Читать книгу Under the Lily and the Rose - Arthur G. Sir Doughty - Страница 5

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It is a fortunate circumstance for us that many of the British officers who came to Canada were artists as well as soldiers, for they often made sketches on the spot of events which are of considerable importance to us, and sometimes they kept journals as well. When John Graves Simcoe was appointed Governor of Upper Canada in 1792 he looked about for a home for himself and for buildings for the Assembly, and we know exactly what they were like because young Lieutenant Peachy had made an excellent drawing of them a year or two before.

The Governor, who had been accustomed to a beautiful home in England, did not think much of the first Government House in Upper Canada, because he says, “I am fitting up an old hovel which will look exactly like a carriers’ ale house in England.” But the Governor was only a man, and I do not think he knew much about furnishing a house. But Mrs. Simcoe did, and she brought with her some beautiful tapestry from the home of the Marquess of Buckingham, and some good furniture and ornaments, and so I am sure it was quite a nice place to live in.

ENLARGEMENT OF SMALL MAP OF CANADA

THE GIFT OF HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN

But while the Governor was busy making alterations in the “ale house” there was no place to live in, so he had three large tents set up on the lake side which served as his residence.

Navy Hall had been built a few years before by General Haldimand for the use of officers on the lake, and the first Legislature or Parliament of Upper Canada was opened in this building on the 17th September, 1792. A visitor who was staying with the Governor at the time says that “the Governor dressed in silk entered the Hall with his hat on his head attended by an Adjutant and two secretaries.” At this Parliament the old laws of Quebec were abolished, for the new Province was to be English.

The Governor, having established a government, made a tour of inspection and visited some of the Indian villages, returning by way of the present site of London. Some months later he selected the site of Toronto as the seat of government and named it York, in honour of the Duke of York’s victories in Flanders. There were few settlements in this part of Canada at this time. Twenty families had begun to make homes at Niagara, and some of the Loyalists had settled at Cataraqui.

Now that the machinery of government was organised in Upper Canada, speculators in land appeared in numbers. Benedict Arnold, who led the attack on Quebec and was beaten off by Carleton in 1775, was an applicant for a grant of thirty-one square miles. He was a Loyalist, he said, “and no man has made so great a sacrifice as I have in support of Government.” But when Simcoe heard of the application he said “General Arnold is a character extremely obnoxious to the original Loyalists,” and so, for a time at least, Arnold had to abandon his dream of becoming the owner of thirty-one square miles of Canadian territory. A careful watch was kept on the land grants, and as a rule they passed into the hands of men who would develop the country—at least during Simcoe’s administration. The Governor was exceedingly active. Roads were built, grants were given to schools, plans were made of towns, and the Loyalists had been registered, so that in the future one could distinguish those who came to the country because they wished to live under the British flag, from those who, like Arnold, merely wanted land. In the course of time there was less care taken in the granting of land, and consequently much trouble.

One of the most important grants of land in Upper Canada was given to Thomas Talbot, who was born in the Castle of Malahide in 1771. Richard de Talbot was a Baron under William the Conqueror, and when Henry II conquered Ireland a grandson of the Baron received as a gift the Barony of Malahide, nine miles from Dublin.

Thomas Talbot arrived in Quebec in 1790 to join the 24th Regiment as a Lieutenant. He had read Charlevoix’ history and was impressed with his description of the Paradise of the Hurons, and longed for the beautiful forests and streams of Upper Canada. His opportunity came when he was appointed to the staff of General Simcoe and accompanied him on his tours. The district which is now the county of Middlesex particularly appealed to him, and he made up his mind to settle there. Duty called him away and he was summoned to join the 85th Regiment as Major. In 1796 he was gazetted Lieutenant-Colonel and served with the Duke of York in the Netherlands. Then suddenly on Christmas Day, 1800, he sold out his commission, and in the year 1801 went to Canada. Here he found there were many difficulties in the way of obtaining land grants. Fees and settlement dues were demanded, although Peter Russell and the Baby family had secured large tracts without payment.

So he returned to England, and through the influence of Simcoe received a grant of five thousand acres in the township of Yarmouth. As this land was not available he settled at Dunwich. He arrived there on the 21st May, 1803, and climbing a steep bank selected a site for his home; then taking an axe he felled the first tree. In this way began the Talbot Settlement.

The next year he engaged some workmen and built the house in which he lived for the greater part of his life. During the progress of building he cut the wood, baked the bread and cooked the meals for the men. He brought over settlers from Scotland, from the South of England, and some from the United States. Then he began the great Talbot Road. By the year 1836, five hundred and eighteen thousand acres of land had been granted to him and over forty thousand settlers were added to the population of Canada.

