Her Majesty removed
her troops--the Dominion wouldn't pay, a poor-spirited
business--and a bulwark went with the regiment. The
original dignified group broke, dissolved, scattered.
Prosperous traders foreclosed them, the spirit of the
times defeated them, young Liberals succeeded them in
office. Their grandsons married the daughters of well-to-do
persons who came from the north of Ireland, the east of
Scotland, and the Lord knows where. It was a sorry tale
of disintegration with a cheerful sequel of rebuilding,
leading to a little unavoidable confusion as the edifice
went up. Any process of blending implies confusion to
begin with; we are here at the making of a nation.
This large consideration must dispose of small anomalies,
such as the acceptance, without cant, of certain forms
of the shop, euphemized as the store, but containing the
same old vertebral counter. Not all forms. Dry-goods were
held in respect and chemists in comparative esteem; house
furnishings and hardware made an appreciable claim, and
quite a leading family was occupied with seed grains.
Groceries, on the other hand, were harder to swallow,
possibly on account of the apron, though the grocer's
apron, being of linen, had several degrees more
consideration than the shoemaker's, which was of leather;
smaller trades made smaller pretensions; Mrs Milburn
could tell you where to draw the line.
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