Life in Canada fifty years ago : personal recollections and reminiscences of a sexagenarian

Front matter

The Estate of Mark Seltzer

LIFE IN CANADA

PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS AND REMINISCENCES OF A SEXAGENARIAN.

Preface

WHEN a man poses before the world— even the Canadian world — in the role of an author, he is expected to step up to the footlights, and explain his purpose in presenting himself before the public in that capacity.

The thoughts of the world are sown broadcast, very niuch as the seed falls from the sweep of the husbandman's hand. It drops here and there, in good ground and in stony places. Its future depends upon its vitality. Many a fair seed has fallen on rich soil, and yet never reached maturity. Many another has shot up luxuriantly, but in a short time has been choked by brambles. Other seeds have been cast out with the chaff' upon the dung heap, and after various mutations, have come in contact with a clod of earth, through which they have sent their roots, and have finally grown into thrifty plants. A thought thrown out on the world, if it possesses vital force, never dies. How much is remembered of the work of our greatest men ? Only a sentence here and there ; and many a

VI

PREFACE.

man whose name will go down through all the ages, owes it to the truth or the vital force of the thought embedded in a few brief lines.

I have very little to say respecting the volume herewith presented to the public. The principal contents appeared a short time ago in the Canadian Monthly and the Canadian Metliodist Magazine. They were written at a time when my way seemed hedged around with insurmountable dilhculties, and when almost anything that could afford me a temporary respite from the mental anxieties that weighed me down, not only during the day, but into the ]()ng hours of the night, would have been welcomed. Like most unfortunates, I met Mr. Worldly Wiseman from day to day. I always found him ready to point out the way I should go and what I should do, but I have no recollection that he ever got the breadth of a hair beyond that. One evening I took up my pen and began jotting down a few memories of my boyhood. I think we are all fond of taking retrospective glances, and more particularly when life's pathway trends towards the end. The relief I found while thus engaged was very soothing, and for the time I got altogether away from the present, and lived over again many a joyous hour. After a fKEFACE.

vii time I had accumulated a good deal of matter, yuch as it was, but the thought of publication had not then entered my mind. One day, vdiile in conversation with Dr. Withrow, I mentioned what I had done, and he expressed a desire to see what I had written. The papers were sent him, and in a short time he returned them with a note expressing the pleasure the perusal of them had afforded him, and advising me to submit them to the Canadian Monthly for publication. Sometime afterwards T followed his advice. The portion of the papers that appeared in the last-named periodical were favourably received, and I was much gratified not only by that, but from private letters afterwards received from different parts of the Dominion, conveying expressions of commendation which I had certainly never anticipated. This is as much as need be said about the origin and first publication of the papers which make up the principal part of this volume. I do not deem it necessary to give any reasons for putting them in book form ; but I may say this : the whole has been carefully revised, and in its present shape I hope will meet with a hearty welcome from a large number of Canadians.

viii

PREFACE.

In conclusion, I wish to express my thanks to the Hon. J. C. Aikins, Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba, for information he procured for me at the time of publication, and particularly to J. C. Dent, Esq., to whom I am greatly indebted for many useful hints.

Contents

PAGE

Dedication

HI

Preface

V

Chapter 1

The prose and poetry of pioneer life in the backwoods— The log house — Sugar making — An omen of good luck — My Quaker grandparents— The old home— Winter evenings at the fireside — Rural hospitality — Aristocracy versus Democracy — School days — Debating societies in the olden time— A rural orator clinches the nail — Cider, sweet and otherwise— Husking in the barn — Hog killing and sausage making — Full cloth and corduroy — Winter work and winter amusements — A Canadian skating song 1

The round of pioneer life — Game— Night fishing — More details about sugar-making— Sugaring- off— Taking a hand at the old churn — Sheep-washing — Country girls, then and now — Substance and Shadow— "Old Gray" and his eccentricities — Harvest — My early emulation of Peter Paul Rubens — Meeting-houses — Elia on Quaker meetings — Variegated autumn landscapes — Logging and quilting bees — Evening fun — The touching lay of the young woman who sat down to sleej) 38

Progress, material and social — Fondness of the young for dancing — Magisterial nuptials — The charivari — Coon-hunting — Catching a tartar — Wild pigeons — The old Dutch houses — Delights of summer

Chapter III

and winter contrasted— Stilled voices

X

CONTENTS.

