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THE

ciMDiAS nmm.

ABBE H. R. OASGRAIN

Translated from the French

A. W. L. GOJSa.F'EiR'TZ.

-i^-

MONTBEAL

C. 0. Beauchemin & FiLs, Printers and Booksellers

256 and 258, St. Paul Street

1896

Entered according to act of Parliament of Canada
in the year 1875, by Be v. H. R. Gasgrain, at the
office of the Hon. Minister of Agricu],ture, Ottawa.

The undersigned have acquired from Rev. H. B.
Casgrain the property and the right of translation
of the present work.

C. O. BEAUCMEMIN & Fils,
Editors & Booksellers,

Montreal.

94610

mm.

^^»w!»!?w»;>?-

THE

CANADIAN PIONEERS.

DETROIT,

Do you know this smiling and fertile
country, rich in historical recollections, the
till then virgin soil of which was first trod
by the French, our ancestors ?

Do you know the verdant and undulating
prairies, watered by limpid rivers, shaded by
maple, plane and fig-trees and acacias, in the
midst of which rises in the brilliancy of
youth and futurity, the flourishing town of
Detroit?

If you wish to enjoy fully the enchanting
spectacle which this delightful country pre-
sents, whose climate has no cause for envying

'W^'"

iPPffPKiPf^^lfllipWf

THE CANADIAN PIONEEBS.

the 8un of Italyt ascend the river Detroit,
during a fresh morning of spring, when dawn
has spread its humid wing over those vast
plains, and the May-sun traced a luminous
course through the transparent vapours of
morning.

In no part is the sky clearer, or nature
more delightful.

In no part are the undulating lines of the
horizon delineated in the distance, with a
purer azure.

You will meet with ivild and poetical
situations, romantic landscapes, hushy is-
lands not unlike graceful baskets of verdure,
all resounding with the mocking laughter
of a multitude of birds ; pretty promontories,
whose round arms frame bays full of shade
and sunshine, where the wave caressed by
gentle breezes, leaves on the shore a fringe
of silvery spray.

You will perceive valleys and hills crowned
with bunches of verdure which seem to bend

^^ilfl

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

so as to see themselves in the neighbouring
waters.

On each side the shore unfolds itself in a
rugged state or covered with fine and greyish
sand, bordered with lace of grass, or bustling
up with tall reeds crowned with little tufts,
among which hop and sway timid king-
fishers which the slightest noise frightens
away.

Here cool streams flow, murmuring under
the florid ogives of interlaced branches;
there little paths, bordered with strawberries
and daisies, wind round the bow of the slope;
further off, the spring breeze hugs the verdant
pasturage, and perfumes the air with deli-
cious odours.

The thousand confused rustling noises of
the waters and leaves, the warbling of birds
and human voices, the bellowing of the

\^t

m '■

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

herds, the silvery and far off sounds of the
bells of t?.teamers going up and down the ri veY,
rise in the air, at intervals, and fill with an
indescribable charm both the soul and senses.

From point to point, graceful villages are
seen along the shore, sometimes grouped in
the elope of a bay, elsewhere resting on the
sides of a hill, or crowning it like a diadem.

At last you reach Detroit, whose steeples
and roofs sparkle under the rays of the sun.

A thousand of small crafts stirred by its
industry continually leave its quays and
plough the river in every direction.

If I were a poet, I should willingly com-
pare the graceful city to the superb swan of
those countries, which awaking at morn in
the midst of the reeds of the bank, flutters
its white wings in taking flight and scatters
around feathers and dew-drops; or still
more to the splendid magnolia which grows
on the banks of the river, and balanced by
the perfumed breath of the morning breeze,

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

spreads over the water into which it looks
its image, the fruitful dupt of its ooroUa.

THE PIONEER.

Detroit, founded in the year 1700, by
M. de La Mothe-Cadillac, has been a long
time a part of Canada.

The English made^a conquest of it in 1760,
and preserved it until the war of 1812.

Since then the United States became the
fortunate possessors of all this charming
country, which Father Charlebois justly
called ** the garden of the land."

'* Detroit," says the historian of Canada,
" has preserved, in spite of all its vicissitudes,
*' the character of hifl origin, and the French
*' language is always in use there. Like all
*' the cities founded by the great people
*^ from which have sprung its inhabitants

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

*^ and which has marked America with
'^monuments of its genius, Detroit is des-
*^ tined to become an important place, on
'' account of its situation between Lake
*' Huron and Lake Erie." *

* *

Towards the year 1770 or '80, Detroit was
far from presenting the flourishing aspect
which it offers at the present time.

It was only a little fort, surrounded with
weak ramparts and palisades, populated by
few htmdreds of Canadian oolonists.

A veritable tent in the idesert, this fort was
the avanced guard of the colony, and conse-
quently exposed continually to the incur-
sions of the Indians.

Around the lOrtifications extended some
fields cleaned out of the forest, which the
inhabitants could only cultivate at the risk

* History of Canada, by M. F. X. Garneau, third
edition, vol 2, page 23.

■M*

THB CANADIAN PIONEERS.

of their lives, holding the mattock with one
hand, and the gun with the other; and
beyond, on this side, to the right and left
everywhere the desert, and the immense
ocean of forest, concealing under its dark
vaults, a multitude of beings, a thousand
timeip more cruel and formidable than tigers
and reptiles.

It is easy to imagine the indomitable cou-
rage of thebo brave pioneers, who had dared
to plant the flag of civilization in the midst
of these far distant solitudes, in spite of the
numberless dangers.

One of the grandest figures which the
history of the new world offers after the
sublime one of the missionary, is, in my
opinion, that of the Canadian pioneer.

He is the father of the strongest race that

has been planted on the american continent :

the Canadian race.

-f;.

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

The noblest blood which has ever flown
in the veins of humanity, circulates in his
veins: French blood.

Everywhere on this continent is to be found
the Canadian pioneer, and everywhere one
can follow him by the trace of his blood.

Travel all over North America, from Hud-
son's Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, from Halifax
to San Francisco, you will everywhere find
the print of his footsteps, on the snow of the
pole as well as on the golden sands of
California; on the sandy shores of the Atlan-
tic, as well as the moss of the Rocky Moun-
tains.

An insatiable desire of activity devours

him.

