128 THE FAMILY. 



is supposed to be a moral lesson paper for children ; but I will not 

 stop longer to describe these things, but pass on to the family, 

 which comes next in order. 



Here also we come to a difficulty : that of describing a Labrador 

 family. It would be unkind to describe the family where I stopped 

 while on the coast, also any one particular family might feel justly 

 indignant should I describe //^.f/r family, and yet to do justice to the 

 subject a description should be given. Still we shall not be out of 

 the way should we suppose a family composed of a middle aged man 

 and his wife ; either an old gentleman or an aged grandmother ; 

 perhaps a daughter or a son (from 15 to 20 years of age) or both ; 

 two or three small children and a baby ; and, to aid in times of gen- 

 eral confusion, when such times come, which happens more often 

 than the opposite extreme, several large, fierce, full-grown dogs and 

 one or two puppies that are always in the way, and in a continual 

 state of warfare with themselves, the people in the house, — who are 

 always scolding them — and everybody and everything in gen- 

 eral. When the houses have porches, as nearly all the winter houses 

 do, the dogs and children live in the porch together nearly all the time, 

 — in fact it is often difficult to tell which make the most noise, and in 

 the general confusion that continually prevails, to pick out or 

 distinguish the one from the other. Of course the utmost sim- 

 plicity of dress prevails among both men and women, as the richest 

 here are poor at best ; the goods worn are coarse and thick, but 

 rough as they are, they are better for the harsh treatment they re- 

 ceive than if they were of a much nicer quality. There is, of 

 course, a certain atmosphere of home even here, but it is often hard 

 to distinguish it, or tell when it is present, as the prevailing confu- 

 sion which such small quarters necessitate is rarely lulled ; and when 

 it IS, peaceful sleep usually reigns. I do not wish to convey the 

 impression that somebody is always quarrelling with something, but 

 there is a constant chatter going on most all of the time, and when 

 quarrelling is not in order, as it frequently is, the loud talking of 

 different parties between themselves takes its place. It seems to 

 be the usual way of putting one down, as we say, to see which can 



