
-home, to beat about as best they may for days and nights, and at length
-to land and sell their fish (heedfully preserved in ice) at Dunkirk,
-Ostend, Flushing, or even some English harbour perhaps a hundred and
-fifty miles away.
-
-The conscription, that relentless leech which claims its tithe of the
-blood and manhood of all continental nations, in due course takes toll
-of the fishers. The maritime population, however, supplies the navy,
-not the army with recruits. It is not until flagship and frigate are
-manned, that the overplus of unlucky drawers in that state lottery
-of which the prizes are exemption, get drafted into the ranks. These
-young sailors find military life a bitter pill to swallow. The writer
-of these lines has before his eyes a letter from a conscript to his
-mother in the fishing village, and in which the young defender of his
-country describes last year's autumn manœuvres in Touraine, the Little
-War as he calls it, from a soldier's point of view. There is not a
-spark of martial ardour or professional pride in this simple document.
-All the lad knows is that he is marched and countermarched about vast
-sandy plains from dawn till dark, wet, hungry, and footsore; and how
-difficult it is at the halting-place to collect an armful of brushwood,
-by whose cheerful blaze he may warm his stiff fingers and cook his
-solitary pannikin of soldier's soup.
-
-As might be expected, in a community which more resembles an overgrown
-family than the mere members of a trade, there exists among these
-people an unusual amount of charity and rough good-nature. The
-neighbourly virtues shine brightly amid their darksome lanes and
-stifling courts, and a helping hand is freely held out to those whom
-some disaster has crippled in the struggle for existence. Bold and
-self-assertive as their bearing may be, there are no Jacobins, no
-partisans of the Red faction among these French fishers. They are pious
-also in their way, seldom failing to attend _en masse_ at the church of
-St Nicholas or the cathedral of Notre-Dame, before they set out on a
-distant cruise.
-
-Once and again in early summer, a fisher's picnic will be organised,
-when in long carts roofed over with green boughs, Piscator and his
-female relatives, from the grizzled grandmother to the lisping little
-maiden, who in her lace-cap and scarlet petticoat looks scarcely larger
-than a doll, go merrily jolting off to dine beneath the oaks of the
-forest. In their quiet way, they are fond of pleasure, holding in
-summer dancing assemblies, where all the merry-making is at an end by
-half-past nine, and which are as decorous, if less ceremonious, as any
-ball can be. They are patrons of the theatre too, giving a preference
-to sentimental dramas, and shedding simple tears over the fictitious
-sorrows of a stage heroine; while in ecclesiastical processions the
-brightest patches of colour, artistically arranged, are those which are
-produced by the red kirtles, the blue or yellow shawls, and the snowy
-caps of the sailor-maidens.
-
-The gay holiday attire, frequently copied, on the occasion of a fancy
-dress-ball, by Parisian ladies of the loftiest rank, with all its
-adjuncts of rich colour and spotless lace; the ear-rings and cross of
-yellow gold, the silver rings, trim slippers, and coquettish headgear
-of these French mermaidens; no doubt lends a piquancy to their beauty
-which might otherwise be lacking. Sometimes an exceptionally lovely
-fisher-girl may be tempted by a brilliant proposal of marriage, and
-leaves her clan to become a viscountess, or it may be a marchioness,
-for mercenary marriages are not universal in France. But such
-incongruous unions seldom end very happily; for the mermaiden is, alas!
-entirely uneducated, and proves at best too rough a diamond to appear
-to advantage in a golden setting.
-
-
-
-
-EMERGENCIES.
-
-
-Accidents of various kinds are continually occurring in which the
-spectator is suddenly called upon to do his best to save life or
-relieve suffering without the aid of skilled advice or scientific
-appliances. A body has been drawn from the water in an insensible
-condition, and thus far a rescue has been effected; but the scene may
-be more or less distant, not only from the residence of the nearest
-doctor, but from any house; and unless the by-stander is able to apply
-prompt means to restore respiration and warmth, a life may yet be lost.
-Again, a lady's dress is in flames, or it may be fire has broken out in
-a bedroom--accidents which, if immediate steps be not taken, may end
-fatally to life and property, long before the arrival of the physician
-or fire-brigade. One's own life too may be placed in such instant
-jeopardy that it can only be preserved by active and intelligent
-exertions on our own part. Situations of this kind attend the sailor,
-soldier, and traveller as 'permanent risks;' while in the city or
-field, and even in the security of home, dangers of different kinds
-confront us which are best described by the word emergencies.
-
-The pressing question in any emergency is of course, 'What is to be
-done?' Unhappily, the answer is not always at hand. We are often
-altogether unprepared to act, or we act in such a way as only to
-increase the danger. The most humane onlooker in a case of partial
-drowning may at the same time be the most helpless. While in any of the
-frequent casualties to children--such as choking, scalding, &c.--the
-tenderest mother may but contribute to the calamity, either by the use
-of wrong means or the inability to apply right ones. How common this
-is in respect of many kinds of accidents, and how many of those cases
-returned 'fatal' might have had a happier issue had the spectator but
-known 'what to do.'
-
-The terse advice supposed to meet every species of emergency is to
-'keep cool.' We admit its force, and agree that it cannot be too
-frequently insisted upon. Without presence of mind, neither the zeal
-of self-interest nor the solicitude of affection itself can act with
-effect. In some instances even, special skill and knowledge may be
-paralysed by an access of nervousness and its consequent confusion
-of mind. Again there occur many grave situations in which tact and
-self-possession are all that are necessary to avert serious calamity.
-The following anecdote illustrative of this went the round of the
-newspapers shortly after the disastrous fire in Brooklyn Theatre. Some
-stage-properties suddenly took fire during a performance before a
-crowded audience at a certain European theatre. The usual panic ensued.
-A well-known actor aware that the danger was not serious, and dreading
-the result of a sudden rush from the house, coolly stepped in front of
-the curtain, and in calm tones announced that his Majesty the Emperor,
-who then occupied the imperial box, had been robbed of some valuable
-jewels, and that any one attempting to leave the theatre would be
-immediately arrested. The threat would of itself have been useless, but
-the fact and manner of its delivery conveyed an assurance of safety to
-the excited people which no direct appeal to their reason could have
-done. They resumed their places; the fire was subdued; and not till
-next day did they learn the _real_ peril they had escaped by the timely
-ruse of the great actor. How terrible a contrast that unhappy and
-unchecked panic which led to the loss of life at Brooklyn!
-
-The effects of panic and confusion have sometimes their amusing side.
-We have seen ordinarily sane people casting crockery and other brittle
-ware into the street from a height of several stories--_to save it from
-fire_; and there occurs a passage in one of Hood's witty ballads which
-seems to prove the incident by no means a rare one:
-
-    Only see how she throws out her _chaney_,
-    Her basins and tea-pots and all;
-    The most brittle of _her_ goods--or any;
-    But they all break in breaking their fall.
-
-But while a jest may be pardonable in such a case, this losing one's
-head too often takes place in circumstances involving loss of life or
-property. An excited pitying crowd, for example, is gathered round a
-person struck in the street with apoplexy. An alarm has been given,
-and a curious gaping group has come to witness a case of suicide by
-hanging. A concourse of people stand before a house from which issue
-the first symptoms of a fire. In such cases the spectators are usually
-nerveless and purposeless: the danger to life or property is in the
-exact ratio of the number of onlookers. How curious and instructive to
-note the change which comes over the scene on the arrival of a single
-sensible and self-possessed person. One of the idle sympathisers of
-the apoplectic patient suddenly frees the neck and chest; a second
-goes sanely in search of temporary appliances; a third runs zealously
-for a doctor, and the remainder go about their business. One stroke
-of a knife and the would-be suicide has been placed in the hands of a
-few of the more intelligent by-standers for resuscitation. The precise
-locality of the fire has been reached, and the fire either extinguished
-promptly with the means at hand, or kept under until the arrival of the
-fire-engines which have been at once sent for.
-
-Now, what is the real source of this exceptional self-possession--so
-all-important in an emergency? Is it not, after all, the quiet
-confidence begot of knowing what is best and proper to be done under
-given circumstances? It is quite true, no doubt, that presence of mind
-is a moral quality more or less independent of technical knowledge,
-but in a plain practical way it is directly _its result_. To become
-familiar with difficulties is to divest them of their character as
-such, and to enable us to act with all the coolness and precision
-exercised in ordinary events. To a surgeon, an accident is a 'case,'
-not an 'emergency;' while even an abstract knowledge of 'what to do'
-arms the mind of the non-professional against excitement or confusion.
-The possession of one little fact, the recollection of some read or
-heard of device or remedy, is often, sufficient to steady the mind and
-enable it to act effectively. How frequently some half-forgotten item
-of surgical knowledge, some stray prescription, or some plan casually
-recommended ever so long ago, is the means, here and there, of eluding
-the fatal possibilities of an emergency.
-
-There is really little excuse for ignorance of the means and methods
-required to meet ordinary cases, seeing that information in abundance
-is to be had at trifling cost and with little trouble. There are
-surgical and medical works, published at almost nominal prices, the
-expressed aim of which is to instruct the public what steps to take in
-most kinds of accidents, in the absence of professional assistance.
-There are works also which, treating mainly of household matters,
-contain valuable hints to parents and others on the subject of
-accidents to children, as also of fires to person and property; while
-here and there in our serial literature may be found useful advice on
-such special kinds of emergencies as the bolting of horses, capsizing
-of boats, bites by poisonous snakes, &c. But above all, to those who
-care to remember what they read, the columns of the daily newspapers
-afford much sound instruction in every species of untoward event. In
-spite, however, of the ease with which people might inform themselves,
-and in spite of frequently bitter experience, there is a very general
-apathy regarding such matters. In upper and middle class families, a
-certain amount of interest is no doubt evinced, and books of reference
-are found in their libraries; but the practical importance of knowing
-their contents, and so forearming against contingencies, is by no means
-widely recognised. It is scarcely surprising then to find the masses so
-indifferent, and as a consequence so helpless to assist themselves or
-each other in any unusual situation.
-
-The idea of giving the subject some place in the common school course
-is one, we think, worthy of consideration. Physical education receives
-a fair share of encouragement in the higher class of schools; and some
-of the exercises enjoined, such as running, climbing, swimming, and
-rowing, are direct provisions against accidents by field or water;
-while all of them, by giving a degree of confidence to the mind, are
-of the greatest value as a training to meet emergencies generally.
-Physiology too is gradually making good its claim to the attention of
-teachers; and the instruction in Domestic Economy prescribed for girls
-comprises hints how to act in what may be called household emergencies.
-All this is very satisfactory; and were some pains taken in addition to
-point out to pupils of both sexes the commoner dangers by which life is
-beset, and were they told in a plain practical way how these are best
-averted, we believe the case would be very fairly met. To the skilled
-teacher, a short series of lessons of this kind would not necessarily
-be any great tax upon his time, but would rather form one of the most
-interesting of those 'asides' to which he properly resorts as an
-occasional relief to the tedium of school-routine.
-
-To children of a larger growth, we can only repeat that the means of
-informing themselves are not beyond reach. There are, of course, now
-and then such combinations of circumstances as no knowledge or training
-can provide for, just as there are many accidents which no human
-foresight can prevent. Leaving these out of the question, however,
-few of us pass through life without having at one time or other to
-exercise our intelligence and knowledge to preserve either our own life
-or property, or the life or property of others in circumstances where
-these may be exercised successfully. Our interest and duty alike enjoin
-us to take reasonable pains to forearm ourselves, and the neglect to do
-so is clearly culpable. But we may have occasion by and by to present
-our readers with a few practical hints on the subject of 'What to do in
-Emergencies.'
-
-
-
-
-THE TRADE IN ARTIFICIAL EYES.
-
-
-On this subject, the _New York Sun_ gives some amusing particulars:
-'Between eight and ten thousand eyes are sold annually in the United
-States. An eye-maker gives one in one hundred and twenty-five as the
-proportion of one-eyed people. Computing the population of the country
-at forty-two millions, this rate gives three hundred and thirty-six
-thousand as the number of persons with only one eye in the Republic.
-Consequently, while ten thousand people supply their optical deficiency
-with an artificial eye, two hundred and twenty-six thousand go without.
-In proportion to the population, the eye-maker said, there are more
-one-eyed people in Paterson, New Jersey, than any other town in this or
-any other country. All towns that have many foundries and factories,
-and whose air is impregnated with soot and smoke, count their one-eyed
-inhabitants by the score; but Paterson is ahead of the rest. The
-eye-maker knew of the three proprietors of a single foundry there each
-losing an eye. Pittsburg comes next. In this city one-eyed folks abound
-in the neighbourhood of manufacturing establishments. Once he had four
-patients from near a foundry in West Eleventh Street alone. Not only
-the foul atmosphere destroys the sight, but flying pieces of metal burn
-out the eyes of the workmen. An importer who sells one thousand five
-hundred eyes annually sends one-third to Canada; Chicago takes three
-hundred; and Cincinnati more than St Louis. New Orleans, Nashville,
-and other towns west and south buy the remainder. The colour for eyes
-most in demand is what is known as "Irish blue," a peculiarly light
-azure that predominates in Ireland. The average cost of an eye is ten
-dollars. He sells comparatively few eyes in this city, as New Yorkers
-prefer to have their eyes made to order.'
-
-
-
-
-A NOBLE OCCUPATION.
-
-
-A newspaper records as follows: 'The Duke of Hamilton left Hamilton
-Palace for the south yesterday. During his stay of six days he shot
-373½ brace of grouse, 4 brace of black-game, 4 hares, and 2 snipes.'
-This makes a slaughter of seven hundred and sixty-one animals in six
-days, or at an average upwards of a hundred and twenty-six per diem.