He must be for ever advancing towards

new discoveries, until he reaches the end of

land.
But it is not the sole love of adventures,

nor the eager thirst for gold which urges

him ; a more noble ambition a more legitimate

motive directs and animates him.

TT"^

^^H

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

One feels that he has the conscience to
fulfil a veritable mission, a mysterious apos-
tleship.

Turn over, a moment, the pages of Uv
history, and above all, the " Relations of the
Jesuits,^' and everywhere you will see the
Canadian pioneer, animated with an admi-
rable zeal of the Indians, clearing, with
heroic efforts, the road for the missionaries
and himself on their behalf often working
marvellous conversions.

I find again in him, the three greatest
types of human history.

He is at the same time, priest, labourer
and soldier.

Priest I his ardent piety, lively faith, and
zeal for the salvation of souls, soften the
hardest hearts, and gain over to the faith,
entire tribes.

Was there ever a more beautiful priest-
hood?

Labourer I before his powerful axe the

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

forest falls with a crash around him and his
plough traces through the overturned trunks,
the furrow where the green down of the
future crop will soon ruffle.

Soldier 1 it is by ages of combats, that he
has conquered the ground which his hand

cultivates.

Ah ! if I was a painter, I should like to

draw on the canvas this noble figure, with

his triple character of priest, labourer and

soldier.

In the back-ground of the picture, I would

paint the immense forest in all its wild

majesty.

Nearer, yellow tuffs of corn growing among
the calcined trunks.

On the fore-ground, a portion of the great
river, with its waves of emerald sparkling in
the rays of the sun.

Here should be seen on one side, with its
remparts and palisades, the angle of a fort,

THE CANADIAN PI0NEEH8.

from which should arise a modest steeple
surmounted by the cross ; on the other side,
a band of Indians fleeing towards the border
of the wood.

In the centre of the picture, hair waving
in the wind, eyes flashing, bleeding forehead
ploughed by a bullet, should appear my
brave pioneer near his plough, holding in
his left hand the still smoking gun ; with
the right, sprinkling the water of baptism on
the brow of his conquered and dying enemy
just now converted by him to the faith.

Oh I how I should try to depict on this
manly face, and in the attitude of this iron-
muscled ploughing soldier, the calm and
serene strength of the man of the fields, the
invincible courage of the soldier, and the
sublime enthusiasm of the priest.

Certainly, this picture would not be un-
worthy of the brush of Michael Angelo or
Rubens.

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

Faith, labour, courage ; priest, labourer,
soldier: there is the Canadian pioneer.

It is Cincinnatus, the soldier- tiller become
a Christian.

It is the Spartan who has passed through
the catacombs.

J*"

You, Canadian reader, while running
through these lines, can hold up your head
with a noble pride, for the blood which flows
in your veins, is the blood of this hero.

He has nobly fulfilled his mission ; yours
remains to be accomplished.

The people to whom Providence has given
such ancestors, if faithful to the designs
of God, is necessarily destined for great
things.

But let us leave those teachings becoming
only to white locks, and return to our story.

' ■ ?jS^^^H|PH"

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

EVENING.

At the distant epoch which we are describ-
ing, there was a huge fur trade carried in
Detroit.

Attracted by the facility of reaching it, the
Indians came in large numbers to sell there
the produce of their hunt.

There abounded, by turns, the different
nations of Iroquois, Potowatomis, Illinois,
Miamis, and a crowd of others.

*
* *

Mr. Jacques Du Perron Baby was then
superintendent of the Indians of Detroit.

It may be easily imagined what must be
the importance of this post, at that period.
Mr. Baby had consequently realized, in a few
years, a large fortune.

Almost all the land on which Detroit
stands at the present time, belonged to him,
in partnership with Mr. Macomb, father of

^^f^mr^

THE CANADIAN PIONKEHS.

the General Macomb who commanded part
of the American troops, during the war of
1812.

It was after this war that Mr. Baby, for
having declared himself in favour of Canada,
his country, lost all the property which he
had acquired in Detroit

In the centre of the fort, rose up, like a
charming oasis in the midst of a desert, an
elegant house surrounded by gardens.

This was the superintendent's residence.

Loving luxury, he had lavished every care
to embellish it.

The garden, raised up higher than the
ground, was surrounded by a terrace of grass.

In the centre, the house, elegantly painted
half hidden by a curtain of branches of maple-
trees, pear-trees and acacias, which balanced
their sparkling foliage above the roof, resem-
bled a carbuncle enchased in a garland ol
emeralds.

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

A crowd of birds, sometimes hidden
beneath the foliage, sometimes fluttering in
the air, crowing and pursuing each other,
describing a thousand tortuous courses with
an admirable celerity, threw their joyous
songs to the winds, whilst the little swallow
hovering above the chimneys, mingled with
their voices, its little sharp and jerked cries.

It was evening.

The last rays of the setting sun coloured
the dome of the forest with red and saffron.

The heat had been stifling during the
whole day.

The breeze of the evening purling among
the rosetrees, dahlias, sweet-briars, in bloom,
refreshed inflamed nature, and perfumed the
air with intoxicating odours.

Assembled around a table spread out in
the open air in the middle of the garden,
loaded with dishes and bouquets of flowers

"^^^^^mrmmm^n^

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

gathered from the flower-plot, the superin-
tendent, and all his family were taking
their evening meal.

A young English officer, who had arrived
at Detroit some months ago, had been invited
to join the family circle.

Some black slaves, employed in waiting at
table, were standing behind the guests, atten-
tive to their slightest signals.

" What a charming evening,'* exclaimed
the Strang 3r, a fine young man, with light
hair, noble and expressive appearance, with
high intelligent and gallant forehead, with
a bright but dreamy ej^e, " in fact only in
Italy have I seen a climate equally mild,
nature so delightful, and such beautiful
effects of light ! "

Look down there, those flakes of clouds
floating in the azure of the sky. Might not
one suppose them to be a scarf with fringe
of purple and gold waving in the horizon?

P ^

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

*' This evening is really magnificent, re-
** plied the superintendent. We enjoy here
*' a very fine climate."

'* In no part have I ever seen a clearer sky,
" limpider light, grander nature; but on the
" other hand, we are deprived of many enjoy-
** ments accorded to the old countries.

