Nature and Human Nature

Peter were sitting on the wood-pile; the latter was smoking his pipe, and the other held his in his hand, as he was r

r," said I, "and th

, Sir," he said, "in the pasture

pipe, and taking a seat alongside of him,

r," said he, "of a night I once spe

l, g

at up as well as I could, determined to sell my life as dearly as possible, but I was so weak from the loss of blood, that I kept dozing and starting all the time amost. Oh, what a tedious night that was, Sir, and how I longed for the dawn of da

fighting yet, that you must be after murthering a wounded man that way? By the pow

ierced through me, and you might have eard it that still morning over the whole field. He sprung up and then fell over, and kicked and struggled furious for a minute or two before he died, and every time he lashed out, you could a eard a elpless wounded wretch a groanin' bitterly, as he battered away at h

life, for I saw a man and a woman making right straight for us. It was Betty, Sir, God bless

nd a drop of brandy in any of these poor fellows' canteens,

one from her shoulders put it to my lips, and I believe I would hav

stroke of the sun, Tom. It will se

said I; 'it's not in my ead this

two such marks as them, and you

a way she had of tr

s it?' sa

lf of my le

eing able to read doctors' pot-hooks and inscriptions. So he cut my boot, and s

on't turn and quit your

, 'don't 'ee leave Tom now--d

! How your early training h

e to pass that slur upon me. I am as well-traine

said he, 'I mean

rry for it. Many a better scholar nor you, and better-lookin

Let me see if I can find anything he

th a sabre cut. Well, he took a beautiful gold repeater out of his fob, and a great ro

eller's shop before he left the town,' and he gave the body a

d his sash, and then feeling in his breast pocket, he h

sash I will give you as a keepsake. They are mine by

id Peter, "she w

ing him, "for he was only a sargeant like me at

sher, but she can't make a shentleman. She took

ouldn't slip. There was a furrin trooper's orse not far off that had lost his rider, and had got his rein hunder his foreleg, so Betty caught him and brought him to where I was a sitting. By the haid of another pull at the canteen,

your own town of Plymouth--it's showery weather with

e, 'you will break my ea

I. 'I couldn't help getting th

orrid stroke of the sun. There's your poor

ow do I know? Somewhere

, she undid the furriner's and brought that, and to pacify her I had to put it on and wear it. It was a good day for M'Clure,

table," said Peter, "against her friend,

d dines at the mess. I don't suppose he'd be seen with me now, for it's age

wine every tay, which was more tan she did as a poy. But she'd rather live on oatmeal and drink whisk

was all you got for you

n't. One day, when I was nea

he, 'I have such g

are we going to have ano

have had enough of fighting for one wh

hat is it

promise me

said I,

promise not to lisp a word of it to Rory M'Clure? or he'll claim it, as he did that orse, an

gin him: he is the best friend I ever ha

, amost. 'Look, Tom, here's twenty Napoleons, I found them quilted in that offic

hem;" and stooping down and opening a sack, he took out the bagpipes, and struck up a favourite Highland air. If it was calculated to alarm the animals of the forest, it at all even

e way it squeals is a caution to cats.) When the devil was a carpenter, he cut his foot so bad with an adze, he threw it down, and gave up the trade in disgust. And now th

e since he disputed with the countryman about the plural of moose

y? Suppose we take

nd straight, and didn't speak for

u do, Sarge

act that way? What's the matter with you n

then he stopped again. 'If anybody speers at you where Ensign Roderich M'Clure is to be found, say on the second

at is all, but she was only a lowland Glaskow

have a new skiff there; suppose we all finish the morning on the lake. We have been up to the water

nderstand these matters better than I do, so

ter was placed at the stern to awaken the sleeping echoes of the lake with his pipes. The doctor seeing me provided with a short gun, ran hastily back to the house for his bow and arrows, and thus equipped and grouped, we proceeded up the lake, the cano

powerful, athletic man, and their boat was a flat-bottomed skiff, and drew but little water. Added to which, the young women had been long out of practice, and their hands and muscles were unprepared by exercise. I yielded at last, on condition that the race should terminate at a large rock that rose out of the lake at about a mile from us. I named this distance, not merely because I wished to limit

that the rowers would now probably put out all their strength, and take them by surprise, and therefore advised them to be on their guard. They said a few words to each other in their native language, laughed, and at once prepared for the cris

wards the boat, the toe of my boot caught in one of the light ribs of the canoe, which had been loosened by the heat of the sun, and I instantly saw that a fall was unavoidable. To put a hand on the side of the little bark would inevitably overset it, and precipitate the girls into the lake. I had but one resource left therefore, and that was to arch over the gunwale, and

he house, and get a dry suit of the doct

d himself, and would furnish me with what I required; and in the

t now, and put your best foot out, because I wish them to see

familiar with the management of those fragile barks, and a good swimmer, too, can perform. Peter was aware of it, and appreciated it; but the other two seemed disposed to cut their jokes upon me; an

us as we went; and Peter, as the latter told me afterwards, said: "A man who can dwell like an otter, on both land and

eter didn't seem to like it. He had lived so much among the Indians, and was so accustomed to their way of biling things down to an essence, that he spoke in proverbs, or wise saws. Says he to me, with a shake of his head, "a mocking bird has no voice of its own." It warn't a bad sayin', was it? I wish I had noted more of them, for though I like 'em, I am so yarney, I can't make them as pithey as he di