-Hard work!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Printed and Published by W. & R. CHAMBERS, 47 Paternoster Row, LONDON,
-and 339 High Street, EDINBURGH.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_All Rights Reserved._
-
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular
-Literature, Science, and Art,, by Various
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-<pre>
-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature,
-Science, and Art, No. 723, by Various
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world 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.  If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-
-
-Title: Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art, No. 723
-       November 3, 1877
-
-Author: Various
-
-Editor: William Chambers
-        Robert Chambers
-
-Release Date: December 28, 2015 [EBook #50780]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CHAMBER'S JOURNAL ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Susan Skinner and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_689" id="Page_689">{689}</a></span></p>
-
-
-
-<h1>CHAMBERS'S JOURNAL<br />
-OF<br />
-POPULAR<br />
-LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.</h1>
-
-<div>
-<h2>CONTENTS</h2>
-
-<p class='center'>
-
-<!-- Autogenerated TOC. Modify or delete as required. -->
-
-<a href="#THE_GAELIC_NUISANCE">THE GAELIC NUISANCE.</a><br />
-<a href="#FROM_DAWN_TO_SUNSET">FROM DAWN TO SUNSET.</a><br />
-<a href="#OUR_INDIAN_PETS">OUR INDIAN PETS.</a><br />
-<a href="#THE_ADMIRALS_SECOND_WIFE">THE ADMIRAL'S SECOND WIFE.</a><br />
-<a href="#REMINISCENCES_OF_QUEBEC">REMINISCENCES OF QUEBEC.</a><br />
-<a href="#FRENCH_FISHER-FOLK">FRENCH FISHER-FOLK.</a><br />
-<a href="#EMERGENCIES">EMERGENCIES.</a><br />
-<a href="#THE_TRADE_IN_ARTIFICIAL_EYES">THE TRADE IN ARTIFICIAL EYES.</a><br />
-<a href="#A_NOBLE_OCCUPATION">A NOBLE OCCUPATION.</a><br />
-
-<!-- End Autogenerated TOC. -->
-
-</p>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<div class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/header.png" width="600" height="294" alt="Chambers's Journal of Popular Literature, Science, and Art. Fourth Series. Conducted by William and Robert Chambers." />
-</div>
-
-
-<hr class="full" />
-<div class="center">
-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""  width="85%">
-<tr><td align="left"><b><span class="smcap">No.</span> 723.</b></td><td align="center"><b>SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1877.</b></td><td align="right"><b><span class="smcap">Price</span> 1½<i>d.</i></b></td></tr>
-</table></div></div>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<div>
-
-
-<h2><a name="THE_GAELIC_NUISANCE" id="THE_GAELIC_NUISANCE">THE GAELIC NUISANCE.</a></h2>
-
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">It</span> is not a very creditable fact that after centuries
-of national consolidation, there should be communities
-within the British Islands who use
-different vernacular tongues and are ignorant of
-English. In other words, there are large numbers
-of persons who cannot in ordinary circumstances
-be directly communicated with. They can neither
-send nor intelligibly receive letters through the
-post-office. Summoned as witnesses on civil or
-criminal trials, they are in the position of foreigners,
-and stand in need of interpreters. Cut off from
-English books and newspapers, a correct knowledge
-of history, of science and art, and of passing
-events is scarcely possible. They necessarily
-vegetate amidst vague legends and superstitions.
-Theirs is a life of stagnation and impoverishment,
-in the spot where they were born; for
-anything like voluntary emigration to improve
-circumstances is only exceptional. And all this
-has been complacently tolerated, if not pampered,
-for hundreds of years by a nation full of enterprise,
-and which, with no injustice, aspires to be
-in the front rank of general civilisation.</p>
-
-<p>We are quite aware that much the same thing
-can be said of most of the continental nations. All
-are a little behind in this respect. The ancient
-Breton language survives in France, as does the
-Basque in Spain. Switzerland, Germany, and
-Russia are respectively a jumble of spoken tongues.
-In Holland and Belgium, we have the Dutch,
-French, Flemish, and Walloon. To accommodate
-the inhabitants of Brussels, the names of the
-streets are stuck up in two languages. These continental
-diversities do not greatly surprise us. In
-frequent wars, revolutions, conquests, annexations,
-along with want of means, and a host of inveterate
-prejudices to be encountered, we have an explanation
-of the strange mixture of languages and
-dialects which still prevails in continental Europe.</p>
-
-<p>The case is somewhat different in the United
-Kingdom, where everything but old prejudices
-would seem to favour a uniform native language
-which all can use and understand. Yet, as we
-have said, there exist communities who are still
-less or more ignorant of English. Centuries have
-rolled on, and notwithstanding all appliances,
-groups of people are yet found speaking a language
-which was common a thousand years ago, but now
-occupies an obscure and fragmentary position. We
-do not say that matters have not been advancing
-towards uniformity. Little by little, outlying communities
-have been satisfactorily Anglicised, not by
-anything like legal compulsion, but by what might
-be termed a natural process of assimilation. We
-may speak of two important cases. In the Shetland
-and Orkney Islands the Norwegian language
-existed until within the last two centuries. It is
-now totally gone, and the vernacular is a pure
-English; vastly to the advantage of the natives,
-who besides being open to common civilising
-influences, are prepared for pushing their fortunes
-in any part of the British dominions; some of
-them indeed making no mean figure in current
-literature. The other case is that of Galloway, a
-district embracing two counties in the south-west
-of Scotland, where the Gaelic prevailed longest
-in any part of the Lowlands. 'The wild Scots of
-Galloway' was once a well-known phrase. It has
-passed away along with the Gaelic speech. The
-Gallowegians&mdash;abounding in men of genius&mdash;are
-now a lively and prosperous English-speaking and
-English-writing people. For them the change has
-been a very happy one.</p>
-
-<p>With a knowledge of these two instances of
-social improvement, there is the more reason to
-regret the protracted existence of non-English
-speaking races. No one will say that any good has
-come of the continued prevalence of Erse, the old
-Irish tongue; nor of Manx in the Isle of Man; nor
-of Welsh, though that, as regards literature, is
-considerably ahead of any branch of the once universal
-Celtic tongue. Considering what spirit is
-demonstrated in the way of books, newspapers,
-and otherwise, Welsh rises to a comparatively
-prominent position; but there always remains the
-unpleasant reflection, that interesting as the Welsh
-tongue may be, it distinctly mars national unity,
-and must be a drawback on those adhering to it<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_690" id="Page_690">{690}</a></span>
-alone, and reared in ignorance of English. To
-this cause is doubtless attributable the lingering
-of many whimsical superstitions in the Principality.</p>
-
-<p>Should any one desire to see what mischiefs are
-effected by adherence to a language long since out
-of date, he should visit some parts of the Highlands
-and the Western Islands of Scotland, where,
-by a well-meant but mistaken policy, Gaelic is
-still perseveringly maintained. Some years since,
-it was our fortune to pay a visit to Barra, one of
-the Outer Hebrides; and the feeling which rose in
-our mind was that what we beheld was a specimen
-of Scotland as it existed in the sixth century,
-when St Columba spread a knowledge of Christianity
-in the western Caledonian regions. We
-seemed to step back twelve hundred years. It
-was a marvellous kind of look into antiquity. In
-their language, in their rude dwellings of stone
-and turf, in their religious forms, and in their
-dress, the people belonged to a far-back age. Their
-existence was an anachronism. And the curious
-thing was to find this condition of affairs within
-four-and-twenty hours of Glasgow, with its enterprise
-and prodigiously busy population. We have
-seen the Micmacs living in a way little better than
-dogs in the wilds of Nova Scotia, but one is not
-greatly astonished to see Indians dwelling in a
-state of primitive wretchedness. The sentiment of
-wonder is raised on finding natives within the
-British Islands still living as their ancestors did
-at a time coeval with Vortigern and the Saxon
-Heptarchy. There they are, for anything we can
-see, unimprovable. Speaking Gaelic and nothing
-else, they, in their dismal isolation, are left behind
-in all ordinary means of advancement. Who
-has not heard of the institutions plausibly and
-benevolently set on foot to enlighten the aborigines
-of the Highlands and Islands? Well, here,
-after all that is done, things are much as they were
-in the era of St Columba&mdash;people living almost
-like savages, without the ability to hold intercourse
-with strangers, or the power to improve their
-circumstances, in consequence of knowing no other
-tongue than Gaelic. That language is their bane.
-It keeps them poor, it keeps them ignorant. So
-far as they are concerned, the art of printing might
-as well never have been invented. The intelligence
-communicated by books and newspapers is
-for them wholly unavailing. Practically, they are
-living hundreds of years before the ingenious discoveries
-of Gutenberg and Coster. To think that
-with all the costly apparatus of national education,
-such should be going on within the compass of the
-British Islands!</p>
-
-<p>It is no use to mince a matter so grave in its
-results. The upholding of Gaelic as a vernacular
-tongue is, in our opinion, an error to be lamented
-and abandoned. In saying so, we are reminded that
-an effort has been made by an eminently enthusiastic
-Professor to gather funds for the purpose
-of endowing a Celtic Chair in the University of
-Edinburgh. To that effort, which is likely to
-prove successful, we make no special objection. Let
-Celtic, like any other ancient language, by all
-means be cultivated among the higher aims of
-philology. Students who like to pursue learned
-inquiries of this kind may do so. But it is a
-wholly different thing to maintain a system of
-elementary teaching in schools which tends to
-perpetuate Gaelic as a spoken tongue to the exclusion
-of English. Apart from social intercommunication,
-there may be a difficulty in substituting
-English for Gaelic. Teaching to read English
-alone in Gaelic-speaking districts is said to be
-of little use. The pupils learn to pronounce the
-words without attaching any meaning to them.
-Impressed with this awkward consequence, the
-Society for the support of Gaelic schools, which
-has been in existence upwards of seventy years,
-suggests that the best way to promote a knowledge
-of and taste for English is to begin by teaching
-pupils to read Gaelic. 'The people,' it is represented,
-'having once got a taste for learning,
-are not satisfied with their children being able to
-read Gaelic; a number of them pay the teacher
-for instructing them also in reading English and
-writing at extra hours.' There may be some truth
-in this view of the matter; but unfortunately we
-are confronted with the greater truth, that considerable
-numbers in the Highlands and Islands
-still speak Gaelic, and are ignorant of English to
-any useful purpose.</p>
-
-<p>If it be absolutely necessary that schoolmasters
-must begin by teaching to read the Gaelic, they
-ought not to end there, but proceed to offer, by a
-close translation, the requisite knowledge of English.
-There are surely teachers qualified to make
-Gaelic-speaking children understand the meaning
-of English words. The trouble to be taken may
-be considerable, but there are few things either
-great or good which can be effected without trouble.
-We cannot doubt that Highland school-boards
-might find a way to make pupils understand
-English provided they have the will to do so.
-Indifference and the grudging of expense perhaps
-lie quite as much at the root of the difficulty as
-traditional prejudice. It is open to conjecture
-that, but for undue fostering, Gaelic would stand
-a fair chance of disappearing altogether from the
-Highlands and Islands, as it did in Galloway and
-elsewhere simply through the operation of natural
-causes.</p>
-
-<p>The question, Gaelic or no Gaelic, has, we fear,
-been too long treated in a sentimental point of
-view. For example, we see it fervently argued
-that Highlanders should be able to understand and
-relish the ancient Gaelic poetry, as if an acquaintanceship
-with a few old songs and ballads were a
-primary concern in life. Poor people nailed to a
-sterile soil by their hereditary ignorance of English,
-are to be congratulated for their knowledge of
-some poem which the world at large never heard
-of, and does not care about! Happy people, to
-whom food, clothing, and cultured intelligence are
-as nothing in comparison to the enviable pleasure
-of singing a ditty ascribed to Fingal or some more
-modern and less apocryphal Celtic bard! It is
-gratifying to know that Highlanders themselves are
-a little scandalised by these and similarly absurd
-propositions. Sensibly, they observe that it is time
-to get rid of Gaelic, as being entirely out of date,
-and only an impediment. Two years ago, in a
-Glasgow newspaper, one who subscribed himself a
-'Western Highlander,' took exception to the unreasonable
-clamour that had been got up for the
-maintenance of Gaelic as a spoken tongue. He says
-very rationally: 'We Highlanders have a language
-that, whatever its beauties, suffices merely for speech;
-a language by which we cannot acquire knowledge
-in art, science, history, commerce, or&mdash;if we exclude
-the Bible&mdash;even religion. With a poor and infertile<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_691" id="Page_691">{691}</a></span>
-soil, we live alongside a people rich in every gift
-of nature, possessing every advantage that can
-insure worldly prosperity. We are debarred from
-all the stores of wisdom locked up in the English
-language. Thus heavily weighted, we cannot hope
-to rival our neighbours' wealth, but we can wish
-and strive to make the best of our opportunities.
-We intend to win our way if industry and thrift
-can do it. We can endeavour to improve our
-infertile soil, to attract capital to our agriculture,
-to establish better communication with the rest of
-the world. Proud as we are of the mountain and
-the glen, we know that we cannot live by scenic
-beauty alone. We are tired too of kilted glory,
-and of dressing and acting up to Cockney sentiment
-about the savage Celt. We wish to recognise and
-study the conditions of existence, the methods of
-supporting life and securing comfort. And to do
-all this, if our much-loved language has become
-an impediment rather than a gain, why, let it go.
-We shall remain good Highlanders regardless of
-any particular mode of speech. At a time when
-the first whisperings of prosperity are beginning to
-reach us, when steamers deeper and deeper laden
-ply to every corner of the west, when the completion
-of a railway will soon make Oban a great
-commercial centre, when comforts hitherto undreamt
-of are everywhere obtainable&mdash;is it right
-at such a time of promise to intensify our disadvantages
-and to make our backwardness more
-backward still?' Shrewd remarks these, well
-worth taking to heart.</p>
-
-<p>It cannot be ascertained from any official Reports
-what is the exact number of persons&mdash;men, women,
-and children&mdash;whose language is wholly confined
-to Gaelic. In the second Report of the Education
-Commission published in 1867, it is said to be
-'probable that the population of the parishes
-within which Gaelic continues to be the only
-language which is understood by the majority of
-the people cannot exceed a hundred and fifty
-thousand; these being chiefly the parishes of the
-Hebrides, which are wholly insular, and the mainland
-parishes of the west coast of the counties
-of Sutherland, Ross, Inverness, and Argyle.' It
-is believed that since 1867, the number whose
-speech is limited to Gaelic has diminished through
-various influences, among which commercial intercourse
-by means of steam-vessels and otherwise
-has been conspicuous. We should almost aver
-that Hutcheson's magnificent fleet of steam-vessels,
-whether devoted to the carrying of goods or
-passengers, had done more to introduce a knowledge
-of English, along with conditions of prosperity,
-into the Hebrides than any other appliance
-whatsoever. In the remoter or lesser
-islands which are little visited by strangers, there
-is a corresponding backwardness. Barra we have
-already spoken of as still in a singularly primitive
-condition. At Coll, Tyree, and some other
-islands, the knowledge of English is also unhappily
-deficient. In comparatively recent times,
-a great change in proprietorship has come over
-these islands. The old families&mdash;such as the
-Macneils and Macleans&mdash;have mostly disappeared,
-and new landlords with the means and desire to
-improve the condition of the soil and the population,
-find themselves obstructed by the difficulty
-of holding any intelligent intercourse with the
-natives. The disadvantage is mutual, for on all
-hands the Gaelic-speaking inhabitants are unable
-to make their wants and feelings known to those
-who wish to be their friends. A melancholy case of
-a rigid adherence to Gaelic, is that of the extremely
-remote island of St Kilda. Here, as was described
-a few months ago by Mr J. Sands in our pages, the
-natives speak Gaelic and nothing else; in Gaelic
-they are preached to by a minister originally
-from the mainland; he and his wife being the
-only individuals who know English. Of course
-the natives can hold no epistolary correspondence
-with the exterior world, on whose sympathy they
-are forced to rely. A present of English books
-would be valueless, for they could not read them.
