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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 the Clearings versus the Bush + +Author: Susanna Moodie + +Release Date: May, 2005 [EBook #8132] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on June 17, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN THE CLEARINGS VS. THE BUSH *** + + + + +Produced by Arthur Wendover and Andrew Sly. + + + + + +</pre> + + +<!-- + +Address: +http://www.canadiana.org/ECO/pimg/Non%2dBlank/f74940ac6f/2/43989/0193.gif + +--> + +<!-- Arthur's header stuff +Texted scanned and proofed by Arthur Wendover +email: wendover@soon.com + +--> + +<h1>Life in the Clearings versus the Bush</h1> + +<h2>by Mrs. Moodie</h2> + +<h3>Author of "Roughing it in the Bush," &c.</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"I sketch from Nature, and the draught is true.</p> +<p class="line">Whate'er the picture, whether grave or gay,</p> +<p class="line">Painful experience in a distant land</p> +<p class="line">Made it mine own."</p> +</div> + +<pre class="dedication"> + + TO + +JOHN WEDDERBURN DUNBAR MOODIE, ESQ. + + SHERRIFF OF THE COUNTY OF HASTINGS, + + UPPER CANADA, + + THIS WORK IS AFFECTIONATELY DEDICATED, + + BY HIS ATTACHED FRIEND + + AND WIFE, + + SUSANNA MOODIE + +</pre> + +<h3>Contents</h3> +<ol start="0"> +<li class="nd">Introduction</li> +<li>Belleville</li> +<li>Local Improvements--Sketches of Society</li> +<li>Free Schools--Thoughts on Education</li> +<li>Amusements</li> +<li>Trials of a Travelling Musician</li> +<li>The Singing Master</li> +<li>Camp Meetings</li> +<li>Wearing Mourning for the Dead</li> +<li>Odd Characters</li> +<li>Grace Marks</li> +<li>Michael Macbride</li> +<li>Jeanie Burns</li> +<li>Lost Children</li> +<li>Toronto</li> +<li>Lunatic Asylum</li> +<li>Provincial Agricultural Show</li> +<li>Niagara</li> +<li>Goat Island</li> +<li>Conclusion</li> +</ol> + +<hr /> + +<h3 class="chap">INTRODUCTION</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Dear foster-mother, on whose ample breast</p> +<p class="line">The hungry still find food, the weary rest;</p> +<p class="line">The child of want that treads thy happy shore,</p> +<p class="line">Shall feel the grasp of poverty no more;</p> +<p class="line">His honest toil meet recompense can claim,</p> +<p class="line">And Freedom bless him with a freeman's name!"</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>In our work of "Roughing it in the Bush," I endeavoured to draw a +picture of Canadian life, as I found it twenty years ago, in the +Backwoods. My motive in giving such a melancholy narrative to the +British public, was prompted by the hope of deterring well-educated +people, about to settle in this colony, from entering upon a life for +which they were totally unfitted by their previous pursuits and habits.</p> + +<p>To persons unaccustomed to hard labour, and used to the comforts and +luxuries deemed indispensable to those moving in the middle classes at +home, a settlement in the bush can offer few advantages. It has proved +the ruin of hundreds and thousands who have ventured their all in this +hazardous experiment; nor can I recollect a single family of the higher +class, that have come under my own personal knowledge, that ever +realised an independence, or bettered their condition, by taking up wild +lands in remote localities; while volumes might be filled with failures, +even more disastrous than our own, to prove the truth of my former +statements.</p> + +<p>But while I have endeavoured to point out the error of gentlemen +bringing delicate women and helpless children to toil in the woods, and +by so doing excluding them from all social intercourse with persons in +their own rank, and depriving the younger branches of the family of the +advantages of education, which, in the vicinity of towns and villages, +can be enjoyed by the children of the poorest emigrant, I have never +said anything against the REAL benefits to be derived from a judicious +choice of settlement in this great and rising country.</p> + +<p>God forbid that any representations of mine should deter one of my +countrymen from making this noble and prosperous colony his future home. +But let him leave to the hardy labourer the place assigned to him by +Providence, nor undertake, upon limited means, the task of pioneer in +the great wilderness. Men of independent fortune can live anywhere. If +such prefer a life in the woods, to the woods let them go; but they will +soon find out that they could have employed the means in their power in +a far more profitable manner than in chopping down trees in the bush.</p> + +<p>There are a thousand more advantageous ways in which a man of property +may invest his capital, than by burying himself and his family in the +woods. There never was a period in the history of the colony that +offered greater inducements to men of moderate means to emigrate to +Canada than the present. The many plank-roads and railways in the course +of construction in the province, while they afford high and remunerative +wages to the working classes, will amply repay the speculator who +embarks a portion of his means in purchasing shares in them. And if +he is bent upon becoming a Canadian farmer, numbers of fine farms, in +healthy and eligible situations, and in the vicinity of good markets, +are to be had on moderate terms, that would amply repay the cultivator +for the money and labour expended upon them.</p> + +<p>There are thousands of independent proprietors of this class in +Canada--men who move in the best society, and whose names have a +political weight in the country. Why gentlemen from Britain should +obstinately crowd to the Backwoods, and prefer the coarse, hard life of +an axeman, to that of a respectable landed proprietor in a civilised +part of the country, has always been to me a matter of surprise; for a +farm under cultivation can always be purchased for less money than must +necessarily be expended upon clearing and raising buildings upon a wild +lot.</p> + +<p>Many young men are attracted to the Backwoods by the facilities they +present for hunting and fishing. The wild, free life of the hunter, +has for an ardent and romantic temperament an inexpressible charm. But +hunting and fishing, however fascinating as a wholesome relaxation from +labour, will not win bread, or clothe a wife and shivering little ones; +and those who give themselves entirely up to such pursuits, soon add to +these profitless accomplishments the bush vices of smoking and drinking, +and quickly throw off those moral restraints upon which their +respectability and future welfare mainly depend.</p> + +<p>The bush is the most demoralizing place to which an anxious and prudent +parent could send a young lad. Freed suddenly from all parental control, +and exposed to the contaminating influence of broken-down gentlemen +loafers, who hide their pride and poverty in the woods, he joins +in their low debauchery, and falsely imagines that, by becoming a +blackguard, he will be considered an excellent backwoodsman.</p> + +<p>How many fine young men have I seen beggared and ruined in the bush! +It is too much the custom in the woods for the idle settler, who +will not work, to live upon the new comer as long as he can give him +good fare and his horn of whisky. When these fail, farewell to your +<i>good-hearted</i>, roystering friends; they will leave you like a +swarm of musquitoes, while you fret over your festering wounds, and fly +to suck the blood of some new settler, who is fool enough to believe +their offers of friendship.</p> + +<p>The dreadful vice of drunkenness, of which I shall have occasion to +speak hereafter, is nowhere displayed in more revolting colours, or +occurs more frequently, than in the bush; nor is it exhibited by the +lower classes in so shameless a manner as by the gentlemen settlers, +from whom a better example might be expected. It would not be difficult +to point out the causes which too often lead to these melancholy +results. Loss of property, incapacity for hard labour, yielding the mind +to low and degrading vices, which destroy self-respect and paralyse +honest exertion, and the annihilation of those extravagant hopes that +false statements, made by interested parties, had led them to entertain +of fortunes that might be realised in the woods: these are a few among +the many reasons that could be given for the number of victims that +yearly fill a drunkard's dishonourable grave.</p> + +<p>At the period when the greatest portion of "Roughing it in the Bush" +was written, I was totally ignorant of life in Canada, as it existed in +the towns and villages. Thirteen years' residence in one of the most +thriving districts in the Upper Province has given me many opportunities +of becoming better acquainted with the manners and habits of her busy, +bustling population, than it was possible for me ever to obtain in the +green prison of the woods.</p> + +<p>Since my residence in a settled part of the country, I have enjoyed +as much domestic peace and happiness as ever falls to the lot of poor +humanity. Canada has become almost as dear to me as my native land; +and the homesickness that constantly preyed upon me in the Backwoods, +has long ago yielded to the deepest and most heartfelt interest in +the rapidly increasing prosperity and greatness of the country of my +adoption,--the great foster-mother of that portion of the human family, +whose fatherland, however dear to them, is unable to supply them with +bread.</p> + +<p>To the honest sons of labour Canada is, indeed, an El Dorado--a land +flowing with milk and honey; for they soon obtain that independence +which the poor gentleman struggles in vain to realise by his own labour +in the woods.</p> + +<p>The conventional prejudices that shackle the movements of members of the +higher classes in Britain are scarcely recognised in Canada; and a man +is at liberty to choose the most profitable manner of acquiring wealth, +without the fear of ridicule and the loss of caste.</p> + +<p>The friendly relations which now exist between us and our enterprising, +intelligent American neighbours, have doubtless done much to produce +this amalgamation of classes. The gentleman no longer looks down with +supercilious self-importance on the wealthy merchant, nor does the +latter refuse to the ingenious mechanic the respect due to him as a man. +A more healthy state pervades Canadian society than existed here a few +years ago, when party feeling ran high, and the professional men and +office holders visited exclusively among themselves, affecting airs of +aristocratic superiority, which were perfectly absurd in a new country, +and which gave great offence to those of equal wealth who were not +admitted into their clique. Though too much of this spirit exists in the +large cities, such as Quebec, Montreal, and Toronto, it would not be +tolerated in the small district towns and villages, where a gentleman +could not take a surer method of making himself unpopular than by +exhibiting this feeling to his fellow-townsmen.</p> + +<p>I have been repeatedly asked, since the publication of "Roughing it +in the Bush," to give an account of the present state of society in +the colony, and to point out its increasing prosperity and commercial +advantages; but statistics are not my forte, nor do I feel myself +qualified for such an arduous and important task. My knowledge of the +colony is too limited to enable me to write a comprehensive work on +a subject of vital consequence, which might involve the happiness of +others. But what I do know I will endeavour to sketch with a light +pencil; and if I cannot convey much useful information, I will try to +amuse the reader; and by a mixture of prose and poetry compile a small +volume, which may help to while away an idle hour, or fill up the blanks +of a wet day.</p> + +<p><span class="place">Belleville, Canada West,</span><br /> + <i>Nov. 24th</i>, 1852.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>Indian Summer.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">By the purple haze that lies</p> +<p class="line-in2">On the distant rocky height,</p> +<p class="line">By the deep blue of the skies,</p> +<p class="line-in2">By the smoky amber light,</p> +<p class="line">Through the forest arches streaming.</p> +<p class="line">Where nature on her throne sits dreaming,</p> +<p class="line">And the sun is scarcely gleaming</p> +<p class="line-in2">Through the cloudlet's snowy white,</p> +<p class="line">Winter's lovely herald greets us,</p> +<p class="line">Ere the ice-crown'd tyrant meets us.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">A mellow softness fills the air--</p> +<p class="line-in2">No breeze on wanton wing steals by,</p> +<p class="line">To break the holy quiet there,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Or make the waters fret and sigh.</p> +<p class="line">Or the golden alders shiver,</p> +<p class="line">That bend to kiss the placid river,</p> +<p class="line">Flowing on and on for ever;</p> +<p class="line-in2">But the little waves seem sleeping,</p> +<p class="line-in2">O'er the pebbles slowly creeping,</p> +<p class="line-in2">That last night were flashing, leaping,</p> +<p class="line">Driven by the restless breeze,</p> +<p class="line">In lines of foam beneath yon trees.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">Dress'd in robes of gorgeous hue--</p> +<p class="line-in2">Brown and gold with crimson blent,</p> +<p class="line">The forest to the waters blue</p> +<p class="line-in2">Its own enchanting tints has lent.</p> +<p class="line">In their dark depths, life-like glowing,</p> +<p class="line">We see a second forest growing,</p> +<p class="line">Each pictur'd leaf and branch bestowing</p> +<p class="line-in2">A fairy grace on that twin wood,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Mirror'd within the crystal flood.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">'Tis pleasant now in forest shades;--</p> +<p class="line-in2">The Indian hunter strings his bow</p> +<p class="line">To track, through dark entangled glades,</p> +<p class="line-in2">The antler'd deer and bounding doe;</p> +<p class="line">Or launch at night his birch canoe,</p> +<p class="line-in2">To spear the finny tribes that dwell</p> +<p class="line">On sandy bank, in weedy cell,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Or pool the fisher knows right well,--</p> +<p class="line">Seen by the red and livid glow</p> +<p class="line">Of pine-torch at his vessel's bow.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">This dreamy Indian summer-day</p> +<p class="line-in2">Attunes the soul to tender sadness:</p> +<p class="line">We love, but joy not in the ray,--</p> +<p class="line-in2">It is not summer's fervid gladness,</p> +<p class="line">But a melancholy glory</p> +<p class="line-in2">Hov'ring brightly round decay,</p> +<p class="line">Like swan that sings her own sad story,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Ere she floats in death away.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">The day declines.--What splendid dyes,</p> +<p class="line-in2">In flicker'd waves of crimson driven,</p> +<p class="line">Float o'er the saffron sea, that lies</p> +<p class="line-in2">Glowing within the western heaven!</p> +<p class="line-in2">Ah, it is a peerless even!</p> +<p class="line">See, the broad red sun has set,</p> +<p class="line">But his rays are quivering yet</p> +<p class="line">Through nature's veil of violet,</p> +<p class="line">Streaming bright o'er lake and hill;</p> +<p class="line">But earth and forest lie so still--</p> +<p class="line">We start, and check the rising tear,</p> +<p class="line">'Tis beauty sleeping on her bier.</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h2>LIFE IN THE CLEARINGS<br /> +VERSUS THE BUSH</h2> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER I<br /> Belleville</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The land of our adoption claims</p> +<p class="line-in2">Our highest powers,--our firmest trust--</p> +<p class="line">May future ages blend our names</p> +<p class="line-in2">With hers, when we shall sleep in dust.</p> +<p class="line">Land of our sons!--last-born of earth,</p> +<p class="line-in2">A mighty nation nurtures thee;</p> +<p class="line">The first in moral power and worth,--</p> +<p class="line-in2">Long mayst thou boast her sovereignty!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">Union is strength, while round the boughs</p> +<p class="line-in2">Of thine own lofty maple-tree;</p> +<p class="line">The threefold wreath of Britain flows,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Twined with the graceful <i>fleur-de-lis</i>;</p> +<p class="line">A chaplet wreathed mid smiles and tears,</p> +<p class="line-in2">In which all hues of glory blend;</p> +<p class="line">Long may it bloom for future years,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And vigour to thy weakness lend."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>Year after year, during twenty years' residence in the colony, I had +indulged the hope of one day visiting the Falls of Niagara, and year +after year, for twenty long years, I was doomed to disappointment.</p> + +<p>For the first ten years, my residence in the woods of Douro, my infant +family, and last, not least, among the list of objections, that great +want,--the want of money,--placed insuperable difficulties in the way +of my ever accomplishing this cherished wish of my heart.</p> + +<p>The hope, resigned for the present, was always indulged as a bright +future--a pleasant day-dream--an event which at some unknown period, +when happier days should dawn upon us, might take place; but which just +now was entirely out of the question.</p> + +<p>When the children were very importunate for a new book or toy, and I had +not the means of gratifying them, I used to silence them by saying that +I would buy that and many other nice things for them when "our money +cart came home."</p> + +<p>During the next ten years, this all-important and anxiously anticipated +vehicle did not arrive. The children did not get their toys, and my +journey to Niagara was still postponed to an indefinite period.</p> + +<p>Like a true daughter of romance, I could not banish from my mind +the glorious ideal I had formed of this wonder of the world; but +still continued to speculate about the mighty cataract, that sublime +"<i>thunder of waters</i>," whose very name from childhood had been +music to my ears.</p> + +<p>Ah, Hope! what would life be, stripped of thy encouraging smiles, that +teach us to look behind the dark clouds of to-day for the golden beams +that are to gild the morrow. To those who have faith in thy promises, +the most extravagant fictions are possible; and the unreal becomes +material and tangible. The artist who placed thee upon the rock with +an anchor for a leaning post, could never have experienced any of thy +vagrant propensities. He should have invested thee with the rainbow of +Iris, the winged feet of Mercury, and the upward pointing finger of +Faith; and as for thy footstool, it should be a fleecy white cloud, +changing its form with the changing breeze.</p> + +<p>Yet this hope of mine, of one day seeing the Falls of Niagara, was, +after all, a very enduring hope; for though I began to fear that it +never would be realized, yet, for twenty years, I never gave it up +entirely; and Patience, who always sits at the feet of Hope, was at +length rewarded by her sister's consenting smile.</p> + +<p>During the past summer I was confined, by severe indisposition, almost +entirely to the house. The obstinate nature of my disease baffled +the skill of a very clever medical attendant, and created alarm and +uneasiness in my family: and I entertained small hopes of my own +recovery.</p> + +<p>Dr. L---, as a last resource, recommended change of air and scene; a +remedy far more to my taste than the odious drugs from which I had not +derived the least benefit. Ill and languid as I was, Niagara once more +rose before my mental vision, and I exclaimed, with a thrill of joy, +"The time is come at last--I shall yet see it before I die."</p> + +<p>My dear husband was to be the companion of my long journey in search +of health. Our simple arrangements were soon made, and on the 7th of +September we left Belleville in the handsome new steam-boat, "The Bay of +Quinte," for Kingston.</p> + +<p>The afternoon was cloudless, the woods just tinged with their first +autumnal glow, and the lovely bay, and its fairy isles, never appeared +more enchanting in my eyes. Often as I had gazed upon it in storm and +shine, its blue transparent waters seemed to smile upon me more lovingly +than usual. With affectionate interest I looked long and tenderly upon +the shores we were leaving. There stood my peaceful, happy home; the +haven of rest to which Providence had conducted me after the storms and +trials of many years. Within the walls of that small stone cottage, +peeping forth from its screen of young hickory trees, I had left three +dear children,--God only could tell whether we should ever meet on earth +again: I knew that their prayers would follow me on my long journey, +and the cherub Hope was still at my side, to whisper of happy hours and +restored health and spirits. I blessed God, for the love of those young +kindred hearts, and for having placed their home in such a charming +locality.</p> + +<p>Next to the love of God, the love of nature may be regarded as the +purest and holiest feeling of the human breast. In the outward beauty of +his creation, we catch a reflection of the divine image of the Creator, +which refines the intellect, and lifts the soul upward to Him. This +innate perception of the beautiful, however, is confined to no rank or +situation, but is found in the most barren spots, and surrounded by the +most unfavourable circumstances; wherever the sun shines and warms, or +the glory of the moon and stars can be seen at night, the children of +genius will find a revelation of God in their beams. But there is not +a doubt that those born and brought up among scenes of great natural +sublimity and beauty, imbibe this feeling in a larger degree, and their +minds are more easily imbued with the glorious colouring of +romance,--the inspired visions of the poet.</p> + +<p>Dear patient reader! whether of British or Canadian origin, as I wish +to afford you all the amusement in my power, deign to accompany me on +my long journey. Allow me a woman's privilege of talking of all sorts +of things by the way. Should I tire you with my desultory mode of +conversation, bear with me charitably, and take into account the +infirmities incidental to my gossiping sex and age. If I dwell too long +upon some subjects, do not call me a bore, or vain and trifling, if I +pass too lightly over others. The little knowledge I possess, I impart +freely, and wish that it was more profound and extensive, for your sake.</p> + +<p>Come, and take your seat with me on the deck of the steamer; and as we +glide over the waters of this beautiful Bay of Quinte, I will make you +acquainted with every spot worthy of note along its picturesque shores.</p> + +<p>An English lady, writing to me not long ago, expressed her weariness +of my long stories about the country of my adoption, in the following +terms:--"Don't fill your letters to me with descriptions of Canada. Who, +<i>in England</i>, thinks anything of <i>Canada!</i>"</p> + +<p>Here the pride so common to the inhabitants of the favoured isles spoke +out. This is perhaps excusable in those who boast that they belong to a +country that possesses, in an eminent degree, the attributes bestowed +by old Jacob on his first-born,--"the excellency of dignity, and the +excellency of power." But, to my own thinking, it savoured not a little +of arrogance, and still more of ignorance, in the fair writer; who, +being a woman of talent, should have known better. A child is not a man, +but his progress is regarded with more attention on that account; and +his future greatness is very much determined by the progress he makes in +his youth.</p> + +<p>To judge Canada by the same standard, she appears to be a giant for her +years, and well worthy the most serious contemplation. Many are the +weary, overtasked minds in that great, wealthy, and powerful England, +that turn towards this flourishing colony their anxious thoughts, and +would willingly exchange the golden prime of the mother country for +the healthy, vigorous young strength of this, her stalwart child, and +consider themselves only too happy in securing a home upon these free +and fertile shores.</p> + +<p>Be not discouraged, brave emigrant. Let Canada still remain the bright +future in your mind, and hasten to convert your present day-dream into +reality. The time is not far distant when she shall be the theme of many +tongues, and the old nations of the world will speak of her progress +with respect and admiration. Her infancy is past, she begins to feel +her feet, to know her own strength, and see her way clearly through the +wilderness. Child as you may deem her, she has already battled bravely +for her own rights, and obtained the management of her own affairs. Her +onward progress is certain. There is no <i>if</i> in her case. She +possesses within her own territory all the elements of future +prosperity, and <i>she must be great!</i></p> + +<p>The men who throng her marts, and clear her forests, are <i>workers</i>, +not <i>dreamers</i>,--who have already realized Solomon's pithy proverb, +"In all labour is profit;" and their industry has imbued them with a +spirit of independence which cannot fail to make them a free and +enlightened people.</p> + +<p>An illustration of the truth of what I advance, can be given in the +pretty town we are leaving on the north side of the bay. I think you +will own with me that your eyes have seldom rested upon a spot more +favoured by Nature, or one that bids fairer to rise to great wealth +and political importance.</p> + +<p>Sixty years ago, the spot that Belleville now occupies was in the +wilderness; and its rapid, sparkling river and sunny upland slopes +(which during the lapse of ages have formed a succession of banks to the +said river), were only known to the Indian hunter and the white trader.</p> + +<p>Where you see those substantial stone wharfs, and the masts of those +vessels, unloading their valuable cargoes to replenish the stores of +the wealthy merchants in the town, a tangled cedar swamp spread its +dark, unwholesome vegetation into the bay, completely covering with +an impenetrable jungle those smooth verdant plains, now surrounded +with neat cottages and gardens.</p> + +<p>Of a bright summer evening (and when is a Canadian summer evening +otherwise?) those plains swarm with happy, healthy children, who +assemble there to pursue their gambols beyond the heat and dust of the +town; or to watch with eager eyes the young men of the place engaged +in the manly old English game of cricket, with whom it is, in their +harmless boasting, "Belleville against Toronto-Cobourg; Kingston, the +whole world."</p> + +<p>The editor of a Kingston paper once had the barbarity to compare these +valiant champions of the bat and ball to "singed cats--ugly to look at, +but very devils to go."</p> + +<p>Our lads have never forgiven the insult; and should the said editor ever +show his face upon their ground, they would kick him off with as little +ceremony as they would a spent ball.</p> + +<p>On that high sandy ridge that overlooks the town eastward--where the +tin roof of the Court House, a massy, but rather tasteless building, +and the spires of four churches catch the rays of the sun--a tangled +maze of hazel bushes, and wild plum and cherry, once screened the +Indian burying-ground, and the children of the red hunter sought for +strawberries among the long grass and wild flowers that flourish +profusely in that sandy soil.</p> + +<p>Would that you could stand with me on that lofty eminence and look +around you! The charming prospect that spreads itself at your feet +would richly repay you for toiling up the hill.</p> + +<p>We will suppose ourselves standing among the graves in the +burying-ground of the English church; the sunny heavens above us, the +glorious waters of the bay, clasping in their azure belt three-fourths +of the landscape, and the quiet dead sleeping at our feet.</p> + +<p>The white man has so completely supplanted his red brother, that he has +appropriated the very spot that held his bones; and in a few years their +dust will mingle together, although no stone marks the grave where the +red man sleeps.</p> + +<p>From this churchyard you enjoy the finest view of the town and +surrounding country; and, turn your eyes which way you will, they cannot +fail to rest on some natural object of great interest and beauty.</p> + +<p>The church itself is but a homely structure; and has always been to +me a great eyesore. It is to be regretted that the first inhabitants +of the place selected their best and most healthy building sites +for the erection of places of worship. Churches and churchyards +occupy the hills from whence they obtain their springs of fresh +water,--and such delicious water! They do not at present feel any +ill-consequences arising from this error of judgment; but the time +will come, as population increases, and the dead accumulate, when +these burying-grounds, by poisoning the springs that flow through +them, will materially injure the health of the living.</p> + +<p>The English church was built many years ago, partly of red brick burnt +in the neighbourhood, and partly of wood coloured red to make up the +deficiency of the costlier material. This seems a shabby saving, as +abundance of brick-earth of the best quality abounds in the same hill, +and the making of bricks forms a very lucrative and important craft to +several persons in the town.</p> + +<p>Belleville was but a small settlement on the edge of the forest, +scarcely deserving the name of a village, when this church first pointed +its ugly tower towards heaven. Doubtless its founders thought they had +done wonders when they erected this humble looking place of worship; +but now, when their descendants have become rich, and the village of +log-huts and frame buildings has grown into a populous, busy, thriving +town, and this red, tasteless building is too small to accommodate its +congregation, it should no longer hold the height of the hill, but give +place to a larger and handsomer edifice.</p> + +<p>Behold its Catholic brother on the other side of the road; how much its +elegant structure and graceful spire adds to the beauty of the scene. +Yet the funds for rearing that handsome building, which is such an +ornament to the town, were chiefly derived from small subscriptions, +drawn from the earnings of mechanics, day-labourers, and female +servants. If the Church of England were supported throughout the colony, +on the voluntary principle, we should soon see fine stone churches, like +St. Michael, replacing these decaying edifices of wood, and the outcry +about the ever-vexed question of the Clergy Reserves, would be merged in +her increased influence and prosperity.</p> + +<p>The deep-toned, sonorous bell, that fills the steeple of the Catholic +church, which cost, I have been told, seven hundred pounds, and was +brought all the way from Spain, was purchased by the voluntary donations +of the congregation. This bell is remarkable for its fine tone, which +can be heard eight miles into the country, and as far as the village of +Northport, eleven miles distant, on the other side of the bay. There is +a solemn grandeur in the solitary voice of the magnificent bell, as it +booms across the valley in which the town lies, and reverberates among +the distant woods and hills, which has a very imposing effect.</p> + +<p>A few years ago the mechanics in the town entered into an agreement that +they would only work from six to six during the summer months, and from +seven till five in the winter, and they offered to pay a certain sum to +the Catholic church for tolling the bell at the said hours. The Catholic +workmen who reside in or near the town, adhere strictly to this rule, +and, if the season is ever so pressing, they obstinately refuse to work +before or after the stated time. I have seen, on our own little farm, +the mower fling down his scythe in the swathe, and the harvest-man his +sickle in the ridge, the moment the bell tolled for six.</p> + +<p>In fact, the bell in this respect is looked upon as a great nuisance; +and the farmers in the country refuse to be guided by it in the hours +allotted for field labour; as they justly remark that the best time for +hard work in a hot country is before six in the morning, and after the +heat of the day in the evening.</p> + +<p>When the bell commences to toll there is a long pause between each of +the first four strokes. This is to allow the pious Catholic time for +crossing himself and saying a short prayer.</p> + +<p>How much of the ideal mingles with this worship! No wonder that the +Irish, who are such an imaginative people, should cling to it with such +veneration. Would any other creed suit them as well? It is a solemn +thing to step into their churches, and witness the intensity of their +devotions. Reason never raises a doubt to shake the oneness of their +faith. They receive it on the credit of their priests, and their +credulity is as boundless as their ignorance. Often have I asked the +poor Catholics in my employ why such and such days were holy days? They +could seldom tell me, but said that "the priest told them to keep them +holy, and to break them would be a deadly sin."</p> + +<p>I cannot but respect their child-like trust, and the reverence they feel +for their spiritual teachers; nor could I ever bring myself to believe +that a conscientious Catholic was in any danger of rejection from +the final bar. He has imposed upon himself a heavier yoke than the +Saviour kindly laid upon him, and has enslaved himself with a thousand +superstitious observances which to us appear absurd; but his sincerity +should awaken in us an affectionate interest in his behalf, not engender +the bitter hatred which at present forms an adamantine barrier between +us. If the Protestant would give up a little of his bigotry, and the +Catholic a part of his superstition, and they would consent to meet each +other half way, as brothers of one common manhood, inspired by the same +Christian hope, and bound to the same heavenly country, we should no +longer see the orange banner flaunting our streets on the twelfth of +July, and natives of the same island provoking each other to acts of +violence and bloodshed.</p> + +<p>These hostile encounters are of yearly occurrence in the colony, and +are justly held in abhorrence by the pious and thinking portion of the +population of either denomination. The government has for many years +vainly endeavoured to put them down, but they still pollute with their +moral leprosy the free institutions of the country, and effectually +prevent any friendly feeling which might grow up between the members of +these rival and hostile creeds.</p> + +<p>In Canada, where all religions are tolerated, it appears a useless +aggravation of an old national grievance to perpetuate the memory of the +battle of the Boyne. What have we to do with the hatreds and animosities +of a more barbarous age. These things belong to the past: "Let the dead +bury their dead," and let us form for ourselves a holier and truer +present. The old quarrel between Irish Catholics and Protestants should +have been sunk in the ocean when they left their native country to find +a home, unpolluted by the tyrannies of bygone ages, in the wilds of +Canada.</p> + +<p>The larger portion of our domestics are from Ireland, and, as far as +my experience goes, I have found the Catholic Irish as faithful and +trustworthy as the Protestants. The tendency to hate belongs to the +race, not to the religion, or the Protestant would not exhibit the same +vindictive spirit which marks his Catholic brother. They break and +destroy more than the Protestants, but that springs from the reckless +carelessness of their character more than from any malice against +their employers, if you may judge by the bad usage they give their own +household goods and tools. The principle on which they live is literally +to care as little as possible for the things of to-day, and to take no +thought at all for the morrow.</p> + +<p>"Shure, Ma'am, it can be used," said an Irish girl to me, after breaking +the spout out of an expensive china jug, "It is not a hair the worse!" +She could not imagine that a mutilated object could occasion the least +discomfort to those accustomed to order and neatness in their household +arrangements.</p> + +<p>The Irish female servants are remarkably chaste in their language and +deportment. You are often obliged to find fault with them for gross acts +of neglect and wastefulness, but never for using bad language. They may +spoil your children by over-indulgence, but they never corrupt their +morals by loose conversation.</p> + +<p>An Irish girl once told me, with beautiful simplicity, "that every bad +word a woman uttered, made the blessed Virgin <i>blush</i>."</p> + +<p>A girl becoming a mother before marriage is regarded as a dreadful +calamity by her family, and she seldom, if ever, gets one of her own +countrymen to marry her with this stain on her character.</p> + +<p>How different is the conduct of the female peasantry in the eastern +counties of England, who unblushingly avow their derelictions from the +paths of virtue. The crime of infanticide, so common there, is almost +unknown among the Irish. If the priest and the confessional are able to +restrain the lower orders from the commission of gross crime, who shall +say that they are without their use? It is true that the priest often +exercises his power over his flock in a manner which would appear to a +Protestant to border on the ludicrous.</p> + +<p>A girl who lived with a lady of my acquaintance, gave the following +graphic account of an exhortation delivered by the priest at the altar. +I give it in her own words:--</p> + +<p>"Shure, Ma'am, we got a great scould from the praste the day." "Indeed, +Biddy, what did he scold you for?" "Faix, and it's not meself that he +scoulded at all, at all, but Misther Peter N--- and John L---, an' he +held them up as an example to the whole church. 'Peter N---' says he, +'you have not been inside this church before to-day for the last three +months, and you have not paid your pew-rent for the last two years. But, +maybe, you have got the fourteen dollars in your pocket at this moment +of spaking; or maybe you have spint it in buying pig-iron to make +gridirons, in order to fry your mate of a Friday; and when your praste +comes to visit you, if he does not see it itself, he smells it. And you, +John L---, Alderman L---, are not six days enough in the week for work +and pastime, that you must go hunting of hares on a holiday? And pray +how many hares did you catch, Alderman John?'"</p> + +<p>The point of the last satire lay in the fact that the said Alderman John +was known to be an ambitious, but very poor, sportsman; which made the +allusion to the <i>hares</i> he had shot the unkindest cut of all.</p> + +<p>Such an oration from a Protestant minister would have led his +congregation to imagine that their good pastor had lost his wits; but +I have no doubt that it was eminently successful in abstracting the +fourteen dollars from the pocket of the dilatory Peter N---, and in +preventing Alderman John from hunting hares on a holiday for the time +to come.</p> + +<p>Most of the Irish priests possess a great deal of humour, which always +finds a response in their mirth-loving countrymen, to whom wit is a +quality of native growth.</p> + +<p>"I wish you a happy death, Pat S---," said Mr. R---, the jolly, +black-browed priest of P---, after he had married an old servant of +ours, who had reached the patriarchal age of sixty-eight, to an old +woman of seventy.</p> + +<p>"D--- clear of it!" quoth Pat, smiting his thigh, with a look of +inimitable drollery,--such a look of broad humour as can alone twinkle +from the eyes of an emeralder of that class. Pat was a prophet; in less +than six months he brought the body of the youthful bride in a waggon to +the house of the said priest to be buried, and, for aught I know to the +contrary, the old man is living still, and very likely to treat himself +to a third wife.</p> + +<p>I was told two amusing anecdotes of the late Bishop Macdonald; a man +whose memory is held in great veneration in the province, which I will +give you here.</p> + +<p>The old bishop was crossing the Rice Lake in a birch bark canoe, in +company with Mr. R---, the Presbyterian minister of Peterboro'; the day +was rather stormy, and the water rough for such a fragile conveyance. +The bishop, who had been many years in the country, knew there was +little danger to be apprehended if they sat still, and he had perfect +reliance in the skill of their Indian boatman. Not so Mr. R---, he had +only been a few months in the colony, and this was the first time he had +ever ventured upon the water in such a tottleish machine. Instead of +remaining quietly seated in the bottom of the canoe, he endeavoured +to start to his feet, which would inevitably have upset it. This rash +movement was prevented by the bishop, who forcibly pulled him down into +a sitting posture, exclaiming, as he did so, "Keep still, my good sir; +if you, by your groundless fears, upset the canoe, your protestant +friends will swear that the old papist drowned the presbyterian."</p> + +<p>One hot, sultry July evening, the celebrated Dr. Dunlop called to have a +chat with the bishop, who, knowing the doctor's weak point, his fondness +for strong drinks, and his almost rabid antipathy to water, asked him if +he would take a draught of Edinburgh ale, as he had just received a cask +in a present from the old country. The doctor's thirst grew to a perfect +drought, and he exclaimed that nothing at that moment could afford him +greater pleasure.</p> + +<p>The bell was rung; the spruce, neat servant girl appeared, and was +forthwith commissioned to take the bishop's own silver tankard and +draw the thirsty doctor a pint of ale.</p> + +<p>The girl quickly returned: the impatient doctor grasped the nectarian +draught, and, without glancing into the tankard--for the time</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Was that soft hour 'twixt summer's eve and close,"--</p> +</div> + +<p>emptied the greater part of its contents down his throat. A spasmodic +contortion and a sudden rush to the open window surprised the hospitable +bishop, who had anticipated a great treat for his guest: "My dear sir," +he cried, "what can be the matter!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, that diabolical stuff!" groaned the doctor. "I am poisoned."</p> + +<p>"Oh, never fear," said the bishop, examining the liquid that still +remained in the tankard, and bursting into a hearty laugh, "It may not +agree with a Protestant's stomach, but believe me, dear doctor, you +never took such a wholesome drink in your life before. I was lately sent +from Rome a cask of holy water,--it stands in the same cellar with the +ale,--I put a little salt into it, in order to preserve it during this +hot weather, and the girl, by mistake, has given you the consecrated +water instead of the ale."</p> + +<p>"Oh, curse her!" cried the tortured doctor. "I wish it was in her +stomach instead of mine!"</p> + +<p>The bishop used to tell this story with great glee whenever Dr. Dunlop +and his eccentric habits formed the theme of conversation.</p> + +<p>That the Catholics do not always act with hostility towards their +Protestant brethren, the following anecdote, which it gives me great +pleasure to relate, will sufficiently show:--</p> + +<p>In the December of 1840 we had the misfortune to be burnt out, and lost +a great part of our furniture, clothing, and winter stores. Poor as we +<i>then</i> were, this could not be regarded in any other light but as a +great calamity. During the confusion occasioned by the fire, and, owing +to the negligence of a servant to whose care he was especially confided, +my youngest child, a fine boy of two years old, was for some time +missing. The agony I endured for about half an hour I shall never +forget. The roaring flames, the impending misfortune that hung over us, +was forgotten in the terror that shook my mind lest he had become a +victim to the flames. He was at length found by a kind neighbour in the +kitchen of the burning building, whither he had crept from among the +crowd, and was scarcely rescued before the roof fell in.</p> + +<p>This circumstance shook my nerves so completely that I gladly accepted +the offer of a female friend to leave the exciting scene, and make her +house my home until we could procure another.</p> + +<p>I was sitting at her parlour window, with the rescued child on my lap, +whom I could not bear for a moment out of my sight, watching the smoking +brands that had once composed my home, and sadly pondering over our +untoward destiny, when Mrs. ---'s servant told me that a gentleman +wanted to see me in the drawing-room.</p> + +<p>With little Johnnie still in my arms I went to receive the visitor; and +found the Rev. Father B---, the worthy Catholic priest, waiting to +receive me.</p> + +<p>At that time I knew very little of Father B---. Calls had been +exchanged, and we had been much pleased with his courteous manners and +racy Irish wit. I shall never forget the kind, earnest manner in which +he condoled with me on our present misfortune. He did not, however, +confine his sympathy to words, but offered me the use of his neat +cottage until we could provide ourselves with another house.</p> + +<p>"You know," he said, with a benevolent smile, "I have no family to be +disturbed by the noise of the children; and if you will accept the +temporary home I offer you, it is entirely at your service; and," he +continued, lowering his voice, "if the sheriff is in want of money to +procure necessaries for his family, I can supply him until such time as +he is able to repay me."</p> + +<p>This was truly noble, and I thanked him with tears in my eyes. We did +not accept the generous offer of this good Samaritan; but we have always +felt a grateful remembrance of his kindness. Mr. B--- had been one of +the most active among the many gentlemen who did their best in trying to +save our property from the flames, a great portion of which was safely +conveyed to the street. But here a system of pillage was carried on +by the heartless beings, who regard fires and wreck as their especial +harvest, which entirely frustrated the efforts of the generous and brave +men who had done so much to help us.</p> + +<p>How many odd things happen during a fire, which would call up a hearty +laugh upon a less serious occasion. I saw one man pitch a handsome +chamber-glass out of an upper window into the street, in order to +<i>save</i> it; while another, at the risk of his life, carried a +bottomless china jug, which had long been useless, down the burning +staircase, and seemed quite elated with his success; and a carpenter +took off the doors, and removed the window-sashes, in order to preserve +them, and, by sending a rush of air through the burning edifice, +accelerated its destruction.</p> + +<p>At that time there was only one fire engine in the town, and that was +not in a state to work. Now they have two excellent engines, worked by +an active and energetic body of men.</p> + +<p>In all the principal towns and cities in the colony, a large portion of +the younger male inhabitants enrol themselves into a company for the +suppression of fire. It is a voluntary service, from which they receive +no emolument, without an exemption from filling the office of a juryman +may be considered as an advantage. These men act upon a principle of +mutual safety; and the exertions which are made by them, in the hour of +danger, are truly wonderful, and serve to show what can be effected by +men when they work in unison together.</p> + +<p>To the Canadian fire-companies the public is indebted for the +preservation of life and property by a thousand heroic acts; deeds, that +would be recorded as surprising efforts of human courage, if performed +upon the battlefield; and which often exhibit an exalted benevolence, +when exercised in rescuing helpless women and children from such a +dreadful enemy as fire.</p> + +<p>The costume adopted by the firemen is rather becoming than otherwise;--a +tight-fitting frock-coat of coarse red cloth, and white trousers in +summer, which latter portion of their dress is exchanged for dark blue +in the winter. They wear a glazed black leather cap, of a military cut, +when they assemble to work their engines, or walk in procession; and a +leather hat like a sailor's nor-wester, with a long peak behind, to +protect them from injury, when on active duty.</p> + +<p>Their members are confined to no particular class. Gentlemen and +mechanics work side by side in this fraternity, with a zeal and right +good will that is truly edifying. Their system appears an excellent +one; and I never heard of any dissension among their ranks when their +services were required. The sound of the ominous bell calls them to the +spot, from the greatest distance; and, during the most stormy nights, +whoever skulks in bed, the fireman is sure to be at his post.</p> + +<p>Once a year, the different divisions of the company walk in procession +through the town. On this occasion their engines are dressed up with +flags bearing appropriate mottoes; and they are preceded by a band of +music. The companies are generally composed of men in the very prime of +life, and they make a very imposing appearance. It is always a great +gala day in the town, and terminates with a public dinner; that is +followed by a ball in the evening, at which the wives and daughters of +the members of the company are expected to appear.</p> + +<p>Once a month the firemen are called out to practise with the engine +in the streets, to the infinite delight of all the boys in the +neighbourhood, who follow the engine in crowds, and provoke the +operators to turn the hose and play upon their merry ranks: and then +what laughing and shouting and scampering in all directions, as the +ragged urchins shake their dripping garments, and fly from the ducking +they had courted a few minutes before!</p> + +<p>The number of wooden buildings that compose the larger portion of +Canadian towns renders fire a calamity of very frequent occurrence, and +persons cannot be too particular in regard to it. The negligence of one +ignorant servant in the disposal of her ashes, may involve the safety +of the whole community.</p> + +<p>As long as the generality of the houses are roofed with shingles, this +liability to fire must exist as a necessary consequence.</p> + +<p>The shingle is a very thin pine-board, which is used throughout the +colony instead of slate or tiles. After a few years, the heat and rain +roughen the outward surface, and give it a woolly appearance, rendering +the shingles as inflammable as tinder. A spark from a chimney may be +conveyed from a great distance on a windy day, and lighting upon the +furry surface of these roofs, is sure to ignite. The danger spreads on +all sides, and the roofs of a whole street will be burning before the +fire communicates to the walls of the buildings.</p> + +<p>So many destructive fires have occurred of late years throughout the +colony that a law has been enacted by the municipal councils to prevent +the erection of wooden buildings in the large cities. But without the +additional precaution of fire-proof roofs, the prohibition will not +produce very beneficial effects.</p> + +<p>Two other very pretty churches occupy the same hill with the Catholics +and Episcopal,--the Scotch Residuary, and the Free Church. The latter +is built of dark limestone, quarried in the neighbourhood, and is a +remarkably graceful structure. It has been raised by the hearty goodwill +and free donations of its congregation, and affords another capital +illustration of the working of the voluntary principle.</p> + +<p>To the soul-fettering doctrines of John Calvin I am myself no convert; +nor do I think that the churches established on his views will very long +exist in the world. Stern, uncompromising, unloveable and unloved, an +object of fear rather than of affection, John Calvin stands out the +incarnation of his own Deity; verifying one of the noblest and truest +sentences ever penned by man:--"As the man, so his God. God is his idea +of excellence, the compliment of his own being."</p> + +<p>The Residuary church is a small neat building of wood, painted white. +For several years after the great split in the National Church of +Scotland, it was shut up, the few who still adhered to the old way being +unable to contribute much to the support of a minister. The church has +been reopened within the last two years, and, though the congregation +is very small, has a regular pastor.</p> + +<p>The large edifice beneath us, in Pinacle street, leading to the bay, is +the Wesleyan Methodist church, or chapel, as it would be termed at home. +Thanks to the liberal institutions of the country, such distinctions are +unknown in Canada. Every community of Christian worshippers is rightly +termed a church. The Church is only arrogated by one.</p> + +<p>The Wesleyans, who have been of infinite use in spreading the Gospel on +the North American continent, possess a numerous and highly respectable +congregation in this place. Their church is always supplied with good +and efficient preachers, and is filled on the Sabbath to overflowing. +They have a very fine choir, and lately purchased an organ, which was +constructed by one of their own members, a genius in his way, for which +they gave the handsome sum of a thousand dollars.</p> + +<p>There is also an Episcopal Methodist church, composed of red brick, at +the upper end of the town, by the river side, which is well attended.</p> + +<p>You can scarcely adopt a better plan of judging of the wealth and +prosperity of a town, than by watching, of a Sabbath morning, the +congregations of the different denominations going to church. +Belleville weekly presents to the eye of an observing spectator a +large body of well-dressed, happy-looking people,--robust, healthy, +independent-looking men, and well-formed, handsome women;--an air of +content and comfort resting upon their comely faces,--no look of haggard +care and pinching want marring the quiet solemnity of the scene.</p> + +<p>The dress of the higher class is not only cut in the newest French +fashion, imported from New York, but is generally composed of rich and +expensive materials. The Canadian lady dresses well and tastefully, and +carries herself easily and gracefully. She is not unconscious of the +advantages of a pretty face and figure; but her knowledge of the fact is +not exhibited in an affected or disagreeable manner. The lower class are +not a whit behind their wealthier neighbours in outward adornments. And +the poor emigrant, who only a few months previously had landed in rags, +is now dressed neatly and respectably. The consciousness of their +newly-acquired freedom has raised them in the scale of society, in their +own estimation, and in that of their fellows. They feel that they are +no longer despised; the ample wages they receive has enabled them to +cast off the slough of hopeless poverty, which once threw its deadening +influence over them, repressing all their energies, and destroying +that self-respect which is so necessary to mental improvement and +self-government, The change in their condition is apparent in their +smiling, satisfied faces.</p> + +<p>This is, indeed, a delightful contrast to the squalid want and poverty +which so often meet the eye and pain the heart of the philanthropist at +home. Canada is blessed in the almost total absence of pauperism; for +none but the wilfully idle and vicious need starve here, while the wants +of the sick and infirm meet with ready help and sympathy from a most +charitable public.</p> + +<p>The Wesleyan Methodists wisely placed their burying-ground at some +distance from the town; and when we first came to reside at Belleville, +it was a retired and lovely spot, on the Kingston road, commanding a +fine view of the bay. The rapid spread of the village into a town almost +embraces in its arms this once solitary spot, and in a few years it will +be surrounded with suburban residences. There is a very large brick +field adjoining this cemetery, which employs during the summer months +a number of hands.</p> + +<p>Turn to the north, and observe that old-fashioned, red-brick house, now +tottering to decay, that crowns the precipitous ridge that overlooks +the river, and which doubtless at some very distant period once formed +its right bank. That house was built by one of the first settlers in +Belleville, an officer who drew his lot of wild land on that spot. It +was a great house in those days, and he was a great man in the eyes of +his poorer neighbours.</p> + +<p>This gentleman impoverished himself and his family by supplying from +his own means the wants of the poor emigrants in his vicinity during +the great Canadian famine, which happened about fifty years ago. The +starving creatures promised to repay him at some future period. Plenty +again blessed the land; but the generous philanthropist was forgotten +by those his bounty had saved. Peace to his memory! Though unrewarded +on earth, he has doubtless reaped his reward in heaven.</p> + +<p>The river Moira, which runs parallel with the main street of the town, +and traverses several fine townships belonging to the county of Hastings +in its course to the bay, is a rapid and very picturesque stream. Its +rocky banks, which are composed of limestone, are fringed with the +graceful cedar, soft maple, and elegant rock elm, that queen of the +Canadian forest. It is not navigable, but is one great source of the +wealth and prosperity of the place, affording all along its course +excellent sites for mills, distilleries, and factories, while it is the +main road down which millions of feet of timber are yearly floated, to +be rafted at the entrance of the bay.</p> + +<p>The spring floods bring down such a vast amount of lumber, that often a +jam, as it is technically called, places the two bridges that span the +river in a state of blockade.</p> + +<p>It is a stirring and amusing scene to watch the French Canadian +lumberers, with their long poles, armed at the end with sharp spikes, +leaping from log to log, and freeing a passage for the crowded timbers.</p> + +<p>Handsome in person, and lithe and active as wild cats, you would +imagine, to watch their careless disregard of danger, that they were +born of the waters, and considered death by drowning an impossible +casualty in their case. Yet never a season passes without fatal +accidents thinning their gay, light-hearted ranks.</p> + +<p>These amphibious creatures spend half their lives in and on the waters. +They work hard in forming rafts at the entrance of the bay during the +day, and in the evening they repair to some favourite tavern, where +they spend the greater part of the night in singing and dancing. Their +peculiar cries awaken you by day-break, and their joyous shouts and +songs are wafted on the evening breeze. Their picturesque dress and +shanties, when shown by their red watch-fires along the rocky banks of +the river at night, add great liveliness, and give a peculiarly romantic +character to the water scene.</p> + +<p>They appear a happy, harmless set of men, brave and independent; and if +drinking and swearing are vices common to their caste and occupation, +it can scarcely be wondered at in the wild, reckless, roving life they +lead. They never trouble the peaceful inhabitants of the town. Their +broils are chiefly confined to their Irish comrades, and seldom go +beyond the scene of their mutual labour. It is not often that they find +their way into the jail or penitentiary.</p> + +<p>A young lady told me an adventure that befell her and her sister, which +is rather a droll illustration of the manners of a French Canadian +lumberer. They were walking one fine summer evening along the west bank +of the Moira, and the narrator, in stooping over the water to gather +some wild-flowers that grew in a crevice of the rocks, dropped her +parasol into the river. A cry of vexation at the loss of an article of +dress, which is expensive, and almost indispensable beneath the rays of +a Canadian summer sun, burst from her lips, and attracted the attention +of a young man whom she had not before observed, who was swimming at +some distance down the river. He immediately turned, and dexterously +catching the parasol as it swiftly glided past him, swam towards the +ladies with the rescued article, carried dog-fashion, between his teeth.</p> + +<p>In his zeal to render this little service, the poor fellow forgot that +he was not in a condition to appear before ladies; who, startled at such +an extraordinary apparition, made the best of their heels to fly +precipitately from the spot.</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt," said Miss ---, laughing, "that the good-natured +fellow meant well, but I never was so frightened and confounded in my +life." The next morning the parasol was returned at the street door, +with "Jean Baptiste's compliments to the young ladies." So much for +French Canadian gallantry.</p> + +<p>It is a pretty sight. A large raft of timber, extending perhaps for a +quarter of a mile, gliding down the bay in tow of a steamer, decorated +with red flags and green pine boughs, and managed by a set of bold +active fellows, whose jovial songs waken up the echoes of the lonely +woods. I have seen several of these rafts, containing many thousand +pounds worth of timber, taking their downward course in one day.</p> + +<p>The centre of the raft is generally occupied by a shanty and cooking +apparatus, and at night it presents an imposing spectacle, seen by the +red light of their fires, as it glides beneath the shadow of some lofty +bank, with its dark overhanging trees. I have often coveted a sail on +those picturesque rafts, over those smooth moonlighted waters.</p> + +<p>The spring-floods bring with them a great quantity of waste timber and +fallen trees from the interior; and it is amusing to watch the poor +Irishwomen and children wading to the waist in the water, and drawing +out these waifs and strays with hooked sticks, to supply their shanties +with fuel. It is astonishing how much an industrious lad can secure in +a day of this refuse timber. No gleaner ever enters a harvest-field +in Canada to secure a small portion of the scattered grain; but the +floating treasures which the waters yield are regarded as a providential +supply of firing, which is always gathered in. These spring-floods are +often productive of great mischief, as they not infrequently carry away +all the dams and bridges along their course. This generally happens +after an unusually severe winter, accompanied with very heavy falls of +snow.</p> + +<p>The melting of the snows in the back country, by filling all the +tributary creeks and streams, converts the larger rivers into headlong +and destructive torrents, that rush and foam along with "curbless +force," carrying huge blocks of ice and large timbers, like feathers +upon their surface.</p> + +<p>It is a grand and beautiful sight, the coming down of the waters during +one of these spring freshets. The river roars and rages like a chafed +lion; and frets and foams against its rocky barrier, as if determined to +overcome every obstacle that dares to impede its furious course. Great +blocks of ice are seen popping up and down in the boiling surges; and +unwieldy saw-logs perform the most extravagant capers, often starting +bolt upright; while their crystal neighbours, enraged at the uncourteous +collision, turn up their glittering sea-green edges with an air of +defiance, and tumble about in the current like mad monsters of the deep.</p> + +<p>The blocks of ice are sometimes lifted entirely out of the water by the +force of the current, and deposited upon the top of the bank, where they +form an irregular wall of glass, glittering and melting leisurely in the +heat of the sun.</p> + +<p>A stranger who had not witnessed their upheaval, might well wonder by +what gigantic power they had been placed there.</p> + +<p>In March, 1844, a severe winter was terminated by a very sudden thaw, +accompanied by high winds and deluges of rain. In a few days the snow +was all gone, and every slope and hill was converted into a drain, down +which the long-imprisoned waters rushed continuously to the river. The +roads were almost impassable, and, on the 12th of the month, the river +rose to an unusual height, and completely filled its rocky banks. +The floods brought down from the interior a great jam of ice, which, +accumulating in size and altitude at every bridge and dam it had carried +away in its course towards the bay, was at length arrested in its +progress at the lower bridge, where the ice, though sunk several feet +below the rushing waters, still adhered firmly to the shore. Vast pieces +of ice were piled up against the abutments of the bridge, which the +mountain of ice threatened to annihilate, as well as to inundate the +lower end of the town.</p> + +<p>It presented to the eager and excited crowd, who, in spite of the +impending danger rushed to the devoted bridge, a curious and formidable +spectacle. Imagine, dear reader, a huge mass, composed of blocks of ice, +large stones, and drift timber, occupying the centre of the river, and +extending back for a great distance; the top on a level with the roofs +of the houses. The inhabitants of the town had everything to dread from +such a gigantic battering-ram applied to their feeble wooden bridge.</p> + +<p>A consultation was held by the men assembled on the bridge, and it was +thought that the danger might be averted by sawing asunder the ice, +which still held firm, and allowing a free passage for the blocks that +impeded the bridge.</p> + +<p>The river was soon covered with active men, armed with axes and poles, +some freeing the ice at the arch of the bridge, others attempting to +push the iceberg nearer to the shore, where, if once stranded, it would +melt at leisure. If the huge pile of mischief could have found a voice, +it would have laughed at their fruitless endeavours.</p> + +<p>While watching the men at their dangerous, and, as it proved afterwards, +hopeless work, we witnessed an act of extraordinary courage and presence +of mind in two brothers, blacksmiths in the town. One of these young +men was busy cutting away the ice just above the bridge, when quite +unexpectedly the piece on which he was standing gave way, and he was +carried with the speed of thought under the bridge. His death appeared +inevitable. But quick as his exit was from the exciting scene, the love +in the brother's heart was as quick in taking measures for his safety. +As the ice on which the younger lad stood parted, the elder sprang into +the hollow box of wood which helped to support the arch of the bridge, +and which was filled with great stones. As the torrent swept his brother +past him and under the bridge, the drowning youth gave a spring from the +ice on which he still stood, and the other bending at the instant from +his perch above, caught him by the collar, and lifted him bodily from +his perilous situation. All was the work of a moment; yet the spectators +held their breath, and wondered as they saw. It was an act of bold +daring on the one hand, of cool determined courage on the other. It was +a joyful sight to see the rescued lad in his brave brother's arms.</p> + +<p>All day we watched from the bridge the hill of ice, wondering when it +would take a fresh start, and if it would carry away the bridge when it +left its present position. Night came down, and the unwelcome visitant +remained stationary. The air was cold and frosty. There was no moon, and +the spectators were reluctantly forced to retire to their respective +homes. Between the watches of the night we listened to the roaring of +the river, and speculated upon the threatened destruction. By daybreak +my eager boys were upon the spot, to ascertain the fate of the bridge. +All was grim and silent. The ice remained like a giant slumbering upon +his post.</p> + +<p>So passed the greater part of the day. Curiosity was worn out. The +crowd began to disperse, disappointed that the ruin they anticipated +had not taken place; just as some persons are sorry when a fire, +which has caused much alarm by its central position in a town or city, +is extinguished, without burning down a single house. The love of +excitement drowns for a time the better feelings of humanity. They don't +wish any person to suffer injury; but they give up the grand spectacle +they had expected to witness with regret.</p> + +<p>At four o'clock in the afternoon most of the wonder-watchers had +retired, disgusted with the tardy movements of the ice monster, when a +cry arose from the banks of the river, to warn the few persons who still +loitered on the bridge, to look out. The ice was in motion. Every one +within hearing rushed to the river. We happened to be passing at the +time, and, like the rest, hurried to the spot. The vast pile, slowly, +almost imperceptibly, began to advance, giving an irresistible impulse +to the shore ice, that still held good, and which was instantly +communicated to the large pieces that blocked the arch of the bridge, +over which the waves now poured in a torrent, pushing before them the +great lumps which up to the present moment had been immoveably wedged. +There was a hollow, gurgling sound, a sullen roar of waters, a cracking +and rending of the shore-bound ice, and the ponderous mass smote the +bridge; it parted asunder, and swift as an arrow the crystal mountain +glided downwards to the bay, spurning from its base the waves that +leaped and foamed around its path, and pouring them in a flood of waters +over the west bank of the river.</p> + +<p>Beyond the loss of a few old sheds along the shore, very little damage +was sustained by the town. The streets near the wharfs were inundated +for a few hours, and the cellars filled with water; but after the exit +of the iceberg, the river soon subsided into its usual channel.</p> + +<p>The winter of 1852 was one of great length and severity. The snow in +many of the roads was level with the top rail of the fences, and the +spring thaw caused heavy freshets through the colony. In the upper part +of the province, particularly on the grand river, the rising of the +waters destroyed a large amount of valuable mill property. One +mill-owner lost 12,000 saw logs. Our wild, bright Moira was swollen to +the brim, and tumbled along with the impetuosity of a mountain torrent. +Its course to the bay was unimpeded by ice, which had been all carried +out a few days before by a high wind; but vast quantities of saw logs +that had broken away from their bosoms in the interior were plunging in +the current, sometimes starting bolt upright, or turning over and over, +as if endued with the spirit of life, as well as with that of motion.</p> + +<p>Several of these heavy timbers had struck the upper bridge, and carried +away the centre arch. A poor cow, who was leisurely pacing over to her +shed and supper, was suddenly precipitated into the din of waters. Had +it been the mayor of the town, the accident could scarcely have produced +a greater excitement. The cow belonged to a poor Irishman, and the +sympathy of every one was enlisted in her fate. Was it possible that she +could escape drowning amid such a mad roar of waves? No human arm could +stem for a moment such a current; but fortunately for our heroine, she +was not human, but only a stupid quadruped.</p> + +<p>The cow for a few seconds seemed bewildered at the strange situation in +which she found herself so unexpectedly placed. But she was wise enough +and skilful enough to keep her head above water, and she cleared two +mill-dams before she became aware of the fact; and she accommodated +herself to her critical situation with a stoical indifference which +would have done credit to an ancient philosopher. After passing unhurt +over the dams, the spectators who crowded the lower bridges to watch +the result, began to entertain hopes for her life.</p> + +<p>The bridges are in a direct line, and about half a mile apart. On came +the cow, making directly for the centre arch of the bridge on which we +stood. She certainly neither swam, nor felt her feet, but was borne +along by the force of the stream.</p> + +<p>"My eyes! I wish I could swim as well as that ere cow," cried an excited +boy, leaping upon the top of the bridge.</p> + +<p>"I guess you do," said another. "But that's a game cow. There's no boy +in the town could beat her."</p> + +<p>"She will never pass the arch of the bridge," said a man, sullenly; +"she will be killed against the abutment."</p> + +<p>"Jolly! she's through the arch!" shouted the first speaker. "Pat has +saved his cow!"</p> + +<p>"She's not ashore yet," returned the man. "And she begins to flag."</p> + +<p>"Not a bit of it," cried the excited boy. "The old daisy-cropper looks +as fresh as a rose. Hurrah, boys! let us run down to the wharf, and see +what becomes of her."</p> + +<p>Off scampered the juveniles; and on floated the cow, calm and +self-possessed in the midst of danger. After passing safely through the +arch of the bridge, she continued to steer herself out of the current, +and nearer to the shore, and finally effected a landing in Front-street, +where she quietly walked on shore, to the great admiration of the +youngsters, who received her with rapturous shouts of applause. One lad +seized her by the tail, another grasped her horns, while a third patted +her dripping neck, and wished her joy of her safe landing. Not Venus +herself, when she rose from the sea, attracted more enthusiastic +admirers than did the poor Irishman's cow. A party, composed of all the +boys in the place, led her in triumph through the streets, and restored +her to her rightful owner, not forgetting to bestow upon her three +hearty cheers at parting.</p> + +<p>A little black boy, the only son of a worthy negro, who had been a +settler for many years in Belleville, was not so fortunate as the +Irishman's cow. He was pushed, it is said accidentally, from the broken +bridge, by a white boy of his own age, into that hell of waters, and it +was many weeks before his body was found; it had been carried some miles +down the bay by the force of the current. Day after day you might see +his unhappy father, armed with a long pole, with a hook attached to it, +mournfully pacing the banks of the swollen river, in the hope of +recovering the remains of his lost child. Once or twice we stopped to +speak to him, but his heart was too full to answer. He would turn away, +with the tears rolling down his sable cheeks, and resume his melancholy +task.</p> + +<p>What a dreadful thing is this prejudice against race and colour! How it +hardens the heart, and locks up all the avenues of pity! The premature +death of this little negro excited less interest in the breasts of his +white companions than the fate of the cow, and was spoken of with as +little concern as the drowning of a pup or a kitten.</p> + +<p>Alas! this river Moira has caused more tears to flow from the eyes of +heart-broken parents than any stream of the like size in the province. +Heedless of danger, the children will resort to its shores, and play +upon the timbers that during the summer months cover its surface. Often +have I seen a fine child of five or six years old, astride of a saw-log, +riding down the current, with as much glee as if it were a real steed he +bestrode. If the log turns, which is often the case, the child stands a +great chance of being drowned.</p> + +<p>Oh, agony unspeakable! The writer of this lost a fine talented boy of +six years--one to whom her soul clave--in those cruel waters. But I +will not dwell upon that dark hour, the saddest and darkest in my sad +eventful life. Many years ago, when I was a girl myself, my sympathies +were deeply excited by reading an account of the grief of a mother who +had lost her only child, under similar circumstances. How prophetic were +those lines of all that I suffered during that heavy bereavement!--</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>The Mother's Lament.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Oh, cold at my feet thou wert sleeping, my boy,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And I press on thy pale lips in vain the fond kiss!</p> +<p class="line">Earth opens her arms to receive thee, my joy,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And all my past sorrows were nothing to this</p> +<p class="line">The day-star of hope 'neath thine eye-lid is sleeping,</p> +<p class="line">No more to arise at the voice of my weeping.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Oh, how art thou changed, since the light breath of morning</p> +<p class="line-in2">Dispersed the soft dewdrops in showers from the tree!</p> +<p class="line">Like a beautiful bud my lone dwelling adorning,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Thy smiles call'd up feelings of rapture in me:</p> +<p class="line">I thought not the sunbeams all gaily that shone</p> +<p class="line">On thy waking, at night would behold me alone.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The joy that flash'd out from thy death-shrouded eyes,</p> +<p class="line-in2">That laugh'd in thy dimples, and brighten'd thy cheek,</p> +<p class="line">Is quench'd--but the smile on thy pale lip that lies,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Now tells of a joy that no language can speak.</p> +<p class="line">The fountain is seal'd, the young spirit at rest,--</p> +<p class="line">Oh, why should I mourn thee, my lov'd one--my blest!"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>The anniversary of that fatal day gave birth to the following lines, +with which I will close this long chapter:--</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>The Early Lost.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The shade of death upon my threshold lay,</p> +<p class="line-in2">The sun from thy life's dial had departed;</p> +<p class="line">A cloud came down upon thy early day,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And left thy hapless mother broken-hearted--</p> +<p class="line-in23">My boy--my boy!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Long weary months have pass'd since that sad day,</p> +<p class="line-in2">But naught beguiles my bosom of its sorrow;</p> +<p class="line">Since the cold waters took thee for their prey,</p> +<p class="line-in2">No smiling hope looks forward to the morrow--</p> +<p class="line-in23">My boy--my boy!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The voice of mirth is silenced in my heart,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Thou wert so dearly loved--so fondly cherish'd;</p> +<p class="line">I cannot yet believe that we must part,--</p> +<p class="line-in2">That all, save thine immortal soul, has perish'd--</p> +<p class="line-in23">My boy--my boy!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"My lovely, laughing, rosy, dimpled, child,</p> +<p class="line-in2">I call upon thee, when the sun shines clearest;</p> +<p class="line">In the dark lonely night, in accents wild,</p> +<p class="line-in2">I breathe thy treasured name, my best and dearest--</p> +<p class="line-in23">My boy--my boy!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The hand of God has press'd me very sore--</p> +<p class="line">Oh, could I clasp thee once more as of yore,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And kiss thy glowing cheeks' soft velvet bloom,</p> +<p class="line">I would resign thee to the Almighty Giver</p> +<p class="line">Without one tear,--would yield thee up for ever,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And people with bright forms thy silent tomb.</p> +<p class="line">But hope has faded from my heart--and joy</p> +<p class="line">Lies buried in thy grave, my darling boy!"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER II<br /> Local Improvements--Sketches of Society</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Prophet spirit! rise and say,</p> +<p class="line-in2">What in Fancy's glass you see--</p> +<p class="line">A city crown this lonely bay?</p> +<p class="line-in2">No dream--a bright reality.</p> +<p class="line">Ere half a century has roll'd</p> +<p class="line-in2">Its waves of light away,</p> +<p class="line">The beauteous vision I behold</p> +<p class="line-in2">Shall greet the rosy day;</p> +<p class="line">And Belleville view with civic pride</p> +<p class="line-in2">Her greatness mirror'd in the tide."