Life in Canada Fifty Years Ago | Page 4

is the raising of a frame barn behind the house,
and of a niece of my father's holding me in her arms to see the men
pushing up the heavy "bents" with long poles. The noise of the men
shouting and driving in the wooden pins with great wooden beetles,
away up in the beams and stringers, alarmed me a great deal, but it all
went up, and then one of the men mounted the plate (the timber on
which the foot of the rafter rests) with a bottle in his hand, and
swinging it round his head three times, threw it off in the field. If the
bottle was unbroken it was an omen of good luck. The bottle, I
remember, was picked up whole, and shouts of congratulation followed.
Hence, I suppose, the prosperity that attended my father.
The only other recollection I have of this place was of my father, who
was a very ingenious man, and could turn his hand to almost everything,
making a cradle for my sister, for this addition to our number had
occurred. I have no remembrance of any such fanciful crib being made
for my slumbers. Perhaps the sap-trough did duty for me in the house
as well as in the bush. The next thing was our removal, which took
place in the winter, and all that I can recall of it is that my uncle took
my mother, sister, and myself away in a sleigh, and we never returned
to the little log house. My father had sold his farm, bought half of his
old home, and come to live with his parents. They were Quakers. My
grandfather was a short, robust old man, and very particular about his
personal appearance. Half a century has elapsed since then, but the
picture of the old man taking his walks about the place, in his
closely-fitting snuff-brown cut-away coat, knee-breeches,

broad-brimmed hat and silver- headed cane is distinctively fixed in my
memory. He died soon after we took up our residence with him, and the
number who came from all parts of the country to the funeral was a
great surprise to me. I could not imagine where so many people came
from. The custom prevailed then, and no doubt does still, when a death
occurred, to send a messenger, who called at every house for many
miles around to give notice of the death, and of when and where the
interment would take place.
[Illustration: THE FIRST HOME.]
My grandmother was a tall, neat, motherly old woman, beloved by
everybody. She lived a number of years after her husband's death, and I
seem to see her now, sitting at one side of the old fire-place knitting.
She was always knitting, and turning out scores of thick warm socks
and mittens for her grandchildren.
At this time a great change had taken place, both in the appearance of
the country and in the condition of the people. It is true that many of
the first settlers had ceased from their labours, but there were a good
many left--old people now, who were quietly enjoying, in their
declining years, the fruit of their early industry. Commodious dwellings
had taken the place of the first rude houses. Large frame barns and
outhouses had grown out of the small log ones. The forest in the
immediate neighbourhood had been cleared away, and well-tilled fields
occupied its place. Coarse and scanty fare had been supplanted by a
rich abundance of all the requisites that go to make home a scene of
pleasure and contentment. Altogether a substantial prosperity was
apparent. A genuine content and a hearty good will, one towards
another, existed in all the older parts. The settled part as yet, however,
formed only a very narrow belt extending along the bay and lake shores.
The great forest lay close at hand in the rear, and the second generation,
as in the case of my father, had only to go a few miles to find it, and
commence for themselves the laborious struggle of clearing it away.
The old home, as it was called, was always a place of attraction, and
especially so to the young people, who were sure of finding good cheer
at grandfather's. What fun, after the small place called home, to have
the run of a dozen rooms, to haunt the big cellar, with its great heaps of
potatoes and vegetables, huge casks of cider, and well-filled bins of
apples, or to sit at the table loaded with the good things which

grandmother only could supply. How delicious the large piece of
pumpkin pie tasted, and how toothsome the rich crullers that melted in
the mouth! Dear old body! I can see her now going to the great
cupboard to get me something