The Land of the IVinanishe 



of childhood. The boy's appetite and the 

 boy's rest come back; and as he sits before 

 the fire made of wood which the spring 

 torrent has piled up almost at his door, the 

 simple jest or the well-worn tale has a zest 

 beyond all the wit of the city clubs. 



Among a score of canoemen, there is 

 pretty certainly one whose fiddle can help 

 to brighten the evening. If " les Mes- 

 sieurs" are too weary to dance, the canoe- 

 men have a never-failing reserve of agility. 

 But there is nothing frivolous in their dan- 

 cing, and its mirth is a solemn joy. No 

 man in front of battle ever wore a sterner 

 look than does Xavier as he prepares to 

 out-dance Pitre, while the feet of Aunis, the 

 fiddler, keep time with an incessant heel 

 and toe. After the dance, the song. Some 

 one of the group standing or sitting about, 

 or, quite as likely, in canoeman's fashion, 

 resting on one knee, starts an old chan- 

 son, perhaps Cecilia or En roulant ma boule, 

 and the rest take up the refrain. 



But what are these impromptu merry- 

 makings to \hzfete which is held on the 

 national day of Canada or of the United 

 States, and to which invitation is given after 

 mass to all the parish, the poachers who 

 have been detected being especially bidden, 

 that they may know that no bitterness is 



70 



