22 AN ABERDONIAN S CHOICE. 



when the sunshine had power to gild even the cabin and 

 the bog, and happy enjoyment made thoughtless days 

 pass away without a shadow of care ! 



And, again, Mr Blackball has chosen for his house and 

 farm almost the only rocky spot which this part of the 

 coast-line affords. As he himself observed, it was such 

 a place as only an Aberdeen man would have under 

 taken to clear and cultivate. In passing through Aber- 

 deenshire, one can understand how the energy of the 

 men of that country should there expend itself upon the 

 difficult and costly improvements we find in so many 

 places so perseveringly carried on. The easy land 

 around them has all been subdued already to obey the 

 plough, and only the rocky and stony tracts remain to 

 be conquered. But here and especially twenty years 

 ago, when Mr Blackball came the land was before him, 

 and better land is still within reach around him ; but he 

 prefers his stony spot. Does it remind him of home, 

 and is he in this way bound to it ? or is he more 

 familiar with the removal of stones and rocks than with 

 the tillage of kindlier land ? or is there something in the 

 blood of an Aberdeen - born man which makes the 

 struggle with difficulties an element in his idea of 

 happiness? How, in some parts of the world, do we find 

 man, and the circumstances in which he is placed, most 

 beautifully attempered to each other ! It is not merely 

 that man is gradually attempered to the circumstances 

 in which he is placed ; it is, as here, that man, already 

 attempered, goes forth into the wide world, and selects 

 from its endless variety that which is best adapted to 

 him. Can it be, as some now begin to think, that the 

 influence of circumstances in changing the habits of man 

 and other races, has hitherto been greatly exaggerated ? 



Another form of these early impressions was a source 

 of much amusement to me during my tour in New 

 Brunswick. One of my companions in this tour was a 



