50 WILD SPOKTS IN THE FAR WEST. 



sizes, stared with their bright clear eyes at the stranger 

 and his outlandish costume. The father and mother 

 were gone to church ; and the eldest daughter, a girl of 

 about fifteen or sixteen, was teaching the little ones, 

 some to read and others to spell, from an old well- 

 thumbed catechism. I sat myself quietly in the comer 

 to await the return of the parents, and listen to the 

 tattle of the children. 



At length the two heads of the family arrived, to the 

 great joy of the Httle ones, who ran to meet them. 

 The man presented so striking a likeness to one of my 

 friends in Germany, that, in my astonishment, I hardly 

 answered his friendly " Good evening." After they 

 had laid aside their church-going clothes, and made 

 themselves comfortable, we sat ourselves near the stove, 

 which in Canada often takes the place of the open fire- 

 place, so hurtful to the eyes. The conversation turned 

 mostly on farming and shooting. He seemed thor- 

 oughly to understand the first, and to be passionately 

 fond of the latter. He was just the man for me. 

 He spoke of the former abundance of game, which was 

 fast disappearing through the increasing population, 

 and he complained of the number of bunglers Avho in- 

 fested the woods, frightening the game, and crippling 

 the poor deer. He said he was very successful in 

 turkey shooting, which is still the same sport as de- 

 scribed by Cooper in his " Pioneer." 



When the night was far advanced, my host showed 

 me to a sleeping place under the roof, where there was 

 no want of fresh air — but I slept like a top. He had 

 told me of a lake, not many miles off, where there 



