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Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mdthode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 SKETCHES AND TALES ILLUSTRATIVE OF LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS OF NEW BRUNSWICK, NORTH AMERICA, GLEANED PROM ACTUAL OBSERVATION AND EXPERIENCE DURING A RESIDENCE OF SEVEN YEARS IN THAT INTERESTING COLONY. BY MRS. F. BEAVAN. " Son of the Isles ! talk not to me, Of the old world's pride and luxury ! Tho' gilded bower and fancy cot,. Grace not each wild concession lot; Tho' rude bur hut, and coarse our cheer, The wealth the world can gi ^e is here." LONDON: GEOUGE ROUTLEDOE, 36, SQHO SQUARE. 1845. TABLE OF CONTENTS. TAGK Introductory llemaiksi j New^Brunswick — by whom settled o lleiiiarks on State of Morals and J veli;^Iou 4 American IMiysiognoniy r, Tlie Spring Fresliets ^ Cranl)erries j. ytream Driving jl, Moving a House 10 Frolics 11 Sugar jVfaking I3 Breaking uj) of the Ice m First a])pearances ef Spring ly Burning a Fallow ^ A Walk through a Settlement 2(» Log lluts 2\ Description of a Native New Brunswicker's House iiii Blowing the Horn j^^ A Deserted Lot ;^5 The Bushwacker , ;j/. Tlie Postman t^tj American Newspapers 4(j Musquitoes ^2 An Emigrant's House 44 Unsuccessful Lumberer 47 l^he Law of Kindness exemplified in the Case of a Criminal , ^ r^O fi' - f'ONTKNrs. ^^■'lools PA0J5 TJio Scliool ]\Iistrc.ss .... 52 TlicvWoods .'_.... •"'•"> 33aj)tists' A.s.soci.itioii . ^ 5" Av^^ittothoirousoofaR^n;;;;;*; «» 1 i- I„d,an Jindc, u K<.fu,.oo's Story. .' .". /'« Burning of Miramichi...... 79 The Lost Ono-a tale of theE'iVl v'^ \\'i ^^* Tii« Ar- • -Liariy bettJers Sonfi- of the Irish Moiirnor 07 AWinter'sEveningSkotch!!^;;;; ' ^^ Iho-School-niisf ress's Dream ^^^ Library in tlio Backwoods. . ..".'." ^^f; The Indian Summer .... 129 The Lost Childron-a ToVm ^^• Sloi-h Hiding '• 133 Aurora Borealis l-'O Getting into the Ice ....*.' 141, Conclusion • • t , ' • tat 142 ib. VAOF. 52 55 5JJ CI f>G 71 79 «1 > • • ■ • 85 97 99 101 .... 120 .. .. 129 • . . . ib. . . . . 133 .... l.<0 1.... 141 ... 142 ••t ib. SKETCHES, &o These sketches of the Backwoods of New Bruns- wick are intended to illustrate the individual and national characteristics of the settlers, as displayed in the living pictures and legendary tales of the country. They have been written during the short intervals allowed from domestic toils, and may, per- haps, have little claim to the attention of the public, save that of throwing a faint light upon the manners and customs of that little-known, though inter- esting, appendage of the British empire. A long 'lesidence in that colony havirig given me ample means of knowing and of studyijng them in all their varying hues of light and shade. There, in the free wide solitude of that fair land whose youthful face " seems wearing still the first fresh fragrance of the world," the fadeless traces of character, pe- culiar to the dwellers of the olden climes,.arebrought into close contrast with the more original feelings of the " sons of the soil," both white and red, and are there more fully displa3^ed than in the mass of larger communities. Of political, or depth of topographical information, the writer claims no share, and much of deep interest, or moving inci- dent, cannot now be expected in the life of a set- tler in the woods. The days when the war-whoop of the Indian was yelled above the burning ruins of the white man's dwellinir are V'°f" broad and more dignified appdlal^'^" T' ' ^""^ borne the Its borders was thW'ich°rT''-'''« '""^ o» Prjzed, formed by alWi.V '"^''^'''^'^° highly beheve two desc£ns fc"'-- '^''^■•^ «"■' ^^ covered with low TmaH if l^" '«'«'-»«&.-one »-« easily cleared- ie'o"ttr\kh' ''''''''''?' ^ otaer with a gigantic lie was iidtext, ^t [)ro- of the of the for he chance n you press- ngs of i^g no > there on his d and jaffing lory of ;o join mmu- inien ; speri- jrene- froni ed of |)ns — and )lace and the [ on :hjy ie,I one re, itic growth of the butternut, the oak, and the elm. Tliis where we lived was of the latter description. A few of the stately monarchs of the forest yet stood upon the emerald plains, spreading their magnifi- cent branches to the sunlight, and telling of the kindly soil that nourished them. Along the fences wild liops festooned themselves in graceful wreaths of wild luxuriance. A few clumps of cranberry bushes had also been permitted to re- main, notwithstanding the American's antipathy to trees or bushes is such, that his axe, which he hardly ever stirs without, is continually flying about him ; but this berry, one amongst the many indigenous to the country, is a useful addition to the winter store — they grow abundantly, and, after the first frost which ripens them they have a brilliant appearance, hanging like clustering ru- bies, reminding one of the gem-clad boughs of Aladdin. When gathered, they are hung up in bunches, when they become frozen, keeping good till the spring. They are used for tarts and jellies, the frost neither altering their colour nor flavour. Those places are overflown in the spring; the " freshets" caused by the melting of the snow raising the waters above their ordinary level. I have often sailed over them, and 'twas strange to see each familiar footpath and straw- berry bank far down beneath the shining waves. As the creek goes onward to the river the iVi- tervale disappears, and the banks become grey and steep, crowned v/ith the tall and slender stems of the spruce and cedar. New Brunswick is rich in minerals, and veins of coal and iron abound at this place ; but many years must elapse ere mines are worked to any extent, A few are in opera- hH ;h i -»^ 8 tion at present; but while the pine waves the wealth of her green plumai]fe to the lumber-man, or the new-cleared groiincl will yield its virgin crop to the farmer, the earth must keep her deeper treasures. In the spring, this creek presents a busy picture. The rivers of New Brunswick are to her what the railroads are now to other coun- tries : and richly is she blessed with sparkling waters from the diamond flashings of the mountain rill to the still calm beauty of the sheltered lake, die silvery streams, the sweeping river, and the unfrozen width of the winter harbour of her noble bay. True, much can be done on the icy ways of winter, but then the home work must be minded, and market attended. Fire-wood for the year must be hauled; the increasing clearings call for extended fences, and these also must be drawn from the woods on the snow, so that when the spring opens, the roots and other spare produce are quickly shipped off (boated would be a bet- ter expression) into large open boats, called mar- ket-boats. Another description, called wood- boats, arc used for carrying deals and cord-wood, so called from the stick forming the measure of a cord, which is the mode of selling it in the city for fuel. The deals are floated from the saw mills over the shallows, and piled into the boats. One could sometimes walk across the river on the quantities of wood floating about. The larger pieces of wood or timber are floated singly down the stream nearest to the place whence they are cut. This operation is called stream-driving, and commences as soon as the rapid melting of the snow and ice has so swollen the small streams as to give them power to force and carry the huge pieces of ■J.i:'j!iiii&.f. ives the er-man, 5 virgin ' deeper isents a -^ick are r coun- arkling ountain d lake, nd the r noble vays of linded, e year 7s call drawn ?n the oduce I bet- mar- ivood- ^'ood, of a city saw oats, the Irger {own are land low jive Is of 9 timber, until, at the confluence o\ the streams, the water becomes wide enough tocMiable them to form it into rafts, on which raft a hut is built and furnished with the necessaries for subsistence. The gang who have been employed in bringing it so far lay themselves upon it, and allow it to float down the stream, until the breeze wafts them to their destination. These are the scenes of the spring, when all life seems awakening. The tree-buds are bursting their cerements — the wa- ters are dancing in light and song — and the woods, before all still, now echo a few wild notes of melody. The blue wing of the haly- con goes dazzlingly past, and tells us his own bright days are come ; and the " whip-poor-wiW* brings his lay so close, that the ear is startled with the human sound on the soft damp air. The scene is changed when Sirius is triumphant, tell- ing us of the tropics, and that we live in rather an inexplicable climate. Beneath his burning in- fluence I have glided down this creek when no sound was heard on earth or air save the ripples of the paddle as it rose or fell at the will of the child-like form which guided the fragile bark. The dwellers on the margin of these fair waters are as much at home upon them as on land, and the children in particular are as amphibious as the musk rats which people its banks, and which scent the air somewhat heavily with what, in a fainter degree, would be thought perfume. One can hardly recall these dog-star days at that later season when the pearly moon and brilliant stars shine down from the deep blue sky on the crusted snows ; when fairy crystals are reflecting their cold bright beams on the glistening ice, while \\ 10 the sleigh flies merrily along, " witli bell and bridle ringing," on the same path we held in sum- mer with the light canoe ; when the breath con- geals in a sheet of ice around the face, and the clearness of the atmosphere makes respiration difficult. To tell us that we are in the same lati- tude with the sunny clime of Boulogne, in France, shows us that America cannot be measured by the European standard. A quarter of the globe lies between us ; they go to bed four hours before we do, and are fast asleep while we are wide awake. No one attempts to live in the country districts without a farm. As the place where we lived had but a house and one acre of land, none being vacant in that immediate neighbourhood, and finding firing and pasturage expensive, and furthermore wishing to raise our own potatoes, and, if we liked, live in peas, a lot of two hundred acres was purchased in the settlement, styled, <*joar excellence,** "the English," (from the first settlers being of that illustrious nation,) a distance of two miles from where we then lived. Our house was a good one. We did not like to leave it. Selling was out of the question : so we e'en resolved to take it with us, wishing, as the Highland robber did of the haystack, that it had legs to walk. A substitute for this was found in the universal resource of New Brunswickers for all their wants, from the cradle to the coffin, " the tree, the bonny greenwood tree," that gives the young life-blood of its sweet sap for sugar — and even when consumed by fire its white ashes yield them soap. I have even seen wooden fire- irons, although they do not go quite so far as their Yankee neighbours, who, letting alone 11 wooden clocks, deal besides in wooden hams, nut- megs, and cucumber seeds. Two stout trees were then felled (the meanest would have graced a lordly park), and hewed with the axe into a pair of gigantic sled runners. The house was raised from its foundation and placed on these. Many hands make light work ; but, had those hands been all hired labourers, the expense would have been more than the value of the house, but 'twas done by what is called a " frolic." When people have a particular kind of work requiring to be done quickly, and strength to accomplish it, they invite their neighbours to come, and, if ne- .cessary, bring with them their horses or oxen. Frolics are used for building log huts, chop- ping, piling ploughing, planting, and hoeing. The ladies also have their particular frolics, such as wool-picking, or cutting out and making the home'spun woollen clothes for winter. The entertainment given on such occasions is such as the house people can afford ; for the men, roast mutton, pot pie, pumpkin pie, and rum dough nuts ; for the ladies, tea, some scandal, and plenty of " sweet cahe^'' with stewed apple and custards. There are, at certain seasons, a great many of these frolics, and the people never grow tired of attending them, knowing that the logs on their own fallows will disappear all the quicker for it. The house being now on the runners, thirty yoke of oxen, four abreast, were fastened to an enormous tongue, or pole, made of an entire tree of ash. No one can form any idea, until they have heard it, of the noise made in driving oxen; and, in such an instance as this, of the skill and tact required in starting them, so f 1 ii 12 that they are all made to pull at once. I have olten seen the drivers, who are constantly shout- ing, completely hoarse ; and after a day's work so exhausted that they have been unable to raise the voice. Although the cattle are very docile, and understand well what is said to them, yet from the number of turnings and twistings they re- quire to be continually reminded of their duty. Amid, then, all the noise and bustle made by in- timating to such a number whether they were to "haw" or "gee," the shoutings of the younger parties assembled, the straining of chains and the creaking of boards, the ponderous pile was set in motion along the smooth white and marble-like snow road, whose breadth it entirely filled up. It was a sight one cannot well forget — to see it move slowly up the hill, as if unwilling to leave the spot it had been raised on, notwithstanding the merry shouts around, and the flag they had decked it with streaming so gaily through the green trees as they bent over it till it reached the site destined for it, where it looked as much at home as if it were too grave and steady a thing to take the step it had done. This was in March — we had been waiting some time for snow, as to move without it would have been a difficult task ; for, plentifully as New Brunswick is supplied with that commodity, at some seasons much delay and loss is experienced for want of it — the sleighing cannot be done, and wheel carriages cannot run, the roads are so rough and broken with the frost — the cold is then more intense, and the cellars, (the sole store-houses and receptacles of the chief comforts) without their deep covering of snow, become penetrated by the frost, and their con- -3»» 13 tents much injured, if not totally destroyed — this is a calamity that to be known must be experi- enced — the potatoes stored here are the chief produce of the farm, at least the part that is most available for selling, for hay should never go off the land, and grain is as yet so little raised that 'tis but the old farmers can do what is called " bread themselves :" thus the innovation of the cellars by the frost fiend is a sad and serious oc- currence — of course a deep bank of earth is thrown up round the house, beneath which, and generally its whole length and breadth, is the cel- lar; but the snow over this is an additional and even necessary defence, and its want is much felt in many other ways — in quantity, however, it generally makes up for its temporary absence by be'ng five and six feet deep in April. About this season the warm sun begins to beam out, and causes the sap to flow in the slumbering trees — this is the season for sugar-making, which, al- though an excellent thing if it can be managed, is not much attended to, especially in new settle- ments, and those are generally the best off for a " sitgar'hush ;** but it occurs at that season when the last of the winter work must be done — the snow begins to melt on the roads, and the " saw whet," a small bird of the owl species, makes it s appearance, and tells us, as the natives say, that " the heart of the winter is broken.'