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CANADA 
 
 Mb fee Pt in it, anJ( » foe fxk it. 
 
 BY 
 
 MRS. EDWARD COPLESTON. 
 
 EXPEBIENTIA DOCET. 
 
 LONDON: 
 PARKER, SON, AND BOURN, WEST STRAND. 
 
 1861. 
 

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 DEDICATED, 
 
 BT Kl-Sn PEBMISSIOir AND WITS OBATSIfUL BE8PECT, 
 
 TO HIS GRACB 
 
 THE ARCHBISHOP OF DUBLIN. 
 

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ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 These unpretending sketches of recent life in 
 Canada were sent home under peculiar circum- 
 stances, and accompanied by an earnest injunc- 
 tion from the writer, that her name should 
 not appear. 
 
 The friend into whose hands they came, was 
 unexpectedly favoured with an opportunity of 
 communicating with the honoured Prelate to 
 whom they are dedicated, himself the valued 
 friend and editor of the "Remains" of the 
 late Bishop Copleston, who was uncle to the 
 husband of the Author. Having also lately 
 published a volume containing an article on 
 Canada, the Archbishop of Dublin was led to 
 
VI 
 
 ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 take a kindly interest in this little Work, and 
 to advise that it should not be published 
 anonymously. 
 
 The friend of the Writer willingly accepts 
 the full responsibility of disobeying her in- 
 junction, when coupled with the gratification 
 of acting on a suggestion from such a quarter. 
 
 November^ 1861. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 I. Introbugtort 1 
 
 II. Depabturb from Ergland .... 4 
 
 III. Our Landino 7 
 
 IV. Hunting fob a Home, and Pbofesbional 
 
 FROSFixrrs ,.,,.. 14 
 y. Winter in the Bubh * . . • , 43 
 Vl. Housekeeper's Chapter • ... 65 
 YU. The Olimatb of Canada ; rre effect upon 
 the European, as well as on Animal and 
 
 Yeqetable Life 78 
 
 VIII. Farming in Canada, an Occupation wherebt 
 
 THE most mat be MADE OF A SMALL INCOME ; 
 
 AND Conclusion 93 
 
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CANADA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTBODUCTORT CHAPTER. 
 
 Descriptions of Canada are becoming as plen- 
 tiful as blackberries in autumn. The aim, 
 however, of the authoress of these pages is not 
 to describe her adopted country's magnificent 
 scenery, to enlarge upon its glorious prospects, 
 or to hold Canada up to view as an £1 Dorado 
 for the fortune hunter ; nor on the other hand, 
 to picture the hardships of the pioneer in her 
 backwoods, or the gaiety and freedom of life on 
 her thickly-settled frontier. All this has been 
 done over and over again, till at last the Falls 
 of Niagara, and the wondrous depths of the 
 Saquenay are becoming as familiar to the Euro- 
 pean as the waters of the Volga, or the Falls 
 of Schaffhausen. Her object is to prove that 
 Canada offers a home where all the conveniences 
 of life may be enjoyed at far less cost than they 
 can be obtained in Old England, and this, too, 
 
 B 
 
 • •-■x* V—T^^K-' 
 
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER, 
 
 at a period when the circumstances of thousands 
 are comparatively straitened at home. 
 
 Canadian railways may have had their share, 
 conjointly with numerous other tempting specu- 
 lations, in results that have impoverished tenfold 
 more families than have ever been enriched by 
 them. But Canada has many redeeming features. 
 Her British Constitution ensures perfect security 
 to life and property. Her railways and her lakes 
 and rivers; her weekly English mail, and eleven 
 days' voyage, instead of eleven weeks, the mini- 
 mum, perhaps, of a voyage to any other colony, 
 enable her to invite all to come and try her 
 Climate ; her faciUties for retrenchment, without 
 curtailing in any degree the enjoyment of all 
 the necessaries of life, or abandoning anything 
 except positive luxuries. 
 
 Other colonies may offer greater inducements 
 to those in search of a speedy fortune (althouo-h 
 this may be called in question). The adven- 
 tures of bush life may be far more exciting 
 at the Cape, its difficulties and trials incom- 
 parably less, and a profitable return for exertion 
 may perhaps be secured elsewhere in less time; 
 but no colony equally accessible offers the same 
 advantages to those who have no desire to rough 
 it in the bush, on the one hand, nor yet to join 
 in the gaieties and expenses of town life, on the 
 
 \ 
 
 \ 
 
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 
 
 8 
 
 other, but simply to keep the middle course; they 
 can do this by securing any of the innumerable 
 cleared farms within five or six miles of the 
 railways, which now run throughout the length 
 of Canada, as well as intersect its eastern, north- 
 ern, and north-western districts. 
 
 The following narrative will, it is believed, pre- 
 sent the reader with a fair idea of all the incidents 
 that are likely to occur to any one who enters upon 
 family emigration. It will be seen that nothing 
 startling nor adventurous need be expected ; but 
 at the same time, much that will prove rough, 
 novel, and strange, during the earlier years of 
 colonial life. Should the writer have failed in 
 rendering these pages of interest, she still hopes 
 they may diffuse some information that may 
 prove practically useful. 
 
 B 1 
 
CHAPTER 11. 
 
 DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND. 
 
 In the autumn of 1856 we embarked on board 
 the fine noble steamer A. S., bound for Quebec. 
 Painful ch'cumstances, over which we had no 
 control, had altered our fortunes at home, con- 
 sequently, our thoughts were directed to emi- 
 gration. Pleasing and flattering visions of a 
 homestead, denied us in Merrie England, soft- 
 ened the feelings of anxiety and despondency so 
 natural when about parting, for many years at 
 least, if not for ever, from dear relatives and 
 friends, and all the early happy associations of 
 by-gone days. 
 
 After weighing the merits of each colony as they 
 were introduced to us by various friends, as well as 
 by authors, aud conning over the latest works on 
 Australia, New Zealand, and even Port Natal, we 
 gave the preference to Canada, more especially on 
 the ground that the average passage of a Montreal 
 steamer was under eleven days, and we dreaded 
 for our little ones, as well as for ourselves, the 
 
DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND. 
 
 5 
 
 length of a voyage to the antipodes. The latter 
 seemed an irret^ ' »vable step, and I must say, the 
 idea of return :.kets, to the terms of whidi our 
 notice had been called, was of itself very encou- 
 raging and hopeful. My picture of North Ame- 
 rica was principally drawn from that charmingly 
 written book The Backwoods of Canada. J. 
 never stopped to look at the date of publication, 
 but concluded all Canada was all in the wild 
 woods, little knowing that what was perhaps 
 then " dubbed'' under the sobriquet of " Dirty 
 Little York " was now the " queen city " of 
 Toronto, with its population of 44,000, far sur- 
 passing staid old Exeter in number of citizens, 
 and vying with more modern Cheltenham in the 
 display of plate glass and fashionable shops. 
 
 But to return to our embarkation. We sailed 
 from Liverpool. Our family consisting of my 
 husband, self, a nurse, and two little girls, mere 
 infants, and I was intensely anxious on their 
 account, more especially as we were undertaking 
 a sea voyage in the fcice of equinoctial gales, one 
 of which threatened to come on even before our 
 anchor was weighed in the Mersey. To our 
 party must be added two dogs — a Scotch terrier 
 and a black retriever — two of the finest creatures 
 of their kind, to whom I could not bear to say 
 " farewell/' however sentimental it ma; ^ppear. 
 
 I 
 
 \ 
 
DEPARTURE FROM ENGLAND. 
 
 Most faithful and useful companions tliey after- 
 wards proved. Notwithstanding the tempestu- 
 ous weather we encountered — (oh, the dread 
 Atlantic roll ! thousands have described its gran- 
 deur and borne its miseries better than I 
 could), — we had a quick and favourable passage, 
 thanks to tlie able seamanship and constant 
 watchfulness of our good captain. It was mar- 
 vellous to see how the skill and ingenuity of 
 man could devise anything to resist the fury of 
 such winds and waves as tried their utmost to 
 prolong our voyage. Eight glad we were to find 
 our good ship in the Straits of Belle Isle, where all 
 was once more comparatively calm. Our passage 
 might have been shorter but for the prudence of 
 our captain, who dropped anchor in the Lower 
 St. Lawrence, as the weather was foggy for 
 nearly an entire day. Notwithstanding this 
 delay, we anchored at Quebec within eleven days 
 from the time of embarking. 
 
 Much as I should have been delighted to land 
 after our stormy passage, my little ones required 
 more than all my care, and I remained on board 
 until our vessel reached Montreal. 
 
CHAPTER HI. 
 
 OUR LANDING. 
 
 Landing was neither so delightful, nor so easy 
 a business as I anticipated. Such scrambling, 
 such confusion ; all the kindly feeling which fel- 
 low-passengers entertain for each other vanished 
 at this moment ; our mutual sympathies, now 
 all danger and sickness had passed, came to a 
 sudden end ; each seemed now to be on the look 
 out for No. 1, yet when each had secured his 
 own, curiosity, not unmingled with interest in a 
 stranger's lot, again reigned predominant. 
 
 We happened to be amongst the very few on 
 board to whom all was ncT,- and strange ; many of 
 our fellow-travellers were returning to their own 
 firesides, and I quite envied them the glad wel- 
 come which awaited them from expectant friends. 
 Our own loneliness struck me painfully ; but I 
 was soon aroused from sad thoughts by the 
 bustle and commotion of our steerage passengers, 
 numbering some 300 souls, most of them appa- 
 rently having, like ourselves, all their earthly 
 
TENDING AT MONTREAL. 
 
 
 belongings to see to ; not merely light port- 
 manteaus and compact bags of the tourists, but 
 with beds and bedding, huge chests, and even 
 pianos and farming implements, all jumbled 
 together, to say nothing of Durham calves, 
 Dorking fowls, hedgehogs, ferrets, Leicester 
 sheep, and even full grown bulls and cows, and 
 I must not omit our own little Scotchy and big 
 retriever — in fact, the deck presented a quaint 
 appearance, a combination of a Pickford & Co/s 
 warehouse, a small menagerie, and a farm-yard. 
 Not only had v/e to watch the contents of the 
 almost inexhaustible hold, and claim our own as 
 the "donkey" engine brought to light its hidden 
 treasures, one after another ; but the customs' 
 oflicers had to be satisfied that they were bond 
 fide settler's goods. Our family group looked so 
 genuinely green and forlorn, I believe we could 
 have passed half the ship's cargo as our own 
 without any demur on their part. At length, 
 we collected our goods and chattels, and soon 
 made our way to the hotel that had been intro- 
 duced to us while on board. 
 
 This hotel, some three quarters of a mile 
 distant (it appeared fully three miles), we reached 
 in what we thought a most ludicrous manner ; 
 but emigrant arrivals are so common we attracted 
 little or no attention, in spite of " Scotchy'' and 
 
 It 
 
 Vf'JiiiM&.driMf-ahfik- JtfJH-,- 
 
LANDING AT MONTREAL. 
 
 the "retriever" following in the rear of some 
 three or four cartloads of baggage, preceded by 
 ourselves, in a very droll-looking vehicle, more 
 like the slice off an end of an omnibus than 
 anything else. We were jostled "pretty con- 
 siderable, "" as our driver surmised, before reach- 
 ing our quarters. The hotel was an American 
 one, " conducted upon American principles," and 
 quite different, in many respects, from anything 
 in England : yet all was order and arrangement. 
 Our numerous articles were all carefully stored 
 under lock and key. A place was found for 
 everything, and we were assured we should find 
 everything in place. As for ourselves, we were 
 soon shewn our allotted apartments, and once 
 more enjoyed the luxury of a quiet room, where 
 everything did not, as during our voyage, turn 
 round with us. A boon of itselt. 
 
 It was evening when we arrived, and we 
 would fain have had what refreshment was re- 
 quisite in our own rooms ; but, although in British 
 Canada, our " John Bull " notions of a cozy meal 
 to ourselves had to give way to regulations, 
 which required all to meet at stated intervals at 
 one general table. We accordingly obeyed the 
 summons of a gong, and entered a very spacious 
 room, with tables laid out for about 200 persons, 
 where the dinner was already awaiting us. The 
 
10 
 
 LANDING AT MONTREAL. 
 
 ; 
 
 I 
 
 waiters begin at once to remind you how precious 
 time is. They first adroitly thrust under you a 
 chair, which obliges you to sit down nolens 
 volens, then the business commences in earnest. 
 Dish after dish is handed round in quick suc- 
 cession till something of everything would be 
 heaped on your plate, unless you astonish the ob- 
 sequious waiters by a constant " No, thank you." 
 While the little folk of our party are being 
 properly attended to, all have been as busy as 
 possible, and the despatch was astonishing. Just 
 as I began to cater for myself, nearly all the 
 guests and a goodly portion of the viands had 
 already vanished. This was the usual state of 
 affairs with us, and the waiters could scarcely 
 refrain from smiling at our dilatoriness, however 
 much we might be ridiculing the expedition of 
 their guests. Nevertheless, we had the solace 
 of being kept in countenance by an Englishman 
 who had crossed in the same steamer, had put 
 up at the same house, and afterwards became 
 our companion through the earliest part of our 
 Canadian career. 
 
 Our first snooze, it will be "guessed," proved 
 a sound one ; but alas ! before I was, as it 
 seemed to me, half through it, I w?is startled out 
 of my senses by a most terrific clanging, banging, 
 jangling noise. What could it mean ? My first 
 
 1 
 
 
 
LANDING AT MONTREAL. 
 
 11 
 
 impulv was to rush to the door, thinking no- 
 thing short of a fire could warrant such a com- 
 motion. I soon ascertained, however, that there 
 was nothing amiss. I was merely being aroused 
 in a manner ordinary to an American, but ex- 
 traordinary to the uninitiated. The porter, whom 
 I met at the door, not only entered into the 
 explanation, but also intimated that unless I 
 looked sharp the second alarum would soon be 
 sounded, when all were expected to appear at 
 the general breakfast-table. All this may appear 
 very frivolous and trite ; yet the Americans 
 regard these minor details as illustrations of their 
 national "go-a-headativeness'' (a word daily in use 
 by the American press) — a characteristic in which 
 the Canadian largely participates, to which he 
 msiy safely ascribe his present success, and upon 
 which he must depend for future progress. 
 
 The next peculiarity in our hotel that alarmed 
 me not a little, was the having my bed-room bell 
 invariably answered by a " man,"' to whom I had 
 to communicate my wants. 
 
 On the second night after landing I was sud- 
 denly seized with a severe quinzy throat-attack 
 in the dead of night. The symptoms were so 
 bad that there was nothing to be done but to 
 alarm the hotel Up came my male attendant 
 with the utmost despatch. He quickly brought 
 
 H 
 
12 
 
 LANDING AT MONTREAL. 
 
 the mustard poultice, and all that was needful 
 for such an emergenc3\ Fortunately these re- 
 medies soon relieved me, and the disease began 
 to subside ; but to my surprise, the next morning 
 he re-appeared again at my bedside, full of polite 
 inquiries, expressing his great concern at my 
 indisposition, and his anxiety for my speedy 
 convalescence. During my short sojourn, I had 
 but little time to explore Montreal, which is, I 
 believe, universally admitted to be the finest 
 city in British North America, and ranks, I am 
 told, about the tenth in America, as its popula- 
 tion, including its suburbs, exceeds 100,000. 
 
 Just fresh as I was from home, the first im- 
 pressions were far from favourable. Wet weather, 
 dense November fogs ; or if no fog, a dull hazy 
 sky, with scarcely any sun to light up the 
 narrow and half-finished streets, combined to 
 render the tout ensemble anything but pleasing. 
 There was an absence, too, of all bustle, and the 
 dearth of gay equipages, or any vehicles, except 
 unwieldy omnibuses, or rough-looking waggons, 
 shed a gloomy hue, different from what I had 
 been led to expect. Rarely, I was told, did 
 Montreal wear such a dismal aspect. During 
 the bright summer and the sleighing season in 
 winter it was lively, gay, and cheerful in the 
 extreme. 
 
LANDING AT MONTREAL. 
 
 13 
 
 When the day for our departure arrived, the 
 sun shone with great brilliancy; not a speck 
 could be seen in all the vast expanse of cloudless 
 sky. Nothing is more striking to an European 
 than the size of everything in America. The 
 St. Lawrence and the Saquenay are not the only 
 natural objects that make you think the Thames 
 and the Mersey mere rivulets and trout-streams, 
 but the very sky itself looks so high, that you 
 have nothing to do but glance upwards to per- 
 ceive you are no longer in the Old World. When 
 the traveller leaves Montreal, and gets clear of 
 the streets and suburbs, and looks back upon 
 the magnificent panorama, then he begins to 
 realize what a city of wealth he has visited, 
 and with what a beautiful and fertile country 
 it is encircled. I longed to be a tourist, on a 
 visit of choice and pleasure, and not an emigrant 
 in search of a home in a new and very strange 
 land. 
 
 ■ h 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 "HUNTING FOR A HOME," AND PROFESSIONAL 
 
 PROSPECTS. 
 
 Guided by the too prevalent notion that all 
 an immigrant in Canada has to do, is to hurry 
 on to the west as fast as possible, we followed in 
 the wake of most of our fellow-passengers, who 
 had not loitered on their way. Experience has 
 taught us that Quebec is, no doubt, too far eaat. 
 But the district of Montreal, and the country 
 known as the Eastern Townships, are no longer so 
 readily overlooked. The prevalence of the French 
 language, the severity of the climate, and the 
 like, are objections greatly exaggerated. 
 
 After four years' close observation, we have 
 ascertained that the condition of many English 
 residents in Canada East, will compare favour- 
 ably with that of many, who, at great expense 
 and inconvenience, migrated thousands of miles, 
 and penetrated the Western States of lovva and 
 Illinois, for instance, and left behind tl/:Ti« .ili ^ae 
 advantages of excellent markets, of ready com- 
 mimication by railway and steamboat, and have 
 
HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 15 
 
 •5 
 
 secured little else as compensation, than perhaps 
 ten days earlier spring, and the same interval in 
 autumn, before winter positively sets in. 
 
 Many of our fellow-passenofers had left us their 
 addresses, with hearty assurances of welcome, if 
 we would pay their districid a visit. There was 
 nothing now, it was said, like "roughing it in 
 tlie bush," and the "back woods of Canada'' 
 were nlieady a myth of the past, to be found 
 only o' Tt I J one hundred miles north of the St. 
 Tipwrence. We therefore bade adieu to Mon- 
 treal; were again jostled "pretty considerable" 
 in an omnibus to the " cars " for Lachine. " All 
 aboard ! all board ! " is the universal cry, whether 
 you are stepping into a steamer, omnibus, or 
 railway. The latter word being seldom used, 
 and the shorter word "cars" substituted, bv all 
 the officials with whom a traveller has to deal 
 
 The next stage on our journey was Kingston, 
 some 160 miles distant ; and we selected a 
 steamer as by far the most convenient for a 
 family party, encumbered with the amount of 
 luggage we possessed. The steamer having to 
 work its way slowly through the canals con- 
 s^^ructed by the side of the St. Lawrence, where 
 navigation is impeded on the upward trip against 
 the stream by the rapids, but greatly accelerated 
 on the dowTiward course by what is termed, 
 
16 
 
 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 "shooting the rapids/* The sensations of the 
 passenger, while his steamer is "shooting the 
 rapids/' are said to be so exciting and enchanting 
 that the numerous guide-books for tlie tourist 
 are all puzzled to describe them, so one and all, 
 after having attempted to do so, wind off with 
 the assertion that they can neither be imagined 
 or described. The effect must be tried by a trip 
 taken for the express purpose. 
 
 We reached Lachine, after a rapid railway ride 
 through a flat country, and found the Kingston 
 steamer awaiting our arrival. Tlie contrast be- 
 tween an ocean steamship and a lake and river 
 steamer is peculiarly striking. The latter is 
 built expressly for passenger accommodation, 
 without reference to model or naval architecture, 
 and perhaps it would be better if the latter were 
 a little more consulted, as the storms on Lake 
 Ontario are by no means contemptible. These 
 vessels, at first sight, seem little better than 
 huge, floating hotels ; but are admirably adapted 
 for the miscellaneous traffic they carry on ; for 
 not only are they capable of stowing away several 
 hundred passengers, but hundreds of all kinds 
 of live stock besides. These last occupy the 
 lower deck, while the passengers are comfort- 
 ably ensconced on the upper, and tlie remainder 
 of the vessel has great capacity for general mer- 
 
 
HUNTING FOB A HOME. 
 
