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this night." And she will say to me, | all the island that you hef seen sich a "Alister, before you go into the house, I strange, thing." will bring you a pail of watter, and you will wash the blood from your face, and the dirt from your clothes; and I will say to her, "Mairi, you are a verra goot lass, and you will mek a good wife to Colin MacAlpin when he comes back from Glasgow. Colin MacAlpin," I will say to her, "is a verra good lad, and he is not a liar, like his uncle John the Piper; and he does not go about the island telling foolish lies like him." That waz what I will say about John the Piper, Miss Sheila.

And then I will say to them, "Well, it is time now I waz getting home to Borva, and Gott knows when I will be back at Loch Suainabhal any more, but if you will come along by the shores of the loch, I will show you the place where I sah the beast, and you will know that it is true that I sah the beast." There waz one or two were for staying at home until the word was sent to the minister; but the others of them they had a goot tram, and they said, "Alister, if you will be for going by Loch Suainabhal, we will go with you by Loch Suainabhal, and we will tek the gun that Dugald MacKillop's father got out of the wreck of the French smack, and if there will be any more sign of the big horse, we will fire the gun, and he will run into the watter again, but first of all, Alister, you will tek a glass." And I said to them, "Yes, that is verra well said; and we will tek the gun; but it is not for any more whiskey I am, for I am a sober man, and there is no telling what foolish lies they may hef about any one, for there is ofer in Borva that foolish min John the Piper, and every one in the island, and Miss Sheila, too, will know that he is the greatest one for trinking and for the telling of foolish lies of all the people in the whole island of Lews."

And when I will be going up to the house, there waz a great sound of noise, and one or two singing, and the candles inside as if it waz still the middle of the night, and I knew that these foolish men were trinking, and still trinking, and making a verra fine piece of laughing about the marrach of Dugald MacKillop and the young lass from Skye. And I went into the house, and Aleck Cameron he cries out to me, "Gott pless me, Alister-nan-Each! and hef you not gone on to Uig, when you waz having a bottle of Lagavulin whiskey with you all the way?" And I sez to him, "Aleck Cameron, it is a verra wise man you are, but you will know not any more of Lagavulin whiskey as the children about the house; and I hef seen a strancher thing than Lagavulin Ay, and Aleck Cameron he waz verra whiskey, and that is a great black beast brafe now, and he would be for carrying that was on the shores of Loch Suaina- the gun, that had the poother in it, and bhal, and you nor no other min ever sah the flint new sharpened, and the barrel such a thing; and it is the story of the well tied to the stock; but I said to him, black beast I will tell you now, if you will "It is verra well for you, Aleck Cameron, gife me a glass of whiskey, for it is that to be brafe now, but you waz glad to get worst night I hef had since ever I will be back to the farm last night." And he is a born." Ay, Miss Sheila, there waz not verra quarlsome man, Miss Sheila; and one of them will be for laughing any more he will say before them all, "Alister-nanwhen I told them all the long story; but Each, I cam back to the house pekass they will say to me, "Alister, it is a you waz trunk, and I sah no black horse stranche thing you hef told us this day, in Loch Suainabhal or out of Loch Suainaand you will go and tell the minister of it, | bhal, and you will do yourself a mischief and Mr. Mackenzie of Borva, and you will if you say such things about me, Alisterhear what they say about it, for there is nan-Each." And I will tell you this, Miss no one in all the island waz hearing of Sheila, that it waz the foolish speech of such a thing before, and it will not be safe this man, Aleck Cameron, that gafe the for any one to go along by Loch Suainabhal hint to John the Piper to mek a lying until the truth of it is found out, and who story about it. There is no one more will find out the truth of it like the min- sober as me in the whole island, as you ister, and Mr. Mackenzie of Borva, that know, Miss Sheila; and as for the trink, hef been away to many stranche places, it waz only a glass we had at a young and gone further away az Oban, and lass's marrach; and as for Aleck CamGreenock-ay, and away to London, eron and his lies, did not every one see too, where the queen lifes and Sir James that he could not walk in the middle of himself; and it was a great thing for you the road with the gun ofer his shoulter, to see, Alister, and you will be known to | but he waz going this way and that, until

he fell into the watter by the side of the road, and Dugald MacKillop himself would be for tekking the gun from him, bekass he waz so trunken a man. I hef no patience with a man that will be going about telling lies, whether it is Aleck Cameron or John the Piper.

