Among the Forest Trees, or, how the Bushman family got their homes. Being a book of facts and incidents of pioneer life in Upper Canada, arranged in the form of a story

Front matter

AMONG THE FOREST TREES OR, HOW THE BUSHMAN FAMILY GOT THEIR HOMES. BEING A BOOK OF FACTS AND INCIDENTS OF PIONEER LIFE IN UPPER CANADA. ARRANGED IN THE FORM OF A STORY. LiY THE REV. JOSEPH H. HILTS. Author of " Experiences of a Backwoods Preacher," etc. TORONTO: PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR BY WILLIAM BRIGGS, 78 & 80 KING STREET EAST. 1888. Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight, by Rkv. Joseph H. Hilth, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture, at Ottawa. Dedication TO THE DESCENDANTS OF THOSE BRAYE MEN AND WOMEN WHO BRAYED THE DANGERS, FACED THE DIFFICULTIES, ENDURED THE HARDSHIPS AND SUFFERED THE PRIYATIONS OF PIONEER LIFE IN THIS OUR NATIYE PROVINCE, THIS BOOK IS RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. AND THE AUTHOR INDULGES THE HOPE THAT ITS PRODUCTION AND PERUSAL MAY BE THE MEANS OF CAUSING BOTH WRITER AND READER MORE HIGHLY TO APPRECIATE THE BOON SECURED TO THEM BY THE NOBLE EFFORTS OF THE EARLY HOME BUILDERS OF OUR COUNTRY.

Introduction

. tD VERSE criticism has sounded the death-knell of so many literary productions, that I felt many misgivings when I sent out my first book, " Ex periences of a Backwoods Preacher," to seek a, place in the arena of Canadian literature. But the favorable comments of the Press, and the hearty commendations of hundreds of the readers of these " Experiences," have encouraged me to try and produce a work that would be more worthy of public favor than my tirst effort can claim to be. Acting on the advice of persons of large experience in the book trade, I have written -'Among the Forest Trees," in the form of a story. The book is really a narrative of facts aud incidents, around which the imagination has been permitted to throw some of the draperies of fiction. But truth is none the less true because some fancy pictures are found in its surroundings.

A good piece of cloth is no less valuable because, by coloring, it is made beautiful. And although a man may be as good a man in an outfit made of sail-cloth, or of an Indian blanket', as he would be if he were dressed in the finest production of the weaver's and the tailor's art, yet no one will say that he would be just as presentable in the one case as in the other. So facts may become more impressive, when nicely clothed. In writing the following pages, three things have been kept steadily in view. 1st. The facts and incidents must be substantially true. 2nd. All the drapery and coloring

INTRODUCTION.

. VI must be in strict harmony with pure morality, and with the demands of a sound religious sentiment. 3rd. And the whole must be illustrative of pioneer life, in its conditions and surroundings, and calculated to show something of the toils, privations, hardships, difficulties and sorrows of the early settlers. Keeping within these limits, I believe that I have produced a book that can with entire safety, and not without profit, be put into the hands of either young or old, since there is not one line from the beginning to the ending that will excite bad passions or mislead the judgment. And while this is true, there is much that will touch the liner sensi bilities and sympathies of the reader. It will be observed that the author has recorded the narrations and conversations as though they were the utterances of others.

Hence the first person is generally left in the background. This method was adopted, because by it a great variety of characters could be brought on the scene, and a larger diversity of style could be presented. Another thing to which I would call the reader's attention is the fact that dates and localities have mostly been left out of the text of the book. Where these are given they are found in the explanatory notes. This plan was adopted to afford greater facilities for grouping together facts and incidents, that were separated by time and distance, so as to give an aspect of unity to the whole production. The reader will also observe that the names of persons and places are mostly taken from trees and shrubs and plants and flowers, as these are found in the forest wilds. It may be a mere fancy of mine ; but I thought that it would add to the attractiveness of the book, if the names

INTRODUCTION.

. VII found in it coincided, as far as possible, with the subject treated of in its pages. John Bushman is a fictitious name. But he is by no means a fictitious character. If you asked me where he lived, I would answer, you might as well try to confine the almost ubiquitous John Smith to one locality, as to settle the question where John Bushman lives, or more properly» to say where he don't live. Every township and every neighborhood have, at some time, had their first man and first woman, their John and Mary Bushman. Another thing that is to be noted is this : among the varied characters, and diversified actions described in these pages, there is not a wicked act, nor a vicious person men tioned in the whole book. All the actors are strictly moral if they are not pious, and all the actions are virtuous if they are not religious.

