s thrifty and hardworking,
with a large family to provide for: she could not afford to pay visits,
and scarcely to receive them.

'I wadna ha' come down the day, but thinkin' mayhap ye wad be wantin'
help o' some sort; an' if there's anything we could do--Sandy or me and
the lads--just send your lad rinnin' up; we'll be glad eneugh. Sabbath,
may be, I'd ha' time to tak' a stroll down: ye ken there's na kirk.'

Ah, it was one of Mrs. Wynn's greatest troubles in coming to the bush
that there were no public means of grace, and that no sound of the
church-going bell was ever heard in these solitudes.

Late in the afternoon Linda was able to find Robert, and bring him with
her towards the Indian encampment. Sam Holt joined them.

'Now for my first introduction into savage life: I hope I shan't be
disappointed.'

'Unreasonable expectations always are,' observed Mr. Holt. 'Don't expect
to find Fenimore Cooper's model Indians. But I believe them in the main
to be a fine people, honest and truthful where "civilisation" has not
corrupted them.'

'Is it not dreadful that the first effect of European contact with
original races everywhere should be destructive?' said Linda; 'even of
the English, who have the gospel!'

'Yes: how sad that they who bear Christ's name should dishonour Him
and thwart His cause among men, by practical disregard of His precepts!
I shouldn't wonder if the red man hated the white man with a deadly
hatred; for to him is owing the demoralization and extinction of a
noble race--if it were by no other means than the introduction of the
"fire-water," which has proved such a curse.'

'I have heard,' said Robert, 'that in the Indian languages there are no
words which could be employed in swearing; and the native must have
recourse to the tongue of his conquerors if he would thus sin.'

'And has no effort been made to Christianize them?' asked Linda.

'I have visited the Manitoulin Island in Lake Huron,' said Mr. Holt,
'where the remains of several Indian tribes have been collected by Sir
Francis Head, with a view to their civilisation; and I can hardly
say that the experiment impressed me favourably. It is the largest
fresh-water island in the world, more than a hundred miles long, and
serves as a fine roomy cage for the aborigines, who support themselves
by hunting, fishing, and a little agriculture, and receive those luxuries
which to us are necessaries, such as blankets and clothes, as annual
presen