It
is true that with the heat the snow walls perspired freely, and
the roof was apt to drip like a fat man in August, but it was
considered tactful to ignore these details. Here the children
entertained their friends at tea-parties, and made hideous
juvenile experiments in cookery; here, too, "Jerusalem the Golden"
was prepared. It was a simple operation; milk and honey were
thoroughly mixed in a bowl, the bowl was put out to freeze, and
the frozen mass dipped into hot water to loosen it; "Jerusalem the
Golden" was then broken up small, and the toothsome chips eagerly
devoured. Those familiar with the hymn will at once understand the
allusion.
Sir John Macdonald, the Prime Minister, was very often at
Government House, and dined there perpetually. When at the
Petrograd Embassy, I was constantly hearing of Sir John from my
chief, Lord Dufferin, who had an immense admiration for him, and
considered him the maker of the Dominion, and a really great
statesman. I was naturally anxious to meet a man of whom I had
heard so much. "John A.," as he was universally known in Canada,
had a very engaging personality, and conveyed an impression of
having an enormous reserve of latent force behind his genial
manner.
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