A day or two afterwards I met him wearing his coat turned inside out, the rough seams and red-edging of which had a very curious effect.  I inquired “what might be his reason for going about in such a costume?”

“Well, you see I call this my morning attire; in the evening I have nothing to do but turn my coat, and, lo!  I am dressed; a very capital arrangement, and quite good enough for the Bush.  Do not you think so?”

“As far as regards economy,” I replied, “it may do well enough, and as you do not appear to care about being laughed at, your plan will answer:  and who knows but that you may have the pleasure of introducing a new fashion into the colonies?”

Amongst other odd characters I had to deal with, was a Mr. W-----, I
believe a portrait and miniature painter by profession, who had
travelled a good deal in Russia, and understood that language well.  He
purchased a lot of land from the company on the Waterloo-road, about a
mile from the village.  Under the ground-plot chosen by him to build on,
he found there existed a good quarry of limestone; so he made up his
mind to build a stone-house, although he had spent his last dollar, and
his profession in a new and poor settlement would avail him very
little.

However, he went to work, excavating the stone which he had found when digging his cellar, for building the walls of his house:  his only assistant in the undertaking was a delicate ladylike young woman, whom he had married in the United States, and brought here as a bride.  He treated his unfortunate partner like a slave.  She had to mix and carry all the mortar, and help him to raise the stone.

I often, on an evening, walked down to see how they were getting on with their job, and was quite astonished to find how well they progressed.  But, at the same time, I pitied the poor wife exceedingly, whom the neighbours said he treated very harshly, notwithstanding her conjugal devotion to him.

At the end of three months his creditors began to threaten him.  His land was still unpaid for, and the walls of his house unfinished.  When too late, he counted the cost of completion, and found his best plan was to take a Yankee leave, and clear out, leaving his unfinished home as a legacy to his creditors.

How to beat a retreat, and take his goods and chattels with him, without discovery, was a difficult matter.  He, however, set his wits to work, and adopted the following plan, which, in theory, looked feasible enough, but, when put in practice, was found not quite so easy as he had anticipated.

He knew that the river Speed, which ran at the rear of his lot, after a course of fourteen or fifteen miles, debouched into the Grand River, and was, from thence, navigable for boats to Lake Erie, a distance of some seventy or eighty miles further.  He, therefore, conceived the plan of building a small scow,* large enough to hold his wife, himself, and his effects, and silently dropping down with the current, bade adieu to their sylvan retreat, and the great city of Guelph, which, however, he was destined to see again, much sooner than he expected.