ed sorrowfully
round Dunore, as if wailing over shattered fortunes, the little log-shanty
in the Canadian bush was deep in snow. Not so large as the butler's
pantry in that old house at home, nor so well furnished as the meanest
servant's apartment had been during the prosperous times, with hardly
one of the accessories considered indispensable to comfort in the most
ordinary British sitting-room, yet the rough shanty had a pleasantness
of its own, a brightness of indoor weather, such as is often wanting
where the fittings of domestic life are superb. Hope was in the
Pandora's box to qualify all evils.

By the firelight the settlers were this evening carrying on various
occupations. Mr. Holt's seemed the most curious, and was the centre of
attraction, though Robert was cutting shingles, and Arthur manufacturing
a walnut-wood stool in primitive tripod style.

'I tell you what,' said he, leaning on the end of his plane, whence a
shaving had just slowly curled away, 'I never shall be able to assist
at or countenance a logging-bee, for I consider it the grossest waste
of valuable merchandise. The idea of voluntarily turning into smoke
and ashes the most exquisitely grained bird's-eye maple, black walnut,
heart-of-oak, cherry, and birch--it's a shame for you, Holt, not to
raise your voice against such wilful waste, which will be sure to make
woful want some day. Why, the cabinetmakers at home would give you
almost any money for a cargo of such walnut as this under my hand.'

'I regret it as much as you do; but till the country has more railroads
it is unavoidable, and only vexatious to think of. We certainly do burn
away hundreds of thousands of pounds' worth of the most expensive wood,
while people in England pay enormous prices for furniture which our
refuse timber could supply.'

'And don't you export any ornamental wood?' asked Robert. 'I saw plenty
of deals swimming down the St. Lawrence.'

'Yes, pine timber meets with the readiest market, and is easiest
procurable. But even in that there is the most unjustifiable wastefulness
practised. I was among the lumberers once, and saw the way they square
the white pine. You know that every tree is of course tapering in the
trunk, narrower at the top than at the base; now, to square the log, the
best timber of the lower part must be hewn away, to make it of equal
dimensions with the upper part. I am not above the mark when I say that
millions of excellent boards are left to