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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. rrata :o pelure, 1 A n 32X 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 I: '^■^.S. I a,,vMLtd B« fj A.r)rj^ESS \i'----\i f / DELITERED b£ HIS HONOR, THE LIEUT. GOVERNOR OF NOVA SGOTIA, , riE HONORABLE ADAMS GEORGE ARCHIBALD, C. M. G. SEPTEMBER 13th, 1882, On the Occasion of the 121st Anniversary OF II S TR Minors J^^TJil, n,M^. •SUN" Job Print, Truro, N. S. \ V / i w* DELIVKRED I5Y HIS IIOXOR THE LIEU7 GOVERNOR OP' NOVA SCOTIA — THE HONORABLE ADAMS (JEORGE ARCTHBALD, C. M. G.— I3TH SEPTEMBER, 1882, ON THE OCCASION OF THEI2IST ANNIVERS- ARY OF TRURO'S NATAL DAY. o- In the lives of all of us,the recurrence of a Birth day is a subject of interest. To some, the di^y ia a season of solemn thought, to others it is only an occasion of merriment. Some feel the return of the day as a reminder tliat another year has passed away, and they ask them- aelves how they havespent'it. Others, welcoming the anniversary as an excuse for a little extra indulgence, seek enjoy- ment without reflection on the past, or thought of the future. But in whatever aspect we view it — be the tone or temper of the mind what it may, few persona regaid the day with indifference, and we may say of these few, that they are not, as a rule, of the class that com- mands the respect or esteem of their fellows. Something like the interest what belongs to the birthday of an individual attaches to the natal day of every «-ountry, city or town. The feeling in this case should be shared by all the in- habitants or citizens. The natal day has in it less of the selfish than the in- dividual birth day, but it resembles it in this respect, that those who have no share in the feeling, are not apt to stand high in the respect and esteem of the community in which they reside. In the old world.as a rule,the natal day is not observed as it is on this continent. There the origin of nations, of cities, and of towns, is buried in obscurity. No man can ttll what was the first step taken in the ages of barbarism to set- tle a country or to found a town. Thick darkness broods over these early begin- nings. On this continent it is otherwise. Everything herb has been done within historical times. It has been done in the brodid day. The press and the school defy oblivion. In speaking of these things, we are in the region of fact. The natal day of every place on this continent — the day on which the soli- tude of the wilderness comes to be dis- turbed — the day on which civilized man for the first time obtrudes on the domain of the Savage, is the turning point in the history of the place. For countless ages the soil has been roamed over.but never occupied. The products of na- ture are those only which grow spontan- eously. Tbe wild animals which yield to thesavagehis sportandhi8 8upport,are like himself wanderers on the soil; but the time has arrived in the order of Providence when the land is no longer to lie waste. It has hitherto been but a place of transit, it is now to be a poss- ession. The laws of nature, which have hitherto done all, are now to do only part. The earth is to yield its increase still, but of what nature that increase shall be, is to be settled by the mind of man. Forests are to give place to fields, huts to houses. The horse and the ox are to supplant the bear and the loup- cervier. The stationary is to take the place of the nomadic. Hitherto the pro The Acadian French had gradually ex- tended their settlements eastwardly from their head qnarter8,at Port Royal. They had spread along the little streams which fall into the Bay of Fundy. They had made settlements at Minas and Pisiquid and had gtadually penetrated to Cobe- quid to a place a few miles below what is now Truro. There they had erected a house of worship, from which the ad- joining water was called Cvve cVEgli^e. This name by a liberal protestant trans- lation, has adhered to the place. The settlement is called Mass Town to this day. (Some Acadians, continuing the progressive settlemept eastwardly, liad. ducts of nature are those which she has about this time, movf.d further up the yeilded of her own accord, as the acci- : Bay to this part of what was then dents of wind or water, of growth or known as Cobequid. Then came the decay, of clime or season, may have cruel edict ot the 5th Sept. 175ri, wln'ch determined. Now her energies are to be guided and directed. She is hence- forth to produce what man exacts from her. Year by year he casts seed into her bosom, and calls with confidence for a return of the same, with ample increase. This eventful day in the history of Truro dates back near a century and a quarter. It is something over 121 years since the first British settlers penetrated banished the whole Acadian race from home anri country and scattered them as wanderers in the old British colonies, among a ))eople who, to them, were heretics in creed, and aliens in race. How many of these people had settled in Truro proj)er,we have no means now of knowing. It would appear by an enumeration of the French inhabitants- quoted by Surveyor General JMorris in a rej)ort of his made just j)ie- tothisplace with the intention of uvaking I viously to the expulsion of the race, that between Isgonishe (or as it was then called Cliaganois) and the head of Cobequid Basin, which he states as a distance of two leagues, there were 20 families. Of this section, what is now Truro was the most remote l^art, but assuming the twenty families to be equally dispersed over Lower and Upper Onslow, Bible Hill, the Ujjper it their home. We do not take into account the evanescent visit of the French Acadians. Their occupation, such as it was, hardly extended to up lands or to forests. The entire extent of the cleared land in all Truro did not exceed 100 acres.