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If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Life in Canada - -Author: Thomas Conant - -Release Date: July 3, 2021 [eBook #65750] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: UTF-8 - -Produced by: Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - available at The Internet Archive) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN CANADA *** - - - [Illustration: THOMAS CONANT.] - - [Illustration: - - LIFE - IN - CANADA - - by - - Thomas Conant, - Author of “Upper Canada Sketches.” - - Toronto - William Briggs - 1903] - - - - - Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year - one thousand nine hundred and three, by THOMAS CONANT, at the - Department of Agriculture. - - - - - “_If a book comes from the heart, it will contrive to reach other - hearts; all art and author’s craft are of small account to that._” - - - - -Preface. - - -In the following pages will be found some contributions towards the -history of Canada and of the manners and customs of its inhabitants -during the hundred years beginning October 5th, 1792. On that date my -ancestor, Roger Conant, a graduate of Yale University, and a -Massachusetts landowner, set foot on Canadian soil as a United Empire -Loyalist. From him and from his descendants--handed down from father to -son--there have come to me certain historical particulars which I regard -as a trust and which I herewith give to the public. I am of the opinion -that it is in such plain and unvarnished statements that future -historians of our country will find their best materials, and I -therefore feel constrained to do my share towards the task of supplying -them. - -The population of Canada is but five and one-third millions, but who can -tell what it will be in a few decades? We may be sure that when our -population rivals that of the United States to-day, and when our -numerous seats of learning have duly leavened the mass of our people, -any reliable particulars as to the early history of our country will be -most eagerly sought for. - -As a native resident of the premier Province of Ontario, where my -ancestors from Roger Conant onwards also spent their lives, I have -naturally dealt chiefly with affairs and happenings in what has hitherto -been the most important province of the Dominion, and which possesses at -least half of the inhabitants of the entire country. But I have not the -slightest desire to detract from the merits and historical interest of -the other provinces. - - THOMAS CONANT. - -OSHAWA, January, 1903. - - - - -Contents. - - -CHAPTER I. - - PAGE - -Roger Conant--His position in Massachusetts--Remained in the United -States two years without being molested--Atrocities committed by -“Butler’s Rangers”--Comes to Upper Canada--Received by Governor -Simcoe--Takes up land at Darlington--Becomes a fur trader--His life as -a settler--Other members of the Conant family 13 - -CHAPTER II. - -Colonel Talbot--His slanderous utterances with regard to Canadians--The -beaver--Salmon in Canadian streams--U. E. Loyalists have to take -the oath of allegiance--Titles of land in Canada--Clergy Reserve -lands--University of Toronto lands--Canada Company lands 27 - -CHAPTER III. - -The War of 1812--Canadian feeling with regard to it--Intolerance -of the Family Compact--Roger Conant arrested and fined--March of -Defenders to York--Roger Conant hides his specie--A song about the -war--Indian robbers foiled--The siege of Detroit--American prisoners -sent to Quebec--Feeding them on the way--Attempt on the life of Colonel -Scott of the U. S. Army--Funeral of Brock--American forces appear off -York--Blowing up of the fort--Burning of the Don bridge--Peace at -last 37 - -CHAPTER IV. - -Wolves in Upper Canada--Adventure of Thomas Conant--A grabbing -land-surveyor--Canadian graveyards beside the lake--Millerism in Upper -Canada--Mormonism 60 - -CHAPTER V. - -Abolition of slavery in Canada--Log-houses, their fireplaces and -cooking apparatus--Difficulty experienced by settlers in obtaining -money--Grants to U. E. Loyalists--First grist mill--Indians--Use of -whiskey--Belief in witchcraft--Buffalo in Ontario 72 - -CHAPTER VI. - -A manufactory of base coin in the Province of Quebec--A clever -penman--Incident at a trial--The gang of forgers broken up--“Stump-tail -money”--Calves or land? Ashbridge’s hotel, Toronto--Attempted robbery -by Indians--The shooting of an Indian dog and the consequences 87 - -CHAPTER VII. - -The Canadian Revolution of 1837-38--Causes that led to it--Searching -of Daniel Conant’s house--Tyrannous misrule of the Family Compact--A -fugitive farmer--A visitor from the United States in danger--Daniel -Conant a large vessel owner--Assists seventy patriots to escape--Linus -Wilson Miller--His trial and sentence--State prisoners sent to Van -Diemen’s Land 97 - -CHAPTER VIII. - -Building a dock at Whitby--Daniel Conant becomes security--Water -communication--Some of the old steamboats--Captain Kerr--His commanding -methods--Captain Schofield--Crossing the Atlantic--Trials of -emigrants--Death of a Scotch emigrant 114 - -CHAPTER IX. - -Maple sugar making--The Indian method--“Sugaring-off”--The toothsome -“wax”--A yearly season of pleasure 122 - -CHAPTER X. - -Winter in Ontario--Flax-working in the old time--Social gatherings--The -churches are centres of attraction--Winter marriages--Common -schools--Wintry aspect of Lake Ontario 129 - -CHAPTER XI. - -The coming of spring--Fishing by torch-light--Sudden beauty of the -springtime--Seeding--Foul weeds--Hospitality of Ontario farmers 136 - -CHAPTER XII. - -Ontario in June--Snake fences--Road-work--Alsike clover fields--A -natural grazing country--Barley and marrowfat peas--Ontario in -July--Barley in full head--Ontario is a garden--Lake Ontario surpasses -Lake Geneva or Lake Leman--Summer delights--Fair complexions of the -people--Approach of the autumnal season--Luxuriant orchards 145 - -CHAPTER XIII. - -Some natural history notes--Our feathered pets--“The poor Canada -bird”--The Canadian mocking-bird--The black squirrel--The red -squirrel--The katydid and cricket--A rural graveyard--The -whip-poor-will--The golden plover--The large Canada owl--The crows’ -congress--The heron--The water-hen 159 - -CHAPTER XIV. - -Lake Ontario--Weather observations with regard to it--Area and -depth--No underground passage for its waters--Daily horizon of the -author--A sunrise described--Telegraph poles an eye-sore--The pleasing -exceeds the ugly 170 - -CHAPTER XV. - -Getting hold of an Ontario farm--How a man without capital may -succeed--Superiority of farming to a mechanical trade--A man -with $10,000 can have more enjoyment in Ontario than anywhere -else--Comparison with other countries--Small amount of waste -land in Ontario--The help of the farmer’s wife--“Where are your -peasants?”--Independence of the Ontario farmer--Complaints of emigrants -unfounded--An example of success 180 - -CHAPTER XVI. - -Unfinished character of many things on this continent--Old Country -roads--Differing aspects of farms--Moving from the old log-house to -the palatial residence--Landlord and tenant should make their own -bargains--Depletion of timber reserves 201 - -CHAPTER XVII. - -Book farmers and their ways--Some Englishmen lack -adaptiveness--Doctoring sick sheep by the book--Failures in -farming--Young Englishmen sent out to try life in Canada--The sporting -farmer--The hunting farmer--The country school-teacher 208 - -CHAPTER XVIII. - -Horse-dealing transactions--A typical horse-deal--“Splitting -the difference”--The horse-trading conscience--A gathering at a -funeral--Another type of farmer--The sordid life that drives the boys -away 219 - -CHAPTER XIX. - -City and country life compared--No aristocracy in Canada--Long winter -evenings--Social evenings--The bashful swain--Popular literature of the -day--A comfortable winter day at home--Young farmers who have inherited -property--Difficulty of obtaining female help--Farmers trying town -life--Universality of the love of country life--Bismarck--Theocritus ---Cato--Hesiod--Homer--Changes in town values--A speculation in -lard 227 - -CHAPTER XX. - -Instances of success in Ontario--A thrifty wood-chopper turns cattle -dealer--Possesses land and money--Two brothers from Ireland; their -mercantile success--The record of thirty years--Another instance--A -travelling dealer turns farmer--Instance of a thriving Scotsman--The -way to meet trouble--The fate of Shylocks and their descendants 244 - -CHAPTER XXI. - -Manitoba and Ontario compared--Some instances from real life--Ontario -compared with Michigan--With Germany--“Canada as a winter -resort”--Inexpediency of ice-palaces and the like--Untruthful to -represent this as a land of winter--Grant Allen’s strictures on Canada -refuted--Lavish use of food by Ontario people--The delightful climate -of Ontario 255 - -CHAPTER XXII. - -Criticisms by foreign authors--How Canada is regarded in other -countries--Passports--“Only a Colonist”--Virchow’s unwelcome -inference--Canadians are too modest--Imperfect guide-books--A -reciprocity treaty wanted 268 - -CHAPTER XXIII. - -Few positions for young Canadians of ambition--American -consulships--Bayard Taylor--S. S. Cox--Canadian High -Commissioner--Desirability of men of elevated life--Necessity for -developing a Canadian national spirit 277 - -CHAPTER XXIV. - -A retrospect--Canada’s heroes--The places of their deeds should -be marked--Canada a young sleeping giant--Abundance of our -resources--Pulpwood for the world--Nickel--History of our early days -will be valued 286 - - - - -Illustrations. - - - PAGE - -THOMAS CONANT _Frontispiece_ - -ROGER CONANT 14 - -GOVERNOR SIMCOE--FROM THE TOMB IN EXETER -CATHEDRAL, ENGLAND 18 - -COLONEL TALBOT 27 - -COLONEL TALBOT’S ARM-CHAIR 28 - -SHOAL OF SALMON, NEAR OSHAWA, 1792 30 - -FAC-SIMILE OF CERTIFICATE OF OATH OF ALLEGIANCE 33 - -FAC-SIMILE OF COURT SUMMONS, 1803 35 - -NEWARK (NIAGARA), 1813 39 - -BRITISH MILITARY UNIFORMS, 1812 41 - -AN OLD SPINNING-WHEEL 41 - -CIVILIAN COSTUMES, UPPER CANADA, 1812 41 - -ROGER CONANT HIDING HIS TREASURE 43 - -FAREWELL’S TAVERN, NEAR OSHAWA, AS IT APPEARS -TO-DAY 47 - -VIEW OF YORK--FROM THE OLDEST EXTANT ENGRAVING 51 - -BURNING THE DON BRIDGE--FROM A SKETCH BY -ISAAC BELLAMY 56 - -THOMAS CONANT (the Author’s grandfather) 60 - -OLD GRAVEYARD NEAR OSHAWA, THE PROPERTY OF -THE AUTHOR 66 - -FIREPLACE AND HOUSEHOLD EFFECTS IN USE IN -UPPER CANADA, 1813 76 - -KITCHEN UTENSILS, UPPER CANADA, 1813 76 - -THE OLD CONANT HOMESTEAD NEAR OSHAWA, BUILT -IN 1811 100 - -DANIEL CONANT 104 - -DESK USED IN THE LEGISLATIVE CHAMBER BY W. -LYON MACKENZIE, UPPER CANADA, 1837 113 - -CANADIAN APPLES AT THE GLASGOW EXHIBITION--“THE -BEST IN THE EMPIRE” 143 - -SCENE NEAR BOBCAYGEON 172 - -A CANADIAN VIEW--LOOKING SOUTH-EAST FROM -EAGLE MOUNTAIN, STONEY LAKE 172 - -A SAILING CANOE ON LAKE ONTARIO 214 - - - - -LIFE IN CANADA. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - - Roger Conant--His position in Massachusetts--Remained in the United - States two years without being molested--Atrocities committed by - “Butler’s Rangers”--Comes to Upper Canada--Received by Governor - Simcoe--Takes up land at Darlington--Becomes a fur trader--His life - as a settler--Other members of the Conant family. - - -The author’s great-grandfather, Roger Conant, was born at Bridgewater, -Massachusetts, on June 22nd, 1748. He was a direct descendant (sixth -generation) from Roger Conant the Pilgrim, and founder of the Conant -family in America, who came to Salem, Massachusetts, in the second ship, -the _Ann_--the _Mayflower_ being the first--in 1623, and became the -first Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony under the British Crown. He -was graduated in Arts and law at Yale University in 1765. At the time of -the outbreak of the Revolution in 1776 he was twenty-eight years old. -His capacity and business ability may be judged from the facts that he -owned no fewer than 13,000 acres of land in New England, and that when -he came to Canada he brought with him £5,000 in British gold. He -appears to have been a man of keen judgment, of quiet manners, not given -to random talking, of great personal strength, and highly acceptable to -his neighbors. In after days, when he had to do his share toward -subduing the Canadian forest, they tell of him sinking his axe up to the -eye at every stroke in the beech or maple. The record is that he could -chop, split and pile a full cord of wood in an hour. - -Although he became a United Empire Loyalist and ultimately came to -Canada, leaving his 13,000 acres behind him in Massachusetts, for which -neither he nor his descendants ever received a cent, Roger Conant’s -decision to emigrate was not taken at once. The Revolution broke out in -1776, but he did not remove from his home until 1778. Even then he does -not appear to have been subjected to the annoyances and persecution -which some have attributed to the disaffected colonists. What the author -has to say on this point comes from Roger Conant’s own lips, and has -been handed down from father to son. He has, therefore, no choice in a -work of this kind but to give it as it came to him. It has been the rule -among many persons who claim New England origin to paint very dark -pictures of the treatment their forefathers received at the hands of -those who joined the colonists in revolt from the British Crown. For -instance, words like the following were used soon after the thirteen -colonies were accorded their independence and became the United States: - -[Illustration: ROGER CONANT. - -Born at Bridgewater, Mass., June 22, 1748. -Graduated at Yale University in Arts and law, 1765. -Came to Darlington, Upper Canada, a U. E. L., 1792. -Died in Darlington, June 21, 1821. -] - - “Did it serve any good end to endeavor to hinder Tories from - getting tenants or to prevent persons who owed them from paying - honest debts? On whose cheek should have been the blush of shame - when the habitation of the aged and feeble Foster was sacked and he - had no shelter but the woods; when Williams, as infirm as he, was - seized at night and dragged away for miles and smoked in a room - with fastened doors and closed chimney-top? What father who doubted - whether to join or fly, determined to abide the issue in the land - of his birth because foul words were spoken to his daughters, or - because they were pelted when riding or when moving in the innocent - dance? Is there cause to wonder that some who still live should yet - say of their own or their fathers’ treatment that persecution made - half of the King’s friends?” - -Roger Conant, however, during the two years he remained at Bridgewater -after the breaking out of the Revolution, was free from these -disagreeable experiences. He frequently reiterated that such instances -as those of Foster and Williams were very rare, and maintained that -those who were subject to harsh treatment were those who made themselves -particularly obnoxious to their neighbors who were in favor of the -Revolution. Persons who were blatant and offensive in their words, -continually boasting their British citizenship and that nobody dare -molest them--in a word, as we say, a century and a quarter after the -struggle, forever carrying a chip on the shoulder and daring anybody to -knock it off--naturally rendered themselves objects of dislike. It must -be borne in mind that, right or wrong, the entire community were almost -a unit in their contention for separation from Great Britain. Yet Roger -Conant, who did not take up arms with the patriots, was not molested. -His oft-repeated testimony was that no one in New England need have -been molested on account of his political opinions. - -As a matter of fact, he frequently averred that he made a mistake when -he left New England and came to the wilds of Canada. To the latest day -of his life he regretted the change, and said that he should have -remained and joined the patriots; that the New Englanders who were -accused of such savage actions towards loyalists were not bad people, -but that on the contrary they were the very best America then had--kind, -cultivated and considerate. Nor was he alone in this conviction. He was -fond of comparing notes with other United Empire Loyalists with whom -from time to time he met. He was always glad to meet those who had come -to Canada from the revolted colonies. And he again and again averred -that their opinion tallied with his own, viz., that they were mistaken -and foolish in coming away. He entertained no feelings of animosity -against the new government who appropriated his 13,000 acres. Neither -does the author. Such feelings were and are reserved for Lord North, -whose short-sightedness and obstinacy were the immediate cause of the -war. A man who could say that “he would whip the colonists into -subjection” deserves the universal contempt of mankind, especially when -it is remembered that at the very moment of his outbreak of ungoverned -and arbitrary temper the colonists were only waiting for an opportunity -to consummate an _entente cordiale_ with the Mother Country, and to -return to former good feeling and peace. - -On the other hand, Roger Conant had that to tell regarding some of the -British forces which does not form pleasant reading, but which the -author feels impelled to set down in order to present a faithful picture -of Great Britain’s stupendous folly, viz., her war with the American -colonies in 1776. The first body of irregular troops of any sort that he -saw who were fighting for the King were Butler’s Rangers, which body, to -his astonishment, he found in northern New York State when wending his -way to Upper Canada. For some time he tarried in the district where this -force was carrying on its operations. It would seem as if the very -spirit of the evil one had taken possession of these men. Acts of arson -by which the unfortunate settler lost his log cabin, the only shelter -for his wife and little ones from the inclemency of a northern winter, -were too common to remark. Murder and rapine were acts of everyday -occurrence. Manifestly these atrocious guerillas could not remain in the -neighborhood that witnessed their crimes. They found their way in -various directions to places where they hoped to evade the tale of their -villany. In after years one of these very men wandered to Upper Canada, -and, as it happened, hired himself to Roger Conant to work about the -latter’s homestead at Darlington. An occasion came when this man, who -was very reticent, had partaken too freely of liquor, so that his tongue -was loosed, and in an unbroken flow of words he unfolded a boastful -narrative of the horrid deeds of himself and his companions of Butler’s -Rangers. One day, he said, they entered a log-house in the forest in New -York State, and quickly murdered the mother and her two children. They -were about applying the torch to the dwelling, when he discovered an -infant asleep, covered with an old coverlet, in the corner of an -adjoining bedroom. He drew the baby forth, when one of the Rangers, not -quite lost to all sense of humanity, begged him to spare the child, -“because,” as he said, “it can do no harm.” With a drunken, leering -boast he declared he would not, “for,” said he, as he dashed its head -against the stone jamb of the open fireplace, “Nits make lice, and I -won’t save it.” - -It is no wonder that Roger Conant said that many times his heart failed -him when these terrible acts of Butler’s Rangers were being perpetrated, -and that he felt sorry even then, when in New York State and on his way -to Upper Canada, that he had not remained in Massachusetts and joined -the patriots. It is to be remembered that these persons were burnt out, -murdered, and their women outraged, simply because they thought Britain -bore too heavily on them, and that reforms were needed in the colonies. -Nor could these acts in even the smallest degree assist the cause of -Britain from a military point of view. - -On October 5th, 1792, Roger Conant crossed the Niagara River on a -flat-bottomed scow ferry, and landed at Newark, then the capital of -Upper Canada. Governor Simcoe, who had only been sworn in as Governor a -few days previously, came to the wharfside - -[Illustration: GOVERNOR SIMCOE. - -(_From the tomb in Exeter Cathedral, England._) - -(By permission from the J. Ross Robertson collection.) -] - -to meet the incoming emigrant, who, with his wife and children, his -waggons and his household stuff, had come to make his future home in -Upper Canada. - -“Where do you wish to go?” said the Governor. - -“I think of following the north shore of the lake eastward till I find a -suitable place to settle in, sir.” - -“But the land up there is not surveyed yet. Should you not prefer to go -up to Lake Simcoe? That is where I would like to see you take up your -abode.” - -But Roger Conant shook his head. He had made up his mind to go to the -north shore of the lake, eastward, and there he ultimately went. When -Governor Simcoe found that he was determined, he told him that when he -had fixed on a location he was to blaze the limits of the farm on the -lake shore he would like to have. When the survey was completed, he, the -Governor, would see that he got his patents for the area so blazed. And -in justice to the Governor, the author is pleased here to set down that -he faithfully kept his word. The patents for the land blazed by Roger -were duly and faithfully made out. But the author must express strong -disapproval of his ancestor’s ultra modesty in not blazing at least a -township in Durham County to compensate him and his heirs for the 13,000 -acres which he had lost in Massachusetts. - -Roger blazed but some 800 acres. For one thing, blazing involved a large -amount of very heavy work. The intervening trees of the unbroken forest -had to be cut away. A straight line must be made out from blaze to -blaze. Besides, the emigrant to those silent and pathless forests -appears to have had small thought of any future value of the land thus -acquired, and as he would have said, colloquially, he was not disposed -to bother with blazing over eight hundred acres. - -Realizing the difficulty the incomer would have in getting across the -fords at the head of Lake Ontario, between Niagara and Hamilton, -Governor Simcoe sent his _aide-de-camp_ to pilot the cavalcade. No -waggon road had been constructed along the shore. But the sand was the -only obstruction, and after several days’ travel he arrived at -Darlington, where was the unbroken forest, diversified only by the many -streams and rivers of undulating central Canada. It was a fine landscape -that lay around the emigrant, with the divine impress still upon it. The -red man had not changed its original features. He had contented himself -with the results of the chase among the sombre shades of the forest, or, -floating upon the pure blue waters in his birch-bark canoe, he took of -the myriads upon myriads of the finny tribe from the cool depths below. - -The whites had only just begun to obtain a livelihood in the broad land. -Not more than 12,000 persons of European descent then dwelt in all Upper -Canada, now forming the peerless Province of Ontario, with its 3,000,000 -of inhabitants. Roger Conant had chosen a beautiful location, and here -with a valiant heart he started to hew out a home for himself and his -family. Although he had brought to this province from Massachusetts -£5,000 in British gold, he was unable at the first to make any use of -it, simply because there were no neighbors to do business with, and -manifestly no trade requirements.[A] But we find him, about the year -1798, becoming a fur trader with the Indians. He invested some of his -money in the Durham boats of that day, which were used to ascend the St. -Lawrence River from Montreal, being pulled up the rapids of that mighty -river by ropes in the hands of men on shore. Canals, as we have them now -around the rapids, were not then even thought of. Nor was the Rideau -Canal, making the long detour by Ottawa, which did so much afterwards to -develop the western part of the province. With capital, and possessing -the basis of all wealth robust health, Roger Conant pursued the fur -trade with the Indians to its utmost possibility. Disposing of the goods -he brought from Montreal in his Durham boats, he accumulated, by barter, -large quantities of furs. To Montreal in turn he took his bundles of -furs, and gold came to him in abundance, so that he rapidly accumulated -a considerable fortune. While doing so, and pursuing his trading with -the red men, his home life was not neglected. Rude though his log-house -beside the salmon stream at Darlington was, it was spacious and -comfortable, and in its day might even be termed a hall. It had the -charm of a fine situation, and it had Lake Ontario for its adjacent -prospect. Conant had brought a few books from his Massachusetts home at -Bridgewater, and while he conned these ever so faithfully over and over -again, the great book of nature was always spread before him in the -surpassingly beautiful landscape that included the shimmering waters of -the lake, the grass lands upon the beaver meadow at the mouth of the -salmon stream, and the golden grain in the small clearings which he had -so far been able to wrest from the dark, tall, prolific forest of beech, -maple and birch, with an occasional large pine, that extended right down -to the shingle of the beach. Of his sons it may be said that, although -capable men, they were handicapped in the race with the incoming tide of -settlers so soon to come to the neighborhood of that rude home at -Darlington, in the county of Durham, Upper Canada. They were at a -grievous disadvantage because of their lack of education. Education -could not be obtained in Ontario in the early days of the nineteenth -century. There were no schools, and had there been schools there would -have been no pupils. Consequently we find Roger’s sons possessing grand -physical health, and pursuing the vigorous life of that day, with but -little education. They felled the forest, and obtained from the soil the -crops that in its virginity it is always ready to give. Eliphalet, who -was only a very small boy when his father brought him from -Massachusetts, attended to the business affairs of the family as his -father got older, and we find him making, after Roger Conant’s death, a -declaration as to his father’s will, in which he states that he is -especially cognizant that the will should be so and so. That instrument -was admitted as a will by the court of that day, 1821, the date of -Roger’s death. To us such proceedings seem crude, particularly as the -document referred to conveyed an estate of great value. - -With regard to this will a singular circumstance must be noted. Roger -died a very large real estate owner. This part of his possessions is -duly scheduled. But of his hoard of gold no mention is made. The -author’s paternal uncle, David Annis, who lived with the family till his -death in 1861, frequently said in the author’s hearing--it was a -statement made many times--that Roger Conant had gold and buried it. Why -he did so is a mystery. It is also certain that no one has yet unearthed -that gold. On the farm at Darlington on which he resided, a few days -before his death he took a large family iron bake-kettle, and after -placing therein his gold he buried it on the bank of the salmon stream -of which mention has already been made. The bake-kettle was missed from -its accustomed position by the open fireplace, but search failed to -reveal its whereabouts. Thereafter, and many times since, persons with -various amalgams and with divining rods and sticks have searched for -this buried treasure, but always in vain. - -Of Eliphalet, the son, who did the business of the family, being the -elder son, all trace is lost, and there is no one known to-day who -claims descent from him. - -Abel, another son, had an immense tract of land in Scarborough, on the -Danforth Road, near the Presbyterian Centennial Church of that township. -His son, Roger, left a most respectable and interesting family in -Michigan, of whom the best known and most intelligent is Mrs. Elizabeth -West, of Port Huron, in that State. It does not appear that Abel Conant -ever disposed of his Scarborough estate by deed or by will, but simply -lost it, so lightly in those days did the inhabitants value accumulated -properties. - -Barnabas, another son of Roger, disappeared, and all trace of him is -lost. Jeremiah--still another son--died about 1854 in Michigan. Of him, -also, nothing is known. Lastly Thomas, the youngest son--grandfather of -the author--as will be seen later in this volume, was assassinated when -a young man during the Canadian Revolution of 1837-8. - -Roger Conant’s daughter, Rhoda, became the wife of Levi Annis. From this -union sprang a numerous and most progressive family, who are to-day, -with their descendants, among the foremost of our land. - -Polly, another daughter, married John Pickel and left a small family, -descendants of which still reside in Darlington in the vicinity of the -ancestral home. - -It will be noted as a singular fact that even the most ordinary -emigrants from Great Britain, seeking a home here in those early days, -were in some respects better equipped than the sons of Roger Conant, -with their prospect of becoming heirs of large property. For, coming -from Great Britain, the land of schools, the poor emigrant generally -possessed a fair education, which the young Conants did not. Also, they -had, besides, the prime idea of gaining a home in the new land and -keeping it. Not so the Conant sons, who so easily secured an abundance -from the plethoric returns of the virgin soil of that day. Books were -denied them. Of the diversions of society, the theatre or the lecture -room, they knew nothing. Consequently they found their own crude -diversions as they could. “Little” or “Muddy” York, the nucleus of -Toronto, began to become a settlement, and to that hamlet they easily -wended their way to find relief from the humdrum life among the forests -at home. It is told that frequently, when they were short of cash, they -would drive a bunch of cattle from their father’s herd to York and sell -them, spending the proceeds in riding and driving about the town. That -in itself is not very much to remark, seeing that they were the sons of -a rich man, and their doings were no more than compatible with their -conceded station in life. And so far as is known in an age when -everybody consumed more or less spirituous liquors in Upper Canada, the -Conant sons were not particularly remarkable either for their partaking -or their abstemiousness. Their loss of properties cannot be attributed -to their convivial habits, but rather to a want of appreciation of their -possessions. - -Daniel Conant, the author’s father, unmistakably inherited the vim and -push of his grandfather, Roger. Thus we find him as a young man owning -fleets of ships on the Great Lakes, as well as being a lumber producer -and dealer in that commodity second to none of his day.[B] It may be -observed, in passing, that Roger Conant during the whole of his life -never seemed to care for office. Offices were many times offered to him -by the British Government, but he steadily refused, and died without -ever having tasted their sweets. His own business was far sweeter to -him, and he was far more successful in it than he could have been in -office. His grandson, Daniel, had this family trait. He did not spend an -hour in seeking preferments, and office to him had no allurements. His -education was meagre. It was, however, sufficient to enable him to do an -enormous business. He not only amassed wealth, but by his efforts in -moving his ships and pursuing his business generally, he did much for -the good of his native province, and for his neighbors. While his lumber -commanded a ready sale in the United States markets, it was also used -very largely in building homes for the settlers in his locality. The -poor came to him as to a friend, and never came in vain. At his burial -in 1879 hundreds of poor men, as well as their more fortunate neighbors, -followed his bier to the grave. Perhaps no more striking token of the -regard in which he was held by the poor can be cited, and the author -glories in this tribute to his memory by the meek and lowly. - -[Illustration: COLONEL TALBOT. - -(By permission from the J. Ross Robertson collection.)] - - - - -CHAPTER II. - - Colonel Talbot--His slanderous utterances with regard to - Canadians--The beaver--Salmon in Canadian streams--U. E. Loyalists - have to take the oath of allegiance--Titles of land in - Canada--Clergy Reserve lands--University of Toronto lands--Canada - Company lands. - - -Thomas Talbot, to whom the Government gave--presumably for -settlement--518,000 acres near London, Ont., began to reside on the -tract soon after the emigrant whose fortunes we are following arrived in -Upper Canada, in 1792. Talbot had previously been Secretary to Governor -Simcoe, and was consequently stationed at Newark, the capital, where the -settlers were seen as they came into the country from the United States. -Why so great a grant was made to him is inexplicable. But it was -nevertheless made, and the author proposes to tell how he repaid it. He -appeared all the time he was alive, and living in Upper Canada, to -thoroughly despise us. Among the other utterances which he sent from -Canada to Great Britain was that concerning the origin of Canadians, and -although his words are calumniatory, we must have them, for he -incorporated them in his book about Canada. Thus he speaks of us: “Most -Canadians are descended from private soldiers or settlers, or the -illegitimate offspring of some gentlemen or their servants.” He penned -these words somewhere about the year 1800. They cannot refer to persons -of United States origin--the incomers from the thirteen revolted -colonies, which were now independent--because these were not born in -Canada. He must therefore have referred to those Canadians and their -descendants who were living in Canada in 1792, when he was the Secretary -of Governor Simcoe. It is not within the province of the author to -defend from Talbot’s calumnies that portion of our fellow-Canadian -subjects. His calumny is foul, mean, untrue, and very unjust. Of New -England origin himself, the author leaves this insult to be avenged by -the pen of some fellow-Canadian who claims descent from old Canadians -who were in the country when the war of the Revolution was about -closing. So foul an aspersion should never have been passed over in -silence. - -[Illustration: COLONEL TALBOT’S ARMCHAIR. - -From the J. Ross Robertson collection.] - -The foregoing is, however, by the way. We are pursuing the fortunes of -Roger Conant, and we find him from 1792 to 1812 struggling among the -forest trees to gain a livelihood, or his labors on land occasionally -diversified by his work on the lake, the waters of which, perhaps, -yielded the most easily obtainable food. Mention has been made of the -beaver meadow, and at this date the settler would often come across the -traces of this industrious animal. The beaver is the typical unit or -emblem of the furs of Canada. All other values of furs were made by -comparison with the value of a beaver skin. In intelligence the beaver -surpasses any of the fur-bearing animals. In the quality of his -workmanship he is the mechanic of the animal tribe, and easily and -far-away outstrips all his fellow-brutes, domestic or wild. He can fell -a tree in any desired direction, and within half a foot of the spot on -which he requires it to fall. One beaver is always on guard and vigilant -while the others work. A single blow of the tail of the watching beaver -upon the water will cause every other of his fellows to plump into the -water and disappear. To carry earth to their dam they place it upon -their broad, flat tails and draw it to the spot. While his home is -always in close proximity of water he is sometimes caught on land, while -proceeding from one body of water to another. Should you meet him thus -at disadvantage upon the land, he does not even attempt to run away, nor -to defend himself, for he well knows that both attempts would be utterly -useless. Another defence is his; he appeals to one’s sympathy by -crying--crying indeed so very naturally, while big tears roll from his -eyes, with so close an imitation of the human, that it startles even the -hunter himself. Many a beaver has been magnanimously given his life out -of pure sympathy for the poor defenceless brute when caught at an unfair -advantage away from his habitable element of water. - -Salt-water salmon, too, swarmed at that date in our Canadian streams in -countless myriads. In the month of November of each year they ascended -the streams for spawning, after which they were seen no more until the -summer of the following year. While we have no positive evidence that -they return to the salt water, we know they must do so, because they are -so very different from land-locked salmon or ouananiche. They were never -caught in Lake Ontario after spawning in the streams in November, until -June of the next year. Nor were they found above Niagara Falls, being -unable to ascend that mighty cataract. Roger Conant said that his first -food in Upper Canada came from the salmon taken in the creek beside his -hastily built log-house. To help to realize how plentiful these fish -were at the annual spawning time, we may adduce Roger Conant’s endeavor -to paddle his canoe across the stream in Port Oshawa in 1805, when the -salmon partly raised his boat out of the water, and were so close -together that it was difficult for him to get his paddle below the -surface. A farm of 150 acres on the Lake Ontario shore, that he acquired -just previous to the War of 1812, he paid for by sending salmon in -barrels to the United States ports, where they brought a fair cash -price. Increasing population, no close seasons by law, nor any -restrictions whatever, have been the causes which have resulted in -almost destroying - -[Illustration: SHOAL OF SALMON, NEAR OSHAWA, 1792.] - -these kings of fish that once came in uncountable swarms. - -It will be gathered that up to the War of 1812, the settler, homely -clad, axe in hand, subdued the forest, and spent happy, even if -wearisome, days, with his dog generally as his only companion. It was -during these years that he exhibited that skill in wielding the axe of -which mention has been made. To-day, our few remaining woods being more -open, and the timber being smaller, such feats would be impossible. - -The first beginnings of public utilities were being made. Roads were -being cut out of the forest. Some of these grew into forest again so -little were they used. - -In the last chapter it was noted that Roger Conant lost all his lands in -New England by expropriation after the war of 1776. On arriving in Upper -Canada he felt the great necessity of bestirring himself to make a -fortune again here. Side by side with his clearing operations he carried -on his fur-trading, and soon his desires in regard to wealth were -gratified, but he never reconciled himself to being so far from his -_Alma Mater_, Yale University (New Haven, Conn.), from which he had been -graduated (in Arts and Law) in 1765. - -Notwithstanding all the sacrifices made by the United Empire Loyalists -to maintain British connections, many of them were asked to take the -oath of allegiance on reaching their respective localities when they -sought to make their home in Canada. Annexed is a photographic document -of evidence, being a copy of the certificate of the oath of allegiance -taken by one of the author’s relatives before the famed Robert Baldwin. -One of the very earliest court summonses of Upper Canada is also -reproduced (page 35) and it will be found very interesting. The reader -will notice the absence of all printing on this document. - -Obviously the title to all lands in Canada, after the conquest of 1759, -and not previously granted by the king of France, was vested in the -British Crown. There were a few lots of land so granted by the king of -France in Upper Canada, but only a few. In Quebec, or Lower Canada, much -of the land had already been so granted along the St. Lawrence River. -These grants had, as a matter of course, to be respected by Great -Britain. The French grants in Upper Canada were only a few along the -Detroit River and at the extreme western boundary of the province. The -easy accessibility of the lands by water will no doubt account for these -grants having been located so remote from all neighbors, the nearest -being those in Lower Canada from whence these grants came. Certain lands -were also set apart for the Protestant clergy, viz., one-seventh of all -lands granted. After a time, instead of taking the one-seventh of each -lot granted, they were all added together and formed a whole lot--the -“Clergy Reserve” lands, which became afterwards such a bone of -contention. In these deeds gold and silver is reserved for the Crown. -All white pine trees, too, are reserved, because naval officers had -passed along the shore of - -[Illustration: FAC-SIMILE OF CERTIFICATE OF OATH OF ALLEGIANCE. - -I CERTIFY that [signature] has taken and subscrbed the Oath of -Allegiance as required by Law, before me, this 15 day of Jan___ in the -year of our Lord 1801 [signature]] - -Lake Ontario, about the time of the war of the Revolution, and saw the -magnificent white pines. These officers were all searching for suitable -trees to make masts for the Royal navy, and here they found them; hence -the reservation of these trees in all Crown deeds. All deeds of realty -to-day in Upper Canada make the same reservations, viz., “Subject -nevertheless to the reservations, limitations and provisions expressed -in the original grant thereof from the Crown.” - -In Australia and New Zealand the governments make reservations so very -binding that they can resume possession of lands at any time, as the -author found when travelling there in 1898. Our antipodes have not deeds -in fee simple as we have. No instance has ever been known in the -locality of middle Ontario, in which the author’s home is, and that of -his forefathers since 1792, of the Crown ever exercising its right to -make use of the reservations. - -Time-honored big wax seals were attached to all Crown grants. These -seals were quite four inches in diameter, one-third of an inch thick, -and secured to the parchment by a ribbon, while the Royal coat-of-arms -was impressed on either side of the seal. To the honor and respect of -the Crown, be it said, its treatment of the struggling settler was -always generous and fair. - -The Clergy Reserve lands, which, we have seen, were set apart, soon -began to command purchasers, being mainly along the waters of Lake -Ontario, as were the other patented lands. In the Act creating - -[Illustration: FAC-SIMILE OF COURT SUMMONS, 1803.] - -the Clergy Reserve Trust, gold and silver were reserved, but not white -pine, because there simply was none there to reserve. - -The University of Toronto received odd lots here and there in Upper -Canada for its support. This created another source from which tithes -came. There were no reservations in the University deeds of 1866. They -cited the Act which gave the University these lands. - -Lastly came the Canada Company, the last remaining source of tithes. -While the Crown, the Clergy Reserves and the University of Toronto were -always fair and considerate to the settler, this company always demanded -its full “pound of flesh,” and got it, too. It may be observed that the -arrangements with regard to these deeds were made by the Imperial -Government at home wholly. We were not consulted. By virtue of the -Canada Company’s grant, thousands and thousands of acres of lands in -Upper Canada were withheld from settlement for many years. To-day the -grievance has passed, because they have next to no lands remaining. -Perhaps, as Upper Canada has nearly three millions of population now -(from 12,000 in 1792), we ought not to grieve. It did us harm, it is -true, but it was no doubt unthinkingly originated in London, in 1826, -and without sufficient consideration. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - - The War of 1812--Canadian feeling with regard to it--Intolerance of - the Family Compact--Roger Conant arrested and fined--March of - defenders to York--Roger Conant hides his specie--A song about the - war--Indian robbers foiled--The siege of Detroit--American - prisoners sent to Quebec--Feeding them on the way--Attempt on the - life of Colonel Scott of the U. S. army--Funeral of Brock--American - forces appear off York--Blowing up of the fort--Burning of the Don - bridge--Peace at last. - - -In twenty years from the time Governor Simcoe established his capital at -Newark, on the Niagara River, after being sworn in as Governor of -western Canada (his incumbency being the real commencement of the -settlement of Upper Canada), began the War of 1812 between Great Britain -and the United States. Our peaceably disposed and struggling Canadians, -trying to subdue the forest and to procure a livelihood, were horrified -to have a war on their hands. They could ill afford to leave their small -clearings in the forest, where they garnered their small crops, to go -and fight. Not one of them, however, for a single moment thought of -aiding the United States or of remaining neutral. Canada was their home, -and Canada they would defend. From 12,000 in 1792 in Upper Canada, -40,000 were now within its boundaries, endeavoring to make homes for -themselves. We have the fact plainly told that, although at least -one-third of all the inhabitants in 1812 were born in the United States, -or were descendants of those who were born there, not one of them -swerved in his loyalty to Canada, his adopted country. This is saying a -very great deal, for it was in no sense Canada’s quarrel with the United -States. If Great Britain chose to overhaul United States merchantmen for -deserting from the Royal navy, it is certain that Canada could not be -held responsible for any such high-handed act. Canadians generally at -the breaking out of the war, whether of United States origin or from the -British Isles direct, felt that Great Britain had been very assertive -towards the United States, and had also been rather inclined to be -exacting. Such was the feeling generally. No one, however, for a moment -wavered. All were loyal and all obeyed the summons to join the militia -and begin active service. Britain’s quarrel with the United States, in -obedience to the mandate of some Cabinet Ministers safely ensconced in -their sumptuous offices in London, worked incalculable hardships to the -struggling settlers in the depths of our Canadian forests. - -To vividly realize how very intolerant of any discussion of public -matters of that day the Family Compact was, a personal narrative will be -found interesting. Roger Conant, one day in the autumn, went from his -home in Darlington to York. He had been requisitioned by the British -officers just out from England (and whom he respected) to take an -ox-cart - -[Illustration: NEWARK (NIAGARA), 1813. - -(From the J. Ross Robertson collection.) -] - -load of war material along the Lake Ontario shore to York. Now at home, -his neighbors being very sparse, he had but few opportunities to -converse and compare opinions about the war. Once at York the desired -opportunity came. When sitting at a hotel fire, with a number of -civilians about, opinions were quite freely expressed by those present. -Roger Conant remarked that he was sorry for the war, and that although -he would fight for Britain and Canada, he felt that Britain should -arrange the differences with the United States and not drag Canada into -a war in which she had not the least interest. He further remarked to -the assembled civilians about the fire, that he thought Britain, too, -very arbitrary in searching vessels of the United States -indiscriminately and taking seamen from them without knowing them to be -deserters from the British navy. Some one of the assembly quickly -reported that remark to the commandant of the fort at York. Roger was -arrested in an almost incredibly short time, brought before a -court-martial next morning and fined eighty pounds (Halifax), being -about $320 of our money. Hard as this was, he paid the fine, held his -peace, and went off home, until called to serve in the ranks, which he -did duly and faithfully. Family Compact rule was answerable for such -treatment, as it certainly was for the responsibility for the Revolution -which followed in 1837. To the honor of Roger Conant be it always said, -however, that he turned out, donning his best suit, and made for the -nearest commanding officer. No settler ever refused to turn out, -although when - -[Illustration: BRITISH MILITARY UNIFORMS, 1812.] - -[Illustration: AN OLD SPINNING-WHEEL.] - -[Illustration: CIVILIAN COSTUMES, UPPER CANADA, 1812.] - -once turned out, they seemed so ludicrously weak that they felt -themselves only a handful. There were a few British soldiers in red -coats, but the defenders that made their way to York along the shores of -Lake Ontario were a motley throng. There was no pretence at uniforms, -nor was there indeed during the war, or very little of it. Let us -realize if we can that these poor fellows had to walk along the lake -shore. Here and there only were roads to be found cut out of the dense -dark forest and back from the lake shore. Very few were fortunate enough -to possess boats or canoes in which to row or paddle to York. Some, -however, were able to adopt this mode of transit, and thereby hangs a -tale. On one occasion a party of militiamen, accompanied by one or two -soldiers--among them a drummer--were to be seen with their boats ashore, -one of their craft being turned bottom upwards, and having the carcase -of a fine porker “spread-eagled,” as sailors say, on either side of the -keel. It appears that on their way to York the party had “commandeered” -a pig they had come across, and being sharply pursued by its owner, they -had taken this means of concealing their booty. No one thought of -pulling the boat out of the water and turning it up to find the pig. At -the same time they had requisitioned a fine fat goose, wrung its neck, -and were carrying it away. In this case, with the pursuers at heel, the -task of hiding the loot had fallen to the drummer. He speedily arranged -matters by unheading his drum and placing the coveted bird inside, and -the story goes that on the favorable opportunity arriving, both pig and -goose formed the basis of an excellent feast on the lake shore, in -which, if tradition is to be believed, one officer, at least, joined -with considerable readiness. - -Roger joined the rank and file of the militia, but afterwards, having -blooded and fleet saddle-horses in his stables on Lake Ontario shore in -Darlington, the commanding officers employed him as a despatch bearer. -In turn in the militia and then as despatch bearer, when nothing seemed -doing, his time was fully occupied at the business of war. He was then -sixty-two years of age, but so pressed were the authorities for men, -that age did not debar from service, but physical inability only. - -Having accumulated wealth both in lands and specie, Roger’s first -thought, on the breaking out of war, was for the safety of his specie. -Mounting his best saddle-horse he rode some thirty miles west from his -home in Darlington to Levi Annis’s, his brother-in-law, in Scarborough, -in order that this relative might become his banker, for in those days -there were no banks, and people had to hide their money. Entering his -brother-in-law’s log-house, he removed a large pine knot from one of the -logs forming the house wall. He placed his gold and silver within the -cavity, and the knot was again inserted and all made smooth. Levi Annis -gave no sign, and no one that came to the inn ever suspected the -presence of this hoard of wealth. But when the war was over, Roger -Conant again visited Levi Annis in Scarborough. Three years had passed -away since, in his presence, - -[Illustration: ROGER CONANT HIDING HIS TREASURE.] - -the treasure had been inserted in the wall. In his presence also the -pine knot was now removed, and the bullion--about $16,000 in value--was -drawn forth intact. - -Among the records that have come down to the author from Roger Conant, -and along with fragmentary papers left by him, by Levi Annis, David -Annis, and Moode Farewell, various scraps of songs of the time 1812 to -1815 are garnered. Perhaps the song of the greatest merit and widest -celebrity was “The Noble Lads of Canada,” the beginning of which was: - - “Oh, now the time has come, my boys, to cross the Yankee line, - We remember they were rebels once, and conquered old Burgoyne; - We’ll subdue those mighty democrats, and pull their dwellings down, - And we’ll have the States inhabited with subjects of the Crown.” - -It is just as well for the present generation to know this jingle, -absurd as it may be. There were many verses in it, but all much to the -same tenor, and while they pleased Canadians who sang the song, they -were certainly harmless, and to-day we can afford to laugh at them. It -is so very ridiculous to think of our handful of men going over to the -United States and “pulling their dwellings down.” Our defence at home -was quite another matter, but we are proud of it nevertheless. Human -nature is much the same here as elsewhere, and was also in 1812-15. -Thus would the author illustrate how he applies the inference; there -were over a half of the inhabitants who came directly from the British -Isles, or were descended from those who came. The greater part of the -settlers were poor. Generally the U. E. Loyalists and their descendants -were fairly well-to-do. If not well-to-do they were far better off than -the others. Consequently some mean-spirited among the settlers from -Britain or their descendants, who were so poor, would depreciate the U. -E. Loyalists if possible. Roger Conant said that one envious neighbor -set the Indians upon him, during a lull in the war, while he was at -home, by telling them he was a Yankee, and that they might rob him if -they chose. For the object of plunder, they came upon him because he had -an abundance of stock, the best in the land, as well as goods of various -sorts for Indian fur trading, while his money, as we have seen, was -safely banked in a pine log in Scarborough. One night there came to his -home in Darlington, in the year 1812, a single Indian who asked to rest -before the open fire for the night. Permission was given, and he -squatted before the blazing wood fire of logs. On watching him closely, -a knife was seen to be up his sleeve of buckskin, but not a word was -spoken of the discovery. Shortly another Indian came in and squatted -beside the first on the floor, and in utter silence. Now came a third -Indian, who, in his turn, crouched with the two former ones. - -No doubt now remained in Roger Conant’s mind as to their purpose, and he -roused himself to the occasion. They meant robbery, and murder, if -necessary, to accomplish it. An axe at hand being always ready, he -seized it, and drew back to the rifle hanging upon the wall, never -absent therefrom unless in actual use. His family he sent out to the -nearest neighbors, a mile away, along the lake shore. - -“None of you stir. If you do, I’ll kill the first one who gets up. Stay -just where you are until daylight.” - -And now a squaw came in and sat beside the three crouching bucks, and -cried softly. Very generally Indian squaws’ voices are soft, and -naturally their crying would be soft, as was this squaw’s. Entreating -with her crying, she began to beg for the release of the Indians, -assuring the vigilant custodian “that they no longer meditated injury, -nor theft, but would go away if they could be released.” - -In this manner, with their nerves at high tension, the night passed, and -not until the light of the next day did the guard dare to release his -Indian prisoners. Then, one by one only, he allowed them to walk out of -doors. It is very probable that this was an extreme case, but it -occurred just as narrated. Not again during the war was Roger Conant -molested by the Indians. - -Not yet had the first year of the war (1812) dragged its slow length -along. About the Niagara River the fighting had been most active at all -points. Rumors of the clash of arms came from the West to those in -central Upper Canada. General Hull thought himself secure at Detroit -with a broad and deep river rolling between him and his opponents in -Canada. Neither - -[Illustration: FAREWELL’S TAVERN, NEAR OSHAWA, AS IT APPEARS TO-DAY.] - -depth of river nor width, however, kept our men away from Detroit. No -Canadian can contemplate this exploit of our arms without a swelling of -pride. Detroit became ours on the 15th of August, 1812, when General -Hull surrendered the whole command of 2,500 men, without terms, and -Michigan was our lawful conquest. Immediately on the surrender of so -many men to us, it became a serious question what to do with so many -prisoners of war. We possessed no place in Upper Canada where they could -be securely kept, and at old Quebec only could we depend upon them being -safely retained. Consequently to Quebec they were sent. They were sent -thither in boats and canoes in which they assisted in rowing and -paddling. In this manner they went to Quebec, and were apparently well -content with their lot. So very meagre, however, were our resources that -we could not furnish boats for all of them, and many were compelled to -walk along the lake shore. They were fed at various places along the -route, among others at Farewell’s tavern, near Oshawa, an engraving of -which as it stands now is given on opposite page. From the author’s -tales of his forbears he gets the story of these prisoners coming to -their home to be fed. Guards, indeed, they had, but they outnumbered -them ten to one, and even more, simply because we had not the men to -guard them. From what can be learned, however, none ran away. - -Coming to the Conant family homestead to be fed, without warning, a big -pot of potatoes was quickly boiled. A churning of butter fortunately had -been done that day, just previous to their coming, and a ham, it so -happened, had been boiled the day preceding. All was set before them, -and copious draughts of buttermilk were supplied. Guards and prisoners -fared alike. There were no evidences of ill-feeling or rancor, but good -nature and good humor prevailed, even if some shielded ministers in -far-away London at that day forced the combat upon them. - -Perhaps the most curious and picturesque instance of the fighting in and -about this part of Canada was the taking of General Scott a prisoner at -Queenston, and the occurrences subsequent to his capture. It seems that -General Scott had been particularly active all day during the engagement -of October 13th, 1812. Being a large man, and dressed in a showy blue -uniform, although not then so high in rank as he afterwards became, he -gained the attention of the Indians in our army. Nothing came of that -immediately, but near evening his part of the United States forces were -surrounded, and Colonel Scott (as he then was) was compelled to -surrender. On the final conclusion of the day’s engagement, General -Brock having been killed early in the day, he was invited to dine with -General Sheaffe, then commanding our forces. Our prisoner, Colonel -Scott, had given his parole not to attempt to escape, until regularly -exchanged, so it was quite in order for him to accept the general’s -invitation to dine. Just as they were in the act of sitting down at the -table an orderly came to the diningroom, and said some Indian chiefs -were at the door and wished to see Colonel Scott. Excusing himself, the -Colonel went to the door, and in the narrow front hall met three -Indians, fully armed and in all proper Indian war-paint and feathers. -One Indian then asked Colonel Scott where he was wounded. When Scott -replied that he had not been wounded, the questioning Indian said he had -fired at him twelve times in succession, and with good aim, and that he -never missed. Presuming on Colonel Scott’s good-nature, he took hold of -his shoulder, as if to turn him around for the purpose of finding the -wounds. “Hands off,” Scott said, “you shoot like a squaw.” Without more -ado or warning the three Indians drew their tomahawks and knives, and -essayed to attack the Colonel, although then a prisoner of war. As they -were in the narrow hall, the plucky United States prisoner could not -effectually use his sword arm for his defence, and his life was -consequently in danger. But he backed them by quick thrusts of the sword -out of the door, where he had more room for the play of his weapon, and -then stood at bay. It was indeed a fight to the death, and even so good -a swordsman as Colonel Scott must have succumbed, had not the guard of -our army, seeing at a glance what was up, rushed to Scott’s rescue and -helped him to drive the Indians off. - -Not many days after this unseemly encounter, Colonel Scott was brought -to York in one of the small gunboats which we had then on Lake Ontario -for the defence of the lake ports. These boats, it is true, were not -very elegant in their lines, nor were they formidably armed. All haste -had been made to construct them; only a few weeks before the timber of -which they were constructed was growing in the parent trees. Green -timber and lumber, as any one will know, must make a very indifferent -boat, and not a lasting one. It is a fact, nevertheless, that the single -swivel gun which each boat carried did good service when called upon and -was no mean antagonist. Be that as it may, we should not look in -contempt on these mean gunboats, or compare them with the monster -fighting ships of this day. These were the ships our fathers used, and -the people of the United States also, and well they served their day. An -engraving of York at this early day will be found on the opposite page, -the little town which has become imperial and palatial Toronto, with -more than a fifth of a million of people, and the change has been -wrought in eighty-nine years. - -Following, however, the fortunes of Colonel Scott until he came to -Quebec, we shall find him a prisoner in the cabin of a large ship lying -at anchor at the foot of the cliff on which that ancient city stands. -Not among a lot of other prisoners from the United States do we find the -Colonel on this ship--for there were many of them on board--but aft in -the cabin with the officers. One day his quick ear heard the prisoners -being interrogated on deck. With a few eager strides he ascends the -cabin steps and is on deck. He finds many of the United States prisoners -drawn up in line and an officer questioning them. Those who showed by -the burr on their tongues to be unmistakably of Irish or Scotch origin -were - -[Illustration: VIEW OF YORK. FROM THE OLDEST EXTANT ENGRAVING. - -(By permission from the J. Ross Robertson collection.) -] - -called out and sent away to an adjoining man-of-war, there to serve in -the Royal Navy, although protesting they were American citizens. - -Five of those in the line Colonel Scott heard called, and saw them sent -away. - -“Silence!” he cried. “Men, not another word out of you. Don’t let them -catch you by the tongue”; and every man’s mouth closed like a trap. - -It was Britain’s old contention, “Once a British subject, always a -British subject,” and no latitude was allowed for transference of -citizenship to the United States with residence in that country. To-day -we never cease to wonder that Great Britain could be so impolitic as to -take such a high-handed course. Time, however, has changed all that, and -a war such as that of 1812 will never again stain the escutcheons of -Great Britain, Canada or the United States. - -Very soon after this Colonel Scott was exchanged, and quickly shook the -dust of Canada from his feet and found his way back to the United -States. - -Let us turn to a little pleasanter phase of this early stage of the war. -General Brock, as before mentioned, was killed early in the day at the -battle of Queenston, on October 13th, 1812. That his high character and -bravery were not overestimated the sequel will show. Thompson, who -fought on our side, and who wrote of the war in 1832, being an -eye-witness, says he was held in such high esteem, even by the enemy, -that “during the movement of the funeral procession of that brave man, -from Queenston to Fort Niagara, a distance of seven miles, minute guns -were fired at every American post on that part of the line, and even the -appearance of hostilities was suspended.” From some relative of the -author who fought on our side the word has come down to him, that the -Americans fired on their side of the Niagara River an answering shot for -every one our men fired, all the time they were marching the seven miles -down the river in the funeral procession. And the relative in the ranks -added that every voice was hushed, not a word was spoken, grief was -apparent in every man’s face, and every one seemed sorry because we had -such a war on hand, and because we were engaged in the business of war -with our kinsmen. - -And now the second year of the war had come with its attendant -vicissitudes and dangers. - -Very few of the militia had been allowed to leave the ranks during the -past winter, for an attack was expected just as soon as the ice should -break up in the bays on Lake Ontario. In the early spring of 1813 the -ice seems to have left the bays very early, for on April 26th the -American forces were enabled to appear off York, in gun-boats and -transports, and eager for the fray. Now, it has always been asserted -that Great Britain availed herself of all the savages she could get, -both in the War of 1812, as well as in the War of the Revolution in -1776. In a measure only is this true. We see them, however, at this time -helping to oppose the landing of the Americans at York on April 26th, -1813. If the author speaks in positive terms he hopes to be forgiven, -for his forbear, Roger Conant, was there, musket in hand, and by his own -lips has given the record which by natural descent has come down to the -author. He said Indians were placed along the lake bank, one Indian -between two white men, to repel the advance of the Americans from their -boats on landing. That is to say, two white men were supposed to be able -to keep one Indian up to his duty. But they couldn’t do it, for when the -Americans really did land, and began the attack, many of the Indians got -up and fled back from the shore of the lake to the forest beyond. And it -is further told to the author by the same descent of lip service, that -some of our militiamen were so incensed at the Indians for running away -that they turned their muskets around from the Americans and fired at -the fleeing Indians. Very probably their aim was faulty, for so far as -is known no Indians fell, and more than likely our men did not aim to -kill. - -The result of the landing of the American forces we all know only too -well, for our few men could not stay the hands of the assailants, who -landed at will, and took possession of the country about. Near where the -monument of the old French fort is, in the Industrial Fair grounds, near -also to the York Pioneers’ log cabin, was the scene of this Indian -running and the American landing. On the next day we find the Americans -advancing upon the old fort to the east of the scene of the landing -place. For a time, we know, our men made a stand for defence around and -about that old fort. It is not at all probable we could have held it -permanently, for the Americans outnumbered us, and were just as brave as -our men were when at their best. Just how it was done my ancestor did -not seem to know, but the word somehow, by very low whispers or signs, -was passed around that the fort would be blown up, and that it was -better to get out. Such a word came to Roger Conant, as he always -stoutly maintained, and, acting upon it, in the very nick of time, he -dropped out of the fort, when it blew up and killed so many Americans. -He said that to his startled vision the air appeared full of burnt and -scorched fragments of human bodies, and that they fell about him in a -horrifying manner.[C] It is not in the province of the author to express -an opinion as to the expediency of this act, but it was done no doubt -for the best, and we to-day find no fault with our general in command -who gave that terrible order. - -Yet York and its neighborhood were still at the mercy of the American -conquering army, and General Sheaffe began to think intently of his own -safety. Mounting his horse he rides eastward, down King Street towards -Kingston, and leaves his troops to follow more leisurely on foot. It is -twelve miles from Toronto to Scarborough, where Levi Annis lived at his -hotel. His testimony was that General Sheaffe appeared before his hotel -door with his horse quite done up, and covered with foam. On going to -the door and asking as to the trouble, General Sheaffe explained to Levi -Annis that he had ridden from York, without drawing rein, and that it -was most important that the Americans should not catch him. There -certainly is room for excuse for General Sheaffe at this juncture, -although Levi Annis was naturally much astonished at the state of -nervousness in which he saw him. We must not forget that the General had -only 1,500 men, all told, with which he had to defend all Upper Canada, -and with this very small support no doubt he felt as he said, “that it -was most important that he should not be captured.” Just as quickly as -possible after the blowing up of the fort, some 150 men of the British -regulars and Canadian militia got together and made their way to -Kingston. At this time the first Don bridge had been built. It was of -logs, mainly pine, which were cut near to the last approach to the -bridge. A considerable causeway extended over the mud flats, on the east -side, to the span of the bridge proper. It was very crude, and had been -built in 1800 without the aid of experienced men or mechanics. It stood -well enough, nevertheless, and did its work well, until that memorable -day when our men retreated over it and burnt it as they went--April -27th, 1813. It was done as a - -[Illustration: BURNING THE DON BRIDGE. - -(_From a sketch by Isaac Bellamy._) -] - -precautionary measure in order to impede the progress of the victorious -Americans, should they choose to follow in pursuit. - -To those who did military service in this war 200 acres of the public -lands were due. Roger Conant did not receive his 200 acres, although -most justly entitled to them. To know the cause why he did not receive -his land grant it will be necessary to go back a little. After the -conquest of Canada and the Treaty of Paris (in 1763) which followed, -some British officers were given appointments and places in Canada--no -doubt to provide for them. When Upper Canada was made a separate -province in 1791, more of these officials were given places. These -persons seemed to have nothing in common with the people. On the -contrary they seemed to seek to rule and get good livings out of them, -and essayed to keep their places, becoming in time the Family Compact. -It was their acts and those of their successors that caused the outbreak -in 1837 which led to the Canadian Revolution. To these pampered -office-holders it did not appear that the U. E. Loyalists, who had made -most magnificent sacrifices for our country, were worthy of even civil -treatment. So to Roger Conant they never gave the military land grant, -and this treatment was meted out to most of the U. E. Loyalists who so -faithfully served through that most unfortunate and deplorable war. - -Peace! peace! Peace tardily came at last in 1814, the Treaty of Ghent -having been signed on the 24th day of that year. The author realizes -that, to-day, Canadians in their well-appointed and refined homes fail -to enter into the feelings of our forefathers whose hearts leaped for -joy as they thanked the great God for that inestimable blessing of -peace. Fond mothers told it to the infants at the breast as they bounced -them aloft and reiterated again and again, “Peace, darling, peace!” The -gray-haired sire, whose days were numbered, dropped unchecked, unbidden -tears of joy, silently and without a voice, as he too thanked his Maker -again and again for that peace between neighbors and kindred that never -should have been broken. No more would the neighborless settler fear -peril as the darkening shadows of evening came about his log cabin in -the great forest, or dread that before the light of another dawn armed -foemen might come and take him prisoner, and drive his wife and little -ones into an inclement winter night by the application of the torch. -Strong men grasped each others’ hands, and shook, and bawled themselves -hoarse in simple exuberance of spirits, and in the intensest feeling of -thankfulness that peace had come to them once again. Nor was this -outburst of feeling mere exultation over the Americans. All felt that we -had honorably acquitted ourselves in a military point of view, but the -Americans at the same time had fought with valor, and we really had not -much to taunt them with. - -It would perhaps be superfluous to record many of the particular charges -which our people laid at the door of the Americans during the war. It is -in evidence equally that the Americans laid quite as many sins to our -people for their acts, while making forays on United States soil. So far -as one may judge there is not any preponderating weight of evidence for -either side. It is true we do accuse the Americans of burning the public -buildings in York after the taking of the place, when the fort blew up -on April 27th, 1813. The author is inclined to think that the Americans -should not have applied the torch. On the other hand, we blew up the -fort and utterly destroyed many hundreds of Americans in an instant, -including their general. - -The testimony of the great General Sherman, who, in 1865, marched with -an army of 70,000 men through Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas and -Virginia, destroying everything in a belt fifty miles wide, and than -whom no one was better qualified to judge, was this: “War is hell.” It -would have been futile for our people to expect humane war. There are no -recriminations to make. In closing the records of the War of 1812 let us -realize with our forefathers that peace, blessed peace, came to them and -has ever since been with us. God be thanked. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - - Wolves in Upper Canada--Adventure of Thomas Conant--A grabbing - land-surveyor--Canadian graveyards beside the lake--Millerism in - Upper Canada--Mormonism. - - -Turning to ordinary affairs, we find that at this date our Government -helped the settler to exterminate wolves by paying a bounty of about $6 -for each wolf head produced before a magistrate. In reference to these -ferocious animals, once so plentiful in Canada, an anecdote of the -author’s grandfather will be found both interesting and instructive, -giving us a true glimpse of the county in 1806. Thomas Conant, whose -portrait is found on opposite page, and who was assassinated during the -Canadian Revolution on February 15th, 1838 (_vide_ “Upper Canada -Sketches,” by the author), lived in Darlington, Durham County, Upper -Canada. In the fall of 1806 he was “keeping company” with a young woman, -who lived some three miles back from Lake Ontario, his home being on the -shore of that great lake. Clearings or openings in the forest were at -this time mostly along the lake shore. Consequently, to pay his respects -to the young woman, he had to pass through some forest and clearings in -succession. It was in November of that year. Snow had not yet fallen, -but the ground - -[Illustration: THOMAS CONANT. - -Was born at Bridgewater, Mass., in 1782; came to Darlington, Canada, -with his father, Roger Conant, in 1792. On February 15th, 1838, during -the Canadian Revolution, he was foully massacred by one Cummings (in -Darlington), a despatch bearer, of Port Hope, Ont. The assassin was -applauded for the act by the Family Compact.] - -was frozen. Tarrying until midnight at the home of the object of his -affections, he left, alone and unarmed, to walk the three intervening -miles to his home. Getting over about one-half the distance, he heard -the distant baying of wolves. Fear would, it may be supposed, lend speed -to his feet, but thinking rightly that he could not outstrip the wolf on -foot, he walked quietly along, watching for a convenient tree for -climbing. In a very few minutes the wolves were upon him, in full cry, -eyes protruding, tongues lolling, and ready to devour him. A near-by -beech tree, which his arms could encircle, furnished him with the means -of escape. He climbed, and climbed, while the wolves surrounded him and -watched his every motion, never ceasing their dismal howls the live-long -night. Thus he kept his lonely vigil. To lose his hold for a single -second meant instant death. Great, however, as was the tension upon his -strained muscles, they held on. Morn tardily came at last, and with its -first peep the wolves left him and were seen no more. When they were -really gone, he said he for the first time began looking about him, and -found, with all his climbing, he had ascended a very few feet from the -ground, and but just out of reach of the wolves’ jaws as they made -frantic jumps to reach him. We may, however, be safe in assuming that -the scare and involuntary vigil did not do him much harm, for in the -March following (1807) he married the girl he went to visit that night, -and made no complaints of having been maltreated by wolves. - -In dismissing Thomas Conant at this time, the author digresses to say -that he was born in the United States, and was only a small lad when -Roger Conant, his father, brought him here. He was a generous, -industrious citizen, and was always noted for being one of the best -natured men in Canada, and possessed ability of a very high order. He -was liked universally by all who knew him, and he pursued the ordinary -avocations of life, such as Canadians then pursued, up to the time of -his assassination (as before mentioned) during the Canadian Revolution, -on February 15th, 1838. He went down to the grave from the stroke of a -sword, wielded by a dragoon, and without any provocation other than -accusing the dragoon of being drunk, as he was and had been many times -previously when on duty as despatch bearer. But such was the state of -affairs in Canada in 1837-8 that no investigation was held, nor was the -murderer ever punished even in the mildest degree. The author asks the -reader’s indulgence when he says he is very certain that only his -grandfather’s (Thomas Conant) untimely death prevented him from leaving -a name after him high up in Canadian annals, for he was a man of grand -physique (6 feet 2 inches in height) and of commanding talents. He had a -well-balanced mind and had wealth at his command. - -Surveyors were now at work plotting out the townships, and settlers were -coming very rapidly to occupy the lands which were surveyed. Readers -will bear in mind that the Family Compact was still in full power. All -grants for lands had to come through them. A story of a famous old land -surveyor is in order in this place. He had been surveying for many -seasons, and, about quarterly, came to York to make his reports and show -the plots of the new townships laid out. It so happened that an uncle of -the author’s was chain-bearer (whose office Fenimore Cooper, the -novelist, has immortalized) to this long-winded surveyor. At the time of -his service as chain-bearer this uncle was only a lusty young man, and -was not supposed to know the very first elements of surveying. Among -other things it was his duty to erect the tent for the nightly bivouac, -and make a fire at the tent mouth. Before the dancing, fitful flames, -lights and shadows in the forest primeval, he nightly sat with the -lordly surveyor, and saw him prepare rude maps of the past day’s work. -And, without any sort of knowledge of surveying, he saw him just touch a -parallelogram here and there (which would represent 100 acres) with the -point of his red pencil; but ever so light was the touch. Night after -night he saw dots go down on the parallelograms, and when the quiver was -full of sheets of survey, to York he went with the surveyor, to report -at the Crown Lands office. He said that in the office he noticed the -officials in charge scanning very intently for the red but faint dots. -We all now know the result: friends of the government officials had -secured hundreds and hundreds of acres of the best lands in the region -surveyed, while the surveyor became a mighty land-owner of most choice -lands, and died a very, very wealthy man. As may be surmised, he had -marked the choicest 100-acre lots with faint red dots, and he and the -officials grabbed the very choicest lands in that surveyor’s district. -Should a would-be purchaser ask for any certain lot, he was put off for -a day in order that they might see in the surveyor’s map if it really -was a choice one, as they surmised, since he asked to buy it, in which -case some friend immediately entered for it, and consequently that -choice lot the settler could not purchase. Using a fictitious name to -illustrate, it is said, and truly, too, that Peter Russell, Governor, -deeded to Peter Russell, Esquire, many choice lots of 100 acres each of -the public domain in Canada, in the days of the Family Compact. But here -one can justly remark that the eternal fitness of things comes pretty -nearly correct after all, for, although that surveyor was fabulously -wealthy, none of the property to-day is in any of his descendants’ -possession, nor are there offspring of any of the Family Compact with -enough pelf to-day, severally or collectively, to cause any comment. -“The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small,” in -Canada just as they did in Greece and Rome in days of yore. - -This travesty of the conveying of public lands was one very just cause -of complaint on behalf of the people, and the refusal of the authorities -to correct it helped materially to cause the Canadian Revolution of -1837-38. - -The settlements in central Canada were at this time for the most part -close to the edge of the lake. Many very worthy, hard-working, -law-abiding men and women of Canada found their last resting places in -places of sepulture, as they had found their homes, beside the waters of -Lake Ontario. Most pathetically all such graveyards appeal to the tender -side of any Canadian who loves his country and his fellows. When we stop -to consider all the hardships they had gone through, with unremitting -days, weeks, months and years of the hardest and most strenuous -muscle-aching toil, and remember, too, that they fought and conquered -the forests of Canada, it would not be human to pass by the memory of -such a noble race. Their fight had not the spur of excitement to keep up -their courage, as in war, but it was a fight, nevertheless--silent, -monotonous, trackless, soundless and alone, in forests greater than -which earth presents few examples if any. - -Noble men and women, pioneers of Canada, who gave us our birthright, you -merit our regard and ungrudgingly you shall have it! On earth is no -greater or more glittering example of a better, more prudent, loyal, -law-abiding, religious and industrious people than were those now asleep -in the soil of Canada, and from whom we sprang. - -Old Ontario generally is placid and beautiful, ultra-marine blue, and -shimmering. But he is not always so. When rude Boreas awakes the -slumbering giant, he frets, and froths, and spumes, and roars. As he is -in his might he becomes awful to look upon, and doubly so if one -ventures upon his bosom. And while he is spurring and warring, his waves -continually come upon the shore, each time a little higher and higher, -searching each nook, cranny and fissure along the bank of the water’s -edge. Many such storms, you can easily understand, you who live distant -from navigable and great waters, tend to undermine the foundations of -the banks, which after a few more beatings fall with a plunge, a roar, -and a cloud of densest dust, into the waters below. In this manner does -old Ontario encroach at points upon the land. The sequel may be readily -seen. Those in their graves must give them up, while their bones whiten -the shingle for many a sunshiny day. This is no fanciful picture. With a -fowling-piece upon his shoulder the author has passed along the foot of -the bank, where a graveyard is, and seen skulls, long hair, ribs, femurs -and other larger bones of the human body bestrewing the beach. And he -has seen also where the bank has fallen away, only one-half the length -of the grave, and where only one-half of the skeleton went down with the -submerged bank, while the other half remained in the grave, and the -point of severance of the bones was plainly observable on the bank above -the beholder’s head. Flesh, of course, there is none. Time has long -since decayed and changed that. - -Noble men and women, the pioneers of Canada, you deserve better graves, -and cushions to lie on of the softest and most enduring velvet! - -Pursuing this subject a little further, the author may observe that he -personally owns a graveyard on a large farm which has been used by -whites since 1798 and by red men before that on Lake Ontario - -[Illustration: OLD GRAVEYARD NEAR OSHAWA, THE PROPERTY OF THE AUTHOR. - -Graveyard on a bluff beside Lake Ontario, at Port Oshawa, overlooking -the surrounding country for a radius of ten miles. The red man, with an -eye to beauty, first used this for his place of sepulture, and now my -tenants plough out skulls, stone pipes, thigh bones, and iron tomahawks -with a star on them, which were given to the Indians by the French -before the English Conquest of Canada. The waves of Lake Ontario perform -a perpetual requiem to the memory of Indians and whites here -interred.] - -shore, where the waves produce a perpetual lullaby and a requiem to the -sainted memories of the dead. - -In this case there is no particular danger of the graves being washed -into the lake, but it seems hardly meet that any private owner should -have absolute control of the remains of the forefathers of so many now -dwelling in Canada. During his life no one shall be allowed by him to -meddle with the spot, but to save it for all time he has made a standing -proposition to deed it to any properly organized church that would -receive it and look after it. No such body has yet been found to receive -the gift in trust, but the author hopes that his only son, Gordon, may -keep it and hand it down to his son, and his son, in order that it may -never be disturbed. - -About the year 1833 Millerism found a lodgment in Canada from the New -England States, where one Miller, by his preaching, proved very clearly, -to some minds, that on a night in February of that year the earth would -pass away. Now, quite as great a proportion of the people in Canada -embraced this doctrine as did those of the United States, when -populations are compared. These persons had not the slightest doubt that -the world would really burn up on the date announced. Hence there were -many who during that winter, up to the time, failed to provide -themselves with wood for heating their houses. The old Virginia snake -fences being all about, they proceeded to take rails from off the fences -and burn them in their own houses, for they surely would have enough -from this source to last until the 15th February of that winter. But -even though they were to die so soon they could not well do without -food, and they had failed to provide any. John B. Warren at that time -kept a large general store in Oshawa, and was noted for his wide -dealings. And we accordingly find that good Millerite farmers came to -him with their sleighs and offered him their own notes, endorsed by good -neighbors, for as much as $300 per barrel for flour, which they would -take home in their sleighs. It was then worth generally $5 per barrel. -John B. Warren, to his honor be it said, always refused to trade with -them on such terribly unequal terms, but explained to them that they -could have the flour and could pay for it if they found themselves alive -after 15th February. Warren, it will be understood, did not become a -Millerite. Again, it is related that a husband who had for his second -wife, Jane, lived near the graveyard in which slumbered his first wife, -Elizabeth. As the hands of the long “grandfather’s clock” of those days -got around to midnight, this husband said to his wife, “Jane, put on -your things and let’s go over to the burying-ground, for I want to die -beside my first wife, Elizabeth, so as to meet her the very first one -after the great fire.” Jane’s faith, it seems, was not so strong, and -she flashed fire at his manifest preference for her predecessor in her -husband’s affections, and replied, “If that’s your game, you may go, and -I won’t live with you any longer.” And it is added that she did not live -under his roof again for several months after the great fire that was to -be. Several different dates have been assigned since that first dread -day, and no doubt some earnestly looked-for date is regarded as now -approaching by this small but earnest body of people. - -One Hoover believed the Millerite doctrine so very strongly that he -gradually fancied himself more than human, and not amenable to nature’s -laws. He announced that one day in the fall of 1832 he would walk on the -water from Port Hoover, across Scugog Lake, seven miles to the mainland. -The faithful gathered, and hundreds besides from curiosity. Hoover -entered the water, slowly waded from the shore, and sought refuge behind -an old pile of the dock, where he remained a few minutes. There were -boxes like big boots upon his feet. Soon the crowd called vociferously -for him to come out. When he did emerge from behind the pile he turned -his face shoreward and gained solid land. The boys began to hoot and -laugh at the would-be miracle-worker. Then Hoover made an explanation -nearly in these words: - -“My friends, a cloud rose before my eyes and I cannot see. I cannot walk -upon the water to-day while this cloud is before my eyes. Soon it will -be announced when the cloud has been removed, and I will do it.” - -The crowd went away, never again to assemble at Hoover’s bidding. -Millerite farmers who were usually good husbandmen, as the day -approached, failed to turn their stock out of their pens, or to feed -their animals, and actually nearly starved them. To-day all that is -past, and in almost every instance those who embraced Millerism, and -those who then opposed it, have gone to the great silent majority. -Millerism is not now known in Canada. - -One other sect now, so far as I know, is extinct in central Ontario; it -may be worth mention. I say extinct, but I am not quite so certain of -that, as there yet may be some isolated persons of that faith here and -there in Ontario. I refer to the Mormons. During the summer of 1842 -Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter-Day Saints, came to central -Ontario and spoke at open-air meetings, camp-meeting-like, as well as in -houses. He even attempted to perform miracles by curing sick persons. I -get it from persons on the stage of action this day, who heard Joseph -Smith in Upper Canada in 1842, and they say he was a good talker and had -a very insinuating manner, and they naively add that it is almost beyond -belief that any one could fall in with him. It is only fair, however, to -say in favor of the sincerity of those who joined him, that polygamy was -not then announced. We ought, I think, to make this admission to let off -those who did join as easily as possible; and from central Ontario there -were Seeleys, McGahans, Lamoreaux and others, with their families, who -sold their farms and gave the money to Joseph Smith, and went off to -Nauvoo, Ill. It is a little singular, too, that these people were never -again heard of directly from their new Mormon homes at Salt Lake, where -they no doubt removed after the break up at Nauvoo. All these Mormon -converts vanished from their neighbors with Joseph Smith, and never -again sent any word to their friends and relatives left behind. I was at -Salt Lake City for a short sojourn in 1879, and upon passing a -stonecutter who was at work upon a square building stone for the new -great Mormon tabernacle, asked the workman, “Do you know any one called -McGahan about these parts?” Instantly the stonecutter dropped his tools -and looked me very intently in the eye and replied, “Yes, I do. What do -you know about them?” I explained that they came from Ontario, their -former home, when the stonecutter urged me to go and see them; said they -lived only fifteen miles down the valley south from Salt Lake, were -wealthy, and would be pleased to see me, and most earnestly urged me to -go. But my faith in Mormon integrity in those days was too low, and I -dared not leave Camp Douglas and the protection of United States -soldiers as far as fifteen miles away. Never since has any kind of trace -been heard of our Mormon converts or their descendants. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - - Abolition of slavery in Canada--Log-houses, their fireplaces and - cooking apparatus--Difficulty experienced by settlers in obtaining - money--Grants to U. E. Loyalists--First grist mill--Indians--Use of - whiskey--Belief in witchcraft--Buffalo in Ontario. - - -Among the doings of the first parliament of Upper Canada there is none -on which we can look back with greater satisfaction than the abolition -of slavery in this country. Persons who have not looked closely into our -early history may be almost disposed to express surprise that such a -piece of legislation was passed. The subject is so interesting that I -will speak more fully on the point. Great Britain abolished slavery in -the British West Indies as late as 1833, and paid twenty millions of -pounds for the slaves to their owners. It is difficult at this time to -tell why our forefathers in Ontario were so much in advance of the -Mother Country as well as the United States, for we find that they -abolished slavery from Upper Canada in July, 1793. Of course, there were -not many slaves in Upper Canada at the time, still there were some, but -it seems that no compensation was ever paid to the owners for such -slaves. Just think at what a fearful cost of treasure and precious lives -the United States was called upon in the War of Secession to stand in -order to rid their country of slavery. Had they abolished slavery at the -time our forefathers did, no doubt the great war of the rebellion would -have been averted, and besides, in 1793, when we abolished slavery, they -could not have had very many slaves at the most, and even if they were -paid for, they would not have cost anything like so great a sum as Great -Britain paid for her West India slaves in 1833. - -Then I maintain that our forefathers in Upper Canada in 1793 were far in -advance in public spirit and true philanthropy of our American cousins, -for we do not find that the Americans at this time made any great -agitation to rid their country of the curse of slavery. If there were no -other fact to be proud of in our early history, this act of our -forefathers is one on which we may justly feel gratification. I will -insert the Act abolishing slavery in full. In July, 1793, the first -parliament of Upper Canada at its first session, called together at -Niagara by the Lieut.-Governor, John Graves Simcoe, passed an Act as -follows: - - “CHAPTER VII. - - “Section 1--Hereafter no person shall obtain a license for the - importation of any negro or other person who shall come or be - brought into this province after the passing of this Act, to be - subject to the conditions of a slave; nor shall any voluntary - contract of service be binding for a longer term than nine years. - - “Section 2--This clause enables the present owners of slaves in - their possession to retain them or bind out their children until - they obtain the age of twenty-one years. - - “Section 3--And in order to prevent the continuance of slavery in - this province the children that shall be born of female slaves - after the passing of this Act are to remain in the service of the - owner of their mother until the age of twenty-five years, when they - shall be discharged. - - “Provided that in case any issue shall be born of such children - during their servitude or after, such issue shall be entitled to - all the rights and privileges of free-born subjects.” - -By this simple Act of our first parliament our country was effectually -rid of this pest without the shedding of a drop of blood or the -expenditure of a single dollar in money. All honor to our forefathers -for their wise act, and a cheer for our banner free province. - -Our forefathers at this time, and long after, had no stoves in their -log-houses. All cooking, as well as heating, was done by the fireplace. -A crane swung on hinges into this great fireplace and could be swung out -from the fire at pleasure. Attached to this crane was an iron, having -notches therein, and fitting over this pendant iron rod was another -shorter iron, with a link as of a chain on the end thereof. This link -fitted into the notches on the first-mentioned iron. By this means the -lower iron could be raised or lowered into or above the fire at -pleasure. Thus our forefathers did their first cooking in Upper Canada. -The corn cake, or wheaten cake, when they had it, was baked in the -ashes, and wonderfully sweet old persons thought it. The fact that it -was covered with some loose ashes did not detract from its sweetness, as -they were soon brushed away, leaving the toothsome cake within. - -The first improvement in the culinary art of our forefathers came with -tin bake-ovens. These were tin trays, as it were, open on one side. They -would be set before the fire-place, with the open side fronting the -fire. Thus the rays of heat would be collected, and in a measure -confined within the oven, and the bread or cakes within were soon nicely -browned and baked. It was considered an immense stride by our -forefathers when they got these bake-ovens, and for years they did not -aspire to anything better. - -Ovens out of doors were built by some of stones. They were generally -conical in shape and open in the centre. An immense fire would be built -in this out-door oven, and when burnt down to real live coals, would be -all drawn out. Its stones would thus be thoroughly heated. Into the -cavity in which the fire had been, the bread would be inserted and the -door stopped up. Enough heat would remain in the stones to thoroughly -bake at least two batches of bread. But this was done at a fearful waste -of wood, which, of course, was of no account at that time. The advent of -stoves changed all that, and now a fireplace of wood in an Ontario home -is more a luxury than a necessity, and but few are to be found. But many -of my more elderly readers will remember the huge gaping fireplaces of -the past when a great “back-log,” two feet or more in diameter, would be -drawn in with a horse into the house, and the horse unhitched, leaving -the log before the fireplace. Once at the fireplace it was an easy -matter, with handspikes, to - -[Illustration: FIREPLACE AND HOUSEHOLD EFFECTS IN USE IN UPPER CANADA IN -1813. - -(By permission from the J. Ross Robertson collection.) -] - -[Illustration: KITCHEN UTENSILS. UPPER CANADA, 1813. - -(By permission from the J. Ross Robertson collection.) -] - -roll it to the back side of the fire. Since matches were not then -invented, the fire was something to be closely guarded, lest it might go -out. But this big back-log would usually keep a fire on for some three -or four days, being covered up at night with the ashes and embers that -it might smoulder all the night. - -Wild leeks were then used as an article of food. As soon as the snow -disappeared in the spring they would be found in abundance in the -forests, and were gathered as the first spring vegetable. Their unsavory -smell, or that imparted to the breath of the eater thereof, seemed to be -no bar to their use. When all partook of the leek not one could detect -the odor from the other. Likewise the cowslip, a little later in the -season, which grew in shallow ponds, furnished a dish of greens to our -forefathers. - -To show how difficult it was at this early day for the poor settler to -obtain money, I will relate an anecdote of about 1807. Levi Annis was -living at this time with his father, in the county of Durham. During the -summer and fall of 1806 they had chopped and burnt a fallow of -thirty-one acres, which they sowed with fall wheat. As a preparation for -sowing, the land was not ploughed at all, but it was loose and leafy and -ashy from the burning. The wheat was sown broadcast by hand among the -stumps. It was covered by hitching a yoke of oxen to the butt end of a -small tree, with the branches left hanging thereto. The oxen drew this -to and fro over the fallow among the stumps, and thus covered the wheat. -This was called “bushing in,” and was the first harrow used by our -forefathers among the stumps. However, the fallow upon which the wheat -was so brushed in produced as fine a crop of fall wheat as ever grew, -falling not much below thirty bushels per acre. Now this wheat could be -exchanged for store goods at will, but not for money. Levi Annis, -however, took the first load of it to Bowmanville, and was told by his -father that he must get $5.50 on account of the whole crop to pay his -taxes, for he must have the money to pay his taxes, but the rest he -would take store pay for. The merchant with whom he dealt actually -refused to advance the $5.50, saying he could get all the wheat he -wanted for goods. The young man had to drive to another merchant and -state his deplorable case to him and his urgent need of $5.50, and that -if he would advance him the money he should have the whole crop of -thirty-one acres. Finally the second merchant took pity upon the young -man in his dilemma and advanced the money. Thus it was with the utmost -difficulty that he could get $5.50 in cash out of thirty-one acres of -wheat. This shows us to-day how difficult it was for our forefathers to -get money. - -Most of the refugees from the United States at the time of the American -Revolution of the last century, who sided with Britain, and came to -Canada and this section, came by way of Niagara. This north shore of -Lake Ontario was then a wilderness, with no clearing or settlements at -all. Where Toronto now is was an Indian camp when some of those refugees -came through and over its present site. Of course, such refugees are -termed “United Empire Loyalists,” and right well they deserve the name, -for many of them left lands and houses and goodly heritage in -Massachusetts to come over here and live under the old flag. The Royal -grants which they received were given to them ostensibly for their -loyalty to the Crown, but I sometimes think that our Royal governors at -those times used them as a means of peopling the country, and it would -almost appear that this consideration had as much to do with the grants -for loyalty as for real _bona fide_ settlers. The United Empire -Loyalists came around the head of Lake Ontario, and stopped first beside -the various creeks which flow into Lake Ontario, for two reasons: one, -to enable them to catch the plentiful salmon in those creeks; and the -other, that they might cut marsh grass for their cattle at the marshes -formed at the streams’ mouths. There was no grist-mill nearer than -Kingston, and these refugees had to go in bateaux with their grists -(when they had any) all this way. They skirted close along the shore, -and pulled their boats up at night and slept in them. Twice per year -was, for many years, the greatest number of times they would go with the -grist. Rather hard lines for those who had left the comforts and -civilization of the Eastern States for the wilds of Canada. - -John D. Smith, at Smith’s Creek, now Port Hope, erected a grist-mill -some time after 1800 came in, and his was the first grist-mill between -Toronto and Kingston. The boon which this conferred upon the sparse -settlers can hardly be realized at this day. Many of these settlers -became Indian traders, for the Indians at this time far outnumbered the -whites; and semi-annually all the Indian tribes came to Lake Ontario to -fish. Their trading was done by barter. A party of traders would set out -into the woods with their packs of goods and fire off three guns in -succession, which was the signal to the Indians that traders were there. -Next morning the Indians would invariably come to the rendezvous to -trade their furs for ammunition, blankets and trinkets. The furs were -sent by bateaux to Montreal, and were for many years the only commodity -which would command the cash in the market. - -The next commodity which brought cash was black salts and potash. This -was before the square timber began to be exported from this locality. - -Just about the time that the settlers began to subdue the forests, the -War of 1812 broke out and sadly disarranged all the plans of the -settlers. Some of the sparse settlers, known for probity and -reliability, got contracts under the Government as despatch bearers -between certain stations, and for this received weekly, during the -unfortunate time, Spanish milled dollars, in which they were then paid. -The military impressment law was, of course, in full force during the -war. The cannon and military stores were hauled along the shores from -Montreal to Toronto, as the war progressed, as it was not safe to trust -them on vessels on the water for fear of capture by the Americans. The -mouths of streams had to be forded. The writer can call to mind many -anecdotes of his forefathers of that interesting time in our history. -The straggling settler would be ploughing among the stumps with his yoke -of oxen, when a squad of British soldiers would come along and make him -unhitch from the plough, and hitch on to the cannon without any waiting -or time even to go in for his coat. Usually two yokes of oxen were -attached to each of the small cannon. On arrival at the garrison at -Toronto the owners of the oxen were invariably well paid in cash for -their services. Two persons with oxen from this locality were once -pressed into the service. One yoke happened to be tolerably fat, and the -owner sold them to the military authorities in Toronto for a good price -in money, for beef for the troops. The money obtained for that yoke of -oxen enabled the owner to buy and pay for 200 acres of as fine land as -to-day can be found under the sun. - -Nor was it infrequent for the passing soldiers to be billeted upon the -inhabitants for a night. - -Indians used to spear fish when the first settlers came here, along the -lake shore and off the headlands. No matter if the water was rough, the -Indian would stand in the prow of the dug-out log canoe, holding some -sturgeon oil in his mouth. Now and again he would spit this oil out upon -the water, which would so calm it for a moment or two that he could see -the fish and spear them. By such sleights the Indian invariably -succeeded in procuring food from the forest and flood, while the white -man could hardly do so until he learned from the Indian how to take game -and fish. It was always the policy of the first settlers to treat the -Indians kindly. They did this because the Indians gave them like -treatment in return, and also because they far outnumbered the whites -and could easily have destroyed them. An Indian was never to be refused -something to eat if he came along hungry. My forefathers have told me -that an Indian came along one day nearly famished and asked for food. -Through some mishap he had been a week without food. A lot of cold meat -was set before him and a quantity of corn bread. The old settler sat -beside his fireplace and saw with surprise the eagerness and dexterity -with which he managed to appropriate this cold meat. And still the -Indian ate on, without apparent flagging, until at last the four pounds -or so of cold meat was gone. Then he gave a grunt of satisfaction and -sat before the fire. Soon he appeared in great distress and began -rolling on the floor. To cure the surfeit the settler knew no better way -than to grease his abdomen and pull him about. Just what virtue the -grease had the settler did not know, but thinking that his body must -necessarily stretch to master all that meat, he knew no better way to -produce the stretching than by greasing him. And grease him he did, with -the Indian all the time roaring with agony. However, after sundry -greasings, rollings and groanings, he got relief, and sat once more -beside the fire. On going away he told the old man what a good meal he -had had, and that he ever would remember him. It is a fact that the -Indian in his forest home used many times to be for days without food, -when game was not secured. When he did get game he gorged himself, but -of the manner of relieving a surfeit in the woods the white man does not -seem to know whether it was by grease or otherwise. - -At a logging bee in those old times whiskey was ever present. All the -settlers in the locality would invariably turn out and help at the -logging. Wonderful stories they tell of logging an acre of land in an -hour and a half by three men and a yoke of oxen. Old men to-day tell me -that they were mere lads then, and were the “whiskey boys” at these -loggings. Whiskey was partaken of by the bowlful, and no ill effect -seemed to follow from it. If a man were to drink one-half the quantity -of whiskey to-day he would be more than drunk, and sick on the morrow. -It must be that the whiskey of those days was better than the modern -stuff. It was not supposed to be at all wrong to drink whiskey in those -days, and they tell of an Irish immigrant who settled in Pickering, who -had no cows, and had to provide food for his family during the winter. -He procured two barrels of whiskey, which he and the family used with -the cornmeal porridge during that winter. There were young children in -the family at the time. It was not maintained that the whiskey was as -nutritious as milk would have been, but yet they all came out in the -spring in good condition, none the worse of the thrice daily consumption -of whiskey. - -Barns were sometimes moved from the manure pile about them. Manure was -not considered of any value upon the land, for the land was rich enough -without it. In a series of years the manure would accumulate about the -barns, impeding access thereto, and they were actually moved away to get -away from the manure, and then the manure burnt. Of course, we would not -think of such a proceeding now, but there are farmers in Darlington, in -the county of Durham, who burn their straw even now. When threshing, the -straw is spread over a field, as delivered from a machine, by a boy with -a horse-rake. It is then burned, relying for manure upon the ashes which -the straw makes. This is not told as an example of good farming, but it -illustrates the exceeding richness of Ontario soil. - -Since the early American colonists burnt witches at Salem, their -descendants, who came to Upper Canada as U. E. Loyalists, brought the -belief of witchcraft with them; and many of them who came here about -1800, and before, really did believe in witches. I have heard my -forefathers relate a witch story in all seriousness which I think worth -repeating, as showing to us that the New England people who burnt -witches were really sincere in the belief. About 1800 a settler in the -spring of the year did not enjoy very good health. Nothing serious -seemed to be the matter with him but a general inertia, or seediness. -There was no medical man to consult, so he did the next best thing by -consulting his nearest neighbor. The neighbor upon being told his -symptoms at once pronounced him bewitched. An old woman in the locality -was at once picked out as the bewitcher. Now for the remedy to break the -spell of the witchery. A ball must be made of silver, and they melted a -silver coin and made a rifle ball of it. An image of dough must be made -to as closely resemble the supposed witch as possible. And it was made. -Just as the sun rose the bewitched must fire at it with his rifle and -the silver ball, and the dough image was set up on a top rail of the -fence, and as the sun rose he fired and just grazed the shoulder of the -dough image. In about an hour the old witch came to the house in great -haste, and wanted to borrow some article. Were they to lend her the -article desired the spell would come on again, but refusing, the spell -was broken; of course, like sensible men, they did not lend the article. -Even they went on to say further that the witch was hit and wounded -slightly on the shoulder, where the dough image was struck by the silver -ball. However, be that as it may, they asserted that the sick man -speedily got well and was never again bewitched by the witch in question -nor any other. Of the efficacy of the unerring aim of the silver ball I -do not vouch, but I do vouch for the real _bona fide_ belief of the old -narrators of the whole tale. - -There were buffalo in Ontario once, without a doubt, and I think I can -prove it. When my people first came here, their own and two other -families for some years were the only settlers between Toronto and Port -Hope. They had cows, but by some fatality their only bull died. Somehow, -three cows strayed away one summer and did not return until late in the -fall or approach of winter. Next spring these cows had a calf each, and -these calves partook partly of the mother, with the head and -foreshoulders of the buffalo. Having a shaggy mane and long hair on -their foreshoulders like the buffalo, they were without a doubt part -buffalo. The progeny of this half-buffalo stock increased, but they -never became thoroughly domesticated, and when a bull, some years after, -could be obtained, they had to be killed on account of their -viciousness. - - - - -CHAPTER VI. - - A manufactory of base coin in the Province of Quebec--A clever - penman--Incident at a trial--The gang of forgers broken - up--“Stump-tail money”--Calves or land?