"Where can we stop?" said I; "we are miles from C---, and I see no prospect of the weather becoming milder."
"Yes, yes; I know, by the very intensity of the cold, that a change is at hand. We seldom have more than three very severe days running, and this is the third. At all events, it is much warmer at night in this country than during the day; the wind drops, and the frost is more bearable. I know a worthy farmer who lives about a mile ahead; he will give us house-room for a few hours; and we will resume our journey in the evening. The moon is at full; and it will be easier to wrap the children up, and keep them warm when they are asleep.
Shall we stop at Old Woodruff"s?"
"With all my heart." My teeth were chattering with the cold, and the children were crying over their aching fingers at the bottom of the sleigh.
A few minutes" ride brought us to a large farm-house, surrounded by commodious sheds and barns. A fine orchard opposite, and a yard well-stocked with fat cattle and sheep, sleek geese, and plethoric-looking swine, gave promise of a land of abundance and comfort. My brother ran into the house to see if the owner was at home, and presently returned, accompanied by the staunch Canadian yeoman and his daughter, who gave us a truly hearty welcome, and a.s.sisted in removing the children from the sleigh to the cheerful fire, that made all bright and cozy within.
Our host was a shrewd, humorous-looking Yorkshireman. His red, weather-beaten face, and tall, athletic figure, bent as it was with hard labour, gave indications of great personal strength; and a certain knowing twinkle in his small, clear grey eyes, which had been acquired by long dealing with the world, with a quiet, sarcastic smile that lurked round the corners of his large mouth, gave you the idea of a man who could not easily be deceived by his fellows; one who, though no rogue himself, was quick in detecting the roguery of others. His manners were frank and easy, and he was such a hospitable entertainer that you felt at home with him in a minute.
"Well, how are you, Mr. S---?" cried the farmer, shaking my brother heartily by the hand. "Toiling in the bush still, eh?"
"Just in the same place."
"And the wife and children?"
"Hearty. Some half-dozen have been added to the flock since you were our way."
"So much the better--so much the better. The more the merrier, Mr. S---; children are riches in this country."
"I know not how that may be; I find it hard to clothe and feed mine."
"Wait till they grow up; they will be brave helps to you then. The price of labour--the price of labour, Mr. S---, is the destruction of the farmer."
"It does not seem to trouble you much, Woodruff," said my brother, glancing round the well-furnished apartment.
"My son and S--- do it all," cried the old man. "Of course the girls help in busy times, and take care of the dairy, and we hire occasionally; but small as the sum is which is expended in wages during seed-time and harvest, I feel it, I can tell you."
"You are married again, Woodruff?"
"No, sir," said the farmer, with a peculiar smile; "not yet;"
which seemed to imply the probability of such an event. "That tall gal is my eldest daughter; she manages the house, and an excellent housekeeper she is. But I cannot keep her for ever." With a knowing wink, "Gals will think of getting married, and seldom consult the wishes of their parents upon the subject when once they have taken the notion into their heads. But "tis natural, Mr. S---, it is natural; we did just the same when we were young."
My brother looked laughingly towards the fine, handsome young woman, as she placed upon the table hot water, whiskey, and a huge plate of plum-cake, which did not lack a companion, stored with the finest apples which the orchard could produce.
The young girl looked down, and blushed.
"Oh, I see how it is, Woodruff! You will soon lose your daughter.
I wonder that you have kept her so long. But who are these young ladies?" he continued, as three girls very demurely entered the room.
"The two youngest are my darters, by my last wife, who, I fear, mean soon to follow the bad example of their sister. The other LADY,"
said the old man, with a reverential air, "is a PARTICULAR friend of my eldest darter"s."
My brother laughed slily, and the old man"s cheek took a deeper glow as he stooped forward to mix the punch.
"You said that these two young ladies, Woodruff, were by your last wife. Pray how many wives have you had?"
"Only three. It is impossible, they say in my country, to have too much of a good thing."
"So I suppose you think," said my brother, glancing first at the old man and then towards Miss Smith. "Three wives! You have been a fortunate man, Woodruff, to survive them all."
"Ay, have I not, Mr. S---? But to tell you the truth, I have been both lucky and unlucky in the wife way," and then he told us the history of his several ventures in matrimony, with which I shall not trouble my readers.
When he had concluded, the weather was somewhat milder, the sleigh was ordered to the door, and we proceeded on our journey, resting for the night at a small village about twenty miles from B---, rejoicing that the long distance which separated us from the husband and father was diminished to a few miles, and that, with the blessing of Providence, we should meet on the morrow.
About noon we reached the distant town, and were met at the inn by him whom one and all so ardently longed to see. He conducted us to a pretty, neat cottage, which he had prepared for our reception, and where we found old Jenny already arrived. With great pride the old woman conducted me over the premises, and showed me the furniture "the masther" had bought; especially recommending to my notice a china tea-service, which she considered the most wonderful acquisition of the whole.
"Och! who would have thought, a year ago, misthress dear, that we should be living in a mansion like this, and ating off raal chaney?
It is but yestherday that we were hoeing praties in the field."
"Yes, Jenny, G.o.d has been very good to us, and I hope that we shall never learn to regard with indifference the many benefits which we have received at His hands."
