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THE VILLAGE rolls along in the same channel, reminding us that 'time and tide i wait for no man', the place would scarcely be recognizable." The Old Village was quaint and charming. All the early travel- lers that visited it and left a record of their impressions have called it pretty or beautiful. And the villagers were as quaint and strange as their village. Not one of them has survived the passing of the years. If by Paris we mean the people that form the community, then the Old Village is quite dead. Jane Capron, the last living link between village and town, died in I934 at the age of 95. Thus, if we could visit the Old Village, we should see only strangers walking about -strange men dressed in a strange variety of clothes, such as brass-buttoned jackets with short tails, glazed high-crowned hats, calf-high leather boots into which the cuffs of the pantaloons were stuffed, and colorful kilts; and strange women in poke bonnets, shawls and ankle-length skirts. Moreover, the majority of these strangers would speak a bewilder- ing variety of dialects. We should hear those of England, Scotland, and Ireland, and particularly the Yankee dialect of Vermont and the New England States. In 1832 the Reverend William Proudfoot, just out from Scotland, commented upon the influence that Ameri- cans were having upon the speech of this part of Upper Canada. He noted Americanism such as "hold your horses", "like a thousand of brick", "crazy as a bedbug", "blind as a bat", and "let 'er rip". And like many other Britishers, he disliked what he heard. The social life of the Old Village, for the most part, centred around the Village Hall on the south bank of the Grand. According to Israel Rounds, in his letter of i893: The upper flat over a wagon or carpenter shop, nearly opposite the old "Star Office", served for a public hall, the entrance to which was by an outside stairway at the rear end. Little obstacles of this nature did not seem to be considered as such, nor cause any "show" to be a failure. Here many a joyful evening was spent by the gay young men and their fair companions in the social party and concert. The walls of its interior were neither putty coated, white-washed or papered. I think it was plastered in the rough as near as could be discovered by the candle light of the period, now called the "light of other days." Nevertheless the hall and its furnishings (benches and planks) was the best and only the village afforded and it was frequently filled to the door, nearly to the ceiling, and was honoured by the noted, such as Madame Anna Bishop and your humble servant; for it was here I made my debut as an orator and singer - oo-n-e-m! Many villagers, in addition to enjoying entertainments in the hall, attended bees in neighbouring countryside. The logging bee, the stumping bee, and the house or barn-raising bee, as well as being the only way that a labor force could be assembled, were exciting social events where men, usually inspired by gallons of whiskey, 41