During the early days in the newly settled townships many odd characters were to be found among the sparsely scattered population, and curious scenes were frequently enacted--scenes that it would be difficult to reproduce from the annals of other lands. The following might be taken as a specimen of at least one phase: A more law-abiding people than the Canadians are not to be found in any land. The laws they abide by are those enacted by the will of the people through their elected representatives, and are based upon the constitutional laws of Great Britain. Occasionally incidents occur which show how truly these laws are the will of the people. The following will illustrate my meaning: At the time when the Home Government kept a small body of troops stationed in the Canadas, a dissipated young subaltern of the regiment then quartered at old Quebec deceived a daughter of one of its citizens by a promise of marriage, and ruined her. Her brother, a lad of eighteen, upon discovering her trouble, attended a social function held in the skating rink, at Quebec, where the betrayer was expected to be present. He met the lieutenant in the passage leading to the rink, and demanded if he “intended to marry his sister.” A contemptuous derisive laugh and insulting remark was the only reply, to which the lad responded by drawing a revolver from his pocket and shooting the man dead on the spot. The avenger of his sister’s betrayal at once gave himself up to the authorities. The trial, as well as the crime, caused a great sensation, and though the case was a strong one for the Crown, the jury would not convict him of murder, and the lad went out from the court-house a free man. A somewhat similar case occurred in Upper Canada. Some time before the railway era, when a steamer conveyed the mails and passengers to and from the towns on the lake front, a resident of one of these towns took passage west on the steamer, inducing the wife of one of his neighbors to accompany him. The round trip up the lake, calling at all the western and southern ports, occupied about a week. Upon the return of the boat the injured husband, waiting on the wharf, saw the evil-doer in one of the cabins, and sent a bullet through the window with deadly aim. As in the case just related, arrest and trial followed, but no jury could be got to convict him of murder, such a crime being justified in the eyes of the people by the more heinous one which provoked it. * * * * *