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diff --git a/6663.txt b/6663.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..78cce06 --- /dev/null +++ b/6663.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6451 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Life in Canada Fifty Years Ago, by Canniff Haight + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: Life in Canada Fifty Years Ago + +Author: Canniff Haight + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6663] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on January 10, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, LIFE IN CANADA FIFTY YEARS AGO *** + + + + +Tonya Allen, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team. This file was produced from images generously made +available by the Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions. + + + +LIFE IN CANADA FIFTY YEARS AGO: + + +PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS AND REMINISCENCES OF A SEXAGENARIAN. + + +BY CANNIFF HAIGHT + + + + +"Ah, happy years! Once more who would not be a boy?" + +_Childe Harold's Pilgrimage._ + + + + +TO THE YOUNG MEN OF CANADA, + +UPON WHOSE INTEGRITY AND ENERGY OF CHARACTER THE FUTURE OF THIS GREAT +HERITAGE OF OURS RESTS, + +THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED BY THE AUTHOR. + + + + +PREFACE. + + + +When a man poses before the world--even the Canadian world--in the +_role_ of an author, he is expected to step up to the footlights, +and explain his purpose in presenting himself before the public in that +capacity. + +The thoughts of the world are sown broadcast, very much as the seed +falls from the sweep of the husbandman's hand. It drops here and there, +in good ground and in stony places. Its future depends upon its +vitality. Many a fair seed has fallen on rich soil, and never reached +maturity. Many another has shot up luxuriantly, but in a short time has +been choked by brambles. Other seeds have been cast out with the chaff +upon the dung heap, and after various mutations, have come in contact +with a clod of earth, through which they have sent their roots, and have +finally grown into thrifty plants. A thought thrown out on the world, if +it possesses vital force, never dies. How much is remembered of the work +of our greatest men? Only a sentence here and there; and many a man +whose name will go down through all the ages, owes it to the truth or +the vital force of the thought embedded in a few brief lines. + +I have very little to say respecting the volume here with presented to +the public. The principal contents appeared a short time ago in the +_Canadian Monthly_ and the _Canadian Methodist Magazine_. They +were written at a time when my way seemed hedged around with +insurmountable difficulties, and when almost anything that could afford +me a temporary respite from the mental anxieties that weighed me down, +not only during the day, but into the long hours of the night, would +have been welcomed. Like most unfortunates, I met Mr. Worldly Wiseman +from day to day. I always found him ready to point out the way I should +go and what I should do, but I have no recollection that he ever got the +breadth of a hair beyond that. One evening I took up my pen and began +jotting down a few memories of my boyhood. I think we are all fond of +taking retrospective glances, and more particularly when life's pathway +trends towards the end. The relief I found while thus engaged was very +soothing, and for the time I got altogether away from the present, and +lived over again many a joyous hour. After a time I had accumulated a +good deal of matter, such as it was, but the thought of publication had +not then entered my mind. One day, while in conversation with Dr. +Withrow, I mentioned what I had done, and he expressed a desire to see +what I had written. The papers were sent him, and in a short time he +returned them with a note expressing the pleasure the perusal of them +had afforded him, and advising me to submit them to the _Canadian +Monthly_ for publication. Sometime afterwards I followed his advice. +The portion of the papers that appeared in the last-named periodical +were favourably received, and I was much gratified not only by that, but +from private letters afterwards received from different parts of the +Dominion, conveying expressions of commendation which I had certainly +never anticipated. This is as much as need be said about the origin and +first publication of the papers which make up the principal part of this +volume. I do not deem it necessary to give any reasons for putting them +in book form; but I may say this: the whole has been carefully revised, +and in its present shape I hope will meet with a hearty welcome from a +large number of Canadians. + +In conclusion, I wish to express my thanks to the Hon. J.C. Aikins, +Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba, for information he procured for me at +the time of publication, and particularly to J.C. Dent, Esq., to whom I +am greatly indebted for many useful hints. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + +DEDICATION + +PREFACE + +CHAPTER I. + +The prose and poetry of pioneer life in the backwoods--The log house-- +Sugar making--An omen of good luck--My Quaker grandparents--The old +home--Winter evenings at the fireside--Rural hospitality--Aristocracy +_versus_ Democracy--School days--Debating societies in the olden +time--A rural orator clinches the nail--Cider, sweet and otherwise-- +Husking in the barn--Hog killing and sausage making--Full cloth and +corduroy--Winter work and winter amusements--A Canadian skating song. + +CHAPTER II. + +The round of pioneer life--Game--Night fishing--More details about +sugar-making--Sugaring-off--Taking a hand at the old churn--Sheep- +washing--Country girls, then and now--Substance and Shadow--"Old Gray" +and his eccentricities--Harvest--My early emulation of Peter Paul +Rubens--Meeting-houses--Elia on Quaker meetings--Variegated autumn +landscapes--Logging and quilting bees--Evening fun--The touching lay of +the young woman who sat down to sleep. + +CHAPTER III. + +Progress, material and social--Fondness of the young for dancing-- +Magisterial nuptials--The charivari--Goon-hunting--Catching a tartar-- +Wild pigeons--The old Dutch houses--Delights of summer and winter +contrasted--Stilled voices. + +CHAPTER IV. + +The early settlers in Upper Canada--Prosperity, national and individual-- +The old homes, without and within--Candle-making--Superstitions and +omens--The death-watch--Old almanacs--Bees--The divining rod--The U. E. +Loyalists--Their sufferings and heroism--An old and a new price list-- +Primitive horologes--A jaunt in one of the conventional "carriages" of +olden times--Then and now--A note of warning + +CHAPTER V. + +Jefferson's definition of "Liberty"--How it was acted upon--The Canadian +renaissance--Burning political questions in Canada half a century ago-- +Locomotion--Mrs. Jameson on Canadian stagecoaches--Batteaux and Durham +boats + +CHAPTER VI. + +Road-making--Weller's line of stages and steamboats--My trip from +Hamilton to Niagara--Schools and colleges--Pioneer Methodist Preachers-- +Solemnization of matrimony--Literature and libraries--Early newspapers-- +Primitive editorial articles + +CHAPTER VII. + +Banks--Insurance--Marine--Telegraph companies--Administration of +Justice--Milling and manufactures--Rapid increase of population in +cities and towns--Excerpts from Andrew Picken + +SKETCHES OF EARLY HISTORY:-- + +Early schools and schoolmasters--Birth of the American Republic--Love +of country--Adventures of a U.E. Loyalist family ninety years ago--The +wilds of Upper Canada--Hay bay--Hardships of pioneer life--Growth of +population--Division of the Canadian Provinces--Fort Frontenac--The +"dark days"--Celestial fireworks--Early steam navigation in Canada--The +country merchant Progress--The Hare and the Tortoise + +RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS EARLY DAYS + +Paternal memories--A visit to the home of my boyhood--The old Quaker +meeting-house--Flashes of silence--The old burying ground--"To the +memory of Eliza"--Ghostly experiences--Hiving the Bees--Encounter with a +bear--Giving "the mitten"--A "boundary question"--Song of the bullfrog-- +Ring--Sagacity of animals--Training-days--Picturesque scenery on the +Bay of Quinte--John A. Macdonald--A perilous journey--Aunt Jane and +Willet Casey + + + + +CHAPTER I. + + "I talk of dreams, + For you and I are past our dancing days." +--_Romeo and Juliet_. + +THE PROSE AND POETRY OF PIONEER LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS--THE LOG HOUSE-- +SUGAR MAKING--AN OMEN OF GOOD LUCK--MY QUAKER GRANDPARENTS--THE OLD +HOME--WINTER EVENINGS AT THE FIRESIDE--RURAL HOSPITALITY--ARISTOCRACY +versus DEMOCRACY--SCHOOL DAYS--DEBATING SOCIETIES IN THE OLDEN TIME--A +RURAL ORATOR CLINCHES THE NAIL--CIDER, SWEET AND OTHERWISE--HUSKING IN +THE BARN--HOG KILLING AND SAUSAGE MAKING--FULL CLOTH AND CORDUROY-- +WINTER WORK AND WINTER AMUSEMENTS--A CANADIAN SKATING SONG. + + + +I was born in the County of ----, Upper Canada, on the 4th day of June, +in the early part of this present century. I have no recollection of my +entry into the world, though I was present when the great event +occurred; but I have every reason to believe the date given is correct, +for I have it from my mother and father, who were there at the time, and +I think my mother had pretty good reason to know all about it. I was the +first of the family, though my parents had been married for more than +five years before I presented myself as their hopeful heir, and to +demand from them more attention than they anticipated. "Children," says +the Psalmist, "are an heritage, and he who hath his quiver full of them +shall not be ashamed; they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." I +do not know what effect this had on my father's enemies, if he had any; +but later experience has proved to me that those who rear a numerous +progeny go through a vast deal of trouble and anxiety. At any rate I +made my appearance on the stage, and began my performance behind the +footlights of domestic bliss. I must have been a success, for I called +forth a great deal of applause from my parents, and received their +undivided attention. But other actors came upon the boards in more rapid +succession, so that in a few years the quiver of my father was well +filled, and he might have met "his enemies in the gate." + +My father, when he married, bought a farm. Of course it was all woods. +Such were the only farms available for young folk to commence life with +in those days. Doubtless there was a good deal of romance in it. Love in +a cot; the smoke gracefully curling; the wood-pecker tapping, and all +that; very pretty. But alas, in this work-a-day world, particularly the +new one upon which my parents then entered, these silver linings were +not observed. They had too much of the prose of life. + +A house was built--a log one, of the Canadian rustic style then much in +vogue, containing one room, and that not very large either; and to this +my father brought his young bride. Their outfit consisted, on his part, +of a colt, a yoke of steers, a couple of sheep, some pigs, a gun, and an +axe. My mother's _dot_ comprised a heifer, bed and bedding, a table +and chairs, a chest of linen, some dishes, and a few other necessary +items with which to begin housekeeping. This will not seem a very lavish +set-out for a young couple on the part of parents who were at that time +more than usually well-off. But there was a large family on both sides, +and the old people then thought it the better way to let the young folk +try their hand at making a living before they gave them of their +abundance. If they succeeded they wouldn't need much, and if they did +not, it would come better after a while. + +My father was one of a class of young men not uncommon in those days, +who possessed energy and activity. He was bound to win. What the old +people gave was cheerfully accepted, and he went to work to acquire the +necessaries and comforts of life with his own hands. He chopped his way +into the stubborn wood and added field to field. The battle had now been +waged for seven or eight years; an addition had been made to the house; +other small comforts had been added, and the nucleus of future +competence fairly established. + +One of my first recollections is in connection with the small log barn +he had built, and which up to that date had not been enlarged. He +carried me out one day in his arms, and put me in a barrel in the middle +of the floor. This was covered with loosened sheaves of wheat, which he +kept turning over with a wooden fork, while the oxen and horse were +driven round and round me. I did not know what it all meant then, but I +afterwards learned that he was threshing. This was one of the first rude +scenes in the drama of the early settlers' life to which I was +introduced, and in which I had to take a more practical part in after +years. I took part, also, very early in life, in sugar-making. The sap- +bush was not very far away from the house, and the sap-boiling was under +the direction of my mother, who mustered all the pots and kettles she +could command, and when they were properly suspended over the fire on +wooden hooks, she watched them, and rocked me in a sap-trough. Father's +work consisted in bringing in the sap with two pails, which were carried +by a wooden collar about three feet long, and made to fit the shoulder, +from each end of which were fastened two cords with hooks to receive the +bail of the pails, leaving the arms free except to steady them. He had +also to cut wood for the fire. I afterwards came to take a more active +part in these duties, and used to wish I could go back to my primitive +cradle. But time pushed me on whether I would or not, until I scaled the +mountain top of life's activities; and now, when quietly descending into +the valley, my gaze is turned affectionately towards those early days. I +do not think they were always bright and joyous, and I am sure I often +chafed under the burdens imposed upon me; but how inviting they seem +when viewed through the golden haze of retrospection. + +My next recollection is the raising of a frame barn behind the house, +and of a niece of my father's holding me in her arms to see the men +pushing up the heavy "bents" with long poles. The noise of the men +shouting and driving in the wooden pins with great wooden beetles, away +up in the beams and stringers, alarmed me a great deal, but it all went +up, and then one of the men mounted the plate (the timber on which the +foot of the rafter rests) with a bottle in his hand, and swinging it +round his head three times, threw it off in the field. If the bottle was +unbroken it was an omen of good luck. The bottle, I remember, was picked +up whole, and shouts of congratulation followed. Hence, I suppose, the +prosperity that attended my father. + +The only other recollection I have of this place was of my father, who +was a very ingenious man, and could turn his hand to almost everything, +making a cradle for my sister, for this addition to our number had +occurred. I have no remembrance of any such fanciful crib being made for +my slumbers. Perhaps the sap-trough did duty for me in the house as well +as in the bush. The next thing was our removal, which took place in the +winter, and all that I can recall of it is that my uncle took my mother, +sister, and myself away in a sleigh, and we never returned to the little +log house. My father had sold his farm, bought half of his old home, and +come to live with his parents. They were Quakers. My grandfather was a +short, robust old man, and very particular about his personal +appearance. Half a century has elapsed since then, but the picture of +the old man taking his walks about the place, in his closely-fitting +snuff-brown cut-away coat, knee-breeches, broad-brimmed hat and silver- +headed cane is distinctively fixed in my memory. He died soon after we +took up our residence with him, and the number who came from all parts +of the country to the funeral was a great surprise to me. I could not +imagine where so many people came from. The custom prevailed then, and +no doubt does still, when a death occurred, to send a messenger, who +called at every house for many miles around to give notice of the death, +and of when and where the interment would take place. + +[Illustration: THE FIRST HOME.] + +My grandmother was a tall, neat, motherly old woman, beloved by +everybody. She lived a number of years after her husband's death, and I +seem to see her now, sitting at one side of the old fire-place knitting. +She was always knitting, and turning out scores of thick warm socks and +mittens for her grandchildren. + +At this time a great change had taken place, both in the appearance of +the country and in the condition of the people. It is true that many of +the first settlers had ceased from their labours, but there were a good +many left--old people now, who were quietly enjoying, in their declining +years, the fruit of their early industry. Commodious dwellings had taken +the place of the first rude houses. Large frame barns and outhouses had +grown out of the small log ones. The forest in the immediate +neighbourhood had been cleared away, and well-tilled fields occupied its +place. Coarse and scanty fare had been supplanted by a rich abundance of +all the requisites that go to make home a scene of pleasure and +contentment. Altogether a substantial prosperity was apparent. A genuine +content and a hearty good will, one towards another, existed in all the +older parts. The settled part as yet, however, formed only a very narrow +belt extending along the bay and lake shores. The great forest lay close +at hand in the rear, and the second generation, as in the case of my +father, had only to go a few miles to find it, and commence for +themselves the laborious struggle of clearing it away. + +The old home, as it was called, was always a place of attraction, and +especially so to the young people, who were sure of finding good cheer +at grandfather's. What fun, after the small place called home, to have +the run of a dozen rooms, to haunt the big cellar, with its great heaps +of potatoes and vegetables, huge casks of cider, and well-filled bins of +apples, or to sit at the table loaded with the good things which +grandmother only could supply. How delicious the large piece of pumpkin +pie tasted, and how toothsome the rich crullers that melted in the +mouth! Dear old body! I can see her now going to the great cupboard to +get me something saying as she goes, "I'm sure the child is hungry." And +it was true, he was always hungry; and how he managed to stow away so +much is a mystery I cannot now explain. There was no place in the world +more to be desired than this, and no spot in all the past the +recollection of which is more bright and joyous. + +My father now assumed the management of affairs. The old people reserved +one room to themselves, but it was free to all, particularly to us +children. It was hard to tell sometimes which to choose, whether the +kitchen, where the family were gathered round the cheerful logs blazing +brightly in the big fire-place, or a stretch on the soft rag-carpet +beside the box stove in grandmother's room. This room was also a +sanctuary to which we often fled to escape punishment after doing some +mischief. We were sure of an advocate there, if we could reach it in +time. + +The house was a frame one, as nearly all the best houses were in those +days, and was painted a dark yellow. There were two kitchens, one used +for washing and doing the heavier household work in; the other, +considerably larger, was used by the family. In the latter was the large +fire-place, around which gathered in the winter time bright and happy +faces; where the old men smoked their pipes in peaceful reverie, or +delighted us with stories of other days; where mother darned her socks, +and father mended our boots; where the girls were sewing, and uncles +were scraping axe-handles with bits of glass, to make them smooth. There +were no drones in farm-houses then; there was something for every one to +do. At one side of the fire-place was the large brick oven with its +gaping mouth, closed with a small door, easily removed, where the bread +and pies were baked. Within the fire-place was an iron crane securely +fastened in the jamb, and made to swing in and out with its row of iron +pot-hooks of different lengths, on which to hang the pots used in +cooking. Cook stoves had not yet appeared to cheer the housewife and +revolutionize the kitchen. Joints of meat and poultry were roasted on +turning spits, or were suspended before the fire by a cord and wire +attached to the ceiling. Cooking was attended with more difficulties +then. Meat was fried in long-handled pans, and the short-cake that so +often graced the supper table, and played such havoc with the butter and +honey, with the pancakes that came piping hot on the breakfast table, +owed their finishing touch to the frying pan. The latter, however, were +more frequently baked on a large griddle with a bow handle made to hook +on the crane. This, on account of its larger surface, enabled the cook +to turn out these much-prized cakes, when properly made, with greater +speed; and in a large family an expert hand was required to keep up the +supply. Some years later an ingenious Yankee invented what was called a +"Reflector," made of bright tin for baking. It was a small tin oven with +a slanting top, open at one side, and when required for use was set +before the fire on the hearth. This simple contrivance was a great +convenience, and came into general use. Modern inventions in the +appliances for cooking have very much lessened the labour and increased +the possibilities of supplying a variety of dishes, but it has not +improved the quality of them. There were no better caterers to hungry +stomachs than our mothers, whose practical education had been received +in grandmother's kitchen. The other rooms of the house comprised a +sitting-room--used only when there was company--a parlour, four +bedrooms, and the room reserved for the old people. Up-stairs were the +sleeping and store-rooms. In the hall stood the tall old fashioned house +clock, with its long pendulum swinging to and fro with slow and measured +beat. Its face had looked upon the venerable sire before his locks were +touched with the frost of age. When his children were born it indicated +the hour, and it had gone on telling off the days and years until the +children were grown. And when a wedding day had come, it had rung a +joyful peal through the house, and through the years the old hands had +travelled on, the hammer had struck off the hours, and another +generation had come to look upon it and grow familiar with its constant +tick. + +[Illustration: GRANDFATHER'S.] + +The furniture was plain and substantial, more attention being given to +durability than to style or ornament. Easy chairs--save the spacious +rocking-chair for old women--and lounges were not seen. There was no +time for lolling on well-stuffed cushions. The rooms were heated with +large double box stoves, very thick and heavy, made at Three Rivers; and +by their side was always seen a large wood-box, well filled with sound +maple or beech wood. But few pictures adorned the walls, and these were +usually rude prints far inferior to those we get every day now from the +illustrated papers. Books, so plentiful and cheap now-a-days, were then +very scarce, and where a few could be found, they were mostly heavy +doctrinal tomes piled away on some shelf where they were allowed to +remain. + +The home we now inhabited was altogether a different one from that we +had left in the back concession, but it was like many another to be +found along the bay shore. Besides my own family, there were two younger +brothers of my father, and two grown-up nieces, so that when we all +mustered round the table, there was a goodly number of hearty people +always ready to do justice to the abundant provision made. This reminds +me of an incident or two illustrative of the lavish manner with which a +well-to-do farmer's table was supplied in those days. A Montreal +merchant and his wife were spending an evening at a very highly-esteemed +farmer's house. At the proper time supper was announced, and the +visitors, with the family, were gathered round the table, which groaned, +metaphorically speaking, under the load it bore. There were turkey, beef +and ham, bread and the favourite short cake, sweet cakes in endless +variety, pies, preserves, sauces, tea, coffee, cider, and what not. The +visitors were amazed, as they might well be, at the lavish display of +cooking, and they were pressed, with well-meant kindness, to partake +heartily of everything. They yielded good-naturedly to the entreaties to +try this and that as long as they could, and paused only when it was +impossible to take any more. When they were leaving, the merchant asked +his friend when they were coming to Montreal, and insisted that they +should come soon, promising if they would only let him know a little +before when they were coming he would buy up everything there was to be +had in the market for supper. On another occasion an English gentleman +was spending an evening at a neighbour's, and, as usual, the supper +table was crowded with everything the kind-hearted hostess could think +of. The guest was plied with dish after dish, and, thinking it would be +disrespectful if he did not take something from each, he continued to +eat, and take from the dishes as they were passed, until he found his +plate, and all the available space around him, heaped up with cakes and +pie. To dispose of all he had carefully deposited on his plate and +around it seemed utterly impossible, and yet he thought he would be +considered rude if he did not finish what he had taken, and he struggled +on, with the perspiration visible on his face, until in despair he asked +to be excused, as he could not eat any more if it were to save his life. + +It was the custom in those days for the hired help (the term servant was +not used) to sit at the table, with the family. On one occasion, a +Montreal merchant prince was on a visit at a wealthy Quaker's, who owned +a large farm, and employed a number of men in the summer. It was +customary in this house for the family to seat themselves first at the +head of the table, after which the hired hands all came in, and took the +lower end. This was the only distinction. They were served just as the +rest of the family. On this occasion the guest came out with the family, +and they were seated. Then the hired men and girls came in and did the +same, whereupon the merchant left the table and the room. The old lady, +thinking there was something the matter with the man, soon after +followed him into the sitting-room, and asked him if he was ill. He said +"No." "Then why did thee leave the table?" thee old lady enquired. +"Because," said he, "I am not accustomed to eat with servants." "Very +well," replied the old lady, "if thee cannot eat with us, thee will have +to go without thy dinner." His honour concluded to pocket his dignity, +and submit to the rules of the house. + +I was sent to school early--more, I fancy, to get me out of the way for +a good part of the day, than from any expectation that I would learn +much. It took a long time to hammer the alphabet into my head. But if I +was dull at school, I was noisy and mischievous enough at home, and very +fond of tormenting my sisters. Hence, my parents--and no child ever had +better ones--could not be blamed very much if they did send me to school +for no other reason than to be rid of me. The school house was close at +hand, and its aspect is deeply graven in my memory. My first +schoolmaster was an Englishman who had seen better days. He was a good +scholar, I believe, but a poor teacher. The school house was a small +square structure, with low ceiling. In the centre of the room was a box +stove, around which the long wooden benches without backs were ranged. +Next the walls were the desks, raised a little from the floor. In the +summer time the pupils were all of tender years, the elder ones being +kept at home to help with the work. At the commencement of my +educational course I was one of a little lot of urchins ranged daily on +hard wooden seats, with our feet dangling in the air, for seven or eight +hours a day. In such a plight we were expected to be very good children, +to make no noise, and to learn our lessons. It is a marvel that so many +years had to elapse before parents and teachers could be brought to see +that keeping children in such a position for so many hours was an act of +great cruelty. The terror of the rod was the only thing that could keep +us still, and that often failed. Sometimes, tired and weary, we fell +asleep and tumbled off the bench, to be roused by the fall and the rod. +In the winter time the small school room was filled to overflowing with +the larger boys and girls. This did not improve our condition, for we +were mere closely packed together, and were either shivering with the +cold or being cooked with the red-hot stove. In a short time after, the +old school house, where my father, I believe, had got his schooling, was +hoisted on runners, and, with the aid of several yoke of oxen, was taken +up the road about a mile and enlarged a little. This event brought my +course of study to an end for a while. I next sat under the rod of an +Irish pedagogue--an old man who evidently believed that the only way to +get anything into a boy's head was to pound it in with a stick through +his back. There was no discipline, and the noise we made seemed to rival +a Bedlam. We used to play all sorts of tricks on the old man, and I was +not behind in contriving or carrying them into execution. One day, +however, I was caught and severely thrashed. This so mortified me, that +I jumped out of the window and went home. An investigation followed, and +I was whipped by my father and sent back. Poor old Dominic, he has long +since put by his stick, and passed beyond the reach of unruly boys. Thus +I passed on from teacher to teacher, staying at home in the summer, and +resuming my books again in the winter. Sometimes I went to the old +school house up the road, sometimes to the one in an opposite direction. +The latter was larger, and there was generally a better teacher, but it +was much farther, and I had to set off early in the cold frosty mornings +with my books and dinner basket, often through deep snow and drifts. At +night I had to get home in time to help to feed the cattle and get in +the wood for the fires. The school houses then were generally small and +uncomfortable, and the teachers were often of a very inferior order. The +school system of Canada, which has since been moulded by the skilful +hand of Dr. Ryerson into one of the best in the world, and which will +give to his industry and genius a more enduring record than stone or +brass, was in my day very imperfect indeed. It was, perhaps, up with +the times. But when the advantages which the youth of this country now +possess are compared with the small facilities we had of picking up a +little knowledge, it seems almost a marvel that we learned anything. +Spelling matches came at this time into vogue, and were continued for +several years. They occasioned a friendly rivalry between schools, and +were productive of good. The meetings took place during the long winter +nights, either weekly or fortnightly. Every school had one or more prize +spellers, and these were selected to lead the match; or if the school +was large, a contest between the girls and boys came off first. +Sometimes two of the best spellers were selected by the scholars as +leaders, and these would proceed to 'choose sides;' that is, one would +choose a fellow pupil, who would rise and take his or her place, and +then the other, continuing until the list was exhausted. The +preliminaries being completed, the contest began. At first the lower end +of the class was disposed of, and as time wore on one after another +would make a slip and retire, until two or three only were left on +either side. Then the struggle became exciting, and scores of eager eyes +were fixed on the contestants. With the old hands there was a good deal +of fencing, though the teacher usually had a reserve of difficult words +to end the fight, which often lasted two or three hours. He failed +sometimes, and then it was a drawn battle to be fought on another +occasion. + +Debating classes also met and discussed grave questions, upon such old- +fashioned subjects as these: + +"Which is the more useful to man, wood or iron?" "Which affords the +greater enjoyment, anticipation or participation?" "Which was the +greater general, Wellington or Napoleon?" Those who were to take part in +the discussion were always selected at a previous meeting, so that all +that had to be done was to select a chairman and commence the debate. I +can give from memory a sample or two of these first attempts. "Mr. +President, Ladies and Gentlemen: Unaccustomed as I am to public +speaking, I rise to make a few remarks on this all important question-- +ahem--Mr. President, this is the first time I ever tried to speak in +public, and unaccustomed as I am to--to--ahem. Ladies and Gentlemen, I +think our opponents are altogether wrong in arguing that Napoleon was a +greater general than Wellington--ahem--I ask you, Mr. President, did +Napoleon ever thrash Wellington? Didn't Wellington always thrash him, +Mr. President? Didn't he whip him at Waterloo and take him prisoner? and +then to say that he is a greater general than Wellington--why, Mr. +President, he couldn't hold a candle to him. Ladies and Gentlemen, I say +that Napoleon wasn't a match for him at all. Wellington licked him every +time--and--yes, licked him every time. I can't think of any more, Mr. +President, and I will take my seat, Sir, by saying that I'm sure you +will decide in our favour from the strong arguments our side has +produced." + +After listening to such powerful reasoning, some one of the older +spectators would ask Mr. President to be allowed to say a few words on +some other important question to be debated, and would proceed to air +his eloquence and instruct the youth on such a topic as this: "Which is +the greater evil, a scolding wife or a smoky chimney?" After this wise +the harangue would proceed:--"Mr. President, I have been almost mad a- +listening to the debates of these 'ere youngsters--they don't know +nothing at all about the subject. What do they know about the evil of a +scolding wife? Wait till they have had one for twenty years, and been +hammered, and jammed, and slammed, all the while. Wait till they've been +scolded because the baby cried, because the fire wouldn't burn, because +the room was too hot, because the cow kicked over the milk, because it +rained, because the sun shined, because the hens didn't lay, because the +butter wouldn't come, because the old cat had kittens, because they came +too soon for dinner, because they were a minute late--before they talk +about the worry of a scolding wife. Why Mr. President, I'd rather hear +the clatter of hammers and stones and twenty tin pans, and nine brass +kettles, than the din, din, din of the tongue of a scolding woman; yes, +sir, I would. To my mind, Mr. President, a smoky chimney is no more to +be compared to a scolding wife than a little nigger is to a dark night." +These meetings were generally well attended, and conducted with +considerable spirit. If the discussions were not brilliant, and the +young debater often lost the thread of his argument--in other words, got +things "mixed"--he gained confidence, learned to talk in public, and to +take higher flights. Many of our leading public men learned their first +lessons in the art of public speaking in the country debating school. + +Apple trees were planted early by the bay settlers, and there were now +numerous large orchards of excellent fruit. Pears, plums, cherries, +currants and gooseberries were also common. The apple crop was gathered +in October, the best fruit being sent to the cellar for family use +during winter, and the rest to the cider mill. + +The cider mills of those days were somewhat rude contrivances. The mill +proper consisted of two cogged wooden cylinders about fourteen inches in +diameter and perhaps twenty-six inches in length, placed in an upright +position in a frame. The pivot of one of these extended upward about six +feet, and at its top was secured the long shaft to which the horse was +attached, and as it was driven round and round, the mill crunched the +apples, with many a creak and groan, and shot them out on the opposite +side. The press which waited to receive the bruised mass was about eight +feet square, round the floor of which, near the edge, ran a deep groove +to carry off the juice. In making what is known as the cheese, the first +process was to spread a thick layer of long rye or wheat straw round the +outer edge, on the floor of the press. Upon this the pulp was placed to +the depth of a foot or more. The first layer of straw was then turned in +carefully, and another layer of straw put down as in the first place, +upon which more pulp was placed, and so on from layer to layer, until +the cheese was complete. Planks were then placed on the top, and the +pressure of the powerful wooden screw brought to bear on the mass. At +once a copious stream of cider began to flow into the casks or vat, and +here the fun began with the boys, who, well armed with long straws, +sucked their fill. + + By the roadside stands the cider mill, + Where a lowland slumber waits the rill: + + A great brown building, two stories high, + On the western hill face warm and dry; + + And odorous piles of apples there + Fill with incense the golden air; + + And masses of pomace, mixed with straw, + To their amber sweets the late flies draw. + + The carts back up to the upper door, + And spill their treasures in on the floor; + + Down through the toothed wheels they go + To the wide, deep cider press below. + + And the screws are turned by slow degrees + Down on the straw-laid cider cheese; + + And with each turn a fuller stream + Bursts from beneath the graning beam, + + An amber stream the gods might sip, + And fear no morrow's parched lip. + + But therefore, gods? Those idle toys + Were soulless to real _Canadian_ boys! + + What classic goblet ever felt + Such thrilling touches through it melt, + + As throb electric along a straw, + When the boyish lips the cider draw? + + The years are heavy with weary sounds, + And their discords life's sweet music drowns + + But yet I hear, oh, sweet! oh, sweet! + The rill that bathed my bare, brown feet; + + And yet the cider drips and falls + On my inward ear at intervals + + And I lead at times in a sad, sweet dream + To the bubbling of that little stream; + + And I sit in a visioned autumn still, + In the sunny door of the cider mill. + +--WHITTIER. + +It was a universal custom to set a dish of apples and a pitcher of cider +before everyone who came to the house. Any departure from this would +have been thought disrespectful. The sweet cider was generally boiled +down into a syrup, and, with apples quartered and cooked in it, was +equal to a preserve, and made splendid pies. It was called apple sauce, +and found its way to the table thrice a day. + +Then came the potatoes and roots, which had to be dug and brought to the +cellar. It was not very nice work, particularly if the ground was damp +and cold, to pick them out and throw them into the basket, but it had to +be done, and I was compelled to do my share. One good thing about it was +that it was never a long job. There was much more fun in gathering the +pumpkins and corn into the barn. The corn was husked, generally at +night, the bright golden ears finding their way into the old crib, from +whence it was to come again to fatten the turkeys, the geese, and the +ducks for Christmas. It was a very common thing to have husking bees. A +few neighbours would be invited, the barn lit with candles. + + Strung o'er the heaped-up harvest, from pitchforks in the mow, + Shone dimly down the lanterns on the pleasant scenes below; + The growing pile of husks behind, the golden ears before, + And laughing eyes, and busy hand, and brown cheeks glimmering o'er. + + Half hidden in a quiet nook, serene of look and heart, + Talking their old times o'er, the old men sat apart; + While up and down the unhusked pile, or nestling in its shade, + At hide-and-seek, with laugh and shout, the happy children played. + +--WHITTIER. + +Amid jokes and laughter the husks and ears would fly, until the work was +done, when all hands would repair to the house, and, after partaking of +a hearty supper, leave for home in high spirits. + +Then came hog-killing time, a very heavy and disagreeable task, but the +farmer has many of these, and learns to take them pleasantly. My father, +with two or three expert hands dressed for the occasion, would slaughter +and dress ten or a dozen large hogs in the course of a day. There were +other actors besides in the play. It would be curious, indeed, if all +hands were not employed when work was going on. My part in the +performance was to attend to the fire under the great kettle in which +the hogs were scalded, and to keep the water boiling, varied at +intervals by blowing up bladders with a quill for my own amusement. In +the house the fat had to be looked to, and after being washed and tried +(the term used for melting), was poured into dishes and set aside to +cool and become lard, afterwards finding its way into cakes and +piecrust. The out-door task does not end with the first day either, for +the hogs have to be carried in and cut up; the large meat tubs, in which +the family supplies are kept, have to be filled; the hams and shoulders +to be nicely cut and cured, and the rest packed into barrels for sale. + +Close on the heels of hog-killing came sausage-making, when meat had to +be chopped and flavoured, and stuffed into cotton bags or prepared gut. +Then the heads and feet had to be soaked and scraped over and over +again, and when ready were boiled, the one being converted into head- +cheese, the other into souse. All these matters, when conducted under +the eye of a good housewife, contributed largely to the comfort and good +living of the family. Who is there, with such an experience as mine, +that receives these things at the hands of his city butcher and meets +them on his table, who does not wish for the moment that he was a boy, +and seated at his mother's board, that he might shake off the phantom +canine and feline that rise on his plate, and call in one of mother's +sausages. + +As the fall crept on, the preparations for winter increased. The large +roll of full cloth, which had been lately brought from the mill, was +carried down, and father and I set out for a tailor, who took our +measurements and cut our clothes, which we brought home, and some woman, +or perhaps a wandering tailor, was employed to make them up. There was +no discussion as to style, and if the fit did not happen to be perfect, +there was no one to criticise either the material or the make, nor were +there any arbitrary rules of fashion to be respected. We had new +clothes, which were warm and comfortable. What more did we want? A +cobbler, too, was brought in to make our boots. My father was quite an +expert at shoemaking, but he had so many irons in the fire now that he +could not do more than mend or make a light pair of shoes for mother at +odd spells. The work then turned out by the sons of St. Crispin was not +highly finished. It was coarse, but, what was of greater consequence, it +was strong, and wore well. While all this was going on for the benefit +of the male portion of the house, mother and the girls were busy turning +the white flannels into shirts and drawers, and the plaid roll that came +with it into dresses for themselves. As in the case of our clothes, +there was no consulting of fashion-books, for a very good reason, +perhaps--there was none to consult. No talk about Miss Brown or Miss +Smith having her dress made this way or that; and I am sure they were +far happier and contented than the girls of to-day, with all their show +and glitter. + +The roads at that time, more particularly in the fall, were almost +impassable until frozen up. In the spring, until the frost was out of +the ground, and they had settled and dried, they were no better. The +bridges were rough, wooden affairs, covered with logs, usually flattened +on one side with an axe. The swamps and marshes were made passable by +laying down logs, of nearly equal size, close together in the worst +places. These were known as corduroy roads, and were no pleasant +highways to ride over for any distance, as all who have tried them know. +But in the winter the frost and snow made good traveling everywhere, and +hence the winter was the time for the farmer to do his teaming. + +One of the first things that claimed attention when the sleighing began, +and before the snow got deep in the woods, was to get out the year's +supply of fuel. The men set out for the bush before it was fairly +daylight, and commenced chopping. The trees were cut in lengths of about +ten feet, and the brush piled in heaps. Then my father, or myself, when +I got old enough, followed with the sleigh, and began drawing it, until +the wood yard was filled with sound beech and maple, with a few loads of +dry pine for kindling. These huge wood-piles always bore a thrifty +appearance, and spoke of comfort and good cheer within. + +Just before Christmas there was always one or two beef cattle to kill. +Sheep had also to be slaughtered, with the turkeys, geese and ducks, +which had been getting ready for decapitation. After home wants were +provided for, the rest were sent to market. + +The winter's work now began in earnest, for whatever may be said about +the enjoyment of Canadian winter life--and it is an enjoyable time to +the Canadian--there are few who really enjoy it so much as the farmer. +He cannot, however, do like bruin--roll himself up in the fall, and suck +his paw until spring in a state of semi-unconsciousness, for his cares +are numerous and imperious, his work varied and laborious. His large +stock demands regular attention, and must be fed morning and night. The +great barn filled with grain had to be threshed, for the cattle needed +the straw, and the grain had to be got out for the market. So day after +day he and his men hammered away with the flail, or spread the sheaves +on the barn floor to be trampled out by horses. Threshing machines were +unknown then, as were all the labour-saving machines now so extensively +used by the farmer. His muscular arm was the only machine he then had to +rely upon, and if it did not accomplish much, it succeeded in doing its +work well, and in providing him with all his modest wants. Then the +fanning mill came into play to clean the grain, after which it was +carried to the granary, whence again it was taken either to the mill or +to market. Winter was also the time to get out the logs from the woods, +and to haul them to the mill to be sawed in the spring--we always had a +use for boards. These saw mills, built on sap-streams, which ran dry as +soon as the spring freshets were over, were like the cider mills, small +rough structures. They had but one upright saw, which, owing to its +primitive construction, did not move as now, with lightning rapidity, +nor did it turn out a very large quantity of stuff. It answered the +purpose of the day, however, and that was all that was required or +expected of it. Rails, also, had to be split and drawn to where new +fences were wanted, or where old ones needed repairs. There were flour, +beef, mutton, butter, apples, and a score more of things to be taken to +market and disposed of. But, notwithstanding all this, the winter was a +good, joyful time for the farmer--a time, moreover, when the social +requisites of his nature received the most attention. Often the horses +would be put to the sleigh, and we would set off, well bundled up, to +visit some friends a few miles distant, or, as frequently happened, to +visit an uncle or an aunt, far away in the new settlements. The roads +often wound along for miles through the forest, and it was great fun for +us youngsters to be dashing along behind a spirited team, now around the +trunks of great trees, or under the low-hanging boughs of the spruce or +cedar, laden with snow, which sometimes shed their heavy load upon our +head. But after a while the cold would seize upon us, and we would wish +our journey at an end. + +The horses, white with frost, would then be pressed on faster, and would +bring us at length to the door. In a few moments we would all be seated +round the glowing fire, which would soon quiet our chattering teeth, +thaw us out, and prepare us to take our places at the repast which had +been getting ready in the meantime. We were sure to do justice to the +good things which the table provided. + +Many of these early days start up vividly and brightly before me, +particularly since I have grown to manhood, and lived amid other +surroundings. Among the most pleasing of these recollections are some of +my drives on a moonlight night, when the sleighing was good, and when +the sleigh, with its robes and rugs, was packed with a merry lot of +girls and boys (we had no ladies and gentlemen then). Off we would set, +spanking along over the crisp snow, which creaked and cracked under the +runners, making a low murmuring sound in harmony with the sleigh-bells. +When could a more fitting time be found for a pleasure-ride than on one +of those clear calm nights; when the earth, wrapped in her mantle of +snow, glistened and sparkled in the moonbeams, and the blue vault of +heaven glittered with countless stars, whose brilliancy seemed +intensified by the cold--when the aurora borealis waved and danced +across the northern sky, and the frost noiselessly fell like flakes of +silver upon a scene at once inspiriting, exhilarating and joyous! How +the merry laugh floated along in the evening air, as we dashed along the +road! How sweetly the merry song and chorus echoed through the silent +wood; while our hearts were aglow with excitement, and all nature seemed +to respond to the happy scene! + +When the frosty nights set in, we were always on the _qui vive_ for +a skating revel on some pond near by, and our eagerness to enjoy the +sport frequently led to a ducking. But very soon the large ponds, and +then the bay, were frozen over, when we could indulge in the fun to our +heart's content. My first attempts were made under considerable +difficulties, but perseverance bridges the way over many obstacles, and +so, with my father's skates, which were over a foot long, and which +required no little ingenuity to fasten to my feet, I made my first +attempt on the ice. Soon, however, in the growth of my feet, this +trouble was overcome, and I could whirl over the ice with anyone. The +girls did not share in this exhilarating exercise then; indeed their +doing so would have been thought quite improper. As our time was usually +taken up with school through the day, and with such chores as feeding +cattle and bringing wood in for the fire when we returned at night, we +would sally out after supper, on moonlight nights, and, full of life and +hilarity, fly over the ice, singing and shouting, and making the night +ring with our merriment. There was plenty of room on the bay, and early +in the season there were miles of ice, smooth as glass and clear as +crystal, reflecting the stars which sparkled and glittered beneath our +feet, as though we were gliding over a sea of silver set with +brilliants. + + Ho for the bay, the ice-bound bay! + The moon is up, the stars are bright; + The air is keen, but let it play-- + We're proof against Jack Frost to-night. + With a sturdy swing and lengthy stride, + The glassy ice shall feel our steel; + And through the welkin far and wide + The echo of our song shall peal. + +CHORUS.