</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>The town of Belleville, in 1840, contained a population of 1,500 souls, +or thereabouts. The few streets it then possessed were chiefly composed +of frame houses, put up in the most unartistic and irregular fashion, +their gable ends or fronts turned to the street, as it suited the whim +or convenience of the owner, without the least regard to taste or +neatness. At that period there were only two stone houses and two +of brick in the place. One of these wonders of the village was the +court-house and gaol; the other three were stores. The dwellings of the +wealthier portion of the community were distinguished by a coat of white +or yellow paint, with green or brown doors and window blinds; while the +houses of the poorer class retained the dull grey, which the plain +boards always assume after a short exposure to the weather.</p> + +<p>In spite of the great beauty of the locality, it was but an +insignificant, dirty-looking place. The main street of the town +(Front-street, as it is called) was only partially paved with rough +slabs of limestone, and these were put so carelessly down that their +uneven edges, and the difference in their height and size, was painful +to the pedestrian, and destruction to his shoes, leading you to suppose +that the paving committee had been composed of shoemakers. In spring +and fall the mud was so deep in the centre of the thoroughfare that it +required you to look twice before you commenced the difficult task of +crossing, lest you might chance to leave your shoes sticking fast in the +mud. This I actually saw a lady do one Sunday while crossing the church +hill. Belleville had just been incorporated as the metropolitan town of +the Victoria District, and my husband presided as Sheriff in the first +court ever held in the place.</p> + +<p>Twelve brief years have made a wonderful, an almost miraculous, change +in the aspect and circumstances of the town. A stranger, who had not +visited it during that period, could scarcely recognize it as the +same. It has more than doubled its dimensions, and its population has +increased to upwards of 4,500 souls. Handsome commodious stores, filled +with expensive goods from the mother country and the States, have risen +in the place of the small dark frame buildings; and large hotels have +jostled into obscurity the low taverns and groceries that once formed +the only places of entertainment.</p> + +<p>In 1840, a wooded swamp extended almost the whole way from Belleville +to Cariff's Mills, a distance of three miles. The road was execrable; +and only a few log shanties, or very small frame houses, occurred at +intervals along the road-side. Now, Cariff's Mills is as large as +Belleville was in 1840, and boasts of a population of upwards of 1000 +inhabitants. A fine plank road connects it with the latter place, and +the whole distance is one continuous street. Many of the houses by the +wayside are pretty ornamental cottages, composed of brick or stone. An +immense traffic in flour and lumber is carried on at this place, and the +plank road has proved a very lucrative speculation to the shareholders.</p> + +<p>In 1840, there was but one bank agency in Belleville, now there are +four, three of which do a great business. At that period we had no +market, although Saturday was generally looked upon as the market-day; +the farmers choosing it as the most convenient to bring to town their +farm produce for sale. Our first market-house was erected in 1849; it +was built of wood, and very roughly finished. This proved but poor +economy in the long run, as it was burnt down the succeeding year. A new +and more commodious one of brick has been erected in its place, and it +is tolerably supplied with meat and vegetables; but these articles are +both dearer and inferior in quality to those offered in Kingston and +Toronto. This, perhaps, is owing to the tardiness shown by the farmers +in bringing in their produce, which they are obliged to offer first for +sale in the market, or be subjected to a trifling fine. There is very +little competition, and the butchers and town grocery-keepers have it +their own way. A market is always a stirring scene. Here politics, +commercial speculations, and the little floating gossip of the village, +are freely talked over and discussed. To those who feel an interest in +the study of human nature, the market affords an ample field. Imagine a +conversation like the following, between two decently dressed mechanics' +wives:</p> + +<p>"How are you, Mrs. G---?"</p> + +<p>"Moderate, I thank you. Did you hear how old P--- was to-day?"</p> + +<p>"Mortal bad."</p> + +<p>"Why! you don't say. Our folks heard that he was getting quite smart. +Is he <i>dangerous</i>?"</p> + +<p>"The doctor has given him up entirely."</p> + +<p>"Well, it will be a bad job for the family if he goes. I've he'rd that +there won't be money enough to pay his debts. But what of this marriage? +They do say that Miss A--- is to be married to old Mister B---."</p> + +<p>"What are her friends thinking about to let that young gal marry that +old bald-headed man?"</p> + +<p>"The money to be sure--they say he's rich."</p> + +<p>"If he's rich, he never made his money honestly."</p> + +<p>"Ah, he came of a bad set,"--with a shake of the head.</p> + +<p>And so they go on, talking and chatting over the affairs of the +neighbourhood in succession. It is curious to watch the traits of +character exhibited in buyer and seller. Both exceed the bounds of truth +and honesty. The one, in his eagerness to sell his goods, bestowing upon +them the most unqualified praise; the other depreciating them below +their real value, in order to obtain them at an unreasonably low price.</p> + +<p>"Fine beef, ma'am," exclaims an anxious butcher, watching, with the eye +of a hawk, a respectable citizen's wife, as she paces slowly and +irresolutely in front of his stall, where he has hung out for sale the +side of an ox, neither the youngest nor fattest. "Fine grass-fed beef, +ma'am--none better to be had in the district. What shall I send you +home--sirloin, ribs, a tender steak?"</p> + +<p>"It would be a difficult matter to do that," responds the good wife, +with some asperity in look and tone. "It seems hard and old; some lean +cow you have killed, to save her from dying of the consumption."</p> + +<p>"No danger of the fat setting fire to the lum"--suggests a rival in the +trade. "Here's a fine veal, ma'am, fatted upon the milk of two cows."</p> + +<p>"Looks," says the comely dame, passing on to the next stall, "as if it +had been starved upon the milk of one."</p> + +<p>Talking of markets puts me in mind of a trick--a wicked trick--but, +perhaps, not the less amusing on that account, that was played off in +Toronto market last year by a young medical student, name unknown. It +was the Christmas week, and the market was adorned with evergreens, and +dressed with all possible care. The stalls groaned beneath the weight of +good cheer--fish, flesh, and fowl, all contributing their share to tempt +the appetite and abstract money from the purse. It was a sight to warm +the heart of the most fastidious epicure, and give him the nightmare +for the next seven nights, only dreaming of that stupendous quantity of +food to be masticated by the jaws of man. One butcher had the supreme +felicity of possessing a fine fat heifer, that had taken the prize at +the provincial agricultural show; and the monster of fat, which was +justly considered the pride of the market, was hung up in the most +conspicuous place in order to attract the gaze of all beholders.</p> + +<p>Dr. C---, a wealthy doctor of laws, was providing good cheer for the +entertainment of a few choice friends on Christmas-day, and ordered of +the butcher four ribs of the tempting-looking beef. The man, unwilling +to cut up the animal until she had enjoyed her full share of admiration, +wrote upon a piece of paper, in large characters, "Prize Heifer--four +ribs for Dr. C---;" this he pinned upon the carcase of the beast. +Shortly after the doctor quitted the market, and a very fat young lady +and her mother came up to the stall to make some purchases. Our student +was leaning carelessly against it, watching with bright eyes the busy +scene; and being an uncommonly mischievous fellow, and very fond of +practical jokes, a thought suddenly struck him of playing off one +upon the stout young lady. Her back was towards him, and dexterously +abstracting the aforementioned placard from the side of the heifer, he +transferred it to the shawl of his unsuspecting victim, just where its +ample folds comfortably encased her broad shoulders.</p> + +<p>After a while the ladies left the market, amidst the suppressed titters +and outstretched fore-fingers of butchers and hucksters, and all the +idle loafers the generally congregate in such places of public resort. +All up the length of King street walked the innocent damsel, marvelling +that the public attention appeared exclusively bestowed upon her. Still, +as she passed along, bursts of laughter resounded on all sides, and the +oft-repeated words, "Prize Heifer--four ribs for Dr. C---;" it was not +until she reached her own dwelling that she became aware of the trick.</p> + +<p>The land to the east, north, and west of Belleville, rises to a +considerable height, and some of the back townships, like Huntingdon +and Hungerford, abound in lofty hills. There is in the former township, +on the road leading from Rawdon village to Luke's tavern, a most +extraordinary natural phenomenon. The road for several miles runs along +the top of a sharp ridge, so narrow that it leaves barely breadth enough +for two waggons to pass in safety. This ridge is composed of gravel, and +looks as if it had been subjected to the action of water. On either side +of this huge embankment there is a sheer descent into a finely wooded +level plain below, through which wanders a lonely creek, or small +stream. I don't know what the height of this ridge is above the level of +the meadow, but it must be very considerable, as you look down upon the +tops of the loftiest forest trees as they grow far, far beneath you. The +road is well fenced on either side, or it would require some courage to +drive young skittish horses along this dangerous pass. The settlers in +that vicinity have given to this singular rise the name of the "Ridge +road." There is a sharp ridge of limestone at the back of the township +of Thurlow, though of far less dimensions, which looks as if it had been +thrown up in some convulsion of the earth, as the limestone is shattered +in all directions. The same thing occurs on the road to Shannonville, a +small but flourishing village on the Kingston road, nine miles east of +Belleville. The rock is heaved up in the middle, and divided by deep +cracks into innumerable fragments. I put a long stick down one of these +deep cracks without reaching the bottom; and as I gathered a lovely +bunch of harebells, that were waving their graceful blossoms over the +barren rock, I thought what an excellent breeding place for snakes these +deep fissures must make.</p> + +<p>But to return to Belleville. The west side of the river--a flat +limestone plain, scantily covered with a second growth of dwarf trees +and bushes--has not as yet been occupied, although a flourishing village +that has sprung up within a few years crowns the ridge above. The plain +below is private property, and being very valuable, as affording +excellent sites for flour and saw mills, has been reserved in order to +obtain a higher price. This circumstance has, doubtless, been a drawback +to the growth of the town in that direction; while, shutting out the +view of the river by the erection of large buildings will greatly +diminish the natural beauties of this picturesque spot.</p> + +<p>The approach to Belleville, both from the east and west, is down a +very steep hill, the town lying principally in the valley below. These +hills command a beautiful prospect of wood and water, and of a rich, +well-cleared, and highly cultivated country. Their sides are adorned +with fine trees, which have grown up since the axe first levelled the +primeval forests in this part of the colony; a circumstance which, being +unusual in Canada round new settlements, forms a most attractive feature +in the landscape.</p> + +<p>A more delightful summer's evening ride could scarcely be pointed out +than along the Trent, or Kingston roads, and it would be a difficult +thing to determine which afforded the most varied and pleasing prospect. +Residing upon the west hill, we naturally prefer it to the other, but +I have some doubts whether it is really the prettiest. I have often +imagined a hundred years to have passed away, and the lovely sloping +banks of the Bay of Quinte, crowned with rural villages and stately +parks and houses, stretching down to these fair waters. What a scene of +fertility and beauty rises before my mental vision! My heart swells, and +I feel proud that I belong to a race who, in every portion of the globe +in which they have planted a colony, have proved themselves worthy to be +the sires of a great nation.</p> + +<p>The state of society when we first came to this district, was everything +but friendly or agreeable. The ferment occasioned by the impotent +rebellion of W.L. Mackenzie had hardly subsided. The public mind was in +a sore and excited state. Men looked distrustfully upon each other, and +the demon of party reigned preeminent, as much in the drawing-room in +the council-chamber.</p> + +<p>The town was divided into two fierce political factions; and however +moderate your views might be, to belong to the one was to incur the +dislike and ill-will of the other. The Tory party, who arrogated the +whole loyalty of the colony to themselves, branded, indiscriminately, +the large body of Reformers as traitors and rebels. Every conscientious +and thinking man who wished to see a change for the better in the +management of public affairs, was confounded with those discontented +spirits, who had raised the standard of revolt against the mother +country. In justice even to them, it must be said, not without severe +provocation; and their disaffection was more towards the colonial +government, and the abuses it fostered, than any particular dislike +to British supremacy or institutions. Their attempt, whether instigated +by patriotism or selfishness--and probably it contained a mixture +of both--had failed, and it was but just that they should feel the +punishment due to their crime. But the odious term of rebel, applied to +some of the most loyal and honourable men in the province, because they +could not give up their honest views on the state of the colony, gave +rise to bitter and resentful feelings, which were ready, on all public +occasions, to burst into a flame. Even women entered deeply into this +party hostility; and those who, from their education and mental +advantages, might have been friends and agreeable companions, kept +aloof, rarely taking notice of each other, when accidentally thrown +together.</p> + +<p>The native-born Canadian regarded with a jealous feeling men of talent +and respectability who emigrated from the mother country, as most +offices of consequence and emolument were given to such persons. The +Canadian, naturally enough, considered such preference unjust, and an +infringement upon his rights as a native of the colony, and that he had +a greater claim, on that account, upon the government, than men who were +perfect strangers. This, owing to his limited education, was not always +the case; but the preference shown to the British emigrant proved an +active source of ill-will and discontent. The favoured occupant of place +and power was not at all inclined to conciliate his Canadian rival, or +to give up the title to mental superiority which he derived from birth +and education; and he too often treated his illiterate, but sagacious +political opponent, with a contempt which his practical knowledge and +experience did not merit. It was a miserable state of things; and I +believe that most large towns in the province bore, in these respects, a +striking resemblance to each other. Those who wished to see impartial +justice administered to all had but an uncomfortable time of it, both +parties regarding with mistrust those men who could not go the whole +length with them in their political opinions. To gain influence in +Canada, and be the leader of a party, a man must, as the Yankees say, +"<i>go the whole hog</i>."</p> + +<p>The people in the back woods were fortunate in not having their peace +disturbed by these political broils. In the depths of the dark forest, +they were profoundly ignorant of how the colony was governed; and many +did not even know which party was in power, and when the rebellion +actually broke out it fell upon them like a thunder-clap. But in their +ignorance and seclusion there was at least safety, and they were free +from that dreadful scourge--"the malicious strife of tongues."</p> + +<p>The fever of the "<i>Clergy Reserves question</i>" was then at its +height. It was never introduced in company but to give offence, and lead +to fierce political discussions. All parties were wrong, and nobody was +convinced. This vexed political question always brought before my mental +vision a ludicrous sort of caricature, which, if I had the artistic +skill to delineate, would form no bad illustration of this perplexing +subject.</p> + +<p>I saw in my mind's eye a group of dogs in the marketplace of a large +town, to whom some benevolent individual, with a view to their mutual +benefit, had flung a shank of beef, with meat enough upon the upper end +to have satisfied the hunger of all, could such an impossible thing as +an equal division, among such noisy claimants, have been made.</p> + +<p>A strong English bull-dog immediately seized upon the bone, and for some +time gnawed away at the best end of it, and contrived to keep all the +other dogs at bay. This proceeding was resented by a stout mastiff, who +thought that he had as good a right to the beef as the bull-dog, and +flung himself tooth and claw upon his opponent. While these two were +fighting and wrangling over the bone, a wiry, active Scotch terrier, +though but half the size of the other combatants, began tugging at the +small end of the shank, snarling and barking with all the strength of +his lungs, to gain at least a chance of being heard, even if he did fail +in putting in his claims to a share of the meat.</p> + +<p>An old cunning greyhound, to whom no share had been offered, and who +well knew that it was of no use putting himself against the strength of +the bull-dog and mastiff, stood proudly aloof, with quivering ears and +tail, regarding the doings of the others with a glance of sovereign +contempt; yet, watching with his keen eye for an opportunity of making a +successful spring, while they were busily engaged in snarling and biting +each other, to carry off the meat, bone and all.</p> + +<p>A multitude of nondescript curs, of no weight in themselves, were +snapping and snuffling round the bone, eagerly anticipating the few tit +bits, which they hoped might fall to their share during the prolonged +scuffle among the higher powers: while the figure of Justice, dimly seen +in the distance, was poising her scales, and lifting her sword to make +an equal division; but her voice failed to be heard, and her august +presence regarded, in the universal hubbub. The height to which party +feeling was carried in those days had to be experienced before it could +be fully understood.</p> + +<p>Happily for the colony, this evil spirit, during the last three years, +has greatly diminished. The two rival parties, though they occasionally +abuse and vilify each other, through the medium of the common safety +valve--the public papers--are not so virulent as in 1840. They are more +equally matched. The union of the provinces has kept the reform party in +the ascendant, and they are very indifferent to the good or ill opinion +of their opponents.</p> + +<p>The colony has greatly progressed under their administration, and is now +in a most prosperous and flourishing state. The municipal and district +councils, free schools, and the improvement in the public thoroughfares +of the country, are owing to them, and have proved a great blessing to +the community. The resources of the country are daily being opened up, +and both at home and abroad Canada is rising in public estimation.</p> + +<p>As a woman, I cannot enter into the philosophy of these things, nor is +it my intention to do so. I leave statistics for wiser and cleverer male +heads. But, even as a woman, I cannot help rejoicing in the beneficial +effects that these changes have wrought in the land of my adoption. The +day of our commercial and national prosperity has dawned, and the rays +of the sun already brighten the hill-tops.</p> + +<p>To those persons who have been brought up in the old country, and +accustomed from infancy to adhere to the conventional rules of society, +the mixed society must, for a long time, prove very distasteful. Yet +this very freedom, which is so repugnant to all their preconceived +notions and prejudices, is by no means so unpleasant as strangers would +be led to imagine. A certain mixture of the common and the real, of the +absurd and the ridiculous, gives a zest to the cold, tame decencies, +to be found in more exclusive and refined circles. Human passions and +feelings are exhibited with more fidelity, and you see men and women as +they really are. And many kind, good, and noble traits are to be found +among those classes, whom at home we regard as our inferiors. The lady +and gentleman in Canada are as distinctly marked as elsewhere. There is +no mistaking the superiority that mental cultivation bestows; and their +mingling in public with their less gifted neighbours, rather adds than +takes from their claims to hold the first place. I consider the state of +society in a more healthy condition than at home; and people, when they +go out for pleasure here, seem to enjoy themselves much more.</p> + +<p>The harmony that reigns among the members of a Canadian family is truly +delightful. They are not a quarrelsome people in their own homes. No +contradicting or disputing, or hateful rivalry, is to be seen between +Canadian brothers and sisters. They cling together through good and +ill report, like the bundle of sticks in the fable; and I have seldom +found a real Canadian ashamed of owning a poor relation. This to me +is a beautiful feature in the Canadian character. Perhaps the perfect +equality on which children stand in a family, the superior claim of +eldership, so much upheld at home, never being enforced, is one great +cause of this domestic union of kindred hearts.</p> + +<p>Most of the pretence, and affected airs of importance, occasionally +met with in Canada, are not the genuine produce of the soil, but +importations from the mother country; and, as sure as you hear any one +boasting of the rank and consequence they possessed at home, you may +be certain that it was quite the reverse. An old Dutch lady, after +listening very attentively to a young Irishwoman's account of the +grandeur of her father's family at home, said rather drily to the +self-exalted damsel,--</p> + +<p>"Goodness me, child! if you were so well off, what brought you to a poor +country like this? I am sure you had been much wiser had you staid to +hum--"</p> + +<p>"Yes. But my papa heard such fine commendations of the country, that he +sold his estate to come out."</p> + +<p>"To pay his debts, perhaps," said the provoking old woman.</p> + +<p>"Ah, no, ma'am," she replied, very innocently, "he never paid them. He +was told that it was a very fine climate, and he came for the good of +our health."</p> + +<p>"Why, my dear, you look as if you never had had a day's sickness in your +life."</p> + +<p>"No more I have," she replied, putting on a very languid air, "but I am +very <i>delicate</i>."</p> + +<p>This term <i>delicate</i>, be it known to my readers is a favourite one +with young ladies here, but its general application would lead you to +imagine it another term for <i>laziness</i>. It is quite fashionable +to be <i>delicate</i>, but horribly vulgar to be considered capable of +enjoying such a useless blessing as good health. I knew a lady, when I +first came to the colony, who had her children daily washed in water +almost hot enough to scald a pig. On being asked why she did so, as it +was not only an unhealthy practice, but would rob the little girls of +their fine colour, she exclaimed,--</p> + +<p>"Oh, that is just what I do it for. I want them to look <i>delicate</i>. +They have such red faces, and are as coarse and healthy as country +girls."</p> + +<p>The rosy face of the British emigrant is regarded as no beauty here. The +Canadian women, like their neighbours the Americans, have small regular +features, but are mostly pale, or their faces are only slightly suffused +with a faint flush. During the season of youth this delicate tinting is +very beautiful, but a few years deprive them of it, and leave a sickly, +sallow pallor in its place. The loss of their teeth, too, is a great +drawback to their personal charms, but these can be so well supplied by +the dentist that it is not so much felt; the thing is so universal that +it is hardly thought detrimental to an otherwise pretty face.</p> + +<p>But, to return to the mere pretenders in society, of which, of +course, there are not a few here, as elsewhere. I once met two very +stylishly-dressed women at a place of public entertainment. The father +of these ladies had followed the lucrative but unaristocratic trade of +a tailor in London. One of them began complaining to me of the mixed +state of society in Canada, which she considered a dreadful calamity +to persons like her and her sister; and ended her lamentations by +exclaiming,--</p> + +<p>"What would my pa have thought could he have seen us here to-night? +Is it not terrible for ladies to have to dance in the same room with +storekeepers and their clerks?"</p> + +<p>Another lady of the same stamp, the daughter of a tavern-keeper, was +indignant at being introduced to a gentleman, whose father had followed +the same calling.</p> + +<p>Such persons seem to forget, that as long as people retain their +natural manners, and remain true to the dignity of their humanity, +they cannot with any justice be called vulgar; for vulgarity consists +in presumptuously affecting to be what we are not, and in claiming +distinctions which we do not deserve and which no one else would admit.</p> + +<p>The farmer, in his homespun, may possess the real essentials which make +the gentleman--good feeling, and respect for the feelings of others. The +homely dress, weather-beaten face, and hard hands, could not deprive +him of the honest independence and genial benevolence he derived from +nature. No real gentleman would treat such a man, however humble his +circumstances, with insolence or contempt. But place the same man out of +his class, dress him in the height of fashion, and let him attempt to +imitate the manners of the great, and the whole world would laugh at the +counterfeit.</p> + +<p>Uneducated, ignorant people often rise by their industry to great wealth +in the colony; to such the preference shown to the educated man always +seems a puzzle. Their ideas of gentility consist in being the owners of +fine clothes, fine houses, splendid furniture, expensive equipages, and +plenty of money. They have all these, yet even the most ignorant feel +that something else is required. They cannot comprehend the mysterious +ascendancy of mind over mere animal enjoyments; yet they have sense +enough, by bestowing a liberal education on their children, to +endeavour, at least in their case, to remedy the evil.</p> + +<p>The affectation of wishing people to think that you had been better off +in the mother country than in Canada, is not confined to the higher +class of emigrants. The very poorest are the most remarked for this +ridiculous boasting. A servant girl of mine told me, with a very grand +toss of the head, "that she did not choose to <i>demane</i> herself by +scrubbing a floor; that she belonged to the <i>ra'al gintry</i> in the +ould counthry, and her papa and mamma niver brought her up to hard +work."</p> + +<p>This interesting scion of the aristocracy was one of the coarsest +specimens of female humanity I ever beheld. If I called her to bring +a piece of wood for the parlour fire, she would thrust her tangled, +uncombed red head in at the door, and shout at the top of her voice, +"Did yer holler?"</p> + +<p>One of our working men, wishing to impress me with the dignity of his +wife's connexions, said with all becoming solemnity of look and manner--</p> + +<p>"Doubtless, ma'am, you have heard in the ould counthry of Connor's +racers. Margaret's father kept those racers."</p> + +<p>When I recalled the person of the individual whose fame was so widely +spread at home, and thought of the racers, I could hardly keep a +"straight face," as an American friend terms laughing, when you are +bound to look grave.</p> + +<p>One want is greatly felt here; but it is to be hoped that a more liberal +system of education and higher moral culture will remedy the evil. There +is a great deficiency among our professional men and wealthy traders of +that nice sense of honour that marks the conduct and dealings of the +same class at home. Of course many bright exceptions are to be found in +the colony, but too many of the Canadians think it no disgrace to take +every advantage of the ignorance and inexperience of strangers.</p> + +<p>If you are not smart enough to drive a close bargain, they consider +it only fair to take you in. A man loses very little in the public +estimation by making over all his property to some convenient friend, +in order to defraud his creditors, while he retains a competency for +himself.</p> + +<p>Women whose husbands have been detained on the limits for years for +debt, will give large parties and dress in the most expensive style. +This would be thought dishonourable at home, but is considered no +disgrace here.</p> + +<p>"Honour is all very well in an old country like England," said a lady, +with whom I had been arguing on the subject; "but, Mrs. M---, it won't +do in a new country like this. You may as well cheat as be cheated. For +my part, I never lose an advantage by indulging in such foolish +notions."</p> + +<p>I have no doubt that a person who entertained such principles would not +fail to reduce them to practice.</p> + +<p>The idea that some country people form of an author is highly amusing. +One of my boys was tauntingly told by another lad at school, "that his +ma' said that Mrs. M--- invented lies, and got money for them." This was +her estimation of works of mere fiction.</p> + +<p>Once I was driven by a young Irish friend to call upon the wife of a +rich farmer in the country. We were shewn by the master of the house +into a very handsomely furnished room, in which there was no lack of +substantial comfort, and even of some elegancies, in the shape of books, +pictures, and a piano. The good man left us to inform his wife of our +arrival, and for some minutes we remained in solemn state, until the +mistress of the house made her appearance.</p> + +<p>She had been called from the washtub, and, like a sensible woman, was +not ashamed of her domestic occupation. She came in wiping the suds from +her hands on her apron, and gave us a very hearty and friendly welcome. +She was a short, stout, middle-aged woman, with a very pleasing +countenance; and though only in her coloured flannel working-dress, with +a nightcap on her head, and spectacled nose, there was something in her +frank good-natured face that greatly prepossessed us in her favour.</p> + +<p>After giving us the common compliments of the day, she drew her chair +just in front of me, and, resting her elbows on her knees, and dropping +her chin between her hands, she sat regarding me with such a fixed gaze +that it became very embarrassing.</p> + +<p>"So," says she, at last, "you are Mrs. M---?"</p> + +<p>"Yes."</p> + +<p>"The woman that writes?"</p> + +<p>"The same."</p> + +<p>She drew back her chair for a few paces, with a deep-drawn sigh, in +which disappointment and surprise seemed strangely to mingle. "Well, I +have he'rd a great deal about you, and I wanted to see you bad for a +long time; but you are only a humly person like myself after all. Why I +do think, if I had on my best gown and cap, I should look a great deal +younger and better than you."</p> + +<p>I told her that I had no doubt of the fact.</p> + +<p>"And pray," continued she, with the same provoking scrutiny, "how old do +you call yourself?"</p> + +<p>I told her my exact age.</p> + +<p>"Humph!" quoth she, as if she rather doubted my word, "two years younger +nor me! you look a great deal older nor that."</p> + +<p>After a long pause, and another searching gaze, "Do you call those teeth +your own?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said I, laughing; for I could retain my gravity no longer; "in +the very truest sense of the word they are mine, as God gave them to +me."</p> + +<p>"You luckier than your neighbours," said she. "But airn't you greatly +troubled with headaches?"</p> + +<p>"No," said I, rather startled at this fresh interrogatory.</p> + +<p>"My!" exclaimed she, "I thought you must be, your eyes are so sunk in +your head. Well, well, so you are Mrs. M--- of Belleville, the woman +that writes. You are but a humly body after all."</p> + +<p>While this curious colloquy was going on, my poor Irish friend sat on +thorns, and tried, by throwing in a little judicious blarney, to soften +the thrusts of the home truths to which he had unwittingly exposed me. +Between every pause in the conversation, he broke in with--"I am sure +Mrs. M--- is a fine-looking woman--a very young-looking woman for her +age. Any person might know at a glance that those teeth were her own. +They look too natural to be false."</p> + +<p>Now, I am certain that the poor little woman never meant to wound my +feelings, nor give me offence. She literally spoke her thoughts, and I +was too much amused with the whole scene to feel the least irritated by +her honest bluntness. She expected to find in an author something quite +out of the common way, and I did not come up at all to her expectations.</p> + +<p>Her opinion of me was not more absurd than the remarks of two ladies +who, after calling upon me for the first time, communicated the result +of their observations to a mutual friend.</p> + +<p>"We have seen Mrs. M---, and we were so surprised to find her just like +other people!"</p> + +<p>"What did you expect to see in her?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, something very different. We were very much disappointed."</p> + +<p>"That she was not sitting upon her head," said my friend, smiling; +"I like Mrs. M---, because she is in every respect like other people; +and I should not have taken her for a blue-stocking at all."</p> + +<p>The sin of authorship meets with little toleration in a new country. +Several persons of this class, finding few minds that could sympathise +with them, and enter into their literary pursuits, have yielded to +despondency, or fallen victims to that insidious enemy of souls, +<i>Canadian whisky</i>. Such a spirit was the unfortunate Dr. Huskins, +late of Frankfort on the river Trent. The fate of this gentleman, who +was a learned and accomplished man of genius, left a very sad impression +on my mind. Like too many of that highly-gifted, but unhappy fraternity, +he struggled through his brief life, overwhelmed with the weight of +undeserved calumny, and his peace of mind embittered with the most +galling neglect and poverty.</p> + +<p>The want of sympathy experienced by him from men of his own class, +pressed sorely upon the heart of the sensitive man of talent and +refinement; he found very few who could appreciate or understand his +mental superiority, which was pronounced as folly and madness by the +ignorant persons about him. A new country, where all are rushing eagerly +forward in order to secure the common necessaries of life, is not a +favourable soil in which to nourish the bright fancies and delusive +dreams of the poet. Dr. Huskins perceived his error too late, when he no +longer retained the means to remove to a more favourable spot,--and his +was not a mind which could meet and combat successfully with the ills +of life. He endeavoured to bear proudly the evils of his situation, but +he had neither the energy nor the courage to surmount them. He withdrew +himself from society, and passed the remainder of his days in a +solitary, comfortless, log hut on the borders of the wilderness. Here he +drooped and died, as too many like him have died, heartbroken and alone. +A sad mystery involves the last hours of his life: it is said that he +and Dr. Sutor, another talented but very dissipated man, had entered +into a compact to drink until they both died. Whether this statement is +true cannot now be positively ascertained. It is certain, however, that +Dr. Sutor was found dead upon the floor of the miserable shanty occupied +by his friend, and that Dr. Huskins was lying on his bed in the agonies +of death. Could the many fine poems composed by Dr. Huskins in his +solitary exile, be collected and published, we feel assured that +posterity would do him justice, and that his name would rank high among +the bards of the green isle.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>To The Memory of Dr. Huskins.</h4> +<p class="line">"Neglected son of genius! thou hast pass'd</p> +<p class="line-in2">In broken-hearted loneliness away;</p> +<p class="line">And one who prized thy talents, fain would cast</p> +<p class="line-in2">The cypress-wreath above thy nameless clay.</p> +<p class="line-in2">Ah, could she yet thy spirit's flight delay,</p> +<p class="line">Till the cold world, relenting from its scorn,</p> +<p class="line">The fadeless laurel round thy brows should twine,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Crowning the innate majesty of mind,</p> +<p class="line">By crushing poverty and sorrow torn.</p> +<p class="line-in2">Peace to thy mould'ring ashes, till revive</p> +<p class="line">Bright memories of thee in deathless song!</p> +<p class="line-in2">True to the dead, Time shall relenting give</p> +<p class="line">The meed of fame deserved--delayed too long,</p> +<p class="line">And in immortal verse the Bard again shall live!"</p> +</div> + +<p>Alas! this frightful vice of drinking prevails throughout the colony to +an alarming extent. Professional gentlemen are not ashamed of being seen +issuing from the bar-room of a tavern early in the morning, or of being +caught reeling home from the same sink of iniquity late at night. No +sense of shame seems to deter them from the pursuit of their darling +sin. I have heard that some of these regular topers place brandy +beside their beds that, should they awake during the night, they may +have within their reach the fiery potion for which they are bartering +body and soul. Some of these persons, after having been warned of +their danger by repeated fits of <i>delirium tremens</i>, have joined +the tee-totallers; but their abstinence only lasted until the +re-establishment of their health enabled them to return to their old +haunts, and become more hardened in their vile habits than before. It +is to be questioned whether the signing of any pledge is likely to +prove a permanent remedy for this great moral evil. If an appeal to the +heart and conscience, and the fear of incurring the displeasure of an +offended God, are not sufficient to deter a man from becoming an active +instrument in the ruin of himself and family, no forcible restraint +upon his animal desires will be likely to effect a real reformation. +It appears to me that the temperance people begin at the wrong end of +the matter, by restraining the animal propensities before they have +convinced the mind. If a man abstain from drink only as long as the +accursed thing is placed beyond his reach, it is after all but a +negative virtue, to be overcome by the first strong temptation. Were +incurable drunkards treated as lunatics, and a proper asylum provided +for them in every large town, and the management of their affairs +committed to their wives or adult children, the bare idea of being +confined under such a plea would operate more forcibly upon them than by +signing a pledge, which they can break or resume according to the +caprice of the moment.</p> + +<p>A drunkard, while under the influence of liquor, is a madman in every +sense of the word, and his mental aberration is often of the most +dangerous kind. Place him and the confirmed maniac side by side, and +it would be difficult for a stranger to determine which was the most +irrational of the two.</p> + +<p>A friend related to me the following anecdote of a physician in his +native town:--This man, who was eminent in his profession, and highly +respected by all who knew him, secretly indulged in the pernicious habit +of dram-drinking, and after a while bade fair to sink into a hopeless +drunkard. At the earnest solicitations of his weeping wife and daughter +he consented to sign the pledge, and not only ardent spirits but every +sort of intoxicating beverage was banished from the house.</p> + +<p>The use of alcohol is allowed in cases of sickness to the most rigid +disciplinarians, and our doctor began to find that keeping his pledge +was a more difficult matter than he had at first imagined. Still, for +<i>examples' sake</i>, of course, a man of his standing in society had only +joined for <i>examples' sake</i>; he did not like openly to break it. He +therefore feigned violent toothache, and sent the servant girl over to a +friend's house to borrow a small phial of brandy.</p> + +<p>The brandy was sent, with many kind wishes for the doctor's speedy +recovery. The phial now came every night to be refilled; and the +doctor's toothache seemed likely to become a case of incurable <i>tic +douloureux</i>. His friend took the alarm. He found it both expensive +and inconvenient, providing the doctor with his nightly dose; and +wishing to see how matters really stood, he followed the maid and the +brandy one evening to the doctor's house.</p> + +<p>He entered unannounced. It was as he suspected. The doctor was lounging +in his easy chair before the fire, indulging in a hearty fit of laughter +over some paragraph in a newspaper, which he held in his hand.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my dear J---, I am so glad to find you so well. I thought by your +sending for the brandy, that you were dying with the toothache."</p> + +<p>The doctor, rather confounded--"Why, yes; I have been sadly troubled +with it of late. It does not come on, however, before eight o'clock, and +if I cannot get a mouthful of brandy, I never can get a wink of sleep +all night."</p> + +<p>"Did you ever have it before you took the pledge?"</p> + +<p>"Never," said the doctor emphatically.</p> + +<p>"Perhaps the cold water does not agree with you?"</p> + +<p>The doctor began to smell a rat, and fell vigorously to minding the +fire.</p> + +<p>"I tell you what it is, J---," said the other; "the toothache is a +<i>nervous affection</i>. It is the <i>brandy</i> that is the <i>disease</i>. +It may cure you of an imaginary toothache; but I assure you, that it +gives your wife and daughter an <i>incurable heartache</i>."</p> + +<p>The doctor felt at that moment a strange palpitation at his own. The +scales fell suddenly from his eyes, and for the first time his conduct +appeared in its true light. Returning the bottle to his friend, he said, +very humbly--"Take it out of my sight; I feel my error now. I will cure +their heartache by curing myself of this beastly vice."</p> + +<p>The doctor, from that hour, became a temperate man. He soon regained +his failing practice, and the esteem of his friends. The appeal of +his better feelings effected a permanent change in his habits, which +signing the pledge had not been able to do. To keep up an appearance of +consistency he had had recourse to a mean subterfuge, while touching his +heart produced a lasting reform.</p> + +<p>Drinking is the curse of Canada, and the very low price of whisky places +the temptation constantly in every one's reach. But it is not by +adopting by main force the Maine Liquor law, that our legislators will +be able to remedy the evil. Men naturally resist any oppressive measures +that infringe upon their private rights, even though such measures are +adopted solely for their benefit. It is not wise to thrust temperance +down a man's throat; and the surest way to make him a drunkard is to +insist upon his being sober. The zealous advocates of this measure (and +there are many in Canada) know little of their own, or the nature of +others. It would be the fruitful parent of hypocrisy, and lay the +foundation of crimes still greater than the one it is expected to cure.</p> + +<p>To wean a fellow-creature from the indulgence of a gross sensual +propensity, as I said before, we must first convince the mind: the +reform must commence there. Merely withdrawing the means of +gratification, and treating a rational being like a child, will never +achieve a great moral conquest.</p> + +<p>In pagan countries, the missionaries can only rely upon the sincerity of +the converts, who are educated when children in their schools; and if +we wish to see drunkenness banished from our towns and cities, we must +prepare our children from their earliest infancy to resist the growing +evil.</p> + +<p>Show your boy a drunkard wallowing in the streets, like some unclean +animal in the mire. Every side-walk, on a market-day, will furnish you +with examples. Point out to him the immorality of such a degrading +position; make him fully sensible of all its disgusting horrors. Tell +him that God has threatened in words of unmistakable import, that he +will exclude such from his heavenly kingdom. Convince him that such +loathsome impurity must totally unfit the soul for communion with its +God--that such a state may truly be looked upon as the second death--the +foul corruption and decay of both body and soul. Teach the child to pray +against drunkenness, as he would against murder, lying, and theft; shew +him that all these crimes are often comprised in this one, which in too +many cases has been the fruitful parent of them all.</p> + +<p>When the boy grows to be a man, and mingles in the world of men, he +will not easily forget the lesson impressed on his young heart. He will +remember his early prayers against this terrible vice--will recall +that disgusting spectacle--and will naturally shrink from the same +contamination. Should he be overcome by temptation, the voice of +conscience will plead with him in such decided tones that she will be +heard, and he will be ashamed of becoming the idiot thing he once feared +and loathed.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>The Drunkard's Return.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Oh! ask not of my morn of life,</p> +<p class="line-in2">How dark and dull it gloom'd o'er me;</p> +<p class="line">Sharp words and fierce domestic strife,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Robb'd my young heart of all its glee,--</p> +<p class="line">The sobs of one heart-broken wife,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Low, stifled moans of agony,</p> +<p class="line">That fell upon my shrinking ear,</p> +<p class="line">In hollow tones of woe and fear;</p> +<p class="line">As crouching, weeping, at her side,</p> +<p class="line-in2">I felt my soul with sorrow swell,</p> +<p class="line">In pity begg'd her not to hide</p> +<p class="line-in2">The cause of grief I knew too well;</p> +<p class="line">Then wept afresh to hear her pray</p> +<p class="line">That death might take us both away!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Away from whom? Alas! What ill</p> +<p class="line-in2">Press'd the warm life-hopes from her heart?</p> +<p class="line">Was she not young and lovely still?</p> +<p class="line-in2">What made the frequent tear-drops start</p> +<p class="line">From eyes, whose light of love could fill</p> +<p class="line-in2">My inmost soul, and bade me part</p> +<p class="line-in2">From noisy comrades in the street,</p> +<p class="line">To kiss her cheek, so cold and pale,</p> +<p class="line-in2">To clasp her neck, and hold her hand,</p> +<p class="line">And list the oft-repeated tale</p> +<p class="line-in2">Of woes I could not understand;</p> +<p class="line">Yet felt their force, as, day by day,</p> +<p class="line">I watch'd her fade from life away.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"And <i>he</i>, the cause of all this woe,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Her mate--the father of her child,</p> +<p class="line">In dread I saw him come and go,</p> +<p class="line-in2">With many an awful oath reviled;</p> +<p class="line">And from harsh word, and harsher blow,</p> +<p class="line-in2">(In answer to her pleadings mild,)</p> +<p class="line">I shrank in terror, till I caught</p> +<p class="line">From her meek eyes th' unwhisper'd thought--</p> +<p class="line-in2">'Bear it, my Edward, for thy mother's sake!</p> +<p class="line">He cares not, in his sullen mood,</p> +<p class="line-in2">If this poor heart with anguish break.'</p> +<p class="line">That look was felt, and understood</p> +<p class="line-in2">By her young son, thus school'd to bear</p> +<p class="line-in2">His wrongs, to soothe her deep despair.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Oh, how I loath'd him!--how I scorn'd</p> +<p class="line-in2">His idiot laugh, or demon frown,--</p> +<p class="line">His features bloated and deform'd;</p> +<p class="line-in2">The jests with which he sought to drown</p> +<p class="line">The consciousness of sin, or storm'd,</p> +<p class="line-in2">To put reproof or anger down.</p> +<p class="line">Oh, 'tis a fearful thing to feel</p> +<p class="line">Stern, sullen hate, the bosom steel</p> +<p class="line-in2">'Gainst one whom nature bids us prize</p> +<p class="line">The first link in her mystic chain;</p> +<p class="line-in2">Which binds in strong and tender ties</p> +<p class="line">The heart, while reason rules the brain,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And mingling love with holy fear,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Renders the parent doubly dear.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"I cannot bear to think how deep</p> +<p class="line-in2">The hatred was I bore him then;</p> +<p class="line">But he has slept his last long sleep,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And I have trod the haunts of men;</p> +<p class="line">Have felt the tide of passion sweep</p> +<p class="line-in2">Through manhood's fiery heart, and when</p> +<p class="line">By strong temptation toss'd and tried,</p> +<p class="line">I thought how that lost father died;</p> +<p class="line-in2">Unwept, unpitied, in his sin;</p> +<p class="line">Then tears of burning shame would rise,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And stern remorse awake within</p> +<p class="line">A host of mental agonies.</p> +<p class="line-in2">He fell--by one dark vice defiled;</p> +<p class="line-in2">Was I more pure--his erring child?</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Yes--erring child; but to my tale.</p> +<p class="line-in2">My mother loved that lost one still,</p> +<p class="line">From the deep fount which could not fail</p> +<p class="line-in2">(Through changes dark, from good to ill,)</p> +<p class="line">Her woman's heart--and sad and pale,</p> +<p class="line-in2">She yielded to his stubborn will;</p> +<p class="line">Perchance she felt remonstrance vain,--</p> +<p class="line">The effort to resist gave pain.</p> +<p class="line-in2">But carefully she hid her grief</p> +<p class="line">From him, the idol of her youth;</p> +<p class="line">And fondly hoped, against belief,</p> +<p class="line-in2">That her deep love and stedfast truth</p> +<p class="line">Would touch his heart, and win him back</p> +<p class="line">From Folly's dark and devious track.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Vain hope! the drunkard's heart is hard as stone,</p> +<p class="line-in2">No grief disturbs his selfish, sensual joy;</p> +<p class="line">His wife may weep, his starving children groan,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And Poverty with cruel gripe annoy.</p> +<p class="line">He neither hears, nor heeds their famish'd moan,</p> +<p class="line-in2">The glorious wine-cup owns no base alloy.</p> +<p class="line">Surrounded by a low, degraded train,</p> +<p class="line">His fiendish laugh defiance bids to pain;</p> +<p class="line-in2">He hugs the cup--more dear than friends to him--</p> +<p class="line">Nor sees stern ruin from the goblet rise,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Nor flames of hell careering o'er the brim,--</p> +<p class="line">The lava flood that glads his bloodshot eyes</p> +<p class="line-in2">Poisons alike his body and his soul,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Till reason lies self-murder'd in the bowl.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"It was a dark and fearful winter night,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Loud roar'd the tempest round our hovel home;</p> +<p class="line">Cold, hungry, wet, and weary was our plight,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And still we listen'd for his step to come.</p> +<p class="line">My poor sick mother!--'twas a piteous sight</p> +<p class="line-in2">To see her shrink and shiver, as our dome</p> +<p class="line">Shook to the rattling blast; and to the door</p> +<p class="line">She crept, to look along the bleak, black moor.</p> +<p class="line-in2">He comes--he comes!--and, quivering all with dread,</p> +<p class="line">She spoke kind welcome to that sinful man.</p> +<p class="line-in2">His sole reply,--'Get supper--give me bread!'</p> +<p class="line">Then, with a sneer, he tauntingly began</p> +<p class="line-in2">To mock the want that stared him in the face,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Her bitter sorrow, and his own disgrace.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"'I have no money to procure you food,</p> +<p class="line-in2">No wood, no coal, to raise a cheerful fire;</p> +<p class="line">The madd'ning cup may warm your frozen blood--</p> +<p class="line-in2">We die, for lack of that which you desire!'</p> +<p class="line">She ceased,--erect one moment there he stood,</p> +<p class="line-in2">The foam upon his lip; with fiendish ire</p> +<p class="line">He seized a knife which glitter'd in his way,</p> +<p class="line">And rush'd with fury on his helpless prey.</p> +<p class="line-in2">Then from a dusky nook I fiercely sprung,</p> +<p class="line">The strength of manhood in that single bound:</p> +<p class="line-in2">Around his bloated form I tightly clung,</p> +<p class="line">And headlong brought the murderer to the ground.</p> +<p class="line-in2">We fell--his temples struck the cold hearth-stone,</p> +<p class="line-in2">The blood gush'd forth--he died without a moan!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Yes--by my hand he died! one frantic cry</p> +<p class="line-in2">Of mortal anguish thrill'd my madden'd brain,</p> +<p class="line">Recalling sense and mem'ry. Desperately</p> +<p class="line-in2">I strove to raise my fallen sire again,</p> +<p class="line">And call'd upon my mother; but her eye</p> +<p class="line-in2">Was closed alike to sorrow, want, and pain.</p> +<p class="line">Oh, what a night was that!--when all alone</p> +<p class="line">I watch'd my dead beside the cold hearth-stone.</p> +<p class="line-in2">I thought myself a monster--that the deed</p> +<p class="line">To save my mother was too promptly done.</p> +<p class="line-in2">I could not see her gentle bosom bleed,</p> +<p class="line">And quite forgot the father, in the son;</p> +<p class="line-in2">For her I mourn'd--for her, through bitter years,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Pour'd forth my soul in unavailing tears.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The world approved the act; but on my soul</p> +<p class="line-in2">There lay a gnawing consciousness of guilt,</p> +<p class="line">A biting sense of crime, beyond control:</p> +<p class="line-in2">By my rash hand a father's blood was spilt,</p> +<p class="line">And I abjured for aye the death-drugg'd bowl.</p> +<p class="line-in2">This is my tale of woe; and if thou wilt</p> +<p class="line">Be warn'd by me, the sparkling cup resign;</p> +<p class="line">A serpent lurks within the ruby wine,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Guileful and strong as him who erst betray'd</p> +<p class="line">The world's first parents in their bowers of joy.</p> +<p class="line-in2">Let not the tempting draught your soul pervade;</p> +<p class="line">It shines to kill, and sparkles to destroy.</p> +<p class="line-in2">The drunkard's sentence has been seal'd above,--</p> +<p class="line-in2">Exiled for ever from the heaven of love!"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER III<br /> Free Schools--Thoughts on Education</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Truth, Wisdom, Virtue--the eternal three,</p> +<p class="line">Great moral agents of the universe--</p> +<p class="line">Shall yet reform and beautify the world,</p> +<p class="line">And render it fit residence for Him</p> +<p class="line">In whom these glorious attributes combined,</p> +<p class="line">To render perfect manhood one with God!"</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>There is no calculating the immense benefit which the will colony will +derive from the present liberal provision made for the education of the +rising generation.</p> + +<p>A few years ago schools were so far apart, and the tuition of children +so expensive, that none but the very better class could scrape money +enough together to send their children to be instructed. Under the +present system, every idle ragged child in the streets, by washing his +face and hands, and presenting himself to the free school of his ward, +can receive the same benefit as the rest.</p> + +<p>What an inestimable blessing is this, and how greatly will this +education of her population tend to increase the wealth and prosperity +of the province! It is a certain means of a calling out and making +available all the talent in the colony; and as, thanks be to God, genius +never was confined to any class, the poor will be more benefited by this +wise and munificent arrangement than the rich.</p> + +<p>These schools are supported by a district tax, which falls upon the +property of persons well able to pay it; but avarice and bigotry are +already at work, to endeavour to deprive the young of his new-found +blessing. Persons grumble at having to pay this additional tax. They +say, "If poor people want their children taught, let them pay for it: +their instruction has no right to be forced from our earnings."</p> + +<p>What a narrow prejudice is this--what miserable, short-sighted policy! +The education of these neglected children, by making them better +citizens, will in the long run prove a great protection both to life +and property.</p> + +<p>Then the priests of different persuasions lift up their voices because +no particular creed is allowed to be taught in the seminaries, and +exclaim--"The children will be infidels. These schools are godless and +immoral in the extreme." Yes; children will be taught to love each other +without any such paltry distinctions as party and creed. The rich and +the poor will meet together to learn the sweet courtesies of a common +humanity, and prejudice and avarice and bigotry cannot bear that.</p> + +<p>There is a spirit abroad in the world--and an evil spirit it is--which +through all ages has instigated the rich to look down with contemptuous +feelings of superiority on the humble occupations and inferior +circumstances of the poor. Now, that this spirit is diametrically +opposed to the benevolent precepts of Christianity, the fact of our +blessed Lord performing his painful mission on earth in no higher +capacity than that of a working mechanic, ought sufficiently to show. +What divine benevolence--what god-like humility was displayed in this +heroic act! Of all the wonderful events in his wonderful history, is +there one more astonishing than this--</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"That Heaven's high Majesty his court should keep</p> +<p class="line">In a clay cottage, by each blast controll'd,--</p> +<p class="line">That Glory's self should serve our hopes and fears,</p> +<p class="line">And free Eternity submit to years?"</p> +</div> + +<p>What a noble triumph was this, over the cruel and unjust prejudices +of mankind! It might truly be termed the divine philosophy of virtue. +This condescension on the part of the great Creator of the universe, +ought to have been sufficient to have rendered labour honourable in the +minds of his followers; and we still indulge the hope, that the moral +and intellectual improvement of mankind will one day restore labour to +her proper pedestal in the temple of virtue.</p> + +<p>The chosen disciples of our Great Master--those to whom he entrusted the +precious code of moral laws that was destined to overthrow the kingdom +of Satan, and reform a degraded world--were poor uneducated men. The +most brilliant gems are often enclosed in the rudest incrustations; +and He who formed the bodies and souls of men, well knew that the most +powerful intellects are often concealed amidst the darkness and rubbish +of uneducated minds. Such minds, enlightened and purified by his +wonder-working Spirit, He sent forth to publish his message of glad +tidings through the earth.</p> + +<p>The want of education and moral training is the only <i>real</i> barrier +that exists between the different classes of men. Nature, reason, and +Christianity, recognise no other. Pride may say nay; but pride was +always a liar, and a great hater of the truth. Wealth, in a hard, +abstract point of view, can never make any. Take away the wealth from +an ignorant man, and he remains just the same being he was before he +possessed it, and is no way bettered from the mere circumstance of his +having once been rich. But let that wealth procure for him the only true +and imperishable riches--knowledge, and with it the power to do good to +himself and others, which is the great end of moral and religious +training--and a mighty structure is raised which death itself is unable +to destroy. The man has indeed changed his nature, and is fast regaining +the resemblance he once bore to his Creator.</p> + +<p>The soil of man is no rank, sex, or colour. It claims a distinction far +above all these; and shall we behold its glorious energies imprisoned in +the obscene den of ignorance and want, without making the least effort +to enlighten its hideous darkness?</p> + +<p>It is painful to reflect upon the vast barren wilderness of human +intellect which on every side stretches around us--to know that +thousands of powerful minds are condemned by the hopeless degradation of +their circumstances to struggle on in obscurity, without one gleam of +light. What a high and noble privilege has the Almighty conferred upon +the wealthy and well-educated portion of mankind, in giving them the +means of reclaiming and cultivating those barren minds, and of lifting +them from the mire of ignorance in which they at present wallow, to +share with them the moral dignity of thinking men!</p> + +<p>A small portion of the wealth that is at present bestowed upon mere +articles of luxury, or in scenes of riot and dissipation, would more +than effect this great purpose. The education of the poorer classes must +add greatly to the well-being and happiness of the world, and tend to +diminish the awful amount of crimes and misery, which up to the present +moment has rendered it a vale of tears.</p> + +<p>The ignorance of the masses must, while it remains, for ever separate +them from their more fortunate brethren. Remove this stumbling block +out of the way, and the hard line of demarcation which now divides them +will soften, and gradually melt away. Their supposed inferiority lies +in their situation alone. Turn to the history of those great men whom +education has rescued from the very lowest walks of life, and you will +find a mighty host, who were in their age and day the companions, the +advisers, the friends of princes--men who have written their names with +the pen and sword upon the pillars of time, and, if immortality can +exist in a world of constant change, have been rendered immortal by +their words or deeds.</p> + +<p>Let poverty and bigotry do their utmost to keep such spirits, while +living, in the shades of obscurity, death, the great equalizer, always +restores to its possessors the rights of mind, and bids them triumph for +ever over the low prejudices of their fellow-men, who, when reading the +works of Burns, or gazing on the paintings of Raphael, reproach them +with the lowliness of their origin; yea, the proudest who have taste +to appreciate their glorious creations, rejoice that genius could thus +triumph over temporary obstacles.</p> + +<p>It has often been asserted by the rich and nobly-born, that if the +poorer classes were as well educated as themselves, it would render +them familiar and presumptuous, and they would no longer pay to their +superiors in station that deference which must exist for the well-being +of society. We view the subject with far other eyes, and conclude from +analogy, that that which has conferred such incalculable benefits on the +rich, and helped mainly to place them in the position they now hold, +could not be detrimental to the poor. The man who knows his duty, is +more likely to perform it well than the ignorant man, whose services are +compulsory, and whose actions are influenced by the moral responsibility +which a right knowledge must give.</p> + +<p>My earnest wish for universal education involves no dislike to royal +rule, or for those distinctions of birth and wealth which I consider +necessary for the well-being of society. It little matters by what name +we call them; men of talent and education will exert a certain influence +over the minds of their fellow-men, which will always be felt and +acknowledged in the world if mankind were equalized to-morrow. Perfect, +unadulterated republicanism, is a beautiful but fallacious chimera which +never has existed upon the earth, and which, if the Bible be true, (and +we have no doubts on the subject,) we are told never will exist in +heaven. Still we consider that it would be true wisdom and policy +in those who possess a large share of the good things of this world, +to make labour honourable, by exalting the poor operative into an +intelligent moral agent. Surely it is no small privilege to be able to +bind up his bruised and broken heart--to wipe the dust from his brow, +and the tears from his eyes--and bid him once more stand erect in his +Maker's image. This is, indeed, to become the benefactor both of his +soul and body; for the mind, once convinced of its own real worth and +native dignity, is less prone to fall into low and degrading vices, than +when struggling with ignorance and the galling chain of despised +poverty.</p> + +<p>It is impossible for the most depraved votary of wealth and fashion +<i>really</i> to despise a poor, honest, well-informed man. There is an +aristocracy of virtue as well as of wealth; and the rich man who dares +to cast undeserved contempt upon his poor, but high-minded brother, +hears a voice within him which, in tones which cannot be misunderstood, +reproves him for blaspheming his Maker's image. A glorious mission +is conferred on you who are rich and nobly born, which, if well and +conscientiously performed, will make the glad arch of heaven ring with +songs of joy. Nor deem that you will be worse served because your +servant is a religious, well educated man, or that you will be treated +with less respect and attention by one who knows that your station +entitles you to it, than by the rude, ignorant slave, who hates you in +his heart, and performs his appointed services with an envious, +discontented spirit.</p> + +<p>When we consider that ignorance is the fruitful parent of crime, we +should unite with heart and voice to banish it from the earth. We should +devote what means we can spare, and the talents with which God has +endowed us, in furthering every national and benevolent institution set +on foot for this purpose; and though the progress of improvement may at +first appear slow, this should not discourage any one from endeavouring +to effect a great and noble purpose. Many months must intervene, after +sowing a crop, before the husbandman can expect to reap the harvest. The +winter snows must cover, the spring rains vivify and nourish, and the +summer sun ripen, before the autumn arrives for the ingathering of his +labour, and then the increase, after all his toil and watching, must be +with God.</p> + +<p>During the time of our blessed Lord's sojourn upon earth, he proclaimed +the harvest to be plenteous and the labourers few; and he instructed his +disciples to pray to the Lord of the harvest to send more labourers into +the field. Does it not, therefore, behove those who live in a more +enlightened age--when the truth of the Gospel, which he sealed with his +blood, has been preached in almost every country--to pray the Father of +Spirits to proportion the labourers to the wants of his people, so that +Christian kindness, brotherly love, and moral improvement, may go hand +in hand, and keep pace with increasing literary and scientific +knowledge?</p> + +<p>A new country like Canada cannot value the education of her people too +highly. The development of all the talent within the province will in +the end prove her real worth, for from this source every blessing and +improvement must flow. The greatness of a nation can more truly be +estimated by the wisdom and intelligence of her people, than by the +mere amount of specie she may possess in her treasury. The money, under +the bad management of ignorant rulers, would add but little to the +well-being of the community, while the intelligence which could make a +smaller sum available in contributing to the general good, is in itself +an inexhaustible mine of wealth.</p> + +<p>If a few enlightened minds are able to add so much strength and +importance to the country to which they belong, how much greater must +that country become if all her people possessed this intelligence! How +impossible it would be to conquer a country, if she could rely upon the +united wisdom of an educated people to assist her in her hour of need! +The force of arms could never subdue a nation thus held together by the +strong hands of intellectual fellowship.</p> + +<p>To the wisdom of her educated men, Britain owes the present position she +holds among the nations. The power of mind has subdued all the natural +obstacles that impeded her course, and has placed her above all her +competitors. She did not owe her greatness to extent of territory. Look +at the position she occupies upon the map--a mere speck, when compared +with several European nations. It was not to her superior courage, great +as that is acknowledged to be; the French, the Germans, the Spaniards, +are as brave, as far as mere courage is concerned, are as ready to +attack and as slow to yield, as the lion-hearted king himself. No, +it is to the moral power of her educated classes that she owes her +superiority. It is more difficult to overcome mind than matter. To +contend with the former, is to contend with God himself, for all true +knowledge is derived from him; to contend with the latter, is to fight +with the grosser elements of the earth, which being corruptible in their +nature, are more easily overcome. From her educated men have sprung all +those wonderful discoveries in science, which have extended the commerce +of Great Britain, enlarged her capacity for usefulness, and rendered her +the general benefactress of mankind.</p> + +<p>If education has accomplished these miracles--for they would have been +regarded as such in a more remote period of the world's history--think +of what importance it is to Canada to bestow this inestimable gift upon +her children.</p> + +<p>Yet I should be sorry to see the sons of the poor emigrant wasting +their valuable time in acquiring Latin and Greek. A man may be highly +educated, may possess the most lofty and comprehensive mind, without +knowing one syllable of either. The best years of a boy's life are often +thrown away in acquiring the Latin language, which often proves of +little use to him in after life, and which, for the want of practice, +becomes to him a dead letter, as well as a dead language. Let the boy be +taught to think, to know the meaning thoroughly of what he learns, and, +by the right use of his reflective faculties, be enabled to communicate +the knowledge thus acquired to others. A comprehensive knowledge of the +arts and sciences, of history, geography, chemistry, and mathematics, +together with a deep and unbigoted belief in the great truths of +Christianity, would render a man or woman a highly intellectual and +rational companion, without going beyond the pale of plain English. +"Light! give me more light!" were the dying words of Goethe; and this +should be the constant prayer of all rational souls to the Father of +light. More crimes are committed through ignorance than through the +influence of bad and malignant passions. An ignorant man is incapable of +judging correctly, however anxious he may be to do so. He gropes in the +dark, like a blind man; and if he should happen to stumble on the right +path, it is more by accident than from any correct idea which has been +formed in his mind respecting it.</p> + +<p>The mind which once begins to feel a relish for acquiring knowledge is +not easily satisfied. The more it knows, the less it thinks of its own +acquirements, and the more anxious it becomes to arrive at the truth; +and finding that perfection is not a growth of earth, it carries its +earnest longings beyond this world, and seeks it in communion with the +Deity. If the young could once be fully persuaded that there was no +disgrace in labour, in honest, honourable poverty, but a deep and +lasting disgrace in ignorance and immorality, their education would be +conducted on the most enlightened plan, and produce the most beneficial +results.</p> + +<p>The poor man who could have recourse to a book for amusement, instead of +wasting a leisure hour in the barroom of a tavern, would be more likely +to promote the comfort and respectability of his family. Why should the +labourer be debarred from sharing with the rich the great world of the +past, and be able to rank amongst his best friends the distinguished men +of all creeds and countries, and to feel for these dead worthies (who, +thanks to the immortal art of printing, still live in their works) the +warmest gratitude and admiration? The very mention of some names awaken +in the mind the most lively emotion. We recall their beautiful thoughts +to memory, and repeat them with as much earnestness as though the dead +spake again through our lips.</p> + +<p>Of all the heaven-inspired inventions of man, there are none to which we +are so greatly indebted as to the art of printing. To it we shall yet +owe the emancipation of the larger portion of mankind from a state of +mental and physical slavery. What floods of light have dawned upon the +world since that silent orator, the press, set at liberty the imprisoned +thoughts of men, and poured the wealth of mind among the famishing sons +of earth! Formerly few could read, because manuscript books, the labours +of the pen, were sold at such an enormous price that only men of rank +or great wealth could afford to purchase them. The peasant, and the +landholder who employed him, were alike ignorant; they could not obtain +books, and therefore learning to read might well be considered in those +dark ages a waste of time. This profound ignorance gave rise to all +those superstitions which in the present enlightened age are regarded +with such astonishment by thinking minds.</p> + +<p>"How could sensible, good men, condemn poor old women to death for being +witches?" was a question once asked me by my nephew, a fine, intelligent +boy, of eight years of age.</p> + +<p>Now this boy had read a good deal, young as he was, and thought more, +and was wiser in his day and generation than these same pious bigots. +And why? The boy had read the works of more enlightened men, and, making +a right use of his reason, he felt convinced that these men were in +error (although he had been born and brought up in the backwoods of +Canada)--a fact which the great Mathew Hale was taught by bitter +experience.</p> + +<p>I have said more on this subject than I at first intended, but I feel +deeply impressed with the importance of it; and, though I confess +myself wholly inadequate to do it the justice it deserves, I hope the +observations I have made will attract the attention of my Canadian +readers, and lead them to study it more profoundly for themselves. +Thanks be to God! Canada is a free country; a land of plenty; a land +exempt from pauperism, burdensome taxation, and all the ills which +crush and finally sink in ruin older communities. While the vigour of +young life is yet hers, and she has before her the experience of all +other nations, it becomes an act of duty and real <i>patriotism</i> to +give to her children the best education that lies in her power.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>The Poet.</h4> +<p class="line">"Who can read the Poet's dream,</p> +<p class="line">Shadow forth his glorious theme,</p> +<p class="line">And in written language tell</p> +<p class="line">The workings of the potent spell,</p> +<p class="line">Whose mysterious tones impart</p> +<p class="line">Life and vigour to his heart?</p> +<p class="line">'Tis an emanation bright,</p> +<p class="line">Shooting from the fount of light;</p> +<p class="line">Flowing in upon the mind,</p> +<p class="line">Like sudden dayspring on the blind;</p> +<p class="line">Gilding with immortal dyes</p> +<p class="line">Scenes unknown to common eyes;</p> +<p class="line">Revealing to the mental sight</p> +<p class="line">Visions of untold delight.</p> +<p class="line">'Tis the key by Fancy brought,</p> +<p class="line">That opens up the world of thought;</p> +<p class="line">A sense of power, a pleasing madness,</p> +<p class="line">A hope in grief, a joy in sadness,</p> +<p class="line">A taste for beauty unalloyed,</p> +<p class="line">A love of nature never cloyed;</p> +<p class="line">The upward soaring of a soul</p> +<p class="line">Unfetter'd by the world's control,</p> +<p class="line">Onward, heavenward ever tending,</p> +<p class="line">Its essence with the Eternal blending;</p> +<p class="line">Till, from 'mortal coil' shook free,</p> +<p class="line">It shares the seraph's ecstacy."</p> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER IV<br /> Amusements</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Life hath its pleasures, stern Death hath its fears,</p> +<p class="line">Joy hath gay laughter, and Grief bitter tears;</p> +<p class="line">Rejoice with the one, nor shrink from the other,--</p> +<p class="line">Yon cloud hides the sun, and death is life's brother!</p> +<p class="line">As the beam to the day, so the shade to the night--</p> +<p class="line">Be certain that Heaven orders all for the right."</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>My dear reader, before we proceed further on our journey, it may be as +well to give you some idea of how the Canadian people in towns spend +their time. I will endeavour to describe to you the various sources from +whence they derive pleasure and amusement.</p> + +<p>In large cities, like Montreal and Toronto, the higher classes are as +refined and intellectual as ladies and gentlemen at home, and spend +their lives much in the same manner. Their houses abound in all the +elegancies and luxuries of life, and to step into their drawing-rooms +you would imagine yourself still in England. They drive handsome +carriages, and ride fine spirited horses; and if they are encumbered +with fewer domestic pests in the shape of pampered servants, they have, +in this respect, a decided advantage over their European friends. They +dress well and expensively, and are very particular to have their +clothes cut in the newest fashion. Men and women adopt the reigning mode +so universally, that they look all dressed alike. The moment a fashion +becomes at all obsolete, the articles of dress made to suit it are +discarded. In England, a lady may please herself in the choice of +colours, and in adopting as much of a fashion as suits her style of +person and taste, but in Canada they carry this imitation of the +fashions of the day to extremes. If green was the prevailing colour, +every lady would adopt it, whether it suited her complexion or no; and, +if she was ever so stout, that circumstance would not prevent her from +wearing half-a-dozen more skirts than was necessary, because that absurd +and unhealthy practice has for a long period prevailed. Music is taught +very generally. Though very few attain any great perfection in the +science, a great many perform well enough to gratify their friends, and +contribute to the enjoyment of a social evening. You will find a piano +in every weathy Canadian's house, and even in the dwellings of most of +the respectable mechanics.