Well, we waz going down the road, and there as sure as death waz the bits of the bottle that I let slip when the terrable beast turned his head, and it waz many a time we looked at the watter and along the shore, and Peter MacCombie, who is a verra frightened man, keeping to the back of us, for fear of the terrable peast. There waz no sign of him, no, for such stranche cratures, I hef been told, do not like the taylight, but only the afternoon or the evening; and I said to Dugald MacKillop, "Dugald, there is the verra place where he waz lying." And Dugald said, "You hef seen a stranche thing, Alisternan-Each; and I hope no other man will see the like of it again, for it is not good to see such stranche craytures, and if I waz you, Alister, it is the minister I would be for telling."

Now, Miss Sheila, that is the whole story of the black beast that I sah, and I waz saying to Alister Lewis, the schoolmaster," Mr. Lewis, I am not good at the writen, but if it teks me two weeks or a whole week to write the letter, I will tell the story to Miss Sheila, and she will know not to belief the foolish lies of John the Piper." And he will say to me," Alister, if you will be writen the letter, you will not say anything of Miss Sheila, but you will call Miss Sheila Mrs. Laffenter, for she is marriet now, as you know, and a verra fine lady in London; " and I will say to him, "Mr. Lewis, you are the schoolmaster, and a verra cleffer young man, but the old way is the good way, and Miss Sheila when she waz in Borva waz as fine a lady as she is now, and as fine a lady as there is any in London, and she will not mind the old way of speaking of her among the people that knew her manys the day before the London people knew her, when she waz a young lass in her father's house." And if there is any fault in it, Honoured Madam, it waz no harm I had in my head when I waz writen to you; and if there is any fault in it, I will ask your pardon beforehands, and I am verra sorry for it if there will be any offence.

And I am, Honoured Madam, Your most humble servant to command, ALISTER-NAN-EACH,

but his own name is Alister Maclean.

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P.S. I waz not telling you, Honoured Madam, of the lies that John the Piper will be speaking about me, for they are verra foolish and of no consequence mirover. But if you will hear of them, you will know, Honoured Madam, that there is no truth in them, but only foolishness, for there is no one in all the island as sober az me, and what I hef seen I hef seen with my own eyes whatever, and there is no one that knows me will pay any heed to the foolish nonsense of John the Piper, that waz trunk no further ago than the yesterday's mornin.

From Macmillan's Magazine. KISAWLEE: LIFE IN A CANADIAN COUNTRY TOWN.

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THE town of Kisawlee as the geography books would say contains a population of upwards of nine thousand. I should say the town to which I will give the name of Kisawlee for it would be time thrown away to search for its whereabouts in Keith Johnston or any other modern atlas-even if they deigned to give poor Canada a map worthy of the name. The chances are that if you consult an ordinary atlas you will find a space near the end devoted to a map of North America generally; or in a fuller condition for more advanced students, perhaps the United States and British Possessions would be allowed a whole page to themselves, an honour shared by Sardinia and Corsica, Norway and Sweden, or the islands of the Grecian Archipelago. The names of great states, containing several millions of the Anglo-Saxon race, and half a dozen cities, larger than many of the smaller European capitals, are printed in precisely the same type as collections of mud huts on the preceding page, while our own great Dominion would be denoted by a red smudge in the top corner, with Lake Ontario standing on its head, Lake Erie looking as if it were not quite certain where it ought to be, and Superior making off (to use a native expression) in a bee-line towards the Rocky Mountains. "British Possessions" are written in a general way from Toronto (probably still put down as "Little York ") to the Atlantic Ocean, and the country behind, where manufacturing towns stand thick, where short-horn stock grazes, is cut off with the simple designation of "Unknown Territory," or the long-forgotten and obsolete name of "Prince Rupert's Land." Very

