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This item is filmed at the reduction ratio checked below/ Ce document est film6 au taux de reduction indiqu6 ci-dessous. 10X 14X 18X 22X 26X 30X 12X 16X 20X 24X 28X 32X ?r- -I CH n IIVNTINO COSirMK. / iiinli»iiiect. * 1 i-i\±L iiiiiSS10K»D OW A TEND 13111^^001^ .u^ PmiyO A JOVJRNI^Y fX^KAlKUl OF SPOUT LV BV MiiH. MJiKUyiOS ST. MAUH; I " V" who l.nc thf haunts oi Nsiinnv L«)\T tbf sriiR^liin*' of rl!<> ui(mOv>\v% l.ovs the s}m4/.tt of (he fon-st. f*Hf Jh,. wind RDiojii,' '5''>- htfuU'lWH ; iiJit »hn rmn »b..wm* ami th.. .moyf sttorni, % ' t." mabies Rf gnStit Hvora Mn'ir pUisities of plne-trtH«8, (luinsler In tho mountains* ! Htnv nti „ 48 >» » 64 »» » 154 11 » 160 >i » 178 • At end f 4 IMPRESSIONS OF A TENDERFOOT. CHAPTER I. The Voyage— -Land — Quebec. « " For we are all, like swimmers in the sea, Poised on the top of a huge wave of fate Which hangs uncertain to which side to fall ; And whether it will heave us up to land, Or whether it will roll us out to sea, Back out to sea, to the deep waves of death, We know not, and no search will make as know. Only. the event will teach us in that hour." Matthew Arnold. May 2nd. — What a glorious evening it was, our last for some time in dear old England. What brilliant effects of sun and cloud ! the first pale shades of green in the budding trees harmonizing well with the russet browns of the bare pastures and wooded hollows. It was nearly dark when we reached Liverpool; the great river, flowing silently between huge buildings with their tall chimneys, seemed ghostlike and weird, while innumerable glimmering lights from both houses and B ^^^^m a IMPRESSIONS OF A TENDERFOOT, [chap. ships helped to add a mysterious attraction to the scene through tlie grey mists of an early summer night. What endless thoughts were mine ! — of kind friends left behind, of pleasant memories; what hopes for the future, and through all, what anticipations of seeing great and unknown lands beyond the wide seas ! To Algernon these pleasures were not new, for he had trodden many of these "happy hunting-grounds" before; still, he was keen to go again, and no one understands nor appreciates more than he the freedom of life in the Far West. May 2>rd. — ^We left Liverpool at 4 o'clock on a steam tug from the docks, to join the Allan Line's best steamer, the Par Ulan. Half an hour on a very rough sea was most trying; the passengers were crowded together like sheep in a pen, with all the baggage huddled round anyhow, the sea sweeping the deck of the tug every few minutes in a way which made it difficult to keep dry ; thus we reached the steamer, and found some of the passengers, who had been wiser than ourselves, comfortably settled, having embarked before she left the dock. We reached Loch Foyle at 8 the following morning, and there had to await the arrival of the mails. The Parisian is a fine steamer of 5300 tons, and Captain Smith, her commander, is a favourite with every one. We had already many emigrants on board. Here more joined, making their number over 800 ; cabin passengers, intermediate and crew made another 200. '.] DISCOMFORTS OF TRA VEL. Iin Ire May 5th. — After leaving Loch Foyle, we had rough weather, and my experiences resulted in no literary suggestions. All voyages are alike in so far that they have a beginning and an end; therefore, being a bad sailor myself, I intend to say as little about this part of my travels as possible. To see the world, one must become callous to personal comfort ; travelling does all men good; they find their level, come in contact with the enterprise of others, and see life from many different points of view ; and the results of wandering to and fro upon the earth are often garnered stores of wisdom. How true are Laurence Oliphant's ideas on this subject ! " The proverb that a rolling stone gathers no moss ^'s, like " most proverbs, neater as an epigram than as a truth, in so " far as its application to human existence is concerned. " Even if by ' moss * is signified hard cash, commercial and " industrial enterprises have undergone such a change since " the introduction of steam and electricity, that the men " who have made most money in these days are often those " who have been flying about from one quarter of the world " to another in its successful pursuit — taking contracts, " obtaining concessions, forming companies, or engaging in " speculations, the profitable nature of which has been " revealed to them in the course of their travels. But " there may be said to be other kinds of moss besides " money, of which the human rolling stone gathers more " than the stationary one. He meets with adventures, he " acquires new views, he undergoes experiences, and gains u 2 I i 4 IMPRESSIONS OF A TENDERFOOT, [chap. " a general knowledge