Bert Lloyd's Boyhood: A Story from Nova Scotia

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BERT LLOYD'S BOYHOOD.

[Illustration: "The whole crowd then precipitated themselves upon him,
and proceeded to pummel any part of his body they could reach."--_Page
165._

_Frontispiece._]

BERT LLOYD'S BOYHOOD

A Story from Nova Scotia

BY

J. MACDONALD OXLEY, LL.D.

_WITH EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS BY J. FINNEMORE_

London

HODDER AND STOUGHTON

27, PATERNOSTER ROW

MDCCCXCII.

   EDINBURGH:
   PRINTED BY LORIMER AND GILLIES.
   31 ST. ANDREW SQUARE.




PREFACE.


There is something so pleasing to the author of this volume--the first
of several which have been kindly received by his American cousins--in
the thought of being accorded the privilege of appearing before a new
audience in the "old home," that the impulse to indulge in a foreword or
two cannot be withstood.

And yet, after all, there would seem to be but two things necessary to
be said:--Firstly, that in attempting a picture of boy life in Nova
Scotia a fifth of a century ago, the writer had simply to fall back upon
the recollections of his own school-days, and that in so doing he has
striven to depart as slightly as possible from what came within the
range of personal experience; and, Secondly, while it is no doubt to be
regretted that Canada has not yet attained that stage of development
which would enable her to support a literature of her own, it certainly
is no small consolation for her children, however ardent their
patriotism, who would fain enter the literary arena, that not only
across the Border, but beyond the ocean in the Motherland, there are
doors of opportunity standing open through which they may find their way
before the greatest and kindliest audience in the world.

   J. MACDONALD OXLEY.

   OTTAWA, CANADA,
   _29th August, 1892_.




CONTENTS.


   CHAPTER                                                          PAGE

   I. BERT IS INTRODUCED,                                              5

   II. FIREMAN OR SOLDIER,                                            11

   III. NO. FIVE FORT STREET,                                         17

   IV. OFF TO THE COUNTRY,                                            21

   V. THE RIDE IN THE COACH,                                          29

   VI. AT GRANDFATHER'S,                                              39

   VII. COUNTRY EXPERIENCES,                                          47

   VIII. TEMPTATION AND TRIUMPH,                                      57

   IX. LOST AND FOUND,                                                67

   X. BERT GOES TO SCHOOL,                                            81

   XI. SCHOOL LIFE AT MR. GARRISON'S,                                 93

   XII. A QUESTION OF INFLUENCE,                                     107

   XIII. BERT AT HOME,                                               117

   XIV. AN HONOURABLE SCAR,                                          127

   XV. A CHANGE OF SCHOOL,                                           139

   XVI. THE FIRST DAYS AT DR. JOHNSTON'S,                            151

   XVII. THE HOISTING,                                               163

   XVIII. SCHOOL EXPERIENCES,                                        175

   XIX. VICTORY AND DEFEAT,                                          187

   XX. A NARROW ESCAPE,                                              203

   XXI. LEARNING TO SWIM,                                            217

   XXII. HOW HOISTING WAS ABOLISHED,                                 227

   XXIII. PRIZE WINNING AND LOSING,                                  239

   XXIV. A CHAPTER ON PONIES,                                        253

   XXV. ABOUT TWO KINDS OF PONIES,                                   263

   XXVI. VICTORY WON FROM DEFEAT,                                    273

   XXVII. ABOUT LITERATURE AND LAW,                                  287

   XXVIII. WELL DONE, BOYS!                                          301

   XXIX. THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW,                                   315

   XXX. HOME MISSIONARY WORK,                                        325

   XXXI. NOT DEAD, BUT TRANSLATED,                                   335

   XXXII. A BOY NO LONGER,                                           349




CHAPTER I.

BERT IS INTRODUCED.


If Cuthbert Lloyd had been born in the time of our great grandfathers,
instead of a little later than the first half of the present century,
the gossips would assuredly have declared that the good fairies had had
it all their own way at his birth.

To begin with, he was a particularly fine handsome baby; for did not all
the friends of the family say so? In the second place, he was an only
son, which meant that he had no big brothers to bully him.