That was almost all that was given him. The only levee he held in Government House was after his death, when he lay in state, and thousands crowded round to take a long last look at their old idol.
On the morning after Howe's death a wealthy Halifax merchant, one who had been a devoted friend of his, saw as he was entering his place of business a farmer or drover, one well known for 'homespun without, and a warm heart within,' sitting on a box outside near the door, his head leaning on his hand, his foot monotonously swinging to and fro, looking as if he had sat there for hours and had no intention of getting up in a hurry. 'Well, Stephen, what's the matter?' 'Oh, nauthin',' was the dull response. 'Is it Howe?' was the next question, in a softer tone. The sound of the name unsealed the fountain. 'Yes, it's Howe.' The words came with a gulp, and then followed tears, dropping on the pavement large and fast. He did not weep alone. In many a hamlet, in many a fishing village, in many a nook and corner of Nova Scotia, as the news went over the land, Joseph Howe had the same tribute of tears.
Vex not his ghost; O let him pass! he hates him
That would upon the rack of this rough world
Stretch him out longer.
He sleeps in Camphill Cemetery, not far from the pines and salt sea water of his boyhood, a column of Nova Scotian granite marking his resting-place; and his memory abides in the hearts of thousands of his countrymen.
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE
Besides the two noble volumes, Speeches and Public Letters of Joseph Howe, edited by Joseph Andrew Chisholm, K. C. (Halifax, 1909), the reader should consult the biography of Howe by Mr Justice Longley in the 'Makers of Canada' series, and the account of Nova Scotian history by Professor Archibald MacMechan in Canada and its Provinces, vol. xiii. See also Recollections of Sixty Years in Canada by Sir Charles Tupper (London, 1914); and, in this Series, The Winning of Popular Government and The Railway Builders. For an intimate study of life in Nova Scotia there are no books equal to the works of Thomas Chandler Haliburton.