* All that can be done now must be done to lessen the toils of that season now approaching, from which the settler must not shrink if he hope to prosper* Sugar-making, then, unless the farmer is strong handed, is not profitable. A visit to a sugar- camp is an interesting sight to a stranger — it may^ >-{ ! u perhaps, be two or three miles through the woods to where a sufficient number of maple trees may be found close enough together to render it eligi- ble for sugar-making. All the different kinds of maple yield a sweet sap, but the ** rock maple" is the species particularly used for sugar, and per- haps a thousand of these trees near together con- stitute what is called a sugar-bush. Here, then, a rude hut, but withal picturesque in its appearance, is erected — it is formed of logs, and covered with broad sheets of birch bark. For the universal use of this bark I think the Indians must have given the example. Many beautiful arti- cles are made by them of it, and to the back settlers it is invaluable. As an inside roofing, it effectually resists the rain — baskets forgathering the innumer- able tribe of summer berries, and boxes for pack- ing butter are made of it — calabashes for drink- ing are formed of it in an instant by the bright forest stream. Many a New Brunswick belle has worn it for a head-dress as the dames of more polished lands do frames of French wil- low ; and it is said the title deeds of many a broad acre in America have been written on no other parchment than its smooth and vellum-like folds. The sugar-maker's bark -covered hut contains his bedding and provisions, consisting of little save the huge round loaf of bread, known as the *« shanty loaf" — his beverage, or substitute for tea, is made of the leaves of the winter green, or the hemlock boughs which grow beside him, and his sweetening being handy bye, he wants nothing more. A notch is cut in the tree, from which the sap flows, and beneath it a piece of shingle is inserted for a spout to conduct it into 15 troughs, or bark dishes, placed at the foot of the tree. The cold frosty nights, followed by warm sunny days, making it run freely, clear as water, and slightly sweet — from these troughs, or bark dishes, it is collected in pails, by walking upon the now soft snow, by the aid of snow shoes, and poured into barrels which stand near the boilers, ready to supply them as the syrup boils down. When it reaches the consistence required for sugar, it is poured into moulds of different forms. Visits to these sugar camps are a great amuse- ment of the young people of the neighbourhood in which they are, who make parties for that pur- pose — the great treat is the candy, made by dash- ing the boiling syrup on the snow, where it in- stantly congeals, transparent and crisp, into sheets. At first the blazing fire and boiling cauldron look strange, amid the solemn loneliness of the forest, along whose stately aisles of cathedral-like grandeur the eye may gaze for days, and see no living thing — the ear hear no sound, save it may be the tapping of the woodpecker, or the whis- pering of the wind as it sighs through the boughs, seeming to mourn with them for the time when the white man knew them not. But these thoughts pass away when the proprietor, with his pale intelligent face, shaded by a flapping sun hat from the glaring snow, presses us hospitably to " take along a junk of candy, a lump of sugar," or a cup of the syrup. He sees nothing pic- turesque or romantic in the whole affair, and only calculates if it will pay for the time it occupies ; at the same time, with the produce of his labours he is extremely " clever" this being the term for generous or hospitable, and one is sometimes c2 I it , 1 1' 1 T'fl ; li II 10 startled at its appiicaiion, especially to wotnen $ the persons in England, to whom it is applied, are so unlike the clever women of New Brunswick, those dear old creatures, who know not the differ- ence between Milton and Dii worth, and whose very woollen gowns are redolent of all-spice and apples. Towards the latter part of March and April the breaking up of the ice goes on gradually — some seasons, however, a sudden storm causes the ice and snow to disappear rapidly, but generally a succession of soft warm winds, and days partly sunshine and rain, does it more effectually, and prevents the heavy freshets in the rivers, which are often destructive, overflowing the low banks and carrying away with resistless force whatever buildings may be on them. After the disappear- ance of the snow, some time must elapse ere the land be in a fit state for sowing, consequently fencing, and such like, is now the farmer's employ- ment, either around the new clearings, or in re- pairing those which have fallen or been removed during the winter. This, with attending to the stock, which at this season require particular care, gives them sufficient occupation — the sheep, which have long since been wearied of the '* durance vile" which bound them to the hay-rick, may now be seen in groups on the little isles of emerald green which appear in the white fields ; and the cattle, that for six long weary months have been ruminating in their stalls, or <' chewing the cud of sweet and bitter fancy'* in the barn yards, now begin to extend their perigrinations towards the woods, browsing with delight on the sweet young buds of the birch tree. At this season it is, for i I '! ranee now lerald and been ;udof now the i if obvious reasons, (lesirabln that the " milky mo- thers" should not stray far I'roni home -many "a staid brovv'd matron" has disappeared iiUlie spring, and, after lier summer rambles in the woods, re- turned in the " fall" with her full-grown calf by her side, but many a good cow has gone and been seen no more, but as a white skeleton gleaming among the green leaves. To prevent these mis- chances, a bell is fastened on the leader of the herd, the intention of which is to guide where they may be found. This bell is worn all sum- mer, as their pasture is the rich herbage of the forest. It is taken off* during the winter, and its first sounds now tell us, although the days are cold, and the snow not yet gone, that brighter timer> aro coming. .The clear concerts of the frogs ring loudly out from marsh and lake, and at this season alone is heard the lay of the wood- robin, and the blackbird. Ihe green glossy leaves ' of the winter green, whose bright scarlet berries look like clu^^ters of coral on the snow, now seem even brighter than they were--the blue violet rises among the sheltered moss by the old tree roots, and the broad-leaved adder tongue gives out its orange and purple blossoms to gladden the brown earth, while the trees are yet all black and barren, save the various species of pine and spruce, which now wear a fringe of softer green. The May flowers of New Brunswick seldom blossom till June, which is rather an Irish thing of them to do, and although the weather has been fine, and recalls to the memory the balmy breath of May, yet I have often seen a pearly wreath of new fallen snow, deck the threshhold on that * merrie morn.* After the evaporation of the c3 18 I > 1 steaming vapour of Rprln/r has gone forwnrtl, and llie larinor has opeiatct! in tlie way o>f plough- ing and sowing, on whatever ready-prcpwired land he may have for the purpose, the first dry '• speil" is looked forward to most anxiously to burn off' the land which has been chopped during the win- ter — it is bad policy, however, to depend for the whole crop on this ** spring hum,** as a long con- tinuance of wet weather may prevent it. The new settler, on his first season, has nothing else to depend upon ; but the older ones chop the land at intervals during the summer, and clear it off in the autumn, and thus have it ready for the en- suing spring. Burning a chopping, ox fallow, as it is called, of twelve or fourteen acres in extent, is a grand and even awful sight : rushing in tor- rents of flame, it rolls with the wind, crackling and roaring through the brushwood, and often extending beyond the limits assigned it, catching the dry stems of ancient trees, the growth of the earlier ages of this continent, which lie in gigan- tic ruins, half buried in the rising soil, and which will be themes of speculation to the geologists of other days — it rushes madly among the standing trees of the woods, wreathing them to their sum- mits in its wild embrace — they stand at night like lofty torches, or a park decked out with festal lamps for some grand gala. After this first burn, Vi fallow presents a blackened scene of desola- tion and confusion, and requires, indeed, a strong arm and a stout heart to undertake its clearance ; the small branches and brush-wood alone have been burnt, but the large logs or trunks lie all blackened but unconsumed. These must all be placed in regular piles or heaps, which are again 19 fired, and burn steadily for a few liours, after which all traces of the noble forest arc gone, save the bhickencd stumps and a few white ashes ; it is then ready for planting or sowing, with the as- sistance of tlie hoe or harrow. And now, kind reader, if you have accompani- ed me thus far, will you have the kindness to sup- pose us fixed at last in our habitation — white- washing, painting, and scrubbing done, and all the fuss of moving over — our fallow fenced and filled — the dark green stems of the wheat and oats standing thick and tall — the buck-wheat spreading its broad leaves, and the vines of the pumpkins and cucumbers running along the rich soil, where grows in luxuriance the potatoe, that root, valuable to New Brunswick " As the brea(I>fruU tree To the sunny isles of Owhyhee." Suppose it, then, a bright and balmy day in the sun- ny ides of June — the earth is now in all the luxuri- ant pride of her summer beauty ; for although the summer is long coming, yet, when it does be- gin, vegetation is so rapid that a few short days call it forth in all its loveliness ; nay, the transi- tion is so quick, that I have observed its workings in an hour's space. In the red sunlight of the morn I have seen the trees with their wintry sprays and brown leaf-buds all closed— when there fell a soft and refreshing shower — again the sunbeams lit the sky, and oh I the glorious change — the maple laughed out with her crimson blos- soms and fair g.een leaves — the beech-tree un- folded her emerald plumes— the fairy stems of tiie aspen and birch were dancing ia light, and the mmmm \\' 20 1 1 stately ash was enwrcathed with her garland ot verdant green — the spirit of spring seemed to have waved o'er them the wand of enchantment. On this bright day, of which I now speak, all this mighty change had been accomphshed, and earth and air seemed all so delightful, one could hardly imagine that it could be improved by aught added to or taken from it. I am now just going to walk along the settle- ment to visit a friend, and if you will accompany me, I shall most willingly be your Asmodeus. A straight and well-worked road runs through the settlement, which is about nine miles in length. This part of the country is particularly hilly, and from where we now stand we have a view of its whole extent. Twenty years ago a blazed track was the only path through the dense forest to where, at its furthest extremity, one adventurous settler had dared to raise his log hut. The older inhabitants, who lived only on the margin of the rivers, laughed at the idea of clearing those high " back lands'* where there was neither in- tervale or rivers, but he heeded them not, and his lonely hut became the nucleus of one of the most flourishing settlements in New Brunswick. The woods have now retreated far back from the road, and at this season the grass and grain are so high that the stumps are all concealed. The scene is very different to the country landscapes of England. There there are square smooth fields enclosed with stone walls, neat white pal- ings, or the hawthorn hedge, scenting the breezes with its balmy ** honeysuckle," or sweet wild rose — song-birds filling the air with melody, and state- ly castles, towering o'er the peasant's lowly home} SI land of mecl to ptment. , all this id earth I hardly It added J settle- lompany leus, A uffh the \ length, illy, and iw of its ed track orest to jnturous The margin ng those her in- iot, and of the nswick. rom the •ain are The dscapes smooth lite pal- breezes ild rose id state- y homC} while far as the eye can reach 'twill rest but on some fair village dome or farm. Here the worm or zigzag fence runs round the irregularly-shaped clearings, in the same rustic garb it wore when a denizen of the forest. The wild flowers here have no perfume, but the raspberries, which grow lux- uriantly in the spaces made by the turnings of the fences, have a sweet smell, and there is a breath which tells of the rich strawberry far down among the shadowy grass. The birds during the hot months of summer have no song, but there are numbers of them, and of the brightest plumage. The fairy humming-bird, often in size no larger than a bee, gleams through the air like a flower with wings, and the bald eagle sits majes- tically on the old grey pines, which stand like lone monuments of the past, the storms and the light- nings having ages ago wreaked their worst upon them, and bereft them of life and limb, yet still they stand, all lofty and unscathed by the axe or the fire which has laid the younger forest low. The dwellings, either the primitive log-hut, the first home of the settler, or the more stately frame- buildings, stand each near the road, on the verge of its own clearing, which reaches back to where the dark woods form a back-ground to the scene. These stretch far and wide over the land, save where appears, amid their density, some lonely settlement or improvement of adventurous emi- grant. Those little spots, of how much import- ance to their owners, yet seem as nothing amid the vast forest. Each dwelling in this country is in itself a theme for study and interest. Here, on one side, is the home of an English settler — amid all the bustle and chopping and burning of t t f > i 1 I- 22 a new farm, he has found time to plant a few fruit trees, and has now a flourishing young orchard, and a garden wherein are herbs of " fragrant smell and snicy taste," to give a warm relish to the night's repast. Foi tne cultivation of a gar- den the natives, unless the more opulent of them, seem to ca-e little ; and outside the dwelling of a blue nose there is little to be seen, unless it be a cucumber bed among the chips, or a patch of Indian corn. Again, the Scotch settlers may be known by the taste shown in selecting a garden spot — a gentle declivity, sloping to a silvery stream, by which stand a few household trees that he has permitted to remain — beneath them a seat is placed, and in some cherished spot, watched over with the tenderest care, is an exotic sprig of heath or broom. About the Hibernian's dwell- ing may be a mixture of all these differing tastes, while perhaps a little of the national ingenuity may be displayed in a broken window, repaired with an old hat, or an approximation towards friendliness between the domestic animals and the inmates. With the interior of these dwellings one is agreeably surprised, they (that is, generally speaking) appear so clean and comfortable. Out- side the logs are merely hewed flat, and the in- terstices filled up with moss and clay, the roof and ends being patched up with boards and bark, or anything to keep out the cold. They certainly look rough enough, but within they are ceiled above and around with smooth shining boards ; there are no walls daubed with white-wash, nor floors strewn with vile gritty sand, which last cer- tainly requires all the sanctity of custom to ren- der it endurable, but the walls and floors are as 23 M\ rk, or tainly veiled lards ; I, nor \t cer- ren- Lre as brignt and clean as the scrubbing-brush and plenty of soap can make them. This great ac- cessary to cleanliness, soap, is made at home in large quantities, the ashes of the wood burnt in the fire-place making the "ley," to which is added the coarser fat and grease of the animals used for home consumption. It costs nothing but the trouble of making, and the art is little. As regards cleanliness, the natives have something al- most Jewish in their personal observances of it as well as of their food. The blood of no animal is ever used, but flows to the earth from whence it sprung, and the poorest of them perform their ablutions before eating with oriental exactness ; these habits are soon imparted to the emigrants, many of whom, when they first come out, all softly be it said, are by no means so nice. The large bright fires of the log house prevent all possible ideas of damp i they certainly are most delightful — those magniticent winter fires of New Brunswick — so brilliant, so cheerful, and so warm — the charred coals, like a wlss of burning rubies, giving out their heat beneath, while be- tween the huge " back-log" and ^^ fore-stick,^' the bright flames dance merrily up the wide chimney. I have often heard people fancy a wood fire as al- ways snapping and sparkling in your face, or green and smoky, chilling