Our Little Canadian Cousin

proved a very apt pupil. He soon learned to avoid striking one snow-shoe against the other, and fell quickly into that long, easy swing, which makes the snowy miles go by so q

the firs and hemlocks rising like green islands out of a snowy sea, and the wonderful tracery of brown boughs against the pale

OULD BE MORE BEAUTIFUL TH

oasting,-not tobogganing, but good, old-fashioned coasting, generally on College Hill, but sometimes down the steep bank of the river. Coasting parties were frequent, and it was a pret

s becomes, unless one consults the thermometer. Canadians, as a rule, spend a great deal of time in the open air in winter as well as summer, and are as hardy a

a delightful spin. They would all be warmly wrapped in woollens and furs, and snuggled in buffalo-robes; the bells

As the latter quite agreed with this idea, they decided to go on the following morning, spend a long day with the friends they always visited there, and return by moonlight. Hemlock Point

s a boy; his two unmarried sisters, who managed his house and thought they managed him, but really spoilt him to his heart's content; and an orphan niece, who had lived with them for several years, and w

nd Jackie's crimson and Marjorie's bright blue,-and Mrs. Merrithew herself, snugly wrapped in furs, brought a grand supply of extra cloaks and shawls. She was always prepared for any emergency. Mr. Merrithew said that he never knew her fail to produce pins,

e conversation, as the horses swung at a good speed along the level. When the hills began to rise, the pac

he varied and lovely landscapes. "There are so many things yet for you to s

laughed

for you to see in Montreal?" she sa

ace, Dora," Jack interrupted.

ittering ice, and the hundreds of snow-shoers, in bright costumes and

s done, "but I'd rather storm Hemlock Point, and ge

y allusions to a possible visit of Marjorie alone to Montreal. She could not bear the thought

ore till he woke on a couch in Miss Grier's sitting-room. The oldest Miss Grier-whom every one called Miss Prudence-was bustling about, helping Marjorie and Dora off with their things, and giving advice to Miss Alma, who was hastening to start a fire in the

n, you are the very lit

rown-up at all, and whose small head was almost weighted down by i

mall parcels; and I'm big enough to hold you on my lap whi

he pretty hair getting loosened from its fastenings and tumbling in w

ow you are a fairy godmother!" ex

, no more noise, no more anything, until we get the wraps all off and p

s ear, and caused him to smile contentedly, and to s

plates of "sops-of-wine" and golden pippins within easy reach, and Mr. Grier and Mr. Merrithew talked farming and politics

miles around, and loved to hear the annals of the neighbourhood, told in Miss

nd and ice-bound river; then turning back to the cosey interior, with it

Mrs. Merrithew said it could not be made cheery all of a sudden. The children, however, loved the long room, and the mysterious feeling it gave them when they first went in, and had to grope their way to the windows, draw back the curtains, and put up the yellow Venetian blinds, letting the clear, wintry light into this shadowy domain. This light brought out the rich, dark colours of the carpet, and showed the treasures of chairs and tables that would have made a collector's mouth water. There was a round table of polished mahogany in the centre of the room, a tiny butternut sewing-

f the kitchen. Not far away was the big spinning-wheel. Miss Dean tried to teach them to spin, and when they found it was not so easy as it looked, gave them a specimen of how it should be done that seemed almost magical. There is, indeed, something that sugges

mother. In the attic, great bunches of herbs hung drying from the rafters, and the air was sweet with the scent of them. There were sage, summer-savoury, sweet marjoram, sweet basil, mint, and many more, with

said, "I would come up here often

on at the little girl's eager face. "I love it! And sometimes, when I feel another

r's den, and read-and talk-and everything!"

s asked me, and now it's just a question of how soon Aunt Pruden

, laughing, and Jackie added, "and then-when you do come-

dy unlocked a china-closet, and brought out specimens of the beautiful delicate ware which their grandmother had brought over with her from Ireland, and of which, in all these ye

ut Mrs. Merrithew, with three children, all rather hasty in their

ar Prudence, if you are determined to give us tea after that big dinner, we wil

half an hour, and I do hate to have you go! But I know how you feel about being out late with the children, and y

cooking of which Miss Prudence was noted throughout the country. Then the horses were brought to the door, tos

ame to the up-hill stretches, they soon sobered down, and were content with a reasonable pace. Warm and cosey, nestled against his mother, Jackie soon slept as before; but the othe

unt Dinah's q

eing Nel