The Land of Vie Winanishe 



Then, too, is the time when the surrepti- 

 tious small boy, from St. Joseph d'Alma 

 opposite, with a fine fat stone-fly, a plump 

 grasshopper, or a juicy angleworm, takes 

 that particular " grosse des grosses " for the 

 chance of which you have traded away 

 your turn at the Caron or at the Remou 

 de Monsieur Farine, the local rendering of 

 a Mr. Flower's name. Confirmed poach- 

 ers can be spiritually disciplined by the 

 Cure ; but what is to be done to an urchin 

 who says, " I comprehend not at all ; I 

 am deaf and dumb " ? 



The slide when dry is a convenient 

 roadway to the bridge which crosses to 

 the village. At the post-office the whole 

 stock of letters is exhibited that, besides 

 picking out your own, you, naturally 

 knowing everybody in Canada or the 

 United States, may advise as to the de- 

 spatch of other people's. A visit to Mon- 

 sieur le Cure is always a pleasant interlude. 

 "We are only commencing in this par- 

 ish," says the tall, good-looking young 

 priest, by way of apology for the ladder 

 which leads instead of steps to the plat- 

 form that runs round the house, and for 

 the absence of the prim flowerbeds en- 

 closed by whitewashed cobblestones which 

 ought to adorn the presbytery garden. 



75 