</p> + +<p>I never met with a Canadian girl who could not dance, and dance well. +It seems born in them, and it is their favourite amusement. Polkas, +waltzes, and quadrilles, are the dances most approved in their private +and public assemblies. The eight Scotch reel has, however, its admirers, +and most parties end with this lively romping dance.</p> + +<p>Balls given on public days, such as the Queen's birthday, and by +societies, such as the Freemasons', the Odd Fellows', and the Firemen's, +are composed of very mixed company, and the highest and lowest are +seen in the same room. They generally contrive to keep to their own +set--dancing alternately--rarely occupying the floor together. It is +surprising the goodwill and harmony that presides in these mixed +assemblies. As long as they are treated with civility, the lower classes +shew no lack of courtesy to the higher. To be a spectator at one of +these public balls is very amusing. The country girls carry themselves +with such an easy freedom, that it is quite entertaining to look at and +listen to them. At a freemasons' ball, some years ago, a very amusing +thing took place. A young handsome woman, still in her girlhood, had +brought her baby, which she carried with her into the ball-room. On +being asked to dance, she was rather puzzled what to do with the child; +but, seeing a young lawyer, one of the <i>elite</i> of the town, +standing with folded arms looking on, she ran across the room, and, +putting the baby into his arms, exclaimed--"You are not dancing, sir; +pray hold my baby for me, till the next quadrille is over." Away she +skipped back to her partner, and left the gentleman overwhelmed with +confusion, while the room shook with peals of laughter. Making the best +of it, he danced the baby to the music, and kept it in high good humour +till its mother returned.</p> + +<p>"I guess," she said, "that you are a married man?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," said he, returning the child, "and a mason."</p> + +<p>"Well, I thought as much any how, by the way you acted with the baby."</p> + +<p>"My conduct was not quite free from selfishness--I expect a reward."</p> + +<p>"As how?"</p> + +<p>"That you will give the baby to your husband, and dance the next set +with me."</p> + +<p>"With all my heart. Let us go a-head."</p> + +<p>If legs did not do their duty, it was no fault of their pretty owner, +for she danced with all her strength, greatly to the amusement of her +aristocratic partner.</p> + +<p>When we first came to Belleville, evening parties commenced at the +primitive and <i>rational</i> hour of six o'clock, but now invitations +are issued for eight; the company, however, seldom assemble before nine, +and those who wish to be very fashionable don't make their appearance +before ten. This is rather absurd in a country, but Folly, as well as +Wisdom, is justified of her children. Evening parties always include +dancing and music, while cards are provided for those gentlemen who +prefer whist to the society of the ladies. The evening generally closes +with a splendid supper, in which there is no lack of the good things +which the season affords. The ladies are always served first, the +gentlemen waiting upon them at supper; and they never sit down to the +table, when the company is large, until after the ladies have returned +to the drawing-room. This custom would not be very agreeable to some +English epicures, but it is an universal one with Canadian gentlemen, +whose politeness and attention to the other sex is one of the most +pleasing traits in their character.</p> + +<p>The opportunities of visiting the theatre occur very seldom, and only +can be enjoyed by those who reside in the <i>cities</i> of Canada. The +young men of the place sometimes get up an amateur performance, in which +they act the part of both ladies and gentlemen, greatly to the delight +and amusement of their audience. I must say that I have enjoyed a play +in one of these private houses more than ever I did at Drury Lane or +Covent Garden. The lads act with their whole hearts, and I have seen +them shed real tears over the sorrows they were called upon to pourtray. +They did not feign--they really felt the part. Of course, there was +little artistic skill, but a good deal of truth and nature.</p> + +<p>In the summer, riding and boating parties take the place of dancing. +These are always regular picnics, each party contributing their share of +eatables and drinkables to the general stock. They commonly select some +pretty island in the bay, or shady retired spot on the main land, for +the general rendezvous, where they light a fire, boil their kettles, and +cook the vegetables to eat with their cold prog, which usually consists +of hams, fowls, meat pies, cold joints of meat, and abundance of tarts +and cakes, while the luxury of ice is conveyed in a blanket at the +bottom of one of the boats.</p> + +<p>These water parties are very delightful. The ladies stroll about and +gather wild fruit and flowers, while the gentlemen fish. The weather +at that season of the year is sure to be fine, and the water scenery +beautiful in the extreme. Those who possess good voices sing, and the +young folks dance on the greensward. A day spent thus happily with +nature in her green domain, is one of pure and innocent enjoyment. There +is always a reunion, in the evening, of the party, at the house of one +of the married ladies who were present at the picnic.</p> + +<p>In a riding party, some place is selected in the country, and those +who are invited meet at a fixed hour on the appointed ground. The +Oakhill pond, near the village of Rawdon, and about sixteen miles from +Belleville, is a very favourite spot, and is one of singular beauty. +This Oakhill pond is a small, clear, and very deep lake, on the summit +of a high hill. It is about two miles in circumference, and being +almost circular, must nearly be as broad as it is long. The waters are +intensely blue, the back-ground is filled up with groves of dark pine, +while the woods in front are composed of the dwarf oaks and firs, +which are generally found on these table lands, interspersed with low +bushes--the sandy soil abounding with every Canadian variety of wild +fruits and flowers.</p> + +<p>There is an excellent plank road all the way from Belleville to Rawdon. +The Oakhills lie a little to the left, and you approach them by a very +steep ascent, from the summit of which you obtain as fine a prospect +as I have seen in this part of Canada. A vast country lies stretched +beneath your feet, and you look down upon an immense forest, whose +tree-tops, moved by the wind, cause it to undulate like a green ocean. +From this spot you may trace the four windings of the bay, to its +junction with the blue waters of the Ontario. The last time I gazed from +the top of this hill a thunder-storm was frowning over the woods, and +the dense black clouds gave an awful grandeur to the noble picture.</p> + +<p>The village of Rawdon lies on the other side of this table land, quite +in a valley. A bright, brisk little stream runs through it, and turns +several large mills. It is a very pretty rural place, and is fast rising +towards the dignity of a town. When we first came to Belleville, the +spot on which Rawdon now stands belonged principally, if not altogether, +to an enterprising Orkney man, Edward Fidlar, Esq., to whose energy and +industry it mainly owes its existence. Mr. Fidlar might truly be termed +the father of the village. A witty friend suggested, that instead of +Rawdon, it ought more properly to be called "Fidlar's Green."</p> + +<p>There is a clean country inn just at the foot of the long hill leading +to the Oakhill pond, kept by a respectable widow-woman of the name of +Fairman. If the pic-nic party does not wish to be troubled with carrying +baskets of provisions so far, they send word to Mrs. Fairman the day +previous, to prepare dinner for so many guests. This she always does in +the best possible country style, at the moderate charge of half-a-dollar +per head.</p> + +<p>A dinner in the country in Canada, taken at the house of some +substantial yeoman, is a very different affair from a dinner in the +town. The table literally groans with good cheer; and you cannot offer a +greater affront to your hostess, than to eat sparingly of the dainties +set before you.</p> + +<p>They like to have several days' warning of your intended visit, that +they may go "<i>to trouble</i>," as they most truly term making such +magnificent preparations for a few guests. I have sat down to a table of +this kind in the country, with only Mr. M. and myself as guests, and we +have been served with a dinner that would have amply fed twenty people. +Fowls of several sorts, ham, and joints of roast and boiled meat, +besides quantities of pies, puddings, custards, and cakes. Cheese is +invariably offered to you with apple pie; and several little, glass +dishes are ranged round your plate, for preserves, honey, and apple +sauce, which latter dainty is never wanting at a country feast. The +mistress of the house constantly presses you to partake of all these +things, and sometimes the accumulation of rich food on one plate, which +it is impossible for you to consume, is everything but agreeable.</p> + +<p>Two ladies, friends of mine, went to spend the day at one of these too +hospitable entertainers. The weather was intensely hot. They had driven +a long way in the sun, and both ladies had a headache, and very little +appetite in consequence. The mistress of the house went "<i>to trouble</i>," +and prepared a great feast for her guests; but, finding that they +partook very sparingly of her good cheer, her pride was greatly hurt, +and rising suddenly from her seat, and turning to them with a stern +brow, she exclaimed,--</p> + +<p>"I should like to know what ails my victuals, that you don't choose +to eat."</p> + +<p>The poor ladies explained the reason of their appetites having failed +them; but they found it a difficult matter to soothe their irritated +hostess, who declared that she would never go "<i>to trouble</i>" for them +again. It is of no use arguing against this amiable weakness, for as +eating to uneducated people is one of the greatest enjoyments of life, +they cannot imagine how they could make you more comfortable, by +offering you less food, and of a more simple kind.</p> + +<p>Large farmers in an old cleared country live remarkably well, and enjoy +within themselves all the substantial comforts of life. Many of them +keep carriages, and drive splendid horses. The contrast between the pork +and potato diet, (and sometimes of potatoes alone without the pork), +in the backwoods, is really striking. Before a gentleman from the old +country concludes to settle in the bush, let him first visit these +comfortable abodes of peace and plenty.</p> + +<p>The Hon. R. B---, when canvassing the county, paid a round of visits +to his principal political supporters, and they literally almost killed +him with kindness. Every house provided a feast in honour of their +distinguished guest, and he was obliged to eat at all.</p> + +<p>Coming to spend a quiet evening at our house, the first words he uttered +were--"If you have any regard for me, Mrs. M---, pray don't ask me to +eat. I am sick of the sight of food."</p> + +<p>I can well imagine the amount of "<i>trouble</i>" each good wife had +taken upon herself on this great occasion.</p> + +<p>One of the most popular public exhibitions is the circus, a sort of +travelling Astley's theatre, which belongs to a company in New York. +This show visits all the large towns, once during the summer season. The +performances consists of feats of horsemanship, gymnastics, dancing on +the tight and slack rope, and wonderful feats of agility and strength; +and to those who have taste and nerve enough to admire such sights, it +possesses great attractions. The company is a large one, often exceeding +forty persons; it is provided with good performers, and an excellent +brass band. The arrival of the circus is commonly announced several +weeks before it makes its actual <i>entrée</i>, in the public papers; +and large handbills are posted up in the taverns, containing coarse +woodcuts of the most exciting scenes in the performance. These ugly +pictures draw round them crowds of little boys, who know the whole of +the programme by heart, long before the caravans containing the tents +and scenery arrive. Hundreds of these little chaps are up before +day-break on the expected morning of the show, and walk out to +Shannonville, a distance of nine miles, to meet it.</p> + +<p>However the farmers may grumble over bad times and low prices, the +circus never lacks its quantum of visitors; and there are plenty of +half-dollars to be had to pay for tickets for themselves and their +families.</p> + +<p>The Indians are particularly fond of this exhibition, and the town is +always full of them the day the circus comes in.</p> + +<p>A large tent is pitched on the open space between the Scotch church and +the old hospital, big enough to contain at least a thousand people, +besides a wide area for the performance and the pit. An amphitheatre of +seats rise tier above tier, to within a few feet of the eaves of the +tent, for the accommodation of the spectators; and the whole space is +lighted by a large chandelier, composed of tin holders, filled with very +bad, greasy, tallow candles, that in the close crowded place emit a very +disagreeable odour.</p> + +<p>The show of horses and feats of horsemanship are always well worth +seeing, but the rest grows very tiresome on frequent repetition. Persons +must be very fond of this sort of thing who can twice visit the circus, +as year after year the clown repeats the same stale jests, and shows up +the same style of performers.</p> + +<p>The last time I went, in order to please my youngest son, I was more +amused by the antics of a man who carried about bull's-eyes and +lemonade, than by any of the actors. Whenever he offered his tray of +sweets to the ladies, it was with such an affectedly graceful bend; and +throwing into his voice the utmost persuasion, he contrived to glance +down on the bulls'-eyes with half an eye, and to gaze up at the ladies +he addressed with all that remained of the powers of vision, exclaiming, +with his hand on his heart,--"How sweet they a-r-e!" combining a +recommendation of his bulls'-eyes with a compliment to the fair sex.</p> + +<p>The show opens at two o'clock, P.M., and again at half-past seven in the +evening. The people from a distance, and the young children, visit the +exciting scene during the day; the town's-people at night, as it is less +crowded, cooler, and the company more select. Persons of all ranks are +there; and the variety of faces and characters that nature exhibits +gratis, are far more amusing to watch than the feats of the Athletes.</p> + +<p>Then there is Barnham's travelling menagerie of wild animals, and of +tame darkie melodists, who occupy a tent by themselves, and a <i>white +nigger</i> whom the boys look upon with the same wonder they would do at a +white rat or mouse. Everybody goes to see the wild beasts, and to poke +fun at the elephants. One man who, born and brought up in the Backwoods, +had never seen an elephant before, nor even a picture of one, ran half +frightened home to his master, exclaiming as he bolted into the room, +"Oh, sir! sir! you must let the childer go to the munjery. Shure there's +six huge critters to be seen, with no eyes, and a tail before and +behind."</p> + +<p>The celebrated General Tom Thumb paid the town a visit last summer. +His presence was hailed with enthusiastic delight, and people crowded +from the most remote settlements to gaze upon the tiny man. One poor +Irishwoman insisted "that he was not a human crathur, but a poor fairy +changeling, and that he would vanish away some day, and never be heard +of again." Signor Blitz, the great conjuror, occasionally pays us a +visit, but his visits are like angel visits, few and far between. His +performance never fails in filling the large room in the court-house for +several successive nights, and his own purse. Then we have lecturers +from the United States on all subjects, who commonly content themselves +with hiring the room belonging to the Mechanics' Institute, where +they hold forth, for the moderate sum of a York shilling a head, on +mesmerism, phrenology, biology, phonography, spiritual communications, +etc.</p> + +<p>These wandering lectures are often very well attended, and their +performance is highly entertaining. Imagine a tall, thin, bearded +American, exhibiting himself at a small wooden desk between two dingy +tallow candles, and holding forth in the genuine nasal twang on these +half-supernatural sciences on which so much is advanced, and of which so +little is at present understood. Our lecturer, however, expresses no +doubts upon the subject of which he treats. He proves on the persons of +his audience the truth of phrenology, biology, and mesmerism, and the +individuals he pitches upon to illustrate his facts perform their parts +remarkably well, and often leave the spectators in a maze of doubt, +astonishment, and admiration.</p> + +<p>I remember, about three years ago, going with my husband to hear the +lecturers of a person who called himself Professor R---. He had been +lecturing for some nights running at the Mechanics' Institute for +nothing; and had drawn together a great number of persons to hear him, +and witness the strange things he effected by mesmerism on the persons +of such of the audience, who wished to test his skill. This would +have been but a poor way of getting his living. But these American +adventurers never give their time and labour for nothing. He obtained +two dollars for examining a head phrenologically, and drawing out a +chart; and as his lectures seldom closed without securing him a great +many heads for inspection, our disinterested professor contrived to +pocket a great deal of money, and to find his cheap lectures an +uncommonly profitable speculation.</p> + +<p>We had heard a great deal of his curing a blacksmith of <i>tic-douloureux</i> +by mesmerizing him. The blacksmith, though a big, burly man, had turned +out an admirable clairvoyant, and by touching particular bumps in his +cranium, the professor could make him sing, dance, and fight all in a +breath, or transport him to California, and set him to picking gold. +I was very curious to witness this man's conduct under his alleged +mesmeric state, and went accordingly. After a long lecture, during which +the professor put into a deep sleep a Kentuckian giant, who travelled +with him, the blacksmith was called upon to satisfy the curiosity of the +spectators. I happened to sit near this individual, and as he rose to +comply with the vociferous demands of the audience, I shall never forget +the sidelong knowing glance he cast across the bench to a friend of +his own; it was, without exception, the most intelligent telegraphic +despatch that it was possible for one human eye to convey to another, +and said more plainly than words could--"You shall see how I can humbug +them all." That look opened my eyes completely to the farce that was +acting before me, and entering into the spirit of the scene, I must +own that I enjoyed it amazingly. The blacksmith was mesmerised by a +<i>look</i> alone, and for half an hour went on in a most funny manner, +keeping the spectators with their eyes open, and in convulsions of +laughter. After a while, the professor left him to enjoy his mesmeric +nap, and chose another subject, in the person of a man who had lectured +a few nights before on the science of mnemonics, and had been +disappointed in a very scanty attendance.</p> + +<p>After a decent time had elapsed, the new subject yielded very easily +to the professor's magic passes, and fell into a profound sleep. The +mesmerizer then led him, with his eyes shut, to the front of the stage, +and pointed out to the spectators the phrenological development of +his head; he then touched the bump of language, and set the seeming +automaton talking. But here the professor was caught in his own trap. +After once setting him going, he of the mnemonics refused to hold his +tongue until he had given, to his weary listeners, the whole lecture +he had delivered a few nights before. He pranced to and fro on the +platform, declaiming in the most pedantic voice, and kept us for one +blessed hour before he would suffer the professor to deprive him of the +unexpected opportunity thus afforded him of being heard. It was a droll +scene: the sly blacksmith in a profound fox's sleep--the declaimer +pretending to be asleep, and wide awake all the time--and the thin, +long-faced American, too wise to betray his colleagues, but evidently +annoyed beyond measure at the trick they had played him.</p> + +<p>I once went to hear a lecture at the Mechanics' Institute, delivered +by a very eccentric person, who styled himself the Hon. James Spencer +Lidstone--<i>the Great Orator of the West</i>. My astonishment may be +guessed better than described, when he gave out for the subject of his +lecture--"Great women, from Eve down to Mrs. M---." Not wishing to make +myself a laughing-stock, to a pretty numerous audience, I left the room. +Going up the street next morning, a venerable white-haired old man ran +after me, and pulling me by the shawl, said, "Mrs. M---, why did you +leave us last night? He did you justice--indeed he did. You should have +stayed and heard all the fine things he said of you."</p> + +<p>Besides scientific lecturers, Canada is visited by singers and musicians +of every country, and of every age and sex--from the celebrated Jenny +Lind, and the once celebrated Braham, down to pretenders who can neither +sing nor play, worth paying a York shilling to hear. Some of these +wandering musicians play with considerable skill, and are persons of +talent. Their life is one of strange vicissitudes and adventure, and +they have an opportunity of making the acquaintance of many odd +characters. In illustration of this, I will give you a few of the +trials of a travelling musician, which I took down from the dictation +of a young friend, since dead, who earned a precarious living by his +profession. He had the faculty of telling his adventures without +the power of committing them to paper; and, from the simplicity and +truthfulness of his character, I have no doubt of the variety of all the +amusing anecdotes he told. But he shall speak for himself in the next +chapter.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>A May-Day Carol.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"There's not a little bird that wings</p> +<p class="line-in2">Its airy flight on high,</p> +<p class="line">In forest bowers, that sweetly sings</p> +<p class="line-in2">So blithe in spring as I.</p> +<p class="line">I love the fields, the budding flowers,</p> +<p class="line-in2">The trees and gushing streams;</p> +<p class="line">I bathe my brow in balmy showers,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And bask in sunny beams.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The wanton wind that fans my cheek,</p> +<p class="line-in2">In fancy has a voice,</p> +<p class="line">In thrilling tones that gently speak--</p> +<p class="line-in2">Rejoice with me, rejoice!</p> +<p class="line">The bursting of the ocean-floods,</p> +<p class="line-in2">The silver tinkling rills,</p> +<p class="line">The whispering of the waving woods,</p> +<p class="line-in2">My inmost bosom fills.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The moss for me a carpet weaves</p> +<p class="line-in2">Of patterns rich and rare;</p> +<p class="line">And meekly through her sheltering leaves</p> +<p class="line-in2">The violet nestles there.</p> +<p class="line">The violet!--oh, what tales of love,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Of youth's sweet spring are thine!</p> +<p class="line">And lovers still in field and grove,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Of thee will chaplets twine.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Mine are the treasures Nature strews</p> +<p class="line-in2">With lavish hand around;</p> +<p class="line">My precious gems are sparkling dews,</p> +<p class="line-in2">My wealth the verdant ground.</p> +<p class="line">Mine are the songs that freely gush</p> +<p class="line-in2">From hedge, and bush, and tree;</p> +<p class="line">The soaring lark and speckled thrush</p> +<p class="line-in2">Discourse rich melody.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"A cloud comes floating o'er the sun,</p> +<p class="line-in2">The woods' green glories fade;</p> +<p class="line">But hark! the blackbird has begun</p> +<p class="line-in2">His wild lay in the shade.</p> +<p class="line">He hails with joy the threaten'd shower,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And plumes his glossy wing;</p> +<p class="line">While pattering on his leafy bower,</p> +<p class="line-in2">I hear the big drops ring.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Slowly at first, but quicker now,</p> +<p class="line-in2">The rushing rain descends;</p> +<p class="line">And to each spray and leafy bough</p> +<p class="line-in2">A crown of diamonds lends.</p> +<p class="line">Oh, what a splendid sight appears!</p> +<p class="line-in2">The sun bursts forth again;</p> +<p class="line">And, smiling through sweet Nature's tears,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Lights up the hill and plain.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"And tears are trembling in my eyes,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Tears of intense delight;</p> +<p class="line">Whilst gazing upward to the skies,</p> +<p class="line-in2">My heart o'erflows my sight.</p> +<p class="line">Great God of nature! may thy grace</p> +<p class="line-in2">Pervade my inmost soul;</p> +<p class="line">And in her beauties may I trace</p> +<p class="line-in2">The love that form'd the whole!"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER V<br /> Trials of a Travelling Musician</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"The man that hath not music in his soul."</p> +</div> + +<p>I will say no more. The quotation, though but too true, I is too well +known; but it will serve as the best illustration I can give to the +various annoyances which beset the path of him who is musically +inclined, and whose soul is in unison with sweet sounds. This was my +case. I loved music with all my heart and soul, and in order to give +myself wholly up to my passion, and claim a sort of moral right to enjoy +it, I made it a profession.</p> + +<p>Few people have a better opportunity of becoming acquainted with the +world than the travelling musician; yet such is the absorbing nature of +his calling, that few make use of it less. His nature is open, easy, and +unsuspecting; pleased with his profession, he hopes always to convey the +same pleasure to his hearers; and though doubts will sometimes cross his +mind, and the fear of ridicule make him awkward and nervous, yet, upon +the whole, he is generally sure of making a favourable impression on the +simple-hearted and generous among his hearers.</p> + +<p>The musician moves among his fellow-men as a sort of privileged person; +for who ever suspects him of being a rogue? His first attempt to deceive +would defeat its own object, and prove him to be a mere pretender. His +hand and voice must answer for his skill, and form the only true test of +his abilities. If tuneless and bad, the public will not fail to condemn +him.</p> + +<p>The adventures of the troubadours of old, if they were more full of +sentiment and romance than the every-day occurrences that beset the path +of the modern minstrel, were not more replete with odd chances and +ludicrous incident. Take the following for an example of the many droll +things which have happened to me during my travels.</p> + +<p>In the summer of 1846 I was making a professional tour through the +United States, and had advertised a concert for the ensuing evening at +the small town of ---, and was busy making the necessary arrangements, +when I was suddenly accosted, as I left the hotel, by a tall, thin, +lack-a-daisical looking man, of a most unmusical and unprepossessing +appearance: "How-do-ye-do? I'm highly tickled to see you. I s'pose you +are going to give an extra sing here--ain't you?"</p> + +<p>"Yes; I intend giving a concert here this evening."</p> + +<p>"Hem! How much dew you ax to come in? That is--I want to say--what are +you goin' to chearge a ticket?"</p> + +<p>"Half a dollar--the usual price."</p> + +<p>"How?" inclining his ear towards me, as if he doubted the soundness of +the organ.</p> + +<p>"Half a dollar?" repeated I, carelessly.</p> + +<p>"Tis tew much. You had better chearge twenty-five cents. If you dew, +you'll have a pretty good house. If you make it twelve and a half cents, +you'll have a <i>smasher</i>. If, mister, you'll lower that agin to six and a +quarter cents, you'll have to take a field,--there ain't a house would +hold 'em." After a pause, scratching his head, and shuffling with his +feet, "I s'pose you ginnerally give the profession tickets?"</p> + +<p>"Sometimes."</p> + +<p>"I'm a <i>leetle</i> in your line myself. Although I'm a shoe-maker by +trade, I leads the first Presbyterian choir upon the hill. I should like +to have you come up, if you stay long enough."</p> + +<p>"As that is the case, perhaps you can tell me if I am likely to have a +good house to-night?"</p> + +<p>"I kind a reckon as how you will; that is, if you don't chearge tew +much."</p> + +<p>"Where shall I get the best room?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess, you had better try the old meetin' house."</p> + +<p>"Thank you. Allow me, sir, to present you with a ticket." I now thought +that I had got rid of him, and amply paid him for the information I had +received. The ticket was for a single admission. He took it, turned it +slowly round, held it close to his eyes, spelt it carefully over, and +then stared at me. "What next?" thought I.</p> + +<p>"There's my wife. Well--I s'pose she'd like to come in."</p> + +<p>"You wish me to give you a double ticket?"</p> + +<p>"I don't care if you dew," again turning the new ticket in his hand; +and, scratching his head more earnestly, he said, "I've one of the +smartest boys you ever seed; he's a fust-rate ear for music; he can +whistle any tune he hears right straight off. Then there's my wife's +sister a-staying with us jist now; she's very fond of music tew."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," said I, losing all patience, "you would prefer a family +ticket?"</p> + +<p>"Well; I'd be obliged. It don't cost you any, mister; and if we don't +use it, I'll return it to-morrow."</p> + +<p>The stranger left me, and I saw no more of him, until I spied him in the +concert-room, with a small family of ten or twelve. Presently, another +man and a dog arrived. Says he to the doorkeeper, "What's a-goin on +here?"</p> + +<p>"It's a concert--admission, half-a-dollar."</p> + +<p>"I'm not a-goin' to give half-a-dollar to go in here. I hire a pew in +this here church by the year, and I've a right to go in whenever the +door's open." So in he went with his dog.</p> + +<p>The evening turned out very wet, and these people happened to form all +my audience; and as I did not feel at all inclined to sing for their +especial benefit, I returned to my lodgings. I learned from my +doorkeeper the next morning, that my friends waited for an hour and a +half for my reappearance, which could not reasonably have been expected +under existing circumstances.</p> + +<p>I thought I had got rid of the musical shoemaker for ever, but no such +good luck. Before I was out of my bed, he paid me a visit.</p> + +<p>"You will excuse my calling so early," says he, "but I was anxious to +see you before you left the town."</p> + +<p>Wishing him at the bottom of the Mississippi, I put on my dressing gown, +and slipped from my bed, whilst he continued his introductory address.</p> + +<p>"I was very sorry that you had not a better attendance last night; and +I s'pose that accounted for your leaving us as you did. We were all +kinder disappointed. You'd have had a better house, only the people +thought there was a <i>leetle</i> humbug about this," and he handed me one +of my programmes.</p> + +<p>It is well known to most of my readers, that in writing these bills the +name of the composer generally follows the song, particularly in any +very popular compositions, such as</p> + +<pre> + Grand Introduction to Pianoforte .............. HENRY HERTZ. + Life on the Ocean Wave ........................ HENRY RUSSELL. + Old English Gentleman ......................... Melody by MART. LUTHER. +</pre> + +<p>"Humbug!" said I, attempting to take the bill, in order to see that no +mistake had originated in the printing, but my tormentor held it fast. +"Look," said he; "Now where is Henry Hertz; and Henry Russell, where is +he? And the Old English Gentleman, Martin Luther, what has become of +him? The folks said that he was dead, but I didn't believe that, for I +didn't think that you would have had the face to put his name in your +bill if he was."</p> + +<p>Thus ended my acquaintance with the enlightened shoemaker of the +Mississippi. I was travelling in one of the western canal boats the same +summer, and was sauntering to and fro upon the deck, admiring the beauty +of the country through which we were passing, when I observed a very +tall, thin-laced, sharp looking man, regarding me with very fixed +attention. Not knowing who or what he was, I was at last a little +annoyed by the pertinacity of this steady stare. It was evident that he +meditated an attack upon me in some shape or other. Suddenly he came up +to me, and extending his hand, exclaimed,--</p> + +<p>"Why, Mister H---, is this you? I have not seen you since you gave your +<i>consort</i> at N---; it seems a tarnation long while ago. I thought, +perhaps, you had got blowed up in one of those exploded steam-boats. +But here you are as large as life--and that's not over large neither, +(glancing at the slight dimensions of my figure,) and as ready to raise +the wind as ever. I am highly gratified to meet with you, as I have one +of the greatest songs you ever he'rd to show you. If you can but set it +to music, and sing it in New York city, it will immortalize you, and +immortalize me tew."</p> + +<p>Amused at the earnestness with which the fellow spoke, I inquired the +subject of his song.</p> + +<p>"Oh, 'tis des-crip-tive; 'tis tre-men-dous. It will make a sensation all +over the Union."</p> + +<p>"But what is it about?--Have you got it with you?"</p> + +<p>"No--no, mister; I never puts these things down on paper, lest other +folk should find them and steal them. But I'll give you some <i>idee</i> +of what it is. Look you, mister. I was going from Syracuse to Rochester, +on the canal-boat. We met on our way a tre-men-dous storm. The wind +blew, and the rain came down like old sixty, and everything looked as +black as my hat; and the passengers got scared and wanted to get off, +but the captain sung out, 'Whew--let 'em go, Jem!' and away we went at +the rate of tew miles an hour, and they could not stop. By and by we +struck a rock, and down we went."</p> + +<p>"Indeed!" said I, "that's very unusual in a canal-boat; were any lives +lost?"</p> + +<p>"No, but we were all dreadfully sceared and covered with mud. I sat down +by the <i>en-gine</i> till I got dry, and then I wrote my pome. I will repeat +what I can to you, and what I can't I will write right off when I gets +hum.--Hold on--hold on--" he continued, beating his forehead with the +back of his hand, as if to awaken the powers of memory--"I have it +now--I have it now,--'tis tre-men-dous--"</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Oh Lord, who know'st the wants of men,</p> +<p class="line">Guide my hand, and guide my pen,</p> +<p class="line">And help me bring the truth to light,</p> +<p class="line">Of that dread scene and awful night,</p> +<p class="line-in16">Ri, tu, ri, tu, ri, tu.</p> +<p class="line">There was Mister Cadoga in years a-bud,</p> +<p class="line">Was found next morning in tew feet mud;</p> +<p class="line">He strove--he strove--but all in vain,</p> +<p class="line">The more he got up, he fell down again.</p> +<p class="line-in16">Ri, tu, ri, tu, ri, tu."</p> +</div> + +<p>The poet paused for a moment to gain breath, evidently overcome by +the recollection of the awful scene. "Is not that bee-u-tiful?" he +exclaimed. "What a fine effect you could give to that on the pee-a-ne, +humouring the keys to imitate his squabbling about in the mud. Let me +tell you, mister, it would beat Russell's 'Ship on Fire' all hollow."</p> + +<p>Wiping the perspiration from his face, he recommenced--</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"The passengers rushed unto the spot,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Together with the crew;</p> +<p class="line">We got him safe out of the mud,</p> +<p class="line-in2">But he had lost his shoe.</p> +<p class="line-in16">Ri, tu, ri, tu, ri, tu."</p> +</div> + +<p>I could not listen to another line of this sublime effusion, the +passengers who had gathered around us drowning his nasal drawl in a +complete roar of laughter. Seeing that I was as much infected as the +rest, the poet turned to me, with an air of offended dignity,--</p> + +<p>"I don't take the trouble, mister, to repeat any more of my <i>pomes</i> to +you; nor do I take it kind at all, your laughing at me in that ere way. +But the truth is, you can't comprehend nor appreciate anything that is +sublime, or out of the common way. Besides, I don't think you could set +it to music; it is not in you, and you can't fix it no-how."</p> + +<p>This singular address renewed our mirth; and, finding myself unable to +control my inclination to laugh, and not wishing to hurt his feelings, I +was about to leave him, when the man at the helm sung out, "Bridge!"</p> + +<p>The passengers lowered their heads to ensure their safety--all but my +friend the poet, who was too much excited to notice the signal before +he came in contact with the bridge, which sent him sprawling down the +gangway. He picked himself up, clambered up the stairs, and began +striding up and down the deck at a tremendous rate, casting from time to +time indignant glances at me.</p> + +<p>I thought, for my part, that the man was not in his right senses, or +that the blow he had received had so dulled his bump of caution, that he +could no longer take care of himself; for the next moment he stumbled +over a little child, and would have been hurt severely if I had not +broken his fall, by catching his arm before he again measured his length +on the deck. My timely assistance mollified his anger, and he once more +became friendly and confidential.</p> + +<p>"Here, take this piece of poetry, Mister H---, and see if you can set <i>it</i> +to music. Mind you, it is none of mine; but though not <i>quite</i> so good, it +is som'at in my style. I cut it out of a newspaper down East. You are +welcome to it," he continued, with a patronizing nod, "that is, if you +are able to do justice to the subject."</p> + +<p>I took the piece of dirty crumpled newspaper from his hand; and, struck +with the droll quizzing humour of the lines, I have preserved them ever +since. As I have never seen them before or since, I will give you them +here.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>To The Falls Of Niagara.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"I wonder how long you've been roarin'</p> +<p class="line-in2">At this infernal rate;</p> +<p class="line">I wonder if all you've been pourin'</p> +<p class="line-in2">Could be cipher'd on a slate.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"I wonder how such a thunderin' sounded</p> +<p class="line-in2">When all New York was woods;</p> +<p class="line">'Spose likely some Injins have been drownded,</p> +<p class="line-in2">When the rains have raised your floods.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"I wonder if wild stags and buffaloes</p> +<p class="line-in2">Have stood where now I stand;</p> +<p class="line">Well--s'pose being scared at first, they stubb'd their toes;</p> +<p class="line-in2">I wonder where they'd land.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"I wonder if that rainbow has been shinin'</p> +<p class="line-in2">Since sun-rise at creation;</p> +<p class="line">And this waterfall been underminin'</p> +<p class="line-in2">With constant spatteration.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"That Moses never mention'd ye--I've wonder'd,</p> +<p class="line-in2">While other things describin';</p> +<p class="line">My conscience!--how ye must have foam'd and thunder'd</p> +<p class="line-in2">When the deluge was subsidin'!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"My thoughts are strange, magnificent, and deep,</p> +<p class="line-in2">When I look down on thee;--</p> +<p class="line">Oh, what a glorious place for washing sheep</p> +<p class="line-in2">Niagara would be!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"And oh, what a tremendous water power</p> +<p class="line-in2">Is wash'd over its edge;</p> +<p class="line">One man might furnish all the world with flour,</p> +<p class="line-in2">With a single privilege.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"I wonder how many times the lakes have all</p> +<p class="line-in2">Been emptied over here;</p> +<p class="line">Why Clinton did not feed the grand Canal</p> +<p class="line-in2">Up here--I think is queer.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The thoughts are very strange that crowd my brain,</p> +<p class="line-in2">When I look up to thee;</p> +<p class="line">Such thoughts I never expect to have again,</p> +<p class="line-in2">To all eternity."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p>After reading the lines, I begged my friend to excuse me, as I wanted +to go below and take a nap. I had not been long in the cabin before he +followed me. To get rid of him I pretended to be asleep. After passing +me two or three times, and leaning over me in the most inquisitive +manner, until his long nose nearly went into my eye, and humming a +bow-wow tune in my ear to ascertain if I were really napping, he turned +from me with a dissatisfied grunt, flung himself into a settee, and not +long after was puffing and blowing like a porpoise. I was glad of this +opportunity to go on deck again, and "I left him alone in his glory." +But, while I was congratulating myself on my good fortune, I found him +once more at my side.</p> + +<p>Good heavens! how I wished him at the bottom of the canal, when he +commenced telling me some <i>awful</i> dream he had had. I was too much +annoyed at being pestered with his company to listen to him, a +circumstance I now rather regret, for had his dreams been equal to +his poetry, they certainly must have possessed the rare merit of +originality; and I could have gratified my readers with something +entirely out of the common way.</p> + +<p>Turning abruptly from him, I entered into conversation with another +gentleman, and quite forgot my eccentric friend until I retired for the +night, when I found him waiting for me in the cabin.</p> + +<p>"Ho, ho, mister,--is that you? I was afear'd we had put you ashore. +What berth are you goin' to take?"</p> + +<p>I pointed to No. 4.</p> + +<p>"Then," said he, "would you have any objection to my locating in the +one above you, as I feel a <i>leetle afear'd?</i> It is so awful dark +out-doors, and the clouds look tre-mend-ous black, as if they'd be +a-pourin' all night. The reason why I prefer the upper berth is this," +he continued confidentially; "if we should fall in with a storm, and all +go to the bottom, I should have a better chance of saving myself. But +mind you, if she should sink I will give you half of my berth, if you'll +come up."</p> + +<p>I thanked him for his offer, and not being at all apprehensive, I told +him that I preferred staying where I was. Soon after I retired, hoping +to sleep, but I had not calculated on the powers of annoyance possessed +by my quondam friend. I had just laid myself comfortably down, when I +felt one of his huge feet on the side of my berth. Looking out, I espied +him crawling up on all-fours to his place of security for the night. His +head had scarcely touched the pillow before he commenced telling me some +long yarn; but I begged him, in no very gentle tone, to hold on till the +morning, as I had a very severe headache, and wanted to go to sleep.</p> + +<p>I had fallen into a sort of doze, when I thought I heard some one +talking in a low voice close to my ear. I started into a sitting +posture, and listened a moment. It was pitch dark; I could see nothing. +I soon, however, discovered that the mysterious sounds proceeded from +the berth above me. It was my friend reciting, either for my amusement +or his own, the poem he had favoured me with in the morning. He was +apparently nearly asleep, and he drawled the half-uttered sentences +through his nose in the most ludicrous manner. He was recapitulating +the disastrous condition of Mr. Cadoga:--</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"There was Mister Ca-do-ga--in years a-bud--</p> +<p class="line">Next morning--tew--feet--mud--</p> +<p class="line">He strove--he--but--in vain;</p> +<p class="line">The more he fell--down--he got up--a-g-a-in.</p> +<p class="line-in23">Ri--tu--ri--tu."</p> +</div> + +<p>Here followed a tremendous snore, and I burst into a prolonged fit of +laughter, which fortunately did not put a stop to the sonorous bass of +my companion overhead, whose snoring I considered far more tolerable +than his conversation.</p> + +<p>Just at this moment the boat struck the bank, which it frequently does +of a very dark night, which gave the vessel such a shock, that it broke +the cords that secured the poet's bed to the beam above, and down he +came, head foremost, to the floor. This accident occasioned me no small +discomfort, as he nearly took my berth with him. It was fortunate for me +that I was awake, or he might have killed me in his descent; as it was, +I had only time to throw myself back, when he rushed past me with the +speed of an avalanche, carrying bed and bed-clothes with him in one +confused heap; and there he lay upon the floor, rolling and roaring like +some wild beast caught in a net.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! oh, dear! I wonder where I is; what a tre-men-dous storm--what +a dreadful night--not a soul can be saved,--I knew it--I dreampt it all. +Oh Lord! we shall all go to the bottom, and find eternity there--Captain +captain--where be we?"</p> + +<p>Here a child belonging to one of the passengers, awakened by his +bellowing, began to cry.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear! Some one else sinking.--Captain--captain--confound him! +I s'pose he's drownded, like the rest. Thank heaven! here's something to +hold on to, to keep me from sinking;" and, clutching at the table in the +dark, he upset it, and broke the large lamp that had been left upon it. +Down came the broken glass upon him in a shower which, doubtless, he +took for the waves breaking over him, for he raised such a clatter with +his hands and feet, and uttered such doleful screams, that the +passengers started simultaneously from their sleep,--</p> + +<p>"What's the matter? is that man mad or drunk?" exclaimed several voices.</p> + +<p>The gentleman beneath the bed-clothes again groaned forth,--"We are +all lost. If I once get upon dry land, you'll never catch me in a +canal-boat agin."</p> + +<p>Pitying his distress I got up, groped my way to the steward's berth, and +succeeded in procuring a light. When I returned to the cabin, I found +the poet lying on the floor, with the table upon him, and he holding it +fast with both hands, crying vehemently, "I will never let go. I will +hang on to the last."</p> + +<p>"You are dreaming," said I; "come, get up. The cords of your bed were +not strong enough to hold you, and you have got a tumble on to the +floor; nothing else is the matter with you."</p> + +<p>As I ceased speaking the vessel again struck the bank, and my friend, in +his eagerness to save himself, upset me, light and all. I again upset +all the small pieces of furniture in my reach, to the great amusement of +the passengers, who were sitting up in their berths listening to; and +laughing at our conversation. We were all once more in the dark, and I +can assure my readers that my situation was everything but comfortable, +as the eccentric gentleman had hold of both my legs.</p> + +<p>"You foolish fellow," cried I, kicking with all my might to free myself. +"There is no harm done; the boat has only struck again upon the bank."</p> + +<p>"Where is the bank?" said he, still labouring under the delusion that he +was in the water. "Give me a hold on it. If I can only get on the bank I +shall be safe."</p> + +<p>Finding it impossible to convince him how matters really stood, I left +him to unroll himself to his full dimensions on the floor, and groping my +way to a sofa, laid myself down once more to sleep.</p> + +<p>When the passengers met at the breakfast-table, the poor poet and his +misfortunes during the night gave rise to much quizzing and merriment, +particularly when he made his appearance with a black eye, and the skin +rubbed off the tip of his nose.</p> + +<p>One gentleman, who was most active in teasing him, cried out to +me,--"Mr. H---, do try and set last night's adventures to music, and +sing them this evening at your concert. They would make a <i>tre-men-dous +sensation</i>, I assure you."</p> + +<p>The poet looked daggers at us, and seizing his carpet-bag, sprang to +the deck, and from the deck to the shore, which he fortunately reached +in safety, without casting a parting glance at his tormentors.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>The Mountain Air.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Rave not to me of your sparkling wine;</p> +<p class="line">Bid not for me the goblet shine;</p> +<p class="line">My soul is athirst for a draught more rare,</p> +<p class="line">A gush of the pure, fresh mountain air!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"It wafts on its currents the rich perfume</p> +<p class="line">Of the purple heath, and the honied broom;</p> +<p class="line">The golden furze, and the hawthorn fair,</p> +<p class="line">Shed all their sweets to the mountain air.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"It plays round the bank and the mossy stone,</p> +<p class="line">Where the violet droops like a nun alone;</p> +<p class="line">Shrouding her eyes from the noon-tide glare,</p> +<p class="line">But breathing her soul to the mountain-air.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"It gives to my spirits a tone of mirth--</p> +<p class="line">I bound with joy o'er the new-dress'd earth,</p> +<p class="line">When spring has scatter'd her blossoms there,</p> +<p class="line">And laden with balm the mountain air.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"From nature's fountain my nectar flows,</p> +<p class="line">'Tis the essence of each sweet bud that blows;</p> +<p class="line">Then come, and with me the banquet share,</p> +<p class="line">Let us breathe together the mountain air!"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER VI<br /> The Singing Master</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>The Singing-School.</h4> +<p class="line">"Conceit's an excellent great-coat, and sticks</p> +<p class="line">Close to the wearer for his mortal life;</p> +<p class="line">It has no spot nor wrinkle in his eyes,</p> +<p class="line">And quite cuts out the coats of other men."</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"He had a fiddle sadly out of tune,</p> +<p class="line-in2">A voice as husky as a raven croaking,</p> +<p class="line">Or owlet hooting to the clouded moon,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Or bloated bull-frog in some mud-hole choking."</p> +</div> + +<p>During my professional journies through the country, I have often had +the curiosity to visit the singing-schools in the small towns and +villages through which I passed. These are often taught by persons who +are perfectly ignorant of the common rules of music--men who have +followed the plough all their lives, and know about as much of the +divine science they pretend to teach as one of their oxen.</p> + +<p>I have often been amused at their manner of explaining the principles of +their art to their pupils, who profit so little by their instructions, +that they are as wise at the end of their quarter as when they began. +The master usually endeavours to impress upon them the importance of +making themselves heard, and calls him the smartest fellow who is able +to make the most noise. The constant vibration they keep up through +their noses gives you the idea that their teacher has been in the habit +of raising sheep, and had caught many of their peculiar notes. This +style he very kindly imparts to his pupils; and as apt scholars +generally try to imitate their master, choirs taught by these +individuals resemble a flock of sheep going bahing one after another +over a wall.</p> + +<p>I will give you a specimen of one of these schools, that I happened to +visit during my stay in the town of W---, in the western states. I do +not mean to say that all music masters are like the one I am about to +describe, but he bears a very close resemblance to a great many of the +same calling, who practise their profession in remote settlements, where +they are not likely to find many to criticise their performance.</p> + +<p>I had advertised a concert for the 2nd of January, 1848, to be given in +the town of W---. I arrived on the day appointed, and fortunately made +the acquaintance of several gentlemen amateurs, who happened to be +boarding at the hotel to which I had been recommended. They kindly +manifested a lively interest in my success, and promised to do all in +their power to procure me a good house.</p> + +<p>While seated at dinner, one of my new friends received a note, which he +said came from a singing master residing in a small village a few miles +back of W---. After reading the epistle, and laughing heartily over its +contents, he gave it to me. To my great astonishment it ran as follows:--</p> + +<p class="salutation">"My Dear Roberts,</p> + +<p>"How do you do? I hope you will excuse me for troubling you on this +occasion; but I want to ax you a partic'lar question. Is you acquainted +with the man who is a-goin' to give a sing in your town to-night? If you +be, jist say to him, from me, that if he will come over here, we will +get him up a house. If he will--or won't cum--please let me know. I am +teaching a singing-school over here, and I can do a great deal for him, +if he will only cum.</p> + +<p class="closing">"Yours, most respectfully,</p> +<p class="signed">"John Browne."</p> + +<p>"You had better go, Mr. H---," said Roberts. "This John Browne is a +queer chap, and I promise you lots of fun. If you decide upon going we +will all accompany you, and help to fill your house."</p> + +<p>"By all means," said I. "You will do me a great favour to return an +answer to the professional gentleman to that effect. I will send him +some of my programmes, and if he can get a tolerable piano, I will go +over and give them a concert next Saturday evening."</p> + +<p>The note and the bills of performance were duly despatched to ---, and +the next morning we received an answer from the singing master to say +that all was right, and that Mr. Browne would be happy to give Mr. H--- +his valuable assistance; but, if possible, he wished that I could come +out on Friday, instead of Saturday, as his school met on that evening at +six o'clock, and he would like me to witness the performance of his +scholars, which would only last from five in the evening till six, and +consequently need not interfere at all with my concert, which was to +commence at eight.</p> + +<p>We ordered a conveyance immediately, and as it was the very day +signified in the note, we started off for the village of ---. On our +arrival we were met at the door of the only hotel in the place, by the +man a "<i>leetle</i> in my line."</p> + +<p>"Is this you, Mr. Thing-a-my. I can't for the life of me think of your +name. But no matter. Ain't you the chap as is a-goin' to give us the +con-sort this evening?"</p> + +<p>I answered in the affirmative, and he continued--</p> + +<p>"What a leetle fellow you be. Now I stand six feet four inches in my +boots, and my voice is high in proportion. But I s'pose you can sing. +Small fellows allers make a great noise. A bantam roaster allers crows +as loud as an game crower, to make folks believe that the dung-hill is +his'n."</p> + +<p>I was very much amused at his comparing me to a bantam cock, and felt +almost inclined to clap my wings and crow.</p> + +<p>"I have sent all your bills about town," continued the odd man, "and +invited all the tip-tops to cum and hear you. I have engaged a good +room, and a forty pound pee-a-ne. I s'pose it's worth as much, for 'tis +a terrible smart one. It belongs to Deacon S---; and his two daughters +are the prettiest galls hereabouts. They play 'Old Dan Tucker,' and all +manner of tunes. I found it deuced hard to get the old woman's consent; +but I knew she wouldn't refuse me, as she is looking out to cotch me for +one of the daughters. She made many objections--said that she would +rather the cheese-press and the cook-stove, and all the rest of the +furniture went out of the house than the pee-a-ne, as she afear'd that +the strings would break, and all the keys spill out by the way. The +strings are rusty, and keys loose enough already. I told the old missus +that I would take good care that the right side was kept uppermost; and +that if any harm happened to the instrument, you could set it all right +agin."</p> + +<p>"I am sorry," said I, "to hear such a poor account of the instrument. It +is impossible to sing well to a bad piano--"</p> + +<p>"Phoo, phoo, man! there's nobody here that ever he'rd a better. Bad or +good, it's the only one in the village. I play on this pee-a-ne a +<i>leetle</i> myself, and that <i>ought</i> to be some encouragement to you. I am +goin' to do a considerable business in the singing line here. I have +stirred up all the <i>leetle</i> girls and boys in the place, and set them +whistling an' playing on the Jew's harp. Then I goes to the old 'uns, +and says to them, what genuses for music these young 'uns be! it is your +duty to improve a talent that providence has bestowed on your children. +I puts on a long face, like a parson, when I talks of providence and the +like o'that, and you don't know how amazingly it takes with the old +folks. They think that providence is allers on the look out to do them +some good turn.</p> + +<p>"'What do you charge, Mr. Browne?' says they, instanter.</p> + +<p>"Oh, a mere trifle, say I, instanter. Jist half-a-dollar a quarter--part +in cash, part in <i>produce</i>.</p> + +<p>"''Tis cheap,' says they agin.</p> + +<p>"Tew little, says I, by half.</p> + +<p>"'Well, the children shall go,' says the old man. 'Missus, you see to +it.'</p> + +<p>"The children like to hear themselves called genuses, and they go into +it like smoke. When I am tuning my voice at my lodgings in the evening, +just by way of recreation, the <i>leetle</i> boys all gets round my winder to +listen to my singing. They are so fond of it I can't get them away. They +make such a confounded noise, in trying to imitate my splendid style. +But I'll leave you to judge of that for yourself. 'Spose you'll be up +with me to the singing-school, and then you will hear what I can do."</p> + +<p>"I shall be most happy to attend you."</p> + +<p>"You see, Mr. Thing-a-my, this is my first lesson, and you must make all +allowances, if there should be any trouble, or that all should not go +right. You see one seldom gets the hang of it the first night, no how. +I have been farming most of my life, but I quits that about five weeks +ago, and have been studying hard for my profession ever since. I have +got a large school here, another at A--- and another at L---; and +before the winter is over, I shall be qualified to teach at W---. I +play the big bass fiddle and the violin right off, and--"</p> + +<p>Here a little boy came running up to say that his father's sheep had got +out of the yard, and had gone down to Deacon S---; and, said he, "The +folks have sent for you, Mister Browne, to cum and turn 'em out."</p> + +<p>"A merciful intervention of providence," thought I, who was already +heartily weary of my new acquaintance, and began to be afraid that I +never should get rid of him. To tell the truth, I was so tired of +looking up at him, that I felt that I could not converse much longer +with him without endangering the elasticity of my neck, and he would +have been affronted if I had asked him to walk in and sit down.</p> + +<p>He was not very well pleased with Deacon S---'s message.</p> + +<p>"That comes of borrowing, mister. If I had not asked the loan of the +pee-a-ne, they never would have sent for me to look arter their darned +sheep. I must go, however. I hope you'll be able to keep yourself alive +in my absence. I have got to string up the old fiddle for to-night. The +singing-school is about a mile from this. I will come down with my old +mare arter you, when its just time to be a-goin'. So good-bye."</p> + +<p>Away he strode at the rate of six miles an hour; his long legs +accomplishing at one step what would have taken a man of my dimensions +three to compass. I then went into the hotel to order dinner for my +friends, as he had allowed me no opportunity to do so. The conceited +fellow had kept me standing a foot deep in snow for the last hour, while +listening to his intolerably dull conversation. My disgust and +disappointment afforded great amusement to my friends; but in spite of +all my entreaties, they could not be induced to leave their punch and a +warm fire to accompany me in my pilgrimage to the singing-school.</p> + +<p>We took dinner at four o'clock, and the cloth was scarcely drawn, when +my musical friend made his appearance with the old mare, to take me +along to the school.</p> + +<p>Our turn-out was everything but prepossessing. A large unwieldy cutter +of home manufacture, the boards of which it was composed unplained and +unpainted, with rope harness, and an undressed bull's hide by way of +buffalo's, formed our equipage. But no description that I could give you +would do justice to the old mare. A sorry beast she was--thick legged, +rough coated, and of a dirty yellow-white. Her eyes, over one of which a +film was spread, were dull as the eyes of a stale fish, and her temples +so hollow, that she looked as if she had been worn out by dragging the +last two generations to their graves. I was ashamed of adding one more +to the many burdens she must have borne in her day, and I almost wished +that she had realized in her own person the well-known verse in the +Scotch song--</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"The auld man's mare's dead,</p> +<p class="line">A mile ayont Dundee,"</p> +</div> + +<p>before I ever had set my eyes upon her.</p> + +<p>"Can she carry us?" said I, pausing irresolutely, with my foot on the +rough heavy runner of the cutter.</p> + +<p>"I guess she can," quoth he. "She will skim like a bird over the snow; +so get into the sleigh, and we will go straight off to the +singing-school."</p> + +<p>It was intensely cold. I drew the collar of my great-coat over my ears, +and wrapped my half of the bull's hide well round my feet, and we +started. The old mare went better than could have been expected from +such a skeleton of a beast. To be sure, she had no weight of flesh to +encumber her motions, and we were getting on pretty well, when the music +master drove too near a stump, which suddenly upset us both, and tumbled +him head foremost into a bank of snow. I fortunately rolled out a-top of +him, and soon extricated myself from the difficulty; but I found it no +easy matter to drag my ponderous companion from beneath the snow, and +the old bull's hide in which he was completely enveloped.</p> + +<p>The old mare stood perfectly still, gazing with her one eye intently on +the mischief she had done, as if she never had been guilty of such a +breach of manners before. After shaking the snow from our garments, +and getting all right for a second start, my companion exclaimed in an +agonized tone--</p> + +<p>"My fiddle! Where, where is my fiddle? I can do nothing without my +fiddle."</p> + +<p>We immediately went in search of it; but we did not succeed in finding +it for some time. I had given it up in despair, and, half-frozen with +cold, was stepping into the cutter to take the benefit of the old bull's +hide, when, fortunately for the music master one of the strings of the +lost instrument snapped with the cold. We followed the direction of the +sound, and soon beheld the poor fiddle sticking in a snow-bank, and +concealed by a projecting stump. The instrument had sustained no other +injury than the loss of three of the strings.</p> + +<p>"Well, arn't that too bad?" says he. "I have no more catgut without +sending to W---. That's done for, at least for to-night."</p> + +<p>"It's very cold," I cried, impatiently, seeing that he was in no hurry +to move on. "Do let us be going. You can examine your instrument better +in the house than standing up to your knees in the snow."</p> + +<p>"I was born in the Backwoods," say he; "I don't feel the cold." Then +jumping into the cutter, he gave me the fiddle to take care of, and +pointing with the right finger of his catskin gloves to a solitary house +on the top of a bleak hill, nearly a mile a-head, he said, "That white +building is the place where the school is held."</p> + +<p>We soon reached the spot. "This is the old Methodist church, mister, and +a capital place for the voice. There is no furniture or hangings to +interrupt the sound. Go right in, while I hitch the mare; I will be +arter you in a brace of shakes."</p> + +<p>I soon found myself in the body of the old dilapidated church, and +subjected to the stare of a number of very unmusical-looking girls and +boys, who, certainly from their appearance, would never have led you to +suppose that they ever could belong to a Philharmonic society. +Presently, Mr. Browne made his <i>debut</i>.</p> + +<p>Assuming an air of great importance as he approached his pupils, he +said--"Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce to your notice Mr. +H---, the celebrated vocalist. He has cum all the way from New York on +purpose to hear you sing."</p> + +<p>The boys grinned at me and twirled their thumbs, the girls nudged one +another's elbows and giggled, while their eloquent teacher continued--</p> + +<p>"I don't know as how we shall be able to do much tonight; we upset, and +that spilt my fiddle into the snow. You see,"--holding it up--"it's +right full of it, and that busted the strings. A dropsical fiddle is no +good, no how. Jist look at the water dripping out of her."</p> + +<p>Again the boys laughed, and the girls giggled. Said he--</p> + +<p>"Hold on, don't laugh; it's no laughing matter, as you'll find."</p> + +<p>After a long pause, in which the youngsters tried their best to look +grave, he went on--</p> + +<p>"Now all of you, girls and boys, give your attention to my instructions +this evening. I'm goin' to introduce a new style, for your special +benefit, called the Pest-a-lazy (Pestalozzi) system, now all the +fashion. If you are all ready, produce your books. Hold them up. +One--two--three! Three books for forty pupils? That will never do! We +can't sing to-night; well, never mind. You see that black board; I will +give you a lesson to-night upon that. Who's got a piece of chalk?"</p> + +<p>A negative shake of the head from all. To me: "Chalk's scarce in these +diggings." To the boys: "What, nobody got a piece of chalk? That's +unlucky; a piece of charcoal out of the stove will do as well."</p> + +<p>"No 'ar won't," roared out a boy with a very ragged coat. "They be both +the same colour."</p> + +<p>"True, Jenkins, for you; go out and get a lump of snow. Its darnation +strange if I can't fix it somehow."</p> + +<p>"Now," thought I, "what is this clever fellow going to do?"</p> + +<p>The boys winked at each other, and a murmur of suppressed laughter ran +through the old church. Jenkins ran out, and soon returned with a lump +of snow.</p> + +<p>Mr. Browne took a small piece, and squeezing it tight, stuck it upon the +board. "Now, boys, that is Do, and that is Re, and that is Do again, and +that is Mi, this Do, and that Fa; and that, boys, is a part of what we +call a <i>scale</i>." Then turning to a tall, thin, shabby-looking man, +very much out at the elbows, whom I had not seen before, he said--"Mr. +Smith, how is your <i>base viol?</i> Hav'nt you got it tuned up yet?"</p> + +<p>Well, squire, I guess it's complete."</p> + +<p>"Hold on; let me see," and taking a tuning-fork from his pocket, and +giving it a sharp thump upon the stove, he cried out in a still louder +key--"Now, that's A; jist tune up to A."</p> + +<p>After Mr. Smith had succeeded in tuning his instrument, the teacher +proceeded with his lucid explanations:--"Now, boys, start fair; give a +grand chord. What sort of a noise do you call that? (giving a luckless +boy a thump over the head with his fiddle-stick). You bray through your +nose like a jackass. I tell you to quit; I don't want discord." The boy +slunk out of the class, and stood blubbering behind the door.</p> + +<p>"Tune up again, young shavers! Sing the notes as I have made them on +the board,--Do, re-do, mi, do-fa. Now, when I count four commence. +One--two--three--four. Sing! Hold on!--hold on! Don't you see that all +the notes are running off, and you can't sing running notes yet."</p> + +<p>Here he was interrupted by the noise of some one forcing their way +into the church, in a very strange and unceremonious manner, and</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"The chorister's song, that late was so strong,</p> +<p class="line">Grew a quaver of consternation."</p> +</div> + +<p>The door burst open, and a ghastly head was protruded through the +aperture. "A ghost!--a ghost!" shrieked out all the children in a +breath; and jumping over the forms, they huddled around the stove, +upsetting the solitary tallow candle, the desk, and the bass viol, +in their flight. One lad sprang right upon the unfortunate instrument, +which broke to pieces with a terrible crash. We were now left in the +dark. The girls screamed, and clung round me for protection, while +the ghastly apparition continued to stare upon us through the gloom, +with its large, hollow eyes, I must confess that I felt rather queer; +but I wisely kept my fears to myself, while I got as far from the door +as I possibly could. Just as our terror had reached a climax, the +grizzly phantom uttered a low, whining neigh.</p> + +<p>"It's the old mare! I'll be darned if it isn't!" cried one of the +older boys, at the top of his voice. This restored confidence to the +rest; and one rather bolder than his comrades at length ventured to +relight the fallen candle at the stove, and holding it up, displayed to +our view the old white mare, standing in the doorway. The poor beast had +forced her way into the porch to protect herself from the cold; and she +looked at her master, as much as to say, "I have a standing account +against you." No doubt her sudden intrusion had been the means of +shortening her term of probation by at least half an hour, and of +bringing the singing-school to a close. She had been the innocent cause +of disabling both the musical instruments, and Mr. Browne could not +raise a correct note without them. Turning to his pupils, with a very +rueful countenance, and speaking in a very unmusical voice, but very +expressive withal, he said--"Chore (meaning choir), you are dimissed. +But, hold on!--don't be in such a darnation hurry to be off. I was +a-going to tell you, this ere gentleman, Mr. H--- (my name, for a +wonder, poppping into his head at that minute) is to give a <i>con-sort</i> +to-morrow night. It was to have been to-night; but he changed his mind +that he might have the pleasure of hearing you. I shall assist Mr. H--- +in the singing department; so you must all be sure to cum. Tickets for +boys over ten years, twenty-five cents; under ten, twelve and a half +cents. So you <i>leetle</i> chaps will know what to do. The next time the +school meets will be when the fiddles are fixed. Now scamper." The +children were not long in obeying the order. In the twinkling of an eye +they were off, and we heard them shouting and sky-larking in the lane.</p> + +<p>"Cum, Mr. H---," said the music-master, buttoning his great-coat up to +his chin, "let us be a-goin'."</p> + +<p>On reaching the spot where we had left the cutter, to our great +disappointment, we found only one-half of it remaining; the other half, +broken to pieces, strewed the ground. Mr. Browne detained me for another +half-hour, in gathering together the fragments. "Now you, Mr. Smith, you +take care of the crippled fiddles, while I take care of the bag of oats. +The old mare has been trying to hook them out of the cutter, which has +been the cause of all the trouble. You, Mr. H---, mount up on the old +jade, and take along the bull's hide, and we will follow on foot."</p> + +<p>"Yes," said I, "and glad of the chance, for I am cold and tired."</p> + +<p>Not knowing a step of the way, I let Mr. Browne and his companion go +a-head; and making a sort of pack-saddle of the old hide, I curled +myself up on the back of the old mare, and left her to her own pace, +which, however, was a pretty round trot, until we reached the outskirts +of the town, where, dismounting, I thanked my companions, very +insincerely I'm afraid, for my evening's amusement, and joined my +friends at the hotel, who were never tired of hearing me recount my +adventures at the singing-school.</p> + +<p>I had been obliged to postpone my own concert until the next evening, +for I found the borrowed piano such a poor one, and so miserably out of +tune, that it took me several hours rendering it at all fit for service. +Before I had concluded my task, I was favoured with the company of Mr. +Browne, who stuck to me closer than a brother, never allowing me out of +his sight for a moment. This persevering attention, so little in unison +with my feelings, caused me the most insufferable annoyance. A thousand +times I was on the point of dismissing him very unceremoniously, by +informing him that I thought him a most conceited, impertinent puppy; +but for the sake of my friend Roberts, who was in some way related to +the fellow, I contrived to master my anger. About four o'clock he jumped +up from the table, at which he had been lounging and sipping hot punch +at my expense for the last hour, exclaiming--</p> + +<p>"I guess it's time for me to see the pee-a-ne carried up to the con-sort +room."</p> + +<p>"It's all ready," said I. "Perhaps, Mr. Browne, you will oblige me by +singing a song before the company arrives, that I may judge how far your +style and mine will agree;" for I began to have some horrible misgivings +on the subject. "If you will step upstairs, I will accompany you on the +piano. I had no opportunity of hearing you sing last night."</p> + +<p>"No, no," said he, with a conceited laugh; "I mean to astonish you by +and by. I'm not one of your common amateurs, no how. I shall produce +quite a sensation upon your audience."</p> + +<p>So saying, he darted through the door, and left me to finish my +arrangements for the night.</p> + +<p>The hour appointed for the concert at length arrived. It was a clear, +frosty night, the moon shining as bright as day. A great number of +persons were collected about the doors of the hotel, and I had every +reason to expect a full house. I was giving some directions to my +door-keeper, when I heard a double sleigh approaching at an uncommon +rate; and looking up the road, I saw an old-fashioned, high-backed +vehicle, drawn by two shabby-looking horses, coming towards the hotel at +full gallop. The passengers evidently thought that they were too late, +and were making up for lost time.</p> + +<p>The driver was an old farmer, and dressed in the cloth of the country, +with a large capote of the same material drawn over his head and +weather-beaten face, which left his sharp black eyes, red nose, and wide +mouth alone visible. He flourished in his hand a large whip of raw hide, +which ever and anon descended upon the backs of his rawboned cattle like +the strokes of a flail.</p> + +<p>"Get up--go along--waye," cried he, suddenly drawing up at the door +of the hotel. "Well, here we be at last, and jist in time for the +con-sort." Then hitching the horses to the post, and flinging the +buffalo robes over them, he left the three females he was driving in +the sleigh, and ran directly up to me,--"Arn't you the con-sort man? +I guess you be, by them ere black pants and Sunday-goin' gear."</p> + +<p>I nodded assent.</p> + +<p>"What's the damage?"</p> + +<p>"Half a dollar."</p> + +<p>"Half a dollar? You don't mean to say that!"</p> + +<p>"Not a cent less."</p> + +<p>"Well, it will be <i>expensive</i>. There's my wife and two darters, and +myself; and the galls never seed a con-sort."</p> + +<p>"Well," said I, "as there are four of you, you may come in at a dollar +and a half."</p> + +<p>"How; a dollar and a harf! I will go and have a talk with the old woman, +and hear what she says to it."</p> + +<p>He returned to the sleigh, and after chatting for a few minutes with the +women, he helped them out, and the four followed me into the common +reception room of the inn. The farmer placed a pail of butter on the +table, and said with a shrewd curl of his long nose, and a wink from one +of his cunning black eyes, "There's some pretty good butter, mister."</p> + +<p>I was amused at the idea, and replied, "Pretty good butter! What is that +to me? I do not buy butter."</p> + +<p>"Not buy butter! Why you don't say! It is the very best article in the +market jist now."</p> + +<p>For a bit of fun I said,--"Never mind; I will take your butter. What +is it worth?"</p> + +<p>"It was worth ten cents last week, mister; I don't know what it's worth +now. It can't have fallen, no-how."</p> + +<p>I took my knife from my pocket, and in a very business-like manner +proceeded to taste the article. "Why," said I, "this butter is not +good."</p> + +<p>Here a sharp-faced woman stepped briskly up, and poking her head between +us, said, at the highest pitch of her cracked voice,--"Yes, it is good; +it was made this morning <i>express-ly</i> for the <i>con-sort</i>."</p> + +<p>"I beg your pardon, madam. I am not in the habit of buying butter. To +oblige you, I will take this. How much is there of it?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know. Where are your steelyards?"</p> + +<p>"Oh," said I, laughing, "I don't carry such things with me. I will take +it at your own valuation, and you may go in with your family."</p> + +<p>"'Tis a bargain," says she. "Go in, galls, and fix yourselves for the +<i>con-sort</i>."</p> + +<p>As the room was fast filling, I thought it time to present myself to the +company, and made my entrance, accompanied by that incorrigible pest, +the singing master, who, without the least embarrassment, took his seat +by the piano. After singing several of my best songs, I invited him to +try his skill.</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly," said he; "to tell you the truth, I am a <i>leetle</i> +su rprised that you did not ask me to lead off."</p> + +<p>"I would have done so; but I could not alter the arrangement of the +programme."</p> + +<p>"Ah, well, I excuse you this time, but it was not very polite, to say +the least of it." Then, taking my seat at the piano with as much +confidence as Braham ever had, he run his hand over the keys, exclaiming +"What shall I sing? I will give you one of Russell's songs; they suit my +voice best. Ladies and gentlemen, I am going to favour you by singing +Henry Russell's celebrated song, '<i>I love to roam</i>,' and accompany myself +upon the <i>pee-a-ne-forty</i>."</p> + +<p>This song is so well known to most of my readers, that I can describe +his manner of singing it without repeating the whole of the words. He +struck the instrument in playing with such violence that it shook his +whole body, and produced the following ludicrous effect:</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Some love to ro-o-o-a-me</p> +<p class="line">O'er the dark sea fo-o-ome,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Where the shrill winds whistle fre-e-e;</p> +<p class="line">But a cho-o-sen ba-a-and in a mountain la-a-a-and,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And life in the woo-o-ds for me-e-e."