The Washington herald., 1915-10-17
LOOPING NORTH AMERICA
THEN GO TO HALIFAX

wooden bridges from roof to roof, CHM
neys and coiGns husging the dark rock
and streets of the narrowest
Beyond Is the wide splendor of the St
Lawrence. dotted with ships and steam
ers and red-sailed smaller craft And
| then. as background, are the populous
heights OF Lewis. the gentle Isle of Or
leans the villages of the Cite de Beaupre
| and ranges of mountains in perspective
| wearing their clouds like mantles. Que
bee Is filled with places of historic interest.
Its appeal Is world-wid Perhaps its
chief attraction to many visitors Is the
scene of the famous battle on the
Heights of Abraham. where both the
English and French commanders Wolfe
and Montcalm, lost their lives. Others
find the cafe in Frontenac more attrac-
tive. where the E-ench and English Of
today mingle happily.
AS I got close to the Atlantic and with
in the radius of New England influence
] noticed that the toothpick and the ta-
Bile knife came into their own. Allegi-
ance TO them became almost universal as
We got in touch with the pie belt run
ming through Maine. New Hampshire
and Vermont. No meal was complete
without a toothpick and no food except
in liC.1id form. could be satisfactorily
tShtH WITHOUT tHe dlu knlle. W hat
the ha Sgis is to Scotchman the savory
to an Englshman. the demi-tasse Of
black coffee to a Frenchman and the
cigarette to Spaniard. as putting a Pc
riod to a meal. so is the toothpick TO a
down-eaSterner. Without toothpick
to chew he would have indigestion One
and all they masticate wood with the
avidty of a Inuskrat. / wonder if the
universal enthusiasm shown in this
could not be turned to good and practi-
cal use in the manufacture of wood pulp
l have seen many an accomplished
artist with a knife performing at
meals. but they all pale into insignif-
canoe alongside the star exhibition
given by man in the dining car
crossing New Brunswick / watched
him. fascinated and almost awestruck.
He never shed a drop of blood during
the whole meal, but / shed cold per-
spiration. fearing he would slit his
mouth from ear to ear or take slice
off his finger. The knife never left
his right hand. When he OCCASION
ally saw fit to lift something to his
mouth with a spoon. he still chung
onto the knife. holding it in the crotch
of his thumb. with the blade sticking
out while he manipulated the spoon
with his fingers. 1t was a marvellous
performance. He always kept the
fork in his left hand, held like a
dagger. and never used it TO eat with.
but only to stab food and hold ii in
place while being cut. He was cer-
tainly the champion table tool hand
Ter. l think the other natives were
all envious of him.
A regrettable but typical incident
occurred ON the train going from ST.
John to Halifax. the gun-guarded
gateway to Canada. You must know
that they are very patriotic in Nova
Scotia, and the war spirit runs high.
In the smoking car were four SOL
diers who had just enlisted. and also
an American travelling man." or. in
other words. a drummer. This par
ticular drummer was one of those Of
fensively talkative. inauisitive. and
bumptious persons YOU always find IN
smoking cars. Like all of his ilk. he
didn't know enough to mind his own
business or keep his opinions to HIM
self when out of his own country. He
took it upon himself to lecture the
soldiers.
II can't see" said he. what you
fellows wanted to enlist for. This
in any way. Eight thousand Cana
dams have already been killed. and
you are likely to be. You are fools to
enlist"
That's as far as he got. The small
est Of the soldiers. without saying a
word. hauled off and landed a neat
one on the drummer's chin that
him nat. When the drummer
got to his feet again the soldier said:
Don't let me hear you talk like
that any more"
He didn't
In peaceful Nova Scotia the land OF
Evanseline, ] passed a huge alien Ie-
tention camp at Amherst A big lun-
Der mill and its adjoining yards had
been utilized for the purpose by erecting
stockades twelve feet high around the
yar.ls. which perhaps contained half Il
dozen acres There seemed to be hum
dreds of prisoners and a large force Of
soldiers guarding them. The prisoners
were taking things easy. the men lying
on the ground smoking and the chill
dren playing games. The soldier guards
had the hard end of it. forever walk. IS
up and down on sentry duty
In the fine harbor of Halifax lay four
English warships. Two had
Just come in. Their bows were fan
tastically painted with white to look like
spray being dashed up On the smoke
stacks were more blotches of white
paint to resemble clouds coming from
the escapes. All this was done. SO one
Of the officers told me. to fool an enemy
into believing that they were under way
when they were not. Whether this de-
vice had ever fooled any one or not
the officer did not say. l doubt it.
As our steamer pulled out l saw on
the pier hundreds and hundreds of bar
Iels of picked beef waiting shipment
overseas to feed Kitchener's "Tommios.
The band on the New York boat which
had just come in alongside gathered
IN the after deck and played us out to
the strains of I'm On My Way to Dub
I'm Bay" In the slittering early morn
ing sunlight We glided past the grim.
run-laden fortifcations which make
Halifax the Kronstadt of America and
,ut into the gray North Atlantic. where
, solid bank of fog awaited us as our
ship turned her nose southwark to New
York