of the world, the whole crystallising " in after life into a rich fund of reminiscences, which " becomes the moss that he has gathered." TItursday, 10th. — A glorious day. A school of whales, some icebergs, and several Newfoundland fishing schooners have been sighted. Owing to the Straits of Belleisle being full of ice, our captain has been obliged to enter the Gulf of St. Lawrence by Cape Breton, which will take two days longer. Two years ago the Atlantic steamers to Quebec were delayed seven days at the Straits of Belleisle, wedged in by ice floes on every side. The cold and discomfort experienced by the passengers were very great, as the provisions did not hold out. The Sardinian that same year was nineteen days making Quebec, the ship getting among icebergs and thick fog. The first land seen this morning, the Island of St. Pierre, belongs to France, and has a French marquis as Governor. It is an important place so far as the fishing industries are concerned, and aU sailors in the French navy are obliged to serve a sort of apprenticeship with the iishing-boats in tliese seas before joining the regular navy. At the present time, the French are giving us some trouble, claiming fifteen miles of coast as their right on the shores of Newfoundland in connection with these fisheries. Great excitement on deck at a supposed line of icebergs. I.] IN SIGHT OF LAND, the owners of telescopes and field-glasses vying with each other in their eagerness to discover what they might or might not be. After some suspense and on nearer inspection the supposed line of icebergs proved to be the coast of Newfoundland, the high cliffs of which were white with snow. Before evening land was viewed on both sides of the ship, Cape Hay on the right. Cape Breton on the left. As one gazes on the horizon out at sea, it seems strange to a novice that with such a boundless extent one can really see little more than from six to eight miles. When a ship is coming into view, the upper spars are visible at a much greater distance, being naturally above the limited horizon of the sea ; for the same reason, land can often be seen at a great distance, and if the country be mountain- ous as far as forty or fifty miles. Some years ago. Captain Smith was asked to take charge of a young woman who was going out to be married in Canada. The lover had sent £120 for h^r outfit and expenses. Before half the voyage was over the young woman came to the Captain, and told him she had changed her mind, having met a " new " man on the steamer whom she liked better, and him she intended to marry. Protests were useless ; she married her fellow- passenger the day the ship arrived at Quebec. The rejected suitor had only an interview with the Captain to console him for the loss of his money and his bride. May \Wi. — Glorious sunshine, which made one forget '^^ fy IMPRESSIONS OF A TENDERFOOT, [chap. the trials of the early part of the voyage. At 8 A.M. we passed the Island of (laspe, and after that saw the Canadian coast more clearly ; black, bare, and rugged it all looked, some scattered fir and pine trees standing out plainly against the cold-looking rocks, the deep gullies of which, still full of snow-drifts, made the scene appear most wintry. As we steamed along, small fishing-villages came in view, with cultivated patches of land here and there. The emigrants could not conceal their disappoint- ment with their first glimpse of Canada; but with its marvellous resources, doubtless in a few years their ideas w^ill change. First impressions are not always to be trusted. On arriving at Rimouski the pilot and health officers came on board ; here we were delayed for nearly an hour, one of the emigrants refusing to be vaccinated. However, on being threatened with quarantine for six weeks, his scruples were overcome, and he submitted to the operation. The Canadian laws are very strict regarding vaccination, as a few years ago they had a terrible epidemic of small pox in Montreal and Quebec. At this place disembarked two very rough-looking lumbermen, brothers, who were among our cabin passen- gers, returning from Belfast, where they had been to receive money left to them. They had inherited £80,000 ; neither of them could write his name. One was a hunchback, who had worked for twenty-eight years as cook in a lumber camp. So does the wheel of Fortune turn! '.] QUEBEC, Sunday, May VMh. — " *Ti8 always morning aotnewhere, and above Tho awakening uontineuts from shore to shore Somewhere the birds are singing evermore." Pleasant morning thoughts are these of the American poet and singer. On deck at 6.30 to see the far-famed view of Quebec from the St. Lawrence. Alas ! the morning was wet and misty ; we passed the Falls of Montmorency, and ended our voyage at Point Levis, crossing to Quebec in the ferry boat ; but even from that shrouded glimpse of the Heights of Abraham we realized how few were the scenes that could rival the incomparable beauty of that ancient fortress and quaint old city towering high above the noble river, of which all Canadians are so justly proud. May lAth. — Quebec is an old-fashioned place, with a French-looking and, for the most part, a French-speaking population. Even the houses in the lower quarter of the town have a foreign look about them, with their green outside shutters and their tin roofs, while over the shop doors still hang quaint old French signs. The carriages chiefly used are French caleches, the models of which doubtless came from France during the reign of Louis XIV., wlien the impoverished gentilhomme became the un- willing emigrant; odd-looking vehicles they are, these high two-wheeled carriages on their loose springs, carrying two persons inside, and the driver perched on his little seat just above his he le, but admirable and easy for • ••-^♦>^.»'* •■•*•'■* •* -■■ — — *'»*..'*K^*-- J \ fi 8 IMPRESSIONS OF A TENDERFOOT, [chap. going over very rough roads ; outside the town these were very rough, owing to the lateness of the spring, the frost not being yet out of the ground, and great banks of snow still lying on either side. Quebec has never gone ahead like other cities in the Dominion, and is now rather taking a retrograde movement, the result of the decline in her timber trade, which never recovered the effects of a strike some years ago, when, owing to a rise in wages, most of the lumber business went to Montreal and Three Rivers. Large fortunes were made in Quebec in the lumber trade at one time ; those days are past, and the inhabitants are no longer the wealthy citizens they were. We visited the Falls of Montmorency. An introduction to Mrs. P. proved useful; she was most kind, and we followed her down a long flight of rather slippery wooden steps to a summer-house half-way below the falls, where we saw a wild rush of snow water surging with irresistible force over the high rocks, it being here the river takes its last mad plunge into the St. Lawrence. The old gateways of the town no longer exist, having been demolished by some Vandal mayor of Quebec, who built " nice new ones " in their places, thereby, alas ! destroying much of the historical interest of the city. We spent two. hours at the citadel, walking round the fortifications. A magnificent landscape extended far beneath us : the great St. Lawrence wending its way majestically to the sea; the country dotted over with villages and churches all along the river's course ; opposite I.] MONTREAL. }^ Ir n to Quebec the rising town of Point Levis ; further down on the same side as Quebec, Beauport, and further still the spray rising from the Falls of i>.*"ontinorency ; and as the river receded further into the sunshine and the mist, losing itself at length in the far distance, this glorious panorama suggested one of Turner's grandest effects of sunshine and cloud. We left Quebec this afternoon, making out first journey in a Pullman car. In the districts round the town, we passed through large tracts of country cut up into small farms ; the people have lived on them thus from genera- tion to generation, bettering their condition but little, selling their hay crops, and growing all else they require on tlieir own bits of land. Further west much is achieved by toil and thrift, but these old settlers seem to have little idea of progression. May \Wi, Hotel Windsor, Montreal. — A fine hotel, fitted with every possible convenience. We paid $G per day each person; this included everything except wine. We had an excellent suite of rooms, with a bath-room attached, and could order what we liked in the dining- room provided it was mentioned on the long " menu " for the day. Everything was detailed on this " menu," beginning with breads and rolls of all kinds. Our introductions were not of much use to us here, as we found that Sir G. Stephen and Sir Donald Smith were both away at the Sault Ste. Marie. We drove round the mountain, and from thexS had i ''■ / :; II I ii H lo JMFJiESSIONS OF A TENDERFOOT, [chap. magnificent views of the river, town, and surrounding land- scape. Our way home took us through tlie beautiful cemetery, the trees all bursting into leaf, fitting emblems of the hope for those lying there so silently. A fine monument, presented by the citizens of Montreal, marks the remains of all firemen killed on duiy in tliis city ; the dangers of their calling are much greater here than in England, owing to the large number of wooden houses. This place is much changed since Algernon was here in 1870. The Canadipn Pacific Eailway station stands where he remembers the old Main Guard to have been ; he also pointed out a small hospital in Notre Dame