</p> +</div> + +<p>This performance was drowned in an uproar of laughter, which brought our +vocalist to a sudden stop.</p> + +<p>"I won't sing another line if you keep up that infernal noise," he +roared at the top of his voice. "When a fellow does his best, he expects +his audience to appreciate his performance; but I allers he'rd as how +the folks at W--- knew nothing about music."</p> + +<p>"Oh, do stop," exclaimed an old woman, rising from her seat, and shaking +her fist at the unruly company,--"can't yee's; he do sing <i>butiful</i>; and +his voice in the winds do sound so <i>natural</i>, I could almost hear them an +'owling. It minds me of old times, it dew."</p> + +<p>This voluntary tribute to his genius seemed to console and reassure the +singing master, and, stemming with his stentorian voice the torrent +of mistimed mirth, he sang his song triumphantly to the end; and the +clapping of hands, stamping of feet, and knocking of benches, were truly +deafening.</p> + +<p>"What will you have now?" cried he. "I thought you would comprehend good +singing at last."</p> + +<p>"Give them a comic song," said I, in a whisper.</p> + +<p>"<i>A comic song!</i> (aloud) Do you think that I would waste my talents +in singing trash that any jackass could bray? No, sirra, my style +is purely <i>sentimental</i>. I will give the ladies and gentlemen the +'<i>Ivy Green</i>.'"</p> + +<p>He sang this beautiful original song, which is decidedly Russell's best, +much in the same style as the former one, but, getting a little used to +his eccentricities, we contrived to keep our gravity until he came to +the chorus, "Creeping, creeping, creeping," for which he substituted, +"crawling, crawling, crawling," when he was again interrupted by such a +burst of merriment that he was unable to crawl any further.</p> + +<p>"Well," said he, rising; "if you won't behave, I will leave the +instrument to Mr. H---, and make one of the audience."</p> + +<p>He had scarcely taken his seat, when the farmer from whom I had bought +the butter forced his way up to the piano. Says he, "There's that pail; +it is worth ten cents and a half. You must either pay the money, or +give me back the pail.--(Hitching up his nether garments)--I s'pose +you'll do the thing that's right."</p> + +<p>"Oh, certainly, there are twelve and a half cents."</p> + +<p>"I hav'nt change," said he, with a knowing look.</p> + +<p>"So much the better; keep the difference."</p> + +<p>"Then we're square, mister," and he sank back into his place.</p> + +<p>"Did he pay you the money?" I heard the wife ask in an anxious tone.</p> + +<p>"Yes, yes; more than the old pail was worth by a long chalk. I'd like to +deal with that chap allers."</p> + +<p>I now proceeded with the concert. The song of the drowning child saved +by the Newfoundland dog drew down thunders of applause. When the +clamour had a little subsided, a tall man rose from his seat at the +upper end of the room, and, after clearing his throat with several loud +hems, he thus addressed me,--"How do you do, Mr. H---? I am glad, +sir, to make your acquaintance. This is my friend, Mr. Derby," drawing +another tall man conspicuously forward before all the spectators. "He, +tew, is very happy to make your acquaintance. We both want to know if +that dog you have been singing about belongs to you. If so, we should be +glad to buy a pup." He gravely took his seat, amid perfect yells of +applause. It was impossible to be heard in such a riot, and I closed the +adventures of the evening by giving out "'Hail, Columbia,' to be sung by +all present." This <i>finale</i> gave universal satisfaction, and the +voice of my friend the singing master might be heard far above the rest.</p> + +<p>I was forced, in common politeness, to invite Mr. Browne to partake of +the oyster supper I had provided for my friends from W---. "Will you +join our party this evening, Mr. Browne?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, by all manner of means," said he, rubbing his hands together in a +sort of ecstasy of anticipation; "I knew that you would do the thing +handsome at last. I have not tasted an i'ster since I sang at Niblo's +in New York. But did we not come on famously at the <i>con-sort?</i> +Confess, now, that I beat you holler. You sing <i>pretty</i> well, but +you want confidence. You don't give expression enough to your voice. +The applause which followed my first song was tremendous."</p> + +<p>"I never heard anything like it, Mr. Browne. I never expect to merit +such marks of public approbation."</p> + +<p>"All in good time, my <i>leetle</i> friend," returned he, clapping me +familiarly on the shoulder. "Rome was not built in a day, and you are +a young man--a very young man--and very <i>small</i> for your age. Your voice +will never have the volume and compass of mine. But I smell the i'sters: +let's in, for I'm tarnation hungry."</p> + +<p>Gentle reader! you would have thought so to have seen him eat. My +companions looked rather disconcerted at the rapidity with which they +disappeared within his capacious jaws. After satisfying his enormous +appetite, he washed down the oysters with long draughts of porter, until +his brain becoming affected, he swung his huge body back in his chair, +and, placing his feet on the supper-table, began singing in good +earnest,--not one song in particular, but a mixture of all that had +appeared in the most popular Yankee song books for the last ten years.</p> + +<p>I wish I could give you a specimen of the sublime and the ridiculous, +thus unceremoniously huddled together. The effect was so irresistible, +when contrasted with the grave exterior of the man; that we laughed +until our side ached at his absurdities. Exhausted by his constant +vociferations, the musician at length dropped from his chair in a +drunken sleep upon the floor, and we carried him into the next room and +put him to bed; and, after talking over the events of the evening, we +retired about midnight to our respective chambers, which all opened into +the great room in which I held the concert.</p> + +<p>About two o'clock in the morning my sleep was disturbed by the most +dismal cries and groans, which appeared to issue from the adjoining +apartment. I rubbed my eyes, and sat up in the bed and listened, when I +recognized the well-known voice of the singing master, exclaiming in +tones of agony and fear--"Landlord! landlord! cum quick. Somebody cum. +Landlord! landlord! there's a man under my bed. Oh, Lord! I shall be +murdered! a man under my bed!"</p> + +<p>As I am not fond of such nocturnal visitors myself, not being much +gifted with physical strength or courage, I listened a moment to hear if +any one was coming. The sound of approaching footsteps along the passage +greatly aided the desperate effort I made to leave my comfortable +pillow, and proceed to the scene of action. At the chamber door I met +the landlord, armed with the fire-tongs and a light.</p> + +<p>"What's all this noise about?" he cried in an angry tone.</p> + +<p>I assured him that I was as ignorant as himself of the cause of the +disturbance. Here the singing master again sung out--</p> + +<p>"Landlord! landlord! there's a <i>man</i> under the <i>bed</i>. Cum! somebody cum!"</p> + +<p>We immediately entered his room, and were joined by two of my friends +from W---. Seeing our party strengthened to four, our courage rose +amazingly, and we talked loudly of making mincemeat of the intruder, +kicking him down stairs, and torturing him in every way we could devise. +We found the singing master sitting bolt upright in his bed, his +small-clothes gathered up under his arm ready for a start; his face +as pale as a sheet, his teeth chattering, and his whole appearance +indicative of the most abject fear. We certainly did hear very +mysterious sounds issuing from beneath the bed, which caused the boldest +of us to draw back.</p> + +<p>"He is right," said Roberts; "there is some one under the bed."</p> + +<p>"What a set of confounded cowards you are!" cried the landlord; "can't +you lift the valance and see what it is?"</p> + +<p>He made no effort himself to ascertain the cause of the alarm. Roberts, +who, after all, was the boldest man of the party, seized the tongs from +the landlord, and, kneeling cautiously down, slowly raised the drapery +that surrounded the bed. "Hold the light here, landlord." He did so, +but at arm's length. Roberts peeped timidly into the dark void beyond, +dropped the valance, and looked up with a comical, quizzing expression, +and began to laugh.</p> + +<p>"What is it?" we all cried in a breath.</p> + +<p>"Landlord! landlord!" he cried, imitating the voice of the singing +master, "cum quick! Somebody cum! There's a dog under the bed! He will +bite me! Oh, dear! oh, dear! I shall die of hydrophobia. I shall be +smothered in a feather-bed!"</p> + +<p>"A dog!" said the landlord.</p> + +<p>"A dog!" cried we all.</p> + +<p>"Aye, a black dog."</p> + +<p>"You don't say!" cried the singing master, springing from his bed. +"Where is he? I'm able for <i>him</i> any how." And seizing a corn broom that +stood in a corner of the room, he began to poke at the poor animal, and +belabour him in the most unmerciful manner.</p> + +<p>The dog, who belonged to a drover who penned his cattle in the inn-yard +for the night, wishing to find a comfortable domicile, had taken a +private survey of the premises when the people were out of the way, and +made his quarters under Mr. Browne's bed. When that worthy commenced +snoring, the dog, to signify his approbation at finding himself in the +company of some one, amused himself by hoisting his tail up and down; +now striking the sacking of the bed, and now tapping audibly against the +floor. These mysterious salutations became, at length, so frequent and +vehement that they awoke the sleeper, who, not daring to ascertain the +cause of the alarm, aroused the whole house with his clamours.</p> + +<p>Mr. Browne finding himself unable to thrash the poor brute out of his +retreat, and having become all of a sudden very brave, crawled under the +bed and dragged the dog out by his hind legs.</p> + +<p>"You see I'm enough for him; give me the poker, and I'll beat out his +brains."</p> + +<p>"You'll do no such thing, sir," said the landlord, turning the animal +down the stairs. "The dog belongs to a quiet decent fellow, and a good +customer, and he shall meet with no ill usage here. Your mountain, Mr. +Browne, has brought forth a mouse."</p> + +<p>"A dog sir," quoth the singing master, not in the least abashed by the +reproof. "If the brute had cut up such a dido under your bed, you would +have been as 'turnal sceared as I was."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps, Mr. Browne," said I, "you took it for the ghost of the old +mare?"</p> + +<p>"Ghost or no ghost," returned the landlord, "he has given us a great +deal of trouble, and nearly frightened himself into fits."</p> + +<p>"The fear was not all on my side," said the indignant vocalist; "and I +look upon you as the cause of the whole trouble."</p> + +<p>"As how?"</p> + +<p>"If the dog had not cum to your house, he never would have found his way +under my bed. When I pay for my night's lodging, I don't expect to have +to share it with a strange dog--no how."</p> + +<p>So saying he retreated, grumbling, back to his bed, and we gladly +followed his example.</p> + +<p>I rose early in the morning to accompany my friends to W---. At the +door of the hotel I was accosted by Mr. Browne--</p> + +<p>"Why, you arn't goin' to start without bidding me good-bye? Besides, you +have not paid me for my assistance at the <i>con-sort</i>."</p> + +<p>I literally started with surprise at this unexpected demand. "Do you +expect a professional price for your services?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I guess the <i>con-sort</i> would have been nothing without my help; but +I won't be hard upon you, as you are a young beginner, and not likely to +make your fortune in that line any how. There's that pail of butter; if +you don't mean to take it along, I'll take that; we wants butter to hum. +Is it a bargain?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, yes; if you are satisfied, I am well pleased." (I could have added, +to get rid of you at any price.) "You will find it on the table in the +hall."</p> + +<p>"Not exactly; I took it hum this morning--I thought how it would end. +Good-bye to you, Mr. H---. If ever you come this way again, I shall be +happy to lend you my assistance."</p> + +<p>I never visited that part of the countryside since, but I have no doubt +that Mr. Browne is busy in his vocation, and flattering himself that he +is one of the first vocalists in the Union. I think he should change his +residence, and settle down for life in <i>New Harmony</i>.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>To Adelaide,<a href="#FN1"><sup>[1]</sup></a></h4> +<h4>A Beautiful Young Canadian Lady.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Yes, thou art young, and passing fair;</p> +<p class="line-in2">But time, that bids all blossoms fade,</p> +<p class="line">Will rob thee of the rich and rare;</p> +<p class="line-in2">Then list to me, sweet Adelaide.</p> +<p class="line">He steals the snow from polish'd brow,</p> +<p class="line-in2">From soft bewitching eyes the blue,</p> +<p class="line">From smiling lips their ruby glow,</p> +<p class="line-in2">From velvet cheeks their rosy hue.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Oh, who shall check the spoiler's power?--</p> +<p class="line-in2">'Tis more than conquering love may dare;</p> +<p class="line">He flutters round youth's summer bower,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And reigns o'er hearts like summer fair.</p> +<p class="line">He basks himself in sunny eyes,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Hides 'mid bright locks, and dimpled smiles;</p> +<p class="line">From age he spreads his wings and flies,--</p> +<p class="line-in2">Forgets soft vows, and pretty wiles.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The charms of mind are ever young,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Their beauty never owns decay;</p> +<p class="line">The fairest form by poet sung,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Before their power must fade away.</p> +<p class="line">The mind immortal wins from time</p> +<p class="line-in2">Fresh beauties as its years advance;</p> +<p class="line">Its flowers bloom fresh in every clime--</p> +<p class="line-in2">They cannot yield to change and chance.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"E'en over love's capricious boy</p> +<p class="line-in2">They hold an undiminish'd sway;</p> +<p class="line">For chill and storm can ne'er destroy</p> +<p class="line-in2">The blossoms of eternal day.</p> +<p class="line">Then deem these charms, sweet Adelaide,</p> +<p class="line-in2">The brightest gems in beauty's zone:</p> +<p class="line">Make these thine own,--all others fade;</p> +<p class="line-in2">They live when youth and grace are flown."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<p class="footnote"><a name="FN1">[1]</a> +The daughter of Colonel Coleman, of Belleville; now Mrs. Easton.</p> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER VII<br /> Camp Meetings</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"On--on!--for ever brightly on,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Thy lucid waves are flowing:</p> +<p class="line">Thy waters sparkle as they run,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Their long, long journey going."</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>We have rounded Ox Point, and Belleville is no longer in sight. The +steamboat has struck into mid channel, and the bold shores of the Prince +Edward District are before us. Calmly we glide on, and islands and +headlands seem to recede from us as we advance; and now they are far +in the distance, half seen through the warm purple haze that rests +so dreamily upon woods and waters. Heaven is above us, and another +heaven--more soft, and not less beautiful--lies mirrored beneath; and +within that heaven are traced exquisite forms of earth--trees, and +flowers, and verdant slopes, and bold hills, and barren rugged rocks. +The scene is one of surpassing loveliness, and we open our hearts to +receive its sweet influences, while our eyes rest upon it with intense +delight, and the inner voice of the soul whispers--God is here! Dost +thou not catch the reflection of his glory in this superb picture of +Nature's own painting, while the harmony that surrounds his throne is +faintly echoed by the warm balmy wind that stirs the lofty branches of +the woods, and the waves that swell and break in gentle undulation +against these rocky isles?</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"So smiled the heavens upon the vestal earth,</p> +<p class="line">The morn she rose exulting from her birth;</p> +<p class="line">A living harmony, a perfect plan</p> +<p class="line">Of power and beauty, ere the rebel man</p> +<p class="line">Defiled with sin, and stain'd with kindred blood,</p> +<p class="line">The paradise his God pronounced as good."</p> +</div> + +<p>That rugged point to the left contains a fine quarry of limestone, which +supplies excellent building materials. The stones are brought by the +means of a scow, a very broad flat-bottomed boat, to Belleville, where +they are sawn into square blocks, and dressed for doors sills and +facings of houses. A little further on, the Salmon river discharges its +waters into the bay, and on its shores the village of Shannonville has +risen, as if by magic, within a very few years. Three schooners are just +now anchored at its mouth, receiving cargoes of sawn lumber to carry +over to Oswego. The timber is supplied from the large mill, the din of +whose machinery can be heard distinctly at this distance. Lumber forms, +at present, the chief article of export from this place. Upwards of one +million of sawn lumber was shipped from this embryo town during the past +year.</p> + +<p>Shannonville owes its present flourishing prospects to the energy and +enterprise of a few individuals, who saw at a glance its capabilities, +and purchased for a few hundred pounds the site of a town which is now +worth as many thousands. The steamboats do not touch at Shannonville, in +their trips to and from Kingston. The mouth of the river is too narrow +to admit a larger vessel than a schooner, but as the place increases, +wharfs will be built at its entrance into the bay.</p> + +<p>On the road leading from Belleville to this place, which is in the +direct route to Kingston, there is a large tract of plain land which is +still uncultivated. The soil is sandy, and the trees are low and far +apart, a natural growth short grass and flowering shrubs giving it very +much the appearance of a park. Clumps of butternut, and hiccory trees, +form picturesque groups; and herds of cattle, belonging to the settlers +in the vicinity, roam at large over these plains that sweep down to the +water's edge. This is a very favourite resort of summer parties, as +you can drive light carriages in all directions over this elevated +platform. It used formerly to be a chosen spot for camp-meetings, and +all the piously disposed came hither to listen to the preachers, and +"<i>get religion</i>."</p> + +<p>I never witnessed one of these meetings, but an old lady gave me a very +graphic description of one of them that was held on this spot some +thirty years ago. There were no churches in Belleville then, and the +travelling Methodist ministers used to pitch their tents on these +plains, and preach night and day to all goers and comers. A pulpit, +formed of rough slabs of wood, was erected in a conveniently open space +among the trees, and they took it by turns to read, exhort, and pray, +to the dwellers in the wilderness. At right they kindled large fires, +which served both for light and warmth, and enabled the pilgrims to +this sylvan shrine to cook their food, and attend to their wants of +their little ones. Large booths, made of the boughs of trees, sheltered +the worshippers from the heat of the sun during the day, or from the +occasional showers produced by some passing thunder cloud at night.</p> + +<p>"Our bush farm," said my friend, "happened to be near the spot, and I +went with a young girl, a friend and neighbour, partly out of curiosity +and partly out of fun, to hear the preaching. It was the middle of July, +but the weather was unusually wet for that time of year, and every +tent and booth was crowded with men, women, and children, all huddled +together to keep out of the rain. Most of these tents exhibited some +extraordinary scene of fanaticism and religious enthusiasm; the noise +and confusion were deafening. Men were preaching at the very top of +their voice; women were shrieking and groaning, beating their breasts +and tearing their hair, while others were uttering the most frantic +outcries, which they called <i>ejaculatory prayers</i>. One thought possessed +me all the time, that the whole assembly were mad, and that they +imagined God to be deaf, and that he could not hear them without their +making this shocking noise. It would appear to you like the grossest +blasphemy were I to repeat to you some of their exclamations; but one +or two were so absurdly ridiculous, that I cannot help giving them as +I heard them.</p> + +<p>"One young woman, after lying foaming and writhing upon the ground, +like a creature possessed, sprang up several feet into the air, +exclaiming, 'I have got it! I have got it! I have got it!' To which +others responded--'Keep it! keep it! keep it!' I asked a bystander +what she meant. He replied, 'she has got religion. It is the Spirit +that is speaking in her.' I felt too much shocked to laugh out, yet +could scarcely retain my gravity.</p> + +<p>"Passing by one of the tents, I saw a very fat woman lying upon a bench +on her face, uttering the most dismal groans, while two well-fed, +sleek-looking ministers, in rusty black coats and very dirty-looking +white chokers, were drumming upon her fat back with their fists, +exclaiming--'Here's glory! here's glory, my friends! Satan is departing +out of this woman. Hallelujah!' This spectacle was too shocking to +provoke a smile.</p> + +<p>"There was a young lady dressed in a very nice silk gown. Silk was a +very scarce and expensive article in those days. The poor girl got +dreadfully excited, and was about to fling herself down upon the wet +grass, to show the depth of her humility and contrition, when she +suddenly remembered the precious silk dress, and taking a shawl of less +value from her shoulders, carefully spread it over the wet ground.</p> + +<p>"Ah, my dear friend," continued the old lady, "one had a deal to learn +at that camp-meeting. A number of those people knew no more what they +were about than persons in a dream. They worked themselves up to a pitch +of frenzy, because they saw others carried away by the same spirit; and +they seemed to try which could make the most noise, and throw themselves +into the most unnatural positions. Few of them carried the religious +zeal they manifested in such a strange way at that meeting, into their +own homes. Before the party broke up it was forgotten, and they were +laughing and chatting about their worldly affairs. The young lads were +sparking the girls, and the girls laughing and flirting with them. I +remarked to an old farmer, who was reckoned a very pious man, 'that such +conduct, in persons who had just been in a state of despair about their +sins, was very inconsistent, to say the least of it;' and he replied, +with a sanctimonious smile--'It is only the Lord's lambs, playing +with each other.'"</p> + +<p>These camp-meetings seldom take place near large towns, where the people +have the benefit of a resident minister, but they still occur on the +borders of civilization, and present the same disorderly mixture of +fanaticism and vanity.</p> + +<p>More persons go for a frolic than to obtain any spiritual benefit. In +illustration of this, I will tell you a story which a very beautiful +young married lady told to me with much glee, for the thing happened +to herself, and she was the principal actor in the scene.</p> + +<p>"I had an aunt, the wife of a very wealthy yeoman, who lived in one of +the back townships of C---, on the St. Lawrence. She was a very pious +and hospitable woman, and none knew it better than the travelling +ministers, who were always well fed and well lodged at her house, +particularly when they assembled to hold a camp-meeting, which took +place once in several years in that neighbourhood.</p> + +<p>"I was a girl of fifteen, and was staying with my aunt for the benefit +of the country-air, when one of these great gatherings took place. +Having heard a great deal about their strange doings at these meetings, +I begged very hard to be allowed to make one of the spectators. My aunt, +who knew what a merry, light-hearted creature I was, demurred for some +time before she granted my request.</p> + +<p>"'If the child does not <i>get religion</i>,' she said, 'she will turn it all +into fun, and it will do her more harm than good.'</p> + +<p>"Aunt was right enough in her conjunctures; but still she entertained a +latent hope, that the zeal of the preachers, the excitement of the +scene, and the powerful influence produced by the example of the pious, +might have a beneficial effect on my young mind, and lead to my +conversion. Aunt had herself been reclaimed from a state of careless +indifference by attending one of these meetings, and at last it was +determined that I was to go.</p> + +<p>"First came the ministers, and then the grand feed my aunt had prepared +for them, before they opened the campaign. Never shall I forget how +those holy men devoured the good things set before them. I stood gazing +upon them in utter astonishment, wondering when their meal would come to +an end. They none wore whiskers, and their broad fat faces literally +shone with high feeding. When I laughed at their being such excellent +knife and fork men, aunt gravely reproved my levity, by saying, 'that +the labourer was worthy of his hire; and that it would be a great sin to +muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn; that field preaching was a +very exhausting thing, and that these pious men required a great deal of +nourishment to keep up their strength for the performance of good work.'</p> + +<p>"After they were gone, I dressed and accompanied my aunt to the scene of +action.</p> + +<p>"It was a lovely spot, about a mile from the house. The land rose in a +gentle slope from the river, and was surrounded on three sides by lofty +woods. The front gave us a fine view of the St. Lawrence, rushing along +in its strength, the distant murmur of the waves mingling with the sigh +of the summer breeze, that swept the dense foliage of the forest trees. +The place had been cleared many years before, and was quite free from +stumps and fallen timber, the ground carpeted with soft moss and verdant +fresh looking turf.</p> + +<p>"The area allotted for the meeting was fenced around with the long thin +trunks of sapling trees, that were tied together with strips of +bass-wood. In the centre of the enclosure was the platform for the +preachers, constructed of rough slabs, and directly behind this rural +pulpit was a large tent connected with it by a flight of board steps. +Here the preachers retired, after delivering their lectures, to rest and +refresh themselves. Fronting the platform was a sort of amphitheatre +of booths, constructed of branches of trees, and containing benches +of boards supported at either end by a round log laid lengthwise at +the sides of the tent. Behind these rough benches persons had placed +mattrasses, which they had brought with them in their waggons, that such +as came from a distance might not want for a bed during their stay--some +of these meetings lasting over a week.</p> + +<p>"The space without the enclosure was occupied by a double line of carts, +waggons, light carriages, and ox sleds, while the animals undivested of +their harness were browsing peacefully among the trees. The inner space +was crowded with persons of all classes, but the poorer certainly +predominated. Well dressed, respectable people, however, were not +wanting; and though I came there to see and to be seen, to laugh and to +make others laugh, I must confess that I was greatly struck with the +imposing and picturesque scene before me, particularly when a number of +voices joined in singing the hymn with which the service commenced."</p> + +<p>There is something very touching in this blending of human voices in the +open air--this choral song of praise borne upwards from the earth, and +ascending through the clear atmosphere to heaven. Leaving my friend and +her curious narrative for a few minutes, I must remark here the powerful +effect produced upon my mind by hearing "God save the King," sung by the +thousands of London on the proclamation of William IV. It was impossible +to distinguish good or bad voices in such a mighty volume of sound, +which rolled through the air like a peal of solemn thunder. It thrilled +through my heart, and paled my cheek. It seemed to me the united voice +of a whole nation rising to the throne of God, and it was the grandest +combination of sound and sentiment that ever burst upon human ears. +Long, long may that thrilling anthem rise from the heart of England, in +strains of loyal thanksgiving and praise, to the throne of that Eternal +Potentate in whose hand is the fate of princes!</p> + +<p>"There were numbers of persons who, like myself, came there for +amusement, and who seemed to enjoy themselves quite as much as I did. +The preaching at length commenced with a long prayer, followed by an +admonitory address, urging those present to see their danger, repent +of their sins, and flee from the wrath to come.</p> + +<p>"Towards the middle of his discourse, the speaker wrought himself up +into such a religious fury that it became infectious, and cries and +groans resounded on all sides; and the prayers poured out by repentant +sinners for mercy and pardon were heart-rending. The speaker at length +became speechless from exhaustion, and stopping suddenly in the midst of +his too eloquent harangue, he tied a red cotton handkerchief round his +head, and hastily descended the steps, and disappeared in the tent +provided for the accommodation of the ministers. His place was instantly +supplied by a tall, dark, melancholy looking man, who, improving upon +his reverend brother's suggestions, drew such an awful picture of the +torments endured by the damned, that several women fainted, while others +were shrieking in violent hysterics.</p> + +<p>"I had listened to the former speaker with attention and respect, but +this man's violent denunciations rather tended to harden my heart, and +make me resist any religious feeling that had been growing up in my +breast. I began to tire of the whole thing, and commenced looking about +for some object that might divert my thoughts into a less gloomy +channel.</p> + +<p>"The bench on which I, together with a number of persons, was sitting, +was so insecurely placed on the round rolling logs that supported it, +that I perceived that the least motion given to it at my end would +capsize it, and bring all the dear groaning creatures who were sitting +upon it, with their eyes turned up to the preacher, sprawling on the +ground.</p> + +<p>"'Would it not be glorious fun?' whispered the spirit of +mischief--perhaps the old one himself--in my ears. 'I can <i>do it</i>, and +I <i>will do it</i>--so here goes!' As I sat next to the round log that +supported my end of the plank, I had only to turn my face that way, and +apply my foot like a lever to the round trunk, on which the end of the +bench had the slightest possible hold, and the contemplated downfall +became a certainty. No sooner thought than done. The next moment old and +young, fat and lean, women and children, lay sprawling together on the +ground, in the most original attitudes and picturesque confusion. I, for +my part, was lying very comfortably on one of the mattrasses, laughing +until real tears, but not of contrition, streamed down my face.</p> + +<p>"Never shall I forget a fat old farmer, who used to visit at my aunt's, +as he crawled out of the human heap on all fours, and shook his head at +me--</p> + +<p>"'You wicked young sinner, this is all your doings.'</p> + +<p>"Before the storm could burst upon me, I got up and ran laughing out of +the tent, and hid myself among the trees to enjoy my wicked thoughts +alone. Here I remained for a long time, watching, at a safe distance, +the mad gesticulations of the preacher, who was capering up and down on +the platform, and using the most violent and extravagant language, until +at length, overcome by his vehemence, he too tied the invariable red +handkerchief round his head, and tumbled back into the tent, to be +succeeded by another and another.</p> + +<p>"Night, with all her stars, was now stealing upon us; but the light +from a huge pile of burning logs, and from torches composed of fat pine, +and stuck in iron grates supported on poles in different parts of the +plain, scattered the darkness back to the woods, and made it as light as +noon-day.</p> + +<p>"The scene was now wild in the extreme: the red light streamed upon the +moving mass of human beings who pressed around the pulpit, glaring upon +clenched fists and upturned faces, while the preacher standing above +them, and thrown into strong relief, with his head held back and his +hands raised towards heaven, looked like some inspired prophet of old, +calling down fire from heaven to consume the ungodly. It was a spectacle +to inspire both fear and awe, but I could only view it in the most +absurd light, and laugh at it.</p> + +<p>"At length I was determined to know what became of the preachers, after +tying the red handkerchief round their heads and retreating to their +tents. I crept carefully round to the back of this holy of holies, and +applying my eyes to a little aperture in the canvas, I saw by the light +of a solitary candle several men lying upon mattrasses fast asleep, +their noses making anything but a musical response to the hymns and +prayers without. While I was gazing upon these prostrate forms, thus +soundly sleeping after the hubbub and excitement their discourse had +occasioned among their congregation, the last speaker hastily entered +the tent, and flinging himself on to the floor, exclaimed, in a sort of +ecstacy of gratitude--'Well, thank God my task is ended for the night; +and now for a good sleep!'</p> + +<p>"While I was yet pondering these things in my heart, I felt the grasp of +a hand upon my shoulder. I turned with a shriek; it was my aunt seeking +me. 'What are you doing here?' she said, rather angrily.</p> + +<p>"'Studying my lesson, aunt,' said I, gravely, pointing to the sleepers. +'Do these men preach for their own honour and glory, or for the glory of +God? I have tried to find out, but I can't tell.'</p> + +<p>"'The night's grown chilly, child,' said my aunt, avoiding the answer I +expected; 'it is time you were in bed.'</p> + +<p>"We went home. I got a sound lecture for the trick I had played, and I +never went to a camp-meeting again; yet, in spite of my bad conduct as a +child, I believe they often do good, and are the means of making +careless people think of the state of their souls."</p> + +<p>Though the steamboats do not stop at Shannonville, they never fail to do +so at the pretty town of Northport, on the other side of the bay, in +order to take in freight and passengers.</p> + +<p>Northport rises with a very steep slope from the water's edge, and the +steamer runs into the wharf which projects but a few feet froth the +shore. Down the long hill which leads to the main street, men and boys +are running to catch a sight of the steamboat, and hear the news. All is +bustle and confusion. Barrels of flour are being rolled into the boat, +and sheep and cattle are led off--men hurry on board with trunks and +carpet-bags--and women, with children in their arms or led by the +hand, hasten on board;--while our passengers, descending to the +wharf, are shaking hands with merchants and farmers, and talking over +the current prices of grain and merchandise at their respective towns. +The bell rings--the cable that bound us to the friendly wharf is cast +off and flung on the deck the steamer opens her deep lungs, and we are +once more stemming our way towards Kingston.</p> + +<p>While we sail up that romantic part of the Bay of Quinte, called the +"Long Reach," at the head of which stands the beautiful town of Picton, +I will give you a few reminiscences of Northport. It is a most quiet and +primitive village, and one might truly exclaim with Moore--</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"And I said if there's peace to be found on the earth,</p> +<p class="line-in2">The heart that is humble might hope for it here."</p> +</div> + +<p>No gentler picture of society in a new country could be found, than the +one exhibited by the inhabitants of Northport. The distinctions, +unavoidable among persons of wealth and education, are hardly felt or +recognised here. Every one is a neighbour in the strictest sense of the +word and high and low meet occasionally at each other's houses. Even the +domestics are removed by such a narrow line of demarcation, that they +appear like members of one family.</p> + +<p>The Prince Edward district, one of the wealthiest rural districts in +Upper Canada, was settled about sixty years ago by U.E. loyalists; and +its inhabitants are mainly composed of the descendants of Dutch and +American families. They have among them a large sprinkling of Quakers, +who are a happy, hospitable community, living in peace and brotherly +kindness with all men.</p> + +<p>The soil of this district is of the best quality for agricultural +purposes; and though the march of improvement has been slow, when +compared with the rapid advance of other places that possessed fewer +local advantages, it has gone on steadily progressing, and the surface +of a fine undulating country is dotted over with large well-cleared +farms, and neat farmhouses.</p> + +<p>One of the oldest and wealthiest inhabitants of Northport, Captain +---, is a fine specimen of the old school of Canadian settlers; one of +nature's gentlemen, a man respected and beloved by all who know him, +whose wise head, and keen organs of observation, have rendered him a +highly intelligent and intellectual man, without having received the +benefit of a college education. His house is always open for the +reception of friends, neighbours, and strangers. He has no children +of his own, but has adopted several orphan children, on whom he has +bestowed all the affection and care of a real parent.</p> + +<p>This system of adopting children in Canada is one of great benevolence, +which cannot be too highly eulogized. Many an orphan child, who would be +cast utterly friendless upon the world, finds a comfortable home with +some good neighbour, and is treated with more consideration, and enjoys +greater privileges, than if his own parents had lived. No difference +is made between the adopted child and the young ones of the family; it +is clothed, boarded, and educated with the same care, and a stranger +would find it difficult to determine which was the real, which the +transplanted scion of the house.</p> + +<p>Captain --- seldom dines alone; some one is always going and coming, +stepping in and taking pot-luck, by accident or invitation. But the +Captain can afford it. Sociable, talkative, and the soul of hospitality, +he entertains his guests like a prince. "Is he not a glorious old +fellow?" said our beloved and excellent chief-justice Robinson; +"Captain --- is a credit to the country." We echoed this sentiment +with our whole heart. It is quite a treat to make one of his uninvited +guests, and share the good-humoured sociability of his bountiful table.</p> + +<p>You meet there men of all grades and conditions, of every party +and creed,--the well-educated, well-dressed clergymen of the +Establishment, and the travelling dispensers of gospel truths, with +shabbier coats and less pretensions. No one is deemed an intruder--all +find excellent cheer, and a hearty welcome.</p> + +<p>Northport does not want its native poet, though the money-making +merchants and farmers regard him with a suspicious and pitying eye. The +manner in which they speak of his unhappy malady reminds me of what an +old Quaker said to me regarding his nephew, Bernard Barton--"Friend +Susanna, it is a great pity, but my nephew Bernard is sadly addicted to +literature."</p> + +<p>So Isaac N---, gentleman farmer of the township of Ameliasburgh, is +sadly gifted with the genuine elements of poetry, and, like Burns, +composes verses at the plough-tail. I have read with great pleasure some +sweet lines by this rural Canadian bard; and were he now beside me, +instead of "Big bay" lying so provokingly between, I would beg from him +a specimen of his rhyming powers, just to prove to my readers that the +genuine children of song are distinguished by the same unmistakeable +characteristics in every clime.</p> + +<p>I remember being greatly struck by an overcoat, worn by a clergyman I +had the pleasure of meeting many years ago at this village, which seemed +to me a pretty good substitute for the miraculous purse of Fortunatus. +The garment to which I allude was long and wide, and cut round somewhat +in the shape of a spencer. The inside lining formed one capacious +pocket, into which the reverend gentleman could conveniently stow away +newspapers, books, and sermons, and, on a pinch, a fat fowl, a bottle of +wine, or a homebaked loaf of bread. On the present occasion, the kind +mistress of the house took care that the owner should not travel with +it empty; so, to keep him fairly balanced on his horse, she stowed away +into this convenient garment such an assortment of good things, that I +sat and watched the operation in curious amazement.</p> + +<p>Some time after I happened to dine with a dissenting minister at Mr. +---'s hous e. The man had a very repulsive and animal expression; he +ate so long and lustily of a very fat goose, that he began to look very +uncomfortable, and complained very much of being troubled with <i>dyspepsy</i> +after his meals. He was a great teetotaller, or professed to be one, but +certainly had forgotten the text, "Be ye moderate in all things;" for he +by no means applied the temperance system to the substantial creature +comforts, of which he partook in a most immoderately voracious manner.</p> + +<p>"I know what would cure you, Mr. R---," said my friend, who seemed to +guess at a glance the real character of his visitor; "but then I know +that you would never consent to make use of such a remedy."</p> + +<p>"I would take anything that would do me good," said black-coat with +a sigh.</p> + +<p>"What think you of a small wine-glass of brandy just before taking +dinner?"</p> + +<p>"Against my principles, Sir; it would never do," with a lugubrious shake +of the head.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing on earth so good for your complaint."</p> + +<p>"Do you <i>reelly</i> think it would serve me?" with a sudden twinkle of +his heavy fishy eyes.</p> + +<p>"Not a doubt of the fact" (<i>pouring out a pretty large dram</i>); "it will +kill the heartburn, and do away with that uncomfortable feeling you +experience after eating rich food. And as to principles, your pledge +allows it in case of disease."</p> + +<p>"True," said black-coat, coquetting with the glass; "still I should be +sorry to try an <i>alcoholic</i> remedy while another could be found."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps you would prefer <i>eating less</i>," said my friend slyly, "which, +I have been told by a medical man, is generally a certain cure if +persevered in."</p> + +<p>"Oh, ah, yes. But, Sir, my constitution would never stand that. I think +for <i>once</i> I will try the effect of your first prescription; but, +remember, it is only <i>medicinally</i>."</p> + +<p>The next moment the glass was returned to the table empty, and the good +man took his leave.</p> + +<p>"Now, Mr. ---, was it not too bad of you to make that man break his +pledge?" observed a person at table.</p> + +<p>"My dear Sir, that man requires very little temptation to do that. The +total abstinence of a glutton is entirely for the public."</p> + +<p>The houses built by the Dutch settlers have very little privacy, as one +bed-chamber invariably opens into another. In some cases, the sleeping +apartments all open into a common sitting-room occupied by the family. +To English people, this is both an uncomfortable and very unpleasant +arrangement.</p> + +<p>I slept for two nights at Mr. ---'s house, with my husband, and our +dormitory had no egress but through another bed-chamber; and as that +happened to be occupied on the first night by a clergyman, I had to wait +for an hour, after my husband was up and down stairs rejoicing in the +fresh air of a lovely summer morning, before I could escape from my +chamber,--my neighbour; who was young and very comely, taking a long +time for his prayers, and the business of the toilet.</p> + +<p>My husband laughed very heartily at my imprisonment, as he termed it; +but the next day I had the laugh against him, for our sleeping +neighbours happened to be a middle-aged Quaker, with a very sickly +delicate wife. I, of course, was forced to go to bed when she did, or be +obliged to pass through her chamber after brother Jonathan had retired +for the night. This being by no means desirable, I left a very +interesting argument, in which my husband, the Quaker, and the poet were +fighting an animated battle on reform principles, against the clergyman +and my very much respected Tory host. How they got on I don't know, for +the debate was at its height when I was obliged to beat my retreat to +bed.</p> + +<p>After an hour or so I heard Jonathan tumble upstairs to bed, and +while undressing he made the following very innocent remark to his +wife,--"Truly, Hannah, I fear that I have used too many words tonight. +My uncle is a man of many words, and one is apt to forget the rules of +prudence when arguing with him."</p> + +<p>If the use of many words was looked upon as a serious transgression by +honest Jonathan, my husband, my friend, and the poet, must have been +very guilty men, for they continued their argument until the "sma' hours +ayont the twal."</p> + +<p>My husband had to pass through the room occupied by the Friends, in +order to reach mine, but he put a bold face upon the matter, and plunged +at once through the difficulty, the Quaker's nose giving unmistakeable +notice that he was in the land of Nod. The pale sickly woman just opened +her dreamy black eyes, but hid them instantly beneath the bed-clothes, +and the passage, not of arms, but of the bed-chamber, was won.</p> + +<p>The next morning we had to rise early to take the boat, and Jonathan was +up by the dawn of day; so that I went through as bold as a lion, and was +busily employed in discussing an excellent breakfast, while my poor +partner was sitting impatiently nursing his appetite at the foot of his +bed, and wishing the pale Quakeress across the bay. The steamer was in +sight before he was able to join us at the breakfast-table. I had now my +revenge, and teased him all the way home on being kept a prisoner, with +only a sickly woman for a jailor.</p> + +<p>A young lady gave me an account of a funeral she witnessed in this +primitive village, which may not be uninteresting to my English readers, +as a picture of some of the customs of a new country.</p> + +<p>The deceased was an old and very respectable resident in the township; +and as the Canadians delight in large funerals, he was followed to his +last home by nearly all the residents for miles round.</p> + +<p>The use of the hearse is not known in rural districts, and, indeed, is +seldom used in towns or cities here. The corpse is generally carried to +the grave, the bearers being chosen from among the gentlemen of most +note in the neighbourhood, who, to the honour of the country be it +spoken, never refuse to act on these mournful occasions. These walking +funerals are far more imposing and affecting spectacles than the hearse +with its funeral plumes; and the simple fact of friends and neighbours +conveying a departed brother to his long home, has a more solemn and +touching effect upon the mind, than the train of hired mourners and +empty state-carriages.</p> + +<p>When a body is brought from a distance for interment, it is conveyed in +a waggon, if in summer, spring, or autumn, and on a sleigh during the +winter season, and is attended to the grave by all the respectable +yeomen in the township.</p> + +<p>I cannot resist the strong temptation of digressing from my present +subject, in order to relate a very affecting instance I witnessed at one +of these funerals of the attachment of a dog to his deceased master, +which drew tears from my eyes, and from the eyes of my children.</p> + +<p>The body of a farmer had been brought in a waggon from one of the back +townships, a distance of twenty or thirty miles, and was, as usual in +such cases, attended by a long train of country equipages. My house +fronted the churchyard, and from the windows you could witness the whole +of the funeral ceremonial, and hear the service pronounced over the +grave. When the coffin was lifted by the stalwart sons of the deceased +from the waggon, and the procession formed to carry it into the church, +I observed a large, buff Flemish dog fall into the ranks of the +mourners, and follow them into the sacred edifice, keeping as near the +coffin as those about it would permit him. After the service in the +church was ended, the creature persevered in following the beloved +remains to the grave. When the crowd dispersed, the faithful animal +retired to some distance, and laid himself quietly down upon a grave, +until the sexton had finished his mournful task, and the last sod was +placed upon the fresh heap that had closed for ever over the form he +loved.</p> + +<p>When the man retired, the dog proceeded to the spot, walked carefully +round it, smelt the earth, lifted his head, and uttered the most +unearthly howls. He then endeavoured to disinter the body, by digging a +large hole at one end of the grave; but finding that he could not effect +his purpose, he stretched himself at full length over it, as if to guard +the spot, with his head buried between his fore-paws, his whole +appearance betokening the most intense dejection.</p> + +<p>All that day and night, and the next day and night, he never quitted his +post for an instant, at intervals smelling the earth, and uttering those +mournful, heart-rending cries. My boys took him bread and meat, and +tried to coax him from the grave; but he rejected the food and their +caresses. The creature appeared wasted and heartbroken with grief. +Towards noon of the third day, the eldest son of his late master came in +search of him; and the young man seemed deeply affected by this instance +of the dog's attachment to his father. Even his well-known voice failed +to entice him from the grave, and he was obliged to bring a collar and +chain, and lift him by force into his waggon, to get him from his post.</p> + +<p>Oh, human love! is thy memory and thy faith greater than the attachment +of this poor, and, as we term him, unreasoning brute, to his dead +master? His grief made an impression on my mind, and on that of my +children, which will never be forgotten.</p> + +<p>But to return to the village funeral. The body in this case was borne to +the church by the near relatives of the deceased; and a clergyman of +the establishment delivered a funeral sermon, in which he enumerated +the good qualities of the departed, his long residence among them, and +described the trials and hardships he had encountered as a first settler +in that district, while it was yet in the wilderness. He extolled his +conduct as a good citizen, and faithful Christian, and a public-spirited +man. His sermon was a very complete piece of rural biography, very +curious and graphic in its way, and was listened to with the deepest +attention by the persons assembled.</p> + +<p>When the discourse was concluded, and the blessing pronounced, one of +the sons of the deceased rose and informed the persons present, that if +any one wished to take a last look of the dear old man, now was the +time.</p> + +<p>He then led the way to the aisle, in which the coffin stood upon the +tressels, and opening a small lid in the top, revealed to the +astonishment of my young friend the pale, ghastly face of the dead. +Almost every person present touched either the face, hands, or brow of +the deceased; and after their curiosity had been fully satisfied, the +procession followed the remains to their last resting-place. This part +of the ceremony concluded, the indifferent spectators dispersed to their +respective homes, while the friends and relations of the dead man +returned to dine at the house of one of his sons, my friend making one +of the party.</p> + +<p>In solemn state the mourners discussed the merits of an excellent +dinner,--the important business of eating being occasionally interrupted +by remarks upon the appearance of the corpse, his age, the disease of +which he died, the probable division of his property, and the merits +of the funeral discourse. This was done in such a business-like +matter-of-fact manner, that my friend was astonished how the blood +relations of the deceased could join in these remarks.</p> + +<p>After the great business of eating was concluded the spirits of the +party began to flag. The master of the house perceiving how matters were +going, left the room, and soon returned with a servant bearing a tray +with plates and fork, and a large dish of hiccory nuts. The mourners +dried their tears, and set seriously to work to discuss the nuts, and +while deeply engaged with their mouse-like employment, forgot for awhile +their sorrow for the dead, continuing to keep up their spirits until the +announcement of tea turned their thoughts into a new channel. By the +time all the rich pies, cakes, and preserves were eaten, their feelings +seemed to have subsided into their accustomed everyday routine.</p> + +<p>It is certain that death is looked upon by many Canadians more as a +matter of business, and a change of property into other hands, than as +a real domestic calamity. I have heard people talk of the approaching +dissolution of their nearest ties with a calm philosophy which I never +could comprehend. "Mother is old and delicate; we can't expect her to +last long," says one. "My brother's death has been looked for these +several months past; you know he's in the consumption." My husband asked +the son of a respectable farmer, for whom he entertained an esteem, how +his father was, for he had not seen him for some time? "I guess," was +the reply, "that the old man's fixing for the other world." Another +young man, being asked by my friend, Captain ---, to spend the evening +at his house, replied--"No, can't--much obliged; but I'm afear'd +that grandfather will give the last kicks while I'm away."</p> + +<p>Canadians flock in crowds to visit the dying, and to gaze upon the dead. +A doctor told me that being called into the country to visit a very sick +man, he was surprised on finding the wife of his patient sitting alone +before the fire ill the lower room, smoking a pipe. He naturally +inquired if her husband was better?</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, sir, far from that; he is dying!"</p> + +<p>"Dying! and <i>you</i> here?"</p> + +<p>"I can't help that, sir. The room is so crowded with the neighbours, +that I can't get in to wait upon him."</p> + +<p>"Follow me," said the doctor. "I'll soon make a clearance for you."</p> + +<p>On ascending the stairs that led to the apartment of the sick man, he +found them crowded with people struggling to get in, to take a peep at +the poor man. It was only by telling them that he was the doctor, that +he forced his way to the bedside. He found his patient in a high fever, +greatly augmented by the bustle, confusion, and heat, occasioned by so +many people round him. With great difficulty he cleared the room of +these intruders, and told the brother of his patient to keep every one +but the sick man's wife out of the house. The brother followed the +doctor's advice, and the man cheated the curiosity of the death-seekers, +and recovered.</p> + +<p>The Canadians spend a great deal of money upon their dead. An old lady +told me that her nephew, a very large farmer, who had the misfortune +to lose his wife in childbed, had laid out a great deal of money--a +little fortune she termed it--on her grave-clothes. "Oh, my dear," she +said, "it is a thousand pities that you did not go and see her before +she was buried. She was dressed so expensively, and she made such a +beautiful corpse! Her cap was of real thread lace, trimmed with white +French ribbons, and her linen the finest that could be bought in the +country."</p> + +<p>The more ostentatious the display of grief for the dead, the less I have +always found of the reality. I heard two young ladies, who had recently +lost a mother, not more than sixteen years older than the eldest of the +twain, lamenting most pathetically that they could not go to a public +ball, because they were in mourning for ma'! Oh, what a pitiful farce is +this, of wearing mourning for the dead! But as I have a good deal to say +to sensible people on that subject, I will defer my long lecture until +the next chapter.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>Random Thoughts.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"When is Youth's gay heart the lightest?--</p> +<p class="line">When the torch of health burns brightest,</p> +<p class="line">And the soul's rich banquet lies</p> +<p class="line">In air and ocean, earth and skies;</p> +<p class="line">Till the honied cup of pleasure</p> +<p class="line">Overflows with mental treasure.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"When is Love's sweet dream the sweetest?--</p> +<p class="line">When a kindred heart thou meetest,</p> +<p class="line">Unpolluted with the strife,</p> +<p class="line">The selfish aims that tarnish life;</p> +<p class="line">Ere the scowl of care has faded</p> +<p class="line">The shining chaplet Fancy braided,</p> +<p class="line">And emotions pure and high</p> +<p class="line">Swell the heart and fill the eye;</p> +<p class="line">Rich revealings of a mind</p> +<p class="line">Within a loving breast enshrined,</p> +<p class="line">To thine own fond bosom plighted,</p> +<p class="line">In affection's bonds united:</p> +<p class="line">The sober joys of after years</p> +<p class="line">Are nothing to those smiles and fears.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"When is Sorrow's sting the strongest?--</p> +<p class="line">When friends grow cold we've loved the longest,</p> +<p class="line">And the bankrupt heart would borrow</p> +<p class="line">Treacherous hopes to cheat the morrow;</p> +<p class="line">Dreams of bliss by reason banish'd,</p> +<p class="line">Early joys that quickly vanish'd,</p> +<p class="line">And the treasured past appears</p> +<p class="line">Only to augment our tears;</p> +<p class="line">When, within itself retreating,</p> +<p class="line">The spirit owns life's joys are fleeting,</p> +<p class="line">Yet, racked with anxious doubts and fears,</p> +<p class="line">Trusts, blindly trusts to future years.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Oh, this is grief, the preacher saith,--</p> +<p class="line">The world's dark woe that worketh death!</p> +<p class="line">Yet, oft beneath its influence bowed,</p> +<p class="line">A beam of hope will burst the cloud,</p> +<p class="line">And heaven's celestial shore appears</p> +<p class="line">Slow rising o'er the tide of years,</p> +<p class="line">Guiding the spirit's darkling way</p> +<p class="line">Through thorny paths to endless day.</p> +<p class="line">Then the toils of life are done,</p> +<p class="line">Youth and age are both as one;</p> +<p class="line">Sorrow never more can sting,</p> +<p class="line">Neglect or pain the bosom wring;</p> +<p class="line">And the joys bless'd spirits prove,</p> +<p class="line">Far exceeds all earthly love!"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER VIII<br /> Wearing Mourning for the Dead</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"What is death?--my sister, say."</p> +<p class="line">"Ask not, brother, breathing clay.</p> +<p class="line">Ask the earth on which we tread,</p> +<p class="line">That silent empire of the dead.</p> +<p class="line">Ask the sea--its myriad waves,</p> +<p class="line">Living, leap o'er countless graves!"</p> +<p class="line">"Earth and ocean answer not,</p> +<p class="line">Life is in their depths forgot."</p> +<p class="line">Ask yon pale extended form,</p> +<p class="line">Unconscious of the coming storm,</p> +<p class="line">That breathed and spake an hour ago,</p> +<p class="line">Of heavenly bliss and penal woe;--</p> +<p class="line">Within yon shrouded figure lies</p> +<p class="line">"The mystery of mysteries!"</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>Among the many absurd customs that the sanction of time and the +arbitrary laws of society have rendered indispensable, there is not one +that is so much abused, and to which mankind so fondly clings, as +that of <i>wearing mourning for the dead!</i>--from the ostentatious public +mourning appointed by governments for the loss of their rulers, down to +the plain black badge, worn by the humblest peasant for the death of +parent or child.</p> + +<p>To attempt to raise one feeble voice against a practice sanctioned by +all nations, and hallowed by the most solemn religious rites, appears +almost sacrilegious. There is something so beautiful, so poetical, so +sacred, in this outward sign of a deep and heartfelt sorrow, that to +deprive death of his sable habiliments--the melancholy hearse, funeral +plumes, sombre pall, and a long array of drooping night-clad mourners, +together with the awful clangour of the doleful bell--would rob the +stern necessity of our nature of half its terrors, and tend greatly to +destroy that religious dread which is so imposing, and which affords +such a solemn lesson to the living.</p> + +<p>Alas! Where is the need of all this black parade? Is it not a reproach +to Him, who, in his wisdom, appointed death to pass upon all men? Were +the sentence confined to the human species, we might have more reason +for these extravagant demonstrations of grief; but in every object +around us we see inscribed the mysterious law of change. The very +mountains crumble and decay with years; the great sea shrinks and grows +again; the lofty forest tree, that has drank the dews of heaven, laughed +in the sunlight, and shook its branches at a thousand storms, yields to +the same inscrutable destiny, and bows its tall forehead to the dust.</p> + +<p>Life lives upon death, and death reproduces life, through endless +circles of being, from the proud tyrant man down to the blind worm his +iron heel tramples in the earth. Then wherefore should we hang out this +black banner for those who are beyond the laws of change and chance?</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line-in10">"Yea, they have finish'd:</p> +<p class="line">For them there is no longer any future.</p> +<p class="line">No evil hour knocks at their door</p> +<p class="line">With tidings of mishap--far off are they,</p> +<p class="line">Beyond desire or fear."</p> +</div> + +<p>It is the dismal adjuncts of death which have invested it with those +superstitious terrors that we would fain see removed. The gloom arising +from these melancholy pageants forms a black cloud, whose dense shadow +obscures the light of life to the living. And why, we ask, should death +be invested with such horror? Death in itself is not dreadful; it is but +the change of one mode of being for another--the breaking forth of the +winged soul from its earthly chrysalis; or, as an old Latin poet has so +happily described it--</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Thus life for ever runs its endless race,</p> +<p class="line">Death as a line which but divides the space--</p> +<p class="line">A stop which can but for a moment last,</p> +<p class="line">A <i>point</i> between the <i>future</i> and the <i>past</i>."</p> +</div> + +<p>Nature presents in all her laws such a beautiful and wonderful harmony, +that it is as impossible for death to produce discord among them, as +for night to destroy, by the intervention of its shadow, the splendour +of the coming day. Were men taught from infancy to regard death as a +natural consequence, a fixed law of their being, instead as an awful +pumshment for sin--as the friend and benefactor of mankind, not the +remorseless tyrant and persecutor--to die would no longer be considered +an evil. Let this hideous skeleton be banished into darkness, and +replaced by a benignant angel, wiping away all tears, healing all +pain, burying in oblivion all sorrow and care, calming every turbulent +passion, and restoring man, reconciled to his Maker, to a state of +purity and peace; young and old would then go forth to meet him with +lighted torches, and hail his approach with songs of thanksgiving and +welcome.</p> + +<p>And this is really the case with all but the desperately wicked, who +show that they despise the magnificent boon of life by the bad use they +make of it, by their blasphemous defiance of God and good, and their +unwillingness to be renewed in his image.</p> + +<p>The death angel is generally met with more calmness by the dying than +by surviving friends. By the former, the dreaded enemy is hailed as a +messenger of peace, and they sink tranquilly into his arms, with a smile +upon their lips.</p> + +<p>The death of the Christian is a beautiful triumph over the fears of +life. In Him who conquered death, and led captivity captive, he finds +the fruition of his being, the eternal blessedness promised to him in +the Gospel, which places him beyond the wants and woes of time. The +death of such a man should be celebrated as a sacred festival, not +lamented as a dreary execution,--as the era of a new birth, not the +extinction of being.</p> + +<p>It is true that death is a profound sleep, from which no one can awaken +to tell his dreams. But why on that account should we doubt that it is +less blessed than its twin brother, whose resemblance it bears, and +whose presence we all sedulously court? Invest sleep, however, with the +same dismal garb; let your bed be a coffin, your canopy a pall, your +night-dress a shroud; let the sobs of mourners, and the tolling of bells +lull you to repose,--and few persons would willingly, or tranquilly, +close their eyes to sleep.</p> + +<p>And then, this absurd fashion of wearing black for months and years for +the dead; let us calmly consider the philosophy of the thing, its use +and abuse. Does it confer any benefit on the dead? Does it afford any +consolation to the living? Morally or physically, does it produce the +least good? Does it soften one regretful pang, or dry one bitter tear, +or make the wearers wiser or better? If it does not produce any ultimate +benefit, it should be at once discarded as a superstitious relic of more +barbarous times, when men could not gaze on the simple, unveiled face of +truth, but obscured the clear daylight of her glance under a thousand +fantastic masks.</p> + +<p>The ancients were more consistent in their mourning than the civilized +people of the present day. They sat upon the ground and fasted, with +rent garments, and ashes strewn upon their heads. This mortification of +the flesh was a sort of penance inflicted by the self-tortured mourner +for his own sins, and those of the dead. If this grief were not of a +deep or lasting nature, the mourner found relief for his mental agonies +in humiliation and personal suffering. He did not array himself in silk, +and wool, and fine linen, and garments cut in the most approved fashion +of the day, like our modern beaux and belles, when they testify to the +public their grief for the loss of relation or friend, in the most +expensive and becoming manner.</p> + +<p>Verily, if we must wear our sorrow upon our sleeve, why not return to +the sackcloth and ashes, as the most consistent demonstration of that +grief which, hidden in the heart, surpasseth show.</p> + +<p>But, then, sackcloth is a most unmanageable material. A handsome figure +would be lost, buried, annihilated, in a sackcloth gown; it would be so +horribly rough; it would wound the delicate skin of a fine lady; it +could not be confined in graceful folds by clasps of jet, and pearl, +and ornaments in black and gold. "Sackcloth? Faugh!--away with it. It +smells of the knotted scourge and the charnel-house." We, <i>too</i>, say, "Away +with it!" True grief has no need of such miserable provocatives to woe.</p> + +<p>The barbarians who cut and disfigured their faces for the dead, showed a +noble contempt of the world, by destroying those personal attractions +which the loss of the beloved had taught them to despise. But who now +would have the fortitude and self-denial to imitate such an example? +The mourners in crape, and silk, and French merino, would rather <i>die +themselves</i> than sacrifice their beauty at the shrine of such a monstrous +sorrow.</p> + +<p>How often have I heard a knot of gossips exclaim, as some widow of a +gentleman in fallen circumstances glided by in her rusty weeds, "What +shabby black that woman wears for her husband! I should be ashamed to +appear in public in such faded mourning."</p> + +<p>And yet, the purchase of that <i>shabby black</i> may have cost the desolate +mourner and her orphan children the price of many a necessary meal. Ah, +this putting of a poor family into black, and all the funeral trappings +for pallbearers and mourners, what a terrible affair it is! what anxious +thoughts! what bitter heartaches it costs!</p> + +<p>But the usages of society demand the sacrifice, and it must be made. The +head of the family has suddenly been removed from his earthly toils, at +a most complicated crisis of his affairs, which are so involved that +scarcely enough can be collected to pay the expenses of the funeral, and +put his family into decent mourning, but every exertion must be made to +do this. The money that might, after the funeral was over, have paid the +rent of a small house, and secured the widow and her young family from +actual want, until she could look around and obtain some situation in +which she could earn a living for herself and them, must all be sunk in +conforming to a useless custom, upheld by pride and vanity in the name +of grief.</p> + +<p>"How will the funeral expenses ever be paid?" exclaims the anxious, +weeping mother. "When it is all over, and the mourning bought, there +will not remain a single copper to find us in bread." The sorrow of +obtaining this useless outward show of grief engrosses all the available +means of the family, and that is expended upon the dead which might, +with careful management, have kept the living from starving. Oh, vanity +of vanities! there is no folly on earth that exceeds the vanity of this!</p> + +<p>There are many persons who put off their grief when they put on their +mourning, and it is a miserable satire on mankind to see these +somber-clad beings in festal halls mingling with the gay and happy, +their melancholy garments affording a painful contrast to light +laughter, and eyes sparkling with pleasure.</p> + +<p>Their levity, however, must not be mistaken for hypocrisy. The world is +in fault, not they. Their grief is already over,--gone like a cloud +from before the sun; but they are forced to wear black for a <i>given +time</i>. They are true to their nature, which teaches them that "no +grief with man is permanent," that the storms of to-day will not darken +the heavens to-morrow. It is complying with a <i>lying custom</i> makes +them <i>hypocrites</i>; and, as the world always judges by appearances, +it so happens that by adhering to one of its conventional rules, +appearances in this instance are against them.</p> + +<p>Nay, the very persons who, in the first genuine outburst of natural +grief besought them to moderate their sorrow, to dry their tears, and be +comforted for the loss they had sustained, are among the <i>first</i> to +censure them for following advice so common and useless. Tears are as +necessary to the afflicted as showers are to the parched earth, and are +the best and sweetest remedy for excessive grief.</p> + +<p>To the mourner we would say--Weep on; nature requires your tears. They +are sent in mercy by Him who wept at the grave of his friend Lazarus. +The man of sorrows himself taught us to weep.</p> + +<p>We once heard a very beautiful volatile young lady exclaim, with +something very like glee in her look and tone, after reading a letter +she had received by the post, with its ominous black bordering and +seal--"Grandmamma is dead! We shall have to go into deep mourning. +I am so glad, for black is so becoming to me!"</p> + +<p>An old aunt, who was present, expressed her surprise at this indecorous +avowal; when the young lady replied, with great <i>naïveté</i>--"I never +saw grandmamma in my life. I cannot be expected to feel any grief for +her death."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps not," said the aunt. "But why, then, make a show of that which +you do not feel?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, it's the custom of the world. You know we must. It would be +considered <i>shocking</i> not to go into very <i>deep</i> mourning for such a +near relation."</p> + +<p>The young lady inherited a very nice legacy, too, from her grandmamma; +and, had she spoken the truth, she would have said, "<i>I cannot weep for +joy</i>."</p> + +<p>Her mourning, in consequence, was of the deepest and most expensive +kind; and she really did look charming in her "<i>love of a black crape +bonnet!</i>" as she skipped before the glass, admiring herself and it, when +it came home fresh from the milliner's.</p> + +<p>In contrast to the pretty young heiress, we knew a sweet orphan girl +whose grief for the death of her mother, to whom she was devotedly +attached, lay deeper than this hollow tinsel show; and yet the painful +thought that she was too poor to pay this mark of respect to the memory +of her beloved parent, in a manner suited to her birth and station, +added greatly to the poignancy of her sorrow.</p> + +<p>A family who had long been burthened with a cross old aunt, who was a +martyr to rheumatic gout, and whose violent temper kept the whole house +in awe, and whom they dared not offend for fear of her leaving her +wealth to strangers, were in the habit of devoutly wishing the old lady +a happy release from her sufferings. When this long anticipated event at +length took place, the very servants were put into the deepest mourning. +What a solemn farce--we should say, lie--was this!</p> + +<p>The daughters of a wealthy farmer had prepared everything to attend the +great agricultural provincial show. Unfortunately, a grandfather to +whom they all seemed greatly attached died most inconveniently the day +before, and as they seldom keep a body in Canada over the second day, he +was buried early in the morning of the one appointed for their journey. +They attended the remains to the grave, but after the funeral was over +they put off their black garments and started for the show, and did not +resume them again until after their return. People may think this very +shocking, but it was not the laying aside the black that was so, but the +fact of their being able to go from a grave to a scene of confusion and +gaiety. The black clothes had nothing to do with this want of feeling, +which would have remained the same under a black or a scarlet vestment.</p> + +<p>A gentleman in this neighbourhood, since dead, who attended a public +ball the same week that he had seen a lovely child consigned to the +earth, would have remained the same heartless parent dressed in the +deepest sables.</p> + +<p>No instance that I have narrated of the business-like manner in +which Canadians treat death, is more ridiculously striking than the +following:--</p> + +<p>The wife of a rich mechanic had a brother lying, it was supposed, at +the point of death. His sister sent a note to me, requesting me to +relinquish an engagement I had made with a sewing girl in her favour, as +she wanted her immediately to make up her mourning, the doctor having +told her that her brother could not live many days.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. --- is going to be beforehand with death," I said, as I gave the +girl the desired release. "I have known instances of persons being too +late with their mourning to attend a funeral, but this is the first time +I ever heard of it being made in anticipation."</p> + +<p>After a week the girl returned to her former employment.</p> + +<p>"Well, Anne, is Mr. --- dead?"</p> + +<p>"No, ma'am, nor likely to die this time; and his sister is so vexed that +she bought such expensive mourning, and all for no purpose!"</p> + +<p>The brother of this provident lady is alive to this day, the husband of +a very pretty wife, and the father of a family, while she, poor body, +has been consigned to the grave for more than three years.</p> + +<p>During her own dying illness, a little girl greatly disturbed her sick +mother with the noise she made. Her husband, as an inducement to keep +the child quiet, said, "Mary, if you do not quit that, I'll whip you; +but if you keep still like a good girl, you shall go to ma's funeral."</p> + +<p>An artist cousin of mine was invited, with many other members of the +Royal Academy, to attend the funeral of the celebrated Nollekens the +sculptor. The party filled twelve mourning coaches, and were furnished +with silk gloves, scarfs, and hatbands, and a dinner was provided after +the funeral was over at one of the large hotels. "A merrier set than we +were on that day," said my cousin, "I never saw. We all got jovial, and +it was midnight before any of us reached our respective homes. The whole +affair vividly brought to my mind that description of the 'Gondola,' +given so graphically by Byron, that it</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line-in16">'Contain'd much fun,</p> +<p class="line">Like mourning coaches when the funeral's done.'"</p> +</div> + +<p>Some years ago I witnessed the funeral of a young lady, the only child +of very wealthy parents, who resided in of Bedford-square. The heiress +of their enviable riches was a very delicate, fragile-looking girl, and +on the day that she attained her majority her parents gave a large +dinner party, followed by a ball in the evening, to celebrate the event. +It was during the winter; the night was very cold, the crowded rooms +overheated, the young lady thinly but magnificently clad. She took +a chill in leaving the close ballroom for the large, ill-warmed +supper-room, and three days after, the hope of these rich people lay +insensible on her bier.</p> + +<p>I heard from every one that called upon Mrs. L---, the relative and +friend with whom I was staying, of the magnificent funeral would be +given to Miss C---. Ah, little heeded that pale crushed flower of +yesterday, the pomp that was to convey her from the hot-bed of luxury to +the cold, damp vault of St. Giles's melancholy looking church! I stood +at Mrs. L---'s window, which commanded a view of the whole square, to +watch the procession pass up Russell-street to the place of interment. +The morning was intensely cold, and large snow-flakes fell lazily and +heavily to the earth. The poor dingy sparrows, with their feathers +ruffled up, hopped mournfully along the pavement in search of food; +they,</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"In spite of all their feathers, were a-cold."</p> +</div> + +<p>The mutes that attended the long line of mourning coaches stood +motionless, leaning on their long staffs wreathed with white, like so +many figures that the frost-king had stiffened into stone. The hearse, +with its snowy plumes, drawn by six milk-white horses, might have served +for the regal car of his northern majesty, so ghost-like and chilly +were its sepulchral trappings. At length the coffin, covered with black +velvet, and a pall lined with white silk and fringed with silver, was +borne from the house and deposited in the gloomy depths of the stately +hearse. The <i>hired</i> mourners, in their sable dresses and long white +hatbands and scarfs, rode slowly forward mounted on white horses, to +attend this bride of death to her last resting place. The first three +carriages that followed contained the family physician and surgeon, a +clergyman, and the male servants of the house, in deep sables. The +family carriage too was there, but <i>empty</i>, and of a procession in which +145 private carriages made a conspicuous show, all but those enumerated +above were <i>empty</i>. Strangers drove strange horses to that vast funeral, +and <i>hired servants</i> were the only members of the family that conducted +the last scion of that family to the grave. Truly, it was the most +dismal spectacle we ever witnessed, and we turned from it sick at heart, +and with eyes moist with tears not shed for the dead, for she had +escaped from this vexatious vanity, but from the heartless mockery of +all this fictitious woe.