I have no sympathy with that style of writing that gives more prominence to the bad than to the good, in human character. Therefore 1 resolved that, so far as myself and my book are concerned, the devil shall be left to do his own advertising. And now as to why the book has been written. Since the thousands of refugees, known as the U. E. Loyalists, came to this country a little over a hundred years ago, wonderful changes have been effected. And these will continue in the future. In the race for ease and opulence, on the part of the people of this country, there is danger that the brave pioneers and their works may be forgotten, unless some records of their noble deeds are handed down to the future. But very few persons had better facilities than the writer to gain from personal experience a practical knowledge to pioneer life. Both of my parents were born on the Niagara frontier soon after the Loyalists came to this country. I

INTRODUCTION.

. VIII was but three years old when my father cut his way to his shanty through seven miles of unbroken wilderness ; and five sevenths of my whole life have been spent among pioneer settlers. So that if a personal knowledge of the things written about be of any advantage, 1 have that knowledge. One word more. To those readers who, like myself, make no claim to classical learning, I wish to say that I have tried to produce a book that would at the same time both please and instruct you. How far my effort has been suc cessful can be decided only after you have read it. To my scholarly readers, if 1 should be so fortunate as to secure any such, I wish to say, Don't use a telescope in searching for defects ; you can see plenty of them with the naked eye. And when you find them, which no doubt you will, don't be too severe with your criticisms.

But remember that the writer never saw the inside of a college in his life. Remember that he never attended a high school until he went as a member of a school board to settle a rumpus among the teachers. And remember that he never had twelve months' tuition in any sort of school. His book learning has been picked up by snatches of time and while other people slept. No, don't be too severe in judging, nor too quick in condemning. Please don't ! J. H. H. October 1, 1888. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Chapter I. —Found by Surveyors - - - - - 11 Commencing Life— The Little Shanty— Sylvan Lake -Sunday Morning— Alone with Nature and with God. Chapter II. — The Road-Ma*kers - - - - 22 Deer and Wolves— Solitude— Housekeeping— Mr. Root's Proposal—The Travoy— The Toggled Chain. Chapter III.— House-Building -• - - - - - 34 The Dinner-Poetic Effusions— A Reminiscence— Wants to be a Poet - A Surprise.

Chapter IV. — A Partner Found - 47 John Makes a Discovery Asking Consent -Coming Home — Squire Myrtle— A Glad Mother. Chapter V —An Old-Time Wedding ----- 58 Blunders— Practical Courting— A Wedding— Sister Betsy — A Thrilling Tale— A Plucky Boy. Chapter VI. -Talk About Wolves 72 Treed by Wolves— Good Luck-Wolf Scalps and Bread- Chasing the Deer— The Last Race. Chapter VII. — Some Oral History ----- 86 The United Empire Loyalists — The Gourley Trial — A Befogged Jury— A Harsh Verdict— A Cruel Sentence. Chapter VIII. — Preparing to Move 99 William Briars— Life's Realities— Friendly Offerings— Betsy's Poetry— The Old Man's Story— Little Bright Eyes. Chapter IX. — Homeward Bound 115 Migratory Waves — Moses Moosewood's Resolve — Picture of a Court— Take a Gun Along— A Mother's Vision. Chapter X. — Some White Gipsies - - - - 128 A Witch Story— Backwoods Welcome— Housekeeping— Exploring the Premises— Forest Aristocrats.

Chapter XI. — Clearing Land ------ 141 Hemlock Compass — Poor Grip's Fate — Log Rolling — A Mother-in-law's Question— Philosophers in Petticoats. Chapter XII. — Sowing and Reaping ----- 155 The Three-square Harrow— Tests of Character— Post Offices —Forty Miles' Walk— A Letter— Plenty of News. Chapter XIII. — Harvesting the Crop - - - - 16S Threshing-floors— Skilful Housekeeper — Beavers— Gathering Wild Fruit— Finding a Dutchman— A Fawn. CONTENTS. X PAGE Chapter XIV.— Mary Finds a Friend - - - - 181 Being Isolated -A Glad Surprise - Canadian Girls -Cart Making-Dr. Ashgrove- Undcrbrushing. Chapter XV. — Winter in the Woods - - - - 194 Threshing - Cleaning - White Caps - Katrina - Mixed-up Dreams-John Goes to Mill— Killing Venison. Chapter XVI. —Visitors and Callers - - - - 207 Familiar Faces Backwoods Police— Woman's Intuitions- Making Sap-Troughs— The Big Store-Trough.

