ice, down which are dropped to the sheltered waters beneath, the line and bated hook. Great quantities of tommy-cods reward the patient skill of these anglers. The fish come with the flow and leave with the ebb of the tide, and when the fishing is over, a supper fit for the most exacting of fishermen is set before them, the recent prizes contributing their share to the feast.

But a truly magnificent and often thrilling scene is at the break-up (débacle) of the frozen rivers, large and small, under the warm rays of the April sun, when the floods pour down from the upper waters or sources, scores and hundreds of miles, to their outlets. A turbulent splendor prevails; huge blocks of ice, jammed together from bank to bank, yet madly tossing to be free, impelled forward by the deeply-swollen current, dash along in a fury of white rage to the great waters below. The sun's rays play upon them with fantastic brilliance, till the heaving, sparkling and dazzling hummocks suggest the maddest charge of lancers that ever rode to death.

On one occasion, at the village of St. Thomas, a habitant, while attempting in the spring time to cross La Rivière du Sud in his carriole, the ice gave way and horse and vehicle disappeared. The man barely escaped being carried under the ice, but finally, by a superhuman effort, succeeds in climbing upon a block of ice, not, however, without fracturing his leg. Fortunately, at that moment, a neighbor passing by, and witnessing the accident, runs for help. Soon a tremendous crash is heard, and the ice begins to move, carrying along, slowly at first, then faster, the helpless peasant. By this time hundreds of pitying spectators have reached the shore and witness his perilous position; the alarm bell from the church steeple dismally peals forth its sad summons for more help, at the same time calling upon the devout to pray for his rescue. Meanwhile, the poor fellow, thinking he has reached his last hour, waves his adieus. The priest recites the prayers for the dying and grants him absolution. The scene now becomes still more appalling; the rushing ice of La Rivière du Sud comes into violent collision with that of La Rivière du Bras, a tributary of the former. For some minutes the whole mass remains stationary, but soon again it moves, whirling along its living freight. The victim's wife, who has been notified of the accident, arrives; her frantic appeals to save the father of her children move all to tears, but no one dares to court what seems certain death. This tragedy is visible by the light of scores of flaming torches borne by the horrified spectators on the shore. The moving mass of ice has nearly reached the St. Lawrence when the hummock bearing the peasant strikes against the solitary tree of a submerged island in mid

stream, which he clutches in his wild despair and swings in mid-air. this crisis a young Englishman arrives and instantly resolves to save the man. He coils one end of a rope round his body and gives the other to a stalwart looker-on, jumps into the raging torrent, and after daring and repeated efforts, which for a time seem fruitless, he finally succeeds in rescuing from his dangerous position the unfortunate habitant, whose strength was fast failing him.*

Another striking scene is that presented by the river in seasons when no ice-bridge is formed. The only means of transit between Quebec and Point Levis, formerly, was by strong, wooden canoes (now replaced by powerful steamers), in the bottom of which the traveler was safely esconced in buffalo robes, while the stout arms of six or eight sturdy paddlers would furnish the motive power to force the little craft through enormous fields of floating ice, overspreading the whole surface of the great river, and, at many points, forming pyramids, requiring consummate skill to evade. For miles up and down, this grand wintry prospect would engross the attention and interest of the traveler, however wearisome the tedious progress might be. Occasionally there would be a little expanse of open water, which only served to emphasize the solid, threatening bulk of ice which shuts one in on every side. Often the hardy canoers would be compelled to disembark upon a great mass of ice and drag their heavy boat with all its freight over long distances, consuming hours in the wide détours. In former years fatal accidents have resulted from the attempted passage of the river during storms, the bitter winds dashing the canoe upon the bergs or upon the inhospitable shore. Not seldom canoe-men would come in so badly frozen as to lose their limbs, if not their lives.

One spring a wedding party of ten attempted to cross while a severe storm was raging, when their canoe was cut in two and all perished except the captain of the boat. The next day the bride's head, quite severed from the body, was found below the city upon the floating ice. The young groom, who was an excellent swimmer, was so paralyzed by the suddenness of the shock that he only made the sign of the cross, and without the slightest effort to save himself, disappeared beneath the ice.t

To the young men of the towns and cities no outdoor pastime is more agreeable and invigorating than snow-shoeing. Confined all day with indoor labor, heated and weary, they sustain their spirits with remembering the delight of the evening that awaits them-the exhilaration of the moonlight race over snowy highroads or gleaming fields. In Quebec and Les Anciens Canadiens, by Philippe Aubert de Gaspé.

A la Véillée, Faucher de Saint Maurice.

