“The captain of the band demanded sixty dollars, as he, Mr. P—–­, could well afford to pay it.

“‘That’s too much, my fine fellows!’ cried Mr. P—–­ from the open window.  ’Say twenty-five, and I will send you down a cheque upon the bank of Montreal for the money.’

“‘Thirty! thirty! thirty! old boy!’ roared a hundred voices.  ’Your wife’s worth that.  Down with the cash, and we will give you three cheers, and three times three for the bride, and leave you to sleep in peace.  If you hang back, we will raise such a ’larum about your ears that you shan’t know that your wife’s your own for a month to come!’

“‘I’ll give you twenty-five,’ remonstrated the bridegroom, not the least alarmed at their threats, and laughing all the time in his sleeve.

“‘Thirty; not one copper less!’ Here they gave him such a salute of diabolical sounds that he ran from the window with his hands to his ears, and his friend came down stairs to the verandah, and gave them the sum they required.  They did not expect that the old man would have been so liberal, and they gave him the ‘Hip, hip, hip hurrah!’ in fine style, and marched off the finish the night and spend the money at the tavern.”

“And do people allow themselves to be bullied out of their property by such ruffians?”

“Ah, my dear! ’tis the custom of the country, and ’tis not so easy to put it down.  But I can tell you that a charivari is not always a joke.

“There was another affair that happened, just before you came to the place, that occasioned no small talk in the neighbourhood; and well it might, for it was a most disgraceful piece of business, and attended with very serious consequences.  Some of the charivari party had to fly, or they might have ended their days in the penitentiary.

“There was runaway nigger from the States came to the village, and set up a barber’s poll, and settled among us.  I am no friend to the blacks; but really Tom Smith was such a quiet, good-natured fellow, and so civil and obliging, that he soon got a good business.  He was clever, too, and cleaned old clothes until they looked almost as good as new.  Well, after a time he persuaded a white girl to marry him.  She was not a bad-looking Irish woman, and I can’t think what bewitched the creature to take him.

“Her marriage with the black man created a great sensation in the town.  All the young fellows were indignant at his presumption and her folly, and they determined to give them the charivari in fine style, and punish them both for the insult they had put upon the place.

“Some of the young gentlemen in the town joined in the frolic.  They went so far as to enter the house, drag the poor nigger from his bed, and in spite of his shrieks for mercy, they hurried him out into the cold air—­for it was winter—­and almost naked as he was, rode him upon a rail, and so ill-treated him that he died under their hands.

“They left the body, when they found what had happened, and fled.  The ringleaders escaped across the lake to the other side; and those who remained could not be sufficiently identified to bring them to trial.  The affair was hushed up; but it gave great uneasiness to several respectable families whose sons were in the scrape.”