Life in the Clearings versus the Bush | Page 7

structure and graceful spire adds to the beauty of the scene. Yet
the funds for rearing that handsome building, which is such an
ornament to the town, were chiefly derived from small subscriptions,
drawn from the earnings of mechanics, day-labourers, and female
servants. If the Church of England were supported throughout the
colony, on the voluntary principle, we should soon see fine stone
churches, like St. Michael, replacing these decaying edifices of wood,
and the outcry about the ever-vexed question of the Clergy Reserves,

would be merged in her increased influence and prosperity.
The deep-toned, sonorous bell, that fills the steeple of the Catholic
church, which cost, I have been told, seven hundred pounds, and was
brought all the way from Spain, was purchased by the voluntary
donations of the congregation. This bell is remarkable for its fine tone,
which can be heard eight miles into the country, and as far as the
village of Northport, eleven miles distant, on the other side of the bay.
There is a solemn grandeur in the solitary voice of the magnificent bell,
as it booms across the valley in which the town lies, and reverberates
among the distant woods and hills, which has a very imposing effect.
A few years ago the mechanics in the town entered into an agreement
that they would only work from six to six during the summer months,
and from seven till five in the winter, and they offered to pay a certain
sum to the Catholic church for tolling the bell at the said hours. The
Catholic workmen who reside in or near the town, adhere strictly to this
rule, and, if the season is ever so pressing, they obstinately refuse to
work before or after the stated time. I have seen, on our own little farm,
the mower fling down his scythe in the swathe, and the harvest-man his
sickle in the ridge, the moment the bell tolled for six.
In fact, the bell in this respect is looked upon as a great nuisance; and
the farmers in the country refuse to be guided by it in the hours allotted
for field labour; as they justly remark that the best time for hard work
in a hot country is before six in the morning, and after the heat of the
day in the evening.
When the bell commences to toll there is a long pause between each of
the first four strokes. This is to allow the pious Catholic time for
crossing himself and saying a short prayer.
How much of the ideal mingles with this worship! No wonder that the
Irish, who are such an imaginative people, should cling to it with such
veneration. Would any other creed suit them as well? It is a solemn
thing to step into their churches, and witness the intensity of their
devotions. Reason never raises a doubt to shake the oneness of their
faith. They receive it on the credit of their priests, and their credulity is

as boundless as their ignorance. Often have I asked the poor Catholics
in my employ why such and such days were holy days? They could
seldom tell me, but said that "the priest told them to keep them holy,
and to break them would be a deadly sin."
I cannot but respect their child-like trust, and the reverence they feel for
their spiritual teachers; nor could I ever bring myself to believe that a
conscientious Catholic was in any danger of rejection from the final bar.
He has imposed upon himself a heavier yoke than the Saviour kindly
laid upon him, and has enslaved himself with a thousand superstitious
observances which to us appear absurd; but his sincerity should awaken
in us an affectionate interest in his behalf, not engender the bitter hatred
which at present forms an adamantine barrier between us. If the
Protestant would give up a little of his bigotry, and the Catholic a part
of his superstition, and they would consent to meet each other half way,
as brothers of one common manhood, inspired by the same Christian
hope, and bound to the same heavenly country, we should no longer see
the orange banner flaunting our streets on the twelfth of July, and
natives of the same island provoking each other to acts of violence and
bloodshed.
These hostile encounters are of yearly occurrence in the colony, and are
justly held in abhorrence by the pious and thinking portion of the
population of either denomination. The government has for many years
vainly endeavoured to put them down, but they still pollute with their
moral leprosy the free institutions of the country, and effectually
prevent any friendly feeling which might grow up between the
members of these rival and hostile creeds.
In Canada, where all religions are tolerated, it appears