* Small patches of clearing, there must Lave been, for houses and gardens, but beyond these, no encroachment appears j ^^^ Lower Village of Tiuio, and Old to have been made on the forest. What | Barns, it would give to each of these places an average of less than four famil- ies. A country with inhabitants so scattered, and tb^y just entering upon the lands, can scarcely be said to have been setttled at all. They must have had some hou8e>,8uch as they were,but these were probably destroyed when the people were driven away. At all events, six years afterwards, when the British settlers came, there were no vestiges of houses to be found was done in the way of agricultural occupation,had reference to the marshes. A few embankments, some of them not a mile from the spot we stand on, le- main to this day to bi^i«r witness that some eflbrt had been nade to shut out the tides from thf, higher mud flats. *Se« report of Surveyor Qeneral Morris to Lieatenant Qovernor Belcher, inclosed by the former to i he Loria of Plantations ia a deapatch dated 11th Jany., 17(S2. witliiii a runge of many miles from this spot. Two bitiTS indeed were still standing, a fact which is perpetuated in the title of " Old Bai ns " so long ap- ))lie(l to the l)art of Truro wliere the buildings stood. This name, with its historic value, remained till some rest- less innovator 'iro-'-'e in the si!ttlenient and succeeded in burying it under the new tangled title of ''Clitlon." Aftfu- the expulsion of the Acadian French, many of thesi! i)i'oplo who had ; escaped to the woods, or had returned j from exile, were found to be hovering j around their old homes — a circumstance i which occasioned much alarm to the Local (xovernnuait of tlio d.^y. At this time Cove,to the east, all was wilderness. I'lie lovely meadows, which now form so tine a teatine of the scenery on North and Salmon Rivers, were then covered with the virgin forest, ot which a few elms only now survive. From either side of the Bay, the flats on the opposite shore were skirted by a forest which extended away as far as the eye could reach, till the tops of the trees on the hills were outlined on the sky. The Hats were unsightly objects, but they furnished n 6 the material lor sjtlendicl bay grounds, when reclaiuieu Iroui the tide ; but this involved labor and luuch of it. Tiie forest allurded a tine sight, but, to the new settlers eye, the siglit of fields was lu'.ich finer, and before a forest conld become a tield, there was much work to be done. Hut our ancestors did not come here to be charmed with the si,:4ht of forests, or disgusted with that of mud lia.ts. Th^y hud work to do thai left little room or time for mere sentiment. First,their seed was to be put in the ground. The season was already late enough, but before they could pre- paio such ground as was abave the tide- Jevel and free of forest, for a ci'op, the season was far advanced. Then a great drought occuired. Thfi se(.'d sown in dry ground was followed bv a crop, wiiich made its feeble a[)pearance on the surface only to be withered by a fit ry sun. Liter on came severe frosts. The cro[> v,-as largely a failure, and the stout liearts of the settlers muil liave ^ quailed when they thought of the com- ing winter aiid how little preparation ' they had been able to make for it, but they had no time to re|)ine. They had j now their houses to Ituild. Fortunate- ly this was not a tedious business. A| few trees chop[)ed down and cut into ^ lengths, then hewed and pi'ed on each other, gave the four walls required. Poles, surmounted with bailc, made a roof — phices lor windows and doors were sawed in the walls — and a chimney was soon improvised. A S(]'utre frame- work of sticks, plastered inside with mud, give all the Hue that was required, while a huge opening below offered a tire place larae enough to warm and light the apartments with logs felled at the dour. Fodder for the cattle during the winter was secured by mowing and curing the salt grass which grew on the higher mud fiats. When this was safely stacked * the settlers went to work to repair the old French dykes. Fortunately for them, the remnantsof the dykes were there to show them the na- ture of the work to be done. They had See Governor Belchers letter to the Lords of Plantations under date of Nov. 1701. hadno experience,in theirold homeof the devices required to draw sustenance from land below the level of the sea, and must have spent much unnecessary labor, as indeed did the French before them, in erecting the immense mounds which, in tlios'i days, were thought necessary to ward