It is difficult for me to write impartially about Glamis, for it is as familiar to me as my own home.  I have been so much there, and have received such kindness within its venerable walls, that it can never be to me quite as other places are.  I can see vast swelling stretches of purple heather, with the dainty little harebells all a-quiver in the strong breeze sweeping over the grouse-butts, as a brown mass of whirling wings rushes past at the pace of an express train, causing one probably to reflect how well-nigh impossible it is to “allow” too much for driven grouse flying down-wind.  I can picture equally vividly the curling-pond in winter-time, tuneful with the merry chirrup of the curling-stones as they skim over the ice, whilst cries of “Soop her up, man, soop!  Soop!” from the anxious “skip” fill the keen air.  I like best, though, to think of the Glamis of my young days, when the ancient stone-built passages and halls, that have seen so many generations pass through them and disappear, rang with perpetual youthful laughter, or echoed beautifully finished part-singing; when nimble young feet twinkled, and kilts whirled to the skirl of the pipes under the vaulted roof of the nine-hundred-year-old crypt; when the whole place was vibrant with joyous young life, and the stately, grey-bearded owner of the historic castle, and of many broad acres in Strathmore besides, found his greatest pleasure in seeing how happy his children and his guests could be under his roof.

CHAPTER IX

Canada—­The beginnings of the C.P.R.—­Attitude of British Columbia—­The C.P.R. completed—­Quebec—­A swim at Niagara—­Other mighty waterfalls—­Ottawa and Rideau Hall—­Effects of dry climate—­ Personal electricity—­Every man his own dynamo—­Attraction of Ottawa—­Curling—­The “roaring game”—­Skating—­An ice-palace—­A ball on skates—­Difficulties of translating the Bible into Eskimo—­ The building of the snow hut—­The snow hut in use—­Sir John Macdonald—­Some personal traits—­The Canadian Parliament buildings—­Monsieur l’Orateur—­A quaint oration—­The “Pages’ Parliament”—­An all-night sitting—­The “Arctic Cremorne”—­A curious Lisbon custom—­The Balkan “souvenir-hunters”—­Personal inspection of Canadian convents—­Some incidents—­The unwelcome novice—­The Montreal Carnival—­The Ice-castle—­The Skating Carnival—­A stupendous toboggan slide—­The pioneer of “ski” in Canada—­The old-fashioned raquettes—­A Canadian Spring—­Wonder of the Dominion.

When I was in Canada for the first time in 1884, the Canadian Pacific Railway was not completed, and there was no through railway connection between the Maritime Provinces, “Upper” and “Lower” Canada, and the Pacific Coast, though, of course, in 1884 those old-fashioned terms for the Provinces of Ontario and Quebec had been obsolete for some time.  Since the Federation of the Dominion in 1867, the opening of the Trans-Continental railway has been