--Ashbridge’s hotel, - Toronto--Attempted robbery by Indians--The shooting of an Indian - dog and the consequences. - - -I referred in the last chapter to the Spanish milled dollars in which -military services were paid for. Mexican dollars were also in vogue, and -a few years previous to the American War of 1812, some enterprising New -England counterfeiters, fancying the densely-wooded portion of Lower -Canada, near the state lines, would afford a secure base for their -operations, emigrated to our lower province. These Mexican silver -dollars were used as a currency for small moneys almost to the exclusion -of British coins. The reason for this was because these Mexican unmilled -dollars were of pure silver, almost without alloy, and were worth, -intrinsically, rather more than their face value. In these forests the -counterfeiters set up their presses and dies, and succeeded in making -Mexican dollars so very nearly like the genuine ones that they passed -unquestioned. Indeed, there was no limit to the amount these fellows -could produce, or as to the amount of wealth they could accumulate -thereby; that is to say, so far as wealth could be accumulated in those -early days among forest fastnesses. However, this band had good houses -constructed, and as well furnished as they could be at that early day. -One of the traditions about them is that they were in the habit of -throwing a dollar into the spittoon when they wanted it cleaned, which -perhaps shows they had all the hired help that money could in those days -give them. They appear to have lived a free-booting sort of life and to -have enjoyed such luxuries as money could command. So expert had they -become at the business that paymasters in the American army actually -crossed over the lines by stealth, through the woods, and bought these -Mexican dollars from the counterfeiters to pay the American troops with. -This is a fact, anomalous as it may seem, and no doubt these paymasters -reaped rich harvests by these transactions. As an illustration of the -cleverness of these counterfeiters I will note that at one time they -actually passed four thousand of their coins on one of the banks in -Montreal. - -We may, therefore, assume that as counterfeiters they had arrived at -considerable perfection. The flooding of the Province of Quebec with -these Mexican dollars somewhat disarranged the even flow of trade -transactions. - -On the close of the American war, however, these Mexican dollars were -gradually taken out of circulation. The genuine ones were mostly taken -to England to be recoined into British shillings and sixpences. This -altered state of affairs caused these counterfeiters to pause in their -career, and they ceased to produce the Mexican dollars for fear they -might be traced out. Counterfeiting bank-notes was what they next turned -their hands to. In those days the “greenback” had not been invented, the -engravings on the bills were not very elaborate, and they found some one -among them who could cut the die plate of a bill. Thus far they had got -on well, but the signatures to the bills presented an almost insuperable -obstacle. That oft-repeated remark, that “the old fellow always helps -his own,” was true in their case at least. One of their number was found -so clever with the pen that he could imitate the signatures to -perfection. It is asserted that this signer claimed as his share for -affixing the signatures a full share in all the band’s proceeds, and he -was to do nothing else at all. The other members were to do all the work -and he only did the writing, and lived like a gentleman in what had then -become a small village in Quebec, near the province line. He had a fine -house, carriages and servants; held several offices of trust, and had -even rare and costly bound books in his library. Indeed, he seemed to be -a person of culture in every way, and no one for a moment suspected him -of any complicity in such a nefarious business as counterfeiting. - -To show how clever he was as a penman, I will tell this anecdote by way -of illustration. Some twenty thousand dollars’ worth of promissory notes -had been sued in some court in the State of Vermont. The signature on -these notes was disputed by the reputed maker, and a defence set up that -they were forgeries. This important case was thoroughly defended by the -ablest counsel of the day, and yet the case seemed likely to go against -the maker of the notes. Happening to get a hint, this attorney for the -defence quietly asked all the attorneys in the court to write their -names on a half-sheet of foolscap, which he produced, torn carelessly -from the other half-sheet. - -Each one wrote his name. Then this attorney for the defence brought the -signatures to this person who did the bank-note signing in Quebec. On -the other half-sheet of foolscap this more than expert penman reproduced -in exact fac-simile the attorneys’ names. Back into court he came with -the two half-sheets of foolscap, one containing the genuine signatures -and the other the forged ones, but both sheets alike in every respect, -even as to jagged edges, where torn asunder, and every other particular. - -Each signing attorney was then put in the witness box and asked to swear -to his signature. Not one of them could do it. This fact threw doubts in -the minds of the jury as to the genuineness of the signature of the -notes, and the defendant got a verdict of “not guilty.” - -As the country continued to be flooded with these notes, the Government -finally began tracing their issue to the fountain head, and suddenly and -without warning made a descent upon this respectable citizen’s fine -house. Not a scrap could be found to incriminate him, and the searchers -were about to leave with apologies, when, happening to look in the -attic, they found a single unused die, which one of the gang had -thoughtlessly left there. - -The finding of this die of course caused his arrest, and he and two -others were put on trial for their lives. Forgery in that day in Quebec -merited the death penalty of the law. They had moved to Canada, however, -for protection, and even in this instance Canada did not fail to protect -them still. They had forged only notes of the state banks of the United -States, and it seems that our law could not fairly get hold of them for -forging the notes of a foreign country, and they got off scot-free. But -the prosecution broke them up and they fled, having lost their -pseudo-respectability. - -It is asserted that this expert penman and cultivated man afterwards -migrated to the United States, became an inmate of nearly all the -penitentiaries the United States then possessed, and finally died in one -of them. So, in this instance, as ever, the way of the transgressor was -hard, although seemingly so fair for so long a time. - -“Can you tell me where I can buy shingles?” for many years after the -breaking up of the gang was one of the formulas which strangers used -when coming into the former counterfeiters’ locality to buy counterfeit -money. A man of sixty-five now tells that when a lad he once in the -spring packed his bundle in his handkerchief, swung it over his shoulder -on a stick, and sallied out looking for work. A stylish team passed him, -driven by two men, whom he asked for a ride. And they gave him a ride, -and asked him while on the way “where they could buy some shingles?” Not -knowing, he could not tell them, but his curiosity was aroused to know -what men, dressed as they were, and with so fine a team and so light a -rig, should want with shingles. Finally, after repeated inquiries, some -one on the way told them to turn off the road, and back in the woods -they would find “shingles.” It is asserted that for some years after the -close of the American War of 1812 this counterfeit money had, among -those who dealt in it, a certain market value. Sometimes the dollar was -worth as much as forty cents, and at other times it had a greater value. -Other catch words were used and known among those who dealt in this -commodity besides “shingles,” but this term seems to have been most used -and most generally known. - -A long time it took to rid that part of Quebec of the remaining stamps -and dies, and to stamp out the counterfeiting entirely. But as the -country became more settled up and the roads improved it was gradually -stopped. So far as I can ascertain, this narrative contains an account -of the most systematized and successful series of forgeries our country -at that time had. - -Some of these clever New England forgers knew when to stop. One of them, -it is said, moved away to New Jersey and bought a fine farm there from -the proceeds of his forgeries in Canada, and lived the life of a country -gentleman until his death. - -The strangest part of this tale is yet to follow. I got it from the lips -of a resident in the West, a close observer and likely to know. - -In the early settlements of the Western States bordering on the -Mississippi River, each state issued bills which were almost valueless -in any other state. All sorts of forgeries were committed on these state -bank bills. This money came to be known as “stump tail money,” and -amidst the general confusion of currencies and hasty settlements the -forgers were enabled to reap rich harvests. The forgers began to be -caught and driven still further west to the Missouri River, as the -States became better settled and things settled down generally. Nearly -all of those forgers who were caught acknowledged that they were -descendants of the gang of forgers whom I have been speaking of on the -province line in Quebec. And more, they said in their confessions, that -those who got away were likewise of the same descent. From this it would -appear that in the guild of forgers the faculties are transmitted to -succeeding generations, like those of caste in India. - -I have said that in the early days of the century the settlers in -Ontario did not entertain very correct ideas as to the prospective value -of lands. The following anecdote of that time will illustrate this: Levi -Annis, descended from Charles Annis, already alluded to, when about -eighteen years of age had made a little money on his own account by -trapping. He had saved enough money to buy himself a couple of bull -calves six months old, and calculated to secure them. Just before he got -to buying them, it came to his knowledge that for the same sum which he -would pay for the calves he could buy outright 100 acres of land. For -some days he was in doubt whether to buy the calves or the hundred -acres. He asked his friends, and they reasoned that there was lots of -land, and land he could buy any time, but calves were scarce and he had -better buy them when he could. Consequently he bought the calves and let -the land alone. To show how lightly land was valued in those days I make -the comparison. But this is not at all in relation to the bargain. Had -he bought the 100 acres of land, which he thought of doing, even before -his death he would have seen a part of the town of Oshawa built upon it. -To-day there is upon this land a large manufactory and numerous -dwellings, and its value at this time is almost beyond estimating. Had -he bought the land and simply kept it, and literally done nothing else, -it would have made a rich man of him. But he chose the calves, and it is -evident in the light of the subsequent events that his choice was a poor -one. - -An Indian tale of 1800 comes to my mind which my forefathers have told -to me. In the early days the settlers had to devise plans to keep their -sheep from the wolves. As their flocks increased their next great -difficulty was to keep their sheep from the Indians’ dogs. The first -settlements were, of course, along the shores of the great lakes, -Ontario and Erie. Twice a year, spring and fall, the Indians would come -out from the woods to fish in those lakes and marshes, and at the -outlets of the streams. So numerous were the Indians at that time that -they far outnumbered the whites, and when they came for the semi-annual -fish they would form a regular village, as they congregated in their -tents beside the shore of some marsh or bay upon the great lakes. - -The settlers’ policy was one pre-eminently of conciliation to the -Indians. But they would at every visit be accompanied by a lot of -half-starved, ill-favored curs, which would worry the settlers’ sheep. -At one visit they had a particularly large gaunt brute of a dog, which -badly worried a sheep of my forefather. He remonstrated with the chief, -and desired him to keep the dog at the camp, which he promised to do. -Nightly he penned his sheep as usual, to keep off the wolves, but during -the day this dog continued to worry them when out of sight among the log -and brush on the partially cleared fields, and finally killed one. My -people resolved to suffer it no longer, and at great risk of their lives -and property shot the Indian dog--dead as they supposed. Then they took -the dog that the Indians might not find him, and know that they had shot -him, and put him in a hollow pine stub, the top of which stood some ten -feet from the ground, and which was hollow to the bottom. Bury the dog -they dared not, because the sharp-eyed Indian would discover the -newly-turned earth and fish it out, and they knew they could not -otherwise hide him successfully. That evening about forty Indians came -looking for the animal, and searched every place, probable and -improbable, indoors and out, and my people dared not refuse them -admittance. Without a doubt my forefather will be pardoned for “telling -a white one” when he averred that he had not got the dog. At this -juncture it became by far too serious to jest or prevaricate, for their -lives literally depended upon the Indians’ successful search for that -canine. Search as they would, however, they did not find it, and -darkness gratefully set in and put an end to their investigation for -that day. But little sleep the settlers were able to take that night -through dead fear that the Indians might possibly find the cur. Next -morning, just at the first peep of day, my forefather was up and out to -the stump, when to his intense astonishment and disgust the dog was -barking and scratching within the stub to get out. He had not been -effectually killed, and had come back again to life. Now here was a -dilemma, and what was to be done? To get up on the stub and fire at the -dog again was more than he dared, for it would arouse the Indians only -half a mile away. - -An expedient he soon hit upon, however, and he resolved that day to go -to logging that he might burn the stub without arousing the keen -suspicion of the Indians. Yoking his oxen, a pile of logs was soon -gathered about the stub and set on fire. The dog’s cries grew fainter -and to him beautifully less, and finally ceased. But he did not dare to -stop the logging for the day, and worked at it faithfully all day, -whether he wished to or not, that no suspicion might rest upon him for -the burning of the pine stub. It is needless to add that the Indians did -not get the dog, and that they never found out what became of him. At -this time this may seem a simple story to tell, but to the participants -it was a life-and-death matter, and I have heard my forefathers say that -the old man would have gladly given all his sheep, dearly as he prized -them, could he have recalled that shot, when he heard the dog howling -the next morning in the stub. - - - - -CHAPTER VII. - - The Canadian Revolution of 1837-38--Causes that led to - it--Searching of Daniel Conant’s house--Tyrannous misrule of the - Family Compact--A fugitive farmer--A visitor from the United States - in danger--Daniel Conant a large vessel owner--Assists seventy - patriots to escape--Linus Wilson Miller--His trial and - sentence--State prisoners sent to Van Diemen’s Land. - - -That uprising of 1837-38 in Canada is now generally termed the Canadian -Revolution. Most worthily does it deserve to be called a _revolution_, -for the people who were its supporters afterwards got all they asked -for. It was not a _rebellion_ but a revolution, and it did great good -for this country in the end. The fact of the very narrow and selfish -rule of the Family Compact again comes to us, for having goaded the -people to resort to extraordinary measures, they also persecuted persons -who came, or whose fathers came, from the United States. All hail to -those who, in a prominent or lesser way, took part in this rising on the -side of the patriots. It is an honor to-day for any Canadian to be -descended from one who took part and bore the burden and danger of -service in the Canadian Revolution of 1837-38. It is not to be argued -but that the patriots went rather too far, but no less could be expected -when the people once were aroused for such just causes. Those who -fought on the other side were equally as brave, and did their duty -manfully and bravely as they then saw the light. It was, nevertheless, -the efforts of the few patriots (whose fortunes we shall follow in part) -that gave us our liberties in Canada, and likewise brought about -constitutional government. Likewise were the effects of this revolution -good for the Motherland, for every colony since that time has been free -to carry on its own domestic concerns at will, which Canadians could not -possibly do before the Canadian Revolution. The day is now here when -those alive are proud of the part their forefathers took in the -struggle, and the disposition of many writers to try to gloss the -disturbances over, and make them appear small and puny in the way of -concerted efforts, are not pleasant to us nor true in their spirit. In a -word, no one can be found in Canada to-day who would dare to champion -the cause of the Royalists and the Family Compact on that occasion, and -assert that the patriots had not sufficient causes for their uprising. -Only recently has this been the case, for it has been fashionable -heretofore for every one to make light of the Revolution and to disclaim -any connection with it. - -The patriots were only trying to get wrongs redressed and a -constitutional government inaugurated. They had no wish to uprise -against Great Britain. Particularly is it true that the great bulk of -the patriots were not uprising against the Motherland, for the author’s -forbears, who knew well from actual contact with the patriots, have -frequently told him so. The rule of the Family Compact they would not -endure longer. They were goaded to exasperation by the infamous acts of -that clique, and they were careless of what consequences might follow. - -It was “Junius” who said, “The subject who is truly loyal will neither -advise nor submit to arbitrary acts.” In accordance with that sentiment -the patriots sought only to have the wrongs redressed, and _not to take -up arms against Great Britain in any sense_. In the following pages some -of the terribly arbitrary acts of the Family Compact will be given, for -but very few Canadians to-day have the least inkling of the high-handed -manner which this tyrannous power made use of in venting its private -hatred on the patriots, both individually and collectively. It is, -however, a matter of strong congratulation that though the Family -Compact was victorious in the revolution, its rule was but short after -it. The patriots secured all the privileges they asked for, and the -Family Compact shrunk into nothingness. - -The hanging of Lount and Matthews was really judicial murder, and the -exportation of 232 Canadians to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), where -nearly all of them lost their lives, was an infamous deed; also the -persistence with which the Compact pursued the patriots is enough to -bring tears to the eyes of every thinking Canadian to-day who really -loves his country. When the Southern States revolted and fought from -April, 1861, to April, 1865, and brought about the most terrible war on -record, wherein more men were killed than in any war the world has ever -known, no one was hanged at its close. Nor was any leader imprisoned or -exported, nor was the private property of the leaders confiscated, save -that only of Jefferson Davis, the leader, and only a part of his private -property withal. Whereas, here in Canada, because our patriots had the -manliness to be men and stand up for their rights, though committing no -overt acts, they were hanged, imprisoned, driven to the United States, -or transported for life. In the case of the author’s own grandfather and -parents he can bring out some features exactly. One Colonel Ferguson, -who lived a mile and a quarter north of Whitby, considering his measure -of loyalty to be so far in excess of that of all others about, took it -upon himself to pay domiciliary visits to the homes of many with the -troops under his command. He had the command of a few militiamen whose -homes were in the locality of his visits. There were no overt acts being -committed during the winter months of 1837-38, but it made no sort of -difference to Colonel Ferguson. As a tool of the Family Compact he never -ceased to annoy his neighbors. Very vivid impressions come to the author -from the tales of his own father of Colonel Ferguson coming at midnight -of a winter night with his men, surrounding the family residence and -turning all the inmates out in the snow while he ransacked and searched -at will. Many times during that memorable winter was the search -repeated, but the author could never learn what Colonel Ferguson -expected to find as a result of his - -[Illustration: THE OLD CONANT HOMESTEAD AT PORT OSHAWA, BUILT IN 1811. - - Here United States prisoners from General Hull’s army, which - surrendered at Detroit, were fed while proceeding on their way by - boats under guard to Quebec. Here also domiciliary visits were paid - on several occasions during the Canadian Revolution of 1837-38, the - house being surrounded by troops at midnight, and my people turned - out in the snow while the house was being searched. -] - -diligent searches. Daniel Conant’s New England descent would very -probably go far to account for Colonel Ferguson’s insane suspiciousness. -In this part of Canada the inhabitants generally were in favor of the -movement. Not to be so was to be singular. That is to say, they were in -favor of having the wrongs committed by the Family Compact redressed, -but not one in 10,000 asked for a change of the political connection of -Canada. To effect such a sweeping change as that would be was not the -object of the agitation, and at this day of writing it seems very hard -that the inhabitants should have been persecuted simply because they -loved their country; but so it was. It would be well to instance another -case of the tyrannous misrule of the Family Compact and their -persecution of unoffending persons. A farmer living near Oshawa, being -the son of a United Empire Loyalist, seemed to have all the Compact’s -hate and suspicion centred upon him, simply because his father came from -Massachusetts. The suspected man had done absolutely no act to place him -in the eye of the law. Like nearly all others, he sympathized with the -patriots, not for a moment supposing it to be a crime to love his -country and its people. But Colonel Ferguson thought differently, and -made a sally to capture the farmer. Now, capture meant almost certain -death, for it would mean being incarcerated during the very cold weather -in unheated guardhouses and gaols here or in Toronto. Knowing this, he -avoided capture by changing his quarters every few days and never -sleeping in a house. Usually he slept in the granary of a barn, -burrowing into the bin of grain until almost or quite concealed, with -the grain effectually covering him. One may rightly conjecture the -terrible hardships of this poor farmer, exposed as he was to the -inclemency of a Canadian winter. Fires in a barn are, of course, out of -the question, and therefore he had no comfort of a house and a fireside -the whole winter long. Such ill-usage could possibly have only one -ending, viz., death, which followed in the fall of 1838. Nor is this an -isolated case, for there were many such, but purposely we follow its -details in order to present a faithful picture of life in Canada during -the Canadian Revolution of 1837-38. - -One more instance we must narrate before the indictment of the Family -Compact is complete. David Trull, a resident of New York State, and a -relative of the author, happened to come to visit his relatives about -Bowmanville and Newcastle in the fall of 1837. While here on this visit -the uprising took place, for the fight at Montgomery’s was on the 3rd of -December, 1837. His visit having come to an end, he started for home the -same way he came. On to Toronto, then, went David Trull, to get on board -a small steamer running from the Queen’s wharf to Niagara. As he stepped -upon the gang-plank a uniformed sentry presented a bayonet and cried -“Halt!” threatening to run him through. He turned back from the wharf, -frightened and amazed, proceeding to his hotel, which he had only that -morning left. Telling the hotel-keeper of his trouble the worthy -Boniface befriended him. He was warned that he must not on any account -whatever, as he valued his life, let any one know that he hailed from -the United States, for, said the hotel-keeper, “If you do they’ll put -you in prison and hang you.” He was further advised to put on working -clothes and act as hostler about the hotel, with a view of slipping away -on the steamer later, when suspicion had been allayed. For many days he -put in the time at watering and grooming horses for young would-be -military satraps, who ordered him about, and whom in his own country he -would have treated with contempt. But he got away on the steamer at -last, and almost vowed when once on United States soil never again to -set foot in Canada. Realizing, however, in after years that only a very -small portion of the Canadian people were disposed to misuse a guest, as -they had done in his case, he overlooked it, and came back on visits in -after years. To his dying day, however, he never forgot the arbitrary -treatment of the Family Compact, and his hate for them went with him to -his grave. - -Daniel Conant, the author’s father, was a very large vessel owner at the -time of the Canadian Revolution. At the earnest requests, entreaties and -tears of some seventy patriots, whose lives and liberties were unsafe in -Canada, he took them in midwinter across Lake Ontario in his ship -_Industry_ to Oswego, N.Y. During the inclement weather of that voyage -his ship was lost, while all got over safely (_vide_ “Upper Canada -Sketches,” by the author). But Daniel Conant and his officers and -sailors dared not come back home, even without their ship. To be caught -meant transportation to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), or death by -hanging at home, according to the mood of the authorities. To gain home -and friends once more they walked back to Niagara in the spring of 1838, -and crossed the Niagara River at its mouth, landing boldly at the wharf -in the village of Niagara, where was a garrison and guards always on the -watch. To get past the guard was the point at issue. John Pickel, who -had been mate on the lost ship, has the credit of getting them out of -the difficulty. Making for the canteen he hilariously began treating -every one who came in sight. Being plentifully supplied with cash by the -author’s father, he persistently kept at the treating, giving many most -loyal toasts, “and was glad to get back again on Canadian soil.” These -words to-day, after an intervening sixty-three years, seem, no doubt, -tame and hardly worth preserving. Let us, however, remember the time and -the terrible risk then run. As the shades of evening came on they -quietly, one at a time, dropped out of the canteen, the garrison, the -village, the clearing, and into the darkness of the forest. Hamilton was -reached in due time, but a detour around to the north of Toronto was -made, and justly proud of having saved the lives and fortunes of seventy -patriots, whose only crime was that of loving their country, and wishing -for reform and good government, they got home at last. It would scarcely -be within the scope of this volume to follow - -[Illustration: DANIEL CONANT.] - -in detail the events of the Canadian Revolution. To do so would make too -bulky a volume. We may, however, notice the case of one who was -transported, along with several others, to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania). - -Linus Wilson Miller had come over from New York State, having relatives -in Canada, and through sympathy had endeavored to help the patriots. He -was apprehended, and in order to get a true inside view of the workings -of the Family Compact we will give the court scene when he was brought -up for trial at Niagara, July, 1838. - -Having been brought under guard to the court room he was asked: - - “Linus Wilson Miller, what say you--guilty or not guilty? - - “I shall not plead to my indictment at present. - - “SOLICITOR-GENERAL--But you must. - - “I choose to be excused. - - “SOLICITOR-GENERAL--But you cannot be excused. - - “I tell you, I am not prepared to stand my trial now. - - “CHIEF JUSTICE--Answer you, prisoner at the bar, the question put - to you by the Court--what say you, Linus Wilson Miller, guilty or - not guilty? - - “My Lord, that is a question which, as I before said, I am not now - prepared to answer. - - “CHIEF JUSTICE--You must say, guilty or not guilty. - - “Your lordship must excuse me. - - “CHIEF JUSTICE--“You shall answer either guilty or not guilty--it - is only a mere matter of form. - - “Doubtless your lordship considers hanging by one’s neck until dead - only mere matter of form.” - - “CHIEF JUSTICE (in a rage)--Do you mean, sir, to insult this - court? - - “My Lord, I mean only what I say, that I must have time to prepare - for my trial. - - “CHIEF JUSTICE--Will you or will you not plead to your - indictment--what say you, prisoner at the bar, guilty or not - guilty? - - “My Lord, I cannot plead now. - - “CHIEF JUSTICE--You shall by G---- - - “My Lord, I will not. (Great sensation.) - - “THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL--How dare you insult his lordship? You must - answer at once; it will be better for you to do so. I advise you to - plead not guilty; after which the Court will take into - consideration your claims to have your trial postponed, and order - you counsel, if you wish it. The Court are disposed to be just and - merciful. - - “I repeat what I said before, I will not. - - “ATTORNEY-GENERAL--You are a desperate fellow. - - “And not without reason, for if I am to judge of the intentions of - this Court, from external appearances, I am in desperate - circumstances. But the word ‘fellow’ which you just applied to me - is significant. - - “ATTORNEY-GENERAL (with a sneer)--Pray, sir, what are you? - - “A victim chosen for the slaughter; but you are mistaken if you - think to coax or drive me to plead at present; I understand your - wishes and my own interests too well. - - “CHIEF JUSTICE--Prisoner at the bar, three weeks have passed since - your capture, and you have had sufficient time to prepare your - defence. This Court has been convened for the express purpose of - trying you, and the Government cannot be put to so much expense for - nothing. I have taken care myself that all witnesses which you can - possibly require in your defence should be present to-day, and they - are here. You can have, therefore, no excuse whatever for wishing - to postpone your trial, and your only object is to give the - Government and this Court unnecessary trouble; but your - stubbornness shall avail you nothing, for the Court will order the - usual course in case of stubborn and wilful prisoners, who refuse - to plead, to be pursued in this case. I now ask you for the last - time--what say you, Linus Wilson Miller, to the charges preferred - against you: are you guilty or not guilty? - - “My Lord, I am informed by your lordship that I have had sufficient - time to prepare for my trial, having been in custody three weeks. - How was I to prepare my defence before I had been indicted--how - know what charges, if any, would be preferred against me? I have - but now heard them read, and am required, without one moment’s - warning, to plead to charges of the most serious nature, affecting - my life! I am likewise informed by your lordship that all the - witnesses requisite for my defence are present in Court, that in - the present enlightened age, a judge, in a British Court of - Justice, will tell a prisoner arraigned under such circumstances, - that the witnesses for his defence are all present by order of the - Court, and that too in the presence of a jury empanelled to try - him. Is a Chief Justice of a British Court thus to sit upon a bench - and pre-judge a case of life and death? Have I consulted any legal - gentleman in this Province upon my case whereby by any possibility - your lordship could have been apprised of the witnesses I may - require, or of the nature of the defence which in so serious a case - I may deem it necessary to make? How long have I known that charges - were preferred against me which require either a defence or the - surrender of my life without a struggle? And yet I am told by your - lordship that I _shall_ abide my trial upon the testimony of - witnesses of your lordship’s own choosing, in a defence - predetermined by your lordship long before a grand jury had found a - true bill against me. Is this your boasted British justice? Am I - indeed within the sacred walls of a court, a British Court, the - pride and boast of Englishmen? Shame, my l---- - - “CHIEF JUSTICE (in a great rage)--Silence, you d--d Yankee rebel! - Not another word or-- - - “My Lord, I will not keep silence when my life is at stake.... A - jury did I say? They are all strangers to me, but from the - proceedings I have witnessed to-day, I have no doubt they are mere - tools of the Government, pledged to render a verdict of guilty and - perjure their own hearts. - - “A JURYMAN, from the box--My Lord, are we honest men to be insulted - and abused in this manner? - - “No doubt the gentleman _is_ an honest man.... My Lord, I have - done--but I again _demand_ from your lordship the full time allowed - by law for my defence.... At present I have only to request to be - furnished with a copy of my indictment. - - “CHIEF JUSTICE--The Court will not allow you a copy.” - -There is no reason to infer that this is misquoted in a single letter. -In fact current testimony will bear out all that Miller says, and the -reading of this court scene will give us a very true insight into life -in Canada in 1838, and will be quite new to the present generation of -Canadians. The author gets this court scene from “Notes of an Exile, on -Canada, England and Van Diemen’s Land,” by Linus Wilson Miller, and it -is probable that the copy of Miller’s book that I possess is the only -one in Canada to-day. - - “On August 5th, 1838, Linus Wilson Miller was again tried at - Niagara, and here follows the scene in court when the jury brought - in a verdict of ‘Guilty, with an earnest recommendation of the - prisoner to the extreme mercy of the court.’ - - “CHIEF JUSTICE (in a great rage)--Gentlemen of the jury, do you - know that your verdict is virtually an acquittal? How dare you - bring in such a verdict in this case?... - - “THE FOREMAN--My Lord, the jury regard him as having been partially - deranged some months since, but of sane mind when he invaded this - province. - - “CHIEF JUSTICE--Then retire, gentlemen, and reconsider your - verdict. You cannot recommend him to mercy. - - “In a few minutes they returned with a verdict of ‘guilty, with a - recommendation of the prisoner to the mercy of the court.’ - - “CHIEF JUSTICE--Gentlemen of the jury, I’ll teach you your duty, - how dare you return such a verdict?... - - “A JURYMAN--My Lord, we recommend him on account of his youth. - - “CHIEF JUSTICE--That is no excuse for his crimes, ... - - “ANOTHER JURYMAN--My Lord, we believe him to be an enthusiast in - the cause in which he was engaged; that his motives are good, and - his conduct honorable and humane. - - “CHIEF JUSTICE--Your duty is to pronounce the prisoner guilty or - not guilty. - - “After a short consultation the jury returned a verdict of guilty - only, and the infamous Chief Justice--a second Jeffreys--with a - countenance beaming with hellish smiles, bowed to the jury.” - -Miller was in due course sentenced to be hanged, but this sentence was -commuted to transportation. We find him and twelve others, all -Canadians, chained and sent by steamer _Cobourg_ to Kingston. From -Kingston the party were sent by another steamer to Montreal. After being -changed again they reached Quebec. Here the thirteen Canadian prisoners -were put on board a timber ship and sent to England. From the fact that -so very few Canadians know that Canadians were transported to the other -side of the world, the author makes special mention of this matter. -To-day we would not think of doing such things, and very many Canadians -will be inclined to question the truthfulness of the statement. But, in -all, ninety-one Canadian state prisoners were sent to that distant penal -colony. A few lines of verse may be inserted as very apt and striking. -They are by T. R. Harvey: - - Morn on the waters! And purple and bright - Bursts on the billows the flashing of light; - O’er the glad waves like a child of the sun, - See, the tall vessel goes gallantly on. - Full to the breeze she unbosoms her sail, - And her pennon streams onward like hope in the gale; - The winds come around her in murmur and song, - And the surges rejoice as they bear her along. - See, she looks up to the golden-edged clouds, - And the sailor sings gaily aloft in her shrouds. - Onward she glides amid ripple and spray, - Over the waters, away and away! - Bright as the visions of youth ere they part, - Passing away like a dream of the heart. - Who, as the beautiful pageant sweeps by, - Music around her and sunshine on high, - Pauses to think amid glitter and show - Oh, there be hearts that are breaking below! - - Night on the waves! And the moon is on high, - Hung like a gem on the brow of the sky, - Treading its depths in the power of its might, - And turning the clouds, as they pass her, to light. - Look to the waters! Asleep on their breast - Seems not the ship like an island of rest? - Bright and alone on the shadowy main, - Like a heart-cherished home on some desolate plain. - Who, as he watches her silently gliding, - Remembers that wave after wave is dividing - Bosoms that sorrow and guilt could not sever, - Hearts that are parted and broken forever? - Or dreams that he watches afloat on the wave, - The death-bed of hope, or the young spirit’s grave. - -So far as can be known only thirteen of the ninety-six ever got back -home to Canada, after years of waiting, hoping and praying. All the -others found untimely graves in that far-off land, where they died -broken-hearted and alone. - -Linus Wilson Miller did not get home until August, 1846, he being one of -the very first to reach America. A sailing ship brought him to -Pernambuco. At that port the captain of the American barque _Globe_ -accepted a bill drawn by him on his father for his passage, he being -totally without money. Englishmen and Americans resident at Pernambuco -however, on learning the facts, and being acquainted with the desperate -treatment of Miller, raised the funds to take up the bill and send him -on home. To-day we consider the execution of Lount and Matthews simply -judicial murder, and Sir George Arthur went to his reward in after years -with a heavy load on his conscience. It is hardly in the bounds of -possibility for him ever to forget the time when Mrs. Lount knelt before -him and prayed for the life of her husband, and he refused to as much as -listen to her. - -Van Schultz too, poor fellow, a Pole, who escaped oppression in his own -country, came to the United States; then, fancying us oppressed, he -voluntarily tried to help us, and, as we all know, was captured at the -disturbance at Windmill Point, Prescott. Generous and impulsive, but -misguided, his execution was another judicial murder exulted in by the -Family Compact. Linus Wilson Miller’s crimes to-day would perhaps be met -by a half year’s sentence of incarceration. But he was broken down in -health by the hard usage and hard work he had to endure in Tasmania, as -well as were all the other state prisoners. Being a state prisoner he -would not now be compelled to labor, if treated as political prisoners -are treated the world over. He and all the others were worked to the -bone, flogged, and most of them sent to early graves in that far-off -land. - -Thank God, we have changed all that. - -Lord Durham came out as Governor-General right after the trouble. -Responsible constitutional government was granted, and all the reforms -the people asked for. Not in the most remote degree was the Home -Government responsible for our misusage, nor for the uprising, for it -knew nothing of it. In illustration of this, the following example is -pertinent: When Sir Francis Bond Head, who was the supreme Governor -General during the uprising, was on his way home he stopped at New York. -There he met Marshal S. Bidwell, then an exile, and a man universally -acknowledged as at the head of the bar in Canada. Sir Francis -deliberately told Bidwell he had received instructions from the Home -Government to appoint him judge. Bidwell turned and fled, and never bade -adieu to him. On gaining the street he first thought of returning and -apologizing for his rudeness, but the injury was too great, and he never -saw Head again? Can we wonder at the Canadian uprising when such things -could be? - -At the top of a parchment Crown deed to one of the Conants the name of -Sir Francis Bond Head appears, and never can the author look upon that -parchment without unpleasant thoughts of the man’s poltroonery and -narrowness. - -It is not out of place to record here the fact that Benedict Arnold, the -traitor, received a grant of 18,000 acres of our lands in Upper Canada -not far from the author’s home. No Canadian ever liked a traitor, nor do -we like the memory of Arnold, hence special mention is made of the -grant. The British Government gave him £10,000 besides. There is a -little verse which covers all the points nicely, thus: - - “From Cain to Catiline the world hath known - Her traitors--vaunted votaries of crime-- - Caligula and Nero sat alone - Upon the pinnacle of vice sublime; - But they were moved by hate, or wish to climb - The rugged steeps of Fame; in letters bold - To write their names upon the scroll of Time; - Therefore their crime some virtue did enfold-- - But Arnold! thine had none--’twas all for sordid gold!” - -[Illustration: DESK USED IN THE LEGISLATIVE CHAMBER BY W. LYON -MACKENZIE. UPPER CANADA, 1837. - -(From the J. Ross Robertson collection.) -] - - - - -CHAPTER VIII. - - Building a dock at Whitby--Daniel Conant becomes security--Water - communication--Some of the old steamboats--Captain Kerr--His - commanding methods--Captain Schofield--Crossing the - Atlantic--Trials of emigrants--Death of a Scotch emigrant. - - -Daniel Conant, as a vessel owner on Lake Ontario for many years, felt -keenly the great need for proper harbors and docks for loading and -unloading his vessels. Up to the close of the Revolution of 1837-38 he -had, when near home, made use of Whitby harbor, which was four miles -westerly from Port Oshawa. But the great drawback to Whitby harbor was -its shallow water, which caused much trouble in getting away from its -single warehouse when his ships were fully laden. At this juncture of -the long-felt want (about 1839) one Smith came along and contracted to -build new docks at Whitby harbor, and to place them beside deep water. -Daniel Conant became Smith’s security on his bonds for £1,100, or -$4,400, for due fulfilment of the contract. It may be incidentally -mentioned that the author most distinctly remembers that his people -spoke of Smith as most eloquent in prayer, especially when in the -family circle. This gift, added to the want of the docks, captivated -David Annis, the author’s great-uncle, and his father as well. The bonds -for £1,100 were endorsed, and were held by the Bank of Upper Canada in -Whitby, of which Peter Perry was the agent and manager. For no -assignable reason Smith absconded in May, 1838. The loss was so great in -that day, at the close of hostilities, that money could scarcely be -obtained at all. To raise £1,100 at once almost broke Daniel Conant’s -heart. - -To Peter Perry he went, and Perry saluted him by the query, “Do you -intend to pay it?” - -The reply came quickly: “Yes, every copper. Give me until fall--1st -November--and you shall have it all.” - -Perry almost doubted it, and asked how he would get the money. - -“I have four ships on the water and 150 acres of winter wheat, and I -will sell enough land to raise the balance,” was the answer. - -Perry, to his honor be it said, granted the extension, and Daniel Conant -sold 1,200 acres of land in Whitby at an average of $200 per 100 acres, -which are to-day worth $9,000 per hundred, to help to make up the -amount. True, it was not business to pay so quickly and sacrifice so -much, but, as he explained, he felt that he must get out from the -transaction, and he did. The author knew very well John Ham Perry, at -Whitby, one-time registrar and son of Peter Perry, and now realizes that -he was for many years in most straitened circumstances, and most deeply -to-day regrets that he never aided him for having helped his father, a -mistake which can never be repaired, much to the author’s regret. - -Lying upon the Great Lakes and the mighty St. Lawrence, Canada was -specially favored. The water afforded a means of communication for -persons and goods before roads were hewn out of the forests. It must be -very evident to any one reflecting, that boats were much more important -factors in transportation before the days of the railways than they are -now since railways intersect our country in every direction. To Upper -Canada very many of the emigrants came from the British Isles by -steamboats upon Lake Ontario. To such a degree of importance did -captains of the steamboats attain, that we have no marine captains of -these days, even those of the great ocean greyhounds, who can compare -with them in dignity. Among these captains was old Captain Kerr, who for -so many years sailed the side-wheel steamer _Admiral_. Now the _Admiral_ -had, as all those of that day had, before the sixties came in, a huge -walking-beam, and with its 800 tons of burden of freight which it was -licensed to carry, seemed literally to walk over the waters of Lake -Ontario. Especially true the walking-beam comparison is, because the -great part of the engine rose and fell, see-saw-like without ceasing, -away aloft above the decks and over every top hamper of the steamer. - -Now, just suppose the old _Admiral_ has made the dock at some Lake -Ontario port. Old Captain Kerr stands upon the upper deck and directs -her speed and course as she makes the wharf. Landing at last and the -gang-plank thrown out, people are coming on and off, and freight of -barrels and boxes is being trundled both to and from the steamer’s deck. -Eagle-eyed, red-faced, corpulent Captain Kerr views all and notes all -from his coign of vantage, the deck above. And he bellows out his -commands to the boat hands below in words so sharp that they fairly hiss -as they leave his lips. No matter if they be keen and cutting, they are -implicitly obeyed, and the deck hands jump--literally and truly jump -(not a figure of speech)--to obey. Meek passengers of those days did not -even expect a greeting, pleasant or the reverse, from old Captain Kerr -and commanders of his stamp, for they were not noticed in the slightest -degree. Early steamboat captains were too great personages to cultivate -the social virtues, and they seemed to live within themselves and keep -bottled up all the accumulated venom and ire and push of the Canadian -summer and shipping season. Faithful old seadogs they were, -nevertheless, and the fewness of records of disaster upon the Great -Lakes of Canada truthfully testifies to their skill and watchfulness. It -is a fact that very few steamers were wrecked or lives lost upon these -lakes. Some were burned, because, built of timber as they were, and -burning wood for fuel, they were particularly susceptible to fires on -ship-board; but of real wrecks there were few. Built of timber and with -oak planking upon the sides and bottom, very generally of three inches -in thickness, these vessels were able to withstand a slight collision, -or a run upon the bottom, without serious injury. Such collisions or -groundings to our modern thin steel and iron steamers would to-day -simply mean a berth at the bottom of Lake Ontario, without further -notice. Rough and burly as Captain Kerr and men of his stamp were, they -did great good to our country in bringing safely and quickly, and with -very good accommodation, incoming emigrants to Upper Canada; and their -churlishness and rigidness we may in a measure excuse. - -Previous to the great war in the United States, from April, 1861, to -April, 1865, the steamer _Maple Leaf_ ran for many summers upon Lake -Ontario. During its many trips it brought thousands and thousands of -persons to the different parts of Upper Canada, and served us well and -faithfully. Captain Schofield for many years ran the steamer, and -emulated Captain Kerr in importance and churlishness. He was unable, -however, to emulate him in corpulency. The deep redness of his face may -not have quite equalled that of Captain Kerr, but approached very -nearly. Captain Schofield many hundreds of times stood upon the upper -deck of the _Maple Leaf_, with his hands upon the brass bell pulls for -the engine, and roared out his orders so that passengers and deck hands -alike wriggled to get out from under his words by getting out of his -range of vision. For checking goods, however, coming upon or going from -the steamer, no faster or more correct man ever lived. And Captain -Schofield was a sailor in the true sense of the term. No mishap ever -befell his steamer. During the great American war she was sold to the -United States Government for a blockader for $45,000, and finally never -again made any port, but “laid her bones to bleach” on Currituck Sound, -in North Carolina. Captain Schofield then went to Rochester, N.Y., and -met a violent death when stepping on or off a railway car. To-day he -sleeps in the soil of New York State. It is related of him that once he -ran into Oswego, N.Y., on a Saturday night to lie there until the Monday -morning following. On Sunday his sailors sought recreation on shore; one -of them got into some low dive in that city, and on the Monday morning -was kicked out minus all clothing. Now, he dared not disobey Captain -Schofield and fail to be on duty on Monday morning, but the difficulty -was to get to the steamer entirely nude as he then was. Casting about he -finally compromised matters by jumping into a barrel, knocking out the -bottom and carrying it by his arms so that it enveloped his person, -rather loosely, it is true, but very effectually notwithstanding. That -sailor came on board, however, and did his duty manfully. - -Canadians to-day, who are so very generally dependent upon railways, -fail to realize what a great service those important and vituperative -steamboat captains and their steamers did for us as a people. They -honestly deserve pleasant memories at our hands. Any instance of a -captain upon Lake Ontario abusing or insulting any female passenger on -his ship is yet to be chronicled. Although only two steamers are singled -out and mentioned, the list could be well extended to the _Passport_, -_Highland Chief_, _America_, and _Princess Royal_. - -Crossing the Atlantic Ocean in those days (previous to the sixties) was -a terrible trial for the poor emigrant seeking his fortune in this new -Canada of ours. Being confined to such close quarters, and crowded for -so many days, it is not at all singular that many diseases followed the -emigrants even after leaving the ocean a long way behind. Deadly typhus -fever luxuriated amid such surroundings, while cholera was no stranger -to the poor voyagers. One midsummer day Captain Kerr came into Port -Oshawa, about 1855, at 9 o’clock in the morning, with a boatload of -Highland Scotchmen as passengers. At this port 150 of them landed, and -their goods and baggage were placed in the general storehouse upon the -wharf. In the presence of Mr. Wood, the port wharfinger, and Mr. -Mothersill, a gentleman who was looking on, many of these packages, for -the first time since leaving the ocean ship, were opened out in the -storehouse. In a very few hours from the time when they saw these goods -unpacked, strange to relate, both these gentlemen died, while the landed -emigrants started to walk northward from Port Oshawa to get to the homes -of their relatives in Mariposa in the county of Victoria. To rest over -night they entered a large cooper shop then standing on the south side -of Oshawa, and remained for the night. Next morning early they left, and -the cooper on coming into the shop was horrified to find a dead man -lying upon his shavings. During the night the poor fellow, after -braving an Atlantic passage of those days, and now near his goal, died -and was deserted by his friends. It is only fair to add, however, that -his friends were afraid of the contagion. It is said that the peculiar -stuffy smell from these emigrants did not leave the storehouse or the -cooper shop that whole summer, and only ceased when frosts came in the -autumn. Of such sterling stock our Canadian people came. Perhaps no -sadder instance can be given than the poor Scotchman lying, without -nursing or medical attendance on a heap of cooper’s shavings, among -strangers in a strange land, where every one was afraid of him, and -shunned him to avoid the fever that raged in his veins. - - - - -CHAPTER IX. - - Maple sugar making--The Indian method--“Sugaring-off”--The - toothsome “wax”--A yearly season of pleasure. - - -One of the familiar proceedings of the days of early spring in the long -ago time, when the pioneers were busy with clearing the primeval forests -of Ontario, was the maple sugar making. In our oldest settled parts of -Ontario this is, of course, among the things that have been, simply -because most of the maples have been ruthlessly slaughtered. On our good -lands in Ontario the cleared fields pay better than maple orchards, our -farmers have thought, and, much as we now regret the fact, still it is a -fact that over most of our province the groves have been destroyed. Most -of our youngsters have never experienced the delights of a sugaring-off, -and many of our Old World citizens never yet tasted the nectar in its -forest purity. Hence I infer that this chapter may give information and -pleasure to many readers. - -The Jesuit Fathers, who were the first white men in this country among -the Indians, tell us that the Indians made sugar regularly every spring -by tapping the sugar maple. At this time the Indians did not have iron -kettles for boiling the maple sap in. It became a curious question how -they did manage to boil down the succulent juice without a kettle to -boil it in. They tapped the trees with their tomahawks, and inserted a -spile in the incision to conduct the sap from the tree to their vessel -beneath. Their spile was a piece of dry pine or cedar wood, grooved on -its upper side for the sap to flow down. No doubt this process was -extremely crude; still, with all its crudities, they succeeded in -producing a considerable quantity of sugar each spring. Their buckets -were made by taking a roll of birch bark and sewing up the ends with -deer sinews or roots. Thus they got a vessel capable of holding a -pailful, and no doubt the sap caught in such vessels was just as sweet -as that which we now gather in our bright tin pails, at far greater -expense and trouble. Gathering the sap from the birchen buckets, it was -carried by the original red man to the boiling place. - -At this boiling place was a large caldron made of large sheets of birch -bark. Beside the caldron a fire was built, and in this fire was placed a -lot of stones. As soon as the stones became heated to a red heat, they -were dropped into the birchen caldron, previously filled with sap. By -taking out the cooled stones and putting in more hot ones, and repeating -the process, even slow as it was, they got the sap to boiling. Once got -to boiling, by heating the extracted stones they kept up the boiling, -and so continued the process until, after a time, they got the sap -boiled down, and sugar was the result. - -That was making sugar without the aid of a kettle, and no doubt many -will almost doubt the accuracy of the statement. It is a positive fact, -however, for my forefathers, who came to this province in the last -century, have handed down in family tradition the story of the process -just as I have narrated it. Indeed they were eye-witnesses of the -process themselves. With the advent of settlers, of course, the Indian -soon learned better, and traded his furs with the fur dealer for iron -kettles, and then began making sugar much as the white man does to-day. - -As to the cleanliness of the Indian method, it is hardly necessary to -speak. One can just fancy as to what amount of cinders would be conveyed -by the stones drawn from the fire repeatedly and placed into the boiling -syrup. Yet with cinders and all a sweetness was found at the bottom, and -no doubt the Indian enjoyed his sugar, with all its cinders and ashes, -quite as much as we do to-day with all our methods of cleanliness. It -used to be an old saying that every one must eat his peck of dirt before -he died. Granting the truth of the old saying, then, our Indian brother -certainly got his peck of that commodity before half his ordinary life -would be spent; and yet the Indian, with all his crudeness, taught the -first white settlers to love the toothsome sweet, and to him we owe our -knowledge of maple sugar. - -The sugar maple is the emblematic maple of our country, whose leaves we -couple with the beaver to form our national escutcheon. Its timber is -the most valuable for firewood of any in our country, and equally as -valuable for many purposes when made into lumber. Waggon axles have been -formerly made from its wood. It is the cleanest, prettiest tree among -our forests, and the most sought for as a shade-tree, but, being a slow -grower, is many times crowded out by trees of swifter growth. It is the -tree of Canada in a word, and added to its qualities, as before spoken -of, it produces a succulent sap, whose flavor is peculiar to the maple -and to the maple alone. Scientists, who imitate nature with their -compounds, have utterly failed in producing, by all their mixtures and -compounds, a flavor of the genuine maple. Honey can be counterfeited, -but maple sugar never. Just what the peculiar charm is about the sweet -produced by this incomparable tree one cannot describe in words. It has -only to be indulged in to be appreciated. Among all the sweets its sweet -is the most delicate and pleasing, and we doubt if ambrosial nectar, -supposed to be prepared by the ancients for the immortal gods, began to -equal it. So the gods of the ancients would have had a better time of it -had they been among the North American settlers, than around and about -the Ægean. - -Only in North America is the sugar maple found. To cause the sap to flow -freely it is necessary to have nights of frost, followed by days of -sunshine. March is generally the month giving these conditions, and at -that time in the remaining maple orchards in Canada our citizens will be -found boiling down this incomparable sweet. Great as has been the -decimation of our sugar orchards, yet there are many still found in our -province, and the writer advises all those who have not yet tasted the -nectar to make an effort to get to a genuine “sugaring-off” and indulge -for the nonce in this experience, the memory of which a lifetime cannot -obliterate. I will describe a sugaring-off as well as I can, that others -not conversant with it may in a measure realize its charms. The trees -are now tapped by boring a shallow auger hole just through the bark of -the maple. Below the auger hole a tin spile or spout is inserted by -driving the sharp end of the rounded tin into the bark. Below the spile -is placed a bucket made of cedar, by those possessing such buckets. -There are cedar buckets now in use, made sixty years ago, among some of -the older settlers, and owing to the peculiar lasting qualities of -cedar, are as sound to-day as when first made. Others, as before spoken -of, use tin pails or pans, but old sugar-makers aver that the sugar -tastes best when caught in the cedar buckets. A shallow sheet-iron pan -set over a stove range receives the sap, and in this the boiling is -done. The fire, by passing along the arch, thus heats the extended -surface of the pan, and the sap is thus boiled or evaporated far faster -than it is in the ordinary process by boiling in a kettle. After the sap -has been evaporated down to the consistency of syrup it is then taken -out of the evaporating pan and placed in the sugaring-off kettle. Up to -this time in the process the expectant and waiting sugar eaters have not -indulged in the boiling nectar. Reducing the syrup by boiling it down in -the kettle is the interesting process. Soon the surface of the sugar -presents a yeasty appearance, and it begins to rise and fall in -globules. Now is the time for careful watching to see that the mass does -not burn; and for fear that it may run over, a piece of fat pork has -been thrown into the boiling mass. This has the effect of keeping the -boiling syrup within the bounds of the kettle sides, and when this piece -of pork is extracted it is about the sweetest piece one ever tasted. - -Wooden spoons, if no better ones are on hand, will have been whittled -out by some handy whittler. The liquid is taken out into small vessels -for individual use, and gradually stirred and cooled. And you taste. It -is positively irresistible. And you taste again, and another taste is in -order; charming is perhaps the only word which expresses the pleasure of -partaking of this more than toothsome tit-bit. Positively there is -nothing else in nature to compare with it, and just what the charm is no -one can exactly say, only it is the peculiar maple flavor which maple -alone, of all things in the world, gives, which causes one to keep on -tasting, even to running a serious risk of tasting and partaking too -frequently for the dimensions of an ordinary stomach. - -When it will “blow” is the next interesting point in the process. The -sugar maker inserts a piece of a small bent twig into the mass, and -blows upon the syrup adhering to the twig. If it comes off in flakes or -bubbles, then it’s done, and the kettle is swung off from the fire that -it may not be burnt. - -And now for the wax, which to many is the most toothsome part of the -whole. Many prefer the wax to the warm sugar. Then dip out some of the -hot sugar, still bubbling in the kettle, and pour it quickly upon the -nearest snow. In a moment it cools, as it melts a shallow furrow in the -snow. Now comes a sticky wax, which will effectually seal together the -upper and lower jaws of the participant if he chews lustily. But it’s so -sweet, so pure and pleasant, and it’s all so jolly, that such -experiences are always red-letter days in one’s life calendar. Pour more -syrup on the snow and more wax is the result, and the knowing ones break -off the wax in small fragments and allow it to gradually dissolve upon -the tongue. And the joke goes around about the green hand and the greedy -one, who has his jaws transfixed with the wax, and is unable to speak -for a few moments until the wax has partially dissolved. - -If the warm sugar was good, yea, incomparably good, this wax is -glorious. And you eat, and chat, and eat again, and there’s no -rancidness about this maple product to cause your throat to become raw, -as it were, as all other sweets do. And so you eat on with impunity, -each one’s own individual stomach’s capacity being alone the measure as -the amount of nectar one should consume. And this is a sugaring-off. -Reader, if you have not already tried it, don’t fail to make an effort -to get to a sugaring-off, and my word for it you will never regret it. - -We all deplore the loss of our previously magnificent maple orchards. -But let us guardedly preserve those now remaining to us. Without -speaking of the beauty they give to our country, they give us yearly at -this season of the year a pleasure which money cannot in any other way -purchase. Indeed, the wealth of our millionaires cannot purchase the -pleasures of a sugaring-off otherwise than by going to the maple orchard -itself. - - - - -CHAPTER X. - - Winter in Ontario--Flax-working in the old time--Social - gatherings--The churches are centres of attraction--Winter - marriages--Common schools--Wintry aspect of Lake Ontario. - - -Our fathers spent their winter evenings and days of winter storms in -working at the flax. It was the universal custom for each householder in -our fathers’ time to raise a piece of flax, and, during the enforced -housing of the winter, it was broken, scutched and spun around the big -cavernous open fire. The distaff in those days was ever upon the floor -in the common dwelling room, and as much an article of furniture as the -family table. Quite a few of these old distaffs are yet bundled away in -garrets, dust and cobweb laden. My own people did not fail to bring the -distaff along with them when they came from Massachusetts in 1792, and -this one was in constant use until machinery got to be common and the -necessity for home manipulation to supply the family clothing no longer -existed. To-day all that is changed, and during these midwinter days our -people of this part of Ontario have no such occupation to fill in their -leisure hours. - -The days of wood-getting, logging and timber-making, too, are past; and -at this day this people have to develop a new order of civilization to -meet the new condition of affairs. Our people read far more than -formerly, and very many of their hours of winter leisure are spent over -the printed page. In nearly every house one enters, too, in this part of -our province to-day, one finds quite a number of volumes of books, as -well as the general stock of newspapers. So the taste and knowledge of -our people is steadily on the gain; and we are, as a people, taking the -benefit of the respite from enforced hours of weary labor at the flax -from which machinery has relieved us. Very serious accidents used to -occur, too, in those days of hand labor at the flax, even simple as the -work may seem. Very frequently the flax would be hung in bunches around -the living room of the family, in which the great fireplace was. This -flax, having been broken and scutched with the swingle, and ready for -spinning, was perforce quite as ready to light as tinder. There were -numerous instances of most dreadful fires occurring by this suspended -flax igniting from some sparks dropping on it from the open fire. In one -instance, not far from where my own house now is, a woman stepped to the -road, only five or six rods away, leaving two small children in the -room, and before she could get back to them the whole room was ablaze, -and they perished, with the total destruction of the house. - -Social gatherings largely make up to-day for the hours spent formerly in -work at home. Among themselves the people of Ontario are eminently a -social and hospitable lot. Almost nightly our folks gather among their -fellows and spend their evenings in harmless chat. - -But the great pivot upon which our social system revolves in Ontario is -the church. At the church our amusements mostly cluster, too; for our -ministers are shrewd enough to keep some meetings to come off in the -future, which the people look forward to and talk about among -themselves. Maybe it’s a lecture, or a musical treat, or some dissolving -views, or what not; and these, added to the usual sermons from the -pulpit, keep the people continually centred, as it were, about the -church. Again, our churches are invariably well lighted and seated, and -the air is pure; and, on the whole, they are attractive and pleasant. -Hence our young folks even, as well as older ones, choose to be about -our churches instead of finding amusement elsewhere. I am not speaking -of the devotional part of the matter; our people continue to attend the -churches, for that follows as a matter of course. Again, our ministers -are shrewd enough to know that they could not hold the people at the -churches two or three nights per week as well as Sundays for the -devotional part alone; for, without detracting one jot from the purely -religious aspect of the matter, our ministers know quite well that the -devotional part alone would not hold our people without diversions. -Indeed, our ministers are to be most highly commended for so cleverly -managing our people as to keep them so at the church’s dangling -apron-strings, as it were, to use a homely simile. Many, many times -better at the church’s dangling apron-strings than spending the evening -at the bars, in throwing dice, or at any such questionable gatherings. -And I take it, too, as self-evident, that our people’s faithful -following of the church has a quality of the intellect as well as of the -heart. A remark of Castellar’s, the great Spanish statesman and orator, -illustrates the difference of standpoint that prevails in various -countries as to religious observances. He said, “The Protestant religion -would freeze me with its iciness.” Compared with the sensuous and -fascinating cathedral worship of Europe, our ceremonials, whether -Protestant or Catholic, are indeed plain and unadorned. But they attract -as intelligent, self-respecting, law-abiding and decent a lot of people -as can be found anywhere. - -Most marriages are celebrated during our winter months. It is quite -manifest that social gatherings and meetings, brought about by the -enforced hours of idleness, are very conducive to match-making; and -this, perhaps, accounts for the matrimonial activity of the winter -season. Not infrequently the expectant bride and groom, having procured -a license of marriage, call upon the minister at his house for him to -tie the knot. Ludicrous stories are told of the bashfulness of many -persons who come on such errands. Some of our clergy yet require the -responsive service, and the groom, when asked the question so necessary, -“Wilt thou have this woman to be thy lawful wedded wife?” sometimes -replies, “I came on purpose.” Well, that’s a good answer, and shows his -honesty of purpose, even if it be a little comic. The fellow’s not to be -laughed at, however, even if he does make this response, or even if he -does pull off his gloves, in order to save them, the moment the ceremony -is over and they are pronounced man and wife. - -During these midwinter days in central Ontario, our school-boys are -trudging through snows and amidst frosts to the Common School. Many an -urchin these days declaims on the usual Friday afternoon: - - “The bluebird and the swallow, - From the sweet south grove, - The robin leaves its quarters - In the deep pine grove; - I know from whence they started - On their happy homeward track; - To-night you’ll hear them answer - With their clack, clack, clack.” - -Or those who are more advanced, the more ambitious, essay: - - “On Linden when the sun was low, - All bloodless lay the untrodden snow.” - -Glorious Common Schools! and our own quite up to any in the world. And, -without a shadow of a doubt, too, these urchins who are to-day, during -this midwinter, so declaiming, will become our future orators, and their -voices will resound in great halls of legislation or fill pulpits in our -land. Let us hope that when they grow to manhood they may never become -food for powder, and, so far as their military education is concerned, -let it be conspicuous by its absence; and yet no loss will be felt, for -it will not be among the things needed. Happy Ontario! If we were -Germans or Frenchmen, we must serve three years in the army whether we -would or not. This is only one more instance named to prove to us all -that our own country is the happiest and the freest in the world, and -that our people are generally well-to-do and comfortable in their homes, -in food and clothing. - -The mornings of late autumn, as the nights get longer, begin to have a -nipping air. Ponds of water are covered with a glare and safe coat of -ice, and our youngsters get out their skates, so carefully laid away -last season. The children trudge away to school, and their color is -heightened by the morning frost and wind; but gradually the human system -is getting accustomed to the change of the season, and the dry, pleasant -cold is enjoyable. Immense ice hummocks form upon the banks of our large -lakes. They are conical and steep, or blunt and rolling, with a flat -place here and there among the convolutions. Daily, as the cold -strengthens and the winds dash the billows upon the ice-banks as if they -would destroy them, they gather from each wave a little more frozen from -it, and so work out from the shore, solid and immovable, as if to -entirely close over our inland sea’s surface; but they do not, and they -never succeed in effecting any permanent lodgment more than eight or ten -rods from the shore. Somehow in freezing they invariably leave holes -here and there. Now, let a storm come on and the breakers be driven -against the ice-banks and under them--for they do not reach the bottom -in any deep water--the pent-up water under the banks, driven up with -terrific force by each incoming sea, tries to find an escape. These -holes, in a measure, serve for an escape. Sprays or jets of water will -be forced up through these holes twenty feet into the air, only to fall -upon the surrounding ice and be frozen as hard as its neighboring -globules in their icy immobility. The blow-holes of a whale furnish a -good analogy to the blow-holes in the ice. Indeed, the most powerful -whale can scarcely expel the water from his blow-holes higher than a -storm forces it up among the ice-dunes. And as they get too high or too -heavy near the outer edge, they break away in great lumps and go -floating upon the surface. A change in the direction of the wind sails -them away, and we see upon our inland seas ice islands sometimes many -miles in extent. Look again for the ice islands in a few hours, and not -a trace is seen. The waters are a deep blue, in strong contrast to the -white snow upon the shore or the ice upon the edge. Stand upon an -eminence and look along the shores and outer edge of the ice-bank, so -firmly rooted to the margin. It is jagged and furrowed, and honeycombed, -and awful, and withal so still. Not a bird is wheeling over the surface -of the water, not a sail is upon it. The voice of Nature is effectually -hushed to rest. While you are still observing, let the sun shine upon -the ice and water, and you can with difficulty take your eyes off the -picture--as fine a picture of the Arctic as we can get, even if it be in -miniature. What a contrast from our golden autumn! Those of us who are -not particularly subject to lung troubles and who are well fed and clad, -really enjoy our dry and beautiful cold and the glint of the Arctic -regions which these pictures afford us. Clearly defined and unmistakable -is this our winter. - - - - -CHAPTER XI. - - The coming of spring--Fishing by torch-light--Sudden beauty of the - springtime--Seeding--Foul weeds--Hospitality of Ontario farmers. - - -The reign of winter on the lake shore, with its hummocks of broken ice, -seems longer than it really is. Those who observe it day by day are glad -when March comes, with its lengthening days and its presage of spring. -Soon we have a few days’ sunshine, and perhaps a warm pervasive rain. -The change thus made is scarcely credible to those who have not seen it. -In a few hours, with the sea beating upon this ice, before so -unassailable, the banks shrivel the ice away. Here and there along the -shores and among the sands obstinate pieces of ice still linger for a -few days, half covered by the sands, which have thus far protected them. -But spring, joyous spring, is near. The ubiquitous crow’s caw is once -more in the air. Troops of wild ducks convene in the open spaces of our -marshes and ponds. Sportsmen, before the light of day, creep up to the -open water, and the first morning rays are greeted with a steady bang, -bang. The sportsman has his reward. Should the lake surface be rough, so -that the ducks cannot rest there, they are forced to fly back and forth, -and the shooting goes on all through the day. - -The fishing time arrives almost before we have expected it. You are made -aware of it, perhaps, by a neighbor coming to borrow a spear. Now, -nightly, pitch-pine torches will flare and blaze, casting a lurid light -along our creeks. Stand at a distance and watch the fishers. See how -their forms are increased in size until they look like veritable giants -in the haze of the blazing light-jack. Hear their shouts as they race up -and down the stream for suckers, pike, mullet and eels. “Here he goes”; -“there’s another”; “plague on your jack--you missed that big fellow”; -“hand me that spear, you are no good as a sportsman.” So the fun and -jollity goes on far into the evening. - -In this land, where the four seasons are clearly and distinctly defined, -spring comes to us with a beauty unknown to those who dwell in lands -which do not possess such unmistakable divisions of the year. If the -winter was snowy, frosty and stormy, it had in its place sufficient -enjoyments to make us love it; but now that it has passed, budding -spring, with its ever-present deep green, comes to us with a bound, with -a new pleasure of anticipation, added to its reality after it is once -here. - -How quickly our spring comes to us may, perhaps, be best shown by -instancing that the last flurry of snow of one season was on the 7th day -of April, and on the 20th of April the cattle were out feeding on the -grass. A more abrupt change in any given locality is not to be found in -any land, and stock generally is soon feeding upon the fields. Fruit -trees were in blow three weeks before. Some of the most beautiful sights -in nature are now afforded in our land by our fruit trees, laden with -their pink and white blossoms, among which darts the industrious honey -bee, and beside which are the deep green fields of grass or grain. Among -our pastures, at the same time, nature is most prodigal of her beauties. -The dandelions dot our fields with their yellow heads. These are the -dandelions we used in our childhood days to pluck and hold under the -chins of our companions. If the reflected light from the flower on the -chin was yellow, partaking of the flower, our companion “liked butter,” -but if not yellow our companion “did not love butter.” - -Tiny blue violets are also among our fields, and many delicate blue -garlands are woven by young hands, hung about our dwellings, and many -times find their way into our schools and upon the teachers’ rostrums. -The famed primrose of old England is no prettier than our wee violets, -and for variety of color and deepness of the same we can safely invite -comparison with any land under the sun. - -Our clover meadows already wave with the breezes. Walk among the clover -and see the ground-hog as he sits upon his haunches beside his hole of -retreat, and see how he eyes your every movement. If you do not get too -close, nor come upon him too suddenly, he quietly allows you to enjoy a -good look at him. Make the first demonstrative motion and he disappears -in an instant under the surface. This ground-hog is about the only -universal rodent we have with us, and his ravages are so light that as -a rule we do not seek his extermination. On the typical occasion -referred to, seeding began about the middle of April, and was vigorously -prosecuted, until by the end of May it was almost all accomplished. -Grains first sown at this time almost completely covered the ground. -This was about two weeks earlier than usual. It has generally been a -rule among farmers to have their seeding all done by the 24th May, so as -to have the leisure to celebrate that day at some neighboring town. - -The old-fashioned way of seeding by hand, broadcast, is among the things -that were. After that came the broadcast seeding machine. Now seeding -machines are drills that put the seed down into the ground at any -required depth and effectually cover it. Seed drills are also used as -cultivators, and most excellent ones they make, too, so that our lands -are now much better prepared for seed than formerly. The farmer who does -not possess a seed drill is now considered only half equipped and not up -to the mark. This change in the method of farming has given rise to -enormous manufacturing businesses, for to supply three-fourths of the -farmers of Canada alone with seed drills, any one at a moment’s -reflection can see, must make a great business for manufacturers. And -when our grass and grain come to maturity, light mowers will cut the -first, and the ingenious complex binder will cut and bind the grain and -leave it all ready for drawing in. In no country under the sun has -agriculture made as great progress as in Canada during the last two -decades. Labor-saving machines are as near perfection among us and as -plentiful, and far more so than among any people of anything like the -same population. Whenever any of our people get an idea that we are -slow, just let such semi-discontented persons travel about the land of -our forefathers in Britain or on the continent and he will return home -fully convinced that they have not yet fully awakened up. - -Foul weeds are annually becoming more prevalent among us. We are, in -fact, annually seeing weeds in our fields which we never saw before, and -whose name even we do not know. So from this fact alone, the old process -of farming would not do now at all, neither would fourteen successive -crops of wheat on one field, as has been done in Canada. The means of -communication are now so quick that somehow these foul weeds of distant -parts get generally disseminated over the land and are no longer locally -confined to certain areas, supposed to be their individual homes, as -they were formerly. Look along our railway tracks and you will -frequently notice at the sides of the line weeds which you never saw -before. It is only, then, a question of a season or two, when they will -get into the neighboring field. There is, however, no need to be -discouraged, for if we only look at the lands of the Old World which -have been cultivated for a thousand years, we find all the foul weeds we -know so far, and many dozens of kinds which we never saw before. Summer -fallow and root crops, of course, is the first remedy. Our people are -yearly putting in a greater area of roots and feeding more cattle. Our -prized privilege of sending our cattle to the British markets alive was -formerly one of our greatest boons, and we must try by all means to keep -all cattle diseases out of our land, so that Britain will regard us as -the favored people. Australia is too far away for live stock shipments. -As for the United States, the climatic conditions are such there that we -can grow healthy cattle when theirs are affected and beat them; that is -to say, we can send live cattle and make a good profit when they cannot, -but must send dead meat. - -Seeding down and grass feeding upon our fields is another good method to -rid our lands of these foul weeds. When the foul plants are young, by -eating the fields pretty close our flocks nip off the foul stalks, and -keep them from seeding. But if the plant be an annual, during the latter -part of the season such pastures can with profit be turned into a late -summer fallow, and thus be cleared. Wire root is got rid of by turnips -and thorough cultivation. But perhaps the easiest and laziest way to get -rid of this pest, which gets down so deep in lighter soils, is to sow -buckwheat on such fields thick and heavy. Many farmers assert that a -stout crop of buckwheat will choke the wire root out, and leave not a -root alive. Ordinarily our farmers sow buckwheat only for this purpose, -and to plough down as a green crop for manure. Very few of our farmers, -in fact, will grow buckwheat for a crop, and consider it beneath the -dignity of the quality of their fat lands to raise buckwheat as a crop. -That man partakes of the nature of the soil, is, perhaps, to most -persons at first thought an anomaly, but yet it is so. Where the soil -grudgingly gives to the husbandman a very moderate living, his -hospitality in a certain sense partakes of the nature of his lands. -While he does his best for you as a guest, still the heartiness and -bountifulness of his larder, for man and beast, is in a measure subdued, -as it were, and somehow the guest feels that he ought not to deprive the -careful husbandman of too much of his essentials of living. The -husbandman is necessarily cramped and bound as his farm is. But go among -those whose lands are fat and fill the great barns, and where it’s a -task to take care of his bountiful crops, and we find another kind of a -man entirely. There’s no stint. Your horse may consume bushels of oats -per day if he will, and if ordinarily good milk is not of your liking, -cream is just as free as the milk is. Open-handed, big-hearted; a man -one involuntarily likes, as you grasp his broad, brown hand, and his -fingers give a tight squeeze. And such are the great majority of -Ontario’s husbandmen, a people of whom any nation may justly feel proud. - -I am wandering from my springtime, and will get back by saying that bee -culture among us is becoming fairly developed. Food for bees is in such -abundance among our fields and fruits and woods, that in the future this -industry must necessarily be much larger. Fourteen years ago I saw a -field of about eight acres sown with sweet clover, to feed the farmer’s -bees. It was the sweetest smelling field any one - -[Illustration: CANADIAN APPLES AT THE GLASGOW EXHIBITION--“THE BEST IN -THE EMPIRE.”] - -ever passed by; a grove of orange trees was nothing in comparison to it. -Since it was such a novelty I am mentioning it, for it is the first -instance I ever knew of. The farmer, who had one hundred swarms of bees, -explained that his bees had been feeding upon the basswood trees, but -now that they had got too far developed he wanted this sweet clover for -later feed. And this bee-keeper averred that it fully paid him for -sowing the eight acres of sweet clover. - -Fruit prospects were never more promising than they were last spring. -Our trees were one literal mass of blows. If they had all borne fruit -the consequence would have been most disastrous, for all the trees would -have been broken down. Of course, most of them fell off. It is not frost -we so much fear in Ontario for blight of our buds, for we seldom get a -frost severe enough for that after the blows come. Blight usually comes -from a dry east or south-east wind, blowing steadily for a couple of -days. This fact is so well known that on many trees the south-east side -will be perfectly void of fruit, while the north-west side, which was -sheltered by the rest of the tree, will be in bearing. We shall be able -to send to British markets hundreds of thousands of apples this fall, -which over there they so highly prize. But let the fruit-grower ever -remember that he can’t get the prized red cheeks on his fruit unless Old -Sol shines upon it. In order that he may do so the trees must be pruned -quite open to let him peep among the branches. - -A goodly and beautiful land we possess. We can raise anything which will -grow in this temperate zone. Our lands are fat and not exhausted. -Artificial manures we do not need, and they are scarcely known among us. -In thickly populated Germany and Switzerland hillsides are spaded where -too steep for the plough, and the husbandman succeeds in that method -upon small holdings. The French peasant, to whom ten acres is a -good-sized farm, does not plough his land, but turns it over, away down -deep, fourteen inches or so, with a bent bill-hook, and he succeeds, and -he and his family are independent and save money. We have room in -Canada, not speaking of the North-West, for millions upon millions of -persons, who will cultivate many patches of land now unused or in -pasture. Health, independence and success await those who will get upon -our lands and make an honest, downright manly effort. - - - - -CHAPTER XII. - - Ontario in June--Snake fences--Road-work--Alsike clover fields--A - natural grazing country--Barley and marrowfat peas--Ontario in - July--Barley in full head--Ontario is a garden--Lake Ontario - surpasses Lake Geneva or Lake Leman--Summer delights--Fair - complexions of the people--Approach of the autumnal - season--Luxuriant orchards. - - -Driving through Ontario in June, the eye continually dwells upon a sea -of green, with scarcely any interlude of rock, swamp or broken land. It -is simply a succession of well-cultivated farms, mostly trim and nicely -kept and well fenced. In many respects our province resembles old -England, for, with all our vandalism, we have left a few groves of -native forest trees, which here and there dot the landscape, and present -to the view a beautiful, impenetrable, clearly-defined wall of green, -raised, of course, above the level green of the crops below at the -surface and extending up to their very bases. Our fences have, indeed, -presented a decided improvement during the past few years. Very many of -the boundary fences beside the highways are straight board fences, or -straight rail and post fences. Hedges, of course, we cannot boast of. -But our fences up to date present a clearly defined boundary of farms, -and form a bounded highway straight and clear, sixty-six feet wide. - -In many of our still timbered portions of the province the old zig-zag -rail fence is in use. But we have now in most places in the province -passed by that day, and can no longer build such fences, for it is too -great a waste of timber, though in some respects it’s the best and -strongest fence we can possibly build, and will last the longest. But -its days are numbered, and the fences of the future will be wire fences, -which are now legal in our province. They have their advantages, -principally in allowing the winds of winter to pass freely through and -preventing drifts on the roads. By an Act of our Ontario Legislature, -township councils can by law allow owners who will build wire fences -before their farms to enclose six feet of the road allowance. Many -persons are already taking advantage of that Act, but at all events the -roads must be left fifty-four feet wide, taking off six feet from each -side. - -Road-work is in June quite general all over the province, and when -driving along the highways one has to pass now and again over a few rods -of awfully rough, unfinished patches of road. Sometimes the turnpiking -is only half completed, or again the gravel has been left in great -heaps, which give to your carriage the motion of a vessel at sea as it -passes over the lumps. A few days, however, will remedy all that, as the -road-work gets completed. Brawny, sunburnt farmers, wearing their straw -hats, and with shirt sleeves rolled up, gather in groups under a -“pathmaster,” and perform the requisite number of days “working for the -King,” as it is termed. No doubt our fellows are quite as honest as any -one would be under like circumstances, but we have yet to learn that any -one has ever injured himself by road-work while so “working for the -King” on the roads. - -Crops cover the ground completely, and thoroughly hide the soil beneath. -Many of them are, indeed, so high that they wave with the breezes. The -fields present one unbroken sea of level, green verdure, generally free -from all obstructions. Here and there, indeed, may be seen a nicely -formed pile of stone boulders, gradually picked up from the fields as -the plough exposes them to the surface, and yearly growing a little -larger by being added thereto by subsequent ploughings. The farmer can’t -afford obstructions these days in his fields, for in a few weeks reapers -will quickly cut these crops, or, in many instances, binders will both -cut and bind them at one process, and the farmer wants nothing in the -way to hinder these great labor-savers. In June haying has already -commenced, more especially clover crops. Where a crop of clover seed is -sought as a second crop in this season, the clover hay of the first crop -has been cut and garnered for some days. Alsike clover is in full bloom, -and I defy any reader to say that he ever passed any field, grove, or -flowers, in any part of the globe, which sends out a more pleasing -fragrance than this alsike clover does. To pass a field of alsike clover -when it’s in full blow is beautiful to the eye while resting on the -pinkish-white blows, and grateful to the sense of smell for its -delicate and pungent perfume. Ordinary sentences are tame, indeed, in -trying to describe the beauties of the alsike clover field in full bloom -in Ontario. It must be seen and smelled to be appreciated. Now, speaking -of all this alsike clover, and red clover as well, naturally leads one -to think, what can all this clover seed be used for? It is an accepted -fact, now, that Ontario can compete with the world in the growing of -clover seed. Germany has been our great competitor, but it is now -conceded that we can beat Germany. Driving along through the province in -June one passes in almost endless succession field after field of both -red clover and alsike, and the question naturally comes up, What is to -be done with all this seed? It would appear that Ontario can produce -enough clover seed to sow all those parts of our planet adapted to the -growing of clover. Recollect, all parts cannot grow clover. If you go -west and pass central Iowa, you leave the clover belt entirely; and if -you go south and cross the Ohio River, you will not find much more -clover. It is true that in Kentucky they boast of blue grass, which is -only our June grass allowed to grow up strong and vigorous. But our -Ontario is a natural clover country. If we leave a field uncultivated, -it somehow, naturally of itself, gets back in clover, no matter if none -were sown on the field. - -Ontario is a natural grazing country; it must be, when the clover is so -indigenous to the soil. It is just as well for our farmers to thoroughly -grasp this fact, for with our innumerable springs and rills and -abounding clover, we have one of the best cattle and horse-raising -countries in the world. If the West, which cannot grow clover and such -light-colored barley as the Americans want, is content to grow wheat, we -had better by far let the West do it and confine ourselves to the -specialties in which they cannot compete with us. - -In barley and marrowfat peas we have a monopoly. On account of the money -we get for the clover-seed itself we are again ahead of them, and are -more than ahead of them in raising horses and cattle, which feed upon -our clover. There is something in our climate, soil and feed which -produces horses large and strong, which are ahead of the West by far. -Hence the westerners continually buy from us to get our stock. - -To prove that wheat does not pay, I will instance that the rent of land -in Ontario County is usually $5.00 per acre. No matter if one owns his -own farm, it is worth that as well. Seed, again, is worth $2.00 per acre -for wheat, and the cultivation and harvesting is worth another $7.00 per -acre, making the acre of wheat cost $14 per acre. Now, at an average -yield of twenty-five bushels per acre, and this sold at 75 cents per -bushel, it yields $18.75 per acre, or only $4.75 more than the crop -cost. It’s no pay, and there’s no other way to look at it, and hereafter -we ought to raise wheat enough only for our own use, as long as it’s -such a drug on the market, especially so when we can do much better with -peas, barley, cattle and horses. Let those interested ponder over this -point. - -It might be thought that we shall raise too much clover-seed for the -market. It is used as a dye in Great Britain for certain cloths, we are -told, and all of our seed is not sown. Hence it is hardly probable we -shall produce too much. In the matter of peas, we have never yet -produced more marrowfat peas than Europe will take from us. Recollect, -but few other countries can produce marrowfat peas. Some places have the -bug and mildew, and can’t grow the peas at all, and we have this crop -almost to ourselves. Barley, it seems, the Americans will buy from us as -long as we grow it, for it’s the best. And in fruit we all know we can -produce the best keepers in the world, so that our outlook in Ontario is -bright for the future. - -When July comes some portions of our province sometimes suffer slightly -from drouth. Seldom, however, has the drouth been severe enough to cause -anything like a failure in crops, although late sown crops here and -there have been occasionally light. This, however, is not so general as -to apply to the whole province, for in some sections you may see that -our fields never smile more sweetly upon us than they do at this season. -In July fall wheat is just turning and beginning to look like fields of -gold. In spots in the fields the wheat has been winter-killed, and many -pieces are ploughed up entirely. Looking over those fields which were -ploughed up and sowed with some spring crop, they present a rather odd -appearance, for the vitality of the fall wheat is so great that in many -places the ploughing did not kill it, and consequently we see tufts of -great tall heads of fall wheat now ripening among the still green and -much shorter crop of spring grain. Those who are not familiar with fall -wheat could scarcely get an idea how it occurs that fall wheat can be -ripening in and among a spring crop, quite green as yet. - -Barley in July is in full head and just commencing to turn yellow. -Fields upon fields of this grain are passed as one drives on our -highways. Those who have not driven much upon our roads, and closely -observed, can scarcely believe how general the barley crop is in Ontario -at this season. Almost invariably it is looking well, and if it be not -as a whole an extremely heavy crop, yet it will be a paying one, and one -we must grow. Laying aside all matters of temperance and Scott Act, ours -is a barley country, and barley we must grow. Peas are now mostly in -full blow, and are rank and of the deepest green. A more luxuriant -growth than our pea crop in most seasons cannot be found in any country. -If you would judge of the unsurpassed fertility of our soils, just go -and see our pea crops. Ontario alone can furnish the soup basis for all -the navies of the world. - -Our spring wheat is just now putting forth its ear. Oats are just -beginning to head. The drouth seems to have affected oats more than any -other crop so far. They may, however, if we get some rains, head up -heavy, but in any event the straw will be rather short. - -We live in a garden here in Ontario. No one who drives about our roads -can come to any other conclusion. There are no blanks, and but little -broken land; but few swamps, and scarcely a break. Only a few days ago I -drove twelve miles without passing a hill higher than forty feet, or -seeing an acre of broken land; just one mass of green in the fields. -There was positively not one foot of broken land for the whole twelve -miles, and I feel that I have a right to say that we live in a garden. -Those who are at home most of the time do not realize that they are -living under the most favorable conditions in the world. During a lot of -travel in every State of the American Union, I have never yet seen -anything over there to approach our own country. Of course, out West one -can traverse miles upon miles of corn fields, but it’s all corn; but -here it’s a general variety, which is so pleasant to the eye, and which -also brings in our great returns. And our fruits are upon every hand, -from the grape to the strawberry, to the apple and pear, and all -succeeding. The only parallel that I ever saw to Ontario is in the -plains of Hungary, say, about Buda-Pesth. There is a country very much -resembling Ontario, but, of course, not anything like it in size. It was -from this locality that we got our present roller process of making -flour. I am only making this comparison with Hungary to let our -Ontarians know that we have, in truth, the finest country in this world, -that we may all be spurred on to cultivate our lands better, for we are -only yet in our infancy. Let us all realize that our lands never refuse, -when properly cultivated, to produce anything which will grow in the -north temperate zone. Famed Geneva or Leman cannot surpass our -beautiful Lake Ontario; and then as to size and extent, there’s no -comparison to be made. And yet it is beautiful around Lake Leman, and -locations along its shores are much sought by all Europe, and command -unheard-of prices. Our shore is just as beautiful, and our waters just -as limpid and just as cool. About Constantinople is the only other place -I can name as being at all worthy of comparison with our Lakes Ontario -and Erie shore for residences. Now, it is beautiful about the Bosphorus, -and charming beyond measure, and Constantinople must always be a great -city, no matter who possesses it. Yet, somehow, just a little -digressing, we would all like to see Britain owning it, but Russia -never. Then, I say, about Lake Leman and the Bosphorus are the only -parallels to our places and resorts along these north shores of our -Great Lakes. On the whole, the north shore of Lake Ontario has the -preference, for it’s never so hot here at any time as it is about Geneva -or Constantinople. We have in Ontario great inland, fresh-water seas, -having pure, limpid waters, and a soil which will discount any in the -world beside them, and an equable climate. If it does get warm for a day -or two, it never remains too uncomfortably so for long, and our evenings -are generally cool and pleasant from the lake breezes. Going down into a -cellar like the Dakotans to escape hot breezes, which there become -insufferable, we never think of. Already along the north shore of Lake -Ontario, from Niagara to Kingston, our people gather during the summer -months by thousands. Between Hamilton and Toronto, and down as far as -Belleville, there are hundreds of summering camps. As one passes along -the roads near the lake one sees thousands upon thousands of ladies -dressed in white, and gentlemen in shirt-sleeves sporting in the groves, -on the green along the shores, or boating about bays and inlets. - -People dot the landscape for a couple of hundred miles, and flit to and -fro among the leafy bowers. It would, indeed, be hard to find a prettier -sight than that of our people summering along the lake banks these July -days. While other persons south of us, over in Uncle Sam’s dominions, -are sweltering with the thermometer at 104° in the shade, our people are -pleasantly cool along our northern lake shores. The consequence is that -summer heats do not deplete us. Saffron yellow faces, with high -protruding cheek bones, accompanied by dark circles under the eyes, such -as are found in hot districts where the thermometer will persist in -getting up to 104° and staying there, we know not of at all. Ontarians -are a plump, well-developed people, and have, as a rule, fair -complexions and good skins. Our ladies are just stout enough to be -attractive under these conditions, and developing their physique as they -do along our lakes, by picnicking and rowing and games, are the peers of -any in the world. Yea! to make a quick and perhaps unseemly comparison, -I wish to say that the same causes and the same equable cool temperature -which cause our ladies’ cheeks to burnish red and brown, produce for us -in our fields the finest barley in the world and the best peas. So -Nature has been prodigal to us in her gifts. About Toronto, of course, -the greater population centres, and within a radius of thirty miles or -so, along the lake on either side, the greater number of summer -saunterers are to be seen. As Toronto gets on up to a quarter of a -million of inhabitants, as it must, all available points upon the lake -shores will be seized upon for outing for its citizens. The day, -moreover, must be far distant when we shall be much crowded for space -along the lake banks. But it does not need a very far-seeing prophet to -see that a dense population must centre in Ontario along our lakes. -Think what it was, and you will conclude that rapid as our progress has -been, for the next twenty-five or thirty years our progress and increase -in population will be five-fold what it was in the past twenty-five or -thirty years. Ontarians need not go to Cacouna, or Murray Bay, or -anywhere else for a summering. We can do better at home along our own -waters. As time goes on we must get more and more of our American -cousins from the region of 104° in the shade to come and summer with us. -Ontario, in fact, must ultimately be the great summer resort of this -continent. Take the readings of the thermometer in Toronto alone, and -you will find that it possesses the most equable climate of any city in -America east of the Rocky Mountains; and beautiful, and clear, and -healthy as it is, it must be, as it now is, and far more so, the great -metropolitan city of our country. Ontarians, let us cherish our homes -and our birthrights. - -As the fall season comes to us in Ontario the result of the last -summer’s bountifulness is visibly apparent. On every side the steady, -unremitting drone or hum of the threshing-machines daily falls upon the -ear, and well we know that for every hour the thresher runs, bushels -upon bushels of grain are being gathered into the farmers’ granaries. -Dust-begrimed, sweaty men, with forks in hand, are all the time -endeavoring to stop its spacious maw, but never succeeding, for its -capacity of digestion is inexorable, and after each forkful it is quite -as ready again for another, and so the work goes on by the hour (and the -hum comes to the listener two miles away, on the wind), giving the -husbandman an abundance for the season. There is scarcely a cessation -until the noon hour arrives, when the shrill, ambitious scream of the -piping engine which furnishes the motive power gives the welcome warning -that dinner is ready. The noon hour past, again a scream from the -ambitious engine, as if it would try to be entered among the fellowship -of its greater brother engines in our manufactories and upon our -railways. With their shirts half dry the farmers again tend to the -machine’s voracious maw, knowing full well that it’s only a question of -a few minutes, when the increased perspiration will wet them as fully as -before. - -The golden apples of Hesperides were never more beautiful or pleasing to -the eye than those of our orchards, laden with their golden fruit. It is -presumed these golden apples were oranges, and even so, it is just a -question if they ever were prettier than many of our colored apples. The -“King” with its red cheeks, or the “Fameuse,” and many other kinds will -rival the famed oranges for beauty any day. Manifestly one of the -prettiest sights in nature is to see an orchard of considerable size in -Ontario, heavily laden with fruit, and its limbs bending to the ground -with their burdens. Let the breeze just gently stir the leaves, and sway -the branches, and the dancing sunbeams glinting upon the sheen of the -apples’ sides, and then as you walk through and among the trees, nature -smiles at you, and you realize that ours is indeed a beauteous and -kindly land. - -And this is our autumn, clearly defined, and in a few days to be -rendered doubly beautiful as the first frosts touch the foliage upon the -maples, the birches, and the beeches, and transform their leaves into a -broad gallery of the brightest and most variegated colors. Tropical -dwellers, who have never seen the transformation, know not of the beauty -this world in our north temperate zone affords. It is supposed to be -ever green in the tropics, but the winter green down there is not -beautiful, but a dull, dusty, dark russet. This decided change, which -our fall season produces, they can have no conception of, and we would -not trade our season with them if we could. Man loves variety. Universal -green one tires of, but our recurring seasons always awaken in us a -zest, and we love them in their turn. - -Indian summer is soon upon us, with its delicious dreamy haze, when life -out-of-doors is appreciated to its fullest extent. You can never quite -make up your mind, when this season is with us, whether it be too warm -or too cold. Physical existence becomes a perfect luxury, and a feeling -of sensuousness gradually steals over one. During all the travels I -have made to other lands, in different climates, I have yet to find the -equal of our Indian summer. Gradually the frost of the nights gets more -intense and the leaves fall, and are blown in windrows by the winds. -Trees overhanging streams completely cover the still pools with their -leaves; the bark of the birch, by way of contrast, is whiter if possible -than before, and the few remaining leaves upon the almost nude branches -have not yet lost their gay colors. Now let the mid-day sun shine upon -valley and grotto, and glimmer and dance upon the thin film of last -night’s ice, and you have a picture that even the most obtuse cannot -fail to love at sight. - -Day by day nature becomes stiller. The earthworm has gone deeper into -the soil, the birds have left us for the south, and only the shrill pipe -of the blue jay remains of the birds’ summer campaign. Solitary crows, -indeed, are almost ever ubiquitous, and their parting caw! caw! will -soon announce the order of their going. The fox has prepared his hole by -the side of some upturned tree, and the chipmunk has laid away his store -of beechnuts for a winter supply. Nature is preparing for winter. This -is the interregnum, as it were, and it is neither autumn nor winter. The -farmer daily follows his plough, if the previous night’s frost has not -been too severe. If it has, he must need wait until nine or ten o’clock, -to let the previous night’s freeze soften in the sun’s rays. About the -middle of December he has to lay his plough aside, for at last, after -repeated warnings, gentle enough at first, the frost is really upon -him. - - - - -CHAPTER XIII. - - Some natural history notes--Our feathered pets--“The poor Canada - bird”--The Canadian mocking-bird--The black squirrel--The red - squirrel--The katydid and cricket--A rural graveyard--The - whip-poor-will--The golden plover--The large Canada owl--The crows’ - congress--The heron--The water-hen. - - -If one would see our feathered pets in all their abundant numbers and -luxuriant beauty nowadays in Ontario, he must get away from the towns -and villages and centres of dense population. At various times I have -explored portions of our province that lie far back from the Great Lakes -and the more densely populated areas, and have then enjoyed some good -opportunities of observing our summer visitants. The “poor Canada bird,” -as the song-sparrow is locally called, is one that we cannot but value, -seeing that his notes really lengthen and become more charming as the -season advances and the weather becomes more boisterous. Even when the -nights have become quite chilly, though the days are warm and sunshiny, -one gets his varied song-notes if he will only listen. Especially will -the song-sparrow pipe up of an evening, just as the sun is setting, and -all nature is about to be hushed to rest. He leaves us with the light, -after giving us a pleasant chant from his brown throat. The triplet of -notes