Chapter XVII.— Sugar-Making 2*21 A Good Business— Sugaring-off— Moses Comes Horne-The Hoot-Owl— A Sugaring Party— Dutch Pleasantries. Chapter XVIII.— More Settlers Coming - - - - 235 Rapid Settlement— A Crowded House - Lost Children— Harry Hawthorn— Mr. Beech— Shearing Sheep. Chapter XIX.— And Still They Come - - - - 248 A True Woman— A Bear Eats a Boy- A Bear in a Berry Patch— Matthew Millwood. Chapter XX.— A Neighborhood of Strangers - - - 261 Canadian Society— Married Under a Tree— The First Baby- Neighborly itindncss— Mean Speculation. Chapter XXI.— Riverbend Mills 274 The Stolen Baby— White Squaw— Children Killed— The First Funeral— A Neighborhood Sensation. Chapter XXII. — A Boarding-House Wanted - - - 287 A Cook Needed— Backwoods Society— Wolves at Work -The Wolf Classified— He is a Sneaking Coward.

Chapter XXIII. — A Backwoods Lyceum - 300 The Old Mill— The Boy's Load-The Bear and the Hunter- No Toll Allowed— The Bear and the Mill Saw. Chapter XXIV. — More Boarding-House Tales- - - 313 The Lost Girl— The Lost Woman— Boys and Ghosts. Chapter XXV. — More Glimpses of Bush Life - - - 326 A Tobacco-chewing Christian — A Strange Clock — A Big Scare— A Race for Life— Plucky Canadians — Killed by Indians. Chapter XXVI. — The Mills Completed - 339 The First Grist—The First Preacher— The Meeting-house— The Post Office— The Store— Sylvanus Yardstick. Chapter XXVII. — Some Old-Time Customs - - - 354 Seeking Information— The Logging-Bee— Husking-Bees— Red Corn and Kissing- -The Spinning-Bee— How to Treat a Dude. Chapter XXVIII. — Twenty Years of Progress - - 366 Drawbacks and Discouragements— Cheap Butter and Eggs- No Whiskey - General Success— John's Dream Realized.

Chapter I. FOUND BY SURVEYORS. t NUMBER of men were on their way to lay out some townships in the unsurveyed parts of Upper Canada. While passing through the rear range of the survej*ed townships one day about noon, they came to a beautiful spring of water that issued in streams of refreshing coolness out of a ledge of rocks that arose on one side of a valley through which ran a large creek, whose waters were making their way to Lake Ontario. Being weary and hungry, they stopped for dinner. Shaded by the thick branches of the hemlock, which spread over them like a protecting canopy, and resting on the dried leaves that passing seasons had left behind them, making a couch that was by no means uninviting to weary limbs and jaded bodies, they betook themselves to the task of demolishing the food before them as only hungry backwoodsmen can do.

They were too intent on taking their dinners to spend any time in unnecessary talk. The stillness that reigned around was only broken by the murmuring sounds that came from the creek that ran but a short distance from them, and the gentle rippling of the spring that issued from rocks just beside them. While they were busily engaged in satisfying the demands of appetite, they were startled by the sound of an axe not far from where they were. " What is that ? " came from two or three at once. They all listened. Sure enough, there was distinctly heard the blows of a man chopping. Every doubt was soon removed by the falling of a tree in the direction of the sound of the axe. Although they were seven or eight miles from any settlement, it was evident that some one was working near by. They resolved to find out what he was doing, and who he was.

Accordingly they went to the place. There they found a young man of about twenty-one or two years of age, with his coat off and his sleeves rolled up, swinging an axe with as much dexterity as though he had been accustomed to that sort of work all his life. " What are you doing here ? " said one of the men, after a few friendly words had been spoken. " Commencing life in the backwoods," was his quick reply. " I have no house, as yet, to invite you into, nor have I any chair to offer you. But both the house and the chair are on the list of thino-s that I hope for in the not very distant future. But, in the meantime, make yourselves as comfortable as possible, and rest for awhile." " How long have you been here, and where did you come from ? " asked the foreman of the company. " I have been here just one week, and I came from the vicinity of the " Falls."

" How much land have you here ? " " Two hundred acres. One hundred I got as a grant from the Government, and the other my father bought and gave it to me." " Is it all good land ? " " Yes ; there is not an acre of useless land on the two hundred acres." " Do you think that you shall enjoy this sort of life ? " was asked by one of the men. * A man can enjoy almost any sort of life that is not degrading nor sinful, if he makes up his mind to do so," said the young man, as he took a small stone from his vest pocket, and began to whet his axe with it. " That seems like sound philosophy," said the fore man. " But have you made an estimate of what it costs to hew out a homestead in the wilderness ? Do you know that to chop an acre of this heavily tim bered land means six days of hard work, and to clear it oft" means three days more, and to fence it, two days more, and another day to sow and harrow in the seed, so that every acre you put into crop will cost two weeks of hard work."

