This
is not merely all external appearance either: they are accomplished
people; they sing, they play, they sketch, they paint, they speak
several languages, they are well read, they have many resources.
Soldiering is dull, and, in time of peace, only a police service. It
has disagreeable duties; it involves repeated removals, and the
alternation of bad climates--from Hudson's Bay to Calcutta's Black
Hole. The juniors of the regimental officers are mere boys, the
seniors great empty cartouch-boxes, and the women have cabals,--there
is a sameness even in its variety; but worse than all, it has no
home--in short, the whole thing is a bore. It is better to sell out
and settle in the province; land is cheap; their means are ample, and
more than sufficient for the requirements of the colony; country
society is stupid; there are no people fit to visit. It is best to be
out of the reach of their morning calls and their gossip. A few miles
back in the woods there is a splendid stream with a beautiful cascade
on it; there is a magnificent lake communicating with several others
that form a chain of many miles in extent. That swelling knoll that
slopes so gently to the water would be such a pretty site for a
cottage-orn?, and the back-ground of hanging wood has an indescribable
beauty in it, especially in the autumn, when the trees are one
complete mass of variegated hues.
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