Life in Canada Fifty Years Ago | Page 2

the Canadian Monthly for publication.
Sometime afterwards I followed his advice. The portion of the papers
that appeared in the last-named periodical were favourably received,
and I was much gratified not only by that, but from private letters
afterwards received from different parts of the Dominion, conveying
expressions of commendation which I had certainly never anticipated.
This is as much as need be said about the origin and first publication of
the papers which make up the principal part of this volume. I do not
deem it necessary to give any reasons for putting them in book form;

but I may say this: the whole has been carefully revised, and in its
present shape I hope will meet with a hearty welcome from a large
number of Canadians.
In conclusion, I wish to express my thanks to the Hon. J.C. Aikins,
Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba, for information he procured for me
at the time of publication, and particularly to J.C. Dent, Esq., to whom I
am greatly indebted for many useful hints.

CONTENTS.

DEDICATION
PREFACE

CHAPTER I.
The prose and poetry of pioneer life in the backwoods--The log house--
Sugar making--An omen of good luck--My Quaker grandparents--The
old home--Winter evenings at the fireside--Rural
hospitality--Aristocracy versus Democracy--School days--Debating
societies in the olden time--A rural orator clinches the nail--Cider,
sweet and otherwise-- Husking in the barn--Hog killing and sausage
making--Full cloth and corduroy--Winter work and winter
amusements--A Canadian skating song.

CHAPTER II.
The round of pioneer life--Game--Night fishing--More details about
sugar-making--Sugaring-off--Taking a hand at the old churn--Sheep-
washing--Country girls, then and now--Substance and Shadow--"Old
Gray" and his eccentricities--Harvest--My early emulation of Peter Paul
Rubens--Meeting-houses--Elia on Quaker meetings--Variegated
autumn landscapes--Logging and quilting bees--Evening fun--The
touching lay of the young woman who sat down to sleep.

CHAPTER III.
Progress, material and social--Fondness of the young for dancing--
Magisterial nuptials--The charivari--Goon-hunting--Catching a tartar--
Wild pigeons--The old Dutch houses--Delights of summer and winter
contrasted--Stilled voices.

CHAPTER IV.
The early settlers in Upper Canada--Prosperity, national and
individual-- The old homes, without and
within--Candle-making--Superstitions and omens--The
death-watch--Old almanacs--Bees--The divining rod--The U. E.
Loyalists--Their sufferings and heroism--An old and a new price list--
Primitive horologes--A jaunt in one of the conventional "carriages" of
olden times--Then and now--A note of warning

CHAPTER V.
Jefferson's definition of "Liberty"--How it was acted upon--The
Canadian renaissance--Burning political questions in Canada half a
century ago-- Locomotion--Mrs. Jameson on Canadian
stagecoaches--Batteaux and Durham boats

CHAPTER VI.
Road-making--Weller's line of stages and steamboats--My trip from
Hamilton to Niagara--Schools and colleges--Pioneer Methodist
Preachers-- Solemnization of matrimony--Literature and
libraries--Early newspapers-- Primitive editorial articles

CHAPTER VII.
Banks--Insurance--Marine--Telegraph companies--Administration of
Justice--Milling and manufactures--Rapid increase of population in
cities and towns--Excerpts from Andrew Picken
SKETCHES OF EARLY HISTORY:--
Early schools and schoolmasters--Birth of the American
Republic--Love of country--Adventures of a U.E. Loyalist family
ninety years ago--The wilds of Upper Canada--Hay bay--Hardships of
pioneer life--Growth of population--Division of the Canadian
Provinces--Fort Frontenac--The "dark days"--Celestial fireworks--Early
steam navigation in Canada--The country merchant Progress--The Hare
and the Tortoise
RANDOM RECOLLECTIONS EARLY DAYS
Paternal memories--A visit to the home of my boyhood--The old
Quaker meeting-house--Flashes of silence--The old burying
ground--"To the memory of Eliza"--Ghostly experiences--Hiving the
Bees--Encounter with a bear--Giving "the mitten"--A "boundary
question"--Song of the bullfrog-- Ring--Sagacity of
animals--Training-days--Picturesque scenery on the Bay of
Quinte--John A. Macdonald--A perilous journey--Aunt Jane and Willet
Casey

CHAPTER I.
"I talk of dreams, For you and I are past our dancing days." --Romeo
and Juliet.
THE PROSE AND POETRY OF PIONEER LIFE IN THE
BACKWOODS--THE LOG HOUSE-- SUGAR MAKING--AN

OMEN OF GOOD LUCK--MY QUAKER GRANDPARENTS--THE
OLD HOME--WINTER EVENINGS AT THE FIRESIDE--RURAL
HOSPITALITY--ARISTOCRACY versus DEMOCRACY--SCHOOL
DAYS--DEBATING SOCIETIES IN THE OLDEN TIME--A RURAL
ORATOR CLINCHES THE NAIL--CIDER, SWEET AND
OTHERWISE--HUSKING IN THE BARN--HOG KILLING AND
SAUSAGE MAKING--FULL CLOTH AND CORDUROY--
WINTER WORK AND WINTER AMUSEMENTS--A CANADIAN
SKATING SONG.

I was born in the County of ----, Upper Canada, on the 4th day of June,
in the early part of this present century. I have no recollection of my
entry into the world, though I was present when the great event
occurred; but I have every reason to believe the date given is correct,
for I have it from my mother and father, who were there at the time,
and I think my mother had pretty good reason to know all about it. I
was the first of the family, though my parents had been married for
more than five years before I presented myself as their hopeful heir,
and to demand from them more attention than they anticipated.
"Children," says the Psalmist, "are an heritage, and he who hath his
quiver full of them shall not be ashamed; they shall speak with the
enemies in the gate." I do not know what effect this had on my father's
enemies, if he had any; but later experience