Chapter IV. Page

The early settlers in Upper Canada — Prosperity, national and individual — The old homes, without and within — Candle-making— Superstitions and omens— The death-watch— Old almanacs — Bees — The divining rod— The U. E. Loyalists — Iheir aifferings and heroism- -An old and a ntw price list — Primitive horologes— A jaunt in one of the conventional " carriages " of olden times -Then and now- A note of warning 85

Chapter V

Jefferson's definition of "Liberty"' — How it was acted upon - The Canadian renaissance— Burning political questions in Canada half a century ago -Locomotion— Mrs. Jameson on Canadian stage coaches — Batteaux and Durham boats 121

Chapter VI

Road-making — Weller's line of stages and steamboats— My trip from Hamilton to Niagara— Schools and colleges — Pioneer Methodist j)reachers — Solemnization of matrimony — Literature and libraries - - Early newspaj^ers — Primitive editorial articles 146

CHAPTER VIL

Banks— Insurance- Marine — Telegraph companies- Administration of Justice — Milling and manufactures— Rapid increase of population in cities and towns — Excerpts from Andrew Picken 191

Early schools and schoolmasters— Birth of the American Republic— Love of country— Adventures of a U. E. Loyalist family ninety years ago — The wilds of Upper Canada — Hay hsij — Hardships of pioneer life — Growth of population ■ - Division of the Canadian Provinces — Fort Frontenac — The " dark days" — Celestial fireworks— Eaily steam navigation in Canada — The country merchant

ress— The Hare and the Tortoise 213

CONTENTS.

xi

Random Recollections of Eably Days:

PAGE

Paternal memories — A visit to the home of my boyhood — The old Quaker meeting-house — FJashes of silence— The old burying ground — " To the memory of Eliza " — Ghostly experiences — Hiving the Bees— Encounter with a bear — Giving " the mitten "—A " boundary question " — Song of the bullfrog — Ring — Sagacity of animals —Training- days — Picturesque scenery on the Bay of Quinte — John A. Macdonald— A perilous journey — Aunt Jane and Willet Casey 253

COUNTRY LIFE IN CAN/iDA

FIFTY YEAES AGO.

CHAPTER I. 1 talk of dreams

For you and I are past our dancing d;iys." —

Borneo and juliet,

THE PROSE AND POETRY OF PIONEER LIFE IN THE BACKWOODS—

THE LOG HOUSE— SUGVR MAKING— AN OMEN OF GOOD LUCK

MY QUAKER GRAN Di'ARBNTS —THE OLD HOME — WINTER EVEN- INGS AT THE FIRESIDE — RURAL HOSPITALITY — ARISTOCRACY

' versus DEMOCRACY — SCHOOL DAYS — DEBATINTG SOCIETIES IN THE OLDEN" TIME- A RURAL ORATOR CLIN(;[-IE*^ THE NAIL — CIDER, SWEET AND OTHERWISB — HUSKING IN THE EARN — HOG KILLING AND SAUSAGE MVKING — FULL CLOTH AND CORI U

ROY WINTER WORK AND WINfl'Il AMUSEMENTS — A CANADIAN

SKATING SONG.