oH' the tide. However stout hearts, and strong arms they had, and, ; with the old dykes rejcaired and secur- ed, they could, notwithstanding their , loss of crop, look forward with hope ; to the next season when the seed could be sown in due time. Meanwhile the Government had come to their relief, and liHd letit them (idU bushels of corn , to tide tlieu) ov(ir the winter, to be re- '. paid at a future day, it demanded. This was at the late ot live bushels j)er ' head of tlu; inhal»itants,and .vas a most seasonable aid, I I We need not jtursue the further ; history of the infant settlement. The |»eople were industrious, frugal and : honest, and soon throve, as men, with ; these qualities, will always tiirive. We calch a cheerful glim{)se of the young comniunity, as it existed five years afterwards, from a letter of the Lieutenant Governor of the day, sent to the Secretary of State. He writes: " The Townships of Truro, Onslow, and Londonderiy, consisting in ^'^e whole of GG4 men women and chikU an, composed ot jteople chiefly from the North of Ireland, make all their own linen and even some little to spare to the ueighboiing towns. Tliisyear they raised 7, •'324 lbs. flax which will prob- ably be worked up in the several fami- lies during the winter." It is worth while quoting an addi- tional passage from this Despatch, tc show how the Government of that day regarded the policy of promoting do- mestic manufactures among our people. Governor Francklyn, after stating how busily the people were employed in the art which they had probably brought with them from the great seat of the flax induBtry in the North of Ireland, apparently fearful that the jealously of British manufacturers might be arous- ed, goes on apologetically to say. " This j little valne,except for fuel. Belonging to Oovernment has at no time given en- farmers with abundance of other land, couragement to manufacturers, which [ with tine iiitervale.s and maishes on could interfere with tiiose of Great I their front lots, they wiue not in the Britain, nor has there been the least j market for sale, and it was a long time aj»i)earanoe of any association ot i)rivate i before even a few of them found their l)erson,s for that purjiose ; nor are there way into the hands of strangers, and any persons wiio profess themselves | came to be cleared and cultivated as weavers, so as to make it their employ- ' farms. Tiie change in tli-; ajjjieaiance ment orbusinesH, but only work at it in j of Truro therefore, for a long time after their own families during the winter j its settlement, wus mainly in tlu; lineof and other leisure hours." I fields extended, of additional marsh Tlie discouragement of local manufac- 1 ««^|<^^«J' ^" > ^^ ^'«tter buildings erected, tures indicated by the passage we have j The properties, as originally assigned cpioted, is in as nuuk((l contrast with the j on partition, remained very mucli in the National Policy of to-day, as is this same familie.s, and even where a t'arm largo crop of Flax, being at tlie rate; of 'changed hands, the new owner held by almost 12 ll)s.per head of the population, i the original boundary lines,and Dossess- with the |)roduetion of the plant now. | ed the same farm as his })redecessor. The quantity of Flax dressed in the i This is observable still in some parts of whole Countv of Colclifster at this day, the Township which are exclusively with its 23,000 ]K;o[)le, and after the lapse of a century, is little more than what was miinufacrured by three settle- ments then not over five years old. well a ])opulation not amounting in all to 1000. Fur three cpiarters of a century after the settlement of Truro, its material progress was much the same as that which has marked all the settlements or- ganized on the same jjlan. That plan was to grant a Townshii) to a large number ot Pro[)rietors, to be heldbv them in com- mon, in shares or rights. Every share en- titled the owner to a house lot, a farm lot, a wood lot, and a marsh lot, which were to be assigned to him when the Townshii) came afterwards to be divided among the shareholders. In the first instance, the settlers selected their own house lots, and front lots, according to fancy, convenience, or mutual agree- ment. When the partition afterwards took place, the possession so taken was respected, and such lands formed part of the lots assigned to the occupant in respect of his share. This arrangement was favorable to the formation of villages on the Front, but prejudicial to the settlement of the back lauds. These latter were held for wood lots only,and were consideredof agricultral. The adjoining village of Onslow, which was settl(;d in the same year and under the same conditions, is wholly agricultral, and the Front lands, as seen in driving down the road on the Bay Shore, ajipear mainly to be held by original boundary lines. I have from memory made a map of the Truro of forty years ago, marking the houses then .standing. Haliburton in his history states that there were in IS;]8 about 70 houses in the I'pper and Lower Villages. How spar.se and scattered they weie, may be gathered from what appears on ray map. Prince street was tli(!n a road with cradle hills still on It. No vehicle less .solid than a cart could travel over it. C^iieen street, which was then called Front street, had only 7 houses from the llivor Bridge to the Common, In point of fact, how- ever, old Truro was not the Truro of to- day. Truro then meant, in common l)arlance, that part of the village which lay to the north of the River. On Bible Hill, as it was called, were the princi- pal Hotels — one on each side of the street. There were the public offices, the Registry of Deeds, the Custom House, the offices of Judge and Regis- trar of Probate. There was the Post Oflice, and there for a long time stood 8 the Conn House. From Witters ItTtel, there sitiiat?, ran the sta'^e coaches which connected us with the capitil ami with Pictou. Tiiere wern the ollices of the Lawyers i»racti8in}» in the county. Theretoo wasthelloly-Well, consecrated in French Aca(Jian times. After the Kngliah came, it was at this fount that generations of lawy«'rs, ■while attending the Court, which gen- erally lasted a week each sitting, slaked every morning the thirst itorn of the exhaustive festivities of the previous evening.which distinguished those days. There too, was the Free Masons Hall, which preceded Temperance orga i' a- tions, and had perhaps something to do with creating the necessity for such societies. Then there was LlieBachelors' Hall, where some eight or ten young men lived together, lawyeis, doctors and merchants, many of whom alter- wards achieved distinction, though at the time they were noted more for the pranks, and diversions,and frolics, which belong to youth, than for ihe more solid qualities of men of business. Thus the society of Truro was all on Bible Hill. There was one thing to add to its lustre. At that part of the town, was the residence of the great man, not of Truro only, or of Colchester, but of thewhole Province. He was our Representative in the As- sembly from 180G to 1811, and dur- ing that period wielded a power in the Legislature that has never been attain- ed by any other man — before or since. His house stood on the east side of the road. The view from the front door, looking to the west, across a rich mea- dow, studded v?ith lovely elms, was one of the finest in the Province, and many a gay company has stood on the platform of the old Portico of that house,gazing on this beautiful scene,now in raptures with the lovely picture spread out before them, now moved to laughter by the sallies of wit and humor which issued fiom the lips of t^^e bril- liant host. Is it any wonder then that with all these ad vantages and attractions Bible Hill was Truro " par excellence?" It was fashionable Truro, it was otHcial Truro, it was business Truro, it was sportive Truro. The j)art of the town which lay to the South of the lliver, the part where wo are now assemltled, was a mere suburb of Tiuro. The Hill, on the first settlement of the Town, fell to the lot of a family of Archil)alds,who were Presbyterians of the .strictest sort, and it was probal ly the sneer of the less orthodox and devout, who were inlial)i- tants of this side of th'i Uivcr, that gave birth to the name of i>il)le Hill, which has stuck to it to this day. But it is almost the only thing that has stuck to it. The whirligig of time has I)rouglit about strange reverses. Go there now, and you will loolc in vain for Court House, or U(;gistry of Det'ds or of Probates,for Post otlices or mail coaches, for Mason.s, or Bachelors Halls, for Judges or Lawyers or Prothonotaries. No great Statesman resides there, the cynosure of all eyes. All have disappear- ed. Lastly, and this is the strangest thing of all, when Truro came to receive a mayor and coriioration, Bible Hill, so long the only Tiuro known to the world, M'as acfcuiiUy left cmfc of the niuuicipa- lity — what had beon the ir/m/j' of Truro, was no longer even />urt of it. Icliahotl was written over its door posts. The glory had departed from it. A fitting sequel to all these reverses remains to be mentioned. The old home- stead of the great man of earlier times, came into the market a few years ago, and was purchased by a gentleman who has since built a new house on the same site. Tlie old house was removed to the ojjposite side of the road, its front wheeled round to the lilast, and thus, as was ((uite pioper im- der the circumstancos, it was made to turn its back on the beautiful scene on which it had gazed forovt-r three sooreyears. Kven the lioly Well has become indignant. The fountain, which for ageshad poured forth alimpid stream that had given comfort and cheer to th((nsand8 of others, besides thirsty lawyers, has ceased to How, or at all events its waters have become so turbid and tainted, that when last I visited it, some two years ago, with a sou of the great man I have spoken of, who has himself just received a signal mark of the approbation of his Sovereign, we found the well in such a condition that we did not venture to taste its waters. 