you with its very appearance, but those would soon change their opinion if they saw a pile of yellow birch and rock maple laid right "fore and aft" across the bright fire-dogs, the hearth swept up, and the chips beneath fanned with the broom, they would then see the union of light and heat in perfection. In one way it is pre- ferable to coals, that is, while making on the fire i\ i i I t : ' 1 1! Hi I- 24 you might if you chose wear white kid gloves with- out danger of soiling them. Another comfort to the settler in the back woods is, that every stick you burn makes one less on the land. Stoves, both for cooking and warming the houses, have long been used in the United States, and are gradually coming into common use in New Brunswick. In the cities they are generally used, where fuel is expensive, as they require less fuel, and give more heat than open "fire-places ;" but the old^r inhabitants can hardly be reconciled to them; they prefer the rude old hearth stone, with its bright light, to the dark stove. I remem- ber once spending the evening at a house where the younger part of the family, to be fashionable, had got a new stove placed in the fire-place of *' Hother roonii* which means, what in Scotland is termed *^ben** the house, and in England ** the parlour,** This was the first evening of its being put in operation. I observed the old gentleman (a first-rate specimen of a blue nose) looked very uncomfortable and fidgetty. For a time he sat twirling his thumbs in silence, when suddenly a thought seemed to strike him : he left the room, and shortly after the draught-hole of the stove grew dark, and a cloud of smoke burst forth from it. The old gentleman came in, declaring he was almost sufibcated, and that it was " all owing to that nasty ugly Yankee critter,** the stove. He instantly had it taken down, and was soon gazing most comfortably on a glorious pile of burning "wood, laid on by himself, with the most scientific regard to the laws of levity, concavity, and conti^ ffuity requisite in fire-making ; and by the twinkle of his eye I knew that he was enjoying the ruse He kle use 2ry he had employed to get rid of the stove, for he had quietly stopped the flue. For the mere con- venience of the thing, 1 think a stove is decidedly preferable. In this country, where people are ge- nerally their own cooks as well as everything else, they learn to know how the most and the best work can be done with the least time and trouble. With the stove there is not that roasting of the face and hands, nor confused jumble of pots and pans, inseparable from a kitchen lire ; but upon the neat little polished thing, upon which there is nothing to be seen but a few bright covers, you can have the constituents of a New Brunswick breakfast, ^^ cod-fish and taters,*^ for twice laid, fried ham, hot rolls, and pancakes, all prepared while the teakettle is boiling, and experience whilst arranging them no more heat than on a winter morning, is quite agreeable. In the furniture of these back-wood dwellin^js there is nothing rich or costly, yet there is such an air of neatness dif- fused over it, and effect brought out, that they al- ways recalled to me the painted cottage scenes of a theatre. But here is a house at which I have a call to make, and which will illustrate the "we- nage'^ of a New Brunswicker. Remember, this is not one of the old settlers, who have overcome all the toil and inconvenience of clearing and building, and are now enjoying the comforts they have earned, but it is the log-house of a new farm, around which the stumps yet stand thick and strong, and where the ringing of the axe is yet heard incessantly. In this working country people are, in general, like the famous Mrs. Gilpin, who, though on pleasure bent, had yet a frugal mind^ and contrive to make business and amuse- D 11! iii '1 I I. iHi: lliM r^.\ i! H r. 9^m lip 26 ment go together ; and although I had left home ivith the intention of paying a visit, a little busi- ness induces me to pause here, ere I proceed to where I intended; and even here, while arranging this, I shall enjoy myself as much as though I were sackless of thought or interest in anything save amusement. The manufacture of the wool raised on the farm is the most important part of the women's work, and in this the natives particu- larly excel. As yet I knew not the mysteries of colouring brown with butternut bark, nor the propei proportion of sweet fern and indigo to produce green, so that our wool, on its return from the carding mill, had been left with this person — lady, " par courtesie,*' — who was a perfect adept in the art, to be spun and wove : and the business on which I now call is to arrange with her as to its different proportions and purposes. What for blankets, for clothiufr, or for socks and mittens, which all require a different style of manufacture, and are all items of such importance during the winter snows. Melancthon Grey, whose most christian and piotestant appellation was abbrevi- ated into *' Lank," was a true-blooded blue nose. His father had a noble farm of rich in- tervale on the banks of the river Saint John, and was well to do in the world. Lank was his eldest son, yet no heritage was his, save his axe and the arm which swung it. The law of primogeniture exists not in this country, and the youngest son is frequently heir to that land on which the older ones have borne the " heat and burthen of the day," and rendered valuable by their toil, until each chooses his own portion in the world, by taking unto himself a wife and a lot of forest 27 land, and thus another hard-won homestead is raised, and sons enough to choose among for heirs. Melancthon Grey had wedded his cousin, a c;^stom common among the " blue noses," and whici most Hkely had its origin in the patriarchal days of the earlier settlers, when the inhabitants were few. Sybel was a sweet pretty girl, deficient, as the Americans all are, in those high-toned feel- ings which characterise the depth of woman's love in the countries of Europe, yet made, as they ge- nerally do, an affectionate wife, and a fond and doating mother. Those two names, Sybel and Melancthon, had a strange sound in the same household, awaking, as they always did in my dreamy fancy, a train of such differing memories. Sybel recalling the days of early Rome, the haughty Tarquin and his mysterious prophetess, while Melancthon brought back the " Reforma- tion," and the best and most pious of its fathers. In the particular of names, the Americans have a decided *' penchant" for those of euphonious and peculiar sound — they are selected from sacred and profane history, ancient and modern. To them, however, there is little of meaning attached by those who give them save the sound. I have known one family reckon among its members a Solon and Solomon, a Hector and Wellington, a Bathsheba and Lucretia ; and the two famous Johns, Bunyan and Wesley, have many a name- sake. These, in their full length, are generally saved for holiday terms, and abbreviations are made for every-day use. In these they are inge- nious in finding the shortest, and Theodore, that sweetest of all names, I have heard curtailed to " Oflf," which seems certainly an odd enough D 2 W ' I - ■ ! !!! m U 23 cognomen. SybeFs bridal portion consisted of a cow and some sheep — her father's waggon wliich brought her home contained some house- hold articles her mother's care had afforded — Melanctijon had provided a barrel of pork and one of flour, some tea and molasses, that staple commodity in transatlantic housekeeping. Amongst Sybel's chattels were a bake-pan and tea-kettle,> and thus they commenced the world. Melancthon has not yet had time to nicikc a gate at his dwelling, and our only mode of en- trance must be either by climbing the" fenv':e" or unshipping the " barSy'* which form one panneJ, and wliich are placed so as to be readily removed for the passage of a carriage, but from us this will require both time and strength, so at the risk of tearing our dress we will e'en take the fence. This is a feat which a novice does most clumsily, but which those who are accustomed to it do most gracefully. As we approach the dwelling, the housewife's handy-work is displayed in a pole hung with many a skein of snow white yarn, glistening in the sunlight. Four years have passed since Sy- bel was a bride — her cheek has lost the bloom of girlhood, and has already assumed the hollow form of New Brunswick matrons; her dress is home-spun, of her own manufacture, carded and spun by her own hands, coloured with dye stuffs gathered in the woods, woven in a pretty plaid, and neatly made by herself. This is also the clothing of her husband and children ; a bright gingham handkerchief is folded inside her dress, and her rich dark hair is smoothly braided. In this particular the natives display a good taste — > m I 29 ••rf young women do not enshroud themselves in a cap ihe day alter their marriage, as if glad to bo done with the trouble of dressing their hair; and unless from sickness a cap is never worn by any one the least youthful. The custom commences with the children, for infants never have their heads covered during the day. At first the little bald heads seem unsightly to a stranger, but when the eye gets accustomed, they look much better in their own natural beauty then when decked out in lace and muslin. The plan of keeping the head coal seems to answer well, for New Bruns- wick may rival any country in the world for a display of lovely infants. Sybel has the delicacy of appearance which the constant in-door occu- pation of the women gives them, differing much from the coarse, but healthier look of those coun- tries where the females assist in field labours. The " blue nose" considers it " agin all nature* for women to work out, and none are ever seen so employed, unless it be the families of emi- grants before they are naturalised. A flush of delight crimsons SybeFs pale face as she wel- comes me in, for simple and retired as her life is, she yet cherishes in her heart all the fondness for companj' and visiting inherent to her sex, and loves to enjoy them whenever opportunity per- mits. No excuse would be listened to, — I must stay dinner — my bonnet is untied, and placed up- on the bed — Sybel has churned in the early cool of the morning, and she has now been working over the golden produce of her labours with a wooden ladle in a tray. With this ladle the but- ter is taken from the churn ; the milk beaten out, and formed by it into rolls — nothing else is em- d3 n 1 1 1 It ii, M! so employed, for moulds or prints nre not used as iu Enp^land. She 1ms just finished, and placed it in her dairy, a little bark-lined recess adjoining the house — and now, on hospitable thoughts intent, she has caught up her pail and is gone for water — in this we are most luxurious in New Brunswick, never keeping any quantity in the house, but using it bright and sparkling as it gushes from the spring. While she is gone, we will take a pen- cilling of her dwelling. A beautiful specimen of still-life, in the shape of a baby six months old, reposes in its cradle — its eye-lids' long and silky fringes are lightly folded in sleep on its smooth round cheek. Another older one is swinging in the rocking chair, playing with some chips and bark, the only toys of the log house — this single apartment serves the family for parlour, for kit- chen, and hall — the chamber above being merely used as a store room, or receptacle for lumber— 'tis the state bed-room as well, and on the large airy-looking couch is displayed a splendid cover- let of home-spun wool, manufactured in a peculiar style, the possessing of which is the first ambition ot a back-wood matron, and for which she will manoeuvre as much as a city lady would for some bijou of a chiffionier, or centre table — Sybel has gained her*s by saving each year a portion of the wool, until she had enough to accomplish this sure .. mark of industry, and of getting along in the world ; for if they are not getting along or im- proving in circumstances their farms will not raise sheep enough to yield the wool, and if they are not industrious the yarn will not be spun for this much-prized coverlet, which, despite the local importance attached to it, is a useful, handsome \ 31 hnd valuuble article in itself. On a large chest beside the bed are laid piles of snow white blan- kets, and around the walls are hung the various woollen garments which form the wardrobe of the family. Bright-hued Indian baskets stand on top of each other — a pair of beaded moccasins and a reticule of porcupine quills are hung up for ornament. The pine table and willow-seated chairs are all made in the *< bush,'* and even into this far back settlement has penetrated the prow ess of the renowned "Sam Slick, of Slick ville." One of his wooden-made yankee clocks is liere — its case displaying " a most elegant picture" of Cupid, in frilled trowsers and morocco boots, the American prototype of the little god not being allowed to appear so scantily clad as he is ge« nerally represented. A long rifle is hung over the mantle-piece, and from the beams are sus- pended heads of Indian corn for seed; by them, tied in bunches, or in paper bags, is a complete " hortus siccus" of herbs and roots for medicinal as well as culinary purposes. Bone set and lo- belia, sage and savory, sarsaparilla, and that mys- terous bark which the natives say acts with a dif- ferent effect, according as it is peeled up or down the tree — cat-nip and calamus root for the baby, with dried marigold leaves, balm of gilead buds, and a hundred others, for compounding the vari- ous receipts they possess, as remedies for every complaint in the world. Many of these they have learnt from the Indians, whose " ancient medicine men" are well versed in the healing powers with which the herbs of the forest and the field are gifted. On a small shelf is laid the library, which consists but of the bible, cv new almanac, and ij-^ ! . if! ;.-. i:|^ ill i!, •I I 32 !' > i' Humbert's Union Ilnnnony, the province imniial ■of sacred music, of which they arc most particu- larly fond ; but the air of the coimtry is not fa- vourable to song, and their melody always seemed to me "harmony not understood/* Meanwhile, for the last half-hour, Sybel has been busily en- gaged in cooking, at which the natives are most expeditious and expert. I know not how they would be in other countries, but I know that at home they are first-rate— no other can come up to them in using the materials and imple- ments they are possessed of. By the accustomed sun-mark on the floor, which Sybel prefers to the clock, she sees 'tis now the hungry hour of noon, and blows the horn for Lank to come to dinner. This horn is a conk shell, bored at one end, and its sound is heard at a great distance. At the hours of meal-time it may be heard from house to house, and, ringing through the echoing woods from distant settlements, tell- ing us, amid their loneliness, of happy meetings at the household board; but it comes, too, at times, when its sounds are heralds of trouble and dismay. I have heard it burst upon the ear at the silent hour of midnight, and, starting from sleep, seen the sky all crimsoned with the flames of some far off dwelling, whose inmates thus called for assist- ance ; but long ere that assistance could be given, the fire would have done its worst of destruction, perhaps of death. I have also heard it, when twilight gathered darkly o'er the earth, floating sad and mournfully since sun-set, from some dwelling in the forest's depths, whose locality, but for the sounds, would not be known. Some member of the family has been lost in the woods. S3 nncl the liorii is blown to guide him homewards through the trackless wiUicrncss. How sweet must those sounds be to the benighted wanderer, bearing, as they do, the voice of the heart, and telling of love and affectionate solicitude I But Mehuicthon has driven liis ox-team to the barn, and now, with the baby on his lap, which, like all the blue-noses, he loves to nurse, sits down to table, where we join him. The dinner, as is of- ten the case in the backwoods in summer, is " a regular pick-up one," that is, composed of any thing and every thing. Poople care little for meat in the hot weather ; and, ii. fact, a new settler generally uses his allowance of beef and pork during the long winter, so that the provision for summer depends principally on fish, with which the country is amply supplied, and the produce of the dairy. The present meal consists of fine trout from the adjoining stream, potatoes white as snow-balls, and, pulverising on the dish, some fried ham, and young French beans, which grow there in the greatest luxuriance, climbing to the top of their lofty poles till they can grow no higher. I have often thought them scions of that illustrious bean-stalk owned by Jack in the fairy tale. We have also a bowl of salad, and home-made vinegar prepar- ed from maple sap, a large hot cake, made with In- dian meal, and milk and dried blue-berries, an excellent subuitute for currants. Buscuits, of snow white Tenessee flour, raised with cream and sal-a-ratus. This last article, which is used in place of yeast, or eggs, in compounding light cakes, can also be made at home from ley of the wood ashes, but it is mostly bought in town. The quantity of this used is surprising, country I ( !