nr WAS born in the County of , Upper Canada, on

the 4th day of J ime, in the early part of this present century. I have no recollection of my entry into the world, though I was present when the great event occurred ; but I have every reason to believe the date

|iveri is correct, for ''J I have it from my mother and xather, who were there at the time, and I think my mother had pretty good reason to know all about it. I was the first of the family, though my parents had been married for more than five 3"ears before I presented myself as their hopeful heir, and to demand from them more attention than they anticipated. " Children," says the Psalmist, " are an heritage, and he who hath his quiver full of them shall not be ashamed ; they shall speak with the enemies in the gate." I do not know what eflfect this had on my father's enemies, if he had any ; but later experience has proved to me that those who rear a numerous progeny go through a vast deal of trouble and anxiety. At any rate I made my appearance on the stage, and began my perform-, ance behind the footlights of domestic bliss. I must have been a success, for I called forth a great deal of applause from my parents, and received their undivided attention. But other actors came upon the boards in more rapid succession, so that in a few years the quiver of my father was well filled^ and he might have met " his enemies in the gate."

My father, when he married, bought a farm. Of course it was all woods. Such were the only farms

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

available for young folk to commence life with in those days. Doubtless there was a good deal of romance in it. Love in a cot ; the smoke gracefully curling ; the wood-pecker tapping, and all that ; very pretty. But alas, in this work-a-day world, particularly the new one upon which my parents then entered, these silver linings were not observed. They had too much of the prose of life.

A house was built — a loo^one, of the Canadian rustic style then much in vogue, containing one room, and that not very large either ; and to this my father brought his young bride. Their outfit consistsd, on his part, of a colt, a yoke of steers, a couple of sheep, some pigs, a gun, and an axe. My mother's dot comprised a heifer, bed and bedding, a table and chairs, a chest of linen, some dishes, and a few other necessary items with which to begin housekeeping. This will not seem a very lavish set-out for a young couple on the part of parents who were at that time more than usually welloff. But there was a large family on both sides, and the old people then thought it the better way to let the young folk try their hand at making a living before they gave them of their abundance. If they succeeded they wouldn't need much, and if they did not, it would come better after a while.

My father was one of a class of young men, not uncommon in those days, who possessed energy and activity. He was bound to win. ¥/hat the old people gave was cheerfully accepted, and he went to work to acquire the necessaries and comforts of life with his own hands. He chopped his way into the stubborn wood, and added field to field. The battle had now been waged for seven or eight years ; an addition had been made to the house ; other small comforts had been added, and the nucleus of future competence fairly established

One of my first recollections is in connection with the small log barn he had built, and which up to that date had not been enlarged. He carried me out one day in his arms, and put me in a barrel in the middle of the floor. This was covered with loosened sheaves of wheat, which he kept turning over with a wooden fork, while the oxen and horse were driven round and round me. I did not know what it all meant then, but I afterwards learned that he was threshing. This was one of the first rude scenes in the drama of the early settlers' life to which I was introduced, and in which I had to take a more practical part in after years. I took part, also, very early in life, in sugar-making. The sap-bush was not very far away from the house, and the sap-boiling was under the direction of my mother, who mustered all the pots and kettles she could command, and when they were properly suspended over the fire on wooden hooks, she watched them, and rocked me in a sap-trough. Father's work consisted in bringing in the sap with two pails, which were carried by a wooden collar about three feet long, and made to fit the shoulder, from each end of which were fastened two cords with hooks to receive the bail of the pails, leaving the arms free except to steady them. He had also to cut wood for the fire. I afterwards came to take a more active part in these duties, and used to wish I could go back to my primitive cradle. But time pushed me on whether I would or not, until I scaled the mountain top of life's activities; and now, when quietly descending into the valley, my gaze is turned aflfectionately towards those early days. I do not think they were always bright and joyous, and I am sure I often chafed under the burdens imposed upon me ; but how inviting they seem Vv^hen viewed through the golden haze of retrospection.

My next recollection is the raising of a frame barn behind the house, and of a niece of my father's holding me in her arms' to see the men pushing up the heavy "bents" with long poles. The noise of the men shouting and driving in the wooden pins with great wooden beetles, away up in the beams and stringers, alarmed me a great deal, but it all went up, and then one of the men mounted the plate (the timber on which the foot of the rafter rests) with a bottle in his hand, and swino^inof it round his head three times, threw it otF in the field. If the bottle was unbroken it was an omen of good luck. The bottle, I remember, was picked up whole, and shouts of congratulation followed. Hence, I suppose, the prosperity that attended my father.

