^ ^;^^< -^^^^v^^ V V^w IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) . 23 WIST MAIN STMIT WIBSTH.N.Y. MSSO (716)172-4503 ^^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHM/ICMH Collection de microfiches. Canadian (nttitut* for HIttorlcal MIcroreproductions / Inatltut Canadian da microraproductiont hiatoriquaa Tachnieal and Bibliographie Notaa/Notaa taehniquaa at bibliographiquaa toth Tha Inatituta haa anamptad to obtain tha baat original copy availabia for filming. Faaturaa of thia copy which may ba bibllographicaHy uniqua. which may altar any of tha imagaa in tha raproduction. or which may aignificantly changa tha uaual mathod of filming, ara ehaekad balow. L'inatitut a microfiimA la maillaur axamplaira qu'il lul a it* poaaibia da sa procurar. Laa ditaiia da cot axamplaira qui aont paut-Atra uniquaa du point da VIM bibliographiqua. qui pauvant modifiar una imaga raproduita, ou qui pauvant axigar una modification dana la mithoda normala da filmaga aont indiquAa ci-daaaoua. 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Les diagrammee sulvents illustrent la mithode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 MI It =;Vv, 4 . • ERS ■'V;..».-« .nl/,',' ,?" ; ' ''»,«i< fc if-/'t4 ,,4 J ■i* ! . n t . *, .» -«•«(<*> Beprijited from ti^ %mHi Keei^r 'm »■■>» t? — :—- HALfF^'X: M^^ OLAOKAOAB, BOCKlNatfAlf 8X»BBT. f862. ■«f c^v .*■>! -#•--»- '""■■.V»^ ?/. ^«1 ■*!&^l 1^ ^^^ ,?- -.ii .*• !> .^s- •' .jar » \ IT V\» ii .V •^ i 1 U \ o i r;\ f v^ /^^ «,.- }^ L K ,^ L E T T E BuS «' ■■■'^:'¥ OP MfiPHIBOSHETH STEPSUBfi. fc ~, f,t^-^m0^»*'n^m*m: /•w^fwtw** ■«"i"l««F^""*" «^ . -1 Reprinted from the Aeadian Recorder Of tlM yean 1831 aad I8tl. HALIFAX: B. W. BUOKADAR, BUOKEHOHAM 1860. » ,.'*!-/* I'' -t ii :if * _ t ^ f^. kfe .V* *t-^:i, '■!'■''■* Jtki. ■/■■ '■r- M*: >f^n.?. 11 ', ■■' INTRODUCTION. The following letters of « Mephibosheth Stepsure" appeared in the columns of the Acadian Recorder, during the years 1821 and 1822, and were read with much interest, amuse- ment, and, it is to be hoped, with profit to the public of that day. They are now fast fading from the recollection of the public, as those who 'read and laughed oyer them in their original shape, move off from the stage of life^ Such must be the fate of all literary productions, however meritorious, which are confined to the columns of the periodical press. The publisher believes that the following letters should not be allowed to sink into oblivion ; and that the public to whose perusal they are now offered, will concur in this belief. It is no secret that the letters of ** MepM bosheth Stepsure" were among the lightt^r productions of the able pen of the late Bev. Dr. Thomas MgOulloch, a gentleman of whose versatile talents Novascotia, as the country of his adoption, is justly proud ; but who, had he toiled to become famous, as diligei^ly as he did to make himself immediately useful, would undoubtedly have attained a position, not in his adopted, but in his native, home, as one of the most distinguished literary men of his age. * v-Tm' ^mi'.., . t vW irfo 'o,i -r-».'|,-.i. r.i^ ■• > itU ) If- 1 'ifdt ■■<•* ! h'j''^i-)ili% [j'**^^!* ffi?f ^ m;. •I vj-: < .'M'A-'' nH '. iil mJv,xI# , 1, f "^f 'HU\; V: i ?c* ; (^j;i •; i'>i>' ■«ade boots, whips, spurs, and a great variety of gum ^wers and other articles which come under the general ' Diiunation of 'notions. In addition to all these, and what ^ Solomon considorod as not tho leaat valuablepvt of hi* Btook, he had bought from Pendulum & Go. a whole box of old watches elegantly ornamented with lacquered braw ohaiiw and glass seals ; little inferior in appearance to gold and Cairngorms. When all these things were arranged, they had a very pretty appearance. For a number of weeks, little was talked of, but Mr. Oosling's Store ; for such he had now become by becoming a merchant : little was to be seen, but my neigh- bours riding thither to buy, and returning with bargains . and during the course of the day, long lines of horses, fh»* tened to every accessible post of the fences, rendered an entrance to his house almost impracticable. By thes^ means, the general appearance of the town soon underwent a complete revolution. Homespun and homely fare were to be found only with a few hard fisted old folks, whose ideas oould never rise above labor and saving. The rest appeared BO neat and genteel upon Sundays, that even the B«verend Mr. Drone, though I aid not see that his flook had enabled him to exchange his own habiliments for Mr, Gosling'i superfine, expressed his satisfaction by his complacent looks. Mr. Gosling, too, had in reality, considerably improved his circumstances. The creator part of my neighbours being already in debt to old Ledger and other traders about; and considering that if they todc their money to these, it would only go to their credit, carried it to Mr. Gosling's 3tore ; so that by these means he was soon able to clear ofi a number of his old encumbrances, and to carry to market as much cash as established his credit. Among traders punctuality of payment begets confidence in the seller ; and the credit which this afibrda to the pur» chaser, is generally followed by an enlargement of orders. My neighbour returned with a much greater supply ; and here his reverses commenced. Credit could not be refused to good customers who had brought their money to the store. I^hose, also, who formerly showed their good will by bringing their cash, proved their present cordiality by taking large credits. But when the time for returninff to tiie market for supplies arrived, Mr. Gosling had nothing to take thither but his books. These, it is true, had an imposing appear- ance. They contained debts to a large amount ; and my neighbour assured his creditors, that, when they were ool- lected, he would be able to pay them all honourably, and have a large reversion to himself. But, when his accounts were made out, many young men who owed him large sums, hadgoqe tQ,Pa8samaquod& ; aDdof.t)¥>M who remained ■•■% 8 the greater part had mortgaged their fiurms to Mr. Ledger and tiie other old traders : and now carried their ready ttioney to Jerry Gawpus, who had just oommoaoed trader by seUing his farm. In diort, Aothinff remained for Mr. Gos- ling but the bodies or labours of his debtors ; and these last thev all declared themseWes very willing to giye. About this time it happened that vessels were givine a great price ; and it naturally occurred to my neighbour, tmtt, by the labour which he could command, he mi^t build a oouple. These, accordingly, were put upon the stocks. But labour in payment of debt, goes on heavily ; and besides, when vessels were giving two prices, nobody would work without double wajjes ; so that we vessels, like the ark, saw many summers and winters. In tho mGaa time peace came and tiiose who owned vessels, were glad to get rid of them at any prioo. By dint of perseverance, however, Mr. Gos- ling's were finished: but they had scarcely touched the water, when they were attached by Mr. Hemp, who at the same time declared, that, when they were sold, he would lose JGifty per cent upon his account for the rigging. Such was my nei^bour*s case ; when, happening, as I hava already mentioned, to step into Parson Drone's, I found that Mr. Gosling had been teUing his ailments, and was receiving the reverend old^genl^eman's ordinary, clerical consolation. "What can*t be cured, must be endured: let us have patience." "I'll tell you what it is, parson," replied my nei^bour,. " pjitience may do well enough for those who h&xe plenty : but it won't do for me. Callibogus has foreclosed the mort- gage ; my vessels are attached ; and my books are of no- more value than a rotten pumpkin. Aner struggling hard to supply the country with goods, and to bring up a family so as to be a credit to the town, the country has Drought 119 to ruin. I won't submit to it. I won't see my son Beho- boam, poor fellow, working like a slave upon the roads ; ' with his coat tumea into a jacket, iCnd the elbows clouted w:ith the tails. My girls were not sent to Mrs. M'Gackle's boarding school to learn to scrub floors. The truth is, par- son, the country does not deserve to be lived in. There is neither trade nor money in it, and produce gives nothing. — It is fit only for Indians, and emigrants from Scotland, who were starving at home. It is time for me to go elsewhere, and carry my family to <\ place that presents better pros- pects to young folks. In reply, we parson was beginning to ezhort Mr. Gos- lii^ to beware of the murmurmgs of the wicked ; when ..■ x:-\ tS'**k- JiM))c jC»lohp)l«^ tlte ooDStaMe, aiiep^ in to toy tiuti thtf eikeriil would be glad to speak with Mr. Uosling at the ddor. Our tariff ia a Tisry hiMpitable s^ntlemaii:; iliid, when an^rof his neigl^ours are in bai^blup, iia will eall iipein thdnt, aindeif en iniMst upon their making his housd llkeir home. Nor did t ey^ know any shy fom getting off with an exoose. As it oocurr^.to me, therefore, that Mir. 0aii£&urmi^t not oisiiie baok for tibe ptursoa'^s admonition, I totunied komie ; and soon learned that my ni^ighbour had really gone els«iv)i«re, and made a. scKbtliandnt in Ihe very place where Sampscm turned miU<^. 3?hi8 e^ent has not added mm^ to the rwpeetability of tiie Goslings; norisitoalodlatedto^ii^t^thQirprMpdots. My nei^bonr's ohildrenjare as fine a y^«mg fiunily as any in the town ; but it unaVoi^bly Imppened, that the apparent prosperity of theiif father introduced among them habits, not *fery firieiucUy toregnlai^ indiMry and sai^g. Hdb Gpslh^, the oldetst son^is really asmart young fellow | and in hayh^ time or harvest^ , ho can do mo^ wcnek in a daf than any three labHOurers. But luurd wcwk raquires redtfeatibn ; and when a young man does any thing nnconUnoh, he wi^es to reoeive or^it for it among his n^j^bbours. Aeedrdingly, it would sometimes happ^ that it ^onld take Hob a week to Jtoll about the exerdoip of ik day. He would also oceasioD> f|l7 rooresiite himself jbyxidi^raoas, oir playing^a same »i o^rds rwhenhe wiu4ilnkin^ ghiss :of>grdg:wi^' other youqgBtiNfl oyer Mr. !Hp^'s ) ab^r- ed a great knowledge of the law, and the oharaoter of being a, 'cut» young man. But li am ihdined to^ think tiiat the ^in ended here ; for I remember that i^r ones or two of lliese oansida word tried, a few aoiei^ of Mr. Gosling's best marsh passed into the hands of Baunders SouitoorMsh, a hard &ced, hard working Sootdiman, who, a fbw years ago, oame among us with his stookii^ and shoes suspended from & stick over his sh Some of my neighbours, indeed, used to eompiain that, when Mr. Growing asked them to dinner, the meat was ahrays411'>aook«dj and the puddings and pies, mere dough ; but the re&son was, that neither Mrs. Gosling nor the young ladies, could get 10 lk»m«ali traiiiA to(ido iBB ilw 'liM bidden, ttataii lilMy wtt« 1l|(iray9>«illier htelB. .Bttilhia'VM not the only: Iwnbhi^ wlntlimy n^iiiibdtk' Miffefod bjrthid eiif^iaMOBiplJsbineDti of th« yoiiig Mtee. tr6 be genteel^iiHlhe oeintry, ia «ttend«d witbrnffiovHieo and Itmm of wbiah ^ym. townifolkg era ihtve no ooneeptkm. •Abrning nni»in 4eQne^ tQ% haa pimipred a k^ dkntuiMn vpm pa^f e, wi4 wif omne to^delwM iU. Biiiir^ fimnd) then all vary oheciftti ; and the piuraiw unnUiKiig to Itee M» lahoDr,ifiadAbiavint shorty atldoaitifidhieduooiinatp ^i Cj44ebptaiK^^^''M^iii'))^^^^ ^* Qpd^nj^ oolffineiiieiitthey oondidei!ad]neiBljaKKitini|»omfyi inmyemenDc^ ^risug from the il^itoof hiaorediftQnL BM' when iii» debt9 wpre oalled ui« Imk wouldfrngr every body; aadt tke wltoie'fiuBily agreed, tiiat,.1ift9i))i Willi ihd lieBt of lu»pto>^ pertj^ ^j w«iilfLi(> to a oountty hotter worth tka. living te.^ I ^i|nd aqnongf tbooi, howevev, a diTenatjr oflcmimbn abMrt^ wheiOvljhw 4ioHld l^, Mrsw (sKwlwig Sj^e «e Ito OUo^i but Mr. BelMiboaint de^red^ t^it was anew oonAtrjit^ witbonft roada ;; whiere a ^i^nmg nmn eoold not lay a Water asaq^ie ppm thepao ydar'» m to the other. MjiitlNnali^ prefered the Cape of Oood Hope, btttiiift waaafinid of tlii' Oa&es, wbo fKMDetimes carrji m White wonea. T» elope wi^.a.ioi^or a duk;e, she obwry^ would bia a very p»ft^' iaoi^ent J )Mit». shaold aay peMoli e!7er write a aoivel abaat the,€^iUnflS|,tp bo eanriod off by a Hottentot wndd appaar so :4n>% Upo^ th« whol^ 1^ saenad. to think tba^op^ nioi^ m, Hiss Fanny moat taibla : that it indnld be bait ^ flf> ta Botaoj Bay« whose ey«^j^nt^&Bi% like the 6oa^< lu^ rfio«?;«B so iwmy white &iggef8»i seAtouheirety^ yea^^ ftom Britain by Q^^eisniaedt^t thft^siipply of thoMl^ As jpur wairriora Ibr? ^. wjblej! hsie net yet opm&i< their oikinpaign, I hope yion willJtod^><>Qn^ in your paper ito thp preceding aooonnt (^ my nei^bemr and Uii finiily; li wiU hi9t» I kijow^ be very interesi^iQg to you readet»in;tfplMt- zal ; for they have all seen the like, and heard the l^e^ a>^ hundrad t^nefi before : aadaait iH^nofoUe buta traestory the|[ wM mot bo able to dediace dram it any sage moni: t^ thoir (Mm ^EOotioB m life. Y^t ^insertion mil oblige # gteat nOtiiy of your readers. By looking amt the lisl (^ yattr(^dbsQribei»,^oift Willi aoe that the* Gosling. foMily haw egttansiwB conueziona in etery part of the proTineia aaj iii evaiy luad of Qcotti«^tion ; skid I am sure, it Will ^081^ themaU ^ hnar how thoir tebtioii Sir; Solomoi» is gatli% oi?L ^uMiId yon obIi|^ them Mid mysdf thoafart i im^^' iikduMd to aond you, attomeiutnra pexiod, the Bec|iiilF at mj; om^lMKVtradW oateer. ihm :m 12 ) LBTfBB It. Q^fLnanii-r'Qwm alUr Mr. Gosling ^vtat to liye With the sheriff, I eiobraoed the first epftre time to pkj him a yiait. OiLuriving at my nin^^bottr's new lodgings, I was told that he had jnst sitten downto dinner with a party of hitAoqnaintanoes whom he had invited to see him. jB'ihailig thvii that he had more need *of a good appMile than ot eon- ' dolenoe, I returned home. As our roads are pretty Haxi&i ' travelled, I did not proceed £ir without company : I was eoofk orertaktti by Saunders Soantooreesh the Scotchman, who had been at old Tubal Hiump's to get his axe new laid f and was now returning homeward as fitst as his fJE»^ oodld f^tty him. We had scarcely exdianged salutation when Jaiw: ScoMm the lumberer^ whose horse I had seen^ fkstened to, l\Ir.^K{iple's fence, came galloping up and joined us. , 'f' " So I hear/' says Jack, "that old Gosling has got hitos^lf iato limbo. The old fblloW won't poison the town any nipre with hisabominable stuff:" ^ ^ -^'1 " And'wha gar'd ycm driidc it," replied Saun^dtis. "It wisna abominaUe stuff whm yoiif bits o^ weens war rinqan wi'ae^ybeardiU' after imi^et', after a geldtf (M o' fleecUn' an finain^ to ^t it. It was Mr. G^lmg then ; but nop when you aa' the like o' you hae broehtthe puir gentlen^in iptuiii, it's the auld &llow wi' the abominablev stuff. IlNeyil run throo the gats o*^ a* sio loons,, that I sud ban." At tibie same fune he brandished a new ax handle which be w|» (»rrying home with him. What' midit have happen^, had the oon- T«s«tlon been contimiied, I do not know ; Ibr JacAc ^btd a haiid battle at times ; but fortunately for uS all, Jehu, the oldest son of Mr. Qxwpwi the new merchant, came gaHc^ing aloQg ; and Jaek, prerarring a race to a battle, was soon oiat Gils Hav^ found my old neighbour so Comfortably fixed '#!th the dieriff, I was in no haste to r«ftew my visit. ~ A few days ago, however, I received from him a note aoknowledffinff my former eall,and requesting ike to eat a beef stake wim hnn at hidf^ast five. As Mr. w)sling and I never were up(m very intimate terms, this invitation was rathor unexpeetra.' But havmg all my life dined early, I do not like late hours. Be- ndes, tiiQQj^ Mr, ECold&st, ttie sheriff, £k«quently invitei^his fiiends, and never fails tp be out of humour whob they offer tOtleftve him ; I have always thought, that, for his guests to invite theirs and have dinner parties in his house, iscsirying thejpke' rather too fiur. I, therefore, sent him my ex- ease, with a promise that I would see him next day. 18 Aooofditiglj, after bNtlcftst, haying jny^n mrlMf ^ and rvaitts their taak8» I aMppa^ over to Mr. Bollpai'ai and as introdyoad to aiy neudihow, whop t ibimd ao oom- ^lMf^an4 aarvaitte their taab was introdyoad to aiy pletelj involted In a olona of toVaooo vaaiBki, aa to bo eoaroely liaible. $0 acooimtfiM: thht ciroaaigtaiioa) it is neoeuax^ to remark^ that the inhabitanta pf oar town are «H great anokers ; and, though the eoontry in ganaral ia pretty sopoloiiSt tiie sheriff's housci ia naually the thioke^ part of roe settlement. Hia house, also, staacling in a publie place, is yexj much ezpoaed ; and having more than onoe sidbred ddpriadations from housebreakers, he keeps hi^ windows wdl seonred ; andhenoe thd darkness in Which Mr. Gosling was involted. ^ iti,!; After aormoonting the first impression which a diurk room makes upon the eyes, I founS my neighbour seated at a table alot)g with a goodly number of our townsfolk, who l|ad come to lodge with tiie sheriff till they could be more comfortable at home. They #ere all busily employed Qver a game of whist, ami enjoyiitt thjpir smoke at me same tiDbte ; and aa smoking begets uirst, a few tumblers and the needful stood npdn we tM)le. It haa been a tiine of general calamity among ua ; and on this aooount, thou^ our sheriff b really a veiy rei^^ect- able gentlemain, many are now living with huik who, once A day, would have spumed at hia invitations; These, as well as Mr. Gtisling, have many relatipna in different parta of the province ; and, as they may perhaps hear of th«|r present circumstances, without learning the cause ) for their informaUon, t i^ll state how my townsmen have beenmvblved in sdsfortune, whioh ought rather to be termed unezpecied than BuddeUb But t must fhrst vindicate myself from the unjust asper- sions of some of your readers. It has been affirmed that my account of Mr. Cbaling is merely a dry wipe at those^ who, not contented with &rming, have tried to better their drcumstonoes by trade. But have I not a$rmed that it is a true story 7 And, surely, I who know best, have the best r^t to be believed. Besides, I am confident tluufc there is not one merchant in tiie country, who will see the least resemblance between my account of Mr. Gosling and himselfl Far be it &om Mephibosheth Stepsure, either by dry wipes or wet wipes, to attempt a reformation which ly Panon Drone has ^lona; ago given up in despair^. Swne of your ieaders, I doubt, Tike our clergyman's hearers^ apply everything to their neighbours. Every reasonable 3 14 'man miut now be satisfied respeotiog the tnith of both what I have already said, and what I uve yet to say i and, 'ther«fort,l,8hal| prpoeed.to my aoooont of Mr^ Goaltng's fellow lodged. I have filready nyBntioned how Jao]lc Scorem set off at the gallop aher Mr, Oawpqs' son Jeh«. In the oourse of the raoe, thev Reached a {Ntrt where the road takes a sad- dien turn ; when a jostling iuunied, which jbron^t man and beast to tiie gronnd. At this time the sheriff happened to be iqpon the road ; when perceiving the accident, and ran- ning api to lend his assistance, he found Jack both braised anableeding ; and positively msisted that, instead of going home to bis &mily in such a plight, he should lodge with himself. Jack now declares himself to be perfectly cured ; but Mr. Hold&st is still as careful about him, as ^en he ftund him upon the road. • About ten years ago. Jack began the world, by settling upon a wood lot and marrying a daughter ot old Pharaoh Squash. With the exception of rather more le^ than one humftn body has a right to claim. Jack was a likely, clever handed fbllo^, and cocdd chop more in a day tium a^y of his neighbours. But this was a kind of work, of which, except at a chopping frolic, he was nev^r yetj fond. His wife, too, bating a little glibness of tongue, common to the whole Squash family, was a very engaging and smart ^^ung womfin. v Jack, having besun the world, was determined to show that he had begun H in earnest. Accordingly, after makkg a little hole in the woods, that nobody mi^t mistake him for a Fictou highlandman, he raised a couple of good frames for his house and bam ; and, by chopping for Swing the saWyer, provided himself with as many boards aa would do ihe outside work of his bouse. Mr. Iiedger, too, who vras never known to refbse credit to active, well doing young men, supplied him with paint, gla«i, nails, and other mi^terials ; so' that very soon by dint of labour and the help of a carpenter to make the sashes, the house that Jack built, with its white clapboards and green comers and win- dow facings, had a very pretty appearance. The partitions and ceilinra, it is tme, were only loose boards ; but those he resolv^ to have finii^ed before the winter pet in. When things were in this state, Mrs. Scorem was brought home from her father's : and a happier couple were no- where to be found. Jack was very fond of his wife t the neighbours, too, were Very kind in visiting and inviting the \¥i'- ' \\ui\iMu1l^itii)l\\ii\ii^'SaUtiU\\ili'k1i\\ii& . ■■■' 'a\ Jj J ^ifi^irtifaai-itt,- ^ .;, 16 joung folks, so that the time slipt pleasantly ftway. Bui winter sot in before he could set anything done to. the. house ; and when he began to look a^r^oarcls for hii, barn, there were none to oe got. Th|9 young folks* how- evori^were not easily put out. A few slabs would do very well to shelter the cow in a comer of the firame i and« if their house was cold, they were near the woods» iwd could keep a rousing fire. But Jack's building had produced another inoonvenienoe of much greater magnitude. A few potatoes were the whole of his crop. Everything, therefore, must be bought at tiie store ; ana a0 young folks like to be stilish, the day of redconiiu; was npt duly considered. When the spring came, li^. Ledger had a very long account agahostJaek : but then his farm showed that, during winter, he had beea doing something besides visiting ; he h^ slashed doim a large piece of wood ; and now, he dotermined to raise i^ crop which would do something for him in the fall. it happened that spring, that Mr. Ledger's agent at home sent him. out more vessels than he knew well how to load. Jack was in debt, and known to be a good axomM; and just when he was beginning to clear up his new land, Mr. Ledger's tempting ^ers interrupted the farming. Ha mi^tjump into the woods iii the morning, and at night returp home two or three dollars thia richer. This was a prospect not to be despised by one who was in debt ; and besides, wished to have his house tod bam finished. It happened, also, that when Mr. Ledger's vessels came out, they brought a very large importation of goods. These, proved a sore temptation to Jack and Mrs. Soorent ; who like other young folks, had gone very bare together. But he was now making great wages, and l^ey coiUd well afford both to live bettor and dress better ; a^d hence between finery and their summer's provisions, they had a great mimy errands to the store. In the mean time, Jack wrought \'ery hard and finished his contract, but when Mr, Ledger balanced his books, he was astonished to find him- self deeper in debt than before. At first he was very an- gry, and would not believe it. But in locking over the account, he found a j^reat many gowns, ribbons, and laces, which, he thought, might have been spared. He had also some twinges M>out a long line of dittos, headed by 1 gal- lon spirits ; but he liked to see his wUe as fine as any of her neighbours ; and it would be a miserable thmg, if he oould not afford a glass of grog to an acquaintance wheq^ 19 m he oalled »t the home. !■ short, the thing was done and eonld not be reoelled. Still he was a smart young fellow, and had nie Med to. resort to Parson Drone fbr consolation. The iodse andbim ooold stand for a year ; and, instead of fihtiyping mion his fiurm, he oould have another great lot of timMT ready by the spring. The little tiatber which had been npon Jack's premises, was now gOne. Bnt my oomdn, Harrow, who lires at the far end of the settlemMit, and' minds only his fiurming, had an ezeellent h>t of it ; aind Jack and a ^ more of the yonagrten agreed to payhimstnmpaffe and make onejpb of the whole. As they were all far from home, it was ne- cessary to oaa^ in the woods Now, sleeping upon spruce boiMj^ ttid living upon hard bis>?uit and salt pork not very welToodked, do not affi>id all the com&rt reauisite for hard worl^g men. Without a little spirits, the ntigiie of lum- bering wouSi be intolerable. Besides, persona who must quit tteir Imai at dusk, cannot sleep^dl the long nights of winter; and, when they aresittiiig in the camp, uey need somethmg aloiig with a game at cards, to make them ohetty and keep ont the oold« In the meantimej, Mrs. Soorem and the wives of the oth«r yooM men, found themselyes very lonely at home. Th9j also nit a Uttle audoos about their husbands ; and to relwve their uneasiness, thejf naturally called upon each oth«r, for the double purpose of PMBins a dull hour and hearing fronii the camp. Calls ox this Kind rei^uire com- - Ibrts ; and, as ^ouns rolks ha?e usually a frank disposition, it beeune a pomt of emulation among them, who would be kindest. Jack, thus liTing in the woods, had now, as it were, two ftmilies to 8iq>p0rt ; and each of them conducted upon the sbppontion that he was making great wages and coidd Tory easily afiord it. O^e large lot of timber was at last made and deliyered. But, when a de^uctiott was made for hauling and stumpage, and also the price of a horse to carry his provisions, for all which Mr. Ledgi^r was bound, the remainder left Jack far- ther in ^urrears Uian evor. At first he was confounded. A< perusal of Mr. Ledger's account, however, satisfied hinv that all was &ir and sqna^. The nun^ber of dittos in his present aocount, had been considerably increased by <»mp- ing in theiroo^ ; litut he now iK>iiind m these a reasonable ezoiise ; they ^ere a, jp&rtc^iiis supplies, aQcl could not be wanted. The same leiiiity he found it impossible to extend to mai^ of Mrs. Soorem's items i and on retoming hosi<^ 4 %4- it. , V ^W*»^- 17 ill pl«iied and moody,, ho eonld not a^id muttering lomc- thioff aboQl extra^Mgiino^ tea, and t r Uiii p oi y. In a eaae of thifiM it waanoTor known that any of the Sqnash fa- mily did not giTe as good aa they got. Mn. Soorem, there^Hre, oould quote mih great mdmeia the aniOnnt of Jaok's dittoB ; 90 that donwatic oomibrt began to airaine a very gloomy appearance. Bat, as neither of them #ere Ul-natured, after a few tears and a little pontintffrom Strs. Scocem, haxmony was restored ; and they both' m\f resolv-v ed to be more oarefbl in futiore, and get out Of debt as soon as they could. To get out of debt; howOf tr, by &hn- ing,,wasnawoatof the question. Aiwther'ji^t lotof lumber must, tiMgreforcj be made. * It itneoessaiyi here, to say a fei^ WOiids about our, tor- ;t)iy old parson, Bev. Mr. Ihrnie. When tiie old gentle- man first came among us, he was a htiA young man, and preached upon a great variety of subjects. Among' other things, I remember, he tried to persuade us, that a person's general habits grow out of his ooottpation. But the Whole town laughed at him. One was sure, ^t, if he had money to lend out, he would have more Mnscienoo'tiian Gripus the usurer . aikl another, that he could keep t^erhfor- efer, without being sueh a drunkard as TWle. Noho of the young people oould see how a little cara playing ^d frolicking could interfere with sober and mddstriodsnibits; and the ^d neo|^e, to a man, Glared that it was' Oerfbot- ly e&Bj to job about the one Imlf of the yOar, and be very good mrmers the other.— Howerer this may be, I im in- clined to think that habits arising out of any parfiodlar occupation, are not likely to be impaired by continuing in it. Accordingly, though Jack ooiwl not be oalM a drnnk- affki for he was seldom seen intoxicated, he used frequent- ly to declare, that a good hearty glass of grog alon^ tnth hard work in the woMb, would do no man harm. In pro- portion, also, as he became more indulgent to himiielf, his opposiUon to Mrs. Scorem's domestic management dimi- muied ; so tiiat she was at last left tO get on in her own way in peace. In this manner aeveral years passedon, without anything particular to intemrot their quiet ; «itoept an oceMdonal leieotionupon Mr. Ledger's debt, which was graduaUy in- oreaung. At last, one morning when Jack was going past the store, this gentleman called him into his hOuse ; and, after some friendly convensatica aad a geod ^ns of jgrog, observed to him, that, though it was not his practice to 18 Hell eiwyhodj the state of his afbin, he would mentiott to him, as a partioalar fHend, that he was vei^ hai^y .pushed. He owed a large sum to If r. Balance, his agent at home, who was yery aazioas about it. To satisfy him therefore,he had just been taking a mortgage firom a num- ber of his nei^boors ; and he hoped that Jack also would vgiyehim this security upon hisfkrm. The mortgages would satisfy Mr. Balanoe that he had not been mucmjr bad debts ; and thus he would neither be pushed himself, nor be redttoed to Uie painful necessity of hanrasung good nei^^ihottrs. He ftirther assured Jack, when they were takiiu( another glass, that he was tho last man in the town that he would be willing to distress. Jack was iwj sorry Uv hear that his good Iriend Mr. Ledger was pudied, and no less so to think that his fimn might be atta<^ed. To oblige this gentleman, therefore, and remove &r from him- self the evil day, the mortgMO was given. From the time^ that Mr. Ledser revMled to Jack the secret of his distress and reooived the m(Nrt«u{e, a sort of intimacy was established between them. That gmtldman would frequently take him by himself, and give hini a great many advices about pare and eoonomy. At first. Jack was very proud of this kind of confidence ; but, by beinff often repeated, it became tiresome ; and at last he oaifed for it as little and minded it as little, as one ot parson Drone's sermons. On the contrary, Mr. Ledger £d not bear so patiently as the parson, this disregard of his admo- nitions. When Jack's greybeard thorafore, to which Saunders Scantoweesh alluded, was in need of replenish- ing and arrived at the store, it would frequently be sent away as it came. This was usage not to be endured from one whom he had obliged by mortgaging his farm. Jack ■ tlureatened revenge ; and, accordingly, carried his next lot of timber to another trader, ami set Mr. Ledgw at d^ance. In this manner Jack's affitin went 'on for several years more. Lots of timber were made, and large debts con- tracted. In the mean time^ the lumberinff life had left the &rm without improvement. The land which Jack had diopped the winter after his marriage, was again co- vered wiw fine young wood. The bam frame, it is true, for it was ut excellent frame, had resisted the weather, and still stood its ground ; but the house could no longer be known by its fine white clapboards and its green comers MxtA faninm. Time h&^ awent awav all the naint. and tiia 10 • only oohtrMt to iti general weather beaUn appeariibe was a atrip of white, reaohing firom the garret window to the ground, oooaaioned by certain nootomal diitillationi, whioh, in a cold winter's ni^^t, it is notalv;aTs oooTenient to carry to the door. His windows, too, had soffered the inconvenience of being in the neighbourhood of children and fowls. The want of glass was remedied by a plenti- ful supply of old hats, trowsers, and the like ; at the same time keeping out the cold, and proving that thoso within had onoe worn clothes. From what I have said respecting the outside of the house, it need scarcely be remarked, that comforts had not multiplied within. The loose boards hod become looser byseasonug. The increase of children, also, had opened up new [sources of want ; and it usually happens, that laree wants very iniudioiously keep company with little credits. When Jade, therefore, returned home from the woods, it was to hear of a long list of particulars whioh the fkmily needed, summed up with a good deal of grumb- ling that they had not been provided. Now, £imily con- versations of this kind, when they are often repeated, are apt to become irksome. All persons, also, married and unmarried, contract a habit of ^ing where they are most oomfortabls. From such matrunoa'al communings, there- fore. Jack used to escape to his acquaintances, who neither told him of wants nor plagued him w'tOx grumbling ; and, as they were Wmsaoi^y to be found about Mr. Tipple's counter, he became a regular attendant at tiiat place of amusement. A course of this kind was not likelv to les- son family grievances. Jack and Mrs. Scorem oegan to live very uimappily together. That he mkht- forget /the past and escape the present, a resort to li». Tipple's be- came every day more necessary ; and the thought of re- turning home, demanded an additional dose to fortify him against the reception of Mrs. Scorem. I have generally seen, that misfortune, which requires a stout heart and strong exertions to overcome it, produces contrary effects. Accordingly, as Jack's prospects of comfort diminished, he became less inclined to labour for comfort ; and was no longer that active, hard working fellow which he had formerly been. In the mean time, £rom the failure of trade and other circumstances, the price of timber fell so much that Jack declared it better to go idle than to work for such wages. Go idle he did ; but, when he was enjoying himself, Mr. Ledger sued out the * 20 m^f"^?e, and then caplased him for the balance of the uooou -^nd ho is now Hrin;^ with the sheriff, till trade reyiyes aaa labour returns to ita old p/ioe. Before I lofl home, his little boya were at my house, asking a tew pota* loea to keep them from starving ; and when I arrired at Mr. Holdmst's, I found Jack's thoughts and ei^joymonts limited to a game at cards and a gloss of grog. By pub- li hing this, you, may onooaiuge me to^ intrc^uoe you to the rest of the company. MBPHIBOSHBTH STEPStBE. LETTER III. ChtHTLiMiN,— •! formerly observed that it has been, ii} our town, a time of general distress. This, however, is by no means the effect of carelessness or inactivity ; for our townsfolk are in general eager to be rich, and as aetive as eager. I will venture to omrm that tiiere is not another township in the province, where there are so many bar^ gains every day made. Indeed, the greater part of us ■pend the half of their timo, "i.nningabou'j expressly for liie paqpose of getting ricli -, yet, by some strange fatality, misfortune has fallen neaviestniion tihose who were most active. I remember, when parson IXrone oame amongst us, he tried to persuade us that the property oi the town, at that time, oould not make us all wealthy ; and, there- fore, that, if we would all be rich, we must by labour add as much to its value, as would enrich us all. But it ap- peared very plain to th^ most of us, that, if every one made so many bargains and gained by each of them, he would be so mu'>h the richer ; and no man who or ^c^ ^me wealthy by hard work, will evci* submit to the dr!