A Trip to Manitoba | Page 4

ostentatiously down the long
saloon, ringing a great hand-bell, which summoned a mixed multitude
pell-mell to the scene of action, only to retreat in disappointment at
finding the field already occupied.
It was amusing to watch the different expressions on the faces down the
lines while waiting for breakfast. Men, chiefly surveyors, who during
their annual trips to and from work had got used to "that sort of thing,"
took it coolly; judiciously choosing a seat directly opposite their

state-room door, or standing in the background, but near enough to
expel any intruder. New men, looking as uncomfortable as if they had
been caught in petty larceny, twisted their youthful moustaches, put
their hands in their pockets, or leant against the wall, trying to look
perfectly indifferent as to the event; some of their neighbours smiling
satirically at their folly. Old farmer-looking bodies, grumbling at the
crush, mingled with Yankees, toothpick in hand, ready for business;
sturdy Englishmen whom one knew appreciated creature comforts; and
dapper little Frenchmen, hungry yet polite. Here stood a bright-looking
Irishwoman, who vainly tried to restrain the impatience of five or six
children, whose faces still shone from the friction of their morning
ablutions; there, an old woman, well-nigh double with age, who, rather
than be separated from the two stalwart sons by her side, was going to
end her days in a strange land. Here was a group of bright, chatty little
French Canadians, with the usual superabundance of earrings and gay
ribbons decorating their persons; there, a great raw-boned
Scotchwoman, inwardly lamenting the porridge of her native land,
frowned upon the company.
The bell ceased, and--"Presto!" all were seated, and turning over their
plates as if for a wager. Then came a confused jumble of tongues, all
talking at once; the rattle of dishes, the clatter of knives and forks, and
the rushing about of the boy-waiters. It required quick wit to choose a
breakfast dish, from the "White-fish--finanhaddy--beefsteak--cold
roastbeef--muttonchop--bacon--potatoes--toast--roll--brown-bread-or-
white--tea-or-coffee," shouted breathlessly by a youth on one side,
while his comrade screamed the same, in a shrill falsetto, to one's
neighbour on the other; their not starting simultaneously making the
confusion worse confounded. Such was the economical mode of setting
forth the bill of fare on the Manitoba. There were three hundred and
fifty people on hoard; more than one-third of whom were cabin, or
would-be cabin, passengers. The accommodation being insufficient,
some were camping on the upper deck, some in the saloon, many on
the stairs, and others wherever elbow-room could be found. Breakfast
began at half-past seven, and at half-past nine the late risers were still at
it; and it was not long before the same thing (only more so!), in the
shape of dinner, had to be gone through.

As Lake Huron was calm and our boat steady, we had more "God save
the Queen" after dinner, besides "Rule, Britannia" and other patriotic
songs, several of the passengers playing the piano very well. Some one
also played a violin, and the men, clearing the saloon of sofas and
superfluous chairs, danced a double set of quadrilles, after having tried
in vain to persuade some of the emigrant girls to become their partners.
They were an amusing group--from the grinning steward, who, cap on
head, figured away through all the steps he could recollect or invent
(some of them marvels of skill and agility in their way), to the solemn
young man, only anxious to do his duty creditably. But alas for the
short-lived joviality of the multitude! After touching at Southampton
the boat altered her course, and the effect of her occasional rolls in the
trough of the waves soon became manifest.
One by one the less courageous of the crowd crept away. Every face
soon blanched with terror at the common enemy. Wretched women
feebly tried to help crying children, though too ill to move themselves;
others threw them down anywhere, to be able to escape in time for the
threatened paroxysm; all were groaning, wan and miserable, railing at
the poor, wearied stewardess, calling her here, there, and everywhere at
the same time, and threatening her as if she were the sole cause of their
woe. About midnight, our course being altered, "Richard was himself
again."

CHAPTER II.
Saulte Ste. Marie--Indian Embroidery--Lake Superior--Preaching,
Singing, and Card-playing--Silver Islet--Thunder Bay--The Dog
River--Flowers at Fort William--"Forty Miles of Ice"--Icebergs and
Warm Breezes--Duluth--Hotel Belles--Bump of Destructiveness in
Porters.
The scenery just before entering the St. Mary River, which unites Lake
Huron and Lake Superior, is very fine. As the steamer threaded the
group of islands with their high, rocky, picturesquely wooded shores,
we were sometimes near enough to distinguish the many varieties of

mosses and ferns just springing into life; then, steaming across the
rippling water, we reached some point whose distant beauty