good maps of Canada can be procured | have always enjoyed the reputation of from the emigration agents, but it is not numbering among their ranks a large to be expected that they should fall into number of freshly imported Englishmen, the hands of the schoolroom governess or which has turned the scales very heavily the knickerbockered child of ten, which in their favour. There used to be a tradimay be put down as the most advanced tion that when the maidens of Toronto age at which it is thought necessary to in- had arrived at a time of life at which there stil into British youths a knowledge of the was a danger of their lapsing into that state physical geography of the world they in- so dreaded in Canada,-when for many habit. So the United States and Canada | years they had been treated to candy in are dismissed with the same number of King Street by the youth of Toronto, with useless marks as Crim Tartary and Sibe- no more serious results accruing,-their ria. The youth goes to school, and even friends and those interested in them used that little is forgotten. suddenly to discover that the only way of Who can wonder, then, when educated recruiting their health, shattered by the Englishmen ask which is Upper and dissipation of the metropolis of the West, which is Lower Canada, whether South was to send them to stay with friends in Carolina touches the Canadian frontier, Kisawlee to enjoy rest and quiet, about and have a general idea that the country the time when picnics and dances were is inhabited by Yankees, Indians, and po- most rife in the provincial town. This, lar bears, or that they do as one individual however, we must put down to spite; I know of did-come straight from an probably it was in return for some mockeminent British seat of learning to the ing allusion made by the Kisawleeans longest-settled part of the oldest state in when the British regiments were withAmerica, bringing with him an enormous drawn from Toronto. A merry time the chest of carpenter's tools in the expecta- fair sex had had of it! Not so the lawtion of having to build his own house and yers, the bank-clerks, and other individuals sleep in the open air till it was finished. whose misfortune it was to wear a black The feelings of the Canadians are being coat. They wandered through the ballcontinually ruffled as instances come be- rooms in vain; the whole beauty of the fore their notice of what a terra incognita city was entirely engrossed with the dashtheir land (of which they are so proud) is ing hussars, and they were fain to content in the mother country. The Yankees are themselves with the once despised wallnot so sensitive, and they only "guess the flowers. But in due course, the last red stranger is behind the times some," and coat disappeared from the streets of Topity him forthwith. But I must cry peccavi ronto; the clash of the sabre, the military for having rambled so far from my sub-music, and the bugle-call, no longer ject, which was to endeavour to give a sounded through what seemed to the description, however feeble, of the man- ladies' eyes the deserted highways, and ners and customs of the Canadians, taking the turn of the neglected civilians had a provincial town as my model rather than come. Ill-tongued fame says that they the old beaten route by way of Quebec, had their revenge, and that the idols at Montreal, and Toronto. Kisawlee, as I whose feet the mess of the 34th Queen's before said, boasts of a population of nine Own Hussars had knelt in adoration, for thousand and has considerable social pre- a whole season sat round the ballrooms tensions. When the towns of A, unnoticed and deserted by their old playB, or C—give a ball, and a brake-mates, whom in the hour of prosperity full of gentlemen from Kisawlee are ex- they had scorned. pected, it is said that the ladies take extra care with their toilets and that their hearts beat a trifle faster, while the gentlemen of A, B, and C-look black. It is not surprising, then, that there are legends which tell of some festive occasions that have not ended as amicably as they should. A very aspiring town is Kisawlee. I have even heard ladies of fashion there whisper treasonable things against Montreal, in which I thought I caught the word "shoddy." The gentlemen of Kisawlee have long been famous for their gallantry and eligible qualities, and they

But time heals all things, and nowadays the lawyers and clerks encase themselves in red or blue for a fortnight every year, and with long cavalry spurs on, whirl the admiring fair round in the giddy waltz, creating only more havoc with their hearts than with their trains.

