The Black-Sealed Letter | Page 6

upon Canada.
Such is not the case on my part. I have given expression to nothing
more than the opinion held by too many persons throughout Great
Britain respecting this country. Indeed, there are hundreds in England
alone, who are not aware of the existence of such a place; and
thousands there are who know of nothing authentic concerning Canada
except the name. I speak not from hearsay alone; I can personally
substantiate these facts.
Since the Confederation of these Provinces in 1867, Canada has
become better known in England through the means of lecturers and
emigration-agents sent thither by the Dominion Government. But, in
some cases, men have been appointed as lecturers who were not really

possessed of any personal experience and practical knowledge of
Canada beyond the limits of the city or town in which they had lived.
Such men, in order to make the country and themselves popular, drew
highly colored pictures of the New Dominion, extolling its
inexhaustible physical resources, its mercantile and manufacturing
advantages, its railway and river facilities, its millions of acres of new
land in the shape of farms to be given away gratis to all who agreed to
become settlers,--together with a thousand of other attractions,
augmented 100 per cent. Such lectures were generally delivered in
manufacturing towns and the great centres of population. There is
always in every audience a number whose minds are rendered pliable
by the speaker's tongue, particularly if their own interests are involved.
Such was generally the case at these lectures. Clerks, young
professionals, and mechanics, including silk and carpet spinners and
weavers would become thus unhinged from their long accustomed
stand-post, and perchance, for the first time, begin to prospect their
future beyond the limits of their own town, at the same time wondering
what on earth had induced them to live fools so long. By these means a
vast number of Englishmen during the past few years, have been
persuaded to emigrate to Canada. The hardier class, comparatively few
in number, flocked into the agricultural and forest districts, to hew out a
home for themselves; while the more sensitive struck a bee-line to the
cities, to procure easy and genteel employment at excellent wages. But
in so doing the hopes of many were suddenly frustrated. Shops and
counting-houses were literally crammed with employees; in fact, every
genteel situation had its quota. Silk-lace and carpet weaving had
scarcely a nominal existence. Every town, village, and city had more
professional men than could get a comfortable livelihood. The
characteristics of the country and its people appeared to them extremely
coarse and terribly 'orrifying'. Wages, they said, were no better than
those in England. Many who could have got employment preferred
travelling the country over in search of higher wages. Some, however,
went manfully to work at once. Others preferred boarding at a hotel,
living idle upon their stock of funds, waiting patiently for something
upon the wheel of fortune to turn up profitably to their own interests,
and every morning eagerly peering over the "want advertisements" of

the Globe and Witness, perhaps for months, until their means became
considerably exhausted; and eventually taking a hurried departure to
the States, or perchance returning home, utterly disgusted with Canada
and everything connected with it, and carrying in their minds pictures
of the country delineated in the darkest colors.
We now return to our story. Frederick on his return from Tiverton went
immediately to see Clara and the child. When he had made known his
design she felt awfully chagrined at the idea of his intended "foolish
adventure," as she termed it, and also sadly disappointed when she
discovered that all those airy fabrications she had been building up
during the winter were beginning to fall.
"Why, Frederick, what do you really mean by all this?" she exclaimed.
"Do you intend leaving me unmarried and unprovided for, with my
child, to fret out a lonely, miserable existence in your absence?"
"Oh! I shall return in a few months to take you and the child to a happy
home in Canada."
"Ah, Frederick; why again tantalize me with your promises, and false
prospects. Where, I ask you, is the happy home you promised me at
Tiverton? Where is the matrimonial title you promised to honor me
with? Ah! Fred! Consider for a moment, what you have done and what
you are now doing. By your insinuating love you riveted my affection
to your heart. It still continues unbroken and as tenacious as ever. You
flattered me with honied words. You excited me with false hopes. My
confidence, yea, my very self I rendered submissively to your honor.
But, alas! the very prospects you reared for my delight you are now
trampling beneath your feet. Am I to be left with my little child,