Nature and Human Nature

"is there any harbour about here where our folks can do a little

if the 'Spitfire' floats at the flood, Cap

I, and I gave him a wink. "If so we can put into port; but I don't think we

needed, and when they are going on, the mate and I can attend to the business of the o

hat was chased?" said he. "I

sure it wa

" said he: "well, you can't see it where you stand just now at present; but the 'Sary Ann' shows her name there now, and we have a set of papers to correspond. I g

board before, warn't above a dodge of this kind. If it comes to the scratch, you must take the command agai

reak the treaty no more. I reckon the 'Spitfire,' after all, would just as soon be in port as looking

the mate and men understand the whole thing. It ain't the

od as the 'Black Hawk,' every mite and morsel. There is a good deal of fun in altering sign-boards. I

op an

lor

her Josiah and I got a paintbr

p and

yl

a m

as the folks were going to church, they stood and laughed

in natur is all that ondecent noi

to look grave; but I see a twinkle in his eye, and the corner of his mouth twit

Sam,' he said; 'it ma

aid I, 'I hope you

I know it was you, for it's just like

orth from no c

tly,'

r part, there all

,' and he put on a serious face, and wen

courage to do that. Dear me!" sais I to myself, "when was there ever a law that couldn't be evaded; a tax that couldn't be shuffled off like an old slipper; a prohibition that a smuggler couldn't row right straight through, or a treaty that hadn't more holes in it than a dozen supplemental ones could patch up? It's a high fence that can't be scaled, and a strong one that can't be broke down. When there are accomplices in t

I want to avoid a scrape if I can, so put us in a

r Slick, look yonder," pointing

"but it is curious she has got the win

if we get foul of her, we shall be sunk in

and I will go on board of her and show my commission as an officer o

xamined her. "A large square-rigged vessel," he said, "under

id: "Look again, Mr Slick,

s only a brigantine;

ve southerly weather I think; she loomed very large when I first saw her, and I took her for a ship; but now s

ers of whom you can obtain much useful information on the object of your visit, while we can drive a profitable trade among them and the folks ashore. How beautifully these harbour

English, by breaking up your monopoly of inter-colonial and West India trade and throwing it open to us, not only without an equivalent, but in the face of our prohibitory duties, are the cause of all your poverty and stagnation. They are rich and able to act like fools if they like in their own af

Sir," said Eldad; "she don't

nd examined her minutely, and I

I, "is that th

ntical,"

rigantine, nor a hermaphrodite, but a topsail schooner, that's a fact. What in na

transmografied again,"

s nothing but a coaster. You can't take me in, Slick. You are always full of your fun, and taking a rise out

called Ship Harbour. I have since mentioned this subject to a number of mariners, and have never yet heard of a person who was not deceived in a similar manner. As we passed through the narrows, we

gues from Halifax, and nobody would think of looking for y

n't find, but when you ain't looking for

abilities, and therefore always do what is improbable. "We think them to be fools, but they know that we are. The fox sees we always look for him about his hole, and therefore he carries on his trade as far from it, and as near the poultry yard, as possible. If a

ooks up into his face as innocent as you please, as much as to say, 'Squire, here I have been watchin' of your property all this

nd says, 'That's a good dog, what a faithful hones

an innocent fellow has been before him on circumstantial evidence, and he laughs and says to himself, 'What fools humans be, they don't know half as much as we do

n detective police, I believe they are the m

bligation he will never forget as long as he lives, whereas an obligation scares a man, for he snorts and stares at you like a horse at an engine, and is e'en most sure to up heels and let yo

would sell him, he wouldn't stand for money, for he never see such an animal in all his born days, and so on. But old Clay was above all price, his ditto was never made yet, and I don't think ever will be. I had no notion to sell him, and I told