(*ii;o'"ir vf farming. I am inclined to think that our par. i l.« the truth ; but the Eeverend Mr. Shadrach Howl.who, last year, being tired ofchopping down trees, converted himself ioto a preloher of the gospel, affirms that our calamities a?6 mdgtnent upon the town tor rejecting his doctrines. H'lwc'^ '• tKjsnraybo, certain it is that our most active acid < r^i' : Ha«iiR>r ^wnscien are either living with the she- riff, <)7. f.tm \ principle of delicacy, keeping themselves out of Out NVf of his Invitations. 21 one , lie f -i last Inself itiea iAes. tive shoo Ivos t Af\er the aocoant which I haro givon of Jack Soorem, I find that I haro 4ittle elio to do ' ' incidents ; the original situation of most ot tbcm, their yiewa, and tHo conclusion of their course have been ezaotly similar. Kcs- pecting them, therefore, I shall only send yuu a fow brici notices. Whoevrr Inoks at the soil of our township, would say, that. T ii.'sxy designed lis to bo a farmine people ; and, thut f>vrty .'tii ho gives the sround fair play, will bo able to ''Te'i'iiy snugly. Accoraingly, my cousin Harrow, Saun- '?> sides. As the best returns were now made by trending, • '• trading chiefly occupied his thoughts. But money in a man's pocket ddng nothing, is mere lumber. It occurred to him, therefore, that, as he was now in the way ol busi- ness, ho might as well make the homeward voyage produc- tive, by bringing flour and corn, which, in our town, are always in demand. Mr. Gypsum was now in very pros- perous circumstances. Beside owning a farm and a ves- sel, almost the whole town owed him. It has been rarely found that a stq^te of hardship and poverty has excited envy. But Mr. Gypsum began to be eyed with considerable dislike. There was no reason why he should be growing rich so fast, when every body el^ was poor. A great many vessels, therefore, were put upon the stocks ; and next year plaster at the Lines was a mere drug. Wlien a person enters into trade, he cannot always tell exactly when or how he may get out of it. Th'3 vessels were now built ; to sell them at a fair price was out of the question ; and to lay them up, dead loss. Still the Lines afforded a little relief, which my townsmen readily embraced. In the plaster market there are always more goods than money, and it frequently happened that mer- chants, who wduldnot give cash, would be very willing to exchange goods at a fair profit. The greater part of goods, it is true, could not be got home without smuggling ; but this was easily got over. There is not one of my neighbours who would not kick mightily at the name of rogue : and amoncr us, were anv nergon to take ft penny from the pocket of another, the whole town would ory out against such a sinful and shameful operation : but dieat- '■*■: m,':^ 23 ing the whole community at once, was so far from beiDjr considered as either sin or shame, that Deacon Scruple, who allowed nothing to be sung in his vessel but bjmns, was the greatest smuggler of the whole. Beside flour and corn, there were now brought into tho town, gin, tea,, and a great variety of other articles which persons are very apt to think necessary comforts. But as plaster was now a drug at the Lines, on account of the multitude of carriers ; so, in our town, there were more goods than good customers. When goods, however, are on hand, they must be sold. Where the profit, too, is considerable, it is a temptation to traders to make large allowances for the responsibility of buyers. All my neighbours who had been purchasing flour and com, were equally willing to add the other articles to their comfort ; and, as Mr. Ledger, who imported for himself, not only paid the duties, but began to be a little scrupulous about crediting, they carried their custom to the new traders. The young folks, also, who worked at the plaster, were al- ways very ready to buy. In the mean time, the new trad- ers, by appearing to own vessels and do a great deal of business, received credit from everybody who had anything to sell. But, by and by, everybody wanted his own ; ana when the^ merchants began to call in their accounts, the young folks had nothing ; and the old people who had found it hard to raise grain, found it harder to raise mo- ney ; and the new merchants in general, finding that, after smuggling in goods for the benefit of the town, they had been dealing with rogues, became dissatisfied, and, at the persuasion of the sherifi^, retired from business. As Mr. Gypsum had been a little forehanded, he stood it longer than any of them. But no man who is al- ways going back, can always kee^ his feet. The neigh- bours, in striving to be rich, had ruined his trade. His smuggled goods, also, like theirs, were sold upon trust. Now, however, the other traders had retired, and there was the prospect of doing something ; when unfortunately a great storm in the Bay wrecked his vessel with a large cargo of goods, and, at the same time, broke through a weak portion of his marsh dyke, which, in the hurry of business, he had neglected to mend. In this state, my cousin Harrow, who had for a long time supplied him with beef and other articles, recollecting how much cus- t^om Mr. G-VDaum had ffiven him. bewced hard with the n-vnaiiTn ^ ^./r sheriff to accommodate collect his debts. hacrrtaH ~ -oo — him in his house, till he could '» 24 (s ■li m- ''""'' For the state of Mr. Gvpsum's domestic affahs,^ t luiust refer to my account of Jack Scorem's family :ouly Mrs. Gypsum, being a trader's wife, conducted matters in a more genteel way. Her husband was a merchant, and kept company with gentlemen ; and everything about his house ouffht to correspond with his station. Que thing I recoUect, that go into Mr. Gypsum's house at any hour of the day, you would find the gin bottle standing upon the table. Smuggled gin was cheap ; it also helped on trade among the customers ; and Mr. Gyp- sum himself never failed to set them a good example. Not that he was by any means a professed drunkard. ]3ut people who are from home, from the want of domestic comforts, are apt to become listless ; and hence, when he and the sailors were lolling about the deck without any- thing to do, they would frequently take a glass to help away the time. I never heard that he was in the practice of anything to do him harm ; for, with the exception of a troublesome disease in his nose, he is a sound, healthy man. This, he says, is the effect of beating up tho Bay, one night late in die fall, against a violent north-wester : And here, from Mn Gypsum's sad experience, 11 would warn all your readers that there is notiliing like taking a disease of this kind at its very commencementT ; for, when it gets far on, the cure is worse than the disease. Through negleet Mr. Gypsum's nose became worse and worse, till it burned like fire. At last he got alarmed, and applied to an old lady in bur town, noted for curing cancers. But, after using for a long time,to no purpose, a pqultice of cow- dung soaked in cold water, he found out by mere accident, that holding the afflicted member over a glass of spirits, gave him instant relief ; and now, as one glass has not the same effect twice, he will never get over the expense of keeping it easy. Another of the sheriff's lodgers is Mr. Soakem, the ta- vernkeeper. Like the rest of us, he began the world by settling upon a farm. At first, he was a hard workiug man, and soon made himself comfortable. .But he was very eager to be rich, and he would frequently compare his hard labor with his little gains, as he called diem. At last, one day, passing Mr. Tipple's, and observing the great number of horses which were' fastened to the ^nce. It occurred to him that a largo proportion of the town- ship passed by his house, and he might as well keep ta- vern as not : He would mind the business gf the farm, ■^ ^m 4Mid Mrs. Soakem would lUead to tho tnyeUfln. Acoorth iiagW, he applied iot Ucenae k the wntX wvj. When our parson, who was thea jouog mm aprj, heard of it, he used werr arguneait ui & power to dissuade. him. He begged him to oonsiier what loligion eould be in a family, open at all hours, to all hinds of oompa«j. Jle eatreated him to reflect upon the iofluenee whieh the profligate oooduotof Tagabonds nuiit have upon his «hild> Ten. He told him, that a person entering mm m lino of life should view those who are in it, and asked him, how he woidd like to see himself and his fiunilj like Tip- ple. He conjured him to prefer hisieligiois oharaoter «nd prospects to a little wealth with such fearful hasatds* And IflMUy, he denounoed, that, where one man^s sin is another man^i gain, the judgment of God is tho amouirt of tiie proflt Still, Mr. Seakem was not oouTinced. Houses of entertainment were neeessaiy, and mijj^t be ▼ery deoentlj kept bv religious people { and lie hoped that tike parson knew him bettw than to oomparo him to Tipple. Yfhmi Mr. Drone found his arguments frnitless» he applied to the magistrates. Ho told timm that taverns are at best but nepemary nuisaubes, and ought not to bo multiplied. He bid them look round tho township, and see how many had been ruined by fifing in thmr nei^^ bonrhood. And as he got on, beeoming grachully more earnest, he said they had received his majesty ^i oommis- sion for better purposes, than to grant a license to every fool who chose to ruin hunself and his &mily ; that they were the guardians of good order; and, that^ i£ thciy placed temptations in th^ way of the unwaiy, tiiey were the partakers of other men's ems ; and mi^t assure themselves that the gall and woimwood would bo shared between theok ^>-' Our magistrates have always been in the practice of giving licenses to all who request them. The toun, they «ay, needs tho license money ; and, if the taverns in^ crease too much, those who keep them, will get tired of the business. Iliey were, therefore, not well pleased that Parson Prone should interfere, and pretend to in- struct them m their oflicial duties. They never meddled with his preaching, andhe had no right to interfere with them. Hence, partly at the solicitation of Mr. Soakem, and partly firgm opposition to tho parson, the lieenso was graated. 26 When Mr. Soakem opened his house of ent^rialonient, he was eager to get rich. At the same time, he was real- ly an indiutrious honest man ; and he commenced with a firm determination to show Parson Drone and the whole town, that he was a different man from Tipple, and kept another sort of a house. Accordingly, as his oharaoter was known* everything at first went admirably on. The young folks went where they could get card playing and fun; and nobody lodged at Mr. Soakem's tavern, exoept those sober travellers who wished to take their glass mo- derately and quietly after the fatigues ot the day. Ah his custom was thu^ small, and whole attention of the family directed to have everything dean and comfortable, travellers never failed to be pleasra ; and, frequently, to show their, satis&ction, as Mr. Soakem was a very conver- sable man, they would invite him to chat an hour with them and take a glass of grog. When there luippens to be a good tavern upon the road, every body soon knows of it. Mr. Soakem's trade began to enlarge very fast. This produced a correspond- :,i,, ing exertion to please; and everybody was pleased. >b About this time I observed, that, from the attention which the tavern reqviired, my neighbour's farm did not look so well as it used to do. From the hurry oftra-^^^t vellers, also, femily prayerf and graces would be some- times hurried over, and sometimes omitted ; but, at first, this only happened in unavoidable oases. » >> Mr. Soakem was now in prosperous circumstances, and making money very fast. Wliether it was on account of his gooa conduct, or because he was getting rich, I can- not exactly say ; but he began to be very much respected, ^^ and his friends thought him well qualitit d to be one ot the justices for the town. He was no longer plain Boni- face, but Mr. Soakem ; and I have oven seen some of his letters from your town merchants, with Esq. to his namci Mr. Soakem, having thus acquired much respectability,!' now studied to conduct himself with the decent dignity; 4. which became him. Instead of bustling about, as for->:j merly, when a traveller arrived, to get everything com-i^ fortable, as his children were now growing up and should :/, learn to do something, «he horses were left to the buys, ;, , and the girls had the cooking and other in-door affairs. Mrs. Soakem, too, began to assume a lady-^like deport- vuvUki' %1AV f wa V ||fW0« 27 ' had ^tSpped at the door, she would not have budged from her seat. With this new arrangement trayellera were not always satisfied, and like the discontented in all ages, they look- ed back with regret to good old times. They oomplftined, ifiskt, in the house, there were far more attendants than service ; and whether it was that the boys had, given the. horses too much to eat, they could never get them tofitart from the door without a good deal of whipping and spur> ring. With these things, it must be confessed, Mr. So^em was altogether unacquainted, for on account of the enlargement o£ his business and other causes, ho was often from home. I do not bnow how it is in Halifax ; but; in the coun- try, it is really a great hardship to be a respectable gen- tleman. Such a person, for the sake of character, must do a great iaany things which he would otherwise avoid. Accordingly, wh^n Mr. Soakem was abroad, in order to maintain his reputation, he would stop at every t{ivemon the road, and show how a gentleman ought to behave.- — In the mean time, the young pe(^le were left to manage both the farm and the house of entertainment. This was more than they could well do ; and, besides, not very consistent with sober and industrious habits. They had . learned, also, whose children they were. — ^Now, this kind of ytaowledge never fails to influence strongly the conduct of youth. They did not see why Mr. Soakem's children should be always drudging upon a farm like beasts, or bo . the servant of every fellow who choose to come along the road. Of course, when their father was from home, and he was from homo very often, they would visit their companions, and their companions would visit them; and travellers, understanding how things stood, pi^ssed on to the New Inn about half a mile distant. In short Mr. Soakem's gradually became like the habitation of the wicked. He was rarely in it himself; his children were always strolling about ; and no traveller came near it ; when, at last, one day the sheriff calling and finding him at home, remarked, that he must now be very lonely, and insisted upon introducing him to the company in ^hich I found him^ I remember, when Mr. Soakem began to keep tavem, it happened to be the subject of conversation between parson X>rou6 and myself. " I'll tell you," says he, < Mr, »■■ 8tif (WW, fciir a will tmiMt.** (AvoBg the iM^g^r» I MB i^Uia Mtpliibcdkelh, Ingt he MU«d me Bb. Step- tore.) •« 111 tell joi, Mr. Stepnie, kew it will torn oat. Our leig^iboiir Soekteitft well aeudng, deecnt men ;: bet'eefv to be lieh^adl tetellj %iionat of the mtnenee «f eietiBrBil mreiimstehdee i^n huHm ohareiBter ead oon« doot. Be it determined to keep taTODL. A taven mast be opea et ell hears, and to nil ldnd» of eompeif . Ir> ce^puuitjr in eating and ileepiaf leqjiiiBei the oomfort of drinking. In a fuuly, too, the want of good order dee* troya ait personal and finfly religioni ;; and, when oar neig^hoar's ohMdren are depriTod of his present goool example, they will lean to imitate his gnei^. In shorty Mr. Soakon, hetweesi tasting at home and drinking: abroad, will beeeme a mere sot. His fine fhmily of ehil£ ren will be thepiey ef ill example and idkness r and Mrs. Soaken, poor woman, who dreams of beuw rioh^ will oome iqpon the town. It is ifell £u' yon, Mr. Mephi^ boflhetb Stepsarie, that yow are lame ef both feet, and eannot ran aboat like the rest of the town. They are a hustiii^, bar^dning, nmmng abont sort of folks. Bat cTepend npon it, it is, as the wise man says, a sore traTail ^ and an evil disease. I hsTO generally seen, that he> who,. instead of mia£ng his &sm, is always numine aboat, needs a long test at last ; bat^ instead ol romun^ home to set it, he stops at the sheriffs." Aooordinely, Mr. Soakem's boys are mere lai^, drank-, en Tagabonw. His dan|^t«rs, too, who are really fine looking ffxia, haye become pert, idle hasseys, withoit in- dustiy end economy. Mrs. Seakem, thion^ the misfor- tunes of the family, has lost all heart te well doing ; for, what ean a woman in each circwmfltsnees do 1 And, when I arrtyed at the sherifPis, I fonnd Mr. Soakeni, with eyes like eollops^poring upon the cards, and the grog before turn. MEPHIBOSHirrH STEPSURE. J'-i -JAiiii! A' ..».'< .>iv--' V*' i^m oat ■ ' .' .. ■ the '* ■ ' husi ; I'fi Si^^ ■■IF' lent 1^^;^ '^f- <6iiiTuafBr,-^Thoudi joor pa{>er affotda 'to your readers, instruclioB of different kinds ; I have noycr observed that you preach to them any sermons. loan assure you lKmreTBr,ihat yon might be muoh worse employ- ^ ; for, to my own certain knowledge, they haye been •flonie times usefUL Thou^ it does not become me to ^oast of my attainments, I must say, that even I mysetf ^as ia former times edified by the duraourses of our old parson, the reverend Me. Drone. When the panon oa«e tamong us, he was 4ui active observing genfleman. He looked at everybody and at everything they were doing 4 land when he beoan to preach he said, ** I am not o«ue Amoiu; ybu^to tell you only aboat your souls. Time stan£ in relation to eternity. — ^The duties of this life, also, are a step to a. better ; and he who neglects them* neglects both body and souL It is my duty to impress vpon your minds, that you now belong to this world, and oi^t to act con- sistently with the present stage «f your etsistenee. I shall, therefore ascertain your oireumstanoef ; and then iiirect you to those actions which every oase requites.'* About that time there iMtppeaed to be a neat many younj^ people ia the township ; and one day tiie parson, for his test, gafe oat this portion of scripton^ ** SUnot ifoodfar wum to be dUim** I was, then, thinking of my old woman, Dorotlrr ; and, as I at.first tiioa|^t ^t the parson had heard of it, I Ait » little eonfbMd. On re- covering myself a littie, I obaerved most of the young menlookmg at old iPeter Pumpkin's large iaimly<» daughters, who, at this time, were tiie mostnoted bundlen inthe4own. AUtheyoui^ women of the eongregati.■ ' • If V dorlac with himself that his family were ffetting up, and would need a little help whdu whey settled upon fanns of their own ; he began tp feel an anxiety to gut richer faster than hie farm, in its present state, would admit. When he was turning the subject in his mind, and had almost resolved to take in a few new fields, a oontested election huppcned in the town. Caleb, by being in snug circum^ stances, possessed a good deal oi influence. In a case of thin kin<^ too, he was very willing to show his weight ; and, as he took an active part in the business, the candi- date ot his choice was returned. From the hurry of the affairs the boys were left to manage the farm ; and no- thing was said about taking in new fields. It happened, also, as was natural where things are intrusted to boys, that, on returning home at night from electioneering, he saw a great many reasons to bo dissatisfied. ' One thing was neglected ; and another done wrong. Being a little hasty, he would scold the boys ; but Mrs. Oastup, who was a very considerate woman, would take their part, and tell him that ho should not look for old heads upon young shoulders ; and, at one time, when he was very an- gry, plainly said-to him, that it would be greater wisdom to be at home minding his farm and his boys, than gallop- ing. round the country about other people's aflfairs. But when they both cooled a little, they wore not disposed to quarrel, and the matter was dropt. By electioneering Caleb had not improved his circum- stances. Of this the new member was sensible-; and, when the house divided the road money, thou^ there were almost as many applications as pounds to be expended, he was 'made commissioner. Accordingly, when spring opened, he and the boys were very industri- ous, and had their ordinary crop in the ground rather sooner than usual. When the road work commenced, as he had good stout teams and boys of his own, much of the labour w«s done by himself ; and as it was near his house, he could be at home in the evenbg ; so that the prospect of profit was considerable. No person, however, must imagine, that because it was done by himself it was finished in a sham way. -The new menbers' word had been pledged for him, and all the neighbours were watching him. Besides, he looked forward to future employment ; and therefore, he determined that nobody should have cause to find fault. When the money was .« 'U "^zpSAo^, ii^ wHj ai^feed thftit pi««e of roti3,ibi>lr- «d 80 reawmiblj and so well, hadnevier before bees aeen VA the town. Hifl farm, it is true, had not suoeeeded so well as the 'road-making. His potatoes were badly hoed, and his grain ill taken care of.— *Mr Bnllook's breaebj oattle would destroy bis griss, and neighbour Snont*« ho^ rooted out hb com'; so that, when he returned home m ^the evening, it was usualW to witness new depredations. Now, in a fimning life, were is nothinjg; r^o irritating as the deetmotion of orops. On entering the house, therefora, it was generally in ill humour. It was a strange thing, thatwhto he was fVOm home, toiling like a beast to make the fiunily ccnnfortable, ererr thing about the farm was allowed to go to ruin and destmo* 'tion. At lUst, Mrs. Gastup, who kneW that the little boys were to blame, would only say, she did the beat that me could. But, as the trespasses were repeated, so were the ill natured remarks ; till at last she plainly told him, ik/kif when a farmer puts a crop in the cround, he should consider how he, is to set it out : that » wiss faring with him as wiUi M)ld Tubal Tliump when he had two irens in the fire ; and that if he wanted thto fiurm better iis«>ag- cd, he mi^t lake oarb of it hitnaell. In this huxaour they would go to bed ; and, in the mondnft, Bbtther of them were well pleased. In the oourse of tae day, how- ever, ^ood nature would return ; and thus, without any real dislike to each other, they began to find that thnv were both most eomfbrtable when apart The approach of eveniug brouj^t along with it a sort of depression of 4nind, and they were always glad when the momins was past. Still, m the tall, notwithstanding their littte t»> 'cnily bickerings and the losses upon the farm, he was considerably a gainer. The genesal satisfaction which he had given, procured for him proportionate favor. He was now considered as A faithful servant of the public; and as such, intrusted with a rnueh larger sum ; but this was to be expended in a distattl part of the town. The farming was now of less oonsefaenoe, and less regarded. From the ooour- nnoes ot the preceding summer, also, to be horn home was nof Qonsidered as any gseat hardship on eithei side. ■^ '.■t-.tjfbf.^ ..,i.^£^_': li Oaleb hftd been hitherto nther » lober Hi tad kept his hmWj in moh ezoellenk order, that there WM lome talk in the town of making him a deacon. But 1 believe, after he had been some time upon the roadi^ 4lie notion was dropt. Eveij penea knows that work- ing upon the highways in the heat of snm»er, is a scorch- ing employssent ; and were it not oeMrallj known that a little spiritv qnalifies oold water, from the parching thirst of the labourers dreadful accidents would often ensue. Accordingly, even the young folks, though not the most oareiUl about their health, being fully aware of Uie dan> ger, always took care to be well provided. In the course. ^ of the day, also, when they were quenching their own thirst, m>m respect they would ssk Mr. Oastup tho commissioner, to taste, whe, though he did not care a great deal abont it, did not wish to oftad by refusing ; so that, betwsMi one and another, he wonld' sometimes bo forced to drink a great deal. Being ccmmissioner, too, he would oooasionally treat them ; and to show them that he was not niggardly, he would set them an example^ As Mr. Oastup the commisBioner, also, he was a nun of some consequence; Though hb own boys therefore coul. crease of our revenue, also, made his profit by the roads a mere song, when one day, as he was passing the she- riflPs, that gentleman invited him to walk in and see < Mr. Soakem. This was partly a relief to his mind ; for homo had no , charms. At fiatst, wheaa he wouki come home to Mrs^ Oastup, intoxioated,. ^i» eoaaiclered ii merely a^ « states in which all gentiomen occasionally arn, and it^ve*]ifei' no uneasiness, ^ut frequent repetitions produced weep- ing and entreaties, and at last reproaches. And it wus even said, though I cannot affirm it, that they proceeded as far as a battle. Certain it is, that, between poverty ^ 9,9A quarrelling,, home was a tormenl ta them botiL Hia 4 ■m ^ 84 laniilj, also, aikl a flno hmWy they were, ire fijk for no* thing else but strolling about and drinking ; and poor Mn. Gastup oursea the day whiob made her huajbapd a. «09iini88ioner of roada. In the same oompaQy I found my neiahbour Steer, whose oourae requires only to bo mentioned. Neither u snug farm, nor every reasonable diomestio comfort, could sutisty him without becoming suddenly rich ; and to etV toot this purpose, he became a dealer in cattle. Being thus often from home, exposed to all kinda pf oompauios and hardships, he would at lastdrinkaamuoh asSoakem* without being the worae of it. When he began the busi*. ness, he was a civil young man and religiouely disposed ; but whether it be that cattle, like sailors, will not get on without swearing, of whether, that those who associate with brutes, become brutes themselves, I cannot tell ; but Steer became the most profane person in the town, and did a great deal of harm among the youngsters. Being often in Halifax, he was supposed to see and know more of tho wqrld than some of us ; and when any of the^ld peoplQ reprqved him, ho would lauch at them, and say that he used tho language of a gontleman. But Saun- ders Soantooreesh used to declare that it was the Ian- guago of Ashdod : that parson Drone should oast him out of the church, as Ezra did the mongrel Jews ; and that, if our magistrates did their duty, they would put the villain to death for his blasphemies. ISteer's trade still soemed to g6 on wonderfully well and become gradually larger ; till, at la^,haviog collect-, ed all the disposeable cattle of the town into one largo drove, and sent it to Halifax, he declare^ that he ha^ gone too much abroad for his good, and that nobody Hhould see him from home for a long time to come. This Ttisoltttion produced in our town, a great deal of running to visit him ; but whether he was at homo, nobody could tell. The general report was, that thq d^vi) haunted his bouse ; for strange noises were heard by listeners outside; as if Steer were swearing, and his wife crying and call- ing out for help. Whether the devil rea.lly haunted the bouse, I cannot tell. Mr. Gaif.pua, the new merchant, it is true, ^ot himself terribly frightened by something, in passing it one dar^ night afterwprd ; but it turned out, to be Mr. Gosling's boar pig, Mammoth. At last, one day, when Steers' boy wm returning home lyith a bottle of spirits, a strange looking gentleman bade. \ ,^: Iiim tell his iaihor, that ho had a largo lot of cattle on hand and wiuhod to npeak with hiro. Ah he had uo( completely OTeroomo the habitof bargaining, he ventured ubroad ; and was imiuediatcly addniKi'ud by the niieriff, who oeimred him that 11 hie cattln on hand were stall led, and bad not even been allowed to go once out of doors ; and as some of them had been kept up for years, they were in excellent order. Jiut to give Steer fair play, ho carried him along with him to judge for himself. Alongside of Steer, I tbund his old servant Peter L'ongshanks. Peter, in his younger dayp, was a niee young fellow ; though, in the opinion of the girls, not the best model of a man. In the formation of the upper part of his fVame nature had been very sparing of materials. She had, however, given him an offset of eX' tremities, which beat Jack Soorem's by at least four inches, and from the youngsters procured for him the nickname of Nobody. Peter was a good natured and obliging fellow ; and, on this account, his legs had frequently a great deal to do in places where ne had himself little business. At last, like the rest of us, he married, settled upon a farm, and was beginning to live comfortably. About that time Steer's droves required an additional hand to manage them. Peter could run like a carriboo, and the offer of largo wages tempted him to quit the farming. Of course, tne habits of the mas- ter beoame the habits of the man. In Halifax, indeed, their manner of living was a little different. When Steer was spending the evening with Brisket, the batcher, and other gentlemen, Peter, being a servant, was forced to look out for companions. By accident he heard of Signior Caperini, at that time famed in his skill for im- proving the paoes of the human species ; and Peter, ha- ving a natural gift that way, thought, hj a little im- provement it might become a source of profit in the conn- try. Aooordingly, by taking lessons as often as he was in town, and drilling a good deal Jjy himself, he became an experienced dancer, forsook Steer, and advertised for a school in the township. To the old religious people the prospect of Peter's school gave general offence. — They remarked that,heside the improvement of his danc- ing talent, he had been taking lessons from Steer. Par- son Drone, too, assured his congregation that danoing frolics did harm without good. Bat Saunders Soanto* 'Siii 36 crcesK whose ff lib wished Tvry muohto attend, was furious. He said that all suoh doingi were against the BiUe md the CkMifeiiion of Faith ; and that none of the seed of Soaatoeieesh shoold, with his oonaent, enter the tjBsgogiifi ; and farther, that Peter Longshanks, instead of ei^p«iqgi^mt the eonntry, d deal of screwing, and twisting, and tmng, and as much wondering what could have become of Mr. LongAankw, no Mr. Longehanks appeared : and the young people, having waited as long as the oold would let them, returned home, disappointed and angry. In the morning every body learned that Mr. LcnigBhanks, in coming to the school, had got both his feet ftwrted ; and, ^eretore, had gone to Mr. Soakem's. There is scarcely another employment in life, nposed to such a sweeping calamity.* A daneiiut master with his feet frosted, is a real object of sympauy. Time, however, cures a great many sores, aud Mr. Longphanks' were ^tii^ well ; when, one morning, Mr. HoTdfiMit stuped u, expressed himself happy to near that he was getting ww, and b^ed lum to try if he could walk as nur as his house. ^.^ BvU overlooking in the mean time, the rest of my| i townsmen, I shall just introduoe to you Mr. Pat 0'Bi£ forty, our schoolmaiter, who had become their Oompa- nion in the sheriff^ Pat was bora in the county of Tipperary i and, as he said himself, came of a vo^teel. , &mily; for his fitthers' estaUishment consumed more 1 buttermilk and potatoes t&an any of the nei^bonrs. In k. due time he was put to school, and learned to write a good hand ; which so pleased his fitther, that the old gentle* .