The only other recollection I have of this place was of my father, who was a very ingenious man, and could turn his hand to almost everything, making a cradle for my sister, for this addition to our number had occurred. T have no remembrance of any such fanciful crib being made for my slumbers. Perhaps' the sap-trough did duty for me in the house as well as in the bush. The next thing was our removal, which took place in the winter, and all that I can recall of it

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

is that my uncle took my mother, sister, and myself away in a sleigh, and we never returned to the little log house. My father had sold his farm, bought half of his old home, and come to live with his parents. They were Quakers. My grandfather was a short, robust old man, and very particular about his personal appearance. Half a century has elapsed since then, but the picture of the old man taking his walks about the place, in his closely-fitting snufF-brown cut-away coat, knee-breeches, broad-brimmed hat and silver-headed cane is distinctively fixed in my memory. He died soon after we took up our residence with him, and the number who came from all parts of the country to the funeral was a great surprise to me. I could not imagine where so many people came from. The custom prevailed then, and no doubt does still, when a death occurred, to send a messenger, who called at every house for many miles around to give notice of the death, and of when and where the interment would take place.

My grandmother was a tall, neat, motherly old woman, beloved by everybody. She lived a number of years after her husband's death, and I seem to see her now, sitting at one side of the old fire-place knitting.

COUIsTRY LIFE IN CANADA

She was ahvays knitting, and turning out scores of thick warm socks and mittens for her grandchildren.

At this time a great change had taken place, both in the appearance of the country and in the condition of the people. It is true that many of the first settlers had ceased from their labours, but there were a good many left — old people now, who were quietly enjoying, in their declining years, the fruit of their early industry. Commodious dwellings had taken the place of the first rude houses. Large frame barns and out-houses had grown out of the small log ones. The forest in the immediate neighbourhood had been cleared away, and well-tilled fields occupied its place. Coarse and scanty fare had been supplanted by a rich abundance of all the requisites that go to make home a scene of pleasure and contentment. Altogether a substantial prosperity was apjiarent. A genuine content and a hearty good will, one towards another, existed in all the older parts. The settled part as yet, however, formed only a very narrow belt extending along the bay and lake shores. The great forest lay close at hand in the rear, and the second generation, as in the case of my father, had only to go a few miles to find it,

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

and commence for themselves the laborious struggle of clearing it away.

The old home, as it was called, was always a place of attraction, and especially so to the young people, who were sure of findino" li-ood cheer at o-randfather's. What fun, after the small })lace called home, to have the run of a dozen rooms, to haunt the big cellar, with its great heaps of potatoes and vegetables, huge casks of cider, and well-filled bins of apples, or to sit at the table loaded with the o-ood things which grandmother

o o o

only could supply. How delicious the large piece of pumpkin pic tasted, and how toothsome the rich crullers that melted in the n^outh ! Dear old body ! I can see her now going to the great cupboard to get me something, saying as she goes, " I'm sure the child is hungry." And it was true, he was always hungry ; and how he managed to stow away so much is a mystery I cannot now explain. There was no place in the world more to be desired than this, and no spot in all the past the recollection of which is more bright and joyous.

My father now assumed the management of affairs. The old people reserved one room to themselves, but it was free to all, particularly to us children. It was hard to tell sometimes which to choose, whether the kitchen, where the family were gathered round the cheerful logs blazing brightly in the big fire-place, or a stretch on the soft rag-carpet beside the box stove in grandmother's room. This room was also a sanctuary to which we often fled to escape punishment after doing some mischief. We were sure of an advocate there, if we could reach it in time.