1 have spoken of the lovely view from the front door of Mr. Archibald's residence. i; Rut that was not then, nor is it now, thn only charming scenery of which Truro can boast. The liiilf), which surround the town like an amphitheatre, atlord from their crests the most varied *nd striking views. Some Hfty years ago when the late Joseph Howe was juat beginning a career of great distinction, he wrote and pul)li8hed in his newspaper, under the head of '* Eastern llHmbies," some racy sketches of the scenery of this part of the Province. I had (juite forgotten the articles till, the other diiy,on turning over the leaves of the Nova Scotiaii of 1830, I stumbl- ed upon them. One or two extracts from them will show, not only how highly Mr. Howe appreciated the beauties of Truro, but also what a vigorous pen he wielded, even in those early days when his style Mas con)- paratively unformed. We aliall tind in these extracts, abundant traces of the sound sense, combined with the lively imagination, and genuine humor, which distinguished his later productions. Take this account of his visit to the Falls, about a mile south from the Hail way Station. From that day to this, the scene is unchanged. There is not a word of Mr. Howe's eloquent description '(ss ap propriate at this moment, than it ^ on the day it was written. No tourist sh ..Id leave Truro without a visit to the spot. " Following up a small stream which runs along a narrow strip of meadow, that ext-.ends to the rear of the Helds on the southern side of the Village, as you recede from tlie culti- vation and improvementsof rnan and approach the wildnoss and primitive negligence of nature, a sudden turn to the left shuts you out from the softened and beautiful scene of mingled meadow and woodland and er;clo8es you between two high ranges of lard, that rise up on each side of you as abrupt and precipitous, as the waves of the Red Sea are said to have towered above the host of Pharoah. The small stream is still murmur- ing at your feet, and pursuing its way, some- times over, and occasionally under, a luckless windfall that the violence of some Borean gust has stretched across its current. For the distance of 100 perhaps 150 yards this ravine is highly picturestjue and attractive. It keeps narrowing as you go on ; its sides, ; which are in most places crowned with trees ' and shrubbery to the very edge, otj'er most singular and attractive combinations, and you find your progress in some places nearly i impeded by the lower steps, so to sp.'ak, by I which the waters descend from the highlands { to the quiet vale below. After clambering ' up sundry ledges and rural staircases, formed by the projecting points of rock, old stumps, and bending saplings, and after 8to}»ping a dozen times to gather breath, or admire the minor beauties which claim a portion of your notice, ere you arrive at the chief attraction, you come in sight of a steep rook, which having been thrown across the ravine has for ages withstood the etTorts of the fal ing waters, to push it from its place or wear it away. From the level of the clear pool at its base to the summit over which a narrow and beautiful stream descends, mav be about 50 feet. Lay thee down upon thcit rock my gentle traveller which the heat of the noon day has warmed, despite the coolness of the neighlioring waters, .ind there with thy senses half lulled to forgetfullness by the murmurs of the falling btream, thy eyes half closed, and thy spirit all unconscious of earthly turmoils and care, give thyself up to musing, for never was there a more appro- priate spot than the Truro Falls, for our olil men to see visions, and our young men to ilream dreams. Vou are as elf'ectuallj shut out from the world, as though like Colonel Boon, you were at least 100 miles from a human being, and, if you are poetical, you may weave rhymes, if you are romantic, you may build castles in the air, and if you be a plain matter of fact man, you may pursue your calculations by the side of the Truro Falls without the slightest danger of inter- I ruption. Should you be advanced in years, [ my gentle traveller, how must you sigli that j Time will not allow you a discount of twenty I summers, and place l>y your side within the I (luictshelterof this beautiful ravine the chosen j deity of your youthful adoration. Oh ! would not her accents of acknowledged affection mingle delightfully with the fallmg j waters ? and would not every vow you utter- ' ed catch a solemnity and power from the i retired holiness of the scene ? Perhaps on 1 that very rook where you recline many an j expressi(m of pure and sinless regard has I burst from lips that, after long refusal, at I length played the unconscious interpreters ! to the heart. Many a chaste, and j et im- passioned embrace, has made eloquent ac- knowledgement of all that the young heart j has dared to hope : and perhaps we err not when we say, that there are, among our numerous readers, many a happy couple, who, ' while tasting the pleasures of the domestic circle, bless the balmy summer eve when they first strayed to the Truro Falls. " Since the day when Mr. Howe wrote this eloc^uent and beautiful passage, who can say how often the fates of young people have been decided under tho soothing indaence of those descending waters. As a specimen of his composition on a dif- ferent theme let us find room for his des- cription of the grave yard which stood in the rear of the old Presbyterian Meeting House, and which is included within the fauces of the