^. man told him one day that he was resolved to make lum r ^ a priest. Pat said, he did not like to be a Holy Father ; )i. bMsnte he liked Jud^ O'Flanagon ; but if his ihther;^, wished him to bt • ipiritaal man, he had no objection^ «> ;}7 be cleik to Mr. Wort at the whiskey dibtillcrj. To the distilltry, accordingly, lie wtnt ; and in a short limc, was the best judge of whiskey about it. Pat married Juiy, and they soon loved each other so well, as to bo rarel/ without the proofs cf mutual afiFectioa : Judy had biack eyes ; and Pat a great many scratches. In the course of clerking, also, he became so dexterous, that ho wuuld write all that he was ordered and some times a little more. This could not be long done without his master getting notice of it ; and when Mr. Wort heard of it, he was so fiiU of it himself, that he could not avoid telling the whole affair to his friend Justice Choakem. The Justice was a curious sort of man ; and whenever anything out of the common road was done, the persoa who did it, was sure to be sent for and rewarded. He, thorebre, expressed a very strong wish to see Pat, and to I revont disappointment, the best way, he thought, would be to issue a warrant. J3esides beina; a great rewarder ot merit, the Justice loved bacon better than any other kind of food. In order, therefore, to have it to his taste, he was in the practice of curing his own ham. Now, it happened one day, that, when his worship was thinking about a large Itog which he had lately purchased, a servant stepped in ami t lid hiiu, that he was just come ; and, says he, " a i^Umt fellow he is ; for he took three of us to bring him alono." The justice immediately ordered to kill and hang hi)u up ; but, when the servant returned to see what they f^hould do next, it turned out to be Teddy O'Leary, who had been sent for, to show the squire how he contrived to make the neighbour's hens disappear when he pleased. l*at hoard that justice Ohoakem wanted to speak with him, and would have very gladly obliged his honour ; but ho was not willing to run such fearful risks. He, tiiereforo, shipped himself off for Newfoundland where he amused himself all summer with codfishing- Here, though the grog in summer was very much to his taste, the prospect of starving in winter was not so comfortable. This induced him, with a cargo of his countrymen, to land upon our coast, late in the fall, a few years ago. Pat found his way to our town. As there is among us a •jjOneral taste for education, we employed him to com- municate to our youth the true tone and accent of the FiUgiish language. Here he naturally lodged with Mr. Tipnlo, But. though he paid piiactually for the grog, 38 (for Tipple gives no credit,) his board for aomc time was entirely overlooked by them both. At last Mr. Tipple ^ being anxious to preserve the reputation of his house, and to guard the town against the ill example of drunk- ards, begged the sheriff to take charge of him und prevent him from going at large. MEPHIBOSHETH STEPSUIiE. LETTER V. Gentmimbn, — Since my last letter I have experienced so many vexations, that I had almost resolved never to write to you again. Both the incredulity and belief of the world are so capricious, that no man who writes for the public is sure of getting justice. For example, when it was told last winter that a worthy old gentleman of this province went out, and slew a bear in a time of snow ; merely because he was known to have been a man of war in his youth, everybody believed it : and now when I have stated the exact truth, it is the current re- port that there is no such township as ours, nor any such characters, as I have described, in the Province. Now, I am not williug to have my word questioned ; for, tho' I say it, tho word of Mephibosheth Stepsure will go much further than some of his neighbours' notes of hand. But this is not tho worst of it : I am reviled at home, as well as discredited abroad. The Sheriff's lodgers, in particular, arc very angry at what I have written about their grog drinking and Mr. Holdfast's kindly treatment. So far from being sensible of this gentleman's good offices, Mr. Fat O'Kafferty declares that he is a perfect Poly- phemus ; only he does not eat them, when ho has got them into his den. Jack Scorem says that I am an old oensorious rascal, and deserve the stocks for writing such stuff about him and his family ; and that it is well for me that no stocks will take in my abominable clubs. I do not care very much for Jack's revilings. I feel a little, however, that I should have met with such gene- ral discredit ; for no man likes to be disbelieved and belied, when he knows that ho is telling tho truth. X was, therefore, inclined to discontinue my communica- tions ; but my spouse Dorothy will not o^iye he? consent ; 39 and wc married people, as worthy parson Drone teacheg, are bound to study family peace. She has always had a great respect for her husband and cannot think of his being reckoned a story teller ; and she affirms that to drop the affair, is to plead gailty. Besides, the re- proaches which Jack has thrown out against the extreme parts of my outward man, have made her very angry. My feet, she says, and she has seen them often, are as seemly feet of the sort, as could be fastened to any man's legs ; and that they have never earned me the roads that some people's have been obliged to go ; that lame as Mephiboshcth Stepsure is, he can go about at large, when some folks who have as many legs as a spider, are obliged to lay them up in the sheriff's. On constUting Mr. Drone upon the business, he appeared to be very much at a loss. Oiir parson has been, by poverty and depression, so completely secluded from society, that he has, I may say, become an entire stranger to the ways and even language of the world. His principal comfort, he says, is the perusal of the old Scotch and English divines ; and, some how or other, he has become very like them himself. He seemed inclined to think that I should write ; but advised me, in the mean time, to exercise a little patience. What was wanting in the parson, however, I found my neighbour Scantocreenh very forward to supply. When Saunders heard the reports that were going, he threw down his spade and cam 9 over to our house ; and finding me at a loss what to do, he declared that I should write, though he should kill eve-y goose in his yard to supply me with pens. My word he said was not believed ; because the country was swarming with a set of idle vagabonds like the sheriff's people,who were not willing to see themselves described ; that, it they got what they deserved, instead of being allowed to go galloping about they would be put under saws and harrows ; that they were no better than the remnant of the Hittites and Porizzites, who were left in the land to be thorns in the sides of honest men ; and what was worse, in prosperous times they had been allowed to multiply, till decent folks could not live in the country and bring up a family, without mingling with them and learning their ways i that, in short, the good of the province required, tiiat all such ne'er do well vagabonds, whether in the possession of the aheriff or out of it, should be hunted out from Daa 40 to Bethshcba : And finally, he concluJcd witii saying, jthat, if 1 would not write, though he was dead ill at the spelling, he would rub up a little and do it himself, ,Wh^ he was, gone, my old woman obscived, that Saun(|er8 Scantocrcesh was a solid, sensible man ; and I, on the other hand, resolved to continue my relation. You will recollect that I found the eherifi'a lodgers playing a game at cards and the grog before them. They all declared themselves glad to see me ; asking me, at the same time, to be seated and take a glass along with them. In these dull times, they said, spirits were a rare article with them ; but I had had the good luck to hit the right time, and was intitled to a share. As an invitation to drink in such cases, is usually an invitation to something else, I declined the offer, remarking to them, that people who have little should be sparing in the use of it. After a little general conversation, Mr. Gosling took me to a remote part of the room ; and told me, that as he had sent for me upon a very particular business, he was glad that I was come. His creditors had agreed to relieve him, upon condition of finding security till his own debts were collected. This he thought very reasonable ; and, accordingly, he would have applied to his cousin Sheldrake ; but, as 1 knew, the poor gentleman, not being able to endure the rigour of a Nova Scotian winter, had gone to the southward for the benefit of his health. In his absence, he had spoken to some of the rest of his friends, when thoy were dining with him lately, who all agreed to do it at once. But unfortunately when the bond was prepar- ed, one of them was taken sick ; another, obliged to go down to Halifax ; and, through some unexpected acci- dent or other, he had not been able to see any of them since. All the creditors, however, declared Mr. Step- sure's name to be perfectly sufficient. This he had assured them he could easily get, as there was no risk in the case ; and he had just sent for me to sign the bond. I found that my neighbour had more friends to eat dinners than to sign bonds. As I had neither been feasted nor had made promises, I was not altogether sure, that, in the division of Mr. Gosling's business, the signing was my share. At the same time I felt a little, to give him a flat refusal ; but just when I was con- sidering about an answer, notice was sent us by the shej-iff, to look sharp, for parson Drone was coming in. 41 This wns a relief to me ; hut t pvoiliiced a pad Uusrtling among the vest of the company. The cards disappeared io a moment ; the bottles and tumblers were clapt under a bed ; and Jack Scorcm picked up a piece of an old bible, which was lying upon the floor, and laid it «pon the table. ^;^:?^>^« .;.;>!.>/ Every thing was scarcely in order when the parson entered; and, I do believe, he was received with real respect by them all ; for religion forces an assent to its excellence, and the breath of a religious man fans the embers of affection in the very worst of the human race. Aflter Mr. Drone was seated, he expressed his sorrow at finding them where they were. He observed, farther, that he had frequently seen those who lived long with the sheriff", instead of becoming wiser and better by tribula- tion, leaving his house utter malignants and enemies to a seemly walk, and conversation ; and, therefore, to warn them against lukewarmness, the usual beginning of such wickedness, if they would vouchsafe to yield an ear to his doctrine, he would tender them a word of exhortation. Immediately they all expressed their gratitude and readiness to hear ; and for myself, I must confess, that, after what Mr. Gosling had told me, I fervently wished that the parson would give us one of his longest discourses. Wo had now placed ourselves in a hearing position, and the parson was just about to commence ; when O tempora, O mores, or something like it,wag exclaimed from a dark corner of the room. JackScorem jumped up instinctively ; and, clenching his first, cried out : '• Keep your slang to yourself, and give us none of your Gaelic ; or, I'll lend you a sneezer upon the snout, that will bring the ill blood out of you." But, recollecting that the parson was present, he again gat down. Our attention was now directed to the dark comer from which the voice had issued ; when the person who had spoken, conceiving, I suppose from Jack's last motion, that no danger was at hand, stepped forward, and showed us a thin, sharp faced, dark coloured man, in a thread bare coat which had once been black. He assured the parson that he had got among the very goats of his flock ; and, that, if, instead of giving them an exhortation, he would give each of thorn a halter, it was w^at they deserved. " The fellows," says he, " from morning to night, except when the grog la running down their throats, abuse the 42 country ; but the only mistbrtune, is, that the country \a cursed with such wretches" : and to satisfy the parson, he turned up the bed which concealed the bottles and tumblers ; at the same time assuring him, if every man's pockets did not contain a pack of ".ards, he would retract what he had said. Our worthy old clergyman, lifting up his hands, de- clared, that he did not think there had been such wicked- ness upon the earth ; and that, verily, our lot had been cast in the very dregs of time. But neither of us had much time for moralising ; for, as the conduct of the company was now blown, Mr. Drone's presence com- manded less respect ; acd to protect the poor gentleman we were obliged to call for the sheriff, who reduced them to order, and conducted the stranger and us into anotber apartment. When by ourselves, we soon learned how the stranger had become acquainted with the sheriff. He would nei- ther tell who he waa, nor whence he had come ; but he informed us that he had arrived in the township upon Saturday evening, and had lodged in Mr. Tipple's ; and that his landlord, finding him without funds, had turned . him out next morning before breakfast. In passing along, he happened to meet Deacon Sharp, who was going to sermon. The deacon was a grand juryman, and mindiul of his oath ; and rightly judging that this was neither a Halifax gentleman who might be affronted and injure the town ; nor any of the neighbours who regu- larly travel from necessity with their teams upon the Lord's day, he resolved to make him a warning to others ; and, when he found that he had nothing to pay the fine, conscientiously put him into the hands of the sheriff. The parson, though he observes the Sabbath better than any of us, thought it a hard case, and promised to speak to the magbtrates about him. Afterward, they entered into a long conversation about something which they called Political Economy. They seemed to me to talk very learnedly, but I could not understand them. All that I remember is, that they mentioned a great many names which I never heard of before, such as, Adam . Smith, Bicardo, Major Torrens, Du Say, and the French Economists. When we parted, Mr. Drone took the sheriff^s promise that he would give the stranger some- thing comfortable to eat and keep him by himself ; and AJllerward, when the par^ion and I were going aloiig ih$ 43 road, ho appeared to mc to be as lively as in the days of his youth : and in talking of the poor gentleman in vonfinemout, he remarkeil that ho was a very learned m«n, and the only person he had met with in the country who knew its interests. Next morning, I was a good deal surprised to hear that the stranger was dead. Had he remained with the HheriiTs other lodgers, I would have been dbposed to think that he had not received fair play ; but as things were, I was at a loss how to account for it. To satisfy myself, therefore, I stepped over to the sheriffs ; and sure enough, the poor man was dead and very much swelled. When an inquest waii leld, the jury were ex- ceedingly puzzled about what to make of it. Whether he had been poisoned, there was no evidence. At last they determined to look into the matter completely, and sent for the doctor, who, at that time, happened to be attending the wife of my neighbour Scantocreesb. When the message came for the doctor, Saunders grasped an axe handle, and vowed that while he had the breath of life in his body, none of the seed of Adam, living or dead, should be the means of calling his child, when it was born, Ichabod j and that if the doctor offered to go, he would fell him upon the floor. The jury were then very much at a loss. But Mr. Pat O'Rafferty, said, that, in Newfoundland, he had split up codfish many a time, and could do the business perfectly. The poor man was, accordingly, opened by Pat ; when it was dis> covered that his stomach was crammed with cabbage, and the rest of his bowels very much distended with wind. The sheriff had been boiling a quantity for his pigs ; and, recollecting his promise to Mr. Brone, had sent a large doso of them to the stranger, who, having eaten nothing since Mr. Tipple turned him out, took as many of them as finished a life upon which the sun of prosperity did not appear to have beamed. When the jury prepared to make up their verdict, there was a violent dispute among them, whether it should bo Died by the visitation of God, or died by the visitation of t/ie Sheriff. It happened that Mr. Gaw- pus, who is the sheriff^s cousin, was upon the jury ; and it occurred to him, that, if tho last decision were adopt- ed, Mr. Holdfast might be brought in for manslaughter. Iksides ho thought that the present accident afforded him a good opportunity ot displaying his medical^ 41 tiilciits ; foi', by reading the diioctions upon a largo package of (juack inedicitjcs whicli he brought up from llulif'ax with the rest of his goods, lie has lately become so skilful, that our old doctor is now gouerally neglect- ed, lie, therefore, insisted that the stranger was not killed by the cabbage at all, but had died, merely, be- cause the breath had gone out of his body ; and that it' he had continued to brwathe, which no doubt ho would have done had his belly been rubbed wiih his iSteer's Opodeldock, he would fiave been alive still. Mr. (law - pus's opinion had much weight with the jury, who wore mostly his customers. They, theretbr«, returned their verdict. Died, because he could not live any longer : and the overseers of the poor were directed to get the body put under ground, as quickly and with as little expense to the town as possible. The burial happened to be upon the day which was to decide a bet of twenty guineas upon the comparative me- rits of Mr. Gawpus' grey mare, and the sheriffs bay gelding. On this account, nobody could attend exoe|/t »!)aunders Stsantocreesh, myself, and one or two more. The sheriflF's lodgers would very willingly lend us a hand ; but somehow or other, before he went to the raoc, ha happened to turn the key of their rdom-door ; so that they could not get out. When wo were waiting about, lo see if any more would come, my neighbour Saunders, observing Jack Scorem and Peter Longshauks looking out of the window, walked up to them, and said he wa.-i glad to see them so comfortably lodged. They should consider it, he added, as matter of daily thankfulness, that they had fallen in with a gentleman who took so good care of them ; for, had they lived in persecuting times, they might have been obliged, like the ycotch worthies, to wander among moors and mosses ; and, at last, been taken up by some of the Highland host or of Claverhouse'a dragoons ; who would have either shot them or hanged them. He asked Jack, how the old fellow with the abominable staff was coming on in limbo : and advised him to take good care of himself, and never t;o ride a race with John again, till he was bure the sheriflF was not upon the road. To Peter he remarked, that, after such a long rest with Mr. Hold- fast, his legs must be in fine trim ; and that his girls were anxious to attend the school when the cold weather was fairly sot in. He adviscdi thorn both, since the stuff 45 was abouiinublc, thoy had as well leave it to Mr. Gypsum's uose, and, when they felt an inolination to drink, to cat plenty of cabbage, which was an excellent quencher of thirst and far better for them ; and h ' . included by ex- horting them not to spare the cabbage, for he had abun- dance : and when the sherifiTs were done, he would send them over a load. By this time there was a good deal of noise 2>,mong the lodgers. As I was standing at some distance, I could hear only the words Scotch rascal and oatmeal^ frequently repeated. I had, however, no time to inquire ; for it was now far in the day, and we pro- ceeded to irry the poor stranger to his grave. By the time we returned, the sheriff also had como from the race in very ill humor. His gelding had stum- bled, when a few stops more would have won the twenty guineas ; and twenty guineas in these days were not ea- sily got. For his part, he did not know what the world would come to. Money had disappeared from the coun- try, and he verily believed the devil had come in its .. place ; for he had seen as much fighting at tho race, as"! was enough to put racing out of fashion ; and in return for all his efforts in preserving the peace, his only re- ward was to have every strolling vagabond turned in upon him, to die on his hands, and bring discredit on his ] establishment. •' Had the fellow," says he, " been able I to pay, it would have been nothing, but he, and all that belonged to him, are not worth a groat." At the same time he, held up an old, black silk handkerchief, and • shook out a parcel of papers, which he began to pick up for the purpose of throwing them into the fire. On requesting a sight of them I found them filled with a great variety of marks, which I could not understand. But, recollecting what our parson had said about the stranger, it occurred to me that he might be gratified :' at a sight of them ; and, therefore, instead of throwing them into the fire, with the consent of the sheriff, I put them into my pocket and carried them to Mr. Drone. — On looking over them, he said they were letters in short hand, addressed to the Eecorder ; but it was of no use to send them, unless they were transcribed. This, he has engaged to do ; but when you will receive them, . 1 cannot say ; for our worthy parson is very poor, and cannot keep a servant ; and, on this account, be- tween tending his flock and l^ooking after his oattle, ho has a good deal to do. MEPHIBOSHETH STJiPSUJRE. 6. 46 P. S. Since Tfriting the above, a variety of altera- tions have occurred in the town. Our sheriff is a very senteol man ; and, as he sees a good deal of company at homo, he is forced at times to be abroad in the eveniugEi, in company with Mr. Gribbage, Mr. Pool, and a few other gentlemen. In his usual way, accordingly, ho steppeaover one evening to Mr. Trumph's, partly to spend a spare hour, and partly to settle with Mr. Gaw- pus about the 20 guineas. When he returned homo prttty late, (which was sometime before daylight,) ho found his house standing exactly where it was before, but his lodgers were gone. Nothing remained but Mr. Gos- ling's bond, a number of empty bottles, and a note from Mr. Pat O'Bafferty. The note informed him that they had gone to the New Inn to spend the evening ; and de- signed, early the next morning, to take a look down the Bay. That, if he wanted to speak with them, he must make haste, and be sure to borrow Mr. Gawpus' mare, for his own gelding was a stumbling brute ; And, lastly, that, if he wished his lodgers to stay with him in fu- ture, he must give them plenty of cabbage. The sheriff rode every way but to the New Inn ; and at last learn- ed, that, had he gone there, he would have found them snug. Since then, he has secured his house well ; and told his securities from a window that no man in future shall enter his doors. This event has increased tho afflictions of Mr. Gos- ling's family, who were rather in need of comfort. Upon the day before the old gentleman left the sheriffs, his son Hob and Mr. Gawpus' son Jehu, agreed to ride each other's horses for a wager. Hob started upon the grey mare, soon distanced Jehu out of sight, and since that time has never been heard of : And poor Miss Dinah is in a very bad way. Some time ago, along with a num- ber of tho youngsters, she went to Miss Sippit's tea party and frolic, in very good health and spirits. After a good deal of dancing, the young folks, as it was a wet night agreed to bundle; and the poor girl has never been well since. In the midst of all these saddening depar- tures, my neighbour Saunders is almost tho only rejoicer. He declares that the country is well rid of them, and thinks that their flight is one of the best signs of tho times, and a warning to future generations. M. S. LETTER VI. Since I wrote you lost, nothing of cousequenoo has happened amorg us : except that Mr. Catchem has been appointed sheriff. For the comfort of our town, it wag really necessary that the office should be immediately • filled. Our parson looks after the souls of his floolcs ; but they have bodies too ; and I do assure you, that, ia these times, the most of people's bodies cost them more trouble than their souls ; so that such a man as the san* riff, who kindly takes care ol them, is both very useful and has a great deal to do. As far as I can see, Mr. Holdfast will not bo missed. Mr. Catchem has got a large house ; and he has already been going a good deal about, expressly for purpose of inquiring who are un- comfortable at home. As soon as the new sheriff undertook the office, he proceeded to take charge of the farm of my neighbour Fairface ; and, as he had several others upon his hands, and could not manage them all, he thought it better to sell the farm, and apply the price for my neighbour's benefit. The most of us imagined Mr. Fairface to be very well to do. Neither he, nor his family, it is true, were ever great workers. But they owned a fine farm, kept a very genteel house, and drove the best chaise in town : And you may depend upon it the chaises in our town are neither few nor shabby. It would appear, however, that my neighbour Fairface is one of those, who, as Saunders Scantocreesh says, cannot walk upon their feet like other sober folks ; but trust in chariots and in horses, and go down to Egjrpt for help, and at last get themselves drowned in the Red Sea ; for so he calls Mr. Ledger's large book with the coloured lines, in which he records those events that the rest of the town are most apt to forget. Thinking that the farm might suit my son Abner, I resolved to attend the sale; and knowing that my neighbour Saunders wanted it for his son Jack, I called in at his house upon the way, and took him alon^ with me. When we arrived at the farm, riders and chaises and sleighs were turning in from every part of the town. Not that my townsmen in general had any design of buying ; for, in talking together before the sale com- menced, they all agreed that money was money now, and no whore to be got ; but haying nothing to dO at iiome, f 48 thoy roJo over to see how tlio farm would go, and who would ffet it. The farm is really a fioo property, and, a few years ago, would have ffivon fifleen hundred pounds ; but, though the sheriff aid ample justice to the sale, it was at last knocked down to my neighbour Scantocreesh for four hundred and ninety. When the salo was over, our towDstolk beean to joke Saunders about living with tho sheriff ; and Mr. Catohem, too, asked him pretty sharply about his mode of payment. Haunders replied, that, before he oould pay him he must try to find out where all the money had been going to in these bad times ; and pullinff out the leg of an old stocking, tied at both ends, he told out of it as many doubloons as satisfied tho sheriff, and made all the jokers marvel. Aller tying up the remainder, he told us that he had been turning up his fields and found it there. He, therefore, advised us all to do the same thing ; and, perhaps, wo might be as fortunate ; but, withal to follow his plan, and not do like the Chester folks, who once dug for money, but got ho deep at last, that they arrived in the other world ; and falling in with the devil, were glad to get away with tho loss of all their tools. When we were about to soparate, Ehud Slush, one of our townsmen, arrived, evidently at the expense of ,i good deal of kicking and spuring. Ehud's mare is old ; and withal, not very well fed. Besides, when ho alighted, ho told us that he had been out at his fox traps ; and, having found parson Howl's dog in one of them, ho had been detained a little ; so that he could not get forward to the sale : For his part he had no intention to bid ; for there was no money in tho country, and it was a strange thing where it could bo all gone to. Our townsman Sluyh is sometimes in Haufax with his furs ; perhaps, you may have seen him. He is a squab little man, with large promiuent eyes, and lips unusually thick ; which, according to tho fashion of the world, be- cause they are near neighbours, keep as far apart from each other as possible. I am inclined to think that the human face divine of Ehud ^lush. is so fashioned from the nature of his employment ; for hunters must always look sharp, and every body knows that the mouth administers great help, when tho eyes are in earnest. — But some of the neighbours affirm that it is in consequence of his intimacy with a bear, which scraped acquaintance with 40 him onoduy in thewoodM, and shooi( iiandaso ofton that he oould Boarcoly get away. About twelve years ago, Slush was a good natured joung fellow. In due time, according to the practice of our town, he married and settled upon a lot of good land, and really had the prospect of being very comfortable. Ho had nevor, indeed, oecn guilty of hard work ; but, DOW, he had got a wife in addition to his mare; and working or starving were his only alternatives. Ehud boldly chose the first, sharpened his ax, and determined that no son of the forest should resist its strokes. When he began to cut down, he observed a great many fox tracts ; and it naturally occurred to him, that he had a trap in tho house, and might as well set it as not. The trap, accordingly, was baited and set ; and next morning he owned a black fox. Tho fox was brought home in triumph, and skinned, and dried, and carrie: ; jroperty for his son, to bo sufficiently mindful of other points no less necessary ; for I have frequently heard Mr. Drono tell him, that when he was striving to leave a farm worthy of his son, he should take care to lea re a son worthy of his farm ; and neither be like old Stot, who wrought like a beast all his days, and lefl a beast behind him, nor like Gibeon Trick, whose son ran through his father's property, and lost both his ears before he was of age. William usually replied, that his son's education was not neglect- ed ; for he got more schooling than any in the town ; and he was sure that he saw no ill example at home : He did not, it is true, spend much time in counselling him ; for he could not spare it, but Bill was a sharp chap at uptaking ; and, as he was not given to bad ways, he did not need much advice. The old man was always eager upon the work. By these moans, he was both rble to work a great deal, and to do it well too ; and, on this account, it frequently happened, that, rather than see a job badly done, he would do it himself ; so that Bill had a great deal moro spare time than his father. William, also, had a strong aJQfection for his son ; and, knowing that too much hard work is hurtful, particularly to young growing boys, when Bill was not steadily employed, he would say little about it. 6. 54 It must not, however, be ima^ned that Bill was lazy. He was a smart little fellow ; and could get upon the mare and ffo an errand, better than any boy of his age. To the fa£er, this was particularly gratifying ; both, as it showed the aotirity of his son, and saved hims^ a great dea^ of time and useless toil. To the neighbours who wotLid be occasionally complaining of heedless children, he would frequently say, that he did not know how it was, but his Bill was an uncommon boy for his age, and mi^t be intrusted with any thing. Li this muiner things moved on for a number of years ; when, at last, the old man was a little startled, by the appearance of a seal hanging down below Bill's waistcoat. On being questioned about it, he told his fatber, that he had been down, as he had bid him, to Mr. Gosling's store, and that, ju<)i when he was getting upon the mare to go away, he thought of taking with him the black fo:s skin which he had caught last winter. This he had sold to Mr. Gosling, and received the watch in payments Though the old man thought that the watch might have been spared, still he was not displeased to see that his son had a little spirit. The watch appeared to be a good one ; besides, it had a fine chain and seal, and, there- fore, as he seemed to have made a good bargain, he was rather praised than blamed. By and by, it was dis- covered that the watch lid not go well. On this account, it was exchanged j and a great many changes occurred in search of a better. Sometimes, Bill had no watch at all ; at other times, one ; and frequently, two. All this the old man viewed with little concern, or rather with a feeling of satisfaction at the good manage- ment of b^s son ; &r Bill always assured him that ho had gainv.a upon every bargain. For a considerable time this trading course continued without any interruption or apparent change ; when, at last, old William one day going out from his dinner, descried a young gentleman of very genteel appearance approaching; the house. Wondering a good deal who he could be and what he could be wanting, he waited his arrival; and was introduced to his own son Bill, in a fine fancy vest,and a long coat and pantaloons of Mr Gosling's superfine. The history of Bill's transformation was soon told. Having made a little by his watches, he hud thought of buying himself a suit of clothes for Sunday ; and had just been at the tailor's to get them. William i2y. the 55 had never before seen any thing, in his family but homespun, and still he thought that homespun was good enough. But Bill assured him that he had got a great bargain of the oloth ; it was also paid for by his own profits ; and besides, the old man was secretly so pleased with the improyement of his son's appearance, that ho would have almost paid for them himself, for the sake of serAni him so fine. Bill, therefore, found no difficulty in adding to his stock, boots, spurs, and all the other habiliments of a gentleman. Soon after Bill's defection from the homespun, his father was, one morning, a good deal surprised at finding a strange horse in the bam, instead of his own mare. On returning to the house to enquire about it, he learned from Bill, that, of late, he had been thinking a good deal about the mare ; she was getting old and not fit for the work, and he had just exchanged her with a couple of tons of salt hay, for an excellent young horse, which their neighbour Swap had bought at an officer's sale in Halifax ; and which could rido and draw equally well. The old man thought with himself, that ho should have been consulted ; but it was an cxsellent bargain. The mare was really getting infirm ; two tons of salt hay were nothing ; and the horse was a capital young boast; so that all things considered , ho was very well pleased, and viewed his son, as an excellent manager. From this tune Bill made great proficiency in the knowledge of horse flesh ; and apparently added so much to his gains, that, upon the farm, there would sometimes be more horses than cows. Much about the same time that the homespun was forsaken. Bill's occasions to be from home in the even- ing, began to be pretty frequent. At what time ho returned was never exactly ascertained by old William ; for, like every hard working man, he went early to bed ; and his wife was what the world calls a very prudent woman, and said nothing about it. When questioned next morning about his absence, he had either been at the mill, or the blacksmith's shop, or some other place where farmers must occasionally go ; except when he happened to be from home all night, and then he had stepped up to his unele the deacon's, and staying rather late, he had been persuaded to stop and sleep with the boys. ii» ..