• i ■ i / 34 "store-keepers" purcliasinpr barrels (o supply their ciistom<^rs. A raspberry pie, and a splen- did dish of strawberries and cream, with tea (the inseparable beverage of cxery meal in New Brunswick), forms our repast ; and such would it be in ninety-nine liouses out of a hundred of the class I am describing. Many of the luxuries, and all the necessaries of lil'e, can be raised at home, by those who are industrious and spirited enough to take advantage of their resources. Melanc- thon this year oxpects to bread himself, as well as grow enough of hay to winter his stock. Since lie commenced farming he purchased what was not raised on t!)e lanti by the sale of what was cut off' it — that is, by selling ash timber and cord- wood he procured what lie required. This, however, can only be done where there is wa- ter conveyance to market. The indefatigable Melancthon had four miles to *' haul" his market- able wood ; but, when the roads were badj he was chopping and clearing at the same time, and whea the snow was well beaten down, with his little French horse and light sled he soon drew it to the place from whence the boats are loaded in the spring. Dinner being now finished, and after some conversation, which must of course be of a very local description, although it iy brightened with many a quiet touch of wit, of which the natives possess a great original fund, and Melancthon, having finished in the forenoon harrowing in his buck-wheat, has now gone with his axe to hew at a house-frame which he has in preparation, and Sybel and I having settled our affiiir of warp and woof, it is now time for me to proceed. She with hei* 35 large Swiss-looking sun-hat, placed lightly on her brow, accompanies me to the **bars," and there, having parted with her, we will now resume our walk. The next lot presents one of those scenes of desolation and decay which will sometimes ap- pear even in this land of improvement. What had once been a large cleariiig is now grown wild with bushes, the stumps have all sprouted afresh, and the fences fallen to the ground. The house presents that least-respectable of all ruins, a de- serted log -building. There is no solidity of ma- terial nor remains of architectural beauty to make us respe^^ its fate. 'Tis decay in its plain- est and most uninteresting aspect. A ^evf flowers have been planted near the house, and even now, where the weeds grow dark and rank, a fair young rose is waving her lovely head. The per- son who had gone thus far on in the toils of set- thng was from England, but the love of his native iind burned all too bright within his heart. In vain he toiled on those rude fields, and though his own, they seemed not his home. The spirit voices of tliC land of his childhood called him back — he obeyed their spell, and just at the time his labours would have been repaid, he left, and, with all the money he could procure, paid his passage to England, where he soon after died in the workhouse of his parish. Yet even there the thought, perhaps, might soothe him, that though he filled a pauper's grave., it was in the soil where his fathers slept. The forsaken lot is still unclaimed, for people prefer the wood- lands to those neglected clearings, from which to procure a crop infinitely more trouble and expense would be required than in taking it at once from I I ■1' ill; H- M f.|i Hi ■ 'S i (; f! i ■■■\ I msmsmm M '^ !E i ( I: the forest. Our way is not now so lonely as it was in the mornin£r. Parties of the male [)opii- lation are frequently passing. One of the settlers has to-day a "barn-raising frolic," and thither they are bound. They present a fair specimen of their class in the forest settlements. The bush- whacker has nothing of the " bog-trotter" in his appearance, and his step is firm and free, as though he trod on marble floor. The attire of the younger parties which, although coarse, is perfectly clean and whole, has nothing rustic in its arrangement. His kersey trowsers are tightly strapped, and the little low-crowned hat, with a streaming ribbon, is placed most jauntily on his head. His axe is carried over one shoulder and his jacket over the other, which in summer is the common mode of carrying thi? part of the apparel. Those wiio Lave been lumbering may easily be known among the others, by sporting a flashy stock or waistcoat, and by being arrayed in " houghteri^ clothes, procured in town at a most expensive rate in lieu of their lumher. Little respect is, however, paid here to the cloth, (that is, broad- cloth), for it is a sure sign of bad management, and most likely of debt, for the back settlers to be arrayed in any thing but their own home -made clothing. The grave and serious demeanour of these people is a^ rdilFerent from the savage scowl of the disco!*5jei.ited peasant, murmuring beneath the burthei, -f taxation and ill-remune- rated toil, as from the tree, light-hearted, and care- less laughter, both of which characterise the rural groups in the fertile fields of England. New Brunswick is the land of strangers ; even the first settlers, th^ *' sons of the soil,'* as they claim tq 87 bo, have hardly yet forgot their exile, a trace of which character, be he prosperous as lie may, still hovers over the emigrant. Their early home, with its thousand ties of love, cannot be all for- gotten. This feeling descends to their children, losing its tone of sadness, but throwing a seri- ous shade over the national character, which otherwise has nothing gloomy or melancholy in its composition. There is also a kind of " looking a-liead* expression of countenance natural to the country, which is observed even in the children, who are not the careless frolicsome beings they are in other countries, but are here more truly miniature men and women, looking, as the Yankees express it, as if they had ail cut their " eye-teeth^ But here we are, for the present, arrived at the bourne of our journey. High on a lofty hill be- fore us stands a large frame-building, the place of worship as well as the principal school-house of the settlement. This double purpose it is not, however, destined long to be devoted to, for the building of a church is already in contemplation, and will, no doubt, soon be proceeded with. The beaming sun is shining with dazzling radiance on its white walls, telling, in fervent whispers, that a shelter from the heat will be desirable; so here we will enter, where the shadowy trees, and bright stream glancing through the garden flowers, speak of inhabitants from the olden world. A frame building has been joined to the original log-house, and the dwelling thus made large enough to ac- commodate the household. Mrs. Gordon, the lady of the mansion, and the friend 1 have come thus far to see, is one of those persons the biilliance of whose gem-like character has been increased III i ) I ■ ! ■ i t ! i . h ; * . I 'f ! ;<) M 1 88 by the hard rubs of the world. She has experi- enced much of Time's chance and change — expe- riences and trials which deserve relating at large, and which I shall hereafter give, as they were told me by herself. Traces of the beauty she once possessed are yet pourtrayed on her faded but placid broWj ??iH appear in brighter lines on the fair faces of her daughters. Her husband is from home, and the boys are gone to the frolic, so we will have a quiet evening to ourselves. The arrangement of this dwelling, although similar in feature to Sybel Gray's, is yet, as it were, different in expression ; for instance, there is not such a display made of the home-manufactured garments, which it is the pride of her heart to look upon. These, of course, are here in existence, but are plfced in another receptacle; and the place they hold along the walls of Sybcl's dweUing is here occupied by a book-case, in which rests a store of treasured volumes ; our conversation, too, is of a different cast from the original, yet often common- place, remarks of Melancthon. 'Tis most likely a discussion of the speculative fancies contained in those sweet brighteners of our solitude, the books; or in tracing the same lights and shadows of character described in them, as were occurring in the passages of life around us; or, perliaps, some- thing leads us to talk of him whose portrait hangs on the wall, the peasant bard of Scotland, whose heart-strung harp awakens an answering chord in every breast. The girls — who although born in this country and now busied in its occupations, one in guiding the revolving wheel, and the other in braiding a hat of poplar splints — join us in a man- ner which tells how well they have been nurtured 39 in the lore of the " mountain heathery land," the birth-place of their parents ; and the youngers is- ter Helen's silvery voice breathes a soft strain of Scottish melody. Meanwhile a pleasant interruption occurs in the post-horn winding loud and clear along the settlement. This is an event of rare oc- currence in the back woods, where the want of a regular post communication is much felt, not so much in matters of worldly importance in business — these being generally transacted with- out the medium of letters — as by those who have loved ones in other lands. Alas ! how often has the heart pined with the sickness of hope deferred, in waiting in vain for those long-expected lines, from the distant and the dear, which had been duly sent in all the spirit of afFeciion, but which had been mislaid in their wanderings by land or sea; or the post-masters not being particularly anxious to know where the land of Goshen, the Pembroke, or the Canaan settlements were situ- ated, had returned them to the dead letter office, and thus they never reached the persons for whom they were intended, and who lived on upbraid- ing those who, believing them to be no longer dwellers of the earth, cherished their memory with fondest love. Taking all these things into con- sideration, a meeting had been called in our set- tlement to ascertain if by subscription a sufficient sum could be raised to pay a weekly courier to assert our rights at the nearest post-office. This was entered into with spirit, all feeling sensible of the benefits which it would bring ; they who could afford it giving freely of their abundance, and those who could not pay their subscription all in E 2 m 1l ^'N; M M •1! ni , l-ti II: ii ! ' I : ■( a ^BW •!: 40 money, giving half a dollar cash, and a bushel oi* half a bushel of buck wheat or potatoes to the cause; and thus the sum necessary was soon raised — the courier himself subscribing a dolhir towards his own salary. The thing had gone on very well — communication with the world seemed to have commenced all at once. Nearly every family took a different newspaper, and these being exchanged with each other, afforded plenty of food for the mind, and prevented it brooding too deeply over the realities of life. The newspapers in this countrj', especially those of the United States, are not merely dull records of parliamentary doings, of bill and debate, the rising of corn or falling of wheat, but contain besides reviews and whole copies of the newest and best works of the day, both in science and lighter literature. We dwellers of the forest had no jjuineas to ffive for new books, and if we had, unless we freighted ships home on purpose, we could not have procur- ed them. But this was not felt, while for our few yearly dollars the Albion's pearly paper and clear black type brought for society around our hearths the laughter-loving " Lorrequer," the pathos of the portrait painter, or the soul-winning Christo- pher North, whose every word seems written in letters of gold, incrusted with precious jewels. In the " New World" Froissart gave his chronicles of the olden time, and the mammoth sheets of " Era" and " The Notion" brought us the peer- less pages of '' Zanoni," or led us away with " Dickens" and " Little Nell," by the green glades and ancient churches of England. Little did we think while we read with delight of this 41 author's princely welcome to the American conti- nent, what would be the result of his visit. He cania niul passed like the wild Simoom. Soon after his return to £ns[land an edict came, for- bidding in the British provinces of America publications containing reprints of English works. Of the deeper matters connected with the copy- right question I know not, but this I do know, that our long winter nights seemed doubly long and drear, with nothing to read but dark details of horrid murder, or deadly doings of Rebeccaite and Chartist. As yet, however, this time was not come, and each passing week saw us now enlight- ened with the rays of some new bright gem of genius. The postman blew his horn as he passed each dwelling for whose inmates he had letters or pa- pers ; and for those whose address lay beyond his route, places of depository were appointed in the settlement. Mrs. Gordon's was one of these, from whence they were duly despatched by the first chance to their destinations on the Nashwaak, Waterloo, or Windsor clearings. Although our Mercury would duly have signalised his approach as he passed our own dwelling, I possessed myself of my treasure here — my share of the priceless wealth of that undying intellect which is allowed to pour its brilliant flood, freely and untramelleJ, to the lowliest homes of the American world, Ilaviu": glanced alon^r the lines and seen that our first favourites had visited us this week, our tea seemed to bear with it an added fragrance; and this, although the walls around us were of logs, we had in fairy cups of ancient porcelain from the distant land of Scotland. And now the sun's e3 * • Ml I i^- ■ ■ r ; 5 i ^ i 1 il i J. ' 'j 11 f 42 broad disc having vanished behind the lofty pines, and the young moon rising in the blue heavens, tell us our short twilight will soon be gone, and that if we would reach home before the stars look out upon our path, 'tis time we were on our way. The cow bells are ringing loud and clear as the herd winds slowly homeward, looking most luxu- riantly comfortable, and bearing with them the spicy scent of the cedar-woods in which they have been wandering, and which they seem to leave so unwillingly. Philoprogenitiveness, or a deep feeling of motherly affection, being the only thing that does voluntarily induce them to come home. To encourage this desirable feeling the leader of the herd, the lady of the bell, is allow- ed to suckle her calf every evening. For this happy task she leaves all the delights of her pas- ture, plodding regularly homeward at the hour of sunset, the rest all meekly following in her train. The evening is dry and clear, with no trace of rain in the atmosphere, or we would be surround- ed with clouds of those awful critturs^ the musqui- toes, which the cattle bring home. These are often a dreadful annoyance, nothing but a thick cloud of smoke dispelling them, and that only for a time. At night they are particularly a nuisance, buzzing and stinging unceasingly through the si- lent hours, forbidding all thought of sleep till the dawn shows them clinging to the walls and win- dows, wearied and bloated with their night]s amusemert. Those who are sufficiently accli- mated suffer comparatively little — 'tis the rich blood of the stranger that the musquito loves, and emigrants, on the first season, especially in low marshy situations, suffer extremely from their at- tacks. . I 43 Mary Gordon having now gone with her pails to meet her milky charge, while her mother ar- ranges the dairy within, Helen comes to set me on my way. Again we meet the frolickers return- ing rather earlier than is usual on such oc- casions; but there was sickness at the dwelling wher? they had been, which caused them to dis- perse soon after they had accomplished the " rais- ing." Kindly greetings passed between us ; for here, in this little world of ours, we have hardly room for the petty distinctions and pettier strifes of larger communities. We are all well acquaint- ed with each other, and know each other's busi- ness and concerns as well as our own. There is no concealment of affairs. This, however, saves a vast deal of trouble — people are much easier where there is no false appearance to be kept up ; and in New Brunswick there is less of " behind the scenes'* than in most pla<;es. Many a bright eye glances under Helen's oliadowy hat: and, see, one gallant axe-man lingers behind the others — he pauses now by the old birch tree — I know he is her lover, and in charity to their young hearts I must allow her to turn, while we proceed on- ward. The fire-flies now gleam through the air like living diamonds, and the evening star has opened her golden eye in the rich deep azure of the sky. Our home stands before us, with its white walls thrown in strong relief by the dark woods behind it : and here, on this adjoining lot, lives our neigh- bour who is ill-^he who to-day has had the " barn raising." It would be but friendly to call and enquire for him. The house is one of the best description of log buildings. The ground floor ii'l 1. ;! 