instrument and no organized choir. Of those whose voices contributed
to this part of divine worship I think only Mrs. W. J. Macdonald
survives.

As to my first Christmas Day, which this year ('55) fell on a
Tuesday, I can remember nothing of it as distinguished from other
Christmas Days to follow (more than fifty in number); but my records
say that my text was, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth
peace, goodwill towards men." But where we dined, what we had for
dinner, or how we spent the day, my wife might have told, but I
cannot. I know that we spent many Christmas evenings at the
Governor's very pleasantly, and this may have been, and probably was,
one of them. I remember that one New Year's Eve there was a violent
snowstorm, which hindered me from holding a service at Craigflower,
as I had intended, but my records show what I do not in the least
remember, that I preached at Craigflower on New Year's Day. I also
remember that by Christmas Day we had moved into the Parsonage, and
that my two sisters, who had arrived at Esquimalt from England, a
week before, were with us on that day. I remember a good deal about
the Parsonage in those early days. It was almost in the country.
As it was at first unfenced, my wife was often afraid at noises. One
night we heard a scraping, and she was sure that someone was breaking
into the house. I tried to persuade her that burglars did not
announce their presence in that open fashion. However, to reassure
her, I reconnoitred, and found it was only an old sow rubbing her
back against an old shed nearby.

The Parsonage ground was all wild, but the soil good, and as it was
my future home, the task of trying to make it a worthy appendage of
the district church was a pleasant one. My servant, James Ravey, was
a good gardener, but rather more inclined to the useful than the
ornamental. When my wife wanted to enlist his interest in flower
gardening, he remarked that the flowers he had liked best were
cauliflowers. However, she had her way, he nothing loath. Dr.
Helmcken liberally supplied us with a variety of flowers from his
well-kept garden, among which I remember daisies--not the wee,
modest, crimson-tipped flowers, but variegated beauties, gorgeous
through ages of culture. There was not a wild daisy in the country;
but now they are spreading everywhere, as if when left alone they
preferred their natural state. The Governor also took a kindly
interest in the work, offering valua