-«»- ' It has been always said, that lato hours from home are injurious to health. Accordingly, Bill, at times, was not so able to rise in the morning as usual. Some- times, he had been all night very bad with the colic ; but, most frequently, he was afflicted in the morning with a violent headache. The old man had been all his days healihy and stout, and people of this descrip- tion are not the most sympathising. On this account, Bill's ailments at first received but little attention. Bat, at last, their frequent recurrence mado his father thiiJc more seriously about them, when going to his bedside one morning to see what was the matter, he found a great deal of ugly looking stuff upon the floor ; which plainly showed, that the stomach from which it had proceeded must be in a very bad way. The old man was very much alarmed, and spoke of sending for the doctor ; but Bill would not hear of it ; he hated doctor's stufis, and besides, doctors were so dear, that a man might as well die as employ them. At last, his father recollected h)w much good a little bitters had sometimes done himself in the morning when he was not very well. Bill was persuaded to try them, and they had a wonderful effect. Much about the same time, William received another unexpected alarm. One morning when the family were sitting down to breakfast. Bill having occasion to use his handkerchief, pulled it from his pocket, but instead of coming alone, it brought with it a pack of cards, which the sudden jerk of the handkerchief showered upon the floor. To his father, a sight of Satan would scarcely have been more confounding. But whatever astonishes the mind produces a dead pause ; and before rage could fljid utterance. Bill had collected the cards and thrown them into the fire. He knew exactly how it was : he had called in, last evening, at Mr. Gosling's store, where young Cribbage was buying cards : Cribbage knew very well that he never played at cards, because his father hated them,and tor the fun of the thing had slipped them into his pocket ; but the first time they met, he would make it dear fun to him. Where the mind wishes to believe, it is easily persuaded. William was glad to rcceiye such a feasible account, and the affair passed off without doubt or inquiry. Soon after the joke about the cards. Bill, as was now frequently the cage, had stopped all night with his cou- 67 eins, the deacon's bojB ; but, on returning home in the iDorning, he brought along with him a pair of black eyes. When William learned where be had been, he was not a little puzzled to make out how black eyes had come in Bill's way at his uncle's. He knew that the deacon himself was no man of war, and his boys had never been known to lifl their hand to any body. He was, therefore disposed to think that all was not right ; but, just when he was getting into a rage Bill put him in mind of the cards ; and told him, that, happening to meet young Gribbage at the store, the fellow was not satisfied with making game of him before a great many people, but threw out a great many wipes against old codgers who hate card playing. Bill could hot bear to hear his father abused, and began to give Cribbage a good hiding ; when young Pool and Trumph struck in and bruised him so much that, in returning home, he could not come farther than his uncle's. William was very angry, and was lor being off to a lawyer directly. The town he said, was come to a fine pass, when sober, decent lads could not go about their business, without being insulted by vagabonds ; but, if there was law in the country, they should remember the old codger as long as they lived. Along with the black eyes, Bill appeared to have acquired a great deal of wisdom. He told his father that he did not like to go to law ; because, when young peo'ple's names were called in court, it sometimes did no good to their character afterward ; besides, that lawyers were as bad as the doctors, and, farther, that young Cribbage was a spiteful fellow, and might do them harm in some other way. William was very proud to find such an old head upon young shoulders ; and partly to gratify Bill, and partly to avoid the costs of a suit, ho let the business skep. The remainder of Bill's career may be stated in a few words. After getting rid of his black eyes, he married one of our neighbour Puff's daughters. Pufl^, by mort- gaging his farm to old Ledger, kept a very genteel house, and his daughters wore well bred, flashy young women. Soon after Bill's marriage, his father began to feel the infirmities of old age. He used frequently to say, that though his judgment was as good as ever, his memory was gone. Amidst the infirmities of age, it b a great comfort to old folks, that, whatever destruction time works in their memorv tbev never find it affecting b$^ thoir jadgment. I am, thereforo, inclined to think that ho who called old ago a second childhood, must have been some foolish young fellow without experience ; and doubtless, if he lived to gather wisdom, like old people, he afterwards found his judgment as good and even bet- ter than before. My neighbour William, showed the soundness of his, by giving up the farm to Bill, upon condition of supporting himself and the old woman com- fortably as long as they lived. Bill was now a man of more oonsequenoe than over. Being also a married man, the neighbours began to call him Billy, and some of them, young William. But even at the last of 'bese names, ho h: d a way of look- ing sour, for he was a good customer to Mr. Gosling's superfine, and, on this account, among strangers he was always Mr. Scamp. Indeed, Mrs. Scamp and ho were very genteel young people. They kept good company too, and I dare say would have been ashamed to be seen with homespun boys, such as Jack Scantocreesh, my cousin Harrow's family, and my son Abner. It seems it is a law in genteel life that everything must correspond ; and, in general, it is a very good law. When any person docs happen to see one of your long- taile(1, superfine gentlemen swinging an axe, or holding the plough, the sight never fails to disgust. It always reminds mo of what my old woman Dorothy says of those poor unfortunate peopla who are lame of only one leg : that they have something unnatural about them, for they can neither make out a genteel limp or a seemly walk. But Mr. and Mrs. Scamp, who moved in a circle where the law is observed, both understood and obeyed it. When they had dressed themselves out for visiting, it was impossible to ride upon horseback, without being covered with hairs, or bespattered with mud. Besides, nobody in our town rode upon horse- back, but Ehud Slush, old Trot, and the like of them. Fine clothes, therefore, needed a fine chaise ; and a fine chaise, a fine house, and a long list of et ceteras. But il'cn, beside farming, which by the by was not much, no man in the town made £o many bargains in the course of a year. Neither bargaining nor farming, however, can with- stand overwhelming calamity ; and it usually happens that such misfortunes as Mr. Scamp's, come upon peo- ple when they aye worst prepared for them. T J« ] "i. XUUCQU lb 59 WM not possible to be prepared ; for, though he said himself that ho was always gaining, he gradually got in debt to everybody. Whether it was, that other people cheated him, and then abused him, I cannot tell ; but, along with his debts, he acquired a name that for a penny he would qheat his father. 1 cannot say that this is exactly true ; but sure enough the sheriff has sold the farm (for my son Abner has got it) ; and old Wil- liam and his wife are like to oome upon the town.' My neighbour Scantocreesh says that nothing better could happen : that the villain was made a man of be- fore the shell was off his tail, and that he was leaminz to be one of the drunkards of Ephraim when ho should have been learning his catechism. Saunders hopes to see the day, when every cheating, lying, huckstering vagabond, instead of being allowed to run about, making the shekel light and the ephah small, shall be carried away into utter captivity. He also vows that, as long as his name is Saunders, none of his seed or generation shall lay a finger on his farm ; but, for my own part, as soon as I feel myself to be an old dotard, which will be exactly when I think of parting with my property and depending upon others, I design to give up all, without the least security, to my youngest son ; for I will then be able to say, (and every old dotard can say the same of his son,) that there is no danger of my boy using me as Bill Scamp did old William. MEPIIIBOSHETH STEPSURE. LETTER VIII. Gentlemen, — I have somewhere read in an old book, that, at one time, Jupiter being in a great rage, as fathers sometimes are, tossed his son Vulcan neck and heel out of huaven. The poor fellow, between ter- ror and tumbling, had a sad time of it. Whether it waa that the gods of those days could not tumble upward, I cannot tell ; but, sure enough, he came down just as any of us would have done. If anybody thinks that I am telling an incredibly story, I can only say, that it is nothing to what happened in Scotland, when it rained 60 old wivofl and piko stavoe. Vuloan, poor lad, in the course of bis desceot.kad recovered himself conbiderably ; for like the cuta that always contrive to fall in the motit comfortable posture, he came down feet foremost. But even though he was a god, such a terrible fall could not be experienced without some damage ; and, accordingly, when he began to gather himself out of the mud, into which he had sunk pretty deep, he found himself lame of both legs. For my own part, I can give no such honourable ac- count of my origin and lameness. I neither came down from Jupiter, nor am I, to the host of my knowledge, of royal descent, like old MephibosLoth ; but, tho son of Jabcz Stepsure, of whom I know nothing, but, that, along with his wife and my cousia ITarrow, who had been left upon thair hands a little orphan, ho came into tho town very poor, about the time I was born, and died soon after. Nature, in conferring upon me the due quantity of lower extremities, had been sufficiently bountiful : but somehow she had omitted the last finish ; 80 that, though by a little care I became pretty sure- footed, my gait was never the most graceful. Of my mother I know as little as of my father, for she did not survive him long ; and, on this account, by the time I was able to crawl about, my cousin Harrow and I oamo upon the town. As is usual in such cases, we wcro publicly advertised : but, when the day of sale came, though my cousin went off for a trifle, nobody would bid forme : for who, it was said, would take the trouble of bringing up a creature that would never be worth his victuals. When the crowd was about to disperse, old Squire Worthy arrived : and understanding how things stood, he told them, that, though they had all seen a food deal of hardship since they came to the town, they ad yet some humanity to learn ; and that, if the poor boy was deformed, he had tho more need to be taken care of. He then told the overseers of poor to allow him a reasonable sum ; and, lifling me upon the horse before bin?, he carried mo home to his house. Squire Worthy or the old Squire, as he was after- wards called, was a man very different from the squires of the present generation- There were then no offices of profit, nor expenditures of public money, which, in these days, make honor the ladder to advantage ; and the old gentleman, instead of trafficking in writs for the sakei of fees, was the peacemaker of the town. When neighbors r{uarrolloi and threatened to sue each other, Squire Worthy, instead of sending the constable, used to get upon his horse and visit them ; and somehow, by good- natured remonstrances, for he was a very good natured man, he generally prevailed upon them to cease from strife. In short, he had been made a magistrato ; be- cause our governor at that time knew him to be a good man ; and likely to do good, not by dealing out law, but by promoting good neighbourhood. When thcr Squiro Hcttled in the town, he brought considerable property with him ; so that he could afford both to live better and to show moro hospitality than those around him ; and, as he did not seem to have a worldly wish beyond the desiro of seeing everybody comfortable about him» his family always enjoyed abuud^ice, and the neigh- bours looked up to him in all their littlo straits. By the time I entered into the Squire's family, hia own children were young men and women ; and I must say for them, that, as tbey all lived very affectionately among themselves, so they all used mo with a great doal of kindness. As far as I recollect, the only hard- ship which I experienced, was the occasional difficu^lty of serving a great many masters at once. Every sylla- ble of my name would be put into requisition at the same time : Meph must bring one thing, and Phib take away another ; Bosh come here, and Sheth go there. But, as nature had given me only one person to four names, Mephibosheth could do but one thing at once ; and, of course where one was pleased, there were three angry. Still after their little pet was over, they wero as kind as ever. They knew that I was willing to ser^e them all ; and easily saw that, to be in four places at once, was too much even for one who had his feet in good order. The history of ray apprenticeship I shall make very brief. It contains littlo which can amuse your readers ; and, I am sure, just as little which will afford them in- struction ; for the world is wonderfully changed, since I was an apprentice. This province, in particular, is fast growing in importance. The proposal which was made some time ago to adapt the state of the country to its ideas, by making all our militia men captains and colo- nels, shows plainly that we are, with few exceptions, a nation of gentlemen, and what instruction can gentle- men derive from the apprenticeship of a bound servant ? With tho exception of the youthful gricfii of being ealled tho lame boy, and thea the lame lad ; and being ocoasionaily not bo woU dressed as the rest of the family,, my time passed very pleasantly away. As soon as I was of any use, I was set to do little things about tho house ; and by and by, to job about tho farm. Ono ^ ing I recollect, thai, being at first a good deal with my mistress, who was an oxutillent woman.sho used frequent- ly to tell me that I was a poor orphan, without parents to take care of me ; and, therefore, I most learn to tako oare of myself. The good lady's drilling vt\ on tho sub- ject had all the effect which she could desire. " Who am I 7" was a question which I frequently put to my- self; and, as the answer never contained any account of rich parents nor fine prospects, my humility suffered no violent attack ; audit regularly recurred, to me, that I who had nobody to do any thing, for me, must learn U) bo my own helper. Nature had not qualified me for running races. There is however, scarcely any disadvantage in lite, which may not be turned to some good account. Nimble young meo, like Peter Lonffshanks, are apt to have their busi- ness in one place and their legs in another ; but to mc, to whom even a moderate pace was always a painful exertion, it soon became a subject of study, when walking was necessary, how many steps might be saved, Your readers must not hero suppcse that I am going tO' praise myself, by telling themj that like young Bill Scamp, I had an old head upon young shoulders. On the contrary, this calculating disposition arose out of hard necessity ; for, in the Squire's we conducted the farming, i^rymueh upon tho old plan. But, as some of your readers may not comprehend how the old system of farming could have any connexion with my lame legs, I will explain the point. Everybody knowo that farmers keep eows. Now, ac- cording to the new mode, some will house them as care- fully, as Mr. Catchem does his lodgers ; and others will put them within as good houses, as if they were going to pound them. But the Squire's cows had the range of the whole province before them ; and when milking-time oame, we would sometimes seek them a couple of days, and perhaps not find them at all. For the loss of time^ we did not care anything about it ; for we had got the erop ia the ground, and except hoeing the potatoes an(i V;'iiU: I he no OS va nttlc corn, we had nothing else to do. But when the (finding of the cowti came to my nhare of the farming, as it fr(!(|ueutly did, my feet would remonntrate naughtily ; and thia UHually introduced a great dual of communing with myaelf how suoh an evil might be prevented. It generally happens, also, that as tho crop goes for- ward, pasture booomoa scarce, and the cattle are breaohy Now, in the old farming, it is a standing rule that the fences will do another year, so that at last they need a great deal of mending, and everybody knows that cattle have always an antipathy against the mended part of a tencc. On this account, half a dozen repairs lefl the seventh no less necessary. This was a source of sore travail to my lame logs ; for, as Ihe Squire's sons were otlen from homo, to look after the fences was u part of my business ; and you may depend upon it, that it cost me no little hobbling about and mending, before I learn- ed that much journeying, and time, and l&bour, are saved by doing a thing well at once. Another part of the old farming consists in doing great day's works : And here, 1 must say for my master's sons, that few young men could either work harder, or do more in the same time. But then, after the job was finished, the least additional labour would have been contrary to all law and custom. It we had been plough- ing or harrowing, at the conclusion of the business the ' cattle were loosed, and the implements remained station- ary till they were again in demand. Hoes, harness, arid everything else about the farm, were managed much in the same way ; except the axo, which, being every day needed, kept its own place pretty well. This kind of economy, I recollect, was no great help to us ; for v,lvn we set about a job of any kind, everything was oul. of order ; and the labor of repairing, or running about to borrow, was frequently greater than the rest of our toil. By the by, when I mention borrowing, it is necessary to remark that, according to the old fUrming, to return a borrowed article would be such a violation of established order as was scarcely ever known ; and as my master was much better provided than the neighbours, we had usual- ly more lending than borrowing, and, of course, this ad- ditional travel. But these things I did not, at that time, regard very much. My master's sons were mora nimble than I, and upon suoh occasions always employ- "fid: for who woald send alamo lad upob aa erxajol^ J* \l' C4 "irhen people are in a hurry 7 and you may depend upon it, there is nothing done without hurry, according to the old fanning. The only thing in which I had been a particular interest was the finding of the articles which were to be used. Nobody knew any thing about them ; and I, as the servant of the family, was supposed to have the care of every thing ; and whatever was wanting, it became necessity for me to find. In those days I wis just as heedless as other young pt^ople ; but the pain of doing in A hurry according to the old farming, what nature bad ot enabled me to do as fast as other folks, at last taught me, that keeping every thing in its own place, is not only an excellent preservative of articles, but a ;^reat saving of time and labour to those who use them. For the sake of my lame legs, therefore, my master's farming implements were always what they ought to be ; and this simple particular had such an influence upon the prosperity of the farm, that the very man who had de- clared me to be a creature not worth ray victuals, tempt- ed me with an offer of great wages, to get away from the squire, and to live with him. But I loved my mas- ter ; and I must say for him, that he always treated mo like a son ; and used frequently to say, that he did not know what ho would do, if he wanted Mephibosheth. These remarks will show the connection between the old farming and lame legs. It is scarcely necessary to add, that the state of my lower extremities saved me from the errands of the fami- ly. These fell to the share of my master's sons, who were smart, active young men, and never, at any time, needed two hints to go upon an errand. At that time I frequently wondered what could make them so anxious to be from home ; for, as I said before, the whole family lived very affectionately together. Since then I havo heard parson Drone say, that jt is foolish for parents to complain of strolling children : that this disposition is altogether a habit which might have been prevented, by sending them upon fewer errands, and keeping them stea- dily employed upon the farm : and, also, that any parent of common sense might learn a lesson upon this subject from the very dogs of our town, which go regularly to church whether thero be sermon or not. The parson, also, often affirms that it is a measure of sound policy much needed in this province, to provide everypari of ifc Em r>5 with tolls ; not only for tho sake of ibe ronds, but a1s9 to counteract that wandering disposition, wUioh he says is a principal cause of our immoralities and distresses. However this may be, certain it is, that I have niany a time seen my master's sons leaving agreeable entertain- ment at home, perhaps for the sake of hanging about a blacksmith's shop, even when ihcre would be nobody there but themselves ; and I, on the other hand, wa? rarely from home, and never felt an inclination to go. Whether I ever made any havoc in the hearts of the young women of our town, my knowledge does not ena- ble me to affirm. I am rather inclined to think that my achievments in this line were not very great ; for when I happened to be in the company of any of them , which, by the by, was not often, my feet seemed to be the only thing about me which attracted their attention ; and, tho' my old Dorothy says they are very becoming feet ef their kind, they are not tho most comely portion of my frame. This only I recollect, that, when any frolick- ing was going on, I was never asked to be there. To be overlooked by the young folks in this way, was to me a great affliction ; and I would often wonder whether it was that I was a bound servant and could not dress very finely, or because, being no great hand at tho dancing, it was supposed that a frolic could not give me much enjoy- ment. I must, however, do the young people tho justice to say, that, though I was overlooked at their frolics, I was not always neglected ; for I recollect that, when any of them were sick or dying, they would often send for me to come and chat with them, which the rest of tho youngsters had seldom leisure to do. These things I mention principally for the purpose of showing you that I had fewer occasions to be from home in the evenings than other young people. Indeed, I was rarely from my master's ; except when he sent me to chop a little firewood for Widow Scant, and see how she was coming on. Tho widow and her daughters lived on my master's farm, in a little log hut by the edge of the wood. She was a very religious sensible womau ; and, on tb; ho intended to speak about the dau(^'hter« bu > he had a diflferen' subject in view. *'Never," if«av3 ho, " Mephi- boshoth, allow yourself to get into a mci i hftnt'f bi/oka. '^ebt hang» about the neck of m\ honest niaa like a mill- stone ; and, in this country, it requires no ordiu a ry up ■ ;rin;hiness and activity, to prevent hi, a from siuldng uwier tht) x been tlic dcitruv'tion 'if both property and roligiyn amoag us, '.' ic pcy.o'j who hfs credit iu a store, is apt to teol wauta which Ids oirciirngtances do not warrant him to j^^ratity ; r l'" ti> gratify tliese wants, ho involves himjielt iu debts. vjLich, pe haps, never leave him till ho hna lotl liia iitdo property and his character too. There is Puff, '.vho has credit with Mr. Ledger ; and ho 13 living, not by liis labour, but by sinking his farm : Aad tht'j ') is old Guess, who, for these thirty years, has boen telling his creditors whon he would pay thorn ; and, you know, iic has nothing left him but the name of a notorious liar. Merchants arc very useful, and we can- iiut do without them ; bui; the;/ live altogether by the ■.;»bours of other people ; and they usually live well. Those, therefore, who employ them, must support them ; aad, hencCj a merchant cannot Iiv3, unless ho lay the loss of bud pay, upon the purchases of good customers. In short, according to th-j way in which business is car- ried on in the country, a merchant could not live, unless the oac half of us could afford to pay the debts of the whole, If, therefore, a farmer wish to thrive, he roust take care to have much credit but little debt." The old gentleman's advice was not lost ; and from that day to this, though I have often rejected Mr. Ledger's counse'st as obstinately as Jack Hcorem, my greybeard was ntt r 33nt away empty from the store. About the time th.'-t, my farming commenced, the ^y which h. I been loi. ending between Mr. Bui <: ': ad young Quirk were . led. Quirk was what (. M/ns- folk call a 'cute young man. Indeed, he W'*s * s.iart I'hap •. but somehow or other he was very poor, '^u ' rs »' .3. ^ 71 . much rospeotcd. When he began thn world by settling on a fa^'m like the rest of us, he happened to bo made a conytabie. This led him to acquire a great knowledge of the lave, which was at times useful to him in the way of bis profession : tor, as he had the counting of other peo- ple's money, he often found it much easier to tell how the cash came into his hands, than how it got out of them. He was also very helpful to tho neighbours by giving them advice. This, as it saved them a guinea at the commencement of a suit, was very acceptable. But, though I speak to the shame of our town, I must say, that those who followed Quirk's cheap counsels, when their suits were decided, were always very ungrateful, and abused him without mercy. Quirk, by his new occupation, made a great deal of money. On this account, his little clearing was not in good order ; and one day when he was from home, ser- ving an ejectment, Mr. Bullock's oxen came along, and seeing something very inviting within a little brush, they stepped over it, and took peaceable possession of his grain. When Quirk returned, ho was in a great rago, beat the oxen unmercifully, and then drove them to the pound. The case had now become complicated. Mr. Bullock, who is one of our great people, spoke big ; and Quirk, who thought that the beating of the cattle could not be proved, answered him with law in abundance. (Suits were entered ; and, as the lawyers said, ou account of the intricacy of the business, protracted from term to term ; till, at last, Quirk had justice done to him, and then sold his farm to cover the expenses. To me this was a useful lesson. Before planting I put a good fence around juy i jw acres ; and 1 must say, that, though both Mr. Bullock's cattle and neighbour Snout's pigs were often about, I riways found them civil. Since that time I have had much experience of both beasts and fences ; and I have always found that good fences make good friends and safe crops. Many persons believe that cattle breakdev^a ')ooi bouauf". they have no sense. But, I assure you i'.ictt they are riore sensible animals than tiuose vr. ory to keep tbexu lut. As far as my experi- ence gCKS, no ordinury beast tries to ge into afield, after a farmer has fairly convinced it that no intends to keep it on tho outside of the fence ; aud 1 have ne/er seen a farmer who proceeds upon this principle, either quarrel with his neighbors about trespasre^, or protect hi^QS^If against them by selling his farm. . ^^' U>'i ,vii: 72 Mj clearing wm small, and, therefore oasily mauaged : and, ae 1 was always at home to do everything about my little crop in the proper time and way, it throve wonder- fally well. At that time, I recollect, the satisfaction of Yiewing it, was greater than the pleasure which I derived irom considering its value. My old master, too, was so well pleased with my success, that he brought a number of the neighbours to see what industry would do. They all agreed that everything was excellent, and in excel- lent order ; but to account for appearances each had a different reason. When Deacon Sharp saw how my potatoes were hoed, he was sure 1 must have wrought upon Sunday. Old Pumpkin, who has a large farm and expends his labour chiefly in hunting away cattle from his fields, remarked, that lame people are lucky ; and Sirs. Grumble, who had come out of curiosity with the rest, complained, that there had always been a crook in Job's lot and hers ; and that, if Providence had been as kind to them as to Meph, they would have had a very different life of it. My old master, I could see, was very much displeased. After hearing them out, he told them, that, though they had seen Mephibosheth's fields, they had never yet taken a proper view of himself. Every person's eyes were now directed to iny lame feet : which, the Squire perceiving, told them that that was not what he meant ; and observing Mrs. Grumble feel- ing for her spectacles, he asked them if they did not see about Mephibosheth, good sense directing labour aLd care to their proper ends. Here my visitors left mo displeased, and all speaking loudly that I might hear them. Deacon Sharp declared that he and Deacon Scruple would see into the business ; for such doings must not bo permitted in the town. Old Pumpkin won- dered that the Squire was not ashamed to hint that they had less sense than a lame creature ; and, that when Meph was so careful to fence out other people's cattle, ho had better take care not to send his own about his farm. And Mrs. Grumble said that she wished me no ill ; but it was a hard case that lame Meph should be so well off, when her Job and other decent men had such bad crops. This little ^et, however, did not last long ; for next spring I sold my spare wheat to Pumpkin,wbosf family live chiefly upon pies ; and Job, who is obliged to live very meanly, bought all the spare potatoes whicb /hadrftiacd. . ; 73 For mjr»elf, [ was so pleased with my suoocsd, and »o «QOouragedby my master's oommeuduliuns, that I reaol- ▼ed to got on as I had done ; and, during tbo whole of my life, I have never had the least reasou to complain of my returns. Many of my neighbours, it is true, havu not been so successful. Still they are in general very good people, and very helpful to one another. Indeed, if they did not help each other, their life would be very miserable. I am always at home, looking after my affairs, and never fail to have good crops ; but my neigh- bours so often meet with bad land, hard labour, and poor returns, that they arc obliged to spend much of their time in mutual visits, for tho puirpose of uoburiheniug their minds, condoling, and keeping each other in heart. The man who settles upon a wood lot, has a good deal to do the first year ; and if ho be not disposed to get into debt, he must take care to lose no time. Yet, ifho employ himself with ordinary judgment and steadiness, it is wonderful how much he will do, without doing great days work. After getting in my secI, I began to think about my house and barn. By the help of tho squiro't* team I had got the logs upon the spot ; (for I could not, like Jack Scorem, venture upon two frames,) and just when I was considering who would help me put them up, young Loopy came up. Loopy lived then, as ho does now, in a little log hut, covered with spruce bark. Nei- ther the outside or inside of it, I recollect, presented any inducement to visit it twice. His door was always beset by a couple of starved pigs, which occupied this station for the double purpose of enjoying the benefit ol the puddle, and of being at hand to uutke their entrance good when the door happened to be opened. Loopy and his wife were jrood-looking, ^ashy, ypung people ; i^nd, on Sundays and other public occasions, few dressed bet- ter, or carried their heads higher. But, in speaking of them, our old parson used to say, that if you trace a but- terfly to its shell, 5'ou will find it a maggot ; and, sure enough, if there was any comfort or cleanliness about Loopy's house, the pigs had got them. His whole furni- ture was a larffo looking-glass, a oroes-legged table, a tew broken ' :, a number of nails driven into the walls ; and ic a bed, a couple of blankets laid upon a little straw. As his articles were few, they were of course pretty much used. Mrs. Loopy was freqacqitly «rc|iu uymo, «uu recjuiicu to uc urssseii. , vi^ this acccji^&t .74 the eating apparatus wbs> not much looked after. Thtxj^ usually stood upon the table, amidst scraps of pork or iish and piles of potuioe skins; of which, also, the chairs had usually a proport'-. The nails were very useiul for keeping their '-lu» i o / of the pigs way ; and tor showing how Ci.