" Exiled to the extreme limits of civiliza-
" tion, to how many dangers are we not
'* exposed, on the part of the Indians I "

" You, who have only just left the civilized
*' regions of Europe, cannot form an idea of
" the cruelty of the barbarous people."

*' Ah I it 18 indeed a hard life in this
" country."

'* Yes " replied the superintendent's wife
whosefine and strong physiognomy indicated
a sturdy nature, only a few years ago I was
obliged to act as a sentinel, gun in arm, at
the door of the fort, while all the men were
occupied in the environs cultivating the
fields. '^

itak^j

* An historical fact.

THE CANADIAN PIONEEHB.

The conversation was interrupted by one
of the black slaves, who came to inform the
superintendent and his wife that an unknown
woman wished to speak to them.

All the guests then rose from the table.

" You seem to be very sad this evening,"
said the officer, adressing a young girl of
sixteen to eighteen years of age, whose
looks easily betrayed her as the daughter of
the superintendent. *' What misfortune could
" then cast this veil of sadness on your
•'brow?"

** Whilst all smiles around you, your heart
alone is sad."

*' Yet it appears to me that it is impossible
** to contemplate this serene eve, this ravish-
** ing nature without experiencing a feeling
" of calm and inmost serenity."

^* Nothing beguiles me like the sight of a
" beautiful evening."

r. ?.'-

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THE CANADIAN PlONELRi}.

" This giucious harmony of shade and

light is to me, full of mystery and rapture,"

— •' Alas ! " replied miss Baby, " some

days ago I could have enjoyed with you this

fine display of nature."

** But to-day, all these objects appear to

me as through a mournful crape."

" This beautiful sky, these verdant fields,

flowers, fruits, rosy groves, which charm

your eyes, make me tremble, everywhere

there I see blood.

— *' My God ! exclaimed the young officer,

has some terrible misfortune happened to

you?"

— '* Alas I it is only a few hours ago that I

was a witness to the most heart-rending

scene that it is possible to imagine, and I

cannot take away my thought from this
eoul-breaking spectacle."

** But why should I make you uselessly
sad by this fatal recital? Enjoy rather
these hours which appear to you so delight-
ful."

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THE CANADIAN PIONBBRB.

** Continue, continue, " said the young
officer, ** relate to me this tragical event.
*' Happiness is often egotistical, but one
•' should learn to sympathize with the griefs
" of others."

((

((
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The young lady replied : " Yesterday
evening, a band of Potowatomis, half ine-
briated, arrived at my father's house.
" They were bringing with them a young
girl whom they had made prisoner, some
days previously.

*' Ah I if you had seen what affliction was
depicted on her countenance I
" Poor child I her garments were in tatters,
her hair in desorder, her body bruised and
covered with blood.

*' She was not complaining, she did not
weep, she was there, dumb, motionless,
like a statue; her oyes fixed; one might
have supposed her to be dead, if a slight

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

((

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winging of her lips had not betrayed a
remnant of life.
" It was sad to behold
*' I had never seen such a distress.
* Great troubles, they say, resemble awful
shocks. They dry up the tears, like those
terrible and sudden happenings which stop
the hlood in the veins.
" Touched with compassion, my sister and
myself made her lie down in our room.
*' We could not delude ourselves as to the
little chance of safety which remained for
her; for we knew the character of the
Indians.

*' However, we tried to raise some hope in
her mind.

•* Perhaps our father might be ahle to
persuade the Indians, and rescue her from
their hands.

" At last ?he appeared to recover from her
stupor, and gave us a recital of her mis-
fortune."

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

AGONY.

((

• i
((

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ii

" I had been living, said she, '* for some
time ago, near Fort Waine, with my sister,
when one morning, when her husband
was working on his field, several Indians
suddenly entered the house.
" ' Where is your husband ? ' they roughly
asked my sister.

" * He is at Fort Waine,' she replied,
frightened at their sinister aspect.
*' And they went away.
*' Full of anxiety, we followed them with
our eyes, for some times.
" My Godl my sister, I said to her,
trembling all over, I am afraid, I am
afraid, let us run away . . . These Indians
appear to me to be meditating bad designs,
they are going to return."
*' Without listening to my words she con-
tinued to watch them going towards the
fort.

:■-■ m

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

'• The road which they were following
'* passed near by the place where her hus-
*' band was working quietly, without sus-
" pecting the peril which menaced him.

" Fortunately a clump of trees hid him
*' from their view."

u
((

((

*' We were beginning to breathe a little.
" They had already passed beyond where
he was, and were going away peaceably,

when one of them looked back for a mo-
ment:

— *' They have discovered him I they have
discovered him, my sister suddenly ex-
claimed, being seized with terror.
" They had all stopped indeed and were
proceeding to the place where Joseph,
stooping towards the ground, was picking
up the branches of a tree which he had
just pulled down.

" He had no suspicion of the danger.
The Indians, hidden by some trees, were

t-r\

THE CANADIAN PIONEEBS.

at only a short distance, when there the
report of a gun was heard, and Joseph fell
backwards.

" Believing him to be dead, they advanced
triumphantly, to strip him; but Joseph,
whom the bullet, in glancing upon his
head, had only stunned, suddenly recover-
ing himself, and making a rampart of the
tree near where he was, seized his gun, and
shot two of them stone dead on the spot.
*' The others, being frightened, retreated
precipitately towards the border of the
wood, then a lively fusillade commenced
on both sides.

" Joseph was a skilful marksman.
** At each shot, he knocked over an enemy.
" Three had already succumbed.
*' We waited, in the pangs of agony, the
*' result of the fight, which v/ould not have

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

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been doubtful, if the Indians had been

engaged with an ordinary enemy.

" But Joseph was a terrible adversary.

" Crouched behind his tree, scarcely had

he fired a shot, that in a second, he had

le-loaded his gun.

" Then, with admirable presence of mind

while the bullets were whistling around

him, and sweeping the leaves of the tree

which sheltered him, he quietly was

passing the barel of his gun across the

branches, and at the moment before aiming,

making a great sign of the cross, then

taking aim, and he pressed the trigger ; the

shot was fired, and we could count one

enemy less.

" Every time I saw a fresh victim fall, I

could not repress an unspeakable start of

excitement.

•' The lead of Joseph had just hit a fourth

enemy.

** We were beginning to have some hope,

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS,

*' when we saw one of the Indians creep up
** behind him.