that he gives us, and which we interpret as “Can-a-da, Can-a-da,” -is in some localities interpreted as “Van-i-ty, Van-i-ty,” and of course -any suitable word of three syllables may be associated with the -well-known song of this small bird. - -As for the common sparrow, so prevalent in our towns and cities, there -is no doubt he has robbed us of a large part of the pleasures of our -summer life, for where he is the song-bird is not. The change has so -gradually stolen over us that we do not realize that we have lost our -most charming birds through the advent of the pugnacious sparrow. Go -once away from where he is and the change is so very apparent that one -cannot fail to notice it. In the forests away from sparrows there are at -least ten times as many birds, and it is plainly the duty of every one, -especially of lovers of nature, to aid in exterminating the sparrow in -every way possible. - -The Canadian mocking-bird is, of course, a catbird, and although he -cannot, perhaps, copy as many notes or voices as his American brother -can, yet he’s our mocking-bird, and a charmer as well. He is about done -with us for this season (fall), and his imitations are not now heard as -frequently as they were, but yet he is with us and one can hear him -occasionally. Stand near a thicket, a copse, or a “spinney,” as, -perhaps, they would say in England, and let there be some water near, -and you’ll get the calls from him. Sometimes he is pleasant, and in turn -descends to the disagreeable, coming back again to the pleasant and -enchanting, and so one may listen by the hour, and every few minutes -get something entirely new from him. - -The Canadian black squirrel, so exceedingly plentiful when most of us -were boys, just able to be the proud possessor of a poor gun, is now -nearly extinct in Ontario. Speaking of gunning in our boyhood days -reminds me of the off Saturdays from school, when every other Saturday -was a holiday, and of the day’s trudge with the old gun for the alert -black squirrel, safely ensconced among the tallest tree-tops during the -sunny hours of the short fall days. And one had to get up a little, too, -at marksmanship, for he was ever on the move, and you seldom got a good -shot at him while quietly at ease. The boy’s heart that would not thrill -at a day’s black squirrel shooting must indeed be more obdurate than -most Ontario boys’ hearts are, as one followed him, always looking up, -as he jumped from tree to tree, almost falling to the ground when he -made some exceedingly long jumps, but quite recovering himself and never -by any possibility falling. Most exceedingly do I regret the gradual -extinction of this squirrel--the real squirrel of Canada--and, besides, -he’s such an intelligent fellow and so easily tamed and becomes such a -pet. The days were when, in his tin revolving cage, he was one of the -means of diversion at many a household; and for a stew he had no -superior, feeding as he always did upon the choicest nuts to be found in -the forests, and he was so scrupulously clean in his habits. - -The common red squirrel is still very common, as he chatters away, half -way up some forest tree, perched upon a limb. He’s a very valiant -fellow, indeed, as he saucily chit-chats, with a guttural noise; but -drive him up the tree once, and keep him there you can’t. His first care -will be to get down to the ground again and scamper away; and get down -he will, unless one be specially alert and active. He will rest upon the -tree trunk, head downwards, with his great eyes watching your every -motion, and should the least chance present itself for escape he’s down -along the opposite side of the trunk of the tree where one is standing, -if it be a considerable one, and is away in a twinkling. - -Birds gather in flocks at about this time of the year, affording to us -who watch a sure admonition that summer is nearly past, and fall close -upon us. I saw the first flock of blackbirds on the 4th of September, -and my recollection is, from past seasons, that many others are quickly -seen after the first flock of any kind of birds is about. - -Another sure sign that fall approaches is evidenced by the call of the -cricket and other kindred insect life in our midst as the sun sinks -behind the heavens. The noises of the evenings just now are particularly -observable, and almost rival--or perhaps, if not rival, measurably -approach--the choruses of Nature during a tropical night. Those of us -who recall our first impression of our stay in the tropics can, at this -season in Ontario, get quite a simile at home, and it’s charming too; -and our air is so delightful that mere physical existence becomes dreamy -and a positive luxury. - -The katydid is now at his best, and delivers himself of his “crackling -sing” as he descends on the wing, bat-like, among the tree branches, to -the ground. Our katydid is never heard during the early part of the -summer, and just now, since he is our guest for a short time, it would -richly repay our boys to catch him and examine him at leisure. One -cannot help admiring him, for he’s a fine fellow; but the great trouble -with him is that he’s so plainly a member of the locust family that we -fear his congeners might come and devour our beautiful Ontario for us. -We are assured, however, by those naturalists supposed to be able to -know, that there can possibly be no danger of a locust pest in our -humid, cool, Ontario climate, and so we bless our stars that our lines -have fallen in such pleasant places. Ontario to-day, the golden -grain-burdened, with its hill and dale and copses interspersed, is -beautiful beyond compare. - -Walk out any one of the fine evenings in July, grandest of all months, -just when the sun is leaving us, far away in the north-west, amidst an -amber sky, with not a vestige of cloud above, and just as he finally -dips, the strong probability is that you will be startled at first, and -then delighted, with the quick cry of the “whip-poor-will.” - -Stand in your tracks and back again and again will come to you in quick -succession for eight or ten times the distinct words, “whip-poor-will,” -and then as quickly the cry will cease. - -Right away from an exactly opposite side of the landscape, from about a -coppice of thick bushes, with some large trees growing in it and -protruding far above them, will come the answer to the challenge, -“whip-poor-will,” and so the words will be bandied back and forth until -the shades of night have fallen in real earnest, giving you, perhaps, -the most enjoyable and natural concert one can be treated to in our own -country. - -As to the bird itself, it is very seldom seen, its color being so nearly -like that of brown leaves, or the ordinary color of the carpeted bases -of trees in the forest, that he is scarcely distinguishable. Once in a -while you will come on him, however, in your rambles, when he spreads -his brown wings, of a foot’s distension at least, and alights a few rods -on, as before, upon some fallen tree trunk, or as likely as not upon the -ground. He stays with us as long as our summer really lasts, and of all -the birds that sing, his call is the clearest and most distinctive. The -“whip-poor-will” has been celebrated by one of the best of our Canadian -poets, Charles Sangster. He says: - - “Last night I heard the plaintive whip-poor-will, - And straightway sorrow shot his swiftest dart; - I know not why, but it has chilled my heart - Like some dread thing of evil. All night long - My nerves were shaken, and my pulse stood still - And waited for a terror yet to come, - To strike harsh discords through my life’s sweet song. - Sleep came--an incubus that filled the sum - Of wretchedness with dreams so wild and chill - The sweat oozed out from me like drops of gall; - An evil spirit kept my mind in thrall, - And rolled my body up like a poor scroll, - On which is written curses that the soul - Shrinks back from when it sees some hellish carnival.” - -To us who are not so sensitive the mournful cry of the nightly -whip-poor-will is not so depressing, but I am sure we are all glad to -get this gleaning of a poet’s feelings when he hears the uncanny bird. - -The golden plover in July is nesting and watching along by the margin of -our streams. By chance I happened at one time upon the nest of one -situated about half-way under the end of an old log. The nest had been -built without any preparation at all as to nest building. During the -previous season grass had grown rank and tall about this old log, and -the parent bird had simply trodden down the dry and sere grass, and -formed an almost level space for the nest. There was but little attempt -to hollow the nest even in a concave, as one would naturally suppose, to -hold the eggs. Four little ploverets rewarded my gaze, and such -ridiculous things they were, too. Scarcely any feathers yet, but just -down, as it were, and great long legs, which appeared to be so far out -of proportion to their wants that their appearance was absurd, indeed. -They essayed to walk away, but it would seem that a plover must learn to -balance himself, like a rope-walker. At this stage they grotesquely -tipped forward mostly every time. They arose upon their feet, sometimes, -but not so often, backwards. - -The large Canada owl will be found hatching or sitting in July. This is -the owl which is so very white during the winter months, but, like the -rabbit, changes his coat during the summer, when he becomes somewhat -gray or brown. Of all our birds of prey, the owl is perhaps the most -predatory in his persistence in waylaying about a farmer’s poultry yard, -and it is no trouble at all for him nor any tax upon his powers to carry -off an ordinary hen. Recently I happened to walk along the bank of a -stream partly wooded, and in the top of a cedar stump, about ten feet -from the ground, I found this great bird’s nest. Three owlets were -there, with their great staring eyes nearly as large as those of the -parent bird’s, while their bodies were covered with down so thick and so -long that it seemed almost like a coat of wool. Perhaps the best way to -describe them would be to say they were just fuzzy. Around the sides of -their nest, which was made of small sticks, were some small bones, -apparently those of mice and rats, but not of fowls, so far as I could -see. Even if the owl does destroy some fowls, I could not find it in my -heart to hurt the fuzzy little owlets, and I let them remain, fully -believing that their parent entirely squares the account by the great -quantity of mice and rats which he is daily securing from our fields. -Before leaving the owl’s nest I want to say that one day, just as winter -set in, an immense number of crows--I should say 3,000 at least--were -congregated about the tops of some pine trees not far from my -residence--trees about forty feet high. Furiously and persistently did -those crows caw, and fly, and hop about, producing such a din as to -attract persons a mile away during a still day. The cawing kept up so -long that I seized my breech-loader and resolved to investigate the -cause of the crows’ congress, as such gatherings are usually called. -Cautiously I approached the feathered multitude, wondering what could -possibly be up, but no such caution was at all needed, for they heeded -me not. Backwards and forwards the more adventurous ones apparently -darted into the top of one particular pine, giving at the, same time a -tremendous yell. Following with my eye their line of flight, I -discovered an enormous white owl perched upon a limb, the object of -attack of the more desperate of the whole 3,000 or so crows thus -assembled. For many minutes I quietly witnessed this unequal contest, in -my curiosity actually forgetting to fire, and found that the old owl was -a match, as he sat upon the limb, for them all. Sometimes the crows will -gather just the same in congress about a black squirrel, in the top of -some high forest tree, but I have yet to learn that they ever succeed in -inflicting any punishment upon either owl or squirrel. - -The blue heron nests and hatches with us, although many persons think -that he goes far away from the haunts of man for the purpose of nesting. -I do not know if he be really the blue heron of the naturalist, but he -is a heron to all intents and purposes, and his color is mainly -correctly described in his name. He is crested, too, and is withal a -most magnificent bird. Not infrequently he stands five feet high, and -the spread of his wings is six or seven feet. Any one who will quietly -watch beside any of our marshes can easily, this time of the year, find -his nest, as he alights unerringly in the same spot. His nest is only -the marsh grass pressed down beside some hillock in the bogs, where it -is dry. As yet I do not know for a certainty how many young the hen bird -produces at a sitting, but I have never seen any more than two in any -nest. Speaking of the plover with his long legs being awkward and absurd -reminds me to say that perhaps the young heron is the most ridiculous of -all birds which frequent our province. His legs are so very abnormally -long that they seem almost a malformation, but when one comes to -consider the use he makes of them afterwards, as he wades for food, one -can see that he is properly formed. But at the same time he is the most -absurd, awkward, homely and ill-looking, when young, of all the -feathered tribe incubating in Ontario. You must pardon me, reader, for -daring to presume to differ from great naturalists when they tell us -that he never alights upon trees, for I have seen him alight. Not very -far from my residence stands a very large towering water elm. So tall, -indeed, is this elm that at night it far overshadows all other trees of -the forests about, and among the branches of this elm, being an -obstruction, as it would appear, is the herons’ line of flight. I have -myself frequently seen them alight, and have tried to get a shot at them -when upon the perch. So far as my observation goes, however, they do not -long remain upon the perch. - -Since the law now protects ducks from being food for the guns of boys, -they now, generally on Saturdays and holidays, walk in groups, guns in -hand, along our streams and marshes, always ready to take a pot shot at -anything. The water-hen--generally called hell-diver--gets most of the -shots which the boys can spare. This fowl can generally accommodate the -boys to all the fun they want, in the shooting line, and with but little -danger to itself. Its anatomical form is so peculiar and its sense of -sight and hearing so acute that it can, nine times out of ten, dodge the -shots from the boys’ guns from the time of explosion of the charge to -the driving of it home. Outwardly it is formed very much like the duck, -and is about the size of our ordinary wood duck. Its feet, however, are -placed far back in its body, like the great auk. From this fact it is a -most expert swimmer, and is also enabled to dive as quickly as powder -and shot explode. It is not at all uncommon for this fowl to dive to -avoid the shot from a gun and swim under water, wholly out of sight, ten -rods from the place where it went down. - -In reality it is a species of duck, but since it feeds mostly upon small -fishes, its flesh is rank, oily, and not palatable for the table. When -August comes around it is no uncommon sight to see the mother water-hen -swimming around followed by her brood of six to ten young water-hens -about as big as cricket-balls. Wonderfully tame, too, they get when they -are not daily molested, and one can spend a very pleasant half hour or -so in watching the brood as they float along with the mother, every few -minutes diving for food. - - - - -CHAPTER XIV. - - Lake Ontario--Weather observations with regard to it--Area and - depth--No underground passage for its waters--Daily horizon of the - author--A sunrise described--Telegraph poles an eye-sore--The - pleasing exceeds the ugly. - - -Realizing the fact that the greater part of beautiful Lake Ontario -belongs to us, and, likewise, that the most densely populated portion of -our province is about its borders, a few facts and observations will, I -think, be acceptable to most Canadians. My remarks are founded mainly -upon my own observations, from a lifetime residence upon its shores, and -also in a measure from Dr. Smith’s report to the United States -Government on the fisheries on the lake. First, the lake is a perfect -barometer, in this wise: It will foretell the weather to come to us for -twenty-four to forty-eight hours in advance, to all who will closely -observe it. For instance, suppose we have our coldest winter days, when -everything about is held in the tight embrace of Jack Frost, and there -is no sign of milder weather, or any relief from the intense cold. Look -abroad upon the lake just as the sun is setting, and a light yellow band -hangs above the surface of the water. Then in a few hours Jack Frost -leaves us, and a thaw is at hand. Or, perchance, during the winter days, -when we wish for sleighing, and yet the ground is bare, and it will not -come; no sign of snow, nor the feeling of it (as you well know, one can -feel it before it really comes). But before that time look abroad upon -the surface of the lake, and see a black band extending as far as the -eye can reach. Now it is only a few hours, ordinarily about eighteen, -before the feeling of snow comes, and then down comes the “fleecy -cloud.” It is summer now, and we would know if it will be windy -to-morrow. Are there red rays and yellow skies at sunrise? Yes. It will -be windy on the morrow. But when the cumulous clouds move easily, and as -if not driven above the waters, fine weather old Ontario now gives -us--and he always tells the truth. Not to use many words, in the -glorious midsummer days, when his surface is just like molten glass, and -objects in a depth of sixty feet are clear and distinct, its entrancing -beauty comes. Molten glass; but watch, and a mile away you see a streak -of ruffled water coming towards you, for just there a puff of wind has -caught it. But it dies away and leaves the polished mirror once more to -me. Then he rises in his might and tosses our ships about just like old -ocean, and sends his spray far upon the shore, and his huge-capped waves -advance and recede. - - “There is a pleasure in the pathless woods; - There is a rapture on the lonely shore; - There is society where none intrudes - By the deep sea, and music in its roar.” - -But it never freezes so hard close by the shores as away from its -breath. Curious, also, to relate, in the fall it does not “freeze up,” -as we say in Canada, as soon as away from it, by two weeks usually. In -the spring, again, the frost is gone from the soil quite two weeks -before it is gone back from its influence, so I feel safe in asserting -that winters upon its shores are one month shorter than they are away -from its meteorological influences. And yet leaves do not appear quite -close to its waters just as soon as they do a few miles away, anomalous -as it may seem, for it does not get warm so quickly as localities more -remote. It is never so warm in the summer about it, as it is never so -cold in the winter. Dwellers upon its shores rarely, if ever, suffer -from extreme heat during the periodical torrid waves which sometimes -visit this land. Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes--being about -185 miles long, and of an average width of 40 miles, being widest -opposite Irondequoit Bay, where it is 55 miles in width. It is some -6,500 square miles in area, of which Ontario owns 3,800. It is 232 feet -above the sea, and usually fluctuates but little in height, though in -1891 it was three feet lower than ever before observed. Persons living -at Niagara, it is said, remarked on the unusually small amount of water -that year passing over Niagara Falls. I am unable in any way to account -for that small flow. We are told it is because the tributary streams and -the waters of the Falls were less. Granted, but why they were less is -far to seek. In most parts the depth of Lake Ontario is about 350 feet, -but off - -[Illustration: SCENE NEAR BOBCAYGEON.] - -[Illustration: A CANADIAN VIEW--LOOKING SOUTH-EAST FROM EAGLE MOUNTAIN, -STONEY LAKE.] - -Charlotte, N.Y., it is 600 feet deep, and in some places opposite -Jefferson County, N.Y., it is quite 700 feet deep. The eastern portion -is the shallowest, being only about 100 feet about South Bay. At the -bottom are, in many places, vegetable organisms, furnishing food for -those fishes which feed at the bottom. Our sturgeon is a bottom-feeder, -and some others. About Stony Point is a rough, rocky and sandy bottom, -and the other parts are muddy and clayey. An underground passage to the -ocean has been mooted many years by persons who have thought the St. -Lawrence could not take away all the flow; that is to say, the waters -passing over Niagara Falls and those falling into Lake Ontario by -contributory streams, which add much to the flow from the Falls. It is a -fallacy; there is no such underground passage, and the St. Lawrence -easily takes all the waters from the lake. No current is perceptible in -the lake. Pieces of wood upon its surface do not flow as with a current -down Kingston way, but invariably come ashore with the first wind. In -perfect preservation to-day are many ships which have gone down and now -rest upon its bottom. Very probably too, the bodies of passengers upon -those ships, confined within the hulls so as to prevent their rising to -the surface, and thus getting the air, are there yet, and in perfect -preservation, for the waters in the depths are always cool and -preservative. Were some expert diver yet to go ghost-like among these -cabins, his nerves must be upset with the evidences of human tragedies -there so vividly to be seen before him. Mainly, the waters are melted -snow, and are manifestly pure, and blessed are those whose homes are -about this life-giving lake, as well as about all our other great -fresh-water oceans. About the shores of the Mediterranean have been for -ages the choicest spots for man’s life; that is to say, the regions -where the human family could develop most perfectly, and life there -passed was rounded and full. Our old Roman bards, you know, were forever -singing about the beauties of Mediterranean shores, their “golden apples -of Hesperides,” and sumptuous residences built partly upon the land and -partly over the sea. Living on the shores of our Great Lakes is -generally conceded now to be most conducive to human development; we -have left the Mediterranean shores in the background, and now want only -the population, for we have a better condition for human -life-development and happiness right here, and far more enjoyable, for -the great heat of the ancients’ country is absent here in our new land. - - The earth all light and loveliness, in summer’s golden hours, - Smiles, in her bridal vesture clad, and crown’d with festal flowers; - So radiantly beautiful, so like to heaven above, - We scarce can deem more fair that world of perfect bliss and love. - -Turn the eye southward, from the town, with its noise, bustle and smoke, -and look with me over my daily horizon, which indeed bounds a landscape -which my eyes have feasted upon all my days, for the past half-century, -save and except the years at college and years of foreign travel. -Manifestly at the first, the very first, in fact, the eye catches the -more conspicuous objects. And it is, in this instance, a great dead but -standing hemlock tree, denuded, it is true, of its foliage, but yet -bearing its limbs quite in detail. Like great men, it has died at the -top, and its impression upon my retina is always associated with the -crows’ congress which I saw in its foliage-less branches last fall. The -crow, you know, only partially leaves us hereabout for the winter. Many -of them do migrate, it is true, but here along the Lake Ontario shore -dead fish are always thrown up by the waves, and he can feed at any -time; consequently, he does not leave us. So, upon this elevated, dead -tree-top, I saw thousands of them gather, and heard one after another -deliver his speech in regular order. Oratory they must have, for their -voices were plaintive, defiant and grave, in turn, and I dare not deny -them intelligent utterance. Close beside this site of the crows’ -congress are a few great, large, sweeping elms, whose branches alone -would each make very respectable trees. Always their greenness is -visible to me, and the quiet contentment of pose of their branches and -leaves is always a pleasure. Great blue-crested herons find convenient -resting-places on their highest limbs. Stork-like, these great, gaunt -birds stand upon one foot, and turn their heads side-wise, and so -wise-like, that one feels so near nature when beholding them that it is -uncanny to disturb them. I let the eye wander beyond the high elm limbs, -and Ontario’s ultra-marine blue waters are before me, upon the far -horizon, beyond my extreme range of vision. And when Old Sol rose this -morning from out of Ontario’s waters, he heralded his appearance by -throwing up into the sky shafts of light of various colors. Some, -indeed, were pure violet for a few moments, and others red, and yellow, -and blue, but not the blue of Ontario, so that the contrast may be -marked for us. He is coming up swiftly, and in a few moments the colors -have all changed, and almost before I can turn my head yellow has -suffused the whole in the immediate locality of old submerged Sol. -Again, the top of a wheel of fire we see upon the water, and now it is -all red about. Old Sol has risen, and a globe of fire is sailing upon -the waters’ surface. Could any facile brush only put upon canvas for us -these phantasmagorial colors, no one would believe the artist, but -accuse him of outdoing nature. And now he shines between me and a high -hill upon the lake’s bank, surmounted by trees, green at the top and -golden yellow along its sides with ripening grain. Our-red men -discovered the very striking beauty of this eminence before Cartier ever -sailed up the St. Lawrence, and even before the Indian population moved -backward and northward upon those backwater chains, and away from Lake -Ontario. To establish this fact most indisputably, we have only to look -at the many skulls, and larger human bones, generally, which the -ploughshare turns out. Then the red man enjoyed his pagan rites without -the intermeddling of the expectant Jesuit missionary, who only came ages -and ages after; for, among the bones, we find his flints, skinning -stones, and stone tomahawks, but no articles of iron, because the -Frenchman, who first came here, had not then given him tomahawks of iron -and old flint guns. Imitative whites, whose eyes travelled about the -horizon, as did the Indians’, drank in the beauty of the scene -inceptively, and they in their turn made it their place of sepulture, -and to-day it is the white man’s burial ground, embosomed among the -evergreen trees, which Old Sol’s rays are penetrating for me. While I -stand and worship at Nature’s shrine in the early summer morn, with the -sun’s advent a gentle breeze has risen. God has been specially good to -us in giving this sublimely beautiful vision: - - “The south wind was like a gentle friend, - Parting the hair so softly on my brow, - It had come o’er gardens, and the flowers - That kissed it were betrayed; for as it parted - With its invisible fingers my loose hair, - I knew it had been trifling with the rose, - And stooping to the violet. There is joy - For all God’s creatures in it.” - -Down the long, meandering highway my eye rests, and my soul is pained by -most irregular, unsightly, great bare poles on either side of it. A -beneficent Government has given some grasping fellows the power to put -these up and stretch wires upon them, and wrench my soul daily by their -ugliness. Europe would not for a moment tolerate such hideous marring of -the landscape, but long-suffering Canadians, most law-abiding and -complaisant, suffer the nuisance to remain. Not content with the great -warty poles, there are huge braces or props leaning to them at every -bend in the highway, and I, as the individual, must suffer the sacrilege -in silence. A long-suffering people may yet arise in their might and -tear these gaunt, denuded forest trees from the face of the earth. There -is a forest-covered hill, mainly of second-growth timber, before my eye, -and it gloriously crowns what would otherwise be a most unsightly, bald, -round eminence. But it is beautiful, dense, green and grand, and a -wealthy man, viewing daily this hill upon his horizon, bought the land -and keeps the forest that it may please him, and others as well, for -their entire lives. Five per cents, or any given per cents, are not to -be mentioned in comparison with this good citizen duly honoring his -Maker and helping his fellows by his generous act. A forest primeval is -before my eye as I turn my glance to the opposite side of the horizon, -and it stands high and strong before me. Our native maple has never yet -been surpassed for beauty and cleanliness, and here it is our emblem and -our pride. Mainly this forest has always been in my mind as the spot -where countless myriads of pigeons used to alight in the days gone by. -Another forest farther away, and almost out from my horizon, but not -entirely gone from it, formed the next nearest roosting-place for this -extinct migratory bird, strings of which would fall to my boyhood gun, -but now, alas! gone to South America, where food is more abundant and -more easily obtained by them. Lesser objects on the horizon do not -strike me so forcibly, but as I look more remotely and away over the -busy town and its forges, looms and benches, the ridges are clearly -marked upon the sky. Geologists have told us these hills were once the -shores of a broader Lake Ontario. Evidences of the rocks and pebbles go -far to establish that fact, but to us moderns they are very palpable and -valuable by keeping off the cold of the north during the inclement -season, that we may grow the succulent peach beneath their shelter. -“Companies are bodies, indeed, without souls,” for here, with us, the -railway company, which exacts its three and a half cents per mile in -contravention to its charter, has erected great, unsightly sheds, and -stained them a dull red, that their ugliness may be unparalleled. No eye -for the beautiful and harmonious can ever be reconciled to the gaunt -poles along our highways, wire-bestridden, or to the red architectural -sheds of our railway. Summing up, however, the pleasing and unpleasing -which I have touched upon, we see that the pleasing and beautiful -exceeds the unsightly and ugly. I am indulging the hope that some day, -in the near future, a way will be found by which we may enjoy all the -best facilities of communication and transportation without having the -landscape marred by unsightly poles or ugly railroad sheds. The -sensibilities of many of our citizens have been wounded by the act of -some individual or company, who, vandal-like, has removed a time-honored -familiar forest, or erected a most surpassingly ugly house, barn or -warehouse. These marrings of our horizon make life for all more -circumscribed, as well as grieve the souls of the cultured. As we love -our glorious country, let us beautify and preserve it. - - - - -CHAPTER XV. - - Getting hold of an Ontario farm--How a man without a capital may - succeed--Superiority of farming to a mechanical trade--A man with - $10,000 can have more enjoyment in Ontario than anywhere - else--Comparison with other countries--Small amount of waste land - in Ontario--The help of the farmer’s wife--“Where are your - peasants?”--Independence of the Ontario farmer--Complaints of - emigrants unfounded--An example of success. - - -It was far more difficult for our early settlers in Ontario to pay for -their lands by their own exertions, even at the low prices then -prevailing, than it is to-day at their greatly increased values. When -Ontario lands could be purchased for $4.00 or $5.00 per acre, there was -no market for their produce to any extent, and money was extremely -difficult to get. Not only the absence of markets was against our -settlers, but though they owned a farm it was wholly unproductive and -useless until cleared of timber. So it was harder to pay the $4.00 per -acre then than it is to pay $80 per acre to-day. A man without capital -to-day in Ontario can start on a 100-acre farm, and pay for it off the -farm in a series of years, by his own and his wife’s exertions. Of -course, he will need a little more to start with in the first instance -than his forefathers did, for he must needs make a small payment down -in order that he may mortgage the farm to get the balance of the -purchase money. Since money is now being loaned on farm security at five -and six per cent., he can yearly more than pay his interest and reduce -his principal, so that his burdens are daily becoming lighter. His wife -and himself pulling together and practising economy invariably succeed -on productive farms, and pay for them. We sometimes wonder at our -forefathers that they did not take up more land when it was so cheap, -but forget that even its cheapness, as it seems to us to-day, was no -guide to them as to its being cheap. Grain in early times did not bring -money, when these prices prevailed, nor would timber. Furs and potash -were the only commodities commanding cash. Hence it was almost an -impossibility for an ordinary man to pay for more than 100 acres from -his own exertions. To-day, even at $80 per acre on a mortgaged farm, -everything he can grow will sell for money, and with his family’s help, -and with the growth and increase of his stock, he is bound to succeed. - -Even if he must needs practise economy it does not follow that he may -not enjoy himself, as the time goes on, while he is paying for his farm. -The press will, for a few dollars yearly, give him amusement and -pleasure at home. If his means are particularly straitened, even $5.00 -per year for weeklies will furnish him the cheapest and best -contemporary readings possibly obtainable for the money. Then if he or -his wife be at all musically inclined, the evening of relaxation, after -the hard day’s work be done, can be pleasantly put in by a song or two, -accompanied on an organ, if he has got so far along as to afford one; -and he rises with the sun next morning, rested, invigorated, and ready -for the next day’s work. And as every harvest comes in its turn he feels -gladly thankful that the mortgage is being gradually lifted. Living as -he does, and putting forth these efforts to save, he must have good -habits. Good habits will invariably give him good health, and life is a -pleasure to him, even under the cloud of a mortgage. Slavery some people -will term this life, while under the mortgage. If one would get money -one must save, and if one be well cared for, housed, clad and fed while -saving, he can surely put up with the hard work, for always ahead is the -goal of having a 100-acre farm paid for, which will make him independent -for life. The mechanic emigrant who comes to us from Britain is not -sufficiently versatile to change his mode of life to go on a farm and -succeed until he has been here a few years. Having been in our midst a -few years he gets his eyes opened, and learns in a measure “to be a -jack-of all trades,” and then many of such former mechanics do succeed -on farms and pay for them. Our native-born Canadian, who follows some -mechanical trade when the mechanical labor market is over-supplied, is -making a serious mistake. Very naturally many of our young men drift -into this life, for their work is over at six o’clock, and they can -wash, dress and walk the streets when their farmer brother at home is -yet in the fields. While the mechanic goes through life with tolerable -ease upon his day’s wages, as a rule he is not saving much for his -declining days; but his farmer brother invariably is. His farmer brother -will have soiled hands, and wear his working clothes the whole day -through, and cannot go about the streets in the evenings, nor attend so -many places of amusement, but he enjoys himself just as well at home, -and he is saving for a rainy day. If trade be dull and shops shut down -in the middle of winter, he is quite indifferent, for his cellar is well -supplied, and his fields are ploughed ready for next spring’s sowing. -Prices for his grain may be low, but still he has his living, and no one -to call master, and is as free and independent as any king upon a -throne. Writers on political economy tell us that all true wealth must -be produced from the soil. Now, if this be true, then the nearer we get -to the soil at first hand the better off we must be. I have already -endeavored to show that those on the soil lead the most independent, -free and healthy lives, and since Ontario has lots more of lands yet for -the farmer, let those out of work and with no very bright or sure -prospects before them, go on those lands. Many workmen could remedy the -scarcity of employment in the winter, and their having not much to live -upon, following strikes of trades-unions, if they would cultivate the -soil. If the mechanical labor market be overstocked, the common-sense -remedy would be to lessen the supply. Here with us the proper way to -lessen the supply is for our smart mechanics, who know our country and -its conditions, to get away from the towns upon farms; and if in the -course of time such persons, succeeding in their new calling (which I -have tried to prove is not a life of slavery, but of hard toil and -self-denial, and wealth and independence), as succeed they must if they -put forth the necessary effort, and pay for their first 100 acres, there -is no law or moral obstacle to their buying 200 or 400 more if they can. -Should they not be able to work so much land, surely they are at perfect -liberty to rent it to others, and enjoy the rents and profits from it as -the result of their labors. Very few farmers fail in Ontario; so very -few, in fact, that our former bankruptcy law did not provide for the -farmers’ failure at all. They invariably succeed, and the instances of -old decrepit farmers, with nothing to support them in their declining -years, are so very few that any reader hereof cannot call to mind very -many examples. Reader, you will have to think twice before you can point -to an old, infirm farmer with nothing to support him in Ontario. I only -wish I could say as much for the mechanic. Even with the good wages they -get, it is almost a superhuman task to save a competency for that period -of life which must come to all of us surviving, when our limbs become -too stiff to obey our will, and too weak to maintain the strain of toil. -But I did not set out to write of the mechanical trades or kindred -subjects; I am only trying to induce more mechanics to go upon farms and -be independent of bosses, strikes or trades-unions. - -My observation of travel in continental Europe, Britain and the United -States gives me the ground to fearlessly state that in Ontario a man -with a capital of $10,000 can enjoy more and be more independent than he -can in those countries. - -Say his farm costs $8,000, or $80 per acre; but from my intimate -knowledge of lands in Ontario, I would not limit myself to that price. -Good land is always the cheapest, and I would not hesitate in paying -$100 per acre, and more, if the productiveness of the farm will warrant -it. But assuming $80 per acre to be the average for a good farm; now add -to this $2,000 upon the 100-acre farm for stock, implements, etc., so -that the entire $10,000 is fully invested. Upon this 100-acre farm, paid -for, the farmer can enjoy as good a living as can be got in any other -calling in life. It can’t be done in Britain, but it can be done here. -If I would settle on such a priced farm in Germany, in the first place -it would not begin to be as productive as the Ontario farm, and besides, -my growing sons would have to be soldiers for three years upon reaching -manhood, or leave the country. The best lands to be found in Austria are -in Hungary, which is a wheat country, and not one whit better than ours, -of a like fertility, and at least two and a half or three times the -price. In France I have noticed that by the most rigid and grinding -economy the small peasant will lay up a competency. But the economy -practised by the French peasant is something our people cannot and will -not use. The usual conveniences and amenities of life the French -peasant knows not of; a cloth is never laid upon the table, and the -bread for the mid-day meal is usually cut from the loaf in advance for -each person, and laid beside the plate. A full spread, with meat and -other dishes, literally filling the table, so that there is plenty left -after the meal is partaken of, they know not of; still they live, and -secure a competency in a small way. - -Rural life in Ontario is far preferable to anything these countries can -produce. We are not forced to be soldiers, and we can buy and own -absolutely the land which we cultivate. But there is another point, not -usually thought of in regard to Ontario farming. That is its certainty. -We never get a failure of crops, for although our crops may be more -plentiful some years than others, we never fail really. We never get any -serious drouths nor floods, and our cattle are never diseased, as they -are in several States of the Union. Our taxes are so small a matter that -we do not generally give them a second thought. Nor are our winters so -severe that our stock will be injured by the cold; nor will our children -coming from or going to school be caught in blizzards. But the farmer -who prepares his land properly, and puts forth an effort in downright -earnest, is bound to succeed. - -He is eligible to any office within the gift of the people, if he be -that way inclined, and he does not take off his hat to any lord or duke -in the land. Literally he is master of his own situation; an honest, -fearless, loyal, independent yeoman, with himself and his family -absolutely provided for, and above all want. Pulling up and moving away -he never thinks of. He has his home, and knows what a home is and should -be. The temptation to go upon some cheap lands out west, where -grasshoppers are possible to destroy his year’s crop, he does not even -think of. The western American’s ease and little regret in pulling up -and leaving for a little farther west he cannot understand. - -He sticks to his home, and yearly improves it and adds to its value, and -is ready to fight for it if need be. Ontario runs away south into the -best States--agriculturally--of the Union. Even some American writers -honestly assert that it is better situated (north of the lakes) than -their own lands in the same latitude, south of the lakes. For a fact, we -know Ontario gets less snow than northern New York or Ohio does, and the -seasons are not nearly so trying in Toronto as they are in Buffalo. -Granted, first, that the reader knows of the richness of Ontario’s lands -and its little waste places, and also of the downright hard work of its -people and their love of home, if you will then take up the map and note -how Ontario is situated--surrounded by water and having a summer nearly -as long as that of the north half of France--you can come to no other -conclusion but that, with a capital of $10,000 in a farm and -appurtenances, in Ontario one can enjoy most and be the surest of -success. - -One great fact which distinguishes Ontario is its little waste land. -Draw a line from Lake Simcoe to Belleville, and all that portion of old -Ontario west of that line possesses less waste land than any tract of -country of equal size known in the world. There are no mountain wastes -nor extensive marshes within this space, but nicely undulating lands -with frequent streams, and almost naturally drained. Farms in Ontario -are 100 acres each, ordinarily, and the 100-acre farmer is a man -generally to be respected. He brings his family up respectably, and -educates them at the common school so that they are capable of filling -almost any position in after life in which they may be placed. Such -farmers are intelligent and more or less travelled. Last summer I -recollect being the guest of a Yorkshire farmer who farmed 560 acres of -Yorkshire lands. He was a man of sixty-five, wealthy, and had been on -the farm all his lifetime. During this time he had been to London only -twice, at some horse shows. The River Tweed, dividing England from -Scotland, was only two hours distant from him by rail, and yet he had -never crossed it. As to going over to Ireland, he had never even thought -of it. Our Ontario farmer comes to our provincial shows, and jostles -among city people now and again in our different cities, and thus gets -his rough corners rubbed off. And he is far more than the equal in -intelligence of any yeoman in the Old World of anything like his means. - -The 100-acre farmer will ordinarily have 60 acres in crop yearly, which -will average him $20 per acre. The balance of his farm is in hay, -pasture, and forest. - -Now, from this 60 acres of crop he nicely supports his family, and -yearly puts by a nice little sum to buy lands for his growing boys when -they shall need them; of course, he cannot save the whole $1,200 -obtained for his crops, as his family must be maintained out of this as -well as pay for repairs and improvements. However, most Canadian -farmers’ wives supplement this grain product by the butter and cheese -from the cows running upon the pastures. - -Indeed, the wife’s help is a very great element to the farmer’s success, -as regards saving money; and she deserves her place of importance beside -her husband. Our Ontario farmer drives a good team upon the roads, -encased in first-class harness, and a smart light spring buggy behind -them. Rope traces and straw collars, which one sees in the South, would -be beneath his dignity, and one must search Ontario over and over to -find an example of such. And he is well clad in clothes, the product of -the factory loom. Only a few years back he wore clothes made from -home-grown wool spun by his good wife and woven upon some loom near at -home. But latterly the factories have produced tweeds and fullcloths at -so small a price that it has not paid him to work up his own wool. His -table is well supplied with not only an abundance of food, but in great -variety, fruit in various forms forming a feature at almost every meal. -The universal meat diet of England is not acceptable to his palate nor -suitable for our climate, for our systems require a laxative in this -climate, which fruit gives him. His wife is more than the equal in -cooking of her friends in Old England. She can compound more dishes out -of the same material, make more tasteful and toothsome pastry than one -can buy in a pastrycook’s shop in Europe. She does not consider it -beneath her dignity assisting in milking the cows, teaching calves which -are to be reared to drink milk, or possibly feeding the pigs if the men -be busy. - -As a transformation she can, after a wash, quickly don garments fit for -the parlor, and entertain company at her board with an ease and -heartiness truly surprising to European travellers who visit us. Even if -not able to converse in half Frenchy English, many of them can dash off -a number of tunes upon an organ or piano in a manner acceptable to most -persons not musical critics. An organ is in most good farm-houses, and -sometimes a piano, and the daughters are daily becoming proficient on -them, practising after the evening milking is done. - -Well might the European ask, “Where are your peasants?” These are our -peasants, and the reason you do not recognize them is because they are -on a higher plane in cultivation, taste and education than yours are; -and even if they do appear as ladies and gentlemen, they are not above -engaging in the arduous toil of the farm. - -Ontario farms are worth so much in dollars, because, for the reason I -have already given, of the little waste land, and also because of the -industriousness of its people. Look across the border at our American -cousins and you do not find the genuine American doing the downright -hard work. The European emigrant performs that duty for him, while the -American fills the offices to be filled, and does the scheming. - -But the Ontario farmer will do downright hard work after the manner of -his sires in the British Isles, and he has not yet learned to shirk it. -It is this industry which makes our province, makes our lands sell so -high, and gives his home an abundance, and puts yearly a nice sum at his -credit in some savings bank. One great difference between the Canadian -and the American is in this particular--the American does not lay up for -his children as the Canadian tries to do. My observation leads me to -think that the American does not put forth an especial effort to set his -sons up in the farming or other business, but lets them commence at the -foot of the ladder to work their own way up. On the contrary, the -Canadian farmer, almost without exception, is yearly trying to lay aside -a sum to buy, or help to buy, farms for his growing sons. Thus the -Ontario farmer never gets satisfied, as it were, or never gives up work -as long as he is able to perform it. Americans, on the other hand, will -rest upon their laurels, and live without any exertion, on small -incomes. Indeed, from my own knowledge, I know that many American -farmers in Michigan have rented their small farms and moved into the -villages to live on an income of $300 per year. Our farmers have the -true British greed, and would not think of giving out on a $300 income. -Now, I argue that our state of affairs is the best for the prosperity of -our country. Never becoming satisfied, they never cease to work, and -thus they have produced the most smiling and prosperous country in the -world. This picture of Ontario farm life is true to-day, and I ask the -reader if it is not as desirable a life as is obtainable anywhere. Our -Ontario farmer owns his own soil, is well fed, housed, and clad, ever -striving to do for his family, loyal to his government, and at peace -with his God and with man. I have yet to find his equal, as a class, for -the general well-being or common weal. - -Until a few years past nearly all Ontario people did their year’s -business with their town merchant on the credit basis. Goods for family -use would be freely purchased on credit the whole year through, until -fall came and the annual grain selling time, when large bills would be -rendered by the merchant. Large enough they generally would be, for, -buying goods without restraint and paying no money for them, the farmers -would hardly realize that such seemingly small purchases from time to -time would amount to so much in the fall. But little credit is now -given, and goods and supplies are generally paid for as purchased. This -very beneficial change is no doubt owing to the fact that now the farmer -has a greater variety of products of the farm to sell than formerly, -which come in in their turn in different seasons, and thus give him a -steady supply of funds. Paying as he goes, he is not nearly so apt to -buy things he does not really need, and his sum total of the cash -purchases for the year will not amount to so much as his annual store -bills did formerly. The merchant likewise can sell his goods closer for -cash than he could if he had to wait a whole year. The fact that the -credit business is being largely superseded by the cash system is one of -the best arguments as to the progress of the country. All along these -townships lying upon Lake Ontario the farmer delivers his barley in the -early fall by waggon to the elevator at the lake. This barley money -usually gives the farmer his first fall money. - -Tenant farmers generally pay their fall rent with their barley money. -Very many of the teams coming down with barley take coal home with them. -It is an undeniable fact that the lands bordering upon the lake do not -have any more wood upon them. Fifteen years ago a person who would have -made the assertion that the majority of the inhabitants would be burning -coal to-day would have been scouted. It shows us how much we are -dependent upon our neighbors south of us for our coal supply. There -undoubtedly is abundance of wood northerly from central Ontario, but for -fuel purposes it is almost useless to us. Our railways won’t carry the -wood to us if they can get anything else to carry, and even having -carried it, when the price is considered, wood becomes almost a luxury. -We may as well look the future squarely in the face and realize that in -a few years a great part of Ontario along the lakes must depend for fuel -wholly upon United States coal. Formerly a few farmers of push and great -physical strength would attend to their farms during the summer and -follow lumbering and the timber business during the winter. That class -of men possessed any amount of push, and performed more manual labor -than any man can be found willing to do now, even for money. Numbers of -such men became wealthy, for they had double profits coming to them all -the time. Rudely as they farmed, they got a profit out of the virgin -soil, and the winter’s limited business paid them as much more, hence -those who would endure the severe physical strain necessary to carry on -this mixed business made money rapidly. Such men got along faster than -the ordinary farmer. But that is all changed now. Farming is now a -matter of skill, and not brute force and strength as formerly. There is -no longer any lumbering or timbering to be followed in the winter, and -the Ontario farmer hereabout will get no more profit from that source. -Then he must rely to-day only upon his farm and what he can make it do -during the summer. When he used to swing his cradle among stumpy fields, -then it was a question of physical endurance and strength. But all that -is changed now, for his work is nearly all done by machinery, and he -must learn to manage the machinery. To make money and succeed well at -farming to-day requires as much skill as it does to succeed in any other -calling. When the soil was new he could draw upon it unfairly, and still -with all the abuse it smiled upon him. Seventeen successive crops of -wheat upon the same land has not been uncommon in the past. And yet with -all this abuse the last crop was nearly as good as the foregoing ones. -This will give one an idea of the extraordinary richness of our soil, -and without a doubt a good deal of our soil could be so abused now and -it would continue to produce and pay. But the husbandman has learned to -husband his resources, and refuses to draw so heavily upon his soil, and -hence to-day he practises a succession of crops, roots, manuring, and -ploughing in clover, roots, etc. This he has commenced to do lest he -might exhaust his lands, not particularly because he had to do so, but -simply through fear of the future. The day may come, when our lands have -been cultivated as long as they have been in England, that we shall have -to buy outside manures and pay ten dollars per acre for them, as the -British farmer has to do; but since we do not, the lot of our farmers is -ten dollars per acre better than that of the English farmer. - -The most independent person in Canada to-day is the person who can do -most things within himself. If a man were to emigrate to Canada who knew -nothing but the art of cutting diamonds, his chances of success among us -would be slim indeed. For general versatility the Ontario farmer is the -equal of any people in any country. He can cultivate his lands, do an -odd job of carpentry, build a log-house with his axe, and some can even -shoe a horse or relay a plough coulter at their rude forges at their -homes. Not long since I had occasion to call on a farmer and found him -repairing the family clock, which obstinately refused to run in -obedience to its pendulum. It was an ordinary brass affair, and not -being a practical watchmaker, the farmer had taken the works out of -their case and was vigorously boiling them in a pot of water on the -stove. Rude as such clock repairing was, he succeeded in freeing it from -superfluous hardened oil and grease, and got it in running order once -more. - -The Ontario farmer’s success is not anomalous when we come to consider -him physically, capable as he is of performing an almost unlimited -quantity of manual labor, and of so many kinds. - -An American friend happened to be visiting me while a gathering was -taking place not long ago here, and on viewing the farmers and their -sons, made the significant remark, “What material for an army!” - -Dean Stanley, who paid us a visit a few years before his death, said -that “the people who could conquer this climate could achieve anything -sought.” As to conquering the climate this we have done, and to-day -there is no more law-abiding, peaceful, intelligent, and industrious -class in any country than among the rural sections of Ontario. - -The emigrant who comes to us complains that our farmers work him too -hard, or, in other words, that he becomes a slave. During the pressing -season of seeding and harvesting there are no people anywhere who work -harder than our Ontario farmers do, and with our short seasons it must -necessarily be so. As yet very few farmers ask their hired help to -perform more work than they do themselves. The farmer generally works -side by side with his hired man, and what the farmer can stand it would -appear his hired man can. No farmer asks his hired man to plough in the -drizzle and rain, which he had to do in England, and come in at night -wet to the skin. He does not get his beer as he did in England, it is -true, because in our climate of extremes of heat and cold we do not -need the beer, and were the hired man to partake of it as freely as he -used to in England he could not perform his necessary work for a long -time. He sits at the same table with his master generally, and gets just -the same fare, and has a bed and room to himself, same as if quartered -in an hotel. Meat three times a day he can usually have if he wants it, -which he certainly did not get in his Old Country home. And he is paid -for eight months’ work, with his board and washing included, $160, or -for a year with the same perquisites, $200. Now, the emigrant who comes -over here and expects us to feed and lodge him for nothing must -certainly think this country a second garden of Eden. As to farm hands -flocking into the cities during the winter, I have only to say that I do -not see what possible business they can have there. If a man refuses to -engage for a whole year he gets his $160 for eight months, and very many -remain with some farmer during the winter, doing chores at a low -pittance, or perhaps even for their board. Well, he has got his $160 for -the eight months of the year, and during the winter he need not spend -it, and by the winter’s rest he is recuperating his physical powers even -if the farmer did work him very hard during the summer. Those who -grumble at the life I have pictured of a farmer’s hired man had better -go back to England; but, for a fact, we do not see them ever going back. -But the thrifty emigrant, who works away and saves, soon gets enough -money together to become a tenant farmer, and becomes himself boss in -turn. Usually such men are far harder on their hired help than those -whom they themselves worked for. As a tenant farmer he pays about $5.00 -per acre per year rent for his farm and the taxes, and if he has a -growing family and a saving helpmate, in a few years he has saved money -enough to quite or nearly pay for a farm of his own. Could he have -accomplished that in the Old World? And still they grumble at our -country, call it rural slavery, and write home to Old Country journals -letters calculated to do us harm. So many young men leaving their -fathers’ farms and flocking to the cities and towns might lead some to -infer that the farmers’ sons were sick of life upon the farm. I do not -so interpret it. Take, for instance, a farmer owning 150 acres of land -and having four sons. Now, to divide his land equally among his sons -would give each thirty-seven and a half acres, which is too small for a -farm to be profitable as a farm. Then the farmer educates a couple of -his sons, who leave the family farm and pursue other callings. With the -industrious habits they learned at home, and with good sound physical -bodies, they are quite able to succeed in their new callings. One -instance of signal success in Ontario farm lands comes to my mind, and I -will mention it. A Canadian, the oldest son, whose father died, leaving -the mother without means, went to work among the farmers at twelve years -of age. For the first three years he only got $40 per year. -Notwithstanding this low wage he saved a little out of it. As he grew -older he began to get a little more wages, and thus worked seven years -to save his first $400. At this time in his life he turned sharp around -and went to school, and soon became a school-teacher. With his first -year’s salary as teacher, and a few dollars he already possessed from -his former earnings, he bought his fifty acres of land and paid about -half down for it. Then he hired a man and started to cultivate the fifty -acres, by the help of a yoke of oxen. Night and morning he worked -faithfully upon his land, chopping and logging, and attending to his -school duties during the day. Soon he had his first fifty acres paid -for, and then bought another farm of the same size, adjoining it, which -he paid for in the same manner that he paid for the first fifty acres, -only sooner, for he had the proceeds of the first farm to help him. At -this turn in his life he studied for one of the learned professions, and -attained a degree, and also educated his other brothers and sisters as -well. To-day this gentleman owns 500 acres of land, very nearly all paid -for, and farms it himself. His land cannot be worth less than $50,000, -and yet he is not over fifty years of age at this time. Another very -important feature in this gentleman’s career is that his family have all -been taught to labor, and have been brought up to industrious habits, -and the individual members cannot fail to make their mark in our midst. -Ye city dwellers, do not for a moment suppose that this is only a -solitary instance of signal success of country life. Many more might be -mentioned, but this is sufficient to show what push, determination and -brains will accomplish in rural Ontario. What he has done others can -do, and are doing this day. Your examples of city dwellers’ success do -not very much surpass this for the years during which the fortune was -made. To “blow” about our own country is right and laudable, I maintain, -especially when our country in its merits fully bears one out in the -“blowing.” - - - - -CHAPTER XVI. - - Unfinished character of many things on this continent--Old Country - roads--Differing aspects of farms--Moving from the old log-house to - the palatial residence--Landlord and tenant should make their own - bargains--Depletion of timber reserves. - - -In America everything is begun, and but few things finished. Persons -from the Old World tell us this, and there is a great deal of truth in -it. Driving on Ontario roads one sees a good farm-house, surrounded by -trees and fences, all nicely kept, when perhaps the very next field -adjoining this well-cultivated farm is considerably given up to stumps -and a few boulders, although of stones the best parts of Ontario are -happily almost free. There may be a little brook crossing the highway; -to get over this brook a bridge or culvert of cedar sticks has been put -down, which does well enough in itself, and is quite safe, but it -manifestly will not last any great length of time. Now, in Europe, such -little streams would be spanned by a stone arch bridge. The little -stream as it passes along the fields in many parts, notably in Germany, -would be straightened and walled in with stones to keep it from wearing -away its banks. Of course, we cannot afford to do all this in our new -country, but I think from this time forth what work we do at all should -be of a more permanent character than it has been, for the first outlay -would be the cheapest in the end. Again, beside a farm well kept, on the -next lot will be often found old fences barely sufficient to turn -cattle. If it is a board fence half the boards will be off, and one end -of them lying on the ground, while the other end still adheres by a -solitary nail to the proper post. Or a few posts will have got out of -the perpendicular, and point their several ways heavenward, but -unfortunately each post points a way and on an incline of its own. - -Besides the country roads are, sometimes, even in our best settlements, -remains of old logs, nearly rotted away, an old stump or so, and on the -sides of the road, upon either side of the waggon track, stumps and -convolutions, just as it came from primeval forest, and never smoothed -down by the hand of man. The waggon track, passing between these stumps, -decaying logs and hillocks, will generally be a good one, but it is this -unfinished appearance which causes the European to tell us, with a shade -of truth, that things are begun in America but not yet finished. Driving -in Europe all seems finished. There is nothing left in the roads, and -even if they be narrow, the hedges or walls upon either side are -perfect, and there is nothing to mar the scene. It is literally -finished. Man has done all there is to do. We must, of course, recollect -that ours is a young country, and I am only presenting this disagreeable -side of our country that we may begin to right these features. For -utility and resource the people of Europe cannot begin to compare with -us. The very nature of things here, commencing as we did a few years ago -in the native woods, compelled us to seek the quickest and easiest ways -of getting on. But all that is past now, and we ought to commence to -finish our country. - -Those who remain constantly at home do not feel the deficiency so -particularly, but to those who go abroad these defects are so glaring -that one notices them at every turn. The more we beautify our country -the better it will please ourselves, and likewise will be the means of -inducing capitalists from abroad to invest among us. We may often see, -in driving along our roads, first-class capacious barns and sheds, and -every fence on a farm neat and tidy, gates all right, nicely painted, -and the whole get-up of the farm neat and thrifty. At the same time this -farmer may be living in an ordinary farm-house, or perhaps the original -log-house which he built when he commenced to subdue the forest. The -farmer is among our best citizens, and presents a striking contrast to -our American cousin, who builds a showy house first, and perhaps a very -small barn afterwards. This farmer has carved his fortune from his -forest and farm, and appreciates that his stock makes money for him, -hence he prepares first-class stabling for them, while his own family -lives in meagre quarters within square log walls. No doubt his family -are quite comfortable in their log-house, but do not essay to cut so -great a figure in the world as many of his neighbors of much smaller -means and fewer acres. Many times this person will own his 200 or 300 -acres, and all paid for. He drives great fat horses on the road, and -pulls his cap squarely down on his head, and goes on as if he meant -business, which he really does. It is a matter of indifference to him if -his wife and daughters be dressed in the latest fashions or not. If they -have good, strong, serviceable clothing, he considers it sufficient, and -the gimps and gew-gaws of modern times have not yet entered upon his -calculations; but he can show a whole row of stalls in his cow-barn -containing twenty head of good fat cattle and a lot of growing young -calves. Such citizens are desirable, and we are proud of their industry -and success. Now and again such farmers get around to the house -business, and when they do build, they build well--usually brick, or it -may be he has for years been gathering the stones in piles from his -fields; if so, his house will be of solid stone walls two feet thick. -Many such persons put $3,000 or $4,000 in their houses, and the abrupt -transfer from the old log-house to the palatial residence is almost -startling to the inmates. Some little time has to elapse before they sit -their new house well. But, gradually, furniture comes in furtively in -the great farm waggon, returning home from the market, and in a year or -so their new homestead is complete in its appointments and in detail, -and there is a house any man in America or in Europe might be proud of. -The old log-house, likely as not, is left standing behind the new one. -As an excuse for leaving the old log-house standing, he says it is handy -to put implements in and a good place--up-stairs--for seed corn. But in -many instances I suspect he leaves it that he may look upon it and upon -the new one likewise in the same glance, and call a justifiable pride to -his mind, that the new palace, comparatively speaking, grew from the old -log-house, now holding his seed corn and implements. You call on him, -and he passes by the old log-house without a remark, but you speak of -it, and with just a tinge of pride he tells you, as he pulls down his -cap and thrusts his hands in his trousers’ pockets, that on that site -where the old log-house now stands, forty-five years or so ago, he cut -down four maple trees to make room for it, for there was then no room -elsewhere for it on his lot. - -In former days, as has already been remarked, the great fertility of the -soil caused people to farm rather carelessly and without any -consideration of the desirableness of a rotation of crops. Time has -changed that to a great extent. I have a number of farm tenants, and -would not allow them to crop continually without seeding, etc.--not -because my soils are exhausted, but because I do not want them -exhausted. While we sympathize with Ireland and would like to see her -condition bettered, still to-day I, as a landlord, would not accept her -land law and abide by it. If I had to send my leases in to a land -commissioner to tell me what I must charge for my lands, I would not any -longer own lands, but would sell them out at once and put the proceeds -in Government bonds. It is obvious that here in Ontario each landlord -and tenant ought to make his own bargain, just the same as regarding -interest for money. Until our country is as thickly populated as Ireland -is, we need not raise this question of adjudicating upon rents but if -that time were to come I would not any longer consider my position as a -landlord in Ontario desirable. By this means I would let Ireland have a -home parliament, and I was in favor of the Gladstonian programme, but I -should think it extremely hard for any government to dictate to me what -I must receive as income for my estate, Henry George to the contrary -notwithstanding. Should our fair Ontario ever get to entertaining -communistic notions, the tenure of property and estates would be not -worth the effort to retain, and, as far as I am concerned (and there are -many like me), I would rather go over to Old England and take up my -abode. - -In some instances there is too much liberty in Ontario. In this wise the -general public think nothing of tramping over fields, either in crop or -not, as the case may be, for short cuts, rather than follow the -highways. Some of us are endeavoring to preserve a grove of trees, but -there are those who, whenever they are in want of any especial stick for -poles, or axe handles, or what not, think nothing of cutting and taking -away one or more of the trees of a prized grove. No doubt heretofore it -has been thoughtlessness on the part of the public, and the example -handed down from the time when timber could be got anywhere for the -cutting. But that has passed from us, never to return, and in the future -we shall necessarily have to be more strict, as our country is -increasing in population. To prevent persons walking over fields is not -the idea. I well recollect an anecdote told me in England when I was -over there a year or two ago. A man was walking along a stream through -a pasture, when he was met by the owner, who asked, “Do you know whose -land you are walking on?” “No, I do not.” “Well, it is mine, and you -have no business to walk on my land.” “But I have no land of my own to -walk on, and where shall I walk?” And the poor man was correct. In -Ontario we do not wish even to restrain the poor man to that extent, but -the thoughtless and lawless trespass upon crops and timber, and the -tearing down of fences cannot much longer be allowed. Those living in -the vicinity of large towns keenly feel the need of change in this -particular. - -Aside from all reasons of utility, it is a very great pity that all our -trees are disappearing in the older portions of Ontario. It has been -felt that our trees would never be all cut away, and it was thought -fifteen years ago that we would not have to rely upon coal. The beauty -of England is largely made up by her small groves of trees interspersed -throughout the country, and if not great in extent, they relieve the eye -and serve as wind-breaks. We have been too prodigal of our forests, but -since we have had to go to coal we begin to realize the use, beauty, and -benefit of even a few acres of woods here and there upon our farms. I -heard an owner of a 200-acre farm near here last year say, that if it -were possible he would give $300 per acre to have the ten acres of woods -replaced upon the north end of his farm. And this farmer had to draw -what wood he did use ten miles, but he wanted the forest on his farm to -serve as a wind-break and a thing of beauty. - - - - -CHAPTER XVII. - - Book farmers and their ways--Some Englishmen lack - adaptiveness--Doctoring sick sheep by the book--Failures in - farming--Young Englishmen sent out to try life in Canada--The - sporting farmer--The hunting farmer--The country school-teacher. - - -Book farmers come to us now and again. These are usually persons from -Britain, possessing some means, but not sufficient to make them -gentlemen at home. They have had no particular knowledge of farming at -home, but since farming is supposed to be so easy a matter in Canada, -they do not for a moment doubt their ability to get on with a farm. They -resort to the best works on agriculture; and after the perusal of a few -volumes really begin to flatter themselves that they have a very -superior knowledge of farming, and are able to teach the Canadian on his -native heath just how it ought to be done. Such a man purchases his farm -and usually pays the cash down for it, and for his stock as well. -Searching over the community he finds a pair of the heaviest horses he -can, for the light Canadian horses, he knows, will be of no use to him, -and he gets some long poles made at the nearest carpenter shop, and -hires the village painter to paint them in black and red sections that -he may set them up for his man to strike out his lands by in ploughing. - -Light, strong, durable Canadian harness is not to his mind, for he -recollects seeing the plough horses in England return from the fields -with great broad back-bands on their harness, to which were attached -immense iron chains of traces, and he follows suit. And he sets John to -ploughing, properly equipped, not for a moment doubting the result of -all this preparation. And after a proper method of ploughing he does -raise fair crops as a rule, for our lands are ordinarily so rich that if -they have even a fair show at all they will produce. Harvest-time coming -on, many other hands are brought into requisition, and he follows up the -old time-honored custom in England of serving up the quart of beer per -day to each hand. In due time his harvest is all garnered properly, and -his work nicely done. His man comes in in the morning and tells him, -about the time the first few rains come on, that “one of the sheep is -sick.” “All right, John, I will attend to it,” for, of course, he can, -for he knows he has at his elbow, upon the shelf, somebody’s treatise on -the sheep, which is the best extant. The sheep volume is brought down -and closely scanned, and the right page describing the disease sheep -ought to have at this time of the year found. With the volume under arm -he sallies forth to view the sheep, while John follows with the -remedies. Arrived at the sheep he adjusts his spectacles at the proper -angle upon his nose, and intently examines his sick patient The more he -examines his patient and gets at its symptoms the more he is in doubt -if the symptoms really correspond with those mentioned on the particular -page of the treatise. - -Shoving the spectacles up just a little closer on his nose he -re-examines his patient, and glances from the patient to the book, the -quandary all the time deepening in his mind. John is not allowed to -suggest that the sheep has caught cold by lying in some exposed place -through the last storm, and that he only wants warmth and food. It would -never do to give in to John, for “what has John read about sheep?” The -proper remedy is at last hit upon. There can possibly be no doubt about -it, but to make assurance doubly sure he re-reads the page and looks his -patient over again. No doubt this time, and John is sent to the house -for a bottle, from which he will administer the proper remedy -internally. John returns with the bottle, with a little water in it, and -our book farmer adds the proper remedy and shakes it up thoroughly. All -being ready, John makes the poor sheep swallow the mixture, much against -its will, for it’s the most noxious stuff it ever had in its life, and -the book farmer quietly awaits the result, his spectacles gradually -continuing to slip away from the bridge of his nose, and to run an -imminent risk of falling off the extreme end of that important organ. -Some twenty minutes now elapse and John says the sheep is worse. - -Back upwards again the spectacles are pushed, and the patient critically -examined. While the examination is going on the sheep dies under his -gaze. “Dear me; how can that be? I must have got the wrong page. Oh, -yes, I see, I did get the wrong page. Never mind, John, I will fix the -next one up all right in case it becomes ill.” And he closes the book -with a snap, and goes back again to his library. - -Such book farmers invariably have failed in Ontario. I defy any reader -to fix on any one such book farmer who has succeeded. When he comes to -strike his balances, after his crops have been marketed, and has taken -an inventory of stock, he finds that his crops have cost him more than -they brought back in cash. Another year will remedy that, however, and -he tries it again, only to find the balance on the wrong side once more. -Usually two years suffice to teach this book farmer that he is not a -farmer, but he may possibly hold on for three seasons. Then he calls a -sale, sells or rents his farm, and gets a neat, comfortable little -dwelling in some neighboring town, which is quite sufficient for him and -his household, even if it be not palatial in its appointments. From his -retirement he writes back to England that farming won’t pay in Canada, -for he has tried it, and it certainly will not pay. - -This does a great deal of harm, and our country gets in bad odor among -many persons at home, when the book farmer alone is to blame, and not -the country. - -As to failures at farming, I do not think you can call to mind the -failure of any farmer in Ontario, on any good farm, who farms his land -in right down earnest. Benjamin Franklin said: - - “He who by the plough would thrive, - Must himself both hold and drive.” - -And that was perfectly true then as now. Look at the farmer in Ontario -who rolls up his shirt sleeves and follows the plough, who does as much -work himself as he possibly can, and only hires for doing that which he -can’t do himself, and you will find that farmer succeeding. - -We have been getting in Ontario of late another class of farmers whom I -wish to speak of. They are the sons of men of means in Britain. Usually -they are about twenty years of age, and have just left their schools and -homes. Every avenue at home being so full, they are sent to Canada to -learn farming, with the parent’s view of buying them a farm as soon as -they have learned the occupation. Sometimes these persons pay a small -sum to our good farmers, annually, to be taught farming, but they are to -work at the same time the same as a hired man. Such a one has worn good -clothes all his life, and the transition from a tight-fitting, neat suit -to garments suitable for shovelling manure into the waggon is very -sudden and hard to endure. A blister or two is on his hands at night, -and his back aches from bending so many times all day with his fork for -the billets of manure out of the heap. That night he tosses upon his -bed, for his bones even are tired and ache, but he is up betimes next -morning and at it again, only to find that he has more blisters on his -hands again in the evening. If he sticks to it he soon gets accustomed -to the work, his blistered hands get all calloused over, blisters are no -more dreaded, and he stands his work well. Those who stick to the work -succeed and learn to farm well, but in very many cases he gives up and -goes to town, and waits, all anxiety, for the next remittance from home. -For a couple of years the remittances come to him pretty regularly, and -our young would-be farmer is a gentleman about town. During those two -years, however, some very urgent letters have been written home for -money, and thus far they have not failed to draw. At this lapse of time, -and after the receipt of so many letters asking for money, it begins to -dawn upon the parental mind that the son is not sticking to the farm in -Canada. - -Reluctantly and grieving, the parent makes up his mind to send no more -until his son will begin to do something himself. Our would-be farmer -then gets some light occupation, and does not fail to continue to write -for money. Mamma, with a mother’s love, may still send over a few -pounds, but if all the pounds cease to come, go to work he must at last. - -It is hard to get at what these young men really will do in the end. -Some even get so low as to drive a circus waggon, while others work as -day laborers in some of our manufactories. When some months roll round, -and the parents at home find that their son is still alive and promising -amends, past offences are condoned and more remittances follow. And so -the years and months slip by, money-less at times and again flush. - -It really appears to us here in Ontario that the families from whence -these young men come have no end of means, and we grieve to see them -fooling away their time and opportunities. Who ever heard of learning to -farm in that manner, or who ever heard of any one succeeding in Canada -by such methods of life? - -I am glad to say, however, that many such young men who are sent out to -learn farming do succeed. They who have the grit in them, and who really -make up their minds to work, do, notwithstanding the blisters on their -hands, or callosities, or tired limbs, get over them all and become -self-sustaining and good citizens. - -For those who will work we have plenty of room, and good places are -always open to them, but the man who comes to us, and who cannot throw -off his Oxford suit and don blue overalls and shovel manure when it is -required, will not succeed as a farmer in Ontario. - -A class of farmer in Ontario I may say a word or two about is the -sporting farmer. Usually he is the owner of 150 acres or so of inherited -lands, upon which are good buildings, which his father erected, and also -cleared the forest from the land. He’s not going to take anybody’s dust -on the roads, and he procures a horse which can pass that of any of his -neighbors. For a time this satisfies him, but sporting men begin to find -him out, and tell him where he can get a colt which can go in less than -three minutes. Gradually he comes to think that he might as well get - -[Illustration: A SAILING CANOE ON LAKE ONTARIO] - -a colt, for it will make a fine driver, and now and again he can win -some races, which will go to reduce the price he must pay for him. -Entering him at the races, he must necessarily be prepared to back his -own horse, and he makes his first bet on a horse-race. Once more -sporting men are too sharp for him, for though his horse makes a good -dash and behaves well upon the track, it comes in just a head behind, -and far enough in the rear to lose the race. He is assured, however, -that with some training his colt will do better, and he pays a -professional trainer to train him. - -At the next race he enters him again, and again backs his own horse, for -success is this time assured. By some mischance this time he again loses -the race, and his money at the same time. But by this time his courage -is up, and he’s bound to win, so he buys a better horse. Again the -process goes on, at the end of which he still finds himself out of -pocket. The 150-acre farm, which his father prided never yet bore a -mortgage, now gets “a plaster” put on it. While this racing has been -going on, his farm has been neglected, and does not produce as formerly, -so that he is in a poorer position to pay the interest on the mortgage -and make both ends meet at the same time. In most cases such young men -lose their farms, and at middle age have to begin at the bottom of the -ladder and work their way up by themselves and unaided. Fortunately for -them, however, they know how to work, and can get along even in their -reduced state. - -The hunting farmer is another class which we have in Ontario. Like his -sporting brethren, he, too, has inherited a farm and can easily make a -living, and some money besides. He keeps some hounds and a -breech-loader. Do a flock of pigeons fly over, the plough is left in the -field to get a shot at them, and the balance of that half day is -consumed. Or it may be that some ducks are around in the swamp or creek -a mile or so from his house, and a day must be given to them. - -A fox has been seen around some hills in the neighborhood, and he must -have a day with the hounds. While all this is going on, with the press -of work, while he really is at home, many things are neglected. Fences, -which his father used to pride himself in keeping always trim, begin to -lean. A gate has lost its lower hinge, and a few shingles have blown off -the corner of his barn. Gradually his farm loses its neat, trim -appearance, and the neighbors begin to call Johnny So-and-so a shiftless -fellow. Hunting farmers do not usually lose their farms, for their -losses are mainly through want of care for their farms. Unlike his -sporting brother, he does not bet, but has a keen zest for the chase, -and must indulge in it. - -If you will look about you, you will find that such persons do not add -to their means, but just get a fair living from their farms, and do not -make any great improvements on the homestead. His neighbor beside him, -who may take even a day now and again for a hunt, but who daily plods -along and follows his plough and drives his own horses, has bought -another farm and has a credit at his bankers or at some loan and savings -company. - -The country school-teacher under the old order of things, and before the -school law was amended, deserves a notice. Numbers of these old -school-teachers, who furbished up their faculties and got passably well -qualified to teach an ordinary district country school in the past, in -many instances married the daughters of neighboring farmers, who -attended their schools as pupils. In some instances, without a doubt, -this teacher had occasion to punish his future wife for some slight -infraction of school laws. Causing her to stand upon the floor or to -write an extra exercise was a frequent method of such punishments. -Becoming the teacher’s wife must, in after years, one would say, make -the position rather anomalous, and would, one would think, be a -delicate, debatable ground between husband and wife as the years rolled -on. Ontario wives are noted for their urbanity, but in such instances it -would be manifestly fair for the wife and former pupil to indulge in a -little punishment for some infractions by her husband of new rules as -the time went by. She could not fairly be blamed if she now and again -gave him an extra dose of salt in his porridge, or refused him a light -in the evening to do his reading by, or even indulged at a little pull -of his whiskers, to pay off old scores of ante-nuptial days. We, -however, charitably infer that, at the time the teacher insisted upon -his punishments of his future wife, Cupid had not got around. These -marriages have uniformly been happy ones, and these former teachers have -become successful men after turning farmers. In many instances they get -farms with their pupil wives, and having the work in them, usually -succeed, and become good men for our country. Such former teachers are -frequently found in our township councils, are school trustees, and -useful men generally. As their children grow up to the age of -understanding, it, however, must be just a little funny for their -children to know that “pa” formerly punished “ma” in school, and they -are always bound to aver that “ma” has not yet got even with “pa” in the -account of punishment. - - - - -CHAPTER XVIII. - - Horse-dealing transactions--A typical horse-deal--“Splitting the - difference”--The horse-trading conscience--A gathering at a - funeral--Another type of farmer--The sordid life that drives the - boys away. - - -There are some few persons in every community who have always a -weather-eye open for a likely horse which they may see passing by. These -men are usually free-handed, and know how to match horses and train them -nicely, that they may drive quietly and travel evenly and slowly, so as -to be desirable carriage teams. When they can make a trade for such a -desirable beast they are in their happiest moods. Trade failing, if the -owner does not wish to trade, they will buy for the cash at the very -lowest possible figure. Disparaging others’ goods which one wants to buy -seems to be the general rule among traders in our province. Not that it -is thought that such tactics are disreputable, but it would seem almost -inherent in the nature of such traders. Perhaps the farmer has a likely -young horse harnessed beside a steady old one, which he is driving -along, and the horse-trader fastens his eye on him. - -“Wouldn’t you like to trade my off black beast for that awkward colt of -yours?” and the conversation is opened and the “dickering” commences. - -“How much boot would you give me?” and the farmer turns and looks -attentively to the trader’s old nag, checked up so high and so tight -that he champs continually at his bit. But it’s an old beast after all, -although nicely groomed and made to look its best. On its nigh hindfoot -is just a suspicion that a spavin has at one time been “doctored,” and -on the whole the trader’s horse much resembles the shabby genteel man -with his threadbare broadcloth and napless silk hat carefully brushed. - -“As for boot, why I really ought to have $35, but seeing it’s you, I’ll -trade for $25,” says the trader. - -And the farmer chirrups to his team, becoming impatient with the man’s -absurdity. “Hold on a minute, let’s see if we can’t split the -difference,” says the dealer. - -Now, there’s this peculiarity in many an Ontarian’s dealings that it is -very generally proposed to “split the difference” where the buyer and -seller cannot come to terms. It may be a hap-hazard way of doing -business, and has no foundation in sound reasoning; yet it is a fact -that very much of the buying and selling in rural Ontario is done by -“splitting the difference.” - -Our farmer, however, has not yet seen any difference to split, and -thinks still that he should get the best. And the horse-trader tells of -the merits of his horse, its weight, how gentle it is, how well and -handily it will work, and impresses his idea upon the farmer that his -colt is yet untried and scarcely broken. Up to this time in this -“dickering” the farmer has not made a positive offer, and once more -chirrups to his team and starts upon his way. - -“Stop a minute. If you think you could not split the difference, how -will you trade, any way?” - -“Well, I might trade even, since your horse is heavier than mine and -better able to do my work, but how old did you say he was?” - -And the farmer gets off his waggon and looks in the horse’s mouth. - -Here, as all the way along in this “dicker,” the horse-trader has been -too sharp for the farmer, and the horse’s teeth have been nicely filed -and his horse is made to appear only seven years old. - -A swap is made at length on even terms, and this horse-trading jockey -drives off with the farmer’s valuable colt, worth about $165, and -leaving for it an old used-up horse, worth perhaps $80 at most. And -these horse-traders are not gipsies either, for every one expects them -to trade horses, but men in the community, who, take them out of their -own specialty, pass as respectable men. Between services at the church -this trader slyly tells his neighbor how he got $125 the better of -So-and-so at the last trade, with a sly laugh and a cough. With his -forefinger he digs his companion gently in the ribs, and in great -confidence tells him that he knows where there is another whopping good -trade for him. A bank account this man has, too, and in every way is the -pink of perfection, save in his own peculiar business; pays his bills -promptly, dresses his family well, and is never backward in his -contributions to the church, and is really, as he pretends to be, a -decent man. But on a horse trade he would cheat his own father. Just how -he reconciles this peculiarity with his theology we have never been able -to discover, but somehow his theology is elastic enough to stretch over -the point, and he conveniently allows it to do so. - -Maybe it’s a horse I want to sell, and I have advertised the fact in the -local papers. After tea, and on the eve of setting out for a drive, this -horse-buyer comes along and inquires for the “boss.” - -“Understands I want to sell a horse,” and I tell him that the hired man -is in the stable and will show him the horse. - -But he must talk with the “boss,” and I am forced to go to the stable -with this would-be buyer. - -“Bring out that Clyde horse, John; this gentleman wants to buy him,” and -John leads by the halter the horse which six months ago I paid $180 for, -and now having no further use for him, I wish to convert into bankable -funds. - -“Rather stocky, and just a little heavy in the legs,” and I prepare -myself to hear my good, sound, strong horse so run down as to be only -fit for slowest and easiest work on a farm. - -“You’d be asking as much as $125 for that horse, I suppose, boss?” - -Now, as far as I have ever known or can discover, I never yet heard of -any one selling a horse for as much as he gave for it, unless he -belonged to the horse-dealing fraternity. I reply, however, “A hundred -and forty dollars is my price for this horse, and I paid $40 more for -him only six months ago.” - -“Whew! boss, you paid far too much; don’t know as you know it, but just -now the Americans are buying lighter horses, and horses of this stamp -don’t sell so well. Now, if you were to say $130, I might--” - -“John, take him back to his stall, for I am afraid this gentleman and I -can’t agree.” And John turns the horse for the stable door. - -“Don’t be in such a hurry, boss; perhaps we can split the difference.” -An appeal, as before, to “split the difference.” But at this stage of -the dicker I am thoroughly disgusted, and wonder if it be necessary to -practise so much deceit and cunning in the purchase and sale of a horse -simply. - -I reply that $140 is my price, and not a cent less. “Well, boss, I guess -I’ll take him, but you’re a very impatient man anyway. There’s a blanket -on the fence; I suppose you’ll throw that in, and, of course, the halter -now on him.” - -In sheer desperation to get rid of this pest of a buyer, I give up the -blanket, and the horse is put in the buyer’s charge. “Grand growing -weather now, boss; hope your turnips haven’t been eaten by the fly;” and -thus the conversation drifts to polite subjects, and he inquires as to -the health of the family, and I can do no less than reciprocate and ask -him if his care are likewise well. - -There’s something mean about the whole transaction, and one feels that -his manhood is lowered by his “dickering.” This buyer knew that my -horse was richly worth all I asked for him at the first, but he formed a -deliberate plan to cheat me out of just as many dollars as he could by -lying, or by running my horse down contrary to his own deliberate -judgment. - -There’s a gathering at neighbor Jones’s, and I see over the fields a lot -of carriages in the road. Looking still, I see the village hearse come -driving down the road towards the house, with its black plumes nodding -as the wheels feel the inequalities of the road. More of the neighbors -have collected, and now I see the pastor of one of the village churches -coming in his light covered carriage. - -“So Mr. Jones’s eldest boy has gone, boss, and it will likely be rather -hard on the old man, for he did think a lot of the boy, even if he did -run away from him,” neighbor Dixon remarks to me as he is driving by to -the funeral. This neighbor Jones is one of the fore-handed farmers of -Ontario, and the only quality that can be praised about him in any way -is his industry. Up before day dawn, winter and summer, and drudging -daily till dark at night, and his wife’s just like him. - -He’d only two boys, and this oldest one was so harried at home that two -years ago he ran away to Texas and became a cowboy. Only a few short -weeks ago he returned with seeds of that dreadful malarial fever in his -system, and only to die. The second boy is not yet old enough to run -away, but in the ordinary course of events, as soon as he does get old -enough, he’ll follow his poor dead brother’s example. - -This Jones is a Yorkshire man, and his wife is a North of Ireland woman. -Last winter they boarded the school-master. At four o’clock of a winter -morning this dame would call him up for breakfast. For some days the -school-master stood it meekly, until he finally told Mrs. Jones that -this first meal would do for a lunch, and that he’d take some breakfast -before he went to school. It is a large farm-house Jones has, and it is -nicely painted and well finished, and for a marvel contains really good -and appropriate furniture. The matter of furniture can be explained, for -Jones sold a lot of hay to some cabinet-maker, and being afraid of his -pay was glad to get the furniture. - -His hired help are worked beyond all reason, and have scarcely ever a -part of Sunday for themselves. Some poor ignorant fellow of an emigrant -has come over and has not yet learned our prices, and Jones has pounced -on him, and so he gets his work done for a song. - -Get rich? Of course, he does. How could such a man help it? - -The parlor is open to-day--the first time I have seen it for a -twelvemonth--and the shutters are thrown back. Neighborly decency says I -must go to the funeral, and I get my horse and carriage. - -In the parlor the boy is laid, and the fine embellished coffin contains -all that is mortal of the poor lad, Jones’s eldest heir. - -Well, it’s a nice parlor, even so, and those things which money could -buy in a lump are there. The little bric-a-brac, or knick-knacks, or -books, are of course absent, for Mrs. Jones only sees the parlor -monthly, when she dusts it out, and no one has any time about Jones’s to -make it homelike. - -Books are conspicuous by their absence, save only one, a large gilt -family Bible, opened last when it was put in here, some months ago, for -no one has any time to read at Jones’s. - -A hush, and the minister rises and announces the hymn. Neighbors’ wives -and daughters have mercifully gathered, and, standing in the hall, and -upon the stairs, raise their voices in one of Watts’s soul-stirring -hymns, and gradually the assembled neighbors join in. A prayer follows, -and then the solemn warning. All voices are hushed. Boys of the -neighborhood are the bearers--boys whom this Jones boy once loved and -made his confidants and associates. The coffin is placed within the -hearse. The procession moves, and soon the grave closes all, and Jones -has lost his oldest son, and is disconsolate for a day or two. - -Again the parlor is closed. When its cobwebs will be again dusted from -it, as I have attempted to do, it is impossible to say. Possibly not -until the next boy comes home to die like his brother. I am picturing -Jones’s home to show one of a class of money grabbers and slaves in -Ontario. The bright sunshine of a home is not there. Books, papers, -recreation, society and neighborly chat are all absent. - - - - -CHAPTER XIX. - - City and country life compared--No aristocracy in Canada--Long - winter evenings--Social evenings--The bashful swain--Popular - literature of the day--A comfortable winter day at home--Young - farmers who have inherited property--Difficulty of obtaining female - help--Farmers trying town life--Universality of the love of country - life--Bismarck--Theocritus--Cato--Hesiod--Homer--Changes in town - values--A speculation in lard. - - -Your city dweller turns away from a life in the country on account of -society. Granted that we in the country cannot make calls and pay -fashionable visits as easily as you can. But most good country families -have a few genuine friends and acquaintances whom they visit -periodically, and such visits are really appreciated by the persons -entertaining. There is not much duplicity about our friendships, for we -are not so much thrown together as city people; and when we do meet at -the different family boards, genial right good fellowship is the rule. -The cant and half-friendly reception of your city fashionables we know -not of. - -There is no aristocracy in Canada, and all attempts to found any such -class in America have signally failed. It is contrary to the genius and -spirit of the democracy of America, for are we not quite as democratic -as our neighbors to the south of us? Of all the prominent families who -were on the boards at the time of the American Revolution, in the last -century, only five are in existence this day. What a comment on the -mutability of human affairs! Your titles and riches don’t stick in -America, and there is many a boy in rural Ontario who now follows the -plough who will yet rise to eminence as his years increase. To create -and maintain a titled class in Canada, in the face and eyes of the great -Republic adjoining us, would be an anomaly, and it never can be done. -There seems to be a growing disposition to exclusiveness among the city -families, and to discriminate to too great a nicety as to whom their -sons and daughters shall marry. Their alliances in the matrimonial way -are ever to be with those of the presumably rich, in contradistinction -to others possessing push and merit, but not quite as many dollars in -immediate view. So far as I can judge, I do not know of the son of a -business man to-day in any of the country towns hereabout who inherits -the wealth his father once possessed, and who pursues his father’s -calling. John Adams, when ambassador of the United States to Paris, -wrote home to his daughter who asked his views about her approaching -marriage: “Marry an honest man and keep him honest.” In Adams’s advice -there is no mention of the _dot_, as the continental Europeans use the -term, and it is earnestly to be hoped that this word will never find any -currency among us. - -The long winter evenings, when our inhabitants must perforce remain by -the lamplight, are the most trying period for our young people. Some -sort of excitement seems to be the great _desideratum_. In most country -parts the local church will have evening anniversaries and teas, to -which the near inhabitants invariably flock. Ministers on other circuits -usually come to such gatherings, to assist the local minister, and much -genial talk usually flows. The half-grown farmer’s son at these meetings -usually essays his first attempt to wait upon the fair sex, and brings -some neighboring farmer’s young daughter to the entertainment. Paying -the required admission fee for both, he considers her usually his -partner for the evening, and pertinaciously sits by her side. His -half-bashful, scared look, and the twitch of his downy moustache, even -if they do show some awkwardness on his part, betoken a thoroughly -honest fellow, whose intentions are above suspicion. - -The influence which the clergy exert upon the community cannot for a -moment be gainsaid. Ontario to-day listens to her ministers, and in a -great measure they form a standard for the opinions and actions of its -inhabitants. It must necessarily be so, for Ontario people are a -church-going people, and in many country parts the ministers are the -best read and most cultivated persons in their midst. All honor to our -clergy, for they have done and are daily doing a good work. Even -sceptics tell us that we must build gaols or churches. We prefer the -churches, hence we have them, and our people attend them and listen to -our ministers, and crime is rare, and our people are law-abiding, no -mobs, and industrious. Protoplasm, evolution, or modern agnosticism have -not reached our rural population to disturb their simple faith. - -Comparisons of travel lead me to think that our country churches might -be made more attractive. Who has not seen in the Old World gems of -little country churches, moss-grown, ivy-wreathed, and surrounded by -trees, shrubs and hedges? Among the graves at the church’s side are -invariably rare shrubs and grasses, let alone flowers, but the whole -embowery of green giving an air of quiet repose. And with the steeple or -tower pointing to heaven, no place seems better calculated for -reverential feelings than do the rural churches of the British Isles. - -In Ontario we build bare, glaring walls, and our churches are right, -from a modern architectural point of view. Even if we cannot grow ivy, -we can greatly beautify our churches and grounds by planting shrubs and -evergreens, and thus relieve the stiffness of our newly constructed -churches and grounds. - -Henry Ward Beecher says that he never knew a bad family to come from a -home where there was an abundance of books and papers. Our Ontario -farmers do not provide enough and sufficiently varied reading matter for -their families. Most of them take a weekly paper, an agricultural paper, -and generally some religious paper, the organ of the denomination to -which they belong. These are all well enough so far as they go, but -pictures are perhaps the quickest, best, and most agreeable way of -imparting instruction. All our farmers could easily spare annually the -cost of enough journals to make home daily attractive, so that the new -papers to come each day forward would be looked for and something -sought. The London _Graphic_ or London _Illustrated News_ would keep us -posted pleasantly on matters at home, and, in fact, they would follow -England all over the world, and improve the family taste at the same -time. From New York a paper should certainly be taken, for we must, of -course, follow our cousins just south of us, with their seventy-five -millions of people. The New York semi-weekly _Tribune_ would keep us -thoroughly up with the times, and there will be nothing in it that one -need be ashamed to read before his daughters, which is a great -recommendation in this day of trashy literature. By all means add -_Harper’s Weekly Illustrated_, and _Frank Leslie’s_ as well, for they do -not require much time to read--the pictures show for themselves; and -then there is the _Century Magazine_, which is perhaps the most popular -to-day. As to merit, I only wish we in Canada could afford to produce -anything nearly as good. Its illustrations will shame any English -magazine, and I would certainly add _Harper’s Magazine_ as well. For the -little folks, by all means the _St. Nicholas Magazine_, beautifully -illustrated, and with stories down to the mental calibre of the little -ones. Of course, I would not forget our own productions, and would take -a few of them in addition to those now taken. - -Now, I know a good many will look upon this as too much to read, will -say it costs too much, etc. They can all be taken for less than $50 per -year, and if once they begin to come to the family, the boys will soon -stay at home nights rather than go prowling around the country or -seeking society in the towns and villages. - -Excitement people must have, and your city people get their excitement -by conversing with one another, the theatre, lectures, etc. But if our -country people would take the periodicals I have outlined, in -conjunction with their social gatherings at churches and in neighbors’ -houses, they would have a constant fund of excitement and pleasure at -home. Each mail would be looked forward to with eagerness, and the quiet -evenings at home would be most pleasurably and profitably spent. - -Even if they read upon subjects quite foreign to their own occupations, -some knowledge would be gained. Knowledge from whatever source is -valuable, and some day will, without a doubt, come into play. In this -fast century many people who are able financially eschew a country life, -and flock bag and baggage to the cities. There are some instances -wherein a city life is more desirable than life in the country. Admitted -that the city dweller can hear the best lectures of the day, and now and -again witness a play of genuine merit upon the stage, yet there are -pleasures in a country life which will outbalance those privileges, and -of which I cannot help speaking now and again when my pen flows freely -and I am in the humor. When writing of life in the country I do not mean -twelve miles from a lemon, as Gail Hamilton writes in her New England -bower, but rather within easy reach of the daily mail. Around me are no -signs of want. The examples of wretchedness the city dweller has brought -to his notice so very often we know not of. It is truly said, “that -one-half of the world does not know how the other half lives.” So far as -our pleasures and feelings are concerned we do not want to know, _i.e._, -while we are willing to relieve the distressed we are glad that such -examples do not come before us to harrow our feelings. - -My hardwood fire burns brightly in the open fireplace as I sit behind -double windows defying the 7° below zero without to penetrate, and my -books and papers rest upon my writing-desk within easy reach of my hand. -The children come in from their slides upon the ice with cheeks aglow -and faces on fire, induced from the sudden change from the cold outside -to the genial warmth within. You city dweller would think half-grown -boys and girls too big to enjoy their hilarious, life-giving fun, and -would want them to be nicely dressed and walk your city streets in the -prim of propriety. - -The examples of all great men and women prove distinctly that in order -to be such you must first have good constitutions to support big brains, -and our children by this are laying the foundations of such sound -constitutions. Soon enough they will be men and women, and let them have -their fun as long as they can. - -In this locality most of our lands are held by inheritance. The sons of -the pioneers who cleared the forests are the owners of the soil as a -rule to-day. The rising generation, the immediate sons of the pioneers, -are not as a rule equal to the old stock. The reason is, so far as I can -judge, that they have seen the hard toil and steady, unchangeable life -of their future, and having received a little education, which their -fathers did not possess, they judge themselves too smart to follow their -fathers’ footsteps. A good many of these sons, as I have before -remarked, flock to the cities to live as half gentlemen, and very many -others lease their farms to tenants, and reside in the towns hereabout. - -There come before my mind as I write dozens of instances of young men -who inherited a hundred or a hundred and fifty acres of land, worth -probably from $80 to $125 per acre, or, say, they are worth individually -$8,000 to $12,000, and these young men think to be gentlemen on these -means. There are so many of such instances that I must needs make a note -of it. Seemingly they get on for the present tolerably well. But the -fences and buildings which their fathers built are yearly rotting away, -and there is no timber here to replace them; and having yearly lived up -to their full rental it becomes a serious question to know what this -class of persons will do in the end. Englishmen with small means are -gradually buying up such farms. Given the entering payment, and your -sturdy English emigrant, who has spent a few years in this country, will -pay for the property from the money which he makes off