Before touching on the more delicate subject of the social life of Kisawlee, its business, and its pleasures, let us glance at the place itself. The town lies in a valley on the river B― (the letter B must here be understood to represent an Indian name of six or seven syllables,

the names of their owners painted in flaming characters on boards of all shapes and sizes à l'Américaine. Cross streets run in at intervals, up which are to be found the churches, with tin spires gleaming in the sun, hotels and taverns, banks, post-office, and town-hall, fading away into private residences, the same little red and white villas, and so on, till we get to country road once more, and wind about among the snake-fences, brown fields, and grasshoppers.

which the inhabitants of Kisawlee are | from cellar to garret with merchandise, just learning to pronounce without stop ping to take breath in the middle); the country round is said to be the most hilly in Upper Canada, some of the hills rising to the astounding altitude of three hundred feet. It is summer-time. The river flows gently now, and the sound of the current is drowned by the dull booming and banging of drifting logs one against the other. They have floated two hundred miles from the far backwoods, and all through the summer night and day come thundering and crashing down, till the sound gets as familiar to the ears of those living by the waterside as that of the river itself. On their arrival at the town they are caught, sawn up, and sent about their business.

All the country round is completely cleared, leaving only enough timber for fire-wood, and now looks dried up and parched; while the grasshoppers, almost as large as humming-birds, start up by dozens at every footstep, and fill the air with their chirruping. The farms, and consequently the fields, are small; roughly built snake-fences obtrude their hideous forms on the sight everywhere, and neatlybuilt frame and red-brick houses, surrounded by verandas, are dotted in every direction, generally inhabited, or it would be more correct to say part of them inhabited, by whilom Scotch or Irish labourers who have risen in wealth with the country, though seldom in intelligence. There is a vulgar saying in Canada concerning these gentry that they sell everything they possibly can off their farms; what they cannot sell they give to the pigs, and what the pigs will not eat they eat themselves. From this we must draw the conclusion that farming is not looked upon in Kisawlee as an elevating or ennobling pursuit. The road, however, is good and level, and as we draw near the town aspiring mansions rise by the roadside of red brick, stone, or wood.

Let us glance at the principal hotel. The bar of course is full, for the Canadians drink in summer on account of the heat, and in winter to keep out the cold. We enter our name and place of residence in the book, as the custom is; the landlord reads it, and is at once all civility. He sees we are English, thinks of course we are green, and sniffs the spoils of war afar. Presently he lifts one finger and beckons with his head. This, I afterwards learn, is the Canadian fashion of asking you to drink, or, in their own parlance, to have a horn." If you are passing through as strangers, and more especially Englishmen, he will charge you $3 a day. If a friend introduces you, winks one eye, and gives him a dig in the ribs, or some other familiar sign, you will only be $1 per diem the poorer for your sojourn in his establishment, and if you board there for six months you will get off far cheaper even than that. Such are the anomalies of the charges in Canadian and American hotels!

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Of what does the upper-crust of society consist in Kisawlee? Let us try and define it. Four or five half-pay officers with their wives and families, the managers and clerks of three banks (bank-clerks in Canada, by the way, hold a higher position in society than their confrères in the old country, from the fact of its being a profession worth entering from a pecuniary point of view, and consequently All Canadian towns are much alike. much sought after by the most influential The approach to Kisawlee is by a long, families in the country for their sons), straight, dusty road, lined on each side by several lawyers, most of whom are in sorows of little painted frame houses, stand-ciety, a judge, a parson or two, three or ing within wooden railings, separated only four doctors, and a miscellaneous bevy of from each other by a few yards of burnt- people, many of them English, attracted up grass, or a feeble attempt at a flower- by the cheapness of living. The rear is bed, and fronted by a plank side-walk brought up by a phalanx of bachelors, a raised high above the road, a trap for the large proportion of them young Englishunwary on dark nights. men, some farming, and more who have made a hash of it, and quietly subsided into being pursers on lake steamboats or clerks in stores and lumber-shanties. It is no uncommon thing in Kisawlee to find