 17 
 
 chandise. Anything better suited for family 
 travel it would be difficult to suggest ; with 
 plenty of room for promenade on deck, a luxuri- 
 ous drawing-room, supplied with piano, news- 
 papers, and books — an excellent table d'h^e, 
 and capacious and separate berths (dignified with 
 the name of " state-rooms "), 
 
 Onward you glide, enjoying the lovely scenery 
 of the St. Lawrence; no time lost by day or 
 night, and all this quite free from the fatigue, 
 or weary monotony of railway travel ; at meals 
 or asleep still onward you go, all at one fare, 
 which includes living and moving expenses. 
 Truly, a railway in Canada has a formidable 
 competitor during the season of travel. The 
 fairy scene of the Thousand Isles, the Rapids of 
 the St. Lawrence, the glorious effects of sunrise 
 and sunset, and the moonlight scene on the 
 clear blue waters of Lake Ontario — all, indeed, 
 that has any claim upon the tourist, or can serve 
 to soften the sad hours of the newly-arrived 
 emigrant — all is lost to those who select the 
 railroad journey from Montreal to Toronto, in 
 preference to the passage by steamer. The line 
 of the railway, too, is calculated to convey a 
 very false impression. The Grand Trunk, for 
 the most part, runs about one mile inland from 
 the banks of the river and shores of the lakes 
 
 C 
 
 ( 
 
IS 
 
 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 just skirting the backs of the first range of 
 farms. It cuts through the bush each farmer 
 has preserved for fuel, so that little else is visible 
 from the windows of the carriages but horrible 
 stumps and mangled forest trees ; while the tra- 
 veller is actually passing through some of the 
 best cultivated farms in the province, all that he 
 can see is swampy and uncleared. The effect 
 of this is peculiarly depressing upon the stranger, 
 and places the dark side of the picture, without 
 any opportunity of seeing the bright. It led, 
 too, to a serious error, on the part of an eminent 
 agriculturist and author, who formed his opinion 
 from his rapid ride on the railway, and thought, 
 as he saw no barns or farm-houses, there was no 
 produce. Had the same author paid a visit to 
 the store-houses that line the wharves of every 
 port between Hamilton or Toronto, he would 
 perhaps have ascertained that not only had the 
 Canadian farmer something to sell, but that he 
 had facilities for market scarcely equalled. 
 
 We reached Kingston on a Sunday morning. 
 Of this day, throughout Canada, there is, at all 
 events, a strict outward observance. The law 
 does not countenance Sabbath-breaking, and 
 railwajr s, steamboats, telegraphs, and post-offices 
 are at rest. This was another contrast to our 
 own country, where railway and steamboat ex- 
 
I 
 
 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 19 
 
 cursions were so common, and by many were 
 encouraged as conducive to public health, and 
 affording opportunities for intercourse between 
 parents and long-parted children, otherwise un- 
 attainable. 
 
 Our boat happened to come in unusually late, 
 and as we landed the various congregations were 
 leaving their churches, and lined each side of the 
 street in full Sunday attire. It was a bad time 
 to arrive, and our obstreperous dogs made it 
 worse. On our way from the wharf to the hotel 
 they unhappily descried a pig, which, to their 
 ideas of English propriety, had no business in 
 the streets of an important city. The temp- 
 tation to give chase was too strong to be 
 resisted; off went "Scotchy" with the 'arge 
 "retriever" at his heels. Poor grunter, so un- 
 expectedly assailed, was soon heard squealing 
 lamentably. First, he stood at bay, then took 
 to his heels, when the scene became so noisily 
 exciting, that we began to fear the authorities 
 would be after our headstrong protectors ; 
 luckily, poor " Chuggy " took refuge in the 
 yard of the hotel to which we were going, and 
 the turmoil our dogs had occasioned soon ended. 
 We were not long in discovering that pigs were 
 by no means such uncommon promenaders on 
 the public side- walks, even in large places like 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 i 
 
 Toronto — till lately, the seat of government, and 
 termed the " Queen City " — still, the nuisance of 
 allowing animals to feed on the offal of the 
 public streets is gradually abating. 
 
 We took a great fancy to our Kingston hotel, 
 which was truly "British American," and not 
 simply American, as the one we had just left. 
 It was something to see once more an honest 
 leg of mutton on the table, and whole loaves of 
 bread, instead of finding everything sliced up 
 ready for immediate use, suggesting the hint 
 that "all we want you to do, is to eat and be 
 off as fast as you can." Here, too, we were 
 joined by our English fellow- voyageur ; and in 
 the evening we heard, for the first time in this 
 new land, our own Church service, in an English 
 church. 
 
 Next morning we started betimes for Toronto, 
 and were all aboard in due season. Our English 
 acquaintance, who had come out to establish 
 himself as a medical practitioner, soon had his 
 surgical skill brought into requisition, and his 
 first patient was, singularly enough, one of the 
 aborigines. It may be remembered, that, a few 
 years ago, application was made to the Lord 
 Mayor, on behalf of a party of Indians, fi*om 
 the Eocky Mountains, whose forlorn condition 
 on the streets of London attracted the notice 
 
HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 21 
 
 of Bome benevolent person. It transpired that 
 these unfortunates had been enticed from their 
 native wigwams by some speculator, to join an 
 Indian exhibition. Exhibitions of this kind, 
 however, had become somewhat stale before they 
 reached England, or, at all events, had lost their 
 attractiveness. The speculator therefore dis- 
 carded his 'proteges, and turned them adrift 
 homeless and friendless. Charitable means, and 
 not the public purse, were alone available to- 
 wards their restoration to their native moun- 
 tains, and some generous hearted individuals 
 paid their fare to Quebec. From Quebec they 
 were sent on at the public expense, and so, from 
 place to place, until they would arrive within a 
 reasonable distance of their hunting grounds. 
 Their trip to London had apparently the reverse 
 of any good effect ; for, as passengers on our 
 steamer, a more senseless, besotted-looking party 
 could scarcely be imagined ; whisky and rum 
 had done its work. 
 
 One of this party, a poor squaw, my husband 
 found lying on the lower deck, in a frightful 
 condition from loss of blood — the chief and his 
 sons, all looked thoroughly intoxicated, were 
 standing by her side totally unconcerned — and 
 the natives of her own sex had certainly no 
 ideas of nursing, and very little of anything like 
 
22 
 
 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 
 sympathy. We soon got our medical friend to 
 come to her aid. It appeared that during a 
 drunken quarrel his patient had been stabbed 
 by another squaw, that the wounds had been 
 inflicted for several hours, and for want of some 
 person to staunch the blood, life was fast ebbing, 
 and would have been lost without any alarm 
 being given by the bystanders. In this instance 
 the poor creature recovered, and regarded her pre- 
 server as something between a magician and a 
 doctor — an opinion in which her companions 
 fully shared ; for magic is always an essential 
 element in the Indian doctor's skill. Not only 
 do the "Indians" believe this, but the "white 
 men '' shew they are scarcely more proof against 
 superstitious feelings than the Ojibbeways or 
 Chippewas — an Indian herb, or quack doctor 
 being one of the most successful callings which 
 any impostor can follow. We were just entering 
 Lake Ontario when the excitement occasioned 
 by this incident had subsided. 
 
 This was my last opportunity of witnessing 
 the gorgeous and magnificent scenery of the 
 St. Lawrence. I was in perfect ecstasy with its 
 beauty and loveliness. The water so pure and 
 limpid, reflecting the red and yellow autumna 
 tints from the forest, which clothed the banks to 
 the water's edge, as well as the still more varied 
 
 I 
 
HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 23 
 
 hues from the great variety of shrubs growing 
 on the numerous islands. Some of these islands 
 were such complete little territories, that they 
 made me almost fancy I could settle down very 
 happily on any of them ; others were much 
 smaller, in groups or clusters. Here we caught 
 a glimpse of some Indians, and watched their 
 tiny birch-bark canoes gracefully riding on the 
 rippling waters, and ever and anon darting in 
 and out from their numberless hiding places at 
 the will of their occupants, chiefly squaws, with 
 their copper-coloured children, some mere infants, 
 swimming and sporting in the water, like so 
 many tadpoles in their native element. There 
 was so much to amuse, arouse, and interest in 
 this portion of my journey, that it grieved me 
 to think how rapidly I was accomplishing it. 
 But " time and tide "' wait for no man. 
 
 Our steamer had now threaded its way through 
 this fairy labyrinth of islands, and launched us 
 on what I dreaded as too much like a return to 
 the Atlantic ; but it was nothing more than a 
 transition from the placid St. Lawrence to the 
 more ruffled waters of Lake Ontario. It was 
 now late, and the chill autumnal evening made 
 it no longer safe to remain on deck. The greater 
 portion of the passengers repaired to the draw- 
 ing-room-saloon. In a short time the piano 
 
24> 
 
 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 , ■ - 
 
 : 
 
 struck up, and after a voluntary from two or 
 three American ladies, who, it seemed to me, 
 vied with each other in the display of their 
 peculiar power in rendering a piano a much 
 harsher and louder instrument than I ever 
 thought it could be made. We had, neverthe- 
 less, some pleasant solos and glees, and I must 
 say I admired the vocal much more than the 
 instrumental concert. There was too much to 
 remind me of the horrors of the equinoctials to 
 permit of unbroken rest, so I was up early, and 
 was amply repaid by witnessing, what I suppose 
 can scarcely be equalled for its peculiar splen- 
 dour, the effect of sunrise upon the bright blue 
 waters of Lake Ontario. 
 
 In a few short hours we began to descry the 
 tops of the principal buildings of Toronto. 
 Toronto is perhaps, in one sense, the reverse of 
 Montreal. The latter, as I have said, is seen to 
 best advantage from its noble river ; but Toronto 
 being built upon a level, and having no imme- 
 diate background to take the place of the moun- 
 tain of Montreal, is, as an American remarked 
 to me, **a mean-locking place till you get into 
 it, and then, I guess, you '11 think it smart 
 enough" — in fact, you come upon it unawares. 
 It is truly a fine city, when you become ac- 
 quainted with its public buildings, avenues, and 
 
 
 
 
HUNTINO FOR A HOMR 
 
 25 
 
 suburbs, as well as its spacious and well laid out 
 streets — in many parts shaded with the light 
 foliage of the acacia and Canadian maple, afford- 
 ing gi'ateful shade from the fierce rays of our 
 summer suns. 
 
 To return from this digression to our landing. 
 All the scrambling for luggage had to be re- 
 peated. Hotel runners, or canvassers, were loud 
 in their vociferations of "All aboard for Rus- 
 seirs,'' "The American," &;c. &c., and I don't 
 know what else besides. We had the good 
 fortune to make choice of " Swords,'' at this time 
 the best hotel ; the luxurious and capacious 
 " Rossin House " not being completed. All was, 
 of course, still very new to us, and some of the 
 novelties it may be amusing to notice. 
 
 In the public dining-room we naturally at- 
 tempted to keep together, children and nurse as 
 well as ourselves. This was a decided, though 
 unintentional, affront to the negro waiters, who 
 immediately ushered off the nurse and children 
 to a side-table. Astonished at the presumption, 
 we removed to the side-table also, where, to our 
 surprise, an English traveller, probably as fresh 
 as ourselves, immediately repaired as well. His 
 object was to resent an apparently uncalled-for 
 slight, when the funny assemblage at a Canadian 
 table d'hote is taken into consideration. Next, 
 
 
26 
 
 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 the waiting arrangements were diverting in the 
 extreme. The number of attendants (all negroes) 
 were certainly greater than the number of guests. 
 Some were fine, pleasant-looking fellows, in spite 
 of their grim visages ; and from their winning, 
 kindly manners, soon ingratiated themselves with 
 our little ones, much to my surprise. But to 
 describe the system adopted. Our troop of 
 waiters vanislied all at once, just as we were 
 seated to commence dinner. Suddenly the door 
 re-opened — in they marched in single file, each 
 bearing a dish, while their principal assumed all 
 the airs of a generalissimo. His "corps'' fixed 
 their dark, keen eyes upon him, awaiting his 
 signal ; and as soon as that was given, down 
 went the dishes on the table all at once — :a 
 pause — another signal — and off flew the covers, 
 with similar precision and alacrity ; tLuIr black 
 countenances and gloveless black hands made 
 the effect all the more ridiculous, although, to 
 some, not altogether pleasing. These manoeuvres 
 they repeated at each course until the repast was 
 over. The evenings passed oflf agreeably enough- 
 The guests met in the public drawing-room, 
 where they were entertained with music, the 
 daughters of the hotel proprietor taking the 
 principal part as performers. : 
 
 Arrived at Toronto, we considered ourselves 
 
PnOFlIfeSIONAL PROSPECTS. 
 
 27 
 
 
 in the heart and centre, not only of Upper 
 Canada, but of Canada, as, at this time, Toronto 
 was the seat of government. Here we learnt that 
 any professional occupation was by no means easy 
 to obtain. Our friend, the doctor, had no diffi- 
 culty in securing license to practise ; but found 
 in a short time that, beyond gratuitious practice, 
 little field was before him, so numerous wfere 
 the resident medical men long and favourably 
 known to the inhabitants, so that it would take 
 as much time to work his way on to a living, 
 as long perhaps as if he had established himself 
 in London, and probably the cost of supporting 
 the style he deemed requisite to secure a position 
 was fully as great, as it would have been in axx 
 English town. The English lawyer can only 
 become qualified b}'^ apprenticing himself at once 
 to a Canadian lawyer for twelve months at 
 least, and even then his license is not obtained 
 without much expense. With capital a good 
 business might be gained in a few years ; but 
 without it, without interest, and with probably 
 a deal of jealousy to contend against, the pro* 
 spects of an English lawyer are not encouraging. 
 Commercial employment is neither so easy to 
 get, nor so remunerative when secured, as at 
 home. The ways and habits of the country can 
 only be learnt by experience, and until that has 
 
28 
 
 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 been gained, it is impossible that a stranger can 
 successfully compete with those born, bred, and 
 educated in the colony. It was therefore evi- 
 dent our " hunt for a homo *' must be continued, 
 and that some less beaten track than a Canadian 
 city must be selected. At this period rents were 
 exorbitantly high, and provisions by no means 
 reasonable, and the sooner we left for a rural 
 village or town the better. Unhappily, we had 
 been much misled on our voyage out, by descrip- 
 tions of Canada's **last" and most " hopeful forest 
 child," and had been induced to pay it a visit. 
 
 We arrived in the height of land speculation, 
 or rather just when the bubbles were beginning 
 to burst. Canada had raised a large family of 
 children within a very few years, and of these 
 " CoUingwood " was said to be the most preco- 
 cious, and it needs must be explored before any 
 one could safely settle down. CoUingwood was, 
 and is, the terminus of the railway connecting 
 Toronto with Lake Huron. Here all the trade 
 from Chicago and the Far West was to be con- 
 centrated, and it was represented a great portion 
 had already been secured. It promised a famous 
 opening for everybody. A bank was particularly 
 wanted — of this, perhaps, there was but little 
 doubt, so far as accommodation being necessary 
 was concerned. 
 
 
HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 29 
 
 I anxiously awaited my husband's return from 
 this El Dorado, as I had induced him to explore 
 it by himself, and leave me to recruit, with my 
 little ones, in our comfortable hotel in Toronto. 
 On his return, he informed me that the principal 
 building in the place was a large wooden-framed 
 hotel, perched at the very terminus of the rail- 
 way, so that the trains almost ran into it. This 
 he found frequented by a number of guests ; most 
 of them as rough as can be conceived. It was 
 here ho heard the hardest swearing, and the 
 most blasphemous epithets and conversation, it 
 was ever his lot to have forced upon his ears. 
 California in its worst days could scarcely have 
 brought together greater ruffians than had taken 
 up their temporary abode at Collingwood. Most 
 of them had village lots to sell, at prices much 
 about the same as those obtained for the best 
 building sites in the heart of Montreal and 
 Toronto. Some had come in search of their 
 " town lots," which they had purchased without 
 inspection, except on paper ; and not a few of 
 these they, literally, could not see, as they were 
 positively under water — a great portion of the 
 site of this embryo city being in a swamp. Still 
 there were symptoms of life and business ; but 
 such a life, and such a business, in the midst of 
 such a set of speculators, that we never at- 
 
 * 
 
30 
 
 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 i< 
 
 
 I .f 
 
 tJ, 
 
 
 hi 
 II 
 
 
 tempted to join in it, and we were certainly the 
 wiser for tlie visit. 
 
 If life in the bush be rugged and hard, and 
 subject to deprivations, a life in a paper town, 
 we thought, must be tenfold more rugged and 
 hard to endure, and nothing has transpired to 
 alter our impression. The earliest stage of a 
 community, such as that of an American towtt 
 or village, is by no means inviting, and time 
 alone can mould any new settlement into order 
 and shape, whether it be in more remote British 
 Columbia, Vancouver's Island, or Australia. The 
 settler who makes choice of any very new dis- 
 trict will have the same ordeal to go tli rough. 
 The hardships of climate may be nothing to the 
 trials inflicted by bad neighbours ; nor are these 
 trials and hardships lessened by the attempts 
 we hear are being again made in England, of 
 transplanting little communities with all the 
 gradations of squires and peasantry, priests and 
 deacons, with parish doctors, and the whole paro- 
 chial system, to the banks of the Upper Ottawa. 
 
 It was known we were " hunting for a home," 
 and we were sorely pressed to join a scheme of 
 this nature, and right glad I am, after a still 
 further acquaintance with the subject, we kept 
 aloof from a project, which, after repeated trials, 
 has never yet led to anything but disappoint- 
 
 1 
 
 if 
 
 
 •:f 
 
HUNTINia FOR A HOME. 
 
 31 
 
 ment and vexation. The chief promoter was 
 most enthusiastic in his hobby. He had ascer- 
 tained that the Canadian government would 
 readily grant a free block of land, of ten square 
 miles ; and if not absolutely make a free grant, 
 would sell the whole for a mere nominal price 
 of 2s. 6d. per acre. The whole of Canada, it 
 was urged, was divided into ten square miles' 
 townships. Why not make a model township ? 
 The inhabitants of which should be entirely 
 British in their habits, select in every way, and 
 members of the Church of England. This 
 sounded plausible enough in theory, but when 
 reduced to practice, has invariably been most 
 difficult, if not impossible to carry out. A 
 clergyman, a medical man, several young esquires, 
 and a good shopkeeper, had agreed to settle 
 down on the block, and each had induced agri- 
 cultural labourers and their families to accom- 
 pany them — a capitalist to erect a saw-mill, and 
 a miller to grind the produce would soon follow. 
 The only conditions were, that the entire block 
 of land sliould be taken up, that a certain pro- 
 portion of every one hundred acres should be 
 speedily cleared, and log-houses erected, to en- 
 sure permanent occupation. Of the fate of this 
 individual scheme, or whether it was ever ma- 
 tured, we have not heard. 
 
 -dsi. 
 
32 
 
 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 1r 
 
 By far the most successful pioneers in the 
 backwoods, have been men trained to their call- 
 ing as lumbermen. While engaged in the forest 
 winter after winter, they become familiar with 
 the locality, and know the exact spots where 
 settlement can be entered upon with certainty 
 of success ; and they likewise understand, how- 
 ever good and fertile the soil may be, insuper- 
 able barriers may exist, such as miles of " wind 
 falls," as the havoc of a storm in the forest is 
 termed, or of a swamp through which a road 
 could not be made without difficulties too great 
 for an individual to encounter, or overcome in a 
 lifetime. Instances there are where settlements 
 in large bodies by fellow-countrymen, with little 
 distinction of high or low degree, have prospered. 
 The county of Glengarry may be noticed as the 
 principal 
 
 It must be remembered how close is the tie 
 of clanship in Scotland ; while there is no similar 
 bond of union amongst the English population. 
 This, perhaps, is one reason why the Scotch 
 settler, independently of his hardy and thrifty 
 habits, and his acquaintance with a severe climate 
 from his youth upwai'ds, has so rarely failed as 
 a Canadian settler. 
 
 While at Collingwood, information was gleaned 
 that " Oriilia,'' on the shores of Lake Simcoe was 
 
HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 33 
 
 in the 
 leir call- 
 he forest 
 iar with 
 IS where 
 lertainty 
 id, how- 
 insuper- 
 f "wind 
 forest is 
 L a road 
 00 great 
 ome in a 
 tlements 
 ith little 
 rospered. 
 d as the 
 
 the tie 
 
 similar 
 pulation. 
 
 Scotch 
 
 1 thrifty 
 3 climate 
 failed as 
 
 gleaned 
 iicoe was 
 
 as eligible as any place tl.at could be suggested 
 for us to -winter in, as there were a great many 
 resident English families, and rents would be 
 found moderate ; besides the simile drawn be- 
 tween it and Brighton attracted my fancy — it 
 held the same relation to Toronto, so said my 
 new acquaintances, as did my favourite watering 
 place to London. 
 