present cenietry. "The grave yard, says Mr. Howe, "lies Immediatelj' in the rear, and see. nty gentle traveller, the gate is half unclosed, as tlwuKh it would invite us to puss throuKb. and linger a moment amont; thellowly beds of those whose spirits have departed to a better world. He must have a dull and sluggish soul— who can 10 look without emotion on the quiet grrarcB of tho early settlors of thia country— who can trea'l up- on their monlderintc bones without a thought of their privations and their toils— who can. from their tombs, look out upon the rural loveliness —the ftiiitfulness and peace by which he is 8urr>unded, nor drop a tear to tho memories of tne dead, who won, by the stoutness of their hearts, and the sweat of their brows, the bless- inf^s their children have only to cherish and en.joy ; whojilunged into t^e forest, not as wo do now, for a summer day's ramble, or an hour of tranquil musin^r. but to win a home from the ruKKcdness of nncultivated nature, and in despite of the dusky savage thirsting for his olood. Oh ! for the muse of Gray to pour out a betltting tribute to the dead. He cauRht from the sanctity and sofiened associations of an EntjliBh graveyard, an inspiration that render- ed him iuimortal ; but the graves oniong which he stood wore the resting places of men wliowe lives had been tranquil and undisturbed who had grown up amidrit the fruitfulness of ivil- ized and cult! vutedcounlry.and nadenjoj i the protection of institutions long firmly established. and the security and cheering influence of ancient usage. Hiw much deeper would have been the tones of his harp, had he stood where we now stand, had he been surrounded by the graves of those who found his country a wilder- ness and left it u gu'don ; who pitched their tents among the solitudes of nature and left to their children her fairest charms, heightened by the softening touch of art ; who had to build up institutions as they built up their lowly dwell- ings, but nevertheless 1. .aeathod to their descendants the security of settled Government, tho advantages of political freedom, the means of moral and ■^"•'gious improvement, which they labored to secure but never lived to enjoy. We have no Abbeys or Cathedrals where our warriors and statesmen are preserved. We have no monumental piles, fraught with the deedsof other days.to claim a triOuto from the passer-by. The lapse of ages, political vicissi- tudes, violent struggles.and accumulated wealth are necessary to the posse.^sion of these ; but in everj- villaKcof our infant country we have the quiet graves of those who subdued the wilder- ness, who beautified the land hy their toils, and left not only the fruits of their labors, but the thoughts and feelings which cheered them in tiieir solitude, to cheer bnd stimulate us amidst the inferior trials and multiplied enjoy- ments of a more advanced state of society. May we while contrasting the present with the past never forget the debt of gratitude we owe and while standing beside tho humble graves of ourearly settlers, may we ever feel our spirits awakened by the recollection of tlieir lives, our thoughts ennobled by the remembrance of their trials, and our holiest and best resolves atrengtbened with a portion of their strength." W« shall make but oue more extract from these pleasing papers. You will reci)llect my allusion to the inmates of Bachelors' Hall, their fun and their frulict. The Hall was just at the top of the hill, as you ascond the mad from the interval. The river here is fringed by a bank of red sandstone which ex- tends from the Holy Well far up the stream. It forms a tine feature of the sceuery from the opposite side of the river. Along the slope of this bank the bachelors had cut a path id the sandstone, about half-way up between the river edge and the top of the bank, and at the end of the path had built a spacious bower. Here they fisorted on occasions of merriment or rerelry. AU thia ia beyond the recollection even of middle aged men of the preaent day, but it was quite fresh at the time of Mr. Howe's visit. Listen to his des- cription of the place. " Extending due east from the principal Inns and forming the southern termination ^f what is called " The Hill." is a very steep bvnk of red clay, which the action of the elements keeps continually wearing away, and threatening, as it were, to convert the upland of tho worthy proprietors into very excellent intervale. Along the sides and pirt of the htrow of this b;»nk ore a range of trees and beneath their shade in the times gone by. as the village tradition goes, there stood a rural bovver. The Deity to whom it was dedicated we could not with accuracy ascertain, but certain it is. that it used to be the scene of singular cantrips and orgies. The peasantry who thereabouts do well, are bold to declare that of a summer evening as they passed along, volumes of smoke would be seen bursting from its leafy sides, and ascendinging in varied curls upon the balmy air; but whether it smelt of brimstone or tobacco, has to this day remained n point of doubtful settlement, and given rise to much rural and "nice argument." True it is that voices used to be heard, and sometimes a ring- ing and tinkling