Nairne's careful education of his children.--His son John enters the army.--Nairne's counsels to his son.--John Nairne goes to India.--His death.--Nairne's declining years.--His activities at Murray Bay.--His income.--His daughter Christine and Quebec society.--The isolation of Murray Bay in Winter.--Signals across the river.--Nairne's reading.--His notes about current events.--The fear of a French invasion of England.--Thoughts of flight from Scotland to Murray Bay.--Nairne's last letter, April 20th, 1802.--His death and burial at Quebec. 93 CHAPTER VI THOMAS NAIRNE, SEIGNEUR OF MURRAY BAY His education in Scotland.--His winning character.--He enters the army.--Malcolm Fraser's counsels to a young soldier.--Thomas Nairne's life at Gibraltar.--His desire to retire from the army.--His return to Canada in 1810-11.--His life at Quebec.--His summer at Murray Bay, 1811.--His resolve to remain in the Army.--Beginning of the War of 1812.--Captain Nairne on Lake Ontario.--Quebec Society and the proposed flight from danger to Murray Bay.--Anxiety at Murray Bay.--The progress of the War.--An American attack on Kingston.--Captain Nairne on the Niagara frontier.--Naval War on Lake Ontario.--Nairne's description of a naval engagement.--Sense of impending disaster at Murray Bay.--The American advance on Montreal by the St. Lawrence.--Nairne's regiment a part of the opposing British force.--The Battle of Crysler's Farm.--Nairne's death.--His body taken to Quebec.--The grief of the family at Murray Bay.--The funeral. 124 CHAPTER VII A FRENCH CANADIAN VILLAGE Life at Murray Bay after Captain Nairne's death.--Letters from Europe.--Death of Malcolm Fraser.--Death of Colonel Nairne's widow and children.--His grandson John Nairne, seigneur.--Village Life.--The Church's Influence.--The Habitant's tenacity.--His cottage.--His labours.--His amusements.--The Church's missionary work in the Village.--The powers of the bishop.--His visitations.--The organization of the Parish.--The powers of the _fabrique_.--Lay control of Church finance.--The cures' tithe.--The best intellects enter the Church.--A native Canadian clergy.--The cure's social life.--The Church and Temperance Reform.--The diligence of the cures.--The habitant's taste for the supernatural.--The belief in goblins.--Prayer in the family.--The habitant as voter.--The office of Churchwarden.--The Church's influence in elections.--The seigneur's position.--The habitant's obligations to him.--Rent day and New Year's Day.--The seigneur's social rank.--The growth of discontent in the villages.--The evils of Seigniorial Tenure.--Agitation against the system.--Its abolition in 1854.--The last of the Nairnes.--The Nairne tomb in Quebec. 168 CHAPTER VIII THE COMING OF THE PLEASURE SEEKERS