Upper Canada is a large country, and this is a very small book. I am afraid, therefore, that we must not dwell much longer on those who were responsible for bringing over the pioneers, as we should say something about the settlers themselves and their homes. We may, however, refer to some of the larger tracts.

We will take the McNab Settlement, because McNab is such a splendid-looking fellow in his kilts. The home of the McNabs was Kennel House in Perthshire, Scotland, and here Archibald McNab was born in 1775.

The McNabs supported the Stuarts, and suffered accordingly. Archibald was an extravagant youth and became involved in debt. His principal creditor was the Earl of Breadalbane, who sent the officers of the Crown after him. Now McNab knew that if they caught him he would be cast into prison. So he consulted his friends, and they recommended him to go to America. He was to start on the morrow, but the officers of the law dogged his steps and with difficulty he escaped, partly dressed, by the back door of the house. Food and clothes were brought to him in the glen where he was hiding, and at night he crept back stealthily to the house. But a spy was watching, who ran off to give the alarm. Archibald had many friends, and four sturdy Highlanders captured the spy and bound and gagged him. Then two of his trusty servants secured a coach and at midnight they drove away in secret to Dundee; and the next day McNab sailed for Quebec.

The Earl sought him in vain, and when he heard that McNab was the guest of honour at a banquet in Montreal he was furious. McNab was safe, and in due course he received a grant of eighty thousand acres, from which he formed the township of McNab. He brought out a number of Scotch settlers from time to time; but they quarrelled with their chief, and finally the Government purchased the estate.

The settlement of Guelph was organised by a most remarkable man, John Galt, a Scotch writer of eminence. He formed a company known as the “Canada Company” with a capital of one million pounds, and brought over a number of sturdy settlers of excellent character.

The Glengarry Settlement began with the arrival of five hundred men from Scotland, with the Reverend Alexander Macdonnell, who became the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Upper Canada.

Other parts of the country were settled by the troops, and some by Quakers and Tunkers. But we shall meet many of these people in their homes.

The settlers in Quebec, as we have seen, were in constant fear of the Iroquois, but they had some advantages which the people of Upper Canada had not. Many of the Quebec settlements are on the banks of the St. Lawrence and the Richelieu, and thus use could be made of the rivers for bringing in supplies. In Upper Canada the grants as a rule were farther inland and the labour of obtaining provisions or materials was greater. There were no shops in those days, and if a wheel or a chain were broken a walk of twenty or thirty miles over the roughest roads might be necessary to have it mended.

The little settlement made by Colonel Talbot was just beginning to feel that its strenuous days of pioneer life were over when the War of 1812 set it back. The villagers had a fine mill in working order, their farms were well stocked, and their homes were comfortably furnished. Then came the American soldiers and burned their mill, stole their horses, and plundered their homes. It was very sad.

Some of the settlers when they reached their lots squatted down with their bundles and began to build their homes; but until a shelter could be provided they lived and slept in the open. A kettle, a few tools, a bag of flour, some peas and possibly a parcel of tea and a blanket or two would be the sum of their possessions. When the log cabin was complete they could begin life in their new home. For water they had to search for the nearest spring, and often the only light through the long hours of darkness would be the light of the fire.

When their supply of food was exhausted they must walk to the nearest place where it could be replenished, and carry their purchases on their back. What a home-coming! Bread without butter, tea without milk was the fare of hundreds. And yet these people kept up their courage until their lonely hut became the centre of a small cluster; then followed the village with its school and church, and finally the well-ordered town.

What kept up the courage of so many was the thought that the house they were building was their own. The measure of their comfort depended largely upon their own skill. Sometimes a man was particularly clever with the axe and he could make not only a fine log hut but could fashion excellent furniture. You would just love to sleep on one of those early beds. This is how some of the bedsteads were made. Four young sapling trees were cut for the posts and two for the sides and two short ones for the ends. Then they were set up bound with strands from the inner bark of a tree. And for a mattress they made ropes from hemp and stretched them across the bedstead until it resembled somewhat the spring mattress of to-day. Later, when corn was plentiful, they used the inner husks of the corn to fill sacks and made a mattress in this way. When they kept chickens the housewife saved all the feathers until she had enough to make a feather bed. It frequently happened that there were a number of well-built houses in a village, and in the course of a few years life became quite enjoyable. There were many festive occasions, such as sugar making, which all the children enjoyed; and the dance and music for young and old enlivened the evenings.