it. - -Many of the pioneers and their sons in this locality have been as -nomadic as the Indian. Having cleared or partly cleared up their lands, -which they obtained for a merely nominal sum, or by Government grant, -and spent many years in hard toil, in fact the very hardest kind of -toil, they pull up and sell out, and move to the promised West. - -So far as I have yet been able to learn, I cannot now recall a single -instance in which an Ontario farmer, from this locality, who left a 100 -or 150 acre farm, is to-day worth more money in the West than the same -lands he left are worth here to-day. It would appear that these persons -obtained their properties too easily to learn their real value, and -hence are supplanted by the emigrant, whose previous lot in his old home -has been a hard one. - -Upon the other side of the picture, there are some of the sons of those -pioneers who early learned wisdom, and commenced just where their -forefathers left off. Such young men or middle-aged men are buying out -very many of the small properties around them, are keeping good blooded -and grade stock, and are a credit and a benefit to the country. They -ever dispense a generous hospitality when called upon, and ordinarily -will give the visitor as much of their time as he desires. Their sons -and daughters are invariably healthy and well on in a common school -education, and are the hope and interest for the future of our glorious -Province of Ontario. - -And yet there is a dark side to their lives, or rather that of their -wives. Female help in the house is so difficult to obtain that the wife -of many and many a man, who is worth easily from $30,000 to $50,000, -has perforce to perform more hard manual labor than has the wife of the -ordinary mechanic, the owner, perhaps, of a very humble home, and who -earns his $1.25 or $1.50 per day. Pardon me, reader, for drawing this -unpleasant picture, but it is indeed too true, and there is something -very wrong in the “eternal fitness of things,” when men of such ample -means are able and willing to pay for servants to ease their wives’ -lots, and they cannot be obtained. The only hope on this score seems to -be in emigration. When our country becomes more thickly populated, and a -living in the country is not quite so easily obtained, then the -daughters of households having therein a number of girls will go out to -work rather than be pinched at home. Formerly the daughters of the -farmers would go out to work among the neighboring farmers, and usually -married the sons of those farmers, and became in their turn mistresses -themselves. All this is now past, and our farmers’ families, with -increasing wealth, do not go out to work but feel perfectly able, as no -doubt they are, to live at home. - -Not a few of our farmers, feeling that they were not big enough upon -their own farms, became storekeepers or manufacturers in the towns. No -doubt, in the abstract this may be well for the general progress of -those towns in building them up and laying the nucleus of new -industries. They do not, however, as a rule, succeed in the new fields -of business they have chosen, or if they do not become the principals of -businesses in the towns, they sometimes lend their names as endorsers -to assist those who are principals of such businesses. Endorsations were -sometimes very easily obtained by the glib-tongued business man, and for -a time all went on well, until some financial crisis overtaking the -business man, consequent ruin came to the farmer. These instances have -been so many that I speak of them as exemplifying another phase of life -in the country. Latterly, however, the landowners are becoming more -conservative of their means and credit, and are disposed to “paddle -their own canoe.” - -Since the law of primogeniture was abolished in Canada, the hold upon -land has become very slight, and the examples of large landed estates -being retained in the same families for over two generations are so very -rare that they need scarcely be mentioned. In some cases our rich men -make a terrible mistake in bringing up their families. They are not -taught to labor, but live a life of ease, with the idea that the family -property will be sufficient to support each individual member. But with -the nomadic habits of our Canadians, and the light stress usually -heretofore laid upon the paternal acres, each individual share soon -vanishes, leaving them to learn to fight the battle of life at a -terrible disadvantage, because frequently they are then past their first -youth at least. - -My wood fire still burns brightly as I turn to my morning mail with its -treasures of current literature. Talk about your city bustle compared -with this, in my cosy seat beside the fire and all these treasures at -my elbow! There are no gas bills to pay, nor water rates, and the mail -comes to me daily, just as regularly as your city mail does. Then what -do we want with your city? - -Speaking of the post-office reminds me to say that the meanest hovel in -the land can to-day put itself in almost daily communication with the -best minds of the age. Such service the mail hourly and regularly -performs for us, and is such a great factor to the pleasure of our -lives, and yet we scarcely bestow a thought upon it. No, I do not -propose to try to assume that life in the country would be very pleasant -or desirable away from the mails. Given a daily mail and a comfortable -country-seat, and easy access to the train, so that I may come to the -city quickly and easily, if you have therein any real intellectual -treat, and I yet fail to see what are the inducements to make one prefer -life in the city to the free life in the country. - -A rural life is a natural life, and a city life is an artificial life. -Man in his first estate was an arboreal being, and in such surroundings -throve as he does to-day. Our Ontario families, as a rule, who leave -good properties in the country to go into the cities, make a mistake in -almost every respect. Even if the parents do not feel the trouble -wrought upon their families during their lives, their children almost -invariably do not make the men and women they would have made had they -hung on and occupied the paternal acres. In most instances these are -sold, and in a few years the money scattered. Had they held on to the -paternal acres, and bought more, they would have been among our -staunchest and best citizens, as well as among the wealthiest. - -In Europe all successful men look forward to the day when they can own -and live upon a farm. Bismarck had his country home, and we know he -prized it, for we often heard of him going there to get away from the -cares of office. Going back to earlier times, we find that the great men -of the world loved their country homes quite as much as the English -country squire does at this day. I take down old Xenophon from its place -on the bookshelf and see that he says he sees the ridges piling along -the ælian fields, and from the way that he makes the remark, he loves -the sight, and loves to be in the midst of such ridges, where some -husbandmen are ploughing. Theocritus hears the lark that hovers over the -straight laid furrows, and if Theocritus did not love such a scene and -dwell in its midst, he would never have given it to us at this remote -day. “Establish your farm near to market, or adjoining good roads,” old -Cato says. So old Cato loved the country, and we all know his head was -level. I am afraid some of us in Ontario have followed old Cato only too -literally, and have built our houses almost overhanging the road-side, -when they would have looked far better and presented a much prettier -sight set back from the road and surrounded by trees and lawns. Hesiod -tells us that we ought not to plough the land when it is too wet, and -also how to put in a new plough beam to replace the broken one. Homer -the Great says a farmer should keep two ploughs on hand for fear one -should get broken, and he does hot forget to praise the wine which the -country produces about his rural home, and adds some caution about its -too copious use. - -When Hesiod and Homer loved country life in Greece so long ago, can we -be amiss in praising a country life in Ontario to-day? As my eyes run up -and down the pages, I can hear the swallows twitter and the lark sing, -in my fancy, as they heard them. They praise the crispness and freshness -of the vegetables which their gardens yield them, and they can go on and -describe feasts which they partake of at their country homes, the -materials of which come almost without exception from their farms. -Virgil, I infer, was not much of a farmer after all, but he tells us -that he loved his country home, and seems not to have the most remote -thought of removing to Imperial Rome. Mostly he praises the bees and the -wine, so it is evident every one sees a beauty in country life for -himself, as his peculiarities may be. Yet Virgil left us some very good -hints, though he evidently made some mistakes. He tells us, for -instance, that lands only need cultivating to obliterate the obnoxious -weeds. Tull, however, said about one hundred years ago, that the land -only needed mixing by deep ploughing to make it produce indefinitely. -Now, Tull was a man of means, and only lived a rural life from the love -of it, as did the old worthies whom I have instanced. Ontarians, we have -a grand country, and we who are in it, let us stay therein and enjoy it. -Let those persons remain in the cities who are now in them. For us -nature in all its beauties is daily unfolded before our eyes, and let us -daily enjoy those beauties. If we can by any means inculcate an -increased love of country homes, we will continue to beautify our homes -and improve our country. - -Real properties in the cities and towns of Canada have been very -fluctuating, often being held at prices far beyond any intrinsic value -they could possibly possess, while again, the very same properties fall -away, and frequently become totally unsalable. Yet during commercial -depression good farm lands have held their value very well and have -even, after a temporary period of dulness, steadily risen in value year -by year. - -To illustrate the peculiar change of town values to which I allude, I -may give an instance coming under my own knowledge. One of my forbears -bought, about the year 1815, a large building tract situated on King -Street, Toronto, very near the market. For many years after the purchase -this property was wholly unsalable. Taxes were put upon it, and yearly -it became a burden. Somehow, in Canada we are not very careful, as a -community, of the rights in property of the individual. Accordingly, in -this instance, taxes for street improvements, with gas, water, sewers -and other special levies, were put upon this land. A day finally came, -about the year 1845, when to own property in Toronto meant either -disaster or a very large income from without to retain it. A purchaser -coming along at about that year, his offer was taken with avidity. My -people were glad to get it off their hands, and thus was closed a -history, so far as they were concerned, which was a fair sample of city -property in Canada and its mutations for more than thirty years. Since -that time the property in question rose to enormous value, but has again -fallen on account of trade to some extent deserting the locality. - -Another feature of city and town life we must notice, viz., the constant -interchange of views among the inhabitants as to business and politics -on account of their close proximity to each other. An instance occurring -in one of our Canadian towns will illustrate what I mean. In this town -some few moneyed men gathered nightly and exchanged views on stocks and -the like. Some of them had speculated in this way to the extent of a few -hundred dollars and had been moderately successful. At one of their -meetings some one introduced the subject of lard. - -Lard became the topic. Others came, heard and pondered. Small lots of -lard were then bought in Chicago, and in a few weeks sold, and some -ready profits realized. - -“If a little capital will win money in lard in Chicago, a large capital -will yield much more” was the reasoning, so they joined forces and got -nearly every man with ready cash in that town to put money into the -joint fund for lard. Again they bought in Chicago--this time -largely--and the commodity began to rise in price. Moreover it kept on -rising, and never seemed to recede a point. These operators began to -reason that if they held all the lard, they could dictate prices and -could control the article. They put more money into it and bought more -lard, for they considered it to be what is called “a dead certainty.” -Days and weeks passed and lard still held on. Fortunes truly seemed to -be within the grasp of our group of townsmen. There could be no mistake -about it, for they had, as they considered, all the lard in America -cornered, so that no one could beat them. - -One day, however, some persons in Chicago offered an immense quantity of -lard from some unknown source. So great was the amount that our townsmen -could not tackle it. - -Down came the price. Still down it came, and down every day, until in a -few days these lard cornerers in the Canadian town were entirely -“cleaned out” and a loss of $2,000,000 actually sustained. From that -loss for ten years afterwards that town was as quiet as a country place, -and its magnates felt and acted with the timorousness of poor men. - - - - -CHAPTER XX. - - Instances of success in Ontario--A thrifty wood-chopper turns - cattle dealer--Possesses land and money--Two brothers from Ireland; - their mercantile success--The record of thirty years--Another - instance--A travelling dealer turns farmer--Instance of a thriving - Scotsman--The way to meet trouble--The fate of Shylocks and their - descendants. - - -To show the possibilities to be accomplished in Ontario, I purpose to -cite some instances coming under my own observation of Ontarians who -have succeeded. I take the ground, that the opportunities are as great, -if not greater, in this Ontario of ours, for persons to achieve success, -as in any part of the world. Certainly the Old World presents no such -field for successful operations, and the only possible parallel can be -found in some of the neighboring States. - -Of the two I would certainly give Ontario the preference, for most of -those who have risen in the United States were in some way helped by -their parents and friends, whereas our successful men have invariably -risen from no beginnings at all, as our country emerged from the forest. - -Now for some instances of success: About twenty-three years ago, one who -could not read came to this part of Ontario, possessing not one dollar, -nor had a friend in America, but had come over from Ireland a few years -previously quite alone, in order to better his condition. He began by -chopping wood by the cord. Saving enough thereby, he bought a team, and -then bought wood by the lump and hauled it to town to sell. Then he -bought a wood lot, and proceeded to haul the cord-wood from it, which he -sold to manufacturers in the towns. After a time he got his lot cleared -of the wood, and put fall wheat on it, seeding the land down to clover -and timothy at the same time. The next season he had unlimited -quantities of grass for stock, and hay for wintering them. Then he went -around the country and bought up cattle in droves, and put them on this -grass. As soon as they were in condition these cattle were sold off for -the Montreal market, for we had not at this time begun the business of -shipping cattle to England. It is needless to add that he always bought -his lean cattle at the very lowest possible figure. If some poor fellow, -no matter how distant, was obliged to part with his stock by a forced -sale, this man would be on hand, and invariably secure it. This cattle -business coined money for him. Where he got his knowledge of the cattle -business I am unable to say, but unlettered as he was, and unable even -to write his own name, he seemed to take in all knowledge intuitively, -as it were. In a word he seemed to drink in knowledge as a sponge takes -up moisture. He could often be seen standing listening to groups of men -who were talking, saying but little himself, but treasuring up every -word dropped by them. The original wood lot was added to by another, -which in its turn became a gold mine to him by the sale of its wood. -This in its turn was cleared and seeded down to grass, as the first one -was, and cattle placed on it as well. - -Soon the first cleared lands became arable, and he then ploughed up the -virgin soil, and began raising barley and peas. Invariably his crops -turned out extremely well, which gave him funds to buy still another -wood lot. And so the process went on. Should a lot of lean cattle come -into the Toronto market in the fall, unfit for butchers’ use, our -successful man, always with one eye looking to the east, while the other -looked to the west, scented the bargain afar off, and came and secured -the lot. - -Without making repetitions, I will dismiss this man by saying that, a -few years ago, before he divided his land among his sons, he was the -absolute owner of 700 acres of land, and possessed besides an enormous -stock of cattle, horses, and farming appliances generally, and was then -easily worth $80,000--in twenty years he had made $80,000 from nothing -in Ontario. This fact needs no comment. It shows the possibilities of -our Ontario, and for a solid gain, without gambling, but property made -to keep, I think I can safely defy the world to beat the record. - -The next example I am going to relate is of success achieved in a -totally different field, but wholly the growth of Ontarians, and it can -be justly cited. - -Two brothers came out from Ireland about thirty-five years ago. They -possessed a good education, which is all they did possess besides the -clothes upon their backs. Each got a situation as clerk in dry goods -stores in one of our cities. By dint of close saving and strict -attention to business, they were able after ten years to start a store -on their own account. In this store they did all their work, and if -there was any profit in storekeeping they got paid for it. After a few -years they opened out branch stores in smaller Ontario towns, and these -branches invariably succeeded and the profits were good. Their credit -now had become assured, and buying mostly for cash, with their high -credit they were able to buy at the lowest possible figure. The war -broke out in the States about this time in my story of these men. The -United States money went down a long way below par, but for some time -their goods did not rise to keep pace with their depreciated currency. -Our men bought largely in the United States and sent over their gold -drafts, which were sold at a great premium, and thus their goods were -placed upon their shelves at ridiculously low figures. - -In boots and shoes, of which they bought enormous quantities, they -doubled their money on every invoice. Without pursuing this narrative -further, it is just as well to say that as the war went on and the -equilibrium came about in the price of goods in the United States, and -the depreciated currency got in sympathy, these men found themselves -with thousands of available funds on hand. - -Into manufacturing they then entered. In this new branch the same -painstaking and foresight which gained them success in storekeeping made -the wheels of the manufactories revolve to their profit. Year by year -their manufacturing operations succeeded, and they found themselves the -possessors of more capital than their manufacturing operations required. -Next they became bankers, and again in this new line the old business -habits of constant care, watchfulness and keen oversight, wrested -success from the business. Their manufacturing operations they still -kept on in connection with their banking business. - -Success so phenomenal pointed out the principals as sound, far-seeing -men, and we next find each brother the president of a bank and their -financial position fully assured. During this series of years they have -found time to take a relaxation now and again by trips to Europe, -besides holding municipal offices among the people where they reside. I -am not in a position to tell for a certainty of the wealth of these -brothers at this time, but it is conceded by all who know them to be in -the hundreds of thousands. - -This has all been done in thirty years in Ontario, and done fairly and -honestly. They have never gambled, nor taken chances, but always done a -square, legitimate business, open to the closest scrutiny. If those -persons in our country who are railing at capitalists will stop and read -this narrative, they must see that these persons have a moral as well as -a legal right to their capital, and it is to the glory of our Ontario -that they have made it and possess it. Indeed these men worked and saved -and lived close until they made their start, and they surely have a -right to it. - -All capital in Ontario was acquired by closeness and saving, for very -few persons in Ontario brought much money into the country. The capital, -in fact, has been created here by just such saving and downright hard -work as these men did. What is true in the case of these men is -invariably true in the case of others who have succeeded in becoming -capitalists in Ontario. I hope this narrative may be in somewise an -incentive to others to try and do likewise in their own particular -calling. - -A young New England lad began about forty years ago selling goods -through Ontario from a waggon. His employer furnished the horses and -waggon. Every working day through rain and snow found this young man on -the road. No storms, nor floods, nor cold snaps deterred him, but every -day he did business for his employer, and weekly he made up his balance -sheets, and remitted to his employer his weekly sales. - -His salary he saved, every cent of it, reserving for himself only enough -for the strong serviceable clothing he wore. He got an interest in the -business in a few years, or sold the goods on commission. The knowledge -he had gained while selling before for his employer at a salary enabled -him as he grew older to increase his sales, and likewise his profits. -Daily he plodded on, never for a moment swerving from the path of duty, -and as in the instances before narrated, such application has only one -result--and that is success. Success he certainly did have, and at the -age of twenty-five this young man found himself the absolute owner of -$10,000. - -He then became a farmer. Here, as in the selling of goods, the same -perseverance which succeeded before caused success now. In his farming -he succeeded. His harvest was always got in first in the neighborhood, -and his plough was soonest after the harvest dancing through the fields -making the next crop a certainty. It is almost a pity that so good a -farmer as this young man was was debarred from farming. His wife’s -health failed, however, and he found it necessary to get nearer a town, -where she might have better medical care, and so he sold out his farm. -From a farmer he became a manufacturer. In this new calling he masters -every detail of his business. He is at his work early and late, and -daily does more downright hard work than any man in his employ. -Gradually his works are added to, and his shop becomes known throughout -the length and breadth of our land. Seasons of adversity are guarded -against, for he always keeps an eye to the future. In fact, a panic can -scarcely strike him. Cash he pays for his stock, and his position -becomes so strong that he feels he really knows his ground and is fully -master of his business. Capital gathers; it is the same story I have to -tell as in the former instances. Such work, plodding and oversight -cannot fail to bring accumulated capital. There is no other way to get -it so that it will stick. Of course, we have the examples of -stock-gambling, but who will pretend to assert that capital by -stock-jobbing ever does stick? And now this manufacturer, having made -capital, becomes a banker. His banking operations, in the hands of a man -who has literally carved his own fortune, cannot fail to be a success. A -millowner he next becomes besides a manufacturer and a banker, and about -as busy a man as Ontario can produce to-day. Daily he is on the move, -early and late he is at his post, and every wheel is well oiled and runs -smoothly. Such men are a positive benefit as well as an ornament to our -young country. $300,000 he has made in thirty-five years, that being his -present wealth, which is conceded by all who know him. Recollect, he -began as a lad, fresh from a New England common school, and has -literally made himself. - -A Scotsman came to Canada about forty years ago, with nothing but his -hands to help himself. He had been used to farming at home, and here he -hired himself out to a farmer. Year after year he toiled on, worked and -saved. In about fifteen years he found that he had saved enough to buy -and pay cash for a farm. You, no doubt, reader, think it a long time to -work for the first start, but just wait and see what he did when he got -a start. He marries his employer’s daughter and sets up farming for -himself. If he was a good hired man, he was equally good as a boss, and -his farm began to bloom and season after season to look neater. Keeping -right on, even with the low prices which he then got for his grain, he -added to his farm until he owned absolutely and farmed 150 acres of -Ontario’s best lands. Now he is on the high road to success, but the big -Scotch heart within him went out to his father-in-law, and this came -near being his ruin. His father-in-law had been a wealthy man, but -became involved, and the son-in-law endorsed for the father-in-law for a -sum as great as his land was then worth. It is only the old history of -such endorsations to repeat: the endorser had to pay, of course. The -father-in-law failed, leaving the young man almost penniless. Neighbors, -not of the sterling stuff he was made of, advised him to sell his stock, -because that was not mortgaged, and take the money and run away. - -“I will pay every cent,” said the honest Scot, “only give me time.” Away -he went to the holders of the notes, and plainly and squarely told them -that he could not pay them now, but if they would wait he would pay them -every cent. - -“Then you are not going to run away?” - -“Never! I will work it all out in a little while if you will only wait.” - -And wait they did. - -The merchants with whom he dealt, knowing the sterling qualities of the -man, came forward and told him that he should have anything he wanted. -And he bared his arms, went to work, and gradually paid off every dollar -of his indebtedness, and stuck to his home when those who counselled him -to run away had lost their homes and gone away west. He buys another -farm, and with its aid, and the old farm as well, pays for it in a few -seasons. A palatial home he erects, and his farm becomes one of the best -cultivated in the locality. Now, had this man not been known as a man -of sterling integrity, his property must have been all taken from him -when those notes became due. But being so favorably regarded, he got the -chance which put him on his feet again. His character stood him in good -stead, for his merchants having lands they had taken for debts, offered -them to our Scot on favorable terms, with easy terms of payment, and the -Scot finds himself the absolute owner of five hundred acres of -first-class land, besides money at his credit in the banks, and a large -farm stock at home. In thirty-five years this penniless Scot makes about -$70,000, after the reverses he had suffered from his large-heartedness. -Money honestly, fairly acquired, a respected member of the community all -the time, a man whose word no one dare impugn, manifestly his course was -far better than if he had run away, and it is probable had he run away -in his adversity that to-day he would have been in very moderate -circumstances. Again, I doubt if any country in this world shows better -possibilities than Ontario does for a man to rise. And these are not -particularly isolated instances. Many more I might cite of what may be -achieved in this glorious Ontario of ours. - -Before drawing this chapter to a close, I wish to speak of one more -class of Ontario persons, whom I never recollect to have seen mentioned -in print before, and these are the Ontario Shylocks. Usually these -persons came from the British Isles, mainly from England, fifty years or -so ago. They would ordinarily be younger sons of a good family, and not -being able to inherit much under the British law of primogeniture, took -their one thousand sovereigns or so, and came to Canada. Arriving here -at that early day, and there being but little money in the country, -their cash commanded large rates of interest. At first they lent their -money at 15 per cent, or so, and were for a time satisfied. But as time -wore on, the greed of inordinate gain gained upon them, and they began -to demand a bonus of 10 per cent, beside their 15 per cent, interest. -Getting on in this way, it is almost superfluous to add that they soon -doubled and trebled their means. Was some unfortunate settler unable to -pay at the appointed time, an additional bonus of 10 per cent or so -would satisfy the lender. Lands he would not acquire, for they would -never be valuable, he thought, and nothing was worth anything but money. -The consequence was that these Shylocks became wealthy. But I almost -defy any reader to fix upon any such person to-day, or the family of -such a person, who are worth anything now. It appears according to the -eternal fitness of things that money so got by extortion does not stick. -A Temperance Society of England offers a prize of one hundred guineas to -any one who will trace money down to the third generation, got by the -sale of liquors. But here in Ontario we do not need to go down further -than the second generation to find that money got by extortion does not -stick. To-day those very settlers who paid the 15 per cent. interest and -a bonus besides, and kept their lands, are still at the fore, and their -descendants will inherit many broad acres. - - - - -CHAPTER XXI. - - Manitoba and Ontario compared--Some instances from real - life--Ontario compared with Michigan--With Germany--“Canada as a - Winter Resort”--Inexpediency of ice-palaces and the - like--Untruthful to represent this as a land of winter--Grant - Allen’s strictures on Canada refuted--Lavish use of food by Ontario - people--The delightful climate of Ontario. - - -When the Manitoba fever broke out a good many persons in this locality, -and some of my own tenants among the number, became uneasy and thought -of emigrating. Some did so, but notably those who were not located on -farms here. For a time they sent back glowing reports, and all seemed -well, and even Ontario would not seemingly begin to compete with -Manitoba. It is not, however, to be supposed that there have been no -disappointments. One instance will suffice. A tenant farmer from near -Whitby, worth about $2,000, went to Manitoba a few years ago, and took -up 320 acres of land. When the boom was on he wrote home that he could -sell his land for $10,000. Next fall passed. His wife came down -visiting, and said that they had sold one-half their land for $6.00 per -acre in order to save the rest; also that they had threshed three days -and only had fifty bushels of grain, and lamented that they had ever -left their farm near Whitby as tenants, to become owners in Manitoba. It -may be that this is an exceptional instance, but those now even -tolerably well located in Ontario run a serious risk in pulling up for -the North-West. When Ontario has lands which will produce seventeen -crops of wheat in succession, and when we can raise cattle absolutely -free from diseases, owing to our climate, what need have we to look to -Manitoba? It is now an assured fact, that cattle coming to Canada from -England, diseased, and remaining ninety days in quarantine, as they -must, lose their diseases, and do not take them on again; hence we have -a goodly inheritance in Ontario, in raising blooded cattle to sell to -the Americans for breeding purposes, for the diseases which periodically -break out in the West and South-West, among the cattle, are positively -unknown in Ontario. I met a Southerner from Charleston, S.C., early this -winter in Toronto, and in the course of conversation asked him what he -thought of our climate. “Just like champagne,” said he. It is an -established fact that our six months’ winter, in our clear cold -atmosphere, precludes the possibility of cattle diseases among us, and -is equally conducive to producing a lusty strong race of Canadians, in -hardihood the equal of any race anywhere. - -Already Michigan has much of its lands parcelled out in 40-acre farms, -and if Ontario land gets divided into smaller holdings, so that the -maximum of her farms is less than 100 acres, it will support double its -present population. This calls to my mind what I have seen in Germany. -The lands along the Rhine River were originally surveyed facing the -river with a narrow frontage, and running back a long distance, in some -instances as much as a mile. Upon the death of the farmer his narrow -strip is equally divided lengthwise among his several sons. These are -again divided among his sons in their turn. It is not uncommon, as the -result of such divisions, to see a strip of land on the Rhine only six -rods wide and a mile long. This shows the reader how it comes that -Germany is so densely populated. Again, the area of United Germany is -near 210,000 square miles, and it supports a population of at least -forty millions of people. Ontario has at least half as much more -surface, and is only supporting two millions to-day. As to the -comparative quantities of waste land and productiveness between us and -Germany, Germany is scarcely fit to be compared with us at all, and -Ontario has many millions of acres to be brought under cultivation yet, -and these added to the smaller farms will soon double our population. -Horace Greeley said on 100 acres two men were enough; on 50, four men; -on 25, eight men. Without a doubt our fertile soil will quickly be -densely populated and every rood cultivated. Investments to-day are as -safe in Ontario as in any quarter of the globe, and its farm lands will -rise as the population increases. - -Some years ago the _Century Magazine_ published a beautifully -illustrated article on “Canada as a Winter Resort.” This magazine is -widely circulated, and the publishers boasted that they had printed -180,000 copies of that particular number, which was, of course, widely -read in Europe. Now, this article was all about snowshoes, toboggans, -toques and ice-palaces, and would lead the stranger to infer that Canada -is a land of snow and ice. The premises are false, so far as Ontario is -concerned, and no one would think of building a snow-palace in Toronto, -because during the days required for its construction a thaw would -probably occur, which would demolish the ice-palace faster than it was -ever built. Out of two millions in Ontario, I think I am safe in -asserting that not more than 5,000 of its inhabitants ever stepped upon -a snowshoe. As to toques and toboggans, they are scarcely thought of. -Our youngsters do some coasting down the hill-sides when we have some -snow, and this is the extent of our tobogganing. It is undeniable that -we do have some cold weather in Ontario, but such periods are only for a -few days, and are invariably followed by mild weather. The four feet of -snow on the level, which they consider the proper thing for Quebec and -the Maritime Provinces, we know not of in Ontario. Our farmers were -ploughing on the 10th of December next before the appearance of the -article referred to, and this is not unusual; generally the farmers do -not take up their turnips before the middle of November. It is usual for -us to have some frost, and perhaps a little snow about the Christmas -holidays, and during January we look for our sleighing, if we are to get -any, for the season. But even during this midwinter month a thaw is -almost certain to take place, and generally clears off the snow, and -during this particular January the ponds of water were all open. A small -chance, then, for an ice-palace. During February the cold is not so -intense, for the days have become longer, and it will almost invariably -thaw during the middle of most February days. The month of March is, by -all means, the most disagreeable month in Ontario, not on account of its -cold, but because it is windy and blustery. Our snow, if we get any in -this month, usually drifts at the fences and impedes trade. In April we -get freezing nights and thawing days, so that the hubs frozen during the -preceding night turn to mud. Some farmers sow in April on land prepared -in the fall. It may be that the frost is not quite out of the soil down -below the surface, but if the Ontario farmer can get enough loose soil -to kindly cover his wheat, he can sow without fear. May is our general -seeding month for lands not prepared previously and sown in April. But -little chance, the reader will note, for an ice-palace in Ontario. - -Without a doubt, the fact that Ontario is surrounded by the immense -lakes gives it its exceptionally mild climate. The isothermal line drawn -through central Ontario passes through the centre of France and the -southern part of Germany. No one thinks of speaking of France as a land -of snow and ice, and no more should Ontario be put in that class. -Montreal may, no doubt, get tourists sometimes in the winter by means of -an ice-palace, and it pays her; but for the impression to get abroad -that ice-palaces and snowshoes and the like are the rule in Canada is -calculated to do us harm. The emigrant who is perhaps debating in his -mind whether he will emigrate to Canada or Australia, is quite likely to -choose the latter country if he thinks he must needs learn snow-shoeing -as perhaps the first element to success in Canada. We are glad to have -our Governor-General and staff at Ottawa enjoy themselves tobogganing -down the artificially-made slide of boards and scantling near Rideau -Hall, and no doubt the ladies do look attractive by the glare of -torches, dressed in blanket cloaks, toques, fezzes, and the like. Such -peculiarities, however, do not add to the wealth of our country. The -Ontario farmer during these winter months is making manure by feeding -his cattle, and drawing it out in heaps upon his land. He is busy, and -is every day adding to the productiveness of his lands. He utilizes the -snow in getting some rails or posts for his fences, and does not -hibernate or fritter away his time. During the few exceptionally cold -days he may stay by the fireside, but generally he is thoroughly busy -preparing for the coming summer, and there is plenty of work for him to -do. While the Quebec farmer passes his time in indolence, the Ontario -farmer is daily adding to the cash value of his property and also to its -productiveness. When summer does come we find that Ontario far outstrips -Quebec in the quantity of grain grown per acre and also in the total -quantity produced. And yet Quebec was well settled when Ontario was a -howling wilderness. - -Now, if the people of Ontario were spending their winters, when not -hibernating, in tramping on snowshoes or riding down declivities on -toboggans, then might such sport be considered peculiarly applicable to -us. To show unmistakably the great difference between the Quebec -peasant, who hibernates during the winter, and the Ontario farmer, who -works at the same time, look at the effort the Ontario farmer makes to -rot his straw, while in many parts of Quebec straw is carefully guarded -and husbanded. In Ontario it is the constant effort to get it all used -up and made into manure. If we get too much open winter in Ontario, the -farmer has as much as he can possibly do to get his straw worked down, -because the cattle do not use up enough of it. Hence we frequently see -large stacks of straw left over. In this part of Ontario it is more a -question how to get the straw rotted than it is how to save it. Then, -drawing the comparison between us and the land of toques, where straw is -sparingly produced on soils not well farmed, and what do we want with -any of that toque and snowshoe business! - -Mr. Grant Allen, the eminent writer, who, although born here, was an -Englishman by residence and education, having revisited Canada and the -United States after an absence of eleven years, took occasion some years -since to give utterance to some remarks on our country in the _Pall Mall -Gazette_. His remarks should never have been allowed to pass -unchallenged. I cannot go into the matter very fully for fear of too -great length, but I must needs touch on the more salient points, and it -will be necessary for me to inscribe Mr. Allen’s words here and there -as a text for my remarks. He says: “Looking at America with a geological -eye, I was impressed as I had never been before with the enormous extent -to which the country has suffered from the ice-sheets of the glacial -period.” And after making this remark he goes on to say that England has -suffered less from this great cause. Now, this remark of his refers to -Canada and the United States indiscriminately, and without a doubt it is -true to the letter. While I accept the statement as true, I at the same -time want very distinctly to qualify it so far as Ontario is concerned. -Ontario has measurably suffered from the glacial action, but it has as a -whole suffered far less than any one of the other provinces or any of -the northern United States, taken as a whole. I am referring to old -Ontario alone, and not the new portion lately acquired to the west. Take -old Ontario: The moraines have been frequent enough to give us the most -alluvial soil of any country of like extent on the habitable globe. This -remark does not apply to the more northerly portion of our province, -which is as yet but little occupied, for we cannot controvert the fact -that this portion did suffer sadly. - -Mr. Allen evidently did not know Ontario well enough, or he would have -excepted from his general remark the garden of the world. In a former -chapter I made the remark that if a line be drawn from Belleville to the -Georgian Bay, all that part of Ontario west of that line contains the -most alluvial land and the richest of any in the world, with the fewest -breaks and the least waste land. My own observation, begot by travel and -reading as well, gives me the courage to fearlessly make this remark -unqualified. - -Mr. Allen goes on to say: “In the valleys there is soil enough, but even -there the ice has worked almost as much mischief as it has done on the -hill-sides, by heaping up and mixing in a most heart-breaking way -enormous masses of boulders, which are almost the despair of the -agriculturist.” Now, this remark is true, but sweeping as it is, still I -must again except our own portion of Ontario, where there are no -“heart-breaking, enormous masses of boulders.” New York and Pennsylvania -would come in for a place under this remark, for those who have given -the subject much thought and observation have seen that those two States -do possess a vast amount of waste land, and even their best alluvial -lands are in no sense equal to ours. To forcibly illustrate: A New -Englander came to this locality about 1820, and settled on an excellent -farm. During the troubles of the rebellion, he felt annoyed at the -troubles some ultra-Loyalists gave him on account of his American -origin, sold out, moved to Pennsylvania and bought a farm there. A -neighbor here went down to see the old man just before his death, when -he told his boys in the neighbor’s presence, that they must sell out and -get back to Ontario. And he was a pushing man and located on an average -Pennsylvania farm. - -“America bears an immense harvest, yet the immensity of the harvest -only corresponds to the immensity of the area from which it is reaped. -Acre for acre, the Old World yields heavier crops than the New,” again -says Mr. Allen. - -In regard to our immense annual crop in America it is true that it is -really garnered from a tract as big as all Europe. Then, since America -has not a population to consume its crop, even if the crop be a light -one and the yield per acre low, we in America must annually have an -immense surplus, and America is looked upon as the granary of the world. -This fact alone establishes my exception in Ontario’s favor from Mr. -Allen’s remark, and I feel that I need not say more on this point. But -let the Old World recollect that America is yet in its infancy, and when -we begin to approach the Old World in density of population, and work -our lands better, in spite of the “heart-breaking” boulders, America -will surprise the world and prove to it that it is only beginning to do -what it can. That it is capable of feeding the whole world there isn’t a -doubt, and we want no doctrine of Malthus among us at all. I do believe -it is true, acre for acre, the Old World is ahead of us. And yet we have -in places soils which would put anything the Old World can produce to -scorn, even if we cannot apply the remark generally. It must be -recollected that Europe has been drained and its waste places reclaimed, -and but few of ours have, so that we have America just as nature gave it -to us. Fortunately in Ontario we have but few wastes to reclaim, for, as -I have said before, it is the garden of the whole. The only parallel -that I ever saw in the Old World to compare with Ontario is in Hungary, -which very much resembles our country. Then, again, as to extent, -Hungary is nowhere when compared with us. As to remarks about the hard -life of farmers in America, it may be to some extent true. Especially is -it true for the women; want of domestic help is the trouble, and for the -present we cannot remedy this evil until our population becomes greater. -Would that Miss Rye and others would send us out more girls. - -But in no country in the world do the people live better than they do in -Ontario. Nor is there any country where the necessities and -sumptuousness of life are more abundant. Go to one of our teas, or -soirees, and see the vast amount of rich varied food there spread before -the partakers. The richest cakes, the most varied, and the exceeding -abundance there seen, must quickly convince even the most casual -observer that our people are really well off, and are living in luxury. -One sees nothing of this sort in Europe, and we really use food the most -prodigally of any people in existence. An ordinary good Ontario family -wastes more than a French peasant family uses at all. This is a fact -which cannot be controverted. I might instance how carefully the German -family lives, and show likewise that the Ontario family wastes nearly as -much as these families consume; so even if we sometimes have exceedingly -low prices, we fare as sumptuously as any people in this world. - -The abundance in Ontario is something marvellous to the people of the -Old World. Look into our orchards and see the bushels of fruit lying -under the trees and going to waste, and this will convince the most -persistent grumbler that we are all right after all, and have but little -to grumble about. In thickly populated Europe all this fruit would have -been picked up and put to some use as human food. Every apple would be -used, and dried and stored away for future use. It is only the -plentifulness of everything in Ontario which causes our people to be so -wasteful. See our children take single bites from apples or pears, and -throw them away, only to bite another. Wasteful again, because of -exceeding abundance. Really our farmers have but little to grumble -about, for our land literally flows with milk and honey, and is one of -the most bountiful countries in the world. - -Some of our citizens now and again cast longing eyes towards Florida, -fancying that in that land of perpetual sunshine more pleasure can be -experienced than in our own land, possessing the four seasons clearly -and distinctly defined. It is quite a mistake. This beautiful Ontario of -ours presents, as the seasons flow along, a variety of contrasts in -scenes and foliage which the warm climates know not of. Our springs are -incomparably finer and pleasanter than anything down south, and our -foliage is greener and cleaner than hot countries can show. Our summers -are just hot enough to give us a taste of what hot weather really is, -and make us long for the russet fall season, with its golden grains, and -red-cheeked fruits, and delightful sombre days, when our atmosphere -becomes veritable champagne in itself, followed by the forest pictures -of bright colors as the frost touches the foliage. Our bright, crisp, -clear, cold and jolly sleighing is life-giving to the uttermost human -extremity, and we would not have a warm, muddy, rainy winter if we -could. Then comes our spring season, just the interlude, as it were, -between winter and summer, when the old drifted snowbanks are -disappearing, and this is the season which gives us the “sugaring-off,” -which cannot be duplicated anywhere out of our North American continent. - -Ontarians have a glorious heritage in climate, soil, seasons, -government, and pleasures, and we do not need to be casting about for -anything better in this world, for it is not to be found. Any one of us -who does not love our beautiful country is recreant to his best -interests. Indeed, if he does not, I boldly assert it is only because of -his want of knowledge of other lands to enable him to make comparisons -with his own. Let us stick to our country and place it far to the fore, -as it is now quickly attaining to that position. - - - - -CHAPTER XXII. - - Criticisms by foreign authors--How Canada is regarded in other - countries--Passports--“Only a Colonist”--Virchow’s unwelcome - inference--Canadians are too modest--Imperfect guide-books--A - reciprocity treaty wanted. - - -In my readings from time to time I come across many remarks by foreign -and other authors, that I feel are belittling to our country. If we only -took to the self-laudation practised by our Yankee neighbors, such -arguments, or, rather, want of arguments--but rather noises--would at -least make us better known. I feel that we as a people are far too -modest. Remaining at home, or at least within our own boundaries, one -does not so keenly feel how little our country amounts to or is known -abroad. On travelling on the continent of Europe, now and then in -company with some Americans, and once getting away from the seaport -towns, I could not make the people understand that I was anything but a -Yankee. Since I came from America _du nord_, I must, of course, be a -Yankee, and no amount of explanation in the best French I could command -would make them understand that I was a British subject. One day -particularly, in Florence, Italy, I recollect buying a postage stamp, to -send a letter home, on which was the plain address, Canada. Being -somewhat in doubt if I had placed sufficient postage on the letter, I -asked “if that was enough for Canada.” “‘Tis all the same. All America, -all United States.” “But this is not for the United States.” “Oh, yes, -it’s all United States, all America, _du nord_.” And so my country -counted for nothing. The great Republic completely swamps us away from -home, disguise the fact as we may, and we may as well acknowledge it. - -Even in Liverpool, I recollect when walking down the landing-stage, -valise in hand, about to board the steamer to sail for home two summers -ago, a little newsboy ran up before me and said, “Sir, don’t you want to -buy the New York _Herald_?” Of course I bought the paper for the little -urchin’s shrewdness in picking me out as being from America. I only -mention this simple anecdote to show that across the Atlantic it’s all -America and all the United States, almost without a discrimination. In -the matter of passports, now happily not nearly so necessary in Europe -as formerly, I have found at different times it is always better to be -provided with one for emergencies which may at any time arise. Going -down into Italy by the Monte Cenis route, the officials dumped us all -out at Modaire, through which town and depot the line between France and -Italy passed. I had to enter a door and pass a drawn-up guard of -soldiers and through a passage for the examination of passports. Ahead -of us were a number of Americans, who simply showed the eagle on the -seal of their passports, and who were allowed to pass unchallenged. My -turn came, and I showed the lion on my Canadian passport, and then my -trouble came. It was not British, the examiner said, but from America, -and did not bear an eagle like the Americans’ passports. I felt -humiliated and disgusted, that my own country with its five millions, -and the third naval (commercial) power of the world, was literally -unknown. Fortunately for me the examination was not very strict, and I -passed by parting with a small coin or two. - -I would surely obtain a British passport if I were again travelling in -regions where passports are needed in order to get along easily and -without detentions. - -Americans when abroad on the Continent very frequently call upon their -consul, and would return to the hotel, telling us of the delightful hour -spent in genial talk with their consul, and the information obtained -from him, and letters of admission to galleries, museums, etc. -Consistently I cannot pass myself off as a Yankee and go with them, but -determine to visit the British consul, who ought perforce to be my own; -and I call on him, and he looks at my passport, which he deliberately -folds, and hands back to me. He is too well bred to treat me positively -rudely, but the general air of his demeanor instantly makes me feel that -he considers me “only a colonist” and a person of no account in -particular, and not really worth very much of his consideration. One -experience of this kind suffices usually, and hereafter I let the -consuls alone. To be “only a colonist” at home does not seem to weigh -one down very much, but abroad to be told that a few times makes it -beyond human nature to not feel a spirit of resentment. As to being a -colonist it is quite right, and I am proud of the fact and do not wish -to change my position. If they would leave off the small word “only” -before “a colonist” it would take away all the sting, and make the -Canadian traveller feel that he is just as good as our British brothers -at home, our forefathers and relatives. When this “only a colonist” was -said to me, I generally felt it like the greeting accorded a son of some -obscure man; the son being exceedingly worthy, and having risen by his -talents, but “he’s only old Jones’s son,” and of course he can’t be -anybody. Canada is usually spoken of by foreign writers as a part of the -“frozen north.” This is really too bad when Ontario, which contains very -nearly one-half of the entire population of the Dominion, possesses a -climate far milder than the New England States, and quite as mild as -that of the great State of New York, just south of us. In an article on -“Acclimatization,” in the _Popular Science Monthly_, by so eminent an -author as Professor Virchow, is this sentence, “No one has, for example, -seen a people of the white race become black under the tropics, or -negroes transplanted to the polar regions, or to Canada, metamorphosed -into whites.” This coupling of us by implication with the frozen north, -coming from so eminent a man as Virchow, cuts. It is true that Canada -runs far to the north, but at the same time it would be just as fair to -speak of the United States as in the polar regions, since it has -Alaska, which is veritably in the Arctic zone, but at the same time, and -just the same as with us, but a very small part of their population is -there. Writers never speak of the United States as in the polar regions. - -When we are not spoken of as inhabitants of the polar regions we are -described as French. Now, the inhabitants of Quebec have always -contended that they are the Canadians, and what the rest of us, the -great majority, are I can scarcely make out. - -Once I was in an office in Broadway, New York, and happened to state -that I was a Canadian. The Yankee manager of that office remarked “that -he as yet hardly knew how to classify Canadians--whether as Englishmen -or Americans--and, in fact, that the world had not yet made up its mind -what we were.” If we were all French (and I am not for a moment speaking -disparagingly of our _habitants_), we could then be easily classified. -But to be called “only a colonist” in Europe, and in New York neither an -Englishman nor an American, makes one’s position as a genuine Canadian a -little foggy. The effort to distinguish by the spelling “Canadians” for -the English-speaking, and “_Canadiens_” for the French-speaking, is all -very well, and will no doubt work well enough at home. But abroad the -average Englishman, if you spell Canadian with an “e,” will simply put -you down as an ignorant fellow and a poor speller. And now can you -wonder what the people of continental Europe will think of us, if they -think of us at all, as apart from the United States? The plain truth of -the case is that we are far too modest, as I said at the beginning of -this chapter, and do not “blow” enough about our own country to cause it -to be better known abroad. The great west of the United States was -surely made and settled by the Yankee “blowing.” Their papers are ever -full of “spread eagle,” and always telling about their boundless -country, always praising their own institutions, and pulling down those -of the “oppressed monarchy of Great Britain,” and always representing -their country as the earthly paradise. - -Dr. Lyman Abbott, in the course of a visit to Ontario, frankly -admitted--privately, of course--that our free school system, and -likewise its management, were superior to those of the American States. -Then let us wake up, and since it seems to be absolutely necessary to -“blow” about ourselves, let us copy the apt example of the Yankees and -do it--and do it so strongly as to make up for past deficiencies. - -Guide books of travel, published both in America and Europe, for travel -in Canada, send the tourist invariably from New York City up the Hudson -by steamer to Albany; then by the New York Central Railway to Niagara -Falls. They do admit that the Falls are worth seeing. Then they send the -tourist by steamer to Toronto, and tell him to take the Richelieu -steamers, down the St. Lawrence from there, and run the rapids to -Montreal. From Montreal he is to take the night boat for Quebec and come -back again to Montreal by the day boat, and then go south to Lake -George, and this is all the tourist is to see of Canada. Thousands of -American and British tourists form their opinions of us from what they -see on this water tour through Canada. Of course, going down Lake -Ontario they see next to nothing of us or our country, because the lake -is too big to see much on the shore. Entering the St. Lawrence, they -view shores studded with rocks, and have not the faintest idea of our -fertile lands and rich farms, which give to Ontario its wealth. The -wealth of Ontario is certainly in her comfortable homesteads and fertile -fields. Of this the tourist knows nothing, and he goes down to Quebec -city to see, as best he may in America to-day, the best example of a -city in the eighteenth century style; and he passes out of our borders, -having come almost wholly in contact with our French population, and -goes away considering our land a land of stones peopled by Frenchmen. - -The tourist travels too quickly to get proper impressions of a country, -I think I hear many readers say. Granted, but still many impressions are -got of countries by tourists by such rapid travelling, and we cannot -help the fact. The only way we can help the matter appears to me to be -for our railways to join and offer a general tourist ticket, taking the -tourist all over our country at a reasonable rate, and allowing him to -stop off when and where he will. Such tickets ought to be advertised in -Great Britain and the United States, and be on sale there. If once -bought they would be used. While using such tickets the tourist could -scarcely fail to get considerable knowledge of us and of our country. -Tourists, as a rule, are persons of means and of influence at home. Many -of them might thus be induced to bring capital to our country and make -it their home, to our and their advantage. - -Ontario would make a grand State, the Americans tell us, when they look -with coveting eyes over this way. Yes, indeed, she would, and any other -one of the States would not keep pace with us; but they are not going to -get us. Give our people a reciprocity treaty, so that we can trade with -our American cousins, and leave Ontario to manage Ontario’s affairs, and -she will remain content. If a vote of Ontario farm-owners were taken -to-day on the reciprocity question, nine out of every ten would vote for -it, and we should have it. Our people are loyal and attached to the -Mother Country, and have no thought of severing the tie, but Britain is -3,000 miles away, and the United States is beside us. It is obvious that -we can more easily trade with the United States than Britain; hence, to -us, a treaty is to-day the greatest element in our politics. Even with -all the restrictions now imposed by the United States and ourselves, our -trade with the United States is enormous. - -Politicians may wrangle and fritter away our money at Ottawa, and cause -us to many times feel well-nigh disgusted at them; still, so long as -they do not resort to direct taxation at Ottawa our country people will -stand an almost untold amount of fraud without much complaint. If the -Mother Country desires us to be joined into the talked-of universal -confederation, we would first like to know how we are to be benefited -thereby. For, as we now feel, we think that Ontario bears nearly all the -burdens of our Dominion, and we do not want to have tacked on to us any -more burdens or some other poor relatives of colonies. If the Mother -Country would put on a tariff against all the world except her own -colonies, and allow us free trade with her, we could see some use to us -for such a gigantic union. Just now, as it is, we do not want to join -any such scheme for an idea, although we reverently love and honor our -common Mother Country. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIII. - - Few positions for young Canadians of ambition--American - consulships--Bayard Taylor--S. S. Cox--Canadian High - Commissioner--Desirability of men of elevated life--Necessity for - developing a Canadian national spirit. - - -It has occurred to many of our young Canadians that there are very few -positions attainable to us as Canadians really worth striving for. We -are so peculiarly situated, that we seem to be in a large measure -debarred from obtaining positions which would ordinarily fall to the lot -of those attaining eminence among five millions of people. To become a -member of a Provincial Legislature is, perhaps, the first position -ambitious young men ordinarily aspire to; and while the position itself -is really honorable, and also one of usefulness, yet it is not wholly -satisfactory. As to becoming an M.P., and spending three dreary months -or so in Ottawa, it is not a desirable situation. In fact, most aspiring -young Canadians, who come from good homes, do not take kindly to the -idea of being forcibly banished for three months out of the twelve. In -Washington, on the other hand, since consuls and _charges d’affaires_ of -all civilized nations are resident there, it naturally follows that that -capital must be the place of social activity and the like, and a place -where one can meet persons worth knowing, and who are wholly different -from ourselves. - -To become a judge, no doubt, is the aspiration of many young Canadians, -and not for a moment would any one attempt to decry the desirableness of -that honorable position. Yet the fact is, that we have altogether too -many young men aspiring for legal positions. “Too many lawyers in Canada -by three-fourths” is heard among us as common everyday talk. Since -Canada has no foreign consular service, all consularships are squarely -and flatly out of our reach. Bayard Taylor began as a boy tramping over -Europe on foot, and gave the world his boyish volume of “Views Afloat,” -which is quite as readable to-day as when first penned. And he kept on -travelling until he became quite familiar with most of the languages of -modern Europe. Then a consulship was given him, and he really obtained a -position worth working for. At different courts he became the -representative of the great American nation, and enjoyed social -advantages which can fall only to the lot of persons thrown in contact, -as he necessarily was, with people from every quarter of the globe. -Finally he became ambassador at Berlin, and enjoyed the highest honors -there. There he died, and his body was sent back to his American home, -having been accorded especial honors by the German court. Here was a -career, it appears to the writer, which was really worth striving for. -He was not a lawyer, nor in any wise specially educated in any -particular specialty, but yet with the career open to him, by dint of -his own push and good common-sense, he really rivalled in position any -of those among us who make political fights to get to Ottawa, or pore -over the midnight oil to become eminent in law. And what is true in Mr. -Taylor’s case is equally true in the case of many representatives who -to-day are the accredited representatives of the American Government at -the court of St. James. Take, for instance, the case of S. S. Cox, who -was American representative at Constantinople. Mr. Cox was, no doubt, a -tolerably clever man, but not a lawyer, though generously educated. Like -Taylor, he travelled and gave to the world the result of his -observations in his “Arctic Sunbeams” and “Orient Sunbeams.” True, he -had been a member of Congress, but even if one were to become an M.P. in -Canada that would not further him in any way for foreign preferments. No -one will for a moment doubt but that Cox’s position as _charge -d’affaires_ at Constantinople was far preferable to that of any M.C. at -Washington, or an M.P. at Ottawa. - -We have a High Commissioner, some one reminds me. Yes, and we may -instance Sir Charles Tupper at London; but the social status of that -gentleman over there must have been so doubtful that one can hardly jump -to the conclusion that his position was desirable after all. Of course, -his salary would be desirable, but of that I am not speaking. Do not for -a moment suppose that Sir Charles would be very graciously received by -the representative of the Czar, for instance. Obviously not, for he was -not a real ambassador, or even a consul, and he had no particular -powers, anyhow. The representative of the little kingdom of Greece, as -the representative of three millions of people, would have far more -social status in London than our Sir Charles, who ought to represent -over five millions, and half a continent. So I think I might as well -give over this matter of consulship, for there’s really nothing to be -attained in that direction. - -We educate a young man at home in one of our universities, and then to -give him a good finish send him off to Oxford, or perhaps to Heidelberg, -and our young man comes home the representative of one of our best -Canadian families. He has not been educated for a profession -particularly, for his parents as well as himself realize that the -professions are already quite full enough, and also that there’s no -_éclat_ to be gained from the hardest drudgery in any one of them. Now, -I ask, what position is open to him at all commensurate with his careful -education and his talents? Really among us, as Canadians, there is none. -No doubt, at Oxford or Heidelberg, he has studied the laws of nations -and many matters of civil polity, and ought to be as well qualified, -after a little apprenticeship, as any one anywhere to be the foreign -representative of his own country at St. James, St. Cloud, or St. -Petersburg. But he cannot, and must either lead the life of a gentleman -of leisure among his people or go in for sordid money-getting. If he -leads the life of a gentleman of leisure he does not fully fill the -sphere of usefulness his countrymen are by right of common citizenship -obviously justly entitled to. As to common money-getting, we hope never -to see the day when the most cultivated in our young country will give -themselves over wholly to that sordid life. - -An aristocracy in Canada is not what I am aiming at. But we do certainly -need some peer among us to leaven the mass, and keep us refined and up -to the social standard. The United States is already possessing such -persons. The case of Charles Sumner, for instance. He could have made -money as a lawyer, no doubt. But with his great talents and careful -education, he spent his life among his New England kin, except when -travelling or at Washington, and no one will for a moment deny but that -he leavened his fellows during his whole life. Political preferments or -legal standing he never sought after, but he, with his culture and pure -life, did real good to his fellows. - -It would be easy to elaborate and speak of many more such examples, both -in the United States and Britain. But having illustrated the point, I -have said sufficient to prove that such a cultured few among us are -desirable and to be commended. They do not call them aristocrats in the -United States, and I do not see why they should be so termed here. In -the future, as our country grows, and our old families become stable -with the steady growth of our country, their sons must be educated -broadly and generously, and will no doubt be a benefit to us by -leavening the lump; and we certainly do not want to cast our ringers at -them, even if they do not get down to sordid money-getting, but seek for -something higher. Yet, as I set out to prove, there are really few -positions among us worth their striving for. If they would rise among us -and make themselves known, I fail to know where or how they are to do -it. Is a clerk or head of a department needed at Ottawa? Canadians, we -are led to know, do not as a rule get the preference. In very many -instances some one must be imported from the British Isles and given -that position right over the heads of our own fellows. Now, we all love -honor, and respect our common Mother Country, but this is carrying the -matter too far, without a doubt. Do not for a moment suppose any -Canadian will be exported from Canada to London to fill any one of the -clerkships or offices over there. Such an instance is not within my -knowledge, and I am at a loss to know why we need do it for the young -English, Scotch or Irish man. The remedy for the want of a goal for -Canadians I am not going to speak of. Let those who can, and wish, take -the matter up and tell us. Yet we do not want independence just now that -we may have foreign consuls and the like, and thus open careers for our -young men of abilities, for we are too poor yet to do all that. Nor do -we want annexation to the United States, for our people are unmistakably -British, disguise the fact as one may. Our people are really British in -thought and feeling, and are not disposed to throw off the Mother -Country. If Imperial federation ever takes place, it is probable that -the different colonies will then have a resident _charge d’affaires_ at -each sister colony, and our chosen members would assemble at the central -parliament at London. In this there would be a help to our ambitious -young men, and perhaps some remedies will thus come about. But it is -absurd to think that our rising young men will always be content to go -on as we are, finding no goal in our midst worth striving for. These -young men see, perhaps, their college-mates in the United States away -ahead of them in positions of trust, while they cannot possibly get -higher as Canadians, and are apt to become in a measure disgusted with -home. The writer can recall instances of his fellow college-mates in the -United States whom he thinks were no cleverer than himself, nor had they -any special advantage over him in any wise. Yet to-day in his memory he -can fix upon a number of such American college-mates who are now foreign -consuls of the United States Government, M.C’s, senators, and others who -occupy high positions in the army and navy of that Government. In -drawing the comparison between them and himself it is quite natural for -him to ask himself why his college associates so signally succeeded. The -answer must be because success could be obtained in their own country, -and such success led to preferments worth striving for, to the -contra-distinction of our own lot as Canadians, where there is no career -open to us. - -That we all love Canada, and are all satisfied with our form of -government, goes without saying, yet somehow we are not developing a -national spirit in any wise whatever. It appears to me that we can and -ought to develop a spirit of patriotic pride among us, and I see nothing -incompatible with our position as provinces to hinder fostering such a -spirit. One great difficulty is that our flag and that of Britain are -exactly alike. Go away from home, and meet a Canadian vessel up in the -Mediterranean, for instance, and I defy you to tell if she be not an -ordinary British ship. The same ensign is at the peak, and there is -really nothing outwardly visible to make a Canadian’s heart swell with -pride on beholding a Canadian ship away from home. It seems to me that -we might have a flag of our own, not incompatible with the Union Jack, -which would cause us to cling to it and feel that it was really our own. - -In the way of a national ode there positively is nothing at all. Moore’s -boat song is the best thing we have by far, and is really a gem. But gem -as it is, recollect it was written by an Irishman, and is mainly about -boat life on our great river. Perhaps we are not old enough yet to -produce a genius capable of giving us a national ode, and yet we have -had some very good poems by Canadians, and I wish quickly to see the day -when some of our poets will give us a national ode which shall be a gem -for us to rally round. Let those who possess the proper poetic genius -ponder on this subject. - -Ask a Canadian young lady who sits down to the piano in Britain before a -drawing-room full of Britons of both sexes to play something Canadian, -as I have heard asked there. Now just let our young lady musicians think -the matter over and make up their minds what they would play and sing -under such conditions. If our young ladies go over there, they must know -they will be asked for such songs, and I really hope, for the credit of -our country, they will not be compelled to fall back upon American songs -to represent Canada. Such songs may represent America, but the part -Canada plays on this continent will in such songs be sadly deficient. - - - - -CHAPTER XXIV. - - A retrospect--Canada’s heroes--The places of their deeds should be - marked--Canada a young sleeping giant--Abundance of our - resources--Pulpwood for the world--Nickel--History of our early - days will be valued. - - -No one can look back over the years covered by this volume of -reminiscences and observations of Canadian history and life without -being struck by the changes that have already taken place, and also by -the great possibilities of the future. At the close of the American -Revolution of 1776 there were not more than 80,000 white persons in all -of what we now call Canada with its confederated provinces. When Roger -Conant came to Upper Canada, on the termination of that lamentable -struggle, he found only 12,000 inhabitants in that province. At the time -of the War of 1812 there were in all Canada about one-fifth of a million -inhabitants, and in Upper Canada (Ontario) 55,000. It is only ninety -years since that war, and the increase has been a marvellous one. We -have nearly 3,000,000 inhabitants in what was formerly Upper Canada, and -5,000,000 in the whole Dominion. Let another period of ninety years -revolve around our land, and the millions that will then inhabit our -provinces will make our present enumeration seem insignificant, as well -as those of our forefathers in 1792 and 1812. - -We know, of course, that the War of 1812 was Britain’s war. Canada was -really not a party to its origin. But it would be a bold person to-day -who would dare to assert that our forefathers did not do their duty in -that struggle. The world at large, as well as ourselves, recognizes that -they did all that a few poor but brave men could do. - - “Oh! few and weak their numbers were, - A handful of brave men, - But to their God they made their prayer, - And rushed to battle then.” - -There dwells no Canadian on his native soil whose heart does not swell -with pride at the valor of our forefathers in that war. For although it -was Britain’s quarrel, and we honestly felt that Britain had been rather -overbearing in her conduct to the United States, and had claimed too -much in indiscriminately searching American ships and removing any men -from them she chose, our people showed their valor, hardihood, and that -Anglo-Saxon pluck which is the common attribute of the white man on this -continent north of the Rio Grande River. - -If, then, we are proud of our sires, let us mark the places of their -deeds. Already the site of the famous battle between Wolfe and Montcalm -in Quebec, which sealed the fate of a continent, is in doubt. How much -more so, then, will be the sites of the deeds of our forefathers in the -War of 1812, and the more recent struggle of the Canadian Revolution of -1837-38. The author submits that it is the duty of those who know these -historic spots to mark them by monuments or tablets. Very soon those who -know them to-day will be off the scene, and information as to the -whereabouts of these spots will be difficult, if not impossible, to -obtain. We are making history so very fast that it behoves us to bestir -ourselves with regard to these matters. Future historians will glean -every word we say, and view with eager interest every spot we mark. - -Truly we are laying the bricks and stones of the superstructure of this -great country of ours. Our 5,000,000 may seem insignificant to our -children’s 125,000,000 by and by, but our children will search most -diligently for all we did and said while in our adolescence. - -Canada to-day is a young sleeping giant which has not yet felt its -power, nor yet risen to consciousness of its own importance, wealth, -power and grandeur. Our future no one can read. While we are proud to be -a part of the great British Empire, and glory in it, we are none the -less Canadians first, and we must never forget it. Some deep political -thinkers and far-seeing statesmen have said that the white man’s -governments and the flags of Anglo-Saxondom will some day be unified and -made to wave over all the continent of North America north of the Rio -Grande. How that may be accomplished no one will have the hardihood to -predict. Our United States cousins may join us and a united flag may be -evolved. That such an amalgamation would most materially add to our -advancement is self-evident. We would like to see that gigantic stride -made and still remain members of the great Empire, if that be possible. -A treaty of commerce between us and the United States, be it reciprocity -or what not, would so very materially tend to our benefit that we would -risk much and give much to obtain it. There is such an abundance of food -for man and beast in Canada, and always has been, without a single -general failure of crops, that we cannot realize what such a failure -really means. Nor can we make comparisons between times of abundance and -years of want. No general failures have ever come to Canada, and while -it has never been uniformly productive, the past two seasons have -surpassed all previous records. We have seen harvests of 60,000,000 -bushels of grain in Manitoba, Alberta, Assiniboia and Saskatchewan, -seeking an outlet to Europe through the railways and canals of Ontario. - -Verily, Canada is a young sleeping giant which has not yet awakened to -its power. Our resources of all kinds are enormous. Take, for instance, -our vast supplies of pulp-wood spruce, the raw material of paper. -Explorers have found hundreds of square miles of this timber as yet -untouched by the hand of man, between the northerly boundary of Ontario -and James’ Bay. These forests may be cut off, but in twelve years will -again have grown ready for another cutting. It is freely asserted that -Canada has more spruce wood for pulp than all the world besides. The -resources of commercial white pine are also within Canadian borders. The -United States have almost exhausted theirs, and are coming for ours, but -they most ungenerously mulct us in $4.00 per 1,000 feet for duty on this -pine. This example very forcibly again reminds us that we particularly -want a treaty of commerce with our nearest neighbors. Canada’s resources -in pulp-wood and pine alone are sufficient to make her rich, and all -nations must yet pay tribute to us on this account. To these we may add -nickel, of which only New Caledonia besides has any quantity. Nickel the -nations must and will have, regardless of price. In extent of fertile -lands no nation can make a comparison with us. All these considerations -point to a marvellous development in the future. With the increase of -population and the spread of education we may take it for granted that -the history of our early days will become more and more interesting to -future generations, and that every genuine contribution to it will be -highly valued. - - - THE END. - - * * * * * - - _Upper Canada - Sketches_ - - _By ... - THOMAS - CONANT._ - -With 21 full-page illustrations by E. S. Shrapnel, lithographed in -colors. Printed on superior paper, with gilt top, and bound in buckram, -with cover design in green and gold. - -PRICE, $3.50 net, postpaid - - -..Press Comments.. - - The _Journal of the Royal Colonial Institute_, London, England, - reviewing the book, gives the following admirable summary of its - scope and contents: - -“Stories regarding the early settlement of Canada always possess a -certain amount of fascination, and the book under notice is no exception -to the rule. It is of more than ordinary interest, as it is written by -one who is a descendant of the first Governor of Massachusetts, and the -grandson of one of the earliest settlers in Canadian territory. Mr. -Conant gives us many old settlers’ stories, as well as legends and -traditions of the past, and presents glimpses of the rude, free life -that obtained in the earlier years of settlement, whilst at the same -time he depicts many of the phases of present-day life in Canada, as -compared with the past. His personal experiences, which extend over many -years, are full of interesting details regarding life in Canada. Mr. -Conant not only describes the country and its advantages for settlement, -but supplies numerous anecdotes regarding its administration, both -politically and from a municipal point of view. He describes various -events in its history so graphically as to enable the reader to follow -him with interest through the many pages of the work, and to gain an -insight into the mode of life which existed in Canada long before the -railways opened up the country.” - - -_The Toronto Globe_: - -The value of such unadorned records as those contained in Mr. Conant’s -book will be fully appreciated by the future historian. With many of his -contemporaries, the incidents he relates and the customs he describes -are a common memory, and will be vouched for as not only accurately set -forth in these pages, but with not a little incidental interest. Mr. -Conant is well known to a large constituency of Canadian readers as a -writer of some descriptive talent and with a pleasant colloquial style. - - -_Toronto Mail and Empire_: - -“Mr. Conant has not only written a book that those interested in -Canadian history will want to read, but he has set a good example to -those who have the material for a family history.” - - -...Some Personal Commendations ... - - -=The Right Hon. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, G.C.M.G.=, writes the author: “I have -received your book, ‘Upper Canada Sketches,’ and I can assure you with -perfect sincerity that I enjoyed it very much.” - -“A friend called my attention to your ‘Upper Canada Sketches, and, -though I was only able to skim through it, yet I want to write and tell -you how much I enjoyed it.... It seems to be the most readable book in -that line that I have come across.”--=Miss Minnie Jean Nesbit=, Hamilton. - -“I have read, ‘Sketches’ with great pleasure. It is very good and does -you credit.”--=Dr. H. Wheeler=, Windsor, Eng. - -“I have read it [‘Upper Canada Sketches’] with great pleasure and -interest. It is, in paper, print, engravings, and margin, a pleasure to -look at, and you have brought together very valuable sketches of -life.”--=Miss Janet Carnochan=, Secretary Historical Society, Niagara. - -“I got for my own library, as soon as it appeared, a copy of your book, -and read it through with a great deal of interest and enjoyment.”--=C. C. -James=, Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Ontario. - -“I have greatly enjoyed Mr. Conant’s charming book, having read it from -cover to cover. While I don’t suppose it appeals to a down-east Yankee -like myself, as it must to a Canadian ‘to the manor born,’ I fully -appreciate its fine literary finish, stirring incident, and flavor of -‘ye olden time.’”--=Ada Chadwick Williams=, Chicago. - -“Am glad you found something of interest in my book. I could say the -same thing, many times emphasized, regarding your own fine -volume.”--=Frank H. Severance, Esq.=, Author of “Old Trails on the Niagara -Frontier.” - -“Your ‘Upper Canada Sketches’ are unique, and more references are made -to this book than to any other we have on Colonial history.”--=David -Boyle, Esq.=, Secretary Canadian Historical Society. - -“I read your ‘Upper Canada Sketches,’ and I must pay you the compliment -of saying that I could not get away from the atmosphere of that book for -a long time after reading it. I have seldom had scenes cling to me as -they did. I shall be greatly interested in anything further that you may -do along that line.”--=C. N. Johnston, L.D.S., D.D.S.=, Chicago. - -=Mr. Fred Odell Conant=, author of “The Conant Genealogy,” writes: “I have -waited for an opportunity to look it over carefully before replying. It -is first-rate, and, so far as I can judge, gives a very good -representation of life in the early days in the wilds of Upper Canada. I -have been much interested in its perusal, and shall send for two or -three more copies at once. You have the gift of making interesting -reading.” - - - _WILLIAM BRIGGS, Publisher_, - 29-33 Richmond Street West, - - Toronto, Ont. - - -FOOTNOTES: - -[A] _Vide_ “Upper Canada Sketches,” by the author. - -[B] _Vide_ “Upper Canada Sketches,” by the author. - -[C] The author’s forbears then lived on the shore of Lake Ontario, at -Port Oshawa. Word came to them of the taking of York during the night -of April 26-27, and that the fort would be blown up if the Americans -entered it. They were, therefore, on the _qui vive_ for the explosion. -For thirty-three miles to Port Oshawa on that still April afternoon -the sound of the explosion followed the water along the shore, and -the author’s people distinctly heard the heavy boom they were waiting -for. Hence it may be gathered that the blowing up of the fort was -premeditated. - - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN CANADA *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part -of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project -Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm -concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, -and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following -the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use -of the Project Gutenberg trademark. 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You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Life in Canada</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Thomas Conant</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: July 3, 2021 [eBook #65750]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images available at The Internet Archive)</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN CANADA ***</div> -<hr class="full" /> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/cover.jpg"> -<img src="images/cover.jpg" height="500" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_001" style="width: 435px;"> -<a href="images/frontispiece.jpg"> -<img src="images/frontispiece.jpg" width="435" height="571" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>THOMAS CONANT.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_i" id="page_i">{i}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter"> -<a href="images/title.jpg"> -<img src="images/title.jpg" -height="600" -alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -</div> - -<h1><span class="smcap"><span class="redd">Life<br /> -in<br /> -Canada</span></span></h1> - -<p class="cb">by<br /> -Thomas Conant,<br /> -Author of “Upper Canada Sketches.”<br /><br /> -<span class="redd">Toronto<br /> -William Briggs<br /> -1903</span><br /></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_ii" id="page_ii">{ii}</a></span></p> - -<p class="hang">Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year -one thousand nine hundred and three, by <span class="smcap">Thomas Conant</span>, at the -Department of Agriculture.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_iii" id="page_iii">{iii}</a></span> </p> - -<div class="blockquott"> -<p class="nind">“<i>If a book comes from the heart, it will contrive to reach other -hearts; all art and author’s craft are of small account to that.</i>”</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_iv" id="page_iv">{iv}</a></span> </p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_v" id="page_v">{v}</a></span> </p> - -<h2><a name="Preface" id="Preface"></a>Preface.</h2> - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> the following pages will be found some contributions towards the -history of Canada and of the manners and customs of its inhabitants -during the hundred years beginning October 5th, 1792. On that date my -ancestor, Roger Conant, a graduate of Yale University, and a -Massachusetts landowner, set foot on Canadian soil as a United Empire -Loyalist. From him and from his descendants—handed down from father to -son—there have come to me certain historical particulars which I regard -as a trust and which I herewith give to the public. I am of the opinion -that it is in such plain and unvarnished statements that future -historians of our country will find their best materials, and I -therefore feel constrained to do my share towards the task of supplying -them.</p> - -<p>The population of Canada is but five and one-third millions, but who can -tell what it will be in a few decades? We may be sure that when our -population rivals that of the United States to-day, and when our<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_vi" id="page_vi">{vi}</a></span> -numerous seats of learning have duly leavened the mass of our people, -any reliable particulars as to the early history of our country will be -most eagerly sought for.</p> - -<p>As a native resident of the premier Province of Ontario, where my -ancestors from Roger Conant onwards also spent their lives, I have -naturally dealt chiefly with affairs and happenings in what has hitherto -been the most important province of the Dominion, and which possesses at -least half of the inhabitants of the entire country. But I have not the -slightest desire to detract from the merits and historical interest of -the other provinces.</p> - -<p class="r"> -<span class="smcap">Thomas Conant.</span><br /> -</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Oshawa</span>, January, 1903.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_vii" id="page_vii">{vii}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="Contents" id="Contents"></a>Contents.</h2> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""> -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td> </td><td class="rt"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Roger Conant—His position in Massachusetts—Remained in the -United States two years without being molested—Atrocities -committed by “Butler’s Rangers”—Comes to Upper Canada—Received -by Governor Simcoe—Takes up land at Darlington—Becomes -a fur trader—His life as a settler—Other -members of the Conant family</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_13">13</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Colonel Talbot—His slanderous utterances with regard to -Canadians—The beaver—Salmon in Canadian streams—U. -E. Loyalists have to take the oath of allegiance—Titles -of land in Canada—Clergy Reserve lands—University of -Toronto lands—Canada Company lands</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_27">27</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">The War of 1812—Canadian feeling with regard to it—Intolerance -of the Family Compact—Roger Conant arrested -and fined—March of Defenders to York—Roger Conant -hides his specie—A song about the war—Indian robbers -foiled—The siege of Detroit—American prisoners sent to -Quebec—Feeding them on the way—Attempt on the life of -Colonel Scott of the U. S. Army—Funeral of Brock—American -forces appear off York—Blowing up of the fort—Burning -of the Don bridge—Peace at last</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_37">37</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Wolves in Upper Canada—Adventure of Thomas Conant—A -grabbing land-surveyor—Canadian graveyards beside the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_viii" id="page_viii">{viii}</a></span>lake—Millerism in Upper Canada—Mormonism</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_60">60</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Abolition of slavery in Canada—Log-houses, their fireplaces and -cooking apparatus—Difficulty experienced by settlers in -obtaining money—Grants to U. E. Loyalists—First grist -mill—Indians—Use of whiskey—Belief in witchcraft—Buffalo -in Ontario</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_72">72</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">A manufactory of base coin in the Province of Quebec—A clever -penman—Incident at a trial—The gang of forgers broken up—“Stump-tail -money”—Calves or land? Ashbridge’s -hotel, Toronto—Attempted robbery by Indians—The -shooting of an Indian dog and the consequences</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_87">87</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">The Canadian Revolution of 1837-38—Causes that led to it—Searching -of Daniel Conant’s house—Tyrannous misrule of -the Family Compact—A fugitive farmer—A visitor from -the United States in danger—Daniel Conant a large vessel -owner—Assists seventy patriots to escape—Linus Wilson -Miller—His trial and sentence—State prisoners sent to Van -Diemen’s Land</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_97">97</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Building a dock at Whitby—Daniel Conant becomes security—Water -communication—Some of the old steamboats—Captain -Kerr—His commanding methods—Captain Schofield—Crossing -the Atlantic—Trials of emigrants—Death of -a Scotch emigrant</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_114">114</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Maple sugar making—The Indian method—“Sugaring-off”—The -toothsome “wax”—A yearly season of pleasure</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_122">122</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Winter in Ontario—Flax-working in the old time—Social -gatherings—The churches are centres of attraction—Winter -marriages—Common schools—Wintry aspect of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_ix" id="page_ix">{ix}</a></span>Lake Ontario</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_129">129</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">The coming of spring—Fishing by torch-light—Sudden beauty -of the springtime—Seeding—Foul weeds—Hospitality of -Ontario farmers</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_136">136</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Ontario in June—Snake fences—Road-work—Alsike clover -fields—A natural grazing country—Barley and marrowfat -peas—Ontario in July—Barley in full head—Ontario is a -garden—Lake Ontario surpasses Lake Geneva or Lake -Leman—Summer delights—Fair complexions of the people—Approach -of the autumnal season—Luxuriant orchards</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_145">145</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Some natural history notes—Our feathered pets—“The poor -Canada bird”—The Canadian mocking-bird—The black -squirrel—The red squirrel—The katydid and cricket—A -rural graveyard—The whip-poor-will—The golden plover—The -large Canada owl—The crows’ congress—The heron—The -water-hen</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_159">159</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Lake Ontario—Weather observations with regard to it—Area -and depth—No underground passage for its waters—Daily -horizon of the author—A sunrise described—Telegraph -poles an eye-sore—The pleasing exceeds the ugly</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_170">170</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Getting hold of an Ontario farm—How a man without capital -may succeed—Superiority of farming to a mechanical trade—A -man with $10,000 can have more enjoyment in Ontario -than anywhere else—Comparison with other countries—Small -amount of waste land in Ontario—The help of the -farmer’s wife—“Where are your peasants?”—Independence -of the Ontario farmer—Complaints of emigrants unfounded—An -example of success</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_180">180</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Unfinished character of many things on this continent—Old -Country roads—Differing aspects of farms—Moving from -the old log-house to the palatial residence—Landlord and -tenant should make their own bargains—Depletion of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_x" id="page_x">{x}</a></span>timber reserves</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_201">201</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Book farmers and their ways—Some Englishmen lack adaptiveness—Doctoring -sick sheep by the book—Failures in -farming—Young Englishmen sent out to try life in Canada—The -sporting farmer—The hunting farmer—The country -school-teacher</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_208">208</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Horse-dealing transactions—A typical horse-deal—“Splitting -the difference”—The horse-trading conscience—A gathering -at a funeral—Another type of farmer—The sordid life that -drives the boys away</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_219">219</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">City and country life compared—No aristocracy in Canada—Long -winter evenings—Social evenings—The bashful swain—Popular -literature of the day—A comfortable winter day -at home—Young farmers who have inherited property—Difficulty -of obtaining female help—Farmers trying town -life—Universality of the love of country life—Bismarck—Theocritus—Cato—Hesiod—Homer—Changes -in town -values—A speculation in lard</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_227">227</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Instances of success in Ontario—A thrifty wood-chopper turns -cattle dealer—Possesses land and money—Two brothers -from Ireland; their mercantile success—The record of -thirty years—Another instance—A travelling dealer turns -farmer—Instance of a thriving Scotsman—The way to meet -trouble—The fate of Shylocks and their descendants</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_244">244</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Manitoba and Ontario compared—Some instances from real life—Ontario -compared with Michigan—With Germany—“Canada -as a winter resort”—Inexpediency of ice-palaces -and the like—Untruthful to represent this as a land of -winter—Grant Allen’s strictures on Canada refuted—Lavish -use of food by Ontario people—The delightful climate of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xi" id="page_xi">{xi}</a></span>Ontario</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_255">255</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Criticisms by foreign authors—How Canada is regarded in other -countries—Passports—“Only a Colonist”—Virchow’s unwelcome -inference—Canadians are too modest—Imperfect -guide-books—A reciprocity treaty wanted</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_268">268</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">Few positions for young Canadians of ambition—American -consulships—Bayard Taylor—S. S. Cox—Canadian High -Commissioner—Desirability of men of elevated life—Necessity -for developing a Canadian national spirit</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_277">277</a></td></tr> - -<tr><th colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIV">CHAPTER XXIV</a></th></tr> - -<tr><td class="pdd">A retrospect—Canada’s heroes—The places of their deeds should -be marked—Canada a young sleeping giant—Abundance of -our resources—Pulpwood for the world—Nickel—History of -our early days will be valued</td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_286">286</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_xii" id="page_xii">{xii}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="Illustrations" id="Illustrations"></a>Illustrations.</h2> - -<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""> -<tr><td> </td><td class="rt"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr> -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_001">Thomas Conant</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#ill_001"><i>Frontispiece</i></a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_002">Roger Conant</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_14">14</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_003">Governor Simcoe—from the Tomb in Exeter Cathedral, England</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_18">18</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_004">Colonel Talbot</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_27">27</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_005a">Colonel Talbot’s Arm-Chair</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_28">28</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_006">Shoal of Salmon, near Oshawa, 1792</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_30">30</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_007-a">Fac-simile of Certificate of Oath of Allegiance</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_33">33</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_006-a">Fac-simile of Court Summons, 1803</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_35">35</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_007">Newark (Niagara), 1813</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_39">39</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_008-a">British Military Uniforms, 1812</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_41">41</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_008-b">An Old Spinning-wheel</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_41">41</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_008-b-c">Civilian Costumes, Upper Canada, 1812</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_41">41</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_009">Roger Conant Hiding his Treasure</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_43">43</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_010">Farewell’s Tavern, near Oshawa, as it Appears To-day</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_47">47</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_011">View of York—from the Oldest Extant Engraving</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_51">51</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_012">Burning the Don Bridge—from a Sketch by Isaac Bellamy</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_56">56</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_013">Thomas Conant (<span class="nonsmcap">the Author’s grandfather</span>)</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_60">60</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_014">Old Graveyard near Oshawa, the Property of the Author</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_66">66</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_015-a">Fireplace and Household Effects in use in Upper Canada, 1813</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_76">76</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_015-b">Kitchen Utensils, Upper Canada, 1813</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_76">76</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_016">The Old Conant Homestead near Oshawa, Built in 1811</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_100">100</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_017">Daniel Conant</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_104">104</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_018">Desk Used in the Legislative Chamber by W. Lyon Mackenzie, Upper Canada, 1837</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_113">113</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_019">Canadian Apples at the Glasgow Exhibition—“The Best in the Empire”</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_143">143</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_020-a">Scene near Bobcaygeon</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_172">172</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_020-b">A Canadian View—Looking South-East from Eagle Mountain, Stoney Lake</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_172">172</a></td></tr> - -<tr><td class="pddsmcp"><a href="#ill_021">A Sailing Canoe on Lake Ontario</a></td><td class="rt" valign="bottom"><a href="#page_214">214</a></td></tr> -</table> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_13" id="page_13">{13}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="LIFE_IN_CANADA" id="LIFE_IN_CANADA"></a>LIFE IN CANADA.</h2> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Roger Conant—His position in Massachusetts—Remained in the United -States two years without being molested—Atrocities committed by -“Butler’s Rangers”—Comes to Upper Canada—Received by Governor -Simcoe—Takes up land at Darlington—Becomes a fur trader—His life -as a settler—Other members of the Conant family.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> author’s great-grandfather, Roger Conant, was born at Bridgewater, -Massachusetts, on June 22nd, 1748. He was a direct descendant (sixth -generation) from Roger Conant the Pilgrim, and founder of the Conant -family in America, who came to Salem, Massachusetts, in the second ship, -the <i>Ann</i>—the <i>Mayflower</i> being the first—in 1623, and became the -first Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony under the British Crown. He -was graduated in Arts and law at Yale University in 1765. At the time of -the outbreak of the Revolution in 1776 he was twenty-eight years old. -His capacity and business ability may be judged from the facts that he -owned no fewer than 13,000 acres of land in New England, and that when -he came to Canada he brought with him £5,000<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_14" id="page_14">{14}</a></span> in British gold. He -appears to have been a man of keen judgment, of quiet manners, not given -to random talking, of great personal strength, and highly acceptable to -his neighbors. In after days, when he had to do his share toward -subduing the Canadian forest, they tell of him sinking his axe up to the -eye at every stroke in the beech or maple. The record is that he could -chop, split and pile a full cord of wood in an hour.</p> - -<p>Although he became a United Empire Loyalist and ultimately came to -Canada, leaving his 13,000 acres behind him in Massachusetts, for which -neither he nor his descendants ever received a cent, Roger Conant’s -decision to emigrate was not taken at once. The Revolution broke out in -1776, but he did not remove from his home until 1778. Even then he does -not appear to have been subjected to the annoyances and persecution -which some have attributed to the disaffected colonists. What the author -has to say on this point comes from Roger Conant’s own lips, and has -been handed down from father to son. He has, therefore, no choice in a -work of this kind but to give it as it came to him. It has been the rule -among many persons who claim New England origin to paint very dark -pictures of the treatment their forefathers received at the hands of -those who joined the colonists in revolt from the British Crown. For -instance, words like the following were used soon after the thirteen -colonies were accorded their independence and became the United States:</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_002" style="width: 461px;"> -<a href="images/ill_001.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_001.jpg" width="461" height="643" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>ROGER CONANT.</p> - -<p class="nind" style="text-align:left;margin-left:15%;"> -Born at Bridgewater, Mass., June 22, 1748.<br /> -Graduated at Yale University in Arts and law, 1765.<br /> -Came to Darlington, Upper Canada, a U. E. L., 1792.<br /> -Died in Darlington, June 21, 1821.<br /> -</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_15" id="page_15">{15}</a></span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>“Did it serve any good end to endeavor to hinder Tories from -getting tenants or to prevent persons who owed them from paying -honest debts? On whose cheek should have been the blush of shame -when the habitation of the aged and feeble Foster was sacked and he -had no shelter but the woods; when Williams, as infirm as he, was -seized at night and dragged away for miles and smoked in a room -with fastened doors and closed chimney-top? What father who doubted -whether to join or fly, determined to abide the issue in the land -of his birth because foul words were spoken to his daughters, or -because they were pelted when riding or when moving in the innocent -dance? Is there cause to wonder that some who still live should yet -say of their own or their fathers’ treatment that persecution made -half of the King’s friends?”</p></div> - -<p>Roger Conant, however, during the two years he remained at Bridgewater -after the breaking out of the Revolution, was free from these -disagreeable experiences. He frequently reiterated that such instances -as those of Foster and Williams were very rare, and maintained that -those who were subject to harsh treatment were those who made themselves -particularly obnoxious to their neighbors who were in favor of the -Revolution. Persons who were blatant and offensive in their words, -continually boasting their British citizenship and that nobody dare -molest them—in a word, as we say, a century and a quarter after the -struggle, forever carrying a chip on the shoulder and daring anybody to -knock it off—naturally rendered themselves objects of dislike. It must -be borne in mind that, right or wrong, the entire community were almost -a unit in their contention for separation from Great Britain. Yet Roger -Conant, who did not take up arms with the patriots, was not molested. -His<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_16" id="page_16">{16}</a></span> oft-repeated testimony was that no one in New England need have -been molested on account of his political opinions.