-They could not emigrate unless accompanied by
-an interpreter, much after the manner of a party
-of travellers in the East under the guidance of a
-dragoman. We ask, Is that a position in which
-any of Her Majesty's subjects should continue to
-be placed through the effect of custom or prejudice?
-Such an afflicting condition of affairs is
-little better than a national disgrace.</p>
-
-<p>It is hard to run counter to long-cherished and
-in the main amiable feelings. It is hard to find
-fault with persons and institutions whose motives
-in encouraging Gaelic have been alike pious and
-benevolent. But circumstances oblige us to be
-candid in a matter so momentous to public welfare.
-The Gaelic language may be as copious and
-energetic as the Greek; it may be not less suitable
-for poetry than the Italian; it has strong archæological
-claims as a relic of the tongue which in its
-various forms was at one time spoken all over the
-British Islands, if not over all Europe; but it has
-survived its usefulness, and is out of place as a
-vernacular. In short, looking to the wants of
-modern society, and seeing the mischief it produces,
-we are&mdash;however hateful the term&mdash;warranted
-in characterising Gaelic as a <span class="smcap lowercase">NUISANCE</span>,
-which every one should aid in removing with
-all reasonable speed.</p>
-
-<p class='right'>
-W. C.
-</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" /></div><div>
-
-
-<h2><a name="FROM_DAWN_TO_SUNSET" id="FROM_DAWN_TO_SUNSET">FROM DAWN TO SUNSET.</a></h2>
-
-<p class='ph3'><span class="smcap">By 'Alaster Græme.'</span></p>
-
-
-<h3>IN THREE PARTS.&mdash;PART II.</h3>
-
-
-<h4>CHAPTER THE SEVENTEENTH.</h4>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">No</span> one but Mistress Margaret and Marjory
-knew that Deborah and Kingston Fleming were
-betrothed. Meantime Deborah, with her love-secret
-folded like a flower within her heart, devoted
-herself to her father, and Kingston remained
-with them. But Deborah's presence was required
-at Lincoln; the tenantry were anxious to welcome
-the new mistress; and like a dutiful daughter,
-fondly hoping that the change would restore her
-father, she determined, by Kingston's advice, to
-go there at once, and to leave Enderby to undergo
-thorough repair. So they left the dear old place.
-'What will happen,' thought Deborah Fleming,
-'ere I see Enderby again?' Mistress Margaret
-would not leave Enderby, for certain private and
-sufficient reasons of her own; so she pleaded to
-be left behind. She was in daily expectation of
-receiving a secret summons to follow her husband,
-and her heart clung to her old father and the old
-place.</p>
-
-<p>They arrived at Lincoln Castle in the late
-summer gloaming. Groups of solemn cedars were
-just visible, and the little melancholy bats were
-flitting round like spirits; the grand old ivied<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_692" id="Page_692">{692}</a></span>
-keep loomed darkly before them; and beyond,
-under a glimmering archway, were lights and
-figures. Deborah shuddered; she knew not whether
-to weep or pray, as she laid her head on her
-father's shoulder, and thought of herself entering
-in triumph as Adam Sinclair's bride. She felt
-a traitor, taking Kingston there, her lover, her
-betrothed, even though he was going away that
-night; and the grim presence of Adam Sinclair
-pervaded all the place. The same in the gorgeous
-rooms, gloomy though full of brilliant lights.
-On one side walked her tall kinsman-lover, and on
-the other stalked the spectre of Adam Sinclair.
-Deborah shivered, and clung to Kingston's arm.
-She went out with him under the stars to bid him
-good-bye. Two tall cedars met overhead, and the
-night-wind just sighed amongst their branches;
-the night-flowers were exhaling their fragrant
-odours.</p>
-
-<p>'Deb,' whispered Kingston, 'I have half a mind
-to leave thee, love! Men of rank and position
-would flock to woo my beautiful one. Thou'rt
-very young. Wait; and let me come and know thy
-mind hereafter. <i>Wait</i>, Deb. I speak no jest. Wert
-thou poor, I would make thee wed me now; but
-love&mdash;as thou art&mdash;I cannot. Wait, Deb; and I will
-exact no promise from thee.'</p>
-
-<p>'Thou never didst know me, King, and never
-will! My love was quick to come, but it was and
-ever will be changeless. Dear, I have seen many
-men; and more than thou wott'st of have made love
-to me. But what are they all to thee? From childhood,
-<i>thou</i> hast been my love; I feel no shame to
-tell it thee. And wilt thou, for my poor fortune,
-leave me? Why, thou dost tempt me to fling it
-all away as dross, rather than lose thy love. King,
-if thou leavest me, I shall <i>die</i>! For old kin's sake,
-thou couldst not! Remember that we are kin
-near and dear! Thy father and mine were boys
-at Enderby, and played in the same old haunts;
-companions near and dear. Ah well, King as thou
-lovest me, promise soon to come back!'</p>
-
-<p>He took her face between his hands and hesitated.
-Perilously dear was she to him; but oh!
-that golden casket in which his jewel lay&mdash;he
-hated it! Kingston Fleming was proud where he
-loved.</p>
-
-<p>'If thou wilt not promise,' said Deborah, 'thou
-shalt not go! <i>I</i> shall do the wooing!&mdash;Oh, I am
-too bold! But my heart saith thou lovest me.
-Then fling this pride away. King, darling, do not
-break my heart!'</p>
-
-<p>He was vanquished. Vows, caresses, sighs, and
-the lovers parted.</p>
-
-<hr class="tb" />
-
-<h3>PART III.&mdash;NIGHT.</h3>
-
-
-<h4>CHAPTER THE FIRST.</h4>
-
-<p>The young and beautiful Lady of Lincoln won
-all hearts; not that she visited any but the poor in
-those days; but the fame of her beauty and sweetness
-spread abroad even so; and the 'Rose of
-Enderby,' though not to be seen, was known to be
-brightening the stern old castle. The tall gaunt
-father and the beautiful girl lived in utter seclusion,
-except when amongst the poor&mdash;always
-together. Strangely enough, he never tried
-to wander. She never had him left alone day
-or night; but he never seemed happy save with
-Deborah. And still she watched for and prayed
-for a change in him. She talked to him, waited
-on him, sang to him from morning till night. Out
-in the broad sunny court that lay between the
-door and the entrance-gates, Deborah and her
-father, and often old Marjory with them, would
-sit and look up the long grass avenue that stretched
-far away, a vista of giant trees, ever twilight,
-where the antlered deer would trot past, to seek
-fresh shade and pasturage, and where the far-away
-murmur of country life, the lowing of cows, the
-tinkle of a sheep-bell, the bark of a dog, the
-shout of a boy, or the cries of children at play,
-would be wafted to them musically.</p>
-
-<p>One morning, left alone, Sir Vincent said to his
-child: 'Where are we, Deb?'</p>
-
-<p>Often he had asked the same question before;
-and she answered as before: 'At Lincoln Castle,
-father.'</p>
-
-<p>But he went on: 'Who lives here?'</p>
-
-<p>'You and I, father, and I hope Charlie soon.
-Adam Sinclair gave us this place. Wasn't it good
-of him?'</p>
-
-<p>'Adam Sinclair?' He looked bewildered, and
-shook his head. 'I know naught of him, Deb.
-Deb, little Deb, I was thinking of Kate Shaw. I
-saw her yesterday.'</p>
-
-<p>'Who was she, father, dear?'</p>
-
-<p>He stared at her. 'Why, your mother!'</p>
-
-<p>Her heart fluttered. 'My mother! And did
-you see her yesterday?'</p>
-
-<p>'Ay; she was walking under the trees yonder.
-But she looked ill, sadly ill; her hair was as white
-as mine. She gave me such a look!'</p>
-
-<p>Deborah went and kneeled by her father, and
-put her arms around him. 'Poor sweet father!
-This could not be. Thou knowest my mother died
-long, long ago. And was her name Kate Shaw,
-father?'</p>
-
-<p>'Ay;' and he smiled. Wrapt and intent, his
-eyes seemed gazing far through and away. 'She
-was Kate Shaw, Deb; a gipsy lass, and beautiful
-as the dawn. No one like her! Such eyes, such
-feet, such grace! Sweet Kate! sweet Kate!'</p>
-
-<p>Deborah knew that her mother's name had been
-Kate. She marvelled, trembled.</p>
-
-<p>'I walked with her yesterday, Deb; didn't I?
-Yes; under the trees at Enderby; and I found she
-loved me. Little witch! She was hard, hard to
-win; so coy, so whimsical! She had a gipsy lover
-too. I made short work of <i>him</i>.'</p>
-
-<p>'Didst shoot him, father?'</p>
-
-<p>Sir Vincent laughed aloud, then feigned to look
-greatly scandalised amid his mirth. 'Shoot him?
-Fie, fie, Deb! Ask me not what I did, child. Why,
-one day she cared for him, the next for me. I could
-not stand it. A Fleming too! The Flemings
-woo maidens honourably. 'Fore heaven, I made
-Kate my Lady Fleming&mdash;my sweet little wife
-Kate! But I let her go no more to the camp.
-Sometimes I think she pines. She talks sometimes
-about her mother, in her dreams&mdash;that old
-hag! My wife must give up all, and cleave to
-me. Kate, Kate! dear love!' Then he said no
-more, nor did Deborah; but she marvelled at
-what she had heard, and what could have recalled
-her mother so vividly.</p>
-
-<p>It happened one afternoon a few days after
-this and their arrival at Lincoln, Dame Marjory
-entered with a pale face. 'My Lady Deb, there's
-a poor woman round there at the gates wantin' to
-see thee; she is very ill. She lies there; 'tis like<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_693" id="Page_693">{693}</a></span>
-she's dyin'; so Master Coleman thinks. She can't
-be moved away.'</p>
-
-<p>'I will come,' cried Deborah. 'Send Coleman
-to father. I will speak to her.' Beautiful, pitiful,
-Deborah appeared in her long black robes to
-the vision of the dying woman, bending down
-to her. She was an old, old woman, with wild
-and wintry hair; death in her face, but life in
-her great burning eyes, and those were fixed on
-Deborah. Deborah started back. It was <i>the</i> gipsy!
-A hundred doubts and certainties rushed surging
-to her brain. The gipsy beckoned her nearer.</p>
-
-<p>'Speak to her,' whispered old Marjory emphatically.
-'Go nearer.' And then Marjory, standing
-by gaunt and grim, waved the other servants
-away.</p>
-
-<p>Deborah kneeled and bent her ear to the dying
-woman's lips. 'Girl,' said the faint voice, 'I forgive
-and forget! Let me die like a woman, not
-like a dog. I am thy mother's mother, an' I have
-been round day an' night to seek thee. <i>She</i> cast
-me off&mdash;Kate Shaw, thy mother. Because she was
-my Lady Fleming, she forgot her old mother. I
-was the dirt under her feet. Thy servants turned
-me off, Mistress. But take me into your grand
-house an' let me die in peace.'</p>
-
-<p>Deborah rose to her feet, and turned like a
-ghost on Marjory. 'Nurse,' she whispered, 'is this
-my grandmother?'</p>
-
-<p>'Yes, Mistress Deborah; it is true.'</p>
-
-<p>Then Deborah beckoned to the men, and bid
-them bear the dying woman in and lay her on a
-bed. And then Deborah, with Marjory on the
-other side, sat down beside her. She seemed
-almost gone; the breath came labouring. But the
-breeze that swept in at the open windows seemed
-to revive her. It blew on the long white locks
-straggling across the brow; on those glazing eyes,
-so dark, sunken, piteous&mdash;eyes that burned up
-again, and sought Deborah's face as the embers of
-a dying fire flicker up and throw into the room
-an unexpected light.</p>
-
-<p>'My girl,' she said, 'if Kate had been like <i>thee</i>!
-Hark! I hated, an' yet I always loved thee!
-<i>Thou'dst</i> ne'er ha' treated me like a dog. An', ah
-me! I loved her like my soul!'</p>
-
-<p>'Grandmother,' answered Deborah sweetly and
-with a clear utterance, that pierced to the dying
-ears, 'my mother loved you. Only the other day
-I heard that great as she was, she never forgot
-you, even in her dreams. Day and night she
-thought of you; but her promise to her husband
-kept her from you, though she pined to see you
-once again. Oh, be merciful then! Forgive her!
-You are going now to meet again. O forgive her!
-that God may let ye meet in heaven!'</p>
-
-<p>The great eyes stirred not from Deborah's face.
-'Shall I win to heaven, lass? Speak to me o'
-heaven.' And Deborah described to her that
-beautiful place, that land glorious with promise
-and with bliss, that 'eye hath not seen, nor heart
-of man conceived.' The dying gipsy listened
-with her soul in her eyes. Then said she, very
-faintly: 'I am goin'. O Jesus, let me come! O Kate&mdash;my
-Kate!' Then, with wonderful sudden life
-and fire: 'Hi! you, my lass! Where's the boy?
-the rogue&mdash;"wild Charlie" they called him.
-Where's <i>he</i>?'</p>
-
-<p>'In Ireland. Gone to fight for the Irish, grandmother.'</p>
-
-<p>She laughed exultantly. 'Why, I tell thee why&mdash;<i>his
-mother</i> was Irish, an' he knew it. Mad boy,
-mad boy!'</p>
-
-<p>Deborah laid her white hand on the old brown
-trembling hand, and smiled. She watched to see
-again and again a strange look of Charlie in that
-faded face and those large and wistful eyes. A great
-new-born love was flooding Deborah's heart for
-the dying vagrant. But death was taking the
-wanderer away. 'O Jesus, let me come!' Deborah
-heard her say again.</p>
-
-<p>The fire died out; the flame sank low; the
-embers of life just smouldered, nothing more....
-The fresh wind blew in vain on the wild gipsy
-face. She was gone.</p>
-
-<p>Scarcely had Katharine Shaw been laid in her
-grave when Sir Vincent Fleming became very ill&mdash;so
-ill, that Deborah despatched a letter post-haste
-to Mistress Margaret Fleming, begging her to
-make known the fact to Charlie at once. But
-Mistress Fleming had started for Dublin; and this
-is how it befell. One morning a letter came to her.