The house was a frame one, as nearly all the best houses were in those days, and was painted a dark yellow. There were two kitchens, one used for washing and doing the heavier household work in ; the other, considerably larger, was used by the family. In the latter was the large fire-place, around which gathered in the winter time bright and happy faces ; where the old men smoked their pipes in peaceful reverie, or delighted us with stories of other days ; where mother darned her socks, and father mended our boots ; where the girls were sewing, and uncles were scraping axe-handles with bits of glass to make them smooth. There were no drones in farm-houses then ; there was something for every one to do. At one side of the fire-place was the large brick oven with its gaping mouth, closed with a small door, easily removed, where the bread

FIFTY YEAES AGO.

and pies were baked. Within the fire-place was an iron crane securely fastened in the jamb, and made to swing in and out with its row of iron pot-hooks of different lengths, on which to hang the pots used in cooking. Cook stoves had not yet appeared to cheer the housewife and revolutionize the kitchen. Joints of meat and poultry were roasted on turning spits, or were suspended before the fire by a cord and wire attached to the ceiling. Cooking was attended with more difficulties then. Meat was fried in longhandled pans, and the short-cake that so often graced the supper table, and played such havoc with the butter and honey, with the pancakes that came piping hot on the breakfast table, owed their finishing touch to the frying pan. The latter, however, were more frequently baked on a large griddle with a bow handle made to hook on the crane. This, on account of its larger surface, enabled the cook to turn out these much-prized cakes, when properly made, with greater speed ; and in a large family an expert hand was required to keep up the supply. Some years later an ingenious Yankee invented what was called a " Reflector," made of bright tin for baking. It was a small tin oven with a slanting top, open at one side, and when required for use was set before the fire on the hearth. This simple contrivance was a great convenience, and came into general use. Modern inventions in the appliances for cooking have very much lessened the labour and increased the possibilities of supplying a variety of dishes, but it has not improved the quality of them. There were no better caterers to hungry stomachs than our mothers, whose practical education had been received in grandmother's kitchen. The other rooms of the house comprised a sitting-room — used only when there was company — a parlour, four bedrooms, and the room reserved for the old people. Up stairs were the sleeping and store-rooms. In the hall stood the tall old fashioned house clock, with its long pendulum swinging to and fro with slow and measured beat. Its face had looked upon the venerable sire before his locks were touched with the frost of age. When his children were born it indicated the hour, and it had gone on telling off the days and years until the children were grown. And when a wedding day had come, it had rung a joyful peal through the house, and through the years the old hands had travelled on_, the hammer had struck off the hours, and

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

another generation had come to look upon it and grow familiar with its constant tick.

The furniture was plain and substantial, more attention being given to durability than to style or ornament. Easy chairs — save the spacious rocking-chair for old women — and lounges were not seen. There was no time for lollinof on well-stuffed cushions. The rooms were heated with large double box stoves, very thick and heavy, made at Three Rivers ; and by their side was always seen a large wood-box, well filled with sound maple or beech wood. But few pictures adorned the walls, and these were usually rude prints far inferior to those we get every day now from the illustrated papers. Books, so plentiful and cheap now-adays, were then very scai ce, and where a few could be found, they were mostly heavy doctrinal tomes [)iled away on some shelf where they were allowed to remain.

The home we now inhabited was altogether a different one from that we had left in the back concession, but it was like many another to be found along the bay shore. Besides my own family, there were two younger brothers of my father, and two grownup nieces, so that when we all mustered round the table, there was a goodly number of hearty people always ready to do justice to the abundant provision made. This reminds me of an incident or two illustrative of the lavish manner with which a well-to-do farmer's table was supplied in those days. A Montreal merchant and his wife were spending an evening at a very highly -esteemed farmer's house. At the proper time supper was announced, and the visitors, with the family, were gathered round the table, which groaned, metaphorically speaking, under the load it bore. There were turkey, beef and ham, bread and the favourite short cake, sweet cakes in endless variety, pies, preserves, sauces, tea, coffee, cider, and what not. The visitors were amazed, as they might well be, at the lavish display of cooking, and they were pressed, with well-meant kindness, to partake heartily of everything. They yielded good-naturedly to the entreaties to try this and that as long as they could, and paused only when it was impossible to take any more. When they were leaving, the merchant asked his friend when they were coming to Montreal, and insisted that they should come soon, promising if they would only let him know a little before when they were coming he would buy up everything there was to be had in the

