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XI

BACHELORS HALL

1839

T3 ACHELORS' HALL was the gossiping place, the -L) clerks' quarters, a long, low, whitewashed log structure on the east side of the court. Here, in the central assembly room, with a rousing fire and tables littered with pens, ink, and paper, the gentlemen often chatted till the stroke of midnight. Hunting, fishing, fowling, these were the sports of summer, but during the long, rainy winter evenings Bachelors' Hall became the nightly theatre of song and story. All grades of employes, the aristocratic Briton, the feudal Highlander, the restless Frenchman, the picturesque Indian, shone in the kaleidoscopic shift of firelight. Here the gay and brusque McLoughlin discussed religion with the funereal, formal Douglas, or joked him on the customs of his Scottish chiefs.

Dr. McLoughlin was a hero-worshipper Napoleon was his hero. That is the key to his swift flights of travel; it explains his demand for instant and unquestioned obedience, his system of rewards and punishments, and his far-reaching schemes for power. Like Napoleon, his frown was a terror to the culprit, his approbation the delight of his subordinates. An offender would choose rather to flee away to the hostile Blackfeet than to feel again the blaze of that displeasure.

In Bachelors' Hall Waterloo was fought again and again. Bruce had been an actual participant.