THE

CHRISTIAN LADY'S MAGAZINE.

JULY, 1839.

BY-GONE DAYS.

IN drawing to a close the reminiscences of Nova Scotia, a sort of bird's-eye view may be indulged in, embracing the whole of her interesting territory, with all its peculiarities, natural and moral. I see the long undulating line of hills, clad in their summer vesture--the dark fir, tapering upwards, and throwing out the tender shoots of a delicate emerald green, which supply the staple beverage of spruce-beer : the taller birch, with its stem of silver white and precious bark, available for so many uses; the red larch, gracefully studding the plantations with its deep rich tint, and all the delicate varieties of shading produced by an endless admixture. I trace the mountain torrent, as it thunders down these rocky steeps; and the broad full river that majestically cleaves its way between their ranges. I look upon the small but beautiful lake, walled in with spark

ling granite, and fringed with the light foliage of graceful trees; and then turn to the wide morass, where a thousand flowers of most gorgeous appearance wave in the breeze, the more tempting because unapproachable; or to the less perilous outspread of firm ground, covered with the wild myrtle and cistus, the spicy fragrance of which is so predominant there, that I never pass it in a garden without recalling the fresh summer breeze of Nova Scotia. Beneath these shrubs I know that myriads of fire-flies are nestling, till the closing eve invites them abroad, and what a lighting up the scene will boast, when they sally forth! Earth does not possess a gem that may not find its counterpart in some individual of this brilliant family. I have traced the purple of the amethyst, the sunny yellow of the topaz, the ruby's red, and the emerald's soft green, with their innumerable gradations of tint, all upon the wing together, within the circuit of a single bush of wild myrtle. And I well remember one evening, when seated in the elegant cottage of a friend, in the midst of a wild heath not far from Halifax, one of the myriads of fire-flies that were illumining the scene as far as the eye could stretch, found its way through the open window, and alighted on the neck of our fair hostess. Candles were burning on the table before her, and it was a matter of surprise to all the party, that the large globular body of the insect, emitting through its semi-transparent surface a yellowish green lustre, actually outrivalled a precious stone worn by the lady, the fine water of which we had been admiring. Our pale English glow-worm cannot furnish an idea of these winged brilliants. Their size, immense numbers, and restless activity,

greatly increase the effect of their splendid beauty; and without the fire-fly or the humming-bird I could not realize a Nova Scotian landscape. The latter is comparatively rare in inhabited places, and so swift on the wing that it is difficult to catch a full view of them but my little garden was frequented by a few individuals, sacred from the cruel pursuit that would sacrifice the living creature to a desire of possessing the stuffed specimen. My humming-birds came and went unmolested; and great was my delight when they ventured across my path.

All these, and many other features peculiar to the country, are spread before me now, as I linger over the retrospection: and in the midst of these I recal the houses of worship, few and far between, thinly scattered over the face of the land. The churches of the Establishment form but a small proportion of these: there are nearly, if not quite as many Popish chapels, and the different denominations of dissenters, together with the church of Scotland, have all their edifices. I remember being told that there were several Irish priests settled in various parts; and the frequent influx of emigrants from that country, chiefly Romanists, rendered it a good field for their labours. Besides, the Indians being of their communion, no doubt availed themselves of their services. At that period Popery had not become dominant in Ireland: Protestants were comparatively safe, and the drainage that persecution has since established, compelling the best and most industrious of the race to seek an asylum for their families on a distant shore, had not commenced. Neither had Popery, emboldened by the concessions of an ungodly legislature at home, presumed to lift her

head on high, as now she does, beyond the seas. I cannot estimate the magnitude of the change that twenty eventful years have wrought, since I sojourned in Nova Scotia ; but this I know, that superstition and disaffection had very unpromising materials to work upon in the mass of her well-principled population; and if the men of God who have latterly been raised up to tend the Lord's vineyard in that interesting colony had their hands strengthened as they ought to be, by the sympathy of their brethren at home, a noble and effectual stand would be made against the foe, in whatever shape he might manifest himself.

Popery never forgets. She cherishes a vivid recollection of every spot where the pre-eminence that she loves has been conceded to her; and she is now gone forth with a fixed resolve to regain her ancient supremacy wheresoever it once existed, and to establish it where it has not. It is probable that she will to a great extent succeed; for scripture seems to indicate that it will be in the height of glory and prosperity that her plagues shall come. As with the type, so we may expect it will be with the antitype. In the literal Babylon all was peace and safety, yea, all was triumph and success. God's Zion had been sacked, his people slain or dispersed, and Belshazzar made himself and his concubines drunken out of the vessels of the temple, which he polluted at will: and when the praises of his idol gods resounded, there was no mortal voice to rebuke the blasphemer. They who smote him were not the people of God, but aliens and creature-worshippers-men who stooped not, indeed, like those of the literal and of the spiritual Babylon, to adore what their own hands had