n we do, and probably will last the longer for
their moderation. Having ascertained that we can get no more information
about Baddeck here than in St. John, we go to bed early, for we are to
depart from this fascinating place at six o'clock.

If any one objects that we are not competent to pass judgment on the
city of Halifax by sleeping there one night, I beg leave to plead the
usual custom of travelers,--where would be our books of travel, if more
was expected than a night in a place?--and to state a few facts. The
first is, that I saw the whole of Halifax. If I were inclined, I could
describe it building by building. Cannot one see it all from the citadel
hill, and by walking down by the horticultural garden and the Roman
Catholic cemetery? and did not I climb that hill through the most
dilapidated rows of brown houses, and stand on the greensward of the
fortress at five o'clock in the morning, and see the whole city, and the
British navy riding at anchor, and the fog coming in from the Atlantic
Ocean? Let the reader go to! and if he would know more of Halifax, go
there. We felt that if we remained there through the day, it would be a
day of idleness and sadness. I could draw a picture of Halifax. I could
relate its century of history; I could write about its free-school
system, and its many noble charities. But the reader always skips such
things. He hates information; and he himself would not stay in this dull
garrison town any longer than he was obliged to.

There was to be a military display that day in honor of the Governor.

"Why," I asked the bright and light-minded colored boy who sold papers
on the morning train, "don't you stay in the city and see it?"

"Pho," said he, with contempt, "I'm sick of 'em. Halifax is played out,
and I'm going to quit it."

The withdrawal of this lively trader will be a blow to the enterprise of
the place.

When I returned to the hotel for breakfast--which was exactly like the
supper, and consisted mainly of green tea and dry toast--there was a
commotion among the waiters and the hack-drivers over a nervous little
old man, who was in haste to depart for the morning train. He was a
specimen of provincial antiquity such as could not be seen elsewhere.
His costume was of the oddest: a long-waisted coat reaching nearly to
his heels, short trousers, a flowered silk vest, and a napless hat. He
carried his baggage tied up in mealbags, and his attention was divided
between that and