</p> + +<p>The expense of such a funeral probably involved many hundred pounds, +which had been better bestowed on charitable purposes.</p> + +<p>Another evil arising out of this absurd custom, is the high price +attached to black clothing, on account of the necessity that compels +people to wear it for so long a period after the death of a near +relation, making it a matter of still greater difficulty for the poorer +class to comply with the usages of society.</p> + +<p>"But who cares about the poor, whether they go into mourning for their +friends or no? it is a matter of no consequence."</p> + +<p>Ah, there it is. And this is not the least forcible argument we have to +advance against this useless custom. If it becomes a moral duty for +the rich to put on black for the death of a friend, it must be morally +necessary for the poor to do the same. We see no difference in the +degrees of moral feeling; the soul of man is of no rank, but of equal +value in our eyes, whether belonging to rich or poor. But this usage is +so general, and the neglect of it considered such a disgrace, that it +leaves a very wide door open for the entrance of false pride.</p> + +<p>Poverty is an evil which most persons, however humble their stations may +be, most carefully endeavour to conceal. To avoid an exposure of their +real circumstances, they will deprive themselves of the common +necessaries of life, and incur debts which they have no prospect of +paying, rather than allow their neighbours to suspect that they cannot +afford a <i>handsome funeral</i> and good <i>mournings</i> for any +deceased member of their family. If such persons would but follow the +dictates of true wisdom, honesty, and truth, no dread of the opinion of +others should tempt them to do what they cannot afford. Their grief for +the dead would not be less sincere if they followed the body of the +beloved in their ordinary costume to the grave; nor is the spectacle +less imposing divested of all the solemn foppery which attends the +funeral of persons who move in respectable society.</p> + +<p>Some years ago, when it was the fashion in England (and may be it +remains the fashion still) to give black silk scarfs and hatbands at +funerals, mean and covetous persons threw themselves in the way of +picking up these stray loaves and fishes. A lady, who lived in the same +town with me after I was married, boasted to me that her husband (who +always contrived to be a necessary attendant on such occasions) found +her in all the black silk she required for articles of dress, and that +he had not purchased a pair of gloves for many years.</p> + +<p>About two years before old King George the Third died, a report got +about that he could not survive many days. There was a general rush +among all ranks to obtain mourning. Up went the price of black goods; +Norwich crapes and bombazines rose ten per cent, and those who were able +to secure a black garment at any price, to shew their loyalty, were +deemed very fortunate. And after all this fuss, and hurry, and +confusion, the poor mad old king disappointed the speculators in sables, +and lived on in darkness and mental aberration for two whole years. The +mourning of some on that occasion was <i>real</i>, not imaginary. The sorrow +with them was not for the <i>kings' death</i>, but that he had <i>not died</i>. +On these public occasions of grief, great is the stir and bustle in +economical families, who wish to show a decent concern for the death of +the monarch, but who do not exactly like to go to the expense of buying +new clothes for such a short period as a court mourning. All the old +family stores are rummaged carefully over, and every stuff gown, worn +ribbon, or shabby shawl, that can take a black dye, is handed over to +the vat; and these second-hand black garments have a more <i>mournful +appearance</i> than the glossy suits of the gay and wealthy, for it is +actually humiliating to wear such, as they are both unbecoming to the +young and old. Black, which is the most becoming and convenient colour +for general wear, especially to the old and middle-aged; would no longer +be regarded with religious horror as the type of mortality and decay, +but would take its place on the same shelf with the gay tints that form +the motley groups in our handsome stores. Could influential people be +found to expose the folly and vanity of this practice, and refuse to +comply with its demands, others would soon be glad to follow their +example, and, before many years, it would sink into contempt and disuse.</p> + +<p>If the Americans, the most practical people in the world, would but once +take up the subject and publicly lecture on its absurdity, this dismal +shadow of a darker age would no longer obscure our streets and scare our +little ones. Men would wear their grief in their hearts and not around +their hats; and widows would be better known by their serious deportment +than by their weeds. I feel certain that every thinking person, who +calmly investigates the subject, will be tempted to exclaim with me, +"Oh, that the good sense of mankind would unite in banishing it for ever +from the earth!"</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>The Song Of Faith.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"House of clay!--frail house of clay!</p> +<p class="line-in2">In the dust thou soon must lie;</p> +<p class="line">Spirit! spread thy wings--away,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Strong in immortality;</p> +<p class="line-in4">To worlds more bright</p> +<p class="line-in4">Oh wing thy flight,</p> +<p class="line-in2">To win the crown and robe of light.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Hopes of dust!--false hopes of dust!</p> +<p class="line-in2">Smiling as the morning fair;</p> +<p class="line">Why do we confiding trust</p> +<p class="line-in2">In trifles light as air?</p> +<p class="line-in4">Like flowers that wave</p> +<p class="line-in4">Above the grave,</p> +<p class="line">Ye cheer, without the power to save.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Joys of earth!--vain joys of earth!</p> +<p class="line-in2">Sandy your foundations be;</p> +<p class="line">Mortals overrate your worth,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Sought through life so eagerly.</p> +<p class="line-in4">Too soon we know</p> +<p class="line-in4">That tears must flow,--</p> +<p class="line">That bliss is still allied to woe!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Human love!--fond human love!</p> +<p class="line-in2">We have worshipp'd at thy shrine;</p> +<p class="line">Envying not the saints above,</p> +<p class="line-in2">While we deem'd thy power divine.</p> +<p class="line-in4">But ah, thy light,</p> +<p class="line-in4">So wildly bright,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Is born of earth to set in night.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Love of heaven!--love of heaven!</p> +<p class="line-in2">Let us pray for thine increase;</p> +<p class="line">Happiness by thee is given,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Hopes and joys that never cease.</p> +<p class="line-in4">With thee we'll soar</p> +<p class="line-in4">Death's dark tide o'er,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Where earth can stain the soul no more."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER IX<br /> Odd Characters</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Dear merry reader, did you ever hear,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Whilst travelling on the world's wide beaten road,</p> +<p class="line">The curious reasoning, and opinions queer,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Of men, who never in their lives bestow'd</p> +<p class="line">One hour on study; whose existence seems</p> +<p class="line-in2">A thing of course--a practical delusion--</p> +<p class="line">A day of frowning clouds and sunny gleams--</p> +<p class="line-in2">Of pain and pleasure, mix'd in strange confusion;</p> +<p class="line">Who feel they move and breathe, they know not why--</p> +<p class="line">Are born to eat and drink, and sleep and die."</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>The shores of the Prince Edward District become more bold and beautiful +as the steamer pursues her course up the "Long Reach." Magnificent trees +clothe these rugged banks to their very summits, and cast dense shadows +upon the waters that slumber at their feet. The slanting rays of the +evening sun stream through their thick foliage, and weave a network of +gold around the corrugated trunks of the huge oak and maple trees that +tower far above our heads. The glorious waters are dyed with a thousand +changeful hues of crimson and saffron, and reflect from their unruffled +surface the gorgeous tints of a Canadian sunset. The pines, with their +hearse-like plumes, loom out darkly against the glowing evening sky, and +frown austerely upon us, their gloomy aspect affording a striking +contrast to the sun-lighted leaves of the feathery birch and the rock +elm. It is a lonely hour, and one that nature seems to have set apart +for prayer and praise; a devotional spirit seems to breathe over the +earth, the woods, and waters, softening and harmonising the whole into +one blessed picture of love and peace.</p> + +<p>The boat has again crossed the bay, and stops to take in wood at +"Roblin's wharf." We are now beneath the shadow of the "Indian woods," a +reserve belonging to the Mohawks in the township of Tyendenaga, about +twenty-four miles by water from Belleville. A broad belt of forest land +forms the background to a cleared slope, rising gradually from the water +until it reaches a considerable elevation above the shore. The frontage +to the bay is filled up with neat farm houses, and patches of buck-wheat +and Indian corn, the only grain that remains unharvested at this season +of the year. We have a fine view of the stone church built by the +Indians, which stands on the top of the hill about a mile from the +water. Queen Anne presented to this tribe three large marble tablets +engraved with the Ten Commandments, which, after following them in all +their ramblings for a century and a half, now grace the altar of this +church, and are regarded with great veneration by the Indian settlers, +who seem to look upon them with a superstitious awe. The church is built +in the gothic style, and is one of the most picturesque village churches +that I have seen in Canada. The Indians contributed a great part of +the funds for erecting this building. I was never within the walls +of the sacred edifice; but I have wandered round the quiet peaceful +burial-ground, and admired the lovely prospect it commands of the bay +and the opposite shores.</p> + +<p>One side of the churchyard is skirted by a natural grove of forest +trees, which separates it from the parsonage, a neat white building that +fronts the water, and stands back from it at the head of a noble sweep +of land covered with velvet turf, and resembling greatly a gentleman's +park at home, by the fine groups of stately forest trees scattered over +it, and a semicircular belt of the original forest, that, sloping from +the house on either side, extends its wings until it meets the blue +waters of the bay, leaving between its green arms a broad space of +cleared land.</p> + +<p>The first time my eyes ever rested on this beautiful spot it appeared to +me a perfect paradise. It was a warm, balmy, moonlight evening in June. +The rich resinous odour of the woods filled the air with delicious +perfume; fire-flies were glancing like shooting stars among the dark +foliage that hung over the water, and the spirit of love and peace sat +brooding over the luxurious solitude, whose very silence was eloquent +with praise of the great Maker. How I envied the residents of the +parsonage their lovely home! How disappointed I felt, when Mrs. G--- +told me that she felt it dull and lonely, that she was out of society, +and that the Indians were very troublesome neighbours! Now, I have no +doubt that this was all very true, and that I should have felt the same +want that she did, after the bewitching novelty of the scene had become +familiar; but it sadly destroyed the romance and poetry of it to me at +the time.</p> + +<p>This part of the township of Tyendenaga belongs almost exclusively to +the Mohawk Indians, who have made a large settlement here, while the +government has given them a good school for instructing their children +in the Indian and English languages; and they have a resident clergyman +of the Establishment always at hand, to minister to them the spiritual +consolations of religion, and impart to them the blessed truths of the +gospel. The Rev. S. G--- was for some years the occupant of the pretty +parsonage-house, and was greatly beloved by his Indian congregation.</p> + +<p>The native residents of these woods clear farms, and build and plant +like their white neighbours. They rear horses, cattle, and sheep, and +sow a sufficient quantity of grain to secure them from want. But there +is a great lack of order and regularity in all their agricultural +proceedings. They do not make half as much out of their lands--which +they suffer to be overgrown with thorns and thistles--as their white +neighbours; and their domestic arrangements within doors are never +marked by that appearance of comfort and cleanliness, which is to be +seen in the dwellings of the native Canadians and emigrants from Europe.</p> + +<p>The red man is out of his element when he settles quietly down to a +farm, and you perceive it at a glance. He never appears to advantage +as a resident among civilized men; and he seems painfully conscious of +his inferiority, and ignorance of the arts of life. He has lost his +identity, as it were, and when he attempts to imitate ihe customs and +manners of the whites, he is too apt to adopt their vices without +acquiring their industry and perseverance, and sinks into a sottish, +degraded savage. The proud independence we admired so much in the man of +the woods, has disappeared with his truthfulness, honesty, and simple +manners. His pure blood is tainted with the dregs of a lower humanity, +degenerated by the want and misery of over-populous European cities. His +light eyes, crisp hair, and whitey-brown complexion, too surely betray +his mixed origin; and we turn from the half educated, half-caste Indian, +with feelings of aversion and mistrust.</p> + +<p>There is a Mohawk family who reside in this township of the name of +Loft, who have gained some celebrity in the colony by their clever +representations of the manners and customs of their tribe. They sing +Indian songs, dance the war-dance, hold councils, and make grave +speeches, in the characters of Indian chiefs and hunters, in an artistic +manner that would gain the applause of a more fastidious audience.</p> + +<p>The two young squaws, who were the principal performers in this +travelling Indian opera, were the most beautiful Indian women I ever +beheld. There was no base alloy in their pure native blood. They had the +large, dark, humid eyes, the ebon locks tinged with purple, so peculiar +to their race, and which gives such a rich tint to the clear olive skin +and brilliant white teeth of the denizens of the Canadian wilderness.</p> + +<p>Susannah Loft and her sister were the <i>beau ideal</i> of Indian women; and +their graceful and symmetrical figures were set off to great advantage +by their picturesque and becoming costume, which in their case was +composed of the richest materials. Their acting and carriage were +dignified and queen-like, and their appearance singularly pleasing and +interesting.</p> + +<p>Susannah, the eldest and certainly the most graceful of these truly +fascinating girls, was unfortunately killed last summer by the collision +of two steam-carriages, while travelling professionally with her sister +through the States. Those who had listened with charmed ears to her +sweet voice, and gazed with admiring eyes upon her personal charms, were +greatly shocked at her untimely death.</p> + +<p>A little boy and girl belonging to the same talented family have been +brought before the public, in order to supply her place, but they have +not been able to fill up the blank occasioned by her loss.</p> + +<p>The steamboat again leaves the north shore, and stands across from the +stone mills, which are in the Prince Edward district, and form one of +the features of the remarkable scenery of what is called the "high +shore." This mountainous ridge, which descends perpendicularly to the +water's edge, is still in forest; and, without doubt, this is the most +romantic portion of the bay, whose waters are suddenly contracted to +half their former dimensions, and glide on darkly and silently between +these steep wood-crowned heights.</p> + +<p>There is a small lake upon the highest portion of this table-land, whose +waters are led down the steep bank, and made to work a saw-mill, which +is certainly giving a very unromantic turn to them. But here, as in the +States, the beautiful and the ideal are instantly converted into the +real and the practical.</p> + +<p>This "lake of the mountains" is a favourite place for picnics and +pleasure trips from Northport and Belleville. Here the Sabbath-school +children come, once during the summer, to enjoy a ramble in the woods, +and spread their feast beneath the lordly oaks and maples that crown +these heights. And the teetotallers marshall their bands of converts, +and hold their cold water festival, beside the blue deep waters of this +mysterious mountain-lake.</p> + +<p>Strange stories are told of its unfathomable depth; of the quicksands +that are found near it, and of its being supplied from the far-off +inland ocean of Lake Huron. But like the cove in Tyendenaga, of which +everybody in the neighbourhood has heard something, but which nobody has +seen, these accounts of the lake of the mountain rest only upon hearsay.</p> + +<p>The last rays of the sun still lingered on wood and stream when we +arrived at Picton, which stands at the head of the "long reach." The bay +here is not wider than a broad river. The banks are very lofty, and +enclose the water in an oblong form, round which that part of the town +which is near the shore is built.</p> + +<p>Picton is a very beautiful place viewed from the deck of the steamer. +Its situation is novel and imposing, and the number of pretty cottages +that crown the steep ridge that rises almost perpendicularly from the +water, peeping out from among fine orchards in full bearing, and trim +gardens, give it quite a rural appearance. The steamboat enters this +fairy bay by a very narrow passage; and, after delivering freight and +passengers at the wharf, backs out by the way she came in. There is no +turning a large vessel round this long half-circle of deep blue water. +Few spots in Canada would afford a finer subject for the artist's pencil +than this small inland town, which is so seldom visited by strangers and +tourists.</p> + +<p>The progress to wealth and importance made by this place is strikingly +behind that of Belleville, which far exceeds it in size and population. +Three years ago a very destructive fire consumed some of the principal +buildings in the town, which has not yet recovered from its effects. +Trade is not so brisk here as in Belleville, and the streets are dull +and monotonous, when compared with the stir and bustle of the latter, +which, during the winter season, is crowded with sleighs from the +country. The Bay of Quinte during the winter forms an excellent road to +all the villages and towns on its shores. The people from the opposite +side trade more with the Belleville merchants than with those in their +own district; and during the winter season, when the bay is completely +frozen from the mouth of the Trent to Kingston, loaded teams are passing +to and fro continually. It is the favourite afternoon drive of young and +old, and when the wind, sweeping over such a broad surface of ice, is +not <i>too cold</i>, and you are well wrapped up in furs and buffalo robes, a +sleigh ride on the ice is very delightful. Not that I can ever wholly +divest myself of a vague, indistinct sense of danger, whilst rapidly +gliding over this frozen mirror. I would rather be out on the bay, in +a gale of wind in a small boat, than overtaken by a snow storm on its +frozen highways. Still it is a pleasant sight of a bright, glowing, +winter day, when the landscape glitters like a world composed of +crystals, to watch the handsome sleighs, filled with well-dressed men +and women, and drawn by spirited horses, dashing in all directions over +this brilliant field of dazzling white.</p> + +<p>Night has fallen rapidly upon us since we left Picton in the distance. +A darker shade is upon the woods, the hills, the waters, and by the time +we approach Fredericksburg it will be dark. This too is a very pretty +place on the north side of the bay; beautiful orchards and meadows skirt +the water, and fine bass-wood and willow-trees grow beside, or bend +over the waves. The green smooth meadows, out of which the black stumps +rotted long ago, show noble groups of hiccory and butter-nut, and sleek +fat cows are reposing beneath them, or standing mid-leg in the small +creek that wanders through them to pour its fairy tribute into the broad +bay.</p> + +<p>We must leave the deck and retreat into the ladies' cabin, for the air +from the water grows chilly, and the sense of seeing can no longer be +gratified by remaining where we are. But if you open your eyes to see, +and your ears to hear, all the strange sayings and doings of the odd +people you meet in a steamboat, you will never lack amusement.</p> + +<p>The last time I went down to Kingston, there was a little girl in the +cabin who rejoiced in the possession of a very large American doll, +made so nearly to resemble an infant, that at a distance it was easy to +mistake it for one. To render the deception more striking, you could +make it cry like a child by pressing your hand upon its body. A thin, +long-laced farmer's wife came on board, at the wharf we have just +quitted, and it was amusing to watch her alternately gazing at the +little girl and her doll.</p> + +<p>"Is that your baby, Cissy?"</p> + +<p>"No; it's my doll."</p> + +<p>"Mi! what a strange doll! Isn't that something <i>oncommon?</i> I took +it for a real child. Look at its bare feet and hands, and bald head. +Well, I don't think it's 'zactly right to make a piece of wood look so +like a human critter."</p> + +<p>The child good-naturedly put the doll into the woman's hands, who, +happening to take it rather roughly, the wooden baby gave a loud squall; +the woman's face expressed the utmost horror, and she dropped it on the +floor as if it had been a hot coal.</p> + +<p>"Gracious, goodness me, the thing's alive!"</p> + +<p>The little girl laughed heartily, and, taking up the discarded doll, +explained to the woman the simple method employed to produce the sound.</p> + +<p>"Well, it do sound quite <i>nataral</i>," said her astonished companion. "What +will they find out next? It beats the railroad and the telegraph +holler."</p> + +<p>"Ah, but I saw a big doll that could speak when I was with mamma in New +York," said the child, with glistening eyes.</p> + +<p>"A doll that could speak? You don't say. Oh, do tell!"</p> + +<p>While the young lady described the automaton doll, it was amusing to +watch the expressions of surprise, wonder, and curiosity, that flitted +over the woman's brig cadaverous face. She would have made a good study +for a painter.</p> + +<p>A young relative of mine went down in the steamboat, to be present at +the Provincial Agricultural Show that was held that year in the town of +Buckville, on the St. Lawrence. It was the latter end of September; the +weather was wet and stormy, and the boat loaded to the water's edge with +cattle and passengers. The promenade decks were filled up with pigs, +sheep and oxen. Cows were looking sleepily in at the open doors of the +ladies' cabin, and bulls were fastened on the upper deck. Such a motley +group of bipeds and quadrupeds were never before huddled into such a +narrow space; and, amidst all this din and confusion, a Scotch piper was +playing lustily on the bagpipes, greatly to the edification, I've no +doubt, of himself and the crowd of animal life around him.</p> + +<p>The night came on very dark and stormy, and many of the women suffered +as much from the pitching of the boat as if they had been at sea. The +ladies' cabin was crowded to overflowing; every sofa, bed, and chair was +occupied; and my young friend, who did not feel any inconvenience from +the storm, was greatly entertained by the dialogues carried on across +the cabin by the women, who were reposing in their berths, and lamenting +over the rough weather and their own sufferings in consequence. They +were mostly the wives of farmers and respectable mechanics, and the +language they used was neither very choice nor grammatical.</p> + +<p>"I say, Mrs. C---, how be you?"</p> + +<p>"I feel bad, any how," with a smothered groan.</p> + +<p>"Have you been sick?"</p> + +<p>"Not yet; but feel as if I was going to."</p> + +<p>"How's your head coming on, Mrs. N---?"</p> + +<p>"It's just splitting, I thank you."</p> + +<p>"Oh, how awful the boat do pitch!" cries a third.</p> + +<p>"If she should sink, I'm afeard we shall all go to the bottom."</p> + +<p>"And think of all the poor sheep and cattle!"</p> + +<p>"Well, of course, they'd have to go too."</p> + +<p>"Oh, mi! I'll get up, and be ready for a start, in case of the worst," +cried a young girl.</p> + +<p>"Mrs. C---, do give me something good out of your basket, to keep up my +spirits."</p> + +<p>"Well, I will. Come over here, and you and I will have some talk. My +basket's at the foot of my berth. You'll find in it a small bottle of +brandy and some crulls."</p> + +<p>So up got several of the sick ladies, and kept up their spirits by +eating cakes, chewing gum, and drinking cold brandy punch.</p> + +<p>"Did Mrs. H--- lose much in the fire last night?" said one.</p> + +<p>"Oh, dear, yes; she lost all her clothes, and three large jars of +preserves she made about a week ago, and <i>sarce in accordance!</i>" +<span class="footnote">[A common Yankee phrase, often used instead of the word proportion.]</span></p> + +<p>There was an honest Yorkshire farmer and his wife on board, and when the +morning at length broke through pouring rain and driving mist, and the +port to which they were bound loomed through the haze, the women were +very anxious to know if their husbands, who slept in the gentlemen's +cabin, were awake."</p> + +<p>"They arn't stirring yet," said Mrs. G---, "for I hear Isaac (meaning +her husband) <i>breezing</i> below"--a most expressive term for very hard +snoring.</p> + +<p>The same Isaac, when he came up to the ladies' cabin to take his wife on +shore, complained, in his broad Yorkshire dialect, that he had been kept +awake all night by a jovial gentleman who had been his fellow-traveller +in the cabin.</p> + +<p>"We had terrible noisy chap in t'cabin. They called him Mr. D---, and +said he 'twas t'mayor of Belleville; but I thought they were a-fooning. +He wouldn't sleep himself, nor let t'others sleep. He gat piper, an' put +him top o' table, and kept him playing all t'night."</p> + +<p>One would think that friend Isaac had been haunted by the vision of the +piper in his dreams; for, certes, the jovial buzzing of the pipes had +not been able to drown the deep drone of his own nasal organ.</p> + +<p>A gentleman who was travelling in company with Sir A--- told me an +anecdote of him, and how he treated an impertinent fellow on board one +of the lake boats, that greatly amused me.</p> + +<p>The state cabins in these large steamers open into the great saloon; and +as they are often occupied by married people, each berth contains two +beds, one placed above the other. Now it often happens, when the boat +is greatly crowded, that two passengers of the same sex are forced to +occupy the same sleeping room. This was Sir A---'s case, and he was +obliged, though very reluctantly, to share his sleeping apartment with +a well-dressed American, but evidently a man of low standing, from the +familiarity of his manners and the bad grammar he used.</p> + +<p>In the morning, it was necessary for one gentleman to rise before the +other, as the space in front of their berths was too narrow to allow of +more than one performing his ablutions at a time.</p> + +<p>Our Yankee made a fair start, and had nearly completed his toilet, when +he suddenly spied a tooth-brush and a box of tooth-powder in the +dressing-case his companion had left open on the washstand. Upon these he +pounced, and having made a liberal use of them, flung them back into the +case, and sat down upon the only chair the room contained, in order to +gratify his curiosity by watching how his sleeping partner went through +the same process.</p> + +<p>Sir A---, greatly annoyed by the fellow's assurance, got out of bed; and +placing the washhand basin on the floor, put his feet into the water, +and commenced scrubbing his toe-nails with the desecrated tooth-brush. +Jonathan watched his movements for a few seconds in silent horror; at +length, unable to contain himself, he exclaimed.</p> + +<p>"Well, stranger! that's the dirtiest use I ever see a toothbrush put to, +any how."</p> + +<p>"I saw it put to a dirtier, just now," said Sir A--- very coolly. +"I always use that brush for cleaning my toes."</p> + +<p>The Yankee turned very green, and fled to the deck, but his nausea was +not sea-sickness.</p> + +<p>The village of Nappanee, on the north side of the Bay, is situated on a +very pretty river that bears the same name,--Nappanee, in the Mohawk +language, signifying flour. The village is a mile back from the bay, and +is not much seen from the water. There are a great many mills here, both +grist and saw mills, from which circumstance it most likely derives its +name.</p> + +<p>Amherst Island, which is some miles in extent, stands between Ontario +and the Bay of Quinte, its upper and lower extremity forming the two +straits that are called the Upper and Lower Gap, and the least breeze, +which is not perceptible in the other portions of the bay, is felt here. +Passing through these gaps on a stormy day creates as great a nausea as +a short chopping sea on the Atlantic, and I have seen both men and women +retreat to their berths to avoid disagreeable consequences. Amherst +Island is several miles in extent, and there are many good farms in +high cultivation upon it, while its proximity on all sides to the water +affords excellent sport to the angler and gunner, as wild ducks abound +in this vicinity.</p> + +<p>Just after you pass the island and enter the lower gap, there are three +very small islands in a direct line with each other, that are known as +the three brothers. A hermit has taken up his abode on the centre one, +and built a very Robinson Crusoe looking hut near the water, composed +of round logs and large stones cemented together with clay. He gets his +living by fishing and fowling, and you see his well-worn, weather-beaten +boat, drawn up in a little cove near his odd dwelling. I was very +curious to obtain some particulars of the private history of this +eccentric individual, but beyond what I have just related, my informants +could tell me nothing, or why he had chosen this solitary abode in such +an exposed situation, and so far apart from all the comforts of social +life.</p> + +<p>The town of Bath is the last place of any note on this portion of the +Bay, until you arrive at Kingston.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>A Morning Song.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The young wheat is springing</p> +<p class="line-in2">All tender and green, </p> +<p class="line">And the blackbird is singing</p> +<p class="line-in2">The branches between;</p> +<p class="line">The leaves of the hawthorn</p> +<p class="line-in2">Have burst from their prison,</p> +<p class="line">And the bright eyes of morn</p> +<p class="line-in2">On the earth have arisen.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"While sluggards are sleeping,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Oh hasten with me;</p> +<p class="line">While the night mists are weeping</p> +<p class="line-in2">Soft showers on each tree,</p> +<p class="line">And nature is glowing</p> +<p class="line-in2">Beneath the warm beam,</p> +<p class="line">The young day is throwing</p> +<p class="line-in2">O'er mountain and stream.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"And the shy colt is bounding</p> +<p class="line-in2">Across the wide mead,</p> +<p class="line">And his wild hoofs resounding,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Increases his speed;</p> +<p class="line">Now starting and crossing</p> +<p class="line-in2">At each shadow he sees,</p> +<p class="line">Now wantonly tossing</p> +<p class="line-in2">His mane in the breeze.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The sky-lark is shaking</p> +<p class="line-in2">The dew from her wing,</p> +<p class="line">And the clover forsaking,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Soars upwards to sing,</p> +<p class="line">In rapture outpouring</p> +<p class="line-in2">Her anthem of love,</p> +<p class="line">Where angels adoring</p> +<p class="line-in2">Waft praises above.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Shake dull sleep from your pillow,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Young dreamer arise,</p> +<p class="line">On the leaves of the willow</p> +<p class="line-in2">The dew-drop still lies,</p> +<p class="line">And the mavis is trilling</p> +<p class="line-in2">His song from the brake,</p> +<p class="line">And with melody filling</p> +<p class="line-in2">The wild woods--awake!"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER X<br /> Grace Marks</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"I dare not think--I cannot pray;</p> +<p class="line-in2">To name the name of God were sin:</p> +<p class="line">No grief of mine can wash away</p> +<p class="line-in2">The consciousness of guilt within.</p> +<p class="line">The stain of blood is on my hand,</p> +<p class="line-in2">The curse of Cain is on my brow;--</p> +<p class="line">I see that ghastly phantom stand</p> +<p class="line-in2">Between me and the sunshine now!</p> +<p class="line">That mocking face still haunts my dreams,</p> +<p class="line-in2">That blood-shot eye that never sleeps,</p> +<p class="line">In night and darkness--oh, it gleams,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Like red-hot steel--but never weeps!</p> +<p class="line">And still it bends its burning gaze</p> +<p class="line-in2">On mine, till drops of terror start</p> +<p class="line">From my hot brow, and hell's fierce blaze</p> +<p class="line-in2">Is kindled in my brain and heart.</p> +<p class="line">I long for death, yet dare not die,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Though life is now a weary curse;</p> +<p class="line">But oh, that dread eternity</p> +<p class="line-in2">May bring a punishment far worse!"</p> +</div> + +<p>So much has been written about the city of Kingston, so lately the seat +of government, and so remarkable for its fortifications, and the +importance it ever must be to the colony as a military depot and +place of defence, that it is not my intention to enter into a minute +description of it here. I was greatly pleased, as I think every stranger +must be, with its general aspect, particularly as seen from the water, +in which respect it has a great advantage over Toronto. The number of +vessels lying at the different wharfs, and the constant arrival of noble +steamers both from the United States and the Upper and Lower Province, +give it a very business-like appearance. Yet, upon landing, you are +struck with the want of stir and bustle in the principal thoroughfares, +when contrasted with the size and magnitude of the streets.</p> + +<p>The removal of the seat of government has checked the growth of Kingston +for a while; but you feel, while examining its commanding position, that +it must always be the key of the Upper Province, the great rallying +point in case of war or danger. The market house is a very fine +building, and the wants of the city could be supplied within its area, +were it three times the size that it is at present. The market is +decidedly one of the chief attractions of the place.</p> + +<p>The streets are wide and well paved, and there are a great many fine +trees in and about Kingston, which give to it the appearance of a +European town. The houses are chiefly of brick and stone along the +public thoroughfares, and there are many neat private dwellings +inclosed in trim well-kept gardens. The road leading to the Provincial +Penitentiary runs parallel with the water, and forms a delightful drive.</p> + +<p>It is about three years ago that I paid a visit with my husband to the +Penitentiary, and went over every part of it. I must own that I felt a +greater curiosity to see the convicts than the prison which contained +them, and my wishes were completely gratified, as my husband was +detained for several hours on business, and I had a long interval of +leisure to examine the workshops, where the convicts were employed at +their different trades, their sleeping cells, chapel, and places of +punishment. The silence system is maintained here, no conversation +being allowed between the prisoners. I was surprised at the neatness, +cleanliness, order, and regularity of all the arrangements in the vast +building, and still more astonished that forty or fifty strong active +looking men, unfettered, with the free use of their limbs, could be +controlled by one person, who sat on a tall chair as overseer of each +ward. In several instances, particularly in the tailoring and shoemaking +department, the overseers were small delicate-looking men; but such +is the force of habit, and the want of moral courage which generally +accompanies guilt, that a word or a look from these men was sufficient +to keep them at work.</p> + +<p>The dress of the male convicts was warm and comfortable, though +certainly not very elegant, consisting (for it was late in the fall) of +a thick woollen jacket, one side of it being brown, the other yellow, +with trowsers to correspond, a shirt of coarse factory cotton, but very +clean, and good stout shoes, and warm knitted woollen socks. The letters +P.P. for "Provincial Penitentiary," are sewed in coloured cloth upon the +dark side of the jacket. Their hair is cut very short to the head, and +they wear a cloth cap of the same colours that compose their dress.</p> + +<p>The cells are narrow, just wide enough to contain a small bed, a stool, +and a wash-bowl, and the prisoners are divided from each other by thick +stone walls. They are locked in every night at six o'clock, and their +cell is so constructed, that one of the keepers can always look in upon +the convict without his being aware of the scrutiny. The bedding was +scrupulously clean, and I saw a plain Bible in each cell.</p> + +<p>There is a sort of machine resembling a stone coffin, in which mutinous +convicts are confined for a given time. They stand in an upright +position; and as there are air holes for breathing, the look and name of +the thing is more dreadful than the punishment, which cannot be the +least painful. I asked the gentleman who showed us over the building, +what country sent the most prisoners to the Penitentiary? He smiled, +and told me "guess." I did so, but was wrong.</p> + +<p>"No," said he; "we have more French Canadians and men of colour. Then +Irish, English, and run-a-way loafers from the States. Of the Scotch we +have very few; but they are very bad--the most ungovernable, sullen, and +disobedient. When a Scotchman is bad enough to be brought here, he is +like Jeremiah's bad figs--only fit for the gallows."</p> + +<p>Mr. Moodie's bailiffs had taken down a young fellow, about twenty years +of age, who had been convicted at the assizes for stealing curious coins +from a person who had brought them out to this country as old family +relics. The evidence was more circumstantial than positive, and many +persons believed the lad innocent.</p> + +<p>He had kept up his spirits bravely on the voyage, and was treated with +great kindness by the men who had him in custody; but when once within +the massy walls of the huge building, his courage seemed to forsake him +all at once. We passed him as he sat on the bench, while the barber was +cutting his hair and shaving off his whiskers. His handsome suit had +been removed--he was in the party-coloured dress before described. There +was in his face an expression of great anguish, and tears were rolling +in quick succession down his cheeks. Poor fellow! I should hardly have +known him again, so completely was he humbled by his present position.</p> + +<p>Mr. M---y told me that they had some men in the Penitentiary who had +returned three different times to it, and had grown so attached to their +prison that they preferred being there, well clothed and well fed, to +gaining a precarious living elsewhere.</p> + +<p>Executions in Canada are so rare, even for murder, that many atrocious +criminals are found within these walls--men and women--who could not +possibly have escaped the gallows in England.</p> + +<p>At twelve o'clock I followed Mr. M--- to the great hall, to see the +prisoners dine. The meal consisted of excellent soups, with a portion +of the meat which had been boiled in it, potatoes, and brown bread, all +very clean and good of their kind. I took a plate of the soup and a +piece of the bread, and enjoyed both greatly.</p> + +<p>I could not help thinking, while watching these men in their comfortable +dresses, taking their wholesome, well-cooked meal, how much better they +were fed and lodged than thousands of honest industrious men, who had +to maintain large families upon a crust of bread, in the great +manufacturing cities at home.</p> + +<p>Most of these men had very bad countenances, and I never felt so much +convinced of the truth of phrenology as while looking at their heads. +The extraordinary formation, or rather mal-formation, of some of them, +led me to think that their possessors were hardly accountable for their +actions. One man in particular, who had committed a very atrocious +murder, and was confined for life, had a most singular head, such as +one, indeed, as I never before saw on a human body. It was immensely +large at the base, and appeared perfectly round, while at the crown +it rose to a point like a sugar-loaf. He was of a dull, drab-coloured +complexion, with large prominent eyes of a pale green colour; +his expression, the most repulsively cruel and sinister. The eye +involuntarily singled him out among all his comrades, as something too +terrible to escape observation.</p> + +<p>Among such a number of men, 448, who were there present, I was surprised +at seeing so few with red or fair hair. I noticed this to my companion. +He had never observed it before, but said it was strange. The convicts +were mostly of a dull grey complexion, large eyed, stolid looking men, +or with very black hair, and heavy black brows.</p> + +<p>I could only account for this circumstance from the fact, that though +fair-haired people are often violently passionate and easily excited, +their anger is sudden and quick, never premeditated, but generally the +work of the moment. Like straw on a fire, it kindles into a fierce +blaze, but it is over in an instant. They seldom retain it, or bear +malice. Not so the dull, putty-coloured, sluggish man. He is slow to +act, but he broods over a supposed affront or injury, and never forgets +it. He plans the moment of retaliation, and stabs his enemy when least +prepared. There were many stolid, heavy-looking men in that prison--many +with black, jealous, fiery-looking eyes, in whose gloomy depths +suspicion and revenge seemed to lurk. Even to look at these men as they +passed on, seemed to arouse their vindictive feelings, and they scowled +disdainfully upon us as they walked on to their respective places.</p> + +<p>There was one man among these dark, fierce-looking criminals, who, from +his proud carriage and bearing, particularly arrested my attention. I +pointed him out to Mr. ---. "That man has the appearance of an educated +person. He looks as if he had been a gentleman."</p> + +<p>"You are right," was his reply. "He was a gentleman, the son of a +district judge, and brought up to the law. A clever man too; but these +walls do not contain a worse in every respect. He was put in here for +arson, and an attempt to murder. Many a poor man has been hung with half +his guilt."</p> + +<p>"There are two men near him," I said, "who have not the appearance of +criminals at all. What have they done?"</p> + +<p>"They are not felons, but two soldiers put in here for a week for +disorderly conduct."</p> + +<p>"What a shame," I cried, "to degrade them in this manner! What good can +it do?"</p> + +<p>"Oh," said he, laughing; "it will make them desert to the States the +moment they get out."</p> + +<p>"And those two little boys; what are they here for?"</p> + +<p>"For murder!" whispered he.</p> + +<p>I almost sprang from my seat; it appeared too dreadful to be true.</p> + +<p>"Yes," he continued. "That child to the right is in for shooting his +sister. The other, to the left, for killing a boy of his own age with +a hoe, and burying him under the roots of a fallen tree. Both of these +boys come from the neighbourhood of Peterboro'. Your district, by the +bye, sends fewer convicts to the Penitentiary than any part of the +Upper Province."</p> + +<p>It was with great pleasure I heard him say this. During a residence of +thirteen years at Belleville, there has not been one execution. The +county of Hastings is still unstained with the blood of a criminal. +There is so little robbery committed in this part of the country, that +the thought of thieves or housebreakers never for a moment disturbs our +rest. This is not the case in Hamilton and Toronto, where daring acts of +housebreaking are of frequent occurrence.</p> + +<p>The constant influx of runaway slaves from the States has added greatly +to the criminal lists on the frontier. The addition of these people to +our population is not much to be coveted. The slave, from his previous +habits and education, does not always make a good citizen. During the +last assizes at Cobourg, a black man and his wife were condemned to be +hung for a most horrible murder, and their son, a young man of twenty +years of age, offered the sheriff to hang his own father and mother for +a new suit of clothes. Those who laud the black man, and place him above +the white, let them produce in the whole annals of human crime a more +atrocious one than this! Yet <i>it was not a hanging matter</i>.</p> + +<p>I heard a gentleman exclaim with honest indignation, when this anecdote +was told in his hearing--"If a man were wanting to hang that monster, I +would do it myself."</p> + +<p>But leaving the male convicts, I must now introduce my reader to the +female inmates of this house of woe and crime. At the time of my visit, +there were only forty women in the Penitentiary. This speaks much for +the superior moral training of the feebler sex. My chief object in +visiting their department was to look at the celebrated murderess, +Grace Marks, of whom I had heard a great deal, not only from the public +papers, but from the gentleman who defended her upon her trial, and +whose able pleading saved her from the gallows, on which her wretched +accomplice closed his guilty career.</p> + +<p>As many of my English readers may never have heard even the name of this +remarkable criminal, it may not be uninteresting to them to give a brief +sketch of the events which placed her here.</p> + +<p>About eight or nine years ago--I write from memory, and am not very +certain as to dates--a young Irish emigrant girl was hired into the +service of Captain Kinnaird, an officer on half-pay, who had purchased +a farm about thirty miles in the rear of Toronto; but the name of the +township, and the county in which it was situated, I have forgotten; but +this is of little consequence to my narrative. Both circumstances could +be easily ascertained by the curious. The captain had been living for +some time on very intimate terms with his housekeeper, a handsome young +woman of the name of Hannah Montgomery, who had been his servant of all +work. Her familiarity with her master, who, it appears, was a very fine +looking, gentlemanly person, had rendered her very impatient of her +former menial employments, and she soon became virtually the mistress of +the house. Grace Marks was hired to wait upon her, and perform all the +coarse drudgery that Hannah considered herself too fine a lady to do.</p> + +<p>While Hannah occupied the parlour with her master, and sat at his table, +her insolent airs of superiority aroused the jealousy and envy of Grace +Marks, and the man-servant, MacDermot; who considered themselves quite +superior to their self-elected mistress. MacDermot was the son of +respectable parents; but from being a wild, ungovernable boy, he became +a bad, vicious man, and early abandoned the parental roof to enlist for +a soldier. He was soon tired of his new profession, and, deserting from +his regiment, escaped detection, and emigrated to Canada. Having no +means of his own, he was glad to engage with Captain Kinnaird as his +servant, to whom his character and previous habits were unknown.</p> + +<p>These circumstances, together with what follows, were drawn from his +confession, made to Mr. Mac--ie, who had conducted his defence, the +night previous to his execution. Perhaps it will be better to make him +the narrator of his own story.</p> + +<p>"Grace Marks was hired by Captain Kinnaird to wait upon his housekeeper, +a few days after I entered his service. She was a pretty girl, and +very smart about her work, but of a silent, sullen temper. It was very +difficult to know when she was pleased. Her age did not exceed seventeen +years. After the work of the day was over, she and I generally were left +to ourselves in the kitchen, Hannah being entirely taken up with her +master. Grace was very jealous of the difference made between her +and the house-keeper, whom she hated, and to whom she was often very +insolent and saucy. Her whole conversation to me was on this subject. +'What is she better than us?' she would say, 'that she is to be treated +like a lady, and eat and drink of the best. She is not better born than +we are, or better educated. I will not stay here to be domineered over +by her. Either she or I must soon leave this.' Every little complaint +Hannah made of me, was repeated to me with cruel exaggerations, till my +dander was up, and I began to regard the unfortunate woman as our common +enemy. The good looks of Grace had interested me in her cause; and +though there was something about the girl that I could not exactly like, +I had been a very lawless, dissipated fellow, and if a woman was young +and pretty, I cared very little about her character. Grace was sullen +and proud, and not very easily won over to my purpose; but in order to +win her liking, if possible, I gave a ready ear to all her discontented +repinings.</p> + +<p>"One day Captain Kinnaird went to Toronto, to draw his half-year's pay, +and left word with Hannah that he would be back by noon the next day. +She had made some complaint against us to him, and he had promised to +pay us off on his return. This had come to the ears of Grace, and her +hatred to the housekeeper was increased to a tenfold degree. I take +heaven to witness, that I had no designs against the life of the +unfortunate woman when my master left the house.</p> + +<p>"Hannah went out in the afternoon, to visit some friends she had in +the neighbourhood, and left Grace and I alone together. This was an +opportunity too good to be lost, and, instead of minding our work, we +got recapitulating our fancied wrongs over some of the captain's whisky. +I urged my suit to Grace; but she would not think of anything, or listen +to anything, but the insults and injuries she had received from Hannah, +and her burning thirst for revenge. 'Dear me,' said I, half in jest, 'if +you hate her so much as all that, say but the word, and I will soon rid +you of her for ever.'</p> + +<p>"I had not the least idea that she would take me at my word. Her eyes +flashed with a horrible light. 'You dare not do it!' she replied, with a +scornful toss of her head.</p> + +<p>"'Dare not do what?'</p> + +<p>"'Kill that woman for me!' she whispered.</p> + +<p>"'You don't know what I dare, or what I dar'n't do!' said I, drawing +a little back from her. 'If you will promise to run off with me +afterwards, I will see what I can do with her.'</p> + +<p>"'I'll do anything you like; but you must first kill her.'</p> + +<p>"'You are not in earnest, Grace?'</p> + +<p>"'I mean what I say!'</p> + +<p>"'How shall we be able to accomplish it? She is away now, and she may +not return before her master comes back.'</p> + +<p>"'Never doubt her. She will be back to see after the house, and that we +are in no mischief.'</p> + +<p>"'She sleeps with you?'</p> + +<p>"'Not always. She will to-night.'</p> + +<p>"'I will wait till you are asleep, and then I will kill her with a blow +of the axe on the head. It will be over in a minute. Which side of the +bed does she lie on?'</p> + +<p>"'She always sleeps on the side nearest the wall and she bolts the door +the last thing before she puts out the light. But I will manage both +these difficulties for you. I will pretend to have the toothache very +bad, and will ask to sleep next the wall to-night. She is kind to the +sick, and will not refuse me; and after she is asleep, I will steal out +at the foot of the bed, and unbolt the door. If you are true to your +promise, you need not fear that I shall neglect mine.'</p> + +<p>"I looked at her with astonishment. 'Good God!' thought I, 'can this be +a woman? A pretty, soft-looking woman too--and a mere girl! What a heart +she must have!' I felt equally tempted to tell her she was a devil, and +that I would have nothing to do with such a horrible piece of business; +but she looked so handsome, that somehow or another I yielded to the +temptation, though it was not without a struggle; for conscience loudly +warned me not to injure one who had never injured me.</p> + +<p>"Hannah came home to supper, and she was unusually agreeable, and took +her tea with us in the kitchen, and laughed and chatted as merrily as +possible. And Grace, in order to hide the wicked thoughts working in her +mind, was very pleasant too, and they went laughing to bed, as if they +were the best friends in the world.</p> + +<p>"I sat by the kitchen fire after they were gone, with the axe between my +knees, trying to harden my heart to commit the murder; but for a long +time I could not bring myself to do it. I thought over all my past +life. I had been a bad, disobedient son--a dishonest, wicked man; but +I had never shed blood. I had often felt sorry for the error of my +ways, and had even vowed amendment, and prayed God to forgive me, and +make a better man of me for the time to come. And now, here I was, +at the instigation of a young girl, contemplating the death of a +fellow-creature, with whom I had been laughing and talking on apparently +friendly terms a few minutes ago. Oh, it was dreadful, too dreadful to +be true! and then I prayed God to remove the temptation from me, and to +convince me of my sin. 'Ah, but,' whispered the devil, 'Grace Marks will +laugh at you. She will twit you with your want of resolution, and say +that she is the better man of the two.'</p> + +<p>"I sprang up, and hastened at their door, which opened into the kitchen. +All was still. I tried the door;--for the damnation of my soul, it was +open. I had no need of a candle, the moon was at full; there was no +curtain to their window, and it shone directly upon the bed, and I could +see their features as plainly as by the light of day. Grace was either +sleeping, or pretending to sleep--I think the latter, for there was a +sort of fiendish smile upon her lips. The housekeeper had yielded to her +request, and was lying with her head out over the bed-clothes, in the +best possible manner for receiving a death-blow upon her temples. She +had a sad, troubled look upon her handsome face; and once she moved her +hand, and said 'Oh dear!' I wondered whether she was dreaming of any +danger to herself and the man she loved. I raised the axe to give the +death-blow, but my arm seemed held back by an invisible hand. It was the +hand of God. I turned away from the bed, and left the room; I could not +do it. I sat down by the embers of the fire, and cursed my own folly. +I made a second attempt--a third--and fourth; yes, even to a ninth--and +my purpose was each time defeated. God seemed to fight for the poor +creature; and the last time I left the room I swore, with a great oath, +that if she did not die till I killed her, she might live on till the +day of judgment. I threw the axe on to the wood heap in the shed, and +went to bed, and soon fell fast asleep.</p> + +<p>"In the morning, I was coming into the kitchen to light the fire, and +met Grace Marks with the pails in her hand, going out to milk the cows. +As she passed me, she gave me a poke with the pail in the ribs, and +whispered with a sneer, 'Arn't you a coward!'</p> + +<p>"As she uttered those words, the devil, against whom I had fought all +night, entered into my heart, and transformed me into a demon. All +feelings of remorse and mercy forsook me from that instant, and darker +and deeper plans of murder and theft flashed through my brain. 'Go and +milk the cows,' said I with a bitter laugh, 'and you shall soon see +whether I am the coward you take me for.' She went out to milk, and I +went in to murder the unsuspicious housekeeper.</p> + +<p>"I found her at the sink in the kitchen, washing her face in a tin +basin. I had the fatal axe in my hand, and without pausing for an +instant to change my mind--for had I stopped to think, she would have +been living to this day I struck her a heavy blow on the back of the +head with my axe. She fell to the ground at my feet without uttering a +word; and, opening the trap-door that led from the kitchen into a cellar +where we kept potatoes and other stores, I hurled her down, closed the +door, and wiped away the perspiration that was streaming down my face. +I then looked at the axe and laughed. 'Yes; I have tasted blood now, +and this murder will not be the last. Grace Marks, you have raised the +devil--take care of yourself now!'</p> + +<p>"She came in with her pails, looking as innocent and demure as the milk +they contained. She turned pale when her eye met mine. I have no doubt +but that I Iooked the fiend her taunt had made me.</p> + +<p>"'Where's Hannah?' she asked, in a faint voice.</p> + +<p>"'Dead,' said I. 'What! are you turned coward now?'</p> + +<p>"'Macdermot, you look dreadful. I am afraid of you, not of her.'</p> + +<p>"'Aha, my girl! you should have thought of that before. The hound that +laps blood once will lap again. You have taught me how to kill, and I +don't care who, or how many I kill now. When Kinnaird comes home I will +put a ball through his brain, and send him to keep company below with +the housekeeper.'</p> + +<p>"She put down the pails,--she sprang towards me, and, clinging to my +arm, exclaimed in frantic tones--</p> + +<p>"'You won't kill him?'</p> + +<p>"'By ---, I will! why should he escape more than Hannah? And hark you, +girl, if you dare to breathe a word to any one of my intention, or tell +to any one, by word or sign, what I have done, I'll kill you!'</p> + +<p>"She trembled like a leaf. Yes, that young demon trembled. 'Don't kill +me,' she whined, 'don't kill me, Macdermot! I swear that I will not +betray you; and oh, don't kill him!'</p> + +<p>"'And why the devil do you want me to spare him?'</p> + +<p>"'He is so handsome!'</p> + +<p>"'Pshaw!'</p> + +<p>"'So good-natured!'</p> + +<p>"'Especially to you. Come, Grace; no nonsense. If I had thought that you +were jealous of your master and Hannah, I would have been the last man +on earth to have killed her. You belong to me now; and though I believe +that the devil has given me a bad bargain in you, yet, such as you are, +I will stand by you. And now, strike a light and follow me into the +cellar. You must help me to put Hannah out of sight.'</p> + +<p>"She never shed a tear, but she looked dogged and sullen, and did as I +bid her.</p> + +<p>"That cellar presented a dreadful spectacle. I can hardly bear to recall +it now; but then, when my hands were still red with her blood, it was +doubly terrible. Hannah Montgomery was not dead, as I had thought; the +blow had only stunned her. She had partially recovered her senses, and +was kneeling on one knee as we descended the ladder with the light. I +don't know if she heard us, for she must have been blinded with the +blood that was flowing down her face; but she certainly heard us, and +raised her clasped hands, as if to implore mercy.</p> + +<p>"I turned to Grace. The expression of her livid face was even more +dreadful than that of the unfortunate woman. She uttered no cry, but she +put her hand to her head, and said,--</p> + +<p>"'God has damned me for this.'</p> + +<p>"'Then you have nothing more to fear,' says I. 'Give me that handkerchief +off your neck.' She gave it without a word. I threw myself upon the body +of the housekeeper,--and planting my knee on her breast, I tied the +handkerchief round her throat in a single tie, giving Grace one end to +hold, while I drew the other tight enough to finish my terrible work. +Her eyes literally started from her head, she gave one groan, and all +was over. I then cut the body in four pieces, and turned a large washtub +over them.</p> + +<p>"'Now, Grace, you may come up and get my breakfast.'</p> + +<p>"Yes, Mr. M---. You will not perhaps believe me, yet I assure you that +we went upstairs and ate a good breakfast; and I laughed with Grace at +the consternation the captain would be in when he found that Hannah was +absent.</p> + +<p>"During the morning a pedlar called, who travelled the country with +second-hand articles of clothing, taking farm produce in exchange for +his wares. I bought of him two good linen-breasted shirts, which had +been stolen from some gentleman by his housekeeper. While I was chatting +with the pedlar, I remarked that Grace had left the house, and I saw her +through the kitchen-window talking to a young lad by the well, who often +came across to borrow an old gun from my master to shoot ducks. I called +to her to come in, which she appeared to me to do very reluctantly. I +felt that I was in her power, and I was horribly afraid of her betraying +me in order to save her own and the captain's life. I now hated her from +my very soul, and could have killed her without the least pity or +remorse.</p> + +<p>"'What do you want, Macdermot!' she said sullenly.</p> + +<p>"'I want you. I dare not trust you out of my sight. I know what you +are,--you are plotting mischief against me; but if you betray me I will +be revenged; if I have to follow you to--for that purpose.'</p> + +<p>"'Why do you doubt my word, Macdermot? Do you think I want to hang +myself?'</p> + +<p>"'No, not yourself, but me. You are too bad to be trusted. What were you +saying just now to that boy?'</p> + +<p>"'I told him that the captain was not at home, and I dared not lend him +the gun.'</p> + +<p>"'You were right. The gun will be wanted at home.'.</p> + +<p>"She shuddered and turned away. It seems that she had had enough of +blood, and shewed some feeling at last. I kept my eye upon her, and +would not suffer her for a moment out of my sight.</p> + +<p>"At noon the captain drove into the yard, and I went out to take the +horse. Before he had time to alight, he asked for Hannah. I told him +that she was out, that she went off the day before, and had not +returned, but that we expected her in every minute.</p> + +<p>"He was very much annoyed, and said that she had no business to leave +the house during his absence,--that he would give her a good rating when +she came home.</p> + +<p>"Grace asked if she should get his breakfast?</p> + +<p>"He said, 'He wanted none. He would wait till Hannah came back, and +then he would take a cup of coffee.'</p> + +<p>"He then went into the parlour; and throwing himself down upon the sofa, +commenced reading a magazine he had brought with him from Toronto.</p> + +<p>"'I thought he would miss the young lady,' said Grace. 'He has no idea +how close she is to him at this moment. I wonder why I could not make +him as good a cup of coffee as Hannah. I have often made it for him when +he did not know it. But what is sweet from her hand, would be poison +from mine. But I have had my revenge!'</p> + +<p>"Dinner time came, and out came the captain to the kitchen, book in +hand.</p> + +<p>"'Isn't Hannah back yet?'</p> + +<p>"'No,--Sir.'</p> + +<p>"'It's strange. Which way did she go?'</p> + +<p>"'She did not tell us where she was going; but said that, as you were +out, it would be a good opportunity of visiting an old friend.'</p> + +<p>"'When did she say she would be back?'</p> + +<p>"'We expected her last night,' said Grace.</p> + +<p>"'Something must have happened to the girl, Macdermot,' turning to me. +'Put the saddle on my riding horse. I will go among the neighbours, and +inquire if they have seen her.'</p> + +<p>"Grace exchanged glances with me.</p> + +<p>"'Will you not stay till after dinner, Sir?'</p> + +<p>"'I don't care,' he cried impatiently, 'a --- for dinner. I feel too +uneasy about the girl to eat. Macdermot, be quick and saddle Charley; +and you, Grace, come and tell me when he is at the door.'</p> + +<p>"He went back into the parlour, and put on his riding-coat; and I went +into the harness-house, not to obey his orders, but to plan his +destruction.</p> + +<p>"I perceived that it was more difficult to conceal a murder than I had +imagined; that the inquiries he was about to make would arouse suspicion +among the neighbours, and finally lead to a discovery. The only way to +prevent this was to murder him, take what money he had brought with him +from Toronto, and be off with Grace to the States. Whatever repugnance +I might have felt at the commission of this fresh crime, was drowned in +the selfish necessity of self-preservation. My plans were soon matured, +and I hastened to put them in a proper train.</p> + +<p>"I first loaded the old duck gun with ball, and, putting it behind the +door of the harness-house, I went into the parlour. I found the captain +lyinig on the sofa reading, his hat and gloves beside him on the table. +He started up as I entered.</p> + +<p>"'Is the horse ready?'</p> + +<p>"'Not yet, Sir. Some person has been in during the night, and cut your +new English saddle almost to pieces. I wish you would step out and look +at it. I cannot put it on Charley in its present state.'</p> + +<p>"'Don't bother me, he cried angrily; 'it is in your charge,--you are +answerable for that. Who the devil would think it worth their while +to break into the harness house to cut a saddle, when they could have +carried it off entirely? Let me have none of your tricks, Sir! You must +have done it yourself!'</p> + +<p>"'That is not very likely, Captain Kinnaird. At any rate, it would be a +satisfaction to me if you would come and look at it.'</p> + +<p>"'I'm in too great a hurry. Put on the old one.'</p> + +<p>"I still held the door in my hand. 'It's only a step from here to the +harness-house.'</p> + +<p>"He rose reluctantly, and followed me into the kitchen. The +harness-house formed part of a lean-to off the kitchen, and you went +down two steps into it. He went on before me, and as he descended the +steps, I clutched the gun I had left behind the door, took my aim +between his shoulders, and shot him through the heart. He staggered +forward and fell, exclaiming as he did so, 'O God, I am shot!'</p> + +<p>"In a few minutes he was lying in the cellar, beside our other victim. +Very little blood flowed from the wound; he bled internally. He had on a +very fine shirt; and after rifling his person, and possessing myself of +his pocketbook, I took off his shirt, and put on the one I had bought of +the pedlar."</p> + +<p>"Then," cried Mr. Mac--ie, to whom this confession was made, "that was +how the pedlar was supposed to have had a hand in the murder. That +circumstance confused the evidence, and nearly saved your life."</p> + +<p>"It was just as I have told you," said Macdermot.</p> + +<p>"And tell me, Macdermot, the reason of another circumstance that puzzled +the whole court. How came that magazine, which was found in the +housekeeper's bed saturated with blood, in that place, and so far from +the spot where the murder was committed?"</p> + +<p>"That, too, is easily explained, though it was such a riddle to you +gentlemen of the law. When the captain came out to look at the saddle, +he had the book open in his hand. When he was shot, he clapped the book +to his breast with both his hands. Almost all the blood that flowed from +it was caught in that book. It required some force on my part to take it +from his grasp after he was dead. Not knowing what to do with it, I +flung it into the housekeeper's bed. While I harnessed the riding-horse +into his new buggy, Grace collected all the valuables in the house. You +know, Sir, that we got safe on board the steamer at Toronto; but, owing +to an unfortunate delay, we were apprehended, sent to jail, and +condemned to die.</p> + +<p>"Grace, you tell me, has been reprieved, and her sentence commuted into +confinement in the Penitentiary for life. This seems very unjust to me, +for she is certainly more criminal than I am. If she had not instigated +me to commit the murder, it never would have been done. But the priest +tells me that I shall not be hung, and not to make myself uneasy on that +score."</p> + +<p>"Macdermot," said Mr. Mac--ie, "it is useless to flatter you with false +hopes. You will suffer the execution of your sentence to-morrow, at +eight o'clock, in front of the jail. I have seen the order sent by the +governor to the sheriff, and that was my reason for visiting you +to-night. I was not satisfied in my own mind of your guilt. What you +have told me has greatly relieved my mind; and I must add, if ever man +deserved his sentence, you do yours."</p> + +<p>"When this unhappy man was really convinced that I was in earnest--that +he must pay with his life the penalty of his crime," continued Mr. +Mac--ie, "his abject cowardice and the mental agonies he endured were +too terrible to witness. He dashed himself on the floor of his cell, and +shrieked and raved like a maniac, declaring that he could not, and would +not die; that the law had no right to murder a man's soul as well as his +body, by giving him no time for repentance; that if he was hung like a +dog, Grace Marks, in justice, ought to share his fate. Finding that all +I could say to him had no effect in producing a better frame of mind I +called in the chaplain, and left the sinner to his fate.</p> + +<p>"A few months ago I visited the Penitentiary; and as my pleading had +been the means of saving Grace from the same doom, I naturally felt +interested in her present state. I was permitted to see and speak to her; +and Mrs. M---, I never shall forget the painful feelings I experienced +during this interview. She had been five years in the Penitentiary, but +still retained a remarkably youthful appearance. The sullen assurance +that had formerly marked her countenance, had given place to a sad and +humbled expression. She had lost much of her former good looks, and +seldom raised her eyes from the ground.</p> + +<p>"'Well, Grace,' I said, 'how is it with you now?'</p> + +<p>"'Bad enough, Sir,' she answered, with a sigh; 'I ought to feel grateful +to you for all the trouble you took on my account. I thought you my +friend then, but you were the worst enemy I ever had in my life.'</p> + +<p>"'How is that, Grace?'</p> + +<p>"'Oh, Sir, it would have been better for me to have died with Macdermot +than to have suffered for years, as I have done, the torments of the +damned. Oh, Sir, my misery is too great for words to describe! I would +gladly submit to the most painful death, if I thought that it would put +an end to the pangs I daily endure. But though I have repented of my +wickedness with bitter tears, it has pleased God that I should never +again know a moment's peace. Since I helped Macdermot to strangle Hannah +Montgomery, her terrible face and those horrible bloodshot eyes have +never left me for a moment. They glare upon me by night and day, and +when I close my eyes in despair, I see them looking into my soul--it is +impossible to shut them out. If I am at work, in a few minutes that +dreadful head is in my lap. If I look up to get rid of it, I see it in +the far corner of the room. At dinner, it is in my plate, or grinning +between the persons who sit opposite to me at table. Every object that +meets my sight takes the same dreadful form; and at night--at night--in +the silence and loneliness of my cell, those blazing eyes make my prison +as light as day. No, not as day--they have a terribly hot glare, that +has not the appearance of anything in this world. And when I sleep,--that +face just hovers above my own, its eyes just opposite to mine; so +that when I awake with a shriek of agony, I find them there. Oh! this is +hell, Sir--these are the torments of the damned! Were I in that fiery +place, my punishment could not be greater than this.'</p> + +<p>"The poor creature turned away, and I left her, for who could say a +word of comfort to such grief? it was a matter solely between her own +conscience and God."</p> + +<p>Having heard this terrible narrative, I was very anxious to behold this +unhappy victim of remorse. She passed me on the stairs as I proceeded to +the part of the building where the women were kept; but on perceiving a +stranger, she turned her head away, so that I could not get a glimpse of +her face.</p> + +<p>Having made known my wishes to the matron, she very kindly called her +in to perform some trifling duty in the ward, so that I might have an +opportunity of seeing her. She is a middle-sized woman, with a slight +graceful figure. There is an air of hopeless melancholy in her face +which is very painful to contemplate. Her complexion is fair, and must, +before the touch of hopeless sorrow paled it, have been very brilliant. +Her eyes are a bright blue, her hair auburn, and her face would be +rather handsome were it not for the long curved chin, which gives, as +it always does to most persons who have this facial defect, a cunning, +cruel expression.</p> + +<p>Grace Marks glances at you with a sidelong stealthy look; her eye never +meets yours, and after a furtive regard, it invariably bends its +gaze upon the ground. She looks like a person rather above her humble +station, and her conduct during her stay in the Penitentiary was so +unexceptionable, that a petition was signed by all the influential +gentlemen in Kingston, which released her from her long imprisonment. +She entered the service of the governor of the Penitentiary, but the +fearful hauntings of her brain have terminated in madness. She is now +in the asylum at Toronto; and as I mean to visit it when there, I may +chance to see this remarkable criminal again. Let us hope that all her +previous guilt may be attributed to the incipient workings of this +frightful malady.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>To The Wind.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Stern spirit of air, wild voice of the sky!</p> +<p class="line-in2">Thy shout rends the heavens, and earth trembles with dread;</p> +<p class="line">In hoarse hollow murmurs the billows reply,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And ocean is roused in his cavernous bed.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"On thy broad rushing pinions destruction rides free,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Unfettered they sweep the wide deserts of air;</p> +<p class="line">The hurricane bursts over mountain and sea,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And havoc and death mark thy track with despair.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"When the thunder lies cradled within its dark cloud,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And earth and her tribes crouch in silence and dread,</p> +<p class="line">Thy voice shakes the forest, the tall oak is bowed,</p> +<p class="line-in2">That for ages had shook at the tempest its head.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"When the Lord bowed the heavens, and came down in his might,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Sublimely around were the elements cast;</p> +<p class="line">At his feet lay the dense rolling shadows of night,</p> +<p class="line-in2">But the power of Omnipotence rode on the blast.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"From the whirlwind he spake, when man wrung with pain,</p> +<p class="line-in2">In the strength of his anguish dare challenge his God;</p> +<p class="line">'Mid its thunders he told him his reasoning was vain,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Till he bowed to correction, and kiss'd the just rod.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"When call'd by the voice of the prophet of old,</p> +<p class="line-in2">In the 'valley of bones,' to breathe over the dead;</p> +<p class="line">Like the sands of the sea, could their number be told,</p> +<p class="line-in2">They started to life when the mandate had sped.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Those chill mouldering ashes thy summons could bind,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And the dark icy slumbers of ages gave way;</p> +<p class="line">The spirit of life took the wings of the wind,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Rekindling the souls of the children of clay.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Shrill trumpet of God! I shrink at thy blast,</p> +<p class="line-in2">That shakes the firm hills to their centre with dread,</p> +<p class="line">And have thought in that conflict--earth's saddest and last--</p> +<p class="line-in2">That thy deep chilling sigh will awaken the dead!"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER XI<br /> Michael Macbride</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"His day of life is closing--the long night</p> +<p class="line">Of dreamless rest a dusky shadow throws,</p> +<p class="line">Between the dying and the things of earth,</p> +<p class="line">Enfolding in a chill oblivious pall</p> +<p class="line">The last sad struggles of a broken heart.</p> +<p class="line">Yes! ere the rising of to-morrow's sun,</p> +<p class="line">The bitter grief that brought him to this pass</p> +<p class="line">Will be forgotten in the sleep of death."</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>We left Kingston at three o'clock, P.M., in the "Passport," for +Toronto. From her commander, Captain Towhy, a fine British heart of +oak, we received the kindest attention; his intelligent conversation, +and interesting descriptions of the many lands he had visited during a +long acquaintance with the sea, greatly lightening the tedium of the +voyage.</p> + +<p>When once fairly afloat on the broad blue inland sea of Ontario, you +soon lose sight of the shores, and could imagine yourself sailing on +a calm day on the wide ocean. There is something, however, wanting to +complete the deception,--the invigorating freshness--the peculiar smell +of the salt water, that is so exhilarating, and which produces a +sensation of freedom and power that is never experienced on these +fresh-water lakes. They want the depth, the fulness, the grandeur of +the ocean, though the wide expanse of water and sky are, in all other +respects, the same.</p> + +<p>The boat seldom touches at any place before she reaches Cobourg, which +is generally at night. We stopped a short time at the wharf to put +passengers and freight on shore, and to receive fresh passengers and +freight in return. The sight of this town, which I had not seen for many +years, recalled forcibly to my mind a melancholy scene in which I +chanced to be an actor. I will relate it here.</p> + +<p>When we first arrived in Canada, in 1832, we remained for three weeks at +an hotel in this town, though, at that period, it was a place of much +less importance than it is at present, deserving little more than the +name of a pretty rising village, pleasantly situated on the shores of +Lake Ontario. The rapid improvement of the country has converted Cobourg +into a thriving, populous town, and it has trebled its population +during the lapse of twenty years. A residence in a house of public +entertainment, to those who have been accustomed to the quiet and +retirement of a country life, is always unpleasant, and to strangers as +we were, in a foreign land, it was doubly repugnant to our feelings. In +spite of all my wise resolutions not to give way to despondency, but to +battle bravely against the change in my circumstances, I found myself +daily yielding up my whole heart and soul to that worst of all maladies, +home-sickness.