\/'.y gor pj, j^etticoats, trowsers, and other finery, the young people had got. As for the bed, it was in constant use ; and seryed the whole family. In Loopy's it was a standing order, that the dogjumped out, and Loopy and his wife jumped in. When he was finely di'»..ssed, I remember, he }•• * .. ^...nicubr way of twisting his shoulders. Not that ho carried any of I is stock about with him ; for I nerer knew him have more thar one cow and the two pigs ; except when he hap> pen^ .! to be in the horse trade. But some peopUt's olott)ef>, you know, do not sit easily upon them ; and then tliey are fidgetty. I make this remark, because many flashy young people may think that 1 am pointing at them ; when I am only describing Loopy, who came past at the time > hat I was thinking how I should got up my log house and barn. Loopy, stopping a little for the purpose of offering me . a great bargiia of a horse, gave me a very discouraging view of the farming life. I'll tell you, says he, Meph, what it is.; you have got a world of hard work before you. Upon my word, the farmer haa a laborious life of it. I do assure you, it takes a great deal of toiling to maintain a family by a farm ; and after all, it won't do. But, as Loopy had uever been guilty of working hard, he could know the toil of it only by tradition, which is not a ^e•ysur^ guide. was not, therefore, discouraged completely, though i refused the horse ; :ind, when he left me to call upon his aunt, Mrs. Grum- ble, I began the y -"upiration for ^^tting up my house and barn. A log house is easily managed ; an 'I where its owner has any taste, it ip susceptibL of a v.'gree of neatnees> and comfort, which compare t ' ly frw farmers of this country can afford to display u . la :er building. For example, my neighbour Pumpkin, whose ideas were always large, in order that Lis building might correspond with his farm, raised a huge frame ; and really, when the outside was finished, had an imposing appearance. Travellers admired it very much, and Fumpkm himself, rfrqm the piaise bestQwed upon his good taste, began to 75' look big. But, in building' the outside tb pleasa truvcUer.s, he torgot that he hud the inside to build iur Iho uoHiiort of his family. As I formerly stated, much of bis farming labour is expended in hunting tlio cattio from his lurgu tields, od this account he was never very forehanded ; and, when padsengers were admiring Mr. Pumpkin's tine house, he and his family were living in a corner of it. which had been partitioned ofl' by u few loose boards. The rest of the building was found very handy for holding odd things. Now, about a farm house, this is a dusoovery which the owner cannot keep to himself. Pigs, dogs, carts, and fowls, all make it and make use of it too ; and my neighbour's house, besides the finery of the young ladies, suspended upon nailri and pegs around the walls, generally contained a great variety of articles and smell, very useful to a liarmer. Puuipkin had resolved to liuish by degrees ; but 11 'jilting against time, is a hard battle. The other day I had occiision to pass by his house, and camo homo very thankful to Providence, as I have often beeji, lor my lame legs. I found the family, emptying tho •ivindows of tho (^Id hats and trowsers ; and one of his soiis who was fe. ;iag the clapboards from the end of tb. ouse, told > le, that had 1 been anything else than a lamo old rasjCL"!, ho would have giveu me a beating. By the h; . since I wrote you about Jack Scorem's liouse, there ha. been sad havoc among tho clapboards in our town. Som ■ ( the youngsters have got wooden spouts erected ; wbicj you will see standing out from tho houses, when you come up the country. How the rest intend to conduct the distillation in future, I have not yet learned. But, with the exception of Jack't; house, and those of old Stot, Ehud Slush, and one or two more, the buildings of tho town are very much altered. Where every thing is done in a hurry, according to the old farming, there are a great many little things omitted, because they can bo done at any time. For example, when a new settler builds a log house, he often loaves the ground about his door in a state of nature ; and tiic chimney top, or roof, or the corners, remain unfinished. This part of the old system, my master could never endure ; and, indeed, I have generally seen, that, where these things are without, there is a corres* ponding want of comfort within. Q'he farmer who does mi linigb his jobs, has either too many of them for hii> T0 froiit, orwutitsthat ioduBtry wbiob onBuros comfort, thcroforo, finished my hoase an it ought to b« ; and, by doing m, found myself a gainer. The additional lubour wns trifling. In return for this trifling labour, 1 was relieved equally from smoke and puddle ; and when my neighbours, in their large open nouses, wero ^bivering before hugo fires in winter ; my little hut well ntufifed with moss, rendered mo snug with a small quan- tity of fuel. . After finishing mv house, I began to think about a garden and orchard. In visiting widow Scant, who derived a great part of her living from a littlo garden kept in excellent order, I had seen its importance to a family. In my master's, too, whoso house was sur- roundel with fruit trees, wo never went to the door in summer without being delighted ; and, upon his table, I have often seen a dinner, derived from bis own premises, which would have gratified a prince. With respect to my garden and orchard, however, as I was in no hurry, I did not proceed according to the old farming. The most of my neighbours had tried to raise an orchard, ; but had given it up in despair. Either the trees would not grow at all or, if they did grow, it was only for a year or two ; and then they died, or were destroyed by tho cattle. But upon these points, I never found any difficulty. Pigs and fruit trees I have found to be much alike ; starvation brings leanness ; »nd good feed, a flourishing appearance and profit. As for my cattle, after looking at the fence of my orchard, they always went away abusing tho trees for being as hour ns crabs ; and now, tho only difference between many of my neighbours and me, is, that they have not been able to raise orchards, and I sell them fruit. When my garden and orchard were put in good order ; with the addition of a few flourishing polls of hops, rose bashes, and honey-suckles, planted about my house, my premises looked very well. My good old master, I re- member, who took an interest in my success, • was so pleased, that, when any of the great folks from Halifax, came about, he never failed to bring them, as he said, to see industry rewarded with prosperity and comfort. Those gentlemen, too, would sit down in my house or at the door, with as much cheerfulness and familiarity as any of the neighbours ; and, in conversing with the squire would draw a great many comparisons between my little hut and fields ill Many active p< w«ll. I Mtipfaot myself, i Baving nor a at wboie ni mer. £ gentlema you, is a I was lai good hai out of m I was all the propi in a huri to do a never act if I saw I was lui rem, mal owned ti to turn entered tion. home a 1, sta' never gr during atTipp added to torn, I rally foi met wit At first, live oth found farmer u 77 hut and her Pumpkin's large white oaatle, surrounded b/ fields ill cultivated and aa wretchedly fenced. Many of your readers may not believe that a stout, active person, and much less a lame lad, could get oo so . w«ll. I will, therefore, oxplain the business to their satisfaction, in a very few words. I was no visitor myself, and few came to see me. Here was a large saving of time and expense. I was neither a great roan . nor a ffreat mao'a son : I was Mephibosheth Stepsure, whose nighest ambition was, to be a plain, decent far- mer. Here, the whole habiliments and expenses of % . gentleman were saved; and, being a gentleman, I assure you, is a trade which requires costly tools. But, thou^ I was lame MephibMhetb, I had a good stout back and good hard hands, and » disposition to keep them both out of mischief, by giving them something useful to do. I was always at home to do everything properly, and a^ the proper time. On this account, though I was rarely in a hurry, and seldom needed to work hard, I was abl« to do a great deal ; and 1 must here observe, that I never accounted any kind of labour too mean or slavish, if I saw it to be useful. Besides, though I was farmer, I was lumberer too. I did not, indeed, like Jack Sco- rem, make great lots of timber. But knowing that t owned trees, as well as land, I judged thai I had a righl to turn them to my advantage ; and, therefore, raiily entered the woods without laying them under ooptribu- tion. It was easy to arrange matters so as to carry home a companion ; and whether it was a junk for shin- gles, staves, axe handles, or any other use, my shoulden never grumbled. All these L deposited At home ; and, during the long winter nights, when my neighbors were at Tipple's, or risiting each other, some little article was added to my stock. These, according to my usual cus- tom, I always made well ; and, as my neighbours ge^e* rally found it cheaper to buy than to make, my articles met with a ready sale, and brought ready moq^y too. At first, also, I lived hardly ; for what right had I to live otherwise? But the time slipped past, and I soon found myself surrounded with every comfort which f farmer ought to desire. MEPHIBOSHETH STEPSUBB. ry 78 -■■h'-im^l 'bvf^ fefi*i-i'i' 5* ! ir.. ■ii: .;■!( f s M LETTER Xr 5*^^.'^^^t^n; Hi sifeli 'i'i Daring the first year of my farming, as I formerly mentioned, I had a great deal to do. But, in- the war- fare of life, labour and perseverance fight a hard battle ; and, unless the odds against them be very great indeed, they never fail to be rewarded with victory, Before my crop was ready to be removed from the ground, my barn and cellar were in order ; and long before the winter set in, my house was as snug and comfortable as a little log house could be. I am not going to tell your readers every particular which occurred in my bachelor's hall. My cookery, yon may depend upon it, was not very fine ; nor my va- rieties, numerous. I was never a great hand at stews and nashes, and frying, and brandering. As for those little preserved vegetables which set out a table, and help better food, though I liked them very well, I had something else to do than look after them. Besides, in those days they were not necessary. All that a hard working young fellow needs, is, to bring his hungry stomach into the company of food ; and, if it be clean, coarseness is no ground of quarrel between them : they stick as lovingly to each other as any new married cou- ple. Indeed, I have generally seen that your men cooks have more belly than head. Abroad, they are of little use ; and ai home, the torment of their wives. There is om* townsman Pickle, who i« a great hand at sauces and preserves. He can fry pork with the face of clay ; and his wife, poor woman, ever since they were married, has been serving an apprenticeship to him, and a very uneasy one too ; for he is always in his kitchen, and always finding fault. Nothing but the cooking prevents him from living well ' is family. About this he is so much employed, tha« littlb time to labour for the mate- rials remains. Pickle frequently observes, that every wise man will see into his kitchen affairs ; but Saunders Scantocreesh says, that the man's god is his belly ; and his idolatry has rewarded him with famine. With respect to my little hut, I must observe, that whoever came into it, never found the house running out at the door. My old master's family lived very neatlv and I myself too, you will recollect, had served i.^y a]^- -.-.gSUiiiaX 79 prenticeship to keeping everything in its own place. This I have found to be a principal soarco of my success in life ; for the abuse of articles is the chief cause of their destruction. Whatever belonged to the inside of my hut, stoud in its proper place ; and everything which, had no right to be there, was condemned to exclusiot. Though I had not many clothes, I always liked to be decent. On that account, as I had resolved tc keep myself out of debt, I could neither afford to have a shirt lying here, and a pair of trowsers there; nor yet to hang them upon nails or pegs ; for I have generally seen that clothes have no great notion of "hanging any more than their masters ; and if they can only get down, they are not very nice about where they go afterwards. At the expense of a few hours work, therefore, I made myself a chest or two, Vhich saved me a great deal of money and a great deal of confusion. ' -■ -' * -' ^? « -; Aly bed is the only additional particular which de- serves to be noticed. My old master used to say, that a good bed is one of the best enjoyments cf life ; and whoever slept in his house, was sure to lie comfortably. Indeed, a good bed is not only a comfort, but a great saving to a laboring man. Whoever sleeps upoh a little straw, as many of our dashing youngsters are obliged to do, must sleep in his clothes during the oold nights of winter ; and where clothes are not allowed reasonable rest as well as their r wners, not a few of them are re- quisite, I assure you, to Lsep flashy young people gen- teel. •■'=■'-- ^^'^^ ■ JW-;vi.-. You must not, however, imagine that all our towns- folk lie down like cattle, it is the boast of my neigh- bor Puff. ' uc whoever sleeps in his house, sleeps on a feather bed. This I know to be true ; for, being a gen- tleman, ho would allow no other kind of beds in his house. Yet I have often heard his visitors remark, that they would rather hear parson Drone's longest sermon, than be in Puff's feather bed. When the parson is preaching, his hearers can take a nap at their leisure ; but, in Puff's feather beds, the loud and incessant con versation between the ribs of his lodgers and the boards below them, sets sleep at defiance. For myself, though I liked a good bed, 1 had few articles of dress ; and, therefore, could not afford to lie upon straw. I had fre- quently heard, too, that neither lectures nor conversa- tions in bed are very comfortable things ; and, as I had --III 1 80 «• often obseired that ^eat talkers are not great work- ers, I resolved that my ribs should give me none of their jaw ; and, therefore, when my oats were threshed, I made myself a bed of chaff, which put the talkers out of each other's hearing; and as I did not keep a dog, nobody slept in it but myself. Summer had now fled ; and with it, all that variety of prospects which charms and cheers. The fading beauties of the autumn, also, had fallen before the stern blasts of the north ; and rain, sleet, and snow, had de- scended in succession. But none of the harbingers of winter took me by surprise. I have always considered these as the preparations of nature for a returning crop ; and, as the exertions of nature are made for the bene^t of man, it appeared to me foolish, that, in the uiidst of so much activity, he alone should be idle. When winter comes, the most of my neighbours find a great many . days in which no man can work out of doors ; and then spend the time smoking their pipe and talking about the storm. With me this was never the case. In summer and fall, I considered that winter was coming ; and, be- ing a poor lad who could not afford to go idle, I had laid the forests under contribution ; and had more work before me than I was well able to do. By these means, in the spring, besides supplying my neighbours with aze handles, yokes, and other little articles, I carried to Mr. Ledger's store, such an asiiortment of lathwood, shingles, oars, handspikes and staves, as he had rarely received from one hand at once. This established con- fidence between us ; and I, as well as Jack Scorem, looked upon that gentleman as my very good friend. If any person doubted Mr. Ledger's friendship and mine, I can only tell him, that, when that gentleman would wrangle with the rest of the youngsters for attempting to impose upon him their plugged timber and other arti- cles, mine, made well in my usual way, were taken at my word ; and whenever I wished to see how our ac- count stood, Mr. Ledger, instead of speaking of his straits and Mr. Balance, would tell me that he was in no hurry. Still it must be confessed, that neither my industry nor reading made me so comfortable as I wished to be. In the long winter nights, I felt at times very lonely ; and, though I dreaded neither ghost nor witch, I often wished I had somebody alon,'; with me. In such a case 81 I usually stepped over to widow Scant'ei, and spent a spare hour. The widow was a sensible and chtserful woman ; and, in her company, the time passed so agree- ably away, that, occasionally, she would be obliged to remind me that the night was getting late. Towards spring, when Mrs Grumble's husband Job was buying my potatoes, I began to be less lonely at home. The old lady would frequently come to speak about them : and, not being in a hurry, (for our towns- folk are never in a hurry, except when they are farm- ing, going from home, or getting out of church,) she would spend an hour, deploring the hard lot of some de- cent, bober folks. I do not know how it was, but every- thing about me pleased her exceedingly ; and, alter praising my farm and my house, she would compliment myself, by wishing that her daughter Leah might get a husband like Mephibosheth Stepsure. Though Job's family lived chiefly upon potatoes, Leah was a flashy young woman. When she issued out of Job's poor hovel, to go to a frolic or a sermon, many a traveller has received an unexpected surprise. Nature had designed Leah to take the lead in every thing ; for she was mistress of the family, and very harsh to the old people ; and, though every one who followed her admir- ed her person, those only who met her could feel the force of her charms. It is true there were no dimples in Leah's cheeks, but still she had all the expression of a commanding beauty. To compensate for the want of' these useless pits, which some chuffy cheeked ; oung peo- ple have in their faces, she would see two ways at once much more distinctly than Venus ; and possessed a nose, evidently intended for finding its way into veiy small crevices ; and as to the charnis of her voice, nobody in the town could sing treble like Leah. When the old lady, then, wished her daughter as good a husband as Mephibosheth, you may depend upon it it was no small compliment ; for you know 1 was lame. But Mrs. Grumble's friendship and mine did not last long. Since that time, too, I have often thought that it did not fail upon ray part ; for, when she used to wish Leali as good B husband as myself, I never failed to wish her a bettor. Whether it was that Jkdid not praise the young lady enough, I canuot tell pint Mrs. Grumble ceased to viait mo, and declared among the neighbours that I wasi a de- ceitful fellow, to whom Providence was to^ kind ; and H ' ii .'I ',r'V'f*Tt7'V'VT~f^-^ •v. 'rt. 82 T, for co'mpany, Was ffgain obliged to return to Widow Scant's. About the commencement of my second pummer's farming, parson Drone was settled among us. As I toid you before, he then preached a sermon which proved to my satisfaction that it is not good to be alone ; and, having always a disposition to enjoy as many comforts as possible, I married the widow's daughter Dorothy. The |habit of visiting them had become so inveterate, that I could not do without them. I, therefore, conclu- ded, that to have them in my house would save me much time and trouble ; and so I got a wife. For many rea- sons 1 liked Dorothy, and Dorothy liked me ; not be- cause 1 made a handsome figure on tha floor at a frolic : for when my feet were born, the graces, ^* ho had been invited to the ceremony, fled with precipitation as soon as they saw them ; and, on this account, I was never a great dancer. Indeed, the Highland Fling was the only dance of which I could make any hand. But Dorothy liked me, because I was a sober, industrious lad, good oatured, and kind to her mother. And here let me give a private hint to all good young ladies who are looking forward to matrimony. No man can be always cutting figures upon the floor for the happiness of hia wife ; and to make up for this deficiency, nothing but a great deal of sober industry and good nature will do. Without these, therefore, the married life becomes a warfare, in which female charms and exertions to please, instead of being repaid with domestic enjoyment, must grapple with a host of miseries. Marriage chaugos stateo but not dispositions. What a man is, such he is likely to remain ; and, therefore, my good young ladies, if you do not wish to waste lite in putting sloth to shame and soothing down crossness, take care not to riarry them. Hut, as every body who hears of a marriage, asks about the bride, I, who was present and saw every thing with my own eyes, will give you an account of Dorothy. My spouse was a good looking little woman, but as unlike the young ladies of these days af our townsman Tim is unlike Po^erLongsbanks. Femalcj aow a day?, have lost all dimensions bu^ length. The time has been when 1 could have swung aniAf them around me with my finger and thumb. Dor^y was a round faced, red cheeked, junky little wcman, and had good bottom in her too^I assure you ; for 1 rccoiieoi very well, that, .^.'-A'A-JifL-irelWi!. »_.^-iL when I used in those da^s to lift her over a bad step, she was a good heavy load for foy ordinary f^orking man. About tkie brlde'd dress X shall ga/ but little, Dorothy owned ncitt.er g- Tiflower nor notion /. Mrs. Sham and Miss Clippit, indeed, who were two of parson Howl's hearers, called her the barren fig tree, and always assumed that she had no life. In mentioning these two ladies, I must give you a little sketch of their character, for they well deserve a place in the Chronicles of the town. Mrs. Sham and Miss Clippit were exceedingly reli- gious in their own way, and zealous, too, in proportioo. Accordingly, they ^pent most of their time running about the town to tell everybody their (3»jHiilaiiuo8 and how they felt. How many believed them t "ftiinofc fl«ft(il,|y gay ; but, as people by practice imprgyi^ ||| ff|igiHl| i|f| ■ •I ■il 84 •M \ well as in other things, tliese ladieB at last became so acute, that, by looking in a person's faoe, thej ooald as- > certain his state preciselj ; and when they found it bad, they oould even do a great deal for his eonr irsion. When my neighbour deantooreesh came to oar town, because he wrought pretty hard, Mrs. Sham declared him to be in a natural state. But S&unders was not I' easily alarmed : he said that slothfulness in business is no mark of fervency of spirit. At last the two ladies sent him word that they designed to hold a meeting in his house, in order to pray for him and convert him ; and, as Mrs. Sham could recount something very like miracles, as seals of her ministry, she was pretty oonfi- dent of suoeess. Saunders did not know very well what to make of it. He said, that, in Scotland, neither the Stuarton sickness nor the Gambuslang work, (both buai* nesses of the same sort,) had done much good ; and he doubted that his conversion would come on slowly in their hands. He let them know, however, that as they seemea to think his house nearer heaven than their own, it was the best place for praying with a prospect of being hoard ; and, therefore, they were welcome to come and try their hand at the business. At the same time, he gave notice to a few of us that he was going to be converted, and aeked us to step over and witness the process. When the time arrived, we were all there, to see what would become of Saunders; and, really, every thing looked as if some strange event was about to hafpon^ My neighbour is a hardfaoed Scotchman ; but, as if he had sot his face i^inst conversion, it seemed harder tiian usual. The two ladies, also, when they arrived, along with the others, to assist them in holding the meeting, appeared exceedingly solemn. Instead of be- ing cheerful and chatty, as Widow Scant usually was, they looked as grim as if they had been going to hang Saunders. Before they had well sitten down, Mrs. Sham began to tell him what miserable sinners she and sister Olippit had been, to which my neighbour nodded a cordial assent; but, when die recounted the joys which succeeded their conversion, he seemed to examine their grim countenances with a great deal of (uure. She then run over with much volubility, what riie called marks of grace, and the experiences of gracious souls ; and was just beginning to tell him about the day of 85 judgment and its consequences to himself, when Saun- ders interrupted her by saying that he did not expect his conversion to be an easy job, and that we had better first take something to eat. To such a reasonable pro- posal nobody objected. My neighbour, who is a very hospitable man, gave us his very best cheer ; and I could easily see, that, though the two ladies had per- ceived nothing to be commended in Saunders, they found something very good about his house. After our repast my neighbour observed, that, about a business of thiaf 8ort, he understood there was always a good deal of tumbling and roaring. He therefore proposed, that, as the evening was very fine and his house small, we had better all go to the smooth greeu before his door, where we would have plenty of room. Accordingly, we turned out, one after another, as fast as possible. When we were all upon the green, Saunders said to the two ladies, that he had new got them out of his house, and would tell them a little of his mind before they began ; and first of all, that, if he needed to be converted, he was resolved that it should be done by the word of God and his own minister, who had some sense and religion ; and not by silly women like them, laden- ed with sins, and as ignorant of true godliness as his stots. He told Mrs. Sham, that, before running about the country, pretending tc convert sober, industrious folks, she, had better show a little chrbtianity at home, by lessening that misery in which her idleness, ill-man- agement and ill nature had involved her family. As for sister Clippit, he advised her to find a husband for her- self, and get children, as the bible bid her. This, he assured her, would be more to her credit than tattling through the town about her experience and marks of grace, when everybody could see nothing about her but marks of corruption ; and, therefore, concluded her to be one of Solomon's foolish women, who are clamorous and know nothing. They, and the like of them, he said, were a disgrace to religion. Instead of minding their own affairs, and living comfortably like other decent folks, they ran about the country in idleness, living upon their neighbours the one half of their time, and starving the other ; and if rt fared ill with themselves, it fared worse with their religion. Every fool among them was a preacher and a converter ; and when a decent minister who could put a little sense in them happened to come 10 I .. ■■» 86 m -Mb among them, they soon starved him away. They would , give him plenty of prayers, and long Btories which they bad heard from one another, about their ooDversions, and experiences, and marks of grace. But, when neces- sity forced the poor gentleman to remind them that the laborer is worthy of his hire, hie whole congregation would forsake him to run after the like of Sbadrach Howl, whom no careful man would trudt with the feed- ing of his swine. With their groaning and whining, And slang about religion, he said they had made decent people who have some &ensc of it, almost ashamed to mention many of its doctrines. At last, Saunders con- cluded with advising them to go home, read their bible, and mind their own calling, and let ministers mind theirs. This, he said, would help them to redeem their character, which they would«soon find to be necessary ; for he hoped to see the day in this province when every- body, instead of running after them, would, according to the bible, believe them to be silly women, who had turn- ed aside unto 8atan. Thus ended all hope of my neigh- bour's conversion. With respect to myself, I was some- thing of Saunders' mind. I have always thought that that kind of female religion which speaks little aad does muoh, is both the most graceful and the most bene- ficial. I therefore married Dorothy, because hevs had been learned in Widow Scant's school. Wuat this means, will be by-and-bye explained. In the maentime I would observe to all young men, that, as none but a fool will account female religion to be no ornament nor source of domestic enjoyment, bo every wise man, before he slips, with a female, into a noose from which there is no escape with the life, will consider where ^he has learned her religion, and what are its fruits. MEPHIBOSHETH STEPSURE. ■A ;' ' 87 . ( • /■. .'•»h i.i LETTER XI. ;-,;ii..i iiu.i. ■If'.'' >'» > Gewtlembn, — ■ ' '■'.- • •'■ '^'"/•' I formerly told yon ^at I had married the wi^o'wr'i daughter. Indeed, I might be 8aid to have married the widow too ; for neither Dorothy nor I could think of parting with her. Our worthy old parson used to ob- serve, tlhat wherever Widow Scant was, theve would be a blessing along with her, and theretcre as I hrd mar- ried the daughter, it would have been toolish to have left the blessing behind. What the parson said, I have found to be true. I have now a large *arm : I have also every comforl which a farmer should desire ; and, as times go, i cannot be called a poor man ; for, as you know, I latet , bought Jiill Scamp's farm for my son Abner. But, after all, these are the least parts of the blessings which I received with the widow. I enjoyed her con rersation daily ; and, instead of those grudgings and grumblings, whichi in this country, are usually found at family consultations about how the old people are to be kept, making the widow comfortable was my princi- pal enjoyment. Many a time when I was working about the farm, the wish to keep her, as good old peo- ple ought to be kept, has strengthened my back and made it willing to ri^n faster than my legs could carry it. Indeed, almost the whole symptom of hc^iv which ever appeared in our family, was, when the hildrea knew that grandmother wanted anything ; and, then, there were moie servants than jobs. When Dorothy and I were married, Mr. Drone made a solid and sensible discourse of at least an hour's, length, in which he explained all the masons and grounds of matrimony. Then he gravely laid before ua the duties of the married life, and, among otuer things, he told me, I remember, that, if I wished to have com- fort for a lodger in my house, I must strive to keep want on the outside ; for, says ho, a husband'? house is the home of his wife ; she clings to him as the vine clings to the elm ; and, when he willingly gives her poverty for a companion, he kills p-ffection by the root, artd domestic comfort dies along with it ; so that, evea when they have something to eat, they p^t with bitter .