In the early days the villagers settled their disputes themselves; sometimes with their fists. There is an account of a man who was exceedingly disagreeable to his neighbours. One night he left his wagon loaded ready to go with the other villagers to a distant market. In the morning he found his wagon, fully loaded, astride the top of his barn. Off went the villagers merrily to the market, while the disagreeable fellow spent the rest of the day in lowering his wagon to the ground. That was the way they taught the disagreeable fellow a lesson.

After roads became common the farmers owned wagons, and therefore life was somewhat easier. Intercourse with neighbouring settlements was possible and they were brought into touch with the progress of the country.

With the second generation there was an improvement in the style of the houses and some form of municipal government was established. Then there were the elections, and often a fight, and the fun of public meetings, and schools and teachers and other evidences that pioneer modes of life were disappearing.

The pedlar was an important person and his arrival was anxiously awaited. He carried two large packs strapped across his shoulders, and it is surprising that he seemed to know just what the people wanted. He had dress goods and sheeting, and tapes and threads, and pins and needles and thimbles, and ribbons and combs and scissors, and even jewellery and cough-drops. In fact I do not know how he managed to carry so much in his packs. While he displayed his wares he would dispense the news, and there was generally a little gossip from Montreal that he was able to impart to willing ears.

In some sections the travelling tailor followed the route of the pedlar, but not as frequently. We do not hear of his carrying fashion plates, and the clothes were probably cut on a standard plan both as to style and shape. But as delivery was always long after order, it is probable that the produce of the craftsman was welcome. Even if the sleeves of the coat were too short, who cared, for in this part of the country there was no Château to set the fashion.

SUGAR MAKING IN QUEBEC, ABOUT 1850

C. Krieghoff

Sometimes a band of strolling players would pass through the villages to enliven the monotony, tumblers and clowns, quite clever people, but it depended on the views of the head of the community as to whether they would be allowed to perform or not. By some they were treated as vagabonds and driven off. Then the children were disappointed. The village postmaster was an important man. The reception of a letter was an event. One postmaster in Simcoe county chose the Sabbath for the delivery of the mail. Beaver hats were the fashion for a man of importance, and when starting off to church he placed the letters in his hat and distributed the missives to the congregation. I hope it was at the close of the service.

It was a remarkable sight to see some of the settlers arrive. Occasionally a whole family would come in a covered wagon with their furniture. Perhaps they had travelled over a thousand miles from some place beyond the border, by the only roads available, to Montreal. Then their real troubles began. The few roads in Canada were narrow and in ruts, and the wagon they had travelled in might be too wide. Then there would be the delay while the blacksmith shortened the axle and the carpenter made the wagon narrower. And the whole journey was not possible by road. By some routes it would be necessary to transport their belongings by boat for a distance, and then convey them in the best way they could to their lot. Along the trail one would find an occasional bush tavern, a single apartment, kept by some enterprising woman. The temporary accommodation was of the roughest, but it must have been most welcome to weary travellers. Many a party, after having pulled up their stakes and ventured their all in the hope of finding a home in Canada, turned back when they met with such terrible obstacles; and yet conditions such as these prevailed in some parts of Canada less than a hundred years ago.

Even when steamboats appeared in the rivers the method of travelling was tedious.

ENCAMPMENT OF 71st REGIMENT, BYTOWN, 1829

James Cockburn

Colonel Grey, the father of Lord Grey, our Governor-General, describes the difficulties of a journey from Montreal to Bytown, the former name of Ottawa. He went from Montreal in Denny’s jaunting car to Lachine with the intention of going up the Ottawa in the steamer “Ottawa,” but finding she had nine heavy barges to tow up the river, and would not reach Carillon before one in the morning, where “we would have to be transferred at that hour to stages to go twelve miles to Grenville, I determined to go round by Kingston and down the Rideau to Bytown, and accordingly took passage in the ‘Chieftain.’ On board there was the Reverend Macdonnell, the Catholic Bishop of Kingston. At the Cascades we were all transferred to stages, five in number, having each nine passengers inside. We got over the sixteen miles to Côteau du Lac tolerably comfortable and embarked on the ‘Neptune’ for Cornwall. Here we were again transferred to stages to travel twelve miles to Dickinson’s Landing. There were nine passengers inside the coach and the road being very dark we did not reach Dickinson’s Landing until half-past eleven. Here we were much excited when we heard that the notorious Bill Johnson had been seen there with five boats containing 50 or 60 armed men and consequently there was much commotion on board.”