" Yes," replied the other, " my father has told me all of that. He cleared up the farm he still lives on in the township of Pelham. He says that clearing land is hard work. But he says, too, that not very much can be honestly got in this world without hard work." " Are you married ? " This question was put by a young man who had recently been " engaged,", but whose marriage had been deferred till the return of the surveying party. Young Bushman colored up, and in an emphatic manner said, "No; not yet. 'Build your cage before you catch your bird,' is old advice ; but it is good, and I intend to act upon it." "Where do you sleep and take your meals?" was asked. " I have a small wigwam or shanty not far away, where, like Robinson Crusoe, ' I am monarch of all I survey,' and where I live, much as that far-famed gen tleman did, only I have no man ' Friday ' to help while away the time.

Will you come and see it ? " They consented to go. He led them over a lot of fallen trees, and around some " brush-heaps," and soon brought them to his shanty. It was made of poles small enough for one man to handle. They were notched together at the corners. The spaces between them were filled with moss. It was covered with hemlock bark, such as is now sold by the cord at the tanneries. The doorway was just wide enough for a man to pass in and out, and a couple of cedar slabs an swered for a door. There was nothing very invitino about this little substitute for something better. But plenty of men in this Canada of ours have lived for months in just such humble homes. But in the surroundings were found such a scene of wild-wood beauty as is seldom met with. Just in front of the shanty was a miniature lake of clear spring water.

It was about an acre in extent, and it was as round as a hoop. It was surrounded by a fringe of beautiful spruce and cedar trees that grew right down to the water's edge. On the opposite side, in the distance, were a number of upland pines, raising their cone-like heads far above the forest of beech and maple trees around them, that seemed to be lifting their branches in homage to those giants that had de fied the storms of fifty decades, appealing to them for protection against the woodman's axe. A little to the right a nice brook flowed out of the lake, and ran off toward the creek before spoken of. All of them agreed that it was a lovely spot. But the engaged young man became poetical. Standing on a log in front of the shanty, and pointing out over the lake, he broke out in the following : ' ' What beauteous mirror here is found Set in a fringe of evergreen ; On whose smooth surface may be seen The tops of all the trees around.

Were I commissioned from above To find some spot of earthly bliss, I'd want no nicer place than this To spend my days with one I love. " " There," said young Bushman, pointing to the lake, " is the future Mrs. Bushman's duck-pond." The transition from the poetical to the practical was so sudden, that the whole company saw the incongruity of sentiment as expressed by the two young men, and indulged in a hearty laugh. " My friend," said the foreman, " I wish, before leaving you, to congratulate you on the beauties of your home on the border of Sylvan Lake, and I hope that under the guiding hand of our kind and good Father above, the coming years may bring to you all the prosperity and happiness that your manly courage and your fearless energy deserve." " Thank you for your kindly and encouraging words," said the young man in a somewhat trembling voice, " and if ever you come this way again don't for get Sylvan Lake.

You will find a welcome here at any time. They shook hands and parted, and young Bushman was left alone.* " That young fellow deserves to succeed," said the foreman, as the party walked away. " He has got the sort of stuff in him of which true manhood is made up." " Yes," said the poetic young man. " I wish that I could face things with as much self-reliance as he seems to do. But the bringing up, I suppose, makes the difference." " Bringing up," replied the foreman, " has a good * In the Township of Elma was a man by the name of Twamley, who for two months never saw a human face. One day he heard some men talking. He ran after them and persuaded them to stop with him for a day and night, and then they went on their way. He told the writer that he never was so much pleased to see any one before.

They were entire strangers to him. deal to do with the formation of character ; but no kind of bringing up can make a real manly man out of a milksop, any more than a blacksmith can make a good axe out of a piece of cast iron. To develop a man you must have manly qualities to work upon. A sneak or a coward may become a good man and a sin cere Christian ; but to make up a brave, manly man, you must have better material to work upon than the kind of stuff that sneaks and cowards are made of." We will look into the shanty. In one corner is a flat stone set up on its end, so that its sides touch two sides of the wall, and its face forms the diagonal of the angle of the corner. An opening at the top, for the smoke to escape, answers for a chimney. Here the cooking is done. In another corner is a lot of hemlock boughs and some bedding.