--Hurrah, boys, hurrah! skates on and away! + You may lag at your work, but never at play; + Give wing to your feet, and make the ice ring, + Give voice to your mirth, and merrily sing. + + Ho for the boy who does not care + A fig for cold or northern blast! + Whose winged feet can cut the air + Swift as an arrow from bowman cast: + Who can give a long and hearty chase, + And wheel and whirl; then in a trice + Inscribe his name in the polished face, + Of the cold and clear and glistening ice. + +CHORUS. + + Ho, boys! the night is waning fast; + The moon's last rays but faintly gleam. + The hours have glided swiftly past, + And we must home to rest and dream. + The morning's light must find us moving, + Ready our daily tasks to do; + This is the way we have of proving + We can do our part at working too. + +CHORUS. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE ROUND OF PIONEER LIFE--GAME--NIGHT FISHING--MORE DETAILS ABOUT +SUGAR-MAKING--SUGARING-OFF--TAKING A HAND AT THE OLD CHURN--SHEEP- +WASHING-COUNTRY GIRLS, THEN AND NOW--SUBSTANCE AND SHADOW--"OLD GRAY" +AND HIS ECCENTRICITIES--HARVEST--MY EARLY EMULATION OF PETER PAUL +RUBENS--MEETING-HOUSES--ELIA ON QUAKER MEETINGS--VARIEGATED AUTUMN +LANDSCAPES--LOGGING AND QUILTING BEES--EVENING FUN--THE TOUCHING LAY OF +THE YOUNG WOMAN WHO SAT DOWN TO SLEEP. + + + +Visiting for the older folk and sleigh-riding for the younger were the +principal amusements of the winter. The life then led was very plain and +uneventful. There was no ostentatious display, or assumption of +superiority by the "first families." Indeed there was no room for the +lines of demarcation which exist in these days. All had to struggle for +a home and home comforts, and if some had been more successful in the +rough battle of pioneer life than others, they saw no reason why they +should be elated or puffed up over it. Neighbours were too scarce to be +coldly or haughtily treated. They had hewn their way, side by side, into +the fastnesses of the Canadian bush, and therefore stood on one common +level. But few superfluities could be found either in their houses or on +their persons. Their dress was of home-made fabric, plain, often coarse, +but substantial and comfortable. Their manners were cordial and hearty, +even to brusqueness, but they were true friends and honest counsellors, +rejoicing with their neighbours in prosperity, and sympathising when +days of darkness visited their homes. Modern refinement had not crept +into their domestic circle to disturb it with shams and pretensions. +Fashion had no court wherein to adjudicate on matters of dress. Time- +worn styles of dress and living were considered the best, and hence +there was no rivalry or foolish display in either. Both old and young +enjoyed an evening at a friend's house, where they were sure to be +welcomed, and where a well-supplied table always greeted them. The home +amusements were very limited. Music, with its refining power, was +uncultivated, and indeed almost unknown. There were no musical +instruments, unless some wandering fiddler happened to come along to +delight both old and young with his crazy instrument. There were no +critical ears to detect discordant sounds, or be displeased with the +poor execution of the rambling musician. The young folk would sometimes +spirit him away to the village tavern, which was usually provided with a +large room called a ball-room, where he would fiddle while they danced +the hours gaily away. At home the family gathered round the glowing +fire, where work and conversation moved on together. The old motto of +"Early to bed, and early to rise" was strictly observed. Nine o'clock +usually found the household wrapt in slumber. In the morning all were up +and breakfast was over usually before seven. As soon as it began to get +light, the men and boys started for the barn to feed the cattle and +thresh; and thus the winter wore away. + +Very little things sometimes contribute largely to the comfort of a +family, and among those I may mention the lucifer match, then unknown. +It was necessary to carefully cover up the live coals on the hearth +before going to bed, so that there would be something to start the fire +with in the morning. This precaution rarely failed with good hard-wood +coals. But sometimes they died out, and then some one would have to go +to a neighbour's house for fire, a thing which I have done sometimes, +and it was not nice to have to crawl out of my warm nest and run through +the keen cold air for a half mile or more to fetch some live coals, +before the morning light had broken in the east. My father usually kept +some bundles of finely split pine sticks tipped with brimstone for +starting a fire. With these, if there was only a spark left, a fire +could soon be made. + +But little time was given to sport, although there was plenty of large +game. There was something of more importance always claiming attention. +In the winter an occasional deer might be shot, and foxes were sometimes +taken in traps. It required a good deal of experience and skill to set a +trap so as to catch the cunning beast. Many stories have I heard +trappers tell of tricks played by Reynard, and how he had, night after +night, baffled all their ingenuity, upset the traps, set them off, or +removed them, secured the bait, and away. Another sport more largely +patronized in the spring, because it brought something fresh and +inviting to the table, was night-fishing. When the creeks were swollen, +and the nights were calm and warm, pike and mullet came up the streams +in great abundance. Three or four would set out with spears, with a man +to carry the jack, and also a supply of dry pine knots, as full of resin +as could be found, and cut up small, which were deposited in different +places along the creek. The jack was then filled and lit, and when it +was all ablaze carried along the edge of the stream, closely followed by +the spearsman, who, if an expert, would in a short time secure as many +fish as could be carried. It required a sharp eye and a sure aim. The +fish shot through the water with great rapidity, which rendered the +sport all the more exciting. All hands, of course, returned home +thoroughly soaked. Another and pleasanter way was fishing in a canoe on +the bay, with the lighted jack secured in the bow. While there its light +shone for a considerable distance around, and enabled the fishers to see +the smallest fish low down in the clear calm water. This was really +enjoyable sport, and generally resulted in a good catch of pike, +pickerel, and, very often, a maskelonge or two. + +Early in the spring, before the snow had gone, the sugar-making time +came. Success depended altogether upon the favourable condition of the +weather. The days must be clear and mild, the nights frosty, and plenty +of snow in the woods. When the time was at hand, the buckets and troughs +were overhauled, spiles were made, and when all was ready the large +kettles and casks were put in the sleigh, and all hands set out for the +bush. Tapping the tree was the first thing in order. This was done +either by boring the tree with an auger, and inserting a spile about a +foot long to carry off the sap, or with a gouge-shaped tool about two +inches wide, which was driven into the tree, under an inclined scar made +with an axe. The spiles used in this case were split with the same +instrument, sharpened at the end with a knife, and driven into the cut. +A person accustomed to the work would tap a great many trees in a day, +and usually continued until he had done two or three hundred or more. +This finished, next came the placing and hanging of the kettles. A large +log, or what was more common, the trunk of some great tree that had been +blown down, would be selected, in as central a position as possible. Two +crotches were erected by its side, and a strong pole was put across from +one to the other. Hooks were then made, and the kettles suspended over +the fire. The sap was collected once and sometimes twice a day, and when +there was a good supply in the casks, the boiling began. Each day's run +was finished, if possible, the same night, when the sugaring-off took +place. There are various simple ways of telling when the syrup is +sufficiently boiled, and when this is done, the kettle containing the +result of the day's work is set off the fire, and the contents stirred +until they turn to sugar, which is then dipped into dishes or moulds, +and set aside to harden. Sometimes, when the run was large, the boiling +continued until late at night, and, although there was a good deal of +hard work connected with it, there was also more or less enjoyment, +particularly when some half dozen merry girls dropped in upon you, and +assisted at the closing scene. On these occasions the fun was free and +boisterous. The woods rang with shouts and peals of laughter, and always +ended by our faces and hair being all _stuck up_ with sugar. Then +we would mount the sleigh and leave for the house. But the most +satisfactory part of the whole was to survey the result of the toil in +several hundred weight of sugar, and various vessels filled with rich +molasses. + +[Illustration: NIGHT FISHING IN THE CREEK.] + +Now the hams and beef had to be got out of the casks, and hung up in the +smoke-house to be smoked. The spring work crowded on rapidly. Ploughing, +fencing, sawing and planting followed in quick succession. All hands +were busy. The younger ones had to drive the cows to pasture in the +morning and bring them up at night. They had also to take a hand at the +old churn, and it was a weary task, as I remember well, to stand for an +hour, perhaps, and drive the dasher up and down through the thick cream. +How often the handle was examined to see if there were any indications +of butter; and what satisfaction there was in getting over with it. As +soon as my legs were long enough I had to follow a team, and drag in +grain--in fact, before, for I was mounted on the back of one of the +horses when my nether limbs were hardly long enough to hold me to my +seat. The implements then in use were very rough. Iron ploughs, with +cast iron mouldboards, shears, &c., were generally used. As compared +with the ploughs of to-day they were clumsy things, but were a great +advance over the old wooden ploughs which had not yet altogether gone +out of use. Tree tops were frequently used for drags. Riding a horse in +the field, under a hot sun, which I frequently had to do, was not as +agreeable as it might seem at the first blush. + +[Illustration: SUGAR MAKING.] + +In June came sheep-washing. The sheep were driven to the bay shore and +secured in a pen, whence they were taken one by one into the bay, and +their fleece well washed, after which they were let go. In a few days +they were brought to the barn and sheared. The wool was then sorted; +some of it being retained to be carded by hand, the rest sent to the +mill to be turned into rolls; and when they were brought home the hum of +the spinning wheel was heard day after day, for weeks, and the steady +beat of the girls' feet on the floor, as they walked forward and +backward drawing out and twisting the thread, and then letting it run +upon the spindle. Of course the quality of the cloth depended on the +fineness and evenness of the thread; and a great deal of pains was taken +to turn out good work. When the spinning was done, the yarn was taken +away to the weaver to be converted into cloth. As I have said before, +there were no drones in a farmer's house then. While the work was being +pushed outside with vigour, it did not stand still inside. The thrifty +housewife was always busy. Beside the daily round of cares that +continually pressed upon her, the winter had hardly passed away before +she began to make preparations for the next. There were wild +strawberries and raspberries to pickle and preserve, of which the family +had their share as they came, supplemented with an abundance of rich +cream and sugar; and so with the other fruits in their turn. There was +the daily task, too, of milking, and the less frequent one of making +butter and cheese. The girls were always out in the yard by sunrise, and +soon came tripping in with red cheeks and flowing pails of milk; and at +sunset the scene was repeated. The matron required no nurse to take care +of the children; no cook to superintend the kitchen; no chamber-maid to +make the beds and do the dusting. She had, very likely, one or two hired +girls, neighbours' daughters. It was quite common then for farmers' +daughters to go out to work when their services could be dispensed with +at home. They were treated as equals, and took as much interest in the +affairs of the family as the mistress herself. The fact of a girl going +out to work did not affect her position. On the contrary, it was rather +in her favour, and showed that she had some ambition about her. The +girls, in those days, were quite as much at home in the kitchen as in +the drawing-room or boudoir. They could do better execution over a wash +tub than at a spinet. They could handle a rolling pin with more +satisfaction than a sketch book; and if necessity required, could go out +in the field and handle a fork and rake with practical results. They +were educated in the country school house-- + + "Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way," + +with their brothers, and not at a city boarding school. They had not so +much as dreamed of fashion books, or heard of fashionable milliners. +Their accomplishments were picked up at home, not abroad. And with all +these drawbacks, they were pure, modest, affectionate. They made good +wives; and that they were the best and most thoughtful mothers that ever +watched over the well-being of their children, many remember full well. + +Country life was practical and plodding in those days. Ambition did not +lure the husbandman to days of luxury and ease, but to the +accomplishment of a good day's work, and a future crowned with the +fruits of honest industry. If the girls were prepared for the future by +the watchful care and example of the mothers, so the boys followed in +the footsteps of their fathers. They did not look upon their lives as +burdensome. They did not feel that the occupation of a farmer was less +honourable than any other. The merchant's shop did not possess more +attraction than the barn. Fine clothes were neither so durable nor so +cheap as home-made suits. Fashionable tailors did not exist to lure them +into extravagance, and the town-bred dandy had not broken loose to taint +them with his follies. Their aspirations did not lead into ways of +display and idleness, or their association to bad habits. They were +content to work as their fathers had done, and their aim was to become +as exemplary and respected as they were. It was in such a school and +under such masters that the foundation of Canadian prosperity was laid, +and it is not gratifying to the thoughtful mind, after the survey of +such a picture, to find that although our material prosperity in the +space of fifty years has been marvellous, we have been gradually +departing from the sterling example set us by our progenitors, for +twenty years at least. "Dead flies" of extravagance have found their way +into the "ointment" of domestic life, and their "savour" is keenly felt. +In our haste to become rich, we have abandoned the old road of honest +industry. To acquire wealth, and to rise in the social scale, we have +cast behind us those principles which give tone and value to position. +We are not like the Israelites who longed for the "flesh pots" they had +left behind in Egypt; yet when we look around it is difficult to keep +back the question put by the Ecclesiast, "What is the cause that the +former days were better than these?" and the answer we think is not +difficult to find. Our daughters are brought up now like tender plants, +more for ornament than use. The practical lessons of life are neglected +for the superficial. We send our sons to college, and there they fly +from the fostering care of home; they crowd into our towns and cities-- +sometimes to rise, it is true, but more frequently to fall, and to +become worthless members of society. Like the dog in the fable, we +ourselves have let the substance drop, while our gaze has been glamoured +by the shadow. + +Early in July the haying began. The mowers were expected to be in the +meadow by sunrise; and all through the day the rasp of their whetstones +could be heard, as they dexterously drew them with a quick motion of the +hand, first along one side of the scythe and then the other; after which +they went swinging across the field, the waving grass falling rapidly +before their keen blades, and dropping in swathes at their side. The +days were not then divided off into a stated number of working hours. +The rule was to begin with the morning light and continue as long as you +could see. Of course men had to eat in those days as well as now, and +the blast of the old tin dinner-horn fell on the ear with more melodious +sound than the grandest orchestra to the musical enthusiast. Even "Old +Gray," when I followed the plough, used to give answer to the cheerful +wind of the horn by a loud whinny, and stop in the furrow, as if to say, +"There now, off with my harness, and let us to dinner." If I happened to +be in the middle of the field, I had considerable trouble to get the old +fellow to go on to the end. + +I must say a few words in this place about "Old Gray." Why he was always +called "Old Gray" is more than I know. His colour could not have +suggested the name, for he was a bright roan, almost a bay. He was by no +means a pretty animal, being raw-boned, and never seeming to be in +first-rate condition; but he was endowed with remarkable sagacity and +great endurance, and was, moreover, a fleet trotter. When my father +began the work for himself he was a part of his chattels, and survived +his master several years. Father drove him twice to Little York one +winter, a distance of over one hundred and fifty miles, accomplishing +the trip both times inside of a week. He never would allow a team to +pass him. It was customary in those days, particularly with youngsters +in the winter, to turn out and run by, and many such races I have had; +but the moment a team turned out of the track to pass "Old Gray," he was +off like a shot, and you might as well try to hold a locomotive with +pins as him with an ordinary bit. He was skittish, and often ran away. +On one occasion, when I was very young, he ran off with father and +myself in a single waggon. We were both thrown out, and, our feet +becoming entangled in the lines, we were dragged some distance. The +wheel passed over my head, and cut it so that it bled freely, but the +wound was not serious. My father was badly hurt. After a while we +started for home, and before we reached it the old scamp got frightened +at a log, and set off full tilt. Again, father was thrown out, and I +tipped over on the bottom of the waggon. Fortunately, the shafts gave +way, and let him loose, when he stopped. Father was carried home, and +did not leave the house for a long time. I used to ride the self-willed +beast to school in the winter, and had great sport, sometimes, by +getting boys on behind me, and, when they were not thinking, I would +touch "Old Gray" under the flank with my heel, which would make him +spring as though he were shot, and off the boys would tumble in the +snow. When I reached school I tied up the reins and let him go home. I +do not think he ever had an equal for mischief, and for the last years +we had him we could do nothing with him. He was perpetually getting into +the fields of grain, and leading all the other cattle after him. We used +to hobble him in all sorts of ways, but he would manage to push or rub +down the fence at some weak point, and unless his nose was fastened down +almost to the ground by a chain from his head to his hind leg, he would +let down the bars, or open all the gates about the place. There was not +a door about the barn but he would open, if he could get at the latch, +and if the key was left in the granary door he would unlock that. If +left standing he was sure to get his head-stall off, and we had to get a +halter made specially for him. He finally became such a perpetual +torment that we sold him, and we all had a good cry when the old horse +went away. He was upwards of twenty-five years old at this time. How +much longer he lived I cannot say. I never saw him afterward. + +[Illustration: RUNNING BY.] + +As soon as the sun was well up, and our tasks about the house over, our +part of this new play in the hayfield began, and with a fork or long +stick we followed up the swathes and spread them out nicely, so that the +grass would dry. In the afternoon, it had to be raked up into winrows-- +work in which the girls often joined us--and after tea one or two of the +men cocked it up, while we raked the ground clean after them. If the +weather was clear and dry it would be left out for several days before +it was drawn into the barn or stacked; but often it was housed as soon +as dry. + +Another important matter which claimed the farmer's attention at this +time was the preparation of his summer-fallow for fall wheat. The ground +was first broken up after the spring sowing was over, and about hay time +the second ploughing had to be done, to destroy weeds, and get the land +in proper order. In August the last ploughing came, and about the first +of September the wheat was sown. It almost always happened, too, that +there were some acres of woodland that had been chopped over for fire +wood and timber, to be cleaned up. Logs and bush had to be collected +into piles, and burned. On new farms this was heavy work. Then the +timber was cut down, and ruthlessly given over to the fire. Logging bees +were of frequent occurrence, when the neighbours turned out with their +oxen and logging chains, and, amid the ring of the axe and the shouting +of drivers and men with their handspikes, the great logs were rolled one +upon another into huge heaps, and left for the fire to eat them out of +the way. When the work was done, all hands proceeded to the house, grim +and black as a band of sweeps, where, with copious use of soap and +water, they brought themselves back to their normal condition, and went +in and did justice to the supper prepared for them. + +In August the wheat fields were ready for the reapers. This was the +great crop of the year. Other grain was grown, such as rye, oats, peas, +barley and corn, but principally for feeding. Wheat was the farmer's +main dependence, his staff of life and his current coin. A good cradler +would cut about five acres a day, and an expert with a rake would follow +and bind up what he cut. There were men who would literally walk through +the grain with a cradle, and then two men were required to follow. My +father had no superior in swinging the cradle, and when the golden grain +stood thick and straight, he gave two smart men all they could do to +take up what he cut down. Again the younger fry came in for their share +of the work, which was to gather the sheaves and put them in shocks. +These, after standing a sufficient time, were brought into the barn and +mowed away, and again the girls often gave a helping hand both in the +field and the barn. In all these tasks good work was expected. My father +was, as I have said before, a pushing man, and "thorough" in all he +undertook. His mottoes with his men were, "Follow me," and "Anything +that is worth doing, is worth doing well;" and this latter rule was +always enforced. The ploughers had to throw their furrows neat and +straight. When I got to be a strong lad, I could strike a furrow with +the old team across a field as straight as an arrow, and I took pride in +throwing my furrows in uniform precision. The mowers had to shear the +land close and smooth. The rakers threw their winrows straight, and the +men made their hay-cocks of a uniform size, and placed them at equal +distances apart. So in the grain field, the stubble had to be cut clean +and even, the sheaves well bound and shocked in straight rows, with ten +sheaves to the shock. It was really a pleasure to inspect the fields +when the work was done. Skill was required to load well, and also to mow +away, the object being to get the greatest number of sheaves in the +smallest space. About the first of September the crops were in and the +barns were filled and surrounded with stacks of hay and grain. + +My father was admitted to be the best farmer in the district. His farm +was a model of good order and neatness. He was one of the first to +devote attention to the improvement of his stock, and was always on the +look-out for improved implements or new ideas, which, if worthy of +attention, he was the first to utilize. + +There is always something for a pushing farmer to do, and there are +always rainy days through the season, when out-door work comes to a +stand. At such times my father was almost always found in his workshop, +making pails or tubs for the house, or repairing his tools or making new +ones. At other times he would turn his attention to dressing the flax he +had stowed away, and getting it ready for spinning. The linen for bags, +as well as for the house, was then all home-made. It could hardly be +expected that with such facilities at hand my ingenuity would not +develop. One day I observed a pot of red paint on the workbench, and it +struck me that the tools would look much better if I gave them a coat of +paint. The thought was hardly conceived before it was put into +execution, and in a short time planes, saws, augers, &c., were carefully +coated over and set aside to dry. Father did not see the thing in the +same light as I did. He was very much displeased, and I was punished. +After this I turned my attention to water-wheels, waggons, boats, boxes, +&c., and in time got to be quite an expert with tools, and could make +almost anything out of wood. We children, although we had to drive cows, +feed the calves, bring in wood, and all that, had our amusements, simple +and rustic enough it is true; but we enjoyed them, and all the more +because our parents very often entered into our play. + +Sunday was a day of enjoyment as well as rest. There were but few places +of public worship, and those were generally far apart. In most places +the schoolhouse or barn served the purpose. There were two meeting- +houses--this was the term always used then for places of worship--a few +miles from our place on Hay bay. The Methodist meeting-house was the +first place built for public worship in Upper Canada, and was used for +that purpose until a few years ago. It now belongs to Mr. Platt, and is +used as a storehouse. The other, a Quaker meeting-house, built some +years later, is still standing. It was used as a barrack by the +Glengarry regiment in 1812, a part of which regiment was quartered in +the neighbourhood during that year. The men left their bayonet-marks in +the old posts. + +[Illustration: QUAKER MEETING HOUSE.] + +On Sunday morning the horses were brought up and put to the lumber +waggon, the only carriage known then. The family, all arrayed in their +Sunday clothes, arranged themselves in the spacious vehicle, and drove +away. At that time, and for a good many years after, whether in the +school-house or meeting-house, the men sat on one side and the women on +the other, in all places of worship. The sacred bond which had been +instituted by the Creator Himself in the Garden of Eden, "Therefore +shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife; and +they shall be one flesh," did not seem to harmonize with that custom, +for when they went up to His house they separated at the door. It would +have been thought a very improper thing, even for a married couple, to +take a seat side by side. Indeed I am inclined to think that the good +brothers and sisters would have put them out of doors. So deeply rooted +are the prejudices in matters of religious belief. That they are the +most difficult to remove, the history of the past confirms through all +ages. This custom prevailed for many years after. When meeting was over +it was customary to go to some friend's to dinner, and make, as used to +be said, a visit, or, what was equally as pleasant, father or mother +would ask some old acquaintances to come home with us. Sunday in all +seasons, and more particularly in the summer, was the grand visiting day +with old and young. I do not state this out of any disrespect for the +Sabbath. I think I venerate it as much as anyone, but I am simply +recording facts as they then existed. The people at that time, as a +rule, were not religious, but they were moral, and anxious for greater +religious advantages. There were not many preachers, and these had such +extended fields of labour that their appointments were irregular, and +often, like angels' visits, few and far between. They could not ignore +their social instincts altogether, and this was the only day when the +toil and moil of work was put aside. They first went to meeting, when +there was any, and devoted the rest of the day to friendly intercourse +and enjoyment. People used to come to Methodist meeting for miles, and +particularly on quarterly meeting day. On one of these occasions, +fourteen young people who were crossing the bay in a skiff, on their way +to the meeting, were upset near the shore and drowned. Some years later +the missionary meeting possessed great attraction, when a deputation +composed of Egerton Ryerson and Peter Jones, the latter with his Indian +curiosities, drew the people in such numbers that half of them could not +get into the house. + +There were a good many Quakers, and as my father's people belonged to +that body we frequently went to their meeting. The broad brims on one +side, with the scoop bonnets on the other, used to excite my curiosity, +but I did not like to sit still so long. Sometimes not a word would be +said, and after an hour of profound silence, two of the old men on one +of the upper seats would shake hands. Then a general shaking of hands +ensued on both sides of the house, and meeting was out. + +Many readers will recall gentle Charles Lamb's thoughtful paper on "A +Quakers' Meeting." [Footnote: See _Essays of Elia_.] Several of his +reflections rise up so vividly before me as I write these lines that I +cannot forbear quoting them. "What," he asks, "is the stillness of the +desert, compared with this place? what the uncommunicating muteness of +fishes?--here the goddess reigns and revels.--'Boreas, and Cesias, and +Argestes loud,' do not with their interconfounding uproars more augment +the brawl--nor the waves of the blown Baltic with their clubbed sounds +--than their opposite (Silence her sacred self) is multiplied and +rendered more intense by numbers, and by sympathy. She too hath her +deeps, that call unto deeps. Negation itself hath a positive more and +less; and closed eyes would seem to obscure the great obscurity of +midnight. + +"There are wounds which an imperfect solitude cannot heal. By imperfect +I mean that which a man enjoyeth by himself. The perfect is that which +he can sometimes attain in crowds, but nowhere so absolutely as in a +Quakers' Meeting.--Those first hermits did certainly understand this +principle, when they retired into Egyptian solitudes, not singly, but in +shoals, to enjoy one another's want of conversation. The Carthusian is +bound to his brethren by this agreeing spirit of incommunicativeness. In +secular occasions, what so pleasant as to be reading a book through a +long winter evening, with a friend sitting by--say a wife--he, or she, +too (if that be probable), reading another, without interruption, or +oral communication?--can there be no sympathy without the gabble of +words?--away with this inhuman, shy, single, shade-and-cavern-haunting +solitariness. Give me, Master Zimmerman, a sympathetic solitude. + +"To pace alone in the cloisters, or side aisles of some cathedral, time- +stricken; + + Or under hanging mountains, + Or by the fall of fountains; + +is but a vulgar luxury compared with that which those enjoy who come +together for the purposes of more complete, abstracted solitude. This is +the loneliness 'to be felt.' The Abbey-Church of Westminster hath +nothing so solemn, so spirit-soothing, as the naked walls and benches of +a Quakers' Meeting. Here are no tombs, no inscriptions, + + --Sands, ignoble things, + Dropt from the ruined sides of kings-- + +but here is something which throws Antiquity herself into the +foreground--SILENCE--eldest of things--language of old Night--primitive +Discourser--to which the insolent decays of mouldering grandeur have but +arrived by a violent, and, as we may say, unnatural progression. + + How reverend is the view of these hushed heads, + Looking tranquillity! + +"Nothing-plotting, nought-caballing, unmischievous synod! convocation +without intrigue! parliament without debate! what a lesson dost thou +read, to council and to consistory!--if my pen treat of you lightly--as +haply it will wander--yet my spirit hath gravely felt the wisdom of your +custom, when sitting among you in deepest peace, which some outwelling +tears would rather confirm than disturb, I have reverted to the times of +your beginnings, and the sowings of the seed by Fox and Dewesbury.--I +have witnessed that which brought before my eyes your heroic +tranquillity inflexible to the rude jests and serious violences of the +insolent soldiery, republican or royalist sent to molest you--for ye +sate betwixt the fires of two persecutions, the outcast and off-scouring +of church and presbytery. + +"I have seen the reeling sea-ruffian, who had wandered into your +receptacle with the avowed intention of disturbing your quiet, from the +very spirit of the place receive in a moment a new heart, and presently +sit among ye as a lamb amidst lambs. And I remember Penn before his +accusers, and Fox in the bail-dock, where he was lifted up in spirit, as +he tells us, and the judge and the jury became as dead men under his +feet." + +Our old family carriage--the lumbering waggon--revives many pleasant +recollections. Many long rides were taken in it, both to mill and +market, and, sometimes I have curled myself up, and slept far into the +night in it while waiting for my grist to be ground so I could take it +home. But it was not used by the young folks as sleighs were in the +winter. It was a staid, family vehicle, not suited to mirth or love- +making. It was too noisy for that, and on a rough road, no very uncommon +thing then, one was shaken up so thoroughly that there was but little +room left for sentiment. In later times, lighter and much more +comfortable vehicles were used. The elliptic or steel spring did not +come into use until about 1840. I remember my grandfather starting off +for New York in one of these light one-horse waggons. I do not know how +long he was gone, but he made the journey, and returned safely. Long +journeys by land were made, principally in summer, on horseback, both by +men and women. The horse was also the young peoples' only vehicle at +this season of the year. The girls were usually good riders, and could +gallop away as well on the bare back as on the side-saddle. A female +cousin of my father's several times made journeys of from one to two +hundred miles on horseback, and on one occasion she carried her infant +son for a hundred and fifty miles, a feat the women of to-day would +consider impossible. + +Then as now, the early fall was not the least pleasant portion of the +Canadian year. Everyone is familiar with the striking beauty of our +woods after the frost begins, and the endless variety of shade and +colour that mingles with such pleasing effect in every landscape. And in +those days, as well as now, the farmers' attention was directed to +preparation for the coming winter. His market staples then consisted of +wheat or flour, pork and potash. The other products of his farm, such as +coarse grain, were used by himself. Butter and eggs were almost +valueless, save on his own table. The skins of his sheep, calves and +beef cattle which were slaughtered for his own use, were sent to the +tanners, who dressed them on shares, the remainder being brought home to +be made up into boots, harness and mittens. Wood, which afterwards came +into demand for steam purposes, was worthless. Sawn lumber was not +wanted, except for home use, and the shingles that covered the buildings +were split and made by the farmer himself. + +If the men had logging-bees, and other bees to help them on with their +work, the women, by way of compensation, had bees of a more social and +agreeable type. Among these were quilting bees, when the women and girls +of the neighbourhood assembled in the afternoon, and turned out those +skilfully and often artistically made rugs, so comfortable to lie under +during the cold winter nights. There was often a great deal of sport at +the close of one of these social industrial gatherings. When the men +came in from the field to supper, some luckless wight was sure to be +caught, and tossed up and down in the quilt amid the laughter and shouts +of the company. But of all the bees, the apple-bee was the chief. In +these old and young joined. The boys around the neighbourhood, with +their home-made apple-machines, of all shapes and designs, would come +pouring in with their girls early in the evening. The large kitchen, +with its sanded floor, the split bottomed chairs ranged round the room, +the large tubs of apples, and in the centre the clean scrubbed pine +table filled with wooden trays and tallow-candles in tin candlesticks, +made an attractive picture which had for its setting the mother and +girls, all smiles and good nature, receiving and pleasing the company. +Now the work begins amidst laughter and mirth; the boys toss the peeled +apples away from their machines in rapid numbers, and the girls catch +them, and with their knives quarter and core them, while others string +them with needles on long threads, and tie them so that they can be hung +up to dry. As soon as the work is done the room is cleared for supper, +after which the old folks retire, and the second and most pleasing part +of the performance begins. These after-scenes were always entered into +with a spirit of fun and honest abandonment truly refreshing. Where +dancing was not objected to, a rustic fiddler would be spirited in by +some of the youngsters as the sport began. The dance was not that +languid sort of thing, toned down by modern refinement to a sliding, +easy motion round the room, and which, for the lack of conversational +accomplishments, is made to do duty for want of wit. Full of life and +vigour, they danced for the real fun of the thing. The quick and +inspiriting strains of the music sent them spinning round the room, and +amid the rush and whirl of the flying feet came the sharp voice of the +fiddler as he flourished his bow: "Right and left--balance to your +pardner--cross hands--swing your pardner--up and down the middle," and +so on through reel after reel. Some one of the boys would perform a +_pas seul_ with more energy than grace; but it was all the same-- +the dancing master had not been abroad; the fiddler put life into their +heels, and they let them play. Frequently there was no musician to be +had, when the difficulty was overcome by the musical voices of the +girls, assisted with combs covered with paper, or the shrill notes of +some expert at whistling. It often happened that the old people objected +to dancing, and then the company resorted to plays, of which there was a +great variety: "Button, button, who's got the button;" "Measuring Tape;" +"Going to Rome;" "Ladies Slipper;" all pretty much of the same +character, and much appreciated by the boys, because they afforded a +chance to kiss the girls. + +Some of our plays bordered very closely on a dance, and when our +inclinations were checked, we approached the margin of the forbidden +ground as nearly as possible. Among these I remember one which afforded +an opportunity to swing around in a merry way. A chair was placed in the +centre of the room, upon which one of the girls or boys was seated. Then +we joined hands, and went dancing around singing the following +refrain:-- + + There was a young woman sat down to sleep, + Sat down to sleep, sat down to sleep; + There was a young woman sat down to sleep, + Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho! + + There was a young man to keep her awake, + To keep her awake, to keep her awake; + There was a young man to keep her awake, + Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho-! Heigh-ho! + + Tom Brown his name shall be, + His name shall be, his name shall be; + Tom Brown his name shall be, + Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho! Heigh-ho! + +Whereupon Mr. Brown was expected to step out, take the girl by the hand, +salute her with a kiss, and then take her seat. Then the song went on +again, with variations to suit; and thus the rustic mazurka proceeded +until all had had a chance of tasting the rosy lips, so tempting to +youthful swains. Often a coy maiden resisted, and then a pleasant +scuffle ensued, in which she sometimes eluded the penalty, much to the +chagrin of the claimant. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +PROGRESS, MATERIAL AND SOCIAL--FONDNESS OF THE YOUNG FOR DANCING-- +MAGISTERIAL NUPTIALS--THE CHARIVARI--COON-HUNTING--CATCHING A TARTAR-- +WILD PIGEONS--THE OLD DUTCH HOUSES--DELIGHTS OF SUMMER AND WINTER +CONTRASTED--STILLED VOICES. + + + +As time wore on, and contact with the outer world became easier and more +frequent, the refinements of advancing civilization found their way +gradually into the country, and changed the amusements as well as the +long-established habits of the people. An isolated community like that +which stretched along the frontier of our Province, cut off from the +older and more advanced stages of society, or holding but brief and +irregular communication with it, could not be expected to keep up with +the march of either social or intellectual improvement; and although the +modern may turn up his nose as he looks back, and affect contempt at the +amusements which fell across our paths like gleams of sunlight at the +break of day, and call them rude and indelicate, he must not forget that +we were not hedged about by the conventionalities, nor were we slaves to +the caprice of fashion. We were free sons and daughters of an upright, +sturdy parentage, with pure and honest hearts throbbing under rough +exteriors. The girls who did not blush at a hearty kiss from our lips +were as pure as the snow. They became ornaments in higher and brighter +circles of society, and mothers, the savour of whose virtues and +maternal affection rise before our memory like a perpetual incense. + +I am quite well aware of the fact that a large portion of the religious +world is opposed to dancing, nor in this recital of country life as it +then existed do I wish to be considered an advocate of this amusement. I +joined in the sport then with as much eagerness and delight as one could +do. I learned to step off on the light fantastic toe, as many another +Canadian boy has done, on the barn floor, where, with the doors shut, I +went sliding up and down, through the middle, balancing to the pitch- +fork, turning round the old fanning-mill, then double-shuffling and +closing with a profound bow to the splint broom in the corner. These +were the kind of schools in which our accomplishments were learned; and, +whether dancing be right or wrong, it is certain the inclination of the +young to indulge in it is about as universal as the taint of sin. + +The young people then, as now, took it into their heads to get married; +but parsons were scarce, and it did not always suit them to wait until +one came along. To remedy this difficulty the Government authorized +magistrates to perform the ceremony for any couple who resided more than +eighteen miles from church. There were hardly any churches, and +therefore a good many called upon the Justice to put a finishing touch +to their happiness, and curious looking pairs presented themselves to +have the knot tied. One morning a robust young man and a pretty, +blushing girl presented themselves at my father's door, and were invited +in. They were strangers, and it was some time before he could find out +what they wanted; but after beating about the bush, the young man +hesitatingly said they wanted to get married. They were duly tied, and, +on leaving, I was asked to join in their wedding dinner. Though it was +to be some distance away, I mounted my horse and joined them. The dinner +was good, and served in the plain fashion of the day. After it came +dancing, to the music of a couple of fiddlers, and we threaded through +reel after reel until nearly daylight. On another occasion a goodly +company gathered at a neighbour's house to assist at the nuptials of his +daughter. The ceremony had passed, and we were collected around the +supper table; the old man had spread out his hands to ask a blessing, +when bang, bang, went a lot of guns, accompanied by horns, whistles, tin +pans and anything and everything with which a noise could be made. A +simultaneous shriek went up from the girls, and for a few moments the +confusion was as great inside as out. It was a horrid din of discordant +sounds. Conversation at the supper table was out of the question, and as +soon as it was over we went out among the boys who had come to charivari +us. There were perhaps fifty of them, with blackened faces and ludicrous +dresses, and after the bride and bridegroom had shown themselves and +received their congratulations, they went their way, and left us to +enjoy ourselves in peace. It was after this manner the young folks +wedded. There was but little attempt at display. No costly trousseau, no +wedding tours. A night of enjoyment with friends, and the young couple +set out at once on the practical journey of life. + +One of our favourite sports in those days was coon (short name for +raccoon) hunting. This lasted only during the time of green corn. The +raccoon is particularly fond of corn before it hardens, and if +unmolested will destroy a good deal in a short time. He always visits +the cornfields at night; so about nine o'clock we would set off with our +dogs, trained for the purpose, and with as little noise as possible make +our way to the edge of the corn, and then wait for him. If the field was +not too large he could easily be heard breaking down the ears, and then +the dogs were let loose. They cautiously and silently crept towards the +unsuspecting foe. But the sharp ears and keen scent of the raccoon +seldom let him fall into the clutch of the dogs without a scamper for +life. The coon was almost always near the woods, and this gave him a +chance of escape. As soon as a yelp was heard from the dogs, we knew the +fun had begun, and pushing forward in the direction of the noise, we +were pretty sure to find our dogs baffled and jumping and barking around +the foot of a tree up which Mr. Coon had fled, and whence he was quietly +looking down on his pursuers from a limb or crutch. Our movements now +were guided by circumstances. If the tree was not too large, one of us +would climb it and dislodge the coon. In the other case we generally cut +it down. The dogs were always on the alert, and the moment the coon +touched the ground they were on him. We used frequently to capture two +or three in a night. The skin was dressed and made into caps or robes +for the sleigh. On two or three of these expeditions, our dogs caught a +Tartar by running foul of a _coon_ not so easily disposed of--in +the shape of a bear; and then we were both glad to decamp, as he was +rather too big a job to undertake in the night. Bruin was fond of young +corn, but he and the wolves had ceased to be troublesome. The latter +occasionally made a raid on a flock of sheep in the winter, but they +were watched pretty closely, and were trapped or shot. There was a +government bounty of $4 for every wolf's head. Another, and much more +innocent sport, was netting wild pigeons after the wheat had been taken +off. At that time they used to visit the stubbles in large flocks. Our +mode of procedure was to build a house of boughs under which to hide +ourselves. Then the ground was carefully cleaned and sprinkled with +grain, at one side of which the net was set, and in the centre one stool +pigeon, secured on a perch was placed, attached to which was a long +string running into the house. When all was ready we retired and watched +for the flying pigeons, and whenever a flock came within a seeing +distance our stool pigeon was raised and then dropped. This would cause +it to spread its wings and then flutter, which attracted the flying +birds, and after a circle or two they would swoop down and commence to +feed. Then the net was sprung, and in a trice we had scores of pigeons +under it. I do not remember to have seen this method of capturing +pigeons practised since. If we captured many we took them home, put them +where they could not get away, and took them out as we wanted them. + +At the time of which I write Upper Canada had been settled about forty- +five years. A good many of the first settlers had ended their labours, +and were peacefully resting in the quiet grave-yard; but there were many +left, and they were generally hale old people, who were enjoying in +contentment and peace the evening of their days, surrounded by their +children, who were then in their prime, and their grandchildren, ruddy +and vigorous plants, shooting up rapidly around them. The years that had +fled were eventful ones, not only to themselves, but to the new country +which they had founded. "The little one had become a thousand, and a +small one a strong nation." The forest had melted away before the force +of their industry, and orchards with their russet fruit, and fields of +waving corn, gladdened their hearts and filled their cellars and barns +with abundance. The old log house which had been their shelter and their +home for many a year had disappeared, or was converted into an out-house +for cattle, or a place for keeping implements in during the winter; and +now the commodious and well-arranged frame one had taken its place. +Large barns for their increasing crops and warm sheds to protect the +cattle had grown up out of the rude hovels and stables. Everything +around them betokened thrift, and more than an ordinary degree of +comfort. They had what must be pronounced to have been, for the time, +good schools, where their children could acquire a tolerable education. +They also had places in which they could assemble and worship God. There +were merchants from whom they could purchase such articles as they +required, and there were markets for their produce. The changes wrought +in these forty-five years were wonderful, and to no class of persons +could these changes seem more surprising than to themselves. Certainly +no people appreciated more fully the rich ripe fruit of their toil. +Among the pleasantest pictures I can recall are the old homes in which +my boyhood was passed. I hardly know in what style of architecture they +were built; indeed, I think it was one peculiar to the people and the +age. They were strong, substantial structures, erected with an eye to +comfort rather than show. They were known afterwards as Dutch houses, +usually one story high, and built pretty much after the same model; a +parallelogram, with a wing at one end, and often to both. The roofs were +very steep, with a row of dormer windows, and sometimes two rows looking +out of their broad sides, to give light to the chambers and sleeping +rooms up-stairs. The living rooms were generally large, with low +ceilings, and well supplied with cupboards, which were always filled +with blankets and clothing, dishes, and a multitude of good things for +the table. The bed rooms were always small and cramped, but they were +sure to contain a good bed--a bed which required some ingenuity, +perhaps, to get into, owing to its height; but when once in, the great +feather tick fitted kindly to the weary body, and the blankets over you +soon wooed your attention away from the narrowness of the apartment. +Very often the roof projected over, giving an elliptic shape to one +side, and the projection of about six feet formed a cover of what was +then called a long stoop, but which now-a-days would be known as a +veranda. This was no addition to the lighting of the rooms, for the +windows were always small in size and few in number. The kitchen usually +had a double outside door--that is a door cut cross-wise through the +middle, so that the lower part could be kept shut, and the upper left +open if necessary. I do not know what particular object there was in +this, unless to let the smoke out, for chimneys were more apt to smoke +then than now; or, perhaps, to keep the youngsters in and let in fresh +air. Whatever the object was, this was the usual way the outside kitchen +door was made, with a wooden latch and leather string hanging outside to +lift it, which was easily pulled in, and then the door was quite secure +against intruders. The barns and out-houses were curiosities in after +years: large buildings with no end of timber and all roof, like a great +box with an enormous candle extinguisher set on it. But houses and barns +are gone, and modern structures occupy their places, as they succeeded +the rough log ones, and one can only see them as they are photographed +upon the memory. + +Early days are always bright to life's voyager, and whatever his +condition may have been at the outset, he is ever wont to look back with +fondness to the scenes of his youth. I can recall days of toil under a +burning sun, but they were cheerful days, nevertheless. There was always +"a bright spot in the future" to look forward to, which moved the arm +and lightened the task. Youth is buoyant, and if its feet run in the way +of obedience, it will leave a sweet fragrance behind, which will never +lose its flavour. The days I worked in the harvest field, or when I +followed the plough, whistling and singing through the hours, are not +the least happy recollections of the past. The merry song of the girls, +mingling with the hum of the spinning-wheel, as they tripped backward +and forward to the cadence of their music, drawing out miles of thread, +reeling it into skeins which the weaver's loom and shuttle was to turn +into thick heavy cloth; or old grandmother treading away at her little +wheel, making it buzz as she drew out the delicate fibres of flax, and +let it run up the spindle a fine and evenly twisted thread, with which +to sew our garments, or to make our linen; and mother, busy as a bee, +thinking of us all, and never wearying in her endeavours to add to our +comfort--these are pictures that stand out, clear and distinct, and are +often reverted to with pleasure and delight. But though summer time in +the country is bright and beautiful with its broad meadows waving before +the western wind like seas of green, and the yellow corn, gleaming in +the field where the sun-burnt reapers are singing; though the flowers +shed their fragrance, and the breeze sighs softly through the branches +overhead in monotones, but slightly varied, yet sweet and soothing; +though the wood is made vocal with the song of birds, and all nature is +jocund and bright--notwithstanding, all this, the winter, strange as it +may seem, was the time of our greatest enjoyment. Winter, when "Old +Gray," who used to scamper with me astride his bare back down the lane, +stood munching his fodder in the stall; when the cattle, no longer +lolling or browsing in the peaceful shade, moved around the barn-yard +with humped backs, shaking their heads at the cold north wind; when the +trees were stripped of their foliage, and the icicles hung in fantastic +rows along the naked branches, glittering like jewels in the sunshine, +or rattling in the northern blast; when the ground was covered deep with +snow, and the wind "driving o'er the fields," whirled into huge drifts, +blocking up the doors and paths and roads; when + + "The whited air + Hides hills and woods, the river and the heaven, + And veils the farm-house at the garden's end;" + +when the frost silvered over the window-panes, or crept through the +cracks and holes, and fringed them with its delicate fret-work; when the +storm raged and howled without, and + + "Shook beams and rafters as it passed!" + +Within, happy faces were gathered around the blazing logs in the old +fire-place. + + "Shut in from all the world without, + We sat the clean-winged hearth about, + Content to let the north wind roar, + In baffled rage at pane and door, + While the red logs before us beat + The frost line back with tropic heat." + +The supper has been cleared away, and upon the clean white table is +placed a large dish of apples and a pitcher of cider. On either end +stands a tallow candle in a bright brass candlestick, with an +extinguisher attached to each, and the indispensable snuffers and tray. +Sometimes the fingers are made use of in the place of the snuffers; but +it is not always satisfactory to the snuffer, as he sometimes burns +himself, and hastens to snap his fingers to get rid of the burning wick. +One of the candles is appropriated by father, who is quietly reading his +paper; for we had newspapers then, though they would not compare very +favourably with those of to-day, and we got them only once a week. +Mother is darning socks. Grandmother is making the knitting needles fly, +as though all her grandchildren were stockingless. The girls are sewing +and making merry with the boys, and we are deeply engaged with our +lessons, or what is more likely, playing fox and geese. + + "What matters how the night behaved; + What matter how the north-wind raved; + Blow high, blow low, not all its snow + Could quench our ruddy hearth-fire's glow. + + * * * * * + + O time and change! with hair as gray + As was my sire's that winter day, + How strange it seems, with so much gone + Of life and love, to still live on! + + Ah brother! only I and thou + Are left of all the circle now-- + The dear home faces whereupon + The fitful fire-light paled and shone, + Henceforth, listen as we will, + The voices of that hearth are still." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE EARLY SETTLERS IN UPPER CANADA--PROSPERITY, NATIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL +--THE OLD HOMES, WITHOUT AND WITHIN--CANDLE-MAKING--SUPERSTITIONS AND +OMENS--THE DEATH-WATCH--OLD ALMANACS--BEES--THE DIVINING ROD--THE U. E. +LOYALISTS--THEIR SUFFERINGS AND HEROISM--AN OLD AND A NEW PRICE LIST-- +PRIMITIVE HOROLOGES--A JAUNT IN ONE OF THE CONVENTIONAL "CARRIAGES" OF +OLDEN TIMES--THEN AND NOW--A NOTE OF WARNING. + + + +The settlement of Ontario, known up to the time of Confederation as the +Province of Upper Canada, or Canada West, began in 1784, so that at the +date I purpose to make a brief survey of the condition and progress of +the country, it had been settled forty-six years. During those years--no +insignificant period in a single life, but very small indeed in the +history of a country--the advance in national prosperity and in the +various items that go to make life pleasant and happy had been +marvellous. The muscular arm of the sturdy pioneer had hewn its way into +the primeval forest, and turned the gloomy wilderness into fruitful +fields. + +It is well known that the first settlers located along the shores of the +River St. Lawrence, the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario, and Lake Erie, and +that, at the time of which I speak, this coastline of a few hundred +miles, extending back but a very short distance--a long narrow strip cut +from the serried edge of the boundless woods--comprised the settlement +of Canada West as it then existed. Persistent hard work had placed the +majority in circumstances of more than ordinary comfort. Good houses had +taken the place of log cabins, and substantial frame barns that of rude +hovels. Hard fare and scanty raiment had given place to an abundance of +the necessaries of life, and no people, perhaps, ever appreciated these +blessings with more sincere thankfulness or more hearty contentment. The +farmer was a strong, hardy man, the wife a ruddy, cheerful body, careful +of the comforts of her household. One table sufficed for themselves and +their servants or hired help. Meat was provided twice and often thrice a +day; it being more a matter of taste than economy as to the number of +times it was served. Fruit was abundant, and every matron prided herself +upon preserving and putting away quantities of it for home use. So that +at this time the world was moving smoothly with the people. An immense +track of wilderness had been reclaimed, and waving fields and fruitful +orchards occupied its place. It may have seemed to them, and indeed I +think it did to many, that the sum of all they could expect or even +desire in this world had been attained; while we, who remember those +days, and look back over the changes of fifty years, wonder how they +managed to endure life at all. + +It is true that the father, more from the force of habit than necessity, +perhaps continued to toil in the field, and the mother, moved by the +same cause, and by her maternal anxiety for the well-being of her +family, still spent many a long hour at the loom. The son, brought up to +work, followed the plough, or did battle with the axe, making the woods +ring with his rapid strokes. And as he laboured he pictured to himself +the building of a nest in the unbroken forest behind the homestead, +wherein the girl of his choice figured as the central charm. The +daughter who toiled through the long summer's day to the monotonous hum +of the spinning wheel, drawing out and twisting the threads that should +enter into the make-up of her wedding outfit, was contented and happy. +The time and circumstances in which they were placed presented nothing +better, and in their estimation the world had little more to offer than +they already possessed. + +It is more than probable that if we, with our modern notions and habits, +could to-day be carried back into a similar condition of life, we would +feel that our lines had fallen in anything but pleasant places. The +flying years, with their changes and anxieties, like the constant +dripping of water on a stone, have worn off the rough edges that wounded +and worried during their progress, and only the sunny spots, burned in +the plastic memory of younger days, remain. + +The old homes, as I remember them in those days, were thought palatial +in their proportions and conveniences, and so they were as compared with +the old log houses. The latter often still remained as relics of other +days, but they had been converted into the base use of a cow stable, or +a shelter for waggons and farm implements during the winter. Their +successors were, with very few exceptions, wooden structures, clap- +boarded, and painted either yellow or red. The majority, however, never +received any touching up from the painter's brush, and as the years +rolled on became rusty and gray from the beating of winter's storms and +the heat of summer's sun. The interior rarely displayed any skill in +arrangement or design. The living rooms were generally of goodly size, +with low ceilings, but the sleeping rooms were invariably small, with +barely room enough for a large high-posted bedstead, and a space to +undress in. The exterior was void of any architectural embellishment, +with a steep roof pierced by dormer windows. The kitchen, which always +seemed to me like an after-thought, was a much lower part of the +structure, welded on one end or the other of the main body of the house, +and usually had a roof projecting some distance over one side, forming +"the stoop." In very many cases, the entrance to the spacious cellar, +where the roots, apples, cider, and other needs of the household were +kept, was from this through a trap door, so that in summer or winter the +good wife had actually to go out of doors when anything was required for +the table, and that was very often. It really seemed as though the old +saying of "the longest way round is the shortest way home" entered not +only into the laying out of highways, but into all the domestic +arrangements. Economy of time and space, convenience, or anything to +facilitate or lighten labour, does not appear to have occupied the +thoughts of the people. Work was the normal condition of their being, +and, as we see it now, everything seems to have been so arranged as to +preclude the possibility of any idle moments. At the end of the kitchen +was invariably a large fire-place, with its wide, gaping mouth, an iron +crane, with a row of pothooks of various lengths, from which to suspend +the pots over the fire, and on the hearth a strong pair of andirons, +flanked by a substantial pair of tongs and a shovel. During the winter, +when the large back-log, often as much as two men could handle, was +brought in and fixed in its place, and a good forestick put on the +andirons, with well-split maple piled upon it and set ablaze with dry +pine and chips, the old fire-place became aglow with cheerful fire, and +dispensed its heat through the room. But in extremely cold weather it +sometimes happened that while one side was being roasted the other was +pinched with cold. At one side of the fire-place there was usually a +large oven, which, when required, was heated by burning dry wood in it, +and then the dough was put into tin pans and pushed in to be baked. +Sometimes the ovens were built on frames in the yard, and then in wind +or storm the baking had to be carried out doors and in. Every kitchen +had one or more spacious cupboards; whatever need there was for other +conveniences, these were always provided, and were well filled. The +other rooms of the house were generally warmed by large box stoves. The +spare bedrooms were invariably cold, and on a severe night it was like +undressing out of doors and jumping into a snowbank. I have many a time +shivered for half an hour before my body could generate heat enough to +make me comfortable. The furniture made no pretensions to artistic +design or elegance. It was plain and strong, and bore unmistakable +evidence of having originated either at the carpenter's bench or at the +hands of some member of the family, in odd spells of leisure on rainy +days. Necessity is axiomatically said to be the mother of invention, and +as there were no furniture makers with any artistic skill or taste in +the country, and as the inclination of the people ran more in the +direction of the useful than the ornamental, most of the domestic needs +were of home manufacture. I have a clear recollection of the pine +tables, with their strong square legs tapering to the floor, and of how +carefully they were scrubbed. Table covers were seldom used, and only +when there was company, and then the cherry table with its folding +leaves was brought out, and the pure white linen cloth, most likely the +production of the good wife's own hands, was carefully spread upon it. +Then came the crockery. Who can ever forget the blue-edged plates, cups +and saucers, and other dishes whereon indigo storks and mandarins, or +something approaching a representation of them, glided airily over sky- +blue hills in their pious way from one indigo pagoda to another. These +things I have no doubt, would be rare prizes to Ceramic lovers of the +present day. The cutlery and silver consisted mostly of bone-handled +knives and iron forks, and iron and pewter spoons. On looking over an +old inventory of my grandfather's personal effects not long since, I +came upon these items: "two pair of spoon moulds," and I remembered +melting pewter and making spoons with these moulds when I was very +young. Cooking was done in the oven, and over the kitchen fire, and the +utensils were a dinner pot, teakettle, frying-pan and skillet. There +were no cooking stoves. The only washing machines were the ordinary wash +tubs, soft soap, and the brawny arms and hands of the girls; and the +only wringers were the strong wrists and firm grip that could give a +vigorous twist to what passed through the hands. Water was drawn from +the wells with a bucket fastened to a long slender pole attached to a +sweep suspended to a crotch. Butter, as has already been intimated, was +made in upright churns, and many an hour have I stood, with mother's +apron pinned around me to keep my clothes from getting spattered, +pounding at the stubborn cream, when every minute seemed an hour, +thinking the butter would never come. When evening set in, we were wont +to draw around the cheerful fire on the hearth, or perhaps up to the +kitchen table, and read and work by the dim light of "tallow dips," +placed in tin candlesticks, or, on extra occasions, in brass or silver +ones, with their snuffers, trays and extinguishers. Now, we sit by the +brilliant light of the coal oil lamp or of gas. Then, coal oil was in +the far-off future, and there was not a gas jet in Canada, if indeed in +America. The making of tallow candles, before moulds were used, was a +slow and tiresome task. Small sticks were used, about two feet long, +upon each of which six cotton wicks, made for the purpose, were placed +about two inches apart, each wick being from ten to twelve inches long. +A large kettle was next partly filled with hot water, upon which melted +tallow was poured. Then, two sticks were taken in the right hand, and +the wick slowly dipped up and down through the melted tallow. This +process was continued until the candles had attained sufficient size, +when they were put aside to harden, and then taken off the sticks and +put away. It required considerable practical experience to make a smooth +candle which would burn evenly; and a sputtering candle was an +abomination. The cloth with which the male members of the family were +clad, as well as the flannel that made the dresses and underclothing for +both, was carded, spun, and often woven at home, as was also the flax +that made the linen. There were no sewing or knitting machines, save the +deft hands that plied the needle. Carpets were seldom seen. The floors +of the spare rooms, as they were called, were painted almost invariably +with yellow ochre paint, and the kitchen floor was kept clean and white +with the file, and sanded. The old chairs, which, in point of comfort, +modern times have in no way improved upon, were also of home make, with +thin round legs and splint-bottomed seats, or, what was more common, elm +bark evenly cut and plaited. Many a time have I gone to the woods in the +spring, when the willow catkins in the swamp and along the side of the +creek turned from silver to gold, and when the clusters of linwort +nodded above the purple-green leaves in the April wind, and taken the +bark in long strips from the elm trees to reseat the dilapidated chairs. + +If the labour-saving appliances were so scanty indoors, they were not +more numerous outside. The farmer's implements were rude and rough. The +wooden plough, with its wrought-iron share, had not disappeared, but +ploughs with cast-iron mould-boards, land-sides and shares, were rapidly +coming into use. These had hard-wood beams, and a short single handle +with which to guide them. They were clumsy, awkward things to work with, +as I remember full well, and though an improvement, it was impossible to +do nice work with them. Indeed, that part of the question did not +receive much consideration, the principal object being to get the ground +turned over. They were called patent ploughs. Drags were either tree +tops or square wooden frames with iron teeth. The scythe for hay and the +cradle for grain, with strong backs and muscular arms to swing them, +were the only mowers and reapers known. The hand rake had not been +superseded by the horse rake, nor the hoe by the cultivator; and all +through the winter, the regular thump, thump of the flails on the barn +floor could be heard, or the trampling out of the grain by the horses' +feet. The rattle of the fanning mill announced the finishing of the +task. Threshing machines and cleaners were yet to come. + +It will be seen from what I have said that both in the house and out of +it work was a stern and exacting master, whose demands were incessant, +satisfied only by the utmost diligence. It was simply by this that so +much was accomplished. It is true there were other incentives that gave +force to the wills and nerves to the arms which enabled our forefathers +to overcome the numberless arduous tasks that demanded attention daily +throughout the year. All the inventions that have accumulated so rapidly +for the last twenty years or more, to lighten the burden and facilitate +the accomplishment of labour and production, as well as to promote the +comfort of all classes, were unknown fifty years ago. Indeed many of the +things that seem so simple and uninteresting to us now, as I shall have +occasion to show further on, were then hidden in the future. Take for +example the very common and indispensable article, the lucifer match, to +the absence of which allusion has already been made. Its simple method +of producing fire had never entered the imagination of our most gifted +sires. The only way known to them was the primitive one of rubbing two +sticks together and producing fire by friction--a somewhat tedious +process--or with a flint, a heavy jackknife, and a bit of punk, a +fungous growth, the best of which for this purpose is obtained from the +beech. Gun flints were most generally used. One of these was placed on a +bit of dry punk, and held firmly in the left hand, while the back of the +closed blade of the knife thus brought into contact with the flint by a +quick downward stroke of the right hand produced a shower of sparks, +some of which, falling on the punk, would ignite; and thus a fire was +produced. In the winter, if the fire went out, there were, as I have +already stated, but two alternatives--either the flint and steel, or a +run to a neighbour's house for live coals. + +There were many superstitious notions current among the people in those +days. Many an omen both for good and evil was sincerely believed in, +which even yet in quiet places finds a lodgement where the schoolmaster +has not been much abroad. But the half century that has passed away has +seen the last of many a foolish notion. A belief in omens was not +confined to the poor and ignorant, for brave men have been known to +tremble at seeing a winding-sheet in a candle, and learned men to gather +their little ones around them, fearing that one would be snatched away, +because a dog outside took a fancy to howl at the moon. And who has not +heard the remark when a sudden shiver came over one; that an enemy was +then walking over the spot which would be his grave? Or who has not +noticed the alarm occasioned by the death watch--the noise, resembling +the ticking of a watch, made by a harmless little insect in the wall--or +the saying that if thirteen sit down to table, one is sure to die within +a year? Somebody has said there is one case when he believed this omen +to be true, and that is when thirteen sit down to dinner and there is +only enough for twelve. There was no end to bad omens. It was bad luck +to see the new moon for the first time over the left shoulder, but if +seen over the right it was the reverse. It is well known that the moon +has been supposed to exercise considerable influence over our planet, +among the chief of which are the tides, and it was believed also to have +a great deal to do with much smaller matters. There are few who have not +seen on the first page of an almanac the curious picture representing a +nude man with exposed bowels, and surrounded with the zodiacal signs. +This was always found in the old almanacs, and indeed they would be +altogether unsaleable without it and the weather forecast. How often +have I seen the almanac consulted as to whether it was going to be fair +or stormy, cold or hot; how often seen the mother studying the pictures +when she wished to wean her babe. If she found the change of the moon +occurred when the sign was in Aries or Gemini or Taurus, all of which +were supposed to exercise a baneful influence on any part of the body +above the heart, she would defer the matter until a change came, when +the sign would be in Virgo or Libra, considering it extremely dangerous +to undertake the operation in the former case. The wife was not alone in +this, for the husband waited for a certain time in the moon to sow his +peas--that is, if he wished to ensure a good crop. He also thought it +unlucky to kill hogs in the wane of the moon, because the pork would +shrink and waste in the boiling. The finding of an old horseshoe was a +sure sign of good luck, and it was quite common to see one nailed up +over the door. It is said that the late Horace Greeley always kept a +rusty one over the door of his sanctum. To begin anything on Friday was +sure to end badly. I had an esteemed friend, the late sheriff of the +county of ----, who faithfully believed this, and adhered to it up to +the time of his death. May was considered an unlucky month to marry in, +and when I was thinking of this matter a number of years later, and +wished the event to occur during the month, my wish was objected to on +this ground, and the ceremony deferred until June in consequence. + +It is said that the honey bee came to America with the Pilgrim Fathers. +Whether this be so or not I am unprepared to say. If it be true, then +there were loyalists among them, for they found their way to Canada with +the U. E.'s, and contributed very considerably to the enjoyment of the +table. Short-cake and honey were things not to be despised in those +days, I remember. There was a curious custom that prevailed of blowing +horns and pounding tin pans to keep the bees from going away when +swarming. The custom is an Old Country one, I fancy. The reader will +remember that Dickens, in "Little Dorrit," makes Ferdinand Barnacle say: +"You really have no idea how the human bees will swarm to the beating of +any old tin kettle." + +Another peculiar notion prevailed with respect to discovering the proper +place to dig wells. There were certain persons, I do not remember what +they were called, whether water doctors or water witches, who professed +to be able, with the aid of a small hazel crotched twig, which was held +firmly in both hands with the crotch inverted, to tell where a well +should be sunk with a certainty of finding water. The process was simply +to walk about with the twig thus held, and when the right place was +reached, the forked twig would turn downwards, however firmly held; and +on the strength of this, digging would be commenced in the place +indicated. A curious feature about this was that there were but very few +in whose hands the experiment would work, and hence the water discoverer +was a person of some repute. I never myself witnessed the performance, +but it was of common occurrence. [Footnote: The reader will remember the +occult operations of Dousterswivel in the seventeenth chapter of Scott's +_Antiquary._ "In truth, the German was now got to a little copse- +thicket at some distance from the ruins, where he affected busily to +search for such a wand as should suit the purpose of his mystery; and +after cutting off a small twig of hazel terminating in a forked end, +which he pronounced to possess the virtue proper for the experiment that +he was about to exhibit, holding the forked ends of the wand each +between the finger and the thumb, and thus keeping the rod upright, he +proceeded to pace the ruined aisles," &c. So it will be seen that we had +Canadian successors of Dousterswivel in my time, but we had no +Oldbucks.] + +The people of to-day will no doubt smile at these reminiscences of a +past age, and think lightly of the life surroundings of these early +pioneers of the Province. But it must not be forgotten that their +condition of life was that of the first remove from the bush and the log +cabin. There was abundance, without luxury, and it was so widely +different from the struggle of earlier years that the people were +contented and happy. "No people on earth," says Mr. Talbot, in 1823, +"live better than the Canadians, so far as eating and drinking justify +the use of the expression, for they may be truly said to fare +sumptuously every day. Their breakfast not unfrequently consists of +twelve or fourteen different ingredients, which are of the most +heterogeneous nature. Green tea and fried pork, honeycomb and salted +salmon, pound cake and pickled cucumbers, stewed chickens and apple- +tarts, maple molasses and pease-pudding, gingerbread and sour-crout, are +to be found at almost every table. The dinner differs not at all from +the breakfast, and the afternoon repast, which they term supper, is +equally substantial." + +The condition of the Province in 1830 could not be otherwise than pre- +eminently satisfactory to its inhabitants. That a people who had been +driven from their homes, in most cases destitute of the common needs of +ordinary life, should have come into a vast wilderness, and, in the +course of forty-six years, have founded a country, and placed themselves +in circumstances of comfort and independence, seems to me to be one of +the marvels of the century. The struggles and trials of the first +settlers must ever be a subject of deepest interest to every true +Canadian, and, as an illustration of the power of fixed principles upon +the action of men, there are few things in the world's history that +surpass it. It must be remembered that many, nay most, of the families +who came here had, prior to and during the Revolutionary war, been men +of means and position. All these advantages they were forced to abandon. +They came into this country with empty hands, accepted the liberality of +the British Government for two years, and went to work. Providence +smiled upon their toils, and in the year of which I speak they had grown +into a prosperous and happy people. + +The social aspect of things had changed but little. The habits and +customs of early days still remained. The position of the inhabitants +was one of exigency. The absorbing desire to succeed kept them at home. +They knew but little of what was passing in the world outside, and as a +general thing they cared less. Their chief interest was centred in the +common welfare, and each contributed his or her share of intelligence +and sagacity to further any plans that were calculated to promote the +general good. Every day called for some new expedient in which the +comfort or advantage of the whole was concerned, for there were no +positions save those accorded to worth and intellect. The sufferings or +misfortunes of a neighbour, as well as his enjoyments, were participated +in by all. Knowledge and ability were respectfully looked up to, yet +those who possessed these seemed hardly conscious of their gifts. The +frequent occasions which called for the exercise of the mind, sharpened +sagacity, and gave strength to character. Avarice and vanity were +confined to narrow limits. Of money there was little. Dress was coarse +and plain, and was not subject to the whims or caprices of fashion. The +girls, from the examples set them by their mothers, were industrious and +constantly employed. Pride of birth was unknown, and the affections +flourished fair and vigorously, unchecked by the thorns and brambles +with which our minds are cursed in the advanced stage of refinement of +the present day. + +The secret of their success, if there was any secret in it, was the +economy, industry and moderate wants of every member of the household. +The clothing and living were the outcome of the farm. Most of the +ordinary implements and requirements for both were procured at home. The +neighbouring blacksmith made the axes, logging-chains and tools. He +ironed the waggons and sleighs, and received his pay from the cellar and +barn. Almost every farmer had his work-bench and carpenter's tools, +which he could handle to advantage, as well as a shoemaker's bench; and +during the long evenings of the fall and winter would devote some of his +time to mending boots or repairing harness. Sometimes the old log-house +was turned into a blacksmith shop. This was the case with the first home +of my grandfather, and his seven sons could turn their hands to any +trade, and do pretty good work. If the men's clothes were not made by a +member of the household, they were made in the house by a sewing girl, +or a roving tailor, and the boots and shoes were made by cobblers of the +same itinerant stripe. Many of the productions of the farm were +unsaleable, owing to the want of large towns for a market. Trade, such +as then existed, was carried on mostly by a system of barter. The refuse +apples from the orchard were turned into cider and vinegar for the +table. The skins of the cattle, calves and sheep that were slaughtered +for the wants of the family, were taken to the tanners, who dressed +them, and returned half of each hide. The currency of the day was flour, +pork and potash. The first two were in demand for the lumbermen's +shanties, and the last went to Montreal for export. The ashes from the +house and the log-heaps were either leached at home, and the lye boiled +down in the large potash kettles--of which almost every farmer had one +or two--and converted into potash, or became a perquisite of the wife, +and were carried to the ashery, where they were exchanged for crockery +or something for the house. Wood, save the large oak and pine timber, +was valueless, and was cut down and burned to get it out of the way. + +I am enabled to give a list of prices current at that time of a number +of things, from a domestic account-book, and an auction sale of my +grandfather's personal estate, after his death in 1829. The term in use +for an auction then was vendue. + + 1830 1880 + +A good horse $80.00 $120.00 +Yoke of oxen 75.00 100.00 +Milch cow 16.00 30.00 +A hog 2.00 5.00 +A sheep 2.00 5.00 +Hay, per ton 7.00 12.00 +Pork, per bbl. 15.00 12.00 +Flour, per cwt. 3.00 3.00 +Beef, " 3.50 6.00 +Mutton, " 3.00 6.00 +Turkeys, each 1.50 +Ducks, per pair 1.00 +Geese, each .80 +Chickens, per pair .40 +Wheat, per bushel 1.00 1.08 +Rye, " .70 .85 +Barley, " .50 1.00 +Peas, " .40 .70 +Oats, " .37 .36 +Potatoes," .40 .35 +Apples, " .50 .50 +Butter, per pound .14 .25 +Cheese, " .17 +Lard, " .05 .12 +Eggs, per dozen .10 .25 +Wood, per cord 1.00 5.00 +Calf skins, each 1.00 +Sheep skins, each 1.00 +West India molasses .80 .50 +Tea, per pound .80 .60 +Tobacco .25 .50 +Honey .10 .25 +Oysters, per quart .80 .40 +Men's strong boots, per pair 3.00 +Port wine, per gallon .80 2.75 +Brandy, " 1.50 4.00 +Rum, " 1.00 3.00 +Whisky, " .40 1.40 +Grey cotton, per yard .14 .10 +Calico, " .20 .12 +Nails, per pound .14 .04 + +Vegetables were unsaleable, and so were many other things for which the +farmer now finds a ready market. The wages paid to a man were from eight +to ten dollars, and a girl from two to three dollars, per month. For a +day's work, except in harvest time, from fifty to seventy-five cents was +the ordinary rate. Money was reckoned by L. s. d. Halifax currency, to +distinguish it from the pound sterling. The former was equal to $4.00, +and the latter, as now, to $4.87. + +Clocks were not common. It is true in most of the better class of old +homes a stately old time-piece, whose face nearly reached the ceiling, +stood in the hall or sitting-room, and measured off the hours with slow +and steady beat. But the most common time-piece was a line cut in the +floor, and when the sun touched his meridian height his rays were cast +along this mark through a crack in the door; and thus the hour of noon +was made known. A few years later the irrepressible Yankee invaded the +country with his wooden clocks, and supplied the want. My father bought +one which is still in existence (though I think it has got past keeping +time), and paid ten pounds for it; a better one can be had now for as +many shillings. + +The kitchen door, which, as I have already mentioned, was very often +divided in the middle, so that the upper part could be opened and the +lower half kept closed, was the general entrance to the house, and was +usually provided with a wooden latch, which was lifted from the outside +by a leather string put through the door. At night, when the family +retired, the string was pulled in and the door was fastened against any +one from the outside. From this originated the saying that a friend +would always find the string on the latch. + +Carriages were not kept, for the simple reason that the farmer seldom +had occasion to use them. He rarely went from home, and when he did he +mounted his horse or drove in his lumber-waggon to market or to meeting. +He usually had one or two waggon-chairs, as they were called, which +would hold two persons very comfortably. These were put in the waggon +and a buffalo skin thrown over them, and then the vehicle was equipped +for the Sunday drive. There was a light waggon kept for the old people +to drive about in, the box of which rested on the axles. The seat, +however, was secured to wooden springs, which made it somewhat more +comfortable to ride in. A specimen of this kind of carriage was shown by +the York Pioneers at the Industrial Exhibition in this city. I have a +clear recollection of the most common carriage kept in those days, and +of my first ride in one. I was so delighted that I have never forgotten +it. One Saturday afternoon, my father and mother determined to visit +Grandfather C---, some six miles distant. We were made ready--that is +to say, my sister and self--and the "yoke" was put to. Our carriage had +but two wheels, the most fashionable mode then, and no steel springs; +neither was the body hung upon straps. There was no cover to the seat, +which was unique in its way, and original in its get-up. Neither was +there a well-padded cushion to sit on, or a back to recline against. It +was nothing more or less than a limber board placed across from one side +of the box to the other. My father took his seat on the right, the place +invariably accorded to the driver--we did not keep a coachman then--my +mother and sister, the latter being an infant, sat on the opposite side, +while I was wedged in the middle to keep me from tumbling out. My father +held in