Young Lion of the Woods

A free download from http://www.dertz.in

Young Lion of the Woods

Project Gutenberg's Young Lion of the Woods, by Thomas Barlow Smith This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net
Title: Young Lion of the Woods A Story of Early Colonial Days
Author: Thomas Barlow Smith
Release Date: July 2, 2005 [EBook #16181]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK YOUNG LION OF THE WOODS ***

Produced by Early Canadiana Online, Robert Cicconetti, Thomas Hutchinson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

YOUNG LION OF THE WOODS;
OR
A Story of Early Colonial Days.

BY
THOMAS B. SMITH.
Here in Canadian hearth, and home, and name;-- This name which yet shall grow Till all the nations know Us for a patriot people, heart and hand Loyal to our native earth, our own Canadian land! --Chas. G.D. Roberts.

HALIFAX, N.S.: NOVA SCOTIA PRINTING COMPANY. 1889.
_Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year 1889, by_ THOMAS B. SMITH, at the Department of Agriculture.

Dedication.
TO MY WIFE I DEDICATE THIS, MY FIRST WORK, WITH MY LOVE.

PREFACE.
The only merit that the writer claims for the following pages is, that they contain a record of facts, setting forth the sacred sentiments of duty, religious trust, and the spirit of liberty, amid sufferings-and hardships of persons, whose loyalty was put to the severest test.
It has been beautifully said, "that he who sets a colony on foot designs a great work." "He designs all the good, and all the glory, of which, in the series of ages, it might be the means; and he shall be judged more by the lofty, ultimate aim and result, than by the actual instant motive. You may well admire, therefore, the solemn and adorned plausibilities of the colonizing of Rome from Troy, in the Eneid! Though the leader had been burned out of house and home, and could not choose but go. You may find in the flight of the female founder of the gloomy greatness of Carthage a certain epic interest; yet was she running from the madness of her husband to save her life. Emigration from our stocked communities of undeified men and women, emigration for conquest, for gold, for very restlessness of spirit, if they grow toward an imperial issue, have all thus a prescriptive and recognized ingredient of heroism. But when the immediate motive is as grand as the ultimate hope was lofty, and the ultimate success splendid, then, to use an expression of Bacon's," "the music is fuller."
In the hope that the privations and heroic conduct of those who are the subjects of the story, in the following chapters, may prove as interesting to the public as they did to the writer, when he first learned the history of such heroism, the writer submits them to the reader.
JANUARY, 1889.

CONTENTS Page
YOUNG LION OF THE WOODS; A Story of Early Colonial Days. i
PREFACE. 1
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 3
CHAPTER I.
FIRST EXPERIENCE OF COLONIAL LIFE, 1769-70. 10
CHAPTER II.
TRADING,--TROUBLE,--RETREAT. 25
CHAPTER III.
ARRIVES OFF FORT FREDERICK--PAUL GUIDON. 36
CHAPTER IV.
TERRIBLE EXPERIENCE AT SEA. 52
CHAPTER V.
CAPT. GODFREY AND LORD WM. CAMPBELL. --YOUNG LION OF THE WOODS. 67
CHAPTER VI.
IN ENGLAND.--THE CAPTAIN AND THE LORDS. 76
CHAPTER VII.
ARRIVAL AND RETREAT. 80
CHAPTER VIII.
REBEL PLANS--PRAYING THE LORDS. 95
CHAPTER IX.
PAUL GUIDON. 100
CHAPTER X.
MARGARET GODFREY ARRIVES IN NOVA SCOTIA. --DEATH OF THE YOUNG LION OF THE WOODS. 104
CHAPTER XI.
MARGARET GODFREY'S FAREWELL. 120
CHAPTER XII.
MARRIAGE OF LITTLE MAG. --SOCIETY AT HALIFAX. 133
A CONCLUDING CHAPTER. THEN, NOW, AND TO BE. 141

INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER
The records of the lives and actions of those who have preceded us in the procession of the generations, are full of instruction and interest. In many instances they hold up to our emulation great models of patriotism, patience, endurance, activity and pluck. It is to be regretted that many documents of past ages have been destroyed through lack of knowledge of their real value, and of the light they would have thrown upon the early history of the country. Some few, regarded merely as the relics of departed ancestors, have been so secretly kept and treasured, that dust, must and rust have all but completely defaced them.
If our ancestors had been wise in preserving the papers of their fathers, long ago there might have been collected from such documents, and displayed, many particulars of positive information concerning the very early history of the English in Acadia.
We might have possessed a much fuller history of the times when great difficulties and dangers opposed the settlers. When rushing rivers had to be crossed without boat or bridge; when men and women often found it necessary to contend single handed with Indians; and when, for meeting the many obstacles that placed themselves in their path, our