Jean de La Fontaine - "The Tales and Novels, v21: The Spectacles &c."

Lucian of Samosata - "Works, V3"

James Otis - "Richard of Jamestown"

Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne - "Memoirs of Napoleon Bonaparte, v14"

New Philadelphia Book Publisher Highlights Local Talent
Book and Publishing News from Publishers Newswire(tm)

Looking for Child to be on Cover of a New Book, 'The Model Child'
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- The Philadelphia literary world will celebrate the launch of two new players today, April 10th: Kay Square Press, a new publishing company focused on Philadelphia-area artists, their stories, and their art; and Kay Square's first release, 'With the Rich and Mighty: Emlen Etting of Philadelphia' (ISBN: 978-0-9815129-0-7), a critical biography by Kenneth C. Kaleta.

FlatSigned Press Alleges Don Imus Remarks Damage Legacy of President Gerald R. Ford
NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Nathan Yungerberg, an accomplished model scout and professional child photographer is launching a nation-wide casting call to find the cover model for his highly anticipated book release, 'The Model Child: A Parents Guide to the Child Modeling Industry' (ISBN: 978-0-9817018-0-6).

Books: Nature and Human Nature

T >> Thomas Chandler Haliburton >> Nature and Human Nature




"Beyond that vessel," said the pilot, "there is a splendid harbour,
and as there has been a head wind for some time, I have no doubt there
are many coasters in there, from the masters of whom you can obtain
much useful information on the object of your visit, while we can
drive a profitable trade among them and the folks ashore. How
beautifully these harbours are situated," he continued, "for carrying
on the fisheries, and Nova Scotian though I be, I must say, I do think
in any other part of the world there would be large towns here."

"I think so too, Eldad," sais I, "but British legislation is at the
bottom of all your misfortunes, after all, and though you are as lazy
as sloths, and as idle as that fellow old Blowhard saw, who lay down
on the grass all day to watch the vessels passing, and observe the
motion of the crows, the English, by breaking up your monopoly of
inter-colonial and West India trade and throwing it open to us, not
only without an equivalent, but in the face of our prohibitory duties,
are the cause of all your poverty and stagnation. They are rich and
able to act like fools if they like in their own affairs, but it was a
cruel thing to sacrifice you, as they have done, and deprive you of
the only natural carrying trade and markets you had. The more I think
of it the less I blame you. It is a wicked mockery to lock men up, and
then taunt them with want of enterprise, and tell them they are idle."

"Look at that vessel again, Sir," said Eldad; "she don't make much
headway, does she?"

"Well, I took the glass again and examined her minutely, and I never
was so stumpt in my life.

"Pilot," said I, "is that the same vessel?"

"The identical," said he.

"I vow to man," sais I, "as I am a livin' sinner, that is neither a
ship, nor a brigantine, nor a hermaphrodite, but a topsail schooner,
that's a fact. What in natur' is the meanin' of all this? Perhaps the
captain knows," so I called him again.

"Cutler, that vessel is transmografied again," sais I; "look at her."

"Pooh," said he, "that's not the same vessel at all. The two first we
saw are behind that island. That one is nothing but a coaster. You
can't take me in, Slick. You are always full of your fun, and taking a
rise out of some one or another, and I shall be glad when we land, you
will then have some one else to practise on."

In a short time the schooner vanished, and its place was supplied by a
remarkable white cliff, which from the extraordinary optical delusion
it occasions gives its name to the noble port which is now called Ship
Harbour. I have since mentioned this subject to a number of mariners,
and have never yet heard of a person who was not deceived in a similar
manner. As we passed through the narrows, we entered a spacious and
magnificent basin, so completely land-locked that a fleet of vessels
of the largest size may lay there unmoved by any wind. There is no
haven in America to be compared with it.

"You are now safe," said the pilot; "it is only twelve leagues from
Halifax, and nobody would think of looking for you here. The fact is,
the nearer you hide the safer you be."

"Exactly," sais I; "what you seek you can't find, but when you ain't
looking for a thing, you are sure to stumble on it."