** The serpent does not advance towards
" its enemy with greater cunning and dexte-
'* rity.

" Without stirring or moving a leaf, he
" gradually approched him, at one time
*' hiding himself behind a little elevation,
*' another time behind a tuft of brambles,
** risking himself only at the moments when
" he could see Joseph fully occupied in
" taking aim.

*' At last he arrived within two steps of
** him, without having been discovered.

*' Then he paused, and waited until Joseph
" had re-loaded his weapon.

'' Without suspecting anything, the latter,
" a moment after, raised his gun to his
" Fhoulder, to aim ; we saw him suddenly
*' lower his weapon, and turn back.

" He thought that he had heard [ jlight
** rustling behind him.

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

** RaisiHt, up his head a little, he listens
for an instant, then stoops right and left,
but without perceiving anything, for the
Indian was lying down flg,t on his belly,
behind a heap of branches.
" Entirely reassured, he turned round, and
again shouldered his gun. But at the same
time, the Indian, with an infernal smile,
got up to his full height.
** At the moment when Joseph was pre-
paring to sacrifice another enemy, the
Indian was brandishing his knife.
'* A last shot was fired, a last victim fell ;
but Joseph fell also, stabbed to the heart,
by his cowardly enemy.
*' The Potowatomis, after having scalped
him, despoiled him of his clothes, and
garbed himself with them."

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

LAMENTATION.

** Numb wHh horror and fright, we did not
even dream of taking flight.

" In her despair, my sister, clasping her
" child in her arms, threw herself at the foot
** of the crucifix, and seizing it between her
** hands, dumb, covered it with kisses and
" tears.

" Annihilated, beside myself, I fell on my
** knees near her, mingling my prayers and
" tears with hers.

*' Poor mother I fhe was trembling less for

" herself than for her child, that dear little

" angel which she loved so much. It was so

" beautiful. It was hardly eighteen months
" old.

" Already it was commencing to stammer
' her name.

" Oh my God ! she cried out through her
" sobs, if it be necessary to die, I willingly
" offer you my life, but save my child I

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

*' And embracing it, covering it with tears,
*' and preeging it to her heart, she sank down
*' losing consciousness.

'• Although more dead than alive, I endea-
" voured however to support her, when sud-
** denly the assassin of Joseph entered,
*' followed by his cruel companions.

*' Without uttering a word, he advanced
" towards us, and snatched violently the
*' child Irom its mother's arms.

"She had not noticed their arrival, but as
" soon ap she felt her child released from her,
" she started up, and appeared to return to
' life.

" Exasperated at having lost five of their
*' companians, the Indians only breathed
*' rage and vengeance.

*' The assassin of Joseph, raising up the
" child at arm's length, contemplated it an
" instant with that infernal look of the ser-
" pent which relishes with its eyes the
*' victim it is going to strike.

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

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*' An angel in the clutches of a demon.

" The m nster I he was smiling.

" Thus 111 ist be satan's laugh.

*' As if to implore his pity, the chiM was

likewise smiling with that smile of candour

and innocence, capable of touching with

com passion the most hardened.

" But he, seizing it by a leg, whirled it

round, for a moment, at arm's length, and

oh horror! ..he broke its skull ou

the corner of the stove.
" The brains gushed out over its mother's
face.

** Like a tiger, she bounded on the mur-
derer of her infant, and matprnal love
givingto her super-human strength, seized
him by the throat, her contracted fingers
were thrust into his neck ; he tottered ; his
eyes were injected with blood, his face
became black, and he fell down heavily,
suffocated by her desperate grasp.
** She would have undoubtedly strangled

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

*• him, if, at that moment, an Indian had not
*' split her head with the blow of nn axe.

" Poor pisler ! her's was a cruel deuth bnt
" her agonies lasted but a moment, her
" troubles are ended ; she his now happy in
•* heaven.

'' But my God I what will become of me ?

" My God : my God I have pity on me 1

" And the unfortunate girl twisting herself

" in the agony of despair, threw herself

" weeping into our arms, pressing us to her

" heart, and begging us to have pity on her,

* and not to abandon her, to rescue her from

' the hands of her executioners.

" Ah how sad it is, how heartrending to
" be a witness of a misfortune which one is
' unable to alleviate 1 ^ ^

*' We passed all the night weeping with
" her, seeking to encourage her and give her
" some hope.

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

** I felt that it was a sort of cruelty to her,
" to inspire a confidence which I did not
" have; for I knew the Indians.

** I was aware that those monsters never
" abandon their victims.

He *

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** The following day, my father after
having shown many kindness to the In-
diana, interceded with them in favour of
the young captive, and offered them all
sorts of presents to redeem her ; but nothing
would tempt them.
*' They were still half drunk.
** He employed, by turns, prayers and
menace?, for the purpose of touching them.
" But neither presents, prayers, nor threats
could rescue her from their hands.
"The unfoitunate young girl even cast
herself at their feet, embraced their knees,
to induce them to relent ; but the monsters I

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

" they responded to her supplications, with
" shouts of laughter.

"And notwithstanding her prayers, tears,
** and entreaties, they carried her away with
" them. *

— ** Alas, sir, added miss Baby in casting
" her eyes full of tears on the young officer,
** how can one have the courage to smile,
" and be gay, after having oeen a witness to
'* such scenes ?

— "The demons! ejcclaimed the young
** man, while stamping his feet with horror
" and indignation, ought not one to exter-
** minate to the last, this inliimous race,
'* athirst only with carnage and blood ?

*' Oh if I had but known this sooner !

*' Yesterday, a Potowatomis came to my
** house to sell me some skins.

*' As I was not in need of any, and as he
" wanted three limes their value, I told him
" to go away.

* She has never been heard of since.

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

" He dared to resist.

*' Then, my patience tired out, I got np
** from my chair, and kicked him out of the
" door. He went away threatening and ehow-
*' ing me his dagger.

** I had a stick in my hand.

" I now regret that I did not knock him
" down.

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*' Imprudent said Mips Baby, you should
never have provoked that Indi;'T3;
** Do you not know that an Indian never
forgets a wrong.