-She often received such; but this one had cost her
-a laugh and a cry of joy. Just as she was in the
-perusal, old Jordan entered, and stared in wonderment
-at the glorious happiness of her face. 'Why,
-my maid,' he said, 'what hast got there? It's
-naught but paper, is it?'</p>
-
-<p>'No, dad; but something writ upon it. Father,'
-she said, and rose and slid the beautiful arm around
-his neck, 'haven't I been a good daughter to thee?
-Proud and pursed up with mine own conceit,
-the lads o' the village have always called me.
-But, father, "Mistress Dinnage" has been a good
-daughter unto thee?'</p>
-
-<p>'Ay, ay, lass, thou hast! What wouldst be
-comin' at? What ails thee now, Mistress?'</p>
-
-<p>'Why, I come to ask thy blessing on me. Don't
-look scared, father; no shame will ever fall on thee
-through Mistress Dinnage. But I will out with it,
-for I can never beat about the bush. Father, I
-am Charles Fleming's lawful wife!'</p>
-
-<p>Jordan seized his child by the shoulders, and
-his old grotesque visage grew dignified and terribly
-stern in its earnestness as he almost shrieked:
-'Not&mdash;not unbeknown to the Master&mdash;an' Mistress
-Deborah?'</p>
-
-<p>'Unbeknown that we are wedded, but not that
-we love, father. Mistress Deborah has known and
-wished it long; and Sir Vincent&mdash;he has seen us
-twice together, father, when we were walking
-secretly, an' has smiled on us. Mistress Deborah
-has heard him say a hundred times that he would
-fain, if he had wealth, have for his daughter-in-law
-an "honest poor man's child." So father, dear
-father, ye must not be angered.'</p>
-
-<p>'Child, child! thou'st done wrong in keepin' it
-hid. Married? What&mdash;<i>married</i>? Honestly?'</p>
-
-<p>'Ay,' was the proud answer. 'Charles Fleming
-and Margaret Dinnage went to Daxford Church,
-and were wed; we came out man and wife. Ask
-Master Rawdon. Father, he's in Ireland; but it's
-kept secret from all but Mistress Deborah. He's
-gone soldiering, father; and in this letter he asks
-me to go. Father, I am his wife!'</p>
-
-<p>'Ay, an' <i>Jordan's daughter</i>, Meg,' said the old
-man brokenly. 'I'm a'most dazed. And thou'rt
-goin' to leave the old man alone&mdash;alone!'</p>
-
-<p>'Only for a little time, father&mdash;a little, little
-time; for soon Charlie, when all the trouble's over,
-will come home to Enderby. It's all arranged
-between Lady Deb and me. A fine home-comin'<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_694" id="Page_694">{694}</a></span>
-it'll be, an' it please thee, Master Dinnage! Father,
-I won't go for long, dear. But o' nights, thinkin'
-o' Charlie, I well nigh go distraught. There is
-danger, father, as thou know'st! Hundreds o'
-men are slain. I must be <i>there</i>. I must go, dear;
-but I won't be long.'</p>
-
-<p>'Go, go!' muttered Jordan irefully. 'Thou'dst
-allus the bit atween thy teeth, Mistress Dinnage;
-so had thy poor dear mother. Go along! I've
-no need o' thee; yon brave young fellow hath.
-Thou'lt be killed next, girl, killed, ay, an' wus
-than killed, at the hands o' the wild Irish.
-But, go, go! I don't want thee here.'</p>
-
-<p>Anger, pride, and sorrow struggled fiercely in the
-brave old heart; but 'Mistress Dinnage' knew how
-to take him. 'Father,' she said, sorrowfully regarding
-him, with her head slightly on one side, and
-her hands playing nervously with her apron, in
-her earnest pleading, 'if thou wert newly wed, an'
-so parted from mother by land an' sea&mdash;an' she in
-trouble, needin' thee sore&mdash;thou'dst wade through
-fire an' water, only to win to <i>her</i>. My heart is
-broke in twain 'tween thee both&mdash;one half is at
-home with thee, an' the other gone to Charlie.
-Though I don't speak or cry, my heart is wounded
-with every man that's killed, an' trouble wears me
-sore. Think of mother, my father! Think when
-thou wert first wed, what it would be for one to
-part thee&mdash;think o' it, an' bid me go!'</p>
-
-<p>So Mistress Margaret won the day.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" /></div><div>
-<h2><a name="OUR_INDIAN_PETS" id="OUR_INDIAN_PETS">OUR INDIAN PETS.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Among</span> the many, many good things swept from
-India by the great Mutiny storm was the time-honoured
-order of Griffs&mdash;that is, officers under
-a year's service in the country. Every regiment
-owned one or two members, and in large
-stations they were usually to be found by the
-half-dozen. They were generally the life of the
-station, and in every way were our <i>prime</i> pets.
-What would Mrs General and Mrs Brigadier have
-done without their griffs to patronise and make
-use of in various ways, such as filling up sudden
-vacancies at their dinner-tables, or helping to fill
-their ball-rooms? Griffs invariably started Indian
-life with the three animals which are also included
-in the list of 'our Indian pets'&mdash;namely
-the horse or his humble representative the pony,
-the dog, and the monkey. No griff considered
-his establishment complete without these three
-animals; there would be a general uniformity
-among the monkeys; but a collection of griff
-horses, ponies, and dogs formed a rare aggregation
-of screws and curs of all sorts, sizes, and colours.</p>
-
-<p>There is a peculiar charm about Indian life
-which is rarely seen at home, and that is the compactness
-and domesticity of each establishment.
-In each household the master, and if he is married,
-his wife and children, is in direct contact with his
-servants and his animals; all are housed near him;
-and the daily morning stroll leads him from the
-stables to the farm-yard, then to the garden, and
-so home by the tree beneath which the monkey
-is chained, the dogs being in close attendance.
-The horses are brought up to be fed under their
-master's eye, and generally receive a crust of bread,
-a biscuit, or a chupátee (an unleavened wheaten
-cake like a pancake; the 'unleavened bread' of
-Scripture) from his or his wife's hands; the
-dogs have the free run of the house, and at
-their stated hours have their meals under some
-one's eyes; while the farm-yard is under the
-direct charge of the mistress, who fusses about
-among the cows, looks after the eggs and chickens,
-and makes over the victims selected for the table.
-Then on the march we are in still closer contact
-with our servants and animals; for a few steps
-only separate us from all. Emerging from the
-tent, a few paces to the rear bring us to the
-cook's tent, and behind or beside it is that
-belonging to the servants. Behind them are our
-horses and dogs, the latter generally tied up
-during the day and loose at night.</p>
-
-<p>So it happens that in cantonments, and more
-especially on the march, we are virtually monarchs
-of all we survey; and I well remember that in
-the pleasant days of my griffinage, on the occasion
-of my first march, I felt quite patriarchal as I
-sat in the tent-door with all my earthly belongings
-around me; the bearer (valet) and the other
-servants attending to their various duties, my dear
-Caboolee horse Tom dozing in the sunshine, my
-faithful setter Belle lying at my feet, and my
-monkeys Jacko and Moony busy with their own
-affairs.</p>
-
-<p>And now to 'our Indian pets;' and I purpose
-passing some of mine in pleasant review; but in
-doing so I shall not record anything remarkable,
-or what any kind observer of animals and their
-habits cannot fully indorse.</p>
-
-<p>One of my first purchases was a horse we called
-Tom, a gray, thoroughbred, thick-necked, and
-sturdy Caboolee, for whom I paid ninety rupees
-(nine pounds); and right valuable did he turn
-out. I bought him in 1854, rode him from
-one end of the presidency to the other, through
-the Mutiny, and up to 1866, when I pensioned
-him. In 1869 he was attacked by black
-cancer, and at length I was sorrowfully obliged
-to put an end to his existence, to save him
-from a cruel, lingering death. There was nothing
-about him externally different from other
-thoroughbred Caboolees; but being made a great
-pet of, his mental abilities shone more remarkably,
-especially under daily observation. For
-instance, he had a strong sense of the comic. If
-I spoke to him when mounted, he would turn his
-head as much as he could and look at me; or he
-would take a cake or bit of sugar-cane out of
-my stretched-out hand, and munch it as he went
-along; or if I tickled one ear with my cane, he
-would unmistakably present the other ear to be
-similarly treated. He was a great thief, and I had
-great difficulty in restraining him from plunder
-when riding through crops. He was very fond of
-my wife's horse Punch, and neither would be
-stabled apart from the other; and it was most
-amusing to watch their nose-rubbings across the
-stall partition. Much, however, as he loved Punch,
-he would never allow him to precede him in the
-walk or canter, nor would he move until the dogs
-had been let loose and had jumped up to his
-nose. He knew his name perfectly, and would
-trot up to me when called, from any part of the
-field. He carried me unflinchingly through the
-Mutiny until wounded, and thought nothing of
-our weary rides of between thirty and forty miles
-a night.</p>
-
-<p>On one memorable occasion we were escaping
-from a threatened attack, and I had dismounted to
-look at the girths; a shot from the rear elicited<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_695" id="Page_695">{695}</a></span>
-the exclamation: 'I wonder where that bullet has
-gone to;' and I again mounted, but had hardly gone
-two paces when Tom began to limp. I got off at
-once, and then found that the bullet had struck
-him just outside the off-knee, had run round under
-the skin, and lodged in front. I tried to cut it out
-then and there; but the horse was too restive, and
-I again mounted, but only to find the poor brute
-getting more and more lame. I was now well
-behind, and the rest of our party urged me to come
-on. As I still lagged, they cried out to abandon
-the horse, as we were being pursued. This I grudgingly
-did, and trudged on hurriedly to join our
-party; having done this, I looked back, and saw
-poor old Tom hobbling after me. I could not
-stand this, so brought him on at once. When we
-reached comparative safety some days after, I
-extracted the bullet.</p>
-
-<p>I have already mentioned Punch my wife's horse.
-He was ridden as a charger through the battle of
-Gujrát in January 1849, and with his rider, had
-a remarkable escape from a shell, which exploded
-between his rider's foot and his own off-shoulder.
-The wound inflicted left a scar, into the hollow of
-which you could thrust half a fist. He was a
-perfect lady's horse, and quite free from vice, possessing
-a gentle and affectionate disposition. He
-was fonder of Tom than Tom was of him, and used
-to exhibit great anxiety when, in his opinion,
-his friend was longer absent from his stall than
-usual, his return to which was greeted by a loud
-neigh of welcome. I have never seen so gentle
-or loving a horse. He quite understood the difference
-between adults and children, and would
-allow the latter to take all kinds of liberties with
-him, and was perfectly aware how to behave
-when they mounted him, as they always did
-when he returned from the morning or evening
-ride. He was a darling horse, and like true
-friends, his and Tom's best qualities came out
-under trial. Both had suddenly to exhibit their
-best points when the Mutiny broke out, and both
-behaved nobly. When Tom was disabled, I rode
-Punch, and during these weary days and nights he
-fully understood his position; many a time had
-we to snatch an hour or two of sleep when we
-could on the bare road; I would lie down with
-the bridle round my arm, and he would sleep
-standing beside me. One morning we broke down
-together, and both fell asleep while progressing,
-being rudely awoke by finding ourselves in a
-large roadside bush. Poor old Punch was subject
-to a disorder which eventually carried him off in
-November 1864, in the twenty-third year of his
-age. Unlike Tom, he was hale and hearty to the
-last. Peace to the memory of these two humble
-and faithful friends! Several horses have subsequently
-been in my stables, and I might narrate
-something about each, did time and space allow,
-but none of them ever took our affections so
-completely as did Tom and Punch; they were
-our first and best equine loves.</p>
-
-<p>Let me pass some of my dogs in review; and how
-tender are the memories which some of their names
-recall! Dear old Belle, an English brown and
-white setter, leads the way: she was too old for
-active service, had been left in the country by her
-former master, and had passed from one hand to
-the other, getting thinner and thinner with each
-change. When I got her she seemed to think a
-new master a matter of course, and accepted the
-change without emotion; but when she saw that
-she had really found a permanent master and a
-comfortable home, then all her pent-up affection
-welled forth, and she seemed to feel that she could
-not shew enough of it. She was my constant
-and faithful companion in the early years of my
-service, and I felt her loss keenly when carried off
-by distemper, which on that occasion killed all my
-dogs. Her last acts were to lick my hand and
-feebly wag her tail as I bent over her prostrate
-form.</p>
-
-<p>Belle number two comes on the scene: a small
-black and white spaniel, which I had as a pup.
-She was specially noted for an intimacy she struck
-up with another dog Topsy, and a cat; and the
-romps of the three were most amusing, but at the
-same time most destructive to a bed of melons
-they always selected for their invariable game
-of Hide-and-seek. The gardener protested in
-vain against their romps, though he allowed that
-Belle effectually protected the melon-bed from the
-jackals at night. She accompanied me in our
-flight in the Mutiny; but, poor little thing, was
-lost on the road. Topsy was a great pet; a very
-singular-looking little animal of a mixed breed,
-very peppery, full of life, and immensely affectionate.
-Her peculiarities were&mdash;intense antipathy
-to jackals, whose howl she would at once imitate
-if you called to her: 'Jackals, Tops;' and the clear
-manner in which she articulated grand-mam-má-á-á,
-if you interrupted her growling with your
-finger. She accompanied her mistress to England
-as a co-refugee from the Mutiny, and was made
-much of in consequence, returning to this country
-only to die prematurely, dear little Tops.</p>
-
-<p>Rosie! Rosie! Here is a small liver and white
-smooth terrier, very affectionate, and noted for her
-antipathy to musk-rats and squirrels; the former
-she invariably killed, and the latter she tried hard
-to, but rarely succeeded, as they were too agile,
-and always got up the nearest tree. I have had
-to drag her away from the foot of a palm-tree, at
-which she had been sitting all the morning
-watching a squirrel. Her first litter consisted of
-one pup, about which she made an immense fuss,
-and was inclined to resent a great liberty I took
-with her. I found one day a starving outcast
-kitten, and bringing it home, put Rosie on her
-side, and told her to be kind to it. The kitten
-ravenously seized a teat; and Rosie was very
-uneasy, not quite making out the animal which
-was draining her, and evidently suspecting it to
-be a squirrel. After a day or two she took to the
-stranger; and the kitten at once made itself quite
-at home; rather too much so, for she would claw
-at the pup most unmercifully, while it yelled
-complainingly, the mother not knowing what to
-make of the arrangement. But the tables were
-turned as soon as the pup got its teeth and legs;
-and then it fiercely maintained its rights, and
-there used to be regular scrimmages over a favourite
-teat; Rosie looking on in blank amazement,
-and wincing under the scratches of her strange
-pup. The three pulled on together in a way; but
-there was never much love lost among them.</p>
-
-<p>My monkeys Jacko and Moony I bought as a
-griff at Umballah for the large sum of one rupee.