"If you ever want to run goods, Sir," said he, "the closer you go to
the port the better. Smugglers ain't all up to this, so they seldom
approach the lion's den, but go farther and fare worse. Now we may
learn lessons from dumb animals. They know we reason on probabilities,
and therefore always do what is improbable. "We think them to be
fools, but they know that we are. The fox sees we always look for him
about his hole, and therefore he carries on his trade as far from it,
and as near the poultry yard, as possible. If a dog kills sheep, and
them Newfoundlanders are most uncommon fond of mutton, I must say, he
never attacks his neighbour's flock, for he knows he would be
suspected and had up for it, but sets off at night, and makes a foray
like the old Scotch on the distant borders.

"He washes himself, for marks of blood is a bad sign, and returns
afore day, and wags his tail, and runs round his master, and looks up
into his face as innocent as you please, as much as to say, 'Squire,
here I have been watchin' of your property all this live-long night,
it's dreadful lonely work, I do assure you, and oh, how glad I am to
see the shine of your face this morning.'

"And the old boss pats his head, fairly took in, and says, 'That's a
good dog, what a faithful honest fellow you be, you are worth your
weight in gold.'

"Well, the next time he goes off on a spree in the same quarter, what
does he see but a border dog strung up by the neck, who has been
seized and condemned as many an innocent fellow has been before him on
circumstantial evidence, and he laughs and says to himself, 'What
fools humans be, they don't know half as much as we dogs do.' So he
thinks it would be as well to shift his ground, where folks ain't on
the watch for sheep-stealers, and he makes a dash into a flock still
farther off.

"Them Newfoundlanders would puzzle the London detective police, I
believe they are the most knowin' coons in all creation, don't you?"

"Well, they are," sais I, "that's a fact, and they have all the same
passions and feelings we have, only they are more grateful than man
is, and you can by kindness lay one of them under an obligation he
will never forget as long as he lives, whereas an obligation scares a
man, for he snorts and stares at you like a horse at an engine, and is
e'en most sure to up heels and let you have it, like mad. The only
thing about dogs is, they can't bear rivals, they like to have all
attention paid to themselves exclusively. I will tell you a story I
had from a British colonel.

"He was stationed in Nova Scotia, with his regiment, when I was a
venden of clocks there. I met him to Windsor, at the Wilcox Inn. He
was mightily taken with my old horse Clay, and offered me a most an
everlastin' long price for him; he said if I would sell him, he
wouldn't stand for money, for he never see such an animal in all his
born days, and so on. But old Clay was above all price, his ditto was
never made yet, and I don't think ever will be. I had no notion to
sell him, and I told him so, but seein' he was dreadful disappointed,
for a rich Englishman actually thinks money will do anything and get
anything, I told him if ever I parted with him he should have him on
condition he would keep him as long as he lived, and so on.

"Well, it pacified him a bit, and to turn the conversation, sais I,
'Colonel,' sais I, 'what a most an almighty everlastin' super superior
Newfoundler that is,' a pointin' to his dog; 'creation,' sais I, 'if I
had a regiment of such fellows, I believe I wouldn't be afraid of the
devil. My,' sais I, 'what a dog! would you part with him? I'de give
anything for him.'

"I said that a purpose to show him I had as good a right to keep my
horse as he had his long-haired gentleman.

"'No,' sais he, with a sort of half smile at my ignorance in pokin'
such a question at him (for a Britisher abroad thinks he has
privileges no one else has), 'no, I don't want to part with him. I
want to take him to England with me. See, he has all the marks of the
true breed: look at his beautiful broad forehead, what an intellectual
one it is, ain't it? then see his delicate mouse-like ears, just large
enough to cover the orifice, and that's all.'

"'Orifice,' said I, for I hate fine words for common use, they are
like go-to-meeting' clothes on week days, onconvenient, and look too
all fired jam up. Sais I, 'what's that when it's fried. I don't know
that word?'

"'Why, ear-hole,' said he.