1 5 ! M ., , 1 i ' 1 i ■ V '■ ■ * iV . i !" ^ , i' ' 1 1 ; 1 M i ■<■ ; i , ' ' •',- 1 1- li <,■ hW' 1 !' i 44 contains two ]avrrc apartments and a spaciouji porch, which extends alon[)(»ll, Hi* honc'Sf nnii'ii own subjugated toil.' A neighbour of his had come out from Eng- land at the same time he had done and com- menced farming an uiijoining lot, but he soon wearied of the slow rv^turns of his land and com- menced lumbering. For a time he went on dash- ingly, the merchants in town supplying him freely with provisions and everything necessary to carry on his timber-making — whilst Stephen worked hard and lived poor, he enjoyed long intervals of ease and fared luxuriantly. But a change came : one spring the water was too low to get his timber down, the next the freshet burst at once and swept away the labour of two seasons, and ere he got another raft to market, the price had fallen so low that it was nearly value- less. He returned dispirited to his home and tried to conceal himself from his creditors, the merchants whom the sale of his timber was to have repaid for the supplies tfrty had advanced; but his neglected fields showed now but a crop of bushes and wild laurel, or an ill-piled clearing, with a scanty crop of buck-wheat; while Stephen Morris looked from his window on fair broad fields from whence the stumps had all disappear- ed, where the long grass waved rich with clover- flowers between, and many a tract that promised i.i I ?:■ 1 i\ .1 >. Wf^ W -% 48 to shine with autunin wreaths of golden grain ; leaflets and buds were close and thick on the orchard he had planted, and where erst the wild- bush stood now bh)omed the lovely rose. On a green hill before him stood the lofty frame of the building this evening raised, with all its white tracery of beam and rafter, i new but welcome feature in the landscape. A frame barn is tlie first ambition of the settler's heart ; without one much loss and inconvenience is felt. Hay and grain are not stacked out as in other countries, but are all placed within the shelter of the barn ; these containing, as they often do, the whole hay crop, besides the grain and accommodation for the cattle, must, of course, be of large dimensions, and are corsequently expensive. With this Stephen had proceeded surely and cautiously as was his wont. In the winter he had hauled logs off his own land to the saw-mill to be made into boards. He cut down with much trouble some of the ancient ]iines which long stood in the cen- tre of his best field, and from their giant trunks cut well-seasoned blocks, with which he made shingles in the stormy days of winter. Thus by degrees he provided all the materials for enclos- ing and roofing, and was not obliged, as many are, to let the frame, (which is the easiest part pro- vided, and which they often raise without seeming even to think how they are to be enclosed,) stand for years, like a huge grey skeleton, with timbers all warped and blackened by the weather. Stea- dily as Stephen had gone on, yet as the comple- tion of his object became nearer he grew impa- tient of its accomplishment, and determined to have his barn ready for the recep'ion of his hay harvest i 49 and for this purpose lie worked on, hewing at the frame in the spring, reckles? of the penetrating rain, the chill wind, or *the damp earth beneath, and thus, by neglect of the natural laws, he was thrown upon the couch of sickness, where he \ay long. This evening, however, he was better, and sat gazing v/ith pleased aspect on the scene, and then I saw his eyes turn from the fair green hill and its new erection to where, in the hollow of a low and marshy spot of land, stood the moss- grown logs and sunken walls of the first shelter he had raised for his cattle— his old log barn, which stood on the worst land of the farm, but when it was raised the woods around were dark and drear, and he knew not the good soil from the bad; yet now he thought how, in this unseemly place, he had stored his crop and toiled for years with unfailing health, where his arm retained its nerve, unstrung neither by summer's heat nor winter's cold, when the voice of his son, a tall stripling, who had managed affairs during his ill- ness, recalled him to the present, which certainly to him I thought might wear no unfavourable aspect. He had literally caused the wilderness to blossom as the rose, and saw rising around him not a degenerate but an improving race, gifted far beyond himself with bright mental endowments, the spontaneous growth of the land they lived in, and which never flourish more fairly than when engrafted on the old English stem ; that is, the children of emigrants, or the Anglo-blue- noses, have the chance of uniting the high-aspir- ing impulses of young America to the more solid principles of the olden world, thus forming a de- cided improvement in the native race of both i i ' i.' ^\i i) llli ii; :. iii I!! i (Ji'-^ Ml!' a I ii 'I 50 countries. But Stephen has too much of human nature in hhn not to prefer the past, and I saw that the sunbeams of memory rested brightly on the old log barn, obscuring the privations and yenrs of bitter toil and anxiety connected with it, and dimning his eyes to ought else, however bet- ter; so that I left him to his meditations, and af- ter a step of sixty rods, the breaddi of the lot, I am once more at home, where, as it is nov/ dark, we will close the door and shut out the world, to this old country prejudice has made us attach a small wooden button inside, the only fastening, except the latch, I believe, in the settlement. Bolts and bars being all unused, the business of locksmith is quite at a discount in the back woods, where all idea of a midnight rob- bery is unknown ; and yet, if rumo.r was true, there were persons not far from us to whom the trade of stealing would not be new. One there was of whom it was said, that for this reason alone was New Brunswick graced with his pre- sence. He had in his own country been taken in a daring act of robbery, and conveyed in the dark of night to be lodged in gaol. The officers were kind-hearted, and, having secured his hands, al- lowed his wife to accompany him, themselves walking a short distance apart. At first the lady kept up a most animated conversation, apparently upbraiding the culprit for his conduct. He an- swered her, but by degrees he seemed so overcome by her remarks that he spoke no more, and she liad all the discourse to herself. Having arrived at their destination, the officers approached theii prisoner, but he was gone, the wife alone remain- ed. The darkness of the night had favoured hif 8\ escape while she feigned to be addressing him, and, having thus defeated the law, joined her spouse, and made the best of their way to Ame- rica, where the workings of the law of kindness were exemplified in his case. His character being there generall}^ unknown, he was treated and trusted as an honest man, r.nd he broke not his faith. The better feelings were called into action; conscientiousness, though long sub- dued, arose and breathed through his spirit the golden rule of right. The days in America are never so short in winter as they are in Europe, nor are they so long in summer, and there is always an hour or two of the cool night to be enjoyed ere the hour of rest comes. Our evening lamp is already lighted, and our circle increased by the presence of the school-mistress. Although in this country the local government has done much towards the advancement of schools, yet much improvement requires to be made — not in their simple internal arrangements, for which there is no regular system, but in the more im- portant article of remuneration. The government allows twenty pounds a year to each school ; the proprietors, or those persons who send their chil- dren to the school, agreeing to pay the teacher a like sum at least (though in some of the older settled parts of the country from forty to fifty pounds is paid by them) ; as part payment of this sum providing him with board, &c., &c., and this alone is the evil part of the scheme ; this boarding in turn with the proprietors, who keep him a week or a month in proportion to the number of the pupils they send, and to make up their share of f2 lit m I i: 111 ! i I] < I ^1' 1 ■. 1 I ; ii, ■BTfy 52 i i iriiHi the year, for which term he is hired, as his en- gagement is, termed — an expression how derogatory to the dignity of many a learned dominie ? From this cause the teacher has no home, no depository for his books, which are lost in wandering from place to place ; and if he had them, no chance for study : for the log-house filled with children and wheels is no fit abode for a student. This boarding system operates badly in many ways. The nature of the blue nose is still leavened with that dislike of coercive measures inherited from their former countrymen, the Yankees. It extends to their children, and each little black-eyed urchin, on his wooden bench and do":-eared dilworth in hand, must be treated by his teacher as a free en- lightened citizen. But even without this, where is there in any country a schoolmaster daring enough to use a ratan, or birch rod, to that unruly darling from whose mother he knows his even- ing reception will be sour looks, and tea tinged with sky-blue, but would not rather let the boy make fox-and-geese instead of ciphering, say his lesson when he pleased, and have cream and short-cake for his portion. Another disagreeable thing is, that fond and anxious as they are for " laming" they have not yet enough of it to ap- preciate the value of educativ'm. The schoolmaster is not yet regarded as the mightiest moral agent of the earth ; the true vicegerent of the spirit from above, by which alone the soul is truly taught to plume her wings and shape her course for Heaven. And in this country, where operative power is certain wealth, he who can neither wield axe or scythe may be looked on with a slight shade of contempt : but this only arises from constant *■ 53 Hr nssociatlon with the people ; f'or wel*e the school- master more his own master, and less under their surveillance by having a dwelling of his own, his situation otherwise would be comfortable and lu- crative. The state of school affairs begins to attract much notice from the legislature, and no doubt the present system of school government will soon be improved. A board of education is appointed in each county, whose office it is to examine can- didates for the office of parish school teacher, and report to the local governor as to their competency, previous to his conferring the required license. Trustees are also appointed in the several parishes, who manage the other business connected with them, such as regulating their number, placing masters where they are most wanted, and receiving and apportioning the sum appropriated to their support, or encouragement, b}' the government. Mr. B. held this situation, and frequent were the visits of the lords of the birch to our domicile, either asking redress for fancied wrongs, or to discuss disputed points of school discipline. The female teachers are situated much the same, save that many of them, preferring a quiet home to gain, pay for their board out of their cash salary, and give up that which they could otherwise claim from the people. This, liowever, is by no means general, and the present mistress has come to stay her term with us, although having no oc- casion for the school, yet wishing to hasten the march of intellect through the back woods, we paid towards it, and boarded the teacher, as if we had. Grace Marley, who held this situation now, was a sweet wild -flower from the Emerald Isle, F 3 !■;' ! ! !i ;i( ! H m^ i'< B ^ i ■ n 1 51 with spirii^s bright and changeful as the dewy skies of her own loved Erin. Her graceful but fully rounded figure shows none of those anatomical cor- ners described by Captain Hamilton in the ap- pearance of the native American ladies. Her dark eye speaks with wondrous truth the prompt- ings of her heart, and her brown hair lies like folds of satin on her cheek, from which the air of America has not yet drank all the rose light. From her fairy ear of waxen white hangs a golden pen- dant, the treasured gift of one far distant. Before her, on the table, lies Chambers* Journal, which always found its way a welcome visitant to our settlement, soon after the spring fleet had borne it ov^ the Atlantic. She has been reading one of Mrs. Hall's stories, which, good as they are, are yet little admired by the Irish in America. The darker hues which she pourtrays in the picture of their native land have become to them all softened in the distance ; and by them is their country cher- ished there, as being indeed thatbeautiful ideal "first flower of the earth, and first gem of the sea." A slight indignant flush, raised by what she had been reading, was on her brow as I entered; but this gave place to the heart-crushing look of disappointment! had often seen her wear, as I replied in the negative to her question, if there was a letter for her. From where or whom she expected this letter I knew not, yet as still week after week passed away and brought her none, the same shade had passed over her face. And now, reader, as the night wanes apace, and you no doubt are wearied with this day's journey through our settlement, I shall wish to you ** A fair good night, with easy dreams and slumbers light," 1 1 I : 65 while I, who like most authors am not at all in- clined to sleep over my own writing, will sketch what I know of the history of Grace Marley, whose memory forms a sweet episode in my trans - atfantic experiences. Grace had been left an orphan and unprovided for in her own country, when a relation, who had been prosperous here, wrote for her to come out. She did come, and at first seemed happy, but 'twas soon evident her heart was not here, and she sighed to return to her native land, where the streams were brighter, and the grass grew greener than elsewhere. Her friends, vexed at her obsti- nacy in determining so firmly to return, would give her no assistance for this purpose, fancying that she felt but that nostalgic sickness felt by all on their first arrival in America, and that like others she would become reconciled in time. But she was firm in her resolve, and to procure funds wherewithal to return she commenced teaching a school, for which her education had well qualified her. It was not likely that such a girl as Grace would, in this land of marrying and giving in marriage, be without fonder solicitations to in- duce her to remain, and a tall blue nose, rejoicing in the appellation of Leonidas van Wort, and lord of six hundred noble acres, was heard to de- clare one fall, that she, for an Irish girl, was "raal downright good-looking," and guessed he knew which way "his tracks would lay when snow came." Snow did come, and Leonidas, arraved in his best " go-to-meeting style," geared up his sleigh, and what with bear skins and bells, fancying l)imself and appurtenances enough to charm the