-They were just emerging from babyhood, and
-so required some care and looking after. I never
-taught them anything; for such education, as
-with dogs, always necessitates more or less<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_696" id="Page_696">{696}</a></span>
-severity; but I carefully cultivated the talents
-they possessed. The looking-glass was always a
-standing joke. Either monkey would cautiously
-approach its image, making the usual recognition
-grimaces, which of course were duly returned;
-then it would sit close up to the glass,
-and now and then look sideways at the reflection;
-or it would put a hand behind the glass, as if
-feeling for the other monkey. If I seized the
-hand, a fight with the glass at once ensued, which
-I kept up with my hand, and then suddenly
-dropped the glass. The amazement of the monkey
-at the sudden disappearance of its adversary was
-most ludicrous to behold.</p>
-
-<p>Moony was very fond of a delicacy well known
-in India as mango-fool. The spirit of mischief
-induced me one day to add a teaspoonful of
-spirits of wine to her daily saucer of mango-fool,
-and for the first and last time in my life I saw
-an intoxicated monkey; her antics and attempts
-to keep the perpendicular were most absurd.
-She certainly attempted to dance and clap her
-hands, but ultimately was obliged gradually to
-subside and yield to the soporific influence of the
-spirits. As a great treat I used occasionally
-to loosen both monkeys and let them scamper up
-a large tree. At first they appreciated my kindness
-and came down at call to be tied up for the
-night; but the sweets of liberty were too great,
-and they gradually began to be tardy in their
-descent, and at last Moony preferred to spend the
-night in the tree. To prevent the return of such
-behaviour, I bombarded Moony next day with my
-goolél or pellet-bow (a weapon with which in those
-days I was remarkably skilful), and soon brought
-her to my feet. Both monkeys were familiar
-with the goolél, for I often harmlessly tested their
-agility by shelling them with it; but Moony now
-learned for the first time the punishment it could
-inflict; and ever thereafter, if I merely called out
-(when she hesitated to descend) to the bearer:
-'Goolél lao' (Pellet-bow bring), she would hurry
-down the tree repentant. This story savours
-somewhat of the American colonel and opossum;
-but it is strictly true.</p>
-
-<p>Moony had her first young one when about
-fifteen months old; and the fuss she made with it,
-and the fierce affection she exhibited, were interesting
-to behold. Her babe was still at the breast
-when the Mutiny broke out. Among the ruffians
-who burned my bungalow was one who provoked
-her in some way or other. She attacked him at
-once, but was killed by one blow of a láthee (stout
-bamboo staff), her young one sharing her fate.
-Jacko escaped in the confusion, and became a
-vagrant.</p>
-
-<p>A native gentleman once presented me with
-a black gibbon (<i>Hylobates agilis</i>), called by the
-natives from its yell, Hookoo or Hoolook. Its
-tremendous teeth and unearthly yell impressed
-me unfavourably, and I kept it in confinement,
-much against my will, as it always seemed so
-gentle. The poor brute soon died. Some time
-after, when staying with a dear and congenial
-friend at Alipore, near Calcutta, I became acquainted
-with a second gibbon, which was quite
-tame, and allowed to be at large. We at once exchanged
-confidences, and the poor creature's loving
-affection for me became quite overpowering. So
-thoroughly did I trust it, that I allowed my boy
-of three years of age to play with her, and the
-way the two rolled over on the turf was most
-amusing to behold. The agility of the animal was
-simply marvellous. I have seen it go round the
-large house hanging by its finger-tips to the cornice
-beading which went round. To run up the rain-pipes
-was as easy to it as a ladder would be to a
-man; in fact, it could go anywhere and everywhere,
-and so often vexed us by its depredations.
-It found out where my boy's milk was kept, and
-helped itself in this strange fashion. Its great
-length of arm prevented it from drinking direct
-from the vessel, as monkeys do, the arms always
-intervening between the vessel and the animal's
-mouth; so she was obliged to sit at some distance
-from the vessel, and scoop out its contents with
-her fingers, letting the milk drop from them into
-her mouth. She did not drink from the hollowed
-hand, but let the fingers drip the liquid into the
-mouth. One day the gibbon had annoyed my
-friend by eating some of his papers, and in the
-afternoon we were conversing together in his study,
-when suddenly it appeared, and sidled up to me.
-With a half-angry laugh, my friend made a gesture
-as if to throw a book at it, and exclaimed:
-'Get out, you mischievous brute.' She accordingly
-got out, in her silent mysterious manner, and we
-went on talking. We then adjourned to the roof
-for a view, and I drew my friend's attention to
-the gibbon, which was timidly surveying us from
-behind a distant chimney. Playfully shaking
-his fist at her, we walked together to the opposite
-end of the roof and leaned over the parapet.
-Presently I saw the gibbon stealing quietly
-towards us along the parapet. As soon as she saw
-that she was observed, she boldly ran up to me,
-threw her long arms around me, and nestled into
-my breast. Could I resist such an appeal for
-forgiveness and protection? We were both much
-touched by it, and winked at many of her subsequent
-misdoings.</p>
-
-<p>So much for our principal pets: minor ones are
-cats, pigeons, parrots, cockatoos, minas, squirrels,
-and the mongoose. I might devote an article to
-each of these animals; but time and space warn
-me to stop.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" /></div><div>
-<h2><a name="THE_ADMIRALS_SECOND_WIFE" id="THE_ADMIRALS_SECOND_WIFE">THE ADMIRAL'S SECOND WIFE.</a></h2>
-
-
-<h3>CHAPTER X.&mdash;ONLY TWO LETTERS!</h3>
-
-<p><span class="smcap">At</span> length the day for the party arrives. A
-hundred or more invitations have been accepted,
-and much expectation and curiosity is evoked at
-Seabright about the coming grand entertainment.
-Lady Dillworth's eagerness intensifies, and doubts
-spring up in her mind. What if the charade
-should prove a failure after all? She is nervous
-at having to sing in character, and angry with herself
-for her trepidation. She even tells Walter of
-her cowardice; and after the last rehearsal, as he
-goes away, she implores him to help her as much
-as he possibly can.</p>
-
-<p>'Do, do come early, and manage everything, for
-I feel as if I were going to break down in the very
-midst. Recollect, the whole responsibility of
-making it a success rests on you.'</p>
-
-<p>Walter promises all she requires; but Katie is
-not convinced, and her doubts increase as the time
-draws near.</p>
-
-<p>The morning of that day does not begin auspiciously.
-A fierce storm has been raging for many<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_697" id="Page_697">{697}</a></span>
-hours. When the Admiral glances over the newspapers
-at breakfast, his face becomes grave as he
-reads down the long list of disasters and wrecks.
-Presently the footman hands him a letter, and then
-his face becomes still graver.</p>
-
-<p>'Anything wrong, Herbert?' asks her Ladyship.</p>
-
-<p>'A ship aground on the Short Reefs,' replies he
-shortly.</p>
-
-<p>'O dear, how dreadful! What is the name of
-the ship, Sir Herbert?' asks Liddy clasping her
-hands, and opening her eyes very wide.</p>
-
-<p>'The <i>Daring</i>; and unless they get her off at the
-top of spring-tide, I fear she will go to pieces on
-the rocks.'</p>
-
-<p>The Admiral drinks his coffee quickly, and prepares
-to leave the room.</p>
-
-<p>'Where are you going, Herbert? You haven't
-taken half a breakfast.'</p>
-
-<p>'I can't stay, Kate; for I must give orders
-about sending off help to the <i>Daring</i>.'</p>
-
-<p>'Are any lives lost?'</p>
-
-<p>'Not so far, I'm thankful to say. I hope we
-shall have her afloat before long;' and he goes to
-the library with the letter in his hand.</p>
-
-<p>Lady Dillworth is very busy that morning, and
-not the least of her engagements is trying on her
-'Lucia' dress. Before she goes up to her dressing-room
-on this important business, she runs into
-the library to ask Sir Herbert what time he is to
-be home to dinner. But the room is empty. The
-Admiral must have been called out suddenly, for
-a letter, still glowing with wet ink, lies open on
-his desk. His wife glances at it in passing, then
-pauses, and bends over it closely. The words are
-few, written off in her husband's bold dashing
-hand, and the contents are evidently for her father.
-It is an order for the <i>Leo</i> to be despatched at once
-to the assistance of the unfortunate <i>Daring</i>.</p>
-
-<p>Lady Dillworth stands aghast. How can the
-charade party get on without Captain Reeves? It
-will be an utter disappointment, and she will be
-overwhelmed with mortification and vexation in
-the eyes of all her guests!</p>
-
-<p>'Why did Herbert fix on the <i>Leo</i>? There are
-numbers of other ships; any one of them would do
-as well. The <i>Leoni</i>, for instance,' she exclaims
-half aloud.</p>
-
-<p>In an instant the pen is in her hand, and with
-an impulse that seems irresistible she adds two
-letters to the <i>Leo's</i> name, and is surprised to see
-how exactly she has imitated her husband's writing.</p>
-
-<p>'Of course I must tell Herbert, and explain why
-I did it. What will he think of my daring?' she
-asks laughingly, as she returns the pen to its place.</p>
-
-<p>Then she goes up-stairs, and is soon closeted
-with her dressmaker; and the recollection of
-ships and all such matters is soon banished from
-her memory; for the dress is an odious fit! The
-alterations required are legion. Madame Darcy
-may be clever at fashionable modern dress; but
-in medieval costume she has failed utterly. Katie
-waits patiently while the assistant, with scissors
-and needle, brings the garment into wearable shape.
-After the woman is gone, Lady Dillworth recollects
-about the letter, and returns to the library to tell
-her husband of the change she has made in it.
-But the letter has vanished, and the footman meets
-her with a message.</p>
-
-<p>'My Lady, Sir Herbert told me to say he would
-not be home to dinner.'</p>
-
-<p>'Did your master say where he was going?'</p>
-
-<p>'No, my Lady; but the groom told me he was
-called off to Hillview, and was to go by the
-twelve o'clock train; and it's half-past twelve
-now, my Lady.'</p>
-
-<p>So there is no help for it; the explanation
-cannot be given now; and Katie is fain to console
-herself by thinking that one ship is as good as
-another, and it can't matter much whether the
-<i>Leo</i> or the <i>Leoni</i> goes off to the rescue.</p>
-
-<p>The day passes quickly. When it grows dark,
-Katie and Liddy, still in their morning dresses,
-and shivering a little from the cold, find their
-way up to Lady Dillworth's 'boudoir'&mdash;a cosy
-retreat, with its bright fire and closely drawn
-curtains. Here are Katie's books, her writing-table,
-and all the odds and ends that somehow
-gather in work-boxes and baskets. Here are
-periodicals uncut, for she has not had much time
-for reading of late, and drawing materials which
-are rarely touched.</p>
-
-<p>On a round table near the fire is spread a delicately
-pink-tinted set of tea-things; and Dresden
-china baskets filled with tea-cakes and shortbread
-give promise of a dainty little meal. Miss
-Delmere, in a most becoming morning dress, with
-a warm blue shawl round her shoulders, plunges
-herself into the depths of a large arm-chair, places
-her feet on the fender-stool, and looks up brightly
-out of her merry blue eyes.</p>
-
-<p>'How cosy this is, Kate! I'm quite enjoying
-it.' She pours a supply of cream into her fragrant
-tea and sips with keen relish.</p>
-
-<p>'I wish Herbert were here,' sighs Katie in reply.</p>
-
-<p>'Is he dining at Hillview this evening?'</p>
-
-<p>'I hardly know, for he left no message about
-that; but I rather think he will dine at Belton
-Park, which is only a couple of miles from Hillview.'</p>
-
-<p>'Is Lady Ribson gone back to Scotland yet?'</p>
-
-<p>'No; she leaves Belton Park to-morrow; and
-I'm <i>so</i> sorry I have never once seen her, for Herbert
-is very desirous we should know each other. I
-believe old Lady Ribson is his <i>beau idéal</i> of
-what a woman should be. She is his god-mother;
-and her niece Bessie was his first wife.'</p>
-
-<p>'You've never had time to go to Belton Park,
-Katie.'</p>
-
-<p>'I know that; but I'm sorry now I didn't "<i>make</i>
-time," by setting other things aside. This hateful
-charade business has taken up every spare minute.'</p>
-
-<p>'Hateful!' echoes Liddy reproachfully.</p>
-
-<p>'Perhaps that is too strong a term; but the
-preparations have swallowed up all my time and
-everything else.'</p>
-
-<p>'Don't begin to croak at the last minute. <i>I</i>
-mean to enjoy myself thoroughly!' exclaims Liddy,
-putting her cup down for more tea. Then she
-asks confidentially: 'Do you think Sir Herbert
-altered? Captain Reeves says he never saw a
-man aged so much in so short a time: he thinks
-the Admiral looks very ill.'</p>
-
-<p>Lady Dillworth starts up impatiently: 'I don't
-know why Captain Reeves should think any such
-thing. My husband is <i>not</i> ill; I have never once
-heard him complain.'</p>
-
-<p>'Ah! his is one of those grand reserved natures
-that would rather suffer anything than make a
-moan,' says Liddy, stirring her tea calmly.</p>
-
-<p>'Why did you not tell me about Herbert's
-looking ill before, Liddy? I declare you make
-me quite uneasy.'</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_698" id="Page_698">{698}</a></span></p>
-
-<p>'Oh, I daresay it's all imagination on Walter's
-part. I'm sorry I ever mentioned it,' Liddy replies
-quickly.</p>
-
-<p>'You needn't regret telling me; for if there <i>is</i>
-anything the matter, I ought to know it.'</p>
-
-<p>Liddy is vexed at having introduced so disquieting
-a subject, for Katie remains silent and
-thoughtful during the rest of the repast, then
-goes languidly up-stairs to dress for the party.</p>
-
-
-<h3>CHAPTER XI.&mdash;THE CHARADE PARTY.</h3>
-
-<p>The bitter storm raging over the country, and
-spreading woe and terror and desolation far out at
-sea, does not much affect the expected guests.