"'Oh,' sais I, simple like, 'I take now.'

"He smiled and went on. 'Look at the black roof of his mouth,' said
he, 'and do you see the dew claw, that is a great mark? Then feel that
tail, that is his rudder to steer by when swimming. It's different
from the tail of other dogs, the strength of that joint is surprising.
But his chest, Sir, his chest, see how that is formed on purpose for
diving. It is shaped internally like a seal's. And then, observe the
spread of that webbed foot, and the power of them paddles. There are
two kinds of them, the short and the long haired, but I think those
shaggy ones are the handsomest. They are very difficult to be got now
of the pure breed. I sent to the Bay of Bulls for this one. To have
them in health you must make them stay out of doors in all weather,
and keep them cool, and above all not feed them too high. Salt fish
seems the best food for them, they are so fond of it. Singular that,
ain't it? but a dog is natural, Sir, and a man ain't.

"'Now, you never saw a codfish at the table of a Newfoundland merchant
in your life. He thinks it smells too much of the shop. In fact, in my
opinion the dog is the only gentleman there. The only one, now that
the Indian is extinct, who has breeding and blood in that land of oil,
blubber, and icebergs.'

"Lord, I wish one of them had been there to have heard him, wouldn't
he a harpooned him? that's all. He made a considerable of a long yarn
of it, and as it was a text he had often enlarged on, I thought he
never would have ended, but like other preachers, when he got heated,
spit on the slate, rub it all out, and cypher it over again. Thinks I
to myself, I'll play you a bit, my boy.

"'Exactly,' sais I, 'there is the same difference in dogs and horses
as there is in men. Some are noble by nature, and some vulgar; each is
known by his breed.'

"'True,' said he, 'very true,' and he stood up a little straighter as
if it did him good to hear a republican say that, for his father was
an Earl. 'A very just remark,' said he, and he eyed me all over, as if
he was rather surprised at my penetration.

"'But the worst of it,' sais I, 'is that a high bred dog or horse and
a high bred man are only good for one thing. A pointer will point--a
blood horse run--a setter will set--a bull dog fight--and a
Newfoundlander will swim; but what else are they good for? Now a duke
is a duke, and the devil a thing else. All you expect of him is to act
and look like one (and I could point out some that don't even do
that). If he writes a book, and I believe a Scotch one, by the help of
his tutor, did once, or makes a speech, you say, Come now, that is
very well for a duke, and so on. Well, a marquis ain't quite so high
bred, and he is a little better, and so on, downwards; when you get to
an earl, why, he may be good for more things than one. I ain't quite
sure a cross ain't desirable, and in that way that you couldn't
improve the intelligence of both horses, noblemen, and dogs--don't you
think so, Sir?' sais I.

"'It is natural for you,' said he, not liking the smack of democracy
that I threw in for fun, and looking uneasy. 'So,' sais he (by way of
turning the conversation), 'the sagacity of dogs is very wonderful. I
will tell you an anecdote of this one that has surprised everybody to
whom I have related it.

"'Last summer my duties led me to George's Island. I take it for
granted you know it. It is a small island situated in the centre of
the harbour of Halifax, has a powerful battery on it, and barracks for
the accommodation of troops. There was a company of my regiment
stationed there at the time. I took this dog and a small terrier,
called Tilt, in the boat with me. The latter was a very active little
fellow that the General had given me a few weeks before. He was such
an amusing creature, that he soon became a universal favourite, and
was suffered to come into the house (a privilege which was never
granted to this gentleman, who paid no regard to the appearance of his
coat, which was often wet and dirty), and who was therefore excluded.

"'The consequence was, Thunder was jealous, and would not associate
with him, and if ever he took any liberty, he turned on him and
punished him severely. This however he never presumed to do in my
presence, as he knew I would not suffer it, and therefore, when they
both accompanied me in my walks, the big dog contented himself with
treating the other with perfect indifference and contempt. Upon this
occasion, Thunder lay down in the boat and composed himself to sleep,
while the little fellow, who was full of life and animation, and
appeared as if he did not know what it was to close his eyes, sat up,
looked over the gunwale, and seemed to enjoy the thing uncommonly. He
watched the motions of the men, as if he understood what was required
of them, and was anxious they should acquit themselves properly.'

