IN A FISHING COUNTRY 



Michel the long year round, except when 

 the affairs of his guardianship take him to 

 some corner of the broad tract under his 

 charge, and save for rare visits to his family 

 thirty miles down the road. Two or three 

 days of village life, and he was always 

 restive to return. If the Government has 

 many servants as faithful, honest and com- 

 petent, it is to be exceedingly congratu- 

 lated.* A friend and close companion 

 shares the tidy log-cabin, is never second 

 in his thoughts, and throws a willing hun- 

 dred and fifty pounds of bone and muscle 

 into the traces of the traineau when Michel 

 breaks his way across snowy mountain and 

 lake. To come upon terms of acquaintance 

 with such a dog, to be accepted as one of 

 his master's guests, is a privilege; nor, 

 speaking with a little outburst of candour, 

 do the unhappy creatures which town life 

 and human selfishness condemn to pam- 

 pered futility profit by contrast: — what 

 things their dog-souls worshipped stolen 

 away, and such sorry gods offered them in 

 lieu! 



*Maybe I should change the tense, for Michel has lived : 

 but while there is remembrance of many a happy day in 

 which he bore part, ^Michel is yet of the present to those 

 who knew him . . . Extreme fatigues and killing expo- 

 sure, upon journeys in the public service which he persisted 

 in undertaking, cut him down before his vears were full. 



80 



