In an official letter from an outpost manager the activities of the
opposition were reported upon as follows:
"_The opposition ain't raisin' no 'ell._"
By which it was assumed that the outpost manager was holding his own.
"_Dear Brother and Fellow Superior:_
"_I have spent a lonely and dissolute_ (meaning desolate) _winter,
owing to the loss of two good hunters and a beloved wife._"
* * * * *
"..._The canoes you sent up last fall arrived safely. Everything
was in order with the exception of one or two destitute items in
the displacement._"
* * * * *
"_I am very thankful for the increase of salary accorded to me by
the Commissioner. Now that I have my new eyes_ (meaning glasses)
_I am able to see better, and my new teeth help me to masticate my
food better, which aids the "deegestion" and keeps me in better
health so that I can do more work now. Now I think I am capable of
taking charge of a much larger Post than the one I am at._"
* * * * *
"_I could not make my cash agree with the books, but it agrees
now, because I made an entry 'To cast to cook the account,
$60.00.'_"
* * * * *
"_I am sorry that I caused you so much worry last fall when I
wrote you that I was at death's door and asking you to send my
successor, as I expected soon to enter the pearly gates._
"_I am sorry to say I recovered soon after and the black suit I
asked for to be buried in was not required. I had no mourning
envelopes on hand, so I blackened the edges of an official
envelope with ink, to advise you befittingly of my approaching
demise._"
* * * * *
"_Hereafter I am to receive my instructions from Fort ----. I am
sorry to leave you. We have differed sometimes about the orders
issued from time to time, but I have endeavoured to carry out the
instructions when I thought they were for the good of the post._"
* * * * *
"Some Reputation"
In looking over an old Hudson's Bay wharf with a view to repairs, the
contractor remarked:
"Well! the piles are so badly eaten away, I'm hanged if I know what
keeps the wharf up."
A bystander promptly replied:
"Nothing but the Company's reputation is keeping up that wharf, sir."