44 THE LIFE OF PHILIP HENRY GOSSE. 



a light time. The fleet of schooners sailed for Labrador 

 in the middle of June, and from that time till the end of 

 October, when the crews had to be paid off and all accounts 

 settled, there was very little to be done in the counting- 

 house. Fortunately the brief summer of Newfoundland is 

 a very delightful one. Of the winter pleasures of Carbonear 

 I may well permit my father to speak for himself, nor 

 interrupt the unaffected chronicle of his earliest loves : — 

 " Parties were frequent, but they were almost always 

 " ' balls.' The clerks of the different mercantile firms, 

 "were of course in demand, as being almost the only 

 "young chaps with the least pretensions to a genteel 

 " appearance. Jane Elson one day sent me a note, inviting 

 "me to a forthcoming 'ball.' I had never danced in 

 "my life, and so was compelled to decline. Her note 

 " began, ' Dear Henry ; ' and I thought it was the proper 

 "thing, in replying, to begin mine with 'Dear Jane.' 

 " Having my note in my pocket, I gave it to her, as 

 " I met her and Mary in the lane, just below the plat- 

 "form. Lush, who had seen the action, benevolently 

 "took me aside, and told me that 'it was not etiquette, 

 "*to write a note to a lady, and deliver it myself;' at 

 " which I again felt much ashamed. This ignorance of 

 " the art of dancing caused me to refuse all the parties, 

 " and very much isolated me from the female society of 

 " the place. I do not doubt that this was really very 

 " much for my good, and preserved me from a good deal 

 " of frivolity ; but I rebelled in spirit at it, and mur- 

 " mured at the * Puritan prejudices ' of my parents, which 

 "had not allowed me to be taught the elegant accom- 

 " plishment, which every Irish lad and girl acquires, as it 

 " were, instinctively. 1 supposed it was absolutely im- 

 " possible to join these parties without having been 

 " taught ; though, in truth, such movements as sufficed 