 We resolved to give it a trial and trusted it 
 would afford us a snug little home, easily reached 
 before winter set in ; so we left the comforts of 
 Toronto, and started by the northern railway for 
 Belle Ewart, the station from which the steamer 
 sailed daily, so we were told, for Orillia. The 
 cognomen of " Belle Ewart " somewhat inspired 
 confidence. We thought we must be nearing 
 something to excite admiration, but on arrival 
 our first exclamation was — " What a name to 
 give to a few wooden shanties huddled together, 
 and surrounded by charred stumps with a 
 Yankee saw-mill, the mainstay of its trade ! " 
 We were already fast getting into November; 
 not a green leaf, nor the slightest verdure re- 
 mained, and all the beauty of Belle Ewart 
 had withered and faded, not to be revived till 
 May or June came round again. We no sooner 
 left the cars and saw them puffing away, than 
 we inquired of the first person we met the way 
 
34 
 
 HUNTING FOE A HOME. 
 
 ■)( -, 
 
 
 to the steam-wharf, and if the steame: was in 
 readiness for starting for Orillia ? "I guess 
 you're out in your reckoning ; there will be no 
 steamer till Monday/' was the answer, and it 
 was then Saturday ; so the " guess," alas ! proved 
 the more unfortunate and provoking. But it 
 was too true. The steamer had altered the time 
 of its trips and ran only on alternate days. 
 
 Here was a dilemma. Here were we, with all 
 our baggage piled upon stumps, and ourselves 
 exposed to a Canadian rain — such rain as I 
 had never seen ; a perfect water spout, which 
 drenches you through and through in a very 
 short space of time. Charming Belle Ewart 
 could boast of no suitable inn, and nothing but 
 a tavern of the lowest class ; the hope, how- 
 ever, of finding two good hotels at Lefroy if we 
 walked back, a distance of a mile, kept up our 
 flagging spirits. We buckled to and began our 
 uncomfortable trudge ; but, oh ! horror of horrors, 
 when we came to the end of our pilgrim- 
 age through mud and mire, there was not a 
 pin's difference to choose between the taverns of 
 either place, and no possibility of a return to 
 Toronto. There was nothing for it but to make 
 the best of our situation. The miserable, squalid 
 taverns, were each dignified with the name of 
 " hotel," but they had only the roughest accom- 
 
HUNTINO FOR A HOME. 
 
 35 
 
 was m 
 '. guess 
 . be no 
 and it 
 proved 
 But it 
 he time 
 s. 
 
 with, all 
 irselves 
 n as I 
 , which 
 a very 
 
 Ewart 
 ling but 
 e, how- 
 )y if we 
 up our 
 gan our 
 horrors, 
 pilgrim- 
 
 not a 
 verns of 
 turn to 
 to make 
 
 squalid 
 uame of 
 
 accom- 
 
 modation to offer. A house kept by an English- 
 man was the one we preferred. His long resi- 
 dence in this isolated district had not quite beat 
 out of him all ideas of civility or courtesy to 
 newly-arrived strangers. He intended to be 
 most hospitable, but a new obstacle arose. As 
 we entered his threshold we were met by a very 
 stern-looking dame, who convinced us she was 
 not only his wife, but his "boss" (the slang term 
 commonly in use for master, or mistress, as the 
 case may be). It seemed very doubtful whether 
 we should be admitted, but after some parley we 
 were sliewn into a cheerless room, into which as 
 yet the stove had not been "fixed;'' and here 
 we were, children and all, wet, soaking, and half- 
 drowned, without either a chance of a fire or of 
 drying ourselves or our garments. I thought 
 quite affectionately of "Swords'' ajid the troop 
 of "darkies" we had just left. 
 
 Our troubles were not to end here. Fatigue 
 and anxiety, combined with the cold shower- 
 bath in which we had all participated during the 
 day, precluded rest ; and at midnight I had all 
 the symptoms of ague and intermittent fever. 
 As the nearest doctor lived twelve miles off, the 
 landlord with much sympathy undertook my 
 cure ; and as I was too ill to turn restiv^e, I 
 swallowed his prescribed nostrums. His " R 
 
 D 2 
 
36 
 
 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 E. "R." which interpreted, signifies "Kadway's 
 Keady Relief," was the vilest and most pungent 
 decoction of the hottest capsicums it had ever 
 been my lot to taste. Nevertheless, I am bound 
 to say this quack remedy, though severe, was 
 not without its good results; such a glow and 
 warmth as it diffused I shall not easily forget, — 
 it must have assisted in dispelling my chill ; and, 
 thanks to this all-stimulating, powerful agent, I 
 was enabled to pursue our journey on the Mon- 
 day. It was a real blessing to be once more on 
 the move. The day, too, was propitious. We 
 took care to reach the steamer in good time, and 
 embarked with a hearty farewell to Belle Ewart, 
 Lefroy, and its rival hotels. 
 
 Once more afloat, we could scarcely fail to ad- 
 mire the superior build and size of our vessel ; 
 it was superbly fitted up with costly velvet fur- 
 niture, the wood work supplied from the best 
 specimens of the Canadian forest timber, highly- 
 polished and beautifully carved. We naturally 
 asked how such a large boat could be brought to 
 Lake Simcoe, which, according to the map, had 
 no outlet of sufficient size to float anything 
 much bigger than an Indian canoe. We were 
 astonished to hear it was built at Belle Ewart, 
 the wretched, miserable, little forest village I 
 was so glad to leave and had so often ridiculed. 
 
 '■t; 
 
 M 
 
 • M 
 
HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 37 
 
 idway's 
 pungent 
 ad ever 
 1 bound 
 sre, was 
 ow and 
 >rget,— 
 11; and, 
 igent, I 
 le Mon- 
 nore on 
 9. We 
 me, and 
 Ewart, 
 
 1 to ad- 
 vessel ; 
 v^et fur- 
 he best 
 highly- 
 iturally 
 ught to 
 ap, had 
 lything 
 e were 
 Ewart, 
 llage I 
 iiculed. 
 
 •W 
 
 $ 
 
 Truly it was a lesson to me not to judge always 
 from outward appearances. 
 
 Lake Simcoe is a beautiful sheet of water, by 
 many considered the most so of all the Canadian 
 lakes. There were some good homesteads and 
 well-cultivated farms close to the water's edge, 
 and the advantages derived from railway con- 
 nection with Toronto must be great. Before the 
 railway was made, it was a common thing in 
 winter to drive the entire length of the lake on 
 the ice — some thirty miles, I believe ; and a 
 dreary drive it must have been from the Narrows 
 to the landing, for it took us nearly eight hours 
 to reach Orillia (stoppages included), which is 
 situated within what is termed the Narrows, 
 connecting Lake Simcoe with Lake Couchiching ; 
 but in common parlance. Lake Simcoe is the 
 term used when speaking of the entire sheet 
 of water between Belle Ewart and the Eiver 
 Severn, which unites it with the Georgian Bay, 
 a part of the vast inland sea of Lake Huron. 
 
 It was nearly dusk before our steamer was 
 moored to the Orillia whar^ and before we landed 
 at our much wished-for haven of rest. The very 
 first glimpse satisfied me ; that the resemblance 
 to Brighton was fallacious and unmeaning none 
 could gainsay. The hotel proprietor was at once 
 gpn board and on the look out for passengers, 
 
88 
 
 HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 and not a little well-pleased at the arrival of 
 strangers, as Orillia's fashionable season was over 
 
 * 
 
 if it had ever existed. He at once introdnced 
 himself, and I and the children were handed over 
 to his mercy. He prided himself upon being an 
 Englishman, and upon thoroughly understanding 
 what an absence of English comfort we must 
 have been subjected to during our sojourn at 
 Lefroy. There waf? nothing, however, that he 
 could not supply ; so recently from the " old 
 country " himself, he well knew how to make 
 his house pleasant and agreeable in the true 
 sense of the word. All this was delivered 
 with such distasteful and vulgar bombast, 
 that I took a dislike to my host at first offset, 
 and further acquaintance only increased the 
 weight of my first impressions. He took me to 
 what he termed his carriage. It was nothing 
 more or less than a common Canadian waggoci, 
 into which from its height I could not see the 
 possibility of climbing. After the children had 
 been hoisted into it, I once more renewed my 
 exertions to scramble iii after them ; but theJ 
 ridiculous cut of the whole concern, and a senseJ 
 of my own exceeding awkwardness so excited 
 my risibility, that at last I could do nothing but 
 laugh. I could not help it. I laughed immode- 
 rately, until seeing the owner a little chagrined^ 
 
 1 
 
 
 1} 
 
 UV: 
 
HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 S9 
 
 rival ot 
 as over 
 'odiiced 
 ed over 
 eing an 
 ;andiDsr 
 3 must 
 urn at 
 hat he 
 3 ''old 
 » make 
 e true 
 livered 
 mbast, 
 
 offset, 
 d the 
 
 me to 
 othin^ 
 aggoii, 
 ee the 
 n had 
 id my 
 it thei 
 . sense! 
 xcited 
 g but 
 raode- 
 rineO*. 
 
 I i"i 
 
 ,v-. 
 '4 
 
 
 if not positively in a passion, I mustered all the 
 strength I could, and finally tumbled into his 
 vehicle. We had ropes for part of the harness, 
 and the most crazy, lean-looking horses for a 
 " span " I ever saw. They ur> ^erstood the smack 
 of the whip, and the teamster's " Gee-a-lang " 
 which the Canadian utters with so shrill a nasal 
 twang, that any decently-fed horses would run 
 away from sheer fright at the sound. However, 
 they soon brought us to the portico of the crack 
 English hotel. 
 
 Recollections of fashionable, gay Brighton again 
 flashed across me, as I thought of the description 
 given me of Orillia. I do not mean to say I 
 was foolish enough to expect anything similar ; 
 but the notion of there being any room to draw 
 a comparison between the two places still con- 
 tinued to tickle my fancy not a little. I believe 
 such compariosns are made in all honest sim- 
 plicity, for all Canadians proper have a great 
 idea of themselves, and of all belonging to them, 
 and think all they possess, as well as all they do, 
 is inferior to nothing to be met with at home. 
 " Where ignorance is bliss 'tis folly to be wise,'' 
 is an old saw ; but applicable in their case. 
 Orillia in itself is a pretty little retired village, 
 with some good frame-houses, and a few small 
 stores. My expectations of comfort were not 
 
mmm 
 
 40 
 
 HUNTING FOR A HOMK 
 
 very high, when I saw the frame-house, in parti- 
 cular, which we were to occupy. 
 
 A county election was going on, and the hotel 
 was filled with a medley of strange-looking 
 visitors, and we had to sit at table daily with 
 people who appeared to think the presence of 
 womankind no check upon their noisy "rowdy'* 
 ways. I was, unluckily, very, very deaf — the 
 result of a cold, perhaps only half cured by the 
 celebrated " R. R. K" — and thus not wholly 
 conscious of the frequent invitations I received 
 to drink champagne, which was daily supplied 
 in profusion at the expense of the candidates for 
 election as members of the Canadian Legislative 
 Council. Unless there was some influential 
 person at table, which seldom happened, such 
 was the absence of all decorum, I quite dreaded 
 sitting at meals with men too much elated to 
 perceive how disagreeably they were behaving. 
 
 We made up our minds not to endure this 
 most unpleasant, and far from economical mode 
 of life even for a winter, especially as our host 
 thought it infra dig. not to charge on a par with 
 a first-class hotel-keeper, and yet had nothing to 
 off*er at all entitling him to any such rate of 
 compensation. The cottage we had heard of as 
 so cheap and pretty, and which was partially the 
 means of our taking this trip, was let, and there 
 
 t--^ »■ - »• 
 
HUNTING FOR A HOME. 
 
 41 
 
 .» 
 
 
 fl 
 
 was nothing in the village ready to receive us. 
 It was too late in the season to set to work 
 furnishing, even had we thought it wise or pru- 
 dent to do so, before knowing something of our 
 locality. After much consultation as to where 
 we should dispose ourselves, we heard of a quiet 
 roadside tavern, on the way to a place called 
 " Coldwater,'' some nine miles distant, kept b}'' 
 a homely, respectable Scotch couple. In this 
 humble log-shanty we resolved to winter. The 
 prospect was not cheering; but we were too 
 fatigued to explore further. Besides, winter was 
 speaking most unmistakably of its approach ; 
 even in the drive to our new abode the snow 
 was falling heavily. And I shall never forget 
 my first ride over a corduroy road. 
 
 We soon lost sight of everything but the 
 forest, except now and then some poor little 
 shanties, at intervals of every mile or so, peer- 
 ing through some trees, and giving some signs, 
 however faint, of the country being inhabited. 
 
 At length we arrived at our destined home. 
 Hitherto I had not been to inspect, and I felt, 
 I must confess, very much aghast when I saw it. 
 It had to me the appearance of a mud-hut ; but 
 it was a fair specimen of a log-house, or shanty, 
 rough-cast, and all the interstices between each 
 log well filled with mortar. These kind of houses 
 
 ;;!I3e, >■•*- ■*■ -.w^ ^-^ . ^-.. ,^._ 
 
f 
 
 I '! 
 
 ^ 
 
 I 
 
 42 
 
 nUNTINa FOR A nOMBL 
 
 are always warmer than the more comely-looking 
 frame-buildings. We alighted from our waggon 
 with anything but light hearts. Our hostess 
 without shoes or stockings, and with night-cap 
 on her head at mid-day, greeted us arms a-kimbo, 
 welcomed us to her dwelling in broad Scotch, 
 and shewed us our rooms, in which she had 
 taken the kindly precaution of having good fires. 
 The interior of the house was altogether far 
 more comfortable than the exterior wan'anted 
 us to expect. The main inconvenience not quite 
 agreeable, was the difficulty in getting at our 
 sleeping apartments, without having to pass 
 through those of our host and hostess — an evil 
 undoubtedly ; but easily overlooked when the 
 greater essentials of quiet, cleanliness, and eco- 
 nomy had, as we hoped been secured. 
 
 ( 
 
 
 
 ' 
 
looking 
 waggon 
 hostess 
 gbt-cap 
 -kirn bo, 
 Scotch, 
 be had 
 )d fires, 
 ^er far 
 rranted 
 •t quite 
 at our 
 3 pass 
 m evil 
 3n the 
 d eco- 
 
 ! 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 Not many days after we had become settled, to 
 my unbounded joy, our first precious batch of 
 home letters reached us. I was, in truth, home 
 sick. "As cold waters to a thirsty soul, so is 
 good news from a far country," say the Proverbs 
 of Solomon. We may believe this anywhere ; 
 but to realise its force and truth, we must be 
 removed thousands of miles from many very 
 dear. The contrast between the past and the 
 present seemed too great to be endured without 
 home sympathy, though I could scarcely bear to 
 read so much that wa' warm and affectionate^ 
 so vividly did it reiall all those from whom I 
 was now far away. But hope even then sug- 
 gested brighter days to come. 
 
 The earth was now covered with its white 
 mantle of snow, although we had only reached 
 the fifth of November. I had made several inef- 
 fectual attempts to take exploring walks, with the 
 children for my companions, but these I was now 
 
 -'.'* 
 
 •a*^.. 
 
! 
 
 I 
 
 
 I 
 
 ! 
 
 t 
 
 r 
 
 44 
 
 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 obliged to discontinue, and to wait for my chance 
 of a sleigh drive — than which, nothing charmed 
 me more. Our landlady proved very obliging, 
 and under her auspices we generally secured two 
 or three of these delightful drives in the course 
 of every week. The motion of the sleigh is so 
 easy, and yet so exhilarating, that it cannot fail 
 to put the most hypochondriacal person in the 
 world in the wildest spirits. Such, at least, w^as 
 its effects upon me at that time. The merry 
 jingling of the sleigh-bells added considerably to 
 the children's enjoyment, as well as my own ; 
 and then, such a white world as we looked upon ! 
 In every direction, every limb and branch of the 
 noble forest trees were feathered with the newly- 
 fallen snow at one time, and at another, covered 
 with sparkling icicles, glistening like so many 
 diamonds in the sun. Without these sleighing 
 excursions the monotony would have been very 
 depressing. 
 
 The chief signs of animal life in these deep 
 woods we perceived in the dead of night, when 
 the howling of wolves frequently aroused us from 
 sleep ; the settlers, however, never suffered from 
 their depredations, as sheep and cattle are care- 
 fully housed. The wolves instinctively shun the 
 lowliest shanty, and the slightest fire serves to 
 keep them at a respectful distance. Deer was 
 
 ' "-^SS 
 
WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 45 
 
 said to be plentiful, and a market is readily 
 found for them, and they are not unfrequently 
 sent to New York. Bears, of course, are never 
 visible in winter and but rarely in summer ; but 
 if Bruin has once tasted a field of sweet Indian 
 corn she immediately takes up her lodgings hard 
 by, and with her cubs will, if permitted, feast 
 there the whole summer. The fox, red and grey, 
 racooh, and the minx — squirrels, black, grey, and 
 red, with now and then such rare intruders as 
 the North American panther or lynx, were all 
 eagerly sought for by the " trappers,'* who occa- 
 sionally made our tavern their rendezvous. 
 
 Our long winter evenings were occasionally 
 enlivened by anecdotes. Our landlady amused 
 us by a relation of numerous events that had 
 befallen her and her spouse, during the earlier 
 years of their life as Canadian emigrants. They 
 landed in Canada about thirty years ago, at a 
 period when the hardships of an emigrant's life 
 from want of roads, railroads, mills, and post- 
 ofiices, and last, though not least, churches and 
 schools, were tenfold greater than in the present 
 day. At that time there was not an inhabitant 
 along the nine miles which intervened between 
 their lot and the lake shore, and scarcely a house 
 where the village of Orillia now stands. Our 
 good matron must then have been a fine speci- 
 
46 
 
 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 l\il 
 
 ', 
 
 men of a buxom, bonnie, Scotch lassie. To all 
 appearances she had weathered her rough begin- 
 ning uncommonly well, being in good, vigorous 
 health, and now enjoying all that this fertile 
 country can produce, exclusively of her home- 
 stead, which she valued at a no less sum than a 
 round thousand pounds ; she had laid by hard 
 cash, and was regarded as a " banker's wife '' in 
 the woods, always having the needful to lend to 
 her more straitened neighbours whose thrift had 
 not been equal to her own. 
 
 But to revert to her first arrival. As I before 
 said, there were no conveyances of any kind ; 
 she had to carry on her back her provisions and 
 every article of furniture and clothing from the 
 lake shore to her husband, who was too busy to 
 render much help while he was " raising " the 
 identical shanty in which we were now housed. 
 In one of her expeditions through the forest, as 
 she was preparing to make a fresh start, after 
 having had her dinner under the shady bank of 
 a rivulet, for the first time in her life a bear 
 crossed her path ; he had been evidently quench- 
 ing his thirst at the same stream, and was at- 
 tracted by his keen scent to the " victual " she 
 had left behind her. He coolly confronted her. 
 All her courage nearly forsook her and she 
 trembled in every limb : her last moment she 
 
 f( 
 r 
 
 B 
 
WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 47 
 
 
 
 felt sure was come, but providentially she yet 
 retained more nerve and presence of mind than 
 she imagined. She remembered having heard 
 that the force of the human eye alone invariably 
 proveu effectual, so she fixed a firm and steady 
 gaze upon Bruin, determined to stare him out of 
 countenance. There they stood with their eyes 
 fastened on each other for several minutes — it 
 seemed to her " hours," till the animal seeing 
 she neither quailed nor wavered in her purpose, 
 having given a few indignant sniffs, walked ma- 
 jestically away and hid himself in the woods. 
 All this while she had no other weapon than a 
 woman's arm ; in her case, under ordinary cir- 
 cumstance "^^^ no means a weak one. As may 
 be easily ^»:.m- jived, she did not loiter on her 
 road after this adventure but hastened on, yet 
 jjLot liking to leave the scene of her triumph 
 without one more look, she dared to turn 
 round, when lo ! she espied her old foe quietly 
 engaged in picking up the refuse of her meal. 
 