"'He knew,' said I, 'it was what sailors call the dog watch.'

"'Very good,' said he, but looking all the time as if he thought the
interruption very bad.

"'After having made my inspection, I returned to the boat, for the
purpose of recrossing to the town, when I missed the terrier. Thunder
was close at my heels, and when I whistled for the other, wagged his
tail and looked up in my face, as if he would say, Never mind that
foolish dog, I am here, and that is enough, or is there anything you
want me to do?

"'After calling in vain, I went back to the barracks, and inquired of
the men for Tilt, but no one appeared to have seen him or noticed his
motions.

"'After perambulating the little island in vain, I happened to ask the
sentry if he knew where he was.

"'Yes, Sir,' said he, 'he is buried in the beach.'

"'Buried in the beach,' said I, with great anger, 'who dared to kill
him? Tell me, Sir, immediately.'

"'That large dog did it, Sir. He enticed him down to the shore by
playing with him, pretending to crouch and then run after him; and
then retreating and coaxing him to chase him; and when he got him near
the beach, he throttled him in an instant, and then scratched a hole
in the shingle and buried him, covering him up with the gravel. After
that he went into the water, and with his paws washed his head and
face, shook himself, and went up to the barracks. You will find the
terrier, just down there, Sir.'

"'And sure enough there was the poor little fellow, quite dead, and
yet warm.

"'In the mean time Thunder, who had watched our proceedings from a
distance, as soon as he saw the body exhumed, felt as if there was a
court-martial holding over himself, plunged into the harbour and swam
across to the town, and hid himself for several days, until he thought
the affair had blown over; and then approached me anxiously and
cautiously, lest he should be apprehended and condemned. As I was
unwilling to lose both my dogs, I was obliged to overlook it, and take
him back to my confidence. A strange story, ain't it, Mr Slick.'

"'Well, it is,' sais I, 'but dogs do certainly beat all natur, that's
a fact.'

"But to get back to the 'Black Hawk:' as soon as we anchored, I
proposed to Cutler that we should go ashore and visit the 'natives.'
While he was engaged giving his orders to the mate, I took the
opportunity of inquiring of the pilot about the inhabitants. This is
always a necessary precaution. If you require light-houses, buoys, and
sailing directions to enter a port, you want similar guides when you
land. The navigation there is difficult also, and it's a great thing
to know who you are going to meet, what sort of stuff they are made
of, and which way to steer, so as to avoid hidden shoals and
sand-bars, for every little community is as full of them as their
harbour. It don't do, you know, to talk tory in the house of a
radical, to name a bishop to a puritan, to let out agin smugglin' to a
man who does a little bit of business that way himself; or, as the
French say, 'to talk of a rope in a house where the squatter has been
hanged.' If you want to please a guest, you must have some of his
favourite dishes at dinner for him; and if you want to talk agreeably
to a man, you must select topics he has a relish for.

"So," sais I, "where had we better go, Pilot, when we land?"

"Do you see that are white one-story house there?" said he. "That is a
place, though not an inn, where the owner, if he is at home, will
receive the likes of you very hospitably. He is a capital fellow in
his way, but as hot as pepper. His name is Peter McDonald, and he is
considerable well to do in the world. He is a Highlander; and when
young went out to Canada in the employment of the North-west Fur
Company, where he spent many years, and married, broomstick fashion, I
suppose, a squaw. Alter her death he removed, with his two half-caste
daughters, to St John's, New Brunswick; but his girls I don't think
were very well received, on account of their colour, and he came down
here and settled at Ship Harbour, where some of his countrymen are
located. He is as proud as Lucifer, and so are his galls. Whether it
is that they have been slighted, and revenge it on all the rest of the
world, I don't know; or whether it is Highland and Indian pride mixed,
I ain't sartified; but they carry their heads high, and show a stiff
upper lip, I tell you. I don't think you will get much talk out of
them, for I never could."

