You, Bois-vert," to the plaintiff, "you bring me one load of hay; and you, Crely," to the defendant, "you bring me one load of wood; and now the matter is settled." It does not appear that any exceptions were taken to this verdict.
This anecdote led to another, the scene of which was Prairie du Chien, on the Mississippi.
There was a Frenchman, a justice of the peace, who was universally known by the name of "Old Boilvin." His office was just without the walls of the fort, and it was much the fashion among the officers to lounge in there of a morning, to find sport for an idle hour, and to take a glass of brandy-and-water with the old gentleman, which he called "taking a little _quelque-chose."_ A soldier, named Fry, had been accused of stealing and killing a calf belonging to M.Rolette, and the constable, a bricklayer of the name of Bell, had been dispatched to arrest the culprit and bring him to trial.
While the gentlemen were making their customary morning visit to the justice, a noise was heard in the entry, and a knock at the door.
"Come in," cried Old Boilvin, rising and walking toward the door.
_Bell_,--Here, sir, I have brought Fry to you, as you ordered.
_Justice_--Fry, you great rascal! What for you kill M.Rolette's calf?
_Fry_,--I did not kill M.Rolette's calf.
_Justice_ (shaking his fist) .-- You lie, you great -- -- rascal! Bell, take him to jail.

Come, gentlemen, come, _let us take a leetle quelque-chose_.
* * * * * The Canadian boatmen always sing while rowing or paddling, and nothing encourages them so much as to hear the "bourgeois"[5] take the lead in the music.

If the passengers, more especially those of the fair sex, join in the refrain, the compliment is all the greater.
Their songs are of a light, cheerful character, generally embodying some little satire or witticism, calculated to produce a spirited, sometimes an uproarious, chorus.
The song and refrain are carried on somewhat in the following style: BOURGEOIS .-- Par-derriere chez ma tante, Par-derriere chez ma tante.
CHORUS .-- Par-derriere chez ma tante, Par-derriere chez ma tante.
BOURGEOIS .-- Il y a un coq qui chante, Des pommes, des poires, des raves, des choux, Des figues nouvelles, des raisins doux.
CHORUS .-- Des pommes, des poires, des raves, des choux, Des figues nouvelles, des raisins doux.
BOURGEOIS .-- Il y a un coq qui chante, Il y a un coq qui chante.
CHORUS .-- Il y a un coq qui chante, etc.
BOURGEOIS .-- Demande une femme a prendre, Des pommes, des poires, des raves, des choux, etc.
CHORUS .-- Des pommes, dos poires, etc.
BOURGEOIS .-- Demande une femme a prendre, Demande une femme a, etc.
And thus it continues until the advice is given successively, Ne prenez pas une noire, Car elles aiment trop a boire, Ne prenez pas une rousse, Car elles sont trop jalouses.
And by the time all the different qualifications are rehearsed and objected to, lengthened out by the interminable repetition of the chorus, the shout of the bourgeois is heard-- "Whoop la! a terre, a terre--pour la pipe!" It is an invariable custom for the voyageurs to stop every five or six miles to rest and smoke, so that it was formerly the way of measuring distances--"so many pipes," instead of "so many miles." The Canadian melodies are sometimes very beautiful, and a more exhilarating mode of travel can hardly be imagined than a voyage over these waters, amid all the wild magnificence of nature, with the measured strokes of the oar keeping time to the strains of "_Le Rosier Blanc_," "En roulant ma Boule_," or "_Leve ton pied, ma jolie Bergere."_ The climax of fun seemed to be in a comic piece, which, however oft repeated, appeared never to grow stale.

It was somewhat after this fashion: BOURGEOIS .-- Michaud est monte dans un prunier, Pour treiller des prunes.
La branche a casse-- CHORUS .-- Michaud a tombe?
BOURGEOIS .-- Ou est-ce qu'il est?
CHORUS .-- Il est en bas.
BOURGEOIS .-- Oh! reveille, reveille, reveille, Oh! reveille, Michaud est en haut![6] It was always a point of etiquette to look astonished at the luck of Michaud in remaining in the tree, spite of the breaking of the branch, and the joke had to be repeated through all the varieties of fruit-trees that Michaud might be supposed able to climb.
By evening of the first day we arrived at _the Kakalin_, where another branch of the Grignon family resided.

We were very pleasantly entertained, although, in my anxiety to begin my forest life, I would fain have had the tent pitched on the bank of the river, and have laid aside, at once, the indulgences of civilization.