Street which was the mess-house of the 60th Eifles. The town has enormously extended since that time, there being a great number of excellent shops: a dollar seems to go little further than a shilling does at home. Bought some blankets for campin;^^'; and travelling in out jf the way places. It is always desirable to have one's own, as at any of the small stopping-houses and hotels there is risk in using those provided : mountain fever can be carried in this way. H Queen's Hotel, Toronto, May IWi, — This town is the seat of a University, has a cathedral, many fine churches, and other large public buildings. The hotel i« an old-fashioned plpce, the cooking rather messy ; thj work is done by negro servants ; those who waited at table showed us to our places with the greatest deference, but once there they did not mind how long they 1 1.1 TORONTO. IX kept us waiting for our dinner, and when they did bring it, dashed the dishes down in front of us as if they were conferring a favour, and dealing a pack of cards; they slipped about with their great flat feet, reminding us of ducks by their movements. Negroes detest being called niggers; they prefer being designated coloured men — coloured gentlemen still better. Buckwheat cakes and maple syrup I tasted here for the first time ; both were excellent. Wine was very expensive at all these hotels ; no light claret procurable under $1 a bottle ; champagnes were as much as $14 a bottle. Most people drank tea, coffee, or iced water during lunch or dinner. We were here offered butter- milk ; this I declined. At the " Bars " of the hotels cocktails and all kinds of drinks can be procured at from 10 to 25 cents each. io t May 21s^. — Dined at Government House with Sir Alex- ander Campbell and his charming little daughter Miss Marjorie ; we saw many pretty women while in Canada, but she was quite the prettiest. Afterwards went to a " Fancy Fair," in aid of an Art Institute which the people are anxious to build, so as to have a suitable place for their annual exhibition of pictures by Canadian artists. In this scheme both Lord Lansdowne, who was the late Governor-General, and Lady Lansdowne took much interest. Algernon met here many old friends, who gave us a kind welcome to Toronto. I was told that although clothing and all imported goods i\m i;r f a IMPRESSIONS OF A TENDERFOOT, [chap. TTT ;! I were expensive, the prices of bread, meat, and other pro- visions were extremely reasonable. House-rent, however, was high, and I was somewhat amused to hear that certain acquaintances Algernon asked after had gone to Europe for economy. People who were furnishing a house here, told us that they had many difficulties to contend with ; that only very plain furniture of a regulation pattern was to be procured in Canada, and that before duty and carriage were paid on anything they obtained from England or New York, nearly 60 per cent, on the cost of the whole was charged. A " Slaughter Sale " of dry goods or a " Slaughter Sale of Babies* Buggies " were startling announcements over shop ^vindows ; these were, I found, the terms used for clearing sales, dry goods, meaning silks, muslins, 8lc. ; babies' buggies, an Americanism for children's perambu- lators. No doubt often one word is as good as another, but the unusual always attracts attention. II.] ( 13 ) CHAPTEE II. From Toronto to North Bay by the Great Lakes. "Ye who love Tlie shaggy forests, fierce delights Of sounding waterfalls, of heights That hang like broken moons above, With brows of pine that brush the sun. Believe and follow." Toronto, May 2'ird. — A glorious day for visiting Niagara. We left the hotel soon after 7 a.m., and took our places in a first-class railway car. Into this tumbled all sorts and conditions of men, and it was not long before I realized the fact that the first class in this country is on a par with the third at home, there being no second or third class carriages used ; and unless places can be taken in a sleeping or drawing-room car, one is sometimes obliged to travel with the roughest people. We passed through a good farming country. All along the shores of Lake Ontario the land is in an excellent state of cultivation, but many burnt stumps are seen among the growing crops. How to get rid of these hindrances to husbandry is a ditticult problem. Labour ', 1^ 14 niFRESSWNS OF A TENDERFOOT, [chap. is so valuable that time cannot be spared to dig them out at once, so a few are removed year by year by burning and grubbing. It would be impossible for me to describe the unspeak- able vastness and grandeur of Niagara, but as our visit there was part of our pleasant Canadian travels, I cannot pass it by without briefly giving my impressions. As is well known, the Falls are best seen from the Canadian side. Goat Island divides the two falls. Clouds