*,. «► 8'8 herbs. As I had, therefore, married Dorothy and the old womr;/i, expressly with a view that wo might sU be ccmtortable, I cor''' ^--jily see that 1 had no time to lose, and must wo.L uarder than ever. To me, a returu ^ of labor after marriage was an easy task, for I alwoytj liked to be doing something ; besides, our marriage vii^ succeeded by a great many savings in those very things whion, at times, bring ruin upon promising young peo- pie. Neither calls nor visitings wasted our time, expo- sed us to expense, or supplanted habits of industry by those of a worse kind ; for, to tell you the tsuth, the marriage of lame Meph and Dorothy made less noise in our town than the death of Caleb Stagger's mare when ■ she Med of the botts. I therefore returned quietly to my work, and I recollect very well that when I was slashing down the woods, thoughts of card pbying and frolicking, hcrse racing and drinking, never crossed iliy mind ; but my affection for Dorothy and the widow made the strokes fall thick, and made every stroke tell. By these means, fields and crops rose very fast about my little hut. Whether it was that I was now a mar- ried man, I cannot exactly say ; but, at that time, I ob- served that the increasing civility of the neighbours kept pace with the enlargement of my farm. I was no longer lam^. Mcph and lame Bosh, but Mephy or Boshy; av; f donn of the old people even called me MephiboBlu;tb. This was very gratifying, for every de- cent man like;' to be respected. I did not, however, get too proud. Some doubts which ' hung upon my mind prevented me from running about the country with my respectable new name. Having no superfine coat like Bill Scamp, I was not certain but I might be mistaken for lame Meph, instead of arriving at the higher appel- lation of Mr. Stepsure. I therefore staid at home, and in the meantime pleased myself with the hope, that, as my name had grown with my farm, a few more fields would at last bring it to its full stature and due number of syllables. Nor have I been disappointed : all the neighbours call me Mephibosheth, except' when thny wish to borrow from me, and then I am Mr. Stepsure. But it is now time for us to look at the inside of my little hut. I formerly told you that I had married Dorothy, because she was Widow Scant's daughter, and had learned her religion in Widow Scant's school. This last point I shall now explain to you. 89 'When worthy Mr. Drono, at our marriage, tendered me the word of exhortation, he did not forgot Dorothy. Whether it was that he was particularly anxious for our comfort, or thought that my spouse needed a little addi- ( tional admonition, I do not know.. But, when he was leaving us after dinner, he told her that ho wu goiug to give her a very serious advice. •• Dorothy " saysi he, *• you have got a very good lad for your 1 hand, (fo the clever spoken, sensible gentleman, ' as ='pd to say,) and if you do not find yourself very coiui , It will be your own fault, llemcmber, how - jUOl must derive your comfort from your hu npl- ncss. If you seek it elsewhere, woe will be m. Many of the females of our town experience, th; iU- happy husband makes a wretched wife, and they have themselves to blame. Young women are not sufficiently aware of the connexion between female happiness and home. Their enjoyments are scattered among the neighbours : of course, thoy must go after them ; and, when a husband, afler toiling all day, returns to his house, ho finds his wife absent from her post, and every- thing in confusion ; and, because he likes his wife, and sees no means of comfort without her, in order to bring her home, he follows her to one or other of the neigh- bour's houses. Now, our townsfolk, upon all visiting occasions, are very hospitable ; and both the young peo- ple soon learn that a neighbour'^ house, and not their own, is the place of enjoyment. For a little while this does very well ; but I have generally seen that the hus- band who is bound by no tie to. his house, in the course of straggling after his wife, loses the chain of attach- ment which linked them together, and then instead of going all the way to bring her back, he gets no farther than Tipple's. Dorothy, if you wish to enjoy true com- fort yourself, make your husband happy by making his house his homo. You have been a good daughter. The old woman, too, has richly repaid you, by instilling into your mind the principles of religion ; and I am now go- ing to tell you the use of them. Religion qualifies peo- ple to go to heaven, because it prepares them to do their duty in the mean time, and that is always a bad sort of it which does not draw the mind to social relatione and social duties. Our duty in this life is a trust from God, and whoever looks forward to the true riches must take care to be faithful in that which is least. You must 10a ^. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ,*'«# 1.0 I.I ■tt lii 12.2 iy& 1*^ IIIJ4 IU4 < — 6" ► ^^ %>^:) ^j^ A ^.** *. ^ Hiotographic Sdences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STRUT WnSTER.N.Y. 14SS0 (71«)t72-4S03 iV k*^' ^^4^^ ^>^ ^ «? / ^ /*^o V therefore bring your oateohism to bear upon the matri- monial state ; and, as I told Mephibosheth to chase want from his house, I now tell you that domestic hap- piness, though helped by plenty, depends very much upon who liyes in the house, and of what use is made of plenty when it gets to the inside. In short, Dorothy, if you wish to live a comfortable life, be a domestic wo- man, and when your husband shows industry without, let him see, that, beside the old woman and you, he has got contentment, cleanliness and economy within." As I knew this to be the education which my spouse had been all her life receiving from the widow, I thought the parson's discourse rather long, particularly as his last sentence contained the substance of the whole. Many of your readers, too, I dare say, will feel very glad that they do not belong to Mr. Drone's congrega- tion. In our town, we are now pretty well used to his ministry ; yet it must be confessed, that, even among ourselves, when he formerly discussed topics of this sort which, nobody oared about, the sermon always required a great deal of sleeping, in order to get through with it. Sut I thought of setting down the advice, that you might see what our parson was when he was young add spry. . Of late years, indeed, the poor gentleman is very much chan^d, and rarely gets beyond the doctrine of patience. When Tubal Thump's young daughter-in-law came with black eyes to the parson the other day, com- plaining of her husband, he only told her that what can't be cured must be endured ; and, that, even though he should beat her frequently, the best way was to stay at home and take it ; for patience might bring a bles- sing along with it, which would do her good in the end. Under all the calamities of our town, too, the only com- fort which he administers, is, that when the state of society gets wrong to a certain extent, it then begins to get better of itself ; and that those who exercise a little patience in the mean time, will see better days. Our townsfolk cannot comprehend him ; but my neighbour Scantocreesh afiSirms, that the parson's doctrine is both true and plain. Though Saunders does not try the preaching, (for yon know he was not converted), he pre- tends to know a little of the signs of the times ; and, really, he seems to have no sympathy for our distressed neighbours. He says that the calamities of the ne'er-to- do well villains, are the dawning of a bright day for »1 Nova Scotia, when every huokBteriog, swapping, cheat* log, running- about vagabond will be driven into the woods, and a race of decent, industrious folk, like Me- phibosheth 8tepsure, will inherit the land. But I must now conduct you badic to my little h,ut. When I was living with the Squire, Dorothy served an apprenticeship to the widow, which made compliance with the parson's advice a very easy business. Like myself, she had been habituated to domestic life. She was not lame, it is true, but she was a poor widow's daughter ; and, as she could not dress finely like the rest of our young ladies, she was not in much repute. By these means, her mother became her principal ac- quaintance ; this fanned the flame of affection between them ; and thus, by domestic life and domestic eojoy- ments, a habit was formed, that, to Dorothy, home and her mother were everything. Some of your readers will perhaps say, all this is plausible enough ; but bow could a young woman learn contentment in the house of a poor widow 7 But the Widow and Dorothy were not its only inhabitants : reli- gion li^'ed there ; and, where there is religion like the widow's^ industry and contentment are always its com- panions. For things which most of people despise, I have seen more gratitude in Widow Scant's, than ever entered the door of a rich man's house ; and gratitude hates grumbling; it is the companion of comfort. But besides religion, Dorothy had found a home in the Widow's ; and strange as it may appear to many of your readers, whoever finds a ^/ne, nas gained the grand point in the business of life. It will take very hard fare indeed, to kill contentment and drive him from his home. Having, therefore, married the widow as well as the daughter, my house was home to Dorothy ; besides, she was very good natured ; and good nature is not only willing to be pleased itself, but, when it draws affection to itself, it deals out cheerfulness and contentment to others with a liberal hand. Indeed, I never see my spouse angry, except when anybody meddles with the configuration of my feet ; and, really, she has discovered about them so much decent seemliness, that she has no great opinion of the judgment of the graces. But, when I am upon the subject of contentment, I must make a few remarks for the benefit of young folks. , Many of the ills of life are unavoidable ; and wherever 1,>M 92 this is the oase, a discontented mind bears the calamity, and has the grumblioff to the bargain. Others, attain, may be surmounted ; but everybody knows that neither praying nor grumbling pulls the cart firom the mire : the sure way is to set a shoulder to #he wheel. In most oases this brings relief ; and, even where it fails, it frees the mind in the mean time from its b'roodings of misery. A discontented disposition is an eyerlasting plague. It both kills oomfort, and destroys the only means which could again bring it to life ; as Job'a wife and Mrs. Grumble and all her connexions know. They are a large family in our town. Indned, they have spread out so, as to be the chief part of its inhabitants; for some- how discontentment never prevents the incroabe of popu- lation. For diiferent reasons they deserve a place in the chronicles of the town ; and, therefore, as Mrs. Grumble and her father are samples of the whole, I shall give you an account of them. Mrs. Grumble is the daughter of old Whinge, who was once a leading man in parson Drone's oongrep;ation. The old gentleman is. still alive; and, though his daugh- ter has seen a great many years, he is healthy and stout, and likely to live a long time. In his own way he is exceedingly devout. Our parson often says that Wninge has wonderfully mistaken the nature of religion ; yet he still hopes that the old man has some gold amidut large heaps of dross. He is among the oldest sett'r^ ^n the town ; but whether he came from Scotland cr lly or from N&w England, I cannot exactly say. iJulng al- ways very poor, he has never known many changes of raiment ; and, at last, his drsss has become a- part of his religion. His Sunday's clothes are a legacy from his grandfather, who, as I can seu from old j icture.s, must have been a first rate buck about the days of Queen Ann. The tails of his coat meet before ; but as far the rest of it, it sets description at defiance. Perhaps you know some poker-made dandy looking chap ; he could creep through the sleeve ot W hinge's coat with a great deal of ease. Besides, in every part of it, it has as many buttons and buttonholes as would cost any of your town tailors a whole week's work. His waistcoat is re- markable for nothing but its flaps and pockets ; a pig six weeks old would lie snugly in each of them. As for his lower habiliments, the leas that is said about them the better. When Whinge has hb Sunday's dress on, 93 he has a venerable appearance ; and among our young< Bters, he is generally known by the name of Methusa- lem. Dunng the course of his long life he had observed that dandies and other creatures ot the same oast, have neither s.'nse nor religion. On this account he has ac- quired a notion, that his own dress is the religious fash- ion ; and, when he sees the young people upon Sundays, he never fails to rail against the foolish vanities of the present generation, and to lament the degeneracy of the times. Before parson Drone was settled in the town, Whinge, among our religious folks, was a kind of oracle. The most of his time was spent in their houses ; praying and giving them advice about their souls. The amount of his doctrine was, that time and time's things are nothing — that every religious man must live above the world, and derive his comforts from his religious frames. Of course, his farm was in a very bad state. Indeed, if our religious people had not been kind to him : one giv- ing him a little grain ; and another, a few potatoes, he could never have made out. But it was often remarked that, though Whinge lived above the world when he was giving advice ; if any of the neighbours offered him a little hel|>, he always showed that even good men fall before temptation. After the arrival of the parson, these helps were nati.rally withheld; and since that time, he has staid mostly at home ; not labouring on his farm and living comfortably, but bewailing, that, since Mr. Drone began to preach, religion has no life, and the church has fallen into very bad times. Some of our sly folks used to jbint that Whinge was lazy, and liked much better to talk about religion than to do anything for it : but this is only report. All that I can say from my own knowledge, is, that the old gentleman al- ways seemed to like time's things very well when he could get them for nothing ; and thouf^h at home he liv- ed, I believe, pretty much above the world, in bis neigh- bours' houses he never found fault with earthly things for being too many or too good. I have frequently heard parson Drone tell him, that, though a religious man cares nothing about worldly comforts, industry is an indispensable duty, as it affords the means of doing good to others. In reply, Whinge as often possesses a great love for bible societies and other good institutions; but he has nothing to give them ; nor does he conceive ■ m giving to be any part of his dutjr. The work, he says, is God's ; and he will oarry it on in his own way, if we only pray about it. -i^it^: «>k'> As Whinge had no industry, want lived in his house ; and when want does not scrape acquaintance with indus- try, it becomes the companion of discontent? In Whinge's house, every thing went on with a grudge. But discontent generally put on the form of religion ; and, when the family entered upon serious conversation, their standing topic was the poverty of religious men, and the hard lot which they must expect in the world. Whinge, in a strait, never thought of exerting himself, «nd making his young folks work a little harder. All his comfort was derived from the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In this school, Mrs. G-rumble re- ceived her education ; and Job, poor man, and his family, are reaping the fruits of it. * Job was a simple, honest young fellow. In those days, too, he neither wanted hands nor heart to employ them ; and, though the youngsters played upon him at times, he had good nature and industry sufficient to make any ordinary woman happy. Job was a sober lad too. Instead of running about taverns, he uoed fre- quently visit old Whinge, to hear him talk of religion. Whether his present wife had taken a fancy for him, I cannot say ; but when some mischievous boy slipt a hor- net's nest into Job's trowsers, there was no end to her dissatisfaction, that providence should allow such doings. Though the thing happened about Whinge's house, it did not terminate his visits. Job was not superstitious ; and, therefore, did not consider the visitation of the hor- nets an evil omen. Some time afler, as he was passing through the woods, his foot slipped, in stepping upon a windfall ; and, on reach'.ng the ground, he found himself seated very snugly in one of Eben's fox traps. This, Whinge's daughter declared to be no ordinary dispensa- tion ; and, indeed, it was a long timo before he was cured. It, therefoie, called forth her discontent and her kindness ; and judging that such an affectionate youug woman, who knew so well how to sympathize with afflic- tion, must prove aa excellent wife, he made her Mrs. Grumble. Job was fond of his wife, and resolved to make her happy. After his marriage, therefore, he wrought hard upon his farm ; and, as he was a stout young fellow, he ai w ho he fa th Jc w j.i.f--^'jik^ i',"fc. >.\-.>fVji J:'/*i'--!',- vf'^ifo.-i 10- rs. he vD was likely to get on very fast. Mrs. Grumble, too, was an affectionate wife ; and exerted herself, in her own way, to make Job as happy as possible. When he came home from the woods, it was to hear her lamenting that ' her Job, who wrought eo hard, should have such hard fare; when all the neighbours enjoyed so many fine things. For some time this did very well. It liaade Job happy to hear her ; -and in the overflowings of his affection, he would tell her, that he would rather have her and hard fare, than all the fine things of the neigh- bours. But the truth is, that, along with the daughter of old Whinge, he had married the spirit of discontent, which gradually extended itself to every thing which came in its way, not even excepting Job ; so that, at last, with a wife who really liked him, he became very miserable. Resides, a mind which sees every thing wrong, sinks under the burden ; and has little inclina- tion to put any thing right. On this account, Job's hut began very soon to resemble Loopy's. By this means he- lost hmhome, and with it his love for his wife. Now, a married man who has no ho7ne, is like a stray sheep, ready to go one way as soon as another. Every mind pants for enjoyment ; and, when a wife withholds it, her husband looks for it in some other place. Accordingly, many of my neighbours have discovered Tipple's to be the happiest house in the town. But Job was a sober lad ; and, when he lost comfort, he did not part with decency. Ho only becapie heartless. This, however, was sufficient to destroy all progress. Though he stiU stuck to his farm, he wrought )^t little, and that little not much to the purpose. He spent the most of his time poking about his small clearing ; and, when he happened to turn his eye to his house, he viewed it with disiike, and hated to come near it. Thus, Mrs. Grumble, who could not be contented with a kind &tid industrious husband, has passed through a pretty long life, whose only comforts have been, recoun- ting hard dispensations of providence and eating pota- toes. Our old parson says, that Job is the only man in the town who has been edified by his sermons on patience. My neighbour Saunders affirms, that Mrs. Gfumble is one of the foolish women who torment hus- bands, because they have not been taught a little sense at the outset ; and that, if honest Job, instead of allow- ing himself to be henpecked and miserable for life, had 96 laid a few cross dispensatioDS upon hor back, she would have soon become thankful for small mercies, and repaid hitu with smiles all the days oi his life. For mj own part, I have never needed to try this experiment, and I would advise all young wives to keep themselves out of the way of it ; ior, though it might do them good, it must be like the rest of doctors' stuffs, not very pleasant. Young folks had better do like my spouse and me. My neighbours remark that, when I am going home, 1 gra- dually quicken my step ; and, when I arrive, Dorothy and Mephiboshetk are always glad to see one another. MEPHIBOSHETH STEPSURE. 9« 'i ' ■ ( •. , i ■■[.■■I ■ ,i '.. LETTER XII. ¥ • GSNTLIMEN, — At our marriage, as I stated in my last letter, Mr. Drone delivered to my f>j)Ottse an admonition upon the subject of cleanliness. Imagining that the parson had seen something about her which he did not like, I was not altogether pleased ; for new married folks, you know, are not willing to find fault with each other them- selves, and much less to hear patiently the censorious remarks of the neighbours. On turning the subject in my mind, also, I recollected that both Dorothy and I, before our marriage, had t)een improving on this point. When I happened to go to the Widow's a little earlier than usual, I would sometimes catch her putting herself or the house in better order ; and then, as if something had been wrong, she seemed to be mortifieu. On this account, I thought he might have kept his advice to himself: or, if he would reprove dirty people, carried it to old Stot's and Loopy's, where it was more needed. But a discourse which he made to \^er a short time afterwards, convinced me of my mistake, and satisfied me that our parson, in his early days, was a shrewd, ob- serving gentleman. Perhaps some of your readers would like to know what it was : I shall therefore se't it down. If they can only get through with it without sleeping, as our town folk generally do when the parson 97 preaches, it may do them good ; for my old woman, I assure you, has been none the worse of it. At any rate, in your paper, it will be like a doubloon in a poor man's pocket in these timed, it will beget admiration how it Jpappens to be there. A few weeks after our marriage, Mr. Drone stepped over one day to see how we were coming on in the ma- trimonial state. When he arrived, he found my spoude mending the elbows of an old jacket, which you may depend upon it she could do to very good -purpose. Every thing about the hou06, also, was in order ; and herself, as trig and tidy as when she was only Widow Scant's daughter. ** Dorotiiy," says ho, *' I am glad that you understand and practice the duties of religion 30 well. This is better than singing hymns in the midst of rugs and dirt, as many of our young folks usually do. " People who have a, home, should strive to have in it every rational enjoyment, and oleunlinod^ and economy bring along with them a great many comforts. Indeed. I have generally seen that where cleanliness and econo- my are wanting, there is no domestic happiness and very little religion. It is a miserable life and a foul kind of piety which do not try to keep the door between dirt and duty. As instance' of this, I might mention the wife of our townsman Whinge, Mrs. Drab, Mrs. Slabber, and many others in the neighbourhood. Whinge, from his poverty, as you know, is obliged to stay at home, with no other comfort than the grumbling of a discon- tented mind ; but the husbands of the rest live chiefly in Tipple's, or travel about the town, without any business. ** All our unmarried females understand the subject r ' neatness exceedingly well ; and, though I say it, 1 ques- tion if there be another township in the province which contains as many pretty and neo.tly dressed young fe- males as ours. Yet, I doubt if there be another in which there are so many filthy houses and slovenly wives. When the lawyers, who are a jibing generation, visit our to' n, I am often ashamed to hear them ask the meaning of the white strips upon our houses, and to see t|iem pointing to our windows, and then offering to send us up a cargo of old hats and trowsers. The wives, I know, are not always to blame ; for many of them have husbands who would depress the heart and industry of the best of women. Instead of minding their farms, as industrious men ought, they are constantly running 98 X '1. ,t '>! a. i '-v HI- about, looking after everything but their own business ; and their poor wives are left to fag on with poverty and wretchednais : first, to bear the ill humours of huBOands who return home to miseries which they have taken no care to, prevent, and theu, to receive the character of bad wives from strangers who do not know their diffi- oulties. Females were given to be helps ; and I do be- lieve that when husbands give them fair scope, they add more to the amount of human happiness than is usually ascribed to them. Man^ a young woman, who, in good hands, would have proved the ornament of her husband, has, through his own ill management, become his tor- ment and shame. ** Still it must be admitted, that a number of wives are unhaf*py through their own mismanagement. When they were candidates for marriage, it never occurred to any of them to trust solely to the force of their charms. On the contrarv, I have oflen thought them more eager for dress than became their station. But scarcely have they entered upon a married life, than, as if neatnet« and cleanliness were unnatural things, they forget the ornaments of a maid and the attire of a bride ; and pre- sent to their husbands, not the appearance which contri- buted to gain his heart, but what, had it been seen be- fore marriage, would have killed ufifcction forever. Re- member, Dorothy, that affection obtained is not affection secured. To gain and to secure, require the eamo means ; and the wife who desires domestic happiness, must, by the neatness of her person and house, take care to prevent her husband from harbouring a suspicion, that, before marriage she had cheated him by false ap- pearances. A woman of taste is always an engaging object. Beauty by itself will never secure the heart of a husband; and wherever it is combined with slovenli- ness, it is, as the wise man says, like a jewel in the snout of the vilest of animals. Many of our younp; wives dress only for thf benefit of their neighbours ; and their husbands, because they see nothing pleasant at home, are always running about. Dorothy, if you wish to enjoy the company of Mephibosheth, use those means which brought him to Widow Scant's." 4;- ' ■ r~ ., When your married subscribers read these admoni- tions to their wives, I hope they will likewise tell them that to be angry and call me old lame rascal, is of no use. Xftherebeany blame, it is the parson's. But to A^^A^l^-^:,^jf^J^ 99 blame him, would be unreasoDable ; for his disoourao, you see, refers only to the people of our town ; and I, who know the wife of old Whinge, Mrs. Drab, Mrs. Slubber, and indeed the whole of the neighbours, know likewise, that he had just cause for all that he said, and" a great deal more. Mrs. Whinge, as well as her husband, is, in her own' way, a very religious kind of woman ; and, like some other religious folks, the state of her neighbours who are ' not doing as she does, gives her much uneasiness. One sourco of her discontent, is, what she calls the stinking pride of our young people, who, as I told you before, drees very genteelly ; and, as they think it of no use to, dress for the sake of home^ are always running about the town. Indeed, of late years, I have frequently thought that the old lady has both reason and religioa upon her side ; for our youth are wonderfully altered since I was a boy. Though many of them live upon potatoes and sleep upon straw, the very poorest of them have their gumfiowers and notions of all kinds, silk gowns and 8Uj:;erfine longtailed coats ; as you may learn from Mr. Ledger and other merchants, who are very observing gentlemen ; and, for the credit of our town, keep an exact list of its finery ; and when any of them, such as Bill Scamp, are dressed and galloping about, should they happen to meet the very best of you Halifax gen- try upon the road, they will stare at you, as if they in- tended to tell you how thankful you ought to be that they allowed you to get out of tl.eir wav without giving you a beating. But it was not the debt of the young people, their want of industry, n3r their want of econo- my, which troubled Mrs. Whin,';e ; it was merely their neatness compared with ih? rppearance of her own iamilv, who never were the best dressed nor the most cleanly in the town. Were I to consult the credit of our township, I would stop here, but he who writes chronicles should tell the truth ; and, in writing about religious people, such as Mrs. Whinge, he should be particularly careful to record those truths which illustrate the nature of their religion. This our worthy old parson calls trying the spirits ; and I recollect that, frequently, in his younger days, he would exhort us never to receive any kind of religion which did not tend to make us wiser and better — to ex- alt human nature above the inferior creation ; and above 100 all, to draw us to home, and to make it the abode of ratioual and religious enjoyment. At present, there- fore, overlooking Mrs. Drab and Mrs. iSlabbcr. who^e character originates in pure laziness and want of thought, I shall restrict myself to a brief notice of Mrs. Whinge. .•-,,/.. fr._. As old Whinge had ingrafted want of industry and discontent upon religion, it was easy for his wife to mis- take dirt for humility. Accordingly, when the old lady expatiated upon the stinking pride of the young people, their gentle stomachs usually came in by way of appen- dix. Indeed much squoamiahness could never have lived in the family of Whinge ; for it will be generally found, 1 beliove, that where want arises from habits of indolence, cookery does not arrive at its highest perfec- tion. That it takes a great deal of dirt to poison poor people, was one of the old lady's favorite sayings. Of course, a mouse drowned in the milk, or hairs or other little straggling articles in food, were nothing ; and even one day at dinner, when Whinge observed that provi- dence had sent them more meat than the family knew about, and the old lady examining, instead of finding death in the pot, only drew out a iroa ; though it prov- ed a considerable stumblingblock in the way of the young people's hunger, it was not, in the opinion of the old folks, sufficient to spoil good broth. If any of your readerb suppose that no livmg creature could ever sub- mit to stay in such a family, he is altogether mistaken. Many of our townsfolk, it is true, were not fond of lodg- ing with Whinge ; but, when they did happen to sleep in his house, they were nob without bedfellows ; ana some of them would even remark, that they had never seen so much company before. At one time Mrs. Whinge took a notion, that for a married woman to have her head uncovered, is a grievous sin. On this account, the practice of many of our young wives gave her great offence ; and, in order to be in the way of her own duty, she was accustomed to bring her clean cap into contact with the foul, and thus to remove the one and slip on the other at the same time. By these means the kept herself free from transgression ; but what qui- eted her conscience, excited a sad commotion in her head. The population there increased very fast, and at length, like our townsfolk, they became dissatisfied witl^ the country, and began to emigrate. Whether they 101 w«re going to the. Ohio or Upper Oanada, nobody oeold tell ; but I reooUeot that, when any of our yoangiters were obliged to set beside Mrs. Whinge at church, they were particularly careful to leave a clear passage for the departure of the travellers. If any of your readers disbelieve this account of Mrs. Whinffc, let them consider that it is so written in the chronicles of our town, and written too by Mephiboeheth Stepsure. Should they still bogle at believing, send them to me ; and, though Whinge Irvei in a mr out settlement, I will conduct them thither, and procure them a night's lodging. But, remember, I do not pro- mise to stay along with them ; for I may be needed at home. In the meantime I hope all your female readers will be^rsuaded that domestic cleanliness is much bet* ter calculated to secure family comfort than Mrs. W hinge's plan of covering the head and finding frogs in the broth. But beside contentment and cleanliness, parson Drone, in his younger days, was a great band for recommending domestic economy ; and at one time, 1 remember, after visiting the town, he preached a sermon upon the sub- ject. As he has acquired some credit, particularly among the young people, by his discourse upon mar- riage, I shall show you how he treated the doctrine of economy ; for, as he himself observes respecting patience, it is, in a family, a comfortable doctrine, yea, and more- over, very seasonable, and suited to the times. But I must first show you what is meant by his visiting the town. You must not imagine that our clergyman ever spent his time going about to make morning calls. The visi- tation of parson Drone was a season of much solemnity among our religious people, and of no less quaking among transgressors. In those days the old gentleman feared nobody in the discharge of his duty ; he divided the word of truth as every man needed ; and, as he re- gularly visited every house in the town for this purpose, each family heard from him those truths which he judg- ed best adapted to their case, whether they conveyed reproof or encouragement. a JOiii But, as I formerly obsei'ved, after one of his general visitations, he appointed a week day's sermon for the female part of his congregation. Whether hejpras going to praise or to blame, nobody could tell ; but everybody lU 102 ■ yras agdg ; and, though we men folks had not been invi* ted : mide, as well as female, the whole town were 'ithere. i'i/ .-■!