at, and the price varies, and every one knows that also, by telegraph. Before that, a judgmatical trader took his cigar in his mouth, sat down, and calculated. Crops short, Russian war, blockade, and so on. Capital will run up prices, till news of new harvest are known; and then they will come down by the run. He deliberates, reasons, and decides. Now, the last Liverpool paper gives the price current. It advises all, an

know that iron is firm, and timber giving way, that lead is dull and heavy, and coal gone to blases, while the stocks are rising and vessels sinking, all the rest they won't trouble their heads about. The man who trades with Cuba, won't care

d them by swearing the operators. An oath gives them fellows such an itch to blart, that though they don't inform, they let the cat out of the bag, and that is as bad. Tell you what, I wouldn't like to confess by telegraph. If I am courting a gall and she sais all right, why then my fun is spoiled, for when a thing is settled, all excitement is gone, and if I am refused, the longer I am i

Salem. They induced him by way of a rise, to ship a cargo of blankets and warming-pans to the West Indies. Well, he did so, and made a good speck,

he trail again, or I

ed it, Peter again struck up his pipes, and shortly afterwards a noble male moose, as much terrified by the noise as McDonald said Canada wolves were, broke cover, and swam for the main land. The moose frequently select such places to secure their young from the bears, who are their greatest enemies, and find an easy prey in their helpless calves. It is not improbable that the female still remained, and that this act of gallantry in the buck was intended to

derable distance from the shore, but it appeared, as I afterwards learned from the doctor, that a long low neck of land made out there into the lake, that was only submerged in the spring and autumn, but in summer was cover

ine specimen of his kind, for they are the largest as well as the ugliest of the deer tribe. For an instant he paused, shook himself violently, and holding down his head, put up his fore-leg to break off

, preparatory to a start, when he was again transfixed by an arrow, in a more vulnerable and vital part. He sprung, or rather reared forward, and came down on his knees, and then several times repeated the attempt to commence his flight by the same desperate effort. At last he fell to rise no m

, but still it carried a death-warrant with it, for he couldn't have run over a mile without falling from exhaustion, arising from the loss of blood. It is a charming day for the bow, for there is no wind, and I could hit a dollar at a hundred and twenty yards. There is another on that island,

s more beauty in a hairy leg, and in a manly shammy-leather looking skin, than in any covering. While his bald knee, the ugliest, weakest, most complicated and important joint in the frame, he no doubt regarded with as much veneration as the pious do the shaven crown of a monk.

rumpet, they mimicked the hideous voice of the moose, and the not less disagreeable lowing of the cariboo. The martin started in surprise at his affrighted neighbour on the water, and the fox no doubt crept from his hole to listen to the voice that called him to plunder, at this dangerous hour. All these sound

all, never disclose practices so peculiarly reserved for their own service or

hat one or both of them must sing. I therefore asked them if they knew the Canadian-boat song; and they answered, with great delight, that they did. And suiting the action to the word, which, by the by, adds marvellously to its effect, they sung it charmingly. I couldn't resist their entreaties to join in it, although I would infinitely have p

e, and it is at home there. It won't speak as it can do at all times and in all places; but it gives its whole soul out in the woods; and the echoes love it, and the mountains wave their plumes of pines to it, as if they wanted to be wooed by its clear, sweet, powerful notes.1 All nature listens to it, and keeps silence, while it lifts its voice on high. The breeze wafts its music on its wings, as if proud of its trust; and the

rsation, they naturally adopt an exaggerative style in writing, and the minor poets and provincial orators of the Republic are distinguished for this hyperbolical tone. In Great Britain th

's stories all night, only go on and play for me. Give me that simple air again. Let me drink it in with my ears, till my heart is full. No grace notes, no tricks of the band-mast

ain't that beau

r hands hard), "it is like the sou

e it,"

e; and their music is the most touch

ell you an idea that came into my mind just then. She imitated it in the most perfect manner possible. Her clear, sweet, mellow, but powerful notes, never charmed me so before. I thought it sounded l

r friend are just formed for each o

ation in the question. She knew not the

tell you by and by. Ol

hem with whom my early years were spent have passed away. Of all the fruit borne by the tree of life, how small a portion drops from it when fully ripe, and in the due course of nature. The worm, and premature decay, are continually thinning them; and the tempest and the blight destroy the greater part of those that are left. Poor dear worthy old Minister, you too are gone, but not forgotten. How could I have had these thoughts? Ho

uld acquainta

brought

ind

erred in the conversation I had with him, r

n tailler? Fan she has done with her brass cow-horn, she will give it to you. It can wake the tead, that air. When she was a piper poy to the fort, Captain Fraisher was killed by the fall of a tree, knocked as stiff as a gunparrel, and as si

he hand, and they danced; they couldn't help it when that air was played, and what do you think? It prought C

and last time Peter McDonald ever turned his pack on a friend. The doctor said it was a trance, but he was a sassanach and knew nothing ab

also, it has made me a new man, and brought

te tevil, and ted drunk, and she ain't neither; and if she were poth she would wake

, "let us lan