of spray and the noise of the great rushing waters were the first glimpse and sounds that met us. The American Fall is a vast volume of water, thundering down in a glittering cascade of white foam. But the Horse Shoe Fall ! The memory of this will live through my lifetime. There we saw seas of bright green waters rolling over into the great gulf below. The majesty and immensity over- whelmed me. I\i presence ofthis mighty work of the great Creator, all — all seemed to sink into insignificance. The ills of life, the shortness of it, the disappointments and the joys — ail were forgotten. We felt as if we had had a glimpse into the unseen, where strange forms moved in the great wreaths of mist and foam, and gleams of sunshine through the mysterious haze transfigured the face of the waters. The surrounding woods were now full of song, — " And birds in blended gold and blue, Were thick and sweet as swarming bees ; And sang as if in Paradise, And all their Paradise was spring." II.] N.TAGARA. n When we first ai-rived in Canada they had not yet returned from the south. Now it interests me to watch them, as many of them are those I have not seen before : the golden oriole, waxwing, woodpeckers of different kinds, canaries and humming-birds — all of brighter hues than our familiar English birds. Even the thrush has here borrowed from the robin, and appears with a red breast. Goat Island is on the American side. As we re-crossed the suspension bridge which unites Canada and America, men were busily employed in widening the bridge, and while I had to ask for the assistance of a hand, I saw men standing on the girders in perilous positions, driving great bolts home, apparently as much at their ease as if they had been on land, instead of appearing, as they did to me, suspended in mid air, with the rushing river below them.* The hideous mills and glaring hotels, the tawdry shops, the noisy cab-drivers who implore to be hired, and lastly, the people who offer to be guides when you want none of them — all these things harshly jar upon my mind at a time when I would fain go silently on my way, and disappointed me in our visit to Niagara. There are many unnecessary ways of seeing the Falls to which the unsus- pecting traveller becomes a victim, which add little to his pleasure. If willing to go, he is taken down damp and slippery steps, or " elevators," clothed in oilskins, to see the Falls from below, and hurried in a wild rush through spi..y which completely soaks him : confused in mind and * This bridge has been carried away by a recent storm. ?i i i x6 IMPRESSIONS OF A TENDERFOOT, [chap. disturbed in body, he is thankful to emerge, thoroughly frightened, from what has appeared to him a most hazardous experience. The best way, if one wishes to see the Falls from below, is to embark in Tlie Maid of the Mist, a small steamer which runs up the river almost under the Horse Shoe Fall, looking from above like a cockle-shell bobbing up and down in the water. Toronto, May 24^^.— This is the Queen's birthday. The loyalty of the Canadians should make England blush. They are holding high holiday to-day because of it, and rejoicing most heartily, the whole town being en fete ; and from almost every house a flag is flying, and the people, dressed in their holiday attire, are crowding down the principal streets. All here seem to have the deepest affection for the mother country, and even those families who have been in Canada for several generations appear to have this feeling of love for the country of their forefathers in an extra- ordinary degree. Mr. Goldwin Smith, who has taken up his residence among these good people, may have a few followers, for he is an eloquent and able man, although his mind appears to have become warped and his sym- pathies alienated in a manner which many cannot under- stand. The handing over of Canada to the Americans, which he is perpetually advocating, can only meet with the universal condemnation it deserves among a loyal and upright people like the Canadians, who love II.] CANADIAN LOYALTY. 17 If their country and their Queen, and who hope to see the bonds tliat unite Canada to the mother country consoli- dated and strengthened as time goes on ; whenever (in the words of General Lord Wolseley) "God in His mercy is pleased to send us a statesman wise enough and great enough to federate and consolidate into one united British empire all the many lands and provinces which acknowledge Queen Victoria as their sovereign." * Most Canadians met in society have often been in England, and seem to know it better than their own country, for when they wish to travel they generally cross the Atlantic. The Governor of Ontario, Sir Alexander Campbell, asked us to join his party for the races. The course lies on pretty undulating ground close