■ r'»r;V' .v;j/, i ''. i--'^!., ^vwr For the service of the day, Mr. Drone gave out that portion of soripturo which says, ** 1 ivillt therefore, that the younger women marryt bear chUdren^ guide the home." ■X' !;■■ '/■: .i: LU'ii -("fj"- ;• v) ^ v ,-?':7 < On observing my neighbour Pumpkin's large family of daughters, I could see that they were wonderfully pleased. Some of them had staid long upon his hands ; for I have generally seen that bunaiing is not the short road to marriage. When a lad of sense looks out for a wife, it is never among those who have been in bed with a great many ]fOung fellows. Pumpkin's young ladies imagined that the parson, having formerly sUi^n it to be not good to be alone, was now going to prove that it was good to marry. But Mr. Drone, by commencing, set conjecture at rest. *' There are," said he, '* three points contained in the text. With respect to the first, I must refer you to my former discourse ; and be assured that the young woman who seeks to avoid solitude, without taking marriage in the way, is in great danger of getting company which will bring her to shame."' Here the countenances of the whole Pumpkin family fell ; for, though the oldest had acquired a good deal of brass, it was not possible for one young woman to out- stare a whole congregation. " The second topic," subjoined the parson, *' stands in connexion with the firtt, and ought not to receive a se- parate illustration. I shall, therefore, at present, direct your attention solely to the third, which is, guide the house." • Here, with the exception of a little fidgeting and shifting of position among the Trotabouts, who are pret- ty numerous in the town, we became ail very attentive ; and Mr. Drone proceeded. " Lt was not good for man to be alone ; and divine benificence provided for him a companion and helper. But she who was given him to be the joy of his life, soon helped him to sin, and labour and sorrow became the allotment of both. This is a fair statement of the case : let us next view its results." •* Ev^ry mind shrinks from pain ; and, because the exertions of labour fatigue, many foolishly conclude that ■% 103 an escape from toil is a relief fvom sorrow. But are those of you who work least, the happiest io the town 7 They have the fewest means of enjoyment ; and their idle life gives them time for pursuits which at last load them with misery." .v ; ; . , ; j • . (..■..(; At this part of the parson's discourse, a number of our townsmen, who had come to enjoy themselves at the ex- pense of the females, began to get very long faces. The wives of Tipple's customers all looked at their husbands, and the head of my neighbour Trot required a great deal of scratching. As for young ladies of the % Trot- about connexion, by their smothering a laugh, I could easily see that none of them believed travelling about the town to be a journey of sorrow. " Many," said the parson, " view labour only as the wages of sin ; and without quarrelling with the sin, they avoid the labour. But to map. In his present state, in- dustrious exertion is one of hfc<»ven's best gifts. It is the wise arrangement of a beneficent providence, to curb his vices, and thus protect him from innumerable mis- eries ; it is the means to collect around him an abun- dance of individual and social enjoyments ; but those who escape from the activity of an industrious life, do not escape to a life of happiness ; they become the deba- sed and profligate, and, at last, the wretched dregs of a miserable world. ** A life without care would not satisfy man ; and thorns and thistles, and barren land, were sent to give him something to think about. He would not limit his activity to the service of his creator ; and, now, his duty arises from hi^ sin ; and his activity must relieve his own wants. Here is ^ correct view of the case ; upon the earth transgression has entailed a curse, which man must remove by an industrious life. This, and this only, will gladden the wilderness and solitary place; will make the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose. Do you wish the excellencies of Carmel and Sharon to adorn your fields ? arouse activity to labour ; and then, in the restoration of beauty and f ruitf ulness to the face of nature, and in the return of rational and religious en- joyment to your home, you shall see the glory of the Lord and the excellency of our God." With this part of the parson's discourse, our females seemed wonderfully pleased, but Tipple's customers be- gan to yawn a good deal ; and Trot, who for several •^ days before, had been every where, and rsking every^ body what Mr. Drone was going to preaoh a^nt, fell fast asleep. ''^■>^ ^f^ ^^n ^V*'' ' /» " With these introductory remarks,'* subjoined tlie parson, *' I shall now proceed to the immediate subject of my discourse." £ " As labour is thus a general allotment, females must not eKpeot an exception. In the business of life they are still the helpers of men ; and nature itself marks out the sphere of their activity. With the rugged toils of the field, the strength of mftn coincides ; and for the de- licate frame of the female, there are domestic labours, where prudent management is mor^ availing than strength. By the misconduct of a female, labour and sorrow have become the portion of man. To the fe- male, therefore, it belongs, to be the sweetner of his tdil and the soother of his sorrow ; and when he turns to his homef as the retreat of comfort, and gathers into it the means of enjoyment, sbe must guide the house." " The female, then, who would be the guide of her husband's house, must make it the place of her abode : she must be a keeper at home. I do not mean, that, be- tween females or families there should be no mutual visitings. Well regulated social intercourse is a sweet- . ner of life ; but, recurring too often, it is the destruc- tion of morals and of all domestic enjoymen,t. The fe- male who views home as a prison^ — who escapes from it with pleasure, is unfaithful to her trust. When she is straggling about the town, there must be ill management in the house of her husband ; and be assured, that the heart of a husband is never linked with -the misconduct of a wife. Home hated by the wife, has no charms for the husband ; when necessity forces them to make it their abode, misery dwells there. *' Remember, also, that the female who lives with a hus) \nd, is not a mere keeper at Jurnie : she is ^% guide of his house; and whether she have the management of little or much, economy is the parent of permanent com- fort. By economy, I do not mean that niggardly dis- position which grudges the very comforts for which la- )9our is expended. It embraces the whole range of female exertion in guiding the house. Economy sees the mistress of a house, and everything about it, in their own places ; and every part of domestic labour, done at the right time. It takes care that the desire of pleasure 105 contracts no dcli i^ restricts iteelf to the means of enjoyment which a .lusband provides ; and, when it pro- ceeds to expend, it squanders not upon trfmoient plea-^ Bures : its first oares are the solid and permanent com- forts of domestic life. This is economy ; and now, let me tell you, that, because many of you want it, you want everything which can make honie desirable to either husband or wife. Through inattention to time and place, you are always in confusion, always in a hurry, and always behind in your labour. Besides, there is among you, a sad mismanagement of the means of do- mestio comfort. With some of you, I know, there is alternately feasting or famine, clothing with finery or living in rags. To your elegant appearance and feast- ing, as far as they are consistent with a christian de- portment, I do not object. But, surely, for the sake of fine clothes and frolickings, either to get your husbands into debt, or to be deprived of tho real comforts of life during the greater part of the year, discovers a disregard of domestic happiness which cannot fail to produce ill- doing husbands and wretched wives j and " How far the parson might have proceeded, I do not know ; for, upon topics of this kind, he was always long- winded. But just at this part of his discourse, an alarm was given that the pipe of the stove had caught fire, and had kindled the roof. To preserve the church, therefore, we turned out as quickly as possible ; and, indeed, the most of our females now needed to be cool- ed. The wife of my cousin Harrow, Dorothy, and a few others, agreed that Mr. Drone had given us a solid and sensible discourse ; but it was a long time before the rest of the females would be reconciled to the par- son, or even hear his sermon upon economy mentioned. Thus, by means of a religious education, beside the old woman and Dorothy, contentment, cleanli::es8, and economy, lived in my house. I must do my spouse the justice to say, that the prosperity of our family is not more indebted to my labours without, than to her thrifty management and economy within. She has been a good wife to me ; she is, therefore, mistress in my house ; and whatever she says about domestic afiairs, is law in the family. Some of your readers may, perhaps, suspect, that she has got into trowsers. You may tell them, that, were some of their wives there, they would be bet- ter men, and their families more comfortable. But, to 106 prevent all misrepresentation and mistake, I will give you the history of the trowsers from beginning to end ; . and I request all your farming readers to consider it > well : my sheep produce the wool, my family spin it^ < and weave it, and dye it ; my wife makes the trowsera, i and I wear them. j'^i MEPHIBOSHBTH STEPSURB. h '. 1" LETTER XIII. ..■4i,i .,.!»;; Kii .,*«, Gentlemen, — •^ At our marriage, as you may recollect, the parson told me that if I wished to have comfort for a lodger in my house, I must keep want on the outside. To me the advice appeared to be reasonable ; for want gives no scope to the domestic talents of a wife. When it arises from a husband's indolence, it represses female desire and exertion to please : it arouses feelings which, make home the habitation of misery. Determined, therefore, that my spouse should have fair play, I considered with myself that I was a stout young fellow, having so much time, and able to do a certain quantity of labour ; and then I resolved, that neither lost time nor ill-employed labour should stand in the way of her domestic manage- ment. Every man who works for his neighbour, knows time to be money. I, therefore, determined to make it money, by working for myself. Upon this point the experience of my neighbour TrQJb a;fli6r4<^ nie ft,p^^ji|^ warning. ''^'''^'-■'' <^f^'-^%- v ■ -V'-!''' m Trot, in his younger days, owned an excellent proper- ty, and was a good sort of man. Many a hungry belly he has filled ; and he has lodged many pennylesa travel- lers, who have long since forgotten that he ever showed them kindness. Nature had given Trot a very long nose, which was always in his way, and gave him great annoyance when he began to work. Indeed, I may say that his life has its direction from this member of his body ; for, when it was kept out of his own way, it usu- ally got among his neighbours' aflfairs, and at last the habit of thinking and talking about other folks' busiaess 107 el- became so inveterate, that, unless compelled by hard necessity, ho would never submit to the parnflil exertions of bridling his nose daily, and working for himself. Had Trot's curiosity been properly directed, it would| have rendered him a sensibiu and well informed man ; but his desire of knowledge rarely looked beyond the trifling occurrences' of the day. Respecting these, it became, by habit, insatiable. If a stranger passed when he was getting out of bed, he has been known, for the sake of learning the news, to run after him with his trowsers m his hand. When his own farm needed bis presence, he would get upon his horse and ride twenty miles, to learn what his acquaintances were doing ; and many a long day he has spent with Ehud, travelling through the woods to see what was in the traps. With such a, life, Trot's farm could not be in very good order. He had always more work than he was able to overtake. This could not escape his observa- tion ; and, in thinking, upon the subject, he discovered, that, in this country, the winters arc so long, as to leave very little time for the labour of farming ; and many a mile he has ridden, to tell his neighbours about the shortness of summer and length of winter. At last, the sheriff persuaded him, that, as the short summers pre- vented him from managing his farm to his liking, it would be better to give it up ; and, now, the poor old man, without property or even a horse to ride upon, wanders about the town hunting tor news, and will con- tinue to wander till his legs fail him. His large family, too, (and a fine family they would have been, had a do- mestic father been the guide of their youth,) are mere strolling vagabonds. Though they may be found in every part of the provinfee, they live no where. They are noted for doing one great day's work, drinking two, getting into debt, and then decamping to some remote part, to begin another great day's work. Trot had warned me that the summers are short. I, therefore, concluded that not a day must be lost j and, in adhering to this rule, I found my lame legs of essen- tial service. In this country there are many public du- ties and private necessities, which call a farmer from home, and which require to be carefully watched, if he wish to avoid contracting a disposition to wander. For myself, I had found a home, and had no desire to be abroad, and my feet excused me from a variety of ser- 108 '"V vices. I was not fit to be a oonstable ; for the people of our town are pretty long logged, and run amazingly when a constable comes in sight. In those days, also, it I was not supposed by anybody that lame Boshy was qua- * lifiied to be a juryman. In our town, I assure you, the bfUiness ot the courts is well looked to ; it is never in- trusted to either blind or lame. I question if there be . . another township in the province which supports as con- scientiously the dignity of the courts. When the sheriff summons so many to attend, the rest, except my cousin Harrow, Saunders Soantocreesh, and a few others, sum- mon themselves and their horses ; and, incfeed it is a fortunate thing that our people are so public spirited ; ,,. for, otherwise, the lawyers would get it all their own '^ way ; and, then, I do not know what would become of the town. But my neighbours are well aware oi the danger ; and whenever the attoraies come round, every man gets upon horseback and gallops to the court. Here, * the whole of them, aa otten as they can be spared from "^ Tipple's, abuse the lawyeru for ruining the country. By these means the lawyers are watched, and the coun- try well taken care of. As for myself in those days, the voice of lame Mephy would have been less listened to than the grunting of one of Snout's pigs. Instead of going to court, therefore, to abuse the lawyers, I staid at home, and wrought many a good day's work upon my farm ; and this I must say had a wonderful effect upon its improvement. I have generally seen that the far- mer who is often away from his own business, finds a re- turn to it up hill work. When he does farm, labour ]'; goes on slowly, for his mind is elsewhere. On the con- '^'' trary, I, who was always at home, went to work like a clock, and with a hearty good will. By these means, when my neighbours, by taking care that the lawyers ' should not ruin the country, became poor and embarras- ' sed, I, by degrees, got pretty forehanded, and could re- f lieve them in a strait. f ' ■ 1 i ** ^- wl * 'l But the increase of my property had almost subject- ed me to those public calls from home, which, by means of poverty and lameness, I had been hitherto enabled to ; avoid. When a number of the neighbours whom I had ' ' relieved in their difficulties, found it inconvenient to re- pay me, there was a great deal uf talk in the town about ■_': getting me made a magistrate. Had any of your read- ^^ era been in my situation, doubtless they would have felt a 109 It bject- Uans to had lo re- libout read- felt highly gratified ; for, as our townsman Justice Grul who sits in his bed till he mends his trowsers, frequentlj affirms, it is a high honour to be a magistrate. But th< thing was soaroely mentioned, when Pumpkin and Puff set their faces against it, and the affair was dropped. Pumpkin, who had long imagined that his large house and farm entitled him to the office, looked big ; and affirmed, that, were lame Meph, who hj^d been brought up by the town, to be set over it to rule, it would be disgraced forever ; and Puff, who is a gentleman, de- clared, that blind Bartimeus Beetle, our townsman, wah fitter to distinguish colours, than a lame creature lik> me to sit in judgment between man and man. Mj friends, then, had no way of exalting ma to honour, ex- cept by getting me made a captain of militia, but this the nature of my paces would not admit. ^ Thus, notwithstanding the good wishes of my friends, . my lame carcase could neither ascend the bench, nor be adorned with a uniform and epaulette. But, to com- pentiate for the want of honour, 1 was at liberty to stay at home as long as I pleased]; and 1 recollect very well that when our magistrates and militia officers, for the the sake of high honours, were neglecting their own bu- siness, my snug farm was in excellent order, and every- thing about my house comfortable. Let no person, how- > ever, conclude, that I either despise dignities, or would discourage those who are not lame from mounting to them as fast as they can. On the contrary, laudable ambition is well entitled to praise. When, for the sake of king and country, it submits to such hardships, as many of our magistrates and militia officers endure, it transforms the man into the patriot and hero; and these, I am sure, every loyal subject would wish to be as plentiful as potatoes. For the credit of our town be it told, that, though I be a lame creature, there is among us an abundance of legs, and feet too, ever ready to run when king and country call ; and not only to run, but to make the body which they bear submit to every kind of privation and hardship which comes in their way. Many there are among us, as brave, public spi- rited and persevering as Captain Hector Shootem; but, perhaps, you do not know the captain. Captain Hector Shootem, or Heo, as our youngsters usually call him when he is not upon duty, about ten " natured years ago. • good 1 rv young About 110 that lime he settled npon a lot of land, got married, and no man among ua was more likely tu do well. Hector possessed an active disposition, and oould swing an axe with any youns fellow in the town ; and, as he was a stout welUmade lad of at least six feet high, there was orery appearance that trees would fall before him like reeds before the wind. But his stately form procured him a sergeantry in the militia of our town, and then the ardor of hb genius gave him an elevation of thought which soared far above chopping and rolling. Hector was rather a genteel young man. With the spirit of a gentleman, also, he possessed the ambition of a soldier ; and now looked forward to his present commission ns the most desirable object in nature. At lat^t, by the usual means, his desire was gratified ; and, by selling his oxen, he was enabled to clothe himself in what he conceived to be martial glory. My neighbour Saunders used often to tell him that it was folly for a poor man like him, whose comfort depended upon his labour, to spend his time as he did ; that if he wished to be a man of renown, he was a stout young fellow, and might easi- ly make himself famous by lifting up his axe against .thick trees ; and that, as for swords, a farmer h»d noth- ing to do with them, unless he could lay his hand upon A piece of a broken one, and then, by putting it into a wooden handle, it might be very useful in the iall when the pigs were to be scraped. But Hector's military ardor was not to bo repressed. His head was full of marches and countermarches, wheeling, halting, and charging. As for the sons uf the forest, they did not belong to the enemy, and were never attacked. Some of your readers must conclude that this was empty parade ,: for Hector was a valiant man, and never feared an enemy in his life. It is true he was not a bloodthirsty man, as no bravo man is. Except killing a rabbit or a partridge occasional ly, and, at one time, a weasel which had dared to commit depredations among his poultry, I never heard of his shedding the blood of any living creature. But this was because the enemy never faced him. Had he been at the battle of Water- loo, or any other great battle, the whole world would have heard of him ; for upon a muster day he and his men would charge as boldly as if the enemy bad been there ; and if they bad only dared to be there, and , i(raited till Captain Sl.ootem's company put them all to til ■ i to tho bayonet, T am sure they would haye been skivcrod every inati of them. This ia not mere coojeoturo ; for, in the battle of Soorem's Corner, which the eompany fought wi^b Snout*8 pigd, they acted with a cool and de- termined bravery which excited the admiration of the whole battalion, and procured them the thanks of the commanding officer. Tho aifair well deserves to be re- corded ; and, were I writing dispatches instead of chron- icles, I would send you an account of it, as long as one of parson Drone's sermons upon economy. It happened, that, as Captain Shootem and his men were marching from the field after a general muster, my neighbour Pumpkin was huntinp; Snout's pigs from his fields. The whole herd, headed by Mr. Goslin's boar pig Mammoth, were in full retreat ; and, just as the oompany advanced to the sudden turn of the road where Jack Soorem's horse fell, Mammoth, who was ever at the head of all swinish mischief, rushed forward, and turned the lefl fiank of the company, before they were .apprised of the approach of the enemy. The squeeling •of Mammoth, and the shouts of the soldiers, were as good as scouts to the herd ; and, instantly, according to the tactics of swine upon reconnoitering occasions, there was a dead stand and a dead silence through the whole -^army. But, in a moment, the brave Captain Shootem * was in the post of danger, and the cool behaviour and 'bravery of his men were beyond all praise. Halt, drew, . niaroh, charge, were uttered and executed in the same ' breath. Terror and confusion pervaded the enemy ; ' and such grunting, and snorting, and blowing, and i throwing up of heels, had never before been witnessed in ' the town. Had the cowardly rascals only waited for - the charge, the carnage and bloodshed would have been terrible. As it was, it covered Captain Shootem with glory, and from that day's achievement he obtained the ; character of a bravo and experienced officer. > That your readers may justly appreciate the merits of ': the captain, they ought to bo informed that his military ardor and gallantry had to struggle with a great many ' hardships — hardships, too, which would have madb my f cousin Hdri'ow, Saunders Scantocreesh, and even myself, -i lose all ambition for martial glory. In the pursuit of " military honour, the pursuits of husbandry had been con- r sidorably overlooked, so that the captain's means of - domestic comfort did not keep pace with the increase of 112 his family. The sale of his oxen, it ia true, enabled him upon field dajs to make a warlike appearance, but it added little to the produce of his farm. In the mean time, the expense of treating his company and of occa< sional dinners with his brother officers, was an unavoid- able tax, which, when brought into connexion with hit farming, was not easily borne. But beside these difficulties, the captain submitted to to a groat many hardships which the world never dream- ed of. When he himself, upon public occasions, was gracefully adorned with the insignia of war, his little children at home were covered with coats of many colours, so assorted and sewed that it was impossible to tell to what battalion they belonged. Even the genteel appearance of the captain was not made without resort- ing at times to extraordinary shifts. Happening, one evening, to step over to his house about a little business, I found him in bed ; because next day being a general muster, Mrs. Shootem was washing his trowsers. As my business was a little argent, I called next morning, ind found him still in bed, and the whole family in con- •ttsion. The trowsers had been hung out all night to iry, and in the morning they were gone. This was an event more appalling to a brave man than the battle of ^corem's Corner, or. any other battle. To be absent from the muster, would disgrace him ; and to appear «pon the field without trowsers, might put him under irrcbt, or at least send him to Coventry. But Mrs. ;hootem, who is a nice, handy body, possessed a white letticoat, and. in a trice, the captain was rigged out in trowsers as good as new ; and, I must say, that in a petticoat he was just as good a soldier as when he wore his own trowsers. Nobody could discern the least dif- ference. For the credit of our town, however, it must be stated that the trowsers were not stolen. That night some of Snout's pigs happened to be out on a scouting party, and carried them off. Whether this was done to revenge themselves upon the brave Captain Shootem for their disgraceful defeat, nobody knew ; but, sure enough they were afterwards found in one of Snout's pens, ad- ministering to the cleanliness and comfort of a numerous family. After their discovery, it became an inquiry in the battalion, how the captain happened to be better provided with trowsers than his brother officers. This led to the discovery of the affair of the petticoat ; and t 118 m I a ■7or after he recoivod the name of a place in the nett province, of which some of your readen maj baye Hieard. At first, Mrs. Shootem waa wonderfally elated with *he honours of her husband, and ate her potatoes with a ;reat deal of pleasure. When the captain, also, re- turned a little gay from a muster or a militia dinner, he would kiss her gallantly, and sing, None but the brave descrvo the fair ; And Mrs. Shootem was a very happy woman. At last, however, finding it all song and no supper, she got a lit- tlo diHoontonted ; and, when the onptain ooramenoed his music, she would interrupt him with a stanza of grum* bling. But he was none of those valiant men who are brave in the field and henpecked at home. Ho who had discomfited a whole herd of swine, was not to be fooled by a wife. Af^er the aifair of the pattiooat, also, ima< ginlng that since its transformation into trowsers, Mrs. Shootem WHS plottinfT to wear them, ho resisted her boldly ; and, henceforward, neither kiss nor song enter- ed into their family comrauningn. In this state matters continued till lately, when & number of the neighbours begtin to complain to him pretty loadly of the scarcity of cash. Oaptain Hector did not like to be troubled with either their grievances or grumblings, and, in order to be out of the way of them, resolved to take a look at the Lines, and see what the enemy were doing. But Mr. Oatchem, hearing of his intention, assured him that the villains who uf*ed to annoy us at the Lines, were all reformed now, and peaceably minding their own afiuirs. The sheriff farther declared, that he himself really need- ed the presence of the ciptain exceedingly, having got into his house Bill Scamp and a number of vagabonds as bad, who regarded neither law nor gospel, and thoretbre he begge• ' / ^ ir:u gavest the to do. It is the industrious and benevolent christian whom his lord esteems : the man who combines religious principle and worship with activity, industry, ;. \ diJBfusive benevolence. Whether he be found pray- in^ :>Uit;g logs in his field, well done good and faith- /HiBOSHBTH BTEPSURE. -^.v-f.-" .ti". ;'♦'■ r,-' ; ^:,. . . , . -- , i,-'».-'w > ri^' ,-4'*'*'* i*ik iy . « iBW. - 116 ■:;• %ii.^i^'^'' V'N-- V>■"5^ v^i-f' :V' ■'• !^M 1!.. ' , I..- ,• - f LETTER XIV. , Gkntlbmen, — I formerly stated that in this country there are many public duties and private necessities which call a farmer irom home. I showed you also, that from a number of the first, L was relieved, by being neither a conotable lior juryman, justice of the peace nor captain ot militia. I shall now explain to you bow I managed those private necesvsities which lead so many of our young people astray. It has often occurred to me that our townspeople and Snont's pigs resemble each other very much. VVhether pigs derive any instruction or amusement from their mutual gruntings, I do not know ; but, though they are often quarrelling, and fighting, and tormenting each other, they always keep in company. Exactly in the game way, though our townsmen are needed at home, and might, with good management, be very comfortable there, they would rather meet at Tipple's, the court, or any other place of general resort ; and though, on this account, they suffer many domestic privations, and oc- casionally, when abroad, get themselves beat and abused like pigs, they return again to the same place and com- pany with as much eagerness as if nothing had happen- ed. On mentioning to parson Drone this feature of the character of our people, he observed that the causes of it are simple, and the cure very easy, if they were only willing to be cured of a disease which had destroyed the industry, domestic comfort, and religion of the town. " Man," said the parson, " is, by the principles of his nature, attached to society. He cannot live alone, with- out a perversion of mind or a deprivation of those social enjoyments for which he was formed. But the most of our townsmen, though married, have no home. The link which attached them to the wife of their choice, has been broken ; and, henco, the society which they cannot find in their own houses, they expect in Tipple's, or in other places of public n^sort. " Besides, in the human constitution, a principle of curiosity or a desire of knowledge, as philosophers term it, is an ingredient of powerful operation. When the "V ■ 117 mind is not adding to its etoclc of information, it b6> comes disaatisiied. But our people in general have not acquired that intelligence which can enable them, by re- flection and reasoning, to deduce from the stores of their own minds additional knowledge ; and they have no dis- position, by a perusal of books, to acquire the valuable information which these would a^ord them. Still, their desire to khow something continues in operation ; and to allay the uneasiness which always attends ungratified desire, they will neglect their business and travel about the town, to learn what their neighbours are doing ; and when a few of them meet, a conversation about Snout's pigs, or any other trifle, as it fixes their attention and removes the uneasiness of the mind, becomes, in the meantime, a sufficient gratification. " But that is not the worst of it. Bepeated absence from home ingrafts upon the mind habits which are stronger and more pernicious than the perversion of ori- ginal desire. Many of our people are often abroad when they have really no cause. They can no more stay upon their farms, than their dogs can stay at home upon Sun- days ; and along with this wandering disposition, some of them, you know, have contracted a habit of drinking which now forces them abroad, in the face of reason and religion, and at the erpense of true enjoyment in time and happiness forever. " Married persons, who would avoid such terrible evils, have only to unite in making their house a home to them both : and whoever does bo, will find society there, which reduces, within reasonable bounds, all incli- nation for other kinds of social intercourse. With res- pect to the desire of knowledge, no man who gives it a rational direction finds it necessary to quiet his uneasi- ness by running about the town. When he cannot en- joy useful conversation with his neighbours, by the peru- sal of books he will converse with both the living and the dead ; and, from the stores of his own mind, he will derive topics of reflection which will leave him no taste for the company and gratifications that draw other per- sons to Tipple's." How far the parson was right, I shall leave your read- ers to judge. For myself 1 can only say, that, having found a home and society there, I bad no wish to wan- der. I gradually furnished myself, also, with a good collection of books and a newsnancr and J thoo«'li no 118 Mi man enjojs a ratiooal conversation with more relish than myself, I have never fe^t the least inclination either to go to Tipple's, or to talk about Snout's pigs. By these means, my neoessitieg to go from home were con- siderably abridged. In the course of my life I have frequently observed that, as a domestic disposition delights in ftome, it has fewer causes to bo abroad. Every person endeavors to bo near those things upon which he imagines his happi- ness to depend ; and, in proceeding upon this principle, a farmer of domc:jtio habits who manages well, eosily relieves himself from a great deal of wandering. Some of the straggling of our town arises from domestic wants. Whatever necessaries a farmer does not derive from his own land, he must collect from a different quarter. Now, among us, there have been always a great many articles which our townsmen have judged it cheaper to buy than to raise. To provide themselves, therefore, with what a family needs, much time and running about are unavoidably expended. You are aware also, I pre- sume, that, in this country, purchasing and paying be- long to different sides of a book. A man in our town would sooner think of asking parson Drone to preach one of his longest sermons upon a week day, than he would think of buying an article without three, six, or twelve month's credit. On this account, after a great deal of running about and lost time, a necessary article is purchased at a high rate, (for all our townsmen stand out for great prices,) and then it makes a fair entry upon the one side of the book. But, before it finds its way to the other, much additional h st time and running about, I assure you, are indispensable ; and, after all, the high price must be paid. But, though my legs are . pretty long, as I stated to you before, I was never any great hand at the running ; and, indeed, I have rarely tried it, except when I was going home. Besides, I did not like to be from home. I have always had a notion, too, that time is money. 