</p> + +<p>It was during these hours of loneliness and dejection, while my husband +was absent examining farms in the neighbourhoods that I had the good +fortune to form an quaintance with Mrs. C---, a Canadian lady, who +boarded with her husband in the same hotel. My new friend was a young +woman agreeable in person, and perfectly unaffected in her manners, +which were remarkably frank and kind. Hers was the first friendly face +I had seen in the colony, and it will ever be remembered by me with +affection and respect.</p> + +<p>One afternoon while alone in my chamber, getting my baby, a little girl +of six months old, to sleep, and thinking many sad thoughts, and +shedding some bitter tears for the loss of the dear country and friends +I had left for ever, a slight tap at the door roused me from my painful +reveries, and Mrs. C--- entered the room. Like most of the Canadian +women, my friend was small of stature, slight and delicately formed, and +dressed with the smartness and neatness so characteristic of the females +of this continent, who, if they lack some of the accomplishments of +English women, far surpass them in their taste in dress, their choice of +colours, and the graceful and becoming manner in which they wear their +clothes. If my young friend had a weakness, it was on this point; but as +her husband was engaged in a lucrative mercantile business, and they had +no family, it was certainly excusable. At this moment her pretty neat +little figure was a welcome and interesting object to the home-sick +emigrant.</p> + +<p>"What! always in tears," said she, carefully closing the door. "What +pleasure it would give me to see you more cheerful! This constant +repining will never do."</p> + +<p>"The sight of you has made me feel better already," said I, wiping my +eyes, and trying to force a smile. "M--- is away on a farm-hunting +expedition, and I have been alone all day. Can you wonder, then, that +I am so depressed? Memory is my worst companion; for by constantly +recalling scenes of past happiness, she renders me discontented with the +present, and hopeless of the future, and it will require all your kind +sympathy to reconcile me to Canada."</p> + +<p>"You will like it better by and by; a new country always improves upon +acquaintance."</p> + +<p>"Ah, never! Did I only consult my own feelings, I would be off by the +next steam-boat for England; but then my husband, my child, our scanty +means. Yes! yes! I must submit, but I find it a hard task."</p> + +<p>"We have all our trials, Mrs. M---; and, to tell you the truth, I do not +feel in the best spirits myself this afternoon. I came to ask you what I +am certain you will consider a strange question."</p> + +<p>This was said in a tone so unusually serious, that I looked up from the +cradle in surprise, which her solemn aspect, and pale, tearful face, did +not tend to diminish. Before I could ask the cause of her dejection, she +added quickly--</p> + +<p>"Dare you read a chapter from the Bible to a dying man?"</p> + +<p>"Dare I? Yes, certainly! Who is ill? Who is dying?"</p> + +<p>"It's a sad story," she continued, wiping the tears from her kind +eyes. "I will tell you, however, what I know of it, just to satisfy you +as to the propriety of my request. There is a poor young man in this +house who is very sick--dying, I believe, of consumption. He came here +about three weeks ago, without food, without money, and in a dreadfully +emaciated state. He took our good landlord, Mr. S---, on one side, +and told him how he was situated, and begged that he would give him +something to eat and a night's lodging, promising that if ever he was +restored to health, he would repay the debt in work. You know what a +kind, humane man, Mr. S--- is, although," she added, with a sly smile, +"<i>he is a Yankee</i>, and so am I by right of parentage, though not of birth. +Mr. S--- saw at a glance that the suppliant was an object of real +charity, and instantly complied with his request. Without asking further +particulars, he gave him a good bed, sent him up a bowl of hot soup, and +bade him not distress himself about the future, but try and get a good +night's rest. The next day, the young man was too ill to leave his +chamber. Mr. S--- sent for old Dr. Morton, who, after examining the +lad, informed his employer that he was in the last stage of consumption, +and had not many days to live, and it would be advisable for Mr. S--- to +have him removed to the hospital (a pitiful shed erected for emigrants +who may chance to arrive ill with the cholera). Mr. S--- not only +refused to send the young man away, but has nursed him with the greatest +care, his wife and daughters taking it by turns to sit up nightly with +the poor patient."</p> + +<p>My friend said nothing about her own attendance on the invalid, which, +I afterwards learned from Mrs. S--- had been unremitting.</p> + +<p>"And what account does the lad give of himself?" said I.</p> + +<p>"All that we know about him is, that his name is Macbride, <span class="footnote">[Michael +Macbride was not the real name of this poor young man, but is one +substituted by the author.]</span> and that he is nephew to Mr. C---, of +Peterboro', an Irishman by birth, and a Catholic by religion. Some +violent altercation took place between him and his uncle a short time +ago, which induced Michael to leave his house, and look out for a +situation for himself. Hearing that his parents had arrived in this +country, and were on their way to Peterboro', he came down as far as +Cobourg in the hope of meeting them, when his steps were arrested by +poverty and sickness on this threshold.</p> + +<p>"By a singular coincidence, his mother came to the hotel yesterday +evening to inquire the way to Peterboro', and Mr. S--- found out, from +her conversation, that she was the mother of the poor lad, and he +instantly conducted her to the bedside of her son. I was sitting with +him when the interview between him and his mother took place, and +I assure you that it was almost too much for my nerves--his joy and +gratitude were so great at once more beholding his parent, while the +grief and distraction of the poor woman, on seeing him in a dying +state, was agonising; and she gave vent to her feelings in uttering the +most hearty curses against the country, and the persons who by their +unkindness had been the cause of his sickness. The young man seemed +shocked at the unfeminine conduct of his mother, and begged me to +excuse the rude manner in which she answered me; 'for,' says he, 'she +is ignorant and beside herself, and does not know what she is saying +or doing.'</p> + +<p>"Instead of expressing the least gratitude to Mr. S--- for the attention +bestowed on her son, by some strange perversion of intellect she seems +to regard him and us as his especial enemies. Last night she ordered us +from his room, and declared that her 'precious <i>bhoy</i> was not going to die +like a <i>hathen</i>, surrounded by a parcel of heretics;' and she sent off a +man on horseback for the priest and for his uncle--the very man from +whose house he fled, and whom she accuses of being the cause of her +son's death. Michael anticipates the arrival of Mr. C--- with feelings +bordering on despair, and prays that God may end his sufferings before +he reaches Cobourg.</p> + +<p>"Last night Mrs. Macbride sat up with Michael herself, and would not +allow us to do the least thing for him. This morning her fierce temper +seems to have subsided, until her son awoke from a broken and feverish +sleep, and declared that he would not die a Roman Catholic, and +earnestly requested Mr. S--- to send for a Protestant clergyman. This +gave rise to a violent scene between Mrs. Macbride and her son, which +ended in Mr. S--- sending for Mr. B---, the clergyman of our village, +who, unfortunately, had left this morning for Toronto, and is not +expected home for several days. Michael eagerly asked if there was any +person present who would read to him from the Protestant Bible. This +excited in the mother such a fit of passion, that none of us dared +attempt the task. I then thought of you, that, as a perfect stranger, +she might receive you in a less hostile manner. If you are not afraid to +encounter the fierce old woman, do make the attempt for the sake of the +dying creature, who languishes to hear the words of life. I will watch +the baby while you are gone."</p> + +<p>"She is asleep, and needs no watching. I will go as you seem so anxious +about it," and I took my pocket Bible from the table. "But you must go +with me, for I do not know my way in this strange house."</p> + +<p>Carefully closing the door upon the sleeping child, I followed the +light steps of Mrs. C--- along the passage, until we reached the head +of the main staircase, then, turning to the right, we entered the large +public ballroom. In the first chamber of many that opened into this +spacious apartment we found the object that we sought.</p> + +<p>Stretched upon a low bed, with a feather fan in his hand, to keep off +the flies that hovered in tormenting clusters round his head, lay the +dying Michael Macbride.</p> + +<p>The face of the young man was wasted by disease and mental anxiety; and +if the features were not positively handsome, they were well and +harmoniously defined, and a look of intelligence and sensibility +pervaded his countenance, which greatly interested me in his behalf. +His face was deathly pale, as pale as marble, and his large sunken +eyes shone with unnatural brilliancy, their long dark lashes adding an +expression of intense melancholy to the patient endurance of suffering +that marked his fine countenance. His nose was shrunk and drawn in about +the nostrils, his feverish lips apart, in order to admit a free passage +for the labouring breath, their bright red glow affording a painful +contrast to the ghastly glitter of the brilliant white teeth within. The +thick black curls that clustered round his high forehead were moist with +perspiration, and the same cold unwholesome dew trickled in large drops +down his hollow temples. It was impossible to mistake these signs of +approaching dissolution--it was evident to all present that death was +not far distant.</p> + +<p>An indescribable awe crept over me. He looked so tranquil, so sublimed +by suffering, that I felt my self unworthy to be his teacher.</p> + +<p>"Michael," I said, taking the long thin white hand that lay so +listlessly on the coverlid, "I am sorry to see you so ill."</p> + +<p>He looked at me attentively for a few minutes.--"Do not say sorry, +Ma'am; rather say glad. I am glad to get away from this bad world--young +as I am--I am so weary of it."</p> + +<p>He sighed deeply, and tears filled his eyes.</p> + +<p>"I heard that you wished some one to read to you."</p> + +<p>"Yes, the Bible!" he cried, trying to raise himself in the bed, while +his eager eyes were turned to me with an earnest, imploring expression.</p> + +<p>"I have it here. Are you able to read it for yourself?"</p> + +<p>"I can read--but my eyes are so dim. The shadows of death float between +me and the world; I can no longer see objects distinctly. But oh, Madam, +if my soul were light, I should not heed this blindness. But all is dark +here," laying his hand on his breast,--"dark as the grave."</p> + +<p>I opened the sacred book, but my own tears for a moment obscured the +page. While I was revolving in my own mind what would be the best to +read to him, the book was rudely wrenched from my hand by a tall, gaunt +woman, who just then entered the room.</p> + +<p>"Och! what do you mane by disturbing him in his dying moments wid yer +thrash? It is not the likes o' you that shall throuble his sowl! The +praste will come and administher consolation to him in his last +exthremity."</p> + +<p>Michael shook his head, and turned his face sorrowfully to the wall.</p> + +<p>"Oh, mother," he murmured, "is that the way you treat the lady?"</p> + +<p>"Lady, or no lady, and I mane no disrispict; it is not for the like o' +her to take this on hersel'. If she will be rading, let her rade this," +and she tried to force a book of devotional prayers into my hand. +Michael raised himself, and with an impatient gesture exclaimed--</p> + +<p>"Not that--not that! It speaks no comfort to me. I will not listen to +it. Mother, mother! do not stand between me and my God. I know that +you love me--that what you do is done for the best; but the voice of +conscience will be heard above your voice. I hunger and thirst to +hear the word as it stands in the Bible, and I cannot die in peace +unsatisfied. For the love of Christ, Ma'am, read a few words of comfort +to a dying sinner!"</p> + +<p>Here the mother again interposed.</p> + +<p>"My good woman," I said gently putting her back, "you hear your son's +earnest request. If you really love him, you will offer no opposition +to his wishes. It is not a question of creeds that is here to be +determined, as to which is the best--yours or mine. I trust that all the +faithful followers of Christ, however named, hold the same faith, and +will be saved by the same means. I shall make no comment on what I read +to your son. The Bible is its own interpreter. The Spirit of God, by +whom it was dictated, will make it clear to his comprehension. Michael, +shall I commence now?"</p> + +<p>"Yes," he replied, "with the blessing of God!"</p> + +<p>After putting up a short prayer I commenced reading, and continued to do +so until night, taking care to select those portions of Scripture most +applicable to his case. Never did human creature listen with more +earnestness to the words of truth. Often he repeated whole texts after +me, clasping his hands together in a sort of ecstasy, while tears +streamed from his eyes. The old woman glared upon me from a far corner, +and muttered over her beads, as if they were a spell to secure her +against some diabolical art. When I could no longer see to read, Michael +took my hand, and said with great earnestness--</p> + +<p>"May God bless you, Madam! You have made me very happy. It is all clear +to me now. In Christ alone I shall obtain mercy and forgiveness for my +sins. It is his righteousness, and not any good works of my own, that +will save me. Death no longer appears so dreadful to me. I can now die +in peace."</p> + +<p>"You believe that God will pardon you, Michael, for Christ's sake; but +have you forgiven all your enemies?"</p> + +<p>I said this in order to try his sincerity, for I had heard that he +entertained hard thoughts against his uncle.</p> + +<p>He covered his face with his thin, wasted hands, and did not answer for +some minutes; at length he looked up with a calm smile upon his lips, +and said--</p> + +<p>"Yes, I have forgiven all--even <i>him</i>!--"</p> + +<p>Oh, how much was contained in the stress laid so strongly and sadly +upon that little word <i>Him!</i> How I longed to hear the story of his wrongs +from his own lips! but he was too weak and exhausted for me to urge such +a request. Just then Dr. Morton came in, and after standing for some +minutes at the bed-side, regarding his patient with fixed attention, he +felt his pulse, spoke a few kind words, gave some trifling order to his +mother and Mrs. C---, and left the room. Struck by the solemnity of his +manner, I followed him into the outer apartment.</p> + +<p>"Excuse the liberty I am taking Dr. Morton; but I feel deeply interested +in your patient. Is he better or worse?"</p> + +<p>"He is dying. I did not wish to disturb him in his last moments. I can +be of no further use to him. Poor lad, it's a pity! he is really a fine +young fellow."</p> + +<p>I had judged from Michael's appearance that he had not long to live, but +I felt inexpressibly shocked to find his end so near. On returning to +the sick room, Michael eagerly asked what the doctor thought of him?</p> + +<p>I did not answer--I could not.</p> + +<p>"I see," he said, "that I must die. I will prepare myself for it. If I +live until the morning, will you, Madam, come and read to me again?"</p> + +<p>I promised him that I would--or during the night, if he wished it.</p> + +<p>"I feel very sleepy," he said. "I have not slept for many nights, but +for a few minutes at a time. Thank God, I am entirely free from pain: it +is very good of Him to grant me this respite."</p> + +<p>His mother and I adjusted his pillows, and in a few seconds he was +slumbering as peacefully as a little child.</p> + +<p>The feelings of the poor woman seemed softened towards me, and for the +first time since I entered the room she shed tears. I asked the age of +her son? She told me that he was two-and-twenty. She wrung my hand hard +as I left the room, and thanked me for my kindness to her poor <i>bhoy</i>.</p> + +<p>It was late that night when my husband returned from the country, and we +sat for several hours talking over our affairs, and discussing the soil +and situation of the various farms he had visited during the day. It was +past twelve when we retired to rest, but my sleep was soon disturbed +by some one coughing violently, and my thoughts instantly reverted to +Michael Macbride, as the hoarse sepulchral sounds echoed through the +large empty room beyond which he slept. The coughing continued for some +minutes, and I was so much overcome by fatigue and the excitement of the +evening that I fell asleep, and did not awake until six o'clock the +following morning.</p> + +<p>Anxious to hear how the poor invalid had passed the night, I dressed +myself and hurried to his chamber.</p> + +<p>On entering the ball-room I found the doors and windows all open, as +well as the one that led to the sick man's chamber. My foot was arrested +on the threshold--for death was there. Yes! that fit of coughing had +terminated his life--Michael had expired without a struggle in the arms +of his mother.</p> + +<p>The gay broad beams of the sun were not admitted into that silent room. +The window was open, but the green blinds were carefully closed, +admitting a free circulation of air, and just light enough to render the +objects within distinctly visible. The body was laid out upon the bed +enveloped in a white sheet; the head and hands alone were bare. All +traces of sorrow and disease had passed away from the majestic face, +that, interesting in life, now looked beautiful and holy in death--and +happy, for the seal of heaven seemed visibly impressed upon the pure +pale brow. He was at peace, and though tears of human sympathy for a +moment dimmed my sight, I could not regret that it was so.</p> + +<p>While I still stood in the door-way, Mrs. Macbride, whom I had not +observed until then, rose from her knees beside the bed. She seemed +hardly in her right mind, and began talking and muttering to herself.</p> + +<p>"Och hone! he is dead--my fine bhoy is dead--widout a praste to pray wid +him, or bless him in the last hour--wid none of his frinds and relations +to lamint iver him, or wake him, but his poor heartbroken mother--Och +hone! och hone! that I should ever live to see this day. Get up, my fine +bhoy--get up wid ye! Why do you lie there?--owlder folk nor you +are abroad in the sunshine.--Get up, and show them how supple you are!"</p> + +<p>Then laying her cheek down to the cold cheek of the dead, she exclaimed, +amid broken sobs and groans--</p> + +<p>"Oh, spake to me--spake to me, Mike--my own Mike--'tis the mother that +axes ye."</p> + +<p>There was a deep pause, when the bereaved parent again broke forth--</p> + +<p>"Mike, Mike--why did your uncle rare you like a jintleman to bring you +to this. Och hone! och hone!--oh, never did I think to see your head lie +so low.--My bhoy! my bhoy!--why did you die?--Why did You lave your +frinds, and your money, and your good clothes, and your poor owld +mother?"</p> + +<p>Convulsive sobs again choked her utterance. She flung herself upon the +neck of the corpse, and bathed the face and hands of him, who had once +been her own, with burning tears.</p> + +<p>I now came forward, and offered a few words of consolation. Vain--all in +vain. The ear of sorrow is deaf to all save its own agonised moans. +Grief is as natural to the human mind as joy, and in their own appointed +hour both will have their way.</p> + +<p>The grief of this unhappy Irish mother, like the down-pouring of a +thunder shower, could not be restrained. But her tears soon flowed in +less violent gushes--exhaustion rendered her more calm. She sat upon the +bed, and looked cautiously round--"Hist!--did not you hear a voice? It +was him who spake--yes--it was his own swate voice. I knew he was not +dead. See, he moves!" This was the fond vain delusion of maternal love. +She took his cold hand, and clasped it to her heart.</p> + +<p>"Och hone!--he is gone, and left me for ever and ever. Oh, that my cruel +brother was here--that I might point to my murthered child, and curse +him to his face!"</p> + +<p>"Is Mr. C--- your brother?" said I, taking this opportunity to divert +her grief into another channel.</p> + +<p>"Yes--yes--he is my brother, bad cess to him! and uncle to the bhoy. +Listen to me, and I will tell you some of my mind. It will ease my +sorrow, for my poor heart is breaking entirely, and he is there," +pointing to the corpse, "and he knows that what I am afther telling you +is thrue.</p> + +<p>"I came of poor but dacent parints. There was but the two of us, Pat +C--- and I. My father rinted a good farm, and he sint Pat to school, and +gave him the eddication of a jintleman. Our landlord took a liking for +the bhoy, and gave him the manes to emigrate to Canady. This vexed my +father intirely, for he had no one barring myself to help him on the +farm. Well, by and by, I joined myself to one whom my father did not +approve--a bhoy he had hired to work wid him in the fields--an' he wrote +to my brother (for my mother had been dead ever since I was a wee thing) +to ax him in what manner he had best punish my disobedience; and he jist +advises him to turn us off the place. I suffered, wid my husband, the +extremes of poverty: we had seven childer, but they all died of the +faver, and hard times, save Mike and the two weeny ones. In the midst of +our disthress, it plased the Lord to remove my father, widout softenin' +his heart towards me. But he left my Mike three hunder pounds; to be his +whin he came to a right age; and he appointed my brother Pat guardian to +the bhoy.</p> + +<p>"My brother returned to Ireland when he got the news of my father's +death, in order to get his share of the property, for my father left him +the same as he did my son. He took away my bhoy wid him to Canady, in +order to make a landed jintleman of him. Och hone! I thought my heart +would broken thin, whin he took away my swate bhoy; but I was to live to +see a darker day yet."</p> + +<p>Here a long burst of passionate weeping interrupted her story.</p> + +<p>"Many long years came an' wint, and we niver got the scrape of a pen +from my brother to tell us of the bhoy at all at all. He might jist +as well have been dead, for aught we knew to the conthrary; but we +consowled oursilves wid the thought, that he would niver go about to +harm his own flesh and blood.</p> + +<p>"At last a letther came, written in Mike's own hand; and a beautiful +hand it was that same,--the good God bless him for the throuble he took +in makin' it so nate an' aisy for us poor folk to rade. It was full of +love and respict to his poor parents, an' he longin' to see them in +'Meriky; but he said he had written by stealth, for he was very unhappy +intirely,--that his uncle thrated him hardly, becaze he would not be a +praste,--an' wanted to lave him, to work for himsel'; an' he refused to +buy him a farm wid the money his grandfather left him, which he was +bound by the will to do, as Mike was now of age, an' his own masther.</p> + +<p>"Whin we got the word from the lad, we gathered our little all together, +an' took passage for Canady, first writin' to Mike whin we should start, +an' the name of the vessel; an' that we should wait at Cobourg until +sich time as he came to fetch us himsel' to his uncle's place.</p> + +<p>"But oh, Ma'am, our throubles had only begun. My poor husband and my +youngest bhoy died of the cholera comin' out; an' I saw their prechious +bodies cast into the salt, salt saa. Still the hope of seeing Mike +consowled me for all my disthress. Poor Pat an' I were worn out entirely +whin we got to Kingston, an' I left the child wid a frind, an' came on +alone,--I was so eager to see Mike, an' tell him all my throubles; +an' there he lies, och hone! my heart, my poor heart, it will break +entirely."</p> + +<p>"And what caused your son's separation from his uncle?" said I.</p> + +<p>The woman shook her head. "The thratement he got from him was too bad. +But shure he would not disthress me by saying aught agin my mother's +son. Did he not break his heart, and turn him dying an' pinniless on the +wide world? An' could he have done worse had he stuck a knife into his +heart?"</p> + +<p>"Ah!" she continued, with bitterness, "it was the gowld, the dhirty +gowld, that kilt my poor bhoy. His uncle knew that if Mike were dead, it +would come to Pat as the ne'est in degree, an' he could keep it all to +himsel' for the ne'est ten years."</p> + +<p>This statement appeared only too probable. Still there was a mystery +about the whole affair that required a solution, and it was several +years before I accidentally learned the sequel of this sad history.</p> + +<p>In the meanwhile the messenger, despatched by the kind Mr. S--- to +Peterboro' to inform Michael's uncle of the dying state of his nephew, +returned without that worthy, and with this unfeeling message--that +Michael Macbride had left him without any just cause, and should receive +no consolation from him in his last moments.</p> + +<p>Mr. S--- did not inform the poor bereaved widow of her brother's cruel +message; but finding that she was unable to defray the expenses +attendant on her son's funeral, like a true Samaritan, he supplied them +out of his own pocket, and followed the remains of the unhappy stranger +that Providence had cast upon his charity to the grave. In accordance +with Michael's last request, he was buried in the cemetry of the English +church.</p> + +<p>Six years after these events took place, Mr. W--- called upon me at our +place in Douro, and among other things told me of the death of Michael's +uncle, Mr. C---. Many things were mentioned by Mr. W---, who happened +to know him, to his disadvantage. "But of all his evil acts," he said, +"the worst thing I knew of him was his conduct to his nephew."</p> + +<p>"How was that?" said I, as the death-bed of Michael Macbride rose +distinctly before me.</p> + +<p>"It was a bad business. My housekeeper lived with the old man at the +time, and from her I heard all about it. It seems that he had been left +guardian to this boy, whom he brought out with him some years ago to +this country, together with a little girl about two years younger, who +was the child of a daughter of his mother by a former marriage, so that +the children were half-cousins to each other. Elizabeth was a modest, +clever little creature, and grew up a very pretty girl. Michael was +strikingly handsome, had a fine talent for music, and in person and +manners was far above his condition. There was some property, to the +amount of several hundred pounds, coming to the lad when he reached the +age of twenty-one. This legacy had been left him by his grandfather, and +Mr. C--- was to invest it in land for the boy's use. This, for reasons +best known to himself, he neglected to do, and brought the lad up to the +service of the altar, and continually urged him to become a priest. +This did not at all accord with Michael's views and wishes, and he +obstinately refused to study for the holy office, and told his uncle +that he meant to become a farmer as soon as he obtained his majority.</p> + +<p>"Living constantly in the same house, and possessing a congeniality of +tastes and pursuits, a strong affection had grown up between Michael and +his cousin, which circumstance proved the ostensible reason given by +Mr. C--- for his ill conduct to the young people, as by the laws of his +church they were too near of kin to marry. Finding that their attachment +was too strong to be wrenched asunder by threats, and that they had +actually formed a design to leave him, and embrace the Protestant faith, +he confined the girl to her chamber, without allowing her a fire during +a very severe winter. Her constitution, naturally weak, sunk under these +trials, and she died early in the spring of 1832, without being allowed +the melancholy satisfaction of seeing her lover before she closed her +brief life.</p> + +<p>"Her death decided Michael's fate. Rendered desperate by grief, he +reproached his bigoted uncle as the author of his misery, and demanded +of him a settlement of his property, as it was his intention to quit his +roof for ever. Mr. C--- laughed at his reproaches, and treated his +threats with scorn, and finally cast him friendless upon the world.</p> + +<p>"The poor fellow played very well upon the flute, and possessed an +excellent tenor voice; and, by the means of these accomplishments, he +contrived for a few weeks to obtain a precarious living.</p> + +<p>"Broken-hearted and alone in the world, he soon fell a victim to +hereditary disease of the lungs, and died, I have been told, at an +hotel in Cobourg; and was buried at the expense of Mr. S---, the +tavern-keeper, out of charity."</p> + +<p>"The latter part of your statement I know to be correct; and the whole +of it forcibly corroborates the account given to me by the poor lad's +mother. I was at Michael's deathbed; and if his life was replete with +sorrow and injustice, his last hours were peaceful and happy."</p> + +<p>I could now fully comprehend the meaning of the sad stress laid upon the +one word which had struck me so forcibly at the time, when I asked +him if he had forgiven <i>all</i> his enemies, and he replied, after that +lengthened pause, "Yes; I have forgiven them all--even <i>him!</i>"</p> + +<p>It did, indeed, require some exertion of Christian forbearance to +forgive such injuries.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>Song.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"There's hope for those who sleep</p> +<p class="line-in2">In the cold and silent grave,</p> +<p class="line">For those who smile, for those who weep,</p> +<p class="line-in2">For the freeman and the slave!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"There's hope on the battle plain,</p> +<p class="line-in2">'Mid the shock of charging foes;</p> +<p class="line">On the dark and troubled main,</p> +<p class="line-in2">When the gale in thunder blows.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"He who dispenses hope to all,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Withholds it not from thee;</p> +<p class="line">He breaks the woe-worn captive's thrall,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And sets the prisoner free!"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER XII<br /> Jeanie Burns</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Ah, human hearts are strangely cast,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Time softens grief and pain;</p> +<p class="line">Like reeds that shiver in the blast,</p> +<p class="line-in2">They bend to rise again.</p> +<p class="line">But she in silence bowed her head,</p> +<p class="line-in2">To none her sorrow would impart;</p> +<p class="line">Earth's faithful arms enclose the dead,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And hide for aye her broken heart!"</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>While the steamboat is leaving Cobourg in the distance, and, through the +hours of night and darkness, holds on her course to Toronto, I will +relate another true but mournful history from the romance of real life, +that was told to me during my residence in this part of the country.</p> + +<p>One morning our man-servant, James N---, came to me to request the +loan of one of the horses to attend a funeral. M--- was absent on +business at Toronto, and the horses and the man's time were both greatly +needed to prepare the land for the full crop of wheat. I demurred; James +looked anxious and disappointed; and the loan of the horse was at length +granted, but not without a strict injunction that he should return to +his work directly the funeral was over. He did not come back until late +that evening.</p> + +<p>I had just finished my tea, and was nursing my wrath at his staying out +the whole day, when the door of the room (we had but one, and that was +shared in common with the servants) opened, and the delinquent at last +appeared. He hung up the new English saddle, and sat down before the +blazing hearth without speaking a word.</p> + +<p>"What detained you so long, James? You ought to have had half an acre of +land, at least, ploughed to-day."</p> + +<p>"Verra true, mistress; it was nae fau't o' mine. I had mista'en the +hour; the funeral did na come in afore sundoon, an' I cam' awa' as sune +as it was owre."</p> + +<p>"Was it any relation of yours?"</p> + +<p>"Na', na', jest a freend, an auld acquaintance, but nane o' mine ain kin. +I never felt sae sad in a' my life as I ha'e dune this day. I ha'e seen +the clods piled on mony a heid, an' never felt the saut tear in my een. +But puir Jeanie! puir lass! it was a sair sight to see them thrown down +upon her."</p> + +<p>My curiosity was excited; I pushed the tea-things from me, and told +Bell, my maid, to give James his supper.</p> + +<p>"Naething for me the night, Bell. I canna' eat; my thoughts will a' run +on that puir lass. Sae young, sae bonnie, an' a few months ago as blythe +as a lark, an' noo a clod o' the airth. Hout! we maun a' dee when our ain +time comes; but, somehow, I canna think that Jeanie ought to ha'e gane +sae sune."</p> + +<p>"Who is Jeanie Burns? Tell me, James, something about her?"</p> + +<p>In compliance with my request, the man gave me the following story. +I wish I could convey it in his own words; but though I perfectly +understand the Scotch dialect when I hear it spoken, I could not write +it in its charming simplicity,--that honest, truthful brevity, which is +so characteristic of this noble people. The smooth tones of the blarney +may flatter our vanity, and please us for the moment, but who places +any confidence in those by whom it is employed? We know that it is only +uttered to cajole and deceive; and when the novelty wears off, the +repetition awakens indignation and disgust. But who mistrusts the blunt, +straightforward speech of the land of Burns? For good or ill, it strikes +home to the heart.</p> + +<p>Jeanie Burns was the daughter of a respectable shoemaker, who gained a +comfortable living by his trade in a small town of Ayrshire. Her father, +like herself, was an only child, and followed the same vocation, and +wrought under the same roof that his father had done before him. The +elder Burns had met with many reverses, and now, helpless and blind, +was entirely dependent upon the charity of his son. Honest Jock had not +married until late in life, that he might more comfortably provide for +the wants of his aged parents. His mother had been dead for some years. +She was a good, pious woman, and Jock quaintly affirmed "that it had +pleased the Lord to provide a better inheritance for his dear auld +mither than his arm could win, proud an' happy as he wud ha'e been to +ha'e supported her, when she was nae langer able to work for him."</p> + +<p>Jock's filial love was repaid at last. Chance threw in his way a cannie +young lass, baith gude an' bonnie, an' wi' a hantel o' siller. They were +united, and Jeanie was the sole fruit of the marriage. But Jeanie proved +a host in herself, and grew up the best-natured, the prettiest, and the +most industrious girl in the village, and was a general favourite with +young and old. She helped her mother in the house, bound shoes for her +father, and attended to all the wants of her dear old grandfather, +Saunders Burns, who was so much attached to his little handmaid, that +he was never happy when she was absent.</p> + +<p>Happiness, however, is not a flower of long growth in this world; it +requires the dew and sunlight of heaven to nourish it, and it soon +withers, removed from its native skies. The cholera visited the remote +village; it smote the strong man in the pride of his strength, and the +matron in the beauty of her prime, while it spared the helpless and the +aged, the infant of a few days, and the patriarch of many years. Both +Jeanie's parents fell victims to the fatal disease, and the old blind +Saunders and the young Jeanie were left to fight alone a hard battle +with poverty and grief.</p> + +<p>The truly deserving are never entirely forsaken; God may afflict them +with many trials, but He watches over them still, and often provides +for their wants in a manner truly miraculous. Sympathizing friends +gathered round the orphan girl in her hour of need, and obtained for +her sufficient employment to enable her to support her old grandfather +and herself, and provide for them the common necessaries of life.</p> + +<p>Jeanie was an excellent sempstress, and what between making waistcoats +and trousers for the tailors, and binding shoes for the shoemakers,--a +business that she thoroughly understood,--she soon had her little hired +room neatly furnished, and her grandfather as clean and spruce as ever. +When she led him into the kirk of a sabbath morning, all the neighbours +greeted the dutiful daughter with an approving smile, and the old man +looked so serene and happy that Jeanie was fully repaid for her labours +of love.</p> + +<p>Her industry and piety often formed the theme of conversation to the +young lads of the village. "What a guid wife Jeanie Burns wull mak'!" +cried one.</p> + +<p>"Aye," said another; "he need na complain of ill fortin who has the luck +to get the like o' her."</p> + +<p>"An' she's sae bonnie," would Willie Robertson add, with a sigh; "I wud +na covet the wealth o' the hale world an' she were mine."</p> + +<p>Willie Robertson was a fine active young man, who bore an excellent +character, and his comrades thought it very likely that Willie was +to be the fortunate man. Robertson was the son of a farmer in the +neighbourhood; he had no land of his own, and he was the youngest of a +very large family. From a boy he had assisted his father in working the +farm for their common maintenance; but after he took to looking at Jeanie +Burns at kirk, instead of minding his prayers, he began to wish that he +had a homestead of his own, which he could ask Jeanie and her +grandfather to share.</p> + +<p>He made his wishes known to his father. The old man was prudent. A +marriage with Jeanie Burns offered no advantages in a pecuniary view; +but the girl was a good, honest girl, of whom any man might be proud. He +had himself married for love, and had enjoyed great comfort in his wife.</p> + +<p>"Willie, my lad," he said, "I canna gi'e ye a share o' the farm. It is +owre sma' for the mony mouths it has to feed. I ha'e laid by a hantel o' +siller for a rainy day, an' this I maun gi'e ye to win a farm for +yoursel' in the woods of Canada. There is plenty o' room there, an' +industry brings its ain reward. If Jeanie Burns lo'es you as weel as +your dear mither did me, she will be fain to follow you there."</p> + +<p>Willie grasped his father's hand, for he was too much elated to speak, +and he ran away to tell his tale of love to the girl of his heart. +Jeanie had long loved Robertson in secret, and they were not long in +settling the matter. They forgot, in their first moments of joy, that +old Saunders had to be consulted, for they had determined to take the +old man with them. But here an obstacle occurred, of which they had not +dreamed. Old age is selfish, and Saunders obstinately refused to comply +with their wishes. The grave that held the remains of his wife and son, +was dearer to him than all the comforts promised to him by the impatient +lovers in that far foreign land. Jeanie wept, but Saunders, deaf and +blind, neither heard nor saw her grief, and like a dutiful child she +breathed no complaint to him, but promised to remain with him until his +head rested on the same pillow with the dead.</p> + +<p>This was a sore and great trial to Willie Robertson, but he consoled +himself for the disappointment with the reflection that Saunders, in the +course of nature, could not live long; and that he would go and prepare +a place for his Jean, and have everything ready for her reception +against the old man died.</p> + +<p>"I was a cousin of Willie's," continued James, "by the mither's side, +an' her persuaded me to go wi' him to Canada. We set sail the first o' +May, an' were here in time to chop a sma' fallow for our fall crop. +Willie had more o' the warld's gear than I, for his father had provided +him wi' sufficient funds to purchase a good lot o' wild land, which he +did in the township of M---, an' I was to wark wi' him on shares. We +were amang the first settlers in that place, an' we found the wark +before us rough an' hard to our heart's content. Willie, however, had +a strong motive for exertion, an' neever did man wark harder than he +did that first year on his bush-farm, for the love o' Jeanie Burns. We +built a comfortable log-house, in which we were assisted by the few +nieighbours we had, who likewise lent a han' in clearing ten acres we +had chopped for fall crop.</p> + +<p>"All this time Willie kept up a correspondence wi' Jeanie; an' he used +to talk to me o' her comin' out, an' his future plans, every night when +our wark was dune. If I had na lovit and respected the girl mysel', I +sud ha'e got unco tired o' the subject.</p> + +<p>"We had jest put in our first crop o' wheat, when a letter cam' frae +Jeanie bringin' us the news o' her grandfather's death. Weel I ken the +word that Willie spak' to me when he closed the letter,--'Jamie, the +auld man's gane at last; an' God forgi'e me, I feel too gladsome to +greet. Jeanie is willin' to come whenever I ha'e the means to bring her +out; an' hout, man, I'm jest thinkin' that she winna ha'e to wait lang.'</p> + +<p>"Guid workmen were gettin' very high wages jest then, an' Willie left +the care o' the place to me, an' hired for three months wi' auld squire +Jones, in the next township. Willie was an unco guid teamster, an' could +put his han' to ony kind o' wark; an' when his term o' service expired, +he sent Jeanie forty dollars to pay her passage out, which he hoped she +would not delay longer than the spring.</p> + +<p>"He got an answer frae Jeanie full o' love an' gratitude; but she +thought that her voyage might be delayed until the fall. The guid +woman with whom she had lodged sin' her parents died had jest lost her +husband, an' was in a bad state o' health, an' she begged Jeanie to bide +wi' her until her daughter could leave her service in Edinburgh, an' come +to tak' charge o' the house. This person had been a kind an' steadfast +frin' to Jeanie in a' her troubles, an' had helped her to nurse the auld +man in his dyin' illness. I am sure it was jest like Jeanie to act as +she did; she had all her life looked more to the comforts of others than +to her ain. Robertson was an angry man when he got that letter, an' he +said,--'If that was a' the lo'e that Jeanie Burns had for him, to prefer +an auld wife's comfort, wha was naething to her, to her betrothed +husband, she might bide awa' as lang as she pleased; he would never fash +himsel' to mak' screed o' a pen to her agen.'</p> + +<p>"I could na think that the man was in earnest, an' I remonstrated wi' +him on his folly an' injustice. This ended in a sharp quarrel atween us, +and I left him to gang his ain gate, an' went to live with my uncle, who +kept the smithy in the village.</p> + +<p>"After a while, we heard that Willie Robertson was married to a +Canadian woman, neither young nor good-looking, an' varra much his +inferior every way; but she had a guid lot o' land in the rear o' +his farm. Of course I thought it was a' broken aff wi' puir Jean, an' +I wondered what she wud spier at the marriage.</p> + +<p>"It was early in June, an' the Canadian woods were in their first +flush o' green,--an' how green an' lightsome they be in their spring +dress!--when Jeanie Burns landed in Canada. She travelled her lane up +the country, wonderin' why Willie was not at Montreal to meet her, as +he had promised in the last letter he sent her. It was late in the +afternoon when the steamboat brought her to Cobourg, an' without waitin' +to ask any questions respectin' him, she hired a man an' cart to take +her an' her luggage to M---. The road through the bush was varra heavy, +an' it was night before they reached Robertson's clearin'. Wi' some +difficulty the driver fund his way among the charred logs to the cabin +door.</p> + +<p>"Hearin' the sound o' wheels, the wife--a coarse, ill-dressed +slattern--cam' out to spier wha' could bring strangers to sic' an +out-o'-the-way place at that late hour. Puir Jeanie! I can weel imagin' +the flutterin' o' her heart, when she spiered o' the coarse wife 'if +her ain Willie Robertson was at hame?'</p> + +<p>"'Yes,' answered the woman, gruffly; 'but he is not in frae the fallow +yet. You maun ken him up yonder, tending the blazing logs.'</p> + +<p>"Whiles Jeanie was strivin' to look in the direction which the woman +pointed out, an' could na see through the tears that blinded her e'e, +the driver jumped down frae the cart, an' asked the puir lass whar he +sud leave her trunks, as it was getting late, and he must be aff.</p> + +<p>"'You need na bring thae big kists in here,' quoth Mistress Robertson; +'I ha'e na room in my house for strangers an' their luggage.'</p> + +<p>"'Your house!' gasped Jeanie, catchin' her arm. 'Did ye na tell me that +<i>he</i> lived here?--an' wherever Willie Robertson bides, Jeanie Burns sud +be a welcome guest. Tell him,' she continued, tremblin' all owre,--for +she telt me afterwards that there was somethin' in the woman's look an' +tone that made the cold chills run to her heart, 'that an auld frind +frae Scotland has jest come aff a lang, wearisome journey, to see him.'</p> + +<p>"'You may spier for yoursel',' said the woman, angrily. 'My husband is +noo comin' dune the clearin'.'</p> + +<p>"The word husband was scarcely out o' her mouth, than puir Jeanie fell +as ane dead across the door-stair. The driver lifted up the unfortunat' +girl, carried her into the cabin, an' placed her in a chair, regardless +o' the opposition of Mistress Robertson, whose jealousy was now fairly +aroused, an' she declared that the bold hizzie sud not enter her doors.</p> + +<p>"It was a long time afore the driver succeeded in bringin' Jeanie to +hersel'; an' she had only jest unclosed her een, when Willie cam' in.</p> + +<p>"'Wife,' he said, 'whose cart is this standin' at the door? an' what do +these people want here?'</p> + +<p>"'You ken best,' cried the angry woman. 'That creater is nae +acquaintance o' mine; an' if she is suffered to remain here, I will +quit the house.'</p> + +<p>"'Forgi'e me, gude woman, for having unwittingly offended you,' said +Jeanie, rising; 'but mercifu' Father! how sud I ken that Willie +Robertson--my ain Willie--had a wife? Oh, Willie!' she cried, coverin' +her face in her hands, to hide a' the agony that was in her heart, 'I +ha'e come a lang way, an' a weary, to see ye, an' ye might ha'e spared +me the grief, the burnin' shame o' this. Fareweel, Willie Robertson! I +will never mair trouble ye nor her wi' my presence; but this cruel deed +o' yours has broken my heart!'</p> + +<p>"She went her lane weepin'; an' he had na the courage to detain her, or +speak ae word o' comfort in her sair distress, or attempt to gi'e ony +account o' his strange conduct. Yet, if I ken him right, that must ha'e +been the most sorrowfu' moment in his life.</p> + +<p>"Jeanie was a distant connexion o' my aunt's; an' she found us out that +night, on her return to the village, an' tould us a' her grief. My aunt +was a kind, guid woman, an' was indignant at the treatment she had +received, an' loved and cherished her as if she had been her ain bairn. +For two whole weeks she kept her bed, an' was sae ill that the doctor +despaired o' her life; and when she did come amang us agen, the rose +had faded aff her cheek, an' the light frae her sweet blue e'e, an' she +spak' in a low, subdued voice; but she never accused him o' being the +cause o' her grief. One day she called me aside and said--</p> + +<p>"'Jamie, you ken'd how I lo'ed an' trusted him, an' obeyed his ain wish +in comin' out to this wearisome country to be his wife. But 'tis a' owre +now.' An' she passed her sma' hands tightly owre her breast, to keep +doon the swellin' o' her heart. 'Jamie, I ken that this is a' for the +best; I lo'ed him too weel,--mair than ony creature sud lo'e a perishin' +thing o' earth. But I thought that he wud be sae glad an' sae proud to +see his ain Jeanie sae sune. But, oh! ah, weel; I maun na think o' that. +What I wud jest say is this'--and she tuk a sma' packet frae her breast, +while the saut tears streamed doon her pale cheeks--'he sent me forty +dollars to bring me owre the sea to him. God bless him for that! I ken +he worked hard to earn it, for he lo'ed me then. I was na idle during +his absence; I had saved enough to bury my dear auld grandfather, an' +to pay my expenses out; an' I thought, like the guid servant in the +parable, I wud return Willie his ain wi' interest, an' I hoped to see +him smile at my diligence, an' ca' me his dear, bonnie lassie. Jamie, +I canna keep his siller; it lies like a weight o' lead on my heart. +Tak' it back to him, an' tell him frae me, that I forgi'e him a' his +cruel deceit, an' pray God to grant him prosperity, an' restore to him +that peace o' mind o' which he has robbed me for ever.'</p> + +<p>"I did as she bade me. Willie Robertson looked stupified when I +delivered her message. The only remark he made when I gied him back +the siller was, 'I maun be gratefu' man, that she did na curse me.' +The wife cam' in, an' he hid awa' the packet and slunk aff. The man +looked degraded in his ain sight, an' sae wretched, that I pitied him +frae my heart.</p> + +<p>"When I cam' home, Jeanie met me at the yet. 'Tell me,' she said, in a +dowie, anxious voice,--'tell me, cousin Jamie, what passed atween ye. +Had Willie nae word for me?'</p> + +<p>"'Naething, Jeanie. The man is lost to himsel'--to a' who ance wished +him weel. He is na worth a decent body's thought.'</p> + +<p>"She sighed sairly; an' I saw that her heart craved after some word or +token frae him. She said nae mair; but pale an' sorrowfu', the verra +ghaist o' her former sel', went back into the house.</p> + +<p>"Frae that hour she never breathed his name to ony o' us; but we all +ken'd that it was her lo'e for him that was wearin' out her life. The +grief that has nae voice, like the canker-worm, lies ne'est the heart. +Puir Jean, she held out durin' the simmer, but when the fa' cam', she +jest withered awa', like a flower nipped by the early frost; an' this +day we laid her in the earth.</p> + +<p>"After the funeral was owre, an' the mourners a' gane, I stood beside +her grave, thinking owre the days o' my boyhood, when she an' I were +happy weans, an' used to pu' the gowans together, on the heathery hills +o' dear auld Scotland. An' I tried in vain to understan' the mysterious +providence o' God that had stricken her, who seemed sae guid an' pure, an +spared the like o' me, who was mair deservin' o' his wrath, when I heard +a deep groan, an' I saw Willie Robertson standin' near me, beside the +grave.</p> + +<p>"'You may as weel spare your grief noo,' said I, for I felt hard towards +him, 'an' rejoice that the weary is at rest.'</p> + +<p>"'It was I killed her,' said he; 'an' the thought will haunt me to my +last day. Did she remember me on her death-bed?'</p> + +<p>"'Her thoughts were only ken'd by Him, Willie, wha reads the secrets of +a' hearts. Her end was peace; and her Saviour's blessed name was the +last sound on her lips. If ever woman died o' a broken heart, there she +lies.'</p> + +<p>"'Ah, Jeanie!' he cried, 'my ain darlin' Jeanie! my blessed lammie! I was +na worthy o' yer luve. My heart, too, is breakin'. To bring ye back ance +mair, I would gladly lay me doon an' dee.'</p> + +<p>"An' he flung himsel' upon the fresh piled sods, an' greeted like +a child.</p> + +<p>"When he grew more calm, we had a long conversation about the past; an' +truly I think that the man was na in his right senses, when he married +yon wife. At ony rate, he is nae lang for this world; he has fretted the +flesh aff his banes, an' afore mony months are owre, his heid wul lie as +low as puir Jeanie Burns."</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>My Native Land.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"My native land, my native land!</p> +<p class="line-in2">How many tender ties,</p> +<p class="line">Connected with thy distant strand,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Call forth my heavy sighs!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The rugged rock, the mountain stream,</p> +<p class="line-in2">The hoary pine-tree's shade,</p> +<p class="line">Where often in the noon-tide beam,</p> +<p class="line">A happy child I played.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"I think of thee, when early light</p> +<p class="line-in2">Is trembling on the hill;</p> +<p class="line">I think of thee at dead of night,</p> +<p class="line-in2">When all is dark and still.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"I think of those whom I shall see</p> +<p class="line-in2">On this fair earth no more;</p> +<p class="line">And wish in vain for wings to flee</p> +<p class="line-in2">Back to thy much-loved shore."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER XIII<br /> Lost Children</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Oh, how I love the pleasant woods, when silence reigns around,</p> +<p class="line">And the mighty shadows calmly sleep, like giants on the ground,</p> +<p class="line">And the fire-fly sports her fairy lamp beside the moonlit stream,</p> +<p class="line">And the lofty trees, in solemn state, frown darkly in the beam!"</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>There was a poor woman on board the steamer, who was like myself in +search of health, and was going to the West to see her friends, and to +get rid of (if possible) a hollow, consumptive cough. She looked to +me in the last stage of pulmonary consumption; but she seemed to hope +everything from the change of air.</p> + +<p>She had been for many years a resident in the woods, and had suffered +great hardships; but the greatest sorrow she ever knew, she said, and +what had pulled her down the most, was the loss of a fine boy, who had +strayed away after her through the bush, when she went to nurse a sick +neighbour; and though every search had been made for the child, he had +never been found. "It is a many years ago," she said, "and he would be a +fine young man now, if he were alive." And she sighed deeply, and still +seemed to cling to the idea that he might possibly be living, with a +sort of forlorn hope, that to me seemed more melancholy than the +certainty of his death.</p> + +<p>This brought to my recollection many tales that I had been told, while +living in the bush, of persons who had perished in this miserable +manner. Some of these tales may chance to interest my readers.</p> + +<p>I was busy sewing one day for my little girl, when we lived in the +township of Hamilton, when Mrs. H---, a woman whose husband farmed our +farm on shares, came running in quite out of breath, and cried out--</p> + +<p>"Mrs. M---, you have heard the good news?--One of the lost children is +found!"</p> + +<p>I shook my head, and looked inquiringly.</p> + +<p>"What! did not you hear about it? Why, one of Clark's little fellows, +who were lost last Wednesday in the woods, has been found."</p> + +<p>"I am glad of it. But how were they lost?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, 'tis a thing of very common occurrence here. New settlers, who are +ignorant of the danger of going astray in the forest, are always having +their children lost. I take good care never to let my boys go alone to +the bush. But people are so careless in this respect, that I wonder it +does not more frequently happen.</p> + +<p>"These little chaps are the sons of a poor emigrant who came out this +summer, and took up a lot of wild land just at the back of us, towards +the plains. Clark is busy logging up his fallow for fall wheat, on which +his family must depend for bread during the ensuing year; and he is so +anxious to get it ready in time, that he will not allow himself an hour +at noon to go home to get his dinner, which his wife generally sends in +a basket to the woods by his eldest daughter, a girl of fourteen.</p> + +<p>"Last Wednesday, the girl had been sent on an errand by her mother, who +thought that, in her absence, she might venture to trust the two boys to +take the dinner to their father. The boys, who are from five to seven +years old, and very smart and knowing for their age, promised to mind +all her directions, and went off quite proud of the task, carrying the +little basket between them.</p> + +<p>"How they came to ramble off into the woods, the younger child, who has +been just found, is too much stupified to tell, and perhaps he is too +young to remember.</p> + +<p>"At night Clark returned from his work, and scolded his wife for not +sending his dinner as usual; but the poor woman, (who all day had +quieted her fears with the belief that the children had stayed with +their father,) instead of paying any regard to his angry words, +demanded, in a tone of agony, what had become of her children?</p> + +<p>"Tired and hungry as Clark was, he instantly comprehended the danger to +which his boys were exposed, and started off in pursuit of them. The +shrieks of the distracted woman soon called the neighbours together, who +instantly joined in the search. It was not until this afternoon that any +trace could be discovered of the lost children, when Brian, the hunter, +found the youngest boy, Johnnie, lying fast asleep upon the trunk of a +fallen tree, fifteen miles back in the bush."</p> + +<p>"And the brother?"</p> + +<p>"Will never, I fear, be heard of again. They have searched for him in +all directions, and have not discovered him. The story little Johnnie +tells is to this effect. During the first two days of their absence, the +food they had brought in the basket for their father's dinner sustained +life; but to-day, it seems that little Johnnie grew very hungry, and +cried continually for bread. William, the eldest boy, promised him bread +if he would try and walk farther; but his feet were bleeding and sore, +and he could not walk another step. For some time the other little +fellow carried him upon his back; but growing tired himself, he bade +Johnnie sit down upon a fallen log, (the log on which he was found,) and +not stir from the place until he came back. He told the child that he +would run on until he found a house, and would return as soon as he +could, and bring him something to eat. He then wiped his eyes, and told +him not to cry, and not to be scared, for God would take care of him +till he came back, and he kissed him several times, and ran away.</p> + +<p>"This is all the little fellow knows about his brother; and it is very +probable that the generous-hearted boy has been eaten by the wolves that +are very plenty in that part of the forest where the child was found. +The Indians traced him for more than a mile along the banks of the +creek, when they lost his trail altogether. If he had fallen into the +water, it is so shallow, that they could scarcely have failed in +discovering the body; but they think that he has been dragged into some +hole in the bank among the tangled cedars, and devoured.</p> + +<p>"Since I have been in the country," continued Mrs. H---, "I have known +many cases of children, and even of grown persons, being lost in the +woods, who were never heard of again. It is a frightful calamity to +happen to any one; for should they escape from the claws of wild +animals, these dense forests contain nothing on which life can be +supported for any length of time. The very boughs of the trees are +placed so far from the ground, that no child could reach or climb to +them; and there is so little brush and small bushes among these giant +trees, that no sort of fruit can be obtained, on which they might +subsist while it remained in season. It is only in clearings, or where +the fire has run through the forest, that strawberries or raspberries +are to be found; and at this season of the year, and in the winter, a +strong man could not exist many days in the wilderness let alone a +child.</p> + +<p>"Parents cannot be too careful in guarding their young folks against +rambling alone in the bush. Persons, when once they get off the beaten +track, get frightened and bewildered, and lose all presence of mind; and +instead of remaining where they are when they first discover their +misfortune--which is the only chance they have of being found--they +plunge desperately on, running hither and thither, in the hope of +getting out, while they only involve themselves more deeply among the +mazes of the interminable forest.</p> + +<p>"Some winters ago, the daughter of a settler in the remote township of +Dummer (where my husband took up his grant of wild land, and in which we +lived for two years) went with her father to the mill, which was four +miles from their log-shanty, and the road lay entirely through the bush. +For awhile the girl, who was about twelve years of age, kept up with her +father, who walked briskly ahead with his bag of corn on his back; for +as their path lay through a tangled swamp, he was anxious to get home +before night. After some time, Sarah grew tired with stepping up and +down over the fallen logs that strewed their path, and lagged a long way +behind. The man felt not the least apprehensive when he lost sight of +her, expecting that she would soon come up with him again. Once or twice +he stopped and shouted, and she answered, 'Coming, father!' and he did +not turn to look after her again. He reached the mill, saw the grist +ground, resumed his burden, and took the road home, expecting to meet +Sarah by the way. He trod the long path alone; but still he thought +that the girl, tired with her walk in the woods, had turned back, and +he should find her safe at home.</p> + +<p>"You may imagine, Mrs. M---, his consternation, and that of the family, +when they found that the girl was lost.</p> + +<p>"It was now dark, and all search for her was given up for that night +as hopeless. By day-break the next morning the whole settlement which +was then confined to a few lonely log tenements, inhabited solely by +Cornish miners, were roused from their sleep to assist in the search.</p> + +<p>"The men turned out with guns and horns, and divided into parties, that +started in different directions. Those who first discovered Sarah were +to fire their guns, which was to be the signal to guide the rest to the +spot. It was not long before they found the object of their search, +seated under a tree about half a mile from the path she had lost on the +preceding day.</p> + +<p>"She had been tempted by the beauty of some wild flowers to leave the +road; and, when once in the forest, she grew bewildered, and could not +find her way back. At first she ran to and fro, in an agony of terror +at finding herself in the woods all alone, and uttered loud and frantic +cries; but her father had by this time reached the mill, and was out of +hearing.</p> + +<p>"With a sagacity beyond her years, and not very common to her class, +instead of wandering further into the labyrinth which surrounded her, +she sat down under a large tree, covered her face with her apron, said +the Lord's prayer--the only one she knew, and hoped that God would send +her father back to find her the moment he discovered that she was lost.</p> + +<p>"When night came down upon the forest, (and oh! how dark night is in the +woods!) the poor girl said that she felt horribly afraid of being eaten +by the wolves that abound in those dreary swamps; but she did not cry, +for fear they should hear her. Simple girl! she did not know that the +scent of a wolf is far keener than his ear; but this was her notion, and +she lay down close to the ground and never once uncovered her head, for +fear of seeing something dreadful standing beside her; until, overcome +by terror and fatigue, she fell fast asleep, and did not awake till +roused by the shrill braying of the horns, and the shouts of the party +who were seeking her."</p> + +<p>"What a dreadful situation! I am sure that I should not have had the +courage of this poor girl, but should have died with fear."</p> + +<p>"We don't know how much we can bear till we are tried. This girl was +more fortunate than a boy of the same age, who was lost in the same +township just as the winter set in. The lad was sent by his father, an +English settler, in company with two boys of his own age, the sons of +neighbours, to be measured for a pair of shoes. George Desne, who +followed the double occupation of farmer and shoemaker, lived about +three miles from the clearing known as the English line. After the lads +left their home, the road lay entirely through the bush. It was a path +they had often travelled, both alone and with their parents, and they +felt no fear.</p> + +<p>"There had been a slight fall of snow, just enough to cover the ground, +and the day was clear and frosty. The boys in this country always hail +with delight the first fall of snow; and they ran races and slid over +all the shallow pools, until they reached George Desne's cabin. He +measured young Brown for a strong pair of winter boots, and the boys +returned on their homeward path, shouting and laughing in the glee of +their hearts.</p> + +<p>"About half-way they suddenly missed their companion, and ran back +nearly a mile to find him; not succeeding, they thought that he had +hidden himself behind some of the trees, and, in order to frighten them, +was pretending to be lost; and after shouting his name at the top of +their voices, and receiving no answer, they determined to defeat his +trick, and ran home without him. They knew he was well acquainted with +the road, that it was still broad day, and he could easily find his way +home alone. When his father inquired for George, they said he was +coming, and went to their respective cabins.</p> + +<p>"Night came on and the lad did not return, and his parents began to feel +alarmed at his absence. Mr. Brown went over to the neighbouring +settlements, and made the lads repeat to him all they knew about his +son. The boys described the part of the road where they first missed +him; but they had felt no uneasiness about him, for they concluded that +he had either run home before them, or had gone back to spend the night +with the young Desnes, who had been very importunate for him to stay. +This account pacified the anxious father. Early the next morning he went +to Desne's himself to bring home the boy, but, to his astonishment and +grief, he had not been there.</p> + +<p>"His mysterious disappearance gave rise to a thousand strange surmises. +The whole settlement turned out in search of the boy. His steps were +traced off the road a few yards into the bush, and entirely disappeared +at the foot of a large oak tree. The tree was lofty, and the branches so +far from the ground, that it was almost impossible for any boy, +unassisted, to have raised himself to such a height. There was no track +of any animal to be seen on the new fallen snow--no shred of garment, or +stain of blood. That boy's fate will always remain a great mystery, for +he was never found."</p> + +<p>"He must have been carried up the tree by a bear, and dragged down into +the hollow trunk," said I.</p> + +<p>"If that had been the case, there would have been the track of the +bear's feet in the snow. It does not, however, follow that the boy is +dead, though it is more than probable. I knew of a case where two boys +and a girl were sent into the woods by their mother to fetch home the +cows. The children were lost. The parents mourned them for dead, for all +search after them proved fruitless. At length, after seven years, the +eldest son returned. The children had been overtaken and carried off by +a party of Indians, who belonged to a tribe who inhabited the islands in +Lake Huron, and who were out on a hunting expedition. They took them +many hundred miles away from their forest home, and adopted them as +their own. The girl, when she grew up, married one of the tribe; the +boys followed the occupation of hunters and fishers, and, from their +dress and appearance, might have passed for aborigines of the forest. +The eldest boy, however, never forgot his own name, or the manner in +which he had been separated from his parents. He distinctly remembered +the township and the natural features of the locality, and took the +first opportunity of making his escape, and travelling back to the home +of his childhood.</p> + +<p>"When he made himself known to his mother, who was a widow, but resided +on the same spot, he was so dark and Indian-like that she could not +believe that it was really her son, until he brought back to her mind a +little incident that, forgotten by her, had never left his memory.</p> + +<p>"'Mother, don't you remember saying to me on that afternoon, Ned, you +need not look for the cows in the swamp,--they went off towards the big +hill!'</p> + +<p>"The delighted mother immediately caught him to her heart, exclaiming, +'You say truly,--you are my own, my long-lost son!'"</p> + +<p class="footnote">[This, and the two preceding chapters, were written for "Roughing it +in the Bush," and were sent to England to make a part of that work, but +came too late for insertion, which will account to the reader for their +appearance here.]</p> + + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>The Canadian Herd-Boy.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Through the deep woods, at peep of day,</p> +<p class="line">The careless herd-boy wends his way,</p> +<p class="line">By piny ridge and forest stream,</p> +<p class="line">To summon home his roving team--</p> +<p class="line">Cobos! cobos! from distant dell</p> +<p class="line">Shy echo wafts the cattle-bell.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"A blithe reply he whistles back,</p> +<p class="line">And follows out the devious track,</p> +<p class="line">O'er fallen tree and mossy stone--</p> +<p class="line">A path to all, save him, unknown.</p> +<p class="line">Cobos! cobos! far down the dell</p> +<p class="line">More faintly falls the cattle-bell.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"See the dark swamp before him throws</p> +<p class="line">A tangled maze of cedar boughs;</p> +<p class="line">On all around deep silence broods,</p> +<p class="line">In nature's boundless solitudes.</p> +<p class="line">Cobos! cobos! the breezes swell,</p> +<p class="line">As nearer floats the cattle-bell.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"He sees them now--beneath yon trees</p> +<p class="line">His motley herd recline at ease;</p> +<p class="line">With lazy pace and sullen stare,</p> +<p class="line">They slowly leave their shady lair.</p> +<p class="line">Cobos! cobos!--far up the dell</p> +<p class="line">Quick jingling comes the cattle-bell!"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER XIV<br /> Toronto</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Fiction, however wild and fanciful,</p> +<p class="line">Is but the copy memory draws from truth.</p> +<p class="line">'Tis not in human genius to <i>create</i>:</p> +<p class="line">The mind is but a mirror that reflects</p> +<p class="line">Realities that are, or the dim shadows</p> +<p class="line">Left by the past upon its placid surface</p> +<p class="line">Recalled again to life."</p> +</div> + +<p>The glow of early day was brightening in the east, as the steamer +approached Toronto. We rounded the point of the interminable, flat, +swampy island, that stretches for several miles in front of the city, +and which is thinly covered with scrubby-looking trees. The land +lies so level with the water, that it has the appearance of being +half-submerged, and from a distance you only see the tops of the trees. +I have been informed that the name of Toronto has been derived from this +circumstance, which in Indian literally means, "<i>Trees in the water</i>."</p> + +<p>If the island rather takes from, than adds to, the beauty of the place, +it is not without great practical advantages, as to it the city is +mainly indebted for its sheltered and very commodious harbour.</p> + +<p>After entering the harbour, Toronto presents a long line of frontage, +covered with handsome buildings, to the eye. A grey mist still hovered +over its many domes and spires; but the new University and the Lunatic +Asylum stood out in bold relief, as they caught the broad red gleam of +the coming day.</p> + +<p>It was my first visit to the metropolitan city of the upper province, +and with no small degree of interest I examined its general aspect as we +approached the wharf. It does not present such an imposing appearance +from the water as Kingston, but it strikes you instantly as a place of +far greater magnitude and importance. There is a fresh, growing, healthy +vitality about this place, that cannot fail to impress a stranger very +forcibly the first time he enters it. He feels instinctively that he +sees before him the strong throbbing heart of this gigantic young +country, and that every powerful vibration from this ever increasing +centre of wealth and civilisation, infuses life and vigour through the +whole length and breadth of the province.</p> + +<p>Toronto exceeded the most sanguine expectations that I had formed of it +at a distance, and enabled me to realize distinctly the rising greatness +and rapid improvement of the colony. It is only here that you can form +any just estimate of what she now is, and what at no very distant period +she must be.</p> + +<p>The country, for some miles round the city, appears to the eye as flat +as a floor; the rise, though very gradual, is, I am told, considerable; +and the land is sufficiently elevated above the lake to escape the +disagreeable character of being low and swampy. Anything in the shape of +a slope or hill is not distinguishable in the present area on which +Toronto is built; but the streets are wide and clean, and contain many +handsome public buildings; and the beautiful trees which everywhere +abound in the neat, well-kept gardens, that surround the dwellings of +the wealthier inhabitants, with the broad, bright, blue inland sea +that forms the foreground to the picture, give to it such a lively and +agreeable character, that it takes from it all appearance of tameness +and monotony.</p> + +<p>The wharfs, with which our first practical acquaintance with the city +commenced, are very narrow and incommodious. They are built on piles +of wood, running out to some distance in the water, and covered with +rotten, black-looking boards. As far as comfort and convenience go, they +are far inferior to those of Cobourg and Kingston, or even to those of +our own dear little "<i>City of the Bay</i>," as Belleville has not inaptly +been christened by the strange madcap, calling himself the "<i>Great Orator +of the West</i>."</p> + +<p>It is devoutly to be hoped that a few years will sweep all these decayed +old wharfs into the Ontario, and that more substantial ones, built of +stone, will be erected in their place. Rome, however, was not built +in a day; and the magic growth of this city of the West is almost as +miraculous as that of Jonah's celebrated gourd.</p> + +<p>The steamboat had scarcely been secured to her wharf before we were +surrounded by a host of cabmen, who rushed on board, fighting and +squabbling with each other, in order to secure the first chance of +passengers and their luggage. The hubbub in front of the ladies' cabin +grew to a perfect uproar; and, as most of the gentlemen were still +in the arms of Morpheus, these noisy Mercuries had it all their own +way--swearing and shouting at the top of their voices, in a manner +that rivalled civilized Europe. I was perfectly astonished at their +volubility, and the pertinacity of their attentions, which were +poured forth in the true Milesian fashion--an odd mixture of blarney, +self-interest, and audacity. At Kingston these gentry are far more +civil and less importunate, and we witnessed none of this disgraceful +annoyance at any other port on the lake. One of these Paddies, in his +hurry to secure the persons and luggage of several ladies, who had been +my fellow-passengers in the cabin, nearly backed his crazy old vehicle +over the unguarded wooden wharf into the lake.</p> + +<p>We got safely stowed at last into one of these machines, which, +internally, are not destitute of either comfort or convenience; and +driving through some of the principal avenues of the city, were safely +deposited at the door of a dear friend, who had come on board to conduct +us to his hospitable home; and here I found the rest and quiet so much +needed by an invalid after a long and fatiguing journey.</p> + +<p>It was some days before I was sufficiently recovered to visit any of +the lions of the place. With a minute description of these I shall +not trouble my readers. My book is written more with a view to convey +general impressions, than to delineate separate features,--to while away +the languid heat of a summer day, or the dreary dulness of a wet one. +The intending emigrant, who is anxious for commercial calculations and +statistical details, will find all that he can require on this head in +"Scobie's Almanack," and Smith's "Past, Present, and Future of +Canada,"--works written expressly for that purpose.</p> + +<p>Women make good use of their eyes and ears, and paint scenes that amuse +or strike their fancy with tolerable accuracy; but it requires the +strong-thinking heart of man to anticipate events, and trace certain +results from particular causes. Women are out of their element when they +attempt to speculate upon these abstruse matters--are apt to incline too +strongly to their own opinions--and jump at conclusions which are either +false or unsatisfactory.</p> + +<p>My first visit was to King-street, which may be considered as the +Regent-street of Toronto. It is the great central avenue of commerce, +and contains many fine buildings, and handsome capacious stores, while +a number of new ones are in a state of progress. This fine, broad, airy +thoroughfare, would be an ornament to any town or city, and the bustle +and traffic through it give to strangers a tolerably just idea of the +wealth and industry of the community. All the streets terminate at the +water's edge, but Front-street, which runs parallel with it, and may be +termed the "west end" of Toronto; for most of the wealthy residents have +handsome houses and gardens in this street, which is open through the +whole length of it to the lake. The rail-road is upon the edge of the +water along this natural terrace. The situation is uncommonly lively, +as it commands a fine view of the harbour, and vessels and steamboats +are passing to and fro continually.</p> + +<p>The St. Lawrence market, which is near the bottom of King-street, is +a handsome, commodious building, and capitally supplied with all the +creature-comforts--fish, flesh, and fowl--besides abundance of excellent +fruits and vegetables, which can be procured at very reasonable prices. +The town-hall is over the market-place, and I am told--for I did not +visit it--that it is a noble room, capable of accommodating a large +number of people with ease and comfort.</p> + +<p>Toronto is very rich in handsome churches, which form one of its chief +attractions. I was greatly struck with the elegant spire of Knox's +church, which is perhaps the most graceful in the city. The body of the +church, however, seems rather too short, and out of proportion, for the +tall slender tower, which would have appeared to much greater advantage +attached to a building double the length.</p> + +<p>Nothing attracted my attention, or interested me more, than the +handsome, well-supplied book stores. Those of Armour, Scobie, and +Maclean, are equal to many in London in appearance, and far superior to +those that were to be found in Norwich and Ipswich thirty years ago.