Our Little Canadian Cousin

  CHAPTER VI.

  IN the delightful autumn days that followed, the children, accompaniedsometimes by Mrs. Merrithew, sometimes by Katherine, spent much of theirtime in the woods, and taking long strolls on the country roads. InOctober the woods were a blaze of colour,--clear gold, scarlet, crimson,coppery brown, and amber. The children brought home great bunches of thebrilliant leaves, and some they pressed and varnished, while othersKatherine dipped in melted wax. They found that the latter way was thebest for keeping the colours, but it was rather troublesome to do. Theypressed many ferns, also, and, when the frosts became keener, collectednumbers of white ferns, delicately lovely. Most of these treasures,with baskets full of velvety moss and yards of fairy-like wild vines,were stowed away in a cool storeroom to be used later in the Christmasdecorations.

  When the last of October drew near, Mrs. Merrithew made up her mind togive a little Hallow-eve party. She let the children name the friendsthey wished her to ask, and added a few of her own; then they all busiedthemselves in preparations, and in making lists of Hallow-eve games andtricks. At last came the eventful evening, and with it about thirtymerry people, old and young, but chiefly young. All of the Greys werethere, of course; also Mr. Will Graham, who was taking his last year atcollege, and who spent most of his spare time at Mr. Merrithew's. So thewhole camping-party met again, and the camp-days, dear and fleeting,came back in vivid pictures to their minds.

  In the Big Brick House was a large room known as "the inner kitchen,"but used as a kitchen only in the winter. This room Mrs. Merrithew hadgiven up to the entertainment of the Hallow-eve party. It waslighted--chiefly, that is, for a few ordinary lamps helped out theillumination--by lanterns made of hollowed pumpkins. Ears of corn hungaround the mantel, and a pyramid of rosy apples was piled high upon it.There was a great old-fashioned fireplace here, and a merry firesparkled behind the gleaming brass andirons. Every trick that theirhostess's brain could conjure up was tried. Those who cared to, bobbedfor apples in a tub of water, and some were lucky enough to findfive-cent pieces in their russets and pippins. An apple was hung on astring from the middle of a doorway, then set swinging, and twocontestants tried which could get the first bite,--and this first bite,gentle reader, is not so easy as you might imagine! A pretty littlering was laid on a mound of flour, and whoever could lift it out betweentheir lips, without breaking down the mound, was to win the ring. Thisnecessitated a great many remouldings of the flour,--but finally theprize was captured by Miss Covert. A little later, Dora noticed ithanging on Mr. Graham's watch-guard.

  Some of the braver spirits took turns in walking backward down thegarden steps, and to the end of the middle path, a looking-glass in onehand and a lamp in the other. What each one saw in the looking-glass, orwhether, indeed, they saw anything, was, in most cases, kept a secret,or confided only to the very especial chum! Then there were fortunestold by means of cabbages,--a vegetable not usually surrounded withromantic associations. Marjorie was the first to try this mode ofdivination. Well-blindfolded, she ventured alone into the garden, andcame back soon with a long, lean, straggly cabbage with a great deal ofearth attached to its roots. This foretold that her husband would betall and thin, and very rich!

  There were many other quaint methods of fortune-telling, most of themderived from Scottish sources. After these had been tried, amid muchmerriment, they played some of the old-fashioned games dear to childreneverywhere,--blind-man's buff, hunt-the-feather, post-towns, and otherfavourites. By and by, when the fun began to flag, and one or two littlemouths were seen to yawn, a long table was brought in and soon spreadwith a hearty (but judiciously chosen) Hallow-eve supper.

  When the days began to grow short and bleak, and the evenings long andcosey, the children were thrown more and more upon indoor occupationsfor their entertainment. It was on one of these bleak days, when a fewwhite flakes were falling in a half-hearted way, and the sky was grayand gloomy, that Jackie had a brilliant idea. Four of them--Katherine,Marjorie, Dora, and Jackie himself--were sitting by the fire in Mrs.Merrithew's "Den," the very cosiest room in the house. Mr. Merrithew hada den, too, but he called his a study. Somehow it looked too much likean office to suit the children very well. Most of the volumes on hisshelves, too, were clumsy law-books; all the books that any one wantedto read, except the children's own, were in "mother's den." Then, onecould come to mother's room at any hour of the day or night, whilesometimes no one, excepting Mrs. Merrithew, was admitted to the study.On this particular day Katherine was reading "Rob Roy," and Jackbuilding a castle of blocks, while Dora dreamed in the window-seat,watching the scanty flakes, and Marjorie, on the hearth-rug, tried toteach reluctant Kitty Grey to beg.