</p> - -<p>As a matter of fact, he frequently averred that he made a mistake when -he left New England and came to the wilds of Canada. To the latest day -of his life he regretted the change, and said that he should have -remained and joined the patriots; that the New Englanders who were -accused of such savage actions towards loyalists were not bad people, -but that on the contrary they were the very best America then had—kind, -cultivated and considerate. Nor was he alone in this conviction. He was -fond of comparing notes with other United Empire Loyalists with whom -from time to time he met. He was always glad to meet those who had come -to Canada from the revolted colonies. And he again and again averred -that their opinion tallied with his own, viz., that they were mistaken -and foolish in coming away. He entertained no feelings of animosity -against the new government who appropriated his 13,000 acres. Neither -does the author. Such feelings were and are reserved for Lord North, -whose short-sightedness and obstinacy were the immediate cause of the -war. A man who could say that “he would whip the colonists into -subjection” deserves the universal contempt of mankind, especially when -it is remembered that at the very moment of his outbreak of ungoverned -and arbitrary temper the colonists were only waiting for an opportunity -to consummate an <i>entente cordiale</i> with the Mother Country, and to -return to former good feeling and peace.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_17" id="page_17">{17}</a></span></p> - -<p>On the other hand, Roger Conant had that to tell regarding some of the -British forces which does not form pleasant reading, but which the -author feels impelled to set down in order to present a faithful picture -of Great Britain’s stupendous folly, viz., her war with the American -colonies in 1776. The first body of irregular troops of any sort that he -saw who were fighting for the King were Butler’s Rangers, which body, to -his astonishment, he found in northern New York State when wending his -way to Upper Canada. For some time he tarried in the district where this -force was carrying on its operations. It would seem as if the very -spirit of the evil one had taken possession of these men. Acts of arson -by which the unfortunate settler lost his log cabin, the only shelter -for his wife and little ones from the inclemency of a northern winter, -were too common to remark. Murder and rapine were acts of everyday -occurrence. Manifestly these atrocious guerillas could not remain in the -neighborhood that witnessed their crimes. They found their way in -various directions to places where they hoped to evade the tale of their -villany. In after years one of these very men wandered to Upper Canada, -and, as it happened, hired himself to Roger Conant to work about the -latter’s homestead at Darlington. An occasion came when this man, who -was very reticent, had partaken too freely of liquor, so that his tongue -was loosed, and in an unbroken flow of words he unfolded a boastful -narrative of the horrid deeds of himself and his companions of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_18" id="page_18">{18}</a></span> Butler’s -Rangers. One day, he said, they entered a log-house in the forest in New -York State, and quickly murdered the mother and her two children. They -were about applying the torch to the dwelling, when he discovered an -infant asleep, covered with an old coverlet, in the corner of an -adjoining bedroom. He drew the baby forth, when one of the Rangers, not -quite lost to all sense of humanity, begged him to spare the child, -“because,” as he said, “it can do no harm.” With a drunken, leering -boast he declared he would not, “for,” said he, as he dashed its head -against the stone jamb of the open fireplace, “Nits make lice, and I -won’t save it.”</p> - -<p>It is no wonder that Roger Conant said that many times his heart failed -him when these terrible acts of Butler’s Rangers were being perpetrated, -and that he felt sorry even then, when in New York State and on his way -to Upper Canada, that he had not remained in Massachusetts and joined -the patriots. It is to be remembered that these persons were burnt out, -murdered, and their women outraged, simply because they thought Britain -bore too heavily on them, and that reforms were needed in the colonies. -Nor could these acts in even the smallest degree assist the cause of -Britain from a military point of view.</p> - -<p>On October 5th, 1792, Roger Conant crossed the Niagara River on a -flat-bottomed scow ferry, and landed at Newark, then the capital of -Upper Canada. Governor Simcoe, who had only been sworn in as Governor a -few days previously, came to the wharfside</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_003" style="width: 528px;"> -<a href="images/ill_002.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_002.jpg" width="528" height="437" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>GOVERNOR SIMCOE.</p> - -<p>(<i>From the tomb in Exeter Cathedral, England.</i>)</p> - -<p> -(By permission from the J. Ross Robertson collection.)<br /> -</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_19" id="page_19">{19}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">to meet the incoming emigrant, who, with his wife and children, his -waggons and his household stuff, had come to make his future home in -Upper Canada.</p> - -<p>“Where do you wish to go?” said the Governor.</p> - -<p>“I think of following the north shore of the lake eastward till I find a -suitable place to settle in, sir.”</p> - -<p>“But the land up there is not surveyed yet. Should you not prefer to go -up to Lake Simcoe? That is where I would like to see you take up your -abode.”</p> - -<p>But Roger Conant shook his head. He had made up his mind to go to the -north shore of the lake, eastward, and there he ultimately went. When -Governor Simcoe found that he was determined, he told him that when he -had fixed on a location he was to blaze the limits of the farm on the -lake shore he would like to have. When the survey was completed, he, the -Governor, would see that he got his patents for the area so blazed. And -in justice to the Governor, the author is pleased here to set down that -he faithfully kept his word. The patents for the land blazed by Roger -were duly and faithfully made out. But the author must express strong -disapproval of his ancestor’s ultra modesty in not blazing at least a -township in Durham County to compensate him and his heirs for the 13,000 -acres which he had lost in Massachusetts.</p> - -<p>Roger blazed but some 800 acres. For one thing, blazing involved a large -amount of very heavy work. The intervening trees of the unbroken forest -had to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_20" id="page_20">{20}</a></span> be cut away. A straight line must be made out from blaze to -blaze. Besides, the emigrant to those silent and pathless forests -appears to have had small thought of any future value of the land thus -acquired, and as he would have said, colloquially, he was not disposed -to bother with blazing over eight hundred acres.</p> - -<p>Realizing the difficulty the incomer would have in getting across the -fords at the head of Lake Ontario, between Niagara and Hamilton, -Governor Simcoe sent his <i>aide-de-camp</i> to pilot the cavalcade. No -waggon road had been constructed along the shore. But the sand was the -only obstruction, and after several days’ travel he arrived at -Darlington, where was the unbroken forest, diversified only by the many -streams and rivers of undulating central Canada. It was a fine landscape -that lay around the emigrant, with the divine impress still upon it. The -red man had not changed its original features. He had contented himself -with the results of the chase among the sombre shades of the forest, or, -floating upon the pure blue waters in his birch-bark canoe, he took of -the myriads upon myriads of the finny tribe from the cool depths below.</p> - -<p>The whites had only just begun to obtain a livelihood in the broad land. -Not more than 12,000 persons of European descent then dwelt in all Upper -Canada, now forming the peerless Province of Ontario, with its 3,000,000 -of inhabitants. Roger Conant had chosen a beautiful location, and here -with a valiant heart he started to hew out a home for himself and his -family. Although he had brought to this prov<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_21" id="page_21">{21}</a></span>ince from Massachusetts -£5,000 in British gold, he was unable at the first to make any use of -it, simply because there were no neighbors to do business with, and -manifestly no trade requirements.<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> But we find him, about the year -1798, becoming a fur trader with the Indians. He invested some of his -money in the Durham boats of that day, which were used to ascend the St. -Lawrence River from Montreal, being pulled up the rapids of that mighty -river by ropes in the hands of men on shore. Canals, as we have them now -around the rapids, were not then even thought of. Nor was the Rideau -Canal, making the long detour by Ottawa, which did so much afterwards to -develop the western part of the province. With capital, and possessing -the basis of all wealth robust health, Roger Conant pursued the fur -trade with the Indians to its utmost possibility. Disposing of the goods -he brought from Montreal in his Durham boats, he accumulated, by barter, -large quantities of furs. To Montreal in turn he took his bundles of -furs, and gold came to him in abundance, so that he rapidly accumulated -a considerable fortune. While doing so, and pursuing his trading with -the red men, his home life was not neglected. Rude though his log-house -beside the salmon stream at Darlington was, it was spacious and -comfortable, and in its day might even be termed a hall. It had the -charm of a fine situation, and it had Lake Ontario for its adjacent -prospect. Conant had brought a few books from his Massachusetts home<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_22" id="page_22">{22}</a></span> at -Bridgewater, and while he conned these ever so faithfully over and over -again, the great book of nature was always spread before him in the -surpassingly beautiful landscape that included the shimmering waters of -the lake, the grass lands upon the beaver meadow at the mouth of the -salmon stream, and the golden grain in the small clearings which he had -so far been able to wrest from the dark, tall, prolific forest of beech, -maple and birch, with an occasional large pine, that extended right down -to the shingle of the beach. Of his sons it may be said that, although -capable men, they were handicapped in the race with the incoming tide of -settlers so soon to come to the neighborhood of that rude home at -Darlington, in the county of Durham, Upper Canada. They were at a -grievous disadvantage because of their lack of education. Education -could not be obtained in Ontario in the early days of the nineteenth -century. There were no schools, and had there been schools there would -have been no pupils. Consequently we find Roger’s sons possessing grand -physical health, and pursuing the vigorous life of that day, with but -little education. They felled the forest, and obtained from the soil the -crops that in its virginity it is always ready to give. Eliphalet, who -was only a very small boy when his father brought him from -Massachusetts, attended to the business affairs of the family as his -father got older, and we find him making, after Roger Conant’s death, a -declaration as to his father’s will, in which he states that he is -especially cognizant that the will should be so and so. That instrument -was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_23" id="page_23">{23}</a></span> admitted as a will by the court of that day, 1821, the date of -Roger’s death. To us such proceedings seem crude, particularly as the -document referred to conveyed an estate of great value.</p> - -<p>With regard to this will a singular circumstance must be noted. Roger -died a very large real estate owner. This part of his possessions is -duly scheduled. But of his hoard of gold no mention is made. The -author’s paternal uncle, David Annis, who lived with the family till his -death in 1861, frequently said in the author’s hearing—it was a -statement made many times—that Roger Conant had gold and buried it. Why -he did so is a mystery. It is also certain that no one has yet unearthed -that gold. On the farm at Darlington on which he resided, a few days -before his death he took a large family iron bake-kettle, and after -placing therein his gold he buried it on the bank of the salmon stream -of which mention has already been made. The bake-kettle was missed from -its accustomed position by the open fireplace, but search failed to -reveal its whereabouts. Thereafter, and many times since, persons with -various amalgams and with divining rods and sticks have searched for -this buried treasure, but always in vain.</p> - -<p>Of Eliphalet, the son, who did the business of the family, being the -elder son, all trace is lost, and there is no one known to-day who -claims descent from him.</p> - -<p>Abel, another son, had an immense tract of land in Scarborough, on the -Danforth Road, near the Presbyterian Centennial Church of that township. -His son, Roger, left a most respectable and interesting<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_24" id="page_24">{24}</a></span> family in -Michigan, of whom the best known and most intelligent is Mrs. Elizabeth -West, of Port Huron, in that State. It does not appear that Abel Conant -ever disposed of his Scarborough estate by deed or by will, but simply -lost it, so lightly in those days did the inhabitants value accumulated -properties.</p> - -<p>Barnabas, another son of Roger, disappeared, and all trace of him is -lost. Jeremiah—still another son—died about 1854 in Michigan. Of him, -also, nothing is known. Lastly Thomas, the youngest son—grandfather of -the author—as will be seen later in this volume, was assassinated when -a young man during the Canadian Revolution of 1837-8.</p> - -<p>Roger Conant’s daughter, Rhoda, became the wife of Levi Annis. From this -union sprang a numerous and most progressive family, who are to-day, -with their descendants, among the foremost of our land.</p> - -<p>Polly, another daughter, married John Pickel and left a small family, -descendants of which still reside in Darlington in the vicinity of the -ancestral home.</p> - -<p>It will be noted as a singular fact that even the most ordinary -emigrants from Great Britain, seeking a home here in those early days, -were in some respects better equipped than the sons of Roger Conant, -with their prospect of becoming heirs of large property. For, coming -from Great Britain, the land of schools, the poor emigrant generally -possessed a fair education, which the young Conants did not. Also, they -had, besides, the prime idea of gaining a home in the new land and -keeping it. Not so the Conant sons, who so easily secured an abundance -from the ple<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_25" id="page_25">{25}</a></span>thoric returns of the virgin soil of that day. Books were -denied them. Of the diversions of society, the theatre or the lecture -room, they knew nothing. Consequently they found their own crude -diversions as they could. “Little” or “Muddy” York, the nucleus of -Toronto, began to become a settlement, and to that hamlet they easily -wended their way to find relief from the humdrum life among the forests -at home. It is told that frequently, when they were short of cash, they -would drive a bunch of cattle from their father’s herd to York and sell -them, spending the proceeds in riding and driving about the town. That -in itself is not very much to remark, seeing that they were the sons of -a rich man, and their doings were no more than compatible with their -conceded station in life. And so far as is known in an age when -everybody consumed more or less spirituous liquors in Upper Canada, the -Conant sons were not particularly remarkable either for their partaking -or their abstemiousness. Their loss of properties cannot be attributed -to their convivial habits, but rather to a want of appreciation of their -possessions.</p> - -<p>Daniel Conant, the author’s father, unmistakably inherited the vim and -push of his grandfather, Roger. Thus we find him as a young man owning -fleets of ships on the Great Lakes, as well as being a lumber producer -and dealer in that commodity second to none of his day.<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> It may be -observed, in passing, that Roger Conant during the whole of his life -never seemed to care for office. Offices were many times<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_26" id="page_26">{26}</a></span> offered to him -by the British Government, but he steadily refused, and died without -ever having tasted their sweets. His own business was far sweeter to -him, and he was far more successful in it than he could have been in -office. His grandson, Daniel, had this family trait. He did not spend an -hour in seeking preferments, and office to him had no allurements. His -education was meagre. It was, however, sufficient to enable him to do an -enormous business. He not only amassed wealth, but by his efforts in -moving his ships and pursuing his business generally, he did much for -the good of his native province, and for his neighbors. While his lumber -commanded a ready sale in the United States markets, it was also used -very largely in building homes for the settlers in his locality. The -poor came to him as to a friend, and never came in vain. At his burial -in 1879 hundreds of poor men, as well as their more fortunate neighbors, -followed his bier to the grave. Perhaps no more striking token of the -regard in which he was held by the poor can be cited, and the author -glories in this tribute to his memory by the meek and lowly.</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_004" style="width: 490px;"> -<a href="images/ill_003.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_003.jpg" width="490" height="660" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>COLONEL TALBOT.</p> - -<p>(By permission from the J. Ross Robertson collection.)</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_27" id="page_27">{27}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Colonel Talbot—His slanderous utterances with regard to -Canadians—The beaver—Salmon in Canadian streams—U. E. Loyalists -have to take the oath of allegiance—Titles of land in -Canada—Clergy Reserve lands—University of Toronto lands—Canada -Company lands.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Thomas Talbot</span>, to whom the Government gave—presumably for -settlement—518,000 acres near London, Ont., began to reside on the -tract soon after the emigrant whose fortunes we are following arrived in -Upper Canada, in 1792. Talbot had previously been Secretary to Governor -Simcoe, and was consequently stationed at Newark, the capital, where the -settlers were seen as they came into the country from the United States. -Why so great a grant was made to him is inexplicable. But it was -nevertheless made, and the author proposes to tell how he repaid it. He -appeared all the time he was alive, and living in Upper Canada, to -thoroughly despise us. Among the other utterances which he sent from -Canada to Great Britain was that concerning the origin of Canadians, and -although his words are calumniatory, we must have them, for he -incorporated them in his book about Canada. Thus he speaks of us: “Most -Canadians are descended from private soldiers or<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_28" id="page_28">{28}</a></span> settlers, or the -illegitimate offspring of some gentlemen or their servants.” He penned -these words somewhere about the year 1800. They cannot refer to persons -of United States origin—the incomers from the thirteen revolted -colonies, which were now independent—because these were not born in -Canada. He must therefore have referred to those Canadians and their -descendants who were living in Canada in 1792, when he was the Secretary -of Governor Simcoe. It is not within the province of the author to -defend from Talbot’s calumnies that portion of our fellow-Canadian -subjects. His calumny is foul, mean, untrue, and very unjust. Of New -England origin himself, the author leaves this insult to be avenged by -the pen of some fellow-Canadian who claims descent from old Canadians -who were in the country when the war of the Revolution was about -closing. So foul an aspersion should never have been passed over in -silence.</p> - -<div class="figleft" id="ill_005a" style="width: 207px;"> -<a href="images/ill_004.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_004.jpg" width="207" height="319" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>COLONEL TALBOT’S ARMCHAIR.</p> - -<p>From the J. Ross Robertson collection.</p></div> -</div> - -<p>The foregoing is, however, by the way. We are pursuing the fortunes of -Roger Conant, and we find him from 1792 to 1812 struggling among the -forest<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_29" id="page_29">{29}</a></span> trees to gain a livelihood, or his labors on land occasionally -diversified by his work on the lake, the waters of which, perhaps, -yielded the most easily obtainable food. Mention has been made of the -beaver meadow, and at this date the settler would often come across the -traces of this industrious animal. The beaver is the typical unit or -emblem of the furs of Canada. All other values of furs were made by -comparison with the value of a beaver skin. In intelligence the beaver -surpasses any of the fur-bearing animals. In the quality of his -workmanship he is the mechanic of the animal tribe, and easily and -far-away outstrips all his fellow-brutes, domestic or wild. He can fell -a tree in any desired direction, and within half a foot of the spot on -which he requires it to fall. One beaver is always on guard and vigilant -while the others work. A single blow of the tail of the watching beaver -upon the water will cause every other of his fellows to plump into the -water and disappear. To carry earth to their dam they place it upon -their broad, flat tails and draw it to the spot. While his home is -always in close proximity of water he is sometimes caught on land, while -proceeding from one body of water to another. Should you meet him thus -at disadvantage upon the land, he does not even attempt to run away, nor -to defend himself, for he well knows that both attempts would be utterly -useless. Another defence is his; he appeals to one’s sympathy by -crying—crying indeed so very naturally, while big tears roll from his -eyes, with so close an imitation of the human, that it startles even the -hunter himself. Many a beaver has been<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_30" id="page_30">{30}</a></span> magnanimously given his life out -of pure sympathy for the poor defenceless brute when caught at an unfair -advantage away from his habitable element of water.</p> - -<p>Salt-water salmon, too, swarmed at that date in our Canadian streams in -countless myriads. In the month of November of each year they ascended -the streams for spawning, after which they were seen no more until the -summer of the following year. While we have no positive evidence that -they return to the salt water, we know they must do so, because they are -so very different from land-locked salmon or ouananiche. They were never -caught in Lake Ontario after spawning in the streams in November, until -June of the next year. Nor were they found above Niagara Falls, being -unable to ascend that mighty cataract. Roger Conant said that his first -food in Upper Canada came from the salmon taken in the creek beside his -hastily built log-house. To help to realize how plentiful these fish -were at the annual spawning time, we may adduce Roger Conant’s endeavor -to paddle his canoe across the stream in Port Oshawa in 1805, when the -salmon partly raised his boat out of the water, and were so close -together that it was difficult for him to get his paddle below the -surface. A farm of 150 acres on the Lake Ontario shore, that he acquired -just previous to the War of 1812, he paid for by sending salmon in -barrels to the United States ports, where they brought a fair cash -price. Increasing population, no close seasons by law, nor any -restrictions whatever, have been the causes which have resulted in -almost destroying</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_006" style="width: 764px;"> -<a href="images/ill_005.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_005.jpg" width="764" height="454" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>SHOAL OF SALMON, NEAR OSHAWA, 1792.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_31" id="page_31">{31}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">these kings of fish that once came in uncountable swarms.</p> - -<p>It will be gathered that up to the War of 1812, the settler, homely -clad, axe in hand, subdued the forest, and spent happy, even if -wearisome, days, with his dog generally as his only companion. It was -during these years that he exhibited that skill in wielding the axe of -which mention has been made. To-day, our few remaining woods being more -open, and the timber being smaller, such feats would be impossible.</p> - -<p>The first beginnings of public utilities were being made. Roads were -being cut out of the forest. Some of these grew into forest again so -little were they used.</p> - -<p>In the last chapter it was noted that Roger Conant lost all his lands in -New England by expropriation after the war of 1776. On arriving in Upper -Canada he felt the great necessity of bestirring himself to make a -fortune again here. Side by side with his clearing operations he carried -on his fur-trading, and soon his desires in regard to wealth were -gratified, but he never reconciled himself to being so far from his -<i>Alma Mater</i>, Yale University (New Haven, Conn.), from which he had been -graduated (in Arts and Law) in 1765.</p> - -<p>Notwithstanding all the sacrifices made by the United Empire Loyalists -to maintain British connections, many of them were asked to take the -oath of allegiance on reaching their respective localities when they -sought to make their home in Canada. Annexed is a photographic document -of evidence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_32" id="page_32">{32}</a></span> being a copy of the certificate of the oath of allegiance -taken by one of the author’s relatives before the famed Robert Baldwin. -One of the very earliest court summonses of Upper Canada is also -reproduced (page 35) and it will be found very interesting. The reader -will notice the absence of all printing on this document.</p> - -<p>Obviously the title to all lands in Canada, after the conquest of 1759, -and not previously granted by the king of France, was vested in the -British Crown. There were a few lots of land so granted by the king of -France in Upper Canada, but only a few. In Quebec, or Lower Canada, much -of the land had already been so granted along the St. Lawrence River. -These grants had, as a matter of course, to be respected by Great -Britain. The French grants in Upper Canada were only a few along the -Detroit River and at the extreme western boundary of the province. The -easy accessibility of the lands by water will no doubt account for these -grants having been located so remote from all neighbors, the nearest -being those in Lower Canada from whence these grants came. Certain lands -were also set apart for the Protestant clergy, viz., one-seventh of all -lands granted. After a time, instead of taking the one-seventh of each -lot granted, they were all added together and formed a whole lot—the -“Clergy Reserve” lands, which became afterwards such a bone of -contention. In these deeds gold and silver is reserved for the Crown. -All white pine trees, too, are reserved, because naval officers had -passed along the shore of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_33" id="page_33">{33}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_007-a" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_006.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_006.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>FAC-SIMILE OF CERTIFICATE OF OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.</p> - -<p>I CERTIFY that [signature] has taken and subscrbed the Oath of -Allegiance as required by Law, before me, this 15 day of Jan___ in the -year of our Lord 1801 [signature]]</p> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_34" id="page_34">{34}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">Lake Ontario, about the time of the war of the Revolution, and saw the -magnificent white pines. These officers were all searching for suitable -trees to make masts for the Royal navy, and here they found them; hence -the reservation of these trees in all Crown deeds. All deeds of realty -to-day in Upper Canada make the same reservations, viz., “Subject -nevertheless to the reservations, limitations and provisions expressed -in the original grant thereof from the Crown.”</p> - -<p>In Australia and New Zealand the governments make reservations so very -binding that they can resume possession of lands at any time, as the -author found when travelling there in 1898. Our antipodes have not deeds -in fee simple as we have. No instance has ever been known in the -locality of middle Ontario, in which the author’s home is, and that of -his forefathers since 1792, of the Crown ever exercising its right to -make use of the reservations.</p> - -<p>Time-honored big wax seals were attached to all Crown grants. These -seals were quite four inches in diameter, one-third of an inch thick, -and secured to the parchment by a ribbon, while the Royal coat-of-arms -was impressed on either side of the seal. To the honor and respect of -the Crown, be it said, its treatment of the struggling settler was -always generous and fair.</p> - -<p>The Clergy Reserve lands, which, we have seen, were set apart, soon -began to command purchasers, being mainly along the waters of Lake -Ontario, as were the other patented lands. In the Act creating<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_35" id="page_35">{35}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_006-a" style="width: 599px;"> -<a href="images/ill_006-a.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_006-a.jpg" width="599" height="823" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>FAC-SIMILE OF COURT SUMMONS, 1803.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_36" id="page_36">{36}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">the Clergy Reserve Trust, gold and silver were reserved, but not white -pine, because there simply was none there to reserve.</p> - -<p>The University of Toronto received odd lots here and there in Upper -Canada for its support. This created another source from which tithes -came. There were no reservations in the University deeds of 1866. They -cited the Act which gave the University these lands.</p> - -<p>Lastly came the Canada Company, the last remaining source of tithes. -While the Crown, the Clergy Reserves and the University of Toronto were -always fair and considerate to the settler, this company always demanded -its full “pound of flesh,” and got it, too. It may be observed that the -arrangements with regard to these deeds were made by the Imperial -Government at home wholly. We were not consulted. By virtue of the -Canada Company’s grant, thousands and thousands of acres of lands in -Upper Canada were withheld from settlement for many years. To-day the -grievance has passed, because they have next to no lands remaining. -Perhaps, as Upper Canada has nearly three millions of population now -(from 12,000 in 1792), we ought not to grieve. It did us harm, it is -true, but it was no doubt unthinkingly originated in London, in 1826, -and without sufficient consideration.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_37" id="page_37">{37}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>The War of 1812—Canadian feeling with regard to it—Intolerance of -the Family Compact—Roger Conant arrested and fined—March of -defenders to York—Roger Conant hides his specie—A song about the -war—Indian robbers foiled—The siege of Detroit—American -prisoners sent to Quebec—Feeding them on the way—Attempt on the -life of Colonel Scott of the U. S. army—Funeral of Brock—American -forces appear off York—Blowing up of the fort—Burning of the Don -bridge—Peace at last.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> twenty years from the time Governor Simcoe established his capital at -Newark, on the Niagara River, after being sworn in as Governor of -western Canada (his incumbency being the real commencement of the -settlement of Upper Canada), began the War of 1812 between Great Britain -and the United States. Our peaceably disposed and struggling Canadians, -trying to subdue the forest and to procure a livelihood, were horrified -to have a war on their hands. They could ill afford to leave their small -clearings in the forest, where they garnered their small crops, to go -and fight. Not one of them, however, for a single moment thought of -aiding the United States or of remaining neutral. Canada was their home, -and Canada they would defend. From 12,000 in 1792 in Upper Canada, -40,000 were now within its<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_38" id="page_38">{38}</a></span> boundaries, endeavoring to make homes for -themselves. We have the fact plainly told that, although at least -one-third of all the inhabitants in 1812 were born in the United States, -or were descendants of those who were born there, not one of them -swerved in his loyalty to Canada, his adopted country. This is saying a -very great deal, for it was in no sense Canada’s quarrel with the United -States. If Great Britain chose to overhaul United States merchantmen for -deserting from the Royal navy, it is certain that Canada could not be -held responsible for any such high-handed act. Canadians generally at -the breaking out of the war, whether of United States origin or from the -British Isles direct, felt that Great Britain had been very assertive -towards the United States, and had also been rather inclined to be -exacting. Such was the feeling generally. No one, however, for a moment -wavered. All were loyal and all obeyed the summons to join the militia -and begin active service. Britain’s quarrel with the United States, in -obedience to the mandate of some Cabinet Ministers safely ensconced in -their sumptuous offices in London, worked incalculable hardships to the -struggling settlers in the depths of our Canadian forests.</p> - -<p>To vividly realize how very intolerant of any discussion of public -matters of that day the Family Compact was, a personal narrative will be -found interesting. Roger Conant, one day in the autumn, went from his -home in Darlington to York. He had been requisitioned by the British -officers just out from England (and whom he respected) to take an -ox-cart<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_39" id="page_39">{39}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_007" style="width: 533px;"> -<a href="images/ill_007.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_007.jpg" width="533" height="379" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>NEWARK (NIAGARA), 1813.</p> - -<p> -(From the J. Ross Robertson collection.)<br /> -</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_40" id="page_40">{40}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">load of war material along the Lake Ontario shore to York. Now at home, -his neighbors being very sparse, he had but few opportunities to -converse and compare opinions about the war. Once at York the desired -opportunity came. When sitting at a hotel fire, with a number of -civilians about, opinions were quite freely expressed by those present. -Roger Conant remarked that he was sorry for the war, and that although -he would fight for Britain and Canada, he felt that Britain should -arrange the differences with the United States and not drag Canada into -a war in which she had not the least interest. He further remarked to -the assembled civilians about the fire, that he thought Britain, too, -very arbitrary in searching vessels of the United States -indiscriminately and taking seamen from them without knowing them to be -deserters from the British navy. Some one of the assembly quickly -reported that remark to the commandant of the fort at York. Roger was -arrested in an almost incredibly short time, brought before a -court-martial next morning and fined eighty pounds (Halifax), being -about $320 of our money. Hard as this was, he paid the fine, held his -peace, and went off home, until called to serve in the ranks, which he -did duly and faithfully. Family Compact rule was answerable for such -treatment, as it certainly was for the responsibility for the Revolution -which followed in 1837. To the honor of Roger Conant be it always said, -however, that he turned out, donning his best suit, and made for the -nearest commanding officer. No settler ever refused to turn out, -although when</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_008-a" style="width: 393px;"> -<a href="images/ill_008-a.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_008-a.jpg" width="393" height="384" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>BRITISH MILITARY UNIFORMS, 1812.</p></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_008-b" style="width: 212px;"> -<a href="images/ill_008-b.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_008-b.jpg" width="212" height="362" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>AN OLD SPINNING-WHEEL.</p></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_008-b-c" style="width: 258px;"> -<a href="images/ill_008-b-c.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_008-b-c.jpg" width="258" height="373" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>CIVILIAN COSTUMES, UPPER CANADA, 1812.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_41" id="page_41">{41}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">once turned out, they seemed so ludicrously weak that they felt -themselves only a handful. There were a few British soldiers in red -coats, but the defenders that made their way to York along the shores of -Lake Ontario were a motley throng. There was no pretence at uniforms, -nor was there indeed during the war, or very little of it. Let us -realize if we can that these poor fellows had to walk along the lake -shore. Here and there only were roads to be found cut out of the dense -dark forest and back from the lake shore. Very few were fortunate enough -to possess boats or canoes in which to row or paddle to York. Some, -however, were able to adopt this mode of transit, and thereby hangs a -tale. On one occasion a party of militiamen, accompanied by one or two -soldiers—among them a drummer—were to be seen with their boats ashore, -one of their craft being turned bottom upwards, and having the carcase -of a fine porker “spread-eagled,” as sailors say, on either side of the -keel. It appears that on their way to York the party had “commandeered” -a pig they had come across, and being sharply pursued by its owner, they -had taken this means of concealing their booty. No one thought of -pulling the boat out of the water and turning it up to find the pig. At -the same time they had requisitioned a fine fat goose, wrung its neck, -and were carrying it away. In this case, with the pursuers at heel, the -task of hiding the loot had fallen to the drummer. He speedily arranged -matters by unheading his drum and placing the coveted bird inside, and -the story goes that on the favorable oppor<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_42" id="page_42">{42}</a></span>tunity arriving, both pig and -goose formed the basis of an excellent feast on the lake shore, in -which, if tradition is to be believed, one officer, at least, joined -with considerable readiness.</p> - -<p>Roger joined the rank and file of the militia, but afterwards, having -blooded and fleet saddle-horses in his stables on Lake Ontario shore in -Darlington, the commanding officers employed him as a despatch bearer. -In turn in the militia and then as despatch bearer, when nothing seemed -doing, his time was fully occupied at the business of war. He was then -sixty-two years of age, but so pressed were the authorities for men, -that age did not debar from service, but physical inability only.</p> - -<p>Having accumulated wealth both in lands and specie, Roger’s first -thought, on the breaking out of war, was for the safety of his specie. -Mounting his best saddle-horse he rode some thirty miles west from his -home in Darlington to Levi Annis’s, his brother-in-law, in Scarborough, -in order that this relative might become his banker, for in those days -there were no banks, and people had to hide their money. Entering his -brother-in-law’s log-house, he removed a large pine knot from one of the -logs forming the house wall. He placed his gold and silver within the -cavity, and the knot was again inserted and all made smooth. Levi Annis -gave no sign, and no one that came to the inn ever suspected the -presence of this hoard of wealth. But when the war was over, Roger -Conant again visited Levi Annis in Scarborough. Three years had passed -away since, in his presence,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_43" id="page_43">{43}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_009" style="width: 454px;"> -<a href="images/ill_009.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_009.jpg" width="454" height="582" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>ROGER CONANT HIDING HIS TREASURE.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_44" id="page_44">{44}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">the treasure had been inserted in the wall. In his presence also the -pine knot was now removed, and the bullion—about $16,000 in value—was -drawn forth intact.</p> - -<p>Among the records that have come down to the author from Roger Conant, -and along with fragmentary papers left by him, by Levi Annis, David -Annis, and Moode Farewell, various scraps of songs of the time 1812 to -1815 are garnered. Perhaps the song of the greatest merit and widest -celebrity was “The Noble Lads of Canada,” the beginning of which was:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Oh, now the time has come, my boys, to cross the Yankee line,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">We remember they were rebels once, and conquered old Burgoyne;<br /></span> -<span class="i1">We’ll subdue those mighty democrats, and pull their dwellings down,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">And we’ll have the States inhabited with subjects of the Crown.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>It is just as well for the present generation to know this jingle, -absurd as it may be. There were many verses in it, but all much to the -same tenor, and while they pleased Canadians who sang the song, they -were certainly harmless, and to-day we can afford to laugh at them. It -is so very ridiculous to think of our handful of men going over to the -United States and “pulling their dwellings down.” Our defence at home -was quite another matter, but we are proud of it nevertheless. Human -nature is much the same here as elsewhere, and was also in 1812-15. -Thus<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_45" id="page_45">{45}</a></span> would the author illustrate how he applies the inference; there -were over a half of the inhabitants who came directly from the British -Isles, or were descended from those who came. The greater part of the -settlers were poor. Generally the U. E. Loyalists and their descendants -were fairly well-to-do. If not well-to-do they were far better off than -the others. Consequently some mean-spirited among the settlers from -Britain or their descendants, who were so poor, would depreciate the U. -E. Loyalists if possible. Roger Conant said that one envious neighbor -set the Indians upon him, during a lull in the war, while he was at -home, by telling them he was a Yankee, and that they might rob him if -they chose. For the object of plunder, they came upon him because he had -an abundance of stock, the best in the land, as well as goods of various -sorts for Indian fur trading, while his money, as we have seen, was -safely banked in a pine log in Scarborough. One night there came to his -home in Darlington, in the year 1812, a single Indian who asked to rest -before the open fire for the night. Permission was given, and he -squatted before the blazing wood fire of logs. On watching him closely, -a knife was seen to be up his sleeve of buckskin, but not a word was -spoken of the discovery. Shortly another Indian came in and squatted -beside the first on the floor, and in utter silence. Now came a third -Indian, who, in his turn, crouched with the two former ones.</p> - -<p>No doubt now remained in Roger Conant’s mind as to their purpose, and he -roused himself to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_46" id="page_46">{46}</a></span> occasion. They meant robbery, and murder, if -necessary, to accomplish it. An axe at hand being always ready, he -seized it, and drew back to the rifle hanging upon the wall, never -absent therefrom unless in actual use. His family he sent out to the -nearest neighbors, a mile away, along the lake shore.</p> - -<p>“None of you stir. If you do, I’ll kill the first one who gets up. Stay -just where you are until daylight.”</p> - -<p>And now a squaw came in and sat beside the three crouching bucks, and -cried softly. Very generally Indian squaws’ voices are soft, and -naturally their crying would be soft, as was this squaw’s. Entreating -with her crying, she began to beg for the release of the Indians, -assuring the vigilant custodian “that they no longer meditated injury, -nor theft, but would go away if they could be released.”</p> - -<p>In this manner, with their nerves at high tension, the night passed, and -not until the light of the next day did the guard dare to release his -Indian prisoners. Then, one by one only, he allowed them to walk out of -doors. It is very probable that this was an extreme case, but it -occurred just as narrated. Not again during the war was Roger Conant -molested by the Indians.</p> - -<p>Not yet had the first year of the war (1812) dragged its slow length -along. About the Niagara River the fighting had been most active at all -points. Rumors of the clash of arms came from the West to those in -central Upper Canada. General Hull thought himself secure at Detroit -with a broad and deep river rolling between him and his opponents in -Canada. Neither</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_010" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_010.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_010.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>FAREWELL’S TAVERN, NEAR OSHAWA, AS IT APPEARS TO-DAY.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_47" id="page_47">{47}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">depth of river nor width, however, kept our men away from Detroit. No -Canadian can contemplate this exploit of our arms without a swelling of -pride. Detroit became ours on the 15th of August, 1812, when General -Hull surrendered the whole command of 2,500 men, without terms, and -Michigan was our lawful conquest. Immediately on the surrender of so -many men to us, it became a serious question what to do with so many -prisoners of war. We possessed no place in Upper Canada where they could -be securely kept, and at old Quebec only could we depend upon them being -safely retained. Consequently to Quebec they were sent. They were sent -thither in boats and canoes in which they assisted in rowing and -paddling. In this manner they went to Quebec, and were apparently well -content with their lot. So very meagre, however, were our resources that -we could not furnish boats for all of them, and many were compelled to -walk along the lake shore. They were fed at various places along the -route, among others at Farewell’s tavern, near Oshawa, an engraving of -which as it stands now is given on opposite page. From the author’s -tales of his forbears he gets the story of these prisoners coming to -their home to be fed. Guards, indeed, they had, but they outnumbered -them ten to one, and even more, simply because we had not the men to -guard them. From what can be learned, however, none ran away.</p> - -<p>Coming to the Conant family homestead to be fed, without warning, a big -pot of potatoes was quickly boiled. A churning of butter fortunately had -been<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_48" id="page_48">{48}</a></span> done that day, just previous to their coming, and a ham, it so -happened, had been boiled the day preceding. All was set before them, -and copious draughts of buttermilk were supplied. Guards and prisoners -fared alike. There were no evidences of ill-feeling or rancor, but good -nature and good humor prevailed, even if some shielded ministers in -far-away London at that day forced the combat upon them.</p> - -<p>Perhaps the most curious and picturesque instance of the fighting in and -about this part of Canada was the taking of General Scott a prisoner at -Queenston, and the occurrences subsequent to his capture. It seems that -General Scott had been particularly active all day during the engagement -of October 13th, 1812. Being a large man, and dressed in a showy blue -uniform, although not then so high in rank as he afterwards became, he -gained the attention of the Indians in our army. Nothing came of that -immediately, but near evening his part of the United States forces were -surrounded, and Colonel Scott (as he then was) was compelled to -surrender. On the final conclusion of the day’s engagement, General -Brock having been killed early in the day, he was invited to dine with -General Sheaffe, then commanding our forces. Our prisoner, Colonel -Scott, had given his parole not to attempt to escape, until regularly -exchanged, so it was quite in order for him to accept the general’s -invitation to dine. Just as they were in the act of sitting down at the -table an orderly came to the diningroom, and said some Indian chiefs -were at the door<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_49" id="page_49">{49}</a></span> and wished to see Colonel Scott. Excusing himself, the -Colonel went to the door, and in the narrow front hall met three -Indians, fully armed and in all proper Indian war-paint and feathers. -One Indian then asked Colonel Scott where he was wounded. When Scott -replied that he had not been wounded, the questioning Indian said he had -fired at him twelve times in succession, and with good aim, and that he -never missed. Presuming on Colonel Scott’s good-nature, he took hold of -his shoulder, as if to turn him around for the purpose of finding the -wounds. “Hands off,” Scott said, “you shoot like a squaw.” Without more -ado or warning the three Indians drew their tomahawks and knives, and -essayed to attack the Colonel, although then a prisoner of war. As they -were in the narrow hall, the plucky United States prisoner could not -effectually use his sword arm for his defence, and his life was -consequently in danger. But he backed them by quick thrusts of the sword -out of the door, where he had more room for the play of his weapon, and -then stood at bay. It was indeed a fight to the death, and even so good -a swordsman as Colonel Scott must have succumbed, had not the guard of -our army, seeing at a glance what was up, rushed to Scott’s rescue and -helped him to drive the Indians off.</p> - -<p>Not many days after this unseemly encounter, Colonel Scott was brought -to York in one of the small gunboats which we had then on Lake Ontario -for the defence of the lake ports. These boats, it is true, were not -very elegant in their lines, nor were they formid<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_50" id="page_50">{50}</a></span>ably armed. All haste -had been made to construct them; only a few weeks before the timber of -which they were constructed was growing in the parent trees. Green -timber and lumber, as any one will know, must make a very indifferent -boat, and not a lasting one. It is a fact, nevertheless, that the single -swivel gun which each boat carried did good service when called upon and -was no mean antagonist. Be that as it may, we should not look in -contempt on these mean gunboats, or compare them with the monster -fighting ships of this day. These were the ships our fathers used, and -the people of the United States also, and well they served their day. An -engraving of York at this early day will be found on the opposite page, -the little town which has become imperial and palatial Toronto, with -more than a fifth of a million of people, and the change has been -wrought in eighty-nine years.</p> - -<p>Following, however, the fortunes of Colonel Scott until he came to -Quebec, we shall find him a prisoner in the cabin of a large ship lying -at anchor at the foot of the cliff on which that ancient city stands. -Not among a lot of other prisoners from the United States do we find the -Colonel on this ship—for there were many of them on board—but aft in -the cabin with the officers. One day his quick ear heard the prisoners -being interrogated on deck. With a few eager strides he ascends the -cabin steps and is on deck. He finds many of the United States prisoners -drawn up in line and an officer questioning them. Those who showed by -the burr on their tongues to be unmistakably of Irish or Scotch origin -were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_51" id="page_51">{51}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_011" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_011.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_011.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>VIEW OF YORK. FROM THE OLDEST EXTANT ENGRAVING.</p> - -<p> -(By permission from the J. Ross Robertson collection.)<br /> -</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_52" id="page_52">{52}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">called out and sent away to an adjoining man-of-war, there to serve in -the Royal Navy, although protesting they were American citizens.</p> - -<p>Five of those in the line Colonel Scott heard called, and saw them sent -away.</p> - -<p>“Silence!” he cried. “Men, not another word out of you. Don’t let them -catch you by the tongue”; and every man’s mouth closed like a trap.</p> - -<p>It was Britain’s old contention, “Once a British subject, always a -British subject,” and no latitude was allowed for transference of -citizenship to the United States with residence in that country. To-day -we never cease to wonder that Great Britain could be so impolitic as to -take such a high-handed course. Time, however, has changed all that, and -a war such as that of 1812 will never again stain the escutcheons of -Great Britain, Canada or the United States.</p> - -<p>Very soon after this Colonel Scott was exchanged, and quickly shook the -dust of Canada from his feet and found his way back to the United -States.</p> - -<p>Let us turn to a little pleasanter phase of this early stage of the war. -General Brock, as before mentioned, was killed early in the day at the -battle of Queenston, on October 13th, 1812. That his high character and -bravery were not overestimated the sequel will show. Thompson, who -fought on our side, and who wrote of the war in 1832, being an -eye-witness, says he was held in such high esteem, even by the enemy, -that “during the movement of the funeral procession of that brave man, -from Queens<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_53" id="page_53">{53}</a></span>ton to Fort Niagara, a distance of seven miles, minute guns -were fired at every American post on that part of the line, and even the -appearance of hostilities was suspended.” From some relative of the -author who fought on our side the word has come down to him, that the -Americans fired on their side of the Niagara River an answering shot for -every one our men fired, all the time they were marching the seven miles -down the river in the funeral procession. And the relative in the ranks -added that every voice was hushed, not a word was spoken, grief was -apparent in every man’s face, and every one seemed sorry because we had -such a war on hand, and because we were engaged in the business of war -with our kinsmen.</p> - -<p>And now the second year of the war had come with its attendant -vicissitudes and dangers.</p> - -<p>Very few of the militia had been allowed to leave the ranks during the -past winter, for an attack was expected just as soon as the ice should -break up in the bays on Lake Ontario. In the early spring of 1813 the -ice seems to have left the bays very early, for on April 26th the -American forces were enabled to appear off York, in gun-boats and -transports, and eager for the fray. Now, it has always been asserted -that Great Britain availed herself of all the savages she could get, -both in the War of 1812, as well as in the War of the Revolution in -1776. In a measure only is this true. We see them, however, at this time -helping to oppose the landing of the Americans at York on April 26th, -1813. If the author speaks in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_54" id="page_54">{54}</a></span> positive terms he hopes to be forgiven, -for his forbear, Roger Conant, was there, musket in hand, and by his own -lips has given the record which by natural descent has come down to the -author. He said Indians were placed along the lake bank, one Indian -between two white men, to repel the advance of the Americans from their -boats on landing. That is to say, two white men were supposed to be able -to keep one Indian up to his duty. But they couldn’t do it, for when the -Americans really did land, and began the attack, many of the Indians got -up and fled back from the shore of the lake to the forest beyond. And it -is further told to the author by the same descent of lip service, that -some of our militiamen were so incensed at the Indians for running away -that they turned their muskets around from the Americans and fired at -the fleeing Indians. Very probably their aim was faulty, for so far as -is known no Indians fell, and more than likely our men did not aim to -kill.</p> - -<p>The result of the landing of the American forces we all know only too -well, for our few men could not stay the hands of the assailants, who -landed at will, and took possession of the country about. Near where the -monument of the old French fort is, in the Industrial Fair grounds, near -also to the York Pioneers’ log cabin, was the scene of this Indian -running and the American landing. On the next day we find the Americans -advancing upon the old fort to the east of the scene of the landing -place. For a time, we know, our men made a stand for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_55" id="page_55">{55}</a></span> defence around and -about that old fort. It is not at all probable we could have held it -permanently, for the Americans outnumbered us, and were just as brave as -our men were when at their best. Just how it was done my ancestor did -not seem to know, but the word somehow, by very low whispers or signs, -was passed around that the fort would be blown up, and that it was -better to get out. Such a word came to Roger Conant, as he always -stoutly maintained, and, acting upon it, in the very nick of time, he -dropped out of the fort, when it blew up and killed so many Americans. -He said that to his startled vision the air appeared full of burnt and -scorched fragments of human bodies, and that they fell about him in a -horrifying manner.<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a> It is not in the province of the author to express -an opinion as to the expediency of this act, but it was done no doubt -for the best, and we to-day find no fault with our general in command -who gave that terrible order.</p> - -<p>Yet York and its neighborhood were still at the mercy of the American -conquering army, and General Sheaffe began to think intently of his own -safety. Mounting his horse he rides eastward, down King<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_56" id="page_56">{56}</a></span> Street towards -Kingston, and leaves his troops to follow more leisurely on foot. It is -twelve miles from Toronto to Scarborough, where Levi Annis lived at his -hotel. His testimony was that General Sheaffe appeared before his hotel -door with his horse quite done up, and covered with foam. On going to -the door and asking as to the trouble, General Sheaffe explained to Levi -Annis that he had ridden from York, without drawing rein, and that it -was most important that the Americans should not catch him. There -certainly is room for excuse for General Sheaffe at this juncture, -although Levi Annis was naturally much astonished at the state of -nervousness in which he saw him. We must not forget that the General had -only 1,500 men, all told, with which he had to defend all Upper Canada, -and with this very small support no doubt he felt as he said, “that it -was most important that he should not be captured.” Just as quickly as -possible after the blowing up of the fort, some 150 men of the British -regulars and Canadian militia got together and made their way to -Kingston. At this time the first Don bridge had been built. It was of -logs, mainly pine, which were cut near to the last approach to the -bridge. A considerable causeway extended over the mud flats, on the east -side, to the span of the bridge proper. It was very crude, and had been -built in 1800 without the aid of experienced men or mechanics. It stood -well enough, nevertheless, and did its work well, until that memorable -day when our men retreated over it and burnt it as they went—April -27th, 1813. It was done as a</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_012" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_012.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_012.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>BURNING THE DON BRIDGE.</p> - -<p> -(<i>From a sketch by Isaac Bellamy.</i>)<br /> -</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_57" id="page_57">{57}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">precautionary measure in order to impede the progress of the victorious -Americans, should they choose to follow in pursuit.</p> - -<p>To those who did military service in this war 200 acres of the public -lands were due. Roger Conant did not receive his 200 acres, although -most justly entitled to them. To know the cause why he did not receive -his land grant it will be necessary to go back a little. After the -conquest of Canada and the Treaty of Paris (in 1763) which followed, -some British officers were given appointments and places in Canada—no -doubt to provide for them. When Upper Canada was made a separate -province in 1791, more of these officials were given places. These -persons seemed to have nothing in common with the people. On the -contrary they seemed to seek to rule and get good livings out of them, -and essayed to keep their places, becoming in time the Family Compact. -It was their acts and those of their successors that caused the outbreak -in 1837 which led to the Canadian Revolution. To these pampered -office-holders it did not appear that the U. E. Loyalists, who had made -most magnificent sacrifices for our country, were worthy of even civil -treatment. So to Roger Conant they never gave the military land grant, -and this treatment was meted out to most of the U. E. Loyalists who so -faithfully served through that most unfortunate and deplorable war.</p> - -<p>Peace! peace! Peace tardily came at last in 1814, the Treaty of Ghent -having been signed on the 24th day of that year. The author realizes -that, to-day,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_58" id="page_58">{58}</a></span> Canadians in their well-appointed and refined homes fail -to enter into the feelings of our forefathers whose hearts leaped for -joy as they thanked the great God for that inestimable blessing of -peace. Fond mothers told it to the infants at the breast as they bounced -them aloft and reiterated again and again, “Peace, darling, peace!” The -gray-haired sire, whose days were numbered, dropped unchecked, unbidden -tears of joy, silently and without a voice, as he too thanked his Maker -again and again for that peace between neighbors and kindred that never -should have been broken. No more would the neighborless settler fear -peril as the darkening shadows of evening came about his log cabin in -the great forest, or dread that before the light of another dawn armed -foemen might come and take him prisoner, and drive his wife and little -ones into an inclement winter night by the application of the torch. -Strong men grasped each others’ hands, and shook, and bawled themselves -hoarse in simple exuberance of spirits, and in the intensest feeling of -thankfulness that peace had come to them once again. Nor was this -outburst of feeling mere exultation over the Americans. All felt that we -had honorably acquitted ourselves in a military point of view, but the -Americans at the same time had fought with valor, and we really had not -much to taunt them with.</p> - -<p>It would perhaps be superfluous to record many of the particular charges -which our people laid at the door of the Americans during the war. It is -in evidence equally that the Americans laid quite as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_59" id="page_59">{59}</a></span> many sins to our -people for their acts, while making forays on United States soil. So far -as one may judge there is not any preponderating weight of evidence for -either side. It is true we do accuse the Americans of burning the public -buildings in York after the taking of the place, when the fort blew up -on April 27th, 1813. The author is inclined to think that the Americans -should not have applied the torch. On the other hand, we blew up the -fort and utterly destroyed many hundreds of Americans in an instant, -including their general.</p> - -<p>The testimony of the great General Sherman, who, in 1865, marched with -an army of 70,000 men through Georgia, Alabama, the Carolinas and -Virginia, destroying everything in a belt fifty miles wide, and than -whom no one was better qualified to judge, was this: “War is hell.” It -would have been futile for our people to expect humane war. There are no -recriminations to make. In closing the records of the War of 1812 let us -realize with our forefathers that peace, blessed peace, came to them and -has ever since been with us. God be thanked.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_60" id="page_60">{60}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Wolves in Upper Canada—Adventure of Thomas Conant—A grabbing -land-surveyor—Canadian graveyards beside the lake—Millerism in -Upper Canada—Mormonism.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Turning</span> to ordinary affairs, we find that at this date our Government -helped the settler to exterminate wolves by paying a bounty of about $6 -for each wolf head produced before a magistrate. In reference to these -ferocious animals, once so plentiful in Canada, an anecdote of the -author’s grandfather will be found both interesting and instructive, -giving us a true glimpse of the county in 1806. Thomas Conant, whose -portrait is found on opposite page, and who was assassinated during the -Canadian Revolution on February 15th, 1838 (<i>vide</i> “Upper Canada -Sketches,” by the author), lived in Darlington, Durham County, Upper -Canada. In the fall of 1806 he was “keeping company” with a young woman, -who lived some three miles back from Lake Ontario, his home being on the -shore of that great lake. Clearings or openings in the forest were at -this time mostly along the lake shore. Consequently, to pay his respects -to the young woman, he had to pass through some forest and clearings in -succession. It was in November of that year. Snow had not yet fallen, -but the ground</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_013" style="width: 453px;"> -<a href="images/ill_013.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_013.jpg" width="453" height="592" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>THOMAS CONANT.</p> - -<p>Was born at Bridgewater, Mass., in 1782; came to Darlington, Canada, -with his father, Roger Conant, in 1792. On February 15th, 1838, during -the Canadian Revolution, he was foully massacred by one Cummings (in -Darlington), a despatch bearer, of Port Hope, Ont. The assassin was -applauded for the act by the Family Compact.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_61" id="page_61">{61}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">was frozen. Tarrying until midnight at the home of the object of his -affections, he left, alone and unarmed, to walk the three intervening -miles to his home. Getting over about one-half the distance, he heard -the distant baying of wolves. Fear would, it may be supposed, lend speed -to his feet, but thinking rightly that he could not outstrip the wolf on -foot, he walked quietly along, watching for a convenient tree for -climbing. In a very few minutes the wolves were upon him, in full cry, -eyes protruding, tongues lolling, and ready to devour him. A near-by -beech tree, which his arms could encircle, furnished him with the means -of escape. He climbed, and climbed, while the wolves surrounded him and -watched his every motion, never ceasing their dismal howls the live-long -night. Thus he kept his lonely vigil. To lose his hold for a single -second meant instant death. Great, however, as was the tension upon his -strained muscles, they held on. Morn tardily came at last, and with its -first peep the wolves left him and were seen no more. When they were -really gone, he said he for the first time began looking about him, and -found, with all his climbing, he had ascended a very few feet from the -ground, and but just out of reach of the wolves’ jaws as they made -frantic jumps to reach him. We may, however, be safe in assuming that -the scare and involuntary vigil did not do him much harm, for in the -March following (1807) he married the girl he went to visit that night, -and made no complaints of having been maltreated by wolves.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_62" id="page_62">{62}</a></span></p> - -<p>In dismissing Thomas Conant at this time, the author digresses to say -that he was born in the United States, and was only a small lad when -Roger Conant, his father, brought him here. He was a generous, -industrious citizen, and was always noted for being one of the best -natured men in Canada, and possessed ability of a very high order. He -was liked universally by all who knew him, and he pursued the ordinary -avocations of life, such as Canadians then pursued, up to the time of -his assassination (as before mentioned) during the Canadian Revolution, -on February 15th, 1838. He went down to the grave from the stroke of a -sword, wielded by a dragoon, and without any provocation other than -accusing the dragoon of being drunk, as he was and had been many times -previously when on duty as despatch bearer. But such was the state of -affairs in Canada in 1837-8 that no investigation was held, nor was the -murderer ever punished even in the mildest degree. The author asks the -reader’s indulgence when he says he is very certain that only his -grandfather’s (Thomas Conant) untimely death prevented him from leaving -a name after him high up in Canadian annals, for he was a man of grand -physique (6 feet 2 inches in height) and of commanding talents. He had a -well-balanced mind and had wealth at his command.</p> - -<p>Surveyors were now at work plotting out the townships, and settlers were -coming very rapidly to occupy the lands which were surveyed. Readers -will bear in mind that the Family Compact was still in full power.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_63" id="page_63">{63}</a></span> All -grants for lands had to come through them. A story of a famous old land -surveyor is in order in this place. He had been surveying for many -seasons, and, about quarterly, came to York to make his reports and show -the plots of the new townships laid out. It so happened that an uncle of -the author’s was chain-bearer (whose office Fenimore Cooper, the -novelist, has immortalized) to this long-winded surveyor. At the time of -his service as chain-bearer this uncle was only a lusty young man, and -was not supposed to know the very first elements of surveying. Among -other things it was his duty to erect the tent for the nightly bivouac, -and make a fire at the tent mouth. Before the dancing, fitful flames, -lights and shadows in the forest primeval, he nightly sat with the -lordly surveyor, and saw him prepare rude maps of the past day’s work. -And, without any sort of knowledge of surveying, he saw him just touch a -parallelogram here and there (which would represent 100 acres) with the -point of his red pencil; but ever so light was the touch. Night after -night he saw dots go down on the parallelograms, and when the quiver was -full of sheets of survey, to York he went with the surveyor, to report -at the Crown Lands office. He said that in the office he noticed the -officials in charge scanning very intently for the red but faint dots. -We all now know the result: friends of the government officials had -secured hundreds and hundreds of acres of the best lands in the region -surveyed, while the surveyor became a mighty land-owner of most choice -lands, and died a very, very wealthy man. As may be sur<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_64" id="page_64">{64}</a></span>mised, he had -marked the choicest 100-acre lots with faint red dots, and he and the -officials grabbed the very choicest lands in that surveyor’s district. -Should a would-be purchaser ask for any certain lot, he was put off for -a day in order that they might see in the surveyor’s map if it really -was a choice one, as they surmised, since he asked to buy it, in which -case some friend immediately entered for it, and consequently that -choice lot the settler could not purchase. Using a fictitious name to -illustrate, it is said, and truly, too, that Peter Russell, Governor, -deeded to Peter Russell, Esquire, many choice lots of 100 acres each of -the public domain in Canada, in the days of the Family Compact. But here -one can justly remark that the eternal fitness of things comes pretty -nearly correct after all, for, although that surveyor was fabulously -wealthy, none of the property to-day is in any of his descendants’ -possession, nor are there offspring of any of the Family Compact with -enough pelf to-day, severally or collectively, to cause any comment. -“The mills of the gods grind slowly, but they grind exceeding small,” in -Canada just as they did in Greece and Rome in days of yore.</p> - -<p>This travesty of the conveying of public lands was one very just cause -of complaint on behalf of the people, and the refusal of the authorities -to correct it helped materially to cause the Canadian Revolution of -1837-38.</p> - -<p>The settlements in central Canada were at this time for the most part -close to the edge of the lake. Many very worthy, hard-working, -law-abiding men<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_65" id="page_65">{65}</a></span> and women of Canada found their last resting places in -places of sepulture, as they had found their homes, beside the waters of -Lake Ontario. Most pathetically all such graveyards appeal to the tender -side of any Canadian who loves his country and his fellows. When we stop -to consider all the hardships they had gone through, with unremitting -days, weeks, months and years of the hardest and most strenuous -muscle-aching toil, and remember, too, that they fought and conquered -the forests of Canada, it would not be human to pass by the memory of -such a noble race. Their fight had not the spur of excitement to keep up -their courage, as in war, but it was a fight, nevertheless—silent, -monotonous, trackless, soundless and alone, in forests greater than -which earth presents few examples if any.</p> - -<p>Noble men and women, pioneers of Canada, who gave us our birthright, you -merit our regard and ungrudgingly you shall have it! On earth is no -greater or more glittering example of a better, more prudent, loyal, -law-abiding, religious and industrious people than were those now asleep -in the soil of Canada, and from whom we sprang.</p> - -<p>Old Ontario generally is placid and beautiful, ultra-marine blue, and -shimmering. But he is not always so. When rude Boreas awakes the -slumbering giant, he frets, and froths, and spumes, and roars. As he is -in his might he becomes awful to look upon, and doubly so if one -ventures upon his bosom. And while he is spurring and warring, his waves -continually come upon the shore, each time a little<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_66" id="page_66">{66}</a></span> higher and higher, -searching each nook, cranny and fissure along the bank of the water’s -edge. Many such storms, you can easily understand, you who live distant -from navigable and great waters, tend to undermine the foundations of -the banks, which after a few more beatings fall with a plunge, a roar, -and a cloud of densest dust, into the waters below. In this manner does -old Ontario encroach at points upon the land. The sequel may be readily -seen. Those in their graves must give them up, while their bones whiten -the shingle for many a sunshiny day. This is no fanciful picture. With a -fowling-piece upon his shoulder the author has passed along the foot of -the bank, where a graveyard is, and seen skulls, long hair, ribs, femurs -and other larger bones of the human body bestrewing the beach. And he -has seen also where the bank has fallen away, only one-half the length -of the grave, and where only one-half of the skeleton went down with the -submerged bank, while the other half remained in the grave, and the -point of severance of the bones was plainly observable on the bank above -the beholder’s head. Flesh, of course, there is none. Time has long -since decayed and changed that.</p> - -<p>Noble men and women, the pioneers of Canada, you deserve better graves, -and cushions to lie on of the softest and most enduring velvet!</p> - -<p>Pursuing this subject a little further, the author may observe that he -personally owns a graveyard on a large farm which has been used by -whites since 1798 and by red men before that on Lake Ontario</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_014" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_014.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_014.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>OLD GRAVEYARD NEAR OSHAWA, THE PROPERTY OF THE AUTHOR.</p> - -<p>Graveyard on a bluff beside Lake Ontario, at Port Oshawa, overlooking -the surrounding country for a radius of ten miles. The red man, with an -eye to beauty, first used this for his place of sepulture, and now my -tenants plough out skulls, stone pipes, thigh bones, and iron tomahawks -with a star on them, which were given to the Indians by the French -before the English Conquest of Canada. The waves of Lake Ontario perform -a perpetual requiem to the memory of Indians and whites here -interred.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_67" id="page_67">{67}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">shore, where the waves produce a perpetual lullaby and a requiem to the -sainted memories of the dead.</p> - -<p>In this case there is no particular danger of the graves being washed -into the lake, but it seems hardly meet that any private owner should -have absolute control of the remains of the forefathers of so many now -dwelling in Canada. During his life no one shall be allowed by him to -meddle with the spot, but to save it for all time he has made a standing -proposition to deed it to any properly organized church that would -receive it and look after it. No such body has yet been found to receive -the gift in trust, but the author hopes that his only son, Gordon, may -keep it and hand it down to his son, and his son, in order that it may -never be disturbed.</p> - -<p>About the year 1833 Millerism found a lodgment in Canada from the New -England States, where one Miller, by his preaching, proved very clearly, -to some minds, that on a night in February of that year the earth would -pass away. Now, quite as great a proportion of the people in Canada -embraced this doctrine as did those of the United States, when -populations are compared. These persons had not the slightest doubt that -the world would really burn up on the date announced. Hence there were -many who during that winter, up to the time, failed to provide -themselves with wood for heating their houses. The old Virginia snake -fences being all about, they proceeded to take rails from off the fences -and burn them in their own houses, for they surely would have enough -from this source to last until the 15th Feb<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_68" id="page_68">{68}</a></span>ruary of that winter. But -even though they were to die so soon they could not well do without -food, and they had failed to provide any. John B. Warren at that time -kept a large general store in Oshawa, and was noted for his wide -dealings. And we accordingly find that good Millerite farmers came to -him with their sleighs and offered him their own notes, endorsed by good -neighbors, for as much as $300 per barrel for flour, which they would -take home in their sleighs. It was then worth generally $5 per barrel. -John B. Warren, to his honor be it said, always refused to trade with -them on such terribly unequal terms, but explained to them that they -could have the flour and could pay for it if they found themselves alive -after 15th February. Warren, it will be understood, did not become a -Millerite. Again, it is related that a husband who had for his second -wife, Jane, lived near the graveyard in which slumbered his first wife, -Elizabeth. As the hands of the long “grandfather’s clock” of those days -got around to midnight, this husband said to his wife, “Jane, put on -your things and let’s go over to the burying-ground, for I want to die -beside my first wife, Elizabeth, so as to meet her the very first one -after the great fire.” Jane’s faith, it seems, was not so strong, and -she flashed fire at his manifest preference for her predecessor in her -husband’s affections, and replied, “If that’s your game, you may go, and -I won’t live with you any longer.” And it is added that she did not live -under his roof again for several months after the great fire that was to -be. Several different dates<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_69" id="page_69">{69}</a></span> have been assigned since that first dread -day, and no doubt some earnestly looked-for date is regarded as now -approaching by this small but earnest body of people.</p> - -<p>One Hoover believed the Millerite doctrine so very strongly that he -gradually fancied himself more than human, and not amenable to nature’s -laws. He announced that one day in the fall of 1832 he would walk on the -water from Port Hoover, across Scugog Lake, seven miles to the mainland. -The faithful gathered, and hundreds besides from curiosity. Hoover -entered the water, slowly waded from the shore, and sought refuge behind -an old pile of the dock, where he remained a few minutes. There were -boxes like big boots upon his feet. Soon the crowd called vociferously -for him to come out. When he did emerge from behind the pile he turned -his face shoreward and gained solid land. The boys began to hoot and -laugh at the would-be miracle-worker. Then Hoover made an explanation -nearly in these words:</p> - -<p>“My friends, a cloud rose before my eyes and I cannot see. I cannot walk -upon the water to-day while this cloud is before my eyes. Soon it will -be announced when the cloud has been removed, and I will do it.”</p> - -<p>The crowd went away, never again to assemble at Hoover’s bidding. -Millerite farmers who were usually good husbandmen, as the day -approached, failed to turn their stock out of their pens, or to feed -their animals, and actually nearly starved them.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_70" id="page_70">{70}</a></span> To-day all that is -past, and in almost every instance those who embraced Millerism, and -those who then opposed it, have gone to the great silent majority. -Millerism is not now known in Canada.</p> - -<p>One other sect now, so far as I know, is extinct in central Ontario; it -may be worth mention. I say extinct, but I am not quite so certain of -that, as there yet may be some isolated persons of that faith here and -there in Ontario. I refer to the Mormons. During the summer of 1842 -Joseph Smith, the founder of the Latter-Day Saints, came to central -Ontario and spoke at open-air meetings, camp-meeting-like, as well as in -houses. He even attempted to perform miracles by curing sick persons. I -get it from persons on the stage of action this day, who heard Joseph -Smith in Upper Canada in 1842, and they say he was a good talker and had -a very insinuating manner, and they naively add that it is almost beyond -belief that any one could fall in with him. It is only fair, however, to -say in favor of the sincerity of those who joined him, that polygamy was -not then announced. We ought, I think, to make this admission to let off -those who did join as easily as possible; and from central Ontario there -were Seeleys, McGahans, Lamoreaux and others, with their families, who -sold their farms and gave the money to Joseph Smith, and went off to -Nauvoo, Ill. It is a little singular, too, that these people were never -again heard of directly from their new Mormon homes at Salt Lake, where -they no doubt removed after the break up at Nauvoo. All these Mormon -converts<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_71" id="page_71">{71}</a></span> vanished from their neighbors with Joseph Smith, and never -again sent any word to their friends and relatives left behind. I was at -Salt Lake City for a short sojourn in 1879, and upon passing a -stonecutter who was at work upon a square building stone for the new -great Mormon tabernacle, asked the workman, “Do you know any one called -McGahan about these parts?” Instantly the stonecutter dropped his tools -and looked me very intently in the eye and replied, “Yes, I do. What do -you know about them?” I explained that they came from Ontario, their -former home, when the stonecutter urged me to go and see them; said they -lived only fifteen miles down the valley south from Salt Lake, were -wealthy, and would be pleased to see me, and most earnestly urged me to -go. But my faith in Mormon integrity in those days was too low, and I -dared not leave Camp Douglas and the protection of United States -soldiers as far as fifteen miles away. Never since has any kind of trace -been heard of our Mormon converts or their descendants.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_72" id="page_72">{72}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Abolition of slavery in Canada—Log-houses, their fireplaces and -cooking apparatus—Difficulty experienced by settlers in obtaining -money—Grants to U. E. Loyalists—First grist mill—Indians—Use of -whiskey—Belief in witchcraft—Buffalo in Ontario.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Among</span> the doings of the first parliament of Upper Canada there is none -on which we can look back with greater satisfaction than the abolition -of slavery in this country. Persons who have not looked closely into our -early history may be almost disposed to express surprise that such a -piece of legislation was passed. The subject is so interesting that I -will speak more fully on the point. Great Britain abolished slavery in -the British West Indies as late as 1833, and paid twenty millions of -pounds for the slaves to their owners. It is difficult at this time to -tell why our forefathers in Ontario were so much in advance of the -Mother Country as well as the United States, for we find that they -abolished slavery from Upper Canada in July, 1793. Of course, there were -not many slaves in Upper Canada at the time, still there were some, but -it seems that no compensation was ever paid to the owners for such -slaves. Just think at what a fearful cost of treasure and precious lives -the United<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_73" id="page_73">{73}</a></span> States was called upon in the War of Secession to stand in -order to rid their country of slavery. Had they abolished slavery at the -time our forefathers did, no doubt the great war of the rebellion would -have been averted, and besides, in 1793, when we abolished slavery, they -could not have had very many slaves at the most, and even if they were -paid for, they would not have cost anything like so great a sum as Great -Britain paid for her West India slaves in 1833.</p> - -<p>Then I maintain that our forefathers in Upper Canada in 1793 were far in -advance in public spirit and true philanthropy of our American cousins, -for we do not find that the Americans at this time made any great -agitation to rid their country of the curse of slavery. If there were no -other fact to be proud of in our early history, this act of our -forefathers is one on which we may justly feel gratification. I will -insert the Act abolishing slavery in full. In July, 1793, the first -parliament of Upper Canada at its first session, called together at -Niagara by the Lieut.-Governor, John Graves Simcoe, passed an Act as -follows:</p> - -<div class="blockquot90"> -<p class="c">“CHAPTER VII.</p> - -<p>“Section 1—Hereafter no person shall obtain a license for the -importation of any negro or other person who shall come or be -brought into this province after the passing of this Act, to be -subject to the conditions of a slave; nor shall any voluntary -contract of service be binding for a longer term than nine years.</p> - -<p>“Section 2—This clause enables the present owners of slaves in -their possession to retain them or bind out their children until -they obtain the age of twenty-one years.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_74" id="page_74">{74}</a></span></p> - -<p>“Section 3—And in order to prevent the continuance of slavery in -this province the children that shall be born of female slaves -after the passing of this Act are to remain in the service of the -owner of their mother until the age of twenty-five years, when they -shall be discharged.</p> - -<p>“Provided that in case any issue shall be born of such children -during their servitude or after, such issue shall be entitled to -all the rights and privileges of free-born subjects.”</p></div> - -<p>By this simple Act of our first parliament our country was effectually -rid of this pest without the shedding of a drop of blood or the -expenditure of a single dollar in money. All honor to our forefathers -for their wise act, and a cheer for our banner free province.</p> - -<p>Our forefathers at this time, and long after, had no stoves in their -log-houses. All cooking, as well as heating, was done by the fireplace. -A crane swung on hinges into this great fireplace and could be swung out -from the fire at pleasure. Attached to this crane was an iron, having -notches therein, and fitting over this pendant iron rod was another -shorter iron, with a link as of a chain on the end thereof. This link -fitted into the notches on the first-mentioned iron. By this means the -lower iron could be raised or lowered into or above the fire at -pleasure. Thus our forefathers did their first cooking in Upper Canada. -The corn cake, or wheaten cake, when they had it, was baked in the -ashes, and wonderfully sweet old persons thought it. The fact that it -was covered with some loose ashes did not detract from its sweetness, as -they were soon brushed away, leaving the toothsome cake within.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_75" id="page_75">{75}</a></span></p> - -<p>The first improvement in the culinary art of our forefathers came with -tin bake-ovens. These were tin trays, as it were, open on one side. They -would be set before the fire-place, with the open side fronting the -fire. Thus the rays of heat would be collected, and in a measure -confined within the oven, and the bread or cakes within were soon nicely -browned and baked. It was considered an immense stride by our -forefathers when they got these bake-ovens, and for years they did not -aspire to anything better.</p> - -<p>Ovens out of doors were built by some of stones. They were generally -conical in shape and open in the centre. An immense fire would be built -in this out-door oven, and when burnt down to real live coals, would be -all drawn out. Its stones would thus be thoroughly heated. Into the -cavity in which the fire had been, the bread would be inserted and the -door stopped up. Enough heat would remain in the stones to thoroughly -bake at least two batches of bread. But this was done at a fearful waste -of wood, which, of course, was of no account at that time. The advent of -stoves changed all that, and now a fireplace of wood in an Ontario home -is more a luxury than a necessity, and but few are to be found. But many -of my more elderly readers will remember the huge gaping fireplaces of -the past when a great “back-log,” two feet or more in diameter, would be -drawn in with a horse into the house, and the horse unhitched, leaving -the log before the fireplace. Once at the fireplace it was an easy -matter, with handspikes, to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_76" id="page_76">{76}</a></span></p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_015-a" style="width: 517px;"> -<a href="images/ill_015-a.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_015-a.jpg" width="517" height="344" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>FIREPLACE AND HOUSEHOLD EFFECTS IN USE IN UPPER CANADA IN -1813.</p> - -<p> -(By permission from the J. Ross Robertson collection.)<br /> -</p> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_015-b" style="width: 523px;"> -<a href="images/ill_015-b.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_015-b.jpg" width="523" height="252" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>KITCHEN UTENSILS. UPPER CANADA, 1813.</p> - -<p> -(By permission from the J. Ross Robertson collection.)<br /> -</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_77" id="page_77">{77}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">roll it to the back side of the fire. Since matches were not then -invented, the fire was something to be closely guarded, lest it might go -out. But this big back-log would usually keep a fire on for some three -or four days, being covered up at night with the ashes and embers that -it might smoulder all the night.</p> - -<p>Wild leeks were then used as an article of food. As soon as the snow -disappeared in the spring they would be found in abundance in the -forests, and were gathered as the first spring vegetable. Their unsavory -smell, or that imparted to the breath of the eater thereof, seemed to be -no bar to their use. When all partook of the leek not one could detect -the odor from the other. Likewise the cowslip, a little later in the -season, which grew in shallow ponds, furnished a dish of greens to our -forefathers.</p> - -<p>To show how difficult it was at this early day for the poor settler to -obtain money, I will relate an anecdote of about 1807. Levi Annis was -living at this time with his father, in the county of Durham. During the -summer and fall of 1806 they had chopped and burnt a fallow of -thirty-one acres, which they sowed with fall wheat. As a preparation for -sowing, the land was not ploughed at all, but it was loose and leafy and -ashy from the burning. The wheat was sown broadcast by hand among the -stumps. It was covered by hitching a yoke of oxen to the butt end of a -small tree, with the branches left hanging thereto. The oxen drew this -to and fro over the fallow among the stumps, and thus covered the wheat. -This was called “bushing in,” and was the first harrow used<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_78" id="page_78">{78}</a></span> by our -forefathers among the stumps. However, the fallow upon which the wheat -was so brushed in produced as fine a crop of fall wheat as ever grew, -falling not much below thirty bushels per acre. Now this wheat could be -exchanged for store goods at will, but not for money. Levi Annis, -however, took the first load of it to Bowmanville, and was told by his -father that he must get $5.50 on account of the whole crop to pay his -taxes, for he must have the money to pay his taxes, but the rest he -would take store pay for. The merchant with whom he dealt actually -refused to advance the $5.50, saying he could get all the wheat he -wanted for goods. The young man had to drive to another merchant and -state his deplorable case to him and his urgent need of $5.50, and that -if he would advance him the money he should have the whole crop of -thirty-one acres. Finally the second merchant took pity upon the young -man in his dilemma and advanced the money. Thus it was with the utmost -difficulty that he could get $5.50 in cash out of thirty-one acres of -wheat. This shows us to-day how difficult it was for our forefathers to -get money.</p> - -<p>Most of the refugees from the United States at the time of the American -Revolution of the last century, who sided with Britain, and came to -Canada and this section, came by way of Niagara. This north shore of -Lake Ontario was then a wilderness, with no clearing or settlements at -all. Where Toronto now is was an Indian camp when some of those refugees -came through and over its present site. Of course,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_79" id="page_79">{79}</a></span> such refugees are -termed “United Empire Loyalists,” and right well they deserve the name, -for many of them left lands and houses and goodly heritage in -Massachusetts to come over here and live under the old flag. The Royal -grants which they received were given to them ostensibly for their -loyalty to the Crown, but I sometimes think that our Royal governors at -those times used them as a means of peopling the country, and it would -almost appear that this consideration had as much to do with the grants -for loyalty as for real <i>bona fide</i> settlers. The United Empire -Loyalists came around the head of Lake Ontario, and stopped first beside -the various creeks which flow into Lake Ontario, for two reasons: one, -to enable them to catch the plentiful salmon in those creeks; and the -other, that they might cut marsh grass for their cattle at the marshes -formed at the streams’ mouths. There was no grist-mill nearer than -Kingston, and these refugees had to go in bateaux with their grists -(when they had any) all this way. They skirted close along the shore, -and pulled their boats up at night and slept in them. Twice per year -was, for many years, the greatest number of times they would go with the -grist. Rather hard lines for those who had left the comforts and -civilization of the Eastern States for the wilds of Canada.</p> - -<p>John D. Smith, at Smith’s Creek, now Port Hope, erected a grist-mill -some time after 1800 came in, and his was the first grist-mill between -Toronto and Kingston. The boon which this conferred upon the sparse -settlers can hardly be realized at this day.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_80" id="page_80">{80}</a></span> Many of these settlers -became Indian traders, for the Indians at this time far outnumbered the -whites; and semi-annually all the Indian tribes came to Lake Ontario to -fish. Their trading was done by barter. A party of traders would set out -into the woods with their packs of goods and fire off three guns in -succession, which was the signal to the Indians that traders were there. -Next morning the Indians would invariably come to the rendezvous to -trade their furs for ammunition, blankets and trinkets. The furs were -sent by bateaux to Montreal, and were for many years the only commodity -which would command the cash in the market.</p> - -<p>The next commodity which brought cash was black salts and potash. This -was before the square timber began to be exported from this locality.</p> - -<p>Just about the time that the settlers began to subdue the forests, the -War of 1812 broke out and sadly disarranged all the plans of the -settlers. Some of the sparse settlers, known for probity and -reliability, got contracts under the Government as despatch bearers -between certain stations, and for this received weekly, during the -unfortunate time, Spanish milled dollars, in which they were then paid. -The military impressment law was, of course, in full force during the -war. The cannon and military stores were hauled along the shores from -Montreal to Toronto, as the war progressed, as it was not safe to trust -them on vessels on the water for fear of capture by the Americans. The -mouths of streams had to be forded. The writer can call to mind many -anecdotes of his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_81" id="page_81">{81}</a></span> forefathers of that interesting time in our history. -The straggling settler would be ploughing among the stumps with his yoke -of oxen, when a squad of British soldiers would come along and make him -unhitch from the plough, and hitch on to the cannon without any waiting -or time even to go in for his coat. Usually two yokes of oxen were -attached to each of the small cannon. On arrival at the garrison at -Toronto the owners of the oxen were invariably well paid in cash for -their services. Two persons with oxen from this locality were once -pressed into the service. One yoke happened to be tolerably fat, and the -owner sold them to the military authorities in Toronto for a good price -in money, for beef for the troops. The money obtained for that yoke of -oxen enabled the owner to buy and pay for 200 acres of as fine land as -to-day can be found under the sun.</p> - -<p>Nor was it infrequent for the passing soldiers to be billeted upon the -inhabitants for a night.</p> - -<p>Indians used to spear fish when the first settlers came here, along the -lake shore and off the headlands. No matter if the water was rough, the -Indian would stand in the prow of the dug-out log canoe, holding some -sturgeon oil in his mouth. Now and again he would spit this oil out upon -the water, which would so calm it for a moment or two that he could see -the fish and spear them. By such sleights the Indian invariably -succeeded in procuring food from the forest and flood, while the white -man could hardly do so until he learned from the Indian how to take game -and fish. It was always the policy of the first settlers<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_82" id="page_82">{82}</a></span> to treat the -Indians kindly. They did this because the Indians gave them like -treatment in return, and also because they far outnumbered the whites -and could easily have destroyed them. An Indian was never to be refused -something to eat if he came along hungry. My forefathers have told me -that an Indian came along one day nearly famished and asked for food. -Through some mishap he had been a week without food. A lot of cold meat -was set before him and a quantity of corn bread. The old settler sat -beside his fireplace and saw with surprise the eagerness and dexterity -with which he managed to appropriate this cold meat. And still the -Indian ate on, without apparent flagging, until at last the four pounds -or so of cold meat was gone. Then he gave a grunt of satisfaction and -sat before the fire. Soon he appeared in great distress and began -rolling on the floor. To cure the surfeit the settler knew no better way -than to grease his abdomen and pull him about. Just what virtue the -grease had the settler did not know, but thinking that his body must -necessarily stretch to master all that meat, he knew no better way to -produce the stretching than by greasing him. And grease him he did, with -the Indian all the time roaring with agony. However, after sundry -greasings, rollings and groanings, he got relief, and sat once more -beside the fire. On going away he told the old man what a good meal he -had had, and that he ever would remember him. It is a fact that the -Indian in his forest home used many times to be for days without food, -when game was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_83" id="page_83">{83}</a></span> not secured. When he did get game he gorged himself, but -of the manner of relieving a surfeit in the woods the white man does not -seem to know whether it was by grease or otherwise.</p> - -<p>At a logging bee in those old times whiskey was ever present. All the -settlers in the locality would invariably turn out and help at the -logging. Wonderful stories they tell of logging an acre of land in an -hour and a half by three men and a yoke of oxen. Old men to-day tell me -that they were mere lads then, and were the “whiskey boys” at these -loggings. Whiskey was partaken of by the bowlful, and no ill effect -seemed to follow from it. If a man were to drink one-half the quantity -of whiskey to-day he would be more than drunk, and sick on the morrow. -It must be that the whiskey of those days was better than the modern -stuff. It was not supposed to be at all wrong to drink whiskey in those -days, and they tell of an Irish immigrant who settled in Pickering, who -had no cows, and had to provide food for his family during the winter. -He procured two barrels of whiskey, which he and the family used with -the cornmeal porridge during that winter. There were young children in -the family at the time. It was not maintained that the whiskey was as -nutritious as milk would have been, but yet they all came out in the -spring in good condition, none the worse of the thrice daily consumption -of whiskey.</p> - -<p>Barns were sometimes moved from the manure pile about them. Manure was -not considered of any value upon the land, for the land was rich enough<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_84" id="page_84">{84}</a></span> -without it. In a series of years the manure would accumulate about the -barns, impeding access thereto, and they were actually moved away to get -away from the manure, and then the manure burnt. Of course, we would not -think of such a proceeding now, but there are farmers in Darlington, in -the county of Durham, who burn their straw even now. When threshing, the -straw is spread over a field, as delivered from a machine, by a boy with -a horse-rake. It is then burned, relying for manure upon the ashes which -the straw makes. This is not told as an example of good farming, but it -illustrates the exceeding richness of Ontario soil.</p> - -<p>Since the early American colonists burnt witches at Salem, their -descendants, who came to Upper Canada as U. E. Loyalists, brought the -belief of witchcraft with them; and many of them who came here about -1800, and before, really did believe in witches. I have heard my -forefathers relate a witch story in all seriousness which I think worth -repeating, as showing to us that the New England people who burnt -witches were really sincere in the belief. About 1800 a settler in the -spring of the year did not enjoy very good health. Nothing serious -seemed to be the matter with him but a general inertia, or seediness. -There was no medical man to consult, so he did the next best thing by -consulting his nearest neighbor. The neighbor upon being told his -symptoms at once pronounced him bewitched. An old woman in the locality -was at once picked out as the bewitcher. Now for the remedy to break the -spell of the witchery. A<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_85" id="page_85">{85}</a></span> ball must be made of silver, and they melted a -silver coin and made a rifle ball of it. An image of dough must be made -to as closely resemble the supposed witch as possible. And it was made. -Just as the sun rose the bewitched must fire at it with his rifle and -the silver ball, and the dough image was set up on a top rail of the -fence, and as the sun rose he fired and just grazed the shoulder of the -dough image. In about an hour the old witch came to the house in great -haste, and wanted to borrow some article. Were they to lend her the -article desired the spell would come on again, but refusing, the spell -was broken; of course, like sensible men, they did not lend the article. -Even they went on to say further that the witch was hit and wounded -slightly on the shoulder, where the dough image was struck by the silver -ball. However, be that as it may, they asserted that the sick man -speedily got well and was never again bewitched by the witch in question -nor any other. Of the efficacy of the unerring aim of the silver ball I -do not vouch, but I do vouch for the real <i>bona fide</i> belief of the old -narrators of the whole tale.</p> - -<p>There were buffalo in Ontario once, without a doubt, and I think I can -prove it. When my people first came here, their own and two other -families for some years were the only settlers between Toronto and Port -Hope. They had cows, but by some fatality their only bull died. Somehow, -three cows strayed away one summer and did not return until late in the -fall or approach of winter. Next spring these cows had a calf each, and -these calves partook partly of the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_86" id="page_86">{86}</a></span> mother, with the head and -foreshoulders of the buffalo. Having a shaggy mane and long hair on -their foreshoulders like the buffalo, they were without a doubt part -buffalo. The progeny of this half-buffalo stock increased, but they -never became thoroughly domesticated, and when a bull, some years after, -could be obtained, they had to be killed on account of their -viciousness.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_87" id="page_87">{87}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>A manufactory of base coin in the Province of Quebec—A clever -penman—Incident at a trial—The gang of forgers broken -up—“Stump-tail money”—Calves or land?—Ashbridge’s hotel, -Toronto—Attempted robbery by Indians—The shooting of an Indian -dog and the consequences.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">I referred</span> in the last chapter to the Spanish milled dollars in which -military services were paid for. Mexican dollars were also in vogue, and -a few years previous to the American War of 1812, some enterprising New -England counterfeiters, fancying the densely-wooded portion of Lower -Canada, near the state lines, would afford a secure base for their -operations, emigrated to our lower province. These Mexican silver -dollars were used as a currency for small moneys almost to the exclusion -of British coins. The reason for this was because these Mexican unmilled -dollars were of pure silver, almost without alloy, and were worth, -intrinsically, rather more than their face value. In these forests the -counterfeiters set up their presses and dies, and succeeded in making -Mexican dollars so very nearly like the genuine ones that they passed -unquestioned. Indeed, there was no limit to the amount these fellows -could produce, or as to the amount of wealth they could accumulate -thereby;<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_88" id="page_88">{88}</a></span> that is to say, so far as wealth could be accumulated in those -early days among forest fastnesses. However, this band had good houses -constructed, and as well furnished as they could be at that early day. -One of the traditions about them is that they were in the habit of -throwing a dollar into the spittoon when they wanted it cleaned, which -perhaps shows they had all the hired help that money could in those days -give them. They appear to have lived a free-booting sort of life and to -have enjoyed such luxuries as money could command. So expert had they -become at the business that paymasters in the American army actually -crossed over the lines by stealth, through the woods, and bought these -Mexican dollars from the counterfeiters to pay the American troops with. -This is a fact, anomalous as it may seem, and no doubt these paymasters -reaped rich harvests by these transactions. As an illustration of the -cleverness of these counterfeiters I will note that at one time they -actually passed four thousand of their coins on one of the banks in -Montreal.</p> - -<p>We may, therefore, assume that as counterfeiters they had arrived at -considerable perfection. The flooding of the Province of Quebec with -these Mexican dollars somewhat disarranged the even flow of trade -transactions.