Gradually the long, straight suburban road merges into a street-the street of a ghastly array of hideous brick houses, every one of them crammed

the town

a clerk in a store with $20 a month going | ago at any rate, a first-rate breakfast, cold everywhere and made much of in society, lunch, and an excellent dinner, with beer while his chief, who lives in a fine stone and coffee thrown in, could be procured house, with an annual income of $5,000, for the astonishingly low sum of $3 or 125. would knock in vain for admission at a week. houses where his poorly-paid clerk reigns supreme. Greatly to the credit of the Canadians generally, it may be said that, let a man be a gentleman, no occupation, so long as it be honest, will at all affect his place in society; while at the same time there are many men retaining their places there, and even courted as favourites, who in England would long ago have been consigned to inebriate asylums, or at all events care would have been taken that their faces should live only in the memory of their acquaintances.

There is probably neither a greater nor a less consumption of spirits in Kisawlee than throughout the rest of Canada; that, however, is not saying much. Rye-whiskey is cheap, and fortunately rather mild; almost all liquors are retailed over the bar at five cents (2 1-2d.) a drink, while the decanter each time is handed over, American fashion, to the discretion of the drinker. The temptation is too strong for about one-third of the male population; another third, we will say, steady themselves down to about half-a-dozen "horns" a day; while for courtesy we will suppose that the remainder take refuge in total abstinence, although I am afraid it is making rather a rash statement to say so.

Drink has long been the curse of the country, and always will be till they put a good heavy tax on spirits. As will be gathered from what I before said, storekeepers, with rare exceptions, do not go into society. Where the Kisawleeans draw the line would be difficult to say; but that there is a line there is no doubt, and that there is a great deal of skirmishing about the borders of that line is also a well-established fact.

One of the great institutions of Kisawlee, dear to the hearts of the gentlemen and an unceasing thorn in the sides of the ladies, is the club — a ballot-club of about thirty members. It comprises a readingroom, where English and Canadian papers and magazines are taken (when I speak of magazines as connected with Canada, I should, I am afraid, have used the singular number, as I never heard that the Canadian Monthly, edited by a distinguished English scholar, had a rival); a spacious billiard-room, where snug pools and handicaps take place in the long winter evenings; and a smoking-room, not to mention a dining-room, where not many years

The heat of summer is greater far than in England, yet in that respect the Kisawleeans may look down with pity on the sun-smitten inhabitants of New York and Philadelphia, and have a decided advantage over their greater neighbours at Toronto and Montreal. But it is not too hot for excursions of every kind, picnics, and cricket-matches. The latter sport partakes of a decidedly fierce character in Kisawlee. When two rival elevens meet it is needless to say that no very great amount of talent is displayed, but that is more than made up for in the hearty rivalry manifested by the contending sides, which is most refreshing after some of our more refined English matches, where every player is so much occupied with his own average that he has no time to think of anything else. There is nothing of that kind here; and when the two rival clubs of Kisawlee are pitted against each other, the peacefully - inclined spectator would be wise if he were to leave the ground about ten minutes before the conclusion of the game. A great effort is being made by Canadians of the lower orders (if I may apply the expression to individuals who receive as high salaries as their betters, wear a signet-ring on every other finger, and empty a whole pot of pomatum over their head every morning) to stifle cricket and hold up the Indian game of La Crosse as the national pastime, and placard it as such about the towns. This is surely a mild species of disloyalty! Of course the great obstacle to cricket in Canada is that it involves a whole day's absence from work, which in a busy country few people can spare.

The Canadian masses I believe to be at bottom thoroughly loyal; but when it comes to be a personal matter between Englishman and Canadian, it is very evident to all who have sojourned in the country, that, in certain ranks of life at all events, the latter does not invariably entertain towards the former the feelings that are supposed to animate brother towards brother.

Canoeing-parties, camping-parties up the back lakes, and picnics of all kinds follow each other in rapid succession. The Kisawleean picnics are conducted in the most sensible manner, and no one person ever feels the burden of them. The ladies take the food, which is perhaps a

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