  Now Jack had accompanied his mother on the previous Sunday to theanniversary service of the Sons of England, a well-known patrioticsociety. He had been greatly impressed by the procession, the hymns, andthe sermon, and on coming home had asked his father many questions as tothe "why and wherefore" of the society. It was this episode whichsuggested the bright idea to his active little brain.

  "Aunt Kathie," he said,--for Miss Covert was now a fully acceptedadopted aunt,--"why couldn't _we_ form a patriarchal society?"

  "A _what_, dear?" said Kathie, in rather startled tones, laying "RobRoy" on the table, for she liked to give her whole mind to Jackie'spropositions and queries.

  "A patri--oh, you know what; like the Sons of England, you know!"

  "Oh, yes! _Patriotic_, dearie; a patriotic society. You know a patriotis one who loves his country. What sort of a patriotic society wouldyou like to have, Jack?"

  "Oh, pure Canadian, of course! Let me see,--we couldn't be the Sons ofCanada, because we are not all sons."

  "Not _quite_ all," murmured Dora, with drowsy sarcasm, from the window.

  "Why not Children of Canada?" suggested Kathie.

  "No, Aunt Kathie, that would never do at all, for mother and Daddy andyou must be in it, and you _couldn't_ be called children,--though, ofcourse, you're not so _very_ old," he added, as if fearing he had hurther feelings.

  "Well," said Marjorie, thoughtfully, "how would The Maple-leaves, or TheBeavers, do?"

  But Jackie scorned this suggestion.

  "_Those_ are names that baseball clubs have," he said. "No; I believe'The Sons and Daughters of Canada' would be the best of all, becauseeverybody is either a son _or_ a daughter, even twins!"

  This statement, and the name, were accepted with acclamation, and thequartette, entering thoroughly into the spirit of Jackie's plan, helpedhim zealously to put it into execution. They insisted that he should bepresident, and requested him to choose the other officers. So he madehis father and mother the honourable patrons, Dora and Marjorievice-presidents, and Kathie secretary-treasurer. This office, I maymention, she nobly filled, and also the informal one of general adviser,suggester, and planner. It was she who proposed the twins, Alice andEdith, as members, and the president gave his consent, though heconsidered Edith rather too young!

  "For my part," he said, "I should like Mr. Will Graham, if none of youwould mind!" No one seemed to mind, so Mr. Graham's name was added tothe list, which Katherine was making out beautifully, with Gothiccapitals in red ink, on her very best paper. Her next proposal was aregular course of study in Canadian history and literature, and this wasenthusiastically received. When Mr. and Mrs. Merrithew came home attea-time, they found a well-organized "Sons and Daughters of Canada"club, and Miss Covert already engaged in composing an article on "TheBeginnings of Canadian History,"--with Jackie in her mind as animportant member of her future audience, and therefore an earnest effortto make it simple in language and clear in construction.

  All through the winter the club flourished, and indeed for a much longertime. The members met every week, and the history and literature provedso absorbing that the S. A. D. O. C. night came to be looked forward toas eagerly by the older as by the younger sons and daughters. Kathie hadthe gift of making scenes and people of long-past days live before one,and Cartier and Champlain, La Salle
and De Maisonneuve, and many anotherhero became the companions of our patriotic students, both waking and intheir dreams. The works of Canadian poets and novelists began to filltheir book-shelves, and pictures of these celebrities to adorn theirwalls. They had regular weekly meetings, at which there were readingsand recitations, and always one short historical sketch. Even Jacklearnt his "piece" each time, and said it with a severe gravity whichseemed to defy any one to smile at a mispronunciation! Mrs. Merrithewdesigned their badges,--maple-leaf pins in coloured enamel, with alittle gilt beaver on each leaf,--and Mr. Merrithew had them made inMontreal. But perhaps the proudest achievement of the club was AliceGrey's "Sons and Daughters of Canada March," which was played at theopening and closing of every meeting.

  So much pleasure and profit, many happy evenings, and an ever deeperlove for their country, were some of the results of Jackie's brightidea.