</p> + +<p>This speaks well for the mental improvement of Canada, and is a proof +that people have more leisure for acquiring book lore, and more money +for the purchase of books, than they had some years ago. The piracies +of the Americans have realized the old proverb, "That 'tis an ill wind +that blows nobody any good." Incalculable are the benefits that Canada +derives from her cheap reprints of all the European standard works, +which, on good paper and in handsome bindings, can be bought at a +quarter the price of the English editions. This circumstance must always +make the Canadas a bad market for English publications. Most of these, +it is true, can be procured by wealthy individuals at the book stores +mentioned above, but the American reprints of the same works abound a +hundred-fold.</p> + +<p>Novels form the most attractive species of reading here for the young; +and the best of these, in pamphlet form, may be procured for from +twenty-five to fifty cents. And here I must claim the privilege of +speaking a few words in defence of both novel readers and novel writers, +in spite of the horror which I fancy I see depicted on many a grave +countenance.</p> + +<p>There are many good and conscientious persons who regard novels and +novel writers with devout horror, who condemn their works, however +moral in their tendency, as unfit for the perusal of responsible and +intelligent creatures, who will not admit into their libraries any books +but such as treat of religious, historical, or scientific subjects, +imagining, and we think very erroneously, that all works of fiction have +a demoralizing effect, and tend to weaken the judgment, and enervate the +mind.</p> + +<p>We will, however, allow that there is both truth and sound sense in some +of these objections; that if a young person's reading is entirely +confined to this class of literature, and that of an inferior sort, a +great deal of harm may be the result, as many of these works are apt to +convey to them false and exaggerated pictures of life. Such a course of +reading would produce the same effect upon the mind as a constant diet +of sweetmeats would upon the stomach; it would destroy the digestion, +and induce a loathing for more wholesome food.</p> + +<p>Still, the mind requires recreation as well as the body, and cannot +always be engaged upon serious studies without injury to the brain, and +the disarrangement of some of the most important organs of the body. +Now, we think it could be satisfactorily proved, in spite of the stern +crusade perpetually waged against works of fiction by a large portion of +well-meaning people, that much good has been done in the world through +their instrumentality.</p> + +<p>Most novels and romances, particularly those of the modern school, are +founded upon real incidents, and, like the best heads in the artist's +picture, the characters are drawn from life; and the closer the drawing +or story approximates to nature, the more interesting and popular will +it become. Though a vast number of these works are daily pouring from +the British and American press, it is only those of a very high class +that are generally read, and become as familiar as household words. The +tastes of individuals differ widely on articles of dress, food, and +amusement; but there is a wonderful affinity in the minds of men, as +regards works of literature. A book that appeals strongly to the +passions, if true to nature, will strike nearly all alike, and obtain +a world-wide popularity, while the mere fiction sinks back into +obscurity--is once read and forgotten.</p> + +<p>The works of Smollett and Fielding were admirable pictures of society as +it existed in their day; but we live in a more refined age, and few +young people would feel any pleasure in the coarse pictures exhibited in +those once celebrated works. The novels of Richardson, recommended by +grave divines from the pulpit as perfect models of purity and virtue, +would now be cast aside with indifference and disgust. They were +considered quite the reverse in the age he wrote, and he was regarded as +one of the great reformers of the vices of his time. We may therefore +conclude, that, although repugnant to our taste and feelings, they were +the means of effecting much good in a gross and licentious age.</p> + +<p>In the writings of our great modern novelists, virtue is never debased, +nor vice exalted; but there is a constant endeavour to impress upon the +mind of the reader the true wisdom of the one, and the folly of the +other; and where the author fails to create an interest in the fate +of his hero or heroine, it is not because they are bad or immoral +characters, like Lovelace in Clarissa Harlowe, and Lord B--- in Pamela, +but that, like Sir Charles Grandison, they are too good for reality, +and their very faultlessness renders them, like the said Sir Charles, +affected and unnatural. Where high moral excellence is represented as +struggling with the faults and follies common to humanity, sometimes +yielding to temptation, and reaping the bitter fruits, and at other +times successfully resisting the allurements of vice, all our sympathies +are engaged in the contest; it becomes our own, and we follow the hero +through all his trials, weep over his fall, or triumph in his success.</p> + +<p>Children, who possess an unsophisticated judgment in these matters, +seldom feel much interest in the model boy of a moral story; not from +any innate depravity of mind, which leads them to prefer vice to virtue, +for no such preference can exist in the human breast,--no, not even in +the perverted hearts of the worst of men--but because the model boy is +like no other boy of their acquaintance. He does not resemble them, for +he is a piece of unnatural perfection. He neither fights, nor cries, nor +wishes to play when he ought to be busy with his lessons; he lectures +like a parson, and talks like a book. His face is never dirty; he +never tears his clothes, nor soils his hands with making dirt pies, or +puddling in the mud. His hair is always smooth, his face always wears +a smile, and he was never known to sulk, or say <i>I won't!</i> The boy is +a perfect stranger--they can't recognise his likeness, or follow his +example--and why? because both are unnatural caricatures.</p> + +<p>But be sure, that if the naughty boy of the said tale creates the most +interest for his fate in the mind of the youthful reader, it is simply +because he is drawn with more truthfulness than the character that +was intended for his counterpart. The language of passion is always +eloquent, and the bad boy is delineated true to his bad nature, and is +made to speak and act naturally, which never fails to awaken a touch of +sympathy in beings equally prone to err. I again repeat that few minds +(if any) exist than can find beauty in deformity, or aught to admire in +the hideousness of vice.</p> + +<p>There are many persons in the world who cannot bear to receive +instruction when conveyed to them in a serious form, who shrink with +loathing from the cant with which too many religious novels are loaded; +and who yet might be induced to listen to precepts of religion and +morality, when arrayed in a more amusing and attractive garb, and +enforced by characters who speak and feel like themselves, and share +in all things a common humanity.</p> + +<p>Some of our admirable modern works of fiction, or rather truths +disguised, in order to make them more palatable to the generality of +readers, have done more to ameliorate the sorrows of mankind, by drawing +the attention of the public to the wants and woes of the lower classes, +than all the charity sermons that have been delivered from the pulpit.</p> + +<p>Yes, the despised and reprobated novelist, by daring to unveil the +crimes and miseries of neglected and ignorant men, and to point out the +abuses which have produced, and are still producing, the same dreadful +results, are missionaries in the cause of humanity, the real friends and +benefactors of mankind.</p> + +<p>The selfish worldling may denounce as infamous and immoral, the +heart-rending pictures of human suffering and degradation that the +writings of Dickens and Sue have presented to their gaze, and declare +that they are unfit to meet the eyes of the virtuous and refined--that +no good can arise from the publication of such revolting details--and +that to be ignorant of the existence of such horrors is in itself a +species of virtue.</p> + +<p>Daughter of wealth, daintily nurtured, and nicely educated, <i>Is +blindness nature?</i> Does your superiority over these fallen creatures +spring from any innate principle in your own breast, which renders you +more worthy of the admiration and esteem of your fellow-creatures? Are +not you indebted to the circumstances in which you are placed, and to +that moral education, for every virtue that you possess?</p> + +<p>You can feel no pity for the murderer, the thief, the prostitute. Such +people may aptly be termed the wild beasts of society, and, like wild +beasts, should be hunted down and killed, in order to secure the +peace and comfort of the rest. Well, the law has been doing this for +many ages, and yet the wild beasts still exist and prey upon their +neighbours. And such will still continue to be the case until +Christianity, following the example of her blessed Founder, goes forth +into the wilderness of life on her errand of mercy, not to condemn, +but to seek and to save that which is lost.</p> + +<p>The conventional rules of society have formed a hedge about you, which +renders any flagrant breach of morality very difficult,--in some cases +almost impossible. From infancy the dread commandments have been +sounding in your ears,--"Thou shalt not kill! Thou shalt not steal! Thou +shalt not commit adultery!"--and the awful mandate has been strengthened +by the admonitions of pious parents and good ministers, all anxious for +your eternal welfare. You may well be honest; for all your wants have +been supplied, and you have yet to learn that where no temptation +exists, virtue itself becomes a negative quality. You do not covet the +goods which others possess. You have never looked down, with confusion +of face and heartfelt bitterness, on the dirty rags that scarcely +suffice to conceal the emaciation of your wasted limbs. You have never +felt hunger gnawing at your vitals, or shuddered at the cries of +famishing children, sobbing around your knees for bread. You have +dainties to satiety every day, and know nothing of the agonies of +sacrificing your virtue for the sake of a meal. If you are cold, you +have a good fire to warm you, a comfortable mansion to protect you from +the inclemency of the weather, and garments suitable to every season +of the year. How can you be expected to sympathize with the ragged, +houseless children of want and infamy!</p> + +<p>You cannot bear to have these sad realities presented to your notice. It +shocks your nerves. You cannot bring yourself to admit that these +outcasts of society are composed of the same clay; and you blame the +authors who have dared to run a tilt against your prejudices, and have +not only attested the unwelcome fact, but have pointed out the causes +which lead to the hopeless degradation and depravity of these miserable +fellow-creatures. You cannot read the works of these humane men, because +they bid you to step with them into these dirty abodes of guilt and +wretchedness, and see what crime really is, and all the horrors that +ignorance and poverty, and a want of self-respect, never fail to bring +about. You cannot enter into these abodes of your neglected and starving +brothers and sisters--these forlorn scions of a common stock--and +view their cold hearths and unfurnished tables, their beds of straw +and tattered garments, without defilement--or witness their days of +unremitting toil, and nights of unrest; and worse, far worse, to behold +the evil passions and crimes which spring from a state of ignorance, +producing a moral darkness that can be felt.</p> + +<p>You are insulted and offended at being seen in such bad company; and +cannot for a moment, imagine that a change in your relative positions +might have rendered you no wiser or better than them. But, let me ask +you candidly, has not the terrible scene produced some effect? Can you +forget its existence,--its shocking reality? The lesson it teaches may +be distasteful, but you cannot shake off a knowledge of its melancholy +facts. The voice of conscience speaks audibly to your heart; that still +small voice--that awful record of himself that God has placed in +every breast (and woe be to you, or any one, when it ceases to be +heard!)--tells you that you cannot, without violating the divine +mandate, "<i>love thy neighbour as thyself</i>," leave these miserable +creatures to languish and die, without making one effort to aid in +rescuing them from their melancholy fate.</p> + +<p>"But what can I do?" I hear you indignantly exclaim.</p> + +<p>Much; oh, how much! You have wealth, a small part of which cannot be +better bestowed than in educating these poor creatures; in teaching them +to recognise those divine laws which they have broken; in leading them +step by step into those paths of piety and peace they have never known. +Ignorance has been the most powerful agent in corrupting these perishing +criminals. Give them healthful employment, the means of emigrating to +countries where labour is amply remunerated, and will secure for them +comfort, independence, and self-respect. In Canada, these victims of +over-population prove beneficial members of society, while with you they +are regarded as a blight and a curse.</p> + +<p>Numbers of this class are yearly cast upon these shores, yet the crimes +which are commonly committed by their instrumentality in Britain, very +rarely occur with us. We could not sleep with unfastened doors and +windows near populous towns, if the change in their condition did not +bring about a greater moral change in the character of these poor +emigrants.</p> + +<p>They readily gain employment; their toils are amply remunerated; and +they cease to commit crime to procure a precarious existence. In the +very worst of these people some good exists. A few seeds remain of +divine planting, which, if fostered and judiciously trained, might yet +bear fruit for heaven.</p> + +<p>The authors, whose works you call disgusting and immoral, point out +this, and afford you the most pathetic illustrations of its truth. You +need not fear contamination from the vices which they portray. Their +depravity is of too black a hue to have the least attraction, even to +beings only removed a few degrees from the same guilt. Vice may have +her admirers when she glitters in gold and scarlet; but when exposed in +filth and nakedness, her most reckless devotees shrink back from her in +disgust and horror. Vice, without her mask, is a spectacle too appalling +for humanity; it exhibits the hideousness, and breathes of the +corruption of hell.</p> + +<p>If these reprobated works of fiction can startle the rich into a painful +consciousness of the wants and agonies of the poor, and make them, in +spite of all the conventional laws of society, acknowledge their kindred +humanity, who shall say that their books have been written in vain?</p> + +<p>For my own part, I look upon these authors as heaven-inspired teachers, +who have been commissioned by the great Father of souls to proclaim +to the world the wrongs and sufferings of millions of his creatures; +to plead their cause with unflinching integrity, and, with almost +superhuman eloquence, demand for them the justice which the world has so +long denied. These men are the benefactors of their species, to whom the +whole human race owe a vast debt of gratitude.</p> + +<p>Since the publication of Oliver Twist, and many other works of the same +class, inquiries have been made by thinking and benevolent individuals +into the condition of the destitute poor in great cities and +manufacturing districts. These works brought to light deeds of darkness, +and scenes of oppression and cruelty, scarcely to be credited in modern +times and in Christian communities. The attention of the public was +directed towards this miserable class of beings, and its best sympathies +enlisted in their behalf. It was called upon to assist in the liberation +of these white slaves, chained to the oar for life in the galleys of +wealth, and to recognize them as men and brethren.</p> + +<p>Then sprang up the ragged schools,--the institutions for reclaiming the +youthful vagrants of London, and teaching the idle and profligate the +sublime morality of sobriety and industry.</p> + +<p>Persons who were unable to contribute money to these truly noble objects +of charity, were ready to assist in the capacity of Sunday-school +teachers, and add their mite in the great work of moral reform. In +over-peopled countries like England and France, the evils arising out of +extreme poverty could not be easily remedied; yet the help thus afforded +by the rich, contributed greatly in ameliorating the distress of +thousands of the poorer classes. To the same source we may trace the +mitigation of many severe laws. The punishment of death is no longer +enforced, but in cases of great depravity. Mercy has stepped in, and +wiped the blood from the sword of justice.</p> + +<p>Hood's "Song of the Shirt" produced an almost electric effect upon the +public mind. It was a bold, truthful appeal to the best feelings of +humanity, and it found a response in every feeling heart. It laid bare +the distress of a most deserving and oppressed portion of the female +operatives of London; and the good it did is at this moment in active +operation. Witness the hundreds of work-women landed within the last +twelve months on these shores, who immediately found liberal employment.</p> + +<p>God's blessing upon thee, Thomas Hood! The effect produced by that work +of divine charity of thine, will be felt long after thou and thy +heart-searching appeal have vanished into the oblivion of the past. But +what matters it to thee if the song is forgotten by coming generations? +It performed its mission of mercy on earth, and has opened for thee the +gates of heaven.</p> + +<p>Such a work of fiction as "The Caxtons" refreshes and invigorates the +mind by its perusal; and virtue becomes beautiful for its own sake. You +love the gentle humanity of the single-hearted philosopher, the charming +simplicity of his loving helpmate, and scarcely know which to admire +the most--Catherine in her conjugal or maternal character--the noble +but mistaken pride of the fine old veteran Roland, the real hero of the +tale--or the excellent young man, his nephew, who reclaims the fallen +son, and is not too perfect to be unnatural. As many fine moral lessons +can be learned from this novel, as from most works written expressly for +the instruction and improvement of mankind; and they lose nothing by the +beautiful and attractive garb in which they are presented to the reader.</p> + +<p>Our blessed Lord himself did not disdain the usc of allegory, which is +truth conveyed to the hearer under a symbolical form. His admirable +parables, each of which told a little history, were the most popular +methods that could be adopted to instruct the lower classes, who, +chiefly uneducated, require the illustration of a subject in order to +understand it.</p> + +<p>Aesop, in his inimitable fables, pourtrayed through his animals the +various passions and vices of men, admirably adapting them to the +characters he meant to satirize, and the abuses he endeavoured through +this medium to reform. These beautiful fictions have done much to throw +disgrace upon roguery, selfishness, cruelty, avarice and injustice, +and to exalt patience, fidelity, mercy, and generosity, even among +Christians who were blessed with a higher moral code than that enjoyed +by the wise pagan; and they will continue to be read and admired as long +as the art of printing exists to render them immortal.</p> + +<p>Every good work of fiction is a step towards the mental improvement of +mankind, and to every such writer, we say God speed!</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>The Earthquake.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Hark! heard ye not a sound?"</p> +<p class="line-in4">"Aye, 'tis the sullen roar</p> +<p class="line-in4">Of billows breaking on the shore."</p> +<p class="line">"Hush!--'tis beneath the ground,</p> +<p class="line-in4">That hollow rending shock,</p> +<p class="line-in4">Makes the tall mountains rock,--</p> +<p class="line">The solid earth doth like a drunkard reel;</p> +<p class="line-in4">Pale nature holds her breath,</p> +<p class="line-in4">Her tribes are mute as death.</p> +<p class="line">In silent dread the coming doom they feel."</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Ah, God have mercy!--hark! those dismal cries--</p> +<p class="line-in4">Man knows his danger now,</p> +<p class="line-in4">And veils in dust his brow.</p> +<p class="line">Beneath, the yawning earth--above, the lurid skies!</p> +<p class="line-in2">Mortal, behold the toil and boast of years</p> +<p class="line-in4">In one brief moment to oblivion hurled.</p> +<p class="line-in4">So shall it be, when this vain guilty world</p> +<p class="line-in2">Of woe, and sad necessity and tears,</p> +<p class="line">Sinks at the awful mandate of its Lord,</p> +<p class="line">As erst it rose to being at his word."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER XV<br /> Lunatic Asylum</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line-in16">"Alas! poor maniac;</p> +<p class="line">For thee no hope can dawn--no tender tie</p> +<p class="line">Wake in thy blighted heart a thrill of joy;</p> +<p class="line">The immortal mind is levelled with the dust,</p> +<p class="line">Ere the tenacious chords of life give way!"</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>Our next visit was to the Lunatic Asylum. The building is of white +brick,--a material not very common in Canada, but used largely in +Toronto, where stone has to be brought from a considerable distance, +there being no quarries in the neighbourhood. Brick has not the +substantial, august appearance that stone gives to a large building, +and it is more liable to injury from the severe frosts of winter in +this climate, The asylum is a spacious edifice, surrounded by extensive +grounds for the cultivation of fruits and vegetables. These are +principally worked by the male patients, who are in a state of +convalescence, while it affords them ample room for air and exercise.</p> + +<p>A large gang of these unfortunates were taking their daily promenade, +when our cab stopped at the entrance gate. They gazed upon us with an +eager air of childish curiosity, as we alighted from our conveyance, and +entered the building.</p> + +<p>We were received very politely by one of the gentlemen belonging to the +establishment, who proceeded to show us over the place.</p> + +<p>Ascending a broad flight of steps, as clean as it was possible for human +hands to make them, we came to a long wide gallery, separated at either +end by large folding-doors, the upper part of which were of glass; those +to the right opening into the ward set apart for male patients, who were +so far harmless that they were allowed the free use of their limbs, +and could be spoken to without any danger to the visitors. The female +lunatics inhabited the ward to the left, and to these we first directed +our attention.</p> + +<p>The long hall into which their work-rooms and sleeping apartments opened +was lofty, well lighted, well aired, and exquisitely clean; so were the +persons of the women, who were walking to and fro, laughing and chatting +very sociably together. Others were sewing and quilting in rooms set +apart for that purpose. There was no appearance of wretchedness or +misery in this ward; nothing that associated with it the terrible idea +of madness I had been wont to entertain--for these poor creatures looked +healthy and cheerful, nay, almost happy, as if they had given the world +and all its cares the go-by. There was one thin, eccentric looking woman +in middle life, who came forward to receive us with an air of great +dignity; she gave us her hand in a most condescending manner, and smiled +most graciously when the gentleman who was with us inquired after her +<i>majesty's</i> health. She fancies herself Victoria, and in order to humour +her conceit, she is allowed to wear a cap of many colours, with tinsel +ornaments. This person, who is from the lowest class, certainly enjoys +her imaginary dignity in a much greater degree than any crowned monarch, +and is perhaps far prouder of her fool's cap than our gracious sovereign +is of her imperial diadem.</p> + +<p>The madwomen round her appeared to consider her assumption of royalty as +a very good joke, for the homage they rendered her was quizzical in the +extreme.</p> + +<p>There are times when these people seem to have a vague consciousness of +their situation; when gleams of sense break in upon them, and whisper +the awful truth to their minds. Such moments must form the drops of +bitterness in the poisoned cup of life, which a mysterious Providence +has presented to their lips. While I was looking sadly from face to +face, as these benighted creatures flitted round me, a tall stout woman +exclaimed in a loud voice--</p> + +<p>"That's Mrs. M---, of Belleville! God bless her! Many a good quarter +dollar I've got from her;" and, running up to me, she flung her arms +about my neck, and kissed me most vehemently.</p> + +<p>I did not at first recognise her; and, though I submitted with a good +grace to the mad hug she gave me, I am afraid that I trembled not a +little in her grasp. She was the wife of a cooper, who lived opposite to +us during the first two years we resided in Belleville; and I used to +buy from her all the milk I needed for the children.</p> + +<p>She was always a strange eccentric creature when sane--if, indeed, she +ever had enjoyed the right use of her senses; and, in spite of the +joy she manifested at the unexpected sight of me, I remember her once +threatening to break my head with an old hoop, when I endeavoured to +save her little girl from a frightful flagellation from the same +instrument.</p> + +<p>I had stepped across the street to her husband's workshop, to order a +new meat barrel. I found him putting a barrel together, assisted by a +fine little girl of ten years of age, who embraced the staves with her +thin supple arms, while the father slipped one of the hoops over them +in order to secure them in their place. It was a pretty picture; the +smiling rosy face of the girl looking down upon her father, as he +stooped over the barrel adjusting the hoop, his white curling hair +falling over her slender arms. Just then the door was flung open, and +Mrs. --- rushed in like a fury.</p> + +<p>"Katrine, where are you?"</p> + +<p>"Here, mother," said the child, very quietly.</p> + +<p>How dar'd you to leave the cradle widout my lave?"</p> + +<p>"Father called me," and the child turned pale, and began to tremble. +"I came for a moment to help him."</p> + +<p>"You little wretch!" cried the unjust woman, seizing the child by the +arm. "I'll teach you to mind him more nor you mind me. Take that, and +<i>that</i>."</p> + +<p>Here followed an awful oath, and such a blow upon the bare neck of the +unhappy child, that she left her hold of the barrel, and fairly shrieked +with pain.</p> + +<p>"Let the girl alone, Mary; it was my fault," said the husband.</p> + +<p>"Yes, it always is your fault! but she shall pay for it;" and, taking up +a broken hoop, she began to beat the child furiously.</p> + +<p>My woman's heart could stand it no longer. I ran forward, and threw my +arms round the child.</p> + +<p>"Get out wid you!" she cried; "what business is it of yours? I'll break +your head if you are not off out of this."</p> + +<p>"I'm not afraid of you, Mrs. ---; but I would not see you use a dog in +that manner, much less a child, who has done nothing to deserve such +treatment."</p> + +<p>"Curse you all!" said the human fiend, flinging down her ugly weapon, +and scowling upon us with her gloomy eyes. "I wish you were all in ---."</p> + +<p>A place far too warm for this hot season of the year, I thought, as I +walked sorrowfully home. Bad as I then considered her, I have now +no doubt that it was the incipient workings of her direful malady, +which certainly comes nearest to any idea we can form of demoniacal +possession. She is at present an incurable but harmless maniac; and, in +spite of the instance of cruelty that I have just related towards her +little girl, now, during the dark period of her mind's eclipse, gleams +of maternal love struggled like glimpses of sunshine through a stormy +cloud, and she inquired of me earnestly, pathetically, nay, even +tenderly, for her children. Alas, poor maniac! How could I tell her that +the girl she had chastised so undeservedly had died in early womanhood, +and her son, a fine young man of twenty, had committed suicide, and +flung himself off the bridge into the Moira river only a few months +before. Her insanity saved her from the knowledge of events, which might +have distracted a firmer brain. She seemed hardly satisfied with my +evasive answers, and looked doubtingly and cunningly at me, as if some +demon had whispered to her the awful truth.</p> + +<p>It was singular that this woman should recognise me after so many years. +Altered as my appearance was by time and sickness, my dearest friends +would hardly have known me,--yet she knew me at a single glance. What +was still more extraordinary, she remembered my daughter, now a wife and +mother, whom she had not seen since she was a little girl.</p> + +<p>What a wonderful faculty is memory!--the most mysterious and +inexplicable in the great riddle of life; that plastic tablet on which +the Almighty registers with unerring fidelity the records of being, +making it the depository of all our words, thoughts, and deeds--this +faithful witness against us for good or evil; at the great assize that +hereafter must determine our eternal fate, when conscience, at his dread +command, shall open up this book of life! "Keep thy heart, my son, for +out of it are the issues of life." Be sure that memory guards well that +secret treasure. All that the heart ever felt, the mind ever thought, +the restless spirit ever willed, is there.</p> + +<p>Another woman--wild, dark, and fierce-looking, with her hands in +mufflers--flitted after us from room to room, her black, flashing eyes +fixed intently on my daughter. "Yes, it is my own Mary! but she won't +speak to me."</p> + +<p>The gentleman in attendance begged us to take no notice of this person, +as she was apt to be very violent.</p> + +<p>Another stout, fair-haired matron, with good features and a very +pleasant face, insisted on shaking hands with us all round. Judging +from her round, sonsy, rosy face, you never could have imagined her to +have been mad. When we spoke in admiration of the extreme neatness and +cleanness of the large sleeping apartment, she said very quietly--</p> + +<p>"Ah, you would not wonder at that could you see all the water-witches at +night cleaning it." Then she turned to me, and whispered very +confidentially in my ear, "Are you mad? You see these people; they are +all mad--as mad as March hares. Don't come here if you can help it. It's +all very well at first, and it looks very clean and comfortable; but +when the doors are once shut, you can't get out--no, not if you ask it +upon your knees." She then retreated, nodding significantly.</p> + +<p>Leaving this ward, we visited the one which contained the male lunatics. +They appeared far more gloomy and reserved than the women we had left. +One young man, who used to travel the country with jewellery, and who +had often been at our house, recognised us in a moment; but he did not +come forward like Mrs. --- to greet us, but ran into a corner, and, +turning to the wall, covered his face with his hands until we had passed +on. Here was at least a consciousness of his unfortunate situation, that +was very painful to witness. A gentlemanly man in the prime of life, +who had once practised the law in Toronto, and was a person of some +consequence, still retained the dress and manners belonging to his +class. He had gone to the same school with my son-in-law, and he greeted +him in the most hearty and affectionate manner, throwing his arm about +his shoulder, and talking of his affairs in the most confidential +manner. His mental aberration was only displayed in a few harmless +remarks, such as telling us that this large house was his, that it had +been built with his money, and that it was very hard he was kept a +prisoner in his own dwelling; that he was worth millions; and that +people were trying to cheat him of all his money, but that if once he +could get out, he would punish them all. He then directed my son-in-law +to bring up some law books that he named, on the morrow, and he would +give him a dozen suits against the parties from whom he had received so +many injuries.</p> + +<p>In the balcony, at the far end of the gallery, we found a group of men +walking to and fro for the sake of air, or lounging listlessly on +benches, gazing, with vacant eyes, upon the fine prospect of wood and +water dressed in the gorgeous hues of an autumnal sunset. One very +intelligent-looking man, with a magnificent head, was busy writing upon +a dirty piece of paper with a pencil, his table furnished by his knee, +and his desk the cover of his closed but well worn Bible. He rose as we +drew near him, and bowing politely, gave us a couple of poems which he +drew from his waistcoat pocket.</p> + +<p>"These were written some time ago," he said; "One of them is much better +than the other. There are some fine lines in that ode to Niagara--I +composed them on the spot."</p> + +<p>On my observing the signature of <i>Delta</i> affixed to these +productions, he smiled, and said, with much complacency, "My name is +<i>David Moir</i>." This, upon inquiry, we found was really the case, +and the mad poet considered that the coincidence gave him a right to +enjoy the world-wide fame of his celebrated namesake. The poems which he +gave us, and which are still in my possession, contain some lines of +great merit; but they are strangely unconnected, and very defective in +rhyme and keeping. He watched our countenances intently while reading +them, continually stepping in, and pointing out to us his favourite +passages. We were going to return them, but he bade us keep them. "He +had hundreds of copies of them," he said, "in his head." He then took +us on one side, and intreated us in the most pathetic manner to use +our influence to get him out of that place. "He was," he said, "a good +classic scholar, and had been private tutor in several families of high +respectability, and he could shew us testimonials as to character and +ability. It is hard to keep me here idling," he continued, "when my poor +little boys want me so badly at home; poor fellows! and they have no +mother to supply my place." He sighed heavily, and drew his hand across +his brow, and looked sadly and dreamily into the blue distance of +Ontario. The madman's thoughts were far away with his young sons, +or, perhaps, had ranged back to the rugged heathery hills of his own +glorious mountain land!</p> + +<p>There were two boys among these men who, in spite of their lunacy, had +an eye to business, and begged pathetically for coppers, though of what +use they could be to them in that place I cannot imagine. I saw no girls +under twelve years of age. There were several boys who appeared scarcely +in their teens.</p> + +<p>Mounting another flight of snowy stairs, we came to the wards above +those we had just inspected. These were occupied by patients that were +not in a state to allow visitors a nearer inspection than observing +them through the glass doors. By standing upon a short flight of broad +steps that led down to their ward, we were able to do this with perfect +security. The hands of all these women were secured in mufflers; some +were dancing, others running to and fro at full speed, clapping their +hands, and laughing and shouting with the most boisterous merriment. How +dreadful is the laugh of madness! how sorrowful the expressions of their +diabolical mirth! tears and lamentations would have been less shocking, +for it would have seemed more natural.</p> + +<p>Among these raving maniacs I recognised the singular face of Grace +Marks--no longer sad and despairing, but lighted up with the fire of +insanity, and glowing with a hideous and fiend-like merriment. On +perceiving that strangers were observing her, she fled shrieking away +like a phantom into one of the side rooms. It appears that even in the +wildest bursts of her terrible malady, she is continually haunted by +a memory of the past. Unhappy girl! when will the long horror of her +punishment and remorse be over? When will she sit at the feet of Jesus, +clothed with the unsullied garments of his righteousness, the stain of +blood washed from her hand, and her soul redeemed, and pardoned, and in +her right mind? It is fearful to look at her, and contemplate her fate +in connexion with her crime. What a striking illustration does it afford +of that awful text, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord!"</p> + +<p>There was one woman in this ward, with raven hair and eyes, and a +sallow, unhealthy complexion, whom the sight of us transported into a +paroxysm of ungovernable rage. She rushed to the door, and doubled her +fists at us, and began cursing and swearing at a furious rate, and then +she laughed--such a laugh as one might fancy Satan uttered when he +recounted, in full conclave, his triumph over the credulity of our first +mother. Presently she grew outrageous, and had to be thrown to the +ground, and secured by two keepers; but to silence her was beyond their +art. She lay kicking and foaming, and uttering words too dreadful for +human ears to listen to; and Grace Marks came out from her hiding-place, +and performed a thousand mad gambols round her: and we turned from the +piteous scene,--and I, for one, fervently thanked God for my sanity, and +inwardly repeated those exquisite lines of the peasant bard of my native +county:</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Oh, Thou, who bidd'st the vernal juices rise,</p> +<p class="line">Thou on whose blast autumnal foliage flies;</p> +<p class="line">Let peace ne'er leave me, nor my heart grow cold,</p> +<p class="line">Whilst life and sanity are mine to hold."</p> +</div> + +<p>We cast but a cursory glance on the men who occupied the opposite ward. +We had seen enough of madness, and the shrieks from the outrageous +patients above, whom strangers have seldom nerve enough to visit, +quickened our steps as we hurried from the place.</p> + +<p>We looked into the large ball-room before we descended the stairs, where +these poor creatures are allowed at stated times to meet for pleasure +and amusement. But such a spectacle would be to me more revolting than +the scene I had just witnessed; the delirium of their frightful disease +would be less shocking in my eyes than the madness of their mirth. The +struggling gleams of sense and memory in these unhappy people reminded +me a beautiful passage in "Tupper's Proverbial Philosophy":</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"On all things created remaineth the half-effaced signature of God;</p> +<p class="line">Somewhat of fair and good, though blotted by the finger of corruption."</p> +</div> + +<p>What a sublime truth! How beautifully and forcibly expressed! With what +a mournful dignity it invests our fallen nature! Sin has marred the +Divine image in which we were made, but the soul in its intense longing +after God and good bears, in its sorrowful servitude to evil, the +impress of the hand that formed it happy and free. Yes, even in the most +abject and fallen, some slight trace of good remains--some spark of the +Divine essence that still lingers amid the darkness and corruption of +guilt, to rekindle the dying embers, and restore them once more to life +and liberty. The madman raving in his chains still remembers his God, to +bless or blaspheme his name. We are astonished at his ecstatic dream of +happiness, or shocked beyond measure at the blackness of his despair. +His superhuman strength fills us with wonder; and, even in the +extinction of reason, we acknowledge the eternal presence of God, and +perceive flashes of his Spirit breaking through the dark material cloud +that shades, but cannot wholly annihilate the light of the soul, the +immortality within.</p> + +<p>The poor, senseless idiot, who appears to moral eyes a mere living +machine, a body without a soul, sitting among the grass, and playing +with the flowers and pebbles in the vacancy of his mind, is still a +wonderful illustration of the wisdom and power of God. We behold a human +being inferior in instinct and intelligence of the meanest orders +of animal life, dependent upon the common charities of his kind for +subsistence, yet conscious of the friend who pities his helplessness, +and of the hand that administers to his wants. The Spirit of his Maker +shall yet breathe upon the dull chaos of his stagnant brain, and open +the eyes of this blind of soul into the light of his own eternal day! +What a lesson to the pride of man--to the vain dwellers in houses of +clay!</p> + +<p>Returning from the asylum, we stopped to examine Trinity College, which +is on the opposite side of the road. The architect, K. Tully, Esq., has +shown considerable taste and genius in the design of this edifice, +which, like the asylum, is built of white brick, the corners, doors, and +windows faced with cut stone. It stands back from the road in a fine +park-like lawn, surrounded by stately trees of nature's own planting. +When the college is completed, it will be one of the finest public +buildings in the province, and form one of the noblest ornaments to this +part of the city.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>The Maniac.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The wind at my casement scream'd shrilly and loud,</p> +<p class="line">And the pale moon look'd in from her mantle of cloud;</p> +<p class="line">Old ocean was tossing in terrible might,</p> +<p class="line">And the black rolling billows were crested with light.</p> +<p class="line">Like a shadowy dream on my senses that hour,</p> +<p class="line">Stole the beautiful vision of grandeur and power;</p> +<p class="line">And the sorrows of life that brought tears to mine eye,</p> +<p class="line">Were forgot in the glories of ocean and sky.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"'Oh nature!' I cried, 'in thy beautiful face</p> +<p class="line">All the wisdom and love of thy Maker I trace;</p> +<p class="line">Thy aspect divine checks my tears as they start,</p> +<p class="line">And fond hopes long banish'd flow back to my heart!'</p> +<p class="line">Thus musing, I wander'd alone to the shore,</p> +<p class="line">To gaze on the waters, and list to their roar,</p> +<p class="line">When I saw a poor lost one bend over the steep</p> +<p class="line">Of the tall beetling cliff that juts out o'er the deep.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The wind wav'd her garments, and April's rash showers</p> +<p class="line">Hung like gems in her dark locks, enwreath'd with wild flowers;</p> +<p class="line">Her bosom was bared to the cold midnight storm,</p> +<p class="line">That unsparingly beat on her thin fragile form;</p> +<p class="line">Her black eyes flash'd sternly whence reason had fled,</p> +<p class="line">And she glanc'd on my sight like some ghost of the dead,</p> +<p class="line">As she sang a loud strain to the hoarse dashing surge,</p> +<p class="line">That rang on my ears like the plaint of a dirge.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"And he who had left her to madness and shame,</p> +<p class="line">Who had robb'd her of honour, and blasted her fame--</p> +<p class="line">Did he think in that hour of the heart he had riven,</p> +<p class="line">The vows he had broken, the anguish he'd given?--</p> +<p class="line">And where was the infant whose birth gave the blow</p> +<p class="line">To the peace of his mother, and madden'd her woe?</p> +<p class="line">A thought rush'd across me--I ask'd for her child,--</p> +<p class="line">With a wild laugh of triumph the maniac replied--</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"'Where the dark tide runs strongest, the cliff rises steep,</p> +<p class="line">Where the wild waters eddy, I've rock'd him to sleep:</p> +<p class="line">His sleep is so sound that the rush of the stream,</p> +<p class="line">When the winds are abroad, cannot waken his dream.</p> +<p class="line">And see you that rock, with its surf-beaten side,</p> +<p class="line">There the blood of my false love runs red with the tide;</p> +<p class="line">The sea-mew screams shrilly, the white breakers rave--</p> +<p class="line">In the foam of the billow I'll dance o'er his grave!'</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"'Mid the roar of the tempest, the wind's hollow moan,</p> +<p class="line">There rose on my chill'd ear a faint dying groan;</p> +<p class="line">The billows raged on, the moon smiled on the flood,</p> +<p class="line">But vacant the spot where the maniac had stood.</p> +<p class="line">I turn'd from the scene--on my spirit there fell</p> +<p class="line">A question that sadden'd my heart like a knell;</p> +<p class="line">I look'd up to heav'n, but I breath'd not a word,</p> +<p class="line">For the answer was given--'Trust thou in the Lord!'"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER XVI<br /> Provincial Agricultural Show</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"A happy scene of rural mirth,</p> +<p class="line">Drawn from the teeming lap of earth,</p> +<p class="line">In which a nation's promise lies.</p> +<p class="line">Honour to him who wins a prize!--</p> +<p class="line">A trophy won by honest toil,</p> +<p class="line">Far nobler than the victor's spoil."</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>Toronto was all bustle and excitement, preparing for the Provincial +Agricultural Show; no other subject was thought of or talked about. The +ladies, too, taking advantage of the great influx of strangers to the +city, were to hold a bazaar for the benefit of St. George's Church; the +sum which they hoped to realise by the sale of their fancy wares to be +appropriated to paying off the remaining debt contracted for the said +saint, in erecting this handsome edifice dedicated to his name--let +us hope not to his service. Yet the idea of erecting a temple for the +worship of God, and calling it the church of a saint of <i>very doubtful +sanctity</i>, is one of those laughable absurdities that we would gladly see +banished in this enlightened age. Truly, there are many things in which +our wisdom does not exceed the wisdom of our forefathers. The weather +during the two first days of the exhibition was very unpropitious; a +succession of drenching thunder showers, succeeded by warm bursts of +sunshine, promising better things, and giving rise to hopes in the +expectant visitants to the show, which were as often doomed to be +disappointed by returns of blackness, storm, and pouring rain.</p> + +<p>I was very anxious to hear the opening address, and I must confess that +I was among those who felt this annihilation of hope very severely; and, +being an invalid, I dared not venture upon the grounds before Wednesday +morning, when this most interesting part of the performance was over. +Wednesday, however, was as beautiful a September day as the most +sanguine of the agricultural exhibitors could desire, and the fine space +allotted for the display of the various objects of industry was crowded +to overflowing.</p> + +<p>It was a glorious scene for those who had the interest of the colony at +heart. Every district of the Upper Province had contributed its portion +of labour, talent, and ingenuity, to furnish forth the show. The +products of the soil, the anvil, and the loom, met the eye at every +turn. The genius of the mechanic was displayed in the effective articles +of machinery, invented to assist the toils and shorten the labour of +human hands, and were many and excellent in their kind. Improvements in +old implements, and others entirely new, were shown or put into active +operation by the inventors,--those real benefactors to the human race, +to whom the exploits of conquerors, however startling and brilliant, +are very inferior in every sense.</p> + +<p>Mechanical genius, which ought to be regarded as the first and greatest +effort of human intellect, is only now beginning to be recognised +as such. The statesman, warrior, poet, painter, orator, and man of +letters, all have their niche in the temple of fame--all have had their +worshippers and admirers; but who among them has celebrated in song and +tale the grand creative power which can make inanimate metals move, and +act, and almost live, in the wondrous machinery of the present day! +It is the mind that conceived, the hand that reduced to practical +usefulness these miraculous instruments, with all their complicated +works moving in harmony, and performing their appointed office, that +comes nearest to the sublime Intelligence that framed the universe, and +gave life and motion to that astonishing piece of mechanism, the human +form.</p> + +<p>In watching the movements of the steam-engine, one can hardly divest +one's self of the idea that it possesses life and consciousness. True, +the metal is but a dead agent, but the spirit of the originator still +lives in it, and sways it to the gigantic will that first gave it motion +and power. And, oh, what wonders has it not achieved! what obstacles +has it not overcome! how has it brought near things that were far off, +and crumbled into dust difficulties which, at first sight, appeared +insurmountable. Honour to the clear-sighted, deep-thinking child of +springs and wheels, at whose head stands the great Founder of the world, +the grandest humanity that ever trode the earth! Rejoice, and shout for +joy, ye sons of the rule and line! for was he not one of you? Did he not +condescend to bow that God-like form over the carpenter's bench, and +handle the plane and saw? Yours should be termed the Divine craft, and +those who follow it truly noble. Your great Master was above the little +things of earth; he knew the true dignity of man--that virtue conferred +the same majesty upon its possessor in the workshop or the palace--that +the soul's title to rank as a son of God required neither high birth, +nor the adventitious claims of wealth--that the simple name of a good +man was a more abiding honour, even in this world, than that of kings or +emperors.</p> + +<p>Oh! ye sons of labour, seek to attain this true dignity inherent in your +nature, and cease to envy the possessors of those ephemeral honours that +perish with the perishing things of this world. The time is coming--is +now even at the doors--when education shall give you a truer standing in +society, and good men throughout the whole world shall recognise each +other as brothers.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"An' o'er the earth gude sense an' worth</p> +<p class="line">Shall bear the gree an' a' that."</p> +</div> + +<p>Carried away from my subject by an impetuous current of thought, I must +step back to the show from which I derived a great deal of satisfaction +and pleasure. The space in which it was exhibited contained, I am told, +about sixteen acres. The rear of this, where the animals were shown, was +a large grove covered with tall spreading trees, beneath the shade of +which, reposing or standing in the most picturesque attitudes, were to +be seen the finest breeds of cattle, horses, and sheep, in the province. +This inclosure was surrounded by a high boarded fence, against which +pens were erected for the accommodation of plethoric-looking pigs, fat +sleepy lambs, and wild mischievous goats; while noble horses were led +to and fro by their owners or their servants, snorting and curveting +in all the conscious pride of strength and beauty. These handsome, +proud-looking creatures, might be considered the aristocracy of the +animal department; yet, in spite of their prancing hoofs, arched necks, +and glances of fire, they had to labour in their vocation as well as the +poorest pig that grunted and panted in its close pen. There was a donkey +there--a solitary ass--the first of his kind I ever beheld in the +province. Unused to such a stir and bustle, he lifted up his voice, and +made the grove ring with his discordant notes. The horses bounded and +reared, and glanced down upon him in such mad disdain, that they could +scarcely be controlled by their keepers. I can imagine the astonishment +they must have felt on hearing the first bray of an ass; they could not +have appeared more startled at a lion's roar. Whoever exhibited Mr. +Braham was a brave man. A gentleman, who settled in the neighbourhood of +Peterboro twenty years ago, brought out a donkey with him to Canada, and +until the day of his death he went by no other name than the undignified +one of Donkey.</p> + +<p>I cannot help thinking, that the donkey would be a very useful creature +in the colony. Though rather an untractable democrat, insisting on +having things his own way, he is a hardy, patient fellow, and easily +kept; and though very obstinate, is by no means insensible to kind +treatment, or incapable of attachment; and then, as an <i>exterminator of +Canadian thistles</i>, he would prove an invaluable reformer by removing +these agricultural pests out of the way. Often have I gazed upon the +<i>Canadian thistle</i>--that prolific, sturdy democrat of the soil, that +rudely jostles aside its more delicate and valued neighbours, elbowing +them from their places with its wide-spreading and armed foliage--and +asked myself for what purpose it grew and flourished so abundantly? +Surely, it must have some useful qualities; some good must lie hidden +under its hardy structure and coat of mail, independently of its +exercising those valuable qualities in man--patience and industry--which +must be called into active operation in order to root it out, and hinder +it from destroying the fruits of his labour. The time, perhaps, may +arrive when its thick milky juices and oily roots may be found to yield +nutricious food, or afford a soothing narcotic to alleviate the restless +tossings of pain. I firmly believe that nothing has been made in vain; +that every animate and inanimate substance has its use, although we may +be ignorant of it; that the most perfect and beautiful harmony reigns +over the visible world; that although we may foolishly despise those +animals, plants, and insects, that we consider noxious, because their +real utility has never been tested by experience, they are absolutely +necessary as links in the great chain of Providence, and appointed to +fulfil a special purpose and end.</p> + +<p>"What shall we do for firewood when all the forests are burned?" was a +very natural question asked us the other day by a young friend, who, +with very scanty means, contemplated with a sort of horror the increased +demand for fuel, and its increasing price.</p> + +<p>Tupper has an admirable answer for all such queries:--</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line-in10">"Yet man, heedless of a God, counteth up vain reckonings,</p> +<p class="line">Fearing to be jostled and starved out by the too prolific increase of his kind,</p> +<p class="line">And asketh, in unbelieving dread, for how few years to come</p> +<p class="line">Will the black cellars of the world yield unto him fuel for his winter.</p> +<p class="line">Might not the wide waste sea be bent into narrower bounds?</p> +<p class="line">Might not the arm of diligence make the tangled wilderness a garden?</p> +<p class="line">And for aught thou can'st tell, there may be a thousand methods</p> +<p class="line">Of comforting thy limbs in warmth, though thou kindle not a spark.</p> +<p class="line">Fear not, son of man, for thyself, nor thy seed--with a multitude is plenty:</p> +<p class="line">God's blessing giveth increase, and with it larger than enough."</p> +</div> + +<p>Surely it is folly for any one to despair of the future, while the +providence of God superintends the affairs of the universe. Is it not +sinful to doubt the power of that Being, who fed a vast multitude from a +few loaves and small fishes? Is His arm shortened, that he can no longer +produce those articles that are indispensable and necessary for the +health and comfort of the creatures dependent upon his bounty? What +millions have been fed by the introduction of the potato plant--that +wild, half-poisonous native of the Chilian mountains! When first +exhibited as a curiousity by Sir Walter Raleigh, who could have imagined +the astonishing results,--not only in feeding the multitudes that for +several ages in Ireland it has fed, but that the very blight upon it, +by stopping an easy mode of obtaining food, should be the instrument in +the hands of the great Father to induce these impoverished, starving +children of an unhappy country, to remove to lands where honest toil +would be amply remunerated, and produce greater blessings for them than +the precarious support afforded by an esculent root? We have faith, +unbounded faith, in the benevolent care of the Universal Father,--faith +in the fertility of the earth, and her capabilities of supporting to the +end of time her numerous offspring.</p> + +<p>The over-population of old settled countries may appear to a casual +thinker a dreadful calamity; and yet it is but the natural means +employed by Providence to force the poorer classes, by the strong law of +necessity, to emigrate and spread themselves over the earth, in order to +bring into cultivation and usefulness its waste places. When the world +can no longer maintain its inhabitants, it will be struck out of being +by the fiat of Him who called it into existence.</p> + +<p>Nothing has contributed more to the rapid advance of the province than +the institution of the Agricultural Society, and from it we are already +reaping the most beneficial results. It has stirred up a spirit of +emulation in a large class of people, who were very supine in their +method of cultivating their lands; who, instead of improving them, and +making them produce not only the largest quantity of grain, but that of +the best quality, were quite contented if they reaped enough from their +slovenly farming to supply the wants of their family, of a very inferior +sort.</p> + +<p>Now, we behold a laudable struggle among the tillers of the soil, as to +which shall send the best specimens of good husbandry to contend for +the prizes at the provincial shows, where very large sums of money are +expended in providing handsome premiums for the victors. All the leading +men in the province are members of this truly honourable institution; +and many of them send horses, and the growth of their gardens, to add to +the general bustle and excitement of the scene. The summer before last, +my husband took the second prize for wheat at the provincial show, and I +must frankly own that I felt as proud of it as if it had been the same +sum bestowed upon a prize poem.</p> + +<p>There was an immense display of farm produce on the present occasion at +Toronto, all excellent in their kind. The Agricultural Hall, a large, +temporary building of boards, was completely filled with the fruits of +the earth and the products of the dairy--</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"A glorious sight, if glory dwells below,</p> +<p class="line">Where heaven's munificence makes all the show."</p> +</div> + +<p>The most delicious butter and tempting cheese, quite equal, perhaps, to +the renowned British in every thing but the name, were displayed in the +greatest abundance.</p> + +<p>A Mr. Hiram Ranney, from the Brock district, contributed a monster +cheese, weighing 7 cwt., not made of "double skimmed sky-blue," but of +milk of the richest quality, which, from its size and appearance, might +have feasted all the rats and mice in the province for the next twelve +months. It was large enough to have made the good old deity of heathen +times--her godship of the earth--an agricultural throne; while from +the floral hall, close at hand, a crown could have been woven, on +the shortest notice, of the choicest buds from her own inexhaustible +treasury.</p> + +<p>A great quantity of fine flax and hemp particularly attracted my +attention. Both grow admirably in this country, and at no very distant +period will form staple articles for home manufacture and foreign +export.</p> + +<p>The vast improvement in home-manufactured cloth, blankets, flannels, +shawls, carpeting, and counterpanes, was very apparent over the same +articles in former years. In a short time Canada need not be beholden to +any foreign country for articles of comfort and convenience. In these +things her real wealth and strength are shown; and we may well augur +from what she has already achieved in this line, how much more she can +do--and do well--with credit and profit to herself.</p> + +<p>The sheep in Canada are not subject to the diseases which carry off so +many yearly in Britain; and though these animals have to be housed +during the winter, they are a very profitable stock. The Canadian +grass-fed mutton is not so large as it is in England, and in flavour +and texture more nearly resembles the Scotch. It has more of a young +flavour, and, to my thinking, affords a more wholesome, profitable +article of consumption. Beef is very inferior to the British; but since +the attention of the people has been more intently directed to their +agricultural interests, there is a decided improvement in this respect, +and the condition of all the meat sent to market now-a-days is ten per +cent better than the lean, hard animals we used to purchase for winter +provisions, when we first came to the province.</p> + +<p>At that time they had a race of pigs, tall and gaunt, with fierce, +bristling manes, that wandered about the roads and woods, seeking what +they could devour, like famished wolves. You might have pronounced them, +without any great stretch of imagination, descended from the same stock +into which the attendant fiends that possessed the poor maniacs of +Galilee had been cast so many ages ago. I knew a gentleman who was +attacked in the bush by a sow of this ferocious breed, who fairly treed +him in the woods of Douro, and kept him on his uncomfortable perch +during several hours, until his swinish enemy's patience was exhausted, +and she had to give up her supper of human flesh for the more natural +products of the forest, acorns and beech-mast.</p> + +<p>Talking of pigs and sheep recals to my mind an amusing anecdote, told +to me by a resident of one of our back townships, which illustrates, +even in a cruel act of retaliation, the dry humour which so strongly +characterizes the lower class of emigrants from the emerald isle. I will +give it in my young friend's own words:--</p> + +<p>"In one of our back townships there lived an old Dutchman, who was of +such a vindictive temper that none of his neighbours could remain at +peace with him. He made the owners of the next farm so miserable that +they were obliged to sell out, and leave the place. The farm passed +through many hands, and at last became vacant, for no one could stay +on it more than a few months; they were so worried and annoyed by this +spiteful old man, who, upon the slightest occasion, threw down their +fences and injured their cattle. In short, the poor people began to +suspect that he was the devil himself, sent among them as a punishment +for their sins.</p> + +<p>"At last an Irish emigrant lately out was offered the place very cheap, +and, to the astonishment of all, bought it, in spite of the bad +<i>karacter</i>, for the future residence of himself and family.</p> + +<p>"He had not been long on the new place when one of his sheep, which had +got through a hole in the Dutchman's fence, came hobbling home with one +of its legs stuck through the other. Now, you must know that this man, +who was so active in punishing the trespasses of his neighbours' cattle +and stock, was not at all particular in keeping his own at home. There +happened to be an old sow of his, who was very fond of Pat's <i>potaties</i>, +and a constant <i>throuble</i> to him, just then in the field when the +sheep came home. Pat took the old sow (not very tenderly, I'm afraid) +by the ear, and drawing out his jack-knife, very deliberately slit her +mouth on either side as far as he could. By and by, the old Dutchman +came puffing and blowing along; and seeing Pat sitting upon his +door-step, enjoying the evening air, and comfortably smoking his pipe, +he asked him if he had seen anything of his sow?</p> + +<p>"'Well, neighbour,' said Pat, putting on one of his gravest faces, 'one +of the strangest things happened a short while ago that I ever saw. A +sheep of mine came home with its leg slit and the other put through it, +and your old sow was so amused with the odd sight that she split her +jaws with laughing.'"</p> + +<p>This turned the tables upon the spiteful old man, and completely cured +him of all his ill-natured tricks. He is now one of the best neighbours +in the township.</p> + +<p>This was but a poor reparation to the poor sheep and the old sow. Their +sufferings appear to have been regarded by both parties as a very minor +consideration.</p> + +<p>The hall set apart for the display of fancy work and the fine arts +appeared to be the great centre of attraction, for it was almost +impossible to force your way through the dense crowd, or catch a +glimpse of the pictures exhibited by native artists. The show of +these was highly creditable indeed. Eight pictures, illustrative of +Indian scenery, character, and customs, by Mr. Paul Kane, would have +done honour to any exhibition. For correctness of design, beauty of +colouring, and a faithful representation of the peculiar scenery of +this continent, they could scarcely be surpassed.</p> + +<p>I stood for a long time intently examining these interesting pictures, +when a tall fellow, in the grey homespun of the country, who, I suppose, +thought that I had my share of enjoyment in that department, very coolly +took me by the shoulders, pulled me back into the crowd, and possessed +himself of my vacant place. This man should have formed a class with +the two large tame bears exhibited on the ground appropriated to the +poultry; but I rather think that Bruin and his brother would have been +ashamed of having him added to their fraternity; seeing that their +conduct was quite unexceptionable, and they could have a set a good +example to numbers of the human bipeds, who pushed and elbowed from +side to side anything that obstructed their path, while a little common +courtesy would have secured to themselves and others a far better +opportunity of examining everything carefully. The greatest nuisance +in this respect was a multitude of small children, who were completely +hidden in the press, and whose feet, hands, and head, dealt blows, +against which it was impossible to protect yourself, as you felt +severely without being able to ward off their home-thrusts. It is plain +that they could not see at all, but were determined that every one +should sensibly <i>feel</i> their disappointment. It was impossible +to stop for a moment to examine this most interesting portion of the +Exhibition; and one was really glad to force a passage out of the press +into the free air.</p> + +<p>Large placards were pasted about in the most conspicuous places, warning +visitors to the grounds to look out for pickpockets! Every one was on +the alert to discover these gentry--expecting them, I suppose, to be +classed like the animal and vegetable productions of the soil; and the +vicinity of a knowing-looking, long-bearded pedlar, who was selling +Yankee notions at the top of his voice, and always surrounded by a +great mob, was considered the most likely locality for these invisible +personages, who, I firmly believe, existed alone in the fancy of the +authors of the aforesaid placards.</p> + +<p>There was a very fine display of the improved and foreign breeds of +poultry; and a set of idle Irish loungers, of the lower class, were +amusing themselves by inserting the bowls of their pipes into the pens +that contained these noble fowls, and giving them the benefit of a +good smoking. The intoxicating effects of the fumes of the tobacco upon +the poor creatures appeared to afford their tormentors the greatest +entertainment. The stately Cochin-China cocks shook their plumed heads, +and turned up their beaks with unmistakeable signs of annoyance and +disgust; and two fine fowls that were lying dead outside the pens, were +probably killed by this novel sport.</p> + +<p>I was greatly struck by the appearance of Okah Tubee, the celebrated +Indian doctor, who was certainly the most conspicuous-looking person in +the show, and on a less public occasion would have drawn a large number +of spectators on his own hook.</p> + +<p>Okah Tubee is a broad, stout, powerfully built man, with a large fat +face, set off to the least possible advantage by round rings of braided +hair, tied with blue ribbons, and with large gold ear-rings in his ears. +Now, it certainly is true that a man has a perfect right to dress his +hair in this fashion, or in any fashion he pleases; but a more absurd +appearance than the blue ribbons gave to his broad, brown, beardless +face, it is impossible to imagine. The solemn dignity, too, with which +he carried off this tomfoolery was not the least laughable part of it. +I wonder which of his wives--for I was told he had several--braided all +these small rings of hair, and confined them with the blue love-knots; +but it is more than probable that the grave Indian performed his own +toilet. His blue surtout beaver hat accorded ill with his Indian +leggings and moccassins. I must think that the big man's dress was in +shocking bad taste, and decided failure. I missed the sight of him +carrying a flag in the procession, and mounted on horseback; if his +riding-dress matched his walking costume, it must have been rich.</p> + +<p>Leaving the show-ground, we next directed our steps to the Ladies' +Bazaar, that was held in the government buildings, and here we found +a number of well-dressed, elegant women, sitting like Mathew at the +receipt of custom; it is to be hoped that their labours of love received +an ample recompense, and that the sale of their pretty toys completely +discharged the debt that had been incurred for their favourite saint. +Nor was the glory of old England likely to be forgotten amid such a +display of national flags as adorned the spacious apartment.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>The Banner Of England.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The banner of old England flows</p> +<p class="line-in2">Triumphant in the breeze--</p> +<p class="line">A sign of terror to our foes,</p> +<p class="line-in2">The meteor of the seas</p> +<p class="line">A thousand heroes bore it</p> +<p class="line-in2">In battle fields of old;</p> +<p class="line">All nations quail'd before it,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Defended by the bold.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Brave Edward and his gallant sons</p> +<p class="line-in2">Beneath its shadow bled;</p> +<p class="line">And lion-hearted Britons</p> +<p class="line-in2">That flag to glory led.</p> +<p class="line">The sword of kings defended,</p> +<p class="line-in2">When hostile foes drew near;</p> +<p class="line">The sheet whose colours bended--</p> +<p class="line-in2">Memorials proud and dear!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The hist'ry of a nation</p> +<p class="line-in2">Is blazon'd on its page,</p> +<p class="line">A brief and bright relation</p> +<p class="line-in2">Sent down from age to age.</p> +<p class="line">O'er Gallia's hosts victorious,</p> +<p class="line-in2">It turn'd their pride of yore;</p> +<p class="line">Its fame on earth is glorious,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Renown'd from shore to shore.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The soldier's heart has bounded</p> +<p class="line-in2">When o'er the tide of war;</p> +<p class="line">Where death's brief cry resounded,</p> +<p class="line-in2">It flash'd a blazing star.</p> +<p class="line">Or floating over leaguer'd wall,</p> +<p class="line-in2">It met his lifted eye;</p> +<p class="line">Like war-horse to the trumpet's call,</p> +<p class="line-in2">He rush'd to victory!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"No son of Britain e'er will see</p> +<p class="line-in2">A foreign band advance,</p> +<p class="line">To seize the standard of the free,</p> +<p class="line-in2">That dared the might of France.</p> +<p class="line">Bright banner of our native land,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Bold hearts are knit to thee;</p> +<p class="line">A hardy, brave, determined band,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Thy champions yet shall be!"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER XVII<br /> Niagara</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Come and worship at a shrine,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Rear'd by hands eternal,</p> +<p class="line">Where the flashing waters shine,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And the turf is ever vernal,</p> +<p class="line">And nature's everlasting voice</p> +<p class="line">For ever cries--rejoice, rejoice!"</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>The night had been one of pouring rain, and the day dawned through a +thick veil of misty clouds, on the morning of which we were to start +from Toronto to visit the Falls of Niagara.</p> + +<p>"It is always so," I thought, as I tried to peer through the dense mist +that floated round the spire of St. George's church, in order to read +what promise there might lurk behind its gray folds of a fine day. "What +we most wish for is, for some wise purpose inscrutable to our narrow +vision, generally withheld. But it may clear up after all. At all +events, we must bide the chance and make the experiment."</p> + +<p>By seven o'clock we were on board the "Chief Justice," one of the +steamers that daily ply between Toronto and Queenstone. A letter +that I got, in passing the post-office, from the dear children at +home, diverted my thoughts for a long while from the dull sky and the +drizzling rain; and when it had been read and re-read, and pondered over +for some time, and God inwardly thanked for the affection that breathed +in every line, and the good news it contained, the unpromising mist had +all cleared away, and the sun was casting bright silvery gleams across +the broad bosom of the beautiful Ontario.</p> + +<p>We did not meet with a solitary adventure on our very pleasant voyage; +the deep blue autumnal sky, and the gently-undulating waters, forming +the chief attraction, and giving rise to pleasant trains of thought, +till the spirit blended and harmonized with the grand and simple +elements that composed the scene.</p> + +<p>There were no passengers in the ladies' cabin, and we never left the +deck of the steamer until she came to her wharf at Queenstone.</p> + +<p>The lake for some miles before you reach the entrance of the Niagara +river assumes a yellowish-green tint, quite different from the ordinary +deep blue of its waters. This is probably owing to the vast quantity of +soil washed down by the rapids from the high lands above.</p> + +<p>The captain told us that after a storm, such as we had experienced on +the preceding night, this appearance, though it always existed, was more +apparent. You catch a distant glance of the Falls from this part of the +lake; but it is only in the shape of a light silvery cloud hovering on +the edge of the horizon. We listened in vain for any sound to give us +an indication of their near vicinity. The voice of nature was mute. The +roar of the great cataract was not distinguishable at that distance.</p> + +<p>The entrance to the Niagara river is very interesting. You pass between +the two strong stone forts, raised for the protection of their +respective countries; and a hostile vessel would stand but a small +chance of keeping clear from danger in passing either Cerberus. It is +devoutly to be hoped that all such difficulties will be avoided, by the +opposite shores remaining firm friends and allies.</p> + +<p>The town of Niagara is a quaint, old-fashioned looking place, and +belongs more to the past than the present of Canada; for it has not made +much progress since it ceased to be the capital of the Upper Province, +in spite of its very advantageous and beautiful locality.</p> + +<p>As you approach Queenstone, the river is much contracted in its +dimensions, and its banks assume a bold and lofty appearance, till they +frown down upon the waters in stern and solemn grandeur, and impart a +wild, romantic character to the scene, not often found in the Upper +Province.</p> + +<p>I never beheld any water that resembled the deep green of the Niagara. +This may be owing, perhaps, to the immense depth of the river, the +colour of the rocks over which it flows, or it may be reflected from the +beautiful trees and shrubs that clothe its precipitous banks; but it +must strike every person who first gazes upon it as very remarkable; +You cannot look down into it, for it is not pellucid but opaque in its +appearance, and runs with a smooth surface more resembling oil than +water.</p> + +<p>The waters of the St. Lawrence are a pale sea-green, and so +transparently clear that you see through them to a great depth. At +sunrise and sunset they take all the hues of the opal. The Ottawa is a +deep blue. The Otonabee looks black, from the dark limestone bed over +which it foams and rushes. Our own Moira is of a silvery or leaden hue, +but the waters of the Niagara are a bright deep green; and did any +painter venture to transfer their singular colour to his canvas, it +would be considered extravagant and impossible.</p> + +<p>The new Suspension Bridge at Queenstone is a beautiful object from the +water. The river here is six hundred feet in width; the space between +the two stone towers that support the bridge on either shore is eight +hundred and fifty feet; the height above the water, two hundred feet. +The towers are not built on the top of the bank, but a platform for each +has been quarried out of the steep sides of the precipice, about thirty +feet below the edge of the cliffs. The road that leads up from the +Queenstone ferry has been formed by the same process. It is a perilous +ascent, and hangs almost over the river, nor is there any sufficient +barrier to prevent a skittish horse from plunging from the giddy height +into the deep, swift stream below. I should not like to travel this +romantic road of a dark October night, even on foot. The Queenstone +cab-drivers rattle up and down this fearful path without paying the +least regard to the nerves of their passengers. At the entrance to the +bridge, a space is quarried out of the bank to allow heavy teams to turn +on to the bridge, which is done with the greatest ease and safety.</p> + +<p>Several heavy loaded teams were crossing from the other side, and it was +curious to watch the horses, when they felt the vibratory motion, draw +back close to the vehicles, and take high, short steps, as if they +apprehended some unknown danger. It is surprising how well they behave +on this trying occasion, for a horse, though a very brave animal, is one +of the most nervous ones in creation.</p> + +<p>These beautiful, airy-looking structures, are a great triumph of +mechanical art over a barrier which had long been considered as +insurmountable, except by water. The ready mode of communication which +by their means has been established between the opposite shores, must +prove of incalculable advantage to this part of the colony.</p> + +<p>It is to be hoped that similar bridges will soon span the many rapid +rivers in Canada. A sudden spring thaw gives such volume and power to +most of the streams, that few bridges constructed on the old plan are +long able to resist the impetuosity of the current, but are constantly +liable to be carried away, occasioning great damage in their vicinity.</p> + +<p>The Suspension Bridge, by being raised above the possible action of the +water, is liable to none of the casualties that operate against the old +bridge, whose piers and arches, though formed of solid masonry, are not +proof against the powerful battering-rams formed by huge blocks of ice +and heavy logs of wood, aided by the violent opposing force of the +current.</p> + +<p>The light and graceful proportions of the Suspension Bridge add a great +charm to the beauty of this charming landscape. It is well worth paying +a visit to Niagara, if it possessed no object of greater interest in its +neighbourhood than these wonderful structures.</p> + +<p>The village of Queenstone is built at the foot of the hill, and is a +very pretty romantic-looking place. Numerous springs wind like silvery +threads along the face of the steep bank above; and wherever the waters +find a flat ledge in their downward course, water-cresses of the finest +quality grow in abundance, the sparkling water gurgling among their +juicy leaves, and washing them to emerald brightness. Large portions +of the cliff are literally covered with them. It was no small matter +of surprise to me when told that the inhabitants made no use of this +delicious plant, but laugh at the eagerness with which strangers seek +it out.