his hand a long slender whip (commonly called a "gad") of blue +beech, with which he touched the off-side animal, and said, "Haw Buck, +gee 'long." The "yoke" obeyed, and brought us safely to our journey's +end in the course of time. Many and many a pleasant ride have I had +since in far more sumptuous vehicles, but none of them has left such a +distinct and pleasing recollection. + +The houses were almost invariably inclosed with a picket or board fence, +with a small yard in front. Shade and ornamental trees were not in much +repute. All around lay the "boundless contiguity of shade;" but it +awakened no poetic sentiment. To them it had been a standing menace, +which had cost the expenditure of their best energies, year after year, +to push further and further back. The time had not come for ornamenting +their grounds and fields with shrubs and trees, unless they could +minister to their comfort in a more substantial way. The gardens were +generally well supplied with currant and gooseberry bushes. Pear, plum +and cherry trees, as well as the orchard itself, were close at hand. +Raspberries and strawberries were abundant in every new clearing. The +sap-bush furnished the sugar and maple molasses. So that most of the +requisites for good living were within easy hail. + +The first concern of a thrifty farmer was to possess a large barn, with +out-houses or sheds attached for his hay and straw, and for the +protection of his stock during the cold and stormy weather of fall and +winter. Lumber cost him nothing, save the labour of getting it out. +There was, therefore, but little to prevent him from having plenty of +room in which to house his crops, and as the process of threshing was +slow it necessitated more space than is required now. The granary, pig- +pen and corncrib were usually separate. The number and extent of +buildings on a flourishing homestead, inclosed with strong board fences, +covered a wide area, but the barns, with their enormous peaked roofs, +and the houses, with their dormer windows looking out from their steep +sides, have nearly all disappeared, or have been transformed into more +modern shape. + +It would be difficult to find much resemblance between the well-ordered +house of the thriving farmer of to-day and that of half a century ago: +In the first place the house itself is designed with an eye to +convenience and comfort. There is more or less architectural taste +displayed in its external appearance. It is kept carefully painted. The +yawning fireplace in the kitchen, with its row of pots, has disappeared, +and in its place the most approved cooking-stove or range, with its +multifarious appendages, is found. On the walls hang numberless +appliances to aid in cooking. Washing-machines, wringers, improved +churns, and many other labour saving arrangements render the task of the +house-wife comparatively easy, and enable her to accomplish much more +work in a shorter time than the dear old grandmother ever dreamed of in +the highest flights of her imagination. Her cupboards are filled with +china and earthenware of the latest pattern. Pewter plates and buck- +handled knives have vanished, and ivory-handled cutlery has taken their +places. Britannia metal and pewter spoons have been sent to the melting- +pot, and iron forks have given place to nickel and silver ones. The old +furniture has found its way to the garret, and the house is furnished +from the ware-rooms of the best makers. Fancy carpets cover the floor of +every room. The old high-posted bedsteads, which almost required a +ladder to get into, went to the lumber heap long ago, and low, sumptuous +couches take their places. The great feather tick has been converted +into the more healthy mattress, and the straw tick and cords have been +replaced by spring bottoms. It used to be quite an arduous undertaking, +I remember, to put up one of those old beds. One person took a wrench, +kept for that purpose, and drew up the cord with it as tight as he could +at every hole, and another followed with a hammer and pin, which was +driven into the hole through which the end passed to hold it; and so you +went on round the bed, until the cord was all drawn as tight as it could +possibly be. Now a bedstead can be taken down and put up in a few +moments by one person with the greatest ease. The dresses of both mother +and daughters are made according to the latest styles, and of the best +material. The family ride in their carriage, with fine horses, and +richly-plated harness. The boys are sent to college, and the girls are +polished in city boarding-schools. On the farm the change is no less +marked. The grain is cut and bound with reaping machines, the grass with +mowing machines, and raked with horse rakes. Threshing machines thresh +and clean the grain. The farmer has machines for planting and sowing. +The hoe is laid aside, and his corn and root crops are kept clean with +cultivators. His ploughs and drags do better work with more ease to +himself and his team. He has discovered that he can keep improved stock +at less expense, and at far greater profit. In fact, the whole system of +farming and farm labour has advanced with the same rapid strides that +everything else has done; and now one man can accomplish more in the +same time, and do it better, than half a dozen could fifty years ago. + +Musical instruments were almost unknown except by name. A stray fiddler, +as I have said elsewhere, was about the only musician that ever +delighted the ear of young or old in those days. I do not know that +there was a piano in the Province. If there were any their number was so +small that they could have been counted on the fingers of one hand. Now, +every house in the land with any pretension to the ordinary comforts of +life has either a piano or a melodeon, and every farmer's daughter of +any position can run over the keys with as much ease and effect as a +city belle. Passing along one of our streets not long since, I heard +some one playing in a room adjoining a little grocery store. My +attention was arrested by the skill of the player, and the fine tone of +the instrument. While I was listening, a couple of ladies passed, one of +whom said, "I do wonder if they have got a piano here." "Why not," said +the other, "the pea-nut-man on ---- Street has one, and I don't see why +every one else shouldn't have." + +I think all who have marked the changes that have taken place during the +half century which is gone, will admit that we are a much faster people +than our fathers were. We have jumped from change to change with +marvellous rapidity. We could never endure the patient plodding way they +travelled, nor the toil and privation they went through; and it is a +good thing for us, perhaps, that they preceded us. Would it not be well +for us occasionally to step aside from the bustle and haste which +surrounds us, and look back. There are many valuable lessons to be +gathered from the pages of the past, and it might be well, perhaps, were +we to temper our anxiety to rise in the social scale with some of the +sterling qualities that characterized our progenitors. Our smart boys +now-a-days are far too clever to pursue the paths which their fathers +trod, and in too many cases begin the career of life as second or third- +rate professional men or merchants, while our daughters are too +frequently turned into ornaments for the parlour. We know that fifty +years ago the boys had to work early and late. West of England +broadcloths and fine French fabrics were things that rarely, indeed, +adorned their persons. Fashionable tailors and young gentlemen, +according to the present acceptation of the term, are comparatively +modern institutions in Canada. Fancy for a moment one of our young +swells, with his fashionable suit, gold watch, chain, and rings, patent +leather boots and kid gloves, and topped off with Christie's latest +headgear, driving up to grandfather's door in a covered buggy and plated +harness, fifty years ago! What would have been said, think you? My +impression is that his astonishment would have been too great to find +expression. The old man, no doubt, would have scratched his head in +utter bewilderment, and the old lady would have pushed up her specs in +order to take in the whole of the new revelation, and possibly might +have exclaimed, "Did you ever see the beat?" The girls, I have no doubt, +would have responded to their mother's ejaculation; and the boys, if at +hand, would have laughed outright. + +My remarks, so far, have been confined altogether to the country +settlements, and fifty years ago that was about all there was in this +Province. Kingston was, in fact, the only town. The other places, which +have far outstripped it since, were only commencing, as we shall see +presently. Kingston was a place of considerable importance, owing to its +being a garrison town; and its position at the foot of lake navigation +gave promise of future greatness. The difference between town and +country life as yet was not very marked, except with the few officers +and officials. Clothes of finer and more expensive materials were worn, +and a little more polish and refinement were noticeable. The +professional man's office was in his house, and the merchant lived over +his store. He dealt in all kinds of goods, and served his customers +early and late. He bartered with the people for their produce, and +weighed up the butter and counted out the eggs, for which he paid in +groceries and dry goods. Now he has his house on a fashionable street, +or a villa in the vicinity of the city, and is driven to his counting +house in his carriage. His father, and himself, perhaps, in his boyhood, +toiled in the summer time under a burning sun, and now he and his family +take their vacation during hot weather at fashionable watering places, +or make a tour in Europe. + +We have but little to complain of as a people. Our progress during the +last fifty years has been such as cannot but be gratifying to every +Canadian, and if we are only true to ourselves and the great principles +that underlie real and permanent success, we should go on building up a +yet greater and more substantial prosperity, as the avenues of trade +which are being opened up from time to time become available. But let us +guard against the enervating influences which are too apt to follow +increase of wealth. The desire to rise in the social scale is one that +finds a response in every breast; but it often happens that, as we +ascend, habits and tastes are formed that are at variance not only with +our own well-being, but with the well-being of those who may be +influenced by us. One of the principal objects, it would seem, in making +a fortune in these days, is to make a show. There are not many families +in this Province, so far, fortunately, whose children can afford to lead +a life of idleness. Indeed, if the truth must be told, the richest heir +in our land cannot afford it. Still, when children are born with silver +spoons in their mouths, the necessity to work is removed, and it +requires some impulse to work when there is no actual need. But, +fortunately, there are higher motives in this world than a life of +inglorious ease. Wealth can give much, but it cannot make a man in the +proper and higher sense, any more than iron can be transmuted into gold. +It is a sad thing, I think, to find many of our wealthy farmers bringing +up their children with the idea that a farmer is not as respectable as a +counter-jumper in a city or village store, or that the kitchen is too +trying for the delicate organization of the daughter, and that her +vocation is to adorn the drawing-room, to be waited on by mamma, and to +make a brilliant match. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +JEFFERSON'S DEFINITION OF "LIBERTY"--HOW IT WAS ACTED UPON--THE CANADIAN +RENAISSANCE--BURNING POLITICAL QUESTIONS IN CANADA HALF A CENTURY AGO-- +LOCOMOTION--MRS. JAMESON ON CANADIAN STAGE COACHES--BATTEAUX AND DURHAM +BOATS. + + + +The American Revolution developed two striking pictures of the +inconsistency of human nature. The author of the Declaration of +Independence lays down at the very first this axiom: "We hold this truth +to be self-evident, that all men are created _equal_; that among +these, are life, _liberty_, and the pursuit of happiness." And yet +this man, with members of others who signed the famous document, was a +slave-holder, and contributed to the maintenance of a system which was a +reproach and a stain upon the fair fame of the land, until it was wiped +out with the blood of tens of thousands of its sons. The next picture +that stands out in open contradiction to the declaration of equality of +birth and liberty of action appears at the end of every war. The very +men who had clamoured against oppression, and had fought for and won +their freedom, in turn became the most intolerant oppressors. The men +who had differed from them, and had adhered to the cause of the mother +land, had their property confiscated, and were expelled from the +country. Revolutions have ever been marked by cruelty. Liberty in France +inaugurated the guillotine. The fathers of the American Revolution cast +out their kindred, who found a refuge in the wilderness of Canada, where +they endured for a time the most severe privations and hardships. This +was the first illustration or definition of "liberty and the pursuit of +happiness," from an American point of view. + +The result was not, perhaps, what was anticipated. The ten thousand or +more of their expatriated countrymen were not to be subdued by acts of +despotic injustice. Their opinions were dear to them, and were as fondly +cherished as were the opinions of those who had succeeded in wrenching +away a part of the old Empire under a plea of being oppressed. They +claimed only the natural and sacred right of acting upon their honest +convictions; and surely no one will pretend to say that their position +was not as just and tenable, or that it was less honourable than that of +those who had rebelled. I am not going to say that there was no cause of +complaint on the part of those who threw down the gage of war. The truth +about that matter has been conceded long ago. The enactments of the Home +Government which brought about the revolt are matters with which we have +nothing to do at this time. But when the war terminated and peace was +declared, the attitude of the new Government toward those of their +countrymen who had adhered to the Old Land from a sense of duty, was +cruel, if not barbarous. It has no parallel in modern history, unless it +be the revocation of the Edict of Nantes by Louis XIV. The refugees, +however, did not, like the Huguenots, find a home in an old settled +country, but in the fastness of a Canadian forest; and it is wonderful +that so many men and women, out of love for a distant land whose +subjects they had been, and whose cause they had espoused, should have +sacrificed everything, and passed from comfortable homes and dearly- +loved kindred to desolation and poverty. It shows of what unbending +material they were made. With their strong wills and stronger arms they +laid the foundation of another country that yet may rival the land +whence they were driven. This act no doubt occasioned the settlement of +the Western Province many years earlier than it would have occurred +under other circumstances; and notwithstanding the attempts that were +made to subdue the country, our fathers proved, when the struggle came, +that they had lost none of their patriotic fire, and though they were +comparatively few in number, they were not slow to shoulder their +muskets and march away in defence of the land of their adoption. There +were no differences of opinion on this point. A people who had first +been robbed of their worldly goods and then driven from the homes of +their youth, were not likely soon to forget either their wrongs or their +sufferings, nor to give up, without a struggle, the new homes they had +made for themselves under the keenest privations and severest toils. As +our fathers successfully resisted the one, so have their children +treated the threats and blandishments that have been used from time to +time to bring them under the protecting aegis of the stars and stripes. +The wounds that were inflicted nearly a century ago have happily +cicatrized, and we can now look with admiration on the happy progress of +the American people in all that goes to make up a great and prosperous +country. We hope to live in peace and unity with them. Still, we like +our own country and its system of government better, and feel that we +have no reason either to be discontented with its progress, or to doubt +as to its future. + +The year 1830 may be taken as the commencement of a new order of things +in Canada. The people were prosperous; immigration was rapidly +increasing. A system of Government had been inaugurated which, if not +all that could be desired, was capable of being moulded into a shape fit +to meet the wants of a young and growing country. There were laws to +protect society, encourage education, and foster trade and commerce. The +application of steam in England and the United States, not only to +manufacturing purposes but to navigation, which had made some progress, +rapidly increased after this date, and the illustration given by +Stephenson, in September of this year, of its capabilities as a motor in +land transit, completely revolutionized the commerce of the world. It +assailed every branch of industry, and in a few years transformed all. +The inventive genius of mankind seemed to gather new energy. A clearer +insight was obtained into the vast results opening out before it and +into the innumerable inventions which have succeeded; for the more +uniform and rapid production of almost every conceivable thing used by +man has had its origin in this Nineteenth Century Renaissance. Our +Province, though remote from this "new birth," could not but feel a +touch of the pulsation that was stirring in the world, and, though but +in its infancy, it was not backward in laying hold of these discoveries, +and applying them as far as its limited resources would admit. As early +as 1816 we had a steamer--the _Frontenac_--running on Lake +Ontario, and others soon followed. The increase was much more rapid +after the date referred to, and the improvement in construction and +speed was equally marked. Owing to our sparse and scattered population, +as well as our inability to build, we did not undertake the construction +of railroads until 1853, when the Northern Railroad was opened to +Bradford; but after that, we went at it in earnest, and we have kept at +it until we have made our Province a network of railways. In order more +fully to realize our position at this time, it must be borne in mind +that our population only reached 210,437. + +Those whose recollection runs back to that time have witnessed changes +in this Province difficult to realize as having taken place during the +fifty years which have intervened. The first settlers found themselves +in a position which, owing to the then existing state of things, can +never occur again. They were cut off from communication, except by very +slow and inadequate means, with the older and more advanced parts of +America, and were, therefore, almost totally isolated. They adhered to +the manners and customs of their fathers, and though they acquired +property and grew up in sturdy independence, their habits and modes of +living remained unchanged. But now the steamboat and locomotive brought +them into contact with the world outside. They began to feel and see +that a new state of things had been inaugurated; that the old paths had +been forsaken; that the world had faced about and taken up a new line of +march. And, as their lives had theretofore been lives of exigency, they +were skilled in adapting themselves to the needs of the hour. Men who +have been trained in such a school are quick at catching improvements +and turning them to their advantage. It matters not in what direction +these improvements tend, whether to agriculture, manufactures, +education, or government; and we shall find that in all these our +fathers were not slow to move, or unequal to the emergency when it was +pressed upon them. + +One of the dearest privileges of a British subject is the right of free +discussion on all topics, whether sacred or secular--more especially +those of a political character--and of giving effect to his opinions at +the polls. No people have exercised these privileges with more practical +intelligence than the Anglo-Canadian. It must be confessed that half a +century ago, and even much later, colonial affairs were not managed by +the Home Government altogether in a satisfactory manner. At the same +time there can hardly be a doubt that the measures emanating from the +Colonial Office received careful consideration, or that they were +designed with an honest wish to promote the well-being of the colonists, +and not in the perfunctory manner which some writers have represented. +The great difficulty has been for an old country like the mother land, +with its long established usages, its time-honoured institutions, its +veneration for precedent, its dislike to change, and its faith in its +own wisdom and power, either to appreciate the wants of a new country, +or to yield hastily to its demands. British statesmen took for granted +that what was good for them was equally beneficial to us. Their system +of government, though it had undergone many a change, even in its +monarchical type, was the model on which the colonial governments were +based; and when the time came we were set up with a Governor appointed +by the Crown, a Council chosen by the Governor, and an Assembly elected +by the people. They had an Established Church, an outcome of the +Reformation, supported by the State. It was necessary for the welfare of +the people and for their future salvation that we should have one, and +it was given us, large grants of land being made for its support. A +hereditary nobility was an impossibility, for the entire revenue of the +Province in its early days would not have been a sufficient income for a +noble lord. Still, there were needy gentlemen of good families, as there +always have been, and probably ever will be, who were willing to +sacrifice themselves for a government stipend. They were provided for +and sent across the sea to this new land of ours, to fill the few +offices that were of any importance. There was nothing strange or +unnatural in all this, and if these newcomers had honestly applied +themselves to the development of the country instead of to advancing +their own interests, many of the difficulties which afterwards sprang up +would have been avoided. The men who had made the country began to feel +that they knew more about its wants than the Colonial Office, and that +they could manage its affairs better than the appointees of the Crown, +who had become grasping and arrogant. They began to discuss the +question. A strong feeling pervaded the minds of many of the leading men +of the day that a radical change was necessary for the well-being of the +country, and they began to apply the lever of public opinion to the +great fulcrum of agitation, in order to overturn the evils that had +crept into the administration of public affairs. They demanded a +government which should be responsible to the people, and not +independent of them. They urged that the system of representation was +unjust, and should be equalized. They assailed the party in power as +being corrupt, and applied to them the epithet of the "Family Compact"-- +a name which has stuck to them ever since, because they held every +office of emolument, and dispensed the patronage to friends, to the +exclusion of every man outside of a restricted pale. Another grievance +which began to be talked about, and which remained a bone of contention +for years, was the large grants of lands for the support of the Church +of England. As the majority of the people did not belong to that body, +they could not see why it should be taken under the protecting care of +the State, while every other denomination was left in the cold. Hence a +clamour for the secularization of the Clergy Reserves began to be heard +throughout the land. These, with many other questions, which were termed +abuses, raised up a political party the members whereof came to be known +as Radicals, and who, later, were stigmatized by the opposing party as +Rebels. The party lines between these two sides were soon sharply drawn +and when Parliament met at York, early in January, 1830, it was +discovered that a breach existed between the Executive Council and the +House of Assembly which could not be closed up until sweeping changes +had been effected. + +The Province at this time was divided into eleven districts, or twenty- +six counties, which returned forty-one members to the Assembly, and the +towns of York, Kingston, Brockville and Niagara returned one member +each, making in all forty-five representatives. Obedient to the command +of the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir John Colborne, the members of the +different constituencies were finding their way with sleighs (the only +means of conveyance in those days) through snow-drifts, on the first of +the year, to the capital--the Town of York. The Province had not yet +reached the dignity of possessing a city, and indeed the only towns were +the four we have named, of which Kingston was the largest and most +important. It had a population of 3,635, and York 2,860. A member from +Winnipeg could reach Ottawa quicker, and with much more comfort now, +than York could be reached from the Eastern and Western limits of the +Province in those days. [Footnote: Fancy such an announcement as the +following appearing in our newspapers in these days, prior to the +opening of the House of Assembly:-- + +"To the proprietors and editors of the different papers in the Eastern +part of the Province. Gentlemen: Presuming that the public will desire +to be put in possession of His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor's +speech at the approaching Session of Parliament at an early date, and +feeling desirous to gratify a public to which we are so much indebted, +we shall make arrangements for having it delivered, free of expense, at +Kingston, the day after it is issued from the press at York, that it may +be forwarded to Montreal by mail on the Monday following. + +"We are, Gentlemen, + +"Your obedient servants, + +"H. NORTON & Co., Kingston, + +"W. WELLER, York. + +"January 2nd, 1830." + +The foregoing is clipped from an old number of the _Christian +Guardian_.] + +Marshall Spring Bidwell was Speaker to the Assembly, and the following +formed the Executive Council:--J. Baby, Inspector-General; John H. Dunn, +Receiver-General; Henry John Boulton, Attorney-General; and Christopher +A. Hagerman, Solicitor-General. On the opening of the House, the address +was replied to by the Governor in one of the briefest speeches ever +listened to on the floor of the Legislative Assembly: "Gentlemen of the +House of Assembly, I thank you for your Address." The expense of +Hansards would not be very considerable if the legislators of the +present day followed the example of such brevity as this. + +Any one looking over the Journals of the Second Session of the Tenth +Parliament will see that there was a liberal bill of fare provided. +Every member had at least one petition to present, and altogether there +were one hundred and fifty-one presented, some of which read strangely +in the light of the present day. Among them was one from Addington, +praying that means might be adopted "to secure these Provinces the trade +of the West Indies, free from the United States competition." Another +was from the Midland District, praying that an Act be passed to prevent +itinerant preachers from coming over from the United States and +spreading sedition, &c.; and another from Hastings, to dispose of the +Clergy Reserves. "Mr. McKenzie gives notice that he will to-morrow move +for leave to bring in a bill to establish finger posts;" and a few years +later these "finger posts" could be seen at all the principal cross- +roads in the Province. Among the bills there was a tavern and shop +license bill; a bill establishing the Kingston Bank with a capital of +L100,000; a bill authorizing a grant of L57,412 10s, for the relief of +sufferers in the American War; and one authorizing a grant to the +Kingston Benevolent Society, and also to the York Hospital and +Dispensary established the year before. Among the one hundred and +thirty-seven bills passed by the House of Assembly, nearly one hundred +were rejected by the Legislative Council, which shows how near the two +Houses had come to a dead-lock. In other respects there was nothing +remarkable about the session. The really most important thing done was +the formation of Agricultural Societies, and the aid granted them. But +in looking over the returns asked for, and the grievance motions brought +forward from time to time, one can see the gathering of the storm that +broke upon the country in 1837-8, and, however much that outbreak is to +be deplored, it hastened, no doubt, the settlement of the vexed +questions which had agitated the public mind for years. The union of the +two Provinces, Upper and Lower Canada, followed in 1841, and in 1867 +Confederation took place, when our Province lost its old appellation, +and has ever since been known as the Province of Ontario--the keystone +Province of the Confederation. + +It was in 1830 that the name of Robert Baldwin first appeared in the +list of members, and of the forty-five persons who represented the +Province at that time I do not know that one survives. The death of +George IV. brought about a dissolution, and an election took place in +October. There was considerable excitement, and a good many seats +changed occupants, but the Family Compact party were returned to power. + +A general election in those days was a weighty matter, because of the +large extent of the constituencies, and the distance the widely- +scattered electors had to travel--often over roads that were almost +impassable--to exercise their franchise. There was but one polling place +in each county, and that was made as central as possible for the +convenience of the people. Often two weeks elapsed before all the votes +could be got in, and during the contest it was not an uncommon thing for +one side or the other to make an effort to get possession of the poll, +and keep their opponents from voting. This frequently led to disgraceful +fights, when sticks and stones were used with a freedom that would have +done no discredit to Irish faction fights in their palmiest days. +Happily, this is all changed now. The numerous polling places prevent a +crowd of excited men from collecting together. Voters have but a short +distance to go, and the whole thing is accomplished with ease in a day. +Our representation, both for the Dominion and Provincial Parliaments, is +now based upon population, and the older and more densely-populated +counties are divided into ridings, so that the forty-eight counties and +some cities and towns return to the Ontario Government eighty-eight +members. + +Fifty years ago the Post Office Department was under the control of the +British Government, and Thomas A. Stayner was Deputy Postmaster General +of British North America. Whatever else the Deputy may have had to +complain of, he certainly could not grumble at the extent of territory +under his jurisdiction. The gross receipts of the Department were L8,029 +2s 6d. [Footnote: I am indebted to W.H. Griffin, Esq., Deputy Postmaster +General, for information, kindly furnished, respecting the Post Office +Department, &c.] There were ninety-one post offices in Upper Canada. On +the main line between York and Montreal the mails were carried by a +public stage, and in spring and fall, owing to the bad roads, and even +in winter, with its storms and snow-drifts, its progress was slow, and +often difficult. There are persons still living who remember many a +weary hour and trying adventure between these points. Passengers, almost +perished with cold or famished with hunger, were often forced to trudge +through mud and slush up to their knees, because the jaded horses could +barely pull the empty vehicle through the mire or up the weary hill. +They were frequently compelled to alight and grope around in +impenetrable darkness and beating storm for rails from a neighbouring +fence, with which to pry the wheels out of a mud-hole, into which they +had, to all appearance, hopelessly sunk, or to dig themselves out of +snow banks in which both horses and stage were firmly wedged. If they +were so fortunate as to escape these mishaps, the deep ruts and corduroy +bridges tried their powers of endurance to the utmost, and made the old +coach creak and groan under the strain. Sometimes it toppled over with a +crash, leaving the worried passengers to find shelter, if they could, in +the nearest farm-house, until the damage was repaired. But with good +roads and no break-downs they were enabled to spank along at the rate of +seventy-five miles in a day, which was considered rapid travelling. +Four-and-a-half days were required, and often more; to reach Montreal +from York. A merchant posting a letter from the latter place, under the +most favourable circumstances, could not get a reply from Montreal in +less than ten days, or sometimes fifteen; and from Quebec the time +required was from three weeks to a month. The English mails were brought +by sailing vessels. Everything moved in those days with slow and uneven +pace. The other parts of the Province were served by couriers on +horseback, who announced their approach with blast of tin horn. That the +offices were widely separated in most cases may be judged from their +number. I recently came upon an entry made by my father in an old +account book against his father's estate: "To one day going to the post +office, 3s 9d." The charge, looked at in the light of these days, +certainly is not large, but the idea of taking a day to go to and from a +post office struck me as a good illustration of the inconveniences +endured in those days. The correspondent, at that time, had never been +blessed with a vision of the coming envelope, but carefully folded his +sheet of paper into the desired shape, pushed one end of the fold into +the other, and secured it with a wafer or sealing-wax. Envelopes, now +universally used, were not introduced until about 1845-50, and even +blotting paper, that indispensable requisite on every writing-table, was +unknown. Every desk had its sand-box, filled with fine dry sand, which +the writer sprinkled over his sheet to absorb the ink. Sometimes, at a +pinch, ashes were used. Goose quill was the only pen. There was not such +a thing, I suppose, as a steel pen in the Province. Gillott and Perry +had invented them in 1828; but they were sold at $36 a gross, and were +too expensive to come into general use. Neither was there such a thing +as a bit of india rubber, so very common now. Erasures had to be made +with a knife. Single rates of letter postage were, for distances not +exceeding 60 miles, 4 1/2 d; not exceeding 100 miles, 7d; and not over +200 miles, 9d, increasing 2 1/4 d on every additional 100 miles. Letters +weighing less than one ounce were rated as single, double or treble, as +they consisted of one, two or more sheets. If weighing an ounce, or +over, the charge was a single rate for every quarter of an ounce in +weight. + +How is it now? The Post Office Department has been for many years under +the control of our Government. There are in Ontario 2,353 Post-Offices, +with a revenue of $914,382. The mails are carried by rail to all the +principal points, and to outlying places and country villages by stage, +and by couriers in light vehicles, with much greater despatch, owing to +the improved condition of the highways. A letter of not over half an +ounce in weight can be sent from Halifax to Vancouver for three cents. A +book weighing five pounds can be sent the same distance for twenty +cents, and parcels and samples at equally low rates. To England the rate +for half an ounce is five cents, and for every additional half-ounce a +single rate is added. Postage stamps and cards, the money order system, +and Post Office savings banks have all been added since 1851. The +merchant of Toronto can post a letter to-day, and get a reply from +London; England, in less time than he could in the old days from Quebec. +In 1830 correspondence was expensive and tedious. Letters were written +only under the pressure of necessity. Now every one writes, and the +number of letters and the revenue have increased a thousand fold. The +steamship, locomotive and telegraph, all the growth of the last half +century, have not only almost annihilated time and space, but have +changed the face of the world. It is true there were steamboats running +between York and Kingston on the Bay of Quinte and the St. Lawrence +prior to 1830; but after that date they increased rapidly in number, and +were greatly improved. It was on the 15th of September of that year that +George Stephenson ran the first locomotive over the line between +Liverpool and Manchester--a distance of thirty miles--so that fifty +years ago this was the only railway with a locomotive in the world--a +fact that can hardly be realised when the number of miles now in +operation, and the vast sums of money expended in their construction, +are considered. What have these agents done for us, apart from the +wonderful impetus given to trade and commerce? You can post to your +correspondent at Montreal at 6 p.m., and your letter is delivered at 11 +a.m., and the next day at noon you have your answer. You take up your +morning's paper, and you have the news from the very antipodes every +day. The merchant has quotations placed before him, daily and hourly, +from every great commercial centre in the world; and even the sporting +man can deposit his money here, and have his bet booked in London the +day before. + +From the first discovery of the country up to 1800, a period of about +three hundred years, the bark canoe was the only mode of conveyance for +long distances. Governor Simcoe made his journeys from Kingston to +Detroit in a large bark canoe, rowed by twelve chasseurs, followed by +another containing the tents and provisions. The cost of conveying +merchandise between Kingston and Montreal before the Rideau and St. +Lawrence canals were built is hardly credible to people of this day. Sir +J. Murray stated in the House of Commons, in 1828, that the carriage of +a twenty-four pound cannon cost between L150 and L200 sterling. In the +early days of the Talbot Settlement (about 1817), Mr. Ermatinger states +that eighteen bushels of wheat were required to pay for one barrel of +salt, and that one bushel of wheat would no more than pay for one yard +of cotton. + +Our fathers did not travel much, and there was a good reason, as we have +seen, why they did not. The ordinary means of transit was the stage, +which Mrs. Jameson describes as a "heavy lumbering vehicle, well +calculated to live in roads where any decent carriage must needs +founder." Another kind, used on rougher roads, consisted of "large +oblong wooden boxes, formed of a few planks nailed together, and placed +on wheels, in which you enter by the window, there being no door to open +or shut, and no springs." On two or three wooden seats, suspended in +leather straps, the passengers were perched. The behaviour of the better +sort, in a journey from Niagara to Hamilton, is described by this writer +as consisting of a "rolling and tumbling along the detestable road, +pitching like a scow among the breakers of a lake storm." The road was +knee-deep in mud, the "forest on either side dark, grim, and +impenetrable." There were but three or four steamboats in existence, and +these were not much more expeditious. Fares were high. The rate from +York to Montreal was about $24. Nearly the only people who travelled +were the merchants and officials, and they were not numerous. The former +often took passage on sailing vessels or batteaux, and if engaged in the +lumber trade, as many of them were, they went down on board their rafts +and returned in the batteaux. "These boats were flat-bottomed, and made +of pine boards, narrowed at bow and stern, forty feet by six, with a +crew of four men and a pilot, provided with oars, sails, and iron-shod +poles for pushing. They continued to carry, in cargoes of five tons, all +the merchandise that passed to Upper Canada. Sometimes these boats were +provided with a makeshift upper cabin, which consisted of an awning of +oilcloth, supported on hoops like the roof of an American, Quaker, or +gipsy waggon. If further provided with half a dozen chairs and a table, +this cabin was deemed the height of primitive luxury. The batteaux went +in brigades, which generally consisted of five boats. Against the +swiftest currents and rapids the men poled their way up; and when the +resisting element was too much for their strength, they fastened a rope +to the bow, and, plunging into the water, dragged her by main strength +up the boiling cataract. From Lachine to Kingston, the average voyage +was ten to twelve days, though it was occasionally made in seven; an +average as long as a voyage across the Atlantic now. The Durham boat, +also then doing duty on this route, was a flat-bottomed barge, but it +differed from the batteaux in having a slip-keel and nearly twice its +capacity. This primitive mode of travelling had its poetic side. Amid +all the hardships of their vocation, the French Canadian boatmen were +ever light of spirit, and they enlivened the passage by carolling their +boat songs; one of which inspired Moore to write his immortal ballad." +[Footnote: Trout's Railways of Canada, 1870-1.] + +The country squire, if he had occasion to go from home, mounted his +horse, and, with his saddle-bags strapped behind him, jogged along the +highway or through the bush at the rate of forty or fifty miles a day. I +remember my father going to New York in 1839. He crossed by steamboat +from Kingston to Oswego; thence to Rome, in New York State, by canal- +boat, and thence by rail and steamer to New York. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +ROAD-MAKING--WELLER'S LINE OF STAGES AND STEAMBOATS--MY TRIP FROM +HAMILTON TO NIAGARA--SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES--PIONEER METHODIST PREACHERS +--SOLEMNIZATION OF MATRIMONY--LITERATURE AND LIBRARIES--WEEKLY NEWSPAPERS +--PRIMITIVE EDITORIAL ARTICLES. + + + +The people were alive at a very early date to the importance of +improving the roads; and as far back as 1793 an Act was passed at +Niagara, then the seat of government, placing the roads under overseers +or road-masters, as they were called, appointed by the ratepaying +inhabitants at their annual town meetings. Every man was required to +bring tools, and to work from three to twelve days. There was no +property distinction, and the time was at the discretion of the +roadmaster. This soon gave cause for dissatisfaction, and reasonably, +for it was hardly fair to expect a poor man to contribute as much toward +the improvement of highways as his rich neighbour. The Act was amended, +and the number of days' work determined by the assessment roll. The +power of opening new roads, or altering the course of old ones, was +vested in the Quarter Sessions. This matter is now under the control of +the County Councils. The first government appropriation for roads was +made in 1804, when L1,000 was granted; but between 1830-33, $512,000 was +provided for the improvement and opening up of new roads. The road from +Kingston to York was contracted for by Dantford, an American, in 1800, +at $90 per mile, two rods wide. The first Act required that every man +should clear a road across his own lot, but it made no provision for the +Clergy Reserves and Crown Lands, and hence the crooked roads that +existed at one time in the Province. Originally the roads were marked +out by blazing the trees through the woods as a guide for the +pedestrian. Then the boughs were cut away, so that a man could ride +through on horseback. Then followed the sleighs; and finally the trees +were cleared off, so that a waggon could pass. "The great leading roads +of the Province had received little improvement beyond being graded, and +the swamps [had been] made passable by laying the round trunks of trees +side by side across the roadway. Their supposed resemblance to the +king's corduroy cloth gained for these crossways the name of corduroy +roads. The earth roads were passably good when covered with the snows of +winter, or when dried up in the summer sun; but even then a thaw or rain +made them all but impassable. The rains of autumn and the thaws of +spring converted them into a mass of liquid mud, such as amphibious +animals might delight to revel in. Except an occasional legislative +grant of a few thousand pounds for the whole Province, which was ill- +expended, and often not accounted for at all, the great leading roads, +as well as all other roads, depended, in Upper Canada, for their +improvement on statute labour." [Footnote: II.] + +[Illustration: THE OLD SCHOOL HOUSE.] + +The Rev. Isaac Fidler, writing in 1831, says: "On our arrival at Oswego, +I proceeded to the harbour in quest of a trading vessel bound for York, +in Canada, and had the good fortune to find one that would sail in an +hour. I agreed with the captain for nine dollars, for myself, family, +and baggage, and he on his part assured me that he would land me safe in +twenty-four hours. Our provision was included in the fare. Instead of +reaching York in one day, we were five days on the lake. There were two +passengers, besides ourselves, equally disappointed and impatient. The +cabin of the vessel served for the sitting, eating, and sleeping room of +passengers, captain and crew. I expostulated strongly on this usage, but +the captain informed me he had no alternative. The place commonly +assigned to sailors had not been fitted up. We were forced to tolerate +this inconvenience. The sailors slept on the floor, and assigned the +berths to the passengers, but not from choice. The food generally placed +before us for dinner was salt pork, potatoes, bread, water and salt; +tea, bread and butter, and sometimes salt pork for breakfast and tea;" +to which he adds, "no supper." One would think, under the circumstances, +this privation would have been a cause for thankfulness. + +The same writer speaks of a journey to Montreal the following year: +"From York to Montreal, we had three several alterations of steamboats +and coaches. The steamboat we now entered was moored by a ledge of ice, +of a thickness so great as to conceal entirely the vessel, till we +approached close upon it. We embarked by steps excavated in the ice, for +the convenience of the passengers." + +The following advertisement, from the _Christian Guardian_ of 1830, +may prove not uninteresting as an evidence of the competition then +existing between the coach and steamboat, and is pretty conclusive that +at that date the latter was not considered very much superior or more +expeditious: + +"NEW LINE OF STAGES AND STEAMBOATS FROM YORK TO PRESCOTT. + +"The public are respectfully informed that a line of stages will run +regularly between YORK and the CARRYING PLACE, [Footnote: The Carrying +Place is at the head of the Bay of Quinte.] twice a week, the remainder +of the season, leaving YORK every MONDAY and THURSDAY morning at 4 +o'clock; passing through the beautiful townships of Pickering, Whitby, +Darlington and Clark, and the pleasant villages of Port Hope; Cobourg +and Colborne, and arriving at the CARRYING PLACE the same evening. Will +leave the CARRYING PLACE every TUESDAY and FRIDAY morning at 4 o'clock, +and arrive at York the same evening. + +"The above arrangements are made in connection with the steamboat _Sir +James Kempt_, so that passengers travelling this route will find a +pleasant and speedy conveyance between York and Prescott, the road being +very much repaired, and the line fitted up with good horses, new +carriages, and careful drivers. Fare through from York to Prescott, L2 +10s, the same as the lake boats. Intermediate distances, fare as usual. +All baggage at the risk of the owner. N.B.