 Another incident she used to relate with pecu- 
 liar gusto. It seemed a sister had joined her in 
 her new home, — probably as comely as herself. 
 It was too much for the Indians, with whom 
 they were on friendly terms, to allow their white 
 neighbour to have, as they thought, two such 
 charming wives, and they came to the conclusion 
 
 J 
 
48 
 
 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 n. 
 
 i i 
 
 i 
 
 ii 
 
 
 ; f 
 
 ! I 
 
 I 
 
 that one was enough. A chief who had become 
 enamoured of their good looks, arrived one even- 
 ing with a few of his tribe for the express pur- 
 pose of trading, or exchanging a *' squaw " for 
 one of the white ladies. As he intended to deal 
 fairly he thought his offer quite rt isonable, and 
 implied tha' it would be a direct act of inhospi- 
 tality not to comply. Their wigwam was not 
 far off, and our hostess was preferred and selected 
 as one of its future inmates. The poor sisters 
 were upstairs while the Indians were making 
 this proposal to the husband below. The latter, 
 although a canny Scotchman and generally a 
 good hand at a bargain, was fairly "nonplussed." 
 His only remedy was a " treat of whisky."' Thus 
 they were soon overcome, and complete stupe- 
 faction having ensued, he drove them off in a 
 waggon to a considerable distance. He then had 
 to make public what I have detailed, and thus 
 gained the assistance of his white neighbours. 
 By judicious interpretation it was explained the 
 " trade " could not be made ; and the gude man, 
 his wife, and her fair sister, were never again 
 molested. 
 
 In a little while we gradually became objects of 
 great curiosity. No doubt many a ti seller on 
 the Coldwater Koad stopped to have a look at 
 the new English folk, and to give the English- 
 
 ii 
 
become 
 e even- 
 
 ss pur- 
 w " for 
 to deal 
 )le, and 
 nhospi- 
 as not 
 elected 
 
 sisters 
 
 naking 
 
 latter, 
 
 rally a 
 
 ussed.'' 
 
 Thus 
 stupe- 
 ff in a 
 en had 
 i thus 
 ibours. 
 ed the 
 J man, 
 again 
 
 Bcts of 
 ler on 
 ok at 
 glish- 
 
 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 49 
 
 
 man a "treat," much to the increase of the 
 "day's takings" at the bar. The door of our 
 sitting-room was often opened, without even the 
 courtesy of a knock, and a head masculine popped 
 in, giving a very decided jerk by way of invitation, 
 with the address, "Come along, now," intimating 
 that a " treat " was in store for my good man, 
 and that if he wished to gain friends in Canada 
 he must not refuse. It requires some exercise 
 of good judgment to decline without giving 
 offence. This habit of whisky treating is far 
 too ))revalent, not only in the backwoods, but 
 throughout the province. East and West. My 
 husband often walked to Orillia, and was sure of 
 a friendly lift home ; but it was very rarely, in- 
 deed, tliat he was not asked to drive while the 
 owner of the sleigh slept off the effects of the 
 numerous "treats" he had indulged in during 
 the day. * 
 
 An amusing incident of this nature once hap- 
 pened to him, which I will endeavour to narrate. 
 Business had called him to Toronto, and I was 
 left with my children alone for the first time in 
 this country. On his journey home, the road 
 being very bad and the stage heavily laden, the 
 driver asked a farmer to relieve him of some of 
 his pjxssengers, to which he readily assented. 
 Both stage and farmer stopped at every tavern, 
 
 E 
 
ii 
 
 f V 
 
 i 
 it . 
 
 !' >: 
 
 ^ J 
 
 50 
 
 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 and as the distance from Barrie was thirty miles, 
 and there was a tavern, at an average, to every 
 three miles of road, the stoppages must have 
 been constant. This farmer's home was at no 
 great distance from the spot where we were 
 domiciled, and it was arranged that my husband 
 should come home in the farmer's sleigh, and 
 avoid the delay of going through Orillia. 
 
 At the " corners " (the name given here to all 
 cross ways where two roads meet), where the 
 stage and the sleigh were to part from each 
 other, were two taverns. Already elated by 
 such frequent tippling, our friendly neighbour 
 had become somewhat inflammatory, and must 
 needs readily join in a dispute between the High- 
 lander and Lowlander customers, which had con- 
 gregated at these corners, in the heart of a Scotch 
 settlement. While hoping this dispute would 
 soon blow over, my husband was accosted by a 
 bright-eyed little fellow, in evident distress-— 
 " Oh, sir ! Father is going to fight ! Do you get 
 into his sleigh and drive off the team, and he 
 will come out and leave the Gaelic row." Eeadily 
 acting upon this suggestion, especially as the 
 Orillia stage now was a good way a-head on its 
 road homeward, and could not have been easily 
 overtaken on foot, he took the reins and drove 
 off. Out rushed my farmer ; for the moment he 
 
 1 3 
 
 il 
 
WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 51 
 
 fcy miles, 
 to every 
 1st have 
 IS at no 
 we were 
 husband 
 gh, and 
 
 re to all 
 lere the 
 >m each 
 ated by 
 jighbour 
 id must 
 le High- 
 bad con- 
 a Scotch 
 i would 
 ed by a 
 stress^ 
 you get 
 
 and he 
 Readily 
 
 as the 
 1 on its 
 n easily 
 i drove 
 nent he 
 
 looked as if was going to fight my husband, 
 instead of his former antagonist. No sooner, 
 however, did he reach the sleigh than the horses 
 were driven off at a brisk pace, and down he 
 went into the bottom amongst the straw, and 
 soon fell into a profound slumber. 
 
 The little boy exclaimed — *'A11 right! go-a- 
 head, sir;" and away they started, the horses 
 alone knowing their road home. " Cherry and 
 Captain know the way, if I don't," continued 
 the boy ; " and you and I and the ram (for I 
 forgot to mention that a newly-imported prize- 
 ram formed one of the party) can let father 
 alone." 
 
 " Well," rejoined my husband (who did not 
 approve of this state of things), "father said he 
 would have to go a couple of miles or so out of 
 his way to see me home." 
 
 " Aye, aye ! so he did ; but it is very dark, 
 and we shall go astray if we meddle with the 
 horses. Just you keep the * runners' off the 
 stumps, and we shall get home safe and sound. 
 Mother will see to you when we get there." 
 
 After a long tedious drive through the dark 
 bush, they arrived, as the lad had predicted, 
 without any mischance or incident. On the 
 horses stopping at the farmer's gate, he awoke, 
 with just sense enough to explain to his wife, 
 
 e2 
 
 I vl 
 
 .ii 
 
52 
 
 WINTEB IN THE BUSH. 
 
 « 
 
 ) 
 
 f 
 
 li 
 
 •4 i 
 
 he had got ** the new English gentleman " with 
 him. 
 
 The good woman, well used to the somni- 
 ferous condition of her mate, got him at once 
 transferred from his sleigh to his bed. A blazing 
 fire, such as those only know how to appreciate, 
 who have been for hours exposed to a Canadian 
 frost, was soon got up ; huge maple logs piled 
 on the spacious hearth of the country farm-house, 
 into which the more modern stoves had not 
 yet found their way, soon create a warmth, 
 and brighten up the most cheniess of homes. 
 All was hearty hospitality and genuine welcome. 
 
 The host quite recovered after a good supply 
 ot strong green tea, and the evening sped around 
 the lire with plenty of anecdote and bush gossip 
 to amuse. Time for bed was drawing near. The 
 " English stranger "' had for some time been won- 
 dering where he was to sleep. Broad hints had 
 been given that an early retirement would be 
 convenient, and he was ushered into a goodly 
 chamber adjoining the kitchen, which was, in 
 fact, the only bed-room in the house. A hole 
 in the wall let in no small quantity of snow, 
 directly upon the pillow of the bed. This was 
 not exactly conducive to sleep. In a little while 
 a whisper was heard — "Yes, he is asleep." In 
 quietly crept some half-a-dozen boys, with buf- 
 
r^ 
 
 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 53 
 
 i> • 
 
 with 
 
 somni- 
 it once 
 blazing 
 reciate, 
 bnadian 
 s piled 
 i-house, 
 ad not 
 ^armth, 
 homes, 
 elcome. 
 supply 
 around 
 
 gossip 
 :. The 
 n won- 
 ts had 
 uld be 
 goodly 
 ras, in 
 A. hole 
 
 snow, 
 is was 
 } while 
 >." In 
 ;h buf. 
 
 falo-skins and blankets, and lastly, an old man, 
 and all huddled together in a corner of the room. 
 Still there were many left around the blazing 
 fire, and some of them damsels of mature age ; 
 and what became of them, and where they slept, 
 except in the kitchen along with the old couple, 
 never transpired. 
 
 At break of day, the old man and the boys 
 left their lair, and the "English stranger '' found 
 himself alone, with abundance of fresh water and 
 towelling provided for his toilet, requisites often 
 omitted at hotels, where bed and bedding are 
 paid for. After a 3ubstantial breakfast, at which 
 all the farm luxuries — as Johnny cake, Indian 
 corn pancakes, buckwheat ditto, several sorts of 
 jam, cheese, and " apple sauce '' — were produced 
 in liberal profusion, besides fresh eggs, and rashers 
 from what lately was the best " hog " on the 
 farm. 
 
 "jCherry" and "Captain" again appeared — a 
 smart little team they were, looking as fresh as 
 if they had been at rest for a week, although 
 their yesterday's journey had extended at least 
 sixty miles, to and fro. The short drive to Lot 
 No. 12 was performed merrily ; but on arrival 
 nothing could induce this friendly farmer to 
 alight ; whether aching recollections of too many 
 treats yesterday made him afraid of taking any 
 
 i 
 
 li 
 
 M ftW l tt > M W m w W »' I.M B . <»*» , »■' .. 
 
 a-Jag-Zftlgg^ i - ' y 
 
f 
 
 54 
 
 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 to day, I know not, but off he drove, without af- 
 fording the opportunity of tendering even thanks. 
 
 The reader will perceive we must have gained 
 some little insight in the mode of living among 
 the rougher grade of settlers, during our stay in 
 the bush. Ere long, we had the pleasure of 
 forming the acquaintance of persons more con- 
 genial than those amongst whom we had as yet 
 been thrown. 
 
 Christmas-day was near at hand. At this 
 season We were taken most friendly notice of by 
 the resident gentry of the neighbourhood. This 
 was an act of spontaneous kindness ; for a glance 
 at our abode must have shewn them we could 
 make no return whatever, to mark our sense of 
 their hospitality. It may cause surprise that 
 any gentry could be found in so remote a region. 
 But the first settlers in this district were many 
 of them owners of large tracts of land, on which, 
 as military and naval officers, they had cast their 
 lot for life. A great many had left their pro- 
 perties in despair and disgust at the numerous 
 hardships and privations they with their families 
 had to endure. Those who remained on were now 
 owners of substantial homes, with every comfort 
 about them. The worst had evidently passed. 
 We spent Christmas-day with an English family, 
 one of the earliest class of settlers. They lived, 
 
WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 55 
 
 lout af- 
 thanks. 
 gained 
 among 
 stay in 
 Sure of 
 |re con- 
 as yet 
 
 Lt this 
 3 of by 
 This 
 glance 
 b could 
 ense of 
 e that 
 region, 
 many 
 which, 
 t their 
 ir pro- 
 nerous 
 imilles 
 re now 
 jmfort 
 )assed. 
 amily, 
 lived. 
 
 if possible, more in the depths of the woods than 
 ourselves, for there was a drive of two, if not of 
 three miles through the forest, in its primitive 
 condition (the land all belonging to this family), 
 without a house or clearance to be seen until 
 you reached their own door. Notwithstanding 
 their seclusion from the world " and scenes of 
 busy strife," they yet strictly adhered to the 
 good old English customs — such as the observ- 
 ance of Christmas ; I need scarcely remark, that 
 New year's-day has been in a great measure sub- 
 stituted, wherever the Canadians are of Scotch 
 origin ; and the observance of Christmas is al- 
 most exclusively confined to the English and 
 their descendants, and the Roman Catholic Irish. 
 Christmas-day commenced with a charming little 
 sleigh-drive — to me, always fraught with pleasure. 
 Off we set at a brisk pace, well muffled in good 
 buffalo-robes, which are usually well lined and 
 gaily fringed, not a breath of the intensely cold, 
 biting wind ever reached me, in driving through 
 the bush (where the cold is alwa^/s easier to bear 
 than in the open clearance). 
 
 On reaching Orillia Church how pleasing it 
 was to find it all decorated as at home ; not, in- 
 deed, with the glorious old holly, with its shining 
 leaves and its bright scarlet berries, but with a 
 very fair imitation, of Canadian evergreens, inter- 
 
 1^ 
 
f^ ' 
 
 'l. 
 
 I 
 
 It* 
 
 ■* 
 
 
 $t 
 
 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 woven with the bine of some indigenous creeper, 
 covered with very brilliant red berries. No 
 pains had been spared to render the decorations 
 as meaning and effective as possible, and the 
 Scripture sentences, " Glory to God in the 
 highest," " Peace on earth," " Good will towards 
 men," and other texts, were lettered with ever- 
 green over the altar and along the walls of the 
 church. So strong is the feeling of ultra-pro- 
 testantism in many parts, that these harmless 
 (to say the least), and to our mind cheering and 
 appropriate symbols of Christmas, recalling so 
 many happy associations, are considered as so 
 many evidences savouring of Popery, by the 
 same orthodox individuals who would raise the 
 emblems of Orangeism in defiance of the known 
 wishes of their sovereign. So true is it that 
 England, after all, is the freest country in the 
 world. But I have diverged from my subject. 
 The service of our church was reverently and 
 devoutly read ; Christmas carols and chants 
 were well sung. We remarked, too, the attend- 
 ance of several Indians and their squaws, who 
 joined in the services apparently as much im- 
 pressed as any present. When the congregation 
 dispersed there was the same kindly greeting, 
 and merry and happy Christmas wishing, as we 
 had been accustomed to hear from our near and 
 
WINTEIl IN THE BtlSH; 
 
 57 
 
 creeper, 
 s. No 
 orations 
 md the 
 in the 
 owards 
 h ever- 
 of the 
 ira-pro- 
 armless 
 ngand 
 ling so 
 as so 
 3y the 
 ise the 
 known 
 t that 
 in the 
 ubject. 
 y and 
 ehants 
 ttend- 
 5, who 
 b im- 
 jation 
 eting, 
 as we 
 rand 
 
 dear ones at home, the other side of the Atlantic, 
 and then all repaired home to do justice to good 
 Christmas fare, ourselves among the rest. Our 
 kind entertainers made us remain with them 
 over the night, and then another sleigh drive 
 brought us to our old quarters. 
 
 Besides the church at Orillia there were two 
 others attached to the Church of England within 
 five miles of us — one in each direction, east and 
 west. All these were served by the same pastor, 
 although they were at least ten miles apart. 
 This will convey some idea of the arduous jjid 
 laborious duties of a Canadian clergyman, when 
 we take into account the nature of the roads Le 
 has to use, the exposure to summer heat and 
 winter cold, to say nothing of distance. At these 
 three churches three full services are generally 
 held ; that is to say, full morning and evening 
 services at Orillia, and a mid-day service at one 
 of the more distant churches. To reach this 
 more distant church the clergyman had to pass 
 our door ; thus we became acquainted ; whatever 
 the weather, and whether the roads were scarcely 
 passable from snow-drift, he was never k;. >Y:n to 
 miss his day. We were somewhat amused at 
 our landlady's frank admission, that the more 
 canny Scotch minister, who had a station on the 
 same road, always let the English pastor be his 
 
 ■^"r»~— -—*—'• ■ 
 
;l 
 
 ( t 
 
 '\ 
 
 it 
 
 IS 
 
 I) 
 
 I 
 
 
 68 
 
 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 pioneer ; but the Scotch congregation were not 
 always sure that because he had broken a track 
 their minister would follow. 
 
 We occasionally, or some one of our party, 
 
 accompanied Mr. to his church in the woods. 
 
 I well recollect the only time I ventured to do 
 so. There had been a furious gale and heavy 
 fall of snow, many trees had blown down, and 
 some lay across the road, but the snow-road was 
 good. For a considerable distance after we had 
 left the public road, and turned into the little 
 bye way or track that led through the dense 
 forest to the church, we had to force our way 
 through the tangled boughs and bushes, and now 
 and then "jump a log/' This "log jumping" I 
 could not much relish ; in fact, when the feat 
 was accomplished, I scarcely believed myself 
 whole in limb and body. Our good pastor, on 
 his part, seemed quite unaware that there was 
 anything to disturb my serenity, and continued 
 the same easy flow of agreeable conversation 
 without interruption, in spite of log jumping 
 and all such minor trifles ; the strong little nag, 
 like his master, was quite used to his road. When 
 I descried before me a huge tree over which I 
 never thought we should attempt to go, — but 
 what a novice was I, the little horse took it all 
 in the regular course of business, just drew him- 
 
WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 59 
 
 re not 
 track 
 
 self up for a jump, and over he went, leaving the 
 sleigh and ourselves to follow; and over we 
 went too with a tremendous jerk before I had 
 time to be frightened. After a repetition of 
 similar exploits we reached the church. It was 
 singularly striking to see the picturesque little 
 building, with itB wooden turret and little spire, 
 that had been consecrated to God in the midst 
 of this dense forest, and to watch the congrega- 
 tion collecting. I could not think from whence 
 so many well-clad, happy, and contented-looking 
 family groups could come ; but there they were, 
 wending their way to hear the precious words of 
 the Gospel. It seemed, indeed, as if hearts and 
 feelings must be awakened t,o receive instruction 
 when there were so many impediments, and so 
 much difficulty to be disregarded before the de- 
 sired object could be obtained. 
 
 After church we lingered to admire the house 
 and grounds, in one corner of which stood the 
 little church we had just left. It was a rare 
 specimen of an extensive clearance from the 
 forest, having been made with some regard to 
 the picturesque, and not with the single eye to 
 profit. Everything was in good taste. The 
 house had been constructed most substantially of 
 logs — the warmest of all, when thoroughly well 
 put together. This place was to be let or sold. 
 
60 
 
 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 and I was horror-struck at the proposal of 
 making this our future home. I could afford 
 to admire the noble forest at a distance, but 
 when the possibility of my being imprisoned in 
 its vast depths for the remainder of my life 
 was mooted, I shrank from such an ordeal. I 
 always maintained that Canada must by this 
 time offer a less isolated home, than this some- 
 what too remote section of the country could 
 place within our choice. The value put upon 
 land in this back region besides appeared to U3 
 absurd, and the rents asked preposterous. The 
 inhabitants had been led astray by prospective 
 canals to connect the Georgian Bay with Lake 
 Ontario, and Chicago and the Far West with 
 Toronto and the St. Lawrence. Recent events, 
 and the commercial collapse that had occurred 
 since the date of our visit, have brought down 
 the prices of land to a reasonable figure. 
 
 All this time we entertained most anxious 
 thoughts as to what we should do, and what 
 occupation should be pursued to better our cir- 
 cumstances. This had been the chief aim of our 
 emigration. To remain inactive for awhile was 
 well enough. A s^ood deal had been learnt in 
 the interval. Tlie effects of fatigue after a weary 
 travel had worn off, and we were desirous of 
 being once more on the alert. When we re- 
 
 ..*rfJl p. *•>' *•«*. • i * 
 
WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 61 
 
 vealed our plans, I shall always remember the 
 solemn and blank looks with which this infor- 
 mation was received. Our landlady evidently 
 considered me very foolish for wishing to be quit 
 of her fostering wing ; and no doubt the weekly 
 loss of our dollars was no trifling disappointment 
 to her, but we were bent upon spending a few 
 months in Toronto and seeing a little Canadian 
 town-life. So, as the January thaw, fortunately 
 for us, came on in due season, it materially 
 assisted our flitting. 
 
