Pictures of Canadian Life: A Record of Actual Experiences

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James Ewing Ritchie. Pictures of Canadian Life: A Record of Actual Experiences

CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTORY. – CANADIAN TERRITORY AND POPULATION

CHAPTER II. OFF WITH THE EMIGRANTS – THE VOYAGE OUT – THE ‘SARNIA’ THE COD-FISHERY

CHAPTER III. ARRIVAL AT QUEBEC

CHAPTER IV. AT MONTREAL, AND ON TO OTTAWA – INTERVIEWING AND INTERVIEWED

CHAPTER V. TORONTO – THE TOWN – THE PEOPLE – CANADIAN AUTHORS – THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION

CHAPTER VI. OFF TO THE NORTH-WEST – NIAGARA – LAKE SUPERIOR – THE CANADIAN PACIFIC RAILWAY – AT WINNIPEG

CHAPTER VII. LIFE ON THE PRAIRIE

CHAPTER VIII. AMONGST THE COW-BOYS

CHAPTER IX. IN THE ROCKIES – HOLT CITY – LIFE IN THE CAMP – A ROUGH RIDE – THE KICKING HORSE LAKE – BRITISH COLUMBIA

CHAPTER X. DANGERS OF THE ROCKIES. – PRAIRIE FIRES. – THE RETURN. – PORT ARTHUR. – MIGRANTS

CHAPTER XI. BACK TO ENGLAND. – CANADIAN HOSPITALITY. – THE ASSYRIAN MONARCH. – HOME

CHAPTER XII. COLONIZATION IN CANADA

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One Wednesday at the end of April, last year, St. Pancras Railway Station was the scene of a display not often matched even in these demonstrative days. Mr. J. J. Jones, of the Samaritan Mission, had arranged to take out a party of five hundred emigrants to Canada – the first party of the season. The event seemed to create no little excitement in philanthropic circles. The Lord Mayor had promised to be there, but he was detained in the City, possibly in defence of the ancient Corporation of which he has become the champion; but he sent a cordial letter, as did many other distinguished people, to express sympathy and goodwill.

In the absence of the Lord Mayor, the Earl of Shaftesbury, after the emigrants had been got together in a waiting-room, presided at a farewell meeting, which ought to have sent the emigrants in the best of spirits to the new homes they expect to find on the other side of the Atlantic. They would, said his lordship, still be under the reign of our Queen. They would confer a great blessing on the country whither they were going, and they would show what they could do as good citizens in subduing and replenishing the earth, and in spreading over the world the Anglo-Saxon race. He hoped that the young men present would come back to England for wives, and ended with his best wishes for all in the way of a safe voyage and temporal and spiritual good.

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We have also an agent on board, who, for a certain sum, agrees to take young fellows out and to find them suitable situations. That is a course I should not recommend. A young fellow had far better keep that extra cash in his pocket, get out as far into the North-west as he can, there hire himself to some settler, who at this time of year is sure to be in need of his services, and then in a year or two he will be able to get a grant of land on his own account, on which, after three years of real hard work, he will be able to live in peace and comfort, and to achieve an independence of which he has no chance on our side of the Atlantic.

It quite grieves me to think of the poor farmers I have known at home, wasting their time and capital and strength in a hopeless effort to make both ends meet, who might be doing well out here, with the certainty that their families will be left in a comfortable position as far as this world’s goods are concerned. One thing, however, I must strongly impress upon the emigrant, and that is, the necessity of coming out in the spring.

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