to the shore of the lake. The meeting was held under the rules of the Ontario Jockey Club, and no betting was allowed. Tlie Governor • The late Eight Hon. W. E. Forster, in an address to the Philo- sophical Institution of Edinburgh in 1875, says : — "I believe that our union with our Colonies will not be severed, because I believe that we and they will more and more prize this union, and become convinced that it can only be preserved by looking forward to association on equal terras. In other words, I believe our colonial empire will last, because no longer striving to rule our Colonies as dependencies when they have become strong enough to be indepen- dent. We shall welcome them as our partners in a common and rising Empire." What more popular cry at present than the preserva- tion of our colonial empire ? Some twelve years ago, it is true, a voice from Oxford declared this empire to be an illusion for the future and a danger for the present ; but Professor Gold win Smith has gone to Canada, and his eloquent arguments for disruption have as little convinced the Canadians as ourselves. .. . -. .. u.. .-: ; '\/9 1 1 1 [I 7 tl' •} ' I! i8 IMPRESSIONS OF A TENDERFOOT, [chap. and his party were treated with the greatest deference, and his carriages were the only ones allowed to drive up the course. Opposite the winning-post Sir Alexander Campbell had a charming box ; in this we sat for most of the afternoon. There were some nice young horses, but the riding was very bad, so much so that one or two that ought to have been winners got into the second place. The crowd was quiet and orderly, two mounted police being sufficient to keep the course, and doing it extremely well ; each of them was provided with a cutting whip, wliich they seemed to use pretty freely among the crowd. I thought of the questions which would be asked in the House, and of the rage of an English mob, if such a thing was even hinted at there. Canada will soon possess a fine army of its own ; the regulars are a splendid body of men, and besides these it has 40,000 Militia and Volunteers; in case of emergency all men over eighteen are liable to be called out for military service. This law was made at the time when the English troops were withdrawn. The Police at Toronto equal the London Police in smartness and civility, and are dressed in exactly the same way. When Sir Alexander Campbell was Post- master-General he had the Postmen also dressed like those in England ; until that time they had worn the same uniform as the American Postmen, whic'i is ugly and unworkmanlike. I have had several long and interesting conversations about the wheat-growing capacity of the country : here, as II.] UNTUTORED COURTESY. 19 elsewhere, opinions differ much, but it is an undisputed fact that since 1882 there have only been two abundant harvests, that of last year being one of them. It is against the profitable working of the laud that the season is so short and labour so expensive ; and even if farmers get emigrants direct from the ships, they seldom remain with them long ; the land fever is so strong, each wants to have a " holding " for himself, and this can still be obtained for a nominal sum. Further west 160 acres can be bought for $10, Colonel S , with whom we dined last night, told us a curious story : When he came out to America, nearly twenty-five years ago, he was asked to take charge of a young lady on a journey from the States. Miss T was exceedingly beautiful. After they started, a Californian gold-digger got into the same car ; he was a tall, rough - looking fellow, dressed in the usual Western fashion, with buckskin shirt, and trousers with fringes down the seams, long boots, and a broad-brimmed hat ; he was armed with a revolver and a bowie knife, stuck into his belt. He sat down opposite Miss T , and stared at her in a manner which greatly annoyed Colonel S . Several times during the journey he was on the point of getting up and expostulating ; as he expressed it : " It made my English blood boil to see the insolence of the fellow ; " each time, however. Miss T prevented his doing so by whispering to him to sit still — that it did not in the least matter to her. They got out at the next station ; the man followed them : c 2 ' -'y 20 IMPRESSIONS OF A TENDERFOOT, [chap. ^' \ If ■ ( on taking their seats again, the Californian, with the air of a prince, took off his hat, and feeling in his pocket, brought out a large nugget of gold, which he threw into the lap of the astonished girl, saying : " Heaven bless your pretty face ; it's the prettiest face I've ever seen on God's earth. Keep that in remembrance of Jack ," and was gone. Colonel S told me he felt sure had he made the slightest pr( '>est the man would have shot him dead ; that it was only the calmness and coolness of Miss