 One fine morning we summoned up courage for 
 the journey before us, a thirty mile drive in an 
 open sleigh in mid-winter being no slight under- 
 taking ; but the horses performed their long 
 run remarkably well, and we reached the Barrie 
 Station with but one incident worth alluding to. 
 When we were about half-way on our road we 
 met sleigh after sleigh, some with two horses, 
 some with one, in a long string extending, I 
 really believe, fully a mile in length. We had 
 to give up our share of the beaten track and turn 
 into the deep snow, and there wait till they had 
 all passed. Each and all of the occupants were 
 cheerful and even merry, that it never occurred 
 to us that the occasion had anything of solemnity 
 in it, more especially as the long string of sleighs 
 had somehow or other become broken, and as the 
 
62 
 
 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 latter part was trying to catch up the former, 
 many seemed to be shewing off the speed of their 
 horses. At last, to my utter surprise, our team- 
 ster (or coachman) turned round as the last sleigh 
 passed with this exclamation : " Well, well, now, 
 if that ain't a nice funeral Mistress B. has got, I 
 don't know what is I" 
 
 Up to this moment I had not the slightest con- 
 ception we were meeting a funeral. I had seen 
 no hearse, nor the semblance of mourning ; when 
 I comprehended the real state of the case I felt 
 somewhat shocked at the levity with which I 
 had been regarding all that had passed. A very 
 melancholy and sudden death had occurred, as 
 we afterwards gathered. A settler had most 
 unexpectedly become a widower and his large 
 family of very young children motherless. Her 
 case was quite an exemplification of the awfiil 
 uncertainty of life. She was to all appearance 
 in perfect health and spirits, and at the time 
 entertaining a party of fiiends, when she sud- 
 denly expired. The cause of death did not tran- 
 spire. Such sad news are quickly telegraphed, 
 as it were, from tavern to tavern, and store to 
 store, by stage drivers and numerous other ways, 
 that although interment generally takes place 
 within three days after decease, and in summer 
 time within thirty-six hours at the most, funerals 
 
 \ 
 
 ■I 
 
i 
 
 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 63 
 
 are always very numerously attended. In the 
 present instance every settler from probably three 
 adjacent townships had joined in this procession 
 to manifest his respect for the deceased and sym- 
 pathy for the survivors. Few are desirous of 
 absenting themselves, especially if there had been 
 any differences in life-time, for fear their so doing 
 should be misconstrued. Not to attend a funeral 
 would be proof of harbouring ill-will towards the 
 family, much more than would the fact of attend- 
 ance be proof of any strong friendship having 
 subsisted during life-time ; but let us not dwell 
 on this negative view of a Canadian interment, 
 as if attendance was all but compulsory for the 
 sake of decency. The custom is decidedly pleas- 
 ing in the main. Roman Catholics and Orange- 
 men, all can join, and each has plenty of time for 
 reflection while accompanying the remains of 
 those who have shared his hardships as a fellow- 
 labourer, to their last resting-place on earth. We 
 frequently had pointed out to us, as we passed 
 near the cleared farms in the vicinity of Barrie, 
 private burial grounds, neatly and securely en- 
 closed from the rest of the farm ; but public 
 cemeteries arf now pro'^aded in all well-peopkd 
 districts ; and in large towns Roman Catholics, 
 members of the Church of England and Scotland, 
 and Metliodists, have each their own peculiar 
 burial-ground si. 
 
 I 
 
*^^ < 
 
 6l! 
 
 WINTER IN THE BUSH. 
 
 1:^ 
 
 We were most glad on arrival at Barrie to 
 make the exchange from the sleigh to the cars ; 
 the cold had been intense^ and icicles had formed 
 on our very eye-lashes. Both children and selves 
 appreciated the warmth from the well-heated 
 stoves, with which every railway carriage is sup- 
 plied during winter. The station is some distance 
 from the town of Barrie, and the country all. aronnd 
 was very wild and uncleared. We were not a littla 
 struck at finding the carcase of a huge bear on the 
 platform, waiting for transmission. The owner of 
 this trophy was very anxious to bring ifc into 
 the carriai5:e,. as if it were his personal baggage ; 
 but this was nofc pervirltted. On nearing Toronto, 
 I could not bill joiigra.tuIate myself that we 
 had left the bush, and that we were about to 
 take up our abode, however temporary, amongst 
 a more social community. How spacious, as well 
 as luxurious, by comparison, did every thing 
 now appear at our old friend " SwordsV to 
 wl)(»se house we again repaired, till we succeeded 
 in hunting out a snug little cottage. 
 
 it-: 
 
 i^^^r- 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 THE housekeeper's CHAPTER. 
 
 The snug little cottage we were in search of was 
 not forthcomincr without some trouble ; we were 
 in want of so many advantages. First and fore- 
 most, we deemed it essential to take a home in 
 which there were open fire-places. Rooms heated 
 by stoves were, to me, most suffocating and 
 stifling, and, I imagined, must be injurious. I 
 could not understand how people could exist in 
 them — a doubt long since solved ; for without 
 them, i do not believe any human being could 
 withstand the severity of this climate. They 
 equalize the temperature of a room, so that every 
 bit of you feels warm, which cannot be said in 
 favour of open grates, however cheerful a blaze 
 may bo— your face is apt to be scorched while your 
 back is sliivering. Next, we were on the look-out 
 for an airy situation, ample space both within and 
 without, a nice garden for children to play in, and 
 other wants to iriany to enumerate. We were 
 obliged f^ -iioderato u^ir desires, as such requisites 
 
 F 
 
m0B^*tlmi I m»t I 
 
 66 
 
 THE HOUSEKEEPER S CHAPTER. 
 
 i 
 
 
 were entirely beyond our reach ; and we thought 
 ourselves exceedingly fortunate in finding, at last, 
 a semi-detached frame-cottage, nicely finished, 
 with green Venetian shutters, and small verandah 
 (there are almost always embellishments of this 
 kind to houses in this country, and greatly it 
 improves their appearance). There were seven 
 very small, but conveniently arranged rooms, a 
 court-yard at the back, with a pump of excellent 
 water, in lieu of the much wished for garden. 
 Our premises were somewhat cramped ; but still, 
 as the situation was good in every other respect, 
 and within easy access to such shops as we 
 chiefly required, we were contented. 
 
 For those who are contemplating a trip to 
 our colony, and who may chance to see these 
 pages, it may be interesting to know what the 
 rental of such a cottage in the principal town of 
 Canada may amount to. We paid ^^45 currency 
 a-year, or c£^33 sterling. We considered it high, 
 and tlie better class of houses were still higher. 
 I believe the rents at the present date are considzjr- 
 ably lowered, and expenses of living more within 
 small incomes, since the government has removed 
 to Quebec, preparatory to its final settlement at 
 the city of Ottawa. 
 
 Till we were comfortably Iioiised, my time 
 was much taken up in furnishing ourselves in, 
 
DUght 
 
 b last, 
 ished, 
 mdah 
 f this 
 tly it 
 seven 
 Dms, a 
 jellent 
 arden. 
 t still, 
 espect, 
 as we 
 
 rip to 
 
 ! these 
 lat the 
 own of 
 irrency 
 t high, 
 liigher. 
 )nsid:ir- 
 within 
 emoved 
 nent at 
 
 ly time 
 Ives in, 
 
 THE housekeeper's CHAPTER. 
 
 67 
 
 and a comparison between the cost of so doing 
 in England and Canada may prove useful. To 
 commence with the kitchen. The best kind of 
 stove, with all its furniture, costs £6 currency — 
 about £5 sterling ; the furniture included being 
 pots, pans, and boilers. Chairs and tables suf- 
 ficient for the accommodation of a small house- 
 hold, <^1 10s. ; and all the small sundries, such 
 as pails, brooms, and so forth, being made by 
 machinery, were sold at prices that surprised me ; 
 allowing another £1 currency for these articles — 
 the total amount did not exceed £7 2s. This 
 contrasted with my menage at home, which had 
 sometliing near .^'^O stowed away in it, was 
 really almost ridiculous. In the same ratio, I 
 might go through eacli room of our pr(3sent home. 
 I do not say articles of furniture bought at such 
 low figures are so good or substantial as pur- 
 chased at home, but they serve tl ..ir purpose; 
 and the tout ensemble of our little establish- 
 ment always impressed every one who looked in 
 upon us, as pleasant and well arranged. This 
 was in a great measure due to the light firisli 
 given to the furniture, which is, for the most 
 part, made of our liardiest Canadian black wal- 
 nut, worked and carved by machinery, and very 
 highl}' polished. I allude more particularly to 
 the Toronto factory, the owners of whicli, while 
 
 F 2 
 
 I 
 
■mm^ I- . n a^woi-^fc ^af^^ 
 
 68 
 
 THE housekeeper's CHAPTEE. 
 
 4: 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 if \ 
 
 being honoured by a visit from a Governor- 
 general, are said to have shewn his lordship a 
 black walnut log, and within twenty or thirty 
 minutes to have pointed to a finished chair and 
 well planed table, as parts of the identical log 
 to which his atteTi<itvi had been first drawn. 
 The only things which struck me as being un- 
 usually dear, r^ d yet inferior, were the carpets 
 and crockery-ware, which, together with linen 
 and cutlery, are not manufacturr<l ' the colony ; 
 and any one emigrating had always better bring 
 these wHh him. 
 
 In gi V Ing an estimate of our own expenses, it 
 must not be supposed that where there is plenty 
 of money at command, furniture and internal 
 house decorations, with all the lustre of pier- 
 glasses and ornaments, cannot be obtained. In 
 the houses of the wealthy an air of luxury and 
 sumptuousness is more indulged in, in propor- 
 tion to the means and condition of the owner, 
 than is the case at home. The reader must bear 
 in mind he is following the newly-arrived emi- 
 grant, with but a straitened ]mrse throughout, 
 and for the benefit of others similarly circum- 
 stanced these details are entered into. 
 
 "We were "fixed in'' at last; but I had no 
 leisure for idleness. In so tiny a dwelling, with 
 two servants, I ought tc we been in clover ! 
 
 / 
 
 ''*h 
 
ernor- 
 ship a 
 
 thirty 
 ir and 
 
 al log 
 drawn, 
 ig un- 
 carpets 
 L linen 
 olony ; 
 • bring 
 
 nses, it 
 plenty 
 nternal 
 f pier- 
 id. In 
 ry and 
 propor- 
 owner, 
 st bear 
 id emi- 
 ighoutj 
 nrcum- 
 
 lad no 
 [^, with 
 clover ! 
 
 THE HOUSEKEEPER S CHAPTEa 
 
 69 
 
 The Scotch nurse who had accompanied us proved 
 singularly faithful, as far as her charges were 
 concerned ; but she professed a^ ">lute ignorance 
 of all culinary work — and more than all, having 
 been accustomed in her capacity as "upper 
 nurse " to be waited upon, had no notion at 
 first of even waiting upon herself; but for all 
 these difficulties we made due allowances, know- 
 ing for her there must be habits to overcome, as 
 well as for ourselves. In the long run, she suited 
 us better than most servants thus transplanted 
 vould have done ; but, as a rule, it is seldom 
 advisable to import persons of this class. Ser- 
 vants brought up in this colony understand far 
 beUer what is required from them ; know the 
 ways of the country, and do their work also far 
 better. 
 
 I had fallen into another egregious error, viz., 
 tb it of taking a "bush girl )" it having been re- 
 presented to me that Toronto servants were any- 
 thing but desirable beings to admit within your 
 doors. Thii s, two more raw domestics could rarely 
 have fallen to the lot of one mortal to teach and 
 guide. However, a willing hand and cheerful 
 spirits lightened much that was galling ; still it 
 was no easy task to turn instructress all at once. 
 It was one thing to order your dinner, as in days 
 of yore, and quite another business to set to work 
 
■ 
 
 v\ [ 
 
 70 
 
 THE housekeeper's CHAPTER. 
 
 and cook it for yourself. I wfts on the horns of 
 a dilemma never contemplated. To dismiss thn 
 bush girl at first off-set was impracticaVtle, ;i.! 
 she had come from a long distance. To have 
 plenty of provisions, and not know how to use 
 and cook them was too absurd. I could not 
 help being both amused and asliamed of my own 
 incapability, so I turned to my different cookery 
 guides for information and counsel ; but, to my 
 chagrin, they never went to the root of the diffi- 
 culty, always presuming that anything so simple 
 as knowing how long it took to roast joints ; 
 how a potato should be boiled, with its skin off 
 or on, or whether they should be put into boiling 
 water or cold, and let come to the boil ; or how 
 long anything should "simmer" and stew, must 
 be facts known to the most ignorant. Un- 
 happily, it was really too true that these very 
 simple matters were as unknown as Greek to me, 
 and my two bright handmaidens were equally 
 ignorant, or feigned to be so. Be that as it may, 
 they left me to experimentalize, and make my 
 own discoveries as best I could. 
 
 To my inexpressible comfort, I have long since 
 overcome many of these minor troubles, which 
 at tliat time seemed to me insurmountable, prov- 
 ing the truth of the old adage — " Where there's 
 a will there's a way.'^ 
 
 1 
 
THE HOUSEKEEPER S CHAPTER. 
 
 71 
 
 >^l^lt! 
 
 As we afterwards made up our minds to take 
 a farin, my first experience in ray little domicile 
 proved of infinite value. I should have been 
 overwhelmed altogether had the care of a dairy, 
 tlie mysteries of bread and butter making fallen 
 all at once to my lot ; and while I am on this 
 subject, I cannot help saying it seems to me 
 almost a pity ladies at home should not, when 
 they are young, be brought up with a better ^. > , . 
 knowledge of practical housekeeping — a know- •>, / /' | 
 ledge of cookery ; and even the ability to cook ' ' 
 
 need not be derogatory to, or interfere with 
 accomplishments, or refinement, or intellectual 
 attainments in any way. The advantages de- 
 rived from a practical knowledge of a housewife's 
 duties would, in many cases, it may be hoped, 
 be never so fully tested as in my own ; but even 
 in the height of proapbriLy, such knowledge is not 
 without its use, for none can tell what the future 
 has in store — when adversity may come, or how 
 soon their riches may take "wing" and "fly 
 away.'' How sensible does the system in Canada 
 appear. Every young lady is brought up, and r>/(j/it ^"^'^ 
 trained to all that in after life may prove useful. 
 The opportunities I have had of judging shew 
 me, that all who have received an average edu- (^^uii/iii 
 cation play well, sing well, ride well, skate well^ . 
 
 and dance well; some, too, are well read, and ^% y.i<i{^.^t' 
 
^"•^mfif^^tm 
 
 72 
 
 THE HOUSEKEEPER S CHAPTER. 
 
 i ! 
 
 ■ ( 
 
 // 
 
 /y /< 
 
 / i 
 
 •/>i 
 
 /^ . L j good linguists, and yet with all this, they know- 
 how to compound a good cake, and make better 
 home-made bread than many of our best cooks 
 in England. When married, they have the knack 
 of managing their houses, and with the aid of 
 a single servant-girl they have everything around 
 them conducive to happiness and comfort, neat- 
 ness and order, and do quite as well as an English 
 couple, with three servants. Neither are young 
 ladies so needlessly shy of their accomplishments 
 as at home. 
 
 At a party, when asked to play or sing, there 
 is no mauvaise honte; they sit down with a 
 quiet self-possession before a large audience, and 
 do their best, apparently without any love of 
 display, but with an evident pleasure at being 
 able to contribute to the enjoyment of others, as 
 well "3 to their own. I do not mean to say, that 
 I do not admire the retiring modesty of our 
 English maidens, but it is quite painful the ex- 
 tent to which some carry their bashfulness. It 
 puzzles me to see how girls who have not re- 
 ceived one-tenth of the instruction, or had one- 
 eighth of the income spent upon the acquisition 
 of accomplishments, should, in the aggregate, 
 outshine us ; and I can only account for it, by 
 the fact, that they are never kept so completely 
 in the background as are young girls of the 
 
 r. 
 
 
 I 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 M 
 
THE housekeeper's CHAPTER. 
 
 73 
 
 know 
 better 
 cooks 
 knack 
 aid of 
 
 around 
 neat- 
 
 ]]nglish 
 young 
 
 hments 
 
 y, there 
 with a 
 ice, and 
 love of 
 t being 
 ihers, as 
 ay, that 
 of our 
 the ex- 
 less. It 
 not re- 
 lad one- 
 ][uisition 
 fgregate, 
 )r it, by 
 mpletely 
 5 of the 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 f 
 
 same age with us, and thus being accustomed to 
 society, as it were, from their infancy, they gain 
 confidence, and are able to take their position, 
 without the embarrassment so common, when 
 the time for " coming out " has arrived. But to 
 return from this digression. 
 
 Toronto, as the metropolis of Upper Canada, 
 is full of opportunities of indulging in gaieties, 
 visitings, and parties. It has its theatres and 
 concerts, which are never passed over by any 
 of the great American or European actors and 
 vocalists, while " starring " through the province. 
 But for all amusement of this nature we had 
 small inclination. 
 
 Every day confirmed us in the opinion that a 
 life of innctivity in a town ill-suited our habits, 
 as well as our pockets. The quantity of fuel we 
 had to buy at a dear rate ; the price demanded 
 for all we consumed seemed exorbitant ; the 
 difficulty of procuring any good fresh vegetables ; 
 to which we might add the cost, and inferior 
 quality of milk and butter — the former always 
 well diluted, and, not unfrequently, sour — were 
 drawbacks that daily discomposed us, and made 
 us long for a move into the country, where 
 plenty might abound without so constant a pull 
 on our purse-strings. Add to this the distant 
 prospects of any professional, or other sedentary 
 
 M 
 
T 
 
 ' lw>a»"-i-nUB:„il ITXii. , 
 
 74 
 
 THE HOUSEKEEPER S CHAPTER. 
 
 employment, made it still more decisive that an 
 agricultural and rural life was best adapted to 
 our circumstances, so that henceforth our atten- 
 tion was chiefly turned to everything connected 
 with them. We began to think of little else, 
 and therefore took more than ordinary interest 
 in everything bearing on the subject — thus we 
 became, in some degree, acquainted with the 
 details and management of the extensive nursery 
 grounds, and the fruit and flower gardens in the 
 adjacent suburbs. 
 
 At tbe eastern end of the city, there were no 
 less than seventy-five acres of nursery-ground 
 belonjQjino^ to one establishment. These were 
 chiefly occupied with an excellent and choice 
 supply of the hardier fruits and shrubs best 
 suited for the orchards and gardens of Canada. 
 The unwearied industry and extraordinary enter- 
 prise of the proprietor was well worth notice. 
 Experiment after experiment must have been 
 persevered in, at a great outlay of labour and 
 time, before any newly-introduced plant or tree 
 could be safely sent forth as acclimatized. At 
 the period when we first saw this nursery, 
 thousands of plants had perished just as their 
 hardy habits were about to be pronounced, after 
 five years' test, as fairly established. 
 
 The winter, which proved so destructive, had 
 
 I 
 
 K 
 
 i i 
 
 I ■ 
 
THE housekeeper's CHAPTER. 
 
 75 
 
 hat an 
 ted to 
 
 atten- 
 nected 
 e else, 
 nterest 
 lus we 
 th the 
 misery 
 
 in the 
 
 rere no 
 ground 
 e were 
 choice 
 bs best 
 ZJanada. 
 Y enter- 
 notice, 
 ^e been 
 )ur and 
 or tree 
 ed. At 
 lursery, 
 as their 
 id, after 
 
 Lve, had 
 
 a long spell of mild, warm weather ; the thermo- 
 meter scarcely ever falling below five degrees of 
 frost at night, and rising by day, in the eye of 
 the sun, above sixty degrees. After this spell 
 of weather, which perhaps the tenderest British 
 evergreen might have stood, on came a cold snap 
 on the very verge of spring, with the sap in full 
 flow, the buds ready to burst forth, and still some 
 forty degrees of frost to endure. Few of the plants 
 survived. These kinds of disappointments occur 
 frequently. The gardener who attempts to rear 
 choice exotics with the aid of stove-heat, or arti- 
 ficial heat, although he has a most delicate task 
 before him, yet his art is more dependent on his 
 own care and vigilance than on the caprice of the 
 season. .Numerous greenhouses (which were con- 
 stantly exciting onr admiration) were attached 
 to the dwellings of the wealthy ; and in mid- 
 winter, in the midst of ahnost Arctic cold, it 
 would not have been difficult to cull a bouquet 
 which might vie with any purchased from the 
 central arcade of Covent Garden Market. 
 
 It was interesting to note the growth of 
 Toronto during the short stay of nine months — 
 perhaps our own street gave as good an evidence 
 as any. When we took possession there were 
 but five houses finished and occupied. The length 
 of the street was very nearly a quarter of a mile. 
 
76 
 
 THE HOUSEKEEPER S CHAPTER. 
 
 In' ■ 
 
 V 
 
 V ' 
 
 . 
 
 n¥ ' 
 
 Before we left, there was not a blank spot on 
 one side of the street, which was now complete ; 
 and on the other side, there were but very few 
 vacancies. No sooner was a house run up than 
 it was tenanted. Since we left, a crystal palace 
 has been erected — no mean model of that at 
 Sydenham, or Hyde Park ; but somewhat more 
 heavy and substantial, as a considerable portion is 
 appropriated to the exhibition of cattle, and all 
 kinds of agricultural implements and produce, 
 while the remainder is dedicated to arts and 
 manufactures. The city of Hamilton can also 
 boast of its crystal p? lace, as well as Montreal — 
 thus does this young colony possess three per- 
 manent structures for the express purpose of 
 exhibition. 
 
 We must now pass over the many public 
 buildings and institutions of which Toronto 
 may be justly proud — such as Asgoode Hall, 
 the Normal School, the Public Observatory and 
 Hospitals, and last, though not least, its churches, 
 although few would hear me out, if I iittempted 
 to class what is called the " English Cathedral '' 
 with any cathedral at home. All these are ably 
 described in recent publications ; and I should 
 be departing from my design by any further 
 allusions than those I have already made. 
 