" He will roam, a whole year, around the
fort, to follow you with his eyes, observe
your movements, watch your doing, scent
your tracks, hide himself among the copses,
amid the reeds of the river, approach you
with all the deceit and cunning of the ser-
pent, bound forth like a tiger, and strike

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

" you to the heart at the moment when you
" least expect it.

" I see you go out of the fort, every day,
*' for the purpose of fishing on the banks of
" the river ; I advise you to go there no more.
•' Misfortune will happen to you.

— *' Bah I said the young raan, you are too
*' timorous.

" I saw him set out, this morning, with a
*' troop of warriors of his nation.

" They went down to Quebec, to sell there
'• the furs which they could not get rid of
" here."

THE DREAM.

It has just struck one, by the parlour- clock.

Seated with her daughter, Mrs Baby is

busy sewing, in front of a small work table.

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THE CANADIAN PIONEEBS.

Mr Baby had set out this morning, in
order to visit some properties which he had
just acquired, on the other side of the river.

The streets are de.ierted.

Almost all the inhabitants of the fort are
occupied in the environs, cultivating their
lands.

The heat is stifling.

Above the peaks of the hills is seen vibrat-
ing the atmosphere heated by the rays of the
sun.

Not a breath of wind agitates the trees in
the garden the motionless and languid
branches and leaves of which droop towards
the ground, as if imploring a little moisture,
a drop of dew.

A black female slave is walking along the
alleys, hanging out on the bushes some white
linen to dry and puts to flight, in her passage,
some hens sheltsring themselves from the
heat, under the shade of the foliage.

The silence is complete.

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

Only the buzzing of insects is heard and
the jerked notes of the graps hoppers, whne
hopping in the rays the sun.

From the outside, may be perceived, in the
opening of the window, decorated with bou-
quets the head of the young girl who, pale,
silent and full of melancholy, is bending over
a flower in bloom, and peems to behold her
own face in its fragrant corolla.

*
* *

— *' Mamma," said she, at last, gentiy
raising up her head, " do you think that
" papa will be a long time on his journey ?

— " I believe that he will return in four or
*' five days, at the latest, but why do you
*' ask me this question?

— " Ah I it is because I am verv anxious
*' that he should return. I shall ask him to
" let us go down immediately to Quebec,
*' instead of waiting till next month.

*' This journey will divert me a little.

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

" Hold, since the Indians came here, the
" other day, with the poor child whom they
" had made a prisoner, I have not had a
" moment's rest.

"I have her always before my eyes.

*' I seem always to see her. She follows me
*' everywhere.

" I saw her again in a dream last night.

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** I thought that I was seated in the midst
of a dark and large forest, near an impe
tuous torrent which descended at some
paces from me into a bottomless gulf.
" On the other bank, which appeared to
me all smiling, enamelled with groves of
flowers, and illuminated by a soft and
serene light, the young captive was stand-
ing upright, pale, but calm.
" She seemed to me to inhabit a better
world.

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

** Holding an open book in her hands, and
turned towards me, she slowly looked over
its pages.

" She turned over thus sixteen leaves.
" Then she stopped, cast upon me a glance
full of sadness and compassion, and
signalled to some one who remained on
my side to cross the torrent.
" At this signal, he trembled in all his
limbs, his knees shook together, his eyes
became dilated, his mouth gaped open
with terror, a cold perspiration ran down
his brow.

" He endeavoured to go back, but an invin-
cible power dragged him towards the abyss.
" Turning towards me, he begged of me,
with bitter lamentations, to help him,
*• I felt deep compassion for him.
'* But in vain did I attempt to hold him
by the hands to assit him, overpowering
fetters bound all my limbs, and prevented
me from making any movement.

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

•* In vain did he try to cling to the rocks
on the bank ; he felt himself continually
pushed forward towards the abyss.
He had already advanced as far as the
middle of the torrent whose deep and
foflining waters bounded and roared around
1 v** if impatient to engr!i him.
'* At each step, he tottered, and was nearly
i jsir^ hi;' '^^'^uilibrium ; but he soon recover-
ed himsoif tin \ continued to go forward.
" At last a more impetuous wave dashed
itself against him, and made him totter
afresh. His feet slipped ; he cast upon me
a glance of inexpressible anguish, and fell
over.

^* Tn an instant he was dragged to the edge
of the precipice where he would have been
engulfed, when his hand came in contact
with the corner of the rock which rose up
from the water.

" His tightened fingers thrust themselves
in the green and slimy moss on the rock ;

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

^^ for a second he held on with all the
" supreme energy of despair.

" His body arrested suddenly in its sud-
** den fall, appeared for a moment above the
" waves.

" The foam and vapour of the water enve-
** Icped him- as in a cloud, and the wind
" caused by the fall violently agitated his
*' humid hair.

** His dilated eyes were fixed on the rock,
*' from which his convulsive grasp was
'* already giving way.

" At last, a terrible cry resounded, and he
" disappeared in the gulf.

" Transfixed with anguish and horror, I
*' looked at the young captive.

'' But she, wiping away away a tear,
" showed to me, without speaking a word,
" the last page of the book, which appeared
" all streaming with blood.

" I uttered a cry of horror, and started

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

"suddenly out of my sleep My God!

" would this be a page of lay life.

BLOOD.

Scarcely had Miss Baby finished speaking,
than there was heard at the door, a noise of
hasty footsteps, and a man entered running,
quite scared, and all covered with blood.

It was the young officei .

His arm was broken, and hanging down.

" Quick I quick I he exclaimed, hide me I
** I am pursued by the Indians.

— '* Go up into the granary," said Mrs
Baby to him, " and do not stir, otherwise
*' you are a dead man."

Directly after, the Indians entered. Before
they had spoken a word, Mrs Baby pointed
to them with her finger the adjoining street.

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

So they went away immediately, being
persuaded that he had escaped on that side.

The admirable presence of mind of Mrs.
Baby had completely deceived them. In fact
not a muscle of her face betrayed her emotion.

And fortunately they did not have time to
notice the deadly pallor imprinted on the
countenance of the young miss, who, her
elbow resting on the window, her figure half
hidden behind bouquets of flowers, felt ready
to faint.

Then there was one of those moments of
inexpressible anguish, when suddenly the
chill of death strikes the heart.

Mrs Baby had earnestly hoped that the
Indians, for fear of the superintendent,
would not dare to intrude, in spite of her,
into the hou^e ; but who could foresee when
these savages would stop when once allured
by the scent of blood ?