sound, like the meetin^tof friendly glasses, and ever and anon there would break forth from that mystical bower the sounds of song, sometimes accompanied by instrumental music, which the credulous pass- erby took for some fiendish scraping, but which the less timorous believe to liave been tho notes of a violin. There were many things to strengthen the belief that hereabouts did dwell the very spirits of mischief ; for it was no uncommon thing for marvellous accounts of slaughtered bears, and chivalrou-i captains to be sent to the Halifax newspapers bearing date at Truro, and purporting to be accurate and faithful narratives of heroic and daring exploits ; and on connubial occasions a troop of cavalry would sometimes wheel up in front of the bridal chamber, and discharging a volley of firearms in at the window, gallop otf in the twinkling of a bedpost; or maybe a largo standard would be found waving from some chimney top, like the banner of some feudal chieftain from the loftiest battlement of his castle, spreading terror and ai'xiety around. But these days are passed —the mad spirits who used to play such pranks are either caught in traps matrimonial, and, like the gentle Ariel confined to the clefts of their domestic hollow trees, or are scattered to other portions of the Previnces. where from the want of counten- ance and example, they are forced to restrain the bent of their humor and conform to the even tenor of a more matter-of-fact existence. Tlie bower has fallen to earth ; its branches are scattered along the side of the bank and its leaves are dancing on the breath of many a breeze, but from its site there is decidedly one of the prettiest views of the course of the Sainton Kiver that ia to be found in the neigh- borhood of I'ruro. Many of the alluaiona iu thia paragraph will be understood from what we have aaid in introduuiuu; it, but the reference to"8laugh- tered bears d; chivalrous Captains," revives a funny incident of those days. A worthy resi- dent of the town had been iu aome way con- nected with military atfaira and called him- aelf Captain Wilson. Thia gentleman uaed to tell marvelloua atoriea and woa himaelf generally the hero of them. The baohelora of the hall, aoon took hia measure, and had great delight in turning him into ridicule. One day in 1821 there appeared in the Aca' \ 'r a 11 dmi Recorder a long and circuiUBtantial account of the killing cf a bear by Captain Wilson, which set the whole town laughing. The captain's sanguinary exploits^so far as he reported them, had hitherto not extended to that class of animals. When the newspaper arrived, the wags who had concocted the story naturally took care to call on the old man, one after another, and ply him with end- less questions about the time, the place, the weight, the size, the color, the length of ears and tail, .Oc, asking for the minutest particulars. It was in vain that he denied the story, and declared it to be a hoax. They insisted on believing it and pretended to im pute his disavowal to modesty. So it went on for a week or two, when out came, in another issue of the l{f.conkr,y/\ia.t purported to be an affidavit in contradiction of the story, sworn to by the hero himself, and expressed in these words : I Captain Wilson do declare That I have never killed a bear Either at Truro or elsewhere. This is one specimen of the pranks played by the mad wags of Bachelor's Hall in those days, to which allusion is made in Mr. Howe's article. While Bible Hill was steadily losing ground, this side of the river was as steadily gaining it. It cheerfully made room for the oflicials on their exodus from the hill. Not only so, but this side of the river now began to feel the advantage of its position, which entitled it to expect an accession of popula- tion from without. Xo better site for a town can be found anywhere than our broad pleateau, extending as it does from the B»nk at the edne of the interval southwards to the Base of the Hills, and stretching along the liver for more than a mile. Hore was abundance of space, and the ground, much of w^hich was gravel, aBorded a foundation for buildings at once solid and dry. There considerations had much to do with solving the question where the town sliould be. That point once settled, the growth of a Town was assured. The situation of Truro, in reference to the rest of the county, points it out as the proper site of the chief town. It is at the head of the navig.ition of the Bay. It is the centre of a tine agricultural county. From it, roa Is radicate in every direction, north, south, east, and west, like the spokes of a whtel. Beginning north of the Bay and sweeping round in a ciicle, we come across first the roas, indicated by my map. There was then but one Presbyterian con- gregations where tliere aie now six. When all Truro worshipped at the old meeting house, which stood on ground now enclosed within the Cemeteiy.it Mas a goodly sight to see the people streaming from all points of the compass to the house of God. From Onslow and East Mountain, from Bible Hill and up the River, from Halifax Road, Lower ^'illage and Old Barns,came the gath< ering — on foot, on horse back— often two on a 12 horse — in carria«;e8, such as we