 It was not till the fall of the year that we re- 
 
 I 
 
 '$ 
 
pot on 
 
 plete ; 
 
 iry few 
 
 p than 
 
 palace 
 
 ;hat at 
 
 it more 
 
 )rtion is 
 
 and all 
 
 Droduce, 
 
 ,rts and 
 
 ;an also 
 
 ctreal — 
 
 ree per- 
 
 rpose of 
 
 THE HOUSEKEEPER S CHAPTER 
 
 77 
 
 ii 
 
 moved to the beautifully situated farm on the 
 banks of the St. Lawrence — the scene of our 
 attempt to make farming answer, as a meaus of 
 rendering a slender purse as elastic as possible ; 
 the result of which will be narrated in a subse- 
 quent chapter. 
 
 y public 
 Toronto 
 de Hall, 
 tory and 
 ihurches, 
 btempted 
 bhedral '' 
 are ably 
 I should 
 7 further 
 
 e. 
 
 at we re- 
 

 n 
 
 i 
 
 
 i'f 
 
 r 
 
 
 1 
 
 ; 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE CLIMATE OF CANADA : ITS GENERAL EFFECT 
 UPON THE EUROPEAN, AS WELL AS ON ANIMAL 
 AND VEGETABLE LIFE. 
 
 It lias always seemed to me that the main 
 object of Canadian authors while treatiiig this 
 subject is, to disguise the facts of the extreme 
 rigour of its winter cold and the intensity of its 
 siiii.mer heat. My experience, however, confirms 
 me that this is impossible without a sacrifice of 
 truth, which I by no means wish to make. It is 
 marvellous, however, how little injury we receive 
 from the extreme vicissitudes we have to endure, 
 not only in the great variation between summer 
 and winter, but in the wide range of the thermo- 
 meter during both seasons. I have known it to 
 mark considerably above eighty degrees in the 
 shade at mid-day in summer, and to shew six or 
 seven degrees of frost before midnight ; and 
 again in winter (of which, in this season of 1860 
 and 1861, we have had more than one instance), 
 it has vacillated between forty degrees above 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 ;u 
 
 1.,;; 
 
 ■ H 
 
THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 
 
 79 
 
 freezing-point, and thirty degrees below zero, or 
 about seventy degrees in the course of twenty- 
 four hours. And this, not in Lower Canada, 
 which is always held out as being so much 
 colder and more variable in its climate than 
 Upper, but in what some have termed Peninsular 
 Canada. 
 
 Another error into which those who describe 
 this country somewhat readily fall — if their ob- 
 ject be to soften the reality — is, to take the mean 
 of temperature as recorded by public observa- 
 tories, witli great care and accuracy. If this 
 average were the true index, we should be at a 
 loss to account for our English holly, the laurel, 
 the ivy, the laurestinus, and nearly all the ever- 
 greens which enliven and cheer our English 
 shrubberies, never surviving a single Canadian 
 winter ; while we know, in our own country, 
 they withstand the severest frosts to which the 
 British climate ever exposes them — severely 
 *' scalded," thougli they are, in a severe English 
 winter, such as the last. They nflford a good 
 illustration of the difference between a few days 
 of severe cold, and months of severity with an 
 occasional descent to twenty degrees and even 
 thirty degrees below zero. 
 
 It is during these occasional visits of Arctic 
 cold the evergreens perish, while deciduous trees. 
 
 I 'I 
 
 Mi 
 
' i i'ji i iim ii i B 
 
 80 
 
 THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 
 
 I 
 
 now leafless and as inanimate, perhaps, as the 
 sleeping bear, withstand the utmost cold in per- 
 fect security, with but few exceptions, such as 
 those trees which are too ready to start into life 
 at the first glow of sunshine, as the peach, nec- 
 tarine, and apricot. The strong Canadian sun 
 by day forces their buds into premature blossoms, 
 too sure to be nipped off by the keen frosts at 
 sunrise and sunset. The repetition of this pro- 
 cess soon destroys the vitfJiLy of these tender 
 fruit-trees, so that they rarely flourish in any but 
 the warmest parts of Western Canada along the 
 shores of Lake Erie ; our evergreens, therefore, 
 are reduced in number to the various species of 
 the pine, the Canadian arbor vitsB, balsams, fir, 
 red cedar, and hemlocks, and perhaps a few other 
 of the same tribe ; while, on the other hand, 
 almost all the deciduous trees, from the finest 
 forest-tree to the choicest garden-apple or plum, 
 flourish and "yield fruit abundantly.'' While 
 the influence of the winter upon the trees and 
 vegetable world is the best proof of the real 
 severity of the climate, the heat of summer is 
 also ftiithfully illustrated by its rapid effect in 
 forcing into existence every kind of annual, and 
 maturing the cereals in the short interval be- 
 tween the 25th of May and the 1st of September. 
 We have, ourselves, sown wheat on the 28tli day 
 
THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 
 
 81 
 
 s, as the 
 id in per- 
 
 such as 
 b iuto life 
 ;ach, nec- 
 dian sun 
 blossoms, 
 
 frosts at 
 
 this pro- 
 le tender 
 1 any but 
 along the 
 blierefore, 
 species of 
 sams, fir, 
 iew other 
 ler hand, 
 be finest 
 
 or plum, 
 
 While 
 
 ;rees and 
 
 the real 
 Unmer is 
 
 effect in 
 3ual, and 
 
 rval be- 
 jptember. 
 28th day 
 
 of May, and ground it into flour on the 6th 
 of September, the weight of each bushel being 
 upwards of sixty pounds, and tlie nnmber of 
 bushels to each acre exceeding five-and-twenty ; 
 thus proving, that although vegetation is forced, 
 there is a quality in the climate that counteracts 
 all the enervating effect of li e hot-bed or green- 
 house, to which suc\ apparently unnatural and 
 precocious growth must (it would be maintained 
 by the uninitiated) ever be assimilated. The 
 influence of climate upon our own constit itions 
 is so ably described by a learned Canadian lec- 
 turer upon the sublet, that I cannot do better 
 than let him spe;.k for himself: — 
 
 " The influence of climate may be seen in the 
 light-haired, fair skinned Caucasian ; the copper- 
 coloured, black, straight-haired, high-cheeked 
 North American Indian ; and in the thick-lipped, 
 curly-headed negrO; and a great variety of inter- 
 mediate races. All are descended from a com- 
 mon parent — the theories of the pluralist^- to the 
 contrary, notwithstanding. But lest there should 
 be any doubt on this matter, I shall instance 
 the few about whose posterity there can be no 
 doubt. The Hebrews are descended from Abra- 
 ham; and the dark, penetrating eye, and bru- 
 nette complexion, are the Jew's distinguishing 
 features. But if in the North of Europe there 
 
 G 
 
 
82 
 
 THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 
 
 are many with very liglit, sandy hair and lignt 
 complexions, as we ;^o southwards they become 
 darker; and in India, they cann ;t be distin- 
 guished in colour from the almost black Hindoo, 
 among whom they h ve dwelt for many cen- 
 turies. Here we have the modifying influence o^ 
 climate. Soil and climate do not, therefore, affect 
 the national character materially when the in- 
 habitants are in a natural state ; and but par- 
 tially when man's social condition is more ele- 
 vated, for civilization constantly develops latent 
 intellectual phenomena, and causes individuals to 
 differ from those who preceded them, who were 
 placed in circumstances less favourable to mental 
 development, and distinctions which were then 
 MATERIAL are now intellectual. Man is but a 
 link in Nature ; and though his faculties may 
 enable him to rise above and battle with her, 
 and free himself m r>ome degree from that de- 
 pendence, yet he van not cool in the noon-day sun 
 (but by withdrawi'i^j' himself from its rays), or 
 temper the wind : his power is limited. In his 
 migrations over the earth's surface he is subject 
 to much vicissitude and change, while Nature 
 continues to operate by definite and unvarying 
 laws, leaving man to modify and mould them 
 to himself, but not to alter them. When the 
 European quits his native skies, he leaves behind 
 
 U 
 
 I* 
 
 't 
 
THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 
 
 83 
 
 nd lignt 
 T become 
 e distin- 
 Hindoo, 
 my cen- 
 luence o^ 
 >re, affect 
 the in- 
 but par- 
 nore e]e- 
 ps latent 
 iduals to 
 vho were 
 mental 
 'ere then 
 L is but a 
 ties may 
 k^ith her, 
 that de- 
 .-day sun 
 rays), or 
 In his 
 s subject 
 } Nature 
 nvarying 
 lid them 
 Qien the 
 js behind 
 
 him the air he used to breathe and the soil 
 whereon he trod. In Canada he perceives that 
 the iiiornings are clearer, the sky brighter, the 
 air ill winter colder, and in summer hotter than 
 that he has been accustomed to. If he has eyes 
 to see, he will perceive that the people are dif- 
 ferent. Tliey are pnler among the higher classes 
 and less ruddy : browner among the out-door 
 artisans. All look somewhat drier, so to sr^ ak. 
 He cannot fail to observe that the ^ er ige, 
 though not less luxuriant, is differ* 'he 
 
 feathered tribe are decked in far gaudid 
 but sing less; indeed, many of the birds, vvni\.n 
 in Britain make the groves resound to the music 
 of their carols, here chirp and merely twitter 
 away. Viewing these differences around him, he 
 may fail to notice that he has taken upon him- 
 self a new existence ; -that new habits must 
 spring up within him; that new ideas — not al- 
 ways for the better, perhaps, liave taken posses- 
 sion of his mind. He thinks and acts differently, 
 and at length becomes sensible that a 'change has 
 come o'er the spirit of his dream." He may 
 often — does, no doubt, feel many a pang of regret 
 that the dear home of his sires and his childhood 
 is far, far away ; but he has little time for pen- 
 sive thought and melancholy, for his life is now 
 a life of ceaseless activity. 
 
 G 2 
 
 
IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-S) 
 
 1.0 
 
 I.I 
 
 l^|2£ |25 
 
 IS 
 
 14.0 
 
 IL25 i 1.4 
 
 «£ 
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 1.6 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. UStO 
 
 (716)872-4503 
 
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 4- 
 
 
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84 
 
 THE CLIMATE OP CANADA. 
 
 " That there is a change in the European con- 
 stitution after a longer or shorter residence, 
 every one must admit. The high colour which 
 blushes the cheeks and reddens the lips of Euro- 
 peans fades somewhat ; the skin is less soft and 
 moist ; the hair becomes drier ; and the teeth, 
 thanks to our pernicious mode of living,* decay- 
 sooner. The fat wliich contains the muscles and 
 gives a roundness to the general outline is ab- 
 sorbed, and the muscles become more prominent. 
 The muscles of the face stand out in strong re- 
 lief; the countenance assumes a more care-worn 
 — some think, a more intelligent look. Chubby- 
 faced women, and round, fat, oily men, are less 
 frequently seen. In a word, the whole system is 
 changed. Over exertion in those who are com- 
 pelled to work, and excessive idleness in those 
 who have nothing to do, often produce the same 
 results : premature failing — premature decay. 
 
 " The influence which climate exerts over dis- 
 ease, is more marked than that which it exerts 
 in a healthy individual. The frequent and 
 sudden changes in temperature may not affect 
 
 * The Lecturer does not enter into particulars. I suppose 
 him to allude to the extraordinary consumption of trashy 
 pastry, "sweeties," as they are called; bull's-eyes and sugar" 
 sticks being as much partaken of by fathers and mothers as by 
 new-born babies. Add to this apple-sauce, jams, pumpkin- 
 pies, &c., &c. 
 
 '•^v 
 
THE CLIMATE OF CiNADA. 
 
 85 
 
 the young and healthy ; but in early infancy, in 
 advanced years, or when labouring under rheu- 
 matism, or disease of the digestive organs or pul- 
 monary organs, the thermometrical and barome- 
 trical changes are severely felt. Though vicissi- 
 tudes in temperature are frequent in Canada, 
 the air is noli humid as in Great Britain, and 
 humidity, not less than sudden changes, is un- 
 favourable to life and health 
 
 Were man in a state of Nature, or deprived of 
 the power of protecting himself against external 
 influences, he would be less likely to survive 
 transplanting than the rest of animated nature- 
 If we transplant the common shaggy dog to the 
 North, in a few generations he will have lost his 
 rugged coat, and be clothed instead with a soft, 
 silky, shiny skin. The innocent sheep, when 
 transplanted from the inclemency of the North, 
 to pant under a vertical sun, will, in a few 
 generations, exchange its warm fleece of wool for 
 a more convenient coat of hair. These changes 
 which Nature silently works for the brute crea- 
 tion man must eflfect for himself. He can pro- 
 tect himself better than any animal against 
 vicissitudes of temperature, yet he is the most 
 sensitive of all animated nature. 
 
 *' The climate of Canada must be regarded in 
 its twofold aspect of heat and cold. In summer, 
 
se 
 
 THE CLIMATE OP CANADA. 
 
 1 
 
 the alterations take place in the economy which 
 teach one to accommodate oneself to altered cir- 
 cumstances. The sensation of warmth is experi- 
 enced ; but kind, beneficent Nature opens the 
 flood-gates of the skin, and bathes the body with 
 a fluid, which prevents its temperature rising 
 above the healthy standard. The cold of winter 
 is severe without being destructive. The sharp, 
 clear, bracing cold is far more easily borne than 
 the humid, raw air of March and October. There 
 is an almost irresistible desire for activity ;* not 
 as during the cold, chilly, wet seasons of other 
 climes."' 
 
 In the course of this lecture a number of ex- 
 periments were detailed, by whicli the influence 
 which this climate had exerted upon Europeans 
 had been tested. The result was favourable to 
 Canada. They who had become most thoro^' My 
 acclimatized by the longest residence in the . in- 
 try had advanced most in stature, strength, and 
 weight. The British Canadian was of the same 
 height, weighed five lbs. more, and possessed mus- 
 cular strength almost amounting to twenty lbs. 
 over his European cousins. The French had ad- 
 
 * This is fully shared in by animals, especially by the horse-— 
 the latter, unless daily exercised, becomes scarcely manageable, 
 and is never so active and full of life and play as during the 
 bright, clear days in winter, when sleighing is in perfection. 
 
THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 
 
 87 
 
 vanced still more — were an inch taller, weighed 
 eight lbs. more, and had a superiority of strength 
 equal to fifty lbs. The conclusion drawn from 
 minute statistics was thus arrived at. 
 
 "Where there is little or no spring; where the 
 transition from the cold of winter to the heat of 
 summer is sudden ; where the general range of 
 the thermometer is from thirty-two degrees above 
 to thirty degrees and forty degrees below zero ; 
 and where, in summer, the thermometer often 
 registers ninety degrees in the shade, the annual 
 ratio of mortality is one per cent. ; and were it 
 not for the vice of intemperance, which exposes 
 its victims to frozen limbs in winter, and to 
 night air in all seasons, the ratio of mortality 
 would be less than one per cent.* 
 
 " No climate can suipass Canada in salubrity. 
 She is, in a great measure, exempt from those 
 
 * One of the first lessons the climate teaches, is the absolute 
 necessity of temperance. The moderate wine-drinker at home 
 may perhaps drink wine in Canada ; but economy will induce 
 him to try the cheap ardent spirits of the country. When these 
 are indulged in, under exposure to either heat or cold, the 
 effect on the brain is immediate, and many have become what 
 the lecturer here calls " victims of intemperance," quite uncon- 
 sciously. If these lessons are disregarded, as they frequently are, 
 reason will soon lose her hold, under the terrible disease of 
 " delirium tremens" and the loss of life will soon follow the loss 
 of reason. 
 
 "*«»i**'5«p'p***«it'j«;^-t'rt^ "i yr^ -!7z7:i;t^^ 
 
88 
 
 THE CLIMATE OP CANADA. 
 
 
 I] 
 
 diseases which are indigenous to different parts 
 of Europe. Indeed, regarding the diseases which 
 afflict humanity elsewhere, we have great reason 
 to be thankful to the all-bountiful Controller of 
 the Seasons, that, in separating us from the 
 great branch of the European family, He has pre- 
 pared for us a land, where we may not only lie 
 down in peace with all men, but with the assur- 
 ance that no pestilential effluvia will enter our 
 nostrils ere we awake — that no serpent will 
 instil its fatal poison into our veins — that no 
 malaria will imprint its morbid impress upon our 
 countenance, and that, though He exposes us to 
 much heat in summer, and to a temperature in 
 winter which parches us till we shrink with cold, 
 and cry out, * This is no flattery : ' yet as * He 
 tempers the wind to the shorn lamb,' He, through 
 our intelligence, clothes us and keeps us in 
 health, comfort, and safety/' 
 
 The Canadians can also claim for their climate 
 an entire freedom from every disease, but such as 
 is common in Great Britain and Europe. After 
 much research the lecturer, from whom I have so 
 freely copied, cannot trace any disease as peculiar 
 to the country, and unknown in other countries. 
 The recent census has brought to light several 
 instances of extraordinary longevity, both among 
 
 %' 
 
/' 
 
 THE CLIMATE OF CANADA, 
 
 89 
 
 European settlers and their descendants born in 
 the province, but chiefly amongst the North Ame- 
 rican Indians. 
 
 It has been shewn our winters are very long 
 as well as very cold ; and this is just the same in 
 1861 as when Cabot first landed. All the theory 
 that, as the country became settled, and as the 
 forest was cleared away, the climate would be 
 less severe, has proved thoroughly delusive so 
 far. In short, on the frontier of Canada we are 
 less sheltered, and feel the cutting winds far more 
 keenly than our more retired fellow-colonists in 
 the bush. We lose our snows earlier than they 
 do, but little do we gain on that score ; and 
 severe frosts frequently follow a succession of 
 thawing days, and then it is that our winter 
 wheat and rye is in greatest danger. The in- 
 fluence of the lakes may be such as to favour 
 vegetation ; but as far as I could judge, it was 
 by no means favourable to the constitution. It 
 just gave us what it is so desirable to avoid — a 
 lingering, wearisome, nondescript season, too cold, 
 humid, and raw for enjoyment ; during which 
 our snow roads were spoilt, and as long as it 
 lasted, all communication from village to village 
 was exceedingly difficult, as the roads were 
 scarcely passable. The farmer, however, could 
 use his plough, which, perhaps, had much better 
 
90 
 
 THE CLIMATE OP CANADA. 
 
 / 
 
 { 
 
 { 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 ■.I 
 
 V 
 
 have been used in autumn before winter set in. 
 In addition to the excellence of all the cereals 
 a farmer grows, the fattening qualities of the 
 roughest-looking pastures are singular. Slieep 
 and oxen turned out w'!'ii a good range, with 
 access to the bush for shelter, and above all, 
 access to good water, are found to be quite fat 
 by the time winter commences. A great portion 
 of this period, as far as the eye can lead you to 
 form an opinion, they have rothing but the 
 coarsest and dryest-looking herbage to graze 
 upon, and oftentimes that would be so withered 
 and parched during a summer drought, as to 
 appear very " poor feed ;" there is, however, 
 much nutriment in the browse and underwood 
 of a Canadian bush. And animals will subsist 
 upon this for weeks after the snow has first fallen 
 without loss of flesh. 
 
 The deer taken during the early winter are 
 nearly equal to those fattened for the market at 
 home, if we may judge by the excellent venison ; 
 but when winter has fairly set in it is difiicult to 
 maintain these animals in condition, and the 
 effect of cold is such as to render all feeding with 
 roots (as turnips and carrots) of no avail. These 
 will prove of infinite use in the spring, and 
 should be reserved till that period. Nothing but 
 dry stimulating food, as bean meal, oil cake, and 
 
 
r" 
 
 THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 
 
 91 
 
 set ia 
 
 ereals 
 
 of the 
 
 Sheep 
 
 , with 
 
 ve all, 
 
 ite fat 
 
 )ortioii 
 
 you to 
 
 it the 
 
 graze 
 
 thered 
 
 as to 
 
 wever, 
 
 srwood 
 
 subsist 
 
 fallen 
 
 er are 
 ket at 
 nison ; 
 jult to 
 d the 
 J with 
 These 
 , and 
 ig but 
 3, and 
 
 the like, will 
 
 for 
 
 cattle " that 
 
 now preserve 
 fat which cushions the muscles and gives a 
 roundness to their general outline/' or make 
 them " round, fat, and oily." Our own farming 
 experience has shewn that an animal slaughtered 
 at the very first onset of winter, will bear proof 
 of having been better fed by Nature in the bush, 
 than do those upon whom we have attempted to 
 improve by a liberal supply of roots, and good 
 hay after winter has commenced. Had we sub- 
 stituted dry meal for the roots the result would 
 have been different. 
 
