solitudes whose silence had remained unbroken through the ages.

"If some of those Boy Scouts could only see this!" exclaimed Doctor
Joe.

"'Twere fashioned by the Almighty for comfortable livin'," said
Thomas, who had called Margaret and the boys and come out unobserved
by Doctor Joe. "There's no better shelter on the coast, and no better
place for seals and salmon, with neighbours handy when we wants to see
un, and plenty o' room to stretch. 'Tis the finest _I_ ever saw,
whatever."

"Yes, 'tis all of that," agreed Doctor Joe. "But I wasn't thinking now
of The Jug alone. I was thinking of the majestic grandeur of the whole
scene. I was enjoying the freedom from the noise and scramble, the
dirt and smoke and smudge of the city, with its piles upon piles of
ugly buildings, and never a breath of such pure air as this to be
breathed. I was thinking of these fine young chaps, the Boy Scouts I
saw there, who are trying to study God's big out-of-doors and must
content themselves with stingy little parks. It's the love of Nature
that takes them to the parks, and compared with this they have a poor
substitute. This is the world as God made it, with all its primordial
beauty. We're fortunate that circumstances placed us here, Thomas, and
we should be for ever thankful."

"I'm wonderin' now," observed Thomas, as he and Doctor Joe paced up
and down the gravelly beach, "why folks ever lives in such places as
you tells about. There's plenty o' room down here on The Labrador, and
plenty o' other places, I'm not doubtin', where they'd be free from
the crowds and dirt, and have plenty o' room to stretch, and live fine