Page:New Brunswick Magazine Issue 1.djvu/404

As to the Martin family being Scotch, I would like further to remark that the name Martin is equally English, Irish, Scotch and French; and perhaps the same may be said of Vincent, although I think the latter name is more common in France than in the United Kingdom. The mere names in these two cases prove nothing; but it seems impossible that the immigrant ancestor of the Melansons could have been of Scottish birth.

On Christmas day, 1824, one Edward Shea, a schoolmaster of Rawdon, came to Halifax and went to the house of an acquaintance with whom he usually lodged when in town. He was a man of about sixty years of age, who had formerly been in the navy, but who now lived humbly on a small pension which he eked out by teaching school in an out-of-the-way country district.

It was after dark, between six and seven o'clock, when the solitary old man dropped into the before-mentioned house, and took a glass of punch with the landlord and some other men who were drinking about the cosy fire-place. His costume consisted of a short blue jacket with metal anchor buttons, light blue homespun trousers, and an old black hat. He was much fatigued, for during the day he had travelled some thirty to thirty-five miles—a remarkable achievement for one of his age and slight frame.

After drinking the liquor, he begged for more, but this his entertainer refused to give him, as he did not appear to be entirely sober. Being without money, he then offered his black-silk handkerchief as a pledge,