--Extras furnished at York, +Cobourg, or the Carrying Place, on reasonable terms. + +"WILLIAM WELLER. + +"York, June 9th. 1830." + +I remember travelling from Hamilton to Niagara in November, 1846. We +left the hotel at 6 p.m. Our stage, for such it was called, was a lumber +waggon, with a rude canvas cover to protect us from the rain, under +which were four seats, and I have a distinct recollection that long +before we got to our journey's end we discovered that they were not very +comfortable. There were seven passengers and the driver. The luggage was +corded on behind in some fashion, and under the seats were crowded +parcels, so that when we got in we found it difficult to move or to get +out. One of our passengers, a woman with a young child, did not +contribute to our enjoyment, or make the ride any more pleasant, for the +latter poor unfortunate screamed nearly the whole night through. +Occasionally it would settle down into a low whine, when a sudden lurch +of the waggon or a severe jolt would set it off again with full force. +The night was very dark, and continued so throughout, with dashes of +rain. The roads were very bad, and two or three times we had to get out +and walk, a thing we did not relish, as it was almost impossible for us +to pick our way, and the only thing for it was to push on as well as we +could through the mud and darkness. We reached Niagara just as the sun +was rising. Our appearance can readily be imagined. + +"In 1825, William L. Mackenzie described the road between York and +Kingston as among the worst that human foot ever trod, and down to the +latest day before the railroad era, the travellers in the Canadian stage +coach were lucky if, when a hill had to be ascended, or a bad spot +passed, they had not to alight and trudge ankle deep through the mud. +The rate at which it was possible to travel in stage coaches depended on +the elements. In spring, when the roads were water-choked and rut- +gullied, the rate might be reduced to two miles an hour for several +miles on the worst sections. The coaches were liable to be embedded in +the mud, and the passengers had to dismount and assist in prying them +out by means of rails obtained from the fences." [Footnote: Trout's +_Railways of Canada_] + +Such was the condition of the roads up to, and for a considerable time +after, 1830, and such were the means provided for the public who were +forced to use them. It can easily be conceived, that the inducements for +pleasure trips were so questionable that the only people who journeyed, +either by land or water, were those whose business necessities compelled +them to do so. Even in 1837, the only road near Toronto on which it was +possible to take a drive was Y'onge Street, which had been macadamized a +distance of twelve miles. But the improvements since then, and the +facilities for quick transit, have been very great. The Government has +spent large sums of money in the construction of roads and bridges. A +system of thorough grading and drainage has been adopted. In wet swampy +land, the corduroy has given place to macadamized or gravel roads, of +which there are about 4,000 miles in the Province. [Footnote: In order +to ascertain the number of miles of macadamized roads in the Province, +after hunting in vain in other quarters, I addressed a circular to the +Clerk of the County Council in each county, and received thirty replies, +out of thirty-seven. From these I gathered that there were about the +number of miles, above stated. Several replied that they had no means of +giving the desired information, and others thought there were about so +many miles. I was forced to the conclusion that the road accounts of the +Province were not very systematically kept.] Old log bridges have been +superseded by stone, iron, and well-constructed wooden ones, so that in +the older sections the farmer is enabled to reach his market with a +well-loaded waggon during the fall and spring. The old system of tolls +has been pretty much done away with, and even in the remote townships +the Government has been alive to the importance of uninterrupted +communication, and has opened up good central highways. The batteaux and +sailing vessels, as a means of travel, with the old steamer and its +cramped up cabin in the hold, and its slow pace, have decayed and rotted +in the dockyard, and we have now swift boats, with stately saloons +running from bow to stern, fitted in luxurious style, on either sides +rows of comfortable sleeping rooms, and with a _table d'hote_ +served as well as at a first class modern hotel. Travelling by steamer +now is no longer a tediously drawn out vexation, but in propitious +weather a pleasure. A greater change has taken place in our land travel, +but it is much more recent. The railroad has rooted out the stage, +except to unimportant places, and you can now take a Pullman at Toronto +at 7 p.m., go to bed at the proper time, and get up in Montreal at 10.30 +a.m. the next day. The first railroad on which a locomotive was run was +the Northern, opened in 1853, to Bradford. Since that time up to the +present we have built, and now have in operation, 3,478 miles, in +addition to 510 under construction or contract. [Footnote: This is +exclusive of the C.P.R.] + +Washington, in his farewell address, says: "Promote then, as an object +of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of +knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to +public opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be +enlightened." Fifty years ago, education, even in the older and more +enlightened countries, did not receive that attention which its +importance to the well-being of society and the state demanded, and it +is only during recent years, comparatively speaking, that the education +of the masses has been systematically attempted. Indeed, it used to be +thought by men of birth and culture that to educate the poor would lead +to strife and confusion--that ignorance was their normal condition, and +that any departure therefrom would increase their misery and discontent. +Those notions have, happily, been exploded, and it is found that +education is the best corrective to the evils that used to afflict +society and disturb the general peace. It goes hand in hand with +religion and good order, and so convinced have our rulers become of its +importance to the general weal, that not only free but compulsory +education has become the law of the land. It is not to be wondered at +that half a century ago our school system--if we could be said to have +one--was defective. Our situation and the circumstances in which we were +placed were not favourable to the promotion of general education. The +sparseness of the population and the extent of territory over which it +was scattered increased the difficulty; but its importance was not +overlooked, and in the early days of the Province grants of land were +made for educational purposes. The first classical school--indeed the +first school of any kind--was opened in Kingston, by Dr. Stuart, in +1785, and the first common school was taught by J. Clark, in +Fredericksburg, 1786. In 1807 an Act was passed to establish grammar +schools in the various districts, with a grant of L100 to each. But it +was not until 1816 that the government took any steps towards +establishing common schools. The Lieutenant-Governor, in his Speech from +the Throne on opening the House, in January, 1830, said:-- + +"The necessity of reforming the Royal Grammar School was evident from +your Report at the close of the session. By the establishing of a +college at York, under the guidance of an able master, the object which +we have in view will, I trust, be speedily attained. The delay that may +take place in revising the charter of the university, or in framing one +suitable to the Province and the intention of the endowment, must, in +fact, under present circumstances, tend to the advancement of the +institution; as its use depended on the actual state of education in the +Province. Dispersed as the population is over an extensive territory, a +general efficiency in the common schools cannot be expected, +particularly whilst the salaries of the masters will not admit of their +devoting their whole time to their profession." + +As far as my recollection goes, the teachers were generally of a very +inferior order, and rarely possessed more than a smattering of the +rudiments of grammar and arithmetic. As the Governor points out, they +were poorly paid, and "boarded around" the neighbourhood. But it is not +improbable that they generally received all their services were worth. +In those days most of the country youth who could manage to get to +school in winter were content if they learned to read and write, and to +wade through figures as far as the Rule of Three. Of course there were +exceptions, as also with the teachers, but generally this was the extent +of the aspiration of the rising generation, and it was not necessary for +the teacher to be profoundly learned to lead them as far as they wished +to go. I knew an old farmer of considerable wealth who would not allow +his boys to go to school, because, he said, if they learned to read and +write they might forge notes. He evidently considered "a little learning +a dangerous thing," and must have had a very low estimate of the moral +tone of his offspring, if he had any conception of morality at all. +However, the safeguard of ignorance which the old man succeeded in +throwing around his family did not save them, for they all turned out +badly. + +The books in use were Murray's Grammar, Murray's English Reader, +Walker's Dictionary, Goldsmith's and Morse's Geography, Mayor's Spelling +Book; Walkingame's and Adam's Arithmetic. The pupil who could master +this course of study was prepared, so far as the education within reach +could fit him, to undertake the responsibilities of life; and it was +generally acquired at the expense of a daily walk of several miles +through deep snow and intense cold, with books and dinner-basket in +hand. + +The school-houses where the youth were taught were in keeping with the +extent of instruction received within them. They were invariably small, +with low ceilings, badly lighted, and without ventilation. The floor was +of rough pine boards laid loose, with cracks between them that were a +standing menace to jackknives and slate pencils. [Footnote: Atlantic +Monthly.] The seats and desks were of the same material, roughly planed +and rudely put together. The seats were arranged around the room on +three sides, without any support for the back, and all the scholars sat +facing each other, the girls on one side and the boys on the other. The +seats across the end were debatable ground between the two, but finally +came to be monopolized by the larger boys and girls who, by some strange +law of attraction, gravitated together. Between was an open space in +which the stove stood, and when classes were drawn up to recite, the +teacher's desk stood at the end facing the door, and so enabled the +teacher to take in the school at a glance. But the order maintained was +often very bad. In fact it would be safe to say the greatest disorder +generally prevailed. The noise of recitations, and the buzz and drone of +the scholars at their lessons, was sometimes intolerable, and one might +as well try to study in the noisy caw-caw of a rookery. Occasionally +strange performances were enacted in those country school-rooms. I +remember a little boy between seven and eight years old getting a severe +caning for misspelling a simple word of two syllables, and as I happened +to be the little boy I have some reason to recollect the circumstance. +The mistake certainly did not merit the castigation, the marks of which +I carried on my back for many days, and it led to a revolt in the school +which terminated disastrously to the teacher. Two strong young men +attending the school remonstrated with the master, who was an irascible +Englishman, during the progress of my punishment, and they were given to +understand that if they did not hold their peace they would get a taste +of the same, whereupon they immediately collared the teacher. After a +brief tussle around the room, during which some of the benches were +overturned, the pedagogue was thrown on the floor, and then one took him +by the nape of the neck, and the other by the heels, and he was thrown +out of doors in the snow. There were no more lessons heard that day. On +the next an investigation followed, when the teacher was dismissed, and +those guilty of the act of insubordination were admonished. + +Dr. Thomas Rolph thus refers to the state of schools two years later: +"It is really melancholy to traverse the Province and go into many of +the common schools; you find a brood of children, instructed by some +Anti-British adventurer, instilling into the young and tender mind +sentiments hostile to the parent State; false accounts of the late war +in which Great Britain was engaged with the United States; geography +setting forth New York, Philadelphia, Boston, &c., as the largest and +finest cities in the world; historical reading books describing the +American population as the most free and enlightened under heaven, +insisting on the superiority of their laws and institutions to those of +all the world, in defiance of the agrarian outrages and mob supremacy +daily witnessed and lamented; and American spelling books, dictionaries, +and grammars, teaching them an Anti-British dialect and idiom, although +living in a British Province and being subjects to the British Crown." + +There was a Board of Education consisting of five members appointed to +each district, who had the over-sight of the schools. Each school +section met annually at what was called the School meeting, and +appointed three trustees, who engaged teachers, and superintended the +general management of the schools in their section. The law required +that every teacher should be a British subject, or that he should take +the oath of allegiance. He was paid a fee of fifteen shillings per +quarter for each scholar, and received a further sum of $100 from the +Government if there were not fewer than twenty scholars taught in the +school. + +Upper Canada College, the only one in the Province, began this year +(1830), under the management of Dr. Harris. Grantham Academy, in the +Niagara District, was incorporated, and the Methodist Conference +appointed a Committee to take up subscriptions to build an academy and +select a site. The last named, when built, was located at Cobourg, and +the building which was begun in 1832 was completed in 1836, when the +school was opened. There were 11 district and 132 common schools, with +an attendance of 3,677, and an expenditure of L3,866 11s 61/2 d. + +There was very little change in our school laws for several years. +Grants were annually made in aid of common schools, but there was no +system in the expenditure; consequently the good effected was not very +apparent. The first really practical school law was passed in 1841, the +next year when the union of the Provinces went into effect; and in 1844 +Dr. Ryerson was appointed Chief Superintendent of Education for Upper +Canada, which office he held for thirty-two years. During that time, +through his indefatigable labours, our school laws have been moulded and +perfected, until it is safe to say we have the most complete and +efficient school system in the world. The influence it has exercised on +the intellectual development of the people has been very great, and it +is but reasonable to expect that it will continue to raise the standard +of intelligence and high moral character throughout the land. Our +Government has, from the very first, manifested an earliest desire to +promote education in the Province. During Dr. Ryerson's long term of +office, it liberally supplied him with the necessary means for maturing +his plans and introducing such measures as would place our educational +system on the best footing that could be devised. This has been +accomplished in a way that does honour, not only to the head that +conceived it, but to the enlightened liberality of the Government that +seconded the untiring energy of the man who wrought it out. + +The advantages which the youth of Ontario to-day possess in acquiring an +education over the time when I was first sent to school with dinner +basket in hand, trudging along through mud or snow, to the old school- +house by the road side, where I was perched upon a high pine bench +without a back, with a Mavor's spelling book in hand, to begin the +foundation of my education, are so many and great that it is difficult +to realize the state of things that existed, or that men of intelligence +should have selected such a dry and unattractive method of imparting +instruction to children of tender years. It is to be feared that there +are many of our Canadian youth who do not appreciate the vantage ground +they occupy, nor the inviting opportunities that lie within the reach of +all to obtain a generous education. There is absolutely nothing to +prevent any young person possessing the smallest spark of ambition from +acquiring it, and making himself a useful member of society. "It is the +only thing," says Milton, in his "Literary Musings," "which fits a man +to perform justly, skilfully, and magnanimously, all the offices both +private and public of peace and war." + +There seems to be a growing disposition in the public mind to do away +with the first important educational landmark established in the +Province. Why this should be, or why its influence for good should at +any time have been so much crippled as even to give occasion to call its +usefulness in question seems strange. One would think that its intimate +connection with our early history; the good work accomplished by it, and +the number of men who have passed out of it to fill the highest public +positions in the gift of the Province, would save it from violent hands, +and furnish ample reasons for devising means to resuscitate it, if it +needs resuscitation, and to place it in a position to hold its own with +the various institutions that have come into existence since its doors +were first thrown open to the young aspirants for a higher education +half a century ago. + +The opening of Upper Canada College in 1830 gave an impetus to education +which soon began to be felt throughout the Province. It was impossible, +in the nature of things, that with increasing population and wealth +there should be no advance in our educational status. If the forty-six +years that had passed had been almost exclusively devoted to clearing +away the bush and tilling the land, a time had now arrived when matters +of higher import to future success and enjoyment pressed themselves upon +the attention of the people. The farm could not produce all the +requirements of life, nor furnish congenial employment to many active +minds. The surplus products of the field and forest, in order to become +available as a purchasing power, had to be converted into money, and +this set in motion the various appliances of commerce. Vessels were +needed to carry their produce to market, and merchants to purchase it, +who, in turn, supplied the multifarious wants of the household. Then +came the mechanic and the professional man, and with the latter +education was a necessity. It was not to be expected that the tastes of +the rising generation would always run in the same groove with the +preceding, and as wealth and population increased, so did the openings +for advancement in other pursuits; and scores of active young men +throughout the Province were only too anxious to seize upon every +opportunity that offered to push their way up in life. Hence it happened +that when Upper Canada College first threw open its doors, more than a +hundred young men enrolled their names. In a comparatively short time +the need for greater facilities urged the establishment of other +educational institutions, and this led to still greater effort to meet +the want. Again, as the question pressed itself more and more upon the +public mind, laws were enacted and grants made to further in every way +so desirable an object. Hence, what was a crude and inadequate school +organization prior to 1830, at that time and afterwards began to assume +a more concrete shape, and continued to improve until it has grown into +a system of which the country may well be proud. + +The contrast we are enabled to present is wonderful in every respect. +Since the parent college opened its doors to the anxious youths of the +Province, five universities and the same number of colleges have come +into existence. The faculties of these several institutions are presided +over by men of learning and ability. They are amply furnished with +libraries, apparatus and all the modern requirements of first-class +educational institutions. Their united rolls show an attendance of about +1,500 students last year. There are 10 Collegiate Institutes and 94 High +Schools, with an attendance of 12,136 pupils; 5,147 Public Schools, with +494,424 enrolled scholars; and the total receipts for school purposes +amounted to $3,226,730. Besides these, there are three Ladies' Colleges, +and several other important educational establishments devoted entirely +to the education of females, together with private and select schools in +almost every city and town in the Province, many of which stand very +high in public estimation. There are two Normal Schools for the training +of teachers. The one in Toronto has been in existence for 29 years, and +is so well known that it is unnecessary for me to attempt any +description of it. The total number of admissions since its foundation +have been 8,269. The Ottawa school, which has been in operation about +two years, has admitted 433. Three other important educational +institutions have been established by the Government in different parts +of the Province. The Deaf and Dumb Institute at Belleville is pleasantly +situated on the shore of the Bay of Quinte, a little west of the city. +The number in attendance is 269, and the cost of maintenance for the +past year $38,589. The Institute for the Blind at Brantford numbers 200 +inmates, and the annual expenditure is about $30,000. These +institutions, erected at a very large outlay, are admirably equipped, +and under the best management, and prove a great boon to the unfortunate +classes for whom they were established. The Agricultural College at +Guelph, for the training of young men in scientific and practical +husbandry, though in its infancy, is a step in the right direction, and +must exercise a beneficial influence upon the agricultural interests of +the country. Of medical corporations and schools, there are the Council +of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario; the Faculty of the +Toronto School of Medicine; Trinity Medical School; Royal College of +Physicians and Surgeons; Canada Medical Association; Ontario College of +Pharmacy; Royal College of Dental Surgeons; and Ontario Veterinary +College. There is also a School of Practical Science, now in its fourth +year. This, though not a complete list of the educational institutions +and schools of the Province, will nevertheless give a pretty correct +idea of the progress made during the fifty years that are gone. + +The accommodation furnished by the school sections throughout the +country has kept pace with the progress of the times. As a rule the +school-houses are commodious, and are built with an eye to the health +and comfort of the pupils. The old pine benches and desks have +disappeared before the march of improvement--my recollection of them is +anything but agreeable--and the school-rooms are furnished with +comfortable seats and desks combined. The children are no longer crowded +together in small, unventilated rooms. Blackboards, maps and apparatus +are furnished to all schools. Trained teachers only are employed, and a +uniform course of study is pursued, so that each Public School is a +stepping-stone to the High School, and upward to the College or +University. Great attention has been paid by the Education Department to +the selection of a uniform series of text books throughout the course, +adapted to the age and intelligence of the scholars; and if any fault +can be found with it, I think it should be in the number. The variety +required in a full course--even of English study--is a serious matter. +The authorities, however, have laboured earnestly to remove every +difficulty that lies in the student's path, and to make the way +attractive and easy. That they have succeeded to a very great extent is +evident from the highly satisfactory report recently presented by the +Minister of Education. With the increasing desire for a better education +there seems to be a growing tendency on the part of young men to avail +themselves of such aids as shall push them towards the object in view +with the smallest amount of work; and instead of applying themselves +with energy and determination to overcome the difficulties that face +them in various branches of study, they resort to the keys that may be +had in any bookstore. It is needless to repeat what experience has +proved, in thousands of instances, that the young man who goes through +his mathematical course by the aid of these, or through his classical +studies by the use of translations, will never make a scholar. Permanent +success in any department of life depends on earnest work, and the more +arduous the toil to secure an object, so much the more is it prized when +won. Furthermore, it is certain to prove more lasting and beneficial. + +The same causes that hindered the progress of education also retarded +the advance of religion. The first years of a settler's life are years +of unremitting toil; a struggle, in fact, for existence. Yet, though +settlers had now in a measure overcome their greater difficulties, the +one absorbing thought that had ground its way into the very marrow of +their life still pressed its claims upon their attention. The paramount +question with them had been how to get on in the world. They were cut +off, too, from all the amenities of society, and were scattered over a +new country, which, prior to their coming, had been the home of the +Indian--where all the requirements of civilization had to be planted and +cultivated anew. They had but barely reached a point when really much +attention could be devoted to anything but the very practical aim of +gaining their daily bread. It will readily be admitted that there is no +condition in life that can afford to put away religious instruction, and +there is no doubt that the people at first missed these privileges, and +often thought of the time when they visited God's House with regularity. +But the toil and moil of years had worn away these recollections, and +weakened the desire for sacred things. There can be no doubt that prior +to, and even up to 1830, the religious sentiment of the greater portion +of the people was anything but strong. The Methodists were among the +first, if not actually the first, to enter the field and call them back +to the allegiance they owed to the God who had blessed and protected +them. [Footnote: Dr. Stuart, of Kingston, Church of England, was the +first minister in Upper Canada, Mr. Langworth, of the same denomination, +in Bath; and Mr. Scamerhorn, Lutheran minister at Williamsburgh, next.] +Colonels Neal and McCarty began to preach in 1788, but the latter was +hunted out of the country. [Footnote: Playter.] Three years later, +itinerant preachers began their work and gathered hearers, and made +converts in every settlement. But these men, the most of whom came from +the United States, were looked upon with suspicion [Footnote: I have in +my possession an old manuscript book, written by my grandfather in 1796, +in which this point is brought out. Being a Quaker, he naturally did not +approve of the way those early preachers conducted services. Yet he +would not be likely to exaggerate what came under his notice. This is +what he says of one he heard: "I thought he exerted every nerve by the +various positions in which he placed himself to cry, stamp and smite, +often turning from exhortation to prayer. Entreating the Almighty to +thunder, or rather to enable him to do it. Also, to smite with the +sword, and to use many destroying weapons, at which my mind was led from +the more proper business of worship or devotion to observe, what +appeared to me inconsistent with that quietude that becometh a messenger +sent from the meek Jesus to declare the glad tidings of the gospel. If I +compared the season to a shower, as has heretofore been done, it had +only the appearance of a tempest of thunder, wind and hail, destitute of +the sweet refreshing drops of a gospel-shower."] by many who did not +fall in with their religious views; and it is not surprising that some +even went so far as to petition the Legislature to pass an Act which +should prevent their coming into the country to preach. It was said, and +truly, when the matter about this was placed before the Government, that +the connection existing between the Methodist Episcopal Church of the +United States and Canada was altogether a spiritual and not a political +connection; that the Methodists of Canada were as loyal to the British +Crown as any of its subjects, and had proved it again and again in the +time of trouble. Yet, looking back and remembering the circumstances +under which the people came, it does not seem so very strange to us that +they should have looked very doubtfully upon evangelists from a land +which not only stripped them and drove them away, but a little later +invaded their country. Neither do we wonder that some of them were +roughly treated, nor that unpleasant epithets were thrown out against +their followers. This was the outcome, not only of prejudice, but the +recollection of injuries received. There were a good many angularities +about Christian character in those days, and they frequently stood out +very sharply. They were not friends or enemies by halves. Their +prejudices were deeply seated, and if assailed were likely to be +resisted, and if pressed too closely in a controversy, were more +disposed to use the _argumentum baculinum_, as being more effectual +than the _argumentum ad judicicium_. But time gradually wore away +many of those asperities, and now few will deny that the position our +Province holds to-day is to a considerable extent owing to this large +and influential body of Christians. They built the first house devoted +to public worship in the Province; through their zeal and energy, the +people were stirred up to a sense of their religious obligation; their +activity infused life and action into other denominations. The people +generally throughout the country had the bread of life broken to them +with regularity, so that in the year of Grace 1830 a new order of things +was inaugurated. But with all this, a vastly different state of affairs +existed then from that now prevailing. No one could accuse the preachers +of those days of mercenary motives, for they were poorly paid, and +carried their worldly possessions on their backs. Their labour was +arduous and unremitting. They travelled great distances on foot and on +horseback, at all seasons and in all weathers, to fill appointments +through the bush--fording rivers, and enduring hardships and privations +that seem hardly possible to be borne. A circuit often embraced two or +three districts. The places of worship were small and far apart, and +fitted up with rude pine benches, the men sitting on the one side and +the women on the other. Often forty or fifty miles would have to be +traversed from one appointment to another, and when it was reached, +whether at a neighbour's house, a school-house, a barn or a meeting +house, the people assembled to hear the word, and then the preacher took +his way to the next place on his circuit. + +Mr. Vanest says: "In summer we crossed ferries, and in winter we rode +much on ice. Our appointment was thirty-four miles distant, without any +stopping-place. Most of the way was through the Indian's land--otherwise +called the Mohawk Woods. In summer I used to stop half-way in the woods +and turn my horse out where the Indians had had their fires. In winter I +would take some oats in my saddle-bags, and make a place in the snow to +feed my horse. In many places there were trees fallen across the path, +which made it difficult to get around in deep snow. I would ask the +Indians why they did not cut out the trees. One said, 'Indian like deer; +when he no cross under he jump over.' There was seldom any travelling +that way, which made it bad in deep snow. At one time when the snow was +deep, I went on the ice till I could see clear water, so I thought it +time to go ashore. I got off my horse and led him, and the ice cracked +at every step. If I had broken through, there would have been nothing +but death for us both. I got to the woods in deep snow, and travelled up +the shore till I found a small house, when I found the course of my +path, keeping a good look-out for the marked trees. I at last found my +appointment about seven o'clock. If I had missed my path I do not know +what would have become of me. At my stopping-place the family had no +bread or meal to make any of, till they borrowed some of a neighbour; so +I got my dinner and supper about eleven o'clock on Saturday night. On +Sabbath I preached. On Monday I rode about four miles, crossed the Bay +(Quinte), and then rode seventeen miles through the woods without seeing +a house, preached and met a class for a day's work." + +Another writer says: "We had to go twenty miles without seeing a house, +and were guided by marked trees, there being no roads. At one time my +colleague was lost in getting through the woods, when the wolves began +to howl around him, and the poor man felt much alarmed; but he got +through unhurt." [Footnote: Dr. Carroll.] + +These incidents occurred some years before the date of which I speak, +but the same kind of adventures were happening still. It did not take +long to get away from the three or four concessions that stretched +along the bay and lakes, and outside of civilization. I remember going +with my father and mother, about 1835, on a visit to an uncle who had +settled in the bush [Footnote: This was in the oldest settled part of +the Province--the Bay of Quinte.] just ten miles away, and in that +distance, we travelled a wood road for more than five miles. The snow +was deep and the day cold. We came out upon the clearing of a few acres, +and drove up to the door of the small log house, the only one then to be +seen. The tall trees which environed the few acres carved out of the +heart of the bush waved their naked branches as if mocking at the +attempt to put them away. The stumps thrust their heads up through the +snow on every hand, and wore their winter caps with a jaunty look, as if +they too did not intend to give up possession without a struggle. The +horses were put in the log stable, and after warming ourselves we had +supper, and then gathered round the cheerful fire. When bed-time came, +we ascended to our sleeping room by a ladder, my father carrying me up +in his arms. We had not been long in bed when a pack of wolves gathered +round the place and began to howl, making through all the night a most +dismal and frightful noise. Sleep was out of the question, and for many +a night after that I was haunted by packs of howling wolves. On our +return the next day I expected every moment to see them come dashing +down upon us until we got clear of the woods. This neighbourhood is now +one of the finest in the Province, and for miles fine houses and +spacious well-kept barns and outhouses are to be seen on every farm. + +I have been unable to get at any correct data respecting the number of +adherents of the various denominations in the Province for the year +1830. The total number of ministers did not reach 150, while they now +exceed 2,500. [Footnote: The number of ministers, as given in the +Journals of the House of Assembly for 1831, are 57 Methodist, 40 +Baptist, 14 Presbyterian, and 32 Church of England. For the last I am +indebted to Dr. Scadding.] There were but three churches in Toronto, +then called York. One of these was an Episcopalian Church, occupying the +present site of St. James's Cathedral. It was a plain wooden structure, +50 by 40, with its gables facing east and west; the entrance being by a +single door off Church Street. [Footnote: _Toronto of Old._] The +others were a Presbyterian and a Methodist church. The latter was built +in 1818, and was a long, low building, 40 by 60. In the gable end, +facing King Street, were two doors, one for each sex, the men occupying +the right and the women the left side of the room. It was warmed in +winter by a rudely constructed sheet-iron stove. The usual mode of +lighting it for night services was by tallow candles placed in sconces +along the walls, and in candlesticks in the pulpit. I am sure I shall be +safe in saying that there were not 150 churches or chapels all told in +the Province. All of them were small, and many of them were of the most +humble character. There are probably as many clergymen and more than +half as many churches in Toronto now, as there were in all Upper Canada +fifty years ago. The difference does not consist in the number of the +latter alone but in the size and character of the structures. The +beautiful and commodious churches, with their lofty spires and richly +arranged interiors, that meet the gaze on every hand in Toronto, have +not inappropriately given it the proud title of "the city of churches," +and there are several of them, any one of which would comfortably seat +the entire population of York in the days of which I have spoken. There +were no organs, and I am not sure that there were any in America. +Indeed, if there had been the good people of those days would have +objected to their use. Those who remember the three early churches I +have mentioned--and those who do not can readily picture them with their +fittings and seating capacity--will recall the dim, lurid light cast on +the audience by the flickering candles. Turn, now, for example, to the +Metropolitan Church on an evening's service. Notice the long carpeted +aisles, the rich upholstery, the comfortable seats, the lofty ceilings, +the spacious gallery and the vast congregation. An unseen hand touches +an electric battery, and in a moment hundreds of gas jets are aflame, +and the place is filled with a blaze of light. Now the great organ +heaves its thrilling thunders, compressing air into music, and rolling +it forth upon the soul. Surely the contrast is almost incredible, and +what we have said on this point in regard to Toronto may be said of +every city, town, village or country place in the Province. + +It will be proper to notice here that from the settlement of the country +up to 1831, marriage could only be legally solemnized by a minister of +the Church of England, or of the established Church of Scotland. There +was a provision which empowered a justice of the peace or a commanding +officer to perform the rite in cases where there was no minister, or +where the parties lived eighteen miles from a church. In 1831, an Act +was passed making it lawful for ministers of other denominations to +solemnize matrimony, and to confirm marriages previously contracted. +This act of tardy justice gave great satisfaction to the people. + +The day for cheap books, periodicals and newspapers had not then +arrived. There were but few of any kind in the country, and those that +were to be found possessed few attractions for either old or young. The +arduous lives led by the people precluded the cultivation of a taste for +reading. Persons who toil early and late, week in and week out, have +very little inclination for anything in the way of literary recreation. +When the night came, the weary body demanded rest, and people sought +their beds early. Consequently the few old volumes piled away on a shelf +remained there undisturbed. Bacon says: "Some books are to be tasted, +others to be swallowed, and some to be chewed and digested;" and he +might have added--"others still to be left alone." At all events the +last was the prevailing sentiment in those days. I do not know that the +fault was altogether with the books. It is true that those generally to +be seen were either doctrinal works, or what might be termed heavy +reading, requiring a good appetite and strong digestive powers to get +through with them. They were the relics of a past age, survivors of +obsolete controversies that had found their way into the country in its +infancy; and though the age that delighted in such mental pabulum had +passed away, these literary pioneers held their ground because the time +had not arrived for the people to feel the necessity of cultivating the +mind as well as providing for the wants of the body. Seneca says: +"Leisure without books is the sepulchre of the living soul;" but books +without leisure are practically valueless, and hence it made but little +difference with our grandfathers what the few they possessed contained. +[Footnote: From an inventory of my grandfather's personal effects I am +enabled to give what would have been considered a large collection of +books in those days. As I have said before, he was a Quaker, which will +account for the character of a number of the books; and by changing +these to volumes in accord with the religious tenets of the owner, the +reader will get a very good idea of the kind of literature to be found +in the houses of intelligent and well-to-do people:--1 large Bible, 3 +Clarkson's works, 1 Buchan's Domestic Medicine, 1 Elliot's Medical +Pocket Book, 1 Lewis's Dispensatory, 1 Franklin's Sermons, 1 +Stackhouse's History of the Bible, 2 Brown's Union Gazetteer, 1 16th +Report of the British and Foreign Bible Society, 1 History United +States, 1 Elias Hicks's Sermons, 2 Newton's Letters, 1 Ricketson on +Health, 1 Jessy Kerzey, 1 Memorials of a Deceased Friend, 1 Hervey's +Meditations, 1 Reply to Hibard, 1 Job's Scot's Journal, 1 Barclay on +Church Government, 1 M. Liver on Shakerism, 1 Works of Dr. Franklin, 1 +Journal of Richard Davis, 1 Lessons from Scripture, 1 Picket's Lessons, +1 Pownal, 1 Sequel to English Reader, Maps of United States, State of +New York, England, Ireland and Scotland, and Holland Purchase.] Some +years had to pass away before the need of them began to be felt. In a +country, as we have already said, where intelligence commanded respect +but did not give priority; where the best accomplishment was to get on +in the world; where the standard of education seldom rose higher than to +be able to read, write, and solve a simple sum in arithmetic, the +absence of entertaining and instructive books was not felt to be a +serious loss. But with the rapidly increasing facilities for moving +about, and the growth of trade and commerce, the people were brought +more frequently into contact with the intelligence and the progress of +the world outside. And with the increase of wealth came the desire to +take a higher stand in the social scale. The development of men's minds +under the political and social changes of the day, and the advance in +culture and refinement which accompanies worldly prosperity, quickened +the general intelligence of the people, and created a demand for books +to read. This demand has gone on increasing from year to year, until we +have reached a time when we may say with the Ecclesiast: "Of making of +books there is no end." If there was an excuse for the absence of books +in our Canadian homes half a century ago, and if the slight draughts +that were obtainable at the only fountains of knowledge that then +existed were not sufficient to create a thirst for more, there is none +now. Even the wealth that was to a certain extent necessary to gratify +any desire to cultivate the mind is no longer required, for the one can +be obtained free, and a few cents will procure the works of some of the +best authors who have ever lived. + +But little had been done up to 1830 to establish libraries, either in +town or village. Indeed the limited number of these, and the pursuits of +the people, which were almost exclusively agricultural--and that too in +a new country where during half of the year the toil of the field, and +clearing away the bush the remaining half, occupied their constant +attention--books were seldom thought of. Still, there was a mind here +and there scattered through the settlements which, like the "little +leaven," continued to work on silently, until a large portion of the +"lump" had been leavened. The only public libraries whereof I have any +trace were at Kingston, Ernesttown and Hallowell. The first two were in +existence in 1811-13, and the last was established somewhere about 1821. +In 1824, the Government voted a sum of L150 to be expended annually in +the purchase of books and tracts, designed to afford moral and religious +instruction to the people. These were to be equally distributed +throughout all the Districts of the Province. It can readily be +conceived that this small sum, however well intended, when invested in +books at the prices which obtained at that time, and distributed over +the Province, would be so limited as to be hardly worthy of notice. +Eight years prior to this, a sum of L800 was granted to establish a +Parliamentary Library. From these small beginnings we have gone on +increasing until we have reached a point which warrants me, I think, in +saying that no other country with the same population is better supplied +with the best literature of the day than our own Province. Independent +of the libraries in the various colleges and other educational +institutions, Sunday schools and private libraries, there are in the +Province 1,566 Free Public Libraries, with 298,743 volumes, valued at +$178,282; and the grand total of books distributed by the Educational +Department to Mechanics' Institutes, Sunday school libraries, and as +prizes, is 1,398,140. [Footnote: The number of volumes in the principal +libraries are, as nearly as I can ascertain, as follows:--Parliamentary +Library, Ottawa, 100,000; Parliamentary Library, Ontario, 17,000; +Toronto University, 23,000; Trinity College, 5,000; Knox College, +10,000; Osgoode Hall, 20,000; Normal School, 15,000; Canadian Institute, +3,800.] There are also upwards of one hundred incorporated Mechanics' +Institutes, with 130,000 volumes, a net income of $59,928, and a +membership of 10,785. These, according to the last Report, received +legislative grants to the amount of $22,885 for the year 1879--an +appropriation that in itself creditably attests the financial and +intellectual progress of the Province. [Footnote: Report of the Minister +of Education, 1879.] + +It is a very great pity that a systematic effort had not been made years +ago to collect interesting incidents connected with the early settlement +of the Province. A vast amount of information that would be invaluable +to the future compiler of the history of this part of the Dominion has +been irretrievably lost. The actors who were present at the birth of the +Province are gone, and many of the records have perished. But even now, +if the Government would interest itself, much valuable material +scattered through the country might be recovered. The Americans have +been always alive to this subject, and are constantly gathering up all +they can procure relating to the early days of their country. More than +that, they are securing early records and rare books on Canada wherever +they can find them. Any one who has had occasion to hunt up information +respecting this Province, even fifty years ago, knows the difficulty, +and even impossibility in some cases, of procuring what one wants. It is +hardly credible that the important and enterprising capital city of +Toronto, with its numerous educational and professional institutions, is +without a free public library in keeping with its other advantages. +[Footnote: This want has since been supplied by an excellent Free Public +Library.] This is a serious want to the well-being of our intellectual +and moral nature. The benefits conferred by free access to a large +collection of standard books is incalculable, and certainly if there is +such a thing as retributive justice, it is about time it showed its +hand. + +The first printing office in the Province was established by Louis Roy, +in April, 1793, [Footnote: Mr. Bourinot, in his _Intellectual +Development of Canada_, says this was in 1763, which is no doubt a +typographical error.] at Newark (Niagara), and from it was issued the +_Upper Canada Gazette_, or _American Oracle_ [Footnote: +_Toronto of Old_], a formidable name for a sheet 15 in. x 9. It was +an official organ and newspaper combined, and when a weekly journal of +this size could furnish the current news of the day, and the Government +notices as well, one looking at it by the light of the present day +cannot help thinking that publishing a paper was up-hill work. Other +journals were started, and, after running a brief course, expired. When +one remembers the tedious means of communication in a country almost +without roads, and the difficulty of getting items of news, it does not +seem strange that those early adventures were short-lived. But as time +wore on, one after another succeeded in getting a foothold, and in +finding its way into the home of the settler. They were invariably +small, and printed on coarse paper. Sometimes even this gave out, and +the printer had to resort to blue wrapping paper in order to enable him +to present his readers with the weekly literary feast. In 1830, the +number had increased from the humble beginning in the then capital of +Upper Canada, to twenty papers, and of these the following still +survive: _The Chronicle and News_, of Kingston, established 1810; +_Brockville Recorder_, 1820; St. Catharines _Journal_, 1824; +_Christian Guardian_, 1829. There are now in Ontario 37 daily +papers, 4 semi-weeklies; 1 tri-weekly, 282 weeklies, 27 monthlies, and 2 +semi-monthlies, making a total of 353. The honour of establishing the +first daily paper belongs to the late Dr. Barker, of Kingston, founder +of the _British Whig_, in 1834. + +There is perhaps nothing that can give us a better idea the progress the +Province has made than a comparison of the papers published now with +those of 1830. The smallness of the sheets, and the meagreness of +reading matter, the absence of advertisements, except in a very limited +way, and the typographical work, makes us think that our fathers were a +good-natured, easy-going kind of people, or they would never have put up +with such apologies for newspapers. Dr. Scadding, in _Toronto of +Old_, gives a number of interesting and amusing items respecting the +"Early Press." He states that the whole of the editorial matter of the +_Gazette and Oracle_, on the 2nd January, 1802, is the following: +"The Printer presents his congratulatory compliments to his customers on +the new year." If brevity is the soul of wit, this is a _chef +d'oeuvre_. On another occasion the publisher apologises for the non- +appearance of his paper by saying: "The Printer having been called to +York last week upon business, is humbly tendered to his readers as an +apology for the _Gazette's_ not appearing." This was another entire +editorial, and it certainly could not have taken the readers long to get +at the pith of it. What would be said over such an announcement in these +days? + +We have every reason to feel proud of the advance the Press has made, +both in number and influence, in Ontario. The leading papers are ably +conducted and liberally supported, and they will compare favourably with +those of any country. Various causes have led to this result. The +prosperous condition of the people, the increase of immigration, the +springing up of railway communication, the extension and perfecting of +telegraphy, and, more than all, the completeness and efficiency of our +school system throughout the Province, have worked changes not to be +mistaken. These are the sure indices of our progress and enlightenment; +the unerring registers that mark our advancement as a people. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +BANKS--INSURANCE--MARINE-TELEGRAPH COMPANIES--ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE +--MILLING AND MANUFACTURES--RAPID INCREASE OF POPULATION IN CITIES AND +TOWNS--EXCERPTS FROM ANDREW PICKEN. + + + +The only bank in the Province in 1830 was the Bank of Upper Canada, with +a capital of L100,000. There are now nine chartered banks owned in +Ontario, with a capital of $17,000,000, and there are seven banks owned, +with one exception, in the Province of Quebec, having offices in all the +principal towns. There are also numbers of private banks and loan +companies, the latter representing a capital of over $20,000,000. This +is a prolific growth in half a century, and a satisfactory evidence of +material success. + +Insurance has been the growth of the last fifty years. During the +session of the House of Assembly in 1830, a bill was introduced to make +some provision against accidents by fire. Since then the business has +grown to immense proportions. According to the returns of the Dominion +Government for the 31st December, 1879, the assets of Canadian Life, +Fire, Marine, Accident, and Guarantee Companies were $10,346,587. +British, doing business in Canada, $6,838,309. American, ditto, +$1,685,599. Of Mutual Companies, there are 94 in Ontario, with a total +income for 1879 of $485,579, and an expenditure of $455,861. [Footnote: +Inspector of Insurance Report, 1880.] + +Fifty years ago the revenue of Upper Canada was L112,166 13s 4d; the +amount of duty collected L9,283 19s. The exports amounted to L1,555,404, +and the imports to L1,555,404. There were twenty-seven ports of entry +and thirty-one collectors of customs. From the last published official +reports we learn that the revenue for Ontario in 1879 was $4,018,287, +and that for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 1880, the exports were +$28,063,980, and imports $27,869,444; amount of duty collected, +$5,086,579; also that there are fifty-six ports of entry and thirty- +eight outposts, with seventy-three collectors. + +One of the most interesting features in the progress of Canada is the +rapid growth of its marine. It is correctly stated to rank fourth as to +tonnage among the maritime powers of the world. The United States, with +its fifty-four millions of people and its immense coast-line, exceeds us +but by a very little, while in ocean steamers we are ahead. In fact, the +Allan Line is one of the first in the world. This is something for a +country with a population of only five-and-a-half millions to boast of, +and it is not by any means the only thing. We have been spoken of as a +people wanting enterprise--a good-natured, phlegmatic set--but it is +libel disproved by half a century's progress. We have successfully +carried out some of the grandest enterprises on this continent. At +Montreal we have the finest docks in America. Our canals are unequalled; +our country is intersected by railroads; every town and village in the +land is linked to its neighbour by telegraph wires, and we have probably +more miles of both, according to population, than any other people. + +The inland position of the Province of Ontario, although having the +chain of great lakes lying along its southern border, never fostered a +love for a sea-faring life. This is easily accounted for by the pursuits +of the people, who as has been said before, were nearly all +agriculturists. But the produce had to be moved, and the means were +forthcoming to meet the necessities of the case. The great water-course +which led to the seaports of Montreal and Quebec, owing to the rapids of +the St. Lawrence, could only be navigated by the batteaux and Durham +boats; and the navigator, after overcoming these difficulties, and +laying his course through the noble lake from which our Province takes +its name, encountered the Falls of Niagara. This was a huge barrier +across his path which he had no possible means of surmounting. When the +town of Niagara was reached, vessels had to be discharged, and the +freight carted round the falls to Chippawa. This was a tedious matter, +and a great drawback to settlement in the western part of the Province. +Early in the century, the Hon. William Hamilton Merritt conceived the +plan of connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario by a canal, and succeeded in +getting the Government to assume the project in 1824. It was a great +work for a young country to undertake, but it was pushed on, and +completed in 1830. From that time to the present vessels have been +enabled to pass from one lake to the other. This, with the Sault Ste. +Marie canal, and those of the St. Lawrence, enables a vessel to pass +from the head of Lake Superior to the ocean. The Ridean Canal undertaken +about the same time as the Welland Canal, was also completed in the same +year. It was constructed principally for military purposes, though at +one time a large amount of freight came up the Ottawa, and thence by +this canal to Kingston. The St. Lawrence was the only channel for +freight going east. All the rapids were navigable with the batteaux +except the Lachine, and up to 1830 there was a line of these boats +running from Belleville to Montreal. [Footnote: The reader may be +interested in learning the amount of produce shipped from the Province +in 1830, via the St. Lawrence, and the mode of its conveyance. It is +certainly a marked contrast, not only to the present facilities for +carrying freight, but to the amount of produce, etc., going east and +coming west. Statement of produce imported into Lower Canada through the +Port of Coteau du Lac, to December 30th, 1830, in 584 Durham boats and +731 batteaux; 183,141 Bls. flour; 26,084 Bls. ashes; 14,110 Bls pork; +1,637 Bls. beef; 4,881 bus. corn and rye; 280,322 bus. wheat; 1,875 Bls. +corn meal; 245 Bls. and 955 kegs lard; 27 Bls. and 858 kegs butter; 263 +Bls. and 29 hds. tallow; 625 Bls. apples; 216 Bls. Raw hides; 148 hds. +and 361 kegs tobacco; 1,021 casks and 3 hds. whiskey and spirits; 2,636 +hogs. Quantity of merchandise brought to Upper Canada in the same year, +8,244 tons.--_Journal of the House of Assembly_, 1831.] Our canal +system was completed fifty years ago, and all that has been done since +has consisted of enlarging and keeping them in repair. The total number +of miles of canal in the Province is 136. + +The number of vessels composing our marine in 1830 was 12 steamers and +110 sailing vessels, with a tonnage of 14,300; and it is worthy of +remark that at that date the tonnage on the lakes was about equal to +that of the United States. The number of steam vessels now owned by the +Province is 385, with 657 [Footnote: Report Marine and Fisheries, 1880.] +sailing vessels, having a total tonnage of 137,481, which at $30 per ton +would make our shipping interest amount to $4,124,430. + +A great deal has been done these last few years to protect the sailor +from disaster and loss. Independent of marine charts that give the +soundings of all navigable waters, buoys mark the shoals and +obstructions to the entrance of harbours or the windings of intricate +channels; and from dangerous rocks and bold headlands, jutting out in +the course of vessels, flash out through the storm and darkness of the +long dreary night the brilliant lights from the domes of the +lighthouses, warning the sailor to keep away. By a system of revolving +and parti-coloured lights the mariner is enabled to tell where he is, +and to lay his course so as to avoid the disaster that might otherwise +overtake him. There are now 149 [Footnote: Ib.] lighthouses in the +Ontario division. In 1830 there were only four. Another great boon to +the mariners of the present day is the meteorological service, by which +he is warned of approaching storms. It is only by the aid of telegraphy +that this discovery has been made practically available; and the system +has been so perfected that weather changes can be told twenty-four hours +in advance, with almost positive certainty. We have fourteen drum +stations, eight of which are on Lake Ontario, four on Lake Huron, and +two on the Georgian Bay. + +The Montreal Telegraph Company, the first in Canada, was organized in +1847. It has 1,647 offices in the Dominion, 12,703 miles of poles, and +21,568 of wire. Number of messages for current year, 2,112,161; +earnings, $550,840. The Dominion Company reports 608 offices, 5,112 +miles of poles, and 11,501 of wire. Number of messages, 734,522; gross +earnings, $229,994. This gives a total of 17,845 miles of telegraph, +2,282 offices, 2,846,623 messages, and gross earnings amounting to +$780,834. [Footnote: Annual Report of Montreal and Dominion Telegraph +Companies, 1881.] + +The administration of justice cost the Province in 1830, $23,600, and +according to the latest official returns $274,013--a very striking proof +that our propensity to litigate has kept pace with the increase of +wealth and numbers. There were four Superior Court Judges, of whom the +Hon. John Beverley Robinson was made Chief Justice in 1829 at a salary +of $6,000. The remaining judges received $3,600 each. Besides these +there were eleven District Judges, and in consequence of the extent of +country embraced in these sections, and the distance jurors and others +had to travel, the Court of Sessions was held frequently in alternate +places in the district. In the Midland District, this court was held in +Kingston and Adolphustown. The latter place has been laid out for a town +by some farseeing individual, but it never even attained to the dignity +of a village. There was, besides the courthouse, a tavern, a foundry, a +Church of England--one of the first in the Province--the old homestead +of the Hagermans, near the wharf; a small building occupied for a time +by the father of Sir John A. Macdonald as a store, and where the future +statesman romped in his youth, and four private residences close at +hand. When the court was held there, which often lasted a week or more, +judge, jury, lawyers and litigants had to be billeted around the +neighbourhood. As a rule they fared pretty well, for the people in that +section were well off and there was rarely any charge for board. The +courts comprised the Court of King's Bench, the Quarter Sessions, and +Court of Requests. The latter was similar to our Division Court, and was +presided over by a commissioner or resident magistrate. The Quarter +Sessions had control of nearly all municipal affairs, but when the +Municipal Law came into force these matters passed into the hands of the +County Councils. The machinery in connection with the administration of +justice has been largely augmented for, beside the additional courts, we +have six Superior Court Judges, one Chancellor, two Vice-Chancellors, +one Chief-Justice, three Queen's Bench, three Common Pleas, three Court +of Appeal Judges, and thirty-eight County Court Judges. + +The manufacturing interests of the Province in 1830 were very small +indeed. I have been unable to put my hand on any trustworthy information +respecting this matter at that time, but from my own recollection at a +somewhat later period, I know that very little had been done to supply +the people with even the most common articles in use. Everything was +imported, save those things that were made at home. + +From the first grist mill, built below Kingston by the Government for +the settlers--to which my grandfather carried his first few bushels of +wheat in a canoe down the Bay of Quinte, a distance of thirty-five +miles--the mills in course of time increased to 303. They were small, +and the greater proportion had but a single run of stones. The constant +demand for lumber for building purposes in every settlement necessitated +the building of saw-mills, and in each township, wherever there was a +creek or stream upon which a sufficient head of water could be procured +to give power, there was a rude mill, with its single upright saw. +Getting out logs in the winter was a part of the regular programme of +every farmer who had pine timber, and in spring, for a short time, the +mill was kept going, and the lumber taken home. According to the returns +made to the Government, there were 429 of these mills in the Province at +that time. [Footnote: Journals, House of Assembly, 1831.] There were +also foundries where ploughs and other implements were made, and a few +fulling mills, where the home-made flannel was converted into the thick +coarse cloth known as full cloth, a warm and serviceable article, as +many no doubt remember. Carding machines, which had almost entirely +relieved the housewife from using hand cards in making rolls, were also +in existence. There were also breweries and distilleries, and a paper +mill on the Don, at York. This was about the sum total of our +manufacturing enterprises at that date. + +There are now 508 grist and flour mills--not quite double the number, +but owing to the great improvement in machinery the producing capacity +has largely increased. Very few mills, at the present time, have fewer +than two run of stones, and a great many have fewer, and even more, and +the same may be said of the saw mills, of which there are 853. There are +many in the Province capable of turning out nearly as much lumber in +twelve months as all the mills did fifty years ago. + +It is only within a few years that we have made much progress in +manufactures of any kind. Whatever the hindrances were, judging from the +numerous factories that are springing into existence all over the +Dominion, they seem to have been removed, and capitalists are embarking +their money in all kinds of manufacturing enterprises. There is no way, +as far as I know, of getting at the value annually produced by our mills +and factories, except from the Trade and Navigation Returns for 1880, +and this only gives the exports, which are but a fraction of the grand +total. Our woolen mills turned out last year upwards of $4,000,000, +[Footnote: Monetary Times, December 17, 1881.] of which we exported +$222,425. This does not include the produce of what are called custom +mills. There are 224 foundries, 285 tanneries, 164 woollen mills, 74 +carding and fulling mills, 137 cheese factories, 127 agricultural and +implement factories, 92 breweries, 8 boot and shoe factories, 5 button +factories, 1 barley mill, 2 carpet factories, 4 chemical works, 9 rope +and twine factories, 9 cotton mills, 3 crockery kilns, 11 flax mills, 4 +glass works, 11 glove factories, 7 glue factories, 9 hat factories, 12 +knitting factories, 9 oatmeal mills, 9 organ factories, 10 piano +factories, 25 paper mills, 4 rubber factories, 6 shoddy mills, 3 sugar +refineries; making, with the flour and saw mills, 2,642. Besides these +there are carriage, cabinet and other factories and shops, to the number +of 3,848. The value of flour exported was $1,547,910; of sawn lumber, +$4,137,062; of cheese, $1,199,973; of flax, $95,292; of oatmeal, +$215,131; and of other manufactures, $1,100,605. + +We may further illustrate the progress we have made by giving the +estimated value of the trade in Toronto in 1880, taken from an +interesting article on this subject which appeared in the Globe last +January. The wholesale trade is placed at $30,650,000; produce, +$23,000,000; a few leading factories, $1,770,000; live stock, local +timber trade, coal, distilling and brewing, $8,910,000; in all, +$64,330,000--a gross sum more than ten times greater than the value of +the trade of the whole Province fifty years ago. + +Another interesting feature in our growth is the rapid increase in the +cities and towns. Some of these were not even laid out in 1830, and +others hardly deserved the humble appellation of village. The difference +will be more apparent by giving the population, as far as possible, then +and in 1881, when the last census was taken, of a number of the +principal places:-- + + 1830. 1881. +Toronto 2,860 86,445 +Kingston 3,587 14,093 +Hamilton, including township 2,013 35,965 +London, including township 2,415 ---- +Brantford, laid out in 1830 ---- 9,626 +Guelph, including township 778 9,890 +St. Catharines (Population in 1845, 3,000) ---- ---- +Ottawa contained 150 houses ---- ---- +Belleville, incorporated 1835 ---- 9,516 +Brockville 1,130 7,608 +Napanee (Population in 1845, 500) ---- 3,681 +Cobourg ---- 4,957 +Port Hope ---- 5,888 +Peterboro', laid out in 1826 ---- 6,815 +Lindsay, " 1833 ---- 5,081 +Barrie, " 1832 ---- ---- +Ingersoll, " 1831 ---- 4,322 +Woodstock (Population in 1845, 1,085) ---- 5,373 +Chatham, settled in 1830 ---- 7,881 +Stratford, laid out in 1833 ---- 8,240 +Sarnia, laid out in 1833 ---- 3,874 + +I hope the humble effort I have made to show what we Upper Canadians +have done during the fifty years that are gone will induce some one +better qualified to go over the same ground, and put it in a more +attractive and effective shape. It is a period in our history which must +ever demand attention, and although our Province had been settled for +nearly half a century prior to 1830, it was not until after that date +that men of intelligence began to look around them, and take an active +interest in shaping the future of their country. There were many +failures, but the practical sense of the people surmounted them, and +pushed on. All were awake to the value of their heritage, and +contributed their share to extend its influence; and so we have gone on +breasting manfully political, commercial and other difficulties, but +always advancing; and whatever may be said about the growth of other +parts of America, figures will show that Canada is to the front. At the +Provincial Exhibition in Ottawa, in 1879, the Governor of Vermont, in +his address, stated (what we already knew), that Canada had outstripped +the United States in rapidity of growth and development during recent +years, and the Governors of Ohio and Maine endorsed the statement. We +have a grand country, and I believe a grand future. + + "Fair land of peace! to Britain's rule and throne + Adherent still, yet happier than alone, + And free as happy, and as brave as free, + Proud are thy children, justly proud of thee. + Few are the years that have sufficed to change + This whole broad land by transformation strange. + Once far and wide the unbroken forests spread + Their lonely waste, mysterious and dread-- + Forest, whose echoes never had been stirred + By the sweet music of an English word; + Where only rang the red-browed hunter's yell, + And the wolf's howl through the dark sunless dell. + Now fruitful fields and waving orchard trees + Spread their rich treasures to the summer breeze. + Yonder, in queenly pride, a city stands, + Whence stately vessels speed to distant lands; + Here smiles a hamlet through embow'ring green, + And there the statelier village spires are seen; + Here by the brook-side clacks the noisy mill, + There the white homestead nestles on the hill; + The modest school-house here flings wide its door + To smiling crowds that seek its simple lore; + There Learning's statelier fane of massive walls + Wooes the young aspirant to classic halls, + And bids him in her hoarded treasure find + The gathered wealth of all earth's gifted minds." +--PAMELA S. VINING. + +Since writing the foregoing, I accidentally came across _The Canadas, +&c._, by Andrew Picken, published in London in 1832, a work which I +had never previously met with. It is written principally for the benefit +of persons intending to emigrate to Canada, and contains notices of the +most important places in both Provinces. I have made the following +extracts, thinking that they would prove interesting to those of my +readers who wish to get a correct idea of our towns and villages fifty +years ago. + +"The largest and most populous of the towns in Upper Canada, and called +the key to the Province, is Kingston, advantageously situated at the +head of the St. Lawrence, and at the entrance of the great Lake Ontario. +Its population is now about 5,500 souls; it is a military post of +importance, as well as a naval depot, and from local position and +advantages is well susceptible of fortification. It contains noble +dockyards and conveniences for ship-building. Its bay affords, says +Howison, so fine a harbour, that a vessel of one hundred and twenty guns +can lie close to the quay, and the mercantile importance it has now +attained as a commercial entrepot between Montreal below and the western +settlements on the lakes above, may be inferred, among other things from +the wharfs on the river and the many spacious and well-filled warehouses +behind them, as well as the numerous stores and mercantile employes +within the town. The streets are regularly formed upon the right-angular +plan which is the favourite in the new settlements, but they are not +paved; and though the houses are mostly built of limestone, +inexhaustible quarries of which lie in the immediate vicinity of the +town, and are of the greatest importance to it and the surrounding +neighbourhood, there is nothing in the least degree remarkable or +interesting in the appearance of either the streets or the buildings. +The opening of the Rideau Canal there, which, with the intermediate +lakes, forms a junction between the Ontario and other lakes above, the +St. Lawrence below, and the Ottawa, opposite Hull, in its rear, with all +the intervening districts and townships, will immensely increase the +importance of this place; and its convenient hotels already afford +comfortable accommodation to the host of travellers that are continually +passing between the Upper and Lower Provinces, as well as to and from +the States on the opposite side of the river. + +"York is well situated on the north side of an excellent harbour on the +lake. It contains the public buildings of the Province, viz., the House +of Assembly, where the Provincial Parliament generally holds its +sittings; the Government House; the Provincial Bank; a College; a Court +House; a hall for the Law Society; a gaol; an Episcopal Church; a +Baptist Chapel (Methodist); a Scots' Kirk; a Garrison near the town, +with barracks for the troops usually stationed here, and a battery which +protects the entrance of the harbour. Regularly laid out under survey, +as usual, the streets of the town are spacious, the houses mostly built +of wood, but many of them of brick and stone. The population amounts now +to between four and five thousand. + +"By-Town, situated on the southern bank of the Ottawa, a little below +the Chaudiere Falls, and opposite to the flourishing Village of Hull, in +Lower Canada, stands upon a bold eminence, surrounding the bay of the +grand river, and occupies both banks of the canal, which here meets it. +Laid out in the usual manner with streets crossing at right angles, the +number of houses is already about 150, most of which are wood, and many +built with much taste. Three stone barracks and a large and commodious +hospital, built also of stone, stand conspicuous on the elevated banks +of the bay; and the elegant residence of Colonel By, the commanding +Royal Engineer of that station. + +"The town-plot of Peterborough is in the northeast angle of the Township +of Monaghan. It is laid out in half acres, the streets nearly at right +angles with the river; park lots of nine acres each are reserved near +the town. The patent fee on each is L8, Provincial currency, and office +fees and agency will increase it 15s or 20s more. + +"The settlement commenced in 1825, at which time it formed a depot of +the emigration under Hon. P. Robinson. The situation is most favourable, +being an elevated sandy plain, watered by a creek, which discharges into +the river below the turn. The country round is fertile, and there is +great water-power in the town-plot, on which mills are now being built +by Government. These mills are on an extensive scale, being calculated +to pack forty barrels of flour, and the saw-mill to cut 3,000 feet of +boards _per diem_. + +"The situation of Cobourg is healthy and pleasant. It stands immediately +on the shore of Lake Ontario. In 1812, it had only one house; it now +contains upwards of forty houses, an Episcopal church, a Methodist +chapel, two good inns, four stores, a distillery, an extensive grist +mill; and the population may be estimated at about 350 souls. + +"The two projected towns of most consideration in this district (London +district), however, are London-on-the-Thames, further inland, and +Goderich, recently founded by the Canada Company, on Lake Huron. London +is yet but inconsiderable, but from its position, in the heart of a +fertile country, is likely to become of some importance hereafter, when +the extreme wilds become more settled. The town is quite new, not +containing above forty or fifty houses, all of bright boards and +shingles. The streets and gardens full of black stumps &c. They were +building a church, and had finished a handsome Gothic court-house, which +must have been a costly work. + +"Guelph. Much of this tract belongs to the Canada Company, who have +built, nearly in its centre, the town of Guelph, upon a small river, +called the Speed, a remote branch of the Ouse, or Grand River. This +important and rapidly rising town, which is likely to become the capital +of the district, was founded by Mr. Galt, for the Company, on St. +George's day, 1827, and already contains between 100 and 200 houses, +several shops, a handsome market house near the centre, a schoolhouse, a +printing office, and 700 or 800 inhabitants. + +"The Bay of Quinte settlement is the oldest in Upper Canada, and was +begun at the close of the Revolutionary War. We crossed over the mouth +of the River Trent, which flows from the Rice Lake, and it is said can +be made practicable for steamboats, though at much expense; thence to +Belleville, a neat village of recent date, but evidently addicted too +much to lumbering. + +"Brockville is a most thriving new town, with several handsome stone +houses, churches, court-house, &c., and about 1,500 souls." + + + + +SKETCHES OF EARLY HISTORY. + +[Footnote: This paper was read before the Mechanics' Institute in +Picton, twenty-six years ago. Soon afterwards, the then Superintendent +of Education, Dr. Ryerson, requested me to send it to him, which I did, +and a copy was taken of it. An extract will be found in his work, "The +Loyalists of America," Vol. ii; page 219. Subsequently, in 1879, I made +up two short papers from it which appeared in _The Canadian Methodist +Magazine._ The paper is now given, with a few exceptions, as it was +first written.] + +EARLY SCHOOLS AND SCHOOLMASTERS--BIRTH OF THE AMERICAN REPUBLIC--LOVE +OF COUNTRY--ADVENTURES OF A U. E. LOYALIST FAMILY NINETY YEARS AGO--THE +WILDS OF UPPER CANADA--HAY BAY--HARDSHIPS OF PIONEER LIFE--GROWTH OF +POPULATION--DIVISION OF THE CANADIAN PROVINCES--FORT FRONTENAC--THE +"DARK DAYS"--CELESTIAL FIREWORKS--EARLY STEAM NAVIGATION IN CANADA--THE +COUNTRY MERCHANT--PROGRESS--THE HARE AND THE TORTOISE. + + +After having consented to read a paper on the subject which has already +been announced, I do not think it would be quite proper for me to begin +with apologies. That they are needed I confess at once, but then they +should have been thought of before. How often have we heard the +expression, "Circumstances alter cases," and this is just why I put in +my plea. If I had not been preceded by gentlemen whose ability and +attainments are far and away beyond mine, I should not have said a word. +But when these persons, some of whom finished their education in British +Universities, who have trodden the classic shores of Italy and mused +over the magnificent monuments of her past greatness, or wandered +through old German towns, where Christian liberty was born and cradled; +who have ranged the spacious halls of Parisian Institutes, or sauntered +in places where many historic scenes have been enacted in grand old +England--when these persons, I repeat, must crave your indulgence, how +much more earnestly should I plead, whose travels are bounded in the +radius of a few hundred miles; and whose collegiate course began, and I +may say ended, in the country school-house with which many of you are +familiar. What wonderful scholars those early teachers were. + + "Amazed _we_, gazing rustics, rang'd around; + And still _we_ gaz'd, and still our wonder grew + That one small head could carry all he knew." + +It is no wonder that we were often awed by their intellectual +profundity, nor that they gave our youthful brains an impetus which sent +them bounding through the severe curriculum we had to face. + +The narrow-minded and unyielding policy of George III., as every one now +admits it to have been, brought about the American Revolution, and gave +birth to the American Republic. As always happens in every great +movement, there were two sides to this question, not only between Great +Britain and her colonists, but among the colonists themselves. One side +clamoured boldly for their rights, and, if need were, separation. The +other side shrank from a contest with the mother land, and preferred a +more peaceful solution of their difficulties. A moderate degree of +liberality on the part of the British Government would have appeased the +demands of the malcontents, and another destiny whether for better or +worse, might have been in store for the American people. But those were +days when the policy of the nation was stern and uncompromising, when +the views of trade were narrow and contracted, when justice was +untempered with mercy, and when men were bigoted and pugnacious. +Protracted wars consumed the revenues and made many draughts on the +national purse, and when the trade of the colonies was laid under +contribution, they refused the demand. + +The Government, true to the spirit of the age, would not brook refusal +on the part of its subjects, and must needs force them to comply. The +contest began, and when, after a seven years' struggle, peace was +declared, those who had sided with the old land found themselves +homeless, and rather than swear allegiance to the new _regime_, +abandoned their adopted country and emigrated to the wilds of Canada and +the Eastern Provinces. Two results grew out of this contest: the +establishment of a new and powerful nationality, and the settlement of a +vast country subject to the British Crown, to the north, then an +unbroken wilderness, now the Dominion of Canada, [Footnote: This has +been changed. When the paper was written, the Confederation of the +Provinces, if it had been thought of, had not assumed any definite +shape. It followed eight years after, in 1867.] whose rapid strides in +wealth and power bid fair to rival even those of the great Republic. + +The history of our country--I am speaking of Upper Canada--remains to be +written. It is true we have numerous works, and valuable ones too, on +Canada; but I refer to that part of history which gives a picture of the +people, their habits and customs, which takes you into their homes and +unfolds their every-day life. This, it seems to me, is the very soul of +history, and when the coming Canadian Macaulay shall write ours, he will +look in vain for many an argosy, richly freighted with fact and story, +which might have been saved if a helping hand had been given, but which +now, alas! is lost forever. + +It can hardly be expected that I should be as familiar with the early +scenes enacted in this part of the Province as those who are very much +older. Yet I have known many of the first settlers, and have heard from +their lips, in the days of my boyhood, much about the hardships and +severe privations they endured, as well as the story of many a rough and +wild adventure. These old veterans have dropped, one by one, into the +grave, until they have nearly all passed away, and we are left to enjoy +many a luxury which their busy hands accumulated for us. + +As a Canadian--and I am sure I am giving expression, not so much to a +personal sentiment, as an abiding principle deeply rooted in the heart +of every son of this grand country--I feel as much satisfaction and +pride in tracing my origin to the pioneers of this Province--nay more-- +than if my veins throbbed with noble blood. The picture of the log +cabins which my grandfathers erected in the wilderness on the bay shore, +where my father and mother first saw the light, are far more inviting to +me than hoary castle or rocky keep. I know that they were loyal, honest, +industrious, and virtuous, and this is a record as much to be prized by +their descendants as the mere distinction of noble birth. + +It has been said that love of country is not a characteristic of +Canadians; that in consequence of our youth there is but little for +affection to cling to; that the traditions that cluster around age and +foster these sentiments are wanting. This may be to a certain extent +true. But I cannot believe but that Canadians are as loyal to their +country as any other people under the sun. The life-long struggle of +those men whom the old land was wont "to put a mark of honour upon," are +too near to us not to warm our hearts with love and veneration; they +were too sturdy a race to be lightly over-looked by their descendants. +Their memory is too sacred a trust to be forgotten, and their lives too +worthy of our imitation not to bind us together as a people, whose home +and country shall ever be first in our thoughts and affection. + + "Breathes there a man with soul so dead + Who never to himself hath said + 'This is my own, my native land?' + Whose heart hath ne'er within him burned + As home his footsteps he hath turned?" + +Is there any place in the world where such marvellous changes have taken +place as here? Where among the countries of the earth shall we find a +more rapid and vigorous growth? Ninety years [Footnote: The reader will +bear in mind the date when this was written.] ago this Province was a +dense and unknown forest. We can hardly realize the fact that not a +century has elapsed since these strong-handed and brave-hearted men +pushed their way into the profound wilderness of Upper Canada. Were they +not heroes? See that man whose strong arm first uplifts the threatening +axe. Fix his image in your mind, and tell me if he is not a subject +worthy the genius and chisel of a Chantrey. Mark him as he swings his +axe and buries it deep into a giant tree. Hark! how that first blow +rings through the wood, and echoes along the shores of the bay. The wild +duck starts and flaps her wings; the timid deer bounds away. Yet stroke +follows stroke in measured force. The huge tree, whose branches have +been fanned and tossed by the breeze of centuries, begins to sway. +Another blow, and it falls thundering to the ground. Far and wide does +the crash reverberate. It is the first knell of destruction booming +through the forest of Canada, and as it flies upon the wings of the +wind, from hill-top to hill-top, it proclaims the first welcome sound of +a new-born country. And did these men of whom we have been speaking make +war alone upon the mighty forest? Did they find their way alone to the +wilds of Canada? No: they were accompanied by women as true and brave as +themselves; women who unmurmuringly shared their toils and hardships, +who rejoiced in their success, and cheered them when weary and +depressed. They left kindred and friends far behind, literally to bury +themselves in the deep recesses of a boundless forest. They left +comfortable homes to endure hunger and fatigue in log cabins which their +own delicate hands helped to rear, far beyond the range of civilization. +Let us follow a party of these adventurers to Canada. + +In the summer of the year 1795 or thereabouts, a company of six persons, +composed of two men and their wives, with two small children, pushed a +rough-looking and unwieldy boat away from the shore in the neighbourhood +of Poughkeepsie, and turned its prow up the Hudson. A rude sail was +hoisted, but it flapped lazily against the slender mast. The two men +took up the oars and pulled quietly out into the river. They did not +note the morning's sun gradually lifting himself above the eastern +level, and scattering his cheerful rays of light across the river, and +along its shores. All nature seemed rejoicing over the coming day, but +they appeared not to heed it. They pulled on in silence, looking now +ahead, and then wistfully back to the place they had left. Their boat +was crowded with sundry household necessaries carefully packed up and +stowed away. At the stern are the two women; one, ruddy and strong, +steers the boat; the other, small and delicate, minds her children. Both +are plainly and neatly dressed; and they, too, are taking backward +glances through silent tears. Why do they weep, and whither are they +bound? Their oars are faithfully plied, and they glide slowly on. And +thus; day after day, may we follow them on their voyage. Now and then a +gentle breeze fills the sail and wafts them on. When the shades of +evening begin to fall around them they pull to shore and rear a +temporary tent, after which they partake of the plain fare provided for +the evening meal, with a relish which toil alone can give, and then lay +them down to rest, and renew their strength for the labours of the +morrow. + +They reach Albany, then a Dutch town on the verge of civilization. +Beyond is a wilderness land but little known. Some necessaries are +purchased here, and again our little company launch away. They reach the +place where the city of Troy now stands, and turn away to the left into +the Mohawk river, and proceed slowly, and often with great difficulty, +up the rapids and windings of the stream. This rich and fertile valley +of the Mohawk was then the home of the Indian. Here the celebrated Chief +Brant had lived but a short time before, but had now withdrawn into the +wilds of Western Canada. The voyageurs, after several days of hard +labour and difficulty, emerge into the little lake Oneida, lying in the +north-western part of the State of New York, through which they pass +with ease and pleasure. The most difficult part of their journey has +been overcome. In due time they reach the Onondaga River, and soon pass +down it to Oswego, then an old fort which had been built by the French, +when they were masters of the country, as a barrier against the +encroachments of the wily Indian. Several bloody frays had occurred +here, but our friends do not tarry to muse over its battle-ground, or to +learn its history. + +Their small craft now dances on the bosom of Ontario, but they do not +push out into the lake and across it. Oh no: they are careful sailors, +and they remember, perhaps, that small boats should not venture far from +shore, and so they wind along it until they reach Gravelly Point, now +known by the more dignified name of Cape Vincent. Here they strike +across the channel, and thence around the lower end of Wolfe Island, and +into Kingston Bay, where they come to shore. There were not many streets +or fine stone houses in the Limestone City at this time; a few log +houses composed the town. After resting and transacting necessary +business they again push away, and turn their course up the lovely Bay +of Quinte. What a wild and beautiful scene opens out before them! The +far-reaching bay, with its serried ranks of primeval forest crowding the +shores on either hand. The clear pure water rippling along its beach, +and its bosom dotted with flocks of wild fowl, could not fail to arrest +the attention of the weary voyageurs. Frequently do they pause and rest +upon their oars, to enjoy the wild beauty that surrounds them. With +lighter hearts they coast along the shore, and continue up the bay until +they reach township number four. This township, now known as +Adolphustown, is composed of five points, or arms, which run out into +the bay. They sail round four of these points of land, and turn into Hay +Bay, and, after proceeding about three miles, pull to shore. Their +journey it would seem has come to an end, for they begin to unload their +boat and erect a tent. The sun sinks down in the west, and, weary and +worn, they lay themselves down upon the bed of leaves to rest. Six weeks +have passed since we saw them launch away in quest of this wilderness +home. Look at them, and tell me what you think of their prospects. Is it +far enough away from the busy haunts of men to suit you? Would you not +rather sing-- + + "O solitude, where are the charms + Which sages have seen in thy face? + Better dwell in the midst of alarms + Than reign in this horrible place." + +With the first glimmer of the morning's light all hands are up and at +work. A small space is cleared away, trees are felled, and in due time a +house is built--a house not large or commodious, with rooms not +numerous or spacious, and with furniture neither elegant nor luxurious. +A pot or two, perhaps a few plates, cups and saucers, with knives and +forks and spoons, a box of linen, a small lot of bedding, etc., with + + "A chest, contrived a double debt to pay-- + A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day." + +These constitute pretty nearly the sum total. This is not a fancy +sketch. I have heard the story many a time from the lips of the little +old grandmother [Footnote: The writer is one of her grandsons. The +incident will be found in Dr. Ryerson's book.] who was of the party. She +lived to rear a family of nine children, and to see most of them married +and well settled; to exchange the log house for a large and comfortable +home, and to die peacefully at a good old age. + +It is hardly possible for us to conceive the difficulties that beset the +first settlers, nor the hardships and privations which they endured. +They were not infrequently reduced to the very verge of starvation, yet +they struggled on. Tree after tree fell before the axe, and the small +clearing was turned to immediate account. A few necessaries of life were +produced, and even these, limited and meagre as they were, were the +beginnings of comfort. Comfort, indeed! but far removed not only from +them, but from the idea we associate with the term. I have in my younger +days taken grist to the mill, as the farmers say. But I can assure you I +would prefer declining the task of carrying bags of wheat upon my back +for three miles, and then paddling them in a canoe down to the Kingston +Mills, [Footnote: This mill was built by the British Government in the +first settlement of the Province for the benefit of the settlers.] and +back again to Adolphustown--about seventy miles--after which resuming +the pleasing exercise of backing them home. [Footnote: This was an early +experience of my grandfather, which he liked to relate in his old age to +young men.] Such things do not fatigue one much to talk about, but I +fancy the reality would fit closer to the backs of some of our young +exquisites than would be agreeable. Nor do we, when we stick up our +noses at the plainer fare of some of our neighbours, remember often what +a feast our fathers and mothers would have thought even a crust of +bread. How often--alas, how often!