heart of any maid or matron in the back woods, set off to '•i! ill I' I n««: ' ; ■ i f^7 I 56 I Ml ■M ii W i : ' I spark Grace Marley. " Sparking,'* the term used in New Brunswick for courtship, now ihat the old fashion of " bundling" is gone out, occupies much of the attention (as, indeed, where does it not ?) of young folks. They, for this purpose, take Moore's plan of lengthening theirdays,by "stealing a few hours from the night," and generally breathe out their tender vows, not beneath the ** milk- white thorn," but by the soft dim light of the birch-wood fire ; the older members of the family retiring and leaving the lovers to their own sweet society. Although it has been sometimes observed that mothers who, in their own young days, have been versed in this custom, insist most pertinaciously in sitting out the wooer, in spite of insinuations as to the pleasure their absence would occasion, still keep their easy chair, with unwearied eyes and fingers busied in their everlasting knitting. Grace's beau was most hospitably received by her aunt and uncle, who considering him quite an " eligible," wished to further him all in their power, soon left the pair to themselves, telling Grace that it would be the height of rudeness not to follow the custom of the country. She politely waited for Leonidas to commence the conversation, but he, unused to her proceeding, could say nothing, not even ask her if she liked maple sugar ; and so, being unused to deep study, while thinking how to begin, fell asleep, a consummation Grace was most delighted to witness. By the fire stood the small American churn, which, as is often the casein cold weather, had been placed there to be in readiness for the morrow ; this Grace, with something of the quiet humour which made Jeanie Deans treat Dumbie- ■f^ 57 dykes to fried peats inplaceofcollops, slielifted and placed it by the sleeper's side, throwing over it ii white cloth, which fell like folds of drapery, and softly retired to rest herself. Her uncle, on com- ing into the room at the dawn of morning, beheld the great Leonidas still sleeping, and liis arm most lovingly encircling the churn dash, which no doubt in his dreams he mistook for the taper waist of Grace, when the loud laugh of the old man and his "helps," who had now risen, roused him. He got up and looked round him, but, with the Spartan firmness of his name-sake, said nothing, but went right off and married his cousin Prudence Prague, who could do all the sparking talk herself. Many another lover since then had Grace — many a mathematical schoolmaster, to whom Euclid was no longer a mystery, became,- for her sake, puzzled in the problem of love, and earnestly besought her to solve the question he gave, with the simple statement of yes. But still her heart was adamant, and still she was unwon, and sighed more deeply for her island home. She disliked the countr}'^, and its customs more. Her religion was Roman catho- lic, and she cherished all the tenets of her faith with the deepest devotion. 1 remember calling on her one Sunday morning and finding her alone in her solitary dwelling ; her relations, themselves catholics, havinrr gone, and half the settlement with them, to meeting, but she pre- ferred her solitude rather than join in their un- consecrated worship. This want of their own peculiar means of grace is much felt by religious- ly inclined persons in the forest settlements, and this made her wish more earnestly for the closing U I i 1 1 I, J if^'! III: 1 !i II ii Hi ^v 58 of the year to come, when, with the produce of her school labours, she would be enabled to leave. Such was, up to this period, what I knew of Grace's character and history. I was extremely fond of her society and conversation, as she, com- ing from that land of which *tis said, her evefy Word, her wildest thought, is poetry, had, in her imaginings, a twilight tinge of blue, which made lier remarks truly delightful. She had become a little more softened in her prejudice, especially as she expected soon to leave the country, so that one day during her stay with us, in this same bright summer weather, I induced her to accom- pany me to a great baptist meeting, to be held in a river settlement some four or five miles off'. On reachihg the creek, the rest of our party, who had accpiired the true American antipathy to pe- destrianism, proceeded in canoes and punts to the place, but we preferred a walk to the dazzling glare of the sunshine on the water, so took not the highway, but a path through the forest, call- ed the blazed track, from a chip or slice being made on the trees to indicate its line, and which you must keep sight of, or else go astray in the leafy labyrinth. When I first trod the woods of New Bruns- wick, I fancied wild animals would meet me at each step — every black log was transform- ed into some shaggy monster —visions of bears and lucifee*s were ever before me — but these are now but rarely seen near the settlements, al- though bruin will sometimes make a descent on the sheepfolds ; yet they have generally retreated before the axe, along with the more valuable moose deer and caraboo, with which the country 59 "wri used to abound. The ugliest animal I ever saw was a huge porcupine, which came close to the door and carried off, one by one, a whole flock of young turkies ; and the boldest, the beau- tiful foxes, which are also extremely destructive to the poultry ; so that in walking the woods one need not be afraid, even if a bear's foot-print be indented in the soil, as perhaps he is then far enough off, and besides *tis only in the hungry spring, after his winter's sleep, he is carniverous, preferring in summer the roots, nuts, and berries with which the forest supplies him. The living things one sees are quite harmless — the bright eyed racoon looking down upon us through the branches, or the squirrels hopping from spray to spray, a mink or an otter splashing through the pond of a deserted beaver dam, from which the ancient possessors have also retired, and a hare or sable gliding in the distance, are all the animals one usually sees, withflocksof partridges, so tame that they stir not from you, and there being no game laws, these free denizens of the wild are the property of all who choose to claim them. The forests, especially in the hard wood districts, are beautiful in their fresh unbroken solitude — not the solitude of desolation, but the young wild loveliness of the untamed earth. The trees stand close and thick, with straight pillar-like stems, unbroken by leaf or bough, which all expand to the summit, as if for breathing space. There is little brush wood, but myriads of plants and creepers, springing with the summer's breath. The beautiful dog-wood's sweeping sprays and broad leaves, the maiden-hairs glossy wreathe* and pearly buds, and the soft emerald moss, cloth- m 111!'' ^ir ^1 IM i i? if r (.1 I 1 ■'. '! i i i' CO ing the old fallen trees with its velvet tapestry, and hiding their decay with its cool rich beauty, while the sun light falls in golden tracery down the birch trees silver trunk, and the sparkling water flashes in the rays, or sings on its sweet melody unseen amid the luxuriant vegetation that con- ceals it. Through this sweet path we held on our way, talking of every bard who has said or sung the green wood's glories, whose fancied beauties were here all realized. As we neared the clear- ings, we met frequent groups of blue nose child- ren gathering, with botanical skill, herbs for dye- ing, or carrying sheets of birch bark, which, to be fit for its many uses, must be peeled from the trees in the full moon of June. On these children, beautiful as young Greeks, with lustrous eyes and faultless features, Grace said she could hardly yet look without an instinctive feeling of awe and pity, cherishing as she did the partiality of her creed and nation for infant baptism. To her there was something awful, in sight of those un- hallowed creatures, whose brows bore not tlie first symbol of Christianity. We having passed through the woods, were soon in a large assem- blage of native and adopted colonists. The greater number of the native population, I think, are baptists, and their ministers are either raised among themselves, or come from the United States, or Nova Scotia. Once in every year a general association is convened of the members of the society throughout the province, the atten- dance on which gives ample proof of the great- ness of their numbers, as well as their fervency of feeling. This association is held in a different ,^ ei part of the province each season — and generally lasts a week. Reports are here made of the pro- gress of their religion, the state of funds, and of all other matters connected with the society. There is, generally, at these conventions a revival of religious feeling, and during the last days nu- merous converts are made and received by bap- tism into the church. This meeting is looked forward too by the colonists with many mingled feelings. By the grave and good it is hailed as an event of sacred importance, and by the gay and thoughtless as a season of sight-seeing and dress- displaying. Those in whose neighbourhood it was last year are glad it is not be so this lime ; and those near the place it is to be held, are cal- culating the sheep and poultry, the molasses and flour it will take to supply the numerous guests tliey expect on the occasion — open tables being kept at taverns, and private houses are so no longer, but hospitably receive all who come. No harvest is reaped by exorbitant charges for lodg- ing, and all that is expected in return, is the same clever treatment when their turn comes. This convocation, occurring in the leisure spell between the end of planting and the commencement of haying, is consequently no hindrance to the agri- cultural part of the community ; and old and young "off they come'' from Miramichi, from Aca- dia, and the Oromocto, in shay and waggon, steam-boat and catamaran, on horseback or on foot, as best they can. This day, one towards the conclusion, the large frame building was crowded to excess, and outside were gathered groups, as may be seen in some countries around the catholic chapels. Within, the long tiers of G hi w\ •1 ; 1 1 1 h 1 t ;e ap- plied to some other purpose, and their priesthood i'l' ICtlllg ti had )prla- [e ap- \as to •!> for ap- liood 63 be still allowed to spring uncultured from the mass. The different opinions expressed regard- ing this, finely developed the progress of mind throui^hout the land. Some white-headed fathers of the sect, old refugees, who hud left the bounds of civilization before they had received any edu- cation, yet wlu) had been gifted in the primitive days of the colony to lead souls from sin, sternly declaimed against the education system, declar. ing that grace, and grace alone, was what formed the teacher. All else was of the earth earthy, and had nought to do with heavenly things. One said that when he commenced preaching he could not read tiiC t^ible — he could do little more now, and yet throughout the country many a soul owned its sickness to have been healed through him. Another then rose and answered him — a native of the province, and of his own persuasion, but who had drank from the springing fountains of science arsd of holiness — the bright gushing of whose clear streams sparkled through his dis- course. I have since forgotten his language, but I know that at the time nothinc: I had ever heard or read entranced me as did it, glowing as it was witli the new world's fervency of thought, and the old world's wealth of learning. He pleaded, as such should, for extended education, and his mighty words had power, and won the day. The old men, stern in their prejudices as their zeal, were conquered, and the baptists have now well conducted establishments of learning throughout the province. This discussion occupied the morning, and, at noon, we were invited home to dinner by a person who 3.nt next us at the meeting, but whom g2 > ) Itili ! I ill I in: , V f ]h\ !i; ■, :it I i i I ^■ ' \ 1! 1 ! I 1 1 '' ; G4 \ve had never before seen. Some twelve or four'* teen others formed our party, rather a small one considering, but we were the second relay, ano- ther party having already dined and [)roceeded to the meeting house, where religious worship had commenced as soon as we left. Our meal was not so varied in its details of cookery as the wealthier blue noses love to treat their guests with. The number to be supplied, and the quantity of provisions required, prevented this. It consisted of large joints of veal and mut- ton, baked and boiled, with a stately pot-pie, on its ponderous platter, — the standing dish in all these parts. Soon after dinner we were given to understand the dipping was about to commence; and walked along the shore to the place appointed for the purpose, in the bright blue waters of tlie bay, which is here formed by an inlet of the chief river of the province, the silver- rolling St. John. The scene around us was won- drously rich and lovely -the bright gretn intervale meadows with their lofty trees, the cloudless sky, the flashing waters, and the balmy breeze, which bore the breath of the far-off spruce and cedars. From the assembled throng, who had now left the meeting-house, arose the hymns which form the principal part of their worship, I have said the New Brunswickers are not, as yet, greatly favoured with the gift of m. -ic ; this may, in a great measure, arise from deficient cul- tivation of the science, but at this time there was something strange and pleasant in the quick chaunt- ing strain they raised, so different from the soleraa sounds of sacred melody usual in other countries; and even Grace, accustomed to the organ's j>eal- by as this cul- was lunt- mni fies; 65 ing grandeur and lofty anthems of her own church, was pleased with it. Still singing the minister entered the water, the converts one by one joining him, and singly became encircled in the shining waves : many of them were aged and bowed with time, and now took up the cross in their declining days ; and others of the young and fair, who sought their creator in youth. It was wondrous now to think of this once lonely stream of the western world, the Indian's own Ounagandy. A few years since no voice had broke on its solitude save the red man's war-whoop, or his shrieking death song — no form been shadowed on its depths but the wild bird's wing, or the savage speeding on the blood chase. Now its living pictures told the holy records of the blessed east, and its waters typed the healing stream of Jordan. After some more singing and prayers offered for the newly- baptized, the ceremony was finished. 