Shenacs Work at Home | Page 2

as Flavel and Baxter. But though there are not many, they are of
a kind which, read often and earnestly, cannot fail to bring wisdom; and
a grave and thoughtful people were they who made their homes in this
wilderness.
Among those who were most earnest in overcoming the difficulties
which at every step meet the settler in a new country were two brothers,
Angus and Evan MacIvor. Their farms lay next to each other. They
were fortunate in securing good land, and they were moderately
successful in clearing and cultivating it. They lived to a good old age,
and the youngest son of each succeeded him in the possession of the
land. It is about the families of these two sons that my story is to be
told.
The two cousins bore the same name, Angus MacIvor; but they were
not at all alike either in appearance or character. The one was fair, with
light hair and bright blue eyes; and because of this he was called Angus
Bhan, or Angus the fair, to distinguish him from his cousin, who was
very dark. He had a frank, open face and kind manner; and if anyone in
the neighbourhood wanted a favour done, his first thought was sure to
be of Angus Bhan.
His cousin Angus Dhu, or Angus the black, had a good reputation
among people in general. He was honest and upright in his dealings, his
word could be relied on; but his temper was uncertain, and his
neighbours called him "close," and few of them would have thought of
looking to Angus Dhu when they wanted a helping hand.
When these two began life they were very much in the same
circumstances. Their farms were alike as to the quality of the soil and
as to the number of acres cleared and under cultivation. They were both
free from debt, both strong men accustomed to farm-work, and both, in
the opinion of their neighbours, had a fair chance of becoming rich,
according to the idea of wealth entertained by these people.

But when twenty years had passed away the affairs of the two men
stood very differently. Angus Dhu had more than realised the
expectations of his neighbours. He was rich--richer even than his
neighbours supposed. More than half of his farm of two hundred acres
was cleared and under cultivation. It was well stocked, well tilled, and
very productive. Near the site of the log-house built by his father stood
a comfortable farm-house of stone. All this his neighbours saw, and
called him a prosperous man; and now and then they speculated
together as to the amount of bank-stock to which he might justly lay
claim.
The world had not gone so well with Angus Bhan. There was not so
much land under cultivation, neither was what he had so well cultivated
as his cousin's. He had built a new house too, but he had been
unfortunate as to the time chosen to build. Materials were dear, and a
bad harvest or two put him sadly back in the world. He was obliged to
run into debt, and the interest of the money borrowed from his cousin
was an additional burden. He was not successful in the rearing of stock,
and some heavy losses of cattle fell on him. Worse than all, his health
began to fail, for then his courage failed too; and when there came to
that part of the country rumours of wonderful discoveries of the
precious metals in the western parts of the continent, he only faintly
withstood the entreaties of his eldest son that he might be permitted to
go away and search for gold among the mountains of California. His
going away nearly broke his mother's heart; and some among the
neighbours said it would have been far wiser for young Allister to stay
at home and help his father to plough and sow and gather in the harvest,
than to go so far and suffer so much for gold, which might be slow in
coming, and which must be quick in going should sickness overtake
him in the land of strangers. But the young are always hopeful, and
Allister was sure of success; and he comforted his mother by telling her
that in two or three years at most he could earn money enough to pay
his father's debt to Angus Dhu, and then he would come home again,
and they would all live happily together as before. So Allister went
away, and left a sorrowful household behind.
And there was another sorrowful household in Glengarry about that

time. There was only sorrow in the hearts of Angus Bhan and his wife
when their first-born son went away; for he went with their consent,
and carried their blessing with him. But