country on
the face of the earth, after Old England.'

His stentorian Shropshire lungs supplied a cheer of sufficient
intensity, taken up by his guests.

'The country whar we needna fear factor, nor laird, nor rent-day,'
shouted Davidson. 'We're lairds an' factors here, an' our rent-day
comes--never.'

'Whirroo!' exclaimed an Irishman, Pat O'Brien, who, having been evicted
in his own country, was particularly sensitive as to landlord and
tenant-right. 'No more agints, nor gales o' rint, nor nothin', ever to
pay!'

'Not forgetting the tax-gatherer,' interposed portly Mr. Benson. 'None
of us are partikler sorry to part with him.'

Meanwhile the comely bride was sitting with her husband at one side of
the table, thankful for the diversion from herself as a topic of
enthusiasm and mirth.

'Lads, you'd be a' at the loom, an' your sisters in the factories, only
for Canada,' said Davidson, now on his legs. 'An' I suld be lookin'
for'ard to the poor-house as soon as my workin' days were ower; an'
Sandy couldna marry, except to live on porridge an' brose, wi' cauld
kail o' Sabbath. How wad ye relish that prospect, bonnie Susan?'

Bonnie Susan liked the prospect of the folds of her own silk dress best
at that moment, to judge by the determinately downward glance of her
eyes.

By and by Davidson (for the subject was a favourite one with him) hit
upon another of the Canadian advantages as a poor man's land--that the
larger a man's family, the wealthier was he. No need to look on the
little ones as superfluous mouths, which by dire necessity the labourer
in mother country is often forced to do; for each child will become an
additional worker, therefore an additional means of gain.

'An' if the folk at hame kenned this mair, dinna ye think the emigration
wad be thrice what it is, Mr. Robert? Dinna ye think they wad risk the
sea an' the strangers, to make a safe future for their bairns? Ay,
surely. An' when I think o' the people treading one anither down over
the edges o' thae three little islands, while a country as big as Europe
stands amaist empty here'--

Mr. Davidson never stated the consequences of his thought; for just then
came a universal call to clear the tables, stow away the boards and
tressels, and make room for dancing and small plays. The hilarity may
be imagined--the boisterous fun of general blindman's buff, ladies'
toilet, and all varieties of forfeits. Robert Wynn stole away in the
beginning; he had co