She hoped that, being soon wearied by
their useless search, they would abandon

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THE CANADIAN PIONEKRS.

their enemy, or that she would have time to
obtain help, to drive them off, if they should
dare to return.

Making a sign to the slave who was wovV ing
in the garden, she ordered him to run, in
all haste, to warn the fort of the danger
which threatened them.

Some minutes, full of alarms and anxiety,
passed and the Indians were not re-appearing.

— '* Do you think that they have gone
away?" murmured in an undertone, the
young girl whose countenance was beginning
to brighten with a ray of hope.

— *' Even should they return, replied Mrs
Baby, they would not dare"

She had not finished.

Stooping towards the window she listened,
and tried to distinguish a noise of human
voices which made itself heard in the dis-
tance.

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

Was this the aid she had asked for ?

Was it the voices of the Indians who had
comeback?

She could not distinguish.

However, the voices were continually
approaching, and became more and more
distinct.

— " They are our men," exclaimed Miss
Baby ; " do you hear the barking of our
dog?"

And she breathed more freely, as if relieved
from an immense weight.

Mrs Baby made no answer.

A faint smile passed over her lips.

She had indeed understood the barking of
the dog ; but another noise, which she knew
too well, made itself heard by her. •

The voices soon became so distinct, that
it was impossible to delude oneself.

•' There they are I there they are! " sud-
denly cried out the young girl, pale as death,
gliding on to a seat near the window.

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

Indeed, one could see, undulating among
the treefl, plumes of divers colours, which
the Indians are accustomed to wear on the
top of their heads.

— *' Do not tremble thus,'* Mrs Baby said
to her daughter; you will betray us. Turn
towards the window, and take care that the
Indians do not perceive your emotion.

Courage and presence of mind in a critical
moment, is always admirable ; but with a
woman, it is sublime.

Calm, impassible, without even rising from
her seat, Mrs Baby continued quietly her
work.

The most experienced eye could not have
observed the slightest trace of emotion or
feverish agitation on this brave and cou-
rageous physiognomy.

In the breast of this woman the heart of a
heroine was beating.

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

In this manner, she awaited the arrival
of the Indians.

« *

— " Tell us where you have hidden the
" white warrior I " exclaimed the first one
who penetrated into the apartment.

This was the Potowatomis whom the young
oflBcer had the imprudence to prov^ ke.

Still panting from the race just ended, his
face was streaming with perspiration.

On his knitted brow, in his fierce and
threatening looks, in all his features quaking
with feverish agitation, one read rage, and
the exasperation of disappointment.

— " Comrade " replied Mrs Baby, in a
severe tone of voice, " you know the supe-
'* rintendent.

** If you have the audacity to behave your-
" pelf badly in his house you know with
** whom you will have to settle the matter.

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

The Indian seemed to hesitate for a mo-
ment, and in a voice which he tried to soften :
— " My sister well knows that the Potowa-

*' tomis loves peace, and that he is never the
" first to attack,

" The white warrior has gone on the war
" path against the Potowatomis, otherwise
** the Potowatomis would not pursue him.

— *' I have not concealed the white war-
" rior, replied Mrs Baby • you are wasting
" your time in seeking for him here.

** Make haste, and run after him, if you do
*' not wish him to escape from you."

The Potowatomis did not reply ; but look-
ing at Mrs Baby with a smile, he pointed
out to her with his finger, a little stain on
the floor, which no other than an Indian
would ever have noticed. But the subtle eye

of the Indian had just discovered there the
track of his enemy.

It was a drop of blood which Mrs Baby

had however taken the precaution to wipe

carefully.

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

—"My sister speaks truly, replied the
** Indian in an ironical tone of voice, the
*' white warrior has not passed by here.

" This mark of blood, has been put there
** by her to make the Indian believe that she
" has concealed the white warrior."

Then, again speaking in a more serious
tone of voice :

— " Only let my sister show us where he is,
" and we will immediately retire.

*' My sister well knows that the Potowa-
" tomis only desires to make him a prisoner.

Suddenly he stopped, inclined his head a
little to look through the open window, at
the end of the room, and uttering a hoarse
and guttural cry, he bounded to the other
end of the apartment, and jumped out of the
opened window into the garden.

His ferocious companions followed him,
howling like a troop of demons.

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

Without seeing anything, Mrs Baby under-
stood it all.

The young officer, on again hearing the
Indians, thought that he was lost, and had
been imprudent enough to jump out of one
of the windows into the garden. He was
directing his course towards a sheltered cis-
tern hollowed in the midst of the parterre,
to hide himself there, when the Indians per-
ceived him.

I give up recalling to mind the atrocious
scene which then took place.

The pen falls from my hands.

In two bounds they reached him and one
of them with a terrible blow of the fist knock-
ed him down.

He fell on his broken arm and heaved a
long sigh caused by the pain.

They then seized him, and tied hi^ hands
and feet.

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

He called for help with lamentable cries.

And the echoes of the garden repeating
his groans, doubled the horror of this scene.

Miss Baby, mad with terror precipitated
herself at the feet of her mother, hiding her
face on her knees, and closing her ears with
her hands, so as not to see or hear this shock-
ing tragedy.

Whilst the other Indians were holding
their victim, the Potowatomis seized his
knife, and quietly sharpened it on a stone.

His countenance then betrayed no emotion,
not even the horrible pleasure of vengeance
which made his neart throb with infernal

joy.

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

■I

" My brother, the white warrior," said he,
while continuing to sharpen his knife with
feigned indifference, " well knows that he can
" insult with impunity the Potowatoniis ;
"the Potowatomis is a coward who prefers
*' to flee from rather than attack his enemy.

" Would my brother now like to make
*' peace with his friend the Potowatomis ? He
" can speak and impose conditions, for he is
♦free......"

Then, reassuming all of a sudden his fero-
cious manner, he stood up, and fixing his
inflamed eye on the young officer :

— *' My brother the white warrior, he
" exclaimed, iuay sing his death-song, for
" he is going to die."

And brandishing his knife, he stabbed him
in the throut, while another of these monsters
in human form, received the blood in a small
kettle.

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THE CANADIAK PIONEERS.

Two or three other Indians stamped on
the corpse, with contorsions and hellish
cries.