 I cannot close this subject without adding one 
 more quotation from our celebrated transatlantic 
 author.* " Here let me say a word in favour of 
 those vicissitudes of our climate, which are too 
 often made the subject of exclusive repining. If 
 they annoy us, they give us one of the most 
 beautiful climates in the world ; they give us the 
 brilliant sunshine of the South of Europe, witV> 
 the fresh verdure of the North ; they float our 
 summer sky with gorgeous tints of fleecy white- 
 ness, and send down cooling showers to refresh 
 the panting earth and keep it green. Our sea- 
 sons are full of sublimity and beauty. Winter 
 with us hath none of its proverbial gloom. It 
 
 * Washington Irving. 
 
92 
 
 THE CLIMATE OF CANADA. 
 
 I ,' 
 
 I : 
 
 may have its howling winds and chilling frosts, 
 and whirling snow-storms, but it has also its long 
 intervals of cloudless sunshine, when the snow- 
 clad earth gives redoubled brightness to the day, 
 when at night the stars beam with intense lustre, 
 or the moon floods the whole landscape with her 
 own most limpid radiance. 
 
 "And the joyous outbreak of our spring, burst- 
 ing at once into leaf and blossom, redundant 
 with vegetation and vociferous with life ; and the 
 splendour of summer, its morning voluptuous- 
 ness and evening glory ; its airy palaces of sunlit 
 clouds piled up in a deep, azure sky ; and its 
 gusts of tempests of almost tropical grandeur, 
 when the forked lightning and bellowing thunder 
 volley from the battlements of heaven, and 
 shake the sultry atmosphere ; and the sublime 
 melancholy of our autumn, magnificent in its 
 decay, withering down the pomp of the wood- 
 land country, yet reflecting back from its yellow 
 forests the golden serenity of the sky. Truly we 
 may well say, * that in our climate the heavens 
 declare the glory of God and the firmament 
 sheweth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth 
 speech, and night unto night sheweth know- 
 ledge.' " 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FARMING IN CANADA: AN OCCUPATION WHEREBY 
 THE MOST MAY BE MADE OF A SMALL INCOME; 
 AND CONCLUSION. 
 
 Should any have accompanied me thus far, 
 they will conclude that much has not been 
 gained by our emigration. I must now endea- 
 vour to shew that our peregrinations have not 
 been wholly fruitless. It will have been seen 
 that life in a Canadian town, although it may be 
 the most economical for those who are proof 
 against the temptations to needless and frivolous 
 expenditure, inseparable from a want of occupa- 
 tion, cannot fail to be irksome and monotonous, 
 and gradually to exhaust all relish for exertion 
 and activity. Having liow in some measure 
 become acclimatized and enured to the total 
 change of scene, which constitutes the difference 
 between the Old and the New World, we were 
 certainly enabled to venture on larming with 
 much greater ease and with far less risk, than if 
 we had rushed into that pursuit immediately on 
 
 ft! 
 
94 
 
 FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 landing. A stranger to the country who has 
 settled down too hastily will ever be perplexed 
 by doubts, which his neighbours will be too 
 prone to raise in his mind ; he will always be 
 assured that he might by patience have paid less 
 for his land. He may be wishing he had re- 
 mained in the East when he has gone far West, 
 or that the frontier had been preferred to the 
 backwoods. The look before the leap is never 
 more necessary, than in the case of a settler cast- 
 ing his lot in a new country. The utmost capital, 
 in our individual case, we thought fit to apply to 
 our farming was ^200 sterling, and we appro- 
 priated the same sum as an annual income to 
 meet current expenses. 
 
 In England this amount of capital would but 
 suffice to furnish a cottage, and procure the vari- 
 ous sundries necessary to make a house comfort- 
 able. How so small a sum could be made to fur- 
 nish and stock a farm of 100 acres as well we may 
 be reasonably asked to explain. In the first place, 
 it is not very generally known that every d£*100 
 drawn from Britain "counts" as £l24i to c^l25 
 in this country — that is to say, money is reckoned 
 in Canada by the Halifax currency, instead of 
 by its sterling value — so that when a farm is 
 said to be worth o£*l,000, it will only require 
 little more than dfi'SOO sterling to purchase it ; 
 
FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 95 
 
 10 has 
 plexed 
 36 too 
 ays be 
 lid less 
 lad re- 
 • West, 
 to the 
 
 never 
 3r cast- 
 capital, 
 pply to 
 
 appro- 
 ome to 
 
 lid but 
 le vari- 
 omfort- 
 to fur- 
 svemay 
 jt place, 
 Y £100 
 0^125 
 jckoned 
 bead of 
 farm is 
 require 
 lase it : 
 
 or, to put the case more strongly, every 20«. 
 British is nearly equal to 258. Canadian. Eveiy 
 article a family requires is purchased at this cur- 
 rency, and so far as the products of the country, 
 land, rent, taxes, and wages, aifect our income, 
 there is nothing deceptive in this change. But 
 the economist must learn to limit his expenditure 
 to the utmost amongst such things as the colony 
 has of its own. Directly we have to purchase 
 home manufactures, we pay not only their ster- 
 ling value, but a heav}-^ colonial duty in addition 
 to the cost of freight and necessary profit for the 
 merchant. 
 
 The necessaries, however, that become thus 
 costly from importation are gradually being less- 
 ened, and colonial manufactures diminish their 
 number year by year. Sam Slick can no longer 
 say that everything a Canadian or Nova Scotian 
 requires, from the swaddling clothes at his birth 
 to the nail that is driven into his coffin, comes 
 from his mother country. 
 
 We have before said that china-ware and 
 cutlery are almost the only articles of furniture 
 Canada does not supply. We may add, in con- 
 trast, that every kind of farming implement, 
 from a garden-hoe to a reaping-machine, is manu- 
 factured in the colony. They are much better 
 adapted to our wants, and sold at far cheaper 
 
 '* 
 

 n\ 
 
 
 • h 
 
 ' 
 
 n 
 
 M 
 
 *' 
 
 i! f 
 
 96 
 
 FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 rates than those at which England is able to 
 distribute them to her farmers at home. 
 
 We will now introduce the farm we selected— 
 the rent and taxes we had to pay — the imple- 
 ments and live stock we bought — the labour it 
 required and the crops we raised — and the result 
 after two years' experiment, and prospects for 
 the future. 
 
 We advertised for a farm near the railway, 
 on the frontier between Montreal and Toronto, 
 within an easy distance of a church, a post 
 oflSice, and a good market. The numerous an- 
 swers our advertisement received convinced us 
 that this is a better way to set to work than to 
 go to any particular Kegistry or Land Agency 
 Office. You are at once put in full possession of 
 all the particulars of several properties in dif- 
 ferent localities, and can make your own com- 
 parison. It is scarcely possible for an agent to 
 give an unbiassed opinion, or not be most active 
 in his exertions to sell, or let, that property for 
 disposal of which he has secured the most com- 
 mission. Besides, an advertisement draws out, 
 in many cases, an answer from persons who have 
 not taken the pains to register their property, or 
 thought it advisable to employ an agent. Ad- 
 vantageous situations were more highly valued 
 than any excess in fertility of soil ; so that farms 
 
 
FARMING IN CANAD^ 
 
 97 
 
 near a town, within a radius of three or four 
 miles, are let at about £4:0 sterling a year, 
 which, if more remot*^, would not be worth <£*30 
 or £25, Farms so advantageously situated are 
 seldom to be purchased, except at prices which 
 far exceed their agricultural value. There seems 
 to be always a lingering hope, on the part of the 
 owners, that some millionaire will "come along," 
 and build a factory, or that he may cut it up 
 into a little town ; that a railway will require 
 half of it ; at any rate, that there is some latent 
 value in the way of a petrc'eim oil spring, or 
 some one of the numerous copper, tin, iron, lead, 
 yellow ochre, and other mines and quarries with 
 which Canada abounds. The consequence is the 
 price fixed as the value of the property would, at 
 the current, and even lowest Canadian rate of 
 interest of ^^6 per cent., produce an annual in- 
 come fully double to that which would have to 
 be paid as annual rent. With this view, it is 
 much cheaper to rent than to purclmse. 
 
 We selected a farm within an easy walk of a 
 good town, where there were good schools for 
 the children, so near indeed, that the house could 
 have been let separately. This made the farm 
 dearer. No doubt, the land might have been let 
 as accommodation land, and thus a greater rent 
 secured than we paid for the whole. The land 
 
 H 
 
1 
 
 (A 
 
 
 ■;! 
 
 It 
 
 « 
 
 98 
 
 FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 consisted of about 100 acres, of which any por- 
 tion might be put under the plough; but we 
 had the option of tilling as little or as much as 
 we thought prudent. We therefore tried 40 acres 
 under tillage and the remainder in pasture. Be- 
 sides this, we had liberty to cut fuel for our own 
 use. For all this we had to pay ^^80 (say £62 
 sterling), besides taxes. The value of the house 
 itself, in a good town, would have been ^30 
 sterling ; this left about the same sum for the 
 land and buildings, and this was quite its full 
 value for farming purposes. Fortunately, we 
 had secured, before we took possession, a limit 
 to our taxes ; and every emigrant should follow 
 our example in this respect. 
 
 The taxes in Canada have hitherto been so 
 trifling in amount that they have been treated 
 as merely nominal. Such, however, has been the 
 rapid progress of this colony, that she has jumped, 
 as it were, all at once into the maturity of an old 
 country — indeed, is in a more advanced condition 
 than was England, in many respects, before her 
 railways had come into general operation. It seems 
 unreasonable to expect that she could have taken 
 this great jump without some corresponding strain 
 upon her resources, great and inexhaustible as 
 they may prove. Old settlers are the best guide 
 to that information, which enables you to make 
 
FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 99 
 
 a comparison bft en Canada as she is, and 
 Canada as she waa nearly ten years ago. Then, 
 her taxes were light and nominal; now, they 
 are felt and becoming serious. 
 
 But what has she gained? First and fore- 
 most, she has secured the Americans as her best 
 customers, and this, conjointly with the recipro- 
 city now subsisting between all Canadian and 
 American trading, is the effect of her railways. 
 As an illustration, horses which could not be sold 
 for a remunerative price, except at long credit, 
 are now eagerly sought for, where the breed is 
 superior, and large prices are paid in cash, and 
 so in a fully equal degree, wherever the stock of 
 sheep or cattle is superior, is their value appre- 
 ciated. A market for all her produce is secured 
 throughout the whole year, and not limited to 
 the season of open navigation, although that 
 season will ever prove the most favourable. The 
 winter market must be of infinite advantage, 
 and gradyally improve. Machinery can be trans- 
 ported throughout the entire province. Building 
 materials are, by facilities of transit, not only 
 lessened in price, but can be obtained in quan- 
 tity, and not by mere driblets, as when the 
 sleigh was the only mode of carriage. Houses 
 can be built, and every kind of permane^ ^ im- 
 provement can be effected at less cost, and in 
 
 H 2 
 
\^^. 
 
 -•..., , 141 !' ' . L ' ..*-L.l ' .^ 
 
 ■"]W. " . " " || . iii . .1 JJII I W II ,. 
 
 100 
 
 FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 !.( 
 
 one-third less time. Land has risen in value 
 fully fifty per cent, on the frontier, and farms 
 lately inaccessible now command as high a price 
 as did the most eligibly situated ten years ago. 
 
 In order to procure all these advantages, seve- 
 ral municipalities have, perhaps, overburthened 
 themselves with a debenture debt. These deben- 
 tures are now falling due, and can only be met 
 by increased taxatioa They are, in fact, a latent 
 mortgage upon all the land included in the mu- 
 nicipality which has issued them ; such, perhaps, 
 as the owners, if selling, are not bound to dis- 
 close. Many a hasty purchaser is now feeling 
 the burthen of this unexpected demand upon his 
 resources in the way of increased taxation. 
 Forewarned, he might have been forearmed, 
 and have secured a corresponding reduction in 
 his purchase-money or rent, as the case may be. 
 It may, therefore, prove useful to all emigrants 
 to remind them, that taxes do exist and are on 
 the increase. The amount of debenture debt due 
 from each municipality can readily be ascer- 
 tained, and the dates when these debts become 
 payable. As this directly afiects the value of the 
 land, no purchase should be closed or lease com- 
 pleted, before these burthens have been fully 
 allowed for, in estimating the annual or perma- 
 nent value of any property. In our case, we 
 
 !i 
 
\ 
 
 FABMINQ IN CANADA. 
 
 101 
 
 value 
 
 farms 
 
 price 
 
 ago. 
 
 seve- 
 
 hened 
 
 ieben- 
 
 )e met 
 
 latent 
 
 he mu- 
 
 erhaps, 
 
 to dis- 
 
 feeling 
 
 pon bis 
 
 .xation. 
 
 iarmed, 
 
 ition in 
 
 may be, 
 
 ligrants 
 
 L are on 
 
 ebt due 
 
 1 ascer- 
 
 become 
 
 e of the 
 
 je com- 
 
 n fully 
 
 perma- 
 
 ase, we 
 
 i I 
 
 ^1 
 
 have shewn that we were protected by a limit in 
 our lease ; but for this, our annual pu,yment for 
 the property we occupy would be from d£*8 to d£^14 
 more than is the case at present. 
 
 The first essential before a farm is entered 
 upon is, to get a good man. The quality of the 
 man will a great deal depend upon the employer. 
 Excellence in every point cannot be expected, 
 and until an employer can be found who can set 
 up himself as a living proof to the contrary, we 
 shall have to make the best of those we find ready 
 to work ; and the only way to do so is, to let them 
 see our better parts more prominently than our 
 failings. There is nothing like taking a reason- 
 able share of work upon yourself in order to 
 get your own proper share from those you em- 
 ploy. This tells with double force in a colony 
 where by far the greater number of employers 
 are men of the same stamp and the same habits, 
 and have been at some time of their life in no 
 better condition than those they employ. Hence 
 the term, "help," is often used where that of ser- 
 vant is really meant; while the word, "master," 
 is almost struck out of the American vocabulary, 
 and that of " boss " used in its stead. Having 
 made allowance for the feelings of independence 
 which all, who have been long in a colony gradu- 
 ally obtain, and sometimes permit to ooze out in 
 
 i 
 
 » 
 
il.BMti. » .lJJ» < U ' i i M<JlU« w »t. H Ll..lJl ' . ' L- i 'i »i *.." . m >rl»<W«^»»i»iK 
 
 
 ii 
 
 If 
 
 !: 
 
 II ii 
 
 102 
 
 FAmnNG IN CANADA. 
 
 the form of unseemly mamiers, we have invariably 
 found our consideration has been amply rewarded, 
 and after a little intercourse have secured as much 
 work done, with as hearty good will, as the most 
 submissive-mannered peasant at home ever re- 
 turned to his employer. It is very hazardous to 
 import servants from England ; their motive for 
 leaving their own country is, of course, to better 
 themselves. They will begin to doubt whether 
 they had not better have stayed where they 
 were. The climate will surprise them. Rumour 
 will be busy, and they will imagine their wages 
 insufficient ; in short, they are generally discon- 
 tented, and servants, like masters, must become 
 acclimatized, and have learnt the ways of the 
 country before their services can equal those 
 already acquainted with them ; besides, they are 
 very apt to ridicule and sneer at their fellow- 
 workmen, as if they must be superior ; and no 
 inconsiderable loss of time, and a good deal of 
 unproductive labour, can be easily traced to these 
 feelings of jealousy and ignorant prejudice. 
 
 While on the subject of workmen, an illustra- 
 tion of the difference between a Canadian and a 
 raw, Old Countryman, may be amusing and a 
 warning to others who may have passed the 
 meridian of life in their native land, and are in 
 receipt of good wages at home to remain there, 
 
 # 
 
FAUMINQ IN CANADA. 
 
 103 
 
 unless they have some relatives or friends in this 
 country to help them on after their arrival In 
 the present instance, the poor man of whom 1 am 
 about to speak, was as illiterate and ignorant an 
 Englishman as could probably be found ; he had 
 been induced to cross the Atlantic after listening 
 to the representations of some emigration lec- 
 turer, and all he deemed essential towards bet- 
 tering his condition, was forthwith to quit his 
 native soil He walked from a village not twelve 
 miles distant from London to Gravesend, and 
 there got on board the first trader he saw bound 
 for New York. He arrived in that city in Novem- 
 ber, in total ignorance that the climate was in 
 any degree colder than in England, and had 
 come provided with nothing more than ordinary 
 clothing ; of course, he shared the fate of many 
 of his class, and got cheated out of what little 
 cash he had left before leaving the city. Wan- 
 dering about and getting his food, in return for 
 work, he was advised to go to " Kennedy," as he 
 pronounced it, as the only place fit for an English- 
 man. He was evidently not " acute " enough for 
 a Yankee. He walked five hundred miles before 
 reaching the banks of the St. Lawrence, and 
 spent his last shilling as his fare across the ferry 
 to the Canadian side. He arrived at our door 
 hungry, not only foot-sore, but nearly foot-frozen, 
 
 ii 
 
MR 
 
 104 
 
 FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 on Christmas Eve, during a severe snowstorm. 
 We gladly took him in, and agreed to keep him 
 on trial. Though grateful to us, and glad to get 
 amongst any that still savoured so strongly as 
 ourselves of the " Old Country," he, nevertheless, 
 was discontented. He could not bring himself 
 to understand how it was that he, who could 
 earn his 168. a-week, and was regarded as a good 
 workman, and who could besides " grub a Sussex 
 shaw," and use the bill-hook against any man in 
 the parish, could not earn wages with the Cana- 
 dian axe. The fault, of course, was in the tool 
 and not in him. He never could cut a quarter 
 of a cord in a day, and yet an experienced chop- 
 per gets through a cord and a half per day with 
 comparative ease. Two good choppers will walk 
 up to the finest specimen of a pine ever beheld, 
 such as the Old Country eye would think could 
 only be felled with a cross-cut saw ; in less than 
 ten minutes it will lie prostrate on the ground. 
 The temper and edge requisite for the axe is such, 
 that the woodsman is as careful over it as he is 
 of his razor, and so treasures it up, that he sleeps 
 with it under his pillow to prevent the frost 
 from rendering it brittle. 
 
 We took possession in the spring, and com- 
 menced with one man and two horses. The 
 wages are usually in Upper Canada ri£*30 cur- 
 
FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 105 
 
 I 
 
 rency a -year, and board. The plough can 
 rarely enter the ground before the second week 
 in April. In some seasons a little ploughing 
 may be done in the last week in March, 
 All the sowing, besides the planting of Indian 
 corn and potatoes, must be finished before the 
 first week in June is over — perhaps, I ought 
 to say, before the end of May. There are, there- 
 fore, but seven short weeks ; and, upon an ave- 
 rage, only five days, at the most, can be calculated 
 as working days, as frequent interruptions to 
 spring work from rain must be expected. The 
 ploughing is invariably done with two horses 
 harnessed abreast and driven by reins, and from 
 one acre to one acre and a half, according to the 
 quality of the soil, is considered a day's work. 
 On a heavy soil you are likely to find four acres 
 and a half will have occupied a week (when loss 
 of time is allowed for). To perform this spring 
 work, we had to buy two stiff-set horses, and as 
 we only gave something like ^£^35 for the two, 
 they were rather under-size ; it would take £50 
 to buy two thoroughly good horses of full 
 height. The plough and the harness cost us 
 another £6 ; a waggon, d£*15; and then came 
 harrows, rollers, and other implements, so that 
 nearly half our available capital was at once 
 required before our spring work was fairly over. 
 
106 
 
 FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 \ We managed to make the remaining ^100 
 
 1 supply us with every necessary implement, and 
 
 1 to stock our farm with three cows and about 
 
 twenty sheep, and several head of young cattle. 
 
 j The price of a cow in spring, on the point of 
 
 having a calf, is from £4i to ^6, and sheep are 
 
 worth from 2 dollars to 5 dollars (10«. to 258.), 
 
 ; according to age and size. 
 
 So little could be done the first year of occu- 
 pation, that the return from the farm was scarcely 
 sufficient to supply our family with all the bread, 
 butter, eggs, pork, mutton, and beef we required 
 for use. But these are not the only products of 
 a Canadian farm which might be introduced. 
 Butchers and bakers are, it is true, the first on 
 the list of tradespeople whose bills ought never 
 to be heard of; but the grocer, and the tallow- 
 chandler, and even the soap-boiler may all be 
 interfered with. 
 
