One Days Courtship | Page 6

The joke--I do dislike to have to explain jokes,
especially to you cool, unsympathising Bostonians--is the
ridiculousness of any mere human person claiming to own such a thing
as the Niagara Falls. I believe, though, that you are quite equal to it--I
do indeed."
"Thank you, Mr. Mason."
"I knew you would be grateful when I made myself clearly understood.
Now, what I was going to propose is this. You should apply to the
Canadian Government for possession of the Shawenegan. I think they
would let it go at a reasonable figure. They look on it merely as an
annoying impediment to the navigation of the river, and an obstruction
which has caused them to spend some thousands of dollars in building
a slide by the side of it, so that the logs may come down safely."
"If I owned it, the slide is the first thing I would destroy."
"What? And ruin the lumber industry of the Upper St. Maurice? Oh,
you wouldn't do such a thing! If that is your idea, I give you fair
warning that I will oppose your claims with all the arts of the lobbyist.
If you want to become the private owner of the falls, you should tell the
Government that you have some thoughts of encouraging the industries
of the province by building a mill----"
"A mill?"

"Yes; why not? Indeed, I have half a notion to put a saw-mill there
myself. It always grieves me to see so much magnificent power going
to waste."
"Oh, seriously, Mr. Mason, you would never think of committing such
an act of sacrilege?"
"Sacrilege, indeed! I like that. Why, the man who makes one saw-mill
hum where no mill ever hummed before is a benefactor to his species.
Don't they teach political economy at Boston? I thought you liked
saw-mills. You drew a very pretty picture of the one down the stream."
"I admire a ruined saw-mill, as that one was; but not one in a state of
activity, or of eruption, as a person might say."
"Well, won't you go up to the falls to-day, Miss Sommerton? I assure
you we have a most unexceptionable party. Why, one of them is a
Government official. Think of that!"
"I refuse to think of it; or, if I do think of it, I refuse to be dazzled by
his magnificence. I want to see the Shawenegan, not a picnic party
drinking.
"You wrong them, really you do, Miss Sommerton, believe me. You
have got your dates mixed. It is the champagne party that goes to-day.
The beer crowd is not due until to-morrow."
"The principle is the same."
"The price of the refreshment is not. I speak as a man of bitter
experience. Let's see. If recollection holds her throne, I think there was
a young lady from New England--I forget the name of the town at the
moment--who took a lunch with her the last time she went to the
Shawenegan. I merely give this as my impression, you know. I am
open to contradiction."
"Certainly, I took a lunch. I always do. I would to-day if I were going
up there, and Mrs. Mason would give me some sandwiches. You would

give me a lunch, wouldn't you, dear?"
"I'll tell them to get it ready now, if you will only stay," replied that
lady, on being appealed to.
"No, it isn't the lunch I object to. I object to people going there merely
for the lunch. I go for the scenery; the lunch is incidental."
"When you get the deed of the falls, I'll tell you what we'll do," put in
Mason. "We will have a band of trained Indians stationed at the landing,
and they will allow no one to disembark who does not express himself
in sufficiently ecstatic terms about the great cataract. You will draw up
a set of adjectives, which I will give to the Indians, instructing them to
allow no one to land who does not use at least three out of five of them
in referring to the falls. People whose eloquent appreciation does not
reach the required altitude will have to stay there till it does, that's all.
We will treat them as we do our juries--starve them into a verdict, and
the right verdict at that."
"Don't mind him, Eva. He is just trying to exasperate you. Think of
what I have to put up with. He goes on like that all the time," said Mrs.
Mason.
"Really, my dear, your flattery confuses me. You can't persuade any
one that I keep up this brilliancy in the privacy of my own house. It is
only turned on for company."
"Why, Mr. Mason, I didn't think you looked on me as company. I
thought I enjoyed the friendship of