--were they compelled to use anything +they could put their hands upon, in order to keep soul and body +together. Could we, the sons of these men, go through this? I am afraid, +with one consent, we would say "No." + +But time rolled on. The openings in the forest grew larger and wider. +The log cabins began to multiply, and the curling smoke, rising here and +there above the woods, told a silent but more cheerful tale. There dwelt +a neighbour--miles away, perhaps--but a neighbour, nevertheless. If you +would like an idea of the proximity of humanity, and the luxury of +society in those days, just place a few miles of dense woods between +yourself and your nearest neighbour, and you will have a faint +conception of the delights of a home in the forest. + +There are persons still living who have heard their parents or +grandparents tell of the dreadful sufferings they endured the second +year after the settlement of the Bay of Quinte country. The second +year's Government supply, through some bad management, was frozen up in +the lower part of the St. Lawrence, and, in consequence, the people were +reduced to a state of famine. Men were glad, in some cases, to give all +they possessed for that which would sustain life. Farms were given in +exchange for small quantities of flour, but more frequently refused. A +respectable old lady, long since gone to her rest, and whose +grandchildren are somewhat aristocratic, was wont in those days to go +away to the woods early in the morning to gather and eat the buds of the +basswood, and then bring an apronfull home to her family. In one +neighbourhood a beef bone passed from house to house, and was boiled +again and again in order to extract some nutriment from it. This is no +fiction, but a literal fact. Many other equally uninviting bills of fare +might be given, but these no doubt will suffice. Sufficient has been +said to show that our fathers and mothers did not repose upon rose-beds, +nor did they fold their hands in despair, but with strong nerves and +stout hearts, even when famine was in the pot, they pushed on and lived. +The forest melted away before them, and we are now enjoying the happy +results. + +The life of the first settler was for a long time one of hardship and +adventure. When this Utopia was reached he frequently had difficulty in +finding his land. He was not always very particular as to this, for land +then was not of very much account, and yet he wished, if possible, to +strike somewhere near his location. This involved sometimes long trips +into the forest, or along the shores. After a day's paddling he would +land, pull up his canoe, and look around. The night coming on, he had to +make some preparation for it. How was it to be done in this howling +wilderness? Where was he to sleep, and how was he to protect himself +against the perils that surrounded him? He takes his axe and goes to +work. A few small trees are cut down. Then he gathers some limbs and +heaps them up together. From his pocket he brings a large knife; then a +flint and a bit of punk. The punk he places carefully under the flint, +holding it in his left hand, and then picks up his knife and gives the +flint a few sharp strokes with the back of the blade, which sends forth +a shower of sparks, some of which fall on the punk and ignite, and soon +his heap is in a blaze. Now, this labour is not only necessary for his +comfort, but for his safety. The smoke drives the flies and mosquitoes +away, and keeps the wolves and bears from encroaching on his place of +rest. But the light which affords him protection subjects him to a new +annoyance. + + "Loud as the wolves in Oroa's stormy steep + Howl to the roaring of the stormy deep," + +the wolves howled to the fire kindled to affright them away. Watching +the whole night in the surrounding hills, they keep up a concert which +truly "renders night hideous;" and bullfrogs in countless numbers from +adjacent swamps, with an occasional "To-whit, to-whoo!" from the sombre +owl, altogether make a native choir anything but conducive to calm +repose. And yet, amid such a serenade, with a few boughs for a bed, and +the gnarled root of a tree for a pillow, did many of our fathers spend +their first nights in the wilderness of Canada. + +The first settlers of Upper Canada were principally American colonists +who adhered to the cause of England. After the capitulation of General +Burgoyne, many of the royalists, with their families, moved into Canada, +and took up land along the shores of the St. Lawrence, the Bay of +Quinte, and the lakes. Upon the evacuation of New York at the close of +the war a still greater number followed, many of whom were soldiers +disbanded and left without employment. Many had lost their property, so +that nearly all were destitute and depending upon the liberality of the +Government whose battles they had fought, and for whose cause they had +suffered. They were not forgotten. The British Government was not tardy +in its movement, and at once decided to reward their loyalty. Immediate +steps were taken to provide for their present wants, and also to provide +means for their future subsistence. + +These prompt measures on the part of the Government were not only acts +of justice and humanity, but were sound in policy, and were crowned with +universal success. Liberal grants of land were made free of expense on +the following scale: A field officer received 5,000 acres; a captain, +3,000; a subaltern, 2,000, and a private, 200. Surveyors were sent on to +lay out the land. They commenced their work near Lake St. Francis, then +the highest French settlement, and extended along the shores of the St. +Lawrence up to Lake Ontario, and thence along the lake, and round the +Bay of Quinte. Townships were laid out, and then subdivided into +concessions and lots of 200 acres. These townships were numbered, and +remained without names for many years. Of these numbers there were two +divisions: one, including the townships below Kingston in the line east +to the St. Francis settlement; the other, west from Kingston to the head +of the Bay of Quinte. They were known by the old people as first, +second, third, fourth town, etc. No names were given to the townships by +legal enactment for a long time, and hence the habit of designating them +by numbers became fixed. + +The settlement of the surveyed portion of the Midland District, which +then included the present counties of Frontenac, Lennox and Addington, +Hastings, and the county of Prince Edward, commenced in the summer of +1784. The new settlers were supplied with farming implements, building +materials, provisions, and some clothing for the first two years, at the +expense of the nation, "And in order," it was stated, "that the love of +country may take deeper root in the hearts of those true men, the +government determined to put a mark of honour," as the order of the +Council expresses it, "upon the families who had adhered to the unity of +the Empire, and joined the royal standard in America, before the treaty +of separation in the year 1783." A list of such persons was directed in +1789 to be made out and returned, "to the end that their posterity might +be discriminated from the future settlers." From these two emphatic +words--The Unity of the Empire--it was styled the U.E. list, and they +whose names were entered therein were distinguished as U.E. Loyalists. +This, as is well known, was not a mere empty distinction, but was +notably a title of some consequence, for it not only provided for the +U.E. Loyalists themselves, but guaranteed to all their children, upon +arriving at the age of twenty-one years, two hundred acres of land free +from all expense. It is a pleasing task to recall these generous acts on +the part of the British Government towards the fathers of our country, +and the descendants of those true and noble-hearted men who loved the +old Empire so well that they preferred to endure toil and privation in +the wilderness of Canada to ease and comfort under the protection of the +revolted colonies. We should venerate their memory, and foster a love of +country as deep and abiding as theirs. + +In order further to encourage the growth of population, and induce other +settlers to come into the country, two hundred acres of land were +allowed, upon condition of actual settlement, and the payment of +surveying and office fees, which amounted in all to about thirty-eight +dollars. + +In 1791 the provinces were divided, and styled Upper Canada and Lower +Canada--the one embracing all the French seigneuries; the other all the +newly-settled townships. The first Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves +Simcoe, arrived in 1792, and took up his residence at Newark (Niagara), +then the capital of the Province. Here the first Parliament of Upper +Canada met and held five successive sessions, after which it was moved +to York. Governor Simcoe laboured hard and successfully to promote the +settlement of the Province. + +Kingston is the oldest town in Upper Canada by many years. The white man +found his way here more than a century before any settlement in the west +was made or thought of. Small expeditions had from time to time +penetrated the vast wilderness far to the west, either for the purpose +of trading with the Indians, or led by some zealous priest who sought +for the glory of God to bring the wandering tribes into the fold of the +Roman Church. The untiring energy and zeal displayed by these early +Fathers, together with the hardships, dangers and privations they +endured, form one of the most interesting pages of adventure in our +country's history. The crafty and industrious French Governor, De +Courcelles, in order to put a stop to the encroachments of the Five +Nations, despatched a messenger from Quebec to their chief to inform him +that he had some business of great importance to communicate, and wished +them to proceed to Cataraqui, where he would meet them. As soon as the +Indian deputies arrived, a council was held. The Governor informed them +that he was going to build a fort there, to serve principally as a depot +for merchandise; and to facilitate the trade that was springing up +between them. The chiefs, ignorant of the real intention of the wily +Governor readily agreed to a proposition which seemed intended for their +advantage. But the object was far from what the Indians expected, and +was really to create a barrier against them in future wars. + +While measures were being completed to build the fort Courcelles was +recalled, and Count de Frontenac sent out in his place. Frontenac +carried out the designs of his predecessor; and in 1672 completed the +fort, which received and for many years retained his name. + +Father Charlevoix, who journeyed through Western Canada in the year +1720, thus describes Fort Cataraqui. "This fort is square, with four +bastions built with stone, and the ground it occupies is a quarter of a +league in compass. Its situation is really something very pleasant. The +sides of the view present every way a landscape well varied, and it is +the same at the entrance of Lake Ontario, which is but a small league +distant. It is full of islands of different sizes, all well wooded, and +nothing bounds the horizon on that side. The Lake was sometimes called +St. Louis, afterwards Frontenac, as well as the fort of Cataraqui, of +which the Count de Frontenac was the founder, but insensibly the Lake +has regained its ancient name Ontario, which is Huron or Iroquois, and +the fort that of the place where it is built. The soil from this place +to la Sallette appears something barren, but this is only in the +borders, it being very good further up. There is over against the fort a +very pretty island in the middle of the river. They put some swine into +it, which have multiplied, and given it the name of Isle du Porcs. + +"There are two other islands somewhat smaller, which are lower, and half +a league distant from each other. One is called Cedars, the other Hart's +Island. The Bay of Cataraqui is double; that is to say, that almost in +the middle of it there is a point that runs out a great way, under which +there is a good anchorage for large barks. M. de la Salle, so famous for +his discoveries and his misfortunes, who was lord of Cataraqui, and +governor of the fort, had two or three of them, which were sunk in this +place, and remain there still. Behind the fort is a marsh, where there +is a great plenty of wild fowl. This is a benefit to and employment for +the garrison. There was formerly a great trade here, especially with the +Iroquois, and it was to entice them to, as well as to hinder their +carrying their skins to the English and keep these savages in awe, that +the fort was built. But the trade did not last long, and the fort has +not hindered the barbarians from doing us a great deal of mischief. They +have still families here, in the outside of the place, and there are +also some Missisaguas, an Algonquin nation, which still have a village +on the west side of Lake Ontario, another at Niagara, and a third in the +strait." Such is the description we have of Kingston a century and a half +ago. The Mohawk name for it is Gu-doi-o-qui, or, "Fort in the Water." + +I am unable, from any information I can get, to give the origin of the +name of our beautiful bay. It seems to have borne its present name at a +very early date in the history of the country. It is supposed by some to +be an Indian name with a French accent. I am disposed, however, to think +that it came from the early French voyageurs, from the fact that not +only the bay, but an island, are mentioned by the name of Quinte. The +usual pronunciation until a few years ago was _Kanty._ + +In the year 1780, on the 14th day of October, and again in July, 1814, a +most remarkable phenomenon occurred, the like of which was never before +witnessed in the country. "At noonday a pitchy darkness completely +obscured the light of the sun, continuing for about ten minutes at a +time, and being frequently repeated during the afternoon. In the +interval between each mysterious eclipse, dense masses of black clouds +streaked with yellow drove athwart the darkened sky, with fitful gusts +of wind. Thunder, lightning, black rain, and showers of ashes added to +the terrors of the scene, and when the sun appeared its colour was a +bright red." The people were filled with fear, and thought that the end +of the world was at hand. These two periods are known as the "dark +days." + +Many years after this, another phenomenon not less wonderful occurred, +which I had the satisfaction of seeing; and although forty-five years +have elapsed, the terrifying scene is as firmly fixed in my memory as +though it had happened but an hour ago. I refer to the meteoric shower +of the 13th of November, 1833. My father had been from home, and on his +return, about midnight, his attention was arrested by the frequent fall +of meteors, or stars, to use the common phrase. The number rapidly +increased; and the sight was so grand and beautiful that he came in and +woke us all up, and then walked up the road and roused some of the +neighbours. Such a display of heaven's fireworks was never seen before. +If the air had been filled with rockets they would have been but match +strokes compared to the incessant play of brilliant dazzling meteors +that flashed across the sky, furrowing it so thickly with golden lines +that the whole heaven seemed ablaze until the morning's sun shut out the +scene. One meteor of large size remained sometime almost stationary in +the zenith, emitting streams of light. I stood like a statue, and gazed +with fear and awe up to the glittering sky. Millions of stars seemed to +be dashing across the blue dome of heaven. In fact I thought the whole +starry firmament was tumbling down to earth. The neighbours were terror +struck: the more enlightened of them were awed at contemplating so vivid +a picture of the Apocalyptic image--that of the stars of heaven falling +to the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is +shaken by a mighty wind; while the cries of others, on a calm night like +that, might have been heard for miles around. + +Young and poor as Canada was half a century ago, she was not behind many +of the older and more wealthy countries in enterprize. Her legislators +were sound, practical men, who had the interest of their country at +heart. Her merchants were pushing and intelligent; her farmers frugal +and industrious. Under such auspices her success was assured. At an +early day the Government gave material aid to every project that was +calculated to foster and extend trade and commerce, as well as to open +up and encourage the settlement of the country. Neither was individual +enterprize behind in adopting the discoveries and improvements of the +time, and in applying them not only to their own advantage but to that +of the community at large. Four years after Fulton had made his +successful experiment with steam as a propelling power for vessels on +the Hudson, a small steamer was built and launched at Montreal; and in +1815 the keel of the first steamer that navigated the waters of Upper +Canada was laid at Bath. She was named the _Frontenac_. + +The village of Bath, as you all know, is situated on the Bay of Quinte, +about thirteen miles west of Kingston. It was formerly known as +Ernesttown. Those of you who have passed that way will remember that +about a mile west of the village there is a bend in the shore round +which the road leads, and that a short gravelly beach juts out, +inclosing a small pond of water. At the end of this, west, stands an old +frame house, time-worn and dilapidated. Behind this house the steamer +already mentioned was built, and three years later another known as the +_Charlotte_ was launched here. [Footnote: I have often heard my +father tell about going to see the launch of the _Charlotte_. He +went on foot a round distance of over thirty miles.] Thousands of people +were present, and the event was long remembered. They were, no doubt, +marvellous things in those days--much more so, perhaps, than that huge +mammoth of steam craft of later days, the _Great Eastern_, is to +us. I cannot give the dimensions of these boats, but it is safe to say +that they were not large. Their exploits in the way of speed were +considered marvellous, and formed the topic of conversation in many a +home. A trip in one of them down the bay to Kingston was a greater feat +then than a voyage to Liverpool is now; and they went but little faster +than a man could walk. + +Early travellers predicted that Ernesttown would be a place of +importance, but their predictions have come to naught. It reached many +years ago the culminating point in its history. Still, in the progress +of our country the above must give it more than a passing interest. +Gourlay speaks of Bath in 1811, and says, "The village contains a +valuable social library"--a thing at that date which could not be found +probably in any other part of the Province. + +Previous to the introduction of steamers, which gave a wonderful impetus +to trade, and completely revolutionized it, the traffic of the country +was carried on under great disadvantages. Montreal and Quebec, the one +the depot of merchandise and the other the centre of the lumber trade, +were far away, and could only be reached during six months in the year +by the St. Lawrence, whose navigation, on account of its rapids, was +difficult and dangerous. There was but little money, and business was +conducted on an understood basis of exchange or barter. During the +winter months the farmer threshed his grain and brought it with his pork +and potash to the merchant, who gave him goods for his family in return. +The merchant was usually a lumberman as well, and he busied himself in +the winter time in getting out timber and hauling it to the bay, where +it was rafted and made ready for moving early in the spring. As soon as +navigation was open, barges and batteaux were loaded with potash and +produce, and he set sail with these and his rafts down the river. It was +always a voyage of hardship and danger. If good fortune attended him, he +would, in the course of three or four weeks make Montreal, and Quebec +with his rafts two or three weeks later. Then commenced the labour of +disposing of his stuff, settling up the year's accounts, and purchasing +more goods, with which his boats were loaded and despatched for home. + +The task of the country merchant in making his selections then, was much +more difficult than it is now. Moreover, as he could reach his market +but once in the year, his purchases had to be governed by this fact. He +had to cater to the entire wants of his customers, and was in the +letter, as well as the spirit, a general merchant, for he kept dry +goods, groceries, crockery, hardware, tools, implements, drugs-- +everything, in fact, from a needle to an anchor. The return trip with +his merchandise was slow and difficult. The smooth stretches of the +river were passed with the oar and sail, the currents with poles, while +the more difficult rapids were overcome by the men, assisted with ox- +teams. Thus he worried his way through, and by the time he got home two +or three months had been consumed. During the winter months, while the +western trader was busy in collecting his supplies for the spring, the +general merchant of Montreal, a veritable nabob in those days, locked up +his shop and set off with a team for Upper Canada, and spent it in +visiting his customers. The world moved slowly then. The ocean was +traversed by sailing ships--they brought our merchandise and mails. In +winter, the only communication with Montreal and Quebec was by stage, +and in the fall and spring it was maintained with no small difficulty. +One of the wonders of swift travelling of the day was the feat of +Weller, the mail contractor and stage proprietor, in sending Lord Durham +through from Toronto to Montreal in thirty-six hours. Many a strange +adventure could be told of stage rides between Toronto and Quebec, and +of the merchants in their annual trips down the St. Lawrence, on rafts +and in batteaux; and it seems a pity that so much that would amuse and +interest readers of the present day has never been chronicled. + +There was one thing brought about by those batteaux voyages for which +the farmer is by no means thankful. The men used to fill their beds with +fresh straw on their return, and by this means the Canadian thistle +found its way to Upper Canada. + +As Canada had not been behind in employing steam in navigation, so she +was not behind in employing it in another direction. Stephenson built +the first railroad between Liverpool and Manchester in 1829. Some years +later, 1836, we had a railway in Canada, and now we have over 5,000 +miles in the Dominion. These two agencies have entirely changed the +character both of our commerce and mail service. The latter, in those +early days, in the Midland district, was a private speculation of one +Huff, who travelled the country and delivered papers and letters at the +houses. This was a very irregular and unsatisfactory state of things, +but was better than no mail at all. Then came the wonderful improvement +of a weekly mail carried by a messenger on horseback; and as time wore +on, the delivery became more frequent, post-offices multiplied, postage +rates were reduced, and correspondence increased. There were two other +enterprises which the country took hold of very soon after their +discovery. I refer to the canals and the telegraph. The first, the +Lachine Canal, was commenced in 1821, and the Welland in 1824. The +Montreal Telegraph Company was organized in 1847. So that in those four +great discoveries which have revolutionized the trade of the world, it +will be seen that our young country kept abreast with the times, and her +advance, not only in those improvements, but in every branch of science +and art, has been marvellous. + +The Midland District, so named because of its central position, was one +of the largest districts in the Province; but county after county was +cut away from it on all sides, until it was greatly shorn of its +proportions. Before this clipping had begun, the courts were held +alternately in Kingston and Adolphustown. The old Court-House still +stands [Footnote: It has been taken down since, and a town hall for the +use of the township, erected on its site.] and is as melancholy a +monument of its former importance as one could wish to see. The town +which the original surveyors laid out here, and which early writers +mention, I have never been able to find more of than the plot. It must +have flourished long before my day. + +But what about Prince Edward county? Of course you know that it was set +off in 1833, and that the first Court of Assize was held in this town-- +then Hallowell--in 1834. I am not able to say much about its early +history; though I am sure there are many incidents of very great +interest connected with it, probably lost for the want of some friendly +hand. Land was taken up in this neighbourhood by Barker, Washburn, +Spencer, Vandusen, and others about the year 1790. Patents were issued +by the Government in 1802-3-4. At a meeting held at Eyre's Inn, on the +14th of February, 1818, at which Ebenezer Washburn, Esq., presided, I +learn that there was in the township of Hallowell at that time but two +brick-houses, one carding, and fulling mill, one Methodist Chapel--now +known as the old Chapel at Conger's Mill--one Quaker Meeting House. +Preparations were being made to build a church. [Footnote: Known as St. +Mary Magdalene. The Rev. W. Macaulay, I think, was the first rector, and +he lived to a good old age.] Orchards were beginning to be planted, and +other improvements. The first settlers paid at the rate of one shilling +per acre for their land. Four-fifths of the entire Midland district, in +1818, was a dense forest. We can hardly realise the fact that seventy +years ago there was probably not a soul living in this fair county. + +Let us skip over a period of about forty years from the first +settlement, and have a look at the people and how they lived. The log +houses, in very many cases had been transformed into comfortable and +commodious dwellings. The log barns and hovels, too, had given place to +larger frame barns and sheds, many of which are still to be seen around +the country. The changes wrought in those short years were wonderful, +and having followed the pioneer hither and noted his progress, let us +step into one of these homes and take a seat with the family gathered +around the spacious fire-place, with its glowing fire blazing up +cheerfully through the heaped-up wood, and note the comforts and +amusements of the contented circle. How clearly the picture stands out +to many of us. How well we remember the time when, with young and +vigorous step, we set our feet in the path which has led us farther and +farther away. + + "A thousand fantasies + Begin to throng into my memory, + Of calling shapes and beckoning shadows." + +Now, please understand me in this matter. We have not a particle of +sympathy with the ordinary grumbler, by which we mean that class of +persons whose noses are not only stuck up at any and every encroachment +on their worn-out ideas of what is right and wrong, but, like crabbed +terriers, snap at the heels of every man that passes. Nor do we wish you +to think that we place our fathers on a higher plane of intellectual +power and worth than we have reached or can reach. The world rolls on, +and decade after decade adds to the accumulative brain force of +humanity. Men of thought and power through all the ages have scattered +seed, and while much of it has come to naught, a kernel here and there, +possessed of vital force, has germinated and grown. You remember what +the great Teacher said about "a rain of mustard seed which a man took +and sowed in his field, which indeed is the least of all seeds, but when +it is grown it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that +the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof." Any man +who looks around him must acknowledge that we are going ahead, but +notwithstanding this, every careful observer cannot fail to see that +there is growing up in our land a large amount of sham, and hence, as +Isaiah tells us, it would be well for us to look more frequently "into +the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are +digged." Let us not only treasure the recollection of the noble example +which our fore-fathers set us, but let us imitate those sterling +qualities which render their names dear to us. + +"It is a common complaint perpetually reiterated," remarks a racy +writer, "that the occupations of life are filled to overflowing; that +the avenues to wealth or distinction are so crowded with competitors +that it is hopeless to endeavour to make way in the dense and jostling +masses. This desponding wail was doubtless heard when the young earth +had scarcely commenced her career of glory, and it will be dolefully +repeated by future generations to the end of time. Long before Cheops +had planted the basement-stone of his pyramids, when Sphinx and Colossi +had not yet been fashioned into their huge existence, and the untouched +quarry had given out neither temple nor monument, the young Egyptian, as +he looked along the Nile, may have mourned that he was born too late. +Fate had done him injustice in withholding his individual being till the +destinies of man were accomplished. His imagination exulted at what he +might have been, had his chance been commensurate with his merits, but +what remained for him now in this worn-out, battered, used-up hulk of a +world, but to sorrow for the good times which had exhausted all +resources? + +"The mournful lamentation of antiquity has not been weakened in its +transmission, and it is not more reasonable now than when it groaned by +the Nile. There is always room enough in the world, and work waiting for +willing hands. The charm that conquers obstacles and commands success is +strong will and strong work. Application is the friend and ally of +genius. The laborious scholar, the diligent merchant, the industrious +mechanic, the hard-working farmer, are thriving men, and take rank in +the world; while genius by itself lies in idle admiration of a fame that +is ever prospective. The hare sleeps or amuses himself by the wayside, +and the tortoise wins the race." + + + + +RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS OF EARLY DAYS. + +PATERNAL MEMORIES--A VISIT TO THE HOME OF MY BOYHOOD--THE OLD QUAKER +MEETING-HOUSE--FLASHES OF SILENCE--THE OLD BURYING GROUND--"TO THE +MEMORY OF ELIZA"--GHOSTLY EXPERIENCES--HIVING THE BEES--ENCOUNTER WITH +A BEAR--GIVING "THE MITTEN"--A "BOUNDARY QUESTION"--SONG OF THE +BULLFROG--RING--SAGACITY OF ANIMALS--TRAINING DAYS--PICTURESQUE SCENERY +OF THE BAY OF QUINTE--JOHN A. MACDONALD--A PERILOUS JOURNEY--AUNT JANE +AND WILLET CASEY. + + +More than forty-five years have elapsed since my father departed this +life, and left me a lad, the eldest of six children, to take his place, +and assist my mother as well as I could in the management of affairs. +Twenty years later mother was laid by his side, and before and since all +my sisters have gone. For a number of years the only survivors of that +once happy household, the memory of which is so fresh and dear to me, +have been myself and brother. Upper Canada was a vastly different place +at the time of my father's decease (1840) from what it is now. The +opportunities he had when young were proportionately few. I have been a +considerable wanderer in my day, and have had chances of seeing what the +world has accomplished, and of contrasting it with his time and +advantages. If his lines had fallen in another sphere of action he would +have made his mark. As it was, during his short life--he died at the age +of 42--he had with his own hands acquired an excellent farm of 250 +acres, with a good, spacious, well-furnished house, barns, and out- +buildings. His farm was a model of order and thorough tillage, well +stocked with the best improved cattle, sheep, and hogs that could be had +at that time, and all the implements were the newest that could be +procured. He was out of debt, and therefore independent, and had money +at interest. This, it seems to me, was something for a man to accomplish +in twenty years. But this was not all. He was acknowledged to be a man +of intelligence superior to most in those days, and was frequently +consulted by neighbours and friends in matters of importance; a warm +politician and a strict temperance man. He was one of the best speakers +in the district, always in request at public meetings, and especially +during an election campaign. Into political contests he entered with all +his might, and would sometimes be away a week or more at a time, +stumping--as they used to term it--the district. In politics he was a +Reformer, and under the then existing circumstances I think I should +have been one too. But the vexed questions that agitated the public mind +then, and against which he fought and wrote, have been adjusted. An old +co-worker of his said to me many years after at an election: "What a +pity your father could not have seen that you would oppose the party he +laboured so hard to build up. If a son of mine did it I would disinherit +him as quick as I would shove a toad off a stick." I said to my old +friend that I supposed the son had quite as good a right to form his +opinions on certain matters as his father had. Political and religious +prejudices are hard things to remove. I remember a deputation waiting on +my father to get him to consent to be a candidate for an election which +was on the eve of taking place, but he declined, on the ground that he +was not prepared to assume so important a position then, nor did he feel +that he had reached a point which would warrant him in leaving his +business. He added that after a while, if his friends were disposed to +confer such an honour upon him, he might consider it more favourably. +Peter Perry was chosen, and I know my father worked hard for him, and +the Tory candidate, Cartwright, was defeated. This reminds me of a +little bit of banking history, which created some noise in the district +at the time, but which is quite forgotten now. A number of leading +farmers, of whom my father was one, conceived the idea of establishing a +"Farmers' Joint Stock Bank," which was subsequently carried out, and a +bank bearing that name was started in Bath. John S. Cartwright, the then +member, through whom they expected to get a charter, and who was +interested in the Commercial Bank at Kingston, failed to realize their +expectations in that particular, and the new bank had to close its +doors. The opening was premature, and cost the stockholders a +considerable sum of money. This little banking episode helped to defeat +Mr. Cartwright at the next election. + +Over thirty years have passed since I left my old home, and change after +change has occurred as the years rolled along, until I have become a +stranger to nearly all the people of the neighbourhood, and feel strange +where I used to romp and play in boyhood. + +The houses and fields have changed, the woods have been pushed further +back, and it is no longer the home that is fixed in my memory. My visits +have consequently become less and less frequent. On one of these +occasions I felt a strong inclination one Sabbath morning to visit the +old Quaker Meeting House about three miles away. After making my +toilette and breakfasting, I sallied forth, on foot and alone, through +the fields and woods. The day was such as I would have selected from a +thousand. It was towards the last of May--a season wherein if a man's +heart fail to dance blithely, he must indeed be a victim of dulness. The +sun was moving upward in his diurnal course, and had just acquired +sufficient heat to render the shade of the wood desirable. The heaven +was cloudless, and soft languor rested on the face of nature, stealing +the mind's sympathy, and wooing it to the delights of repose. My mind +was too much occupied with early recollections to do more than barely +notice the splendour and the symphonies around me. The hum of the bee +and the beetle, as they winged their swift flight onwards, the song of +the robin and the meadow lark, as they tuned their throats to the +praises of the risen sun, and the crowing of some distant chanticleer, +moved lazily in the sluggish air. It was a season of general repose, +just such a day, I think, as a saint would choose to assist his fancy in +describing the sunny regions whither his thoughts delight to wander, or +a poet would select to refine his ideas of the climate of Elysium. At +length I arrived at the old meeting-house where I had often gone, when a +lad with my father and mother. + +It was a wooden building standing at a corner of the road, and was among +the first places of worship erected in the Province. The effects of the +beating storms of nearly half a century were stamped on the unpainted +clapboards, and the shingles which projected just far enough over the +plate to carry off the water, were worn and partially covered with moss. +One would look in vain, for anything that could by any possibility be +claimed as an ornament. Two small doors gave access to the interior, +which was as plain and ugly as the exterior. A partition, with doors, +that were let down during the time of worship, divided the room into +equal parts, and separated the men and women. It was furnished with +strong pine benches, with backs; and at the far side were two rows of +elevated benches, which were occupied on both sides by leading members +of the society. I have often watched the row of broad-brims on one hand, +and the scoop bonnets on the other, with boyish interest, and wondered +what particular thing in the room they gazed at so steadily, and why +some of them twirled one thumb round the other with such regularity. On +this occasion I entered quietly, and took a seat near the door. There +were a number of familiar faces in the audience. Some whom I had known +when young were growing grey, but many of the well-remembered faces were +gone. The gravity of the audience and the solemn silence were very +impressive; but still recollections of the past crowded from my mind the +sacred object which had brought the people together. Now I looked at the +old bayonet marks in the posts, made by the soldiers who had used it as +a barrack immediately after the war of 1812. Next, the letters of all +shapes and sizes cut by mischievous boys with their jacknives in the +backs of the seats years ago arrested my attention, and brought to mind +how weary I used to get; but as I always sat with my father, I dared not +try my hand at carving. Then, the thought came: Where are those boys +now? Some of them were sober, sedate men sitting before me with their +broad-brimmed hats shadowing their faces; others were sleeping in the +yard outside; and others had left the neighbourhood years ago. Then I +thought of the great Quaker preacher and author, Joseph John Gurney, +whom I had heard in this room, and of J. Pease the philanthropic English +banker. Then another incident of quite a different character came to my +recollection. An old and well known Hicksite preacher was there one +Sunday (always called First Day by the friends), and the spirit moved +him to speak. The Hicksite and orthodox Quakers were something like the +Jews and Samaritans of old--they dealt with one another, but had no +religious fellowship. The old friend had said but a few words, when one +of the leaders of the meeting rose and said very gravely: "Sit thee +down, James;" but James did not seem disposed to be choked off in this +peremptory way, and continued. Again the old friend stood up, and with +stronger emphasis said: "James, I tell thee to sit thee down;" and this +time James subsided. There was nothing more said on the occasion, and +after a long silence, the meeting broke up. On another occasion, a young +friend, who had aspired to become a teacher, stood up, and in that +peculiar, drawling, sing-song tone which used to be a characteristic of +nearly all their preachers, said: "The birds of the air have nests, the +foxes have holes, but the Son of man hath not where to lay his head;" +and then sat down, leaving those who heard him to enlarge and apply the +text to suit themselves. There was nothing more said that day. And so my +mind wandered on from one thing to another, until at length my attention +was arrested by a friend who rose and took off his hat (members of the +society always sit with their hats on), and gave us a short and touching +discourse. I have heard some of the most telling and heart-searching +addresses at Quaker meetings. On this occasion there was no attempt-- +there could be none from a plain people like this--to tickle the ear +with well-turned periods or rhetorical display. After the meeting was +over, I walked out into the graveyard; my father and mother and two +sisters lie there together, and several members of my father's family. +There is a peculiarity about a Quaker burying-ground that will arrest +the attention of any visitor. Other denominations are wont to mark the +last resting place of loved ones by costly stones and inscriptions; but +here the majority of the graves are marked with a plain board, and many +of them have only the initials of the deceased, and the rank grass +interlocks its spines above the humble mounds. I remember my father +having some difficulty to get consent to place a plain marble slab at +the head of his father and mother's grave. But were those who slumbered +beneath forgotten? Far otherwise. The husband here contemplated the +lowly dwelling place of the former minister to his delight. The lover +recognised the place where she whose presence was all-inspiring reposed, +and each knew where were interred those who had been lights to their +world of love, and on which grave to shed the drop born of affection and +sorrow. Although the pomp, the state, and the pageantry of love were her +ransom, yet hither, in moments when surrounding objects were forgotten, +had retired the afflicted, and poured forth the watery tribute that +bedews the cheek of those that mourn "in spirit and in truth." Hither +came those whose spirits had been bowed down beneath the burden of +distress, and indulged in the melancholy occupation of silent grief, +from which no man ever went forth without benefit. I thought of +Falconer's lines:-- + + "Full oft shall memory from oblivion's veil + Relieve your scenes, and sigh with grief sincere?" + +After lingering for some time near the resting place of the dear ones of +my own family, I turned away and threaded my way thoughtfully back. + +During another visit to the neighbourhood of my birth, after having tea +with the Rev. H---, Rector of ----, I took a stroll through the +graveyard that nearly surrounds the old church, and spent some time in +reading the inscriptions on the headstones. There were numbers that were +new and strange, but the most of them bore names that were familiar. +Time, of course, had left his mark, and in some cases the lettering was +almost gone. Many of those silent sleepers I remembered well, and had +followed their remains to the grave, and had heard the old Rector +pronounce the last sad rite: "Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to +dust," long years ago. As I passed on from grave to grave of former +friends and neighbours, + + "Each in his narrow cell forever laid," + +many curious and pleasing collections were brought to mind. I came at +last to the large vault of the first Rector, who was among the first in +the Province. I recollected well the building of this receptacle for the +dead, and how his family, one after another, were placed in it; and then +the summons came to him, and he was laid there. A few years later, his +wife, the last survivor of the family, was put there too, and the large +slabs were shut down for the last time, closing the final chapter of +this family history, and--as does not often happen in this world--they +were taking their last sleep undivided. But Time, the great destroyer, +had been at work during the years that had fled, and I was sorry to find +that the slabs that covered the upper part of the vault, and which bore +the inscriptions, were broken, and that the walls were falling in. There +were no friends left to interest themselves in repairing the crumbling +structure, and in a few years more the probabilities are that every +vestige of the last resting-place of this united couple will be gone. It +is not a pleasing thought, and yet it is true, that however much we may +be loved, and however many friends may follow us with tears to the +grave, in a few short years they will be gone, and no one left to care +for us, or perhaps know that we ever lived. I have stood of an evening +in the grand cemetery of Pere la Chaise, Paris and watched the people +trooping in with their wreaths of _immortelles_ to be placed on the +tombs of departed friends, and others with cans of water and flowers to +plant around the graves. Here and there could be seen where some loved +one had been sprinkling the delicate flowers, or remained to water them +with their tears. This respect paid to the memory of departed ones is +pleasant, and yet, alas, how very few, after two or three generations +are remembered. The name that meets the eye on one stone after another +might as well be a blank for all we know of them. Anyone who has visited +the old churchyards or ruined abbeys in England must have felt this, as +his gaze has rested on time-worn tablets from which every mark had long +since been obliterated, + + "By time subdued (what will not time subdue)!" + +Turning away from the vault, and passing down the yard, I came to a +grave the headstone of which had fallen, and was broken. I turned the +two pieces over, and read: "To the memory of Eliza ----." And is this, +thought I, the end of the only record of the dear friend of my boyhood; +the merry, happy girl whom every one loved? No one left after a score of +years to care for her grave? So it is. The years sweep on. "Friend after +friend departs," still on, and all recollection of us is lost; on still, +and the very stones that were raised as a memorial disappear, and the +place that knew us once knows us no more forever. I turned away, sad and +thoughtful; but after a little my mind wandered back again to the sunny +hours of youth, and I lived them