ite theme, "there
are the railroads all shouting for men of experience, whether in the
construction department or in the operating department."

"Does anyone here happen to understand him?" inquires "Lily" faintly.

"Certainly," cried Miss Brodie; "all the intelligent people do. At
least, I've a kind of notion there are big things doing. I only wish I
were a man!"

"Oh, Miss Brodie, how can you?" cried "Lily." "Think of us in such a
contingency!"

"But," said Mr. Rae, "all of this is most interesting, extremely
interesting, Mr. Martin. Still, they cannot all arrive at these exalted
positions."

"No, Mr. Rae. I may have given that impression. I confess to a little
madness when I begin talking Canada."

"Ah!" exclaimed "Lily."

"But I said men of brawn and brains, you remember."

"And bounce, to perfect the alliteration," murmured "Lily."

"Yes, bounce, too," said Martin; "at least, he must never take
back-water; he must be ready to attempt anything, even the impossible."

"That's the splendid thing about it!" cried Miss Brodie. "You're
entirely on your own and you never say die!"

"Oh, my dear Miss Brodie," moaned "Lily" in piteous accents, "you are so
fearfully energetic! And then, it's all very splendid, but just think
of a--of a gentleman having to potter around among butter and cheese,
or mess about in muddy cellars! Ugh! Positively GHAWSTLY! I would simply
die."

"Oh, no, you wouldn't, 'Lily,'" said Martin kindly. "We have afternoon
teas and Browning Clubs, too, you must remember, and some 'cultchaw' and
that sort of thing."

There was a joyous shout from Dunn.

"But, Mr. Martin," persisted Mr. Rae, whose mind was set in arriving at
a solution of the problem in hand, "I have understood that agriculture
was the chief pursuit in Canada."

"Farming! Yes, it is, but of course that means capital. Good land in
Ontario means seventy-five to a hundred dollars per acre, and a man
can't do with less than a hundred acres; besides, farming is getting to
be a science now-a-days, Sir."

"Ah, quite true! But to a young man bred on a farm in this country--"

"Excuse me, Mr. Rae," replied Martin quickly, "there is no such thing in
Canada as a gentleman farmer. The farmer works with his men."

"Do you mean that he actually works?" inquired "Lily." "With the plough
and hoe, and that sort of thing?"

"Works all day long, as long as any of his men, and indeed longer."

"And does he actually live--? of course he