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.

[Pg i]

"The whole crowd then precipitated themselves upon him,and proceeded to pummel any part of his body they could reach."—
Page165.Frontispiece.

PREFACE.

There is something so pleasing to the author of this volume—the firstof several which have been kindly received by his American cousins—inthe thought of being accorded the privilege of appearing before a newaudience in the "old home," that the impulse to indulge in a foreword ortwo cannot be withstood.

And yet, after all, there would seem to be but two things necessary tobe said:—Firstly, that in attempting a picture of boy life in NovaScotia a fifth of a century ago, the writer had simply to fall back uponthe recollections of his own school-days, and that in so doing he hasstriven to depart as slightly as possible from what came within therange of personal experience; and, Secondly, while it is no doubt to beregretted that Canada has not yet attained that stage of developmentwhich would enable her to[Pg ii] support a literature of her own, it certainlyis no small consolation for her children, however ardent theirpatriotism, who would fain enter the literary arena, that not onlyacross the Border, but beyond the ocean in the Motherland, there aredoors of opportunity standing open through which they may find their waybefore the greatest and kindliest audience in the world.

J. MACDONALD OXLEY.

Ottawa, Canada,
29th August, 1892.
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CONTENTS.