-Carriage after carriage drives in at the gates of
-Government House; and ere long, many eager eyes
-are fixed on the drop-scene, the owners of them
-ready to be pleased or otherwise by the coming
-performance. Curiosity and criticism are on the
-alert; some of the audience are just as much
-inclined to find fault as to admire. When Lady
-Dillworth 'comes on' she feels unaccountably
-agitated at seeing her 'dear friends' sitting in
-solemn state on rows of chairs, all ready to detect
-her slightest shortcomings. For the moment
-she feels as though she would fain dart away
-beyond their range of vision. But this nervousness
-speedily vanishes. Amidst the bursts of applause
-that greet her, she begins to catch somewhat of the
-spirit of a successful <i>débutante</i>, and her pulse throbs
-triumphantly. Her voice rings out in strains of
-pathetic melody; she forgets her qualms, her trepidation,
-and almost even her own identity, so
-carried away is she by the intensely tragic music.</p>
-
-<p>During the first part, the singing goes on
-faultlessly, then a somewhat awkward sense of
-failure begins to steal over the performers. Major
-Dillon and Walter differ about some minor points,
-and the former nearly bewilders the others with
-his eccentric proceedings. The chorus get out of
-tune, and the Major reproves them so vigorously
-that he nearly banishes all sense of harmony out
-of their heads.</p>
-
-<p>Liddy Delmere is much amused, and she and
-Walter make themselves conspicuous with ill-timed
-mirth. This is unfortunate, as the irate
-mother of the hapless 'Lucia' should be grave and
-dignified. But Liddy forgets her part, the words
-and air and everything, and only remembers
-Walter Reeves is beside her. Lady Dillworth calls
-her to order with one of her haughtiest looks.</p>
-
-<p>'Liddy, Liddy! do be reasonable. Don't you
-see what wretched idiots we are making of ourselves?
-We are only bringing down ridicule on
-our heads.'</p>
-
-<p>Then in a pause, when she is not wanted to
-sing, Katie slips away to a room adjoining, that
-has been fitted up temporarily for the performers.
-She lifts the window-blind, and looks out on
-the rather grim garden, dimly lighted up with
-flickering coloured lamps. Dense clumps of
-evergreens glitter with raindrops, and cast deep
-uncertain shadows on the grass. The bare branches
-of the beech-trees are swaying wildly in the wind,
-and flinging themselves about like gaunt weird
-arms. Above in the troubled sky, heavy masses
-of storm-cloud are driven rapidly past, giving
-glimpses now and then of an almost full moon.</p>
-
-<p>'Oh, what a fearful night this must be at sea!'
-muses Katie, and then a sudden shudder comes
-over her as her thoughts fly off to the unfortunate
-ship <i>Daring</i>, perhaps even now wrecked and
-broken up on the fatal Short Reefs.</p>
-
-<p>'What have I done? what have I done?' she
-exclaims wildly, as like a lightning flash, a sudden
-revelation of the possible result of her act that
-morning comes before her. She has prevented the
-<i>Leo</i> from going to sea by altering her husband's
-order; her own meddling fingers have kept back
-the very aid that might have saved the ship. The
-<i>Leo</i> is at that moment safely riding at her anchor
-in Seabright harbour; her captain is sporting
-himself in delightful ease. But what about the
-<i>Daring</i>? Where is she?</p>
-
-<p>Even now the pitiless waves may be dashing
-over her, even now she may be breaking up on
-the sharp rocks. Perhaps the storm that rages
-past is bearing on its wild wings the awful death-shrieks
-of sailors as they go down into the
-pitiless waters.</p>
-
-<p>Ah, they may be crying for help, that never
-comes!&mdash;help, <i>she</i> has kept back from them,
-foolishly, wickedly kept back! Souls, precious
-souls, may be going to their doom, in life's full
-prime, with unrepented sins on their heads; and
-she indirectly may be the one who has hurled
-them to their end. These thoughts rush through
-Lady Dillworth's mind with a crushing force, and
-with a vividness that makes her heart bound, her
-whole frame tremble. In the howling of the wind,
-as it sobs with wild violence through the trees, she
-fancies she hears the cries of the sailors writhing
-in agony amidst the surging waves. She thinks
-they are calling on <i>her</i>&mdash;accusing <i>her</i>, and her brain
-whirls and her heart beats almost to madness.</p>
-
-<p>'"There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be
-quiet." O God! help these poor men in their
-distress&mdash;lay not their death to my charge!' she
-cries almost aloud, and then she looks up, and sees
-Liddy Delmere watching her with alarm.</p>
-
-<p>'O Lady Dillworth! what <i>is</i> the matter? How
-pale and ill you look! Shall I call any one?
-Shall I get anything?'</p>
-
-<p>'Be quiet, Liddy; I insist. I feel faint; but
-you need not proclaim the fact to the whole
-world.'</p>
-
-<p>Katie covers her face with her hands, and stands
-for a minute trying to recover herself&mdash;trying&mdash;while
-the angry wind howls like an avenging spirit
-in her ears. Presently she looks up: 'I feel
-better now. What do you want of me, Liddy?'</p>
-
-<p>'Have you forgotten our duet comes on when
-this chorus is over? Are you well enough to
-sing?' asks Miss Delmere, as she gazes with
-amazement at Lady Dillworth's haggard face and
-startled eyes.</p>
-
-<p>'O yes; I will sing. Don't be uneasy; I shall
-not break down.' She takes Liddy's arm, and
-they make their appearance on the stage just in
-time. Much license has been taken with the score
-of <i>Lucia di Lammermoor</i>&mdash;new songs and duets
-have been introduced, and it is one of the latter in
-which Katie is now required to take a part.</p>
-
-<p>With a great effort she composes herself, and
-begins. As she goes on, her voice regains its rich
-fullness; no one would suppose such a tempest of
-agony had so lately swept over her.</p>
-
-<p>While she is sustaining a rather prolonged
-cadence, she sees the Admiral enter the room.
-He stands for a minute looking at her, and
-listening; then he catches a glimpse of Walter<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_699" id="Page_699">{699}</a></span>
-Reeves, and goes quickly towards him. Though
-in the middle of her duet, Katie notices the start
-her husband gives and the quick frown that
-gathers on his brow. She sees him beckon
-Walter aside; the heads are bowed a moment as
-an excited whisper passes, then they leave the
-room together. Ere her part is over, she sees
-Walter return alone, and quietly make his way
-among the groups of people till he gets near the
-stage again, and there he takes up his position.
-The moment Lady Dillworth is free she is at his
-side, questioning and eager.</p>
-
-<p>'I saw Sir Herbert here a minute ago. Where
-is he now?'</p>
-
-<p>'He went out to find your father, for he said he
-must see him at once. I offered to go; but Sir
-Herbert would not hear of that.&mdash;How splendidly
-you sang in that duet, Lady Dillworth! Your
-voice came out in perfection.'</p>
-
-<p>'Why did he want to see my father?' she asks
-impatiently.</p>
-
-<p>'Sir Herbert did not say; but something
-appears to have annoyed him very much. I never
-saw him more put out, though he gave no
-explanation.'</p>
-
-<p>Katie changes the subject abruptly.</p>
-
-<p>'Is it very stormy at sea to-night, Captain
-Reeves? I mean, is there any danger to ships?'</p>
-
-<p>'I should think there <i>is</i>. We haven't had such
-a storm as this since last winter. Every roar of
-the wind only makes me congratulate myself on
-being in such snug quarters. There's a wonderful
-difference between this fairy scene, with its music
-and mirth and its galaxy of youth and beauty,
-and what one would meet with out on the wild
-billows to-night.&mdash;What a charming evening you
-have given us, Lady Dillworth!'</p>
-
-<p>Katie can hardly keep herself from stamping
-her little foot with impatience, as she looks up at
-Walter's self-satisfied face, beaming with enjoyment;
-and then she watches the smile with which
-he presently bends down to whisper something
-to Miss Delmere. Liddy responds with a flash
-of her bright blue eyes, and a heightened colour
-springs to her cheek as she makes room for Walter
-beside her. Never has she looked better than
-on this evening; the quaint antiquated costume
-contrasts capitally with her fair laughing face.
-At last the charade comes to an end; there is a
-subdued murmur of applause as everybody says
-how cleverly it has all been done. They make
-wild guesses at the word, and Walter has at last
-to explain the secret. Lady Dillworth listens to
-the comments of her guests with an abstracted
-air; and when the last carriage drives away, she
-summons the footman and inquires whether Sir
-Herbert has returned.</p>
-
-<p>Hunter is an old servant of the Admiral's, and
-has followed his master's fortunes in various
-places and homes, and was with him when the
-first Lady Dillworth died; so he knows his ways,
-and sees more than perhaps his employers give
-him credit for. He turns a grave face towards
-his mistress, as he replies: 'Yes, my Lady.
-Master came in just when the acting was over;
-and when he saw the company wasn't gone, he
-told me to tell your Ladyship he was very tired,
-and would go to bed at once, instead of going
-back to the drawing-room.'</p>
-
-<p>'<i>Very</i> tired, did he say?'</p>
-
-<p>'Yes, my Lady; and he looked weary-like.'</p>
-
-<p>'That will do, Hunter. We want breakfast
-very early to-morrow morning, as Miss Delmere is
-going away by the first train.'</p>
-
-<p>Then Katie goes up to her boudoir. The fire is
-still burning brightly, and the lamp is throwing a
-soft light through the curtained room. Still in
-her fancy dress, the stomacher flashing with
-jewels, she seats herself in the arm-chair; and
-there, while the warmth steals over her, she
-covers her face with her hands, and thinks
-bitterly, confusedly&mdash;the loud shrieking of the
-wind and the fury of the cruel storm keeping up
-a wild accompaniment to her musings.</p>
-
-<p>She wonders what she had better do. Shall she
-rouse her husband from his slumbers, and tell
-him all, or shall she wait till events call forth a
-confession? Never has she felt such a poor,
-mean, despicable coward. She hates herself for
-her irresolution; and all the time her fancy
-pictures up the surging whirlpools, the jagged
-rocks, the dashing waves, the yawning gulfs, and
-the drowning men with their despairing eyes,
-ever calling for the help that does not come!</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" /></div><div>
-<h2><a name="REMINISCENCES_OF_QUEBEC" id="REMINISCENCES_OF_QUEBEC">REMINISCENCES OF QUEBEC.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">For</span> the following reminiscences connected with
-the stay of one of the British regiments at Quebec
-during the winter of 1870-71, we are indebted to
-an officer of the garrison. He writes as follows:</p>
-
-<p>Until the close of 1871, Quebec was a fortress
-occupied by British troops; but before the winter
-set in, the <i>Orontes</i> and other store-ships carried
-away the troops and their possessions, and the
-stronghold passed for ever away from the rule of
-Great Britain.</p>
-
-<p>Quebec, the principal fortress of Canada, also
-known as the 'Gibraltar of the West,' is built upon
-the strip of land projecting into the confluence of
-the St Lawrence and St Charles rivers. Originally
-a French settlement, it afterwards became one of
-the colonies of Great Britain, and has continued
-to be so until the present date.</p>
-
-<p>'There is but one Quebec, and its beautiful
-scenery,' remarked a valued friend to the writer,
-as one autumn afternoon we scanned the view
-from the Levis Cliffs, and watched the 'Fall
-fleet' preparing to depart for England ere winter
-had closed the St Lawrence. 'The scenic beauty
-of Quebec,' says an old writer, 'has been the
-theme of general eulogy.' The majestic appearance
-of Cape Diamond, surmounted by fortifications;
-the cupolas and minarets, like those of an
-eastern city, blazing and sparkling in the sun;
-the loveliness of the panorama, the noble river like
-a sheet of purest silver, in which one hundred
-vessels may ride with safety; the graceful meandering
-of the river St Charles before it finds its way
-into the St Lawrence; the numerous village spires
-scattered around; the fertile fields clothed with
-innumerable cottages, the abodes of a rich and
-moral peasantry; the distant Falls of Montmorenci;
-the rich park-like scenery of Levis; the lovely Isle
-of Orleans; and more distant still the frowning
-Cape Tourment, and the lofty range of purple
-mountains of the most picturesque forms, which
-bound the prospect, unite to make a <i>coup d'&#339;il</i>
-which without exaggeration is scarcely to be surpassed
-in any part of the world.</p>
-
-<p>In the winter-time there is much more leisure
-for the merchants than in summer, as the St<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_700" id="Page_700">{700}</a></span>
-Lawrence from the end of December until the end
-of April is one vast ice-field, isolating Quebec from
-water-commerce, but giving full employment to
-numbers of 'ice-men' to saw out great oblong
-masses of clear bright ice to fill the ice-houses
-with this much-needed summer luxury. The ice
-and snow are also turned to account in the fashionable
-amusements of snow-shoeing, tobogganing,
-skating, sleigh-driving, &amp;c. Snow-shoeing is capital
-exercise, but somewhat trying at the commencement;
-for with a pair of snow-shoes fastened to
-the feet, the beginner is rather apt to find himself
-immersed in a snow-drift, and it is a difficult
-matter to get upon his legs again. This pastime,
-however, is so well known in theory that we pass
-to the more favourite one of tobogganing. The
-toboggan or Indian sleigh&mdash;one or two thin planks
-neatly curled round at one end&mdash;is drawn over
-the snow to the top of a hill. The passengers sit
-down, carefully 'tucking in' all articles of dress;
-a slight push is given, and away glides the
-toboggan at the rate of from twenty to thirty
-miles an hour. Starting is easy enough; but to
-descend to the desired spot is not so easy as might
-appear at first sight, and requires some skill in
-steering; for if that important matter be unskilfully
-performed, the toboggan, like a boat, gets
-'broadside on' to the hill, twists and turns, shooting
-out its passengers, who rarely escape some
-hard knocks. If, however, the steering is successful,
-the tourists have, in school-boy phrase, a 'jolly
-ride,' and glide along the level ground at the foot
-of the slope for a considerable distance. There is,
-of course, the bother of pulling the toboggan up
-to the top of the hill; but such effect has the
-exhilarating dryness of the atmosphere upon one's
-spirits, and such is the charm of the amusement,
-that this labour is cheerfully undertaken.</p>
-
-<p>One favourite run was down the citadel glacis,
-through a gap in a fence and into a closed yard
-at the base; another, also from the glacis, but
-running in the direction of the Plains of Abraham.