'Tis strange that on these dipping occasions no cold is caught by the converts. I suppose the excitement of the mind sustains the body ; but persons are often baptised in winter, in an opening made through the ice for the purpose, and walk with their gar- ments frozen around them without inconvenience, seeming to prove the efficacy of hydropathj', by declaring how happy and comfortable they feel. We, at the conclusion of the prayers, left the place, and proceeded homewards in a canoe ; this is a mode of locomotion much liked by the river set- tlers, but to a stranger anything but agreeable. They glide along the waters swift and smooth, but a slight cause upsets them, and as perhaps you are not exactly certain about being born to be hanged, you must sit jjerfectly still —you are warned to do Ct3 fi i ' I li r;.!: I'- M\^ \ iw iM 66 this, but if you are the least nervous, you will hardly dare to breathe, much less move, and this, in a journey of any length, is not so pleasant. This feeling, however, custom soon dispels ; and when one sees little fairy girls paddling themselves and a cargo of brothers and sisters to school, or women with babies taking their wool to the card- ing mill, they feel ashamed, and learn to keep the true balance. Our light skiiF, or bark rather, as it might be truely styled, being a veritable Indian canoe, made of birch bark most cunningly put together, these being so light as to float in shallow water, and to be easily removed, are for this reason preferred by the Indians to more solid materials, who carry them on their backs from stream to stream during their peregrinations through the country, soon bore us over the diamond water, whose mirror- ed surface we scarcely stirred, to the land- ing place, whose marshy precincts were now all gemmed with the golden and purple flowers of the sweet flag or calamus ; and as the sun was yet high in the glorious blue, we resolved to spend the re- mainder of the day with a family living near; feel- ing, in this land of New Brunswick, no qualms about a sudden visitation, knowing that a people so proverbial for being "wide awake" can never be taken unawares. Their dwelling, a large frame building painted most gaily in the bright warm hues the old Dutch fancies of the states love to cherish, stands in the centre of rich parks of intervale. The porch is here, as well as at the more humble log-house, answering as it does in summer for a cool verandah, and in winter as a shelter from the snows. Tiiis, the taste of the 67 to of the in country artist has erected on pillars, not recog- nisable as belonging to any known order of archi- tecture, yet here esteemed as tasty and beautifuly and, as is his custom in the afternoon, is seated the owner of the dwelling, Silas Mavin, one of that fast declining remnant— the refugees. He had come from the United States at the revolu- tion, and possessed himself of this fair heritage in the days when squatting was in vogue ; those palmy days which the older inhabitants love to re- call, when government had not to be petitioned, as it has now, for leave to purchase land, and when, in place of the now many-worded grant, with its broad seals and official signatures, people made out their own right of possession by raising their log-house, and placing the sign manual of their axe in whatever trees they chose; when moose and caraboo were plentiful as sheep and oxen are now ; when salmon filled each stream, and the wood- sheltered clearings ripened the Indian corn with- out failing. In this land, young as it is, there are those who mourn for the times gone by, and con- sider the increasing settlement of the country as their worst evil ; wilfully closing their eyes against improvement, they see not the wide fields, waving fair with grass and wheat, but think it was better when the dense forest shut out the breeze and re- flected the sunbeams down with greater strength on the corn, so dearly loved by the American. They hear not the sound of the busy mill when they mourn for the fish -deserted brooks, and for- get that when moose meat was more plentiful than now bread stuffs were ground in the wearying hand-mill. One of this respectable class ot' ill ■V 'ii / .;'! tit I 1-! 1' ■I i hi i \ I iill il r!J illi ii I i; I ' i !'^ 68 grumblers was our present acquaintance, and here he sat in his porch, with aspect grave as the stoics — his tall form, although in ruins now, was stately in decay as the old forest's pines. His head was such as a phrenologist would have loved to look upon ; the true platonic breadth of brow, and lofty elevation of the scalp silvered over, told of a mind fitting in its magnitude lo spring from that gigantic continent whose streams are mighty ri- vers and whose lakes are seas; but, valueless as these, when embosomed in their native woods, were the treasures of the old man's mind, una- wakened as they were by education, and unpolish- ed even by contact with the open world, yet still, amid the crust contracted in the life he had led, rays of the inward diamond glittered forth. The wilderness had always been his dwelling — in the land he had left, his early days had been pass- ed in hunting the red deer or the red man on the Prairie fields — there, with the true spirit of the old American, he had learned to treat the Indian as " varment," although a kindlier feeling was awakened towards them in this country, where white as well as red were recipients of England's bounty, and many a tale of wild pathos or dark horror has he told of the experience of his youth with the people of the wild. In New Bruns- wick his days had passed more peacefully. He sat this evening with his chair poised in that aerial position on one leg which none but an American can attain. Ambitious emigrants, wishing to be though t cute, attempt this delicate point of Yankee cha- racter, but their awkwardness falling short of the easy swing necessary for the purpose, often brings them to the ground. A beautiful English cherry \ pass- nthe the idiaii was here ind's dark 3iUh ins- He rial can ght ha- the ings irv Fi-V- ' Vf \ . (59 Irec, with its snowy wreathes in full blow, stood before him ; he had raised it from the seed, and loved to look upon it. It had evidently been the object of his meditations, and served him now as a type wherewith to illustrate his remarks re- specting the meeting we had attended — like those professors of religion we to-day heard, he said, was his beautiful cherry tree. It gave forth fair green leaves of promise and bright truth-seeming blossoms, but in summer, when he sought for fruit there was none ; and false as it, were they of words so fair and deeds so dark, and he*d " dou- ble sooner trust one who laughed more and prayed less, than those same whining preachers." This was the old man's opinion, not only respecting the baptists, but all other sects as well. What his own ideas of religion were I never could make out. Universalism I fancied it was, but differing much from the theories of those evanes- cent preachers who sometimes flashed like me- teors through the land, leaving doubt and reck- lessness in their path. The first truths of Chris- tianity had been imparted to him, and these, miu" gling with his own innate ideas of veneration, form- ed his faith; as original, though more lofty in its ua- pirations, than the wild Indian's who tells of the flowery land of souls where the good spirit dwells, and where buffalo and deer forsake not the hunt- ing grounds of the blessed. He held no outward form or right of sanctity. The ceremony which bound him to his wife was simply legal, having been read over by the nearest magistrate. His children were unbaptised, and the green graves of his household were in his own field, although a public burying-ground was by the meeting-house of the settlement. I'' 1 1 1 1. - n K i' V ■ -i I li 1 I ! I !!! M ,.1 I. 70 Meanwhile the old lady, who had hailed our advent with the hospitality of her country, set about preparing our entertainment. Tradition says of the puritans, tiie pilgrims of New England, that when they first stood on Plymouth Rock, on their first arrival from Europe, they bore the bible under one arm and a cookery book under the other. Now, ns to their descendants, the refugees, I am not exactly sure if, when they pilgrimised to New Brunswick, they were so careful of the bible, but I am certain they retain the precepts of the cook- ery book, and love to embody them when they may. Soon as a guest comes within ken of a blue nose, the delightful operations commence. The poorer class shifting with Johnny-cake and pump- kin, while, with the better off, the airy phantoms of custard and curls,which flit through their brains, are called into tangible existence. The air is impregnated with allspice and nutmeg — apple "sarce" and cranberry "persarves" become visi- ble, while sal-a-ratus and molasses are evidently in the ascendant. And now, while our hostess of this even- ing busied herself in compounding these sweet mysteries, the old man related to ns the following love passage of his earlier days, which I shall give in my own language, although his original expres- sions rendered it infinitely more interesting. 'ii' T""^ Tl led our try, set radiiion England, ock, oil be bible e other. , I am to New jle, but ? cook- n tliey a blue , The pum[)- intonis brains, air -appie e visi- dently even- sweet Dwing igive cpres- is THE INDIAN BRIDF, A refugee's story. On the margin of a bright blue western stream stood a small ibrt, surrounding the dwellings of some hunters who had penetrated thus far into the vast wilderness to pursue their calling. The huts they raised were rude and lowlvj and yet the walls surrounding them were high and lofty. Piles of arms filled their block house, and a con- stant guard was kept. Thcs,e precautions were taken to j)rotect them from the Indians, whose ancient hunting grounds they had intruded on, and whose camp was not far distant. Deadly dealings had passed between them, but the whites, strong in number and in arms, heeded little the settled malice of their foes, and after taking the usual precautions of defence, carried on their hunting, shooting an Indian, or ought else that came across them, while the others, savage and unrelenting, kept on their trail in hope of ven- geance. Strange was it, that in an atmosphere dark as this, the light of love should beam. Lee- mah, a beautiful Indian girl, met in the forest a young white hunter. She loved, and wasbeloved in return. The roses of the few summers she had lived glowed warm upon her cheek, and truth flashed in the guileless light of her deep dark eyes — but Lecmah was already a bride, be- trothed in childhood to a chieftain of her tribe ; i(i IP ;l It i i ii> 72 he liad now summoned her to his dwelling, and her business in the forest was collecting ma- terials for her bridal store of box and basket. Her sylph-like form of : rowy grace was arrayed in his wedding gifts of costly furs, and glittering bright with bead and shell. But few were the stores that Leemah gathered for her Indian chief. The burning noon was passed with her white love in the leafy shade — there she brought for him summer berries, and gathered for him the water cup flower, with its cooling drauglit of fragrant dew. Her time of marriage came, and at mid- night it was to be celebrated with torch light and dance. The other hunters knew the love of Silas for the gem of the wilderness, and readily offered their assistance in his project of gaining her. To them, carrying off an Indian girl was an affair of light moment, and at dark of night, with their boat and loaded rifles, they proceeded up the stream towards the Indian village. As they drew near, the wild chaunt of the bridal song was heard, and as all silently they approached the shore, the red torch light gleamed out upon the scene of mystic splendour. The chieftains of the tribe in stately silence stood around. The crimson beams lit up the plumes upon their brow, and showed in more awful hues the fearful lines of their painted faces, terrible at the festival as on the field of battle. Tl squaws, in their gayest garb, with mirrors J — ') mg on their breasts, and beads all shining as they moved, danced round the betrothed ; and there she stood, the love-lorn Leemah, her black hair all unbraided, and her dark eyes piercing the far depths of night, as if looking for her lover. Nor looked she long 73 in vain, for suddenly and fearlessly Silas sprung upon the shore, dashed through the circle, and bore o(F the Indian bride to his bark. Then rose the war-.-.hout of her people, while pealed among them the rifles of the hunters. Again ^ ^ 76 but like Mazeppa, he lived to repay the Red Ea- gle in after-years for that night of horror — when his eyes had been blasted with the burning fort, his ears stunned with the shrieks of his murdered friends, and his brain scorched through with Lee- mah's life blood. Long years after, when he had forsaken the hunter's path, and fought as a loyalist in the Bri- tish ranks, among their Indian allies who smoked •with them the pipe of peace and called them bro- thers, was one, in whose wild andwithered features he recalled the stern Red Eagle ; blood called for blood ; he beguiled the Indian now with copious draughts of the white man's fire-water, and he and another (brother of one of the murdered hunter::) killed him, and placing him in his own canoe with the paddle in his hand, sent the fearful corpse down the rapid stream, bearing him unto his home. The wild dog and wolf howled on the banks as it floated past, and the raven and eagle hovered over it claiming it as their prey. The tribe, at the death of their Sagamore, withdrew from their allies, and, following the track of the setting sun, waged war indiscriminately with all. And long after, though more than half a cen- tury had elapsed since the death of the Red Ea- gle, and when the snows of eighty winters had whitened the dark tresses of the young hunter, and bowed the tall form of the loyalist soldier ; when he who had trod the flowery paths of the prairie, and slept in the orchard bowers by the blue stream of the Hudson, had, for love of England's laws, become a refugee from his native land; and when here, in New Brunswick, he beheld raised around him a bappy and comfortable home — his house, which had always been freely opened to religious worsliip, and in which had been held the prayer- incetinos ol" the ba})tisis and love-leasts of the niethodists, became one day transformed into a catholic cluipel. A bishop of tlie Romish church was passing throuoh the province, and his presence in this sequestered spot was an event of unwonted inter- est ; many who had forjrotten the creed of their fathers returned to the faith of their earlier days, and among the most fervent of those assembled, there was a small group of Milicete Indians iroin the woods hard by. \\ ith the idolatrous devo- tion of their half savage nature they fell prostrate before the ]"/ricst. Amoni> them was an ancient woman, but not of their tribe, who, while raising her hand in t)rayer, or in crossing herself, Silas ob- served she used but one hand — the other was gone. This ciicumstance recalled to light the faded love-dream of his youth. lie questioned her and found her to be I^eemah, his once beau- tiful Indian bride, who had wandered here to escape the daik tyranny of her savage kindred. She died soon after, and " she sleeps there," said the old man, pointing to where a white cross marked a low grassy mound before us, and time had not so dried up his heart springs but I saw a tear drop to her memory. I turned my eyes from Lecmah's grave to see what effect the tale had made on the old lady, but she was so enoaaetl in contemplatiuii: the m>l(l- en curls ol' her doughnuts, and leathery iightuess of her pound cake, she had heard it not ; and even if she had, it had all happened such a long h3 i ; ' i ji ; M , i II I I I ! II I 'i ■ t; ' I i ■ 78 time ago, that her impressions respecting it must all liave worn out by now. After having partalcen of the hixurious feast she set before us, and hearing some more of the old man's legends, we proceeded forward. The evening, with one of those sudden changes of New Brunswick, had become cold and chilly. The sun looked red and lurid through the heavy masses of fo(r clouds driftiuir throujih the sky; this fog, which comes all the way from the Banks of Newfoundland, and which is par- ticularlv disagreeable sometimes alon^ij the Bay shore and in St. John, in opposition to the general clearness of the American at- mosphere is but little known in the interior of the country. Numerous summer fallows are burning around, and the breeze flings over us showers of blackened leaves and blossoms. As we approach- ed home, we were accosted by one Mr. Isaac Hanselpecker, a neighbour of ours; he was lean- ing over the bars, apparently wanting a lounge excessively. He had just finished milking, and had handed the pails to Miss Hanselpecker, as he called his wife. If there be a trait of Ameri- can character peculiar to itself, displayed more fully than another by contrast with Europeans, it is in the treatment of the gentler sex, diflcring as it does materially from the picture of the English- man, standing with his back to the fire, while the ladies freeze around him ; or the glittering polite- ness of the Frenchman, hovering like a butterfly by the music stand ; it has in it more of intellect and real tenderness than either, although tending as it does to the advancement of national charac- ter, some of their own talented ones begin to com- :lt. 79 v\i plain that In the refined circles of the States they are becoming almost too civilised in this respect : the ladies requiring rather more than is dne to them. Yet among the working classes it has a sweet and wholesome influence, softening as it does the asperities of labour, and lightening the bur- then to each. Here woman's empire is within, and here she shines the household star of the poor man's hearth; not in idleness, for in America, of all countries in the world, prosperity depends on femnh industry. Here "she looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness," and for tliis reason, perhaps, it is, that their husbands arise and call them blessed. Now Mr. Hanselpecker had all the respect for his lady natural to his country, and assisted her domes- tic toils by milking the cows, making fires, and fetch ino- wood and water. Yet there was one mate- rial point in which he failed : she was often " scant of bread," he being one who, even in this land of toil, got along, somehow or other, with wondrous little bodily labour; professing to boa farmer, he held one of the finest pieces of land in the set- tlement, but his agricultural operations, for the most part, consisted in hoeing a few sickly stems of corn, while others were reaping buckwheat, or sowing a patch of flax, " 'cause the old woman wanted loom gears ;" shooting cranes, s})caring salmon, or trapping musquash on the lake, he })re- fers to raising fowl or sheep, as cranes find their own provisions, and fish require no fences to keep them from the fields. His wife's skill, however, in managing the dairy department, is, when butter rates well in the market, their chief dependence ; and he, when he chooses to work, which he would !