" he
continued, with simple earnestness, after having given the
invitation to partake of his homely fare; "and I should like to hear
what is going on in the world. From Whiskey Centre I do not expect
to learn much, I will own; but I am mistaken if the Pigeonswing,
here, has not a message that will make us all open our ears."
The Indians ejaculated their assent; but Gershom was a man who could
not express anything sententiously. As the bee-hunter led the way
toward his cabin, or shanty, he made his comments with his customary
freedom. Before recording what he communicated, however, we shall
digress for one moment in order to say a word ourselves concerning
this term "shanty." It is now in general use throughout the whole of
the United States, meaning a cabin that has been constructed in
haste, and for temporary purposes. By a license of speech, it is
occasionally applied to more permanent residences, as men are known
to apply familiar epithets to familiar objects. The derivation of
the word has caused some speculation. The term certainly came from
the West-perhaps from the Northwest-and the best explanation we have
ever heard of its derivation is to sup-pose "shanty," as we now
spell it, a corruption of "chiente," which it is thought may have
been a word in Canadian French phrase to express a "dog-kennel.
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