</p> + +<p>The Queenstone Heights, to the east of the village, are a lofty ridge of +land rising three hundred feet above the level of the country below. +They are quite as precipitous as the banks of the river. The railroad +winds along the face of this magnificent bank. Gigantic trees tower far +above your head, and a beautiful fertile country lies extended at your +feet. There, between its rugged banks, winds the glorious river; and, +beyond forest and plain, glitters the Ontario against the horizon, +like a mimic ocean, blending its blue waters with the azure ocean of +heaven. Truly it is a magnificent scene, and associated with the most +interesting historical events connected with the province.</p> + +<p>Brock's monument, which you pass on the road, is a melancholy looking +ruin, but by no means a picturesque one, resembling some tall chimney +that has been left standing after the house to which it belonged had +been burnt down.</p> + +<p>Some time ago subscriptions were set on foot to collect money to rebuild +this monument; but the rock on which it stands is, after all, a more +enduring monument to the memory of the hero than any perishable +structure raised to commemorate the desperate struggle that terminated +on this spot. As long as the heights of Queenstone remain, and the river +pours its swift current to mingle with the Ontario, the name of General +Brock will be associated with the scene. The noblest tablet on which the +deeds of a great man can be engraved, is on the heart of his grateful +country.</p> + +<p>Were a new monument erected on this spot to-morrow, it is more than +probable that it would share the fate of its predecessor, and some +patriotic American would consider it an act of duty to the great +Republic to dash it out of <i>creation</i>.</p> + +<p>From Queenstone we took a carriage on to Niagara, a distance of about +eight miles, over good roads, and through a pleasant, smiling tract of +country. This part of the province might justly be termed the garden +of Canada, and partakes more of the soft and rich character of English +scenery.</p> + +<p>The ground rises and falls in gentle slopes; the fine meadows, entirely +free from the odious black stumps, are adorned with groups of noble +chestnut and black walnut trees; and the peach and apple orchards in +full bearing, clustering around the neat homesteads, give to them an +appearance of wealth and comfort, which cannot exist for many years to +come in more remote districts.</p> + +<p>The air on these high table-lands is very pure and elastic; and I could +not help wishing for some good fairy to remove my little cottage into +one of the fair enclosures we passed continually by the roadside, and +place it beneath the shade of some of the beautiful trees that adorned +every field.</p> + +<p>Here, for the first time in Canada, I observed hedges of the Canadian +thorn--a great improvement on the old snake fence of rough split timber +which prevails all through the colony. What a difference it would make +in the aspect of the country if these green hedgerows were in general +use! It would take from the savage barrenness given to it by these +crooked wooden lines, that cross and recross the country in all +directions: no object can be less picturesque or more unpleasing to +the eye. A new clearing reminds one of a large turnip field, divided +by hurdles into different compartments for the feeding of sheep and +cattle. Often, for miles on a stretch, there is scarcely a tree or +bush to relieve the blank monotony of these ugly, uncouth partitions +of land, beyond charred stumps and rank weeds, and the uniform belt of +forest at the back of the new fields.</p> + +<p>The Canadian cuts down, but rarely plants trees, which circumstance +accounts for the blank look of desolation that pervades all new +settlements. A few young maples and rock elms, planted along the +roadsides, would, at a very small expense of labour, in a very few +years remedy this ugly feature in the Canadian landscape, and afford +a grateful shade to the weary traveller from the scorching heat of +the summer sun.</p> + +<p>In old countries, where landed property often remains for ages in the +same family, the present occupant plants and improves for future +generations, hoping that his son's sons may enjoy the fruit of his +labours. But in a new country like this, where property is constantly +changing owners, no one seems to think it worth their while to take any +trouble to add to the beauty of a place for the benefit of strangers.</p> + +<p>Most of our second growth of trees have been planted by the beautiful +hand of nature, who, in laying out her cunning work, generally does it +in the most advantageous manner; and chance or accident has suffered the +trees to remain on the spot from whence they sprung.</p> + +<p>Trees that grow in open spaces after the forest has been cleared away, +are as graceful and umbrageous as those planted in parks at home. The +forest trees seldom possess any great beauty of outline; they run all +to top, and throw out few lateral branches. There is not a tree in the +woods that could afford the least shelter during a smart shower of rain. +They are so closely packed together in these dense forests, that a very +small amount of foliage, for the size and length of the trunk, is to be +found on any individual tree. One wood is the exact picture of another; +the uniformity dreary in the extreme. There are no green vistas to be +seen; no grassy glades beneath the bosky oaks, on which the deer browse, +and the gigantic shadows sleep in the sunbeams. A stern array of rugged +trunks, a tangled maze of scrubby underbrush, carpetted winter and +summer with a thick layer of withered buff leaves, form the general +features of a Canadian forest.</p> + +<p>A few flowers force their heads through this thick covering of leaves, +and make glad with their beauty the desolate wilderness; but those who +look for an Arcadia of fruits and flowers in the Backwoods of Canada +cannot fail of disappointment. Some localities, it is true, are more +favoured than others, especially those sandy tracts of table-land that +are called plains in this country; the trees are more scattered, and the +ground receives the benefit of light and sunshine.</p> + +<p>Flowers--those precious gifts of God--do not delight in darkness and +shade, and this is one great reason why they are so scarce in the woods. +I saw more beautiful blossoms waving above the Niagara river, from every +crevice in its rocky banks, than I over beheld during my long residence +in the bush. These lovely children of light seem peculiarly to rejoice +in their near vicinity to water, the open space allowed to the wide +rivers affording them the air and sunshine denied to them in the close +atmosphere of the dense woods.</p> + +<p>The first sight we caught of the Falls of Niagara was from the top of +the hill that leads directly into the village. I had been intently +examining the rare shrubs and beautiful flowers that grew in an +exquisite garden surrounding a very fine mansion on my right hand, +perfectly astonished at their luxuriance, and the emerald greenness of +the turf at that season, which had been one of unprecedented drought, +when, on raising my head, the great cataract burst on my sight without +any intervening screen, producing an overwhelming sensation in my mind +which amounted to pain in its intensity.</p> + +<p>Yes, the great object of my journey--one of the fondest anticipations of +my life--was at length accomplished; and for a moment the blood recoiled +back to my heart, and a tremulous thrill ran through my whole frame. I +was so bewildered--so taken by surprise--that every feeling was absorbed +in the one consciousness, that the sublime vision was before me; that I +had at last seen Niagara; that it was now mine forever, stereotyped upon +my heart by the unerring hand of nature; producing an impression which +nothing but madness or idiotcy could efface!</p> + +<p>It was some seconds before I could collect my thoughts, or concentrate +my attention sufficiently to identify one of its gigantic features. +The eye crowds all into the one glance, and the eager mind is too much +dazzled and intoxicated for minor details. Astonishment and admiration +are succeeded by curious examination and enjoyment; but it is impossible +to realize this at first. The tumultuous rush of feeling, the excitement +occasioned by the grand spectacle, must subside before you can draw a +free breath, and have time for thought.</p> + +<p>The American Fall was directly opposite, resembling a vast rolling +cylinder of light flashing through clouds of silvery mist, and casting +from it long rays of indescribable brightness. I never could realize in +this perfect image of a living and perpetual motion, a <i>fall</i> of +waters; it always had to my eyes this majestic, solemn, rotatory +movement, when seen from the bank above. The Horse-shoe Fall is further +on to the right, and you only get a side view of it from this point.</p> + +<p>The Falls are seen to the least possible advantage from the brow of the +steep bank. In looking down upon them, you can form no adequate idea of +their volume, height, and grandeur; yet that first glance can never be +effaced. You feel a thrilling, triumphant joy, whilst contemplating this +master-piece of nature--this sublime idea of the Eternal--this wonderful +symbol of the power and strength of the divine Architect of the +universe.</p> + +<p>It is as if the great heart of nature were laid bare before you, and you +saw and heard all its gigantic throbbings, and watched the current of +its stupendous life flowing perpetually forward.</p> + +<p>I cannot imagine how any one could be disappointed in this august scene; +and the singular indifference manifested by others;--it is either +a miserable affectation of singularity, or a lamentable want of +sensibility to the grand and beautiful. The human being who could stand +unmoved before the great cataract, and feel no quickening of the pulse, +no silent adoration of the heart towards the Creator of this wondrous +scene, would remain as indifferent and as uninspired before the throne +of God!</p> + +<p>Throwing out of the question the romantic locality,--the rugged wooded +banks, the vast blocks of stone scattered at the edge of the torrent, +the magic colour of the waters, the overhanging crags, the wild flowers +waving from the steep, the glorious hues of the ever-changing rainbow +that spans the river, and that soft cloud of silvery brightness for ever +flowing upward into the clear air, like the prayer of faith ascending +from earth to heaven,--the enormous magnitude of the waters alone, their +curbless power, and eternal motion, are sufficient to give rise to +feelings of astonishment and admiration such as never were experienced +before.</p> + +<p>Not the least of these sensations is created by the deep roar of the +falling torrent, that shakes the solid rocks beneath your feet, and is +repeated by the thousand hidden echoes among those stern craggy heights.</p> + +<p>It is impossible for language to convey any adequate idea of the +grandeur of the Falls, when seen from below, either from the deck of +the "Maid of the Mist,"--the small steamer that approaches within a few +yards of the descending sheet of the Horse-shoe Falls--or from the ferry +boat that plies continually between the opposite shores. From the frail +little boat, dancing like a feather upon the green swelling surges, +you perhaps form the best notion of the vastness and magnitude of the +descending waters, and of your own helplessness and insignificance. +They flow down upon your vision like moving mountains of light; and the +shadowy outline of black mysterious-looking rocks, dimly seen through +clouds of driving mist, adds a wild sublimity to the scene. While the +boat struggles over the curling billows, at times lifted up by the +ground-swells from below, the feeling of danger and insecurity is +lost in the whirl of waters that surround you. The mind expands with +the scene, and you rejoice in the terrific power that threatens to +annihilate you and your fairy bark. A visible presence of the majesty of +God is before you, and, sheltered by His protecting hand, you behold the +glorious spectacle and live.</p> + +<p>The dark forests of pine that form the background to the Falls, when +seen from above, are entirely lost from the surface of the river, and +the descending floods seem to pour down upon you from the skies.</p> + +<p>The day had turned out as beautiful as heart could wish; and though I +felt very much fatigued with the journey, I determined to set all aches +and pains at defiance whilst I remained on this enchanted ground.</p> + +<p>We had just time enough to spare before dinner to walk to the table +rock, following the road along the brow of the steep bank. On the way +we called in at the Curiosity Shop, kept by an old grey-haired man, who +had made for himself a snug little California by turning all he touched +into gold; his stock-in-trade consisting of geological specimens from +the vicinity of the Falls--pebbles, plants, stuffed birds, beasts, and +sticks cut from the timber that grows along the rocky banks, and twisted +into every imaginable shape. The heads of these canes were dexterously +carved to imitate snakes, snapping turtles, eagles' heads, and Indian +faces. Here, the fantastic ends of the roots of shrubs from which they +were made were cut into a grotesque triumvirate of legs and feet; here a +black snake, spotted and coloured to represent the horrid reptile, made +you fancy its ugly coils already twisting in abhorrent folds about your +hands and arms. There was no end to the old man's imaginative freaks in +this department, his wares bearing a proportionate price to the dignity +of the location from which they were derived.</p> + +<p>A vast amount of Indian toys, and articles of dress, made the museum +quite gay with their tawdry ornaments of beads and feathers. It is +a pleasant lounging place, and the old man forms one of its chief +attractions.</p> + +<p>Proceeding on to the table rock, we passed many beautiful gardens, all +bearing the same rich tint of verdure, and glowing with fruit and +flowers. The showers of spray, rising from the vast natural fountain in +their neighbourhood, fill the air with cool and refreshing moisture, +which waters these lovely gardens, as the mists did of yore that went +up from the face of the earth to water the garden of Eden.</p> + +<p>The Horse-shoe Fall is much lower than its twin cataract on the American +side; but what it loses in height, it makes up in power and volume, +and the amount of water that is constantly discharged over it. As we +approached the table rock, a rainbow of splendid dyes spanned the river; +rising from out the driving mist from the American Fall, until it melted +into the leaping snowy foam of the great Canadian cataract. There is +a strange blending, in this scene, of beauty and softness with the +magnificent and the sublime: a deep sonorous music in the thundering +of the mighty floods, as if the spirits of earth and air united in one +solemn choral chant of praise to the Creator; the rocks vibrate to the +living harmony, and the shores around seem hurrying forward, as if +impelled by the force of the descending torrent of sound. Yet, within +a few yards of all this whirlpool of conflicting elements, the river +glides onward as peacefully and gently as if it had not received into +its mysterious depths this ever-falling avalanche of foaming waters.</p> + +<p>Here you enjoy a splendid view of the Rapids. Raising your eyes from +the green, glassy edge of the Falls, you see the mad hubbub of boiling +waves rushing with headlong fury down the watery steep, to take their +final plunge into the mist-covered abyss below. On, on they come--that +white-crested phalanx of waves pouring and crowding upon each other in +frantic chase!</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Things of life, and light, and motion,</p> +<p class="line">Spirits of the unfathom'd ocean,</p> +<p class="line">Hurrying on with curbless force,</p> +<p class="line">Like some rash unbridled horse;</p> +<p class="line">High in air their white crests flinging,</p> +<p class="line">And madly to destruction springing."</p> +</div> + +<p>These boiling breakers seem to shout and revel in a wild ecstasy of +freedom and power; and you feel inclined to echo their shout, and +rejoice with them. Yet it is curious to mark how they slacken their +mad speed when they reach the ledge of the fall, and melt into the icy +smoothness of its polished brow, as if conscious of the superior force +that is destined to annihilate their identity, and dash them into mist +and spray. In like manner the waves of life are hurried into the abyss +of death, and absorbed in the vast ocean of eternity.</p> + +<p>Niagara would be shorn of half its wonders divested of these +glorious Rapids, which form one of the grandest features in the +magnificent scene.</p> + +<p>We returned to our inn, the Clifton House, just in time to save our +dinner: having taken breakfast in Toronto at half-past six, we were +quite ready to obey the noisy summons of the bell, and follow our sable +guide into the eating room.</p> + +<p>The Clifton House is a large, handsome building, directly fronting the +Falls. It is fitted up in a very superior style, and contains ample +accommodations for a great number of visitors. It had been very full +during the summer months, but a great many persons had left during the +preceding week, which I considered a very fortunate circumstance for +those who, like myself, came to see instead of to be seen.</p> + +<p>The charges for a Canadian hotel are high; but of course you are +expected to pay something extra at a place of such general resort, and +for the grand view of the Falls, which can be enjoyed at any moment +by stepping into the handsome balcony into which the saloon opens, +and which runs the whole length of the side and front of the house. +The former commands a full view of the American, the latter of the +Horse-shoe Fall; and the high French windows of this elegantly +furnished apartment give you the opportunity of enjoying both.</p> + +<p>You pay four dollars a-day for your board and bed; this does not include +wine, and every little extra is an additional charge. Children and +servants are rated at half-price, and a baby is charged a dollar a-day. +This item in the family programme is something new in the bill of +charges at an hotel in this country; for these small gentry, though +they give a great deal of trouble to their lawful owners, are always +entertained gratis at inns and on board steamboats.</p> + +<p>The room in which dinner was served could have accommodated with ease +treble the number of guests. A large party, chiefly Americans, sat down +to table. The dishes are not served on the table; a bill of fare is laid +by every plate, and you call for what you please.</p> + +<p>This arrangement, which saves a deal of trouble, seemed very distasteful +to a gentleman near us, to whom the sight of good cheer must have been +almost as pleasant as eating it, for he muttered half aloud--"that he +hated these new-fangled ways; that he liked to see what he was going to +eat; that he did not choose to be put off with kickshaws; that he did +not understand the French names for dishes. He was not French, and he +thought that they might be written in plain English."</p> + +<p>I was very much of the same opinion, and found myself nearly in the same +predicament with the grumbler at my left hand; but I did not betray my +ignorance by venturing a remark. This brought forcibly to my mind a +story that had recently been told me by a dear primitive old lady, a +daughter of one of the first Dutch settlers in the Upper Province, over +which I had laughed very heartily at the time; and now it served as an +illustration of my own case.</p> + +<p>"You know, my dear," said old Mrs. C---, "that I went lately to New +York to visit a nephew of mine, whom I had not seen from a boy. Well, +he has grown a very great man since those days, and is now one of the +wealthiest merchants in the city. I never had been inside such a grandly +furnished house before. We know nothing of the great world in Canada, or +how the rich people live in such a place as New York. Ours are all bread +and butter doings when compared with their grand fixings. I saw and +heard a great many things, such as I never dreamed of before, and which +for the life of me I could not understand; but I never let on.</p> + +<p>"One morning, at luncheon, my nephew says to me, 'Aunty C---, you have +never tasted our New York cider; I will order up some on purpose to see +how you like it.'</p> + +<p>"The servant brought up several long-necked bottles on a real silver +tray, and placed them on the table. 'Good Lord!' thinks I, 'these are +queer looking cider bottles. P'raps it's champagne, and he wants to get +up a laugh against me before all these strange people.' I had never +seen or tasted champagne in all my life, though there's lots of it sold +in Canada, and our head folks give champagne breakfasts, and champagne +dinners; but I had heard how it acted, and how, when you drew the corks +from the bottles, they went pop--pop. So I just listened a bit, and held +my tongue; and the first bounce it gave, I cried out, 'Mr. R---, you may +call that cider in New York, but we call it champagne in Canada!'</p> + +<p>"'Do you get champagne in Canada, Aunty?' says he, stopping and looking +me straight in the face.</p> + +<p>"'Oh, don't we?' says I; 'and it's a great deal better than your <i>New +York cider</i>.'</p> + +<p>"He looked mortified, I tell you, and the company all laughed; and I +drank off my glass of champagne as bold as you please, as if I had been +used to it all my life. When you are away from home, and find yourself +ignorant of a thing or two, never let others into the secret. Watch and +wait, and you'll find it out by and by."</p> + +<p>Not having been used to French dishes during my long sojourn in Canada, +I was glad to take the old lady's advice, and make use of my eyes and +ears before I ordered my own supplies.</p> + +<p>It would have done Mrs. Stowe's heart good to have seen the fine corps +of well-dressed negro waiters who served the tables, most of whom were +runaway slaves from the States. The perfect ease and dexterity with +which they supplied the guests, without making a single mistake out of +such a variety of dishes, was well worthy of notice.</p> + +<p>It gave me pleasure to watch the quickness of all their motions, the +politeness with which they received so many complicated orders, and the +noiseless celerity with which they were performed. This cost them no +effort, but seemed natural to them. There were a dozen of these blacks +in attendance, all of them young, and some, in spite of their dark +colouring, handsome, intelligent looking men.</p> + +<p>The master of the hotel was eloquent in their praise, and said that they +far surpassed the whites in the neat and elegant manner in which they +laid out a table,--that he scarcely knew what he would do without them.</p> + +<p>I found myself guilty of violating Lord Chesterfield's rules of +politeness, while watching a group of eaters who sat opposite to me at +table. The celerity with which they despatched their dinner, and yet +contrived to taste of everything contained in the bill of fare, was +really wonderful. To them it was a serious matter of business; they +never lifted their eyes from their plates, or spoke a word beyond +ordering fresh supplies, during feeding time.</p> + +<p>One long-ringletted lady in particular attracted my notice, for she did +more justice to the creature comforts than all the rest. The last +course, including the dessert, was served at table, and she helped +herself to such quantities of pudding, pie, preserves, custard, ice, and +fruit, that such a medley of rich things I never before saw heaped upon +one plate. Some of these articles she never tasted; but she seemed +determined to secure to herself a portion of all, and to get as much as +she could for her money.</p> + +<p>I wish nature had not given me such a quick perception of the +ridiculous--such a perverse inclination to laugh in the wrong place; for +though one cannot help deriving from it a wicked enjoyment, it is a very +troublesome gift, and very difficult to conceal. So I turned my face +resolutely from contemplating the doings of the long-ringletted lady, +and entered into conversation with an old gentleman from the States--a +<i>genuine</i> Yankee, whom I found a very agreeable and intelligent companion, +willing to exchange, with manly, independent courtesy, the treasures of +his own mind with another; and I listened to his account of American +schools and public institutions with great interest. His party consisted +of a young and very delicate looking lady, and a smart active little boy +of five years of age. These I concluded were his daughter and grandson, +from the striking likeness that existed between the child and the old +man. The lady, he said, was in bad health--the boy was hearty and +wide-awake.</p> + +<p>After dinner the company separated; some to visit objects of interest +in the neighbourhood, others to the saloon and the balcony. I preferred +a seat in the latter; and ensconcing myself in the depths of a large +comfortable rocking chair, which was placed fronting the Falls, I gave +up my whole heart and soul to the contemplation of their glorious +beauty.</p> + +<p>I was roused from a state almost bordering on idolatry by a lady +remarking to another, who was standing beside her, "that she considered +the Falls a great humbug; that there was more fuss made about them than +they deserved; that she was satisfied with having seen them once; and +that she never wished to see them again."</p> + +<p>I was not the least surprised, on turning my head, to behold in the +speaker the long-ringletted lady.</p> + +<p>A gentleman to whom I told these remarks laughed heartily.--"That +reminds me of a miller's wife who came from Black Rock, near Buffalo, +last summer, to see the Falls. After standing here, and looking at them +for some minutes, she drawled through her nose--'Well, I declare, is +that all? And have I come eighteen miles to look at you? I might ha' +spared myself the expense and trouble; my husband's mill-dam is as good +a sight,--only it's not just as <i>high</i>.'"</p> + +<p>This lady would certainly have echoed the sublime sentiment expressed +by our friend the poet,--</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Oh, what a glorious place for washing sheep</p> +<p class="line-in4">Niagara would be!"</p> +</div> + +<p>In the evening my husband hired a cab, and we drove to see the Upper +Suspension Bridge. The road our driver took was very narrow, and close +to the edge of the frightful precipice that forms at this place the bank +of the river, which runs more than two hundred feet below.</p> + +<p>The cabman, we soon discovered, was not a member of the temperance +society. He was very much intoxicated; and, like Jehu the son of Nimshi, +he drove furiously. I felt very timid and nervous. Sickness makes us sad +cowards, and what the mind enjoys in health, becomes an object of fear +when it is enfeebled and unstrung by bodily weakness.</p> + +<p>My dear husband guessed my feelings, and placed himself in such a manner +as to hide from my sight the danger to which we were exposed by our +careless driver. In spite of the many picturesque beauties in our road, +I felt greatly relieved when we drove up to the bridge, and our short +journey was accomplished.</p> + +<p>The Suspension Bridge on which we now stood--surveying from its dizzy +height, two hundred and thirty feet above the water, the stream +below--seems to demand from us a greater amount of interest than the one +at Queenstone, from the fact of its having been the first experiment of +the kind ever made in this country,--a grand and successful effort of +mechanical genius over obstacles that appeared insurmountable.</p> + +<p>The river is two hundred feet wider here than at Queenstone, and the +bridge is of much larger dimensions. The height of the stone tower that +supports it on the American side is sixty-eight feet, and of the wooden +tower on the Canadian shore fifty feet. The number of cables for the +bridge is sixteen; of strands in each cable, six hundred; of strands in +the ferry-cable, thirty-seven, the diameter of which is seven-eighths of +an inch. The ultimate tension is six thousand five hundred tons, and the +capacity of the bridge five hundred. A passage across is thrillingly +exciting.</p> + +<p>The depth of the river below the bridge is two hundred and fifty feet, +and the water partakes more largely of that singular deep green at this +spot than I had remarked elsewhere. The American stage crossed the +bridge as we were leaving it, and the horses seemed to feel the same +mysterious dread which I have before described. A great number of strong +wooden posts that support the towers take greatly from the elegance of +this bridge; but I am told that these will shortly be removed, and their +place supplied by a stone tower and buttresses. We returned by another +and less dangerous route to the Clifton House, just in time to witness a +glorious autumnal sunset.</p> + +<p>The west was a flood of molten gold, fretted with crimson clouds; the +great Horse-shoe Fall caught every tint of the glowing heavens, and +looked like a vast sheet of flame, the mist rising from it like a wreath +of red and violet-coloured smoke. This gorgeous sight, contrasted by the +dark pine woods and frowning cliffs which were thrown into deep shade, +presented a spectacle of such surpassing beauty and grandeur, that it +could only be appreciated by those who witnessed it. Any attempt to +describe it must prove a failure. I stood chained to the spot, mute +with admiration, till the sun set behind the trees, and the last rays +of light faded from the horizon; and still the thought uppermost in my +mind was--who could feel disappointed at a scene like this? Can the wide +world supply such another?</p> + +<p>The removal of all the ugly mills along its shores would improve it, +perhaps, and add the one charm it wants, by being hemmed in by tasteless +buildings,--the sublimity of solitude.</p> + +<p>Oh, for one hour alone with Nature, and her great master-piece Niagara! +What solemn converse would the soul hold with its Creator at such a +shrine,--and the busy hum of practical life would not mar with its +jarring discord, this grand "thunder of the waters!" Realities are +unmanageable things in some hands, and the Americans are gravely +contemplating making their sublime Fall into a motive power for turning +machinery.</p> + +<p>Ye gods! what next will the love of gain suggest to these +gold-worshippers? The whole earth should enter into a protest against +such an act of sacrilege--such a shameless desecration of one of the +noblest works of God.</p> + +<p>Niagara belongs to no particular nation or people. It is an inheritance +bequeathed by the great Author to all mankind,--an altar raised by his +own almighty hand, at which all true worshippers must bow the knee in +solemn adoration. I trust that these free glad waters will assert their +own rights, and dash into mist and spray any attempt made to infringe +their glorious liberty.</p> + +<p>But the bell is ringing for tea, and I must smother my indignation with +the reflection, that "sufficient for the day is the evil thereof."</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>A Freak Of Fancy.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"I had a dream of ocean,</p> +<p class="line-in2">In stern and stormy pride;</p> +<p class="line">With terrible commotion,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Dark, thundering, came the tide.</p> +<p class="line">High on the groaning shore</p> +<p class="line-in2">Upsprang the wreathed spray;</p> +<p class="line">Tremendous was the roar</p> +<p class="line-in2">Of the angry, echoing bay.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Old Neptune's snowy coursers</p> +<p class="line-in2">Unbridled trode the main,</p> +<p class="line">And o'er the foaming waters</p> +<p class="line-in2">Plunged on in mad disdain:</p> +<p class="line">The furious surges boiling,</p> +<p class="line-in2">Roll mountains in their path;</p> +<p class="line">Beneath their white hoofs coiling,</p> +<p class="line-in2">They spurn them in their wrath.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The moon at full was streaming</p> +<p class="line-in2">Through rack and thunder-cloud,</p> +<p class="line">Like the last pale taper gleaming</p> +<p class="line-in2">On coffin, pall, and shroud.</p> +<p class="line">The winds were fiercely wreaking</p> +<p class="line-in2">Their vengeance on the wave,</p> +<p class="line">A hoarse dirge wildly shrieking</p> +<p class="line-in2">O'er each uncoffin'd grave.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"I started from my pillow--</p> +<p class="line-in2">The moon was riding high,</p> +<p class="line">The wind scarce heav'd a billow</p> +<p class="line-in2">Beneath that cloudless sky.</p> +<p class="line">I look'd from earth to heaven,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And bless'd the tranquil beam;</p> +<p class="line">My trembling heart had striven</p> +<p class="line-in2">With the tempest of a dream."</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER XVIII<br /> Goat Island</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Adown Niagara's giant steep,</p> +<p class="line">The foaming breakers crowding leap,</p> +<p class="line-in2">With wild tumultuous roar;</p> +<p class="line">The mighty din ascends on high,</p> +<p class="line">In deafening thunder to the sky,</p> +<p class="line-in2">And shakes the rocky shore."</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>The lady with the ringlets was absent with her party from the tea-table; +I was not sorry to learn that she was gone. I had conceived a prejudice +against her from the remark I heard her make about the Falls. Her +gustativeness predominated so largely over her ideality, that she +reminded me of a young lady who, after describing to me a supper of +which by her own account she had largely partaken, said, with a candour +almost shocking in its simplicity--</p> + +<p>"To tell you the plain truth, my dear Mrs. M---, my art (she was +English, and cockney, and dreadfully mangled the letter <i>h</i> whenever +it stumbled into a speech) is in my <i>stomach</i>."</p> + +<p>The cup of excellent tea was most refreshing after the fatigues of the +day; and, while enjoying it, I got into an agreeable chat with several +pleasant people, but we were all strangers even in name to each other.</p> + +<p>The night was misty and intensely dark, without moon or stars. How I +longed for one glimpse of the former, to shed if only a wandering gleam +upon the Falls! The awful music of their continuous roar filled the +heavens, and jarred the windows of the building with the tremulous +motion we feel on board a steam-boat. And then I amused myself with +picturing them, during one of our desolating thunderstorms, leaping into +existence out of the dense darkness, when revealed by the broad red +flashes of lightning; and I wished that my limited means would allow me +to remain long enough in their vicinity, to see them under every change +of season and weather. But it was not to be; and after peering long and +anxiously into the dark night, I retreated to an unoccupied sofa in a +distant part of the saloon, to watch and listen to all that was passing +around me.</p> + +<p>Two young American ladies, not of a highly educated class, were engaged +in a lively conversation with two dashing English officers, who, +for their own amusement, were practising upon their credulity, and +flattering their national prejudices with the most depreciating remarks +on England and the English people.</p> + +<p>"I am English," cried number one; "but I am no great admirer of her +people and institutions. The Americans beat them hollow."</p> + +<p>"All the world think so but themselves," said the younger lady; "they +are such a vain, arrogant set!"</p> + +<p>"Decidedly so. The men are bad enough, but the women,--I dare say you +have heard them called handsome?"</p> + +<p>"Ah, yes," in a very lively tone; "but I never believed it. I never in +my life saw a pretty English woman among all that I have seen in New +York. To my thinking, they are a sad set of frights. Stiff, formal, and +repulsive, they dress in shocking bad taste, and consider themselves and +their uncouth fashions as the standards of perfection."</p> + +<p>"My dear madam, you are right. They are odious creatures. The beauty for +which they were once renowned has vanished with the last generation. Our +modern English girls are decided barbarians. It is impossible to meet +with a pretty English woman now-a-days. I have made a vow to cut them +altogether; and if ever I commit such a foolish thing as matrimony, to +take to myself an <i>American</i> wife."</p> + +<p>"Are you in earnest?" with a very fascinating smile, and flashing upon +him her fine dark eyes.</p> + +<p>"Quite so. But, now, you must not take me for a rich English Coelebs in +search of a wife. I am an unfortunate scapegrace, have run out all my +means, and am not worth a York shilling to jingle on a tombstone. I was +obliged to borrow money of my landlord--he's a capital fellow--to pay my +washerwoman's bill this morning. So don't fall in love with me. I assure +you, on my honour, it would be a bad spec."</p> + +<p>"Don't be alarmed," returned the dark-eyed girl, evidently much pleased +with her odd companion. "Are you very young?"</p> + +<p>"I was never young. My mother told me that I had cut my wisdom-teeth +when I was born. I was wide awake, too, like your clever people, and +have kept my eyes open ever since.</p> + +<p>"You have seen a great deal of the world?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, too much of it; but 'tis a tolerable world to live in after all."</p> + +<p>"Were you ever in the United States?"</p> + +<p>"Only crossed from the other side a few days ago. Did you not notice the +arrival of Mr. P--- among the list of distinguished foreigners that +honoured your great city with their presence?"</p> + +<p>"And what struck you most when you got there?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, the beauty and elegance of the women, of course."</p> + +<p>"You flatter us."</p> + +<p>"Fact, upon honour," with a quizzical application of his hand to his +heart.</p> + +<p>"What did you admire in them?"</p> + +<p>"Their straight up and down figures. They have no vulgar +redundancies--no red cheeks and pug noses; and then their voices are so +sweet and harmonious, their pronunciation so correct, so every way +superior to the boisterous, hearty frankness of our British girls!"</p> + +<p>"English women have very bad noses--I have remarked that; and they are +so horribly fat, and they laugh so loud, and talk in such a high key! +My! I often wondered where they learned their manners."</p> + +<p>"Oh! 'tis all natural to them--it comes to them without teaching."</p> + +<p>"I have been told that London is a shocking place."</p> + +<p>"Dreadful; and the climate is disgusting. It rains there every day, and +fogs are so prevalent that during the winter months, they burn candles +all day to see to eat. As to the sun, he never comes out but once or +twice during the summer, just to let us know that he has not been struck +out of creation. And the streets, my dear young lady, are so filthy that +the women have to wear pattens in their carriages."</p> + +<p>"You don't say?"</p> + +<p>"Just to keep their petticoats out of the mud, which is so deep that it +penetrates through the bottom of the carriages."</p> + +<p>"I never will go to England, I declare."</p> + +<p>"You will be better appreciated in your free and glorious country. +Slavery thrives there, and you make slaves of us poor men."</p> + +<p>"Now, do stop there, and have done with your blarney."</p> + +<p>"Blarney! I'm not Irish. Englishmen always speak the truth when talking +to the ladies."</p> + +<p>Here he paused, quite out of breath, and his companion in mischief +commenced with the other lady.</p> + +<p>"Who is that tall, stout, handsome man, with the fat lady on his arm, +who has just entered the room?"</p> + +<p>"That's an American from the south; he's worth his weight in gold, and +that fleshy woman's his wife. My! is he not handsome! and he's so +clever--one of our greatest senators."</p> + +<p>"If size makes a man great, and he has the distinguished honour of being +one of <i>your</i> senators, he must be a great--a very great man.</p> + +<p>"He's a splendid orator; you should hear him speak."</p> + +<p>"He has kept his mouth shut all day; and when he does open it, it is +only to speak in French to his wife. My curiosity is excited; it would +be quite a treat to hear him talk on any subject."</p> + +<p>"When <i>he</i> speaks, it's always to the purpose. But there's no one here +who is able to appreciate talents like his."</p> + +<p>"He's an American aristocrat."</p> + +<p>"We have no aristocrats with us. He's a great slave-owner, and immensely +rich."</p> + +<p>"Very substantial claims to distinction, I must confess. You are wiser +in these matters than we are. What do you think of Canada?"</p> + +<p>"I don't know; it's very well for a young place. I only came here with +sister last night; we are on our way to Quebec."</p> + +<p>"To visit friends?"</p> + +<p>"We have no friends in Canada. We want to see Lord Elgin."</p> + +<p>"Lord Elgin!"</p> + +<p>"Yes. We have seen a great many curious things, but we never saw an +English lord."</p> + +<p>"And you are going to Quebec for no other purpose than to look at Lord +Elgin? His lordship should feel himself highly flattered. What sort of +an animal do you suppose him to be?"</p> + +<p>"A man, of course; but I assure you that the Boston ladies thought a +great deal of him. Sister and I have plenty of time and money at our +disposal, and we wanted to see if their opinion was correct."</p> + +<p>"Well, I hope you may be gratified, and agree with the Boston ladies +that he is a very clever man."</p> + +<p>"Is he handsome?"</p> + +<p>"He has an English nose."</p> + +<p>"Oh, shocking!"</p> + +<p>"A decided Anglo-Saxon face."</p> + +<p>"I'm sure I shan't admire him."</p> + +<p>"But I'll not anticipate. A man may be a fine looking fellow in spite of +his nose. But what do you think of the Falls?"</p> + +<p>"Well, I have not <i>quite</i> made up my mind about them. I should like +to ride down to the edge of the river to look at them from below."</p> + +<p>"I will order a carriage to-morrow morning, and drive you down."</p> + +<p>"Thank you; I can do that for myself, if I have a mind to. I should like +to ride down on horseback."</p> + +<p>"The path is too steep; no one ventures down that terrible road on +horseback."</p> + +<p>"But I'm a capital rider."</p> + +<p>"No matter; they use cows for that purpose here."</p> + +<p>"Cows!"</p> + +<p>"They are very safe, sure-footed animals. All the ladies ride down to +the Falls on cows."</p> + +<p>"Are they fools?"</p> + +<p>"Wise women. Did not you see that fine drove of cows pass the hotel at +sunset?"</p> + +<p>"I did. I thought they were driven into the yard to be milked."</p> + +<p>"Why, yes; but those cows are making Mr. ---'s fortune. They serve a +double purpose, providing delicious butter and cream for his customers, +and acting as horses for the ladies. I will pick out the most docile +among them for your excursion to-morrow morning, and see it bridled and +saddled myself."</p> + +<p>This was too much for the gravity of any one. My son-in-law ran out of +the room, and I laughed aloud. The poor girls began to find out that +they were sold, and retreated into the balcony. An hour afterwards, as I +was pacing through the long gallery that led to our sleeping apartment, +one of the many doors on either side softly opened, and the youngest of +these bright-eyed damsels stole out.</p> + +<p>"I want to ask you a question," she said, laying her very white hand +confidingly on my arm; "were those Englishmen quizzing my sister and +me?"</p> + +<p>"Need you ask that question?" said I, not a little amused at her +simplicity.</p> + +<p>"I never suspected it till I saw your son laughing to himself, and then +I guessed something was wrong. It was a great shame of those rude +fellows to amuse themselves at our expense; but your son is quite a +different person--so handsome and gentlemanly. We admire him so much. Is +he married?"</p> + +<p>"His wife is my daughter."</p> + +<p>I can't tell why my answer struck the fair inquirer dumb; she drew back +suddenly into her chamber, and closed the door without bidding me good +night, and that was the last time I saw or heard of her and her +companion.</p> + +<p>"A summer spent at the Clifton House would elicit more extraordinary +traits of character than could be gathered from the chit-chat of a dozen +novels," thought I, as I paced on to No. 50, the last room on the long +tier.</p> + +<p>I was up by daybreak the next morning to see the Falls by sunrise, and +was amply repaid for leaving my warm bed, and encountering the bright +bracing morning air, by two hours' enjoyment of solemn converse alone +with God and Niagara. The sun had not yet lifted his majestic head above +the pine forest, or chased with his beams the dark shadows of night +that rested within the curved sides of the great Horse-shoe. The waters +looked black as they rolled in vast smooth masses downward, till, +meeting the projecting rocks, they were tossed high into the air in +clouds of dazzling foam--so pure, so stainlessly white, when contrasted +with the darkness, that they looked as if belonging to heaven rather +than to earth. Anon, that dancing feathery tumult of foam catches a rosy +gleam from the coming day. A long stream of sunlight touches the centre +of the mighty arch, and transforms the black waters into a mass of +smooth transparent emerald green, and the spray flashes with myriads of +rubies and diamonds; while the American Fall still rolls and thunders +on in cold pure whiteness, Goat Island and its crests of dark pines +shrouding it in a robe of gloom. The voice of the waters rising amidst +the silence that reigns at that lovely calm hour, sounds sonorous and +grand. Be still, O my soul! earth is pouring to her Creator her morning +anthem of solemn praise!</p> + +<p>Earth! how beautiful thou art! When will men be worthy of the paradise +in which they are placed? Did our first father, amidst the fresh young +beauty of his Eden, ever gaze upon a spectacle more worthy of his +admiration than this? We will except those moments when he held converse +with God amid the cool shades of that delicious garden.</p> + +<p>"That's a sublime sight!" said a voice near me.</p> + +<p>I turned, and found the old American gentleman at my side.</p> + +<p>"I can see a change in the appearance of these Falls," he continued, +"since I visited them some forty years ago. Time changes everything; I +feel that I am changed since then. I was young and active, and clambered +about these rugged banks with the careless hardihood of a boy who pants +for excitement and adventure, and how I enjoyed my visit to this place! +A change has taken place--I can scarcely describe in what respect; but +it looks to me very different to what it did then."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps," I suggested, "the fall of that large portion of the +table-rock has made the alteration you describe."</p> + +<p>"You have just hit it," he said; "I forgot the circumstance. The +Horse-shoe is not so perfect as it was."</p> + +<p>"Could these Falls ever have receded from Queenstone?" said I.</p> + +<p>He turned to me with a quick smile--"If they have, my dear Madam, the +world is much older by thousands of ages than we give it credit for; +but--" continued he, gazing at the mighty object in dispute, "it is +possible that these Falls are of more recent date than the creation of +the world. An earthquake may have rent the deep chasm that forms the bed +of that river, and in a few seconds of time the same cause might break +down that mighty barrier, and drain the upper lakes, by converting a +large part of your fine province into another inland sea. But this is +all theory. Fancy, you know, is free, and I often amuse myself by +speculating on these things."</p> + +<p>"Your daughter, I hope, is not ill," I said; "I did not see her at tea +last night with her little son."</p> + +<p>Instead of his usual shrewd smile, the old man laughed heartily. "So you +take that young lady for my daughter!"</p> + +<p>"Is she not? The child, however, must be your grandson, for he is the +picture of you."</p> + +<p>"I flatter myself that he is. That young lady is my wife--that little +boy my son. Isn't he a fine clever little chap?" and his keen grey eye +brightened at the growing promise of his boy. "I have another younger +than him."</p> + +<p>"Heavens!" thought I, "what a mistake I have made! How M--- will laugh +at me, and how delighted this old man seems with my confusion!" I +am always making these odd blunders. Not long ago I mistook a very +old-looking young man for his father, and congratulated him on his +daughter's marriage; and asked a young bride who was returning her +calls, and who greatly resembled a married cousin who lived in the same +town, <i>how her baby was?</i> And now I had taken a man's wife for his +daughter his son for a grandson. But I comforted myself with the idea +that the vast disparity between their ages was some excuse, and so +slipped past one of the horns of that dilemma.</p> + +<p>As soon as we had taken breakfast, we set off in company with the +American and his little boy to pay a visit to Goat Island, and look at +the Falls from the American side. The child fully realized his father's +description. He was a charming, frank, graceful boy, full of life and +intelligence, and enjoyed the excitement of crossing the river, and the +beauties it revealed to us, with a keen appreciation of the scene, +which would have been incomprehensible to some of the wonder-seekers +we had met the day before. All nature contributed to heighten our +enjoyment. The heavens were so blue and cloudless, the air so clear +and transparent, the changing tints on the autumnal foliage so rich, +the sun so bright and warm, that we seemed surrounded by an enchanted +atmosphere, and the very consciousness of existence was delightful; but, +with those descending floods of light towering above us, and filling the +echoing shores with their sublime melody, we were doubly blessed!</p> + +<p>When our little boat touched the American shore, the question arose as +to which method would be the best to adopt in ascending the giddy +height. A covered way leads to the top of the bank, which is more than +two hundred feet in perpendicular height. Up this steep our ingenious +neighbours have constructed on an inclined plane of boards a railway, on +which two cars run in such a manner that the weight of the descending +car draws up the other to the top of the bank. Both are secured by a +strong cable. By the side of this railway, and under the same roof, +200 steps lead to the road above. I was too weak to attempt the +formidable flight of steps; and though I felt rather cowardly while +looking at the giddy ascent of the cars, there was no alternative +between choosing one or the other, or remaining behind. The American and +his little boy were already in the car, and I took my seat behind them. +When we were half-way, the question rose in my mind--"What if the cable +should give way, where should we land?" "You'll know that when the tail +breaks," as the Highlander said when holding on to the wild boar; and +I shut my eyes, determined not to disturb my mind or waken my fears by +another glance below.</p> + +<p>"Why do you shut your eyes?" said the American. "I thought the English +were all brave."</p> + +<p>"I never was a coward till after I came to North America," said I, +laughing; and I felt that I ought to be as brave as a lion, and not +injure the reputation of my glorious country by such childish fears.</p> + +<p>When the car stopped, we parted company with the American and his brave +little son. He had friends to visit in Manchester, and I saw them no +more.</p> + +<p>Our path lay through a pretty shady grove to the village. Groups of +Indian women and children were reposing beneath the shade of the trees, +working at their pretty wares, which they offered for sale as we passed +by. Following the winding of the road, we crossed a rural bridge, from +which we enjoyed a fine view of the glorious Rapids, and entered Goat +Island.</p> + +<p>This beautiful spot is still in forest, but the underbrush has been +cleared away, and a path cut entirely round it. The trunks of these +trees are entirely covered with the names and initials of persons who at +different times have visited the spot, and they present the most curious +appearance.</p> + +<p>After a few minutes' walk through the wood, we reached the bank of the +river, which here is not very high, and is covered with evergreen +shrubs and wild flowers; and here the wide world of tumbling waters +are flashing and foaming in the sunlight--leaping and racing round the +rocky, pine-covered islands, that vainly oppose their frantic course. +Oh, how I longed to stem their unstemmed tides; to land upon those magic +islands which the foot of man or beast never trod, whose beauty and +verdure are guarded by the stern hand of death! The Falls are more +wonderful, but not more beautiful, than this sublime confusion and din +of waters--</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Of glad rejoicing waters,</p> +<p class="line">Of living leaping waters."</p> +</div> + +<p>Their eternal voice and motion might truly be termed the "joy of waves."</p> + +<p>On the American Side, the view of the great cataracts is not so awful +and overwhelming, but they are more beautiful in detail, and present so +many exquisite pictures to the eye. They are more involved in mystery, +as it were; and so much is left for the imagination to combine into +every varied form of beauty. You look down into the profound abyss; you +are wetted with that shower of silvery spray that rises higher than the +tree tops, and which gives you in that soft rain an actual consciousness +of its living presence.</p> + +<p>I did not cross the bridge, which extends within a few yards of the +great plunge, or climb to the top of the tower; for my strength had +so entirely failed me, that it was with difficulty I could retrace my +steps. I sat for about an hour beneath the shadow of the trees, feasting +my soul with beauty; and with reluctance, that drew tears from my eyes, +bade adieu to the enchanting spot--not for ever, I hope, for should God +prolong my life, I shall try and visit the Falls again. Like every +perfect work, the more frequently and closely they are examined, the +more wonderful they must appear; the mind and eye can never weary of +such an astonishing combination of sublimity and power.</p> + +<p>We stopped at a pretty cottage at the edge of the wood to get a glass of +water, and to buy some peaches. For these we had to pay treble the price +at which they could be procured at Toronto; but they proved a delicious +refreshment, the day was very warm, and I was parched with thirst. Had +time permitted, I should have enjoyed greatly a ramble through the town; +as it was, my brief acquaintance with the American shores left a very +pleasing impression on my mind.</p> + +<p>The little that I have seen of intelligent, well-educated Americans, has +given me a very high opinion of the people. Britain may be proud of +these noble scions from the parent tree, whose fame, like her own, is +destined to fill the world. "The great daughter of a great mother," +America claims renown for her lawful inheritance; and it is to be deeply +regretted that any petty jealousy or party feeling should ever create a +rivalry between countries so closely united by the ties of blood; whose +origin, language, religion and genius are the same; whose industry, +energy, and perseverance, derived from their British sires, have +procured for them the lofty position they hold, and made them +independent of the despots of earth.</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>The Land of Our Birth.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"There is not a spot in this wide-peopled earth,</p> +<p class="line">So dear to the heart as the land of our birth;</p> +<p class="line">'Tis the home of our childhood! the beautiful spot</p> +<p class="line">By mem'ry retain'd when all else is forgot.</p> +<p class="line-in4">May the blessing of God</p> +<p class="line-in4">Ever hallow the sod,</p> +<p class="line">And its valleys and hills by our children be trode!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Can the language of strangers, in accents unknown,</p> +<p class="line">Send a thrill to the bosom like that of our own!</p> +<p class="line">The face may be fair, and the smile may be bland,</p> +<p class="line">But it breathes not the tones of our dear native land.</p> +<p class="line-in4">There's no spot on earth</p> +<p class="line-in4">Like the home of our birth,</p> +<p class="line">Where heroes keep guard o'er the altar and hearth.</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"How sweet is the language that taught us to blend</p> +<p class="line">The dear names of father, of husband, and friend;</p> +<p class="line">That taught us to lisp on our mother's fond breast,</p> +<p class="line">The ballads she sang as she rock'd us to rest!</p> +<p class="line-in4">May the blessing of God</p> +<p class="line-in4">Ever hallow the sod,</p> +<p class="line">And its valleys and hills by our children be trode!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"May old England long lift her white crest o'er the wave,</p> +<p class="line">The birth-place of science, the home of the brave!</p> +<p class="line">In her cities may peace and prosperity dwell!</p> +<p class="line">May her daughters in beauty and virtue excel!</p> +<p class="line-in4">May their beauty and worth</p> +<p class="line-in4">Bless the land of their birth,</p> +<p class="line">While heroes keep guard o'er the altar and hearth!"</p> +</div> +</div> + +<h3 class="chap">CHAPTER XIX<br /> Conclusion</h3> + +<div class="verse"> +<p class="line">"Why dost thou fear to speak the honest truth?</p> +<p class="line">Speak boldly, fearlessly, what thou think'st right,</p> +<p class="line">And time shall justify thy words and thee!"</p> +<p class="initials">S.M.</p> +</div> + +<p>We left Niagara at noon. A very pleasant drive brought us to Queenstone, +and we stepped on board the "Chief Justice" steamboat, that had just +touched the wharf, and was on her return trip to Toronto.</p> + +<p>Tired and ill, I was glad to lie down in one of the berths in the +ladies' cabin to rest, and, if possible, to obtain a little sleep. +This I soon found was out of the question. Two or three noisy, spoiled +children kept up a constant din; and their grandmother, a very +nice-looking old lady, who seemed nurse-general to them all, endeavoured +in vain to keep them quiet. Their mother was reading a novel, and took +it very easy; reclining on a comfortable sofa, she left her old mother +all the fatigue of taking care of the children, and waiting upon +herself.</p> + +<p>This is by no means an uncommon trait of Canadian character. In families +belonging more especially to the middle class, who have raised +themselves from a lower to a higher grade, the mother, if left in poor +circumstances, almost invariably holds a subordinate position in her +wealthier son or daughter's family. She superintends the servants, and +nurses the younger children; and her time is occupied by a number of +minute domestic labours, that allow her very little rest in her old age.</p> + +<p>I have seen the grandmother in a wealthy family ironing the fine linen, +or broiling over the cook-stove, while her daughter held her place in +the drawing-room. How differently in my own country are these things +ordered! where the most tender attention is paid to the aged, all their +wants studied, and their comfort regarded as a sacred thing.</p> + +<p>Age in Canada is seldom honoured. You would imagine it almost a crime +for any one to grow old--with such slighting, cold indifference are the +aged treated by the young and strong. It is not unusual to hear a lad +speak of his father, perhaps, in the prime of life, as the "old fellow," +the "old boy," and to address a grey-haired man in this disrespectful +and familiar manner. This may not be apparent to the natives themselves, +but it never fails to strike every stranger that visits the colony.</p> + +<p>To be a servant is a lot sufficiently hard--to have all your actions +dictated to you by the will of another--to enjoy no rest or recreation, +but such as is granted as a very great favour; but to be a humble +dependent in old age on children, to whom all the best years of your +life were devoted with all the energy of maternal love, must be sad +indeed. But they submit with great apparent cheerfulness, and seem to +think it necessary to work for the shelter of a child's roof, and the +bread they eat.</p> + +<p>The improved circumstances of families, whose parents, in the first +settlement of the country, had to work very hard for their general +maintenance, may be the cause of this inversion of moral duties, and +the parents not being considered properly on an equality with their +better dressed and better educated offspring; but from whatever cause +it springs, the effect it produces on the mind of a stranger is very +painful. It is difficult to feel much respect for any one who looks down +upon father or mother as an inferior being, and, as such, considers them +better qualified to perform the coarse drudgeries of life. Time, we +hope, will remedy this evil, with many others of the same class.</p> + +<p>There was a bride, too, on board--a very delicate looking young woman, +who was returning from a tour in the States to her native village. She +seemed very much to dread the ordeal she had yet to pass through--in +sitting dressed up for a whole week to receive visitors. Nor did I in +the least wonder at her repugnance to go through this trying piece of +ceremonial, which is absolutely indispensable in Canada.</p> + +<p>The Monday after the bride and bridegroom make their first appearance at +church, every person in the same class prepares to pay them a visit of +congratulation; and if the town is large, and the parties well known, +the making of visits to the bride lasts to the end of the week.</p> + +<p>The bride, who is often a young girl from sixteen to twenty years of +age, is doomed for this period to sit upon a sofa or reclined in an easy +chair, dressed in the most expensive manner, to receive her guests.</p> + +<p>Well she knows that herself, her dress, the furniture of her room, even +her cake and wine, will undergo the most minute scrutiny, and be the +theme of conversation among all the gossips of the place for the next +nine days. No wonder that she feels nervous, and that her manners are +constrained, and that nothing looks easy or natural about her, from her +neck-ribbon to her shoe-tie.</p> + +<p>"Have you seen the bride yet? What do you think of her? How was she +dressed? Is she tall, or short? Pretty, or plain? Stupid, or clever? +Lively, or quiet?" are all questions certain to be asked, and answered +according to the taste and judgment of the parties to whom they are +put; besides those thousand little interludes which spring from envy, +ill-nature, and all uncharitableness. The week following they, in +courtesy, must return all these visits; and, oh, what a relief it must +be when all this stiff complimentary nonsense is over, and they are +once more at home to themselves and their own particular friends!</p> + +<p>There is another custom, peculiar to Canada and the United States, which +I cordially approve, and should be very much grieved for its +discontinuance.</p> + +<p>On New-Year's day all the gentlemen in the place call upon their +friends, to wish them a happy new year, and to exchange friendly +greetings with the ladies of the family, who are always in readiness +to receive them, and make them a return for these marks of neighbourly +regard, in the substantial form of rich cakes, fruit, wine, coffee, and +tea. It is generally a happy, cheerful day; all faces wear a smile, old +quarrels are forgotten, and every one seems anxious to let ill-will and +heart-burnings die with the old year.</p> + +<p>A gentleman who wishes to drop an inconvenient acquaintance, has only to +omit calling upon his friend's wife and daughters on New-Year's day, +without making a suitable apology for the omission of this usual act of +courtesy, and the hint is acknowledged by a direct cut the next time the +parties meet in public.</p> + +<p>It is an especial frolic for all the lads who have just returned +from school or college to enjoy their Christmas holidays. Cakes and +sweetmeats are showered upon them in abundance, and they feel themselves +of vast importance, while paying their compliments to the ladies, and +running from house to house, with their brief congratulatory address--"I +wish you all a happy New Year!"</p> + +<p>It would be a thousand pities if this affectionate, time-honoured, +hospitable custom, should be swept away by the march of modern +improvement. Some ladies complain that it gives a number of vulgar, +underbred men the opportunity of introducing themselves to the notice +and company of their daughters. There may be some reasonable truth +in this remark; but after all it is but for one day, and the kindly +greetings exchanged are more productive of good than evil.</p> + +<p>The evening of New-Year's day is generally devoted to dancing parties, +when the young especially meet to enjoy themselves.</p> + +<p>The Wesleyan Methodists always "pray the old year out and the new year +in," as it is termed here, and they could not celebrate its advent in a +more rational and improving manner. Their midnight anthem of praise is a +sacred and beautiful offering to Him, whose vast existence is not meted +out like ours, and measured by days and years.</p> + +<p>Large parties given to very young children, which are so common in this +country, are very pernicious in the way in which they generally operate +upon youthful minds. They foster the passions of vanity and envy, and +produce a love of dress and display which is very repulsive in the +character of a child. Little girls who are in the constant habit of +attending these parties, soon exchange the natural manners and frank +simplicity so delightful at their age, for the confidence and flippancy +of women long hacked in the ways of the world.</p> + +<p>For some time after I settled in the town, I was not myself aware that +any evil could exist in a harmless party of children playing together +at the house of a mutual friend. But observation has convinced me that +I was in error; that these parties operate like a forcing bed upon +young plants, with this difference, that they bring to maturity the +seeds of <i>evil</i>, instead of those of goodness and virtue, and that a +child accustomed to the heated atmosphere of pleasure, is not likely in +maturer years to enjoy the pure air and domestic avocations of home.</p> + +<p>These juvenile parties appear to do less mischief to boys than to girls. +They help to humanize the one, and to make heartless coquets of the +other. The boys meet for a down-right romping play with each other; the +girls to be caressed and admired, to show off their fine dresses, and +to gossip about the dress and appearance of their neighbours.</p> + +<p>I know that I shall be called hard-hearted for this assertion; but it is +true. I have frequently witnessed what I relate, both at my own house +and the houses of others; and those who will take the pains to listen +to the conversation of these miniature women, will soon yield a willing +assent to my observations, and keep their little ones apart from such +scenes, in the pure atmosphere of home. The garden or the green field +is the best place for children, who can always derive entertainment +and instruction from nature and her beautiful works. Left to their own +choice, the gay party would be a <i>bore</i>, far less entertaining than a game +of blind-man's buff in the school-room, when lessons were over. It is +the vanity of parents that fosters the same spirit in their children.</p> + +<p>The careless, disrespectful manner often used in this country by +children to their parents, is an evil which in all probability +originates in this early introduction of young people into the mysteries +of society. They imagine themselves persons of consequence, and that +their opinion is quite equal in weight to the experience and superior +knowledge of their elders. We cannot imagine a more revolting sight than +a young lad presuming to treat his father with disrespect and contempt, +and daring presumptuously to contradict him before ignorant idlers like +himself.</p> + +<p>"You are wrong, Sir; it is not so"--"Mamma, that is not true; I know +better," are expressions which I have heard with painful surprise from +young people in this country; and the parents have sunk into silence, +evidently abashed at the reproof of an insolent child.</p> + +<p>These remarks are made with no ill-will, but with a sincere hope that +they may prove beneficial to the community at large, and be the means of +removing some of the evils which are to be found in our otherwise +pleasant and rapidly-improving society.</p> + +<p>I know that it would be easier for me to gain the approbation of the +Canadian public, by exaggerating the advantages to be derived from a +settlement in the colony, by praising all the good qualities of her +people, and by throwing a flattering veil over their defects; but this +is not my object, and such servile adulation would do them no good, and +degrade me in my own eyes. I have written what I consider to be the +truth, and as such I hope it may do good, by preparing the minds of +emigrants for what they will <i>really find</i>, rather than by holding +out fallacious hopes that can never be realized.</p> + +<p>In "Roughing it in the Bush," I gave an honest personal statement of +<i>facts</i>. I related nothing but what had really happened; and if +illustrations were wanting of persons who had suffered <i>as much</i>, and been +reduced to the same straits, I could furnish a dozen volumes without +having to travel many hundred miles for subjects.</p> + +<p>We worked hard and struggled manfully with overwhelming difficulties, +yet I have been abused most unjustly by the Canadian papers for +revealing some of the mysteries of the Backwoods. Not one word was said +<i>against the country</i> in my book, as was falsely asserted. It was +written as a warning to well-educated persons not to settle in +localities for which they were unfitted by their <i>previous habits and +education</i>. In this I hoped to confer a service both on them and +Canada; for the <i>prosperous</i> settlement of such persons on cleared +farms must prove more beneficial to the colony than their <i>ruin in the +bush</i>.</p> + +<p>It was likewise very cruelly and falsely asserted, that I had spoken ill +of the <i>Irish people</i>, because I described the revolting scene we +witnessed at Grosse Isle, the actors in which were principally Irish +emigrants of the <i>very lowest class</i>. Had I been able to give the whole +details of what we saw on that island, the terms applied to the people +who furnished such disgusting pictures would have been echoed by their +own countrymen. This was one of those cases in which it was <i>impossible</i> +to reveal the <i>whole truth</i>.</p> + +<p>The few Irish characters that occur in my narrative have been drawn with +an <i>affectionate</i>, not a malignant hand. We had very few Irish settlers +round us in the bush, and to them I never owed the least obligation. The +contrary of this has been asserted, and I am accused of <i>ingratitude</i> by +one editor for benefits I never received, and which I was too proud to +ask, always preferring to work with my own hands, rather than to <i>borrow</i> +or <i>beg</i> from others. All the kind acts of courtesy I received from the +<i>poor Indians</i> this gentleman thought fit to turn over to the Irish, in +order to hold me up as a monster of ingratitude to his countrymen.</p> + +<p>In the case of Jenny Buchannon and John Monaghan, <i>the only two Irish +people</i> with whom I had anything to do, the benefits were surely mutual. +Monaghan came to us a runaway apprentice,--not, by-the-bye, the best +recommendation for a servant. We received him starving and ragged, paid +him good wages, and treated him with great kindness. The boy turned +out a grateful and attached creature, which cannot possible confer the +opposite character upon us.</p> + +<p><i>Jenny's love and affection</i> will sufficiently prove <i>our ingratitude</i> +to <i>her</i>. To the good qualities of these people I have done ample justice. +In what, then, does my ingratitude to the <i>Irish people</i> consist? I should +feel much obliged to the writer in the <i>London Observer</i> to enlighten me +on this head, or those editors of Canadian papers, who, without reading +for themselves, servilely copied a <i>falsehood</i>.</p> + +<p>It is easy to pervert people's words, and the facts they may represent, +to their injury; and what I have said on the subject of education may +give a handle to persons who delight in misrepresenting the opinions of +others, to accuse me of republican principles; I will, therefore, say a +few words on this subject, which I trust will exonerate me from this +imputation.</p> + +<p>That all men, morally speaking, are equal in the eyes of their Maker, +appears to me a self-evident fact, though some may be called by His +providence to rule, and others to serve. That the welfare of the most +humble should be as dear to the country to which he belongs as the best +educated and the most wealthy, seems but reasonable to a reflective +mind, who looks upon man as a responsible and immortal creature; but, +that <i>perfect equality</i> can exist in a world where the labour of man is +required to procure the common necessaries of life--where the industry +of one will create wealth, and the sloth of another induce poverty--we +cannot believe.</p> + +<p>Some master spirit will rule, and the masses will bow down to superior +intellect, and the wealth and importance which such minds never fail to +acquire. The laws must be enforced, and those to whom the charge of them +is committed will naturally exercise authority, and demand respect.</p> + +<p>Perfect equality never did exist upon earth. The old republics were more +despotic and exclusive in their separation of the different grades than +modern monarchies; and in the most enlightened, that of Greece, the +plague spot of slavery was found. The giant republic, whose rising +greatness throws into shade the once august names of Greece and Rome, +suffers this heart-corroding leprosy to cleave to her vitals, and sully +her fair fame, making her boasted vaunt of <i>equality</i> a base lie--the +scorn of all Christian men.</p> + +<p>They thrust the enfranchised African from their public tables--born +beneath their own skies, a native of their own soil, a free citizen by +their own Declaration of Independence; yet exclaim, in the face of this +<i>black</i> injustice--"Our people enjoy equal rights." Alas! for Columbia's +<i>sable sons!</i> Where is their equality? On what footing do they stand with +their white brethren? What value do they place upon the negro beyond his +price in dollars and cents? Yet is he equal in the sight of Him who gave +him a rational soul, and afforded him the means of attaining eternal +life.</p> + +<p>We are advocates for <i>equality of mind</i>--for a commonwealth of intellect; +we earnestly hope for it, ardently pray for it, and we feel a confident +belief in the possibility of our theory. We look forward to the day +when honest labour will be made honourable; when he who serves, and he +who commands, will rejoice in this freedom of soul together; when both +master and servant will enjoy a reciprocal communion of mind, without +lessening the respect due from the one to the other.</p> + +<p>But equality of station is a dream--an error which is hourly +contradicted by reality. As the world is at present constituted, such a +state of things is impossible. The rich and the educated will never look +upon the poor and ignorant as their equals; and the voice of the public, +that is ever influenced by wealth and power, will bear them out in their +decision.</p> + +<p>The country is not yet in existence that can present us a better +government and wiser institutions than the British. Long may Canada +recognise her rule, and rejoice in her sway! Should she ever be so +unwise as to relinquish the privileges she enjoys under the sovereignty +of the mother country, she may seek protection <i>nearer</i> and <i>fare worse!</i> +The sorrows and trials that I experienced during my first eight years' +residence in Canada, have been more than counterbalanced by the +remaining twelve of comfort and peace. I have long felt the deepest +interest in her prosperity and improvement. I no longer regard myself as +an alien on her shores, but her daughter by adoption,--the happy mother +of Canadian children,--rejoicing in the warmth and hospitality of a +Canadian Home!</p> + +<p>May the blessing of God rest upon the land! and her people ever prosper +under a religious, liberal, and free government!</p> + +<div class="verse"> +<h4>For London.</h4> +<h4>A National Song.</h4> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"For London! for London! how oft has that cry</p> +<p class="line">From the blue waves of ocean been wafted on high,</p> +<p class="line">When the tar through the grey mist that mantled the tide,</p> +<p class="line">The white cliffs of England with rapture descried,</p> +<p class="line">And the sight of his country awoke in his heart</p> +<p class="line">Emotions no object save home can impart!</p> +<p class="line">For London! for London! the home of the free,</p> +<p class="line">There's no part in the world, royal London, like thee!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Old London! what ages have glided away,</p> +<p class="line">Since cradled in rushes thy infancy lay!</p> +<p class="line">In thy rude huts of timber the proud wings lay furl'd</p> +<p class="line">Of a spirit whose power now o'ershadows the world,</p> +<p class="line">And the brave chiefs who built and defended those towers,</p> +<p class="line">Were the sires of this glorious old city of ours.</p> +<p class="line">For London! for London! the home of the free,</p> +<p class="line">There's no city on earth, royal London, like thee!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"The Roman, the Saxon, the Norman, the Dane,</p> +<p class="line">Have in turn sway'd thy sceptre, thou queen of the main!</p> +<p class="line">Their spirits though diverse, uniting made one,</p> +<p class="line">Of nations the noblest beneath yon bright sun;</p> +<p class="line">With the genius of each, and the courage of all,</p> +<p class="line">No foeman dare plant hostile flag on thy wall.</p> +<p class="line">For London! for London! the home of the free,</p> +<p class="line">There's no city on earth, royal London, like thee!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Old Thames rolls his waters in pride at thy feet,</p> +<p class="line">And wafts to earth's confines thy riches and fleet;</p> +<p class="line">Thy temples and towers, like a crown on the wave,</p> +<p class="line">Are hail'd with a thrill of delight by the brave,</p> +<p class="line">When, returning triumphant from conquests afar,</p> +<p class="line">They wreathe round thy altars the trophies of war.</p> +<p class="line">For London! for London! the home of the free,</p> +<p class="line">There's no part in the world, royal London, like thee!</p> +</div> +<div class="stanza"> +<p class="line">"Oh, London! when we, who exulting behold</p> +<p class="line">Thy splendour and wealth, in the dust shall be cold,</p> +<p class="line">May sages, and heroes, and patriots unborn,</p> +<p class="line">Thy altars defend, and thy annals adorn!</p> +<p class="line">May thy power be supreme on the land of the brave,</p> +<p class="line">The feeble to succour, the fallen to save,</p> +<p class="line">And the sons and the daughters now cradled by thee,</p> +<p class="line">Find no city on earth like the home of the free!"</p> +</div> +</div> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Life in the Clearings versus the Bush +by Susanna Moodie + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE IN THE CLEARINGS VS. 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