1 therefore concluded that it would be best for me to raise upon my own farm the provisions which others collected from the different parts of the town. By these means, no time was lost. La- bour, aUo, was expended as it ought to be ; and, upon my fields and crops, this hud a wonderful effect. But, after all, I must give our townsmen the praise of being, to an industrious farmer, a very useful and acoommoda- 119 any irely did ion, it it the )arts La- [upon IBut, eing, loda- ting sort of folks ; they find it cheapest to buy provi- sions, and I sell them. Thus, by tho produce of my farm, my travelling neuessities were farther reduced. But a number of uur people raise considerable of pro- duce upon their farms, and, of course, sell occasionally; and when this happens, 1 do assure you, it costs them no little labour and travelling. As they are often going about, they cannot be expected to have a great deal to spare. On this account, it is requisito to dispose of what they have to the best advantage : that is, to sell it for the promise of a great price, and the payment aa soon after as possible. But, in our town, those who have money in their pocket, are very shy about promi- ses ; and when they do make them, they are rarely of a size sufficient to please persons who need and expect great prices. The people of our town, therefore, gene- rally deal with such as Moses Slack, who is poor from thoughtless, ill management ; or with the like of Trot's sons, who, when the day of payment arrives, are not easily found. By proceeding upon this plan, some of them become rich in promises and notes of hand, which, by the bye, are amongst us a staple article of trade. But though they expend much time and travel looking after the promisors of g-'cat prices, they usually con- tinue still rich in promises ; and as for the notes of hand, they are at last sold for- what they will bring, to Truck and other chaps, who put them into some lawyer's hands, just to keep him out of mischief and prevent him from ruining the country. From all this labour, and loss of time and trucking, £ relieved myself by very simple means. As I owed no man anything myself, I was not willing to keep a regis- ter of other people's debts ; and, therefore, though I was as forward as any of the neighbours to help a poor settler beginning the world, the hope of a great price could never induce me to sell to idle folks or to ill-doing vagabonds. My dealinsrs have uniformly been with those whose payment gave me no trouble. But, as some of your farming readers may not believe that I could always meet with good and ready pay, I shall show them how I managed. Some farmers go to market with a bad article, and, perhaps, meeting with an ignorant purchaser, obtain a price which they do not deserve. By and bye, they carry him a better ; but the good article bring S iVi'UU 1 120 along with it. Other farmers again are uniformly noted for the inferior quality of their produce. In both cases they must hawk about for a customer — receive a low price, and then returu home, complaining of dull mar- kets and poor pay. I, on the other hand, considering that the world generally treats men as it finds them, was careful in the first place to establish a character. Whatever I sold, I sold it as it was, and at a reasonable rate, for good payers always expect to buy reasonably. During the whole course ot my life, also, quality as well quantity has occupied my attention. On this account, my produce of every kind was generally good; and thip, you may depead upon it, is a great help to mo in these dull times, for now it is bespoke. All your readers will now be satisfied, I hope, that a farmer, by much running about, does not always arrive at the best mar- ket at last. ^ ... But beside the preceding causes of absence from home, the store, the mill, and the blacksmith's shop, are the travelling necessities of our among serious items town. As for the church, it scarcely deserves to be mentioned. Though our people generally go there, I never knew it gave any of them a habit of travelling. On the contrary, were Ihey obliged to hear a sermon from our parson every time they go abroad, I do think they would become a very domestic sort of folks ; for Mr. Drone has scarcely finished upon Sunday, when they all hurry homeward with as much haste as Snout's pigs when the dogs are at their heels. But, if any of them yo to the other places which I have mentioned, the case is altofirether different. Then, nobody can tell when they will be home. When they leave their own houses, it is true, they are in a great hurry, as our people going from home usually are. But, as they get over the road they get over their hurry too ; for, except my cousin Harrow, Saunders, and a few otbers, I never, at those places, found our townsmen in haste. On the contrary, thoy will very contentedly hang about them the whole day, discussing the news, and a number of half pints Wttich they fetch from Tipple's ; and then, toward even, ing, instead of sending for any more, they find it most convenient to adjourn to his house and stay all night. But neither the store, the mill, nor the blacksmith's shop, ever cost me mu«h travel or lost time. The pro- duce of my farm saved me many a journey to Mr. Led- 121 |,rary, rholc |pint3 3ven« I most it. tith's pro- iLed- H ; / ; ■s'U. » ''■•.ii-'iit . ■ ' * . ' * •, , . i ■I'C i-. / ( ; J !>!" ger'a. My Rpouoe aad I were a homespun couple, bo that neither silks nor superfine produced traTelling from home ; and when I did go to the store, I must say that I always found Mr. Ledger a very considerate fen* tloman. To the neighbours who were crowding about his counter, he would say, that, as they were in no hurry, he would servo Mephibosheth first. To the mill, my journey ings were comparatively few. I did not, like Diaiiy of the iteighbonrs, for (he purpose of being often there, garry my grain thither by a bushel at a time ; and, as for old Tubal, when he saw me enter his shop, he knew that my pocket contained, the money to pay him for the job; and, if eten PufPs horse was there, he was put out till Mephibosheth's wa| shod. As yet, 1 have said nothing about borrowing and lending, which, in our town, are both the rab family, they were better at having on than taking care of. Like most young folks, too, they liked to live pretty well ; so that, by the beginning of next summer, Mosey, instead of labouring upon his farm, was obliged to work the most of his time to Mr. Ledger, and the neighbours who had supplied him with provisions. His own crop, therefore, was small, and ill taken care of. Now, a lUe of this kind is much more easily begun than altered. He who spends his wages before they are due, is always behind with his payments. He is, of course, . the servant of his creditors ; and, when he happens to work for himself, everything which he does he does to a disadvantage. What should have provided Mosey with 123 , as I said lis jouth, lim a good nailed old foot upon r since, its its length, or, indeed, My neigh- bor intend- 6 had only , and been who would , he would that Slack 11 Saunders lame thinii; and sharp jmpany, he mot be caU ad wrought ouse and I i. to one of upon a lot lities of ob- helped him aid do very new frame, e they con- ioth he and ike all the than taking iked to live xt summer, was obliged er, and the sions. His en care of. begun than ley are due, 9, of course, happens to le does to a Mosey with the necessary articles for getting on with his farm, had found its way to the back and belly of the young cou- ple ; and even those things which he had, as he waa often from home working for other people, were always out of order. When he needed a little firewood, a horse was to be sought among the neighbours. Af^r finding the horse, perhaps finding the collar cost him a great • deal of running. Then his own traces or the dog was lost ; and when these were found, and Mosey had got to the woods, probably the first stroke separated the axe from the handle, which had been split before. ' Mosey never thought of going to the mill till there was no flour in the house. Then in a great hurry a bushel was threshed— carried thither, and brought home at the ex- pense of a day's waiting and a half pint or t^o. In thii manner he managed the whole of his business. When farming is so conducted, little ean be raised. Mosey had, therefore, a great deal of travelling about the town in search of provisions ; and as may be suppo- sed, he traded with those^ who expect great prices, so that at last he becaioie very poor. With this kind of life, however, he dragged on, till he owned a few fields, which, partly from want of thought and partly from ne- cessity, received from him a miserable kind of cultiva- tion. Mosey, in the management of his land, was a rigid adherent of the old system of farming. This, some of your ratderel may not imderstand. I shall therefore explain it. Bwnns winter, every farmer, by means of his cattle, makes, abouv his bam, so much manure, which, when he can find sufi&cient labour in the spring, he lays on his land. I say, when he can find sufficient leisure, for the manure is not always used. A number of years ago, I recollect, our parson advised old Stot to lay lime upon his field ; but the old man very justly observed, that to toil himself burning lime would be folly, when he could never find time to carry out the dung of his cattle. If a farmer's hurry, however, permit him to lay his manure upon his fields, they first yield him potatoes ; and then wheat, as long as it will grow. When the wheat fails him, the ground is fit for oats ; and after the oats refuse to gi;DW any longer, it ia in good state for lajp ing down in grass. But it somehow happens, that, though our people who follow this rotation, sow very good grass, it turns always into sorrel. A few years after, the land is ■!'! •1 '•#1' t'j I 124 mt i^^/ ,.j lull u. V '" n . . again broken up, and ^rielda a special good crop of j | weeds, which, as our townsmen never sowed them, pro* ^^ , duce a great deal of wondering how they happened to ;) ^. Set there. This is the system of farming which Mosey ,' j., allowed ; and, indeed, I may say, it is the general sys- tem of the town. How it may fare with the rest, I can- not exaetly tell; but Mr. Ledger, after long forbear- ance, has been forced to sell out Mosey, and be satisfied with partial payment, for to put him in jail was of uo , , ,' use; and now h^ is jobbing about among the neigh- '/^, hours, till he oan get away to the Ohio, Upper Canada/. .: or to somo other country better worth the living in. ,,^, f <,j, From the experience of Mosoy, as 1 formerly obser-..,i,. ved, I derived mueh useful instruction. Though he la- , boured hb little Qolds so mightily, ap i^^arely to give him.. , rest, his crops were miserable. The principal part of , them was weeds, and even these were not like the stout y, healthy fellows which I occasionally pick out of my own ',| ground. AH Mosey's ploughing and harrowing could ^ not bring even weeds to perfection. I could therefore , easily see that fields, like cattle, unless they be well fed ,f and well taken care of, have a beggarly appearance, and ^i are very little worth ; and, during the course of my life, , ^ ■ I haveunifbrnlly treated them in a similar way. For ' my cattle, I provide abundance of fodder ; q,nd. for my j ground, as much Manure a9 possible; ^nd, as I expect from my cattle only reasonable work, from my fields 1 ^ , never seek moire frequent nor more abundant crops than ,,, > nature and good heart enable them to afford. By pur-... .;/^ ,, suing this plan, I have always plentiful returns ; and, a^ ^ J^^ I labour for profit, I take care to raise only what is [ ^^ ^ saleable. Though our- townsmen purchase a great many ,, , useless articles, nobody buys weeds, for they have all ... plenty. of ;Aeir own, ami therefore I never raise them. ^t .;^ The <»xperience of Mosey, and also of my neighbour ,; Pumpkin, showed rao that neither labour nor large fields , are sufficient to make a faraier wealthy. Neman in.,, our town ploughs so much, nor, in haying time, g'^ea , over so much ground, as Pumpkin ; yet he is obliged to , purchase flour for his pies, and bis cattle are half star* ved in winter. I therefore resolved to try how a less farm, kept in good heart, would do. This diminishedP the toil of fencing, and indeed labour of every kind ; but strange as it may appear to some of yonr farmer readers, it increased the produce of ray land wonder- -••J t.f i : .1^ h..'. ' + • t - 4 « i • v i'O 1 .:-J ■ f .?» 'f d . ist 1 'l> I ■• i ■•ff P' u '1 t t ■••'"i 'i '; 1! '1 1 i!!»i I. ^ 125 fully ; and now, beside maintaining my own family well, I supply Pumpkin and many of the neighbours. Thus, by getting on in my own way, I own a snug farm. I have also bought a good property for Abner ; and I can tell you a pretty long and feasible story about where the cash has been going to in these hard times. Let no person, however, suppose that I am one of the great folks in our town. On the contrary, neither Mr. Oribbage nor any of the Sippit family would demean themselves so far as to ask the like of me to visit them. Still, among our folks, I pass for a remarkable kind of man : I have a pair of lame legs — 1 stay at home — 1 mind my own affairs — 1 wear homespun^ and 1 have become wealthy by farming. In short, as I have been all along telling you, I am MEPHIBOSHETH STEPSURE. 'A' .( ■;.! ' \u^:-ii. LETTER XV « f' Gbntlimen, — • Since 1 wrote you last, I stepped over one afternoon to converse an hour with my neighbour Saunders, who, as you may see, does not want rough, good sense. Upon the same day Puffs farm happened to be sold to Mr. Ledger. Pu£f is one of our great folks, and, as he says himself, has done a great deal to keep up the credit of the town. Indeed row among us carried their heads higher than the Puff family, or expended so much upon dress, chaises, and other sort of finery. But Mr. Led- ger, who has also the credit of our town as much at heart as anybody, took a different view of the subject, and, by foreclosing the mortgage upon Puff's farm, in- terrupted his exertions to make us a respectable town- ship. When I was sitting with Saunders, the neighbours wore returning from the sale in very gallant style, soma in sleighs and others on horseback, and all hurrying to Tipple's or some other public place, in order to enjoy themselves a little before returning to domestic life. As they were galloping past my neighbours, one of his 13^ HUle U>js, who wai wondarfulty delighted with their appearanoe, oame running in, and aaked hia father to buy him a horse. Sauoden, thoiM(h a good-natured man, ia k little haaty, and witual, a deadly enemy U) our .townsmen's general practice of riding in chariots and on .horses, which he calls the abominutioa of the Egyptians. All at once, therefore, his hand was raised high for cor- recting uses, but, in looking at the size of Jie little chap, he forgot that he had been angry, and brought it down gently over his head, telling him to be a good boy till spring, and that when Mortar the mason oame to build the ohimneys for his new house, he would got him a mare. At the flame time Saunders observed, that fthottgh I had written a great deal about the manage- ment of my farm, the chrouioles of our town would be incomplete, if they did not contain an account of the management of my children. Many fine young familie i amongst us, he said, wore ruined thiough the thought- less folly and ill conduct of their parents. The youth ot.' this country, he added, were acute and active, and if they were only brought up as thoy ought to be, would become judicious an^ respectable men ; but many of the parents were fools, and tneir children, as might be ex- pected, turned out to be rogues and vagabonds. You must not, however, imagine that .vU our young people are wickedlv inclined, MissClippit, though for- merly a miserable sinner, is now, as she says herself, a very religious youi^g woman. In her own opinion, she knows more about experiences and marks of grace than parson 0rone himself ; and some of those who have at- tended her ministrations even aay that »ho can preach a better sermon. I could mention many others, who, when they have no opportunity to frolic or play at cards, very punctually attend those night meetings where mis- erable sinners like Mis$> Clippit are uU at once convert- ed into uncommonly religious peoplo ; and you may de- pend upon it they do not at,tend without prOtit ; for, when they go to Tipple's, which they do very often, they sing so many hymns over their grog, that he frequently declares his own house to be as uncomfortable to him as parson Drone's ohurch upon Sunday, ^ , . ,,,,,. , Our people, indeed, do a great deal for the instruc- tion of youth. All the Cribbage family, as soon as they are able to crawl about, acquire the first principles of {arithmetic, the art of castle building, and a world of in- 127 us genuity of different kinds, by meftna of the onrdf. The Bippitr. too, aa soon as they oan handle a cup, are initia* ted into the mysteries of genteel life, by having tea par- ties and frolics for their little oompanioos. When our youth get a little farther on, the boys are taught to get upon the mare and go errands, and also to road and write a little by Mr. Pat O'liafferty, or some other teacher as good. As for the girls, they are intrusted to Mrs. M'Cackle, who, I assure you, does ample justice to their education. Though this lady has never been at court, nor, indeed, farther into what is called the world, than to edge in at Sippit's of an evening, she knows all about fashionable life, and can teach our young ladies to talk as glibly, sit as uprightly, and walk as much accor- ding to rule as any boarding-school mistress oan teach a boarding school miss. Besides she gives them many other acuomplishments no less valuable. When they re- turn home to get husbands and manage families, they can paint flowers and make filligree work to admiration. They can also sing and dance delightfully ; and some of them can even play upon the pianoforte so well, that in frolicking times old Driddle is now ofleo out of employ- ment. As for cookery and other things connected with housekeeping, Mrs. M'Caokle and her pupils are careful to leave them to vulgar folks. Indeed, to act otherwise would be a violation of common sense ; for were any rational person to see one of our fine young ladies in her canton crapes, stooping over a washing tub, scrubbing a floor, or cooking a dinner, it would not appear less con- trary to nature than the sight of one of our genteel young farmers, in his superfine long tail coat, ploughing or harrowing on a fine summer's day. With respect to the religious instruction of youth, also, our town is provided with a variety of means. Our old parson, upon Sundays, preaches to all who are willing to hear him ; arid indeed upon other days too he labours among us as much as the care of his own cattle and pigs will permit. Mm. Sham and Miss Clippit, as I told you before, are likewise labourers in word and doctrine. In addition to these, our town en- joys the ministrations of parson Howl, and also of young Yelpit, who was lately converted and called himself to the preaching of the gospel ; so that upon the whole, our youth are by no means destitute of religious instructors. Mr. Drone, it is true, does not seem to relish the assist- 128 V': anoo of those helpers in the word. Tipple, who dislikes the parson, saj« that our clergyman hat been all his life praying for labourers to oome into the vineyard, and now when they are oome he is not satisfied. But my neighbour Saunders, who, since his conversion failed, holds them in utter abhorrence, declares that the whole seod and generation of them are under the delusion of satan, and no better than Muokle John Gib and Mrs. Buohan, who tried in Scotland to lead silly people off their feet with their ravings and nonsense ; and that Providence has sent them and their erroneous doctrines into our town, not for the improvement but for the des- truction of youth. Old fooln, he says, gallop about the country after them and their meetingn, and in the mean- , time their children at home have liberty to run into every kind of mischief; and young people, too, who fol- low them, get into a notion that they are converted, when they are only lazy, idlo vagabonds, fit for nothing else but singing hymns and cheating ; that if he had got his will when Mrs. Sham bit her husband's thumb to the bone, he would havO made her eat her own tongue to the root ; and that, as for Howl and Yelpit, fellows as igno- rant as his stots, he would send them to the hou^e of correction, where, if they did not learn some sense, they would at least get the laziness squeezed out of them, and be of some use in the world. How far Saunders' views and plans are correct, I shall not pretend to affirm ; nor, indeed, will any of your readers be well qualified to judge, till they peruse that part of the chronicles of our town which directly records the life and ministrations of parson Drone and hit^ help- ers. From what I have stated, however, they will all perceive that if the youth among us be not very reli- gious, it is not for the want of public instructors. In addition to these means of instruction, many of our young people receive also reproof and correction in abundance. Some parents, it is true, do not flog their children at home, nor would they permit Mr. Pat O'Rafferty to correct them ; and, indeed, nO wonder ; for, when Pat was giving Judy her schooling, it cost her many a pair of black eyes. Puff, and others of our gen- tlemen frequently say that the poor little dears are not sent to a teacher to be snooled and beaten, but to get on with their education. It is certain, however, that all our youth do not serve such an easy apprenticeship. In 12U «,. 1 . 118 Od >le Mri. Qrumble'H fau)!!), and among all tier oonnexionn, ' evorythiog begiiii^ with a grudgo and ends with a sould- diiig. When Mrs. Sham, too, returns from her meet* ' ' ings>, her girls, aa they well deserve, receive both scold- ing and beatinf/, for their nuglect of family affuirs ; and, Trot's sons, who Iways left the work when ho went ' afler the news, wure, at his return, lure of a good poun« ^ ^> ding, ;. ." ' " ' , ";•—'" " -« " ' n'' With some of ibeue means of education, our old par- son was novor r.-u!! Kiitifciiod. For the cards in particu- lar he was at no time an advocate. In discussing the '^ point he has often told us, that, before a religious mao 4-ecoive them into his house, he should be sure that their' ^ admission originates in a degree of good sense and'' piety, superior to the principles oi those who have repro- bated cards as an amusement unfriendly alike to per- gonal religion and the sober education of youth ; and, also, that before any parent employ theui for domestio recreation, he should usk himself, if, along with them, ha bo willing to srapple with that share or misery which they have eutaued upon the world. * ;.' How it is with you in Halifax, X ''o not know ; but the ezperienoe of our townsmen pr .'^-■vs no encourage- ment to any rational man to be a great ^>layer at cards. '' Cribbage, and a number of gentlemen, have frequent evening parties in each other^s houses by rotation, whdre they empty the pockets of each other with much appa- rent good humour upon all sides. But the losers inva- riably return home in a rage, abasing the winners, and sometimes declaring that they had been invited merely for the purpose of swindling them out of their money in order to pay for their supper. Not that any of our gunteel people aro swindlers, for a card player you know may fleece and even ruin his neighbour, and yet be as honest and honourable as any other gentleman like him- self ; but losses begot ill humour, and some how or other ill humour mistakes successful gamesters for rogues. In our town, also, Swap, Truck, and other chaps of the same sortK.f^e great bands at the cards ; and be- tw<^en thdpNtmusement, and drinking, swearing and fighting, frequently spend whole nights in Tipple's. But though tl^ happiness of a life of this kind be great, it is exposed at times to unexpected interruption. Not long ago it was reported among us that in the heat of M r ■ t ■a •fi ^\% tfS : M" m 180 one of their broils the devil himself was so scandalised at their conduct, that he appeared personally to com- mand the peace. The poor fellows, of course, were dreadfullj( alarmed, and talked of going to parson Howl to get themselves converted. But it turned out to be the brother of Mr. Ooslin's black wench, who happened to be goin^ past pretty early in the morning, and hear- iDg the noise, looked m at the window to see what was the matter. When the truth spunked out, the chaps returned to the cards, and defen«d their conversion till they would be more at leisure. With the frolicking part of the education of youth, our old parson was always displeased. In adverting to this point, he has frequently said, <* Young people need amusements, but both the nature and extent of their pleasures should be carefully watched. Thejfouth- ful mind pants for enjoyment ; and what it desires, it is prone to consider as the grand object of life. But in the present statb of human existence, beside enjoyment, /there is much duty to be performed and adversity to be endured. Parents, therefore, by their own reason and experience, should correct the views and regulate 'the)* passions of youth— not mislead and inflame their mmds by the over-wecning indulgence of .injudicious atfeotion, i^usements ought . not to be withheld from children ; but every parenii who loves his ofispring so as to consult their happiness, will study to render their yont^hful plea- sures subservient to the duties o^ life, and to that rational enjoyment for whioh life is, designed. Parents who act otherwise, are the worst enemies to the happi- ness ot their ofispring, and their children will repay them with retributions of misery. It grieves me to say, that in, the experience of many of you, truth speaks for itself. What are those whose youth has passed away in frolicking amusements 7 Have they arrived at reli- gion? at respectability in life? at the enjoyment of happiness'^ They are the idle, wandering, drinking, buodline part of the town ; in jouth, charaotetrised by their follies ; in old age, loaded with contempt and wretchedness." Though our people enjoy many a comfortabl^ap at church, whenever the parson preached upon tour topic, almo9t every one imagined that Mr. Drone was pointing at home, and not preaching to other people only, as in ordinary cases : and on this account, anger set all dis- ■-" ■ , . ifil <■•■'.*'> ^ 1 lli ' ■" m i,ir^ ^■■ar. to^, '•■' *r : i. ■ m . I i. « !pf ^.., i: nil'J.n ''■■• i(j;i/«w», i '.M»/ VM-i- »)vj: Si i • ii? firf'c ' r ^'f hiia 'i,,fc «^^ 1- i» -,'m&>4'^ 4 .V as ■ ^rt* " OS ,1 ',;-;; :'■ - ". * • 181 I \ ■ ■- ?^;%:-v:,':;.: Sosition to nod at defiance. To vindicate their own con- uot, also, they would abuse the parson as by far too hard upon young people. The Sippit family m particu- lar never i^iled to revile him for a bigot, whose narrow, - contracted mind made no allowance for the sprightliness of youth, .^fie Y^ of po use in the town, they said, ez- oept to give youns people in, dislike to religion, for he was never satisfied unless they ixppe pirayine or pouring over their bodies. Beligion, they would add, was never intended to naake youth miserable ; and, accordingly, to show that they knew much^betiter tihan the parson, and would not be priest-ridden, when Mir. Drone preached upon training up children, the Sijppits improved his doc- trine by a tea party and &olic, which usually concluded i with a bundling. When the remarks of the Sippits were repeated to the panton, he would merely reply that probably he might , be a bigot, but that the point for them to consider was whether he hdd told tli^'the truth, and whether, when they were misrepresenting him, they might not be cheat- ing themselves out of that religion which they would find very necessary when affliction or death knocked at the door ; *' and let me further tell you," he would say, - •' that a great deal of frolicking, and a life such as hu- man beings ought to lead, are utterly incompatible. Those who give the heart to pleasure, are not lovers of God, and so it fares for them. They take the frolicking first, and leave their pouring upon the bible and pray- ers till a period when these may afford them neither the improvement nor peace which their situation needs." And sure enough, when Miss Sippit was lately attacked with the pleurisy, there was a sad to do in the family. I formerly told you that Miss Dinah Goslin began to droop after Miss Sippit's tea party and frolic. This young lady, too, by dancing and bustling about to make her company comfortable, oad overheated herself, and was in consequence seized with a cold, which terminated in pleuritic affection. At that period, ajdpg with the disease, the thoughts of dying naturally occu^]^ lu^Now, the person who contemplates the grave, also^ | oavors to look beyond it, and from a consideration of the fu- ture, insensibly turns to a recollection of the past. But to pooir Miis' Sippit, the recollection of frolicking times did not link itself with the grateful and desirable hope ., of future enjoyment. Her pleasures had perished with 132 •m t * *• iJtC? the using, and their place was occupied by a variety of thoughts which neither brightened her prospects nor soothed her mind. She would have gladly turned to evidences of her religious improvement, but memory in- terpofsed, and supplied her with the recollection of times in which a view of religion, as the, essence of life and a preparation for death, made her miserable; and, as a "rude iniikfldt. was banished by amusement. And though she hathem. Secondly, I have got myself a great deal of ill will from many of the neighbours, who say that I have mad e them and our whole town a laughing stock to the rest of the Province. Old Grub, in particular, is very anx- : ious about the mending of the trowsers. He says that the high diguity vf hi* office ou^t to have bees treated 140 ^ with ffreater reverence ; and that, as clouting the cover* ing of his nether extremities was no part of his magiH* teriai duty, I had no right to meddle with it. He says also that things in our town are coming to a fine pass, when even the lame despise dignities ; and he hopes to see the day, that, when worthy gentlemen are sitting upon the bench to maintain the honour of the town, Mephibosheth, and others like him, will be sitting in the stocks, as a warning to revilers. That the worthy gentlemen should be offended, has grieved me sorely. In vindication of myself I must say that the story of the trowsers was told expressly for the purpose of showing his care to maintain the high dignity of his office ; for this honourable member of the bench does not always mend his trowsers in bed. Bat the truth is, that some of our young ladies happening to pass his house, and resolving to pop in and see what old Squire Grub was doing, the worthy gentlemen descried them coming, and buried the unseemly parts of his frame among the blankets, which was, surely, more be- coming ihe high dignity of his office than if they had found him in his ordinary way, as my neighbour Saun- ders expresses it. Indeed, he is, iu many respects, as I may by and bye show you, a pattern of industry and economy, worthy of imitation. ; Our reverend old parson, too, is not altogether satis- fied. He says that, touching the matter of the swine, I have allowed my waggery to overrun my judgment : that albeit he did nourish and maintain a few of thone unclean beasts for the sustenance of himself and his household, it was not for edification to hold up his la- bours among them as a spectacle to the world, and much less to place them before hb public ministrations. Now, I positively assert that Mr. Drone is not even related to the TttUiber family. He does not feed pigs for sale~-> he has no delight in feeding them, and, in dividing his labours would, if possible, place the people of our town before them. But when our folks starve him, neces-' sity has no law ; pigs must be reared, and, of course, the feeding of the town limited to the remnants and husks of his time. ^a la the third place, I have got a character to main- tain, and must take care not to lose it, as persons who are perpetually writing very generally do. Trudge, the pedlar of our town, is just come from Halifax with a large assortment of notions and news. Among other 141 things he telli me that when he aad Tag the trackman were taking a glass of grog together, they were both of opinion thai my letters were a very clever thing ; and farther, that a number of their friends were going to use their influeooe with goverament to get me a pension. This, you may be sure, was yery gratifying to me ; for every decent man likes to be respected by respectable persons, such as Trudge and his acquaintance Tug. At the same time I must confess that when Tru