 The maple sugar-bush is a natural source of 
 profit that often proves of infinite service, as it 
 may be made to supply all the sugar requisite for 
 the year, for a large family's consumption — by 
 no means a small item of cost where tea and 
 coffee take the place of beer and spirits, and are 
 used at every meal ; but it often provides a 
 goodly suplus for sale. The sap of the maple is 
 ready to flow immediately the frost begins to 
 
FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 107 
 
 leave us, in March and April. A good bush of 
 large-sized trees will furnish hundreds of pounds 
 of good sugar, while the more refined maple- 
 syrup is a real dainty relished by children, and 
 a useful adjunct to the housewife's stores. Then, 
 during the winter, as the Canadian farmer is his 
 own butcher, his mutton and beef find him with 
 plenty of raw material for candle-making, and 
 the candle-mould is always in requisition at that 
 season. Nor are the ashes from his constant fires 
 to be wasted, but turned to an economical ac- 
 count in the manufacture of soap, which, together 
 with candles, is generally part of our home pro- 
 ductions. Potash might be included as a very 
 valuable item on our list ; but as this more pro- 
 perly belongs to the wild, uncultivated forest- 
 land, while undergoing the process of clearance, 
 it can scarcely be introduced as an article which 
 a farmer on the well cleared frontier has for 
 disposal 
 
 We had, evidently, entered too late on our 
 farm to secure a large return the first season, we 
 therefore determined to try what the second year 
 would do, and kept the plough as busy as we 
 could all the autumn, so that when spring came 
 round, there should be little to do, but to sow 
 and to harrow. We managed, by hard work, to 
 
 1 
 
V 
 
 *l 
 
 I 
 
 
 108 
 
 TARMINO IN CANADA. 
 
 get forty acres well ploughed before the winter 
 set in. We did not venture upon fall wheat, as 
 that had, till the last season, become quite a pre- 
 carious crop. 
 
 When spring returned, we found the ploughed 
 land thoroughly well pulverized by frost, so that 
 all that was requisite was the use of the Ame- 
 rican or " Share's" harrow. This is a most effec- 
 tive implement, almost equilateral and triangular. 
 Two horses can readily draw it, and its numerous 
 inverted teeth, or coulters, slice every furrow 
 into four ; and after thrice harrowing with this 
 instrument, we made the best seed-bed we ever 
 saw on a farm. The four fields of forty acres 
 looked almost like a garden ; and we divided them 
 into fifteen acres of spring Fife wheat, fifteen acres 
 of Canadian field peas, six of oats, two of potatoes, 
 and two of barley. 
 
 Every one of these crops seemed to try and 
 out-do the other, and to say which was the best 
 would perhaps be difficult. Probably, the Cheva- 
 lier barley deserved the palm. The harvesting 
 of these crops could not, of course, be go: L'lrcdgh 
 by one, or even two men. Here ai r.picient 
 manufacturer came to our rescue ; and our wheat 
 and oat crop was the scene of trial for what had 
 been retunxed to him as a defective reaper. The 
 
FARMINQ IN CANADA. 
 
 109 
 
 grain was much laid, owing vO the heavy rains ; 
 but the reaper performed admirably, and the 
 owner kindly let us have the use of it for the 
 whole harvest. It was difli-ult, will) our small 
 staff' (increased though it was to five men), to 
 bind fast enough for the cutting of this machine, 
 and to ca} ry and stack in the barn, so as not to 
 hpvt K T Jich grain cut at one time. 
 
 H"re I must notice a great and general defect 
 in Canadian farming, and that is in the art of 
 securing the grain in mows or stacks, as well as 
 hay, after the large barns are all filled. Occa- 
 sionally, as during the autumn of 1860, deluging 
 rains fall, which would severely test the best 
 thatching in the world — of which, perhaps, our 
 native county of Devon generally affords the best 
 specimens. The straw here used for thatching 
 has all been passed through the machine, and is 
 therefore ill fitted for thatching purposes. Few 
 farmers ever reserve any hand-threshed straw, 
 and comb it into reed, as at home, but those 
 few are amply rewarded. 
 
 Our loss from damaged grain, on this head, 
 must have been exceedingly great ; but every 
 neighbour lost fully as much. The quantity of 
 grain rendered unmarketable under this system, 
 in aDy productive year, which is generally after 
 a wet season^ must be prodigious. 
 
m<m 
 
 no 
 
 FABMING IN CANADA. 
 
 
 jlfi 
 
 \ , 'k 
 
 I ,1 
 
 NotwithstandiDg this loss, we managed to thresh 
 out for market the following produce — from 
 
 15 acres of spring wheat... 320 bushels. 
 15 acres of Canadian peas... 420 
 
 6 acres of oats 240 
 
 2 acres of barley 94 
 
 a 
 
 >» 
 
 The value of this grain averaged as follows— 
 Wheat, 90 cents (4s. 6'i.) per bushel of 60 lbs. ; 
 peas, 55 cents (25. 9d) per bushel of same weight ; 
 barley, 60 cents (38.) per bushel of 56 lbs. ; oats, 
 22 cents (Is. Id) per bushel of 34 lbs. "We have 
 specified the respective weight of each kind by 
 bushel, because all Canadian grain is sold by 
 weight, and not by measure. The two acres of 
 potatoes yielded about 240 bushels, very slightly 
 injured by the potato disease, which of late has 
 but little affected this crop. These averaged in 
 value, 25 cents (Is. 3d) per bushel. Thus is the 
 produce of our forty acres accounted for. For 
 remaining produce, we must turn to the dairy of 
 three cows, to several pigs, and our twenty sheep, 
 now increased to thirty-nine, including lambs j 
 and to the poultry, turkeys, chickens, and ducks. 
 
 The most important item of profit would ap- 
 pear to have been derived from the pigs. Where- 
 ever a large quantity of grain is grown a cor- 
 responding stock of pigs should be kept. A 
 
 R 
 
 
 I 
 
FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 Ill 
 
 thresh 
 
 Is. 
 
 ows— 
 
 ;0 lbs. ; 
 
 v^eight ; 
 
 ; oats, 
 ^e have 
 dnd by 
 jold by 
 icres of 
 slightly 
 Late has 
 aged in 
 s is the 
 r. For 
 dairy of 
 y sheep, 
 lambs ; 
 ducks, 
 uld ap- 
 Where- 
 
 a cor- 
 pt. A 
 
 small pig, purchased in early spring — say six 
 weeks old — will cost one dollar (oe.) His keep 
 during the summer is supplied from the waste 
 of the house and the rough parterres. After 
 harvest he is turned into the '* errish," and there 
 he gains so much in condition, that he requires 
 to be shut up little more than three weeks to 
 make him from 150 lbs. to 200 lbs. in weight by 
 the middle of November. Pork is then generally 
 worth five dollars per 1 00 lbs., at the least ; so that 
 fifteen pigs, which our farm could have easily car- 
 ried, would have brought in at 200 lbs. weight 
 
 / each, the goodly sum of 150 dollars, or ^£^32 10». ; 
 and had we purchased them in the spring, would 
 
 ; have cost us onlv 15 dollars, or £S 1.58. 
 
 Butter is usually worth from 8d. to lOd. per lb., 
 and a good nurtured cow in fair pasture, with 
 access to water, so that she may slake her thirst 
 as often as she feels inclined during the heat of 
 
 . summer, will produce about seven lbs. per week. 
 Fowls are most essential for the supply of eggs 
 as well as chickens during summer ; and in early 
 spring a good stock of laying hens will prove 
 very profitable, and the large surplus of eggs 
 they aflford is readily saleable at 9d. to Is. per 
 dozen. Turkeys are kept at very little expense 
 during summer, as they live entirely upon insects 
 and grasshoppers, and grass-seeds. I do not 
 
^fti' 
 
 ! ii 
 
 :ii 
 
 *■ 
 
 e'» 
 
 Jr ^ 
 
 112 
 
 FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 think tliey injure the grain to any extent — cer- 
 tainly no more than partridges or pheasants do ; 
 and as we have nothing of that kind (except the 
 tree-partridge, or grouse, in the bush), to live in 
 our crops, or to be shot in September or October, 
 turkeys may be kept to supply their place. They 
 will do for themselves until the frost and snow 
 set in, then a general wholesale slaughter ensues, 
 as their keep in winter would be too expensive. 
 All superfluous ducks, geese, and fowls share the 
 same fate at thicu period, and are either marketed 
 or kept for home consumption. 
 
 The severe winter cold is here turned to an 
 economical account, as all this vast amount of 
 poultry would be wasted but for the plan adopted 
 of exposing it, and all kinds of meat and fish to 
 the frost, or burying it in snow, which is by 
 many preferred. All can be preserved in this 
 manner in excellent condition for three months, 
 and even as seasons vary, for four. This system, 
 of course, greatly reduces the prices, so that a 
 large turkey can be bought for 2s. English, or Ss. 
 at the highest ; fowls for 6d. a-piece, and geese 
 for Is. 6d. A ready sale for sheep is always 
 found in the home-market, especially for lambs 
 during the summer months ; and many a lamb is 
 then sold for about the same money as the wool 
 on his back would be worth in the ensuing spring. 
 
FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 113 
 
 They thrive well, although they consume little 
 else than the pea straw (which they doat upon, 
 and which otlier cattle care little about), during 
 winter, and live upon the pastures during sum- 
 mer, so that they are the most profitable of any 
 kind of stock ; their wool certainly pays for their 
 keep, and the continued addition to the flock 
 from lambs every spring, more than replaces any 
 that may have been required for market or con- 
 sumption. 
 
 I have now gone through almost all the sources 
 of profit from a Canadian farm, exclusive of those 
 which belong, perhaps, to the garden, as fruit 
 and vegetables — including the melons, tomatoes, 
 cucumber, squash, peppers or capsicum, and early 
 potatoes ; for about six weeks in the year, from 
 20s. to 408. per week may be easily secured by 
 due attention from sales of garden produce, be- 
 sides an ample supply for the house ; while a 
 good-sized orchard well- stocked with choice fruit 
 is an invaluable appendage to every farm. We 
 have on one occasion made the crop of an orchard 
 of about one hundred and thirty trees in full- 
 bearing worth £4i2. The luscious water-core, 
 richly streaked St. Lawrence, and peach-flavoured 
 Frameuse or Snow-apple, were among the choicest 
 of our fruits, to which should be added some 
 splendid specimens of cooking-apples both for 
 
 I 
 
114 
 
 FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 Mi 
 
 1%V- 
 
 V 
 
 Ir 
 
 size, colour, and complexion. The basket of this 
 fruit exhibited at Toronto, with but few addi- 
 tions from neighbouring orchards, gained the first 
 prize, and ultimately found its way to the table 
 of Government House. Unhappily we have no 
 longer the benefits of this delightful orchard, 
 which, when seen in spring, when every tree was 
 a mass of beauteous blossom, attracted the ad- 
 miration of all the passengers of the numerous 
 St. Lawrence steamers ; but when viewed in 
 autumn was so enticing from its display of lus- 
 cious fruits, that the temptation proved irresist- 
 ible, and its owners were far from being the only 
 persons who rejoiced in its fecundity. 
 
 The heavy cost of labour musu now be taken 
 into account, otherwise a Canadian farm will be 
 made to appear an El Dorado ; such, however, is 
 the weight of this item, that on placing profit 
 and loss on the scales, loss will inevitably prove 
 the heaviest, unless the utmost caution be used. 
 
 In the first place, the family must be supplied 
 from the farm in such a way that nothing may 
 be bought which the fiirm can produce ; the 
 home-market will always be the best, and un- 
 bought supplies are always the best tasted. 
 Next, as far as possible, something corresponding 
 with the truck system in the payment of wages 
 must be adopted. A system, however, which, 
 
 ii I 
 
FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 115 
 
 instead of being unfair (as in too many dis 
 tricts in England), may be made perfectly fair. 
 Straw, grain — anything a workman may re- 
 quire, should be given in preference to cash. 
 Where the rate of wages is so good as it is in 
 Canada, it is well-known that this is the only 
 way the generality of farmers can afford to em- 
 ploy labourers. Instead, however, of any agree- 
 ment that wheat should be taken at 8s. a bushel, 
 when it is only worth 5s. in the market (a 
 custom, I believe, still prevalent in the North of 
 Devon), everything is taken at the market price. 
 A man with a family to maintain would not be 
 ready " to hire " for twelve months and to give 
 up the whole of his time, and attend to horses 
 and live stock on the Sunday, unless he was paid 
 perhaps at the rate of d^l 58. sterling per week 
 all the year round. But if the farmer can give 
 him half an acre of land, can keep a cow for him 
 in summer and winter, — can provide him with 
 fuel (no trifle in Canada when fuel has to be 
 bought, but not felt by the farmer who reserves 
 a bush for the purpose), and find him a house to 
 live in rent free, he would consider himself well 
 paid if he had 15s. per week. So, again, the 
 fcirmer with an ample store of provisions — as 
 pork, potatoes, &c., can afford to find meals for 
 bis extra men during the busy time of harvest^ 
 
 I 2 
 
116 
 
 FAEMING IN CANADA. 
 
 H 
 
 and by so doing he has to pay nearly a third less 
 cash for wages. Besides this gain in cash, he 
 gains the additional advantage of securing a 
 well-fed workman, in the place of one who may 
 have denied himself requisite food, in order to 
 indulge in liquor. 
 
 And lastly, a farm must be supplied with all 
 " the labour and time-saving machines " that 
 means will permit. We have already noticed 
 the reaper and mowing-machine ; these are now 
 advertised in the country for sale at d^20 cur- 
 rency, and probably the most trustworthy imple- 
 ment makers are not charging more than £25, 
 These are not essentials, yet those who possess them 
 maintain they last for ten years, and save their 
 prime cost in two. The American horse-rake is 
 a most useful, ingenious, and economical machine, 
 as patented in Canada West ; it is made almost 
 entirely of wood — consisting of a frame some 
 twelve feet in width, mounted on wheels, with 
 shafts ; to this frame are attached twenty-four 
 teeth, three feet or so in length, made of the 
 hardest and toughest ash, strung upon an iron 
 rod, so as to rise over any obstruction, and fall 
 again immediately. The driver stands on the 
 platform, and by the aid of a lever, on which he 
 merely plants his foot and leans his weight, he 
 raises the teeth off the ground, and they imme- 
 
FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 117 
 
 rd less 
 
 [sh, he 
 
 |ing a 
 
 may 
 
 ler to 
 
 th all 
 r that 
 
 oticed 
 e now 
 cur- 
 imple- 
 
 £25, 
 is them 
 e their 
 rake is 
 achine, 
 almost 
 
 some 
 I, with 
 y-four 
 of the 
 a iron 
 id fall 
 n the 
 ch he 
 it, he 
 mme- 
 
 "diately drop the hay or grain, whenever he does 
 so. About eight acres can be gone over with 
 this rake in about half a day. After this, the 
 land is so clean, that when the hay waggon has 
 left the field no litter is visible anywhere. 
 
 This machine alone saves the labour of three 
 or four hands in haying time, and does about as 
 much work in one hour as they would in two, with 
 no labour to the man who directs it ; and it is quite 
 light work for the horse that draws it. This 
 really useful implement, so little known to fame, 
 and, for some unaccountable reason, so kept out 
 of the market (although all who have tried it 
 prefer it to any other), is made, and mounted on 
 well tired wheels, with shafts complete, for £4i 
 sterling. 
 
 The next machine best adapted for a moderate- 
 sized farm, where the object is to thresh out for 
 home consumption, or for a gradual market, is 
 the two-horse power threshing-machine. This is 
 worked by a horse-treadmill. Our horses had 
 worked on it without receiving the slightest 
 injury, and they mount the mill as readily as 
 they would back into a waggon. The power 
 thus obtained is sufficient to work a cylinder, 
 capable of threshing out from one hundred to 
 one hundred and fifty bushels of oats per day. 
 One man is wanted to feed the cylinder, another 
 
118 
 
 FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 1 1 
 
 to untie the bundles of grain, and a boy to throw 
 away the straw, which is separated from the 
 chaff, by means of a straw-carrier, kept in motion 
 by the same power that works the cylinder. In 
 about an hour your two horses will have enabled 
 you, by means of this treader, to thresh out quite 
 as many bushels as it may be convenient to clean 
 up without extra hands. It would be easy at 
 any time to go into the barn at eight in the 
 morning, and thresh, clean, and market thirty 
 bushels of grain before half the day was lost, and 
 not an extra man need have been about your 
 premises. Whereas, when the hired machine is 
 in requisition, you must find four horses, and 
 the owner of the machine four horses, and it re- 
 quires from ten to fifteen hands, according to the 
 conveniences of your bams and yards, to keep 
 pace with the machine. The owner is paid in 
 proportion to the number of bushels threshed, 
 so that his object is to clear out the bams as 
 soon as "it can possibly be done. It is next to 
 impossible to prevent mixture of grain under 
 these circumstances ; and whether you have hit 
 the right time or the wrong, you are obliged to 
 market, as it is seldom granaries sufficiently 
 large to hold all the grain grown, are to be found 
 on any farm. 
 
 The threshing for three or four days will cost 
 
FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 119 
 
 from £S to £4f, independently of board, and 
 extra hire of men and horses. The economy and 
 convenience of these little tread-machines is such 
 that nothing but prejudice could prevent them 
 being used in England, if introduced. Anything 
 better calculated for small holdings, or less dan- 
 gerous, less complicated, and more effective, it is 
 difficult to conceive. The cost of this implement 
 is about d£^35 sterling ; and I believe it will last 
 good for eight or ten years, and pay for its cost, 
 certainly, in two years and a half 
 
 The result of our second year proved satisfac- 
 tory. The amount realised by the sale of the 
 produce enumerated enabled us to provide all the 
 costly implements which have been described, 
 and to add a third horse to the live stock. 
 During the last two years our dealings with 
 tradespeople have considerably lessened. Our 
 butcher has lost a regular, if not a large customer, 
 for it is very seldom we have occasion to trouble 
 his stall. In like manner our bread has been 
 provided entirely by the farm; while a daily 
 and varied bill of fare from an amply supplied 
 poultry-yard and garden, is by no means an in- 
 significant item on the credit side of our farm ac- 
 count. We have no desire to enter an imaginary 
 doctor's bill on the credit side of our account, as 
 if a family, once settled on a farm, never could 
 
<' 1.1 
 
 ;.i 
 
 Ir ,. 
 
 W 
 
 Jli 
 
 120 
 
 FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 require medical aid, and that all settled else- 
 where were never healthy. If we have no actual 
 cash to produce as proofs of our profits, still we 
 can turn to the now somewhat numerous inmates 
 of our pigstyes, to an increased flock of sheep 
 much improved in breed — to the young herd of 
 cattle imperceptibly gathered round us^ as well 
 as to a very promising young colt, destined to 
 complete another team, and double the horse- 
 power with which we commenced. To these we 
 may add the prospect of another bounteous har- 
 vest before us, if a long spell of steady winter, 
 accompanied with an unusual depth of snow, 
 maintain its character as the fore-runner of an 
 abundant summer. We may add, too, that we 
 have the means of sowing all the ground we can 
 cultivate with unbought and home-saved seed, 
 and the use of the labour-saving implements to 
 reap, rake, and thresh our crops. 
 
 And thus we close a somewhat long list of ad- 
 vantages, which we hope may enable us to prove 
 that rural occupation in Canada is not merely 
 healthful and invigorating, but may be made to 
 give a wider scope to a limited income, than 
 would be the case if attempted in the mother- 
 country. Our third year also holds out so fair a 
 promise of actual profit, that we can write con- 
 fidently in favour of the farming resources of 
 
FARMING IN CANADA. 
 
 121 
 
 else- 
 actual 
 
 [till we 
 
 [nmates 
 
 If sheep 
 
 I herd of 
 
 as well 
 
 Lined to 
 
 B horse- 
 
 hese we 
 
 jous har- 
 
 jr winter, 
 
 of snow, 
 
 oer of an 
 
 I, that we 
 
 ad we can 
 
 bved seed, 
 
 Lements to 
 
 list of ad- 
 is to prove 
 lot merely 
 )e made to 
 lome, than 
 bie mother- 
 ut so fair a 
 write con- 
 esources of 
 
 Canada, and shew " Why we live in it, and Why 
 we like it." In short, we live under the daily 
 conviction that in no way could we have im- 
 proved our circumstances, had we remained 
 buried in the backwoods, as was so nearly our 
 fate. If emigration must be encountered there 
 is nothing in the climate, or social condition of 
 the cleared districts of Canada, at all unbearable. 
 If this colony does not offer the fairest field for 
 making a rapid fortune, she does, nevertheless, 
 afford opportunities for making a little go a long 
 way ; and, when we bear in mind the regularity 
 with which her own, as well as the Cunard 
 steamers cross the Atlantic, within eleven days, 
 we feel week after week, as each successive mail 
 brings us tidings from home bearing the dates, 
 as it were but of yesterday, liow much nearer 
 she is to England than any other colony ; and 
 we believe that, with all her faults and failings, 
 the British emigrant may " go farther," and 
 " fare worse." 
 
 THE END. 
 
 
LONDON: 
 
 HUTCIIINGS AND COPE, PRINTKRS, 
 
 G3, SNOW HILL, E.C.