</p> - -<p>On the close of the American war, however, these Mexican dollars were -gradually taken out of circulation. The genuine ones were mostly taken -to England to be recoined into British shillings and sixpences. This -altered state of affairs caused these counterfeiters<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_89" id="page_89">{89}</a></span> to pause in their -career, and they ceased to produce the Mexican dollars for fear they -might be traced out. Counterfeiting bank-notes was what they next turned -their hands to. In those days the “greenback” had not been invented, the -engravings on the bills were not very elaborate, and they found some one -among them who could cut the die plate of a bill. Thus far they had got -on well, but the signatures to the bills presented an almost insuperable -obstacle. That oft-repeated remark, that “the old fellow always helps -his own,” was true in their case at least. One of their number was found -so clever with the pen that he could imitate the signatures to -perfection. It is asserted that this signer claimed as his share for -affixing the signatures a full share in all the band’s proceeds, and he -was to do nothing else at all. The other members were to do all the work -and he only did the writing, and lived like a gentleman in what had then -become a small village in Quebec, near the province line. He had a fine -house, carriages and servants; held several offices of trust, and had -even rare and costly bound books in his library. Indeed, he seemed to be -a person of culture in every way, and no one for a moment suspected him -of any complicity in such a nefarious business as counterfeiting.</p> - -<p>To show how clever he was as a penman, I will tell this anecdote by way -of illustration. Some twenty thousand dollars’ worth of promissory notes -had been sued in some court in the State of Vermont. The signature on -these notes was disputed by the reputed maker, and a defence set up that -they were<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_90" id="page_90">{90}</a></span> forgeries. This important case was thoroughly defended by the -ablest counsel of the day, and yet the case seemed likely to go against -the maker of the notes. Happening to get a hint, this attorney for the -defence quietly asked all the attorneys in the court to write their -names on a half-sheet of foolscap, which he produced, torn carelessly -from the other half-sheet.</p> - -<p>Each one wrote his name. Then this attorney for the defence brought the -signatures to this person who did the bank-note signing in Quebec. On -the other half-sheet of foolscap this more than expert penman reproduced -in exact fac-simile the attorneys’ names. Back into court he came with -the two half-sheets of foolscap, one containing the genuine signatures -and the other the forged ones, but both sheets alike in every respect, -even as to jagged edges, where torn asunder, and every other particular.</p> - -<p>Each signing attorney was then put in the witness box and asked to swear -to his signature. Not one of them could do it. This fact threw doubts in -the minds of the jury as to the genuineness of the signature of the -notes, and the defendant got a verdict of “not guilty.”</p> - -<p>As the country continued to be flooded with these notes, the Government -finally began tracing their issue to the fountain head, and suddenly and -without warning made a descent upon this respectable citizen’s fine -house. Not a scrap could be found to incriminate him, and the searchers -were about to leave with apologies, when, happening to look in the -attic, they found a single unused die, which one of the gang had -thoughtlessly left there.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_91" id="page_91">{91}</a></span></p> - -<p>The finding of this die of course caused his arrest, and he and two -others were put on trial for their lives. Forgery in that day in Quebec -merited the death penalty of the law. They had moved to Canada, however, -for protection, and even in this instance Canada did not fail to protect -them still. They had forged only notes of the state banks of the United -States, and it seems that our law could not fairly get hold of them for -forging the notes of a foreign country, and they got off scot-free. But -the prosecution broke them up and they fled, having lost their -pseudo-respectability.</p> - -<p>It is asserted that this expert penman and cultivated man afterwards -migrated to the United States, became an inmate of nearly all the -penitentiaries the United States then possessed, and finally died in one -of them. So, in this instance, as ever, the way of the transgressor was -hard, although seemingly so fair for so long a time.</p> - -<p>“Can you tell me where I can buy shingles?” for many years after the -breaking up of the gang was one of the formulas which strangers used -when coming into the former counterfeiters’ locality to buy counterfeit -money. A man of sixty-five now tells that when a lad he once in the -spring packed his bundle in his handkerchief, swung it over his shoulder -on a stick, and sallied out looking for work. A stylish team passed him, -driven by two men, whom he asked for a ride. And they gave him a ride, -and asked him while on the way “where they could buy some shingles?” Not -knowing, he could<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_92" id="page_92">{92}</a></span> not tell them, but his curiosity was aroused to know -what men, dressed as they were, and with so fine a team and so light a -rig, should want with shingles. Finally, after repeated inquiries, some -one on the way told them to turn off the road, and back in the woods -they would find “shingles.” It is asserted that for some years after the -close of the American War of 1812 this counterfeit money had, among -those who dealt in it, a certain market value. Sometimes the dollar was -worth as much as forty cents, and at other times it had a greater value. -Other catch words were used and known among those who dealt in this -commodity besides “shingles,” but this term seems to have been most used -and most generally known.</p> - -<p>A long time it took to rid that part of Quebec of the remaining stamps -and dies, and to stamp out the counterfeiting entirely. But as the -country became more settled up and the roads improved it was gradually -stopped. So far as I can ascertain, this narrative contains an account -of the most systematized and successful series of forgeries our country -at that time had.</p> - -<p>Some of these clever New England forgers knew when to stop. One of them, -it is said, moved away to New Jersey and bought a fine farm there from -the proceeds of his forgeries in Canada, and lived the life of a country -gentleman until his death.</p> - -<p>The strangest part of this tale is yet to follow. I got it from the lips -of a resident in the West, a close observer and likely to know.</p> - -<p>In the early settlements of the Western States<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_93" id="page_93">{93}</a></span> bordering on the -Mississippi River, each state issued bills which were almost valueless -in any other state. All sorts of forgeries were committed on these state -bank bills. This money came to be known as “stump tail money,” and -amidst the general confusion of currencies and hasty settlements the -forgers were enabled to reap rich harvests. The forgers began to be -caught and driven still further west to the Missouri River, as the -States became better settled and things settled down generally. Nearly -all of those forgers who were caught acknowledged that they were -descendants of the gang of forgers whom I have been speaking of on the -province line in Quebec. And more, they said in their confessions, that -those who got away were likewise of the same descent. From this it would -appear that in the guild of forgers the faculties are transmitted to -succeeding generations, like those of caste in India.</p> - -<p>I have said that in the early days of the century the settlers in -Ontario did not entertain very correct ideas as to the prospective value -of lands. The following anecdote of that time will illustrate this: Levi -Annis, descended from Charles Annis, already alluded to, when about -eighteen years of age had made a little money on his own account by -trapping. He had saved enough money to buy himself a couple of bull -calves six months old, and calculated to secure them. Just before he got -to buying them, it came to his knowledge that for the same sum which he -would pay for the calves he could buy outright 100 acres of land. For -some days he was in doubt whether to buy the calves or the hundred -acres. He asked his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_94" id="page_94">{94}</a></span> friends, and they reasoned that there was lots of -land, and land he could buy any time, but calves were scarce and he had -better buy them when he could. Consequently he bought the calves and let -the land alone. To show how lightly land was valued in those days I make -the comparison. But this is not at all in relation to the bargain. Had -he bought the 100 acres of land, which he thought of doing, even before -his death he would have seen a part of the town of Oshawa built upon it. -To-day there is upon this land a large manufactory and numerous -dwellings, and its value at this time is almost beyond estimating. Had -he bought the land and simply kept it, and literally done nothing else, -it would have made a rich man of him. But he chose the calves, and it is -evident in the light of the subsequent events that his choice was a poor -one.</p> - -<p>An Indian tale of 1800 comes to my mind which my forefathers have told -to me. In the early days the settlers had to devise plans to keep their -sheep from the wolves. As their flocks increased their next great -difficulty was to keep their sheep from the Indians’ dogs. The first -settlements were, of course, along the shores of the great lakes, -Ontario and Erie. Twice a year, spring and fall, the Indians would come -out from the woods to fish in those lakes and marshes, and at the -outlets of the streams. So numerous were the Indians at that time that -they far outnumbered the whites, and when they came for the semi-annual -fish they would form a regular village, as they congregated in their -tents beside the shore of some marsh or bay upon the great lakes.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_95" id="page_95">{95}</a></span></p> - -<p>The settlers’ policy was one pre-eminently of conciliation to the -Indians. But they would at every visit be accompanied by a lot of -half-starved, ill-favored curs, which would worry the settlers’ sheep. -At one visit they had a particularly large gaunt brute of a dog, which -badly worried a sheep of my forefather. He remonstrated with the chief, -and desired him to keep the dog at the camp, which he promised to do. -Nightly he penned his sheep as usual, to keep off the wolves, but during -the day this dog continued to worry them when out of sight among the log -and brush on the partially cleared fields, and finally killed one. My -people resolved to suffer it no longer, and at great risk of their lives -and property shot the Indian dog—dead as they supposed. Then they took -the dog that the Indians might not find him, and know that they had shot -him, and put him in a hollow pine stub, the top of which stood some ten -feet from the ground, and which was hollow to the bottom. Bury the dog -they dared not, because the sharp-eyed Indian would discover the -newly-turned earth and fish it out, and they knew they could not -otherwise hide him successfully. That evening about forty Indians came -looking for the animal, and searched every place, probable and -improbable, indoors and out, and my people dared not refuse them -admittance. Without a doubt my forefather will be pardoned for “telling -a white one” when he averred that he had not got the dog. At this -juncture it became by far too serious to jest or prevaricate, for their -lives literally depended upon the Indians’ successful search for that -canine. Search as they would, however, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_96" id="page_96">{96}</a></span> did not find it, and -darkness gratefully set in and put an end to their investigation for -that day. But little sleep the settlers were able to take that night -through dead fear that the Indians might possibly find the cur. Next -morning, just at the first peep of day, my forefather was up and out to -the stump, when to his intense astonishment and disgust the dog was -barking and scratching within the stub to get out. He had not been -effectually killed, and had come back again to life. Now here was a -dilemma, and what was to be done? To get up on the stub and fire at the -dog again was more than he dared, for it would arouse the Indians only -half a mile away.</p> - -<p>An expedient he soon hit upon, however, and he resolved that day to go -to logging that he might burn the stub without arousing the keen -suspicion of the Indians. Yoking his oxen, a pile of logs was soon -gathered about the stub and set on fire. The dog’s cries grew fainter -and to him beautifully less, and finally ceased. But he did not dare to -stop the logging for the day, and worked at it faithfully all day, -whether he wished to or not, that no suspicion might rest upon him for -the burning of the pine stub. It is needless to add that the Indians did -not get the dog, and that they never found out what became of him. At -this time this may seem a simple story to tell, but to the participants -it was a life-and-death matter, and I have heard my forefathers say that -the old man would have gladly given all his sheep, dearly as he prized -them, could he have recalled that shot, when he heard the dog howling -the next morning in the stub.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_97" id="page_97">{97}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>The Canadian Revolution of 1837-38—Causes that led to -it—Searching of Daniel Conant’s house—Tyrannous misrule of the -Family Compact—A fugitive farmer—A visitor from the United States -in danger—Daniel Conant a large vessel owner—Assists seventy -patriots to escape—Linus Wilson Miller—His trial and -sentence—State prisoners sent to Van Diemen’s Land.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">That</span> uprising of 1837-38 in Canada is now generally termed the Canadian -Revolution. Most worthily does it deserve to be called a <i>revolution</i>, -for the people who were its supporters afterwards got all they asked -for. It was not a <i>rebellion</i> but a revolution, and it did great good -for this country in the end. The fact of the very narrow and selfish -rule of the Family Compact again comes to us, for having goaded the -people to resort to extraordinary measures, they also persecuted persons -who came, or whose fathers came, from the United States. All hail to -those who, in a prominent or lesser way, took part in this rising on the -side of the patriots. It is an honor to-day for any Canadian to be -descended from one who took part and bore the burden and danger of -service in the Canadian Revolution of 1837-38. It is not to be argued -but that the patriots went rather too far, but no less could be expected -when the people<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_98" id="page_98">{98}</a></span> once were aroused for such just causes. Those who -fought on the other side were equally as brave, and did their duty -manfully and bravely as they then saw the light. It was, nevertheless, -the efforts of the few patriots (whose fortunes we shall follow in part) -that gave us our liberties in Canada, and likewise brought about -constitutional government. Likewise were the effects of this revolution -good for the Motherland, for every colony since that time has been free -to carry on its own domestic concerns at will, which Canadians could not -possibly do before the Canadian Revolution. The day is now here when -those alive are proud of the part their forefathers took in the -struggle, and the disposition of many writers to try to gloss the -disturbances over, and make them appear small and puny in the way of -concerted efforts, are not pleasant to us nor true in their spirit. In a -word, no one can be found in Canada to-day who would dare to champion -the cause of the Royalists and the Family Compact on that occasion, and -assert that the patriots had not sufficient causes for their uprising. -Only recently has this been the case, for it has been fashionable -heretofore for every one to make light of the Revolution and to disclaim -any connection with it.</p> - -<p>The patriots were only trying to get wrongs redressed and a -constitutional government inaugurated. They had no wish to uprise -against Great Britain. Particularly is it true that the great bulk of -the patriots were not uprising against the Motherland, for the author’s -forbears, who knew well from actual<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_99" id="page_99">{99}</a></span> contact with the patriots, have -frequently told him so. The rule of the Family Compact they would not -endure longer. They were goaded to exasperation by the infamous acts of -that clique, and they were careless of what consequences might follow.</p> - -<p>It was “Junius” who said, “The subject who is truly loyal will neither -advise nor submit to arbitrary acts.” In accordance with that sentiment -the patriots sought only to have the wrongs redressed, and <i>not to take -up arms against Great Britain in any sense</i>. In the following pages some -of the terribly arbitrary acts of the Family Compact will be given, for -but very few Canadians to-day have the least inkling of the high-handed -manner which this tyrannous power made use of in venting its private -hatred on the patriots, both individually and collectively. It is, -however, a matter of strong congratulation that though the Family -Compact was victorious in the revolution, its rule was but short after -it. The patriots secured all the privileges they asked for, and the -Family Compact shrunk into nothingness.</p> - -<p>The hanging of Lount and Matthews was really judicial murder, and the -exportation of 232 Canadians to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), where -nearly all of them lost their lives, was an infamous deed; also the -persistence with which the Compact pursued the patriots is enough to -bring tears to the eyes of every thinking Canadian to-day who really -loves his country. When the Southern States revolted and fought from -April, 1861, to April, 1865, and brought about the most terrible war on -record,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_100" id="page_100">{100}</a></span> wherein more men were killed than in any war the world has ever -known, no one was hanged at its close. Nor was any leader imprisoned or -exported, nor was the private property of the leaders confiscated, save -that only of Jefferson Davis, the leader, and only a part of his private -property withal. Whereas, here in Canada, because our patriots had the -manliness to be men and stand up for their rights, though committing no -overt acts, they were hanged, imprisoned, driven to the United States, -or transported for life. In the case of the author’s own grandfather and -parents he can bring out some features exactly. One Colonel Ferguson, -who lived a mile and a quarter north of Whitby, considering his measure -of loyalty to be so far in excess of that of all others about, took it -upon himself to pay domiciliary visits to the homes of many with the -troops under his command. He had the command of a few militiamen whose -homes were in the locality of his visits. There were no overt acts being -committed during the winter months of 1837-38, but it made no sort of -difference to Colonel Ferguson. As a tool of the Family Compact he never -ceased to annoy his neighbors. Very vivid impressions come to the author -from the tales of his own father of Colonel Ferguson coming at midnight -of a winter night with his men, surrounding the family residence and -turning all the inmates out in the snow while he ransacked and searched -at will. Many times during that memorable winter was the search -repeated, but the author could never learn what Colonel Ferguson -expected to find as a result of his</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_016" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_016.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_016.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>THE OLD CONANT HOMESTEAD AT PORT OSHAWA, BUILT IN 1811.</p> - -<p style="text-align:left;text-indent:2%;">Here United States prisoners from General Hull’s army, which -surrendered at Detroit, were fed while proceeding on their way by -boats under guard to Quebec. Here also domiciliary visits were paid -on several occasions during the Canadian Revolution of 1837-38, the -house being surrounded by troops at midnight, and my people turned -out in the snow while the house was being searched.</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_101" id="page_101">{101}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">diligent searches. Daniel Conant’s New England descent would very -probably go far to account for Colonel Ferguson’s insane suspiciousness. -In this part of Canada the inhabitants generally were in favor of the -movement. Not to be so was to be singular. That is to say, they were in -favor of having the wrongs committed by the Family Compact redressed, -but not one in 10,000 asked for a change of the political connection of -Canada. To effect such a sweeping change as that would be was not the -object of the agitation, and at this day of writing it seems very hard -that the inhabitants should have been persecuted simply because they -loved their country; but so it was. It would be well to instance another -case of the tyrannous misrule of the Family Compact and their -persecution of unoffending persons. A farmer living near Oshawa, being -the son of a United Empire Loyalist, seemed to have all the Compact’s -hate and suspicion centred upon him, simply because his father came from -Massachusetts. The suspected man had done absolutely no act to place him -in the eye of the law. Like nearly all others, he sympathized with the -patriots, not for a moment supposing it to be a crime to love his -country and its people. But Colonel Ferguson thought differently, and -made a sally to capture the farmer. Now, capture meant almost certain -death, for it would mean being incarcerated during the very cold weather -in unheated guardhouses and gaols here or in Toronto. Knowing this, he -avoided capture by changing his quarters every few days and never -sleeping in a house. Usually he slept<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_102" id="page_102">{102}</a></span> in the granary of a barn, -burrowing into the bin of grain until almost or quite concealed, with -the grain effectually covering him. One may rightly conjecture the -terrible hardships of this poor farmer, exposed as he was to the -inclemency of a Canadian winter. Fires in a barn are, of course, out of -the question, and therefore he had no comfort of a house and a fireside -the whole winter long. Such ill-usage could possibly have only one -ending, viz., death, which followed in the fall of 1838. Nor is this an -isolated case, for there were many such, but purposely we follow its -details in order to present a faithful picture of life in Canada during -the Canadian Revolution of 1837-38.</p> - -<p>One more instance we must narrate before the indictment of the Family -Compact is complete. David Trull, a resident of New York State, and a -relative of the author, happened to come to visit his relatives about -Bowmanville and Newcastle in the fall of 1837. While here on this visit -the uprising took place, for the fight at Montgomery’s was on the 3rd of -December, 1837. His visit having come to an end, he started for home the -same way he came. On to Toronto, then, went David Trull, to get on board -a small steamer running from the Queen’s wharf to Niagara. As he stepped -upon the gang-plank a uniformed sentry presented a bayonet and cried -“Halt!” threatening to run him through. He turned back from the wharf, -frightened and amazed, proceeding to his hotel, which he had only that -morning left. Telling the hotel-keeper of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_103" id="page_103">{103}</a></span> his trouble the worthy -Boniface befriended him. He was warned that he must not on any account -whatever, as he valued his life, let any one know that he hailed from -the United States, for, said the hotel-keeper, “If you do they’ll put -you in prison and hang you.” He was further advised to put on working -clothes and act as hostler about the hotel, with a view of slipping away -on the steamer later, when suspicion had been allayed. For many days he -put in the time at watering and grooming horses for young would-be -military satraps, who ordered him about, and whom in his own country he -would have treated with contempt. But he got away on the steamer at -last, and almost vowed when once on United States soil never again to -set foot in Canada. Realizing, however, in after years that only a very -small portion of the Canadian people were disposed to misuse a guest, as -they had done in his case, he overlooked it, and came back on visits in -after years. To his dying day, however, he never forgot the arbitrary -treatment of the Family Compact, and his hate for them went with him to -his grave.</p> - -<p>Daniel Conant, the author’s father, was a very large vessel owner at the -time of the Canadian Revolution. At the earnest requests, entreaties and -tears of some seventy patriots, whose lives and liberties were unsafe in -Canada, he took them in midwinter across Lake Ontario in his ship -<i>Industry</i> to Oswego, N.Y. During the inclement weather of that voyage -his ship was lost, while all got over safely (<i>vide</i> “Upper Canada -Sketches,” by the author).<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_104" id="page_104">{104}</a></span> But Daniel Conant and his officers and -sailors dared not come back home, even without their ship. To be caught -meant transportation to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania), or death by -hanging at home, according to the mood of the authorities. To gain home -and friends once more they walked back to Niagara in the spring of 1838, -and crossed the Niagara River at its mouth, landing boldly at the wharf -in the village of Niagara, where was a garrison and guards always on the -watch. To get past the guard was the point at issue. John Pickel, who -had been mate on the lost ship, has the credit of getting them out of -the difficulty. Making for the canteen he hilariously began treating -every one who came in sight. Being plentifully supplied with cash by the -author’s father, he persistently kept at the treating, giving many most -loyal toasts, “and was glad to get back again on Canadian soil.” These -words to-day, after an intervening sixty-three years, seem, no doubt, -tame and hardly worth preserving. Let us, however, remember the time and -the terrible risk then run. As the shades of evening came on they -quietly, one at a time, dropped out of the canteen, the garrison, the -village, the clearing, and into the darkness of the forest. Hamilton was -reached in due time, but a detour around to the north of Toronto was -made, and justly proud of having saved the lives and fortunes of seventy -patriots, whose only crime was that of loving their country, and wishing -for reform and good government, they got home at last. It would scarcely -be within the scope of this volume to follow</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_017" style="width: 449px;"> -<a href="images/ill_017.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_017.jpg" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>DANIEL CONANT.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_105" id="page_105">{105}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">in detail the events of the Canadian Revolution. To do so would make too -bulky a volume. We may, however, notice the case of one who was -transported, along with several others, to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania).</p> - -<p>Linus Wilson Miller had come over from New York State, having relatives -in Canada, and through sympathy had endeavored to help the patriots. He -was apprehended, and in order to get a true inside view of the workings -of the Family Compact we will give the court scene when he was brought -up for trial at Niagara, July, 1838.</p> - -<p>Having been brought under guard to the court room he was asked:</p> - -<div class="blockquot90"><p>“Linus Wilson Miller, what say you—guilty or not guilty?</p> - -<p>“I shall not plead to my indictment at present.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Solicitor-General</span>—But you must.</p> - -<p>“I choose to be excused.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Solicitor-General</span>—But you cannot be excused.</p> - -<p>“I tell you, I am not prepared to stand my trial now.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Chief Justice</span>—Answer you, prisoner at the bar, the question put -to you by the Court—what say you, Linus Wilson Miller, guilty or -not guilty?</p> - -<p>“My Lord, that is a question which, as I before said, I am not now -prepared to answer.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Chief Justice</span>—You must say, guilty or not guilty.</p> - -<p>“Your lordship must excuse me.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Chief Justice</span>—“You shall answer either guilty or not guilty—it -is only a mere matter of form.</p> - -<p>“Doubtless your lordship considers hanging by one’s neck until dead -only mere matter of form.”</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Chief Justice</span> (in a rage)—Do you mean, sir, to insult this -court?<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_106" id="page_106">{106}</a></span></p> - -<p>“My Lord, I mean only what I say, that I must have time to prepare -for my trial.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Chief Justice</span>—Will you or will you not plead to your -indictment—what say you, prisoner at the bar, guilty or not -guilty?</p> - -<p>“My Lord, I cannot plead now.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Chief Justice</span>—You shall by G——</p> - -<p>“My Lord, I will not. (Great sensation.)</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">The Attorney-General</span>—How dare you insult his lordship? You must -answer at once; it will be better for you to do so. I advise you to -plead not guilty; after which the Court will take into -consideration your claims to have your trial postponed, and order -you counsel, if you wish it. The Court are disposed to be just and -merciful.</p> - -<p>“I repeat what I said before, I will not.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Attorney-General</span>—You are a desperate fellow.</p> - -<p>“And not without reason, for if I am to judge of the intentions of -this Court, from external appearances, I am in desperate -circumstances. But the word ‘fellow’ which you just applied to me -is significant.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Attorney-General</span> (with a sneer)—Pray, sir, what are you?</p> - -<p>“A victim chosen for the slaughter; but you are mistaken if you -think to coax or drive me to plead at present; I understand your -wishes and my own interests too well.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Chief Justice</span>—Prisoner at the bar, three weeks have passed since -your capture, and you have had sufficient time to prepare your -defence. This Court has been convened for the express purpose of -trying you, and the Government cannot be put to so much expense for -nothing. I have taken care myself that all witnesses which you can -possibly require in your defence should be present to-day, and they -are here. You can have, therefore, no excuse whatever for wishing -to postpone your trial, and your only object is to give the -Government and this Court unnecessary trouble; but your -stubbornness shall avail you nothing, for the Court will order the -usual course in case of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_107" id="page_107">{107}</a></span> stubborn and wilful prisoners, who refuse -to plead, to be pursued in this case. I now ask you for the last -time—what say you, Linus Wilson Miller, to the charges preferred -against you: are you guilty or not guilty?</p> - -<p>“My Lord, I am informed by your lordship that I have had sufficient -time to prepare for my trial, having been in custody three weeks. -How was I to prepare my defence before I had been indicted—how -know what charges, if any, would be preferred against me? I have -but now heard them read, and am required, without one moment’s -warning, to plead to charges of the most serious nature, affecting -my life! I am likewise informed by your lordship that all the -witnesses requisite for my defence are present in Court, that in -the present enlightened age, a judge, in a British Court of -Justice, will tell a prisoner arraigned under such circumstances, -that the witnesses for his defence are all present by order of the -Court, and that too in the presence of a jury empanelled to try -him. Is a Chief Justice of a British Court thus to sit upon a bench -and pre-judge a case of life and death? Have I consulted any legal -gentleman in this Province upon my case whereby by any possibility -your lordship could have been apprised of the witnesses I may -require, or of the nature of the defence which in so serious a case -I may deem it necessary to make? How long have I known that charges -were preferred against me which require either a defence or the -surrender of my life without a struggle? And yet I am told by your -lordship that I <i>shall</i> abide my trial upon the testimony of -witnesses of your lordship’s own choosing, in a defence -predetermined by your lordship long before a grand jury had found a -true bill against me. Is this your boasted British justice? Am I -indeed within the sacred walls of a court, a British Court, the -pride and boast of Englishmen? Shame, my l——</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Chief Justice</span> (in a great rage)—Silence, you d—d Yankee rebel! -Not another word or—</p> - -<p>“My Lord, I will not keep silence when my life is at stake.... A -jury did I say? They are all strangers to me, but<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_108" id="page_108">{108}</a></span> from the -proceedings I have witnessed to-day, I have no doubt they are mere -tools of the Government, pledged to render a verdict of guilty and -perjure their own hearts.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">A Juryman</span>, from the box—My Lord, are we honest men to be insulted -and abused in this manner?</p> - -<p>“No doubt the gentleman <i>is</i> an honest man.... My Lord, I have -done—but I again <i>demand</i> from your lordship the full time allowed -by law for my defence.... At present I have only to request to be -furnished with a copy of my indictment.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Chief Justice</span>—The Court will not allow you a copy.”</p></div> - -<p>There is no reason to infer that this is misquoted in a single letter. -In fact current testimony will bear out all that Miller says, and the -reading of this court scene will give us a very true insight into life -in Canada in 1838, and will be quite new to the present generation of -Canadians. The author gets this court scene from “Notes of an Exile, on -Canada, England and Van Diemen’s Land,” by Linus Wilson Miller, and it -is probable that the copy of Miller’s book that I possess is the only -one in Canada to-day.</p> - -<div class="blockquot90"><p>“On August 5th, 1838, Linus Wilson Miller was again tried at -Niagara, and here follows the scene in court when the jury brought -in a verdict of ‘Guilty, with an earnest recommendation of the -prisoner to the extreme mercy of the court.’</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Chief Justice</span> (in a great rage)—Gentlemen of the jury, do you -know that your verdict is virtually an acquittal? How dare you -bring in such a verdict in this case?...</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">The Foreman</span>—My Lord, the jury regard him as having been partially -deranged some months since, but of sane mind when he invaded this -province.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Chief Justice</span>—Then retire, gentlemen, and reconsider your -verdict. You cannot recommend him to mercy.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_109" id="page_109">{109}</a></span></p> - -<p>“In a few minutes they returned with a verdict of ‘guilty, with a -recommendation of the prisoner to the mercy of the court.’</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Chief Justice</span>—Gentlemen of the jury, I’ll teach you your duty, -how dare you return such a verdict?...</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">A Juryman</span>—My Lord, we recommend him on account of his youth.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Chief Justice</span>—That is no excuse for his crimes, ...</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Another Juryman</span>—My Lord, we believe him to be an enthusiast in -the cause in which he was engaged; that his motives are good, and -his conduct honorable and humane.</p> - -<p>“<span class="smcap">Chief Justice</span>—Your duty is to pronounce the prisoner guilty or -not guilty.</p> - -<p>“After a short consultation the jury returned a verdict of guilty -only, and the infamous Chief Justice—a second Jeffreys—with a -countenance beaming with hellish smiles, bowed to the jury.”</p></div> - -<p>Miller was in due course sentenced to be hanged, but this sentence was -commuted to transportation. We find him and twelve others, all -Canadians, chained and sent by steamer <i>Cobourg</i> to Kingston. From -Kingston the party were sent by another steamer to Montreal. After being -changed again they reached Quebec. Here the thirteen Canadian prisoners -were put on board a timber ship and sent to England. From the fact that -so very few Canadians know that Canadians were transported to the other -side of the world, the author makes special mention of this matter. -To-day we would not think of doing such things, and very many Canadians -will be inclined to question the truthfulness of the statement. But, in -all, ninety-one Canadian state prisoners were sent to that distant penal -colony. A few lines<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_110" id="page_110">{110}</a></span> of verse may be inserted as very apt and striking. -They are by T. R. Harvey:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Morn on the waters! And purple and bright<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Bursts on the billows the flashing of light;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">O’er the glad waves like a child of the sun,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">See, the tall vessel goes gallantly on.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Full to the breeze she unbosoms her sail,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And her pennon streams onward like hope in the gale;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The winds come around her in murmur and song,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And the surges rejoice as they bear her along.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">See, she looks up to the golden-edged clouds,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And the sailor sings gaily aloft in her shrouds.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Onward she glides amid ripple and spray,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Over the waters, away and away!<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Bright as the visions of youth ere they part,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Passing away like a dream of the heart.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Who, as the beautiful pageant sweeps by,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Music around her and sunshine on high,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Pauses to think amid glitter and show<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Oh, there be hearts that are breaking below!<br /></span> -</div><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">Night on the waves! And the moon is on high,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Hung like a gem on the brow of the sky,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Treading its depths in the power of its might,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">And turning the clouds, as they pass her, to light.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Look to the waters! Asleep on their breast<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Seems not the ship like an island of rest?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Bright and alone on the shadowy main,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Like a heart-cherished home on some desolate plain.<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Who, as he watches her silently gliding,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Remembers that wave after wave is dividing<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Bosoms that sorrow and guilt could not sever,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Hearts that are parted and broken forever?<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Or dreams that he watches afloat on the wave,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">The death-bed of hope, or the young spirit’s grave.<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_111" id="page_111">{111}</a></span></div></div> -</div> - -<p>So far as can be known only thirteen of the ninety-six ever got back -home to Canada, after years of waiting, hoping and praying. All the -others found untimely graves in that far-off land, where they died -broken-hearted and alone.</p> - -<p>Linus Wilson Miller did not get home until August, 1846, he being one of -the very first to reach America. A sailing ship brought him to -Pernambuco. At that port the captain of the American barque <i>Globe</i> -accepted a bill drawn by him on his father for his passage, he being -totally without money. Englishmen and Americans resident at Pernambuco -however, on learning the facts, and being acquainted with the desperate -treatment of Miller, raised the funds to take up the bill and send him -on home. To-day we consider the execution of Lount and Matthews simply -judicial murder, and Sir George Arthur went to his reward in after years -with a heavy load on his conscience. It is hardly in the bounds of -possibility for him ever to forget the time when Mrs. Lount knelt before -him and prayed for the life of her husband, and he refused to as much as -listen to her.</p> - -<p>Van Schultz too, poor fellow, a Pole, who escaped oppression in his own -country, came to the United States; then, fancying us oppressed, he -voluntarily tried to help us, and, as we all know, was captured at the -disturbance at Windmill Point, Prescott. Generous and impulsive, but -misguided, his execution was another judicial murder exulted in by the -Family Compact. Linus Wilson Miller’s crimes to-day would perhaps be met -by a half year’s sentence of incarcer<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_112" id="page_112">{112}</a></span>ation. But he was broken down in -health by the hard usage and hard work he had to endure in Tasmania, as -well as were all the other state prisoners. Being a state prisoner he -would not now be compelled to labor, if treated as political prisoners -are treated the world over. He and all the others were worked to the -bone, flogged, and most of them sent to early graves in that far-off -land.</p> - -<p>Thank God, we have changed all that.</p> - -<p>Lord Durham came out as Governor-General right after the trouble. -Responsible constitutional government was granted, and all the reforms -the people asked for. Not in the most remote degree was the Home -Government responsible for our misusage, nor for the uprising, for it -knew nothing of it. In illustration of this, the following example is -pertinent: When Sir Francis Bond Head, who was the supreme Governor -General during the uprising, was on his way home he stopped at New York. -There he met Marshal S. Bidwell, then an exile, and a man universally -acknowledged as at the head of the bar in Canada. Sir Francis -deliberately told Bidwell he had received instructions from the Home -Government to appoint him judge. Bidwell turned and fled, and never bade -adieu to him. On gaining the street he first thought of returning and -apologizing for his rudeness, but the injury was too great, and he never -saw Head again? Can we wonder at the Canadian uprising when such things -could be?</p> - -<p>At the top of a parchment Crown deed to one of the Conants the name of -Sir Francis Bond Head appears, and never can the author look upon that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_113" id="page_113">{113}</a></span> -parchment without unpleasant thoughts of the man’s poltroonery and -narrowness.</p> - -<p>It is not out of place to record here the fact that Benedict Arnold, the -traitor, received a grant of 18,000 acres of our lands in Upper Canada -not far from the author’s home. No Canadian ever liked a traitor, nor do -we like the memory of Arnold, hence special mention is made of the -grant. The British Government gave him £10,000 besides. There is a -little verse which covers all the points nicely, thus:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“From Cain to Catiline the world hath known<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Her traitors—vaunted votaries of crime—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Caligula and Nero sat alone<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Upon the pinnacle of vice sublime;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But they were moved by hate, or wish to climb<br /></span> -<span class="i2">The rugged steeps of Fame; in letters bold<br /></span> -<span class="i0">To write their names upon the scroll of Time;<br /></span> -<span class="i2">Therefore their crime some virtue did enfold—<br /></span> -<span class="i0">But Arnold! thine had none—’twas all for sordid gold!”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_018" style="width: 385px;"> -<a href="images/ill_018.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_018.jpg" width="385" height="252" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>DESK USED IN THE LEGISLATIVE CHAMBER BY W. LYON -MACKENZIE. UPPER CANADA, 1837.</p> - -<p> -(From the J. Ross Robertson collection.)<br /> -</p> -</div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_114" id="page_114">{114}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Building a dock at Whitby—Daniel Conant becomes security—Water -communication—Some of the old steamboats—Captain Kerr—His -commanding methods—Captain Schofield—Crossing the -Atlantic—Trials of emigrants—Death of a Scotch emigrant.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Daniel Conant</span>, as a vessel owner on Lake Ontario for many years, felt -keenly the great need for proper harbors and docks for loading and -unloading his vessels. Up to the close of the Revolution of 1837-38 he -had, when near home, made use of Whitby harbor, which was four miles -westerly from Port Oshawa. But the great drawback to Whitby harbor was -its shallow water, which caused much trouble in getting away from its -single warehouse when his ships were fully laden. At this juncture of -the long-felt want (about 1839) one Smith came along and contracted to -build new docks at Whitby harbor, and to place them beside deep water. -Daniel Conant became Smith’s security on his bonds for £1,100, or -$4,400, for due fulfilment of the contract. It may be incidentally -mentioned that the author most distinctly remembers that his people -spoke of Smith as most eloquent in prayer, especially when in <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_115" id="page_115">{115}</a></span>the -family circle. This gift, added to the want of the docks, captivated -David Annis, the author’s great-uncle, and his father as well. The bonds -for £1,100 were endorsed, and were held by the Bank of Upper Canada in -Whitby, of which Peter Perry was the agent and manager. For no -assignable reason Smith absconded in May, 1838. The loss was so great in -that day, at the close of hostilities, that money could scarcely be -obtained at all. To raise £1,100 at once almost broke Daniel Conant’s -heart.</p> - -<p>To Peter Perry he went, and Perry saluted him by the query, “Do you -intend to pay it?”</p> - -<p>The reply came quickly: “Yes, every copper. Give me until fall—1st -November—and you shall have it all.”</p> - -<p>Perry almost doubted it, and asked how he would get the money.</p> - -<p>“I have four ships on the water and 150 acres of winter wheat, and I -will sell enough land to raise the balance,” was the answer.</p> - -<p>Perry, to his honor be it said, granted the extension, and Daniel Conant -sold 1,200 acres of land in Whitby at an average of $200 per 100 acres, -which are to-day worth $9,000 per hundred, to help to make up the -amount. True, it was not business to pay so quickly and sacrifice so -much, but, as he explained, he felt that he must get out from the -transaction, and he did. The author knew very well John Ham Perry, at -Whitby, one-time registrar and son of Peter Perry, and now realizes that -he was for many years in most straitened circumstances, and most deeply -to-day regrets that he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_116" id="page_116">{116}</a></span> never aided him for having helped his father, a -mistake which can never be repaired, much to the author’s regret.</p> - -<p>Lying upon the Great Lakes and the mighty St. Lawrence, Canada was -specially favored. The water afforded a means of communication for -persons and goods before roads were hewn out of the forests. It must be -very evident to any one reflecting, that boats were much more important -factors in transportation before the days of the railways than they are -now since railways intersect our country in every direction. To Upper -Canada very many of the emigrants came from the British Isles by -steamboats upon Lake Ontario. To such a degree of importance did -captains of the steamboats attain, that we have no marine captains of -these days, even those of the great ocean greyhounds, who can compare -with them in dignity. Among these captains was old Captain Kerr, who for -so many years sailed the side-wheel steamer <i>Admiral</i>. Now the <i>Admiral</i> -had, as all those of that day had, before the sixties came in, a huge -walking-beam, and with its 800 tons of burden of freight which it was -licensed to carry, seemed literally to walk over the waters of Lake -Ontario. Especially true the walking-beam comparison is, because the -great part of the engine rose and fell, see-saw-like without ceasing, -away aloft above the decks and over every top hamper of the steamer.</p> - -<p>Now, just suppose the old <i>Admiral</i> has made the dock at some Lake -Ontario port. Old Captain Kerr stands upon the upper deck and directs -her speed<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_117" id="page_117">{117}</a></span> and course as she makes the wharf. Landing at last and the -gang-plank thrown out, people are coming on and off, and freight of -barrels and boxes is being trundled both to and from the steamer’s deck. -Eagle-eyed, red-faced, corpulent Captain Kerr views all and notes all -from his coign of vantage, the deck above. And he bellows out his -commands to the boat hands below in words so sharp that they fairly hiss -as they leave his lips. No matter if they be keen and cutting, they are -implicitly obeyed, and the deck hands jump—literally and truly jump -(not a figure of speech)—to obey. Meek passengers of those days did not -even expect a greeting, pleasant or the reverse, from old Captain Kerr -and commanders of his stamp, for they were not noticed in the slightest -degree. Early steamboat captains were too great personages to cultivate -the social virtues, and they seemed to live within themselves and keep -bottled up all the accumulated venom and ire and push of the Canadian -summer and shipping season. Faithful old seadogs they were, -nevertheless, and the fewness of records of disaster upon the Great -Lakes of Canada truthfully testifies to their skill and watchfulness. It -is a fact that very few steamers were wrecked or lives lost upon these -lakes. Some were burned, because, built of timber as they were, and -burning wood for fuel, they were particularly susceptible to fires on -ship-board; but of real wrecks there were few. Built of timber and with -oak planking upon the sides and bottom, very generally of three inches -in thickness, these vessels were able to withstand a slight collision, -or a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_118" id="page_118">{118}</a></span> run upon the bottom, without serious injury. Such collisions or -groundings to our modern thin steel and iron steamers would to-day -simply mean a berth at the bottom of Lake Ontario, without further -notice. Rough and burly as Captain Kerr and men of his stamp were, they -did great good to our country in bringing safely and quickly, and with -very good accommodation, incoming emigrants to Upper Canada; and their -churlishness and rigidness we may in a measure excuse.</p> - -<p>Previous to the great war in the United States, from April, 1861, to -April, 1865, the steamer <i>Maple Leaf</i> ran for many summers upon Lake -Ontario. During its many trips it brought thousands and thousands of -persons to the different parts of Upper Canada, and served us well and -faithfully. Captain Schofield for many years ran the steamer, and -emulated Captain Kerr in importance and churlishness. He was unable, -however, to emulate him in corpulency. The deep redness of his face may -not have quite equalled that of Captain Kerr, but approached very -nearly. Captain Schofield many hundreds of times stood upon the upper -deck of the <i>Maple Leaf</i>, with his hands upon the brass bell pulls for -the engine, and roared out his orders so that passengers and deck hands -alike wriggled to get out from under his words by getting out of his -range of vision. For checking goods, however, coming upon or going from -the steamer, no faster or more correct man ever lived. And Captain -Schofield was a sailor in the true sense of the term. No mishap ever -befell his steamer. During the great<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_119" id="page_119">{119}</a></span> American war she was sold to the -United States Government for a blockader for $45,000, and finally never -again made any port, but “laid her bones to bleach” on Currituck Sound, -in North Carolina. Captain Schofield then went to Rochester, N.Y., and -met a violent death when stepping on or off a railway car. To-day he -sleeps in the soil of New York State. It is related of him that once he -ran into Oswego, N.Y., on a Saturday night to lie there until the Monday -morning following. On Sunday his sailors sought recreation on shore; one -of them got into some low dive in that city, and on the Monday morning -was kicked out minus all clothing. Now, he dared not disobey Captain -Schofield and fail to be on duty on Monday morning, but the difficulty -was to get to the steamer entirely nude as he then was. Casting about he -finally compromised matters by jumping into a barrel, knocking out the -bottom and carrying it by his arms so that it enveloped his person, -rather loosely, it is true, but very effectually notwithstanding. That -sailor came on board, however, and did his duty manfully.</p> - -<p>Canadians to-day, who are so very generally dependent upon railways, -fail to realize what a great service those important and vituperative -steamboat captains and their steamers did for us as a people. They -honestly deserve pleasant memories at our hands. Any instance of a -captain upon Lake Ontario abusing or insulting any female passenger on -his ship is yet to be chronicled. Although only two steamers are singled -out and mentioned, the list<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_120" id="page_120">{120}</a></span> could be well extended to the <i>Passport</i>, -<i>Highland Chief</i>, <i>America</i>, and <i>Princess Royal</i>.</p> - -<p>Crossing the Atlantic Ocean in those days (previous to the sixties) was -a terrible trial for the poor emigrant seeking his fortune in this new -Canada of ours. Being confined to such close quarters, and crowded for -so many days, it is not at all singular that many diseases followed the -emigrants even after leaving the ocean a long way behind. Deadly typhus -fever luxuriated amid such surroundings, while cholera was no stranger -to the poor voyagers. One midsummer day Captain Kerr came into Port -Oshawa, about 1855, at 9 o’clock in the morning, with a boatload of -Highland Scotchmen as passengers. At this port 150 of them landed, and -their goods and baggage were placed in the general storehouse upon the -wharf. In the presence of Mr. Wood, the port wharfinger, and Mr. -Mothersill, a gentleman who was looking on, many of these packages, for -the first time since leaving the ocean ship, were opened out in the -storehouse. In a very few hours from the time when they saw these goods -unpacked, strange to relate, both these gentlemen died, while the landed -emigrants started to walk northward from Port Oshawa to get to the homes -of their relatives in Mariposa in the county of Victoria. To rest over -night they entered a large cooper shop then standing on the south side -of Oshawa, and remained for the night. Next morning early they left, and -the cooper on coming into the shop was horrified to find a dead man -lying upon his shavings. During the night the poor fellow, after<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_121" id="page_121">{121}</a></span> -braving an Atlantic passage of those days, and now near his goal, died -and was deserted by his friends. It is only fair to add, however, that -his friends were afraid of the contagion. It is said that the peculiar -stuffy smell from these emigrants did not leave the storehouse or the -cooper shop that whole summer, and only ceased when frosts came in the -autumn. Of such sterling stock our Canadian people came. Perhaps no -sadder instance can be given than the poor Scotchman lying, without -nursing or medical attendance on a heap of cooper’s shavings, among -strangers in a strange land, where every one was afraid of him, and -shunned him to avoid the fever that raged in his veins.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_122" id="page_122">{122}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Maple sugar making—The Indian method—“Sugaring-off”—The -toothsome “wax”—A yearly season of pleasure.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">One</span> of the familiar proceedings of the days of early spring in the long -ago time, when the pioneers were busy with clearing the primeval forests -of Ontario, was the maple sugar making. In our oldest settled parts of -Ontario this is, of course, among the things that have been, simply -because most of the maples have been ruthlessly slaughtered. On our good -lands in Ontario the cleared fields pay better than maple orchards, our -farmers have thought, and, much as we now regret the fact, still it is a -fact that over most of our province the groves have been destroyed. Most -of our youngsters have never experienced the delights of a sugaring-off, -and many of our Old World citizens never yet tasted the nectar in its -forest purity. Hence I infer that this chapter may give information and -pleasure to many readers.</p> - -<p>The Jesuit Fathers, who were the first white men in this country among -the Indians, tell us that the Indians made sugar regularly every spring -by tapping the sugar maple. At this time the Indians did not have iron -kettles for boiling the maple sap in. It became a curious question how -they did manage to boil<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_123" id="page_123">{123}</a></span> down the succulent juice without a kettle to -boil it in. They tapped the trees with their tomahawks, and inserted a -spile in the incision to conduct the sap from the tree to their vessel -beneath. Their spile was a piece of dry pine or cedar wood, grooved on -its upper side for the sap to flow down. No doubt this process was -extremely crude; still, with all its crudities, they succeeded in -producing a considerable quantity of sugar each spring. Their buckets -were made by taking a roll of birch bark and sewing up the ends with -deer sinews or roots. Thus they got a vessel capable of holding a -pailful, and no doubt the sap caught in such vessels was just as sweet -as that which we now gather in our bright tin pails, at far greater -expense and trouble. Gathering the sap from the birchen buckets, it was -carried by the original red man to the boiling place.</p> - -<p>At this boiling place was a large caldron made of large sheets of birch -bark. Beside the caldron a fire was built, and in this fire was placed a -lot of stones. As soon as the stones became heated to a red heat, they -were dropped into the birchen caldron, previously filled with sap. By -taking out the cooled stones and putting in more hot ones, and repeating -the process, even slow as it was, they got the sap to boiling. Once got -to boiling, by heating the extracted stones they kept up the boiling, -and so continued the process until, after a time, they got the sap -boiled down, and sugar was the result.</p> - -<p>That was making sugar without the aid of a kettle, and no doubt many -will almost doubt the accuracy of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_124" id="page_124">{124}</a></span> the statement. It is a positive fact, -however, for my forefathers, who came to this province in the last -century, have handed down in family tradition the story of the process -just as I have narrated it. Indeed they were eye-witnesses of the -process themselves. With the advent of settlers, of course, the Indian -soon learned better, and traded his furs with the fur dealer for iron -kettles, and then began making sugar much as the white man does to-day.</p> - -<p>As to the cleanliness of the Indian method, it is hardly necessary to -speak. One can just fancy as to what amount of cinders would be conveyed -by the stones drawn from the fire repeatedly and placed into the boiling -syrup. Yet with cinders and all a sweetness was found at the bottom, and -no doubt the Indian enjoyed his sugar, with all its cinders and ashes, -quite as much as we do to-day with all our methods of cleanliness. It -used to be an old saying that every one must eat his peck of dirt before -he died. Granting the truth of the old saying, then, our Indian brother -certainly got his peck of that commodity before half his ordinary life -would be spent; and yet the Indian, with all his crudeness, taught the -first white settlers to love the toothsome sweet, and to him we owe our -knowledge of maple sugar.</p> - -<p>The sugar maple is the emblematic maple of our country, whose leaves we -couple with the beaver to form our national escutcheon. Its timber is -the most valuable for firewood of any in our country, and equally as -valuable for many purposes when made into lumber. Waggon axles have been -formerly made<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_125" id="page_125">{125}</a></span> from its wood. It is the cleanest, prettiest tree among -our forests, and the most sought for as a shade-tree, but, being a slow -grower, is many times crowded out by trees of swifter growth. It is the -tree of Canada in a word, and added to its qualities, as before spoken -of, it produces a succulent sap, whose flavor is peculiar to the maple -and to the maple alone. Scientists, who imitate nature with their -compounds, have utterly failed in producing, by all their mixtures and -compounds, a flavor of the genuine maple. Honey can be counterfeited, -but maple sugar never. Just what the peculiar charm is about the sweet -produced by this incomparable tree one cannot describe in words. It has -only to be indulged in to be appreciated. Among all the sweets its sweet -is the most delicate and pleasing, and we doubt if ambrosial nectar, -supposed to be prepared by the ancients for the immortal gods, began to -equal it. So the gods of the ancients would have had a better time of it -had they been among the North American settlers, than around and about -the Ægean.</p> - -<p>Only in North America is the sugar maple found. To cause the sap to flow -freely it is necessary to have nights of frost, followed by days of -sunshine. March is generally the month giving these conditions, and at -that time in the remaining maple orchards in Canada our citizens will be -found boiling down this incomparable sweet. Great as has been the -decimation of our sugar orchards, yet there are many still found in our -province, and the writer advises all those who have not yet tasted the -nectar to make an effort to get to a genuine “sugaring-off” and indulge -for the nonce<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_126" id="page_126">{126}</a></span> in this experience, the memory of which a lifetime cannot -obliterate. I will describe a sugaring-off as well as I can, that others -not conversant with it may in a measure realize its charms. The trees -are now tapped by boring a shallow auger hole just through the bark of -the maple. Below the auger hole a tin spile or spout is inserted by -driving the sharp end of the rounded tin into the bark. Below the spile -is placed a bucket made of cedar, by those possessing such buckets. -There are cedar buckets now in use, made sixty years ago, among some of -the older settlers, and owing to the peculiar lasting qualities of -cedar, are as sound to-day as when first made. Others, as before spoken -of, use tin pails or pans, but old sugar-makers aver that the sugar -tastes best when caught in the cedar buckets. A shallow sheet-iron pan -set over a stove range receives the sap, and in this the boiling is -done. The fire, by passing along the arch, thus heats the extended -surface of the pan, and the sap is thus boiled or evaporated far faster -than it is in the ordinary process by boiling in a kettle. After the sap -has been evaporated down to the consistency of syrup it is then taken -out of the evaporating pan and placed in the sugaring-off kettle. Up to -this time in the process the expectant and waiting sugar eaters have not -indulged in the boiling nectar. Reducing the syrup by boiling it down in -the kettle is the interesting process. Soon the surface of the sugar -presents a yeasty appearance, and it begins to rise and fall in -globules. Now is the time for careful watching to see that the mass does -not burn; and for fear that it may run over, a piece of fat<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_127" id="page_127">{127}</a></span> pork has -been thrown into the boiling mass. This has the effect of keeping the -boiling syrup within the bounds of the kettle sides, and when this piece -of pork is extracted it is about the sweetest piece one ever tasted.</p> - -<p>Wooden spoons, if no better ones are on hand, will have been whittled -out by some handy whittler. The liquid is taken out into small vessels -for individual use, and gradually stirred and cooled. And you taste. It -is positively irresistible. And you taste again, and another taste is in -order; charming is perhaps the only word which expresses the pleasure of -partaking of this more than toothsome tit-bit. Positively there is -nothing else in nature to compare with it, and just what the charm is no -one can exactly say, only it is the peculiar maple flavor which maple -alone, of all things in the world, gives, which causes one to keep on -tasting, even to running a serious risk of tasting and partaking too -frequently for the dimensions of an ordinary stomach.</p> - -<p>When it will “blow” is the next interesting point in the process. The -sugar maker inserts a piece of a small bent twig into the mass, and -blows upon the syrup adhering to the twig. If it comes off in flakes or -bubbles, then it’s done, and the kettle is swung off from the fire that -it may not be burnt.</p> - -<p>And now for the wax, which to many is the most toothsome part of the -whole. Many prefer the wax to the warm sugar. Then dip out some of the -hot sugar, still bubbling in the kettle, and pour it quickly upon the -nearest snow. In a moment it cools, as it melts a shallow furrow in the -snow. Now comes a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_128" id="page_128">{128}</a></span> sticky wax, which will effectually seal together the -upper and lower jaws of the participant if he chews lustily. But it’s so -sweet, so pure and pleasant, and it’s all so jolly, that such -experiences are always red-letter days in one’s life calendar. Pour more -syrup on the snow and more wax is the result, and the knowing ones break -off the wax in small fragments and allow it to gradually dissolve upon -the tongue. And the joke goes around about the green hand and the greedy -one, who has his jaws transfixed with the wax, and is unable to speak -for a few moments until the wax has partially dissolved.</p> - -<p>If the warm sugar was good, yea, incomparably good, this wax is -glorious. And you eat, and chat, and eat again, and there’s no -rancidness about this maple product to cause your throat to become raw, -as it were, as all other sweets do. And so you eat on with impunity, -each one’s own individual stomach’s capacity being alone the measure as -the amount of nectar one should consume. And this is a sugaring-off. -Reader, if you have not already tried it, don’t fail to make an effort -to get to a sugaring-off, and my word for it you will never regret it.</p> - -<p>We all deplore the loss of our previously magnificent maple orchards. -But let us guardedly preserve those now remaining to us. Without -speaking of the beauty they give to our country, they give us yearly at -this season of the year a pleasure which money cannot in any other way -purchase. Indeed, the wealth of our millionaires cannot purchase the -pleasures of a sugaring-off otherwise than by going to the maple orchard -itself.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_129" id="page_129">{129}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Winter in Ontario—Flax-working in the old time—Social -gatherings—The churches are centres of attraction—Winter -marriages—Common schools—Wintry aspect of Lake Ontario.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Our</span> fathers spent their winter evenings and days of winter storms in -working at the flax. It was the universal custom for each householder in -our fathers’ time to raise a piece of flax, and, during the enforced -housing of the winter, it was broken, scutched and spun around the big -cavernous open fire. The distaff in those days was ever upon the floor -in the common dwelling room, and as much an article of furniture as the -family table. Quite a few of these old distaffs are yet bundled away in -garrets, dust and cobweb laden. My own people did not fail to bring the -distaff along with them when they came from Massachusetts in 1792, and -this one was in constant use until machinery got to be common and the -necessity for home manipulation to supply the family clothing no longer -existed. To-day all that is changed, and during these midwinter days our -people of this part of Ontario have no such occupation to fill in their -leisure hours.</p> - -<p>The days of wood-getting, logging and timber-making, too, are past; and -at this day this people<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_130" id="page_130">{130}</a></span> have to develop a new order of civilization to -meet the new condition of affairs. Our people read far more than -formerly, and very many of their hours of winter leisure are spent over -the printed page. In nearly every house one enters, too, in this part of -our province to-day, one finds quite a number of volumes of books, as -well as the general stock of newspapers. So the taste and knowledge of -our people is steadily on the gain; and we are, as a people, taking the -benefit of the respite from enforced hours of weary labor at the flax -from which machinery has relieved us. Very serious accidents used to -occur, too, in those days of hand labor at the flax, even simple as the -work may seem. Very frequently the flax would be hung in bunches around -the living room of the family, in which the great fireplace was. This -flax, having been broken and scutched with the swingle, and ready for -spinning, was perforce quite as ready to light as tinder. There were -numerous instances of most dreadful fires occurring by this suspended -flax igniting from some sparks dropping on it from the open fire. In one -instance, not far from where my own house now is, a woman stepped to the -road, only five or six rods away, leaving two small children in the -room, and before she could get back to them the whole room was ablaze, -and they perished, with the total destruction of the house.</p> - -<p>Social gatherings largely make up to-day for the hours spent formerly in -work at home. Among themselves the people of Ontario are eminently a -social and hospitable lot. Almost nightly our folks<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_131" id="page_131">{131}</a></span> gather among their -fellows and spend their evenings in harmless chat.</p> - -<p>But the great pivot upon which our social system revolves in Ontario is -the church. At the church our amusements mostly cluster, too; for our -ministers are shrewd enough to keep some meetings to come off in the -future, which the people look forward to and talk about among -themselves. Maybe it’s a lecture, or a musical treat, or some dissolving -views, or what not; and these, added to the usual sermons from the -pulpit, keep the people continually centred, as it were, about the -church. Again, our churches are invariably well lighted and seated, and -the air is pure; and, on the whole, they are attractive and pleasant. -Hence our young folks even, as well as older ones, choose to be about -our churches instead of finding amusement elsewhere. I am not speaking -of the devotional part of the matter; our people continue to attend the -churches, for that follows as a matter of course. Again, our ministers -are shrewd enough to know that they could not hold the people at the -churches two or three nights per week as well as Sundays for the -devotional part alone; for, without detracting one jot from the purely -religious aspect of the matter, our ministers know quite well that the -devotional part alone would not hold our people without diversions. -Indeed, our ministers are to be most highly commended for so cleverly -managing our people as to keep them so at the church’s dangling -apron-strings, as it were, to use a homely simile. Many, many times -better at the church’s dangling apron-strings<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_132" id="page_132">{132}</a></span> than spending the evening -at the bars, in throwing dice, or at any such questionable gatherings. -And I take it, too, as self-evident, that our people’s faithful -following of the church has a quality of the intellect as well as of the -heart. A remark of Castellar’s, the great Spanish statesman and orator, -illustrates the difference of standpoint that prevails in various -countries as to religious observances. He said, “The Protestant religion -would freeze me with its iciness.” Compared with the sensuous and -fascinating cathedral worship of Europe, our ceremonials, whether -Protestant or Catholic, are indeed plain and unadorned. But they attract -as intelligent, self-respecting, law-abiding and decent a lot of people -as can be found anywhere.</p> - -<p>Most marriages are celebrated during our winter months. It is quite -manifest that social gatherings and meetings, brought about by the -enforced hours of idleness, are very conducive to match-making; and -this, perhaps, accounts for the matrimonial activity of the winter -season. Not infrequently the expectant bride and groom, having procured -a license of marriage, call upon the minister at his house for him to -tie the knot. Ludicrous stories are told of the bashfulness of many -persons who come on such errands. Some of our clergy yet require the -responsive service, and the groom, when asked the question so necessary, -“Wilt thou have this woman to be thy lawful wedded wife?” sometimes -replies, “I came on purpose.” Well, that’s a good answer, and shows his -honesty of purpose, even if it be a little comic. The fellow’s not to be -laughed at, however, even if he does make this<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_133" id="page_133">{133}</a></span> response, or even if he -does pull off his gloves, in order to save them, the moment the ceremony -is over and they are pronounced man and wife.</p> - -<p>During these midwinter days in central Ontario, our school-boys are -trudging through snows and amidst frosts to the Common School. Many an -urchin these days declaims on the usual Friday afternoon:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“The bluebird and the swallow,<br /></span> -<span class="i3">From the sweet south grove,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">The robin leaves its quarters<br /></span> -<span class="i3">In the deep pine grove;<br /></span> -<span class="i1">I know from whence they started<br /></span> -<span class="i3">On their happy homeward track;<br /></span> -<span class="i1">To-night you’ll hear them answer<br /></span> -<span class="i3">With their clack, clack, clack.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="nind">Or those who are more advanced, the more ambitious, essay:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“On Linden when the sun was low,<br /></span> -<span class="i2">All bloodless lay the untrodden snow.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>Glorious Common Schools! and our own quite up to any in the world. And, -without a shadow of a doubt, too, these urchins who are to-day, during -this midwinter, so declaiming, will become our future orators, and their -voices will resound in great halls of legislation or fill pulpits in our -land. Let us hope that when they grow to manhood they may never become -food for powder, and, so far as their military education is concerned, -let it be conspicuous by its absence; and yet no loss will be felt, for -it will not be among the things needed. Happy Ontario! If we were -Germans or Frenchmen, we must serve three<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_134" id="page_134">{134}</a></span> years in the army whether we -would or not. This is only one more instance named to prove to us all -that our own country is the happiest and the freest in the world, and -that our people are generally well-to-do and comfortable in their homes, -in food and clothing.</p> - -<p>The mornings of late autumn, as the nights get longer, begin to have a -nipping air. Ponds of water are covered with a glare and safe coat of -ice, and our youngsters get out their skates, so carefully laid away -last season. The children trudge away to school, and their color is -heightened by the morning frost and wind; but gradually the human system -is getting accustomed to the change of the season, and the dry, pleasant -cold is enjoyable. Immense ice hummocks form upon the banks of our large -lakes. They are conical and steep, or blunt and rolling, with a flat -place here and there among the convolutions. Daily, as the cold -strengthens and the winds dash the billows upon the ice-banks as if they -would destroy them, they gather from each wave a little more frozen from -it, and so work out from the shore, solid and immovable, as if to -entirely close over our inland sea’s surface; but they do not, and they -never succeed in effecting any permanent lodgment more than eight or ten -rods from the shore. Somehow in freezing they invariably leave holes -here and there. Now, let a storm come on and the breakers be driven -against the ice-banks and under them—for they do not reach the bottom -in any deep water—the pent-up water under the banks, driven up with -terrific force by each incoming sea, tries to find an escape. These -holes, in a measure, serve for an escape. Sprays or jets of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_135" id="page_135">{135}</a></span> water will -be forced up through these holes twenty feet into the air, only to fall -upon the surrounding ice and be frozen as hard as its neighboring -globules in their icy immobility. The blow-holes of a whale furnish a -good analogy to the blow-holes in the ice. Indeed, the most powerful -whale can scarcely expel the water from his blow-holes higher than a -storm forces it up among the ice-dunes. And as they get too high or too -heavy near the outer edge, they break away in great lumps and go -floating upon the surface. A change in the direction of the wind sails -them away, and we see upon our inland seas ice islands sometimes many -miles in extent. Look again for the ice islands in a few hours, and not -a trace is seen. The waters are a deep blue, in strong contrast to the -white snow upon the shore or the ice upon the edge. Stand upon an -eminence and look along the shores and outer edge of the ice-bank, so -firmly rooted to the margin. It is jagged and furrowed, and honeycombed, -and awful, and withal so still. Not a bird is wheeling over the surface -of the water, not a sail is upon it. The voice of Nature is effectually -hushed to rest. While you are still observing, let the sun shine upon -the ice and water, and you can with difficulty take your eyes off the -picture—as fine a picture of the Arctic as we can get, even if it be in -miniature. What a contrast from our golden autumn! Those of us who are -not particularly subject to lung troubles and who are well fed and clad, -really enjoy our dry and beautiful cold and the glint of the Arctic -regions which these pictures afford us. Clearly defined and unmistakable -is this our winter.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_136" id="page_136">{136}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>The coming of spring—Fishing by torch-light—Sudden beauty of the -springtime—Seeding—Foul weeds—Hospitality of Ontario farmers.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">The</span> reign of winter on the lake shore, with its hummocks of broken ice, -seems longer than it really is. Those who observe it day by day are glad -when March comes, with its lengthening days and its presage of spring. -Soon we have a few days’ sunshine, and perhaps a warm pervasive rain. -The change thus made is scarcely credible to those who have not seen it. -In a few hours, with the sea beating upon this ice, before so -unassailable, the banks shrivel the ice away. Here and there along the -shores and among the sands obstinate pieces of ice still linger for a -few days, half covered by the sands, which have thus far protected them. -But spring, joyous spring, is near. The ubiquitous crow’s caw is once -more in the air. Troops of wild ducks convene in the open spaces of our -marshes and ponds. Sportsmen, before the light of day, creep up to the -open water, and the first morning rays are greeted with a steady bang, -bang. The sportsman has his reward. Should the lake surface be rough, so -that the ducks cannot rest there, they are forced to fly back and forth, -and the shooting goes on all through the day.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_137" id="page_137">{137}</a></span></p> - -<p>The fishing time arrives almost before we have expected it. You are made -aware of it, perhaps, by a neighbor coming to borrow a spear. Now, -nightly, pitch-pine torches will flare and blaze, casting a lurid light -along our creeks. Stand at a distance and watch the fishers. See how -their forms are increased in size until they look like veritable giants -in the haze of the blazing light-jack. Hear their shouts as they race up -and down the stream for suckers, pike, mullet and eels. “Here he goes”; -“there’s another”; “plague on your jack—you missed that big fellow”; -“hand me that spear, you are no good as a sportsman.” So the fun and -jollity goes on far into the evening.</p> - -<p>In this land, where the four seasons are clearly and distinctly defined, -spring comes to us with a beauty unknown to those who dwell in lands -which do not possess such unmistakable divisions of the year. If the -winter was snowy, frosty and stormy, it had in its place sufficient -enjoyments to make us love it; but now that it has passed, budding -spring, with its ever-present deep green, comes to us with a bound, with -a new pleasure of anticipation, added to its reality after it is once -here.</p> - -<p>How quickly our spring comes to us may, perhaps, be best shown by -instancing that the last flurry of snow of one season was on the 7th day -of April, and on the 20th of April the cattle were out feeding on the -grass. A more abrupt change in any given locality is not to be found in -any land, and stock generally is soon feeding upon the fields. Fruit<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_138" id="page_138">{138}</a></span> -trees were in blow three weeks before. Some of the most beautiful sights -in nature are now afforded in our land by our fruit trees, laden with -their pink and white blossoms, among which darts the industrious honey -bee, and beside which are the deep green fields of grass or grain. Among -our pastures, at the same time, nature is most prodigal of her beauties. -The dandelions dot our fields with their yellow heads. These are the -dandelions we used in our childhood days to pluck and hold under the -chins of our companions. If the reflected light from the flower on the -chin was yellow, partaking of the flower, our companion “liked butter,” -but if not yellow our companion “did not love butter.”</p> - -<p>Tiny blue violets are also among our fields, and many delicate blue -garlands are woven by young hands, hung about our dwellings, and many -times find their way into our schools and upon the teachers’ rostrums. -The famed primrose of old England is no prettier than our wee violets, -and for variety of color and deepness of the same we can safely invite -comparison with any land under the sun.</p> - -<p>Our clover meadows already wave with the breezes. Walk among the clover -and see the ground-hog as he sits upon his haunches beside his hole of -retreat, and see how he eyes your every movement. If you do not get too -close, nor come upon him too suddenly, he quietly allows you to enjoy a -good look at him. Make the first demonstrative motion and he disappears -in an instant under the surface. This ground-hog is about the only -universal rodent we have with<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_139" id="page_139">{139}</a></span> us, and his ravages are so light that as -a rule we do not seek his extermination. On the typical occasion -referred to, seeding began about the middle of April, and was vigorously -prosecuted, until by the end of May it was almost all accomplished. -Grains first sown at this time almost completely covered the ground. -This was about two weeks earlier than usual. It has generally been a -rule among farmers to have their seeding all done by the 24th May, so as -to have the leisure to celebrate that day at some neighboring town.</p> - -<p>The old-fashioned way of seeding by hand, broadcast, is among the things -that were. After that came the broadcast seeding machine. Now seeding -machines are drills that put the seed down into the ground at any -required depth and effectually cover it. Seed drills are also used as -cultivators, and most excellent ones they make, too, so that our lands -are now much better prepared for seed than formerly. The farmer who does -not possess a seed drill is now considered only half equipped and not up -to the mark. This change in the method of farming has given rise to -enormous manufacturing businesses, for to supply three-fourths of the -farmers of Canada alone with seed drills, any one at a moment’s -reflection can see, must make a great business for manufacturers. And -when our grass and grain come to maturity, light mowers will cut the -first, and the ingenious complex binder will cut and bind the grain and -leave it all ready for drawing in. In no country under the sun has -agriculture made as great progress as in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_140" id="page_140">{140}</a></span> Canada during the last two -decades. Labor-saving machines are as near perfection among us and as -plentiful, and far more so than among any people of anything like the -same population. Whenever any of our people get an idea that we are -slow, just let such semi-discontented persons travel about the land of -our forefathers in Britain or on the continent and he will return home -fully convinced that they have not yet fully awakened up.</p> - -<p>Foul weeds are annually becoming more prevalent among us. We are, in -fact, annually seeing weeds in our fields which we never saw before, and -whose name even we do not know. So from this fact alone, the old process -of farming would not do now at all, neither would fourteen successive -crops of wheat on one field, as has been done in Canada. The means of -communication are now so quick that somehow these foul weeds of distant -parts get generally disseminated over the land and are no longer locally -confined to certain areas, supposed to be their individual homes, as -they were formerly. Look along our railway tracks and you will -frequently notice at the sides of the line weeds which you never saw -before. It is only, then, a question of a season or two, when they will -get into the neighboring field. There is, however, no need to be -discouraged, for if we only look at the lands of the Old World which -have been cultivated for a thousand years, we find all the foul weeds we -know so far, and many dozens of kinds which we never saw before. Summer -fallow and root crops, of course, is the first remedy. Our people are<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_141" id="page_141">{141}</a></span> -yearly putting in a greater area of roots and feeding more cattle. Our -prized privilege of sending our cattle to the British markets alive was -formerly one of our greatest boons, and we must try by all means to keep -all cattle diseases out of our land, so that Britain will regard us as -the favored people. Australia is too far away for live stock shipments. -As for the United States, the climatic conditions are such there that we -can grow healthy cattle when theirs are affected and beat them; that is -to say, we can send live cattle and make a good profit when they cannot, -but must send dead meat.</p> - -<p>Seeding down and grass feeding upon our fields is another good method to -rid our lands of these foul weeds. When the foul plants are young, by -eating the fields pretty close our flocks nip off the foul stalks, and -keep them from seeding. But if the plant be an annual, during the latter -part of the season such pastures can with profit be turned into a late -summer fallow, and thus be cleared. Wire root is got rid of by turnips -and thorough cultivation. But perhaps the easiest and laziest way to get -rid of this pest, which gets down so deep in lighter soils, is to sow -buckwheat on such fields thick and heavy. Many farmers assert that a -stout crop of buckwheat will choke the wire root out, and leave not a -root alive. Ordinarily our farmers sow buckwheat only for this purpose, -and to plough down as a green crop for manure. Very few of our farmers, -in fact, will grow buckwheat for a crop, and consider it beneath the -dignity of the quality of their fat lands to raise buck<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_142" id="page_142">{142}</a></span>wheat as a crop. -That man partakes of the nature of the soil, is, perhaps, to most -persons at first thought an anomaly, but yet it is so. Where the soil -grudgingly gives to the husbandman a very moderate living, his -hospitality in a certain sense partakes of the nature of his lands. -While he does his best for you as a guest, still the heartiness and -bountifulness of his larder, for man and beast, is in a measure subdued, -as it were, and somehow the guest feels that he ought not to deprive the -careful husbandman of too much of his essentials of living. The -husbandman is necessarily cramped and bound as his farm is. But go among -those whose lands are fat and fill the great barns, and where it’s a -task to take care of his bountiful crops, and we find another kind of a -man entirely. There’s no stint. Your horse may consume bushels of oats -per day if he will, and if ordinarily good milk is not of your liking, -cream is just as free as the milk is. Open-handed, big-hearted; a man -one involuntarily likes, as you grasp his broad, brown hand, and his -fingers give a tight squeeze. And such are the great majority of -Ontario’s husbandmen, a people of whom any nation may justly feel proud.</p> - -<p>I am wandering from my springtime, and will get back by saying that bee -culture among us is becoming fairly developed. Food for bees is in such -abundance among our fields and fruits and woods, that in the future this -industry must necessarily be much larger. Fourteen years ago I saw a -field of about eight acres sown with sweet clover, to feed the farmer’s -bees. It was the sweetest smelling field any one</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_019" style="width: 600px;"> -<a href="images/ill_019.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_019.jpg" width="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>CANADIAN APPLES AT THE GLASGOW EXHIBITION—“THE BEST IN -THE EMPIRE.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_143" id="page_143">{143}</a></span>”</p></div> -</div> - -<p class="nind">ever passed by; a grove of orange trees was nothing in comparison to it. -Since it was such a novelty I am mentioning it, for it is the first -instance I ever knew of. The farmer, who had one hundred swarms of bees, -explained that his bees had been feeding upon the basswood trees, but -now that they had got too far developed he wanted this sweet clover for -later feed. And this bee-keeper averred that it fully paid him for -sowing the eight acres of sweet clover.</p> - -<p>Fruit prospects were never more promising than they were last spring. -Our trees were one literal mass of blows. If they had all borne fruit -the consequence would have been most disastrous, for all the trees would -have been broken down. Of course, most of them fell off. It is not frost -we so much fear in Ontario for blight of our buds, for we seldom get a -frost severe enough for that after the blows come. Blight usually comes -from a dry east or south-east wind, blowing steadily for a couple of -days. This fact is so well known that on many trees the south-east side -will be perfectly void of fruit, while the north-west side, which was -sheltered by the rest of the tree, will be in bearing. We shall be able -to send to British markets hundreds of thousands of apples this fall, -which over there they so highly prize. But let the fruit-grower ever -remember that he can’t get the prized red cheeks on his fruit unless Old -Sol shines upon it. In order that he may do so the trees must be pruned -quite open to let him peep among the branches.</p> - -<p>A goodly and beautiful land we possess. We can raise anything which will -grow in this temperate zone.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_144" id="page_144">{144}</a></span> Our lands are fat and not exhausted. -Artificial manures we do not need, and they are scarcely known among us. -In thickly populated Germany and Switzerland hillsides are spaded where -too steep for the plough, and the husbandman succeeds in that method -upon small holdings. The French peasant, to whom ten acres is a -good-sized farm, does not plough his land, but turns it over, away down -deep, fourteen inches or so, with a bent bill-hook, and he succeeds, and -he and his family are independent and save money. We have room in -Canada, not speaking of the North-West, for millions upon millions of -persons, who will cultivate many patches of land now unused or in -pasture. Health, independence and success await those who will get upon -our lands and make an honest, downright manly effort.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_145" id="page_145">{145}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Ontario in June—Snake fences—Road-work—Alsike clover fields—A -natural grazing country—Barley and marrowfat peas—Ontario in -July—Barley in full head—Ontario is a garden—Lake Ontario -surpasses Lake Geneva or Lake Leman—Summer delights—Fair -complexions of the people—Approach of the autumnal -season—Luxuriant orchards.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Driving</span> through Ontario in June, the eye continually dwells upon a sea -of green, with scarcely any interlude of rock, swamp or broken land. It -is simply a succession of well-cultivated farms, mostly trim and nicely -kept and well fenced. In many respects our province resembles old -England, for, with all our vandalism, we have left a few groves of -native forest trees, which here and there dot the landscape, and present -to the view a beautiful, impenetrable, clearly-defined wall of green, -raised, of course, above the level green of the crops below at the -surface and extending up to their very bases. Our fences have, indeed, -presented a decided improvement during the past few years. Very many of -the boundary fences beside the highways are straight board fences, or -straight rail and post fences. Hedges, of course, we cannot boast of. -But our fences up to date present a clearly<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_146" id="page_146">{146}</a></span> defined boundary of farms, -and form a bounded highway straight and clear, sixty-six feet wide.</p> - -<p>In many of our still timbered portions of the province the old zig-zag -rail fence is in use. But we have now in most places in the province -passed by that day, and can no longer build such fences, for it is too -great a waste of timber, though in some respects it’s the best and -strongest fence we can possibly build, and will last the longest. But -its days are numbered, and the fences of the future will be wire fences, -which are now legal in our province. They have their advantages, -principally in allowing the winds of winter to pass freely through and -preventing drifts on the roads. By an Act of our Ontario Legislature, -township councils can by law allow owners who will build wire fences -before their farms to enclose six feet of the road allowance. Many -persons are already taking advantage of that Act, but at all events the -roads must be left fifty-four feet wide, taking off six feet from each -side.</p> - -<p>Road-work is in June quite general all over the province, and when -driving along the highways one has to pass now and again over a few rods -of awfully rough, unfinished patches of road. Sometimes the turnpiking -is only half completed, or again the gravel has been left in great -heaps, which give to your carriage the motion of a vessel at sea as it -passes over the lumps. A few days, however, will remedy all that, as the -road-work gets completed. Brawny, sunburnt farmers, wearing their straw -hats, and with shirt sleeves rolled up, gather in groups under a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_147" id="page_147">{147}</a></span> -“pathmaster,” and perform the requisite number of days “working for the -King,” as it is termed. No doubt our fellows are quite as honest as any -one would be under like circumstances, but we have yet to learn that any -one has ever injured himself by road-work while so “working for the -King” on the roads.</p> - -<p>Crops cover the ground completely, and thoroughly hide the soil beneath. -Many of them are, indeed, so high that they wave with the breezes. The -fields present one unbroken sea of level, green verdure, generally free -from all obstructions. Here and there, indeed, may be seen a nicely -formed pile of stone boulders, gradually picked up from the fields as -the plough exposes them to the surface, and yearly growing a little -larger by being added thereto by subsequent ploughings. The farmer can’t -afford obstructions these days in his fields, for in a few weeks reapers -will quickly cut these crops, or, in many instances, binders will both -cut and bind them at one process, and the farmer wants nothing in the -way to hinder these great labor-savers. In June haying has already -commenced, more especially clover crops. Where a crop of clover seed is -sought as a second crop in this season, the clover hay of the first crop -has been cut and garnered for some days. Alsike clover is in full bloom, -and I defy any reader to say that he ever passed any field, grove, or -flowers, in any part of the globe, which sends out a more pleasing -fragrance than this alsike clover does. To pass a field of alsike clover -when it’s in full blow is beautiful to the eye while resting on the -pinkish-white blows, and grateful<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_148" id="page_148">{148}</a></span> to the sense of smell for its -delicate and pungent perfume. Ordinary sentences are tame, indeed, in -trying to describe the beauties of the alsike clover field in full bloom -in Ontario. It must be seen and smelled to be appreciated. Now, speaking -of all this alsike clover, and red clover as well, naturally leads one -to think, what can all this clover seed be used for? It is an accepted -fact, now, that Ontario can compete with the world in the growing of -clover seed. Germany has been our great competitor, but it is now -conceded that we can beat Germany. Driving along through the province in -June one passes in almost endless succession field after field of both -red clover and alsike, and the question naturally comes up, What is to -be done with all this seed? It would appear that Ontario can produce -enough clover seed to sow all those parts of our planet adapted to the -growing of clover. Recollect, all parts cannot grow clover. If you go -west and pass central Iowa, you leave the clover belt entirely; and if -you go south and cross the Ohio River, you will not find much more -clover. It is true that in Kentucky they boast of blue grass, which is -only our June grass allowed to grow up strong and vigorous. But our -Ontario is a natural clover country. If we leave a field uncultivated, -it somehow, naturally of itself, gets back in clover, no matter if none -were sown on the field.</p> - -<p>Ontario is a natural grazing country; it must be, when the clover is so -indigenous to the soil. It is just as well for our farmers to thoroughly -grasp this fact, for with our innumerable springs and rills and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_149" id="page_149">{149}</a></span> -abounding clover, we have one of the best cattle and horse-raising -countries in the world. If the West, which cannot grow clover and such -light-colored barley as the Americans want, is content to grow wheat, we -had better by far let the West do it and confine ourselves to the -specialties in which they cannot compete with us.</p> - -<p>In barley and marrowfat peas we have a monopoly. On account of the money -we get for the clover-seed itself we are again ahead of them, and are -more than ahead of them in raising horses and cattle, which feed upon -our clover. There is something in our climate, soil and feed which -produces horses large and strong, which are ahead of the West by far. -Hence the westerners continually buy from us to get our stock.</p> - -<p>To prove that wheat does not pay, I will instance that the rent of land -in Ontario County is usually $5.00 per acre. No matter if one owns his -own farm, it is worth that as well. Seed, again, is worth $2.00 per acre -for wheat, and the cultivation and harvesting is worth another $7.00 per -acre, making the acre of wheat cost $14 per acre. Now, at an average -yield of twenty-five bushels per acre, and this sold at 75 cents per -bushel, it yields $18.75 per acre, or only $4.75 more than the crop -cost. It’s no pay, and there’s no other way to look at it, and hereafter -we ought to raise wheat enough only for our own use, as long as it’s -such a drug on the market, especially so when we can do much better with -peas, barley, cattle and horses. Let those interested ponder over this -point.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_150" id="page_150">{150}</a></span></p> - -<p>It might be thought that we shall raise too much clover-seed for the -market. It is used as a dye in Great Britain for certain cloths, we are -told, and all of our seed is not sown. Hence it is hardly probable we -shall produce too much. In the matter of peas, we have never yet -produced more marrowfat peas than Europe will take from us. Recollect, -but few other countries can produce marrowfat peas. Some places have the -bug and mildew, and can’t grow the peas at all, and we have this crop -almost to ourselves. Barley, it seems, the Americans will buy from us as -long as we grow it, for it’s the best. And in fruit we all know we can -produce the best keepers in the world, so that our outlook in Ontario is -bright for the future.</p> - -<p>When July comes some portions of our province sometimes suffer slightly -from drouth. Seldom, however, has the drouth been severe enough to cause -anything like a failure in crops, although late sown crops here and -there have been occasionally light. This, however, is not so general as -to apply to the whole province, for in some sections you may see that -our fields never smile more sweetly upon us than they do at this season. -In July fall wheat is just turning and beginning to look like fields of -gold. In spots in the fields the wheat has been winter-killed, and many -pieces are ploughed up entirely. Looking over those fields which were -ploughed up and sowed with some spring crop, they present a rather odd -appearance, for the vitality of the fall wheat is so great that in many -places the ploughing did not kill it,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_151" id="page_151">{151}</a></span> and consequently we see tufts of -great tall heads of fall wheat now ripening among the still green and -much shorter crop of spring grain. Those who are not familiar with fall -wheat could scarcely get an idea how it occurs that fall wheat can be -ripening in and among a spring crop, quite green as yet.</p> - -<p>Barley in July is in full head and just commencing to turn yellow. -Fields upon fields of this grain are passed as one drives on our -highways. Those who have not driven much upon our roads, and closely -observed, can scarcely believe how general the barley crop is in Ontario -at this season. Almost invariably it is looking well, and if it be not -as a whole an extremely heavy crop, yet it will be a paying one, and one -we must grow. Laying aside all matters of temperance and Scott Act, ours -is a barley country, and barley we must grow. Peas are now mostly in -full blow, and are rank and of the deepest green. A more luxuriant -growth than our pea crop in most seasons cannot be found in any country. -If you would judge of the unsurpassed fertility of our soils, just go -and see our pea crops. Ontario alone can furnish the soup basis for all -the navies of the world.</p> - -<p>Our spring wheat is just now putting forth its ear. Oats are just -beginning to head. The drouth seems to have affected oats more than any -other crop so far. They may, however, if we get some rains, head up -heavy, but in any event the straw will be rather short.</p> - -<p>We live in a garden here in Ontario. No one who drives about our roads -can come to any other con<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_152" id="page_152">{152}</a></span>clusion. There are no blanks, and but little -broken land; but few swamps, and scarcely a break. Only a few days ago I -drove twelve miles without passing a hill higher than forty feet, or -seeing an acre of broken land; just one mass of green in the fields. -There was positively not one foot of broken land for the whole twelve -miles, and I feel that I have a right to say that we live in a garden. -Those who are at home most of the time do not realize that they are -living under the most favorable conditions in the world. During a lot of -travel in every State of the American Union, I have never yet seen -anything over there to approach our own country. Of course, out West one -can traverse miles upon miles of corn fields, but it’s all corn; but -here it’s a general variety, which is so pleasant to the eye, and which -also brings in our great returns. And our fruits are upon every hand, -from the grape to the strawberry, to the apple and pear, and all -succeeding. The only parallel that I ever saw to Ontario is in the -plains of Hungary, say, about Buda-Pesth. There is a country very much -resembling Ontario, but, of course, not anything like it in size. It was -from this locality that we got our present roller process of making -flour. I am only making this comparison with Hungary to let our -Ontarians know that we have, in truth, the finest country in this world, -that we may all be spurred on to cultivate our lands better, for we are -only yet in our infancy. Let us all realize that our lands never refuse, -when properly cultivated, to produce anything which will grow in the -north temperate<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_153" id="page_153">{153}</a></span> zone. Famed Geneva or Leman cannot surpass our -beautiful Lake Ontario; and then as to size and extent, there’s no -comparison to be made. And yet it is beautiful around Lake Leman, and -locations along its shores are much sought by all Europe, and command -unheard-of prices. Our shore is just as beautiful, and our waters just -as limpid and just as cool. About Constantinople is the only other place -I can name as being at all worthy of comparison with our Lakes Ontario -and Erie shore for residences. Now, it is beautiful about the Bosphorus, -and charming beyond measure, and Constantinople must always be a great -city, no matter who possesses it. Yet, somehow, just a little -digressing, we would all like to see Britain owning it, but Russia -never. Then, I say, about Lake Leman and the Bosphorus are the only -parallels to our places and resorts along these north shores of our -Great Lakes. On the whole, the north shore of Lake Ontario has the -preference, for it’s never so hot here at any time as it is about Geneva -or Constantinople. We have in Ontario great inland, fresh-water seas, -having pure, limpid waters, and a soil which will discount any in the -world beside them, and an equable climate. If it does get warm for a day -or two, it never remains too uncomfortably so for long, and our evenings -are generally cool and pleasant from the lake breezes. Going down into a -cellar like the Dakotans to escape hot breezes, which there become -insufferable, we never think of. Already along the north shore of Lake -Ontario, from Niagara to Kingston, our people<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_154" id="page_154">{154}</a></span> gather during the summer -months by thousands. Between Hamilton and Toronto, and down as far as -Belleville, there are hundreds of summering camps. As one passes along -the roads near the lake one sees thousands upon thousands of ladies -dressed in white, and gentlemen in shirt-sleeves sporting in the groves, -on the green along the shores, or boating about bays and inlets.</p> - -<p>People dot the landscape for a couple of hundred miles, and flit to and -fro among the leafy bowers. It would, indeed, be hard to find a prettier -sight than that of our people summering along the lake banks these July -days. While other persons south of us, over in Uncle Sam’s dominions, -are sweltering with the thermometer at 104° in the shade, our people are -pleasantly cool along our northern lake shores. The consequence is that -summer heats do not deplete us. Saffron yellow faces, with high -protruding cheek bones, accompanied by dark circles under the eyes, such -as are found in hot districts where the thermometer will persist in -getting up to 104° and staying there, we know not of at all. Ontarians -are a plump, well-developed people, and have, as a rule, fair -complexions and good skins. Our ladies are just stout enough to be -attractive under these conditions, and developing their physique as they -do along our lakes, by picnicking and rowing and games, are the peers of -any in the world. Yea! to make a quick and perhaps unseemly comparison, -I wish to say that the same causes and the same equable cool temperature -which cause our ladies’ cheeks to burnish red and brown, produce for us -in our fields the finest barley<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_155" id="page_155">{155}</a></span> in the world and the best peas. So -Nature has been prodigal to us in her gifts. About Toronto, of course, -the greater population centres, and within a radius of thirty miles or -so, along the lake on either side, the greater number of summer -saunterers are to be seen. As Toronto gets on up to a quarter of a -million of inhabitants, as it must, all available points upon the lake -shores will be seized upon for outing for its citizens. The day, -moreover, must be far distant when we shall be much crowded for space -along the lake banks. But it does not need a very far-seeing prophet to -see that a dense population must centre in Ontario along our lakes. -Think what it was, and you will conclude that rapid as our progress has -been, for the next twenty-five or thirty years our progress and increase -in population will be five-fold what it was in the past twenty-five or -thirty years. Ontarians need not go to Cacouna, or Murray Bay, or -anywhere else for a summering. We can do better at home along our own -waters. As time goes on we must get more and more of our American -cousins from the region of 104° in the shade to come and summer with us. -Ontario, in fact, must ultimately be the great summer resort of this -continent. Take the readings of the thermometer in Toronto alone, and -you will find that it possesses the most equable climate of any city in -America east of the Rocky Mountains; and beautiful, and clear, and -healthy as it is, it must be, as it now is, and far more so, the great -metropolitan city of our country. Ontarians, let us cherish our homes -and our birthrights.