have seen in the proceasioD to-day — of every ahape and •bnild, (except perhaps those of the class fa- miliar to modern eyes), fording streams — some even at low tide .vading across the bay. Thus they thronged to the Sanctuary. These were the days of long sermons. Two or three hours of religious exercises were followed by an intermission of Hfteeii minutes. This, in summer, was spent by the people under the shade of the old spruce trees, which then stood in front of the church on the opposite side of the road. There they partook of the refreshments they had brought from their homes. It was a charming quar- ter of an hour. It piissed away with mar vellous rapidity. Everybody enjoyed it, the young particularly. When the time allotted had expired, and the people began to wend their way back to church, for three hours more of religious exercises, an acute observer might have detected on the faces, at all events of the boys and girls, an expression, that betokened a wish, either that the ser- mons were shorter, or if that could not be, at least that the intermissions were longer. 1 have not spoken of the other denomiiui- tions, b3cau.se in early times the greater part of the people were Presbyterians. At Hrat all were so, and it Avas only by secession from people of that creed, and by tlie arrival of new comers from without, that the other de- nominations grew to tlie position, as regards numbers and respectabiJity, which they hold at this moment. Xor have I time to tell of the events which preceded or accompanied, ! or followed the construction of the buildings which have made Truro the centre of the common school education of the I'rovince. ' Much less can I tell of that long line ol pub- lic men, who have represented us in the As- sembly, from the year 17f)(>, when old David ; Archibald first took his scat for Truro, down to the present time. On this point let me men- i t'ou in passing, a circumstance which I do 11 )t think has occurred in any other county of the Province in cuii.i-.xion with the repre- sentation. In the long period of 1 HJ years during wliicli our constituency has existed, the family of the first member has furnished four representatives in lineal descent one from the other, while the family of a younger brother of his has furnished three members in as many ditl'orent generations. It is clear therefore tliat that family had had its full share of public honors,and it was ([uite time it should stand aside for others to take their turn. But the waning time bids me briny my ob- servations to a close. Let mc say in conclu- sion that; — The progress made by Truro withia the past few years justifies the hope of a pros- perous future. As the ceasre of a fine agricultural County, it would be assured under any circumstances of a continuous — even if only a moderate support. The site admits of an indefinite extension in ail directions. It a&'ords every convenience for carrying on industrial enterprises. As regards Railways, the position of Truro fits it for being ; a distributing centre. There cannot be a i doubt therefore that so far as physical condi- I tious are concerned, every thing is favorable I for the growth of the Town. These are ! very important considerations — indeed al- I most indispensable- butthey will notof them- selves make a town. One thing more is wanted, and that is a spirit of energy and enterprise among its people. That spirit has created towns where many of our advan- tages were wanting, but without it all the advantage? in the world will not avail. It is this which creates industrial undertakings that employ and reward labor. These invite population, create wealth, in short make what in American parlance is >jalled a ' live ' city. Of this spirit our people have shown of late that they have a goodly share. What has been duue, is a fair measure of what we may expect to be done. Let each of us do what in him lies to pro- mote the interests of the Town. Let us feel for the place as a whole something of the regard we have for the part of it which be- longs to us individually. Let us take plea- sure in the sight of other houses as tidy and neat as our own — of other gardens, blooni- iug with dowers like our own— of streets as clean and skirted by trees as beautiful, asare the streets and the trees which are nearest our own places. Let us delight in the evidence of culture and refinement all around us. We will thus make our Town an object of beauty as well as a place of bu.siness, und may cherish a pride in it, which these things will amply justify. Then let uj encourage in everyway in our power the establishment among us of every industrial enterprise that oti'ers a reasonable prospect of success. Let us welcome to our midst every man who can bring with him skill and eneriiy, industry and probity, and who will place these qualities at our service in builu^ng up our Town. I trus 'i that one effect of this celebration will be uo increase the interest we take in our past and present, to knit us more closely together as members of one community, and to induce us, however much we may diti'er on other matters of more or less importance, to work together with one heart and one mind for the best interests of our beloved Town.