Montreal snow-shoe races are held annually, when valuable prizes are awarded to the strongest and fleetest. Not infrequently the whites have beaten the Indians in these contests of one, two and four mile races, in which some of the runners make the mile in five minutes, even over a heavy course. People used to laugh at the awkward figures cut by the British soldiers, sent out at the time of the Trent excitement, in their snow-shoe marches and exercises on the St. Lawrence, ordered in view of more serious military operations on the fields, rivers and lakes by the frontier, which, happily for both nations, were not needed. The tripping, stumbling and frequent falls of the warriors, from the bearded veterans, often of colossal proportion, who had served in every quarter of the globe, down to the beardless youths, fresh from parental control in English villages or Irish towns, formed an unfailing source of merriment to the expert natives and acclimated citizens. The troops, however, in addition to the disadvantages of knapsacks and cumbrous winter uniforms, were obliged to use snow-shoes solid and heavy, and of formidable dimensions.

The usual method of indulging in this sport is for a crowd of young men to meet at a prominent place, with feet encased in two pair of thick stockings, buckskin moccasins, tuque bleue or rouge for head-gear, the body enwrapped in a heavy blue, red or white woolen great coat, furnished with a capote for use in case of pelting storms or violent cold, and the snowshoes strapped across the shoulders. The work of fitting the shoes is performed in a moment, when the party start off in merriest mood for the country, selecting, by preference, the deepest roads and tracts impassable to the ordinary booted wayfarer. Tramping in Indian file, or three or four abreast, the companies, of which young women often form part, rouse the clear, far-reaching echoes with song and jest, beguiling the way till no weariness is thought of. Of course clubs practicing for races exclude the feminine element. Calm, clear, bracing nights, with all the glory of the lustrous northern stars and the white splendor of the "ladymoon," supply all that is required for these simple, natural pleasures which leave no sting, while stimulating the mind and strengthening the body for the serious concerns of life.

The toboggan, which was originally of so much importance to the early settlers of the country-in fact their only means of carrying provisions over the snow-covered wilderness, with the aid of dogs-is now used for one of the most exhilarating as well as health-giving of pastimes. Quebec affords especially natural, enviable facilities for tobogganing.

From the Glacis at the Esplanade, and many heights and lofty points near the citadel, and throughout the Upper Town, crowds of young folks,

on a fine night, may be seen rushing down the lengthy slopes to distant hollows, rending the air with their shouts and laughter, and often increasing the jolly din by upsets and somersaults. Three, four, or more, of both sexes occupy the toboggan, the one at the farthest end guiding it with a pole or his foot. In this way they shoot downhill with arrowspeed, the maximum of swiftness being sometimes at the rate of ninety miles an hour, the excitement being contagious and the enjoyment, for those not timid, complete. High spirits, and moral and social advantage are the natural outcome of such diversions. Still more exciting is a slide, on sleigh or toboggan, from the lofty summit of the ice-mound or cone at Montmorency Falls down to its base, at lightning speed, and thence along, with blinding velocity, for hundreds of yards on the level, glassy roadway which hides the water of the St. Lawrence from view.

Skating and curling are also much resorted to all over the country. Montreal may be called the home of such winter sports. Much time is spent by its inhabitants in skating and curling rinks and on toboggan slides, and the brilliant crowds that gather at such places during the carnival season, in every variety of gala costume, suggest the brightest, most dazzling scenes of fairyland which the imagination can conceive.

BOSTON, December, 1888.

Prosper Bender

MECKLENBURG DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

MAY 20, 1775

A brief reference to the Mecklenburg declaration of independence, which was proclaimed in the town of Charlotte, North Carolina, May 20, 1775, appeared in the Washington Post during the month of May, 1887. The writer of that article evidently believed that no such declaration had been made, and he denounced it as a fraud. A week or two subsequently, a more extended communication on the same subject was published in the New York Sun, the author of which, W. H. Burr, entertained about the same opinion as the writer of the Post article, and referred rather contemptuously to the "so-called Mecklenburg declaration." He informed the public that "in the New York Sun of the 4th of July, 1882, he had undertaken to prove, and believed he did prove, the document a canard;" he also stated "that Dr. Welling, of Columbia College in Washington, proved it to be a fabrication in an elaborate article in the North American Review for April, 1874."

I am a native of North Carolina, and though reared in Tennessee, had many associates and friends in my schoolboy days and since, who were born in the first mentioned state; and not a few who are at the present time citizens of that state, and in social intercourse when the Revolutionary war has been the subject of conversation, no incident has been more frequently discussed than the Mecklenburg declaration. That there was such a declaration has always been recognized by them as a fact, as little to be questioned as that General Greene relieved General Gates in the command of the "southern army" in the town of Charlotte, on the 3d of December, 1780. Previous to my attention being called to the articles above named, I had without hesitation accepted as true, the opinion prevalent in North Carolina in regard to this subject. Not feeling disposed to give up deep-seated and well-founded convictions without careful investigation, I have examined the accessible historic data in this case, and find my original faith in the "Mecklenburg Declaration" fully confirmed, notwithstanding the recent attempts of Dr. Welling and others to show that it was a" canard," a "fabrication," and a "fraud."

Attention will be first called to William Hooper. He was graduated at the head of his class, at Harvard, in 1760, bred to the profession of law in the office of James Otis, and commenced the practice of his profession