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_156" id="page_156">{156}</a></span></p><p>As the fall season comes to us in Ontario the result of the last -summer’s bountifulness is visibly apparent. On every side the steady, -unremitting drone or hum of the threshing-machines daily falls upon the -ear, and well we know that for every hour the thresher runs, bushels -upon bushels of grain are being gathered into the farmers’ granaries. -Dust-begrimed, sweaty men, with forks in hand, are all the time -endeavoring to stop its spacious maw, but never succeeding, for its -capacity of digestion is inexorable, and after each forkful it is quite -as ready again for another, and so the work goes on by the hour (and the -hum comes to the listener two miles away, on the wind), giving the -husbandman an abundance for the season. There is scarcely a cessation -until the noon hour arrives, when the shrill, ambitious scream of the -piping engine which furnishes the motive power gives the welcome warning -that dinner is ready. The noon hour past, again a scream from the -ambitious engine, as if it would try to be entered among the fellowship -of its greater brother engines in our manufactories and upon our -railways. With their shirts half dry the farmers again tend to the -machine’s voracious maw, knowing full well that it’s only a question of -a few minutes, when the increased perspiration will wet them as fully as -before.</p> - -<p>The golden apples of Hesperides were never more beautiful or pleasing to -the eye than those of our orchards, laden with their golden fruit. It is -presumed these golden apples were oranges, and even so, it is just a -question if they ever were prettier than many of our colored apples. The -“King” with its red cheeks, or the “Fameuse,” and many other kinds<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_157" id="page_157">{157}</a></span> will -rival the famed oranges for beauty any day. Manifestly one of the -prettiest sights in nature is to see an orchard of considerable size in -Ontario, heavily laden with fruit, and its limbs bending to the ground -with their burdens. Let the breeze just gently stir the leaves, and sway -the branches, and the dancing sunbeams glinting upon the sheen of the -apples’ sides, and then as you walk through and among the trees, nature -smiles at you, and you realize that ours is indeed a beauteous and -kindly land.</p> - -<p>And this is our autumn, clearly defined, and in a few days to be -rendered doubly beautiful as the first frosts touch the foliage upon the -maples, the birches, and the beeches, and transform their leaves into a -broad gallery of the brightest and most variegated colors. Tropical -dwellers, who have never seen the transformation, know not of the beauty -this world in our north temperate zone affords. It is supposed to be -ever green in the tropics, but the winter green down there is not -beautiful, but a dull, dusty, dark russet. This decided change, which -our fall season produces, they can have no conception of, and we would -not trade our season with them if we could. Man loves variety. Universal -green one tires of, but our recurring seasons always awaken in us a -zest, and we love them in their turn.</p> - -<p>Indian summer is soon upon us, with its delicious dreamy haze, when life -out-of-doors is appreciated to its fullest extent. You can never quite -make up your mind, when this season is with us, whether it be too warm -or too cold. Physical existence becomes a perfect luxury, and a feeling -of sensuousness gradu<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_158" id="page_158">{158}</a></span>ally steals over one. During all the travels I -have made to other lands, in different climates, I have yet to find the -equal of our Indian summer. Gradually the frost of the nights gets more -intense and the leaves fall, and are blown in windrows by the winds. -Trees overhanging streams completely cover the still pools with their -leaves; the bark of the birch, by way of contrast, is whiter if possible -than before, and the few remaining leaves upon the almost nude branches -have not yet lost their gay colors. Now let the mid-day sun shine upon -valley and grotto, and glimmer and dance upon the thin film of last -night’s ice, and you have a picture that even the most obtuse cannot -fail to love at sight.</p> - -<p>Day by day nature becomes stiller. The earthworm has gone deeper into -the soil, the birds have left us for the south, and only the shrill pipe -of the blue jay remains of the birds’ summer campaign. Solitary crows, -indeed, are almost ever ubiquitous, and their parting caw! caw! will -soon announce the order of their going. The fox has prepared his hole by -the side of some upturned tree, and the chipmunk has laid away his store -of beechnuts for a winter supply. Nature is preparing for winter. This -is the interregnum, as it were, and it is neither autumn nor winter. The -farmer daily follows his plough, if the previous night’s frost has not -been too severe. If it has, he must need wait until nine or ten o’clock, -to let the previous night’s freeze soften in the sun’s rays. About the -middle of December he has to lay his plough aside, for at last, after -repeated warnings, gentle enough at first, the frost is really upon -him.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_159" id="page_159">{159}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Some natural history notes—Our feathered pets—“The poor Canada -bird”—The Canadian mocking-bird—The black squirrel—The red -squirrel—The katydid and cricket—A rural graveyard—The -whip-poor-will—The golden plover—The large Canada owl—The crows’ -congress—The heron—The water-hen.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">If</span> one would see our feathered pets in all their abundant numbers and -luxuriant beauty nowadays in Ontario, he must get away from the towns -and villages and centres of dense population. At various times I have -explored portions of our province that lie far back from the Great Lakes -and the more densely populated areas, and have then enjoyed some good -opportunities of observing our summer visitants. The “poor Canada bird,” -as the song-sparrow is locally called, is one that we cannot but value, -seeing that his notes really lengthen and become more charming as the -season advances and the weather becomes more boisterous. Even when the -nights have become quite chilly, though the days are warm and sunshiny, -one gets his varied song-notes if he will only listen. Especially will -the song-sparrow pipe up of an evening, just as the sun is setting, and -all nature is about to be hushed to rest. He leaves us with the light, -after giving us a pleasant chant<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_160" id="page_160">{160}</a></span> from his brown throat. The triplet of -notes that he gives us, and which we interpret as “Can-a-da, Can-a-da,” -is in some localities interpreted as “Van-i-ty, Van-i-ty,” and of course -any suitable word of three syllables may be associated with the -well-known song of this small bird.</p> - -<p>As for the common sparrow, so prevalent in our towns and cities, there -is no doubt he has robbed us of a large part of the pleasures of our -summer life, for where he is the song-bird is not. The change has so -gradually stolen over us that we do not realize that we have lost our -most charming birds through the advent of the pugnacious sparrow. Go -once away from where he is and the change is so very apparent that one -cannot fail to notice it. In the forests away from sparrows there are at -least ten times as many birds, and it is plainly the duty of every one, -especially of lovers of nature, to aid in exterminating the sparrow in -every way possible.</p> - -<p>The Canadian mocking-bird is, of course, a catbird, and although he -cannot, perhaps, copy as many notes or voices as his American brother -can, yet he’s our mocking-bird, and a charmer as well. He is about done -with us for this season (fall), and his imitations are not now heard as -frequently as they were, but yet he is with us and one can hear him -occasionally. Stand near a thicket, a copse, or a “spinney,” as, -perhaps, they would say in England, and let there be some water near, -and you’ll get the calls from him. Sometimes he is pleasant, and in turn -descends to the disagreeable, coming back again to the pleasant and -enchanting, and so one may listen by the hour, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_161" id="page_161">{161}</a></span> every few minutes -get something entirely new from him.</p> - -<p>The Canadian black squirrel, so exceedingly plentiful when most of us -were boys, just able to be the proud possessor of a poor gun, is now -nearly extinct in Ontario. Speaking of gunning in our boyhood days -reminds me of the off Saturdays from school, when every other Saturday -was a holiday, and of the day’s trudge with the old gun for the alert -black squirrel, safely ensconced among the tallest tree-tops during the -sunny hours of the short fall days. And one had to get up a little, too, -at marksmanship, for he was ever on the move, and you seldom got a good -shot at him while quietly at ease. The boy’s heart that would not thrill -at a day’s black squirrel shooting must indeed be more obdurate than -most Ontario boys’ hearts are, as one followed him, always looking up, -as he jumped from tree to tree, almost falling to the ground when he -made some exceedingly long jumps, but quite recovering himself and never -by any possibility falling. Most exceedingly do I regret the gradual -extinction of this squirrel—the real squirrel of Canada—and, besides, -he’s such an intelligent fellow and so easily tamed and becomes such a -pet. The days were when, in his tin revolving cage, he was one of the -means of diversion at many a household; and for a stew he had no -superior, feeding as he always did upon the choicest nuts to be found in -the forests, and he was so scrupulously clean in his habits.</p> - -<p>The common red squirrel is still very common, as he chatters away, half -way up some forest tree,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_162" id="page_162">{162}</a></span> perched upon a limb. He’s a very valiant -fellow, indeed, as he saucily chit-chats, with a guttural noise; but -drive him up the tree once, and keep him there you can’t. His first care -will be to get down to the ground again and scamper away; and get down -he will, unless one be specially alert and active. He will rest upon the -tree trunk, head downwards, with his great eyes watching your every -motion, and should the least chance present itself for escape he’s down -along the opposite side of the trunk of the tree where one is standing, -if it be a considerable one, and is away in a twinkling.</p> - -<p>Birds gather in flocks at about this time of the year, affording to us -who watch a sure admonition that summer is nearly past, and fall close -upon us. I saw the first flock of blackbirds on the 4th of September, -and my recollection is, from past seasons, that many others are quickly -seen after the first flock of any kind of birds is about.</p> - -<p>Another sure sign that fall approaches is evidenced by the call of the -cricket and other kindred insect life in our midst as the sun sinks -behind the heavens. The noises of the evenings just now are particularly -observable, and almost rival—or perhaps, if not rival, measurably -approach—the choruses of Nature during a tropical night. Those of us -who recall our first impression of our stay in the tropics can, at this -season in Ontario, get quite a simile at home, and it’s charming too; -and our air is so delightful that mere physical existence becomes dreamy -and a positive luxury.</p> - -<p>The katydid is now at his best, and delivers himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_163" id="page_163">{163}</a></span> of his “crackling -sing” as he descends on the wing, bat-like, among the tree branches, to -the ground. Our katydid is never heard during the early part of the -summer, and just now, since he is our guest for a short time, it would -richly repay our boys to catch him and examine him at leisure. One -cannot help admiring him, for he’s a fine fellow; but the great trouble -with him is that he’s so plainly a member of the locust family that we -fear his congeners might come and devour our beautiful Ontario for us. -We are assured, however, by those naturalists supposed to be able to -know, that there can possibly be no danger of a locust pest in our -humid, cool, Ontario climate, and so we bless our stars that our lines -have fallen in such pleasant places. Ontario to-day, the golden -grain-burdened, with its hill and dale and copses interspersed, is -beautiful beyond compare.</p> - -<p>Walk out any one of the fine evenings in July, grandest of all months, -just when the sun is leaving us, far away in the north-west, amidst an -amber sky, with not a vestige of cloud above, and just as he finally -dips, the strong probability is that you will be startled at first, and -then delighted, with the quick cry of the “whip-poor-will.”</p> - -<p>Stand in your tracks and back again and again will come to you in quick -succession for eight or ten times the distinct words, “whip-poor-will,” -and then as quickly the cry will cease.</p> - -<p>Right away from an exactly opposite side of the landscape, from about a -coppice of thick bushes, with some large trees growing in it and -protruding far<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_164" id="page_164">{164}</a></span> above them, will come the answer to the challenge, -“whip-poor-will,” and so the words will be bandied back and forth until -the shades of night have fallen in real earnest, giving you, perhaps, -the most enjoyable and natural concert one can be treated to in our own -country.</p> - -<p>As to the bird itself, it is very seldom seen, its color being so nearly -like that of brown leaves, or the ordinary color of the carpeted bases -of trees in the forest, that he is scarcely distinguishable. Once in a -while you will come on him, however, in your rambles, when he spreads -his brown wings, of a foot’s distension at least, and alights a few rods -on, as before, upon some fallen tree trunk, or as likely as not upon the -ground. He stays with us as long as our summer really lasts, and of all -the birds that sing, his call is the clearest and most distinctive. The -“whip-poor-will” has been celebrated by one of the best of our Canadian -poets, Charles Sangster. He says:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Last night I heard the plaintive whip-poor-will,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">And straightway sorrow shot his swiftest dart;<br /></span> -<span class="i1">I know not why, but it has chilled my heart<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Like some dread thing of evil. All night long<br /></span> -<span class="i1">My nerves were shaken, and my pulse stood still<br /></span> -<span class="i1">And waited for a terror yet to come,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">To strike harsh discords through my life’s sweet song.<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Sleep came—an incubus that filled the sum<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Of wretchedness with dreams so wild and chill<br /></span> -<span class="i1">The sweat oozed out from me like drops of gall;<br /></span> -<span class="i1">An evil spirit kept my mind in thrall,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">And rolled my body up like a poor scroll,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">On which is written curses that the soul<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Shrinks back from when it sees some hellish carnival.”<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_165" id="page_165">{165}</a></span></div></div> -</div> - -<p>To us who are not so sensitive the mournful cry of the nightly -whip-poor-will is not so depressing, but I am sure we are all glad to -get this gleaning of a poet’s feelings when he hears the uncanny bird.</p> - -<p>The golden plover in July is nesting and watching along by the margin of -our streams. By chance I happened at one time upon the nest of one -situated about half-way under the end of an old log. The nest had been -built without any preparation at all as to nest building. During the -previous season grass had grown rank and tall about this old log, and -the parent bird had simply trodden down the dry and sere grass, and -formed an almost level space for the nest. There was but little attempt -to hollow the nest even in a concave, as one would naturally suppose, to -hold the eggs. Four little ploverets rewarded my gaze, and such -ridiculous things they were, too. Scarcely any feathers yet, but just -down, as it were, and great long legs, which appeared to be so far out -of proportion to their wants that their appearance was absurd, indeed. -They essayed to walk away, but it would seem that a plover must learn to -balance himself, like a rope-walker. At this stage they grotesquely -tipped forward mostly every time. They arose upon their feet, sometimes, -but not so often, backwards.</p> - -<p>The large Canada owl will be found hatching or sitting in July. This is -the owl which is so very white during the winter months, but, like the -rabbit, changes his coat during the summer, when he becomes somewhat -gray or brown. Of all our birds of prey,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_166" id="page_166">{166}</a></span> the owl is perhaps the most -predatory in his persistence in waylaying about a farmer’s poultry yard, -and it is no trouble at all for him nor any tax upon his powers to carry -off an ordinary hen. Recently I happened to walk along the bank of a -stream partly wooded, and in the top of a cedar stump, about ten feet -from the ground, I found this great bird’s nest. Three owlets were -there, with their great staring eyes nearly as large as those of the -parent bird’s, while their bodies were covered with down so thick and so -long that it seemed almost like a coat of wool. Perhaps the best way to -describe them would be to say they were just fuzzy. Around the sides of -their nest, which was made of small sticks, were some small bones, -apparently those of mice and rats, but not of fowls, so far as I could -see. Even if the owl does destroy some fowls, I could not find it in my -heart to hurt the fuzzy little owlets, and I let them remain, fully -believing that their parent entirely squares the account by the great -quantity of mice and rats which he is daily securing from our fields. -Before leaving the owl’s nest I want to say that one day, just as winter -set in, an immense number of crows—I should say 3,000 at least—were -congregated about the tops of some pine trees not far from my -residence—trees about forty feet high. Furiously and persistently did -those crows caw, and fly, and hop about, producing such a din as to -attract persons a mile away during a still day. The cawing kept up so -long that I seized my breech-loader and resolved to investigate the -cause of the crows’ congress, as such<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_167" id="page_167">{167}</a></span> gatherings are usually called. -Cautiously I approached the feathered multitude, wondering what could -possibly be up, but no such caution was at all needed, for they heeded -me not. Backwards and forwards the more adventurous ones apparently -darted into the top of one particular pine, giving at the, same time a -tremendous yell. Following with my eye their line of flight, I -discovered an enormous white owl perched upon a limb, the object of -attack of the more desperate of the whole 3,000 or so crows thus -assembled. For many minutes I quietly witnessed this unequal contest, in -my curiosity actually forgetting to fire, and found that the old owl was -a match, as he sat upon the limb, for them all. Sometimes the crows will -gather just the same in congress about a black squirrel, in the top of -some high forest tree, but I have yet to learn that they ever succeed in -inflicting any punishment upon either owl or squirrel.</p> - -<p>The blue heron nests and hatches with us, although many persons think -that he goes far away from the haunts of man for the purpose of nesting. -I do not know if he be really the blue heron of the naturalist, but he -is a heron to all intents and purposes, and his color is mainly -correctly described in his name. He is crested, too, and is withal a -most magnificent bird. Not infrequently he stands five feet high, and -the spread of his wings is six or seven feet. Any one who will quietly -watch beside any of our marshes can easily, this time of the year, find -his nest, as he alights unerringly in the same spot. His nest is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_168" id="page_168">{168}</a></span> only -the marsh grass pressed down beside some hillock in the bogs, where it -is dry. As yet I do not know for a certainty how many young the hen bird -produces at a sitting, but I have never seen any more than two in any -nest. Speaking of the plover with his long legs being awkward and absurd -reminds me to say that perhaps the young heron is the most ridiculous of -all birds which frequent our province. His legs are so very abnormally -long that they seem almost a malformation, but when one comes to -consider the use he makes of them afterwards, as he wades for food, one -can see that he is properly formed. But at the same time he is the most -absurd, awkward, homely and ill-looking, when young, of all the -feathered tribe incubating in Ontario. You must pardon me, reader, for -daring to presume to differ from great naturalists when they tell us -that he never alights upon trees, for I have seen him alight. Not very -far from my residence stands a very large towering water elm. So tall, -indeed, is this elm that at night it far overshadows all other trees of -the forests about, and among the branches of this elm, being an -obstruction, as it would appear, is the herons’ line of flight. I have -myself frequently seen them alight, and have tried to get a shot at them -when upon the perch. So far as my observation goes, however, they do not -long remain upon the perch.</p> - -<p>Since the law now protects ducks from being food for the guns of boys, -they now, generally on Saturdays and holidays, walk in groups, guns in -hand, along our streams and marshes, always ready to take a pot<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_169" id="page_169">{169}</a></span> shot at -anything. The water-hen—generally called hell-diver—gets most of the -shots which the boys can spare. This fowl can generally accommodate the -boys to all the fun they want, in the shooting line, and with but little -danger to itself. Its anatomical form is so peculiar and its sense of -sight and hearing so acute that it can, nine times out of ten, dodge the -shots from the boys’ guns from the time of explosion of the charge to -the driving of it home. Outwardly it is formed very much like the duck, -and is about the size of our ordinary wood duck. Its feet, however, are -placed far back in its body, like the great auk. From this fact it is a -most expert swimmer, and is also enabled to dive as quickly as powder -and shot explode. It is not at all uncommon for this fowl to dive to -avoid the shot from a gun and swim under water, wholly out of sight, ten -rods from the place where it went down.</p> - -<p>In reality it is a species of duck, but since it feeds mostly upon small -fishes, its flesh is rank, oily, and not palatable for the table. When -August comes around it is no uncommon sight to see the mother water-hen -swimming around followed by her brood of six to ten young water-hens -about as big as cricket-balls. Wonderfully tame, too, they get when they -are not daily molested, and one can spend a very pleasant half hour or -so in watching the brood as they float along with the mother, every few -minutes diving for food.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_170" id="page_170">{170}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Lake Ontario—Weather observations with regard to it—Area and -depth—No underground passage for its waters—Daily horizon of the -author—A sunrise described—Telegraph poles an eye-sore—The -pleasing exceeds the ugly.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Realizing</span> the fact that the greater part of beautiful Lake Ontario -belongs to us, and, likewise, that the most densely populated portion of -our province is about its borders, a few facts and observations will, I -think, be acceptable to most Canadians. My remarks are founded mainly -upon my own observations, from a lifetime residence upon its shores, and -also in a measure from Dr. Smith’s report to the United States -Government on the fisheries on the lake. First, the lake is a perfect -barometer, in this wise: It will foretell the weather to come to us for -twenty-four to forty-eight hours in advance, to all who will closely -observe it. For instance, suppose we have our coldest winter days, when -everything about is held in the tight embrace of Jack Frost, and there -is no sign of milder weather, or any relief from the intense cold. Look -abroad upon the lake just as the sun is setting, and a light yellow band -hangs above the surface of the water. Then in a few hours <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_171" id="page_171">{171}</a></span>Jack Frost -leaves us, and a thaw is at hand. Or, perchance, during the winter days, -when we wish for sleighing, and yet the ground is bare, and it will not -come; no sign of snow, nor the feeling of it (as you well know, one can -feel it before it really comes). But before that time look abroad upon -the surface of the lake, and see a black band extending as far as the -eye can reach. Now it is only a few hours, ordinarily about eighteen, -before the feeling of snow comes, and then down comes the “fleecy -cloud.” It is summer now, and we would know if it will be windy -to-morrow. Are there red rays and yellow skies at sunrise? Yes. It will -be windy on the morrow. But when the cumulous clouds move easily, and as -if not driven above the waters, fine weather old Ontario now gives -us—and he always tells the truth. Not to use many words, in the -glorious midsummer days, when his surface is just like molten glass, and -objects in a depth of sixty feet are clear and distinct, its entrancing -beauty comes. Molten glass; but watch, and a mile away you see a streak -of ruffled water coming towards you, for just there a puff of wind has -caught it. But it dies away and leaves the polished mirror once more to -me. Then he rises in his might and tosses our ships about just like old -ocean, and sends his spray far upon the shore, and his huge-capped waves -advance and recede.</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“There is a pleasure in the pathless woods;<br /></span> -<span class="i3">There is a rapture on the lonely shore;<br /></span> -<span class="i1">There is society where none intrudes<br /></span> -<span class="i3">By the deep sea, and music in its roar.”<br /></span> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_172" id="page_172">{172}</a></span></div></div> -</div> - -<p>But it never freezes so hard close by the shores as away from its -breath. Curious, also, to relate, in the fall it does not “freeze up,” -as we say in Canada, as soon as away from it, by two weeks usually. In -the spring, again, the frost is gone from the soil quite two weeks -before it is gone back from its influence, so I feel safe in asserting -that winters upon its shores are one month shorter than they are away -from its meteorological influences. And yet leaves do not appear quite -close to its waters just as soon as they do a few miles away, anomalous -as it may seem, for it does not get warm so quickly as localities more -remote. It is never so warm in the summer about it, as it is never so -cold in the winter. Dwellers upon its shores rarely, if ever, suffer -from extreme heat during the periodical torrid waves which sometimes -visit this land. Ontario is the smallest of the Great Lakes—being about -185 miles long, and of an average width of 40 miles, being widest -opposite Irondequoit Bay, where it is 55 miles in width. It is some -6,500 square miles in area, of which Ontario owns 3,800. It is 232 feet -above the sea, and usually fluctuates but little in height, though in -1891 it was three feet lower than ever before observed. Persons living -at Niagara, it is said, remarked on the unusually small amount of water -that year passing over Niagara Falls. I am unable in any way to account -for that small flow. We are told it is because the tributary streams and -the waters of the Falls were less. Granted, but why they were less is -far to seek. In most parts the depth of Lake Ontario is about 350 feet, -but off</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_020-a" style="width: 420px;"> -<a href="images/ill_020-a.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_020-a.jpg" width="420" height="318" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>SCENE NEAR BOBCAYGEON.</p></div> -</div> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_020-b" style="width: 486px;"> -<a href="images/ill_020-b.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_020-b.jpg" width="486" height="269" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>A CANADIAN VIEW—LOOKING SOUTH-EAST FROM EAGLE MOUNTAIN, -STONEY LAKE.</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_173" id="page_173">{173}</a></span></p> - -<p>Charlotte, N.Y., it is 600 feet deep, and in some places opposite -Jefferson County, N.Y., it is quite 700 feet deep. The eastern portion -is the shallowest, being only about 100 feet about South Bay. At the -bottom are, in many places, vegetable organisms, furnishing food for -those fishes which feed at the bottom. Our sturgeon is a bottom-feeder, -and some others. About Stony Point is a rough, rocky and sandy bottom, -and the other parts are muddy and clayey. An underground passage to the -ocean has been mooted many years by persons who have thought the St. -Lawrence could not take away all the flow; that is to say, the waters -passing over Niagara Falls and those falling into Lake Ontario by -contributory streams, which add much to the flow from the Falls. It is a -fallacy; there is no such underground passage, and the St. Lawrence -easily takes all the waters from the lake. No current is perceptible in -the lake. Pieces of wood upon its surface do not flow as with a current -down Kingston way, but invariably come ashore with the first wind. In -perfect preservation to-day are many ships which have gone down and now -rest upon its bottom. Very probably too, the bodies of passengers upon -those ships, confined within the hulls so as to prevent their rising to -the surface, and thus getting the air, are there yet, and in perfect -preservation, for the waters in the depths are always cool and -preservative. Were some expert diver yet to go ghost-like among these -cabins, his nerves must be upset with the evidences of human tragedies -there so vividly to be seen before him. Mainly, the waters<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_174" id="page_174">{174}</a></span> are melted -snow, and are manifestly pure, and blessed are those whose homes are -about this life-giving lake, as well as about all our other great -fresh-water oceans. About the shores of the Mediterranean have been for -ages the choicest spots for man’s life; that is to say, the regions -where the human family could develop most perfectly, and life there -passed was rounded and full. Our old Roman bards, you know, were forever -singing about the beauties of Mediterranean shores, their “golden apples -of Hesperides,” and sumptuous residences built partly upon the land and -partly over the sea. Living on the shores of our Great Lakes is -generally conceded now to be most conducive to human development; we -have left the Mediterranean shores in the background, and now want only -the population, for we have a better condition for human -life-development and happiness right here, and far more enjoyable, for -the great heat of the ancients’ country is absent here in our new land.</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">The earth all light and loveliness, in summer’s golden hours,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">Smiles, in her bridal vesture clad, and crown’d with festal flowers;<br /></span> -<span class="i0">So radiantly beautiful, so like to heaven above,<br /></span> -<span class="i0">We scarce can deem more fair that world of perfect bliss and love.<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>Turn the eye southward, from the town, with its noise, bustle and smoke, -and look with me over my daily horizon, which indeed bounds a landscape -which my eyes have feasted upon all my days, for the past half-century, -save and except the years at college and years of foreign travel. -Manifestly at the first,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_175" id="page_175">{175}</a></span> the very first, in fact, the eye catches the -more conspicuous objects. And it is, in this instance, a great dead but -standing hemlock tree, denuded, it is true, of its foliage, but yet -bearing its limbs quite in detail. Like great men, it has died at the -top, and its impression upon my retina is always associated with the -crows’ congress which I saw in its foliage-less branches last fall. The -crow, you know, only partially leaves us hereabout for the winter. Many -of them do migrate, it is true, but here along the Lake Ontario shore -dead fish are always thrown up by the waves, and he can feed at any -time; consequently, he does not leave us. So, upon this elevated, dead -tree-top, I saw thousands of them gather, and heard one after another -deliver his speech in regular order. Oratory they must have, for their -voices were plaintive, defiant and grave, in turn, and I dare not deny -them intelligent utterance. Close beside this site of the crows’ -congress are a few great, large, sweeping elms, whose branches alone -would each make very respectable trees. Always their greenness is -visible to me, and the quiet contentment of pose of their branches and -leaves is always a pleasure. Great blue-crested herons find convenient -resting-places on their highest limbs. Stork-like, these great, gaunt -birds stand upon one foot, and turn their heads side-wise, and so -wise-like, that one feels so near nature when beholding them that it is -uncanny to disturb them. I let the eye wander beyond the high elm limbs, -and Ontario’s ultra-marine blue waters are before me, upon the far -horizon, beyond my extreme<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_176" id="page_176">{176}</a></span> range of vision. And when Old Sol rose this -morning from out of Ontario’s waters, he heralded his appearance by -throwing up into the sky shafts of light of various colors. Some, -indeed, were pure violet for a few moments, and others red, and yellow, -and blue, but not the blue of Ontario, so that the contrast may be -marked for us. He is coming up swiftly, and in a few moments the colors -have all changed, and almost before I can turn my head yellow has -suffused the whole in the immediate locality of old submerged Sol. -Again, the top of a wheel of fire we see upon the water, and now it is -all red about. Old Sol has risen, and a globe of fire is sailing upon -the waters’ surface. Could any facile brush only put upon canvas for us -these phantasmagorial colors, no one would believe the artist, but -accuse him of outdoing nature. And now he shines between me and a high -hill upon the lake’s bank, surmounted by trees, green at the top and -golden yellow along its sides with ripening grain. Our-red men -discovered the very striking beauty of this eminence before Cartier ever -sailed up the St. Lawrence, and even before the Indian population moved -backward and northward upon those backwater chains, and away from Lake -Ontario. To establish this fact most indisputably, we have only to look -at the many skulls, and larger human bones, generally, which the -ploughshare turns out. Then the red man enjoyed his pagan rites without -the intermeddling of the expectant Jesuit missionary, who only came ages -and ages after; for, among the bones, we find his flints, skinning -stones, and stone toma<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_177" id="page_177">{177}</a></span>hawks, but no articles of iron, because the -Frenchman, who first came here, had not then given him tomahawks of iron -and old flint guns. Imitative whites, whose eyes travelled about the -horizon, as did the Indians’, drank in the beauty of the scene -inceptively, and they in their turn made it their place of sepulture, -and to-day it is the white man’s burial ground, embosomed among the -evergreen trees, which Old Sol’s rays are penetrating for me. While I -stand and worship at Nature’s shrine in the early summer morn, with the -sun’s advent a gentle breeze has risen. God has been specially good to -us in giving this sublimely beautiful vision:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“The south wind was like a gentle friend,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Parting the hair so softly on my brow,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">It had come o’er gardens, and the flowers<br /></span> -<span class="i1">That kissed it were betrayed; for as it parted<br /></span> -<span class="i1">With its invisible fingers my loose hair,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">I knew it had been trifling with the rose,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">And stooping to the violet. There is joy<br /></span> -<span class="i1">For all God’s creatures in it.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>Down the long, meandering highway my eye rests, and my soul is pained by -most irregular, unsightly, great bare poles on either side of it. A -beneficent Government has given some grasping fellows the power to put -these up and stretch wires upon them, and wrench my soul daily by their -ugliness. Europe would not for a moment tolerate such hideous marring of -the landscape, but long-suffering Canadians, most law-abiding and -complaisant, suffer the nuisance to remain. Not content with the great -warty poles,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_178" id="page_178">{178}</a></span> there are huge braces or props leaning to them at every -bend in the highway, and I, as the individual, must suffer the sacrilege -in silence. A long-suffering people may yet arise in their might and -tear these gaunt, denuded forest trees from the face of the earth. There -is a forest-covered hill, mainly of second-growth timber, before my eye, -and it gloriously crowns what would otherwise be a most unsightly, bald, -round eminence. But it is beautiful, dense, green and grand, and a -wealthy man, viewing daily this hill upon his horizon, bought the land -and keeps the forest that it may please him, and others as well, for -their entire lives. Five per cents, or any given per cents, are not to -be mentioned in comparison with this good citizen duly honoring his -Maker and helping his fellows by his generous act. A forest primeval is -before my eye as I turn my glance to the opposite side of the horizon, -and it stands high and strong before me. Our native maple has never yet -been surpassed for beauty and cleanliness, and here it is our emblem and -our pride. Mainly this forest has always been in my mind as the spot -where countless myriads of pigeons used to alight in the days gone by. -Another forest farther away, and almost out from my horizon, but not -entirely gone from it, formed the next nearest roosting-place for this -extinct migratory bird, strings of which would fall to my boyhood gun, -but now, alas! gone to South America, where food is more abundant and -more easily obtained by them. Lesser objects on the horizon do not -strike me so forcibly, but as I look more remotely and away<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_179" id="page_179">{179}</a></span> over the -busy town and its forges, looms and benches, the ridges are clearly -marked upon the sky. Geologists have told us these hills were once the -shores of a broader Lake Ontario. Evidences of the rocks and pebbles go -far to establish that fact, but to us moderns they are very palpable and -valuable by keeping off the cold of the north during the inclement -season, that we may grow the succulent peach beneath their shelter. -“Companies are bodies, indeed, without souls,” for here, with us, the -railway company, which exacts its three and a half cents per mile in -contravention to its charter, has erected great, unsightly sheds, and -stained them a dull red, that their ugliness may be unparalleled. No eye -for the beautiful and harmonious can ever be reconciled to the gaunt -poles along our highways, wire-bestridden, or to the red architectural -sheds of our railway. Summing up, however, the pleasing and unpleasing -which I have touched upon, we see that the pleasing and beautiful -exceeds the unsightly and ugly. I am indulging the hope that some day, -in the near future, a way will be found by which we may enjoy all the -best facilities of communication and transportation without having the -landscape marred by unsightly poles or ugly railroad sheds. The -sensibilities of many of our citizens have been wounded by the act of -some individual or company, who, vandal-like, has removed a time-honored -familiar forest, or erected a most surpassingly ugly house, barn or -warehouse. These marrings of our horizon make life for all more -circumscribed, as well as grieve the souls of the cultured. As we love -our glorious country, let us beautify and preserve it.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_180" id="page_180">{180}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Getting hold of an Ontario farm—How a man without a capital may -succeed—Superiority of farming to a mechanical trade—A man with -$10,000 can have more enjoyment in Ontario than anywhere -else—Comparison with other countries—Small amount of waste land -in Ontario—The help of the farmer’s wife—“Where are your -peasants?”—Independence of the Ontario farmer—Complaints of -emigrants unfounded—An example of success.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> was far more difficult for our early settlers in Ontario to pay for -their lands by their own exertions, even at the low prices then -prevailing, than it is to-day at their greatly increased values. When -Ontario lands could be purchased for $4.00 or $5.00 per acre, there was -no market for their produce to any extent, and money was extremely -difficult to get. Not only the absence of markets was against our -settlers, but though they owned a farm it was wholly unproductive and -useless until cleared of timber. So it was harder to pay the $4.00 per -acre then than it is to pay $80 per acre to-day. A man without capital -to-day in Ontario can start on a 100-acre farm, and pay for it off the -farm in a series of years, by his own and his wife’s exertions. Of -course, he will need a little more to start with in the first instance -than his forefathers did, for he must needs<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_181" id="page_181">{181}</a></span> make a small payment down -in order that he may mortgage the farm to get the balance of the -purchase money. Since money is now being loaned on farm security at five -and six per cent., he can yearly more than pay his interest and reduce -his principal, so that his burdens are daily becoming lighter. His wife -and himself pulling together and practising economy invariably succeed -on productive farms, and pay for them. We sometimes wonder at our -forefathers that they did not take up more land when it was so cheap, -but forget that even its cheapness, as it seems to us to-day, was no -guide to them as to its being cheap. Grain in early times did not bring -money, when these prices prevailed, nor would timber. Furs and potash -were the only commodities commanding cash. Hence it was almost an -impossibility for an ordinary man to pay for more than 100 acres from -his own exertions. To-day, even at $80 per acre on a mortgaged farm, -everything he can grow will sell for money, and with his family’s help, -and with the growth and increase of his stock, he is bound to succeed.</p> - -<p>Even if he must needs practise economy it does not follow that he may -not enjoy himself, as the time goes on, while he is paying for his farm. -The press will, for a few dollars yearly, give him amusement and -pleasure at home. If his means are particularly straitened, even $5.00 -per year for weeklies will furnish him the cheapest and best -contemporary readings possibly obtainable for the money. Then if he or -his wife be at all musically<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_182" id="page_182">{182}</a></span> inclined, the evening of relaxation, after -the hard day’s work be done, can be pleasantly put in by a song or two, -accompanied on an organ, if he has got so far along as to afford one; -and he rises with the sun next morning, rested, invigorated, and ready -for the next day’s work. And as every harvest comes in its turn he feels -gladly thankful that the mortgage is being gradually lifted. Living as -he does, and putting forth these efforts to save, he must have good -habits. Good habits will invariably give him good health, and life is a -pleasure to him, even under the cloud of a mortgage. Slavery some people -will term this life, while under the mortgage. If one would get money -one must save, and if one be well cared for, housed, clad and fed while -saving, he can surely put up with the hard work, for always ahead is the -goal of having a 100-acre farm paid for, which will make him independent -for life. The mechanic emigrant who comes to us from Britain is not -sufficiently versatile to change his mode of life to go on a farm and -succeed until he has been here a few years. Having been in our midst a -few years he gets his eyes opened, and learns in a measure “to be a -jack-of all trades,” and then many of such former mechanics do succeed -on farms and pay for them. Our native-born Canadian, who follows some -mechanical trade when the mechanical labor market is over-supplied, is -making a serious mistake. Very naturally many of our young men drift -into this life, for their work is over at six o’clock, and they can -wash, dress and walk the streets when their farmer brother at home<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_183" id="page_183">{183}</a></span> is -yet in the fields. While the mechanic goes through life with tolerable -ease upon his day’s wages, as a rule he is not saving much for his -declining days; but his farmer brother invariably is. His farmer brother -will have soiled hands, and wear his working clothes the whole day -through, and cannot go about the streets in the evenings, nor attend so -many places of amusement, but he enjoys himself just as well at home, -and he is saving for a rainy day. If trade be dull and shops shut down -in the middle of winter, he is quite indifferent, for his cellar is well -supplied, and his fields are ploughed ready for next spring’s sowing. -Prices for his grain may be low, but still he has his living, and no one -to call master, and is as free and independent as any king upon a -throne. Writers on political economy tell us that all true wealth must -be produced from the soil. Now, if this be true, then the nearer we get -to the soil at first hand the better off we must be. I have already -endeavored to show that those on the soil lead the most independent, -free and healthy lives, and since Ontario has lots more of lands yet for -the farmer, let those out of work and with no very bright or sure -prospects before them, go on those lands. Many workmen could remedy the -scarcity of employment in the winter, and their having not much to live -upon, following strikes of trades-unions, if they would cultivate the -soil. If the mechanical labor market be overstocked, the common-sense -remedy would be to lessen the supply. Here with us the proper way to -lessen the supply is for our smart mechanics, who know our<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_184" id="page_184">{184}</a></span> country and -its conditions, to get away from the towns upon farms; and if in the -course of time such persons, succeeding in their new calling (which I -have tried to prove is not a life of slavery, but of hard toil and -self-denial, and wealth and independence), as succeed they must if they -put forth the necessary effort, and pay for their first 100 acres, there -is no law or moral obstacle to their buying 200 or 400 more if they can. -Should they not be able to work so much land, surely they are at perfect -liberty to rent it to others, and enjoy the rents and profits from it as -the result of their labors. Very few farmers fail in Ontario; so very -few, in fact, that our former bankruptcy law did not provide for the -farmers’ failure at all. They invariably succeed, and the instances of -old decrepit farmers, with nothing to support them in their declining -years, are so very few that any reader hereof cannot call to mind very -many examples. Reader, you will have to think twice before you can point -to an old, infirm farmer with nothing to support him in Ontario. I only -wish I could say as much for the mechanic. Even with the good wages they -get, it is almost a superhuman task to save a competency for that period -of life which must come to all of us surviving, when our limbs become -too stiff to obey our will, and too weak to maintain the strain of toil. -But I did not set out to write of the mechanical trades or kindred -subjects; I am only trying to induce more mechanics to go upon farms and -be independent of bosses, strikes or trades-unions.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_185" id="page_185">{185}</a></span></p> - -<p>My observation of travel in continental Europe, Britain and the United -States gives me the ground to fearlessly state that in Ontario a man -with a capital of $10,000 can enjoy more and be more independent than he -can in those countries.</p> - -<p>Say his farm costs $8,000, or $80 per acre; but from my intimate -knowledge of lands in Ontario, I would not limit myself to that price. -Good land is always the cheapest, and I would not hesitate in paying -$100 per acre, and more, if the productiveness of the farm will warrant -it. But assuming $80 per acre to be the average for a good farm; now add -to this $2,000 upon the 100-acre farm for stock, implements, etc., so -that the entire $10,000 is fully invested. Upon this 100-acre farm, paid -for, the farmer can enjoy as good a living as can be got in any other -calling in life. It can’t be done in Britain, but it can be done here. -If I would settle on such a priced farm in Germany, in the first place -it would not begin to be as productive as the Ontario farm, and besides, -my growing sons would have to be soldiers for three years upon reaching -manhood, or leave the country. The best lands to be found in Austria are -in Hungary, which is a wheat country, and not one whit better than ours, -of a like fertility, and at least two and a half or three times the -price. In France I have noticed that by the most rigid and grinding -economy the small peasant will lay up a competency. But the economy -practised by the French peasant is something our people cannot and will -not use. The usual conveniences and amenities<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_186" id="page_186">{186}</a></span> of life the French -peasant knows not of; a cloth is never laid upon the table, and the -bread for the mid-day meal is usually cut from the loaf in advance for -each person, and laid beside the plate. A full spread, with meat and -other dishes, literally filling the table, so that there is plenty left -after the meal is partaken of, they know not of; still they live, and -secure a competency in a small way.</p> - -<p>Rural life in Ontario is far preferable to anything these countries can -produce. We are not forced to be soldiers, and we can buy and own -absolutely the land which we cultivate. But there is another point, not -usually thought of in regard to Ontario farming. That is its certainty. -We never get a failure of crops, for although our crops may be more -plentiful some years than others, we never fail really. We never get any -serious drouths nor floods, and our cattle are never diseased, as they -are in several States of the Union. Our taxes are so small a matter that -we do not generally give them a second thought. Nor are our winters so -severe that our stock will be injured by the cold; nor will our children -coming from or going to school be caught in blizzards. But the farmer -who prepares his land properly, and puts forth an effort in downright -earnest, is bound to succeed.</p> - -<p>He is eligible to any office within the gift of the people, if he be -that way inclined, and he does not take off his hat to any lord or duke -in the land. Literally he is master of his own situation; an honest, -fearless, loyal, independent yeoman, with himself<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_187" id="page_187">{187}</a></span> and his family -absolutely provided for, and above all want. Pulling up and moving away -he never thinks of. He has his home, and knows what a home is and should -be. The temptation to go upon some cheap lands out west, where -grasshoppers are possible to destroy his year’s crop, he does not even -think of. The western American’s ease and little regret in pulling up -and leaving for a little farther west he cannot understand.</p> - -<p>He sticks to his home, and yearly improves it and adds to its value, and -is ready to fight for it if need be. Ontario runs away south into the -best States—agriculturally—of the Union. Even some American writers -honestly assert that it is better situated (north of the lakes) than -their own lands in the same latitude, south of the lakes. For a fact, we -know Ontario gets less snow than northern New York or Ohio does, and the -seasons are not nearly so trying in Toronto as they are in Buffalo. -Granted, first, that the reader knows of the richness of Ontario’s lands -and its little waste places, and also of the downright hard work of its -people and their love of home, if you will then take up the map and note -how Ontario is situated—surrounded by water and having a summer nearly -as long as that of the north half of France—you can come to no other -conclusion but that, with a capital of $10,000 in a farm and -appurtenances, in Ontario one can enjoy most and be the surest of -success.</p> - -<p>One great fact which distinguishes Ontario is its little waste land. -Draw a line from Lake Simcoe to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_188" id="page_188">{188}</a></span> Belleville, and all that portion of old -Ontario west of that line possesses less waste land than any tract of -country of equal size known in the world. There are no mountain wastes -nor extensive marshes within this space, but nicely undulating lands -with frequent streams, and almost naturally drained. Farms in Ontario -are 100 acres each, ordinarily, and the 100-acre farmer is a man -generally to be respected. He brings his family up respectably, and -educates them at the common school so that they are capable of filling -almost any position in after life in which they may be placed. Such -farmers are intelligent and more or less travelled. Last summer I -recollect being the guest of a Yorkshire farmer who farmed 560 acres of -Yorkshire lands. He was a man of sixty-five, wealthy, and had been on -the farm all his lifetime. During this time he had been to London only -twice, at some horse shows. The River Tweed, dividing England from -Scotland, was only two hours distant from him by rail, and yet he had -never crossed it. As to going over to Ireland, he had never even thought -of it. Our Ontario farmer comes to our provincial shows, and jostles -among city people now and again in our different cities, and thus gets -his rough corners rubbed off. And he is far more than the equal in -intelligence of any yeoman in the Old World of anything like his means.</p> - -<p>The 100-acre farmer will ordinarily have 60 acres in crop yearly, which -will average him $20 per acre. The balance of his farm is in hay, -pasture, and forest.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_189" id="page_189">{189}</a></span></p> - -<p>Now, from this 60 acres of crop he nicely supports his family, and -yearly puts by a nice little sum to buy lands for his growing boys when -they shall need them; of course, he cannot save the whole $1,200 -obtained for his crops, as his family must be maintained out of this as -well as pay for repairs and improvements. However, most Canadian -farmers’ wives supplement this grain product by the butter and cheese -from the cows running upon the pastures.</p> - -<p>Indeed, the wife’s help is a very great element to the farmer’s success, -as regards saving money; and she deserves her place of importance beside -her husband. Our Ontario farmer drives a good team upon the roads, -encased in first-class harness, and a smart light spring buggy behind -them. Rope traces and straw collars, which one sees in the South, would -be beneath his dignity, and one must search Ontario over and over to -find an example of such. And he is well clad in clothes, the product of -the factory loom. Only a few years back he wore clothes made from -home-grown wool spun by his good wife and woven upon some loom near at -home. But latterly the factories have produced tweeds and fullcloths at -so small a price that it has not paid him to work up his own wool. His -table is well supplied with not only an abundance of food, but in great -variety, fruit in various forms forming a feature at almost every meal. -The universal meat diet of England is not acceptable to his palate nor -suitable for our climate, for our systems require a laxative in this -climate, which fruit gives him. His wife is more than the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_190" id="page_190">{190}</a></span> equal in -cooking of her friends in Old England. She can compound more dishes out -of the same material, make more tasteful and toothsome pastry than one -can buy in a pastrycook’s shop in Europe. She does not consider it -beneath her dignity assisting in milking the cows, teaching calves which -are to be reared to drink milk, or possibly feeding the pigs if the men -be busy.</p> - -<p>As a transformation she can, after a wash, quickly don garments fit for -the parlor, and entertain company at her board with an ease and -heartiness truly surprising to European travellers who visit us. Even if -not able to converse in half Frenchy English, many of them can dash off -a number of tunes upon an organ or piano in a manner acceptable to most -persons not musical critics. An organ is in most good farm-houses, and -sometimes a piano, and the daughters are daily becoming proficient on -them, practising after the evening milking is done.</p> - -<p>Well might the European ask, “Where are your peasants?” These are our -peasants, and the reason you do not recognize them is because they are -on a higher plane in cultivation, taste and education than yours are; -and even if they do appear as ladies and gentlemen, they are not above -engaging in the arduous toil of the farm.</p> - -<p>Ontario farms are worth so much in dollars, because, for the reason I -have already given, of the little waste land, and also because of the -industriousness of its people. Look across the border at our American -cousins and you do not find the genuine American<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_191" id="page_191">{191}</a></span> doing the downright -hard work. The European emigrant performs that duty for him, while the -American fills the offices to be filled, and does the scheming.</p> - -<p>But the Ontario farmer will do downright hard work after the manner of -his sires in the British Isles, and he has not yet learned to shirk it. -It is this industry which makes our province, makes our lands sell so -high, and gives his home an abundance, and puts yearly a nice sum at his -credit in some savings bank. One great difference between the Canadian -and the American is in this particular—the American does not lay up for -his children as the Canadian tries to do. My observation leads me to -think that the American does not put forth an especial effort to set his -sons up in the farming or other business, but lets them commence at the -foot of the ladder to work their own way up. On the contrary, the -Canadian farmer, almost without exception, is yearly trying to lay aside -a sum to buy, or help to buy, farms for his growing sons. Thus the -Ontario farmer never gets satisfied, as it were, or never gives up work -as long as he is able to perform it. Americans, on the other hand, will -rest upon their laurels, and live without any exertion, on small -incomes. Indeed, from my own knowledge, I know that many American -farmers in Michigan have rented their small farms and moved into the -villages to live on an income of $300 per year. Our farmers have the -true British greed, and would not think of giving out on a $300 income. -Now, I argue that our state of affairs is the best for the prosperity of -our country. Never becoming satisfied, they never cease<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_192" id="page_192">{192}</a></span> to work, and -thus they have produced the most smiling and prosperous country in the -world. This picture of Ontario farm life is true to-day, and I ask the -reader if it is not as desirable a life as is obtainable anywhere. Our -Ontario farmer owns his own soil, is well fed, housed, and clad, ever -striving to do for his family, loyal to his government, and at peace -with his God and with man. I have yet to find his equal, as a class, for -the general well-being or common weal.</p> - -<p>Until a few years past nearly all Ontario people did their year’s -business with their town merchant on the credit basis. Goods for family -use would be freely purchased on credit the whole year through, until -fall came and the annual grain selling time, when large bills would be -rendered by the merchant. Large enough they generally would be, for, -buying goods without restraint and paying no money for them, the farmers -would hardly realize that such seemingly small purchases from time to -time would amount to so much in the fall. But little credit is now -given, and goods and supplies are generally paid for as purchased. This -very beneficial change is no doubt owing to the fact that now the farmer -has a greater variety of products of the farm to sell than formerly, -which come in in their turn in different seasons, and thus give him a -steady supply of funds. Paying as he goes, he is not nearly so apt to -buy things he does not really need, and his sum total of the cash -purchases for the year will not amount to so much as his annual store -bills did formerly. The merchant likewise can sell his goods closer for -cash than he could if he had to wait<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_193" id="page_193">{193}</a></span> a whole year. The fact that the -credit business is being largely superseded by the cash system is one of -the best arguments as to the progress of the country. All along these -townships lying upon Lake Ontario the farmer delivers his barley in the -early fall by waggon to the elevator at the lake. This barley money -usually gives the farmer his first fall money.</p> - -<p>Tenant farmers generally pay their fall rent with their barley money. -Very many of the teams coming down with barley take coal home with them. -It is an undeniable fact that the lands bordering upon the lake do not -have any more wood upon them. Fifteen years ago a person who would have -made the assertion that the majority of the inhabitants would be burning -coal to-day would have been scouted. It shows us how much we are -dependent upon our neighbors south of us for our coal supply. There -undoubtedly is abundance of wood northerly from central Ontario, but for -fuel purposes it is almost useless to us. Our railways won’t carry the -wood to us if they can get anything else to carry, and even having -carried it, when the price is considered, wood becomes almost a luxury. -We may as well look the future squarely in the face and realize that in -a few years a great part of Ontario along the lakes must depend for fuel -wholly upon United States coal. Formerly a few farmers of push and great -physical strength would attend to their farms during the summer and -follow lumbering and the timber business during the winter. That class -of men possessed any amount of push, and performed more manual labor -than any man can be found willing<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_194" id="page_194">{194}</a></span> to do now, even for money. Numbers of -such men became wealthy, for they had double profits coming to them all -the time. Rudely as they farmed, they got a profit out of the virgin -soil, and the winter’s limited business paid them as much more, hence -those who would endure the severe physical strain necessary to carry on -this mixed business made money rapidly. Such men got along faster than -the ordinary farmer. But that is all changed now. Farming is now a -matter of skill, and not brute force and strength as formerly. There is -no longer any lumbering or timbering to be followed in the winter, and -the Ontario farmer hereabout will get no more profit from that source. -Then he must rely to-day only upon his farm and what he can make it do -during the summer. When he used to swing his cradle among stumpy fields, -then it was a question of physical endurance and strength. But all that -is changed now, for his work is nearly all done by machinery, and he -must learn to manage the machinery. To make money and succeed well at -farming to-day requires as much skill as it does to succeed in any other -calling. When the soil was new he could draw upon it unfairly, and still -with all the abuse it smiled upon him. Seventeen successive crops of -wheat upon the same land has not been uncommon in the past. And yet with -all this abuse the last crop was nearly as good as the foregoing ones. -This will give one an idea of the extraordinary richness of our soil, -and without a doubt a good deal of our soil could be so abused now and -it would continue to produce and pay. But the hus<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_195" id="page_195">{195}</a></span>bandman has learned to -husband his resources, and refuses to draw so heavily upon his soil, and -hence to-day he practises a succession of crops, roots, manuring, and -ploughing in clover, roots, etc. This he has commenced to do lest he -might exhaust his lands, not particularly because he had to do so, but -simply through fear of the future. The day may come, when our lands have -been cultivated as long as they have been in England, that we shall have -to buy outside manures and pay ten dollars per acre for them, as the -British farmer has to do; but since we do not, the lot of our farmers is -ten dollars per acre better than that of the English farmer.</p> - -<p>The most independent person in Canada to-day is the person who can do -most things within himself. If a man were to emigrate to Canada who knew -nothing but the art of cutting diamonds, his chances of success among us -would be slim indeed. For general versatility the Ontario farmer is the -equal of any people in any country. He can cultivate his lands, do an -odd job of carpentry, build a log-house with his axe, and some can even -shoe a horse or relay a plough coulter at their rude forges at their -homes. Not long since I had occasion to call on a farmer and found him -repairing the family clock, which obstinately refused to run in -obedience to its pendulum. It was an ordinary brass affair, and not -being a practical watchmaker, the farmer had taken the works out of -their case and was vigorously boiling them in a pot of water on the -stove. Rude as such clock repairing was, he succeeded in freeing it from -superfluous<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_196" id="page_196">{196}</a></span> hardened oil and grease, and got it in running order once -more.</p> - -<p>The Ontario farmer’s success is not anomalous when we come to consider -him physically, capable as he is of performing an almost unlimited -quantity of manual labor, and of so many kinds.</p> - -<p>An American friend happened to be visiting me while a gathering was -taking place not long ago here, and on viewing the farmers and their -sons, made the significant remark, “What material for an army!”</p> - -<p>Dean Stanley, who paid us a visit a few years before his death, said -that “the people who could conquer this climate could achieve anything -sought.” As to conquering the climate this we have done, and to-day -there is no more law-abiding, peaceful, intelligent, and industrious -class in any country than among the rural sections of Ontario.</p> - -<p>The emigrant who comes to us complains that our farmers work him too -hard, or, in other words, that he becomes a slave. During the pressing -season of seeding and harvesting there are no people anywhere who work -harder than our Ontario farmers do, and with our short seasons it must -necessarily be so. As yet very few farmers ask their hired help to -perform more work than they do themselves. The farmer generally works -side by side with his hired man, and what the farmer can stand it would -appear his hired man can. No farmer asks his hired man to plough in the -drizzle and rain, which he had to do in England, and come in at night -wet to the skin. He does not get his beer as he did in England, it is -true, because<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_197" id="page_197">{197}</a></span> in our climate of extremes of heat and cold we do not -need the beer, and were the hired man to partake of it as freely as he -used to in England he could not perform his necessary work for a long -time. He sits at the same table with his master generally, and gets just -the same fare, and has a bed and room to himself, same as if quartered -in an hotel. Meat three times a day he can usually have if he wants it, -which he certainly did not get in his Old Country home. And he is paid -for eight months’ work, with his board and washing included, $160, or -for a year with the same perquisites, $200. Now, the emigrant who comes -over here and expects us to feed and lodge him for nothing must -certainly think this country a second garden of Eden. As to farm hands -flocking into the cities during the winter, I have only to say that I do -not see what possible business they can have there. If a man refuses to -engage for a whole year he gets his $160 for eight months, and very many -remain with some farmer during the winter, doing chores at a low -pittance, or perhaps even for their board. Well, he has got his $160 for -the eight months of the year, and during the winter he need not spend -it, and by the winter’s rest he is recuperating his physical powers even -if the farmer did work him very hard during the summer. Those who -grumble at the life I have pictured of a farmer’s hired man had better -go back to England; but, for a fact, we do not see them ever going back. -But the thrifty emigrant, who works away and saves, soon gets enough -money together to become a tenant farmer, and becomes himself boss in<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_198" id="page_198">{198}</a></span> -turn. Usually such men are far harder on their hired help than those -whom they themselves worked for. As a tenant farmer he pays about $5.00 -per acre per year rent for his farm and the taxes, and if he has a -growing family and a saving helpmate, in a few years he has saved money -enough to quite or nearly pay for a farm of his own. Could he have -accomplished that in the Old World? And still they grumble at our -country, call it rural slavery, and write home to Old Country journals -letters calculated to do us harm. So many young men leaving their -fathers’ farms and flocking to the cities and towns might lead some to -infer that the farmers’ sons were sick of life upon the farm. I do not -so interpret it. Take, for instance, a farmer owning 150 acres of land -and having four sons. Now, to divide his land equally among his sons -would give each thirty-seven and a half acres, which is too small for a -farm to be profitable as a farm. Then the farmer educates a couple of -his sons, who leave the family farm and pursue other callings. With the -industrious habits they learned at home, and with good sound physical -bodies, they are quite able to succeed in their new callings. One -instance of signal success in Ontario farm lands comes to my mind, and I -will mention it. A Canadian, the oldest son, whose father died, leaving -the mother without means, went to work among the farmers at twelve years -of age. For the first three years he only got $40 per year. -Notwithstanding this low wage he saved a little out of it. As he grew -older he began to get a little more wages, and thus<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_199" id="page_199">{199}</a></span> worked seven years -to save his first $400. At this time in his life he turned sharp around -and went to school, and soon became a school-teacher. With his first -year’s salary as teacher, and a few dollars he already possessed from -his former earnings, he bought his fifty acres of land and paid about -half down for it. Then he hired a man and started to cultivate the fifty -acres, by the help of a yoke of oxen. Night and morning he worked -faithfully upon his land, chopping and logging, and attending to his -school duties during the day. Soon he had his first fifty acres paid -for, and then bought another farm of the same size, adjoining it, which -he paid for in the same manner that he paid for the first fifty acres, -only sooner, for he had the proceeds of the first farm to help him. At -this turn in his life he studied for one of the learned professions, and -attained a degree, and also educated his other brothers and sisters as -well. To-day this gentleman owns 500 acres of land, very nearly all paid -for, and farms it himself. His land cannot be worth less than $50,000, -and yet he is not over fifty years of age at this time. Another very -important feature in this gentleman’s career is that his family have all -been taught to labor, and have been brought up to industrious habits, -and the individual members cannot fail to make their mark in our midst. -Ye city dwellers, do not for a moment suppose that this is only a -solitary instance of signal success of country life. Many more might be -mentioned, but this is sufficient to show what push, determination and -brains will accomplish in rural Ontario. What he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_200" id="page_200">{200}</a></span> has done others can -do, and are doing this day. Your examples of city dwellers’ success do -not very much surpass this for the years during which the fortune was -made. To “blow” about our own country is right and laudable, I maintain, -especially when our country in its merits fully bears one out in the -“blowing.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_201" id="page_201">{201}</a></span>”</p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Unfinished character of many things on this continent—Old Country -roads—Differing aspects of farms—Moving from the old log-house to -the palatial residence—Landlord and tenant should make their own -bargains—Depletion of timber reserves.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> America everything is begun, and but few things finished. Persons -from the Old World tell us this, and there is a great deal of truth in -it. Driving on Ontario roads one sees a good farm-house, surrounded by -trees and fences, all nicely kept, when perhaps the very next field -adjoining this well-cultivated farm is considerably given up to stumps -and a few boulders, although of stones the best parts of Ontario are -happily almost free. There may be a little brook crossing the highway; -to get over this brook a bridge or culvert of cedar sticks has been put -down, which does well enough in itself, and is quite safe, but it -manifestly will not last any great length of time. Now, in Europe, such -little streams would be spanned by a stone arch bridge. The little -stream as it passes along the fields in many parts, notably in Germany, -would be straightened and walled in with stones to keep it from wearing -away its banks. Of course, we cannot afford to do all this in our new -country, but I<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_202" id="page_202">{202}</a></span> think from this time forth what work we do at all should -be of a more permanent character than it has been, for the first outlay -would be the cheapest in the end. Again, beside a farm well kept, on the -next lot will be often found old fences barely sufficient to turn -cattle. If it is a board fence half the boards will be off, and one end -of them lying on the ground, while the other end still adheres by a -solitary nail to the proper post. Or a few posts will have got out of -the perpendicular, and point their several ways heavenward, but -unfortunately each post points a way and on an incline of its own.</p> - -<p>Besides the country roads are, sometimes, even in our best settlements, -remains of old logs, nearly rotted away, an old stump or so, and on the -sides of the road, upon either side of the waggon track, stumps and -convolutions, just as it came from primeval forest, and never smoothed -down by the hand of man. The waggon track, passing between these stumps, -decaying logs and hillocks, will generally be a good one, but it is this -unfinished appearance which causes the European to tell us, with a shade -of truth, that things are begun in America but not yet finished. Driving -in Europe all seems finished. There is nothing left in the roads, and -even if they be narrow, the hedges or walls upon either side are -perfect, and there is nothing to mar the scene. It is literally -finished. Man has done all there is to do. We must, of course, recollect -that ours is a young country, and I am only presenting this disagreeable -side of our country that we may begin to right these features. For -utility and resource the people of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_203" id="page_203">{203}</a></span> Europe cannot begin to compare with -us. The very nature of things here, commencing as we did a few years ago -in the native woods, compelled us to seek the quickest and easiest ways -of getting on. But all that is past now, and we ought to commence to -finish our country.</p> - -<p>Those who remain constantly at home do not feel the deficiency so -particularly, but to those who go abroad these defects are so glaring -that one notices them at every turn. The more we beautify our country -the better it will please ourselves, and likewise will be the means of -inducing capitalists from abroad to invest among us. We may often see, -in driving along our roads, first-class capacious barns and sheds, and -every fence on a farm neat and tidy, gates all right, nicely painted, -and the whole get-up of the farm neat and thrifty. At the same time this -farmer may be living in an ordinary farm-house, or perhaps the original -log-house which he built when he commenced to subdue the forest. The -farmer is among our best citizens, and presents a striking contrast to -our American cousin, who builds a showy house first, and perhaps a very -small barn afterwards. This farmer has carved his fortune from his -forest and farm, and appreciates that his stock makes money for him, -hence he prepares first-class stabling for them, while his own family -lives in meagre quarters within square log walls. No doubt his family -are quite comfortable in their log-house, but do not essay to cut so -great a figure in the world as many of his neighbors of much smaller -means and fewer acres. Many times this person will own his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_204" id="page_204">{204}</a></span> 200 or 300 -acres, and all paid for. He drives great fat horses on the road, and -pulls his cap squarely down on his head, and goes on as if he meant -business, which he really does. It is a matter of indifference to him if -his wife and daughters be dressed in the latest fashions or not. If they -have good, strong, serviceable clothing, he considers it sufficient, and -the gimps and gew-gaws of modern times have not yet entered upon his -calculations; but he can show a whole row of stalls in his cow-barn -containing twenty head of good fat cattle and a lot of growing young -calves. Such citizens are desirable, and we are proud of their industry -and success. Now and again such farmers get around to the house -business, and when they do build, they build well—usually brick, or it -may be he has for years been gathering the stones in piles from his -fields; if so, his house will be of solid stone walls two feet thick. -Many such persons put $3,000 or $4,000 in their houses, and the abrupt -transfer from the old log-house to the palatial residence is almost -startling to the inmates. Some little time has to elapse before they sit -their new house well. But, gradually, furniture comes in furtively in -the great farm waggon, returning home from the market, and in a year or -so their new homestead is complete in its appointments and in detail, -and there is a house any man in America or in Europe might be proud of. -The old log-house, likely as not, is left standing behind the new one. -As an excuse for leaving the old log-house standing, he says it is handy -to put implements in and a good place—up-stairs—for seed corn. But in -many instances I suspect he<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_205" id="page_205">{205}</a></span> leaves it that he may look upon it and upon -the new one likewise in the same glance, and call a justifiable pride to -his mind, that the new palace, comparatively speaking, grew from the old -log-house, now holding his seed corn and implements. You call on him, -and he passes by the old log-house without a remark, but you speak of -it, and with just a tinge of pride he tells you, as he pulls down his -cap and thrusts his hands in his trousers’ pockets, that on that site -where the old log-house now stands, forty-five years or so ago, he cut -down four maple trees to make room for it, for there was then no room -elsewhere for it on his lot.</p> - -<p>In former days, as has already been remarked, the great fertility of the -soil caused people to farm rather carelessly and without any -consideration of the desirableness of a rotation of crops. Time has -changed that to a great extent. I have a number of farm tenants, and -would not allow them to crop continually without seeding, etc.—not -because my soils are exhausted, but because I do not want them -exhausted. While we sympathize with Ireland and would like to see her -condition bettered, still to-day I, as a landlord, would not accept her -land law and abide by it. If I had to send my leases in to a land -commissioner to tell me what I must charge for my lands, I would not any -longer own lands, but would sell them out at once and put the proceeds -in Government bonds. It is obvious that here in Ontario each landlord -and tenant ought to make his own bargain, just the same as regarding -interest for money. Until our country is as thickly populated as Ireland -is, we need not raise this question of adjudicating upon rents<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_206" id="page_206">{206}</a></span> but if -that time were to come I would not any longer consider my position as a -landlord in Ontario desirable. By this means I would let Ireland have a -home parliament, and I was in favor of the Gladstonian programme, but I -should think it extremely hard for any government to dictate to me what -I must receive as income for my estate, Henry George to the contrary -notwithstanding. Should our fair Ontario ever get to entertaining -communistic notions, the tenure of property and estates would be not -worth the effort to retain, and, as far as I am concerned (and there are -many like me), I would rather go over to Old England and take up my -abode.</p> - -<p>In some instances there is too much liberty in Ontario. In this wise the -general public think nothing of tramping over fields, either in crop or -not, as the case may be, for short cuts, rather than follow the -highways. Some of us are endeavoring to preserve a grove of trees, but -there are those who, whenever they are in want of any especial stick for -poles, or axe handles, or what not, think nothing of cutting and taking -away one or more of the trees of a prized grove. No doubt heretofore it -has been thoughtlessness on the part of the public, and the example -handed down from the time when timber could be got anywhere for the -cutting. But that has passed from us, never to return, and in the future -we shall necessarily have to be more strict, as our country is -increasing in population. To prevent persons walking over fields is not -the idea. I well recollect an anecdote told me in England when I was -over there a year or two ago. A man was walking along a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_207" id="page_207">{207}</a></span> stream through -a pasture, when he was met by the owner, who asked, “Do you know whose -land you are walking on?” “No, I do not.” “Well, it is mine, and you -have no business to walk on my land.” “But I have no land of my own to -walk on, and where shall I walk?” And the poor man was correct. In -Ontario we do not wish even to restrain the poor man to that extent, but -the thoughtless and lawless trespass upon crops and timber, and the -tearing down of fences cannot much longer be allowed. Those living in -the vicinity of large towns keenly feel the need of change in this -particular.</p> - -<p>Aside from all reasons of utility, it is a very great pity that all our -trees are disappearing in the older portions of Ontario. It has been -felt that our trees would never be all cut away, and it was thought -fifteen years ago that we would not have to rely upon coal. The beauty -of England is largely made up by her small groves of trees interspersed -throughout the country, and if not great in extent, they relieve the eye -and serve as wind-breaks. We have been too prodigal of our forests, but -since we have had to go to coal we begin to realize the use, beauty, and -benefit of even a few acres of woods here and there upon our farms. I -heard an owner of a 200-acre farm near here last year say, that if it -were possible he would give $300 per acre to have the ten acres of woods -replaced upon the north end of his farm. And this farmer had to draw -what wood he did use ten miles, but he wanted the forest on his farm to -serve as a wind-break and a thing of beauty.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_208" id="page_208">{208}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Book farmers and their ways—Some Englishmen lack -adaptiveness—Doctoring sick sheep by the book—Failures in -farming—Young Englishmen sent out to try life in Canada—The -sporting farmer—The hunting farmer—The country school-teacher.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Book</span> farmers come to us now and again. These are usually persons from -Britain, possessing some means, but not sufficient to make them -gentlemen at home. They have had no particular knowledge of farming at -home, but since farming is supposed to be so easy a matter in Canada, -they do not for a moment doubt their ability to get on with a farm. They -resort to the best works on agriculture; and after the perusal of a few -volumes really begin to flatter themselves that they have a very -superior knowledge of farming, and are able to teach the Canadian on his -native heath just how it ought to be done. Such a man purchases his farm -and usually pays the cash down for it, and for his stock as well. -Searching over the community he finds a pair of the heaviest horses he -can, for the light Canadian horses, he knows, will be of no use to him, -and he gets some long poles made at the nearest carpenter shop, and -hires the village painter to paint them in black and red sections<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_209" id="page_209">{209}</a></span> that -he may set them up for his man to strike out his lands by in ploughing.</p> - -<p>Light, strong, durable Canadian harness is not to his mind, for he -recollects seeing the plough horses in England return from the fields -with great broad back-bands on their harness, to which were attached -immense iron chains of traces, and he follows suit. And he sets John to -ploughing, properly equipped, not for a moment doubting the result of -all this preparation. And after a proper method of ploughing he does -raise fair crops as a rule, for our lands are ordinarily so rich that if -they have even a fair show at all they will produce. Harvest-time coming -on, many other hands are brought into requisition, and he follows up the -old time-honored custom in England of serving up the quart of beer per -day to each hand. In due time his harvest is all garnered properly, and -his work nicely done. His man comes in in the morning and tells him, -about the time the first few rains come on, that “one of the sheep is -sick.” “All right, John, I will attend to it,” for, of course, he can, -for he knows he has at his elbow, upon the shelf, somebody’s treatise on -the sheep, which is the best extant. The sheep volume is brought down -and closely scanned, and the right page describing the disease sheep -ought to have at this time of the year found. With the volume under arm -he sallies forth to view the sheep, while John follows with the -remedies. Arrived at the sheep he adjusts his spectacles at the proper -angle upon his nose, and intently examines his sick patient The more he -examines<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_210" id="page_210">{210}</a></span> his patient and gets at its symptoms the more he is in doubt -if the symptoms really correspond with those mentioned on the particular -page of the treatise.</p> - -<p>Shoving the spectacles up just a little closer on his nose he -re-examines his patient, and glances from the patient to the book, the -quandary all the time deepening in his mind. John is not allowed to -suggest that the sheep has caught cold by lying in some exposed place -through the last storm, and that he only wants warmth and food. It would -never do to give in to John, for “what has John read about sheep?” The -proper remedy is at last hit upon. There can possibly be no doubt about -it, but to make assurance doubly sure he re-reads the page and looks his -patient over again. No doubt this time, and John is sent to the house -for a bottle, from which he will administer the proper remedy -internally. John returns with the bottle, with a little water in it, and -our book farmer adds the proper remedy and shakes it up thoroughly. All -being ready, John makes the poor sheep swallow the mixture, much against -its will, for it’s the most noxious stuff it ever had in its life, and -the book farmer quietly awaits the result, his spectacles gradually -continuing to slip away from the bridge of his nose, and to run an -imminent risk of falling off the extreme end of that important organ. -Some twenty minutes now elapse and John says the sheep is worse.</p> - -<p>Back upwards again the spectacles are pushed, and the patient critically -examined. While the exam<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_211" id="page_211">{211}</a></span>ination is going on the sheep dies under his -gaze. “Dear me; how can that be? I must have got the wrong page. Oh, -yes, I see, I did get the wrong page. Never mind, John, I will fix the -next one up all right in case it becomes ill.” And he closes the book -with a snap, and goes back again to his library.</p> - -<p>Such book farmers invariably have failed in Ontario. I defy any reader -to fix on any one such book farmer who has succeeded. When he comes to -strike his balances, after his crops have been marketed, and has taken -an inventory of stock, he finds that his crops have cost him more than -they brought back in cash. Another year will remedy that, however, and -he tries it again, only to find the balance on the wrong side once more. -Usually two years suffice to teach this book farmer that he is not a -farmer, but he may possibly hold on for three seasons. Then he calls a -sale, sells or rents his farm, and gets a neat, comfortable little -dwelling in some neighboring town, which is quite sufficient for him and -his household, even if it be not palatial in its appointments. From his -retirement he writes back to England that farming won’t pay in Canada, -for he has tried it, and it certainly will not pay.</p> - -<p>This does a great deal of harm, and our country gets in bad odor among -many persons at home, when the book farmer alone is to blame, and not -the country.</p> - -<p>As to failures at farming, I do not think you can call to mind the -failure of any farmer in Ontario, on<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_212" id="page_212">{212}</a></span> any good farm, who farms his land -in right down earnest. Benjamin Franklin said:</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“He who by the plough would thrive,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">Must himself both hold and drive.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p class="nind">And that was perfectly true then as now. Look at the farmer in Ontario -who rolls up his shirt sleeves and follows the plough, who does as much -work himself as he possibly can, and only hires for doing that which he -can’t do himself, and you will find that farmer succeeding.</p> - -<p>We have been getting in Ontario of late another class of farmers whom I -wish to speak of. They are the sons of men of means in Britain. Usually -they are about twenty years of age, and have just left their schools and -homes. Every avenue at home being so full, they are sent to Canada to -learn farming, with the parent’s view of buying them a farm as soon as -they have learned the occupation. Sometimes these persons pay a small -sum to our good farmers, annually, to be taught farming, but they are to -work at the same time the same as a hired man. Such a one has worn good -clothes all his life, and the transition from a tight-fitting, neat suit -to garments suitable for shovelling manure into the waggon is very -sudden and hard to endure. A blister or two is on his hands at night, -and his back aches from bending so many times all day with his fork for -the billets of manure out of the heap. That night he tosses upon his -bed, for his bones even are tired and ache, but he is up betimes next -morning and at it again, only to find that he has<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_213" id="page_213">{213}</a></span> more blisters on his -hands again in the evening. If he sticks to it he soon gets accustomed -to the work, his blistered hands get all calloused over, blisters are no -more dreaded, and he stands his work well. Those who stick to the work -succeed and learn to farm well, but in very many cases he gives up and -goes to town, and waits, all anxiety, for the next remittance from home. -For a couple of years the remittances come to him pretty regularly, and -our young would-be farmer is a gentleman about town. During those two -years, however, some very urgent letters have been written home for -money, and thus far they have not failed to draw. At this lapse of time, -and after the receipt of so many letters asking for money, it begins to -dawn upon the parental mind that the son is not sticking to the farm in -Canada.</p> - -<p>Reluctantly and grieving, the parent makes up his mind to send no more -until his son will begin to do something himself. Our would-be farmer -then gets some light occupation, and does not fail to continue to write -for money. Mamma, with a mother’s love, may still send over a few -pounds, but if all the pounds cease to come, go to work he must at last.</p> - -<p>It is hard to get at what these young men really will do in the end. -Some even get so low as to drive a circus waggon, while others work as -day laborers in some of our manufactories. When some months roll round, -and the parents at home find that their son is still alive and promising -amends, past offences are condoned and more remittances follow. And so -the years and months slip by, money-less at times and again flush.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_214" id="page_214">{214}</a></span></p> - -<p>It really appears to us here in Ontario that the families from whence -these young men come have no end of means, and we grieve to see them -fooling away their time and opportunities. Who ever heard of learning to -farm in that manner, or who ever heard of any one succeeding in Canada -by such methods of life?</p> - -<p>I am glad to say, however, that many such young men who are sent out to -learn farming do succeed. They who have the grit in them, and who really -make up their minds to work, do, notwithstanding the blisters on their -hands, or callosities, or tired limbs, get over them all and become -self-sustaining and good citizens.</p> - -<p>For those who will work we have plenty of room, and good places are -always open to them, but the man who comes to us, and who cannot throw -off his Oxford suit and don blue overalls and shovel manure when it is -required, will not succeed as a farmer in Ontario.</p> - -<p>A class of farmer in Ontario I may say a word or two about is the -sporting farmer. Usually he is the owner of 150 acres or so of inherited -lands, upon which are good buildings, which his father erected, and also -cleared the forest from the land. He’s not going to take anybody’s dust -on the roads, and he procures a horse which can pass that of any of his -neighbors. For a time this satisfies him, but sporting men begin to find -him out, and tell him where he can get a colt which can go in less than -three minutes. Gradually he comes to think that he might as well get</p> - -<div class="figcenter" id="ill_021" style="width: 415px;"> -<a href="images/ill_021.jpg"> -<img src="images/ill_021.jpg" width="415" height="600" alt="[Image unavailable.]" /></a> -<div class="caption"><p>A SAILING CANOE ON LAKE ONTARIO</p></div> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_215" id="page_215">{215}</a></span></p> - -<p class="nind">a colt, for it will make a fine driver, and now and again he can win -some races, which will go to reduce the price he must pay for him. -Entering him at the races, he must necessarily be prepared to back his -own horse, and he makes his first bet on a horse-race. Once more -sporting men are too sharp for him, for though his horse makes a good -dash and behaves well upon the track, it comes in just a head behind, -and far enough in the rear to lose the race. He is assured, however, -that with some training his colt will do better, and he pays a -professional trainer to train him.</p> - -<p>At the next race he enters him again, and again backs his own horse, for -success is this time assured. By some mischance this time he again loses -the race, and his money at the same time. But by this time his courage -is up, and he’s bound to win, so he buys a better horse. Again the -process goes on, at the end of which he still finds himself out of -pocket. The 150-acre farm, which his father prided never yet bore a -mortgage, now gets “a plaster” put on it. While this racing has been -going on, his farm has been neglected, and does not produce as formerly, -so that he is in a poorer position to pay the interest on the mortgage -and make both ends meet at the same time. In most cases such young men -lose their farms, and at middle age have to begin at the bottom of the -ladder and work their way up by themselves and unaided. Fortunately for -them, however, they know how to work, and can get along even in their -reduced state.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_216" id="page_216">{216}</a></span></p> - -<p>The hunting farmer is another class which we have in Ontario. Like his -sporting brethren, he, too, has inherited a farm and can easily make a -living, and some money besides. He keeps some hounds and a -breech-loader. Do a flock of pigeons fly over, the plough is left in the -field to get a shot at them, and the balance of that half day is -consumed. Or it may be that some ducks are around in the swamp or creek -a mile or so from his house, and a day must be given to them.</p> - -<p>A fox has been seen around some hills in the neighborhood, and he must -have a day with the hounds. While all this is going on, with the press -of work, while he really is at home, many things are neglected. Fences, -which his father used to pride himself in keeping always trim, begin to -lean. A gate has lost its lower hinge, and a few shingles have blown off -the corner of his barn. Gradually his farm loses its neat, trim -appearance, and the neighbors begin to call Johnny So-and-so a shiftless -fellow. Hunting farmers do not usually lose their farms, for their -losses are mainly through want of care for their farms. Unlike his -sporting brother, he does not bet, but has a keen zest for the chase, -and must indulge in it.</p> - -<p>If you will look about you, you will find that such persons do not add -to their means, but just get a fair living from their farms, and do not -make any great improvements on the homestead. His neighbor beside him, -who may take even a day now and again for a hunt, but who daily plods -along and follows his<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_217" id="page_217">{217}</a></span> plough and drives his own horses, has bought -another farm and has a credit at his bankers or at some loan and savings -company.</p> - -<p>The country school-teacher under the old order of things, and before the -school law was amended, deserves a notice. Numbers of these old -school-teachers, who furbished up their faculties and got passably well -qualified to teach an ordinary district country school in the past, in -many instances married the daughters of neighboring farmers, who -attended their schools as pupils. In some instances, without a doubt, -this teacher had occasion to punish his future wife for some slight -infraction of school laws. Causing her to stand upon the floor or to -write an extra exercise was a frequent method of such punishments. -Becoming the teacher’s wife must, in after years, one would say, make -the position rather anomalous, and would, one would think, be a -delicate, debatable ground between husband and wife as the years rolled -on. Ontario wives are noted for their urbanity, but in such instances it -would be manifestly fair for the wife and former pupil to indulge in a -little punishment for some infractions by her husband of new rules as -the time went by. She could not fairly be blamed if she now and again -gave him an extra dose of salt in his porridge, or refused him a light -in the evening to do his reading by, or even indulged at a little pull -of his whiskers, to pay off old scores of ante-nuptial days. We, -however, charitably infer that, at the time the teacher insisted upon -his punishments of his future wife, Cupid had not got around.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_218" id="page_218">{218}</a></span> These -marriages have uniformly been happy ones, and these former teachers have -become successful men after turning farmers. In many instances they get -farms with their pupil wives, and having the work in them, usually -succeed, and become good men for our country. Such former teachers are -frequently found in our township councils, are school trustees, and -useful men generally. As their children grow up to the age of -understanding, it, however, must be just a little funny for their -children to know that “pa” formerly punished “ma” in school, and they -are always bound to aver that “ma” has not yet got even with “pa” in the -account of punishment.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_219" id="page_219">{219}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Horse-dealing transactions—A typical horse-deal—“Splitting the -difference”—The horse-trading conscience—A gathering at a -funeral—Another type of farmer—The sordid life that drives the -boys away.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">There</span> are some few persons in every community who have always a -weather-eye open for a likely horse which they may see passing by. These -men are usually free-handed, and know how to match horses and train them -nicely, that they may drive quietly and travel evenly and slowly, so as -to be desirable carriage teams. When they can make a trade for such a -desirable beast they are in their happiest moods. Trade failing, if the -owner does not wish to trade, they will buy for the cash at the very -lowest possible figure. Disparaging others’ goods which one wants to buy -seems to be the general rule among traders in our province. Not that it -is thought that such tactics are disreputable, but it would seem almost -inherent in the nature of such traders. Perhaps the farmer has a likely -young horse harnessed beside a steady old one, which he is driving -along, and the horse-trader fastens his eye on him.</p> - -<p>“Wouldn’t you like to trade my off black beast for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_220" id="page_220">{220}</a></span> that awkward colt of -yours?” and the conversation is opened and the “dickering” commences.</p> - -<p>“How much boot would you give me?” and the farmer turns and looks -attentively to the trader’s old nag, checked up so high and so tight -that he champs continually at his bit. But it’s an old beast after all, -although nicely groomed and made to look its best. On its nigh hindfoot -is just a suspicion that a spavin has at one time been “doctored,” and -on the whole the trader’s horse much resembles the shabby genteel man -with his threadbare broadcloth and napless silk hat carefully brushed.</p> - -<p>“As for boot, why I really ought to have $35, but seeing it’s you, I’ll -trade for $25,” says the trader.</p> - -<p>And the farmer chirrups to his team, becoming impatient with the man’s -absurdity. “Hold on a minute, let’s see if we can’t split the -difference,” says the dealer.</p> - -<p>Now, there’s this peculiarity in many an Ontarian’s dealings that it is -very generally proposed to “split the difference” where the buyer and -seller cannot come to terms. It may be a hap-hazard way of doing -business, and has no foundation in sound reasoning; yet it is a fact -that very much of the buying and selling in rural Ontario is done by -“splitting the difference.”</p> - -<p>Our farmer, however, has not yet seen any difference to split, and -thinks still that he should get the best. And the horse-trader tells of -the merits of his horse, its weight, how gentle it is, how well and -handily it will work, and impresses his idea upon the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_221" id="page_221">{221}</a></span> farmer that his -colt is yet untried and scarcely broken. Up to this time in this -“dickering” the farmer has not made a positive offer, and once more -chirrups to his team and starts upon his way.</p> - -<p>“Stop a minute. If you think you could not split the difference, how -will you trade, any way?”</p> - -<p>“Well, I might trade even, since your horse is heavier than mine and -better able to do my work, but how old did you say he was?”</p> - -<p>And the farmer gets off his waggon and looks in the horse’s mouth.</p> - -<p>Here, as all the way along in this “dicker,” the horse-trader has been -too sharp for the farmer, and the horse’s teeth have been nicely filed -and his horse is made to appear only seven years old.</p> - -<p>A swap is made at length on even terms, and this horse-trading jockey -drives off with the farmer’s valuable colt, worth about $165, and -leaving for it an old used-up horse, worth perhaps $80 at most. And -these horse-traders are not gipsies either, for every one expects them -to trade horses, but men in the community, who, take them out of their -own specialty, pass as respectable men. Between services at the church -this trader slyly tells his neighbor how he got $125 the better of -So-and-so at the last trade, with a sly laugh and a cough. With his -forefinger he digs his companion gently in the ribs, and in great -confidence tells him that he knows where there is another whopping good -trade for him. A bank account this man has, too, and in every way is the -pink of perfection, save in his own peculiar business; pays his bills<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_222" id="page_222">{222}</a></span> -promptly, dresses his family well, and is never backward in his -contributions to the church, and is really, as he pretends to be, a -decent man. But on a horse trade he would cheat his own father. Just how -he reconciles this peculiarity with his theology we have never been able -to discover, but somehow his theology is elastic enough to stretch over -the point, and he conveniently allows it to do so.</p> - -<p>Maybe it’s a horse I want to sell, and I have advertised the fact in the -local papers. After tea, and on the eve of setting out for a drive, this -horse-buyer comes along and inquires for the “boss.”</p> - -<p>“Understands I want to sell a horse,” and I tell him that the hired man -is in the stable and will show him the horse.</p> - -<p>But he must talk with the “boss,” and I am forced to go to the stable -with this would-be buyer.</p> - -<p>“Bring out that Clyde horse, John; this gentleman wants to buy him,” and -John leads by the halter the horse which six months ago I paid $180 for, -and now having no further use for him, I wish to convert into bankable -funds.</p> - -<p>“Rather stocky, and just a little heavy in the legs,” and I prepare -myself to hear my good, sound, strong horse so run down as to be only -fit for slowest and easiest work on a farm.</p> - -<p>“You’d be asking as much as $125 for that horse, I suppose, boss?”</p> - -<p>Now, as far as I have ever known or can discover, I never yet heard of -any one selling a horse for as much as he gave for it, unless he -belonged to the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_223" id="page_223">{223}</a></span> horse-dealing fraternity. I reply, however, “A hundred -and forty dollars is my price for this horse, and I paid $40 more for -him only six months ago.”</p> - -<p>“Whew! boss, you paid far too much; don’t know as you know it, but just -now the Americans are buying lighter horses, and horses of this stamp -don’t sell so well. Now, if you were to say $130, I might—”</p> - -<p>“John, take him back to his stall, for I am afraid this gentleman and I -can’t agree.” And John turns the horse for the stable door.</p> - -<p>“Don’t be in such a hurry, boss; perhaps we can split the difference.” -An appeal, as before, to “split the difference.” But at this stage of -the dicker I am thoroughly disgusted, and wonder if it be necessary to -practise so much deceit and cunning in the purchase and sale of a horse -simply.</p> - -<p>I reply that $140 is my price, and not a cent less. “Well, boss, I guess -I’ll take him, but you’re a very impatient man anyway. There’s a blanket -on the fence; I suppose you’ll throw that in, and, of course, the halter -now on him.”</p> - -<p>In sheer desperation to get rid of this pest of a buyer, I give up the -blanket, and the horse is put in the buyer’s charge. “Grand growing -weather now, boss; hope your turnips haven’t been eaten by the fly;” and -thus the conversation drifts to polite subjects, and he inquires as to -the health of the family, and I can do no less than reciprocate and ask -him if his care are likewise well.