"Well, it don't follow," said I, "by no manner of means, Eldad,
because they wouldn't chat to you, that they wouldn't open their
little mugs to me. First and foremost recollect, Mr Nickerson, you are
a married man, and it's no use for a gall to talk it into you; and
then, in the next place, you see you know a plaguey sight more about
the shape, make, and build of a craft like this than you do about the
figure-head, waist, and trim of a gall. You are a seaman, and I am a
landsman; you know how to bait your hooks for fish, and I know the
sort of tackle women will jump at. See if I don't set their clappers a
going, like those of a saw-mill. Do they speak English?"

"Yes," said he, "and they talk Gaelic and French also; the first two
they learned from their father, and the other in Canada."

"Are they pretty?"

"The eldest is beautiful," said he; "and there is something in her
manner you can't help thinking she is a lady. You never saw such a
beautiful figure as she is in your life."

Thinks I to myself, "that's all you know about it, old boy." But I
didn't say so, for I was thinking of Sophy at the time.

We then pushed off, and steered for Peter McDonald's, Indian Peter, as
the pilot said the fishermen called him. As we approached the house he
came out to meet us. He was a short, strong-built, athletic man, and
his step was as springy as a boy's. He had a jolly, open, manly face,
but a quick, restless eye, and the general expression of his
countenance indicated at once good nature and irascibility of temper.

"Coot tay, shentlemen," he said, "she is glad to see you; come, walk
into her own house." He recognised and received Eldad kindly, who
mentioned our names and introduced us, and he welcomed us cordially.
As soon as we were seated, according to the custom of the north-west
traders, he insisted upon our taking something to drink, and calling
to his daughter Jessie in Gaelic, he desired her to bring whiskey and
brandy. As I knew this was a request that on such an occasion could
not be declined without offence, I accepted his offer with thanks, and
no little praise of the virtues of whiskey; the principal
recommendation of which, I said, "was that there was not a headache in
a hogshead of it."

"She believes so herself," he said, "it is petter ash all de rum,
prandy, shin, and other Yanke pyson in the States; ta Yankies are
cheatin smugglin rascals."

The entrance of Jessie fortunately gave a turn to this complimentary
remark; when she set down the tray, I rose and extended my hand to
her, and said in Gaelic, "Cair mur tha thu mo gradh (how do you do, my
dear), tha mi'n dochas gam biel thu slan (I hope you are quite well)."

The girl was amazed, but no less pleased. How sweet to the ear are the
accents of the paternal language, or the mother tongue as we call it,
for it is women who teach us to talk. It is a bond of union! Whoever
speaks it, when we are in a land of strangers, is regarded as a
relative. I shall never forget when I was in the bazaar at Calcutta,
how my heart leaped at hearing the voice of a Connecticut man as he
was addressing a native trader.

"Tell you what, stranger," said he, "I feel as mad as a meat axe, and
I hope I may be darned to all darnation, if I wouldn't chaw up your
ugly mummyised corpse, hair, hide, and hoof, this blessed minute, as
quick as I would mother's dough-nuts, if I warn't afraid you'd pyson
me with your atimy, I'll be dod drotted if I wouldn't."

Oh, how them homespun words, coarse as they were, cheered my drooping
spirits, and the real Connecticut nasal twang with which they were
uttered sounded like music to my ears; how it brought up home and
far-off friends to my mind, and how it sent up a tear of mingled joy
and sadness to my eye.

Peter was delighted. He slapped me on the back with a hearty good
will, in a way nearly to deprive me of my breath, welcomed me anew,
and invited us all to stay with him while the vessel remained there.
Jessie replied in Gaelic, but so rapidly I could only follow her with
great difficulty, for I had but a smattering of it, though I
understood it better than I could speak it, having acquired it in a
very singular manner, as I will tell you by and by. Offering her a
chair, she took it and sat down after some hesitation, as if it was
not her usual habit to associate with her father's visitors, and we
were soon on very sociable terms. I asked the name of the trading post
in the north-west where they had resided, and delighted her by
informing her I had once been there myself on business of John Jacob
Astor's New York Fur Company, and staid with the Governor, who was the
friend and patron of her father's. This was sufficient to establish us
at once on something like the footing of old friends. When she
withdrew, Peter followed her out, probably to give some directions for
our evening meal.