-The former being the most dangerous slide, was
-the favourite one, and many hard blows were
-given and received. One young gentleman met
-his fate in the form of a deep cut across his knee,
-by being tossed out of the toboggan among some
-scrap-iron and old stove-pipes hidden under the
-snow. Much sympathy was felt for him, for the
-wound took a long while to heal, and prevented
-him tobogganing more that winter. Another
-gentleman coming down the slide by moonlight
-with two young ladies in his toboggan, in place of
-steering through the fence, steered into it, and
-his face came in contact with a post; unluckily
-for him, the post was the hardest, and he escaped
-with a broken jaw, and the ladies with more or
-less bruises. There was a laughable upset on
-another occasion. A lady, said to be at least
-forty (also 'fat and fair'), with a friend of the
-opposite sex, tempted fortune in a toboggan; but
-as they approached the gap above mentioned she
-lost her nerve, and threw herself out as the toboggan
-was rushing down the steepest part of the
-slide. In less time than the reader will take to
-peruse this incident, she was on her head in the
-snow, and her feet, incased in very black boots,
-in the air; she then tumbled across the slide;
-the toboggan with its remaining occupant flew
-lightly over her, and then this frisky matron and
-her friend rolled like a pair of frolicksome lambkins
-to the foot of the slope, the toboggan of
-course arriving before them.</p>
-
-<p>Skating at Quebec is chiefly carried on at the
-Rink, a large building about one hundred and
-seventy feet long and seventy wide, the earth-floor
-of which is flooded. The ice is carefully swept
-daily; and each evening the rink-keeper 'dusts'
-it with just enough water to fill up the cuts made
-in it by the skaters; so that each morning finds
-a fresh field of glittering smooth ice. The wooden
-shed does three duties&mdash;namely, keeps out the heat
-of spring, keeps off the snow, and keeps in the
-cold of winter; so that skating can often be had
-at the Rink and nowhere else.</p>
-
-<p>The band of the Rifles often played at the Rink,
-which was sometimes lighted up at night by gas;
-and visitors to Quebec had capital opportunities
-of seeing its young ladies exhibit their skill in
-the execution of sundry intricate skating-figures.
-Some years ago, there was a fancy-dress ball on
-the Quebec rink, and we have extracted a portion of
-its description from one of the local papers of that
-date: 'The bugle sounded at nine o'clock, and
-the motley crowd of skaters rushed on the ice,
-over which they dashed in high glee, their spirits
-stirred to the utmost by the enlivening music and
-the cheering presence of hundreds of ladies and
-gentlemen. Over the glittering floor sped dozens
-of flying figures, circling, skimming, wheeling, and
-intermingling with a new swiftness, the bright and
-varied colours, the rich and grotesque costumes
-succeeding each other, or combining with bewildering
-rapidity and effect. The gentlemen, in
-addition to the usual characters, introduced some
-novelties: an owl, a monkey, a monster bottle, a
-tailor at work, a boy on horseback&mdash;all capital
-representations and by good skaters. Among the
-ladies were representations of "Night" and "Morning,"
-a vivandière, a habitant's wife, and other
-characters that appeared to advantage. The skaters
-presented both a varied and brilliant appearance,
-their parts being well sustained as to costume
-and deportment, and their movements on the ice
-being characterised by that grace and skill of
-movement bred of long practice. The dances
-included quadrilles, waltzes, galops, &amp;c.'</p>
-
-<p>That this elegant accomplishment can be turned
-to use is proved by a legend of two settlers in
-the Far West who saved their lives by the aid
-of a pair of skates. One had been captured by
-Indians, who did not intend to let him live long;
-but amongst his baggage was a pair of skates. The
-Indians' curiosity was excited, and the white man
-was desired to explain their use; he led his
-captors to the edge of a wide lake, where the
-smooth ice stretched away as far as the eye could
-see, and put on the skates. Exciting the laughter
-of his captors by tumbling about in a clumsy
-manner, he at length contrived to get a hundred
-yards from them without arousing their suspicion,
-when he skated away as fast as he could, and
-finally escaped.</p>
-
-<p>The other settler is said to have been skating
-alone one moonlight night; and while contemplating
-the reflection of the firmament in the clear
-ice, and the vast dark mass of forest surrounding
-the lake and stretching away in the background,
-he suddenly discovered, to his horror, that the
-adjacent bank was lined with a pack of wolves.
-He at once 'made tracks' for home, followed by
-these animals; but the skater kept ahead, and one<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_701" id="Page_701">{701}</a></span>
-by one the pack tailed off; two or three of the
-foremost, however, kept up the chase; but when
-they attempted to close with the skater, by adroitly
-turning aside he allowed them to pass him. And
-after a few unsuccessful and vicious attempts on
-the part of the wolves, he succeeded in reaching
-his log-hut in safety.</p>
-
-<p>The cold during the winter of 1870-71 was
-often extreme, the thermometer ranging as low as
-forty degrees below zero. Upon two days the writer
-had the pleasure of witnessing the beautiful
-phenomenon called silver-thaw&mdash;that is, the trees
-and shrubs encircled with ice-crystal, the glitter
-of which on the twigs and branches in the sunlight
-is wonderfully beautiful. Occasionally the St
-Lawrence is entirely frozen over opposite Quebec,
-and ice boats (on skates) are popular, and the
-bark glides along at a pace that depends upon the
-wind and quantity of sail carried. Sleighing was
-much in fashion; and it is agreeable enough rushing
-through the extremely cold but dry atmosphere
-with a pretty young lady nestling against
-you as you fly along the noiseless track to the
-music of the sleigh bells, which the law requires
-each horse to carry on its harness.</p>
-
-<p>Practical jokes are not unknown at Quebec, and
-several silly ones without wit or purpose were
-perpetrated that winter; but one of a special and
-decidedly original character played upon the
-Control Department, may be worth recording.
-The Control Department&mdash;at the head of which
-was Deputy-Controller Martindale&mdash;was intrusted
-with the providing of fuel, food, ammunition,
-bedding, transport, &amp;c. for the British troops, and
-for some reason or another that branch of the
-department at Quebec is said to have been somewhat
-unpopular in the garrison.</p>
-
-<p>On the 23d and 24th February the following
-advertisement appeared in the columns of the
-principal French paper, <i>l'Evénement</i>:<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> '<span class="smcap">Chats!
-Chats! Chats! 50 Chats</span> sont demandés pour
-donner la chasse aux Rats et Souris qui infestent
-les Magasins du Gouvernement. Toute personne
-qui apportera un Chat au Bureau du Député-Contrôleur
-Martindale, entre 11 heures et midi
-un jour quelconque jusqu'au 28 du courant,
-recevra en retour un Dollar (1 $) par Chat.&mdash;Par
-ordre,</p>
-
-<p>
-<span class="ml4"><i><span class="smcap">D. C. Martindale</span>, Député-Contrôleur.</i></span>
-<br />
-<span class="ml2"><i><span class="smcap">Quebec</span>, 23 Fév. 1871&mdash;3f.</i>'</span><br />
-</p>
-
-<p>The powers of advertising were in this instance
-wonderfully exemplified, for at least eight hundred
-cats were duly brought to the Bureau; but the
-unfortunate cat-merchants did not receive a dollar.
-Some, being of a speculative turn, had bought up
-a number of their neighbours' cats at prices varying
-between ten cents and twenty-five cents each;
-and what with the ire of the cat-merchants at the
-hoax, the astonishment and indignation of the
-Control officers, and the caterwauling of the pussies
-brought in boxes, baskets, bags, &amp;c., the scene was
-one which will long be remembered in Quebec.
-On Sunday, 26th February (according to a local
-custom of treating <i>government advertisements</i>), the
-doors of the churches in the country districts
-round Quebec had the 'cat advertisement' duly
-posted up, so that on Monday the 27th a bountiful
-supply of mousers was brought from suburban
-districts to complete the Control catastrophe.</p>
-
-<p>Of course very strict inquiries were made, with
-a view of ascertaining the author of the hoax; but
-that individual has not yet presented himself to
-public notice, and judiciously made use of the
-post-office to carry the letter to the <i>Evénement</i>
-respecting the insertion of the advertisement. We
-also understand the editor of the <i>Evénement</i> was
-politely requested to render his account for the
-advertisements to the Control Department. There
-is, we believe, an old proverb, 'A cat may look at
-a king;' but many of the inhabitants of the Quebec
-suburbs did not like to look at cats for some time
-afterwards.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" /></div><div>
-<h2><a name="FRENCH_FISHER-FOLK" id="FRENCH_FISHER-FOLK">FRENCH FISHER-FOLK.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">They</span> live by themselves and to themselves, these
-French fisher-folk; an amphibious race, as completely
-cut off from the shore-staying population
-as any caste of Hindustan. The quaint village
-that they inhabit consists of half a score of steep
-and narrow lanes, and as many airless courts or
-alleys, clinging to the cliff as limpets anchor to a
-rock, and topped by the weather-beaten spire
-of a church, dedicated of course to St Peter.
-Hard by there may be a town rich and populous;
-but its wide streets and display of plate-glass
-are not envied by the piscatorial clan outside.
-They have shops of their own, where sails
-and shawls, ropes and ornaments, high surf-boots
-and gaudy gown-pieces, jostle one another
-in picturesque profusion. From the upper windows
-of the private dwellings project gaffs and
-booms, whence dangle, for drying purposes, wet
-suits of dark-blue pilot cloth and dripping
-pea-coats. Everywhere prevails an ancient and
-fish-like smell, struggling with the wholesome
-scent of hot pitch simmering for the manufacture
-of tarpaulins and waterproofs. Half the houses
-are draped in nets, some newly tanned to toughen
-them, others whose long chain of corks is still
-silvered with herring-scales. The very children are
-carving boats out of lumps of dark wreck-wood,
-or holding a mock auction for tiny crabs and
-spiked sea-urchins. The whole atmosphere of the
-place has a briny and Neptunian savour about it,
-and is redolent of the ocean.</p>
-
-<p>A word now as to the fishers themselves; as
-proud, self-reliant, and independent a race as those
-hardy Norsemen from whom ethnologists believe
-them to descend by no fictitious pedigree. Of the
-purity of their blood there can be little doubt,
-since the fish-maiden who mates with any but a
-fisherman is considered to have lost caste; precisely
-as the gipsy girl who marries a Busné is deemed
-to be a deserter from the tribe. Marrying among
-themselves then, it is not surprising that there
-should be an odd sort of family likeness among
-them, with one marked type of face and form,
-or rather two, for the men, curiously enough, are
-utterly unlike the women. Your French fisher is
-scarcely ever above the middle height, a compact
-thick-set little merman, with crisply curling hair,
-gold rings in his ears, and a brown honest face,
-the unfailing good-humour of which is enhanced<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_702" id="Page_702">{702}</a></span>
-by the gleam of the strong white teeth between
-the parted lips.</p>
-
-<p>The good looks of the women of this aquatic
-stock have passed into a proverb; but theirs is no
-buxom style of peasant comeliness. Half the
-drawing-rooms of London or Paris might be ransacked
-before an artist could find as worthy models
-of aristocratic beauty as that of scores of these
-young fish-girls, reared in the midst of creels and
-shrimp-nets and lobster-traps. Their tall slight
-figures, clear bright complexions, and delicate clean-cut
-features, not seldom of the Greek mould, contrast
-with the sun-burnt sturdiness of husband,
-brother, and betrothed; while the small hands and
-small feet combine to give to their owners an air
-of somewhat languid elegance, apparently quite out
-of keeping with a rough life and the duties of a
-workaday world.</p>
-
-<p>Work, however&mdash;hard and trying work, makes
-up the staple existence of French fisher-folks, as
-of French landsmen. In the shrimp-catching
-season, it must indeed be wild weather which
-scares the girls who ply this branch of industry,
-with bare bronzed feet and dexterously wielded
-net, among the breakers. Others, a few years
-older, may be seen staggering under weighty
-baskets of oysters, or assisting at the trimming
-and sorting the many truck-loads of fish freighted
-for far-away Paris. The married women have
-their household cares, never shirked, for no children
-are better tended than these water-babies,
-that are destined from the cradle to live by net and
-line; while the widows&mdash;under government authority&mdash;board
-the English steam-packets, and enjoy
-the sole right of trundling off the portmanteaus
-of English travellers to their hotel.</p>
-
-<p>The men, the real bread-winners of the community,
-enter well provided into the field of their
-hereditary labour. The big Boulogne luggers,
-strongly manned, and superior in tonnage and
-number to those which any other French port
-sends forth, are known throughout the Channel,
-and beyond it. They need to be large and roomy,
-since they scorn to be cooped within the contracted
-limits of the narrow seas, but sail away year
-after year to bleak Norway and savage Iceland;
-and their skippers, during the herring-fishery, are
-as familiar with the Scottish coast as with that of
-their native Picardy. It is requisite too that they
-should be strong and fit to 'keep,' in nautical parlance,
-the sea; for Boulogne, lying just where the
-Channel broadens out to meet the Atlantic, is
-exposed to the full force of the resistless south-west
-gale, that once drove Philip II.'s boasted
-Armada northward to wreck and ruin.</p>
-
-<p>These south-west gales, with the abrupt changes
-of weather due to the neighbourhood of the fickle
-Atlantic, constitute the romance, or compose the
-stumbling-block of the fisherman's life. His calling
-may seem an easy and even an enviable one,
-to those who on summer mornings watch the fishing
-fleet glide out of harbour; the red-brown sails
-gilded by the welcome sunshine and filled by the
-balmy breeze, the nets festooned, the lines on the
-reel; keg and bait-can and windlass, harmonising
-well with the groups of seafaring men and lads
-lounging about on board; too many, as the novice
-thinks, for the navigation of the craft. But at any
-moment, with short warning, the blue sea may
-become leaden-hued, and the sky ragged with torn
-clouds and veiled with flying scud, and the howling
-storm may drive the fishers far from home, to
-beat about as best they may for days and nights,
-and at length to land and sell their fish (heedfully
-preserved in ice) at Dunkirk, Ostend, Flushing, or
-even some English harbour perhaps a hundred
-and fifty miles away.</p>
-
-<p>The conscription, that relentless leech which
-claims its tithe of the blood and manhood of all
-continental nations, in due course takes toll of the
-fishers. The maritime population, however, supplies
-the navy, not the army with recruits. It is not
-until flagship and frigate are manned, that the
-overplus of unlucky drawers in that state lottery
-of which the prizes are exemption, get drafted into
-the ranks. These young sailors find military life
-a bitter pill to swallow. The writer of these lines
-has before his eyes a letter from a conscript to his
-mother in the fishing village, and in which the
-young defender of his country describes last year's
-autumn man&#339;uvres in Touraine, the Little War as
-he calls it, from a soldier's point of view. There
-is not a spark of martial ardour or professional
-pride in this simple document. All the lad knows
-is that he is marched and countermarched about
-vast sandy plains from dawn till dark, wet,
-hungry, and footsore; and how difficult it is at the
-halting-place to collect an armful of brushwood, by
-whose cheerful blaze he may warm his stiff fingers
-and cook his solitary pannikin of soldier's soup.</p>
-
-<p>As might be expected, in a community which
-more resembles an overgrown family than the
-mere members of a trade, there exists among
-these people an unusual amount of charity and
-rough good-nature. The neighbourly virtues shine
-brightly amid their darksome lanes and stifling
-courts, and a helping hand is freely held out to
-those whom some disaster has crippled in the
-struggle for existence. Bold and self-assertive as
-their bearing may be, there are no Jacobins, no
-partisans of the Red faction among these French
-fishers. They are pious also in their way, seldom
-failing to attend <i>en masse</i> at the church of St
-Nicholas or the cathedral of Notre-Dame, before
-they set out on a distant cruise.</p>
-
-<p>Once and again in early summer, a fisher's picnic
-will be organised, when in long carts roofed
-over with green boughs, Piscator and his female
-relatives, from the grizzled grandmother to the
-lisping little maiden, who in her lace-cap and
-scarlet petticoat looks scarcely larger than a doll,
-go merrily jolting off to dine beneath the oaks of
-the forest. In their quiet way, they are fond of
-pleasure, holding in summer dancing assemblies,
-where all the merry-making is at an end by half-past
-nine, and which are as decorous, if less ceremonious,
-as any ball can be. They are patrons of
-the theatre too, giving a preference to sentimental
-dramas, and shedding simple tears over the fictitious
-sorrows of a stage heroine; while in ecclesiastical
-processions the brightest patches of colour,
-artistically arranged, are those which are produced
-by the red kirtles, the blue or yellow shawls, and
-the snowy caps of the sailor-maidens.</p>
-
-<p>The gay holiday attire, frequently copied, on the
-occasion of a fancy dress-ball, by Parisian ladies
-of the loftiest rank, with all its adjuncts of rich
-colour and spotless lace; the ear-rings and cross of
-yellow gold, the silver rings, trim slippers, and
-coquettish headgear of these French mermaidens;
-no doubt lends a piquancy to their beauty which
-might otherwise be lacking. Sometimes an exceptionally<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_703" id="Page_703">{703}</a></span>
-lovely fisher-girl may be tempted by a
-brilliant proposal of marriage, and leaves her clan
-to become a viscountess, or it may be a marchioness,
-for mercenary marriages are not universal
-in France. But such incongruous unions seldom
-end very happily; for the mermaiden is, alas!