</p> - -<p>There’s something mean about the whole transaction, and one feels that -his manhood is lowered by<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_224" id="page_224">{224}</a></span> his “dickering.” This buyer knew that my -horse was richly worth all I asked for him at the first, but he formed a -deliberate plan to cheat me out of just as many dollars as he could by -lying, or by running my horse down contrary to his own deliberate -judgment.</p> - -<p>There’s a gathering at neighbor Jones’s, and I see over the fields a lot -of carriages in the road. Looking still, I see the village hearse come -driving down the road towards the house, with its black plumes nodding -as the wheels feel the inequalities of the road. More of the neighbors -have collected, and now I see the pastor of one of the village churches -coming in his light covered carriage.</p> - -<p>“So Mr. Jones’s eldest boy has gone, boss, and it will likely be rather -hard on the old man, for he did think a lot of the boy, even if he did -run away from him,” neighbor Dixon remarks to me as he is driving by to -the funeral. This neighbor Jones is one of the fore-handed farmers of -Ontario, and the only quality that can be praised about him in any way -is his industry. Up before day dawn, winter and summer, and drudging -daily till dark at night, and his wife’s just like him.</p> - -<p>He’d only two boys, and this oldest one was so harried at home that two -years ago he ran away to Texas and became a cowboy. Only a few short -weeks ago he returned with seeds of that dreadful malarial fever in his -system, and only to die. The second boy is not yet old enough to run -away, but in the ordinary course of events, as soon as he does get old -enough, he’ll follow his poor dead brother’s example.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_225" id="page_225">{225}</a></span></p> - -<p>This Jones is a Yorkshire man, and his wife is a North of Ireland woman. -Last winter they boarded the school-master. At four o’clock of a winter -morning this dame would call him up for breakfast. For some days the -school-master stood it meekly, until he finally told Mrs. Jones that -this first meal would do for a lunch, and that he’d take some breakfast -before he went to school. It is a large farm-house Jones has, and it is -nicely painted and well finished, and for a marvel contains really good -and appropriate furniture. The matter of furniture can be explained, for -Jones sold a lot of hay to some cabinet-maker, and being afraid of his -pay was glad to get the furniture.</p> - -<p>His hired help are worked beyond all reason, and have scarcely ever a -part of Sunday for themselves. Some poor ignorant fellow of an emigrant -has come over and has not yet learned our prices, and Jones has pounced -on him, and so he gets his work done for a song.</p> - -<p>Get rich? Of course, he does. How could such a man help it?</p> - -<p>The parlor is open to-day—the first time I have seen it for a -twelvemonth—and the shutters are thrown back. Neighborly decency says I -must go to the funeral, and I get my horse and carriage.</p> - -<p>In the parlor the boy is laid, and the fine embellished coffin contains -all that is mortal of the poor lad, Jones’s eldest heir.</p> - -<p>Well, it’s a nice parlor, even so, and those things which money could -buy in a lump are there. The little bric-a-brac, or knick-knacks, or -books, are of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_226" id="page_226">{226}</a></span> course absent, for Mrs. Jones only sees the parlor -monthly, when she dusts it out, and no one has any time about Jones’s to -make it homelike.</p> - -<p>Books are conspicuous by their absence, save only one, a large gilt -family Bible, opened last when it was put in here, some months ago, for -no one has any time to read at Jones’s.</p> - -<p>A hush, and the minister rises and announces the hymn. Neighbors’ wives -and daughters have mercifully gathered, and, standing in the hall, and -upon the stairs, raise their voices in one of Watts’s soul-stirring -hymns, and gradually the assembled neighbors join in. A prayer follows, -and then the solemn warning. All voices are hushed. Boys of the -neighborhood are the bearers—boys whom this Jones boy once loved and -made his confidants and associates. The coffin is placed within the -hearse. The procession moves, and soon the grave closes all, and Jones -has lost his oldest son, and is disconsolate for a day or two.</p> - -<p>Again the parlor is closed. When its cobwebs will be again dusted from -it, as I have attempted to do, it is impossible to say. Possibly not -until the next boy comes home to die like his brother. I am picturing -Jones’s home to show one of a class of money grabbers and slaves in -Ontario. The bright sunshine of a home is not there. Books, papers, -recreation, society and neighborly chat are all absent.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_227" id="page_227">{227}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>City and country life compared—No aristocracy in Canada—Long -winter evenings—Social evenings—The bashful swain—Popular -literature of the day—A comfortable winter day at home—Young -farmers who have inherited property—Difficulty of obtaining female -help—Farmers trying town life—Universality of the love of country -life—Bismarck—Theocritus—Cato—Hesiod—Homer—Changes in town -values—A speculation in lard.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">Your</span> city dweller turns away from a life in the country on account of -society. Granted that we in the country cannot make calls and pay -fashionable visits as easily as you can. But most good country families -have a few genuine friends and acquaintances whom they visit -periodically, and such visits are really appreciated by the persons -entertaining. There is not much duplicity about our friendships, for we -are not so much thrown together as city people; and when we do meet at -the different family boards, genial right good fellowship is the rule. -The cant and half-friendly reception of your city fashionables we know -not of.</p> - -<p>There is no aristocracy in Canada, and all attempts to found any such -class in America have signally failed. It is contrary to the genius and -spirit of the democracy of America, for are we not quite as<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_228" id="page_228">{228}</a></span> democratic -as our neighbors to the south of us? Of all the prominent families who -were on the boards at the time of the American Revolution, in the last -century, only five are in existence this day. What a comment on the -mutability of human affairs! Your titles and riches don’t stick in -America, and there is many a boy in rural Ontario who now follows the -plough who will yet rise to eminence as his years increase. To create -and maintain a titled class in Canada, in the face and eyes of the great -Republic adjoining us, would be an anomaly, and it never can be done. -There seems to be a growing disposition to exclusiveness among the city -families, and to discriminate to too great a nicety as to whom their -sons and daughters shall marry. Their alliances in the matrimonial way -are ever to be with those of the presumably rich, in contradistinction -to others possessing push and merit, but not quite as many dollars in -immediate view. So far as I can judge, I do not know of the son of a -business man to-day in any of the country towns hereabout who inherits -the wealth his father once possessed, and who pursues his father’s -calling. John Adams, when ambassador of the United States to Paris, -wrote home to his daughter who asked his views about her approaching -marriage: “Marry an honest man and keep him honest.” In Adams’s advice -there is no mention of the <i>dot</i>, as the continental Europeans use the -term, and it is earnestly to be hoped that this word will never find any -currency among us.</p> - -<p>The long winter evenings, when our inhabitants<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_229" id="page_229">{229}</a></span> must perforce remain by -the lamplight, are the most trying period for our young people. Some -sort of excitement seems to be the great <i>desideratum</i>. In most country -parts the local church will have evening anniversaries and teas, to -which the near inhabitants invariably flock. Ministers on other circuits -usually come to such gatherings, to assist the local minister, and much -genial talk usually flows. The half-grown farmer’s son at these meetings -usually essays his first attempt to wait upon the fair sex, and brings -some neighboring farmer’s young daughter to the entertainment. Paying -the required admission fee for both, he considers her usually his -partner for the evening, and pertinaciously sits by her side. His -half-bashful, scared look, and the twitch of his downy moustache, even -if they do show some awkwardness on his part, betoken a thoroughly -honest fellow, whose intentions are above suspicion.</p> - -<p>The influence which the clergy exert upon the community cannot for a -moment be gainsaid. Ontario to-day listens to her ministers, and in a -great measure they form a standard for the opinions and actions of its -inhabitants. It must necessarily be so, for Ontario people are a -church-going people, and in many country parts the ministers are the -best read and most cultivated persons in their midst. All honor to our -clergy, for they have done and are daily doing a good work. Even -sceptics tell us that we must build gaols or churches. We prefer the -churches, hence we have them, and our people attend them and listen to -our ministers, and crime is rare, and our people are<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_230" id="page_230">{230}</a></span> law-abiding, no -mobs, and industrious. Protoplasm, evolution, or modern agnosticism have -not reached our rural population to disturb their simple faith.</p> - -<p>Comparisons of travel lead me to think that our country churches might -be made more attractive. Who has not seen in the Old World gems of -little country churches, moss-grown, ivy-wreathed, and surrounded by -trees, shrubs and hedges? Among the graves at the church’s side are -invariably rare shrubs and grasses, let alone flowers, but the whole -embowery of green giving an air of quiet repose. And with the steeple or -tower pointing to heaven, no place seems better calculated for -reverential feelings than do the rural churches of the British Isles.</p> - -<p>In Ontario we build bare, glaring walls, and our churches are right, -from a modern architectural point of view. Even if we cannot grow ivy, -we can greatly beautify our churches and grounds by planting shrubs and -evergreens, and thus relieve the stiffness of our newly constructed -churches and grounds.</p> - -<p>Henry Ward Beecher says that he never knew a bad family to come from a -home where there was an abundance of books and papers. Our Ontario -farmers do not provide enough and sufficiently varied reading matter for -their families. Most of them take a weekly paper, an agricultural paper, -and generally some religious paper, the organ of the denomination to -which they belong. These are all well enough so far as they go, but -pictures are perhaps the quickest, best, and most agreeable way of -imparting instruction. All our farmers could<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_231" id="page_231">{231}</a></span> easily spare annually the -cost of enough journals to make home daily attractive, so that the new -papers to come each day forward would be looked for and something -sought. The London <i>Graphic</i> or London <i>Illustrated News</i> would keep us -posted pleasantly on matters at home, and, in fact, they would follow -England all over the world, and improve the family taste at the same -time. From New York a paper should certainly be taken, for we must, of -course, follow our cousins just south of us, with their seventy-five -millions of people. The New York semi-weekly <i>Tribune</i> would keep us -thoroughly up with the times, and there will be nothing in it that one -need be ashamed to read before his daughters, which is a great -recommendation in this day of trashy literature. By all means add -<i>Harper’s Weekly Illustrated</i>, and <i>Frank Leslie’s</i> as well, for they do -not require much time to read—the pictures show for themselves; and -then there is the <i>Century Magazine</i>, which is perhaps the most popular -to-day. As to merit, I only wish we in Canada could afford to produce -anything nearly as good. Its illustrations will shame any English -magazine, and I would certainly add <i>Harper’s Magazine</i> as well. For the -little folks, by all means the <i>St. Nicholas Magazine</i>, beautifully -illustrated, and with stories down to the mental calibre of the little -ones. Of course, I would not forget our own productions, and would take -a few of them in addition to those now taken.</p> - -<p>Now, I know a good many will look upon this as too much to read, will -say it costs too much, etc.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_232" id="page_232">{232}</a></span> They can all be taken for less than $50 per -year, and if once they begin to come to the family, the boys will soon -stay at home nights rather than go prowling around the country or -seeking society in the towns and villages.</p> - -<p>Excitement people must have, and your city people get their excitement -by conversing with one another, the theatre, lectures, etc. But if our -country people would take the periodicals I have outlined, in -conjunction with their social gatherings at churches and in neighbors’ -houses, they would have a constant fund of excitement and pleasure at -home. Each mail would be looked forward to with eagerness, and the quiet -evenings at home would be most pleasurably and profitably spent.</p> - -<p>Even if they read upon subjects quite foreign to their own occupations, -some knowledge would be gained. Knowledge from whatever source is -valuable, and some day will, without a doubt, come into play. In this -fast century many people who are able financially eschew a country life, -and flock bag and baggage to the cities. There are some instances -wherein a city life is more desirable than life in the country. Admitted -that the city dweller can hear the best lectures of the day, and now and -again witness a play of genuine merit upon the stage, yet there are -pleasures in a country life which will outbalance those privileges, and -of which I cannot help speaking now and again when my pen flows freely -and I am in the humor. When writing of life in the country I do not mean -twelve miles from a lemon, as Gail<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_233" id="page_233">{233}</a></span> Hamilton writes in her New England -bower, but rather within easy reach of the daily mail. Around me are no -signs of want. The examples of wretchedness the city dweller has brought -to his notice so very often we know not of. It is truly said, “that -one-half of the world does not know how the other half lives.” So far as -our pleasures and feelings are concerned we do not want to know, <i>i.e.</i>, -while we are willing to relieve the distressed we are glad that such -examples do not come before us to harrow our feelings.</p> - -<p>My hardwood fire burns brightly in the open fireplace as I sit behind -double windows defying the 7° below zero without to penetrate, and my -books and papers rest upon my writing-desk within easy reach of my hand. -The children come in from their slides upon the ice with cheeks aglow -and faces on fire, induced from the sudden change from the cold outside -to the genial warmth within. You city dweller would think half-grown -boys and girls too big to enjoy their hilarious, life-giving fun, and -would want them to be nicely dressed and walk your city streets in the -prim of propriety.</p> - -<p>The examples of all great men and women prove distinctly that in order -to be such you must first have good constitutions to support big brains, -and our children by this are laying the foundations of such sound -constitutions. Soon enough they will be men and women, and let them have -their fun as long as they can.</p> - -<p>In this locality most of our lands are held by inheritance. The sons of -the pioneers who cleared the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_234" id="page_234">{234}</a></span> forests are the owners of the soil as a -rule to-day. The rising generation, the immediate sons of the pioneers, -are not as a rule equal to the old stock. The reason is, so far as I can -judge, that they have seen the hard toil and steady, unchangeable life -of their future, and having received a little education, which their -fathers did not possess, they judge themselves too smart to follow their -fathers’ footsteps. A good many of these sons, as I have before -remarked, flock to the cities to live as half gentlemen, and very many -others lease their farms to tenants, and reside in the towns hereabout.</p> - -<p>There come before my mind as I write dozens of instances of young men -who inherited a hundred or a hundred and fifty acres of land, worth -probably from $80 to $125 per acre, or, say, they are worth individually -$8,000 to $12,000, and these young men think to be gentlemen on these -means. There are so many of such instances that I must needs make a note -of it. Seemingly they get on for the present tolerably well. But the -fences and buildings which their fathers built are yearly rotting away, -and there is no timber here to replace them; and having yearly lived up -to their full rental it becomes a serious question to know what this -class of persons will do in the end. Englishmen with small means are -gradually buying up such farms. Given the entering payment, and your -sturdy English emigrant, who has spent a few years in this country, will -pay for the property from the money which he makes off it.</p> - -<p>Many of the pioneers and their sons in this locality<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_235" id="page_235">{235}</a></span> have been as -nomadic as the Indian. Having cleared or partly cleared up their lands, -which they obtained for a merely nominal sum, or by Government grant, -and spent many years in hard toil, in fact the very hardest kind of -toil, they pull up and sell out, and move to the promised West.</p> - -<p>So far as I have yet been able to learn, I cannot now recall a single -instance in which an Ontario farmer, from this locality, who left a 100 -or 150 acre farm, is to-day worth more money in the West than the same -lands he left are worth here to-day. It would appear that these persons -obtained their properties too easily to learn their real value, and -hence are supplanted by the emigrant, whose previous lot in his old home -has been a hard one.</p> - -<p>Upon the other side of the picture, there are some of the sons of those -pioneers who early learned wisdom, and commenced just where their -forefathers left off. Such young men or middle-aged men are buying out -very many of the small properties around them, are keeping good blooded -and grade stock, and are a credit and a benefit to the country. They -ever dispense a generous hospitality when called upon, and ordinarily -will give the visitor as much of their time as he desires. Their sons -and daughters are invariably healthy and well on in a common school -education, and are the hope and interest for the future of our glorious -Province of Ontario.</p> - -<p>And yet there is a dark side to their lives, or rather that of their -wives. Female help in the house is so difficult to obtain that the wife -of many and many a<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_236" id="page_236">{236}</a></span> man, who is worth easily from $30,000 to $50,000, -has perforce to perform more hard manual labor than has the wife of the -ordinary mechanic, the owner, perhaps, of a very humble home, and who -earns his $1.25 or $1.50 per day. Pardon me, reader, for drawing this -unpleasant picture, but it is indeed too true, and there is something -very wrong in the “eternal fitness of things,” when men of such ample -means are able and willing to pay for servants to ease their wives’ -lots, and they cannot be obtained. The only hope on this score seems to -be in emigration. When our country becomes more thickly populated, and a -living in the country is not quite so easily obtained, then the -daughters of households having therein a number of girls will go out to -work rather than be pinched at home. Formerly the daughters of the -farmers would go out to work among the neighboring farmers, and usually -married the sons of those farmers, and became in their turn mistresses -themselves. All this is now past, and our farmers’ families, with -increasing wealth, do not go out to work but feel perfectly able, as no -doubt they are, to live at home.</p> - -<p>Not a few of our farmers, feeling that they were not big enough upon -their own farms, became storekeepers or manufacturers in the towns. No -doubt, in the abstract this may be well for the general progress of -those towns in building them up and laying the nucleus of new -industries. They do not, however, as a rule, succeed in the new fields -of business they have chosen, or if they do not become the principals of -businesses in the towns, they sometimes lend their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_237" id="page_237">{237}</a></span> names as endorsers -to assist those who are principals of such businesses. Endorsations were -sometimes very easily obtained by the glib-tongued business man, and for -a time all went on well, until some financial crisis overtaking the -business man, consequent ruin came to the farmer. These instances have -been so many that I speak of them as exemplifying another phase of life -in the country. Latterly, however, the landowners are becoming more -conservative of their means and credit, and are disposed to “paddle -their own canoe.”</p> - -<p>Since the law of primogeniture was abolished in Canada, the hold upon -land has become very slight, and the examples of large landed estates -being retained in the same families for over two generations are so very -rare that they need scarcely be mentioned. In some cases our rich men -make a terrible mistake in bringing up their families. They are not -taught to labor, but live a life of ease, with the idea that the family -property will be sufficient to support each individual member. But with -the nomadic habits of our Canadians, and the light stress usually -heretofore laid upon the paternal acres, each individual share soon -vanishes, leaving them to learn to fight the battle of life at a -terrible disadvantage, because frequently they are then past their first -youth at least.</p> - -<p>My wood fire still burns brightly as I turn to my morning mail with its -treasures of current literature. Talk about your city bustle compared -with this, in my cosy seat beside the fire and all these treasures at<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_238" id="page_238">{238}</a></span> -my elbow! There are no gas bills to pay, nor water rates, and the mail -comes to me daily, just as regularly as your city mail does. Then what -do we want with your city?</p> - -<p>Speaking of the post-office reminds me to say that the meanest hovel in -the land can to-day put itself in almost daily communication with the -best minds of the age. Such service the mail hourly and regularly -performs for us, and is such a great factor to the pleasure of our -lives, and yet we scarcely bestow a thought upon it. No, I do not -propose to try to assume that life in the country would be very pleasant -or desirable away from the mails. Given a daily mail and a comfortable -country-seat, and easy access to the train, so that I may come to the -city quickly and easily, if you have therein any real intellectual -treat, and I yet fail to see what are the inducements to make one prefer -life in the city to the free life in the country.</p> - -<p>A rural life is a natural life, and a city life is an artificial life. -Man in his first estate was an arboreal being, and in such surroundings -throve as he does to-day. Our Ontario families, as a rule, who leave -good properties in the country to go into the cities, make a mistake in -almost every respect. Even if the parents do not feel the trouble -wrought upon their families during their lives, their children almost -invariably do not make the men and women they would have made had they -hung on and occupied the paternal acres. In most instances these are -sold, and in a few years the money scattered. Had they held on to the -paternal acres, and bought more, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_239" id="page_239">{239}</a></span> would have been among our -staunchest and best citizens, as well as among the wealthiest.</p> - -<p>In Europe all successful men look forward to the day when they can own -and live upon a farm. Bismarck had his country home, and we know he -prized it, for we often heard of him going there to get away from the -cares of office. Going back to earlier times, we find that the great men -of the world loved their country homes quite as much as the English -country squire does at this day. I take down old Xenophon from its place -on the bookshelf and see that he says he sees the ridges piling along -the ælian fields, and from the way that he makes the remark, he loves -the sight, and loves to be in the midst of such ridges, where some -husbandmen are ploughing. Theocritus hears the lark that hovers over the -straight laid furrows, and if Theocritus did not love such a scene and -dwell in its midst, he would never have given it to us at this remote -day. “Establish your farm near to market, or adjoining good roads,” old -Cato says. So old Cato loved the country, and we all know his head was -level. I am afraid some of us in Ontario have followed old Cato only too -literally, and have built our houses almost overhanging the road-side, -when they would have looked far better and presented a much prettier -sight set back from the road and surrounded by trees and lawns. Hesiod -tells us that we ought not to plough the land when it is too wet, and -also how to put in a new plough beam to replace the broken one. Homer -the Great says a farmer should keep two ploughs on hand for fear one<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_240" id="page_240">{240}</a></span> -should get broken, and he does hot forget to praise the wine which the -country produces about his rural home, and adds some caution about its -too copious use.</p> - -<p>When Hesiod and Homer loved country life in Greece so long ago, can we -be amiss in praising a country life in Ontario to-day? As my eyes run up -and down the pages, I can hear the swallows twitter and the lark sing, -in my fancy, as they heard them. They praise the crispness and freshness -of the vegetables which their gardens yield them, and they can go on and -describe feasts which they partake of at their country homes, the -materials of which come almost without exception from their farms. -Virgil, I infer, was not much of a farmer after all, but he tells us -that he loved his country home, and seems not to have the most remote -thought of removing to Imperial Rome. Mostly he praises the bees and the -wine, so it is evident every one sees a beauty in country life for -himself, as his peculiarities may be. Yet Virgil left us some very good -hints, though he evidently made some mistakes. He tells us, for -instance, that lands only need cultivating to obliterate the obnoxious -weeds. Tull, however, said about one hundred years ago, that the land -only needed mixing by deep ploughing to make it produce indefinitely. -Now, Tull was a man of means, and only lived a rural life from the love -of it, as did the old worthies whom I have instanced. Ontarians, we have -a grand country, and we who are in it, let us stay therein and enjoy it. -Let those persons remain in the cities who are now<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_241" id="page_241">{241}</a></span> in them. For us -nature in all its beauties is daily unfolded before our eyes, and let us -daily enjoy those beauties. If we can by any means inculcate an -increased love of country homes, we will continue to beautify our homes -and improve our country.</p> - -<p>Real properties in the cities and towns of Canada have been very -fluctuating, often being held at prices far beyond any intrinsic value -they could possibly possess, while again, the very same properties fall -away, and frequently become totally unsalable. Yet during commercial -depression good farm lands have held their value very well and have -even, after a temporary period of dulness, steadily risen in value year -by year.</p> - -<p>To illustrate the peculiar change of town values to which I allude, I -may give an instance coming under my own knowledge. One of my forbears -bought, about the year 1815, a large building tract situated on King -Street, Toronto, very near the market. For many years after the purchase -this property was wholly unsalable. Taxes were put upon it, and yearly -it became a burden. Somehow, in Canada we are not very careful, as a -community, of the rights in property of the individual. Accordingly, in -this instance, taxes for street improvements, with gas, water, sewers -and other special levies, were put upon this land. A day finally came, -about the year 1845, when to own property in Toronto meant either -disaster or a very large income from without to retain it. A purchaser -coming along at about that year, his offer was taken with avidity. My<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_242" id="page_242">{242}</a></span> -people were glad to get it off their hands, and thus was closed a -history, so far as they were concerned, which was a fair sample of city -property in Canada and its mutations for more than thirty years. Since -that time the property in question rose to enormous value, but has again -fallen on account of trade to some extent deserting the locality.</p> - -<p>Another feature of city and town life we must notice, viz., the constant -interchange of views among the inhabitants as to business and politics -on account of their close proximity to each other. An instance occurring -in one of our Canadian towns will illustrate what I mean. In this town -some few moneyed men gathered nightly and exchanged views on stocks and -the like. Some of them had speculated in this way to the extent of a few -hundred dollars and had been moderately successful. At one of their -meetings some one introduced the subject of lard.</p> - -<p>Lard became the topic. Others came, heard and pondered. Small lots of -lard were then bought in Chicago, and in a few weeks sold, and some -ready profits realized.</p> - -<p>“If a little capital will win money in lard in Chicago, a large capital -will yield much more” was the reasoning, so they joined forces and got -nearly every man with ready cash in that town to put money into the -joint fund for lard. Again they bought in Chicago—this time -largely—and the commodity began to rise in price. Moreover it kept on -rising, and never seemed to recede a point. These operators began to -reason that if they held all the lard, they<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_243" id="page_243">{243}</a></span> could dictate prices and -could control the article. They put more money into it and bought more -lard, for they considered it to be what is called “a dead certainty.” -Days and weeks passed and lard still held on. Fortunes truly seemed to -be within the grasp of our group of townsmen. There could be no mistake -about it, for they had, as they considered, all the lard in America -cornered, so that no one could beat them.</p> - -<p>One day, however, some persons in Chicago offered an immense quantity of -lard from some unknown source. So great was the amount that our townsmen -could not tackle it.</p> - -<p>Down came the price. Still down it came, and down every day, until in a -few days these lard cornerers in the Canadian town were entirely -“cleaned out” and a loss of $2,000,000 actually sustained. From that -loss for ten years afterwards that town was as quiet as a country place, -and its magnates felt and acted with the timorousness of poor men.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_244" id="page_244">{244}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XX" id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Instances of success in Ontario—A thrifty wood-chopper turns -cattle dealer—Possesses land and money—Two brothers from Ireland; -their mercantile success—The record of thirty years—Another -instance—A travelling dealer turns farmer—Instance of a thriving -Scotsman—The way to meet trouble—The fate of Shylocks and their -descendants.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">To</span> show the possibilities to be accomplished in Ontario, I purpose to -cite some instances coming under my own observation of Ontarians who -have succeeded. I take the ground, that the opportunities are as great, -if not greater, in this Ontario of ours, for persons to achieve success, -as in any part of the world. Certainly the Old World presents no such -field for successful operations, and the only possible parallel can be -found in some of the neighboring States.</p> - -<p>Of the two I would certainly give Ontario the preference, for most of -those who have risen in the United States were in some way helped by -their parents and friends, whereas our successful men have invariably -risen from no beginnings at all, as our country emerged from the forest.</p> - -<p>Now for some instances of success: About twenty-three years ago, one who -could not read came to<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_245" id="page_245">{245}</a></span> this part of Ontario, possessing not one dollar, -nor had a friend in America, but had come over from Ireland a few years -previously quite alone, in order to better his condition. He began by -chopping wood by the cord. Saving enough thereby, he bought a team, and -then bought wood by the lump and hauled it to town to sell. Then he -bought a wood lot, and proceeded to haul the cord-wood from it, which he -sold to manufacturers in the towns. After a time he got his lot cleared -of the wood, and put fall wheat on it, seeding the land down to clover -and timothy at the same time. The next season he had unlimited -quantities of grass for stock, and hay for wintering them. Then he went -around the country and bought up cattle in droves, and put them on this -grass. As soon as they were in condition these cattle were sold off for -the Montreal market, for we had not at this time begun the business of -shipping cattle to England. It is needless to add that he always bought -his lean cattle at the very lowest possible figure. If some poor fellow, -no matter how distant, was obliged to part with his stock by a forced -sale, this man would be on hand, and invariably secure it. This cattle -business coined money for him. Where he got his knowledge of the cattle -business I am unable to say, but unlettered as he was, and unable even -to write his own name, he seemed to take in all knowledge intuitively, -as it were. In a word he seemed to drink in knowledge as a sponge takes -up moisture. He could often be seen standing listening to groups of men -who were talking,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_246" id="page_246">{246}</a></span> saying but little himself, but treasuring up every -word dropped by them. The original wood lot was added to by another, -which in its turn became a gold mine to him by the sale of its wood. -This in its turn was cleared and seeded down to grass, as the first one -was, and cattle placed on it as well.</p> - -<p>Soon the first cleared lands became arable, and he then ploughed up the -virgin soil, and began raising barley and peas. Invariably his crops -turned out extremely well, which gave him funds to buy still another -wood lot. And so the process went on. Should a lot of lean cattle come -into the Toronto market in the fall, unfit for butchers’ use, our -successful man, always with one eye looking to the east, while the other -looked to the west, scented the bargain afar off, and came and secured -the lot.</p> - -<p>Without making repetitions, I will dismiss this man by saying that, a -few years ago, before he divided his land among his sons, he was the -absolute owner of 700 acres of land, and possessed besides an enormous -stock of cattle, horses, and farming appliances generally, and was then -easily worth $80,000—in twenty years he had made $80,000 from nothing -in Ontario. This fact needs no comment. It shows the possibilities of -our Ontario, and for a solid gain, without gambling, but property made -to keep, I think I can safely defy the world to beat the record.</p> - -<p>The next example I am going to relate is of success achieved in a -totally different field, but wholly the growth of Ontarians, and it can -be justly cited.</p> - -<p>Two brothers came out from Ireland about thirty-<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_247" id="page_247">{247}</a></span>five years ago. They -possessed a good education, which is all they did possess besides the -clothes upon their backs. Each got a situation as clerk in dry goods -stores in one of our cities. By dint of close saving and strict -attention to business, they were able after ten years to start a store -on their own account. In this store they did all their work, and if -there was any profit in storekeeping they got paid for it. After a few -years they opened out branch stores in smaller Ontario towns, and these -branches invariably succeeded and the profits were good. Their credit -now had become assured, and buying mostly for cash, with their high -credit they were able to buy at the lowest possible figure. The war -broke out in the States about this time in my story of these men. The -United States money went down a long way below par, but for some time -their goods did not rise to keep pace with their depreciated currency. -Our men bought largely in the United States and sent over their gold -drafts, which were sold at a great premium, and thus their goods were -placed upon their shelves at ridiculously low figures.</p> - -<p>In boots and shoes, of which they bought enormous quantities, they -doubled their money on every invoice. Without pursuing this narrative -further, it is just as well to say that as the war went on and the -equilibrium came about in the price of goods in the United States, and -the depreciated currency got in sympathy, these men found themselves -with thousands of available funds on hand.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_248" id="page_248">{248}</a></span></p><p>Into manufacturing they then entered. In this new branch the same -painstaking and foresight which gained them success in storekeeping made -the wheels of the manufactories revolve to their profit. Year by year -their manufacturing operations succeeded, and they found themselves the -possessors of more capital than their manufacturing operations required. -Next they became bankers, and again in this new line the old business -habits of constant care, watchfulness and keen oversight, wrested -success from the business. Their manufacturing operations they still -kept on in connection with their banking business.</p> - -<p>Success so phenomenal pointed out the principals as sound, far-seeing -men, and we next find each brother the president of a bank and their -financial position fully assured. During this series of years they have -found time to take a relaxation now and again by trips to Europe, -besides holding municipal offices among the people where they reside. I -am not in a position to tell for a certainty of the wealth of these -brothers at this time, but it is conceded by all who know them to be in -the hundreds of thousands.</p> - -<p>This has all been done in thirty years in Ontario, and done fairly and -honestly. They have never gambled, nor taken chances, but always done a -square, legitimate business, open to the closest scrutiny. If those -persons in our country who are railing at capitalists will stop and read -this narrative, they must see that these persons have a moral as well as -a legal right to their capital, and it is to the glory of our Ontario -that they have made it and possess it. Indeed these men worked and saved -and lived close<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_249" id="page_249">{249}</a></span> until they made their start, and they surely have a -right to it.</p> - -<p>All capital in Ontario was acquired by closeness and saving, for very -few persons in Ontario brought much money into the country. The capital, -in fact, has been created here by just such saving and downright hard -work as these men did. What is true in the case of these men is -invariably true in the case of others who have succeeded in becoming -capitalists in Ontario. I hope this narrative may be in somewise an -incentive to others to try and do likewise in their own particular -calling.</p> - -<p>A young New England lad began about forty years ago selling goods -through Ontario from a waggon. His employer furnished the horses and -waggon. Every working day through rain and snow found this young man on -the road. No storms, nor floods, nor cold snaps deterred him, but every -day he did business for his employer, and weekly he made up his balance -sheets, and remitted to his employer his weekly sales.</p> - -<p>His salary he saved, every cent of it, reserving for himself only enough -for the strong serviceable clothing he wore. He got an interest in the -business in a few years, or sold the goods on commission. The knowledge -he had gained while selling before for his employer at a salary enabled -him as he grew older to increase his sales, and likewise his profits. -Daily he plodded on, never for a moment swerving from the path of duty, -and as in the instances before narrated, such application has only one -result—and that<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_250" id="page_250">{250}</a></span> is success. Success he certainly did have, and at the -age of twenty-five this young man found himself the absolute owner of -$10,000.</p> - -<p>He then became a farmer. Here, as in the selling of goods, the same -perseverance which succeeded before caused success now. In his farming -he succeeded. His harvest was always got in first in the neighborhood, -and his plough was soonest after the harvest dancing through the fields -making the next crop a certainty. It is almost a pity that so good a -farmer as this young man was was debarred from farming. His wife’s -health failed, however, and he found it necessary to get nearer a town, -where she might have better medical care, and so he sold out his farm. -From a farmer he became a manufacturer. In this new calling he masters -every detail of his business. He is at his work early and late, and -daily does more downright hard work than any man in his employ. -Gradually his works are added to, and his shop becomes known throughout -the length and breadth of our land. Seasons of adversity are guarded -against, for he always keeps an eye to the future. In fact, a panic can -scarcely strike him. Cash he pays for his stock, and his position -becomes so strong that he feels he really knows his ground and is fully -master of his business. Capital gathers; it is the same story I have to -tell as in the former instances. Such work, plodding and oversight -cannot fail to bring accumulated capital. There is no other way to get -it so that it will stick. Of course, we have the examples of -stock-gambling, but who<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_251" id="page_251">{251}</a></span> will pretend to assert that capital by -stock-jobbing ever does stick? And now this manufacturer, having made -capital, becomes a banker. His banking operations, in the hands of a man -who has literally carved his own fortune, cannot fail to be a success. A -millowner he next becomes besides a manufacturer and a banker, and about -as busy a man as Ontario can produce to-day. Daily he is on the move, -early and late he is at his post, and every wheel is well oiled and runs -smoothly. Such men are a positive benefit as well as an ornament to our -young country. $300,000 he has made in thirty-five years, that being his -present wealth, which is conceded by all who know him. Recollect, he -began as a lad, fresh from a New England common school, and has -literally made himself.</p> - -<p>A Scotsman came to Canada about forty years ago, with nothing but his -hands to help himself. He had been used to farming at home, and here he -hired himself out to a farmer. Year after year he toiled on, worked and -saved. In about fifteen years he found that he had saved enough to buy -and pay cash for a farm. You, no doubt, reader, think it a long time to -work for the first start, but just wait and see what he did when he got -a start. He marries his employer’s daughter and sets up farming for -himself. If he was a good hired man, he was equally good as a boss, and -his farm began to bloom and season after season to look neater. Keeping -right on, even with the low prices which he then got for his grain, he -added to his farm until he owned absolutely<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_252" id="page_252">{252}</a></span> and farmed 150 acres of -Ontario’s best lands. Now he is on the high road to success, but the big -Scotch heart within him went out to his father-in-law, and this came -near being his ruin. His father-in-law had been a wealthy man, but -became involved, and the son-in-law endorsed for the father-in-law for a -sum as great as his land was then worth. It is only the old history of -such endorsations to repeat: the endorser had to pay, of course. The -father-in-law failed, leaving the young man almost penniless. Neighbors, -not of the sterling stuff he was made of, advised him to sell his stock, -because that was not mortgaged, and take the money and run away.</p> - -<p>“I will pay every cent,” said the honest Scot, “only give me time.” Away -he went to the holders of the notes, and plainly and squarely told them -that he could not pay them now, but if they would wait he would pay them -every cent.</p> - -<p>“Then you are not going to run away?”</p> - -<p>“Never! I will work it all out in a little while if you will only wait.”</p> - -<p>And wait they did.</p> - -<p>The merchants with whom he dealt, knowing the sterling qualities of the -man, came forward and told him that he should have anything he wanted. -And he bared his arms, went to work, and gradually paid off every dollar -of his indebtedness, and stuck to his home when those who counselled him -to run away had lost their homes and gone away west. He buys another -farm, and with its aid, and the old farm as well, pays for it in a few -seasons. A palatial home he erects, and his farm becomes one of the best -culti<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_253" id="page_253">{253}</a></span>vated in the locality. Now, had this man not been known as a man -of sterling integrity, his property must have been all taken from him -when those notes became due. But being so favorably regarded, he got the -chance which put him on his feet again. His character stood him in good -stead, for his merchants having lands they had taken for debts, offered -them to our Scot on favorable terms, with easy terms of payment, and the -Scot finds himself the absolute owner of five hundred acres of -first-class land, besides money at his credit in the banks, and a large -farm stock at home. In thirty-five years this penniless Scot makes about -$70,000, after the reverses he had suffered from his large-heartedness. -Money honestly, fairly acquired, a respected member of the community all -the time, a man whose word no one dare impugn, manifestly his course was -far better than if he had run away, and it is probable had he run away -in his adversity that to-day he would have been in very moderate -circumstances. Again, I doubt if any country in this world shows better -possibilities than Ontario does for a man to rise. And these are not -particularly isolated instances. Many more I might cite of what may be -achieved in this glorious Ontario of ours.</p> - -<p>Before drawing this chapter to a close, I wish to speak of one more -class of Ontario persons, whom I never recollect to have seen mentioned -in print before, and these are the Ontario Shylocks. Usually these -persons came from the British Isles, mainly from England, fifty years or -so ago. They would ordinarily be younger sons of a good family, and not -being able<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_254" id="page_254">{254}</a></span> to inherit much under the British law of primogeniture, took -their one thousand sovereigns or so, and came to Canada. Arriving here -at that early day, and there being but little money in the country, -their cash commanded large rates of interest. At first they lent their -money at 15 per cent, or so, and were for a time satisfied. But as time -wore on, the greed of inordinate gain gained upon them, and they began -to demand a bonus of 10 per cent, beside their 15 per cent, interest. -Getting on in this way, it is almost superfluous to add that they soon -doubled and trebled their means. Was some unfortunate settler unable to -pay at the appointed time, an additional bonus of 10 per cent or so -would satisfy the lender. Lands he would not acquire, for they would -never be valuable, he thought, and nothing was worth anything but money. -The consequence was that these Shylocks became wealthy. But I almost -defy any reader to fix upon any such person to-day, or the family of -such a person, who are worth anything now. It appears according to the -eternal fitness of things that money so got by extortion does not stick. -A Temperance Society of England offers a prize of one hundred guineas to -any one who will trace money down to the third generation, got by the -sale of liquors. But here in Ontario we do not need to go down further -than the second generation to find that money got by extortion does not -stick. To-day those very settlers who paid the 15 per cent. interest and -a bonus besides, and kept their lands, are still at the fore, and their -descendants will inherit many broad acres.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_255" id="page_255">{255}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXI" id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Manitoba and Ontario compared—Some instances from real -life—Ontario compared with Michigan—With Germany—“Canada as a -Winter Resort”—Inexpediency of ice-palaces and the -like—Untruthful to represent this as a land of winter—Grant -Allen’s strictures on Canada refuted—Lavish use of food by Ontario -people—The delightful climate of Ontario.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">When</span> the Manitoba fever broke out a good many persons in this locality, -and some of my own tenants among the number, became uneasy and thought -of emigrating. Some did so, but notably those who were not located on -farms here. For a time they sent back glowing reports, and all seemed -well, and even Ontario would not seemingly begin to compete with -Manitoba. It is not, however, to be supposed that there have been no -disappointments. One instance will suffice. A tenant farmer from near -Whitby, worth about $2,000, went to Manitoba a few years ago, and took -up 320 acres of land. When the boom was on he wrote home that he could -sell his land for $10,000. Next fall passed. His wife came down -visiting, and said that they had sold one-half their land for $6.00 per -acre in order to save the rest; also that they had threshed three days -and only had fifty bushels of grain, and lamented that they had ever<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_256" id="page_256">{256}</a></span> -left their farm near Whitby as tenants, to become owners in Manitoba. It -may be that this is an exceptional instance, but those now even -tolerably well located in Ontario run a serious risk in pulling up for -the North-West. When Ontario has lands which will produce seventeen -crops of wheat in succession, and when we can raise cattle absolutely -free from diseases, owing to our climate, what need have we to look to -Manitoba? It is now an assured fact, that cattle coming to Canada from -England, diseased, and remaining ninety days in quarantine, as they -must, lose their diseases, and do not take them on again; hence we have -a goodly inheritance in Ontario, in raising blooded cattle to sell to -the Americans for breeding purposes, for the diseases which periodically -break out in the West and South-West, among the cattle, are positively -unknown in Ontario. I met a Southerner from Charleston, S.C., early this -winter in Toronto, and in the course of conversation asked him what he -thought of our climate. “Just like champagne,” said he. It is an -established fact that our six months’ winter, in our clear cold -atmosphere, precludes the possibility of cattle diseases among us, and -is equally conducive to producing a lusty strong race of Canadians, in -hardihood the equal of any race anywhere.</p> - -<p>Already Michigan has much of its lands parcelled out in 40-acre farms, -and if Ontario land gets divided into smaller holdings, so that the -maximum of her farms is less than 100 acres, it will support double its -present population. This calls to my mind what<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_257" id="page_257">{257}</a></span> I have seen in Germany. -The lands along the Rhine River were originally surveyed facing the -river with a narrow frontage, and running back a long distance, in some -instances as much as a mile. Upon the death of the farmer his narrow -strip is equally divided lengthwise among his several sons. These are -again divided among his sons in their turn. It is not uncommon, as the -result of such divisions, to see a strip of land on the Rhine only six -rods wide and a mile long. This shows the reader how it comes that -Germany is so densely populated. Again, the area of United Germany is -near 210,000 square miles, and it supports a population of at least -forty millions of people. Ontario has at least half as much more -surface, and is only supporting two millions to-day. As to the -comparative quantities of waste land and productiveness between us and -Germany, Germany is scarcely fit to be compared with us at all, and -Ontario has many millions of acres to be brought under cultivation yet, -and these added to the smaller farms will soon double our population. -Horace Greeley said on 100 acres two men were enough; on 50, four men; -on 25, eight men. Without a doubt our fertile soil will quickly be -densely populated and every rood cultivated. Investments to-day are as -safe in Ontario as in any quarter of the globe, and its farm lands will -rise as the population increases.</p> - -<p>Some years ago the <i>Century Magazine</i> published a beautifully -illustrated article on “Canada as a Winter Resort.” This magazine is -widely circulated, and the publishers boasted that they had printed -180,000<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_258" id="page_258">{258}</a></span> copies of that particular number, which was, of course, widely -read in Europe. Now, this article was all about snowshoes, toboggans, -toques and ice-palaces, and would lead the stranger to infer that Canada -is a land of snow and ice. The premises are false, so far as Ontario is -concerned, and no one would think of building a snow-palace in Toronto, -because during the days required for its construction a thaw would -probably occur, which would demolish the ice-palace faster than it was -ever built. Out of two millions in Ontario, I think I am safe in -asserting that not more than 5,000 of its inhabitants ever stepped upon -a snowshoe. As to toques and toboggans, they are scarcely thought of. -Our youngsters do some coasting down the hill-sides when we have some -snow, and this is the extent of our tobogganing. It is undeniable that -we do have some cold weather in Ontario, but such periods are only for a -few days, and are invariably followed by mild weather. The four feet of -snow on the level, which they consider the proper thing for Quebec and -the Maritime Provinces, we know not of in Ontario. Our farmers were -ploughing on the 10th of December next before the appearance of the -article referred to, and this is not unusual; generally the farmers do -not take up their turnips before the middle of November. It is usual for -us to have some frost, and perhaps a little snow about the Christmas -holidays, and during January we look for our sleighing, if we are to get -any, for the season. But even during this midwinter month a thaw is -almost certain to take place, and generally clears off<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_259" id="page_259">{259}</a></span> the snow, and -during this particular January the ponds of water were all open. A small -chance, then, for an ice-palace. During February the cold is not so -intense, for the days have become longer, and it will almost invariably -thaw during the middle of most February days. The month of March is, by -all means, the most disagreeable month in Ontario, not on account of its -cold, but because it is windy and blustery. Our snow, if we get any in -this month, usually drifts at the fences and impedes trade. In April we -get freezing nights and thawing days, so that the hubs frozen during the -preceding night turn to mud. Some farmers sow in April on land prepared -in the fall. It may be that the frost is not quite out of the soil down -below the surface, but if the Ontario farmer can get enough loose soil -to kindly cover his wheat, he can sow without fear. May is our general -seeding month for lands not prepared previously and sown in April. But -little chance, the reader will note, for an ice-palace in Ontario.</p> - -<p>Without a doubt, the fact that Ontario is surrounded by the immense -lakes gives it its exceptionally mild climate. The isothermal line drawn -through central Ontario passes through the centre of France and the -southern part of Germany. No one thinks of speaking of France as a land -of snow and ice, and no more should Ontario be put in that class. -Montreal may, no doubt, get tourists sometimes in the winter by means of -an ice-palace, and it pays her; but for the impression to get abroad -that ice-palaces and snowshoes and the like are the rule in Canada is<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_260" id="page_260">{260}</a></span> -calculated to do us harm. The emigrant who is perhaps debating in his -mind whether he will emigrate to Canada or Australia, is quite likely to -choose the latter country if he thinks he must needs learn snow-shoeing -as perhaps the first element to success in Canada. We are glad to have -our Governor-General and staff at Ottawa enjoy themselves tobogganing -down the artificially-made slide of boards and scantling near Rideau -Hall, and no doubt the ladies do look attractive by the glare of -torches, dressed in blanket cloaks, toques, fezzes, and the like. Such -peculiarities, however, do not add to the wealth of our country. The -Ontario farmer during these winter months is making manure by feeding -his cattle, and drawing it out in heaps upon his land. He is busy, and -is every day adding to the productiveness of his lands. He utilizes the -snow in getting some rails or posts for his fences, and does not -hibernate or fritter away his time. During the few exceptionally cold -days he may stay by the fireside, but generally he is thoroughly busy -preparing for the coming summer, and there is plenty of work for him to -do. While the Quebec farmer passes his time in indolence, the Ontario -farmer is daily adding to the cash value of his property and also to its -productiveness. When summer does come we find that Ontario far outstrips -Quebec in the quantity of grain grown per acre and also in the total -quantity produced. And yet Quebec was well settled when Ontario was a -howling wilderness.</p> - -<p>Now, if the people of Ontario were spending their<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_261" id="page_261">{261}</a></span> winters, when not -hibernating, in tramping on snowshoes or riding down declivities on -toboggans, then might such sport be considered peculiarly applicable to -us. To show unmistakably the great difference between the Quebec -peasant, who hibernates during the winter, and the Ontario farmer, who -works at the same time, look at the effort the Ontario farmer makes to -rot his straw, while in many parts of Quebec straw is carefully guarded -and husbanded. In Ontario it is the constant effort to get it all used -up and made into manure. If we get too much open winter in Ontario, the -farmer has as much as he can possibly do to get his straw worked down, -because the cattle do not use up enough of it. Hence we frequently see -large stacks of straw left over. In this part of Ontario it is more a -question how to get the straw rotted than it is how to save it. Then, -drawing the comparison between us and the land of toques, where straw is -sparingly produced on soils not well farmed, and what do we want with -any of that toque and snowshoe business!</p> - -<p>Mr. Grant Allen, the eminent writer, who, although born here, was an -Englishman by residence and education, having revisited Canada and the -United States after an absence of eleven years, took occasion some years -since to give utterance to some remarks on our country in the <i>Pall Mall -Gazette</i>. His remarks should never have been allowed to pass -unchallenged. I cannot go into the matter very fully for fear of too -great length, but I must needs touch on the more salient points, and it -will be necessary for<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_262" id="page_262">{262}</a></span> me to inscribe Mr. Allen’s words here and there -as a text for my remarks. He says: “Looking at America with a geological -eye, I was impressed as I had never been before with the enormous extent -to which the country has suffered from the ice-sheets of the glacial -period.” And after making this remark he goes on to say that England has -suffered less from this great cause. Now, this remark of his refers to -Canada and the United States indiscriminately, and without a doubt it is -true to the letter. While I accept the statement as true, I at the same -time want very distinctly to qualify it so far as Ontario is concerned. -Ontario has measurably suffered from the glacial action, but it has as a -whole suffered far less than any one of the other provinces or any of -the northern United States, taken as a whole. I am referring to old -Ontario alone, and not the new portion lately acquired to the west. Take -old Ontario: The moraines have been frequent enough to give us the most -alluvial soil of any country of like extent on the habitable globe. This -remark does not apply to the more northerly portion of our province, -which is as yet but little occupied, for we cannot controvert the fact -that this portion did suffer sadly.</p> - -<p>Mr. Allen evidently did not know Ontario well enough, or he would have -excepted from his general remark the garden of the world. In a former -chapter I made the remark that if a line be drawn from Belleville to the -Georgian Bay, all that part of Ontario west of that line contains the -most alluvial land and the richest of any in the world, with the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_263" id="page_263">{263}</a></span> fewest -breaks and the least waste land. My own observation, begot by travel and -reading as well, gives me the courage to fearlessly make this remark -unqualified.</p> - -<p>Mr. Allen goes on to say: “In the valleys there is soil enough, but even -there the ice has worked almost as much mischief as it has done on the -hill-sides, by heaping up and mixing in a most heart-breaking way -enormous masses of boulders, which are almost the despair of the -agriculturist.” Now, this remark is true, but sweeping as it is, still I -must again except our own portion of Ontario, where there are no -“heart-breaking, enormous masses of boulders.” New York and Pennsylvania -would come in for a place under this remark, for those who have given -the subject much thought and observation have seen that those two States -do possess a vast amount of waste land, and even their best alluvial -lands are in no sense equal to ours. To forcibly illustrate: A New -Englander came to this locality about 1820, and settled on an excellent -farm. During the troubles of the rebellion, he felt annoyed at the -troubles some ultra-Loyalists gave him on account of his American -origin, sold out, moved to Pennsylvania and bought a farm there. A -neighbor here went down to see the old man just before his death, when -he told his boys in the neighbor’s presence, that they must sell out and -get back to Ontario. And he was a pushing man and located on an average -Pennsylvania farm.</p> -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_264" id="page_264">{264}</a></span></p> -<p>“America bears an immense harvest, yet the immensity of the harvest -only corresponds to the immensity of the area from which it is reaped. -Acre for acre, the Old World yields heavier crops than the New,” again -says Mr. Allen.</p> - -<p>In regard to our immense annual crop in America it is true that it is -really garnered from a tract as big as all Europe. Then, since America -has not a population to consume its crop, even if the crop be a light -one and the yield per acre low, we in America must annually have an -immense surplus, and America is looked upon as the granary of the world. -This fact alone establishes my exception in Ontario’s favor from Mr. -Allen’s remark, and I feel that I need not say more on this point. But -let the Old World recollect that America is yet in its infancy, and when -we begin to approach the Old World in density of population, and work -our lands better, in spite of the “heart-breaking” boulders, America -will surprise the world and prove to it that it is only beginning to do -what it can. That it is capable of feeding the whole world there isn’t a -doubt, and we want no doctrine of Malthus among us at all. I do believe -it is true, acre for acre, the Old World is ahead of us. And yet we have -in places soils which would put anything the Old World can produce to -scorn, even if we cannot apply the remark generally. It must be -recollected that Europe has been drained and its waste places reclaimed, -and but few of ours have, so that we have America just as nature gave it -to us. Fortunately in Ontario we have but few wastes to reclaim, for, as -I have said before, it is the garden of the whole. The<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_265" id="page_265">{265}</a></span> only parallel -that I ever saw in the Old World to compare with Ontario is in Hungary, -which very much resembles our country. Then, again, as to extent, -Hungary is nowhere when compared with us. As to remarks about the hard -life of farmers in America, it may be to some extent true. Especially is -it true for the women; want of domestic help is the trouble, and for the -present we cannot remedy this evil until our population becomes greater. -Would that Miss Rye and others would send us out more girls.</p> - -<p>But in no country in the world do the people live better than they do in -Ontario. Nor is there any country where the necessities and -sumptuousness of life are more abundant. Go to one of our teas, or -soirees, and see the vast amount of rich varied food there spread before -the partakers. The richest cakes, the most varied, and the exceeding -abundance there seen, must quickly convince even the most casual -observer that our people are really well off, and are living in luxury. -One sees nothing of this sort in Europe, and we really use food the most -prodigally of any people in existence. An ordinary good Ontario family -wastes more than a French peasant family uses at all. This is a fact -which cannot be controverted. I might instance how carefully the German -family lives, and show likewise that the Ontario family wastes nearly as -much as these families consume; so even if we sometimes have exceedingly -low prices, we fare as sumptuously as any people in this world.</p> - -<p>The abundance in Ontario is something marvellous<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_266" id="page_266">{266}</a></span> to the people of the -Old World. Look into our orchards and see the bushels of fruit lying -under the trees and going to waste, and this will convince the most -persistent grumbler that we are all right after all, and have but little -to grumble about. In thickly populated Europe all this fruit would have -been picked up and put to some use as human food. Every apple would be -used, and dried and stored away for future use. It is only the -plentifulness of everything in Ontario which causes our people to be so -wasteful. See our children take single bites from apples or pears, and -throw them away, only to bite another. Wasteful again, because of -exceeding abundance. Really our farmers have but little to grumble -about, for our land literally flows with milk and honey, and is one of -the most bountiful countries in the world.</p> - -<p>Some of our citizens now and again cast longing eyes towards Florida, -fancying that in that land of perpetual sunshine more pleasure can be -experienced than in our own land, possessing the four seasons clearly -and distinctly defined. It is quite a mistake. This beautiful Ontario of -ours presents, as the seasons flow along, a variety of contrasts in -scenes and foliage which the warm climates know not of. Our springs are -incomparably finer and pleasanter than anything down south, and our -foliage is greener and cleaner than hot countries can show. Our summers -are just hot enough to give us a taste of what hot weather really is, -and make us long for the russet fall season, with its golden grains, and -red-cheeked fruits, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_267" id="page_267">{267}</a></span> delightful sombre days, when our atmosphere -becomes veritable champagne in itself, followed by the forest pictures -of bright colors as the frost touches the foliage. Our bright, crisp, -clear, cold and jolly sleighing is life-giving to the uttermost human -extremity, and we would not have a warm, muddy, rainy winter if we -could. Then comes our spring season, just the interlude, as it were, -between winter and summer, when the old drifted snowbanks are -disappearing, and this is the season which gives us the “sugaring-off,” -which cannot be duplicated anywhere out of our North American continent.</p> - -<p>Ontarians have a glorious heritage in climate, soil, seasons, -government, and pleasures, and we do not need to be casting about for -anything better in this world, for it is not to be found. Any one of us -who does not love our beautiful country is recreant to his best -interests. Indeed, if he does not, I boldly assert it is only because of -his want of knowledge of other lands to enable him to make comparisons -with his own. Let us stick to our country and place it far to the fore, -as it is now quickly attaining to that position.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_268" id="page_268">{268}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXII" id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Criticisms by foreign authors—How Canada is regarded in other -countries—Passports—“Only a Colonist”—Virchow’s unwelcome -inference—Canadians are too modest—Imperfect guide-books—A -reciprocity treaty wanted.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">In</span> my readings from time to time I come across many remarks by foreign -and other authors, that I feel are belittling to our country. If we only -took to the self-laudation practised by our Yankee neighbors, such -arguments, or, rather, want of arguments—but rather noises—would at -least make us better known. I feel that we as a people are far too -modest. Remaining at home, or at least within our own boundaries, one -does not so keenly feel how little our country amounts to or is known -abroad. On travelling on the continent of Europe, now and then in -company with some Americans, and once getting away from the seaport -towns, I could not make the people understand that I was anything but a -Yankee. Since I came from America <i>du nord</i>, I must, of course, be a -Yankee, and no amount of explanation in the best French I could command -would make them understand that I was a British subject. One day -particularly, in Florence, Italy, I recollect buying a postage stamp, to -send a letter home, on which was<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_269" id="page_269">{269}</a></span> the plain address, Canada. Being -somewhat in doubt if I had placed sufficient postage on the letter, I -asked “if that was enough for Canada.” “<span class="lftspc">’</span>Tis all the same. All America, -all United States.” “But this is not for the United States.” “Oh, yes, -it’s all United States, all America, <i>du nord</i>.” And so my country -counted for nothing. The great Republic completely swamps us away from -home, disguise the fact as we may, and we may as well acknowledge it.</p> - -<p>Even in Liverpool, I recollect when walking down the landing-stage, -valise in hand, about to board the steamer to sail for home two summers -ago, a little newsboy ran up before me and said, “Sir, don’t you want to -buy the New York <i>Herald</i>?” Of course I bought the paper for the little -urchin’s shrewdness in picking me out as being from America. I only -mention this simple anecdote to show that across the Atlantic it’s all -America and all the United States, almost without a discrimination. In -the matter of passports, now happily not nearly so necessary in Europe -as formerly, I have found at different times it is always better to be -provided with one for emergencies which may at any time arise. Going -down into Italy by the Monte Cenis route, the officials dumped us all -out at Modaire, through which town and depot the line between France and -Italy passed. I had to enter a door and pass a drawn-up guard of -soldiers and through a passage for the examination of passports. Ahead -of us were a number of Americans, who simply showed the eagle on the -seal of their passports, and who were allowed to pass unchallenged.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_270" id="page_270">{270}</a></span> My -turn came, and I showed the lion on my Canadian passport, and then my -trouble came. It was not British, the examiner said, but from America, -and did not bear an eagle like the Americans’ passports. I felt -humiliated and disgusted, that my own country with its five millions, -and the third naval (commercial) power of the world, was literally -unknown. Fortunately for me the examination was not very strict, and I -passed by parting with a small coin or two.</p> - -<p>I would surely obtain a British passport if I were again travelling in -regions where passports are needed in order to get along easily and -without detentions.</p> - -<p>Americans when abroad on the Continent very frequently call upon their -consul, and would return to the hotel, telling us of the delightful hour -spent in genial talk with their consul, and the information obtained -from him, and letters of admission to galleries, museums, etc. -Consistently I cannot pass myself off as a Yankee and go with them, but -determine to visit the British consul, who ought perforce to be my own; -and I call on him, and he looks at my passport, which he deliberately -folds, and hands back to me. He is too well bred to treat me positively -rudely, but the general air of his demeanor instantly makes me feel that -he considers me “only a colonist” and a person of no account in -particular, and not really worth very much of his consideration. One -experience of this kind suffices usually, and hereafter I let the -consuls alone. To be “only a colonist” at home does not seem to weigh -one down<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_271" id="page_271">{271}</a></span> very much, but abroad to be told that a few times makes it -beyond human nature to not feel a spirit of resentment. As to being a -colonist it is quite right, and I am proud of the fact and do not wish -to change my position. If they would leave off the small word “only” -before “a colonist” it would take away all the sting, and make the -Canadian traveller feel that he is just as good as our British brothers -at home, our forefathers and relatives. When this “only a colonist” was -said to me, I generally felt it like the greeting accorded a son of some -obscure man; the son being exceedingly worthy, and having risen by his -talents, but “he’s only old Jones’s son,” and of course he can’t be -anybody. Canada is usually spoken of by foreign writers as a part of the -“frozen north.” This is really too bad when Ontario, which contains very -nearly one-half of the entire population of the Dominion, possesses a -climate far milder than the New England States, and quite as mild as -that of the great State of New York, just south of us. In an article on -“Acclimatization,” in the <i>Popular Science Monthly</i>, by so eminent an -author as Professor Virchow, is this sentence, “No one has, for example, -seen a people of the white race become black under the tropics, or -negroes transplanted to the polar regions, or to Canada, metamorphosed -into whites.” This coupling of us by implication with the frozen north, -coming from so eminent a man as Virchow, cuts. It is true that Canada -runs far to the north, but at the same time it would be just as fair to -speak of the United States as in the polar regions, since it has<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_272" id="page_272">{272}</a></span> -Alaska, which is veritably in the Arctic zone, but at the same time, and -just the same as with us, but a very small part of their population is -there. Writers never speak of the United States as in the polar regions.</p> - -<p>When we are not spoken of as inhabitants of the polar regions we are -described as French. Now, the inhabitants of Quebec have always -contended that they are the Canadians, and what the rest of us, the -great majority, are I can scarcely make out.</p> - -<p>Once I was in an office in Broadway, New York, and happened to state -that I was a Canadian. The Yankee manager of that office remarked “that -he as yet hardly knew how to classify Canadians—whether as Englishmen -or Americans—and, in fact, that the world had not yet made up its mind -what we were.” If we were all French (and I am not for a moment speaking -disparagingly of our <i>habitants</i>), we could then be easily classified. -But to be called “only a colonist” in Europe, and in New York neither an -Englishman nor an American, makes one’s position as a genuine Canadian a -little foggy. The effort to distinguish by the spelling “Canadians” for -the English-speaking, and “<i>Canadiens</i>” for the French-speaking, is all -very well, and will no doubt work well enough at home. But abroad the -average Englishman, if you spell Canadian with an “e,” will simply put -you down as an ignorant fellow and a poor speller. And now can you -wonder what the people of continental Europe will think of us, if they -think of us at all, as apart from the United States? The plain truth of<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_273" id="page_273">{273}</a></span> -the case is that we are far too modest, as I said at the beginning of -this chapter, and do not “blow” enough about our own country to cause it -to be better known abroad. The great west of the United States was -surely made and settled by the Yankee “blowing.” Their papers are ever -full of “spread eagle,” and always telling about their boundless -country, always praising their own institutions, and pulling down those -of the “oppressed monarchy of Great Britain,” and always representing -their country as the earthly paradise.</p> - -<p>Dr. Lyman Abbott, in the course of a visit to Ontario, frankly -admitted—privately, of course—that our free school system, and -likewise its management, were superior to those of the American States. -Then let us wake up, and since it seems to be absolutely necessary to -“blow” about ourselves, let us copy the apt example of the Yankees and -do it—and do it so strongly as to make up for past deficiencies.</p> - -<p>Guide books of travel, published both in America and Europe, for travel -in Canada, send the tourist invariably from New York City up the Hudson -by steamer to Albany; then by the New York Central Railway to Niagara -Falls. They do admit that the Falls are worth seeing. Then they send the -tourist by steamer to Toronto, and tell him to take the Richelieu -steamers, down the St. Lawrence from there, and run the rapids to -Montreal. From Montreal he is to take the night boat for Quebec and come -back again to Montreal by the day boat, and then go south to Lake -George, and this is all the<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_274" id="page_274">{274}</a></span> tourist is to see of Canada. Thousands of -American and British tourists form their opinions of us from what they -see on this water tour through Canada. Of course, going down Lake -Ontario they see next to nothing of us or our country, because the lake -is too big to see much on the shore. Entering the St. Lawrence, they -view shores studded with rocks, and have not the faintest idea of our -fertile lands and rich farms, which give to Ontario its wealth. The -wealth of Ontario is certainly in her comfortable homesteads and fertile -fields. Of this the tourist knows nothing, and he goes down to Quebec -city to see, as best he may in America to-day, the best example of a -city in the eighteenth century style; and he passes out of our borders, -having come almost wholly in contact with our French population, and -goes away considering our land a land of stones peopled by Frenchmen.</p> - -<p>The tourist travels too quickly to get proper impressions of a country, -I think I hear many readers say. Granted, but still many impressions are -got of countries by tourists by such rapid travelling, and we cannot -help the fact. The only way we can help the matter appears to me to be -for our railways to join and offer a general tourist ticket, taking the -tourist all over our country at a reasonable rate, and allowing him to -stop off when and where he will. Such tickets ought to be advertised in -Great Britain and the United States, and be on sale there. If once -bought they would be used. While using such tickets the tourist could -scarcely fail to get consider<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_275" id="page_275">{275}</a></span>able knowledge of us and of our country. -Tourists, as a rule, are persons of means and of influence at home. Many -of them might thus be induced to bring capital to our country and make -it their home, to our and their advantage.</p> - -<p>Ontario would make a grand State, the Americans tell us, when they look -with coveting eyes over this way. Yes, indeed, she would, and any other -one of the States would not keep pace with us; but they are not going to -get us. Give our people a reciprocity treaty, so that we can trade with -our American cousins, and leave Ontario to manage Ontario’s affairs, and -she will remain content. If a vote of Ontario farm-owners were taken -to-day on the reciprocity question, nine out of every ten would vote for -it, and we should have it. Our people are loyal and attached to the -Mother Country, and have no thought of severing the tie, but Britain is -3,000 miles away, and the United States is beside us. It is obvious that -we can more easily trade with the United States than Britain; hence, to -us, a treaty is to-day the greatest element in our politics. Even with -all the restrictions now imposed by the United States and ourselves, our -trade with the United States is enormous.</p> - -<p>Politicians may wrangle and fritter away our money at Ottawa, and cause -us to many times feel well-nigh disgusted at them; still, so long as -they do not resort to direct taxation at Ottawa our country people will -stand an almost untold amount of fraud without much complaint. If the -Mother Country<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_276" id="page_276">{276}</a></span> desires us to be joined into the talked-of universal -confederation, we would first like to know how we are to be benefited -thereby. For, as we now feel, we think that Ontario bears nearly all the -burdens of our Dominion, and we do not want to have tacked on to us any -more burdens or some other poor relatives of colonies. If the Mother -Country would put on a tariff against all the world except her own -colonies, and allow us free trade with her, we could see some use to us -for such a gigantic union. Just now, as it is, we do not want to join -any such scheme for an idea, although we reverently love and honor our -common Mother Country.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_277" id="page_277">{277}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIII" id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>Few positions for young Canadians of ambition—American -consulships—Bayard Taylor—S. S. Cox—Canadian High -Commissioner—Desirability of men of elevated life—Necessity for -developing a Canadian national spirit.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">It</span> has occurred to many of our young Canadians that there are very few -positions attainable to us as Canadians really worth striving for. We -are so peculiarly situated, that we seem to be in a large measure -debarred from obtaining positions which would ordinarily fall to the lot -of those attaining eminence among five millions of people. To become a -member of a Provincial Legislature is, perhaps, the first position -ambitious young men ordinarily aspire to; and while the position itself -is really honorable, and also one of usefulness, yet it is not wholly -satisfactory. As to becoming an M.P., and spending three dreary months -or so in Ottawa, it is not a desirable situation. In fact, most aspiring -young Canadians, who come from good homes, do not take kindly to the -idea of being forcibly banished for three months out of the twelve. In -Washington, on the other hand, since consuls and <i>charges d’affaires</i> of -all civilized nations are resident there, it naturally follows that that -capital must be the place of social activity<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_278" id="page_278">{278}</a></span> and the like, and a place -where one can meet persons worth knowing, and who are wholly different -from ourselves.</p> - -<p>To become a judge, no doubt, is the aspiration of many young Canadians, -and not for a moment would any one attempt to decry the desirableness of -that honorable position. Yet the fact is, that we have altogether too -many young men aspiring for legal positions. “Too many lawyers in Canada -by three-fourths” is heard among us as common everyday talk. Since -Canada has no foreign consular service, all consularships are squarely -and flatly out of our reach. Bayard Taylor began as a boy tramping over -Europe on foot, and gave the world his boyish volume of “Views Afloat,” -which is quite as readable to-day as when first penned. And he kept on -travelling until he became quite familiar with most of the languages of -modern Europe. Then a consulship was given him, and he really obtained a -position worth working for. At different courts he became the -representative of the great American nation, and enjoyed social -advantages which can fall only to the lot of persons thrown in contact, -as he necessarily was, with people from every quarter of the globe. -Finally he became ambassador at Berlin, and enjoyed the highest honors -there. There he died, and his body was sent back to his American home, -having been accorded especial honors by the German court. Here was a -career, it appears to the writer, which was really worth striving for. -He was not a lawyer, nor in any wise specially educated in any -particular<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_279" id="page_279">{279}</a></span> specialty, but yet with the career open to him, by dint of -his own push and good common-sense, he really rivalled in position any -of those among us who make political fights to get to Ottawa, or pore -over the midnight oil to become eminent in law. And what is true in Mr. -Taylor’s case is equally true in the case of many representatives who -to-day are the accredited representatives of the American Government at -the court of St. James. Take, for instance, the case of S. S. Cox, who -was American representative at Constantinople. Mr. Cox was, no doubt, a -tolerably clever man, but not a lawyer, though generously educated. Like -Taylor, he travelled and gave to the world the result of his -observations in his “Arctic Sunbeams” and “Orient Sunbeams.” True, he -had been a member of Congress, but even if one were to become an M.P. in -Canada that would not further him in any way for foreign preferments. No -one will for a moment doubt but that Cox’s position as <i>charge -d’affaires</i> at Constantinople was far preferable to that of any M.C. at -Washington, or an M.P. at Ottawa.</p> - -<p>We have a High Commissioner, some one reminds me. Yes, and we may -instance Sir Charles Tupper at London; but the social status of that -gentleman over there must have been so doubtful that one can hardly jump -to the conclusion that his position was desirable after all. Of course, -his salary would be desirable, but of that I am not speaking. Do not for -a moment suppose that Sir Charles would be very graciously received by -the representative of the Czar,<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_280" id="page_280">{280}</a></span> for instance. Obviously not, for he was -not a real ambassador, or even a consul, and he had no particular -powers, anyhow. The representative of the little kingdom of Greece, as -the representative of three millions of people, would have far more -social status in London than our Sir Charles, who ought to represent -over five millions, and half a continent. So I think I might as well -give over this matter of consulship, for there’s really nothing to be -attained in that direction.</p> - -<p>We educate a young man at home in one of our universities, and then to -give him a good finish send him off to Oxford, or perhaps to Heidelberg, -and our young man comes home the representative of one of our best -Canadian families. He has not been educated for a profession -particularly, for his parents as well as himself realize that the -professions are already quite full enough, and also that there’s no -<i>éclat</i> to be gained from the hardest drudgery in any one of them. Now, -I ask, what position is open to him at all commensurate with his careful -education and his talents? Really among us, as Canadians, there is none. -No doubt, at Oxford or Heidelberg, he has studied the laws of nations -and many matters of civil polity, and ought to be as well qualified, -after a little apprenticeship, as any one anywhere to be the foreign -representative of his own country at St. James, St. Cloud, or St. -Petersburg. But he cannot, and must either lead the life of a gentleman -of leisure among his people or go in for sordid money-getting. If he -leads the life of a gentleman of leisure he does not fully fill<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_281" id="page_281">{281}</a></span> the -sphere of usefulness his countrymen are by right of common citizenship -obviously justly entitled to. As to common money-getting, we hope never -to see the day when the most cultivated in our young country will give -themselves over wholly to that sordid life.</p> - -<p>An aristocracy in Canada is not what I am aiming at. But we do certainly -need some peer among us to leaven the mass, and keep us refined and up -to the social standard. The United States is already possessing such -persons. The case of Charles Sumner, for instance. He could have made -money as a lawyer, no doubt. But with his great talents and careful -education, he spent his life among his New England kin, except when -travelling or at Washington, and no one will for a moment deny but that -he leavened his fellows during his whole life. Political preferments or -legal standing he never sought after, but he, with his culture and pure -life, did real good to his fellows.</p> - -<p>It would be easy to elaborate and speak of many more such examples, both -in the United States and Britain. But having illustrated the point, I -have said sufficient to prove that such a cultured few among us are -desirable and to be commended. They do not call them aristocrats in the -United States, and I do not see why they should be so termed here. In -the future, as our country grows, and our old families become stable -with the steady growth of our country, their sons must be educated -broadly and generously, and will no doubt be a benefit to us by -leavening<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_282" id="page_282">{282}</a></span> the lump; and we certainly do not want to cast our ringers at -them, even if they do not get down to sordid money-getting, but seek for -something higher. Yet, as I set out to prove, there are really few -positions among us worth their striving for. If they would rise among us -and make themselves known, I fail to know where or how they are to do -it. Is a clerk or head of a department needed at Ottawa? Canadians, we -are led to know, do not as a rule get the preference. In very many -instances some one must be imported from the British Isles and given -that position right over the heads of our own fellows. Now, we all love -honor, and respect our common Mother Country, but this is carrying the -matter too far, without a doubt. Do not for a moment suppose any -Canadian will be exported from Canada to London to fill any one of the -clerkships or offices over there. Such an instance is not within my -knowledge, and I am at a loss to know why we need do it for the young -English, Scotch or Irish man. The remedy for the want of a goal for -Canadians I am not going to speak of. Let those who can, and wish, take -the matter up and tell us. Yet we do not want independence just now that -we may have foreign consuls and the like, and thus open careers for our -young men of abilities, for we are too poor yet to do all that. Nor do -we want annexation to the United States, for our people are unmistakably -British, disguise the fact as one may. Our people are really British in -thought and feeling, and are not disposed to throw off the Mother -Country. If Imperial federation ever takes place, it<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_283" id="page_283">{283}</a></span> is probable that -the different colonies will then have a resident <i>charge d’affaires</i> at -each sister colony, and our chosen members would assemble at the central -parliament at London. In this there would be a help to our ambitious -young men, and perhaps some remedies will thus come about. But it is -absurd to think that our rising young men will always be content to go -on as we are, finding no goal in our midst worth striving for. These -young men see, perhaps, their college-mates in the United States away -ahead of them in positions of trust, while they cannot possibly get -higher as Canadians, and are apt to become in a measure disgusted with -home. The writer can recall instances of his fellow college-mates in the -United States whom he thinks were no cleverer than himself, nor had they -any special advantage over him in any wise. Yet to-day in his memory he -can fix upon a number of such American college-mates who are now foreign -consuls of the United States Government, M.C’s, senators, and others who -occupy high positions in the army and navy of that Government. In -drawing the comparison between them and himself it is quite natural for -him to ask himself why his college associates so signally succeeded. The -answer must be because success could be obtained in their own country, -and such success led to preferments worth striving for, to the -contra-distinction of our own lot as Canadians, where there is no career -open to us.</p> - -<p>That we all love Canada, and are all satisfied with <span class="pagenum"><a name="page_284" id="page_284">{284}</a></span>our form of -government, goes without saying, yet somehow we are not developing a -national spirit in any wise whatever. It appears to me that we can and -ought to develop a spirit of patriotic pride among us, and I see nothing -incompatible with our position as provinces to hinder fostering such a -spirit. One great difficulty is that our flag and that of Britain are -exactly alike. Go away from home, and meet a Canadian vessel up in the -Mediterranean, for instance, and I defy you to tell if she be not an -ordinary British ship. The same ensign is at the peak, and there is -really nothing outwardly visible to make a Canadian’s heart swell with -pride on beholding a Canadian ship away from home. It seems to me that -we might have a flag of our own, not incompatible with the Union Jack, -which would cause us to cling to it and feel that it was really our own.</p> - -<p>In the way of a national ode there positively is nothing at all. Moore’s -boat song is the best thing we have by far, and is really a gem. But gem -as it is, recollect it was written by an Irishman, and is mainly about -boat life on our great river. Perhaps we are not old enough yet to -produce a genius capable of giving us a national ode, and yet we have -had some very good poems by Canadians, and I wish quickly to see the day -when some of our poets will give us a national ode which shall be a gem -for us to rally round. Let those who possess the proper poetic genius -ponder on this subject.</p> - -<p>Ask a Canadian young lady who sits down to the piano in Britain before a -drawing-room full of Britons<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_285" id="page_285">{285}</a></span> of both sexes to play something Canadian, -as I have heard asked there. Now just let our young lady musicians think -the matter over and make up their minds what they would play and sing -under such conditions. If our young ladies go over there, they must know -they will be asked for such songs, and I really hope, for the credit of -our country, they will not be compelled to fall back upon American songs -to represent Canada. Such songs may represent America, but the part -Canada plays on this continent will in such songs be sadly deficient.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_286" id="page_286">{286}</a></span></p> - -<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XXIV" id="CHAPTER_XXIV"></a>CHAPTER XXIV.</h2> - -<div class="blockquot"><p>A retrospect—Canada’s heroes—The places of their deeds should be -marked—Canada a young sleeping giant—Abundance of our -resources—Pulpwood for the world—Nickel—History of our early -days will be valued.</p></div> - -<p><span class="smcap">No</span> one can look back over the years covered by this volume of -reminiscences and observations of Canadian history and life without -being struck by the changes that have already taken place, and also by -the great possibilities of the future. At the close of the American -Revolution of 1776 there were not more than 80,000 white persons in all -of what we now call Canada with its confederated provinces. When Roger -Conant came to Upper Canada, on the termination of that lamentable -struggle, he found only 12,000 inhabitants in that province. At the time -of the War of 1812 there were in all Canada about one-fifth of a million -inhabitants, and in Upper Canada (Ontario) 55,000. It is only ninety -years since that war, and the increase has been a marvellous one. We -have nearly 3,000,000 inhabitants in what was formerly Upper Canada, and -5,000,000 in the whole Dominion. Let another period of ninety years -revolve around our land, and the millions that will then inhabit our -provinces will make our present<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_287" id="page_287">{287}</a></span> enumeration seem insignificant, as well -as those of our forefathers in 1792 and 1812.</p> - -<p>We know, of course, that the War of 1812 was Britain’s war. Canada was -really not a party to its origin. But it would be a bold person to-day -who would dare to assert that our forefathers did not do their duty in -that struggle. The world at large, as well as ourselves, recognizes that -they did all that a few poor but brave men could do.</p> - -<div class="poetry"> -<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> -<span class="i0">“Oh! few and weak their numbers were,<br /></span> -<span class="i3">A handful of brave men,<br /></span> -<span class="i1">But to their God they made their prayer,<br /></span> -<span class="i3">And rushed to battle then.”<br /></span> -</div></div> -</div> - -<p>There dwells no Canadian on his native soil whose heart does not swell -with pride at the valor of our forefathers in that war. For although it -was Britain’s quarrel, and we honestly felt that Britain had been rather -overbearing in her conduct to the United States, and had claimed too -much in indiscriminately searching American ships and removing any men -from them she chose, our people showed their valor, hardihood, and that -Anglo-Saxon pluck which is the common attribute of the white man on this -continent north of the Rio Grande River.</p> - -<p>If, then, we are proud of our sires, let us mark the places of their -deeds. Already the site of the famous battle between Wolfe and Montcalm -in Quebec, which sealed the fate of a continent, is in doubt. How much -more so, then, will be the sites of the deeds of our forefathers in the -War of 1812, and<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_288" id="page_288">{288}</a></span> the more recent struggle of the Canadian Revolution of -1837-38. The author submits that it is the duty of those who know these -historic spots to mark them by monuments or tablets. Very soon those who -know them to-day will be off the scene, and information as to the -whereabouts of these spots will be difficult, if not impossible, to -obtain. We are making history so very fast that it behoves us to bestir -ourselves with regard to these matters. Future historians will glean -every word we say, and view with eager interest every spot we mark.</p> - -<p>Truly we are laying the bricks and stones of the superstructure of this -great country of ours. Our 5,000,000 may seem insignificant to our -children’s 125,000,000 by and by, but our children will search most -diligently for all we did and said while in our adolescence.</p> - -<p>Canada to-day is a young sleeping giant which has not yet felt its -power, nor yet risen to consciousness of its own importance, wealth, -power and grandeur. Our future no one can read. While we are proud to be -a part of the great British Empire, and glory in it, we are none the -less Canadians first, and we must never forget it. Some deep political -thinkers and far-seeing statesmen have said that the white man’s -governments and the flags of Anglo-Saxondom will some day be unified and -made to wave over all the continent of North America north of the Rio -Grande. How that may be accomplished no one will have the hardihood to -predict. Our United States cousins may join us and a united flag may be -evolved.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_289" id="page_289">{289}</a></span> That such an amalgamation would most materially add to our -advancement is self-evident. We would like to see that gigantic stride -made and still remain members of the great Empire, if that be possible. -A treaty of commerce between us and the United States, be it reciprocity -or what not, would so very materially tend to our benefit that we would -risk much and give much to obtain it. There is such an abundance of food -for man and beast in Canada, and always has been, without a single -general failure of crops, that we cannot realize what such a failure -really means. Nor can we make comparisons between times of abundance and -years of want. No general failures have ever come to Canada, and while -it has never been uniformly productive, the past two seasons have -surpassed all previous records. We have seen harvests of 60,000,000 -bushels of grain in Manitoba, Alberta, Assiniboia and Saskatchewan, -seeking an outlet to Europe through the railways and canals of Ontario.</p> - -<p>Verily, Canada is a young sleeping giant which has not yet awakened to -its power. Our resources of all kinds are enormous. Take, for instance, -our vast supplies of pulp-wood spruce, the raw material of paper. -Explorers have found hundreds of square miles of this timber as yet -untouched by the hand of man, between the northerly boundary of Ontario -and James’ Bay. These forests may be cut off, but in twelve years will -again have grown ready for another cutting. It is freely asserted that -Canada has more spruce wood for pulp than all the world besides.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_290" id="page_290">{290}</a></span> The -resources of commercial white pine are also within Canadian borders. The -United States have almost exhausted theirs, and are coming for ours, but -they most ungenerously mulct us in $4.00 per 1,000 feet for duty on this -pine. This example very forcibly again reminds us that we particularly -want a treaty of commerce with our nearest neighbors. Canada’s resources -in pulp-wood and pine alone are sufficient to make her rich, and all -nations must yet pay tribute to us on this account. To these we may add -nickel, of which only New Caledonia besides has any quantity. Nickel the -nations must and will have, regardless of price. In extent of fertile -lands no nation can make a comparison with us. All these considerations -point to a marvellous development in the future. With the increase of -population and the spread of education we may take it for granted that -the history of our early days will become more and more interesting to -future generations, and that every genuine contribution to it will be -highly valued.</p> - -<p class="fint"><span class="smcap">The End.</span></p> - -<p><span class="pagenum"><a name="page_291" id="page_291">{291}</a></span> -</p> - -<hr /> - -<table border="2" cellpadding="10" cellspacing="0" style="border:3px solid black;"> -<tr><td class="c"> -<i><big><big>Upper Canada<br /> -Sketches</big></big></i><br /> -</td><td> - -<i>By ...<br /> -THOMAS<br /> -CONANT.</i> -</td></tr> -</table> - -<p class="nind">With 21 full-page illustrations by E. S. Shrapnel, lithographed in -colors. Printed on superior paper, with gilt top, and bound in buckram, -with cover design in green and gold.</p> - -<p class="c">PRICE, $3.50 net, postpaid</p> -<p> </p> - -<p class="cb"><big>..Press Comments..</big></p> - -<p class="hang">The <i>Journal of the Royal Colonial Institute</i>, London, England, -reviewing the book, gives the following admirable summary of its -scope and contents:</p> - -<p>“Stories regarding the early settlement of Canada always possess a -certain amount of fascination, and the book under notice is no exception -to the rule. It is of more than ordinary interest, as it is written by -one who is a descendant of the first Governor of Massachusetts, and the -grandson of one of the earliest settlers in Canadian territory. Mr. -Conant gives us many old settlers’ stories, as well as legends and -traditions of the past, and presents glimpses of the rude, free life -that obtained in the earlier years of settlement, whilst at the same -time he depicts many of the phases of present-day life in Canada, as -compared with the past. His personal experiences, which extend over many -years, are full of interesting details regarding life in Canada. Mr. -Conant not only describes the country and its advantages for settlement, -but supplies numerous anecdotes regarding its administration, both -politically and from a municipal point of view. He describes various -events in its history so graphically as to enable the reader to follow -him with interest through the many pages of the work, and to gain an -insight into the mode of life which existed in Canada long before the -railways opened up the country.”</p> - -<p class="nind"><i>The Toronto Globe</i>:</p> - -<p>The value of such unadorned records as those contained in Mr. Conant’s -book will be fully appreciated by the future historian. With many of his -contemporaries, the incidents he relates and the customs he describes -are a common memory, and will be vouched for as not only accurately set -forth in these pages, but with not a little incidental interest. Mr. -Conant is well known to a large constituency of Canadian readers as a -writer of some descriptive talent and with a pleasant colloquial style.</p> - -<p class="nind"><i>Toronto Mail and Empire</i>:</p> - -<p>“Mr. Conant has not only written a book that those interested in -Canadian history will want to read, but he has set a good example to -those who have the material for a family history.<span class="pagenum"><a name="page_292" id="page_292">{292}</a></span>”</p> -<p> </p> - -<p class="cb"><big>...Some Personal Commendations ...</big></p> - -<p><b>The Right Hon. Sir Wilfrid Laurier, G.C.M.G.</b>, writes the author: “I have -received your book, ‘Upper Canada Sketches,’ and I can assure you with -perfect sincerity that I enjoyed it very much.”</p> - -<p>“A friend called my attention to your ‘Upper Canada Sketches, and, -though I was only able to skim through it, yet I want to write and tell -you how much I enjoyed it.... It seems to be the most readable book in -that line that I have come across.”—<b>Miss Minnie Jean Nesbit</b>, Hamilton.</p> - -<p>“I have read, ‘Sketches’ with great pleasure. It is very good and does -you credit.”—<b>Dr. H. Wheeler</b>, Windsor, Eng.</p> - -<p>“I have read it [‘Upper Canada Sketches’] with great pleasure and -interest. It is, in paper, print, engravings, and margin, a pleasure to -look at, and you have brought together very valuable sketches of -life.”—<b>Miss Janet Carnochan</b>, Secretary Historical Society, Niagara.</p> - -<p>“I got for my own library, as soon as it appeared, a copy of your book, -and read it through with a great deal of interest and enjoyment.”—<b>C. C. -James</b>, Deputy Minister of Agriculture for Ontario.</p> - -<p>“I have greatly enjoyed Mr. Conant’s charming book, having read it from -cover to cover. While I don’t suppose it appeals to a down-east Yankee -like myself, as it must to a Canadian ‘to the manor born,’ I fully -appreciate its fine literary finish, stirring incident, and flavor of -‘ye olden time.’<span class="lftspc">”</span>—<b>Ada Chadwick Williams</b>, Chicago.</p> - -<p>“Am glad you found something of interest in my book. I could say the -same thing, many times emphasized, regarding your own fine -volume.”—<b>Frank H. Severance, Esq.</b>, Author of “Old Trails on the Niagara -Frontier.”</p> - -<p>“Your ‘Upper Canada Sketches’ are unique, and more references are made -to this book than to any other we have on Colonial history.”—<b>David -Boyle, Esq.</b>, Secretary Canadian Historical Society.</p> - -<p>“I read your ‘Upper Canada Sketches,’ and I must pay you the compliment -of saying that I could not get away from the atmosphere of that book for -a long time after reading it. I have seldom had scenes cling to me as -they did. I shall be greatly interested in anything further that you may -do along that line.”—<b>C. N. Johnston, L.D.S., D.D.S.</b>, Chicago.</p> - -<p><b>Mr. Fred Odell Conant</b>, author of “The Conant Genealogy,” writes: “I have -waited for an opportunity to look it over carefully before replying. It -is first-rate, and, so far as I can judge, gives a very good -representation of life in the early days in the wilds of Upper Canada. I -have been much interested in its perusal, and shall send for two or -three more copies at once. You have the gift of making interesting -reading.”</p> - -<p class="cb"> -<i>WILLIAM BRIGGS, Publisher</i>,<br /> -29-33 Richmond Street West, - - Toronto, Ont.<br /> -</p> - -<div class="footnotes"><p class="cb">FOOTNOTES:</p> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> <i>Vide</i> “Upper Canada Sketches,” by the author.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> <i>Vide</i> “Upper Canada Sketches,” by the author.</p></div> - -<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> The author’s forbears then lived on the shore of Lake -Ontario, at Port Oshawa. Word came to them of the taking of York during -the night of April 26-27, and that the fort would be blown up if the -Americans entered it. They were, therefore, on the <i>qui vive</i> for the -explosion. For thirty-three miles to Port Oshawa on that still April -afternoon the sound of the explosion followed the water along the shore, -and the author’s people distinctly heard the heavy boom they were -waiting for. Hence it may be gathered that the blowing up of the fort -was premeditated.</p></div> - -</div> -<hr class="full" /> -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN CANADA ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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