Canada for ten minutes or so before you
begin on your poets."

John Egerton was rather pleased with the idea. Certainly young
Canadians were grievously ignorant of their own country, and a literary
society would supply a great want.

So the Canadian Patriotic Society was duly organised and from the first
was a great success.

But a quiet weekly meeting at a private house was not sufficient for
the insatiable energy and fervid patriotism of Mr. Watson. He decided
that the Canadian Patriotic Society must come before the public. His
last attempt at a patriotic demonstration had met with such humiliating
disaster that he had abandoned all such projects for a time, but here
was a grand opportunity to educate the public. They would give a
patriotic concert that very winter and astonish all the township of
Oro. Of course the society was ready for anything and was soon plunged
in monster preparations for the event. It was at this juncture that
Mr. Egerton was asked to assist in the period of revival services. But
this new society and its concert completely filled his spare time, so
the two weeks of special meetings, when the old minister laboured
faithfully to bring souls to Christ, were carried on without help from
his young confederate. The attendance was smaller than on former
occasions, and the interest seemed faint. John Egerton was sorely
troubled. He felt he could not be blamed, and yet his conscience
rebuked him.

In spite of its immense popularity the Canadian Patriotic Society met
with some opposition. As the minister was taking such an active part
in it, Duncan Polite watched its development with a faint hope. But
Splinterin' Andra soon dispelled his illusions. "It's jist some more
o' his balderdash to keep young folk oot o' their beds at night," he
declared bitterly. "Man, if the buddie'd be faithful to his Maister,
he needna' fear for his country!"

Old Mark Middleton, whose forebears were United Empire Loyalists, was
another active dissenter. Mark's ancestry placed him in a position to
speak with authority upon such subjects and his opinion had some weight
with the community. He declared that the whole thing savoured of
rebellion, and he, for one, would be very glad if he were sure the
schoolmaster and the Presbyterian minister weren't hatching some Irish
plot against the Government.

Coonie found this a tempting morsel, and delivered it duly to the
schoolmaster the first Saturday he found