-entirely uneducated, and proves at best too rough
-a diamond to appear to advantage in a golden
-setting.</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" /></div><div>
-<h2><a name="EMERGENCIES" id="EMERGENCIES">EMERGENCIES.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p><span class="smcap">Accidents</span> of various kinds are continually occurring
-in which the spectator is suddenly called upon
-to do his best to save life or relieve suffering without
-the aid of skilled advice or scientific appliances.
-A body has been drawn from the water in
-an insensible condition, and thus far a rescue has
-been effected; but the scene may be more or less
-distant, not only from the residence of the nearest
-doctor, but from any house; and unless the by-stander
-is able to apply prompt means to restore
-respiration and warmth, a life may yet be lost.
-Again, a lady's dress is in flames, or it may be fire
-has broken out in a bedroom&mdash;accidents which, if
-immediate steps be not taken, may end fatally to
-life and property, long before the arrival of the
-physician or fire-brigade. One's own life too may
-be placed in such instant jeopardy that it can only
-be preserved by active and intelligent exertions on
-our own part. Situations of this kind attend the
-sailor, soldier, and traveller as 'permanent risks;'
-while in the city or field, and even in the security
-of home, dangers of different kinds confront us
-which are best described by the word emergencies.</p>
-
-<p>The pressing question in any emergency is of
-course, 'What is to be done?' Unhappily, the
-answer is not always at hand. We are often altogether
-unprepared to act, or we act in such a way
-as only to increase the danger. The most humane
-onlooker in a case of partial drowning may at the
-same time be the most helpless. While in any of
-the frequent casualties to children&mdash;such as choking,
-scalding, &amp;c.&mdash;the tenderest mother may but
-contribute to the calamity, either by the use of
-wrong means or the inability to apply right ones.
-How common this is in respect of many kinds of
-accidents, and how many of those cases returned
-'fatal' might have had a happier issue had the
-spectator but known 'what to do.'</p>
-
-<p>The terse advice supposed to meet every species
-of emergency is to 'keep cool.' We admit its force,
-and agree that it cannot be too frequently insisted
-upon. Without presence of mind, neither the
-zeal of self-interest nor the solicitude of affection
-itself can act with effect. In some instances even,
-special skill and knowledge may be paralysed by an
-access of nervousness and its consequent confusion
-of mind. Again there occur many grave situations
-in which tact and self-possession are all that are
-necessary to avert serious calamity. The following
-anecdote illustrative of this went the round of the
-newspapers shortly after the disastrous fire in
-Brooklyn Theatre. Some stage-properties suddenly
-took fire during a performance before a
-crowded audience at a certain European theatre.
-The usual panic ensued. A well-known actor
-aware that the danger was not serious, and dreading
-the result of a sudden rush from the house, coolly
-stepped in front of the curtain, and in calm tones
-announced that his Majesty the Emperor, who
-then occupied the imperial box, had been robbed
-of some valuable jewels, and that any one attempting
-to leave the theatre would be immediately
-arrested. The threat would of itself have been
-useless, but the fact and manner of its delivery
-conveyed an assurance of safety to the excited
-people which no direct appeal to their reason
-could have done. They resumed their places; the
-fire was subdued; and not till next day did they
-learn the <i>real</i> peril they had escaped by the
-timely ruse of the great actor. How terrible a
-contrast that unhappy and unchecked panic which
-led to the loss of life at Brooklyn!</p>
-
-<p>The effects of panic and confusion have sometimes
-their amusing side. We have seen ordinarily
-sane people casting crockery and other brittle ware
-into the street from a height of several stories&mdash;<i>to
-save it from fire</i>; and there occurs a passage in
-one of Hood's witty ballads which seems to prove
-the incident by no means a rare one:</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Only see how she throws out her <i>chaney</i>,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Her basins and tea-pots and all;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">The most brittle of <i>her</i> goods&mdash;or any;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But they all break in breaking their fall.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>But while a jest may be pardonable in such a
-case, this losing one's head too often takes place in
-circumstances involving loss of life or property.
-An excited pitying crowd, for example, is gathered
-round a person struck in the street with apoplexy.
-An alarm has been given, and a curious gaping
-group has come to witness a case of suicide by
-hanging. A concourse of people stand before a
-house from which issue the first symptoms of a
-fire. In such cases the spectators are usually
-nerveless and purposeless: the danger to life or
-property is in the exact ratio of the number of
-onlookers. How curious and instructive to note
-the change which comes over the scene on the
-arrival of a single sensible and self-possessed
-person. One of the idle sympathisers of the
-apoplectic patient suddenly frees the neck and
-chest; a second goes sanely in search of temporary
-appliances; a third runs zealously for a doctor,
-and the remainder go about their business. One
-stroke of a knife and the would-be suicide has been
-placed in the hands of a few of the more intelligent
-by-standers for resuscitation. The precise
-locality of the fire has been reached, and the fire
-either extinguished promptly with the means at
-hand, or kept under until the arrival of the fire-engines
-which have been at once sent for.</p>
-
-<p>Now, what is the real source of this exceptional
-self-possession&mdash;so all-important in an emergency?
-Is it not, after all, the quiet confidence begot of
-knowing what is best and proper to be done under
-given circumstances? It is quite true, no doubt,
-that presence of mind is a moral quality more or
-less independent of technical knowledge, but in a
-plain practical way it is directly <i>its result</i>. To
-become familiar with difficulties is to divest them
-of their character as such, and to enable us to act
-with all the coolness and precision exercised in<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_704" id="Page_704">{704}</a></span>
-ordinary events. To a surgeon, an accident is a
-'case,' not an 'emergency;' while even an abstract
-knowledge of 'what to do' arms the mind of the
-non-professional against excitement or confusion.
-The possession of one little fact, the recollection of
-some read or heard of device or remedy, is often,
-sufficient to steady the mind and enable it to act
-effectively. How frequently some half-forgotten
-item of surgical knowledge, some stray prescription,
-or some plan casually recommended ever so
-long ago, is the means, here and there, of eluding
-the fatal possibilities of an emergency.</p>
-
-<p>There is really little excuse for ignorance of
-the means and methods required to meet ordinary
-cases, seeing that information in abundance is to be
-had at trifling cost and with little trouble. There
-are surgical and medical works, published at almost
-nominal prices, the expressed aim of which is to
-instruct the public what steps to take in most kinds
-of accidents, in the absence of professional assistance.
-There are works also which, treating mainly
-of household matters, contain valuable hints to
-parents and others on the subject of accidents to
-children, as also of fires to person and property;
-while here and there in our serial literature may be
-found useful advice on such special kinds of emergencies
-as the bolting of horses, capsizing of boats,
-bites by poisonous snakes, &amp;c. But above all, to
-those who care to remember what they read, the
-columns of the daily newspapers afford much
-sound instruction in every species of untoward
-event. In spite, however, of the ease with which
-people might inform themselves, and in spite of
-frequently bitter experience, there is a very general
-apathy regarding such matters. In upper and
-middle class families, a certain amount of interest
-is no doubt evinced, and books of reference are
-found in their libraries; but the practical importance
-of knowing their contents, and so forearming
-against contingencies, is by no means widely recognised.
-It is scarcely surprising then to find the
-masses so indifferent, and as a consequence so
-helpless to assist themselves or each other in any
-unusual situation.</p>
-
-<p>The idea of giving the subject some place in the
-common school course is one, we think, worthy of
-consideration. Physical education receives a fair
-share of encouragement in the higher class of
-schools; and some of the exercises enjoined, such
-as running, climbing, swimming, and rowing,
-are direct provisions against accidents by field or
-water; while all of them, by giving a degree
-of confidence to the mind, are of the greatest
-value as a training to meet emergencies generally.
-Physiology too is gradually making good
-its claim to the attention of teachers; and the instruction
-in Domestic Economy prescribed for girls
-comprises hints how to act in what may be called
-household emergencies. All this is very satisfactory;
-and were some pains taken in addition
-to point out to pupils of both sexes the commoner
-dangers by which life is beset, and were they told
-in a plain practical way how these are best averted,
-we believe the case would be very fairly met.
-To the skilled teacher, a short series of lessons of
-this kind would not necessarily be any great tax
-upon his time, but would rather form one of the
-most interesting of those 'asides' to which he
-properly resorts as an occasional relief to the
-tedium of school-routine.</p>
-
-<p>To children of a larger growth, we can only
-repeat that the means of informing themselves
-are not beyond reach. There are, of course, now
-and then such combinations of circumstances as
-no knowledge or training can provide for, just as
-there are many accidents which no human foresight
-can prevent. Leaving these out of the question,
-however, few of us pass through life without
-having at one time or other to exercise our intelligence
-and knowledge to preserve either our own
-life or property, or the life or property of others in
-circumstances where these may be exercised successfully.
-Our interest and duty alike enjoin us to
-take reasonable pains to forearm ourselves, and the
-neglect to do so is clearly culpable. But we may
-have occasion by and by to present our readers
-with a few practical hints on the subject of 'What
-to do in Emergencies.'</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" /></div><div>
-<h2><a name="THE_TRADE_IN_ARTIFICIAL_EYES" id="THE_TRADE_IN_ARTIFICIAL_EYES">THE TRADE IN ARTIFICIAL EYES.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>On this subject, the <i>New York Sun</i> gives some
-amusing particulars: 'Between eight and ten
-thousand eyes are sold annually in the United
-States. An eye-maker gives one in one hundred
-and twenty-five as the proportion of one-eyed
-people. Computing the population of the country
-at forty-two millions, this rate gives three hundred
-and thirty-six thousand as the number of persons
-with only one eye in the Republic. Consequently,
-while ten thousand people supply their optical
-deficiency with an artificial eye, two hundred and
-twenty-six thousand go without. In proportion to
-the population, the eye-maker said, there are more
-one-eyed people in Paterson, New Jersey, than
-any other town in this or any other country. All
-towns that have many foundries and factories, and
-whose air is impregnated with soot and smoke,
-count their one-eyed inhabitants by the score; but
-Paterson is ahead of the rest. The eye-maker
-knew of the three proprietors of a single foundry
-there each losing an eye. Pittsburg comes next. In
-this city one-eyed folks abound in the neighbourhood
-of manufacturing establishments. Once he
-had four patients from near a foundry in West
-Eleventh Street alone. Not only the foul atmosphere
-destroys the sight, but flying pieces of metal
-burn out the eyes of the workmen. An importer
-who sells one thousand five hundred eyes annually
-sends one-third to Canada; Chicago takes three
-hundred; and Cincinnati more than St Louis.
-New Orleans, Nashville, and other towns west and
-south buy the remainder. The colour for eyes
-most in demand is what is known as "Irish blue,"
-a peculiarly light azure that predominates in
-Ireland. The average cost of an eye is ten dollars.
-He sells comparatively few eyes in this city, as
-New Yorkers prefer to have their eyes made to
-order.'</p>
-
-
-
-<hr class="chap" /></div><div>
-<h2><a name="A_NOBLE_OCCUPATION" id="A_NOBLE_OCCUPATION">A NOBLE OCCUPATION.</a></h2>
-
-
-<p>A newspaper records as follows: 'The Duke of
-Hamilton left Hamilton Palace for the south
-yesterday. During his stay of six days he shot
-373½ brace of grouse, 4 brace of black-game, 4
-hares, and 2 snipes.' This makes a slaughter of
-seven hundred and sixty-one animals in six days,
-or at an average upwards of a hundred and twenty-six
-per diem. Hard work!</p></div>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p class='center'>Printed and Published by <span class="smcap">W. &amp; R. Chambers</span>, 47 Paternoster
-Row, <span class="smcap">London</span>, and 339 High Street, <span class="smcap">Edinburgh</span>.</p>
-
-<hr class="chap" />
-
-<p class='center'><i>All Rights Reserved.</i></p>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<div class="footnotes"><p class='ph3'>FOOTNOTES:</p>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Cats! Cats! Cats! 50 Cats are required to capture
-the rats and mice that are infesting the Government
-Magazines. Whoever shall bring a cat to Deputy-Controller
-Martindale's office between 11 and 12 o'clock
-on any day up till the 28th inst., shall receive one dollar
-per cat. By order, &amp;c.</p></div></div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
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