n of humor, and their apparent want of appreciation is
only due to reserve, to self-control."

And, as an illustration of it, my friend told me the following anecdote
which, I have no doubt, a good many Americans have heard before:

Mark Twain had lectured to a Maine audience without raising a single
laugh in his listeners, when, at the close, he was thanked by a
gentleman who came to him in the green-room, to tell him how hugely
every one had enjoyed his amusing stories. When the lecturer expressed
his surprise at this announcement, as the audience had not laughed, the
gentleman added:

"Yes, we never were so amused in our lives, and if you had gone on five
minutes more, upon my word I don't think we could have held out any
longer."

Such is New England self-control.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER XIX.

A LOVELY RIDE TO CANADA--QUEBEC, A CORNER OF OLD FRANCE STRAYED UP AND
LOST IN THE SNOW--THE FRENCH CANADIANS--THE PARTIES IN CANADA--WILL
THE CANADIANS BECOME YANKEES?

_Montreal, February 1._

The ride from the State of Maine to Montreal is very picturesque, even
in the winter. It offers you four or five hours of Alpine scenery
through the American Switzerland. The White Mountains, commanded by
Mount Washington, are, for a distance of about forty miles, as wild and
imposing as anything the real Switzerland can supply the tourist.
Gorges, precipices, torrents, nothing is wanting.

Nearly the whole time we journeyed across pine forests, coming, now and
then, across saw mills, and little towns looking like bee-hives of
activity. Now there was an opening, and frozen rivers, covered with
snow, formed, with the fields, a huge uniform mass of dazzling
whiteness. The effect, under a pure blue sky and in a perfectly clear
atmosphere, was very beautiful. Now the country became hilly again. On
the slopes, right down to the bottom of the valley, we saw Berlin Falls,
bathing its feet in the river. The yellow houses with their red roofs
and gables, rest the eyes from that long stretch of blue and white. How
beautiful this town and its surroundings must be in the fall, when Dame
Nature in America puts on her cloak of gold and scarlet! All the country
on the line we traveled is engaged in the lumber trade.

For once I had an amiable conductor in the parlor car; even more than
amiable--quite friendly and familiar. He put his arms on my shoulders
and got quite patronizing. I did not mind that a bit. I hate an