Here the sleeping is done. What ever may be said against this sort of couch, one thing can be said in its favor, gout and rheumatism seldom torture the limbs that repose on a bed of hemlock. In still another corner sits a very large basket. which was lately bought from some Indians, and in which Mr. Bushman keeps his supplies of provisions. He may as well become reconciled to be called Mr., for in time to come that will be a very familiar and a very popular name. But what is in the basket ? That is the question now. Well, here is a supply of good bread that was made by the wife of the nearest settler, which is seven miles distant. Then here is a lot of boiled ham, good enough for a prince to eat, and a roll of butter (we won't say anything about the butter, for fear of mak ing a mistake). Here is salt, pepper, mustard, and a lot of spices too numerous to mention.

But what have we here so carefully done up in this clean white cloth ? Well, as sure as anything, here is half a dozen speckled trout. They are the same kind of fish that Dr. Wild says the Ashurites used to carry to Jerusalem to sell on the market. These, no doubt, are the product of Sylvan Lake. We find the basket well filled, and we conclude that a man in health w*ould be a long while starving on such substantial food, supplemented by such royal dainties. In the other corner we see a rifle and its accoutre ments, some fishing tackle and an axe, ready for use, and held in reserve in case the other one should break. A covered box sitting against the wall serves for a dish cupboard. Four crotched stakes, driven into the ground with the forked end upward, represent the four posts of a table.

Two small poles are used for cross bars, and a couple of cedar slabs make the top, and, altogether, make a substitute for a dining-room table of the most fashionable class. A couple of cedar blocks of convenient size and length are the only chairs to be found in this unpreten tious home. But it is wonderful how men can adapt themselves to their surroundings when strong motives for doing so are present. John Bushman was a man of a strong will, and much decision of character, and one not easily turned from his purpose at any time. But he now had a powerful motive actuating him, viz., a desire to have a home of his own, and to secure a competence for those who might become, in after years, dearer to him than life itself. We have been thus minute in the deseription of Bushman's shanty for the reason that we shall find many similar ones in filling out our story of life among the forest trees, and we wish as much as possible to avoid repetition.

We let this description suf fice for the class of shanties of which this one is a fair representative. The next day after the surveyors left was the Sab bath. John Bushman resolved to observe the sacred day in accordance with its requirements, as far as it was possible to do so in his lonely situation. He had been trained from childhood to respect the claims of the Sabbath. But it was not simply the force of habit with the young man, it was a matter of prin ciple as well. In early youth he had been converted, had joined the Church, and pledged himself to a godly life. If there is any grander object in this sinful world than an intelligent, earnest, devoted, manly young Christian gentleman, will those who have seen such object please tell where it may be found, for we have not yet seen it. When he went out in the morning the air was vocal with the song of birds, and sweet perfumes were float ing upon the morning breezes, that seemed to be speaking in gentle whispers lest too soon nature's children should be awakened from their restful slum bers.

The sun was already above the horizon, and it was shooting its beams through the openings that here and there were found in the fringe of evergreens that sur rounded Sylvan Lake. Wherever these golden sun beams fell upon the surface of the clear water, it looked as if a large diamond had exploded, and scat tered its fragments in all directions, like drops of melted gold, and making the lake appear like a great overgrown mirror upon whose face a hundred lamps were blazing. To say that the young man enjoyed the scene around him would be too tame an expression. He was fairly entranced. Though his life had been spent almost entirely on a farm, there was nothing of the rustic about him. He had enough of the poetic ele ment in his composition to place him in harmony with the beautiful in nature or art.

And although he was not, perhaps, sufficiently schooled in metaphysical lore to be able to explain why he was pleased, yet any one that could have looked on his beaming face that morning could not for one moment doubt the fact that he was highly gratified with what he saw around him. He prepared and ate his breakfast in a thoughtful mood. After he put things to rights in the shanty he took one of his block-seats out, and placing it under a cedar, he sat down with his back against the tree and commenced to read Dr. Blair's " Sermon on the Source of True Enjoyment." When he came to the question, '' Is the source of true enjoyment external, internal or mixed ?" he closed the book and began to reflect. To deny that things outside of himself were a source of true enjoyment would be to ignore the sensibility of taste and all the æsthetic emotions awakened by the presence of beautiful objects of every kind.

On the other hand, to deny that there are sources of enjoyment that are internal would be to dispute the evidence of consciousness, " for," said he, " I know, ' that being justified by faith, I have peace with God.' And this knowledge must be a source of enjoyment. So that both around me and within me I find that which gives enjoyment. I believe that it is true, that religion puts a person in harmony with nature and with God." Such were the reflections of John Bushman on that beautiful morning, and in such a happy frame of mind he spent his first Sabbath in his new home among the forest trees.