T that prevented this. He also added that, after twenty-five years' experience of the country and its people, he saw that what he had at the time mistaken for the most insulting conduct was in reality an act of untutored and involuntary homage to a beautiful woman. I May 25th. — Often in a journey plans and routes are changed, and a traveller may be unable to avail himself of introductions ; but arriving as a stranger, if provided with letters to the right people it helps to make things much pleasanter, and he hears and sees many things wliich otherwise he would miss ; and great trouble is generally taken in showing strangers all that i.3 worth seeing. This we found frequently in our own case. h May 26th. — Said good-bye to Toronto and to my maid, as, after duly considering the matter, we found that it was impossible to take her with us. Travelling ^vith a maid in this country is more trouble than can be imagined, as, except in the big towns, no accommodation is provided, ".] C. p. Ji. CO:S CAHS, 21 and she is consequently always in the way ; fortunately I was able to send mine to stay with her aunt at Chicago. She was regretful, but I felt I had acted wisely. The lake route to Port Arthur is still closed on account of the ice in Thunder Bay. This chain of lakes is so immense that little land is seen during the voyage ; and on Lake Huron especially tremendous storms frequently occur. For this and other reasons we had decided to join the Canadian Pacific Railway by a branch line from here, which takes us in one night's journey to a station called No^th Bay, the junction where we had to wait for the mail train from Montreal. After about an hour there we were glad at last to find ourselves really on our way to the Eocky Mountains. The C.P.R. Co., as it is always called out here, have made their "Cars " as near perfection as is possible ; nothing approaching their luxury and comfort is to be found on the American Continent — so many old travellers assured me. The sleeping cars which are used on long journeys have high-backed seats for two persons facing each other ; at night these seats are arranged as beds, an upper berth being let down from above. There is a ladies* dressing- room at the end of the car but so many have to share this that it ceases to be a luxury. The most comfortable way when travelling is to engage the " State-room," which accommodates two persons ; there being only one of these on each car, it is not" always to be procured, sometimes being reserved several weeks before. The railway officials are civil and obliging, and any ^mt 22 IMFEESSIONS OF A TENDERFOOT, [chap. little service they may do is not from mercenary motives, as they always seem to think themselves quite one's equal. Eich Americans and others will, however, soon introduce the odious tipping system ; the negro porter who has charge of the sleeper already looks out for his little present at the end of the journey : he does all he is asked on the cars, and is a great adept at making beds, when the time comes for all the passengers to turn in ; but it makes it difficult to judge where to give and where not when the greatest offence is sometimes taken at the offer of muney. These negro servants of the company are dressed in a serviceable grey serge uniform with brass buttons and cap to match ; in the morning and evening when making the beds they wear white cotton jackets ; they are always clean and tidy. I do not know much about negroes, but they look cleaner than white men would doing the same work, and they never appear fussed or overheated. t III.] ( 23 ) CHAPTER III. Journey to Winnipeg — The Prairie — To Cvlgary, " 'Tis with our judgments as our watches, none Go just alike, yet each believes his own." We passed to-day through large tracts of cold and bleak- looking forest ; here and there a nirror-like lake or moun- tain stream enlivened the scene. It is only after having been in the rugged vast wilderness of natural forest that we realise for the first time the enormous difficulties the settler has to overcome in making a farm-steading out of this chaos. Settlers' shanties are to bo seen from time to time as one goes along : at every station where we stopped groups of men were waiting to see the train pass ; it was evidently the excitement of the day. The sight of new faces, the hope of seeing a friend pass by, or the chance of hearing a few words of news, are trivial events which have a wonderful power in a country where the requirements of the settler's life compel men to live apart froir^ their fellows. I really believe it is a kind dispensation of Providence h I W ' j ! I m :l t I Sjlii 24 IMPRESSIONS OF A TENDERFOOT, [chap. that they have to work so hard ; and hence only a few realise and regret that there is little or no time for mental culture. May 29