' super superior Newfoundler that is,' a pointin' to his dog; 'creation,' sais I, 'if I had a regiment of such fellows, I

had as good a right to keep my hors

has), 'no, I don't want to part with him. I want to take him to England with me. See, he has all the marks of the true breed: look at his beautiful br

go-to-meeting' clothes on week days, onconvenient, and look too all fire

ar-hole,

, simple like

that is formed on purpose for diving. It is shaped internally like a seal's. And then, observe the spread of that webbed foot, and the power of them paddles. There are two kinds of them, the short and the long haired, but I think those shaggy ones are the handsomest. They are very difficult to be got now of the pur

lls too much of the shop. In fact, in my opinion the dog is the only gentleman there. The only one, n

long yarn of it, and as it was a text he had often enlarged on, I thought he never would have ended, but like other preachers,

dogs and horses as there is in men. Some are noble by

good to hear a republican say that, for his father was an Earl. 'A very just remark,

lse. All you expect of him is to act and look like one (and I could point out some that don't even do that). If he writes a book, and I believe a Scotch one, by the help of his tutor, did once, or makes a speech, you say, Come now, that is very well for a duke, and so on. Well, a marquis ain't quite so

oking uneasy. 'So,' sais he (by way of turning the conversation), 'the sagacity of dogs is very wond

pany of my regiment stationed there at the time. I took this dog and a small terrier, called Tilt, in the boat with me. The latter was a very active little fellow that the General had given me a few weeks before. He was such an amusing creature, th

accompanied me in my walks, the big dog contented himself with treating the other with perfect indifference and contempt. Upon this occasion, Thunder lay down in the boat and composed himself to sleep, while the little fellow, who was full of life and animation, and app

'it was what sailors

king all the time as if he tho

e terrier. Thunder was close at my heels, and when I whistled for the other, wagged his tail and looked up in my face,

cks, and inquired of the men for Tilt, but no one

sland in vain, I happened to ask t

d he, 'he is bur

ith great anger, 'who dared to ki

hase him; and when he got him near the beach, he throttled him in an instant, and then scratched a hole in the shingle and buried him, covering him up with the gravel. A

as the poor little fellow

into the harbour and swam across to the town, and hid himself for several days, until he thought the affair had blown over; and then approached me anxiously and cautiously, lest he

ut dogs do certainly beat

want similar guides when you land. The navigation there is difficult also, and it's a great thing to know who you are going to meet, what sort of stuff they are made of, and which way to steer, so as to avoid hidden shoals and sand-bars, for every little community is as full of them as their harbour. It don't do, you know, to talk tory in the house of a radical, to name a b

had we better go, P

mployment of the North-west Fur Company, where he spent many years, and married, broomstick fashion, I suppose, a squaw. Alter her death he removed, with his two half-caste daughters, to St John's, New Brunswick; but his girls I don't think were very well received, on account of their colour, and he came down here and settled at Ship Harbour, where some of his countrymen

no use for a gall to talk it into you; and then, in the next place, you see you know a plaguey sight more about the shape, make, and build of a craft like this than you do about the figure-head, waist, and trim of a gall.

French also; the first two they learned fr

hey pr

g in her manner you can't help thinking she is a lady. You

about it, old boy." But I didn't say so

e he came out to meet us. He was a short, strong-built, athletic man, and his step was as springy as a boy's. He had a jolly, open, manly

ccording to the custom of the north-west traders, he insisted upon our taking something to drink, and calling to his daughter Jessie in Gaelic, he desired her to bring whiskey and brandy. As I knew this was a request that on such an

h all de rum, prandy, shin, and other Yanke pyson in

wn the tray, I rose and extended my hand to her, and said in Gaelic, "Cair mur tha thu mo gr

is women who teach us to talk. It is a bond of union! Whoever speaks it, when we are in a land of strangers, is regarded as a relative. I shall ne

if I wouldn't chaw up your ugly mummyised corpse, hair, hide, and hoof, this blessed minute, as quick as I wo

ticut nasal twang with which they were uttered sounded like music to my ears; how it brought up ho

speak it, having acquired it in a very singular manner, as I will tell you by and by. Offering her a chair, she took it and sat down after some hesitation, as if it was not her usual habit to associate with her father's visitors, and we were soon on very sociable terms. I asked the name of the trading post in the north-west where they had resided, and delighted he

ever could get a word out of that girl, and you have loos

hild. Now a woman is a woman all over the world, whether she speaks Gaelic, French, Indian, or Chinese; there are various entrances to her heart, and if you have experience, you have got a compass which will enable you to steer through one or the other of them, into the inner harbour of it. Now, Minister used to say that Eve in Hebrew meant talk, for providence gave her the power of chattyfication on purpose to take charge of that department. Clack then you see is natural to them; talk therefore to them as they like, and they will soon like to talk to you. If a woman was to put a Bramah lock on her h