over. Eliza had been in our family for +several years, and was one of the most cheerful, kind-hearted girls one +could wish to see. She had a fine voice, and it seemed as natural for +her to sing as a bird. This, with her happy disposition, made her the +light and life of the house. She was like the little burn that went +dancing so lightly over the pebbles in the meadow--bright, sparkling, +joyous, delighting in pranks and fun as much as a kitten. + + "True mirth resides not in the smiling skin-- + The sweeted solace is to act no sin." +--HERRICK. + +I do not think Eliza ever intentionally acted a sin. On one occasion, +however, this excess of spirit led her perhaps beyond the bounds of +maidenly propriety; but it was done without consideration, and when it +was over caused her a good deal of pain. The mischievous little +adventure referred to shall be mentioned presently. + +We had some neighbours who believed in ghosts; not an uncommon thing in +those days. Eliza, with myself, had frequently heard from these people +descriptions of remarkable sights they had seen, and dreadful noises +they had heard at one time and another. She conceived the idea of making +an addition to their experiences in this way, and as an experiment made +a trial on me. I had been away one afternoon, and returned about nine +o'clock. It was quite dark. In the meantime she had quietly made her +preparations, and was on the look out for me. When my horse's feet were +heard cantering up the road, she placed herself that I could not fail to +see her. On I came, and, dashing up to the gate, dismounted; and there +before me on the top of the stone wall was something, the height of a +human figure draped in white, moving slowly and noiselessly towards me. +I was startled at first, but a second thought satisfied me what was up, +and that my supernatural visitor was quite harmless. I passed through +the gate, but my pet mare did not seem inclined to follow, until I spoke +to her, and then she bounded through with a snort. After putting her in +the field, and returning, I found the ghost had vanished. But I was +quite sure I had not done with it yet; and as I drew near the house I +was in momentary expectation that it would come out upon me somewhere. I +kept a sharp look-out, but saw nothing, and had reached the porch door +to go in, when, lo, there stood the spectre barring my way! I paused and +glanced at its appearance as well as I could, and I must confess if I +had been at all superstitious, or had come on such an object in a +strange place, I think I should have been somewhat shaken. However, I +knew my spectre, boldly took hold of it, and found I had something +tangible in my grip. After a brief and silent struggle, I thrust open +the door, and brought my victim into the room. My mother and sisters, +who knew nothing of what had been going on, were greatly alarmed to see +me dragging into the house a white object, and, womanlike, began to +scream; but the mystery was soon revealed. She had made up some thick +paste, with which she had covered her face, and had really got up quite +a sepulchral expression, to which the darkness gave effect; and being +enveloped in a white sheet, made, we thought, a capital ghost. This did +not satisfy her, and was only a preliminary to her appearance on the +first suitable occasion to our neighbours. It was not long before they +encountered the ghost on their way home after dark, and were so badly +frightened that in the end I think Eliza was worse frightened than they. +Eliza never had any confidants in these little affairs, and they were +over before any one in the house knew of it. This was the end, so far as +she was concerned, of this kind of amusement. + +Some time after this another little episode of a similar nature +happened, but this time Eliza was one of the victims. We had a near +neighbour, an old bachelor, who had a fine patch of melons close at +hand. Eliza and a cousin who was on a visit had had their eyes on them, +and one day declared they were going that night to get some of Tom's +melons. Mother advised them not to do it, and told them there were +melons enough in our own garden without their going to steal Tom's. No, +they didn't want them, they were going to have a laugh on Tom;--and so +when it was dark they set off to commit the trespass. They had been away +but a few minutes when mother--who by the way was a remarkably timid +woman, and I have often wondered how she got up enough courage to play +the trick--put a white sheet under her arm and followed along the road +to a turn, where was a pair of bars, through which the girls had passed +to the field. Here she paused, and when she fancied the girls had +reached their destination she drew the sheet around her, rapped on the +bars with a stick, and called to them. Then, folding up the sheet, she +ran away home. She was not sure whether they had seen her or not. The +sheet was put away, and, taking up her knitting, she sat down quietly to +await their return, which she anticipated almost immediately. A long +time elapsed, and they did not appear. Then mother became alarmed, and +as she happened to be alone she did not know what to do. Though she had +gone out on purpose to frighten the girls, I do not think she could have +been induced to go out again to see what was keeping them. After a while +Mary came in, and then Eliza, both pale, and bearing evidence of having +had a terrible fright. Mother asked them what in the world was the +matter. "O, Aunt Polly!" they both exclaimed, "we have seen such an awful +thing tonight." "What was it?" They could not tell; it was terrible! +"Where did you see it?" "Over by the bars! Just as we had got a melon we +heard an awful noise, and then we saw something white moving about, and +then it was gone!" They were so badly frightened that they dropped down +among the vines, and lay there for some minutes. They then got up, and, +making a detour, walked home; but how, they never could tell. Mother was +never suspected by them, and after a time she told them about it. There +were no more ghosts seen in the neighbourhood after that. + +Time passed on, and Eliza's love of mischief drove her into another kind +of adventure. She was a girl of fine presence; fair, with bright black +eyes and soft black hair, which curled naturally, and was usually worn +combed back off the forehead. The general verdict was that she was +pretty. I have no doubt if she had had the opportunity she would have +made a brilliant actress, as she was naturally clever, possessing an +excellent memory and being a wonderful mimic. She would enter into a bit +of fun with the abandon of a child, and if occasion required the +stoicism of a deacon, the whole house might be convulsed with laughter, +but in Eliza's face, if she set her mind to it, you could not discern +the change of a muscle. Her features were regular, and of that peculiar +cast which, when she was equipped in man's attire, made her a most +attractive-looking beau. About half a mile away lived a poor widow with +a couple of daughters, and very nice girls they were, but one was said +to be a bit of a coquette. Eliza conceived the idea of giving this young +lady a practical lesson in the following manner. She dressed herself in +father's clothes, and set about making the girl's acquaintance. She +possessed the necessary _sang-froid_ to carry on a scheme of this +kind with success. The affair was altogether a secret. Well, in due +course a strange young man called about dark one evening at the widow's +to make enquiries respecting a person in the neighbourhood he wished to +find. He gave out that he was a stranger, and was stopping at ----, a +few miles away; asked for a drink of water, and to be allowed to rest +for a few moments; made himself agreeable, chatted with the girls, and +when he was leaving was invited to call again if he passed that way. He +did call again in a short time, and again and again, and struck up a +regular courtship with one of the girls, and succeeded to all appearance +in winning her affection. Now, the question presented itself, when +matters began to take this shape, how she was to break it off, and the +affair was such a novelty that she became quite infatuated with it, and +I have no doubt would have continued her visits if an accident had not +happened which brought them to an abrupt termination. On her return one +night she unexpectedly met father at the door, and as there was no +chance for retreat, she very courteously asked if he could direct her to +Mr. ----. It happened to be raining, and father, of course quite +innocently, asked the stranger in until the shower was over. She +hesitated, but finally came in and took a seat. There was something +about the person, and particularly the clothes, that attracted his +attention, but this probably would have passed if he had not, observed +that the boots were on the wrong feet; that is to say, the right boot +was on the left foot, _et vice versa_. Knowing Eliza's propensities +well, he suspected her, and she was caught. Enjoying a romp now and then +himself he called mother, and after tormenting poor Eliza for a while, +let her go. This cured her effectually. But the poor girl never knew +what became of her lover. He came no more, and she was left to grieve +for a time, and I suppose to forget, for she married a couple of years +after. The secret was kept at Eliza's request, after making a clean +breast of it to mother, for a long time. She married not long after +this, and was beloved by everyone. She was a devoted wife, and had +several children, none of whom are now living. Poor Eliza! I thought of +Hamlet's soliloquy on Yorick as I stood by her unkept grave, with its +headstone fallen and broken. "Those lips that I have kissed I know not +how oft--where be your gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment." +All gone, years ago! And they live only in the sweet recollections of +the past. + +My father used to keep a large number of bees either in wood or straw +hives, mostly of the former; and indeed most all our neighbours kept +them too, and I remember a curious custom that prevailed of blowing +horns and pounding tin pans when they were swarming, to keep them from +going away. I never knew my father to resort to this expedient, but it +was wonderful to see him work among them. He would go to the hives and +change them from one to another, or go under a swarm, and without any +protection to his face or hands, shake them into the hive, and carry it +away and put it in its place. They never stung him unless by accident. +If one of them got under his clothes and was crowded too much, he might +be reminded that there was something wrong, but the sting only troubled +him for a minute or two. With me it seemed if they got a sight of me +they made a "bee line" for my face. After father's death they soon +disappeared, as I would not have them about. We sometimes found bee +trees in the woods, and on one occasion chopped down a large elm out of +which we got a quantity of choice honey. I remember this well; for I ate +so much that it made me sick, and cured me from wanting honey ever +after. + +Another incident connected with the afternoon's work in robbing the +bees. It was quite early in the spring, and though the snow had pretty +much disappeared from the fields, yet there was some along the fences +and in the woods. We left the house after dinner with a yoke of oxen and +wood-sleigh freighted with pails and tubs to bring back our expected +prize, and the afternoon was well spent before John--our hired man--had +felled the tree, and by the time we had got the comb into the vessels it +was growing dark. Just as everything had been got into the sleigh, and +we were about to leave, we were startled by a shrill scream on one side, +something like that made by a pair of quarrelsome tom-cats, only much +louder, which was answered immediately by a prolonged mew on the other. +The noise was so startling and unexpected that John for a moment was +paralyzed. Old Ring, a large powerful dog, bounded away at once into the +woods, and Buck and Bright started for home on the trot. I was too sick +to care much about wild cats, or in fact anything else, and lay on my +back in the straw among the pails and tubs, but I heard the racket, and +what appeared a struggle with the dog. We did not see Ring until next +morning, and felt sure that he had been killed. The poor old fellow +looked as though he had had a hard time of it, and did not move about +much for a day or two. The wild cat or Canadian lynx is a ferocious +animal. The species generally go in pairs. I have frequently heard them +calling to one another at apparently long distances, and then they would +gradually come together. A man would fare very badly with a pair of +them, particularly if he was laid on his back with a fit of colic. + +Like most lads, I was fond of shooting, and used frequently to shoulder +my gun and stroll away through the fields in quest of game. On one +occasion, somewhere about the first of September, I was out hunting +black squirrels, and had skirted along the edge of the woods and corn +fields for some distance. I had not met with very good success. The +afternoon was warm, and I was discussing in my mind whether I should go +further on or return home. Looking up the hill, I saw a couple of +squirrels, and started after them at a sharp pace. On my right was a +corn field and as I stepped along the path near the fence, I had a +glimpse of something moving along on the other side of it, but I was so +intent on watching the squirrels that I did not in fact think of +anything else for the moment. As I drew near the tree I saw them go up. +Keeping a sharp look-out for a shot, I chanced to look down, and there +before me, not two rods away, sat a large red-nosed bear. The encounter +was so unexpected that it is hardly necessary to say I was frightened, +and it was a moment or two before I could collect my wits. Bruin seemed +to be examining me very composedly, and when I did begin to realize the +position the question was what to do. I was afraid to turn at once and +run. Having but one charge of small shot in my gun, I knew it would not +do to give him that, so we continued gazing at each other. At length I +brought my gun to full cock, made a step forward, and gave a shout. The +bear quietly dropped on his fore legs and moved off, and so did I, and +as the distance widened I increased my speed. The little dog I had with +me decamped before I did, having no doubt seen the bear. I ran to a +neighbour's who had a large dog. One of the boys got his gun, and we +went back in a somewhat better condition for a fight; but when the dog +struck the scent he put his tail between his legs and trotted home, +showing more sense probably than we did. However, we saw nothing of the +bear, and returned. Some days after a neighbour shot a large bear, no +doubt the same one. + +Very early in the history of mankind it was pronounced to be not good +that man should be alone, and ever since then both male and female have +seemed to think so too. At all events there is a certain time in life +when this matter occupies a very prominent place in the minds of both, +and it was no more of a novelty when I was young than now. The same +desires warmed the heart, and the same craving for social enjoyment and +companionship brought the young together, with the difference that then +we were in the rough, while the young of the present have been touched +up by education and polished by the refinements of fashionable society. +I do not think they are any better at the core, or make more attentive +companions. Now, when a young gentleman goes to see a young lady with +other views than that of spending a little time agreeably, he is said to +be paying his addresses, or, as Mrs. Grundy would say: It is an +_affaire d'amour_. When I was young, if a boy went to see a girl +(and they did whenever they could) he was said to be sparking her. If he +was unsuccessful in his suit you would hear it spoken of in some such +way as this: "Sally Jones gave Jim Brown the mitten;" and very often the +unlucky swain was actually presented with a small mitten by the +mischievous fair one whom he had hoped to win, as a broad hint that it +was useless for him to hang around there any longer. Sunday afternoon +was the usual time selected, and in fact it was the only time at their +disposal for visiting the girls. There were favourite resorts in every +neighbourhood, and girls whose attractions were very much more inviting +than others, and thither three or four young gallants, well-mounted and +equipped in their best Sunday gear, might be seen galloping from +different directions of a Sunday evening. Of course it could not in the +nature of things happen that all would be successful, and so after a +while one unfortunate after another would ride away to more propitious +fields, and leave the more fortunate candidate to entertain his lady- +love until near midnight. Sometimes tricks were played on fortunate +rivals by loosing their horses and starting them home, or hiding their +saddles; and it was not a pleasant conclusion to such a delightful visit +to have to trudge through the mud four or five miles of a dark night, or +to ride home barebacked, as the best pants were likely to get somewhat +soiled in the seat. However, these little affairs seldom proved very +serious, and it would get whispered around that Tildy Smith was going to +get married to Pete Robins. + +When I had grown to be quite a lad I got a lesson from Grandfather C--- +that never required repeating. Those who are acquainted with the Quakers +know that they do not indulge in complimentary forms of speech. A +question is answered with a simple yes or no. My father's people were of +this persuasion, and of course my replies whenever addressed were in the +regular home style. It does not follow, however, that because the +Friends as a people eschew conformity to the world both in dress and +speech, that there is a want of parental respect. Quite the contrary. +Their regular and temperate habits, their kindness and attention to the +comfort and well-being of one another, make their homes the abode of +peace and good-will, and, though their conversation is divested of the +many little phrases the absence of which is thought disrespectful by +very many, yet they have gained a reputation for consistency and +truthfulness which is of more value than ten thousand empty words that +drop smoothly from the lips but have no place in the heart. During a +visit to my grandfather, the old gentleman asked me a number of +questions to which he got the accustomed yes or no. This so displeased +him that he caught me by the ear and gave it a twist that seemed to me +to have deprived me of that member altogether, and said very sharply, +"When you answer me, say SIR." That Sir was so thoroughly twisted into +my head that I do not think the old man ever spoke to me after that it +did not jump to my lips. + +Another anecdote, of much the same character as that related above, and +quite as characteristic of the men of those days, was told me by an old +man not long since--one of the very few of the second generation now +living (Paul. C. Petersen, aged 84). Mr. Herman, one of the first +settlers in the 4th Concession of Adolphustown, bought a farm, which +happened to be situated on the boundary line between the above-named +township and Fredericksburgh, in those days known as 3rd and 4th town. +It seems that in the original survey, whether through magnetic +influence, to which it was ascribed in later years, but more probably +through carelessness, or something more potent, there was a wide +variation in the line which should have run nearly directly north from +the starting point on the shore of the Bay of Quinte. However, as time +wore on, and land became more valuable, this question of boundary became +a serious thing, and in after years resulted in a series of law suits +which cost a large sum of money. Mr. Herman held his farm by the first +survey, but if the error which had been made in a direction north was +corrected, he would either lose his farm or would have been shoved over +on to his neighbour west, and so on. He was not disposed to submit to +this, and as he was getting old he took his eldest son one day out to +the original post at the south-east corner of his farm on the north +shore of Hay Bay, and said to him: "My son, this (pointing out the +post), is the post put here by the first survey,--and which I saw +planted--at the corner of my lot, and I wish you to look around and mark +it well." While the son was looking about, the old man drew up his arm +and struck him with the flat of his hand and knocked him over. He at +once picked him up, and said: "My son, I had no intention of hurting +you, but I wanted to impress the thing on your mind." Shortly after he +took the second son out, and administered the same lesson. Not long +after the old man passed away, and I remember well that for years this +matter was a bone of contention. + +Most Canadians are familiar with the musical bullfrogs which in the +spring, in a favourable locality, in countless numbers call to each +other all night long from opposite swamps. These nightly concerts become +very monotonous. The listener, however, if he pays attention, will catch +a variety of sounds that he may train into something, and if of a +poetical turn of mind might make a song that would rival some of those +written to bells. I used to fancy I could make out what they were +calling back to one another, and have often been a very attentive +listener. There was an old man in the neighbourhood who very frequently +came home drunk, and we used to wonder he did not fall off his horse and +get badly hurt or killed; but the old horse seemed to understand how to +keep under him and fetch him and his jug home all right. We had a little +song which the frogs used to sing for him as he got near home. + +Old Brown--old Brown 1st baritone, last word drawn out. +Been to town--been to town 2nd--answer same key. +With his jug-jug-jug 3rd--high key in which more join. +Coo-chung--coo-chung 4th--baritone in which several join. +Chuck-chuck-chuck. 5th--alto from different quarters. +Chr r r r r r r r.-- 6th--chorus, grand, after which + there is a pause, and then an old + leader will start as before. + +Old Brown--old Brown +Get home--get home, +Your drunk, drunk, drunk, +Coo chung-cooo chung +Chuck-chuck-chuck. +Chr r r r r r r r. + +Many curious stories are told respecting the sagacity of animals, among +which the dog takes a prominent place. My father had a large dog when I +was a youngster that certainly deserves a place among the remarkable +ones of his race. Ring was a true friend, and never of his own accord +violated the rules of propriety with his kind, but woe to the dog who +attempted to bully him. He possessed great strength, and when driven +into a contest, generally made short work of it, and trotted away +without any show of pride over his defeated contestant. He was in the +habit of following my father on all occasions and although frequently +shut up and driven back, was sure to be on hand at the stopping point to +take charge of the team, etc. On the occasion I am about to mention, my +father and mother were going on a visit to his brothers some twenty-four +miles distant. Before starting in the morning the decree went forth that +Ring must stop at home, and he was accordingly shut up, with +instructions that he was not to be let out until after dinner. It was +necessary to do this before any preparations were made for going away, +for the simple reason that it had been done repeatedly before, and when +there was the least sign of a departure, experience had taught him that +the best plan was to keep out of the way, in which he generally +succeeded until too late to capture him. On this occasion Ring was +outwitted. The horses were put to the sleigh, and away they trotted. On +the journey they stopped at Picton for a time, when the team was driven +into the tavern yard and fed, during which time other teams were coming +and going. After about an hour they started again, driving through the +village, and on towards their destination. Some five or six hours after, +when all possible chance of Ring's following seemed to have passed, he +was let out. The dog seemed to know at once what had been going on, and +after a careful inspection, discovered that father and mother, with the +horses and sleigh, were gone. He rushed about the place with his nose to +the ground, and when he had settled which way they had gone, set off in +full chase up the road, and a few minutes before they had reached my +uncle's, Ring passed them, on the road, wagging his tail, and looking as +if he thought that was a good joke. The singular point is how the dog +discovered their route, and how, hours after, he traced them up into the +tavern yard and out through a street, and along a road where horses and +sleighs were passing all the time; and how he distinguished the +difference of the horses' feet and sleigh runners from scores of others +which had passed to and fro in the meantime. It is a case of animal +instinct, or whatever it may be called, beyond comprehension. + +Many years ago my father-in-law (the late Isaac Ingersoll, Esq.), a +prominent man in the District, and a wealthy farmer, widely known, had +frequent applications from parties in Kingston for a good milch cow. In +those days milk was not delivered, as now, at every door in towns, and +it became a necessity for every family to have a cow. The wealthier +people wanted good ones, and as the old gentleman was known to keep good +stock, he was enabled to get good prices. On one occasion he sold a cow +to a gentleman in the town above named, and sent her by steamboat down +the Bay of Quinte, a distance of over thirty miles. A week after, the +old man was surprised one morning to find this cow in his yard. She had +made her escape from her new master, and returned to her old quarters +and associates. She was sent back, and after a time got away and +travelled the thirty miles again, and was found in the yard. The second +journey of course was not so difficult, but by what process did she +discover, in the first place, the direction she was taken, and pursue a +road which she had never travelled, back to her old quarters. At her new +home she was, if anything, better fed and cared for; why should she +embrace the first opportunity to steal away and seek her old companions? +Who can explain these things? In this case there is an attachment +evinced for home and associates, and a persistence in returning to them, +most remarkable, and in the case of the dog, an intelligence (or what +you may be pleased to call it), which enabled him to trace his master, +and overtake him, which is altogether beyond human ken. + +There is the irrepressible cat, too. Every household is troubled from +time to time with one or more of these animals, which from their +_snuping_ propensities become a nuisance. I have on more than one +occasion put one in a bag and carried it miles away, and then let it go, +rather than kill it outright; but it was sure to be back almost as soon +as myself. + +The 4th of June, the anniversary of the birth of King George III., as +well as that of the very much more humble individual who pens these +lines, for many years was the day selected for the annual drill of the +militia of the Province. It was otherwise known as general training-day, +and ten days or more previously, the men belonging to the various +battalions were "warned" to appear at a certain place in the district. +Each individual was subject to a fine of 10s or more if not on the +ground to answer to his name when the roll was called. On the morning of +that day, therefore, men on foot, on horseback and in waggons were to be +seen wending their way to the "training ground," or field, in close +proximity to a tavern. It was an amusing spectacle to see a few hundred +rustics, whose ages ranged from 16 to 40, in all kinds of dress, with +old muskets that had been used in the Revolutionary War or in that of +1812--fusees that many a year, as occasion required, had helped to +contribute to the diminished larder--drawn up in a line, and marched +round the field for a time. The evolutions were such as might be +expected from a crowd of raw countrymen, and often got tangled up so +that a military genius of more than superhuman skill would have been +puzzled to get them in order again. + +There was no other way to do it, but to stop and re-form the line. Then +would come the word of command: "Attention. Brown fall back. Johnson +straighten up there. That will do. Now men, at the word 'Right about,' +each man has to turn to his right, at the word 'Left about,' each man +turns to his left. Now then: Attention--Right about face." Confusion +again, some turning to the right and others to the left. A few strong +phrases follow--"As you were"--and so the thing goes on; the men are +wheeled to the right and left, marched about the field, and, after being +put through various steps, are brought into line again. The commanding +officer, sword in hand, looks along the serried ranks, the sergeants +pass along the line, chucking one's head up, pushing one back, bringing +another forward, and then rings out the word of command again: +"Atten_tion_! Shoulder arms! Make ready, present, fire!" Down come +the old guns and sticks in a very threatening attitude, a random pop +along the line is heard, then "Stand at ease"--after which the Colonel, +in his red coat, wheels his charger about, says a few words to the men, +and dismisses them. The rest of the day was spent by every man in +carousing, horse-racing, and games, with an occasional fight. After the +arduous duties of the day, the officers had a special spread at the +tavern, and afterwards left for home with very confused ideas as to the +direction in which they should proceed to reach it. + +Fifty years ago, shaving the beard, in Canada at all events, was +universal. If a man were to go about as the original Designer of his +person no doubt intended, a razor would never have touched his face. But +men, like other animals, are subject to crotchets, and are wont to +imitate superiors, so when some big-bug like Peter the Great introduced +the shears and razor, men appeared soon after with cropped heads and +clean chops. I do not remember that I ever saw a man with a full beard +until after I had passed manhood for some years, except on one occasion +when I was a youngster at school in the old school house on the +concession. A man passed through the neighbourhood--I do not remember +what he was doing--with a long flowing beard. We had somehow got the +idea that no men except Jews wore their beards, and the natural +inference with us was that this man was one of that creed. He was as +much of a curiosity to us as a chimpanzee or an African lion would have +been, and we were about as afraid of him as we would have been on seeing +either of the other animals. + +The township of Adolphustown, in the county of Lennox, is the smallest +township in the Province. Originally the counties of Lennox and +Addington, Frontenac, Hastings and Prince Edward were embraced in the +Midland District. These counties, as the country advanced in population, +were one after another set off, the last being the united counties of +Lennox and Addington, separated from Frontenac, and with the town of +Napanee as its capital. The township in my young days was known as +fourth town, as the townships east of it as far as Kingston were known +as first, second and third town. Immediately after the American War, the +land along the Bay of Quinte, embracing these townships, with fifth, +sixth and seventh town to the west, were taken up, and the arduous task +of clearing away the bush at once began. The bay, from its debouche at +Kingston, extends west about seventy miles, nearly severing at its +termination the county of Prince Edward from the main land. The land on +either hand, for about thirty miles west of Kingston, is undulating, +with a gradual ascent from the shore, but when Adolphustown is reached, +Marysburgh, in the county of Prince Edward, on the opposite side of the +bay, presents a bold front, its steep banks rising from one to two +hundred feet. From the Lake of the Mountain, looking across the wide +stretch of water formed by the sharp detour of the bay in its westerly +to a north-easterly course for fifteen or twenty miles, the observer has +one of the most charming scenes in America spread out before him. In the +distance, the lofty rocky shore of Sophiasburgh, with its trees and +shrubs crowding down to the water's edge, stretch away to the right and +left. To the west, the estuary known as Picton Bay curves around the +high wooded shore of Marysburgh, and beneath and to the east, the four +points of which the township of Adolphustown is composed reach out their +woody banks into the wide sweep of the bay like the four fingers of a +man's hand. For quiet, picturesque beauty, there is nothing to surpass +it. On every hand the eye is arrested with charming landscapes, and +looking across the several points of the township you have dwellings, +grain fields, herds of cattle, and wood. Beyond you catch the shimmer of +the water. Again you have clumps of trees and cultivated fields, and +behind them another stretch of water, and so on as far as the eye can +reach. The whole course of the bay, in fact, is a panorama of rural +beauty, but the old homes that were to be seen along its banks twenty- +five and thirty years ago have either disappeared altogether or have +been modernized. It is now very nearly one hundred years since the first +settlers found their way up it, and it must have been then a beautiful +sight in its native wildness, the clear green water stretching away to +the west, the sinuosities of the shore, the numberless inlets, the +impenetrable forest and the streams that cut their way through it and +poured their contingents into its broad bosom, the islands here and +there, upon which the white man had never set his foot, water fowl in +thousands, whose charming home was then for the first time invaded, +skurrying away with noisy quake and whir, the wood made sweet with the +song of birds, the chattering squirrel, the startled deer, the silent +murmur of the water as it lapped the sedgy shore or gravelly beach-- +these things must have combined to please, and to awaken thoughts of +peaceful homes, in the near future to them all. + +The Bay of Quinte, apart from its delightful scenery, possesses an +historical interest. It is not known from whence it received its name, +but there is no doubt it is of French origin. Perhaps some of the old +French voyageurs, halting at Fort Frontenac, on their way west, as they +passed across it, and through one of the gaps that open the way to the +broad expanse of Lake Ontario, may have christened it. Be this as it +may, it was along its shores that the first settlers of the Province +located. Here came the first preachers, offering to the lonely settler +the bread of life. On its banks the first house devoted to the worship +of God was erected, and the seed sown here, as the country grew, spread +abroad. Here the first schoolmaster began his vocation of instructing +the youth. The first steamboat was launched (1816) upon its waters at +Ernesttown, near the present village of Bath. Kingston, for a long time +the principal town of the Province, then composed of a few log houses, +was the depot of supplies for the settlers. It has a history long +anterior to this date. In 1673, Courcelles proceeded to Cataraqui with +an armed force to bring the Iroquois to terms, and to get control of the +fur trade. Then followed the building of Fort Frontenac. The restless +trader and discoverer, La Salle, had the original grant for a large +domain around the fort. Here, in 1683, La Barre built vessels for the +navigation of the lake, and the year following held a great council with +the Five Nations of Indians, at which Big Mouth was the spokesman. The +fort was destroyed by Denonville in 1689, and rebuilt in 1696. It was +again reduced by Colonel Bradstreet in 1758. + +In Adolphustown many of the first settlers still lived when I was a boy, +and I have heard them recount their trials and hardships many a time. +Besides the U. E. Loyalists there were a number of Quaker families which +came to the Province about the same time, leaving the new Republic, not +precisely for the same reasons, but because of their attachment to the +old land. During the war, these people, who are opposed to war and +bloodshed, suffered a good deal, and were frequently imprisoned, and +their money and property appropriated. This did not occur in Canada, but +they were subject to a fine for some time, for not answering to their +names at the annual muster of the militia. The fine, however, was not +exacted, except in cases where there were doubts as to membership with +the society. This small township has contributed its quota to the +Legislature of the country. T. Dorland represented the Midland District +in the first Parliament of the Province, and was followed by Willet +Casey, when Newark or Niagara was the capital. The latter was succeeded +several years later by his son, Samuel Casey, but, as often happens, +there was a difference in the political opinions of the father and son. +The father was a Reformer, the son a Tory; and at the election, the old +gentleman went to the poll and recorded his vote against his son, who +was nevertheless elected. The Roblins, John P---, who represented the +county of Prince Edward, and David, who sat for Lennox and Addington, +were natives of the township. The Hagermans, Christopher and D---, were +also fourth town boys, with whom my mother went to school. The old +homestead, a low straggling old tenement, stood on the bay shore a few +yards west of the road that leads to the wharf. I remember it well. It +was destroyed by fire years ago. The father of Sir John A. Macdonald +kept a store a short distance to the east of the Quaker meeting-house on +Hay Bay, on the third concession. It was a small clap-boarded building, +painted red, and was standing a few years ago. I remember being at a +nomination in the village of Bath, on which occasion there were several +speakers from Kingston, among them John A. Macdonald, then a young +lawyer just feeling his way into political life. He made a speech, and +began something in this way: "Yeomen of the county of Lennox and +Addington, I remember well when I ran about in this district a +barefooted boy," &c. He had the faculty then, which he has ever since +preserved, of getting hold of the affections of the people. This +_bonhommie_ has had much to do with his popularity and success. I +recollect well how lustily he was cheered by the staunch old farmers on +the occasion referred to. A few years later a contest came off in the +county of Prince Edward, where I then resided. In those days political +contests were quite as keen as now; but the alterations in the law which +governs these matters has been greatly changed and improved. The +elections were so arranged that people owning property in various +counties could exercise their franchise. The old law, which required +voters to come to a certain place in the district to record their vote, +had been repealed; and now each voter had to go to the township in which +he owned property, to vote. Foreign voters were more numerous then than +now, and were looked after very sharply. On this occasion there was a +sharp battle ahead, and arrangements were made to meet property owners +at all points. There were a number from Kingston on our side, and it +fell to me to meet them at the Stone Mills Ferry, and bring them to +Picton. The ice had only recently taken in the bay, and was not quite +safe, even for foot passengers. There were six or seven, and among them +John A. Macdonald, Henry Smith, afterwards Sir Henry, and others. In +crossing, Smith got in, but was pulled out by his companions, in no very +nice plight for a long drive. The sleighing was good, and we dashed +away. In the evening I brought them back, and before they set off across +the bay on their return, John A. mounted the long, high stoop or +platform in front of Teddy McGuire's, and gave us an harangue in +imitation of ----, a well-known Quaker preacher, who had a marvellous +method of intoning his discourses. It was a remarkable sing-song, which +I, or any one else who ever heard it, could never forget. Well John A., +who knew him well, had caught it, and his imitation was so perfect that +I am inclined to think the old man, if he had been a listener, would +have been puzzled to tell t'other from which. We had a hearty laugh, and +then separated. + +[Illustration: SIR JOHN A. MACDONALD'S EARLY HOME.] + +I have often heard my mother tell of a trip she made down to the Bay of +Quinte, when she was a young girl. She had been on a visit to her +brother Jonas Canniff (recently deceased in this city at the age of +ninety-two), who had settled on the river Moira, two miles north of the +town of Belleville, then a wilderness. There were no steamboats then, +and the modes of conveyance both by land and water were slow and +tedious. She was sent home by her brother, who engaged two friendly +Indians to take her in a bark canoe. The distance to be travelled was +over twenty miles, and the morning they started the water in the bay was +exceedingly rough. She was placed in the centre of the canoe, on the +bottom, while her Indian _voyageurs_ took their place in either +end, resting on their knees. They started, and the frail boat danced +over the waves like a shell. The stoical yet watchful Indians were alive +only to the necessities of their position, and with measured stroke they +shot their light bark over the boisterous water. Being a timid girl, and +unaccustomed to the water, especially under such circumstances, she was +much frightened and never expected to reach her home. There was +considerable danger, no doubt, and her fears were not allayed by one of +the Indians telling her if she stirred he would break her head with the +paddle. The threat may not have been unwise. Their safety depended on +perfect control of the boat, and in their light shell a very slight +movement might prove disastrous. Her situation was rendered more +unpleasant by the splashing of the water, which wet her to the skin. +This she had to put up with for hours, while the Indians bravely and +skilfully breasted the sea, and at last set her safely on the beach in +front of her father's house. When they came to the shore one of the +Indians sprang lightly into the water, caught her in his arms and placed +her on dry land. This trip was literally burned in her memory, and +though she frequently mentioned it, she did so with a shudder, and an +expression of thankfulness for her preservation. + +Of the old people who were living in my boyhood there are few more +thoroughly fixed in my memory, with the exception, perhaps, of my +grandfathers Canniff and Haight, than Willet and Jane Casey. There were +few women better known, or more universally respected, than Aunt Jane. +This was the title accorded to her by common consent, and though at that +time she had passed the allotted term of three-score years and ten, she +was an active woman--a matron among a thousand, a friend of everybody, +and everybody's friend. Her house was noted far and wide for its +hospitality, and none dispensed it more cordially than Aunt Jane. In +those days the people passing to and fro did not hesitate to avail +themselves of the comforts this old home afforded. In fact, it was a +general stopping place, where both man and beast were refreshed with +most cheerful liberality. + +[Illustration: AUNT JANE, AGE 92] + +Jane Niles, her maiden name, was born at Butternuts, Otsego County, in +the central part of New York State, 1763; so that at the commencement of +the American Revolution she was about eleven years old. She was married +in 1782. The following year, 1783, the year in which peace was +proclaimed, her husband, Willet Casey, left for Upper Canada, and +located in the fourth town on the shore of the Bay of Quinte. After +erecting a log house and a blacksmith shop, he returned for his wife. He +was taken seriously ill, and nearly a year passed before he was able to +set out again for the new home in the wilds of Upper Canada (which was +reached early in the year 1785), where, after a long and prosperous +life, he ended his days. + +Aunt Jane was a tall and well proportioned woman, of commanding presence +and cheerful disposition; a woman of more than ordinary intelligence, +and a good conversationalist. She had been a close observer of passing +events, and possessed a wonderfully retentive memory. It was an epoch in +one's life to hear her recount the recollections of her early days. +These ran through the whole period of the American War, and many scenes +which are now historical, that she had witnessed, or was cognizant of, +were given with a vividness that not only delighted the listener but +fixed them in his memory. Then, the story of the coming to Canada, with +her first babe six months old, and the struggles and hardships in the +bush, which in the days of which I speak she delighted to linger over, +was a great treat to listen to. There were few of the first families she +did not know, and whose history was not familiar to her, and in most +cases she could give the names and ages of the children. The picture +given of her in this volume is a copy from a daguerrotype taken when she +was ninety-two years old. For several years before her demise she did +not use spectacles, and could read ordinary print with ease, or do fine +needlework. She retained her faculties to the last, and died at the age +of ninety-six. + +She had eleven children, five of whom died young. Her eldest daughter, +Martha, known as Patty Dorland, attained the age of ninety-two. Then +followed Samuel, Elizabeth, Thomas, Mary and Jane. These, with the +exception of Thomas and Mary Ingersoll, my wife's mother, died many +years ago. Thomas Casey died at Brighton, in January of this year, aged +eighty-seven, and Mary Ingersoll on the first of June, aged eighty-five, +the last of the family. + +Willet Casey was an energetic man. He accumulated a large property, and +in my boyhood there were not many days in the week that the old man +could not be seen driving along the road in his one-horse waggon in some +direction. He was one of the first representatives for the Midland +District, when Newark was the capital of the Province. His son Samuel, a +number of years subsequently, represented the district, and later, his +grandson, Dr. Willet Dorland, represented the County of Prince Edward. + +NOTE: At the time my book was going through the press, I was under the +impression that the fish known in this country as a Sucker was the same +as the Mullet, but had no intention that the latter name should find its +way into the text in place of Sucker. See page 41. According to +Richardson, one of the best authorities we have, the Sucker is of the +Carp family, the scientific name of which is _Cyprinus Hudsonius_, +or Sucking Carp. + +On page 127, "and, as their lives had theretofore," read heretofore. + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK, LIFE IN CANADA FIFTY YEARS AGO *** + +This file should be named 6663.txt or 6663.zip + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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