"Well, well," said the pilot, "if you don't beat all! I never could
get a word out of that girl, and you have loosened her tongue in rale
right down earnest, that's a fact."

"Eldad," sais I, "there is two sorts of pilotage, one that enables you
to steer through life, and another that carries you safely along a
coast, and there is this difference between them: This universal globe
is all alike in a general way, and the knowledge that is sufficient
for one country will do for all the rest of it, with some slight
variations. Now you may be a very good pilot on this coast, but your
knowledge is no use to you on the shores of England. A land pilot is a
fool if he makes shipwreck wherever he is, but the best of coast
pilots when he gets on a strange shore is as helpless as a child. Now
a woman is a woman all over the world, whether she speaks Gaelic,
French, Indian, or Chinese; there are various entrances to her heart,
and if you have experience, you have got a compass which will enable
you to steer through one or the other of them, into the inner harbour
of it. Now, Minister used to say that Eve in Hebrew meant talk, for
providence gave her the power of chattyfication on purpose to take
charge of that department. Clack then you see is natural to them; talk
therefore to them as they like, and they will soon like to talk to
you. If a woman was to put a Bramah lock on her heart, a skilful man
would find his way into it if he wanted to, I know. That contrivance
is set to a particular word; find the letters that compose it, and it
opens at once. The moment I heard the Gaelic, I knew I had discovered
the cypher--I tried it and succeeded. Tell you what, Pilot, love and
skill laugh at locks, for them that can't be opened can be picked. The
mechanism of the human heart, when you thoroughly understand it, is,
like all the other works of nature, very beautiful, very wonderful,
but very simple. When it does not work well, the fault is not in the
machinery, but in the management."



CHAPTER IV.

A CRITTER WITH A THOUSAND VIRTUES AND BUT ONE VICE.


Soon after McDonald had returned and resumed his seat, a tall thin
man, dressed in a coarse suit of homespun, entered the room, and
addressing our host familiarly as Squire Peter, deposited in the
corner a fishing-rod, and proceeded to disencumber himself of a large
salmon basket apparently well filled, and also two wallets, one of
which seemed to contain his clothes, and the other, from the dull
heavy sound it emitted as he threw it on the floor, some tools. He was
about forty years of age. His head, which was singularly well formed,
was covered with a luxuriant mass of bushy black curls. His eyes were
large, deep set, and intelligent, his forehead expansive and
projecting, and his eyebrows heavy and shaggy. When addressing Peter
he raised them up in a peculiar manner, nearly to the centre of his
forehead, and when he ceased they suddenly dropped and partially
concealed his eyes.

It was impossible not to be attracted by a face that had two such
remarkable expressions; one of animation, amiability, and
intelligence; and the other of total abstraction. He bent forward,
even after he relieved himself of his load, and his attitude and gait
suggested the idea of an American land-surveyor, who had been
accustomed to carry heavy weights in the forest. Without condescending
to notice the party, further than bestowing on us a cursory glance to
ascertain whether he knew any of us, he drew up to the chimney corner,
and placing the soles of his boots perpendicularly to the fire (which
soon indicated by the vapour arising from them that he had been wading
in water), he asked in a listless manner and without waiting for
replies, some unconnected questions of the landlord: as, "Any news,
Peter? how does the world use you? how are the young ladies? how is
fish this season? macarel plenty? any wrecks this year, Peter, eh? any
vessels sinking and dead men floating; silks, satins, ribbons, and
gold watches waiting to be picked up? Glorious coast this! the harvest
extends over the whole year." And then he drew his hand over his face
as if to suppress emotion, and immediately relapsed into silence and
stared moodily into the fire.