- I •'(mUI , li [, ill ;!l 80 much ratlier do for aiiotlier than Iiimself, can earn cn()u» now joined us, "since tliat ere burning-? "Well," said she, "I aint exactly avaihid to tell you right off how many years it is since, but 1 gu'^SL ir Jake was a week old when it happen- ed." Now, as the burning of Miramichi was one of the most interesting historical events in the pro- vince records, we gave him the date, which was some twenty years since; this also gave us the sum of Jacob's lustres — rather few considering lie had planted a tater patch on shares, and laid out to marry in the fall. " Well," said he, *• Von may depend that was a fire — my hair cur's yet when 1 think of it — it ■ -as the same summer we got married, and Washington Welford having been out a timber* i,|K?»ji 81 ^^ I liunting witli me the fall afore, we discovered a most elegant growth of j)ine — I never see'd be- fore nor since the eqnal on it — regular sixty foot- ers, every log on 'em — the trees slood on the banks of the river, as if growing there on })urpose to be handy for raiting, and we having got a first- rate supply from our merchants in town, toted our things with some of the old woman's house trumpery to the spot we soon had up a slianty, and went to work in right airnest. There was no mistake in Wash; he was as clever a fellow as ever I knowed, and as handsome a one — seven feet without iiis shoes — eyes like diamonds, and hair slick as silk ; when he swunor his axe amonjr the timber, you may depend he looked as if he had a mind to do it — our fellin looking as it they had got out of their latitude, and didn't think they would find it, I reckon we weren't the only If U'.:i! 84 sufferers by that ere conflagration. As we came down to the settlements folks took us for ghosts, we looked so miserable like — howsomever, with good tendin, we soon came round again; but, to tell you the truth, it makes me feel kind a narv- ous, when I see a fallow burning ever since. Tho' folks could'nt tell how that ere fire hap- pened, and say it was a judgment on lumber men i>nd sich like, I think it came from some settlers' improvements, who, wishing to raise lots of taters, destroyed the finest block of timber land in the province, besides the ships in Miramichi harbour, folks' buildings, and many a clever feller, whose latter end was never known.'* *' And so I suppose Mr. H.," said his wife, ** that is the reason you make such slim clearings." *'I estimate your right," said lie; and we, not ex- pecting the spice of sentiment which flavored Mr. H.'s story, left him, and reached home, where we closed the evening by putting into the following shape one of Silas Marvin's legends, not written with a perryian pen and azure fluid, but with a quill from the wing of a wild goose, shot b}' our friend Ilanselpecker, (who by the way was fond of such game,) as last fall it took its flight from our cold land to the sunny south, and with home- made ink prepared from a decoction of white maple bark. 85 THE LOST ONE, A TALE OF THE EARLY SETTLERS. Beyond the utmost verge of the h'mits which the white settlers had yet dared to encroach on the red owners of the soil, stood ♦he Iiumble dweliinfr of Kenneth Gordon, a Scotch emif»rant, whom necessity hud driven from tlie bhic hills and fertile vallies of his native land, to seek a shelter in the tangled mazes of the forests of the new world. Few would have had the courage to ven- ture thus into the very power of the savage — but Kenneth Gordon possessed a strong arm and a hopeful heart, to give the lips he loved unbor- rowed bread ; this nerved him against danger, and, 'spite of the warning of friends, Kenneth pitched his tent twelve miles from the nearest set- tlement. Two years passed over the family in their lonely home, and nothing had occurred to disturb their peace, when business required Kenneth's presence up the river. One calm and dewy morning he prepared for his journey; Ma- rion Gordon followetl her husband to the wicket, and a tear, which she vaiidv strove to hide with a smile, trembled in her large blue eye. She wedded Kenneth when she might well have won a richer bridegroom : she chose him for his worth ; their lot had been a hard one — but in all the changing scenes of life their love remained unchanged ; and Kenneth Gordon, although thirteen years a I 1 1'^ .11 86 i ! I i t ! 1.1 : r ' ill; ' 1, :i ll Hi \\\ Juisband, was still a lover. Marion strove to ral- ly her spirits, as her husband gaily cheered her with an assurance of his return before night. '* Why so fearful, Marion ? See here is our ain bonny Charlie for a guard, anil what better could an auld Jacobite wish for ?" said Kenneth, look- ing fondly on his wife ; while their son marched past them in his Highland dress and wooden claymore by his side. Marion smiled as her hus- band playfully alluded to the difference in their religion; for Kenneth was a staunch presbyterian, and his wife a Roman catholic; yet that differ- ence — for which so much blood has been shed in the world — never for an instant dimmed the lus- tre of their peace; and Marion told her glittering beads on the same spot where her husband breath- ed his simple prayer. Kenneth, taking advan- tage of the smile he had roused, waved his hand to th(; little group, and was soon out of sigl)t. The hot and sultry day was passed by Marion in a state of restless anxiety, but it was ibr Kenneth alone she feared, and the hours sped heavily till she might expect his return. Slowly the burning sun declined in the heavens, and poured a flood of golden radiance on the leafy trees and the bright waves of the majestic river, which rolled its graceful waters past the settlers dwelling. Marion left her infant asleep in a small shed at the back of the log-house, with Mary, her eldest daughter, to watch by it, and taking Charlie by the hand went out to the gate to look for her hus- band's return. Kenneth's father, an old and al- most superannuated man, sat in the door-way, with twin girls of Kenneth's sitting on his knees, singing their evening hymn, while he bent fondly over them. 87 Scarcely had Mai'ion reached the wicket, when a loud yell — the wild war-whoop of the sava A <^ 6^ 88 1 i t ■ '! I I hi Mi ;l i Iff 1 i ■ r lil'/\ ^ j 3 i ^ i not the gleeful voices of his children, as they were wont to bound forth to meet him, he saw not Marion stand at the gate to greet liis return — but a thick black smoke rose heavilv to the summits of the trees, and the smouldering logs of the building fell with a sullen noise to the ground. The rain had quenched the fire, and the house was not all consumed. Wild with terror, Ken- neth rushed forward ; his feet slipped on the bloody threshhold, and he fell on the mangled bodies of his father and his children. The de- moniac laceration of the stiffeninir victims told too plainly who had been their murderers. How that night of horror passed Kenneth knew not. The morning sun was shining bright — when the bereaved and broken-hearted man was roused from the stupor of despair by the sound of the word *' father" in his ears ; he raised his eyes, and beheld Mary, his eldest daughter, on her knees beside him. For a moment Kenneth fancied he had had a dreadful dream, but the awful reality was before him. He pressed Mary wildly to his bosom, and a passionate flood of tears relieved his burning brain. Mary had heard the yells of the savages, and the shrieks of her mother convinced her that the dreaded Indians had arrived. She threw open the window, and snatching the infant from its bed, flew like a wounded deer to the woods behind the house. The frightened girl heard all, remained quiet, and knowing her father woidd soon return, left the little Alice asleep on some dried leaves, and ventured from her hiding place. No trace of Marion or of Charles could be found — they had been reserved for a worse 8J) fate ; and for months a vigilanf, search was kept up — parties of the settlers, leci on hy Kenneth, scoured the woods night and day. Many miles off' a bloody battle had been fought between two hostile tribes, where a part of Marlon's dress and of her son's was found, but here all trace of the Indians ended, and Kenneth returned to his deso- lated home. No persuasion could induce him to leave the place where the joys of his heart had been buried: true, his remaining children yet linked him to life, but his love fol* them only in- creased his sorrow for the dead and the lost. Kenneth became a prematurely old man — his dark hair faded white as the mountain snow — his brow was wrinkled, and his tall figure bent down- wards to the earth. Seventeen years had rolled on their returnless flight since that night of withering sorrow. Ken- neth Gordon still lived, a sad and broken-spirited man ; but time, that great tamer of the human heart, v/hich dulls the arrows of affliction, and softens the bright tints of joy down to a sober hue, had shed its healing influence even over his wounded heart. Mary Gordon had been some years a wife, and her children played around Kenneth's footsteps. A little Marion recalled the wife of his youth; and another, Charlie, the image of his lost son, slept in liis bosom. There was yet another person who was as a sunbeam in the sight of Kenneth ; her light laugh sounded as music in his ears, and the joy-beams of her eyes fell gladly on his soul. This gladdener of sorrow was his daughter Alice, now a young and lovely woman ; bright and beautiful was she, lovely as u rose-bud, with a living soul — I 3 , i .■)f7 i- M tii ; ?: \ III !h f ' r !•■ 1 A t h il f f I- Hi . if ' « 90 ** No fountain from its nafive cave, E'er tripped witli foot so free ; She was as happy as a wave That dances o'er the sea." Alice was but five months old when her mother was taken from her, but Mary, who watched over her helpless infancy with a care far beyond her years, and with love equal to a mother's, was re- paid by Alice with most unbounded affection; for to the love of a sister was added the veneration of a parent. One bright and balmy Sabbath morning Ken- neth Gordon and his family left their home for the house of prayer. Mary and her husband walked together, and their children gambolled on the grassy path before them. Kenneth leaned on the arm of his daughter Alice; another person walked by her side, whose eye, when it met her's, deepened the tint on her fair cheek. It was Wil- liam Douglas — the chosen lover of her heart, and well worthy was he to love the gentle Alice, to- gether they proceeded to the holy altar, and the next Sabbath was to be their bridal day. A change had taken place since Kenneth Gor- don first settled on the banks of the lonely river. The white walls and graceful spire of a church now rose where the blue smoke of the solitary log-house once curled through the forest trees; and the ashes of Kenneth's children and his fa- ther reposed within its sacred precincts. A large and populous village stood where the red deer roved on his trackless path. The white sails of the laden barque gleamed on the water, where erst floated the stealthy canoe of the savage; and ' 91 a pious throng offered tlieir aspirations where fhe war-whoop had rung on tlie air. Alice was to spend the remaining days of her maiden life with a young friend, a few miles from her father's, and they were to return together on her bridal eve. William Douglas accompanied Alice on her walk to the house of her friend. Tliey parted within a few steps of the house, William returned home, and Alice, gay and glad- some as a bird, entered a piece of wood, which led directly to the house. Scarcely had she en- tered it when she was seized by a strong arm ; her mouth was gagged, and something thrown over her herd ; she was then borne rapidly down the bank of the river, and laid in a canoe. She heard no voices, and the swift motion of the canoe rendered her unconscious. How long the jour- ney lasted she knew not. At length she found herself, on recovering from partial insensibility, in a rude hut, with a frightful- looking Indian squaw bathing her hands, while another held a blazing torch of pine above her head. Their hi- deous faces, frightful as the imagery of a dream, scared Alice, and she fainted again. The injuries which Kenneth Gordon had suf- fered from the savages made him shudder at the name of Indian — and neither he nor his family ever held converse with those who traded in the village. Metea, a chief of the Menomene Indians, in his frequent trading expeditions to the village, had often seen Alice, and became enamoured of the village beauty. He had long watched an op- portunity of stealing her, and bearing her away to his tribe, where he made no doubt of winning her love. When Alice recovered the squaws left ,1':, i I ', 1 1" !; ^ m 98 Hi IM ill i i ! her, and Metea entered the hut ; he commenced by tellinfr her of the great honour in being allow- ed to share the hut of Metea, a" brave" whose bow was always strung, whose tomahawk never missed its blow, and whose scalps were as numerous as the stars in the path-way of ghosts ; and he pointed to the grisly trophies hung in the smoke of the cabin. He concluded by giving her furs and strings of beads, with which the squaws de- corated her, and the next morning the trembling girl was led from the hut, and lifted into a circle formed of the warriors of the tribe. Here Metea stood forth and declared his deeds of bravery, and asked their consent for " the flower of the white nation" to be his bride. When he had finished, a young warrior, whose light and graceful limbs might well have been a sculptor's model, stood foi vard to speak. He was dressed in the richest Indian costume, and his scalping knife and beaded r>ioccasins glittered in the sunshine. His features bore an expression very different from the others. Neither malice nor cunning lurked in his full dark eye, but a calm and majestic melancholy reposed on his high and smooth brow, and was diffused over his whole mein; and, in the clear tones of his voice, " Brothers," said he to the warriors, '* we have buried the hatchet with the white na- tion — it is very deep beneath the earth — shall we dig it because Metea scorns the women of his tribe, because he has stolen 'the flower of the white nation ?* Let her be restored to her peo- ple, lest her chiefs come to claim her, and Metea lives to disgrace the brave warriors of the woods?" He sat down, and the circle rising, said, " Our brother speaks well, but Metea is very bra It was decided that Alice should remain. »> 93 Towards evening Metea entered tlie hut, and opproacliing Alice, caught hold of her hand, — the v'ildest passion gleamed in his glittering eyes, and Alice, shrieking, ran towards the door. Metea caught her in his arms and pressed her to his bosom. Again she shrieked, and a descend- ing blow cleft Metea's skidl in sunder, and his blood fell on lier neck. It was the young Indian who advised her liberation in the morninfr who dealt Metea's death-blow. Taking Alice in his arms, he stepped hghtly from the hut. It was a still and starless night, and the sleeping Indians saw them not. Unloosing a canoe, he placed Alice in it, and pushed softly from the shore. Before the next sunset Alice was in sight of her home. Her father and friends knew nothin I! ; '. h 94 m iiij bursting into tears, threw himself at the old man's feet — he bent his feathered head to the earth. 1'he stern warrior wept like a child. Oh ! who can trace the deep workin