The death rattles of agony of the wretched
victim, mixed with these howlings, reached
the ears of the young girl, and a convulsive
trembling caused her to start every time
with horror.

At last these cries and yells ceased.

The victim had been sacrified.

Then, kicking the inert dead body, the
Potowatomis, followed by his companions
proceeded again towards the house.

— ** Ah I you did not wish to tell us where
" the white warrior was," the Potowatomis
exclaimed, on entering.

" Very well ! now, since you love him so
** much you shall drink his blood.

** Mrs Baby, pale as a statue of marble,
" boldly drew herself up :

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THE CANADIAN PI0NEEK8.

— '^ You may kill me, she exclaimed, but
** you shall not make me drink it."

The young girl having fainted, was lying
** on the ground at her feet.

They then seized Mre Baby, and tried to
open her mouth, but not succeeding, they
daubed her face with blood, and abandoned
her in that state. *

THE SNAKE.

Several months have elapsed since the
events happened which we have just related.

It was night.

" Night whose vast wings cause

millions of stars to shine in the azure: which
reviving the sky like a dim mirror, permits

* However horrible this scene ma^ have been, I
can, notwithstanding, affirm that it is perfectly
true, even as to its minutest details*

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THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

the charmed eye to sound its infinity ; night,
when the cloudless firmament opens all the
pages of that book of fire I

The harmonious ether in its waves of azure,
envelops the mountains with a purer fluid ;
their softened surroundings and effaced sum •
mits seem to float in the air and flutter in
space as, in the depth of a tranquil sea, is
seen the shadow of its shore undulating
under the waves. Beneath such a rayless day,
serener than aurora, the earth seems to spring
before the contemplative eye. It unfolds afar
off its changing horizons where played that
hand which sculptured the universe. There,
like the wave, rolls a hill ; there, hillock
pursues the receding hillock ; and the valley
veiled with verdant curtains, becomes a
couch for the shade and waters ; here, ex-
tends the plain where, as on the sandy shore,
ebbs and flows the wave of stalks; there,

like the snake whose folds are broken, the

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THE CANADIAN PfONEERS.

rivei: resuming Us interrupted waves, mark-
ing its silver course with numberless wind-
ings, loses itself beneath the hill, and re-
appears in the shade.

How divine is the sojourn of man, when
noise is thus stifled by night! That sleep
which descends from above with the dew,
and slackens the cause of exhausted life,
seems likewise to act on all the elements, and
calm the throbbings of all that lives. A pious
silence extends over nature : the river has
its splendour, but no longer its murmur;
the roads are deserted, the cottages voiceless ;
no leaf trembles in the vault of the woods ;
and the sea itself, expiring on its shore,
hardly brings to the beach a plaintive wave.
Seeing this world without echoes, Where the
ear enjoys a beautiful repose, where all its
majesty, twilight, silence, and whose exis-
tence the eyes only can attest, it might be
said that one contemplates in a dream,

.,;.,,..-,.:,«-« ,. -T' >««•<*/«• '^ui|i<i|(|i«vi«!!*f^<pi;pn^^

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

throughout the past, the phantom of an
expired world I Only in the trunks of the
large topped pine-trees, whose scattered
groups grow over those abysses, the breath
of night which sometimes breaks forth,
spreads now and then harmonious voices, as
if to attest in their sonorous summits, that
this lulled world palpitates, and still exists."

In the middle of the garden, at the same
place where the unfortunate young man had
been murdered, stands a simple black cross
without any ornaments.

No inscription reveals to the passing tra-
veller, the name of the victim, nor the fatal
history.

Alas I it is written for ever, in bloody cha-
jracters; in the hearts of the family.

Every evening the superintendent, attend-
ed bv his wife, children and slaves, goes to

.• . ,■ I III

THE CANADIAN PIONEERfl.

recite at the foot of this cross, a prayer for
the repose of his friend's soul.

* *

That night, all the family had just retired.

Alone, a young girl clothed in black, was
still praying on her knees, at the foot of the
funereal monument.

She was very pale, her countenance had
an expression of ineffable sadness.

The dew of the evening had lengthened
the curls of her hair, which fell down in
disorder on her cheeks.

One would have thought her a statue of
melancoly. .

At the summits of the heavens, the full
moon was shedding from its urn of alabaster
waves of its limpid and melancoly light.

The dreaming ray was touching the grass
at the foot of the cross, and rose up to the>

THE CANADIAN PI0NEBU8.

eyelid of the young girl, like a silent and
grateful sigh from the innocent victim, the
remembrance of whom had left in her mind
an impression full of charm and poignant
bitterness.

Her lips muttered an ardent prayer.

Prayer I oh 1 for the painful heart, it is the
celestial balm, it is the smile of angels
through earthly tears.

For a long time she conversed with her
God, breathing forth her prayer with sighs
and tears, having knelt down at the foot of
this cross, on the grass, still humid with the
blood of the innocent victim.

At last, at the moment when she was about
•to get up and go away, she looked up for an
instant, and thought that she perceived
something like a shadow moving about in
the opening of a air hole pierced in the wall
of a sort of little shed standing at some
paces in front, of her.

A cloud just then passed over the moon,

■pplppil""*"""^^^^'^

W^m^^^^-Wr

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

and prevented her from being able to dis-
cover what this object could be.

She waited some instants, and when the
cloud hiid passed, the ray illuminated a
human face.

This can only be a robber, she said to
herself. However the door is certainly well
fastened.

He will find himself mistaken, since the
seryaut has just locked it.

However this head was gradually issuing
from the hole, getting more and more dis-
tinct from the darkness.

At one moment, the rays of the moon fell
full on this figure.

The young girl trembled.

She had just recognized the face.

It was impossible for her not to know it.

It was him indeed 1

" W'V-W

'-'- i"< .mmm^im^^mmmmimiimHIft^

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

She perfectly remembered him by his
copper- colour, his harsh and ferocious fea-
tures and his wicked eyes rolling in their
orbits.

It was it was the Potowatomis, the

murdere* of the young officer I *

Her first thoaght was to take to flight;
but an unconquerable curiosity restrained
her.

All the time the Indian was continually
moving about in the opening.

One of his arms had issued from the air-
hole. His hand held an oijject which the
young girl could not distinguish.

For a long time he tried to make through
tho entrance, which was too small to allow
him to pass.