Bill Johnson, the leader of a band of desperate outlaws, haunted the Thousand Islands and was encouraged by the Americans along the border. A British vessel, the “Sir Robert Peel,” was in American waters and Bill Johnson and his band boarded the vessel and set it on fire. This almost caused another war between England and the United States, especially after the British fired on the “Telegraph,” an American ship, while she was off Brockville. Although rewards were offered for the capture of the bandit he grew bolder and the mere mention of his name was a terror to children.

“We reached Prescott at half-past nine the next morning where we saw the windmill where Von Schoultz landed with his unfortunate sympathizers. Between Prescott and Brockville we passed Maitland where there is a thriving village owned by a Scotchman named Longley. He came there about twenty years ago and now owns the greater part of the village. He has built a very neat Presbyterian church at his own expense and has a beautiful farm. And finally after five days we arrived at Bytown.” And here I may add a word. Colonel Grey went to New Edinburgh, and in the morning his mother would not have known him, for one eye was closed and his face was swollen. He had been terribly punished by those dreadful little creatures called mosquitoes. While he was at Bytown he thought it would be a splendid site for the capital of Canada. Perhaps he hoped the mosquitoes would bite the politicians who were causing so much trouble. I wonder.

The man who could play a violin in those days was in great demand. It was a favour to have him at a winter’s dance. And sometimes he would travel many miles on foot through snow and storm to keep an appointment. And there was another use for the instrument. The sound of a violin was the surest way to keep off the wolves. And in several parts the wolves were a constant source of danger, and chickens and sheep were never safe.

It was not every village that had a church, and it is surprising to learn what long distances the people travelled to attend a service. And when you realize that the service lasted from eleven in the morning until four o’clock in the afternoon you will agree that the people were very patient. Because children to-day have been known to complain of the length of a service which lasted one hour instead of five. Perhaps they took half an hour for lunch. Let us hope so.

Methods of farming were primitive, and a good story is told by an old farmer of a neighbour and his wife who owned a team of oxen. The man drove the oxen and the woman did most of the work. The seed was scattered by hand and then a drag was drawn over the ground. On one occasion something happened to one of the oxen, and the farmer was yoked up with the other. The ox took a dislike to his companion and started to plunge in a frantic manner and made straight for the bush. Another farmer tried to head them off, but the poor fellow cried out, “Leave us alone, we are running away!” And at last the make-believe ox, quite out of breath, was landed in the bush. What a funny sight it must have been!

From Longford in Ireland to Guelph in Canada is a long journey at any time; but it might now be made in ten days. Let us see how they managed in other times. For there were people in Ireland who had heard wonderful stories of Canada and longed to go there. First there was a long tramp to Dublin and a voyage of two or three days in a small sailing craft to Liverpool. From Liverpool to Quebec they would be tossed on the sea in a very small ship for at least six weeks. Then after three or four days by water to Montreal the really rough journey began. From Montreal to Kingston open boats were used, drawn by horses on the bank when near the rapids. The journey to Hamilton was by water, and from Hamilton to Guelph by stage over the roughest roads. The passengers would here land and make their way the best they could through the mud or over corduroy roads to their lot. And when they had endured all this they began to build their homes. No one can imagine what it was like to travel cramped up in those small ships for a period of six weeks. Surely we owe a debt to the people who opened up this country for us.

As soon as a family could clear a space of ground they would sow enough wheat to provide for their wants, but when the wheat was gathered in there was no place to thresh it but the floor of the cabin. And so we read an account of the method adopted. Two or three sheaves were brought into the cabin and spread on the floor, and beaten with a flail. In the meantime the baby in the cradle had to be covered up with a blanket to prevent it from being choked by the dust. Grain was sometimes crushed with an axe, and until hand mills came into use there was the hominy block. A piece of the trunk of a tree was scooped out by red-hot irons until it resembled a large basin or bowl, and in this the grain was pounded by a piece of hardwood rounded at the end, and the flour was separated from the bran through a fine sieve sometimes made of thread. In the absence of the hominy block or hand mill, the grain was gathered up and taken to the nearest mill, perhaps a two days’ journey. If the settlers were wise they took food with them, for on one occasion the men did not, expecting that food could be obtained at the mill. But the miller had nothing to offer them, and so a raw potato was all they could find until their return home.

In the winter there was not much to be done in the smaller places, and men would leave their families to seek work in districts where labour was required. It was pretty lonely for the wife, who was virtually a prisoner. But the women of old knew how to endure.

The settlers as a rule seem to have been healthy, but they did not escape the epidemics which swept over Canada, and their distress was greater than in the cities. Now we have seen a little of the primitive life of the early settlements in Upper Canada and we will picture how they fared in the Red River district.