UP STREAM : OX THE RED RIVER. 403 



which he inquired whether the honourable society 

 by whose sentence he had been deprived of the larger 

 portion of Ms merchandise, could not recommend 

 him to a schoolmaster's place in one of their re- 

 spectable settlements. I almost wondered that he 

 did not treat us to a Methodist sermon as a pre- 

 paration for our slumbers. .He seemed the right 

 man to do it. He exactly answered to the de- 

 scription given of the Yankees by Halleck, in his 

 Connecticut : 



" Apostates, who are meddling 



With merchandise, pounds, shillings, pence, and peddling, 

 Or wandering through southern climates teaching 

 The ABC from Webster's spelling-book ; 

 Gallant and godly, making love and preaching, 

 And gaining by what they call hook and crook, 

 And what the moralists call overreaching, 

 A decent living. The Virginians look 

 Upon them with as favourable eyes 

 As Gabriel on the devil in Paradise." 



There was a deafening " Hurrah for the honourable 

 Mistress Howard ! " as the party of backwoodsmen 

 walked off towards the gentlemen's cabin ; and then 

 things became quieter. I had invited the bears to 

 drink a glass to Mrs Howard's health, and had told 

 the steward to put down to my account the slings 

 and cocktails they might consume. Mrs Dobleton, 

 whose husband is secretary to a temperance society, 

 pulled a wry face or two at what she doubtless thought 