At last, at the moment when he was
making a final effort to get out, he suddenly

* Those who understand the character oflndians,
well know that they are always inclined to steal.

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

turned his head and in an anxious manner,
fixed his looks towards a little bush ad-
jacent.

He appeared thcr. to h dpi i ate; at last
letting go the object which he held, he pressed
his hand agairst the ground, and forced
himself back ; but his should< ^% squeezed on
every side by the wall, held him confined in
the opening.

Then his anxiety seemed to augment ; and
he cast another glance towards he bush.

A slight rustling of leaves wi»!? heard, and
from the shade of the bush, a little head
emerged, which directv^d its course slowly
towards the Indian.

It was the head of a rattlesnake. *

* It is not many years ago that these reptiles were
so numerous, that it was very dangerous to lea vet
the windows open in the evening. My muthe*
related to me tJiat when she lived at Sandwich,
'.vitli her father, one of the servants had the impru-
dence to leave the windows open. Durng the
evening some person pulled back, by chance, a side-

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

Immoveable, his eyes dilated, the Indian
observed the slightest movements of the rep-
tile which was advancing very quietly, and
with precaution, as if he was aware of the
strength and skill of his formidable adversary

When it reached to within few steps of the
Indian it stopped, and then mouth opened,
it darted to his face.

But before the snake was able to touch him,
with the hand which remained free he gave
it a violent blow, and sent him falling down
several paces from him.

Soon after, he made a fresh effort to disen-
gage himself; but it was in vain.

The ferocious reptile advanced a second
time, and recommenced the attack; but this
time, with still more precaution.

board adjoining the wall, and px^.ceived, lying
behind, an enormous snake asleep.

An other day when she was going to school with
her companions, a snake threw itself on her, atid
bit her m the waist. Fortunately its teath were
entangled in her garments. While she was running
away, distracted, her companions cried out to her
to unfasten her apron. And that saved her life.

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

After having approached nearer to his
enemy than previously, he darted forward
with renewed fury ; but without moresuccesp,
for the Indian's hand sent him rebounding
back again further than before.

The Potowatomis then made a supreme
effort to free himself, but it was again
useless.

He remained fixed in the opening of the
hole.

Quick ap lightning, the reptile foaming at
the lips, its eyes on fire, mouth expanded by
rage, and projecting a bifurcated and bloody
tongue; returned afresh, creeping towards
its pray.

The scales of its skin, which anger caused
to sparkle with the most lively colours, were
reflected under the silver rays of the moon,
and the slight noise of the rattles of its tail
resembling the noise of parchment being
crumpled, alone troubled, the silence of
nature.

M'i.^

THE CANADIAN PI02iEERS.

This noiseless struggle, iii the midst of the
silence of night, between a snake and an
Indian, still more subtle than a serpent, had
something so fantastic, that one might have
said that they were two evil genii disputing
in the dark about some unfortunate victim.

The snake came so near to the Indian,
that the latter could almost have seized it.

It rose for the last time, and drawing back
its head, made a spring.

The Indian was waiting for it with his
hand, following with his eyes, the slightest
oscillations of its body.

It was easy to see that the final struggle
was going io commence, and would soon end,
by the death of one of the two adversaries.

At the instant when the snake precipitated
itself like a dart, on its enemy, the Indian
again raised up his hand, but this time, the
entike's spring was so rapid and instanta-

TILE CANADIAN PIONKERS.

neoue, that he was unable to catch it, and
the reptile bit him in the cheek.

A hoarse cry died away in the Indian's
throat, who seized with his open hand, the
enake, before it could escape, and putting
his mouth to it, in his rage, he tore it with
his teeth, and left it in tatters.

Vain reprisals; for the blow was given.

Some minutes after, horrible convulsions,
and frightful cries, announced that the
deadly venom had produced its effect.

The victim twirled himself about, in des-
pair, a prey to terrible sufferings.

It seemed, at first, that he had succeeded

to escape, but subsequently his body was

found, enormously swollen, still held in thq
aperture of the hole.

His eyes inflated with blood were out from

the sockets ; his face was as black as coal,

and his half opened mouth exposed to. view,

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

two rows of white teeth, whence still hung
some shreds of the reptile, and flakes of foam
mingled with blood.

Providence itself had taken care to have a
vengeance for the murder of the young
officer.

EPILOGUE.

Here are some details of the family who
had been witness to the tragic history which
we have just related, and which will be a
fresh proof of the veracity of our recital.

Mr. Perron Baby yet lived for many years
after these events.

The following is an extract from the inven-
tory of his goods :

Mr. James DuPerron Baby died at Detroit
about the 2nd August, 1789."

" In the year 1796, Mrs Susan Du Perron
"Baby went down with several of her chil-
*' dren, to reside at Quebec, leaving Mr. James

^p^|m^-^w^w^f« u • I luuMviJvi^- ■ I,

THE CANADIAN PIONEERS.

** Du Perron Baby, her eldest son, to manage
"the business and lands, mills and other
*' affairs in Detroit."

This last commanded for a long time the
Canadian militia of Upper Canada, and was
elected subsequently speaker of the Legisla-
tive Assembly.

Mrs. S. Du Perron Baby died at Quebec,
in 1813, at a very advanced age.

As for Miss Theresa Du Perron Baby, she
ended her days at Quebec, in 1839, at Mr.
de Gasp6*e.

She could never forget the sanguinary
tragedy which so cruelly ended her first
dream.

The wound once opened, never closed
again.

This funereal remembrance was constantly
Impressed on her brow, and her soul always
full with everlasting sadness.

»-v '"w.i r ,1-r-v-ii.M ii»i<i (iii^- (. pii u^ifi^ ^^9^^i«m

THE CANADTA^N PICNEERS.

The ray died out, and its expiring flame
ascended towards heaven, to never again
return.

Her smile, like that of Andromache, was
always mingled with tears.

And when her friends sought to make this
disenchanted soul to again blossom.

— " Ah I '' she would exclaim sadly, *' let
'* me weep in silence my vanished dreams.*'

" Tears are the ecstasy of misfortune.

'' The past has been for me, too full of
*' bitterness for me to made a smiling face to
" the future.

" The flower of illusion does not grow on
"the ruins of the heart."

Quebec, March, 1860.