Reader! it is not my intention to trouble you with the sequel of our history. I have given you a faithful picture of a life in the backwoods of Canada, and I leave you to draw from it your own conclusions. To the poor, industrious working man it presents many advantages; to the poor gentleman, none! The former works hard, puts up with coa.r.s.e, scanty fare, and submits, with a good grace, to hardships that would kill a domesticated animal at home. Thus he becomes independent, inasmuch as the land that he has cleared finds him in the common necessaries of life; but it seldom, if ever, in remote situations, accomplishes more than this. The gentleman can neither work so hard, live so coa.r.s.ely, nor endure so many privations as his poorer but more fortunate neighbour. Unaccustomed to manual labour, his services in the field are not of a nature to secure for him a profitable return. The task is new to him, he knows not how to perform it well; and, conscious of his deficiency, he expends his little means in hiring labour, which his bush-farm can never repay. Difficulties increase, debts grow upon him, he struggles in vain to extricate himself, and finally sees his family sink into hopeless ruin.
If these sketches should prove the means of deterring one family from sinking their property, and shipwrecking all their hopes, by going to reside in the backwoods of Canada, I shall consider myself amply repaid for revealing the secrets of the prison-house, and feel that I have not toiled and suffered in the wilderness in vain.
THE MAPLE-TREE
A CANADIAN SONG
Hail to the pride of the forest--hail To the maple, tall and green; It yields a treasure which ne"er shall fail While leaves on its boughs are seen.
When the moon shines bright, On the wintry night, And silvers the frozen snow; And echo dwells On the jingling bells As the sleighs dart to and fro; Then it brightens the mirth Of the social hearth With its red and cheery glow.
Afar, "mid the bosky forest shades, It lifts its tall head on high; When the crimson-tinted evening fades From the glowing saffron sky; When the sun"s last beams Light up woods and streams, And brighten the gloom below; And the deer springs by With his flashing eye, And the shy, swift-footed doe; And the sad winds chide In the branches wide, With a tender plaint of woe.
The Indian leans on its rugged trunk, With the bow in his red right-hand, And mourns that his race, like a stream, has sunk From the glorious forest land.
But, blythe and free, The maple-tree Still tosses to sun and air Its thousand arms, While in countless swarms The wild bee revels there; But soon not a trace Of the red man"s race Shall be found in the landscape fair.
When the snows of winter are melting fast, And the sap begins to rise, And the biting breath of the frozen blast Yields to the spring"s soft sighs, Then away to the wood, For the maple, good, Shall unlock its honied store; And boys and girls, With their sunny curls, Bring their vessels br.i.m.m.i.n.g o"er With the luscious flood Of the brave tree"s blood, Into cauldrons deep to pour.
The blaze from the sugar-bush gleams red; Far down in the forest dark, A ruddy glow on the trees is shed, That lights up their rugged bark; And with merry shout, The busy rout Watch the sap as it bubbles high; And they talk of the cheer Of the coming year, And the jest and the song pa.s.s by; And brave tales of old Round the fire are told, That kindle youth"s beaming eye.
Hurrah! For the st.u.r.dy maple-tree!
Long may its green branch wave; In native strength sublime and free, Meet emblem for the brave.
May the nation"s peace With its growth increase, And its worth be widely spread; For it lifts not in vain To the sun and rain Its tall, majestic head.
May it grace our soil, And reward our toil, Till the nation"s heart is dead.
CHAPTER XXVIII
CANADIAN SKETCHES
The preceding sketches of Canadian life, as the reader may well suppose, are necessarily tinctured with somewhat somber hues, imparted by the difficulties and privations with which, for so many years the writer had to struggle; but we should be sorry should these truthful pictures of scenes and characters, observed fifteen or twenty years ago, have the effect of conveying erroneous impressions of the present state of a country, which is manifestly destined, at no remote period, to be one of the most prosperous in the world. Had we merely desired to please the imagination of our readers, it would have been easy to have painted the country and the people rather as we could have wished them to be, than as they actually were, at the period to which our description refers; and, probably, what is thus lost in truthfulness, it would have gained in popularity with that cla.s.s of readers who peruse books more for amus.e.m.e.nt than instruction.
When I say that Canada is destined to be one of the most prosperous countries in the world, let it not be supposed that I am influenced by any unreasonable partiality for the land of my adoption. Canada may not possess mines of gold or silver, but she possesses all those advantages of climate, geological structure, and position, which are essential to greatness and prosperity. Her long and severe winter, so disheartening to her first settlers, lays up, amidst the forests of the West, inexhaustible supplies of fertilising moisture for the summer, while it affords the farmer the very best of natural roads to enable him to carry his wheat and other produce to market. It is a remarkable fact, that hardly a lot of land containing two hundred acres, in British America, can be found without an abundant supply of water at all seasons of the year; and a very small proportion of the land itself is naturally unfit for cultivation. To crown the whole, where can a country be pointed out which possesses such an extent of internal navigation? A chain of river navigation and navigable inland seas, which, with the ca.n.a.ls recently constructed, gives to the countries bordering on them all the advantages of an extended sea-coast, with a greatly diminished risk of loss from shipwreck!