FIFTY YEAHS AGO.

market for supper. On another occasion an English gentleman was spending an evening at a neighbour's, and, as usual, the supper table was crowded with everything the kind-hearted hostess could think of. The guest was plied with dish after dish, and, thinking it would be disrespectful if he did not take something from each, he continued to eat, and take from the dishes as they were passed, until he found his plate, and all the available space around him, heaped up with cakes and pie. To dispose of all he had carefully deposited on his plate, and around it, seemed utterly impossible, and yet he thought he would be considered rude if he did not finish what he had taken, and he struggled on, with the perspiration visible on his face, until in despair he asked to be excused, as he could not eat any more if it were to save his life.

It was the custom in those days for the hired help (the term servant was not used) to sit at the table with the family. On one occasion, a Montreal merchant prince was on a visit at a wealthy Quaker's, who owned a large farm, and employed a number of men in the summer. It was customary in this house for the family to seat themselves first at the head of the table, after which the hired hands all came in, and took the lower end. This was the only distinction. They were served just as the rest of the family. On this occasion the guest came out with the family, and they were seated. Then the hired men and girls came in and did the same, whereupon the merchant left the table and the room. The old lady, thinking there was something the matter with the man, soon after followed him into the sitting-room, and asked him if he was ill. He said "No." "Then why did thee leave the table ? " the old lady enquired. " Because," said he " I am not accustomed to eat with servants." " Very well," replied the old lady, " if thee cannot eat with us, thee will have to go without thy dinner." His honour concluded to pocket his dignity, and submit to the rules of the house.

I was sent to school early — more, I fancy, to get me out of the way for a good part of the day, than from any expectation that 1 would learn much. It took a long time to hammer the alphabet into my head. But if I was dull at school, I was noisy and mischievous enough at home, and very fond of tormenting my sisters. Hence, my parents — and no child ever had better ones— could not be blamed very much if they did

FIFTY YEARS AGO.

send me to school for no other reason than to be rid of me. The school house was close at hand, and its aspect is deeply graven in my memory. My first schoolmaster was an Englishman who had seen better days. He was a good scholar, I believe, but a poor teacher^ The school house was a small square structure, with low ceilinof. In the centre of the room was a box stove, around which the long wooden benches without backs were ranged. Next the walls were the desks, raised a little from the floor. In the summer time the pupils were all of tender years, the elder ones being kept at home to help with the work. At the commencement of my educational course I was one of a little lot of urchins ranged daily on hard wooden seats, with our feet dangling in the air, for seven or eight hours a day. In such a plight we were expected to be veiy good children, to make no noise, and to learn our lessons. It is a marvel that so many years had to elapse before parents and teachers could be brought to see that keeping children in such a position for so many hours was an act of great cruelty. The terror of the rod was the only ''^hing that could keep us still, and that often failed. Sometimes, tired and weary, we fell asleep and tumbled off the bench, to be roused by tlie fall and the rod. In the winter time the small school room was filled to overflowing with the larger hoys and girls. This did not improve our condition, for we were more closely packed together, aud were either shivering with the cold or being cooked with the red-hot stove. In a short time after, the old school house, where my father, I believe, had got his schooling, was hoisted on runners, and, with the aid of several yoke of oxen, was taken up the road about a mile and enlarged a little. This event brought my course of study to an end for a while. I next sat under the rod of an Irish pedagogue— an old man who evidently believed that the only way to get anything into a boy's head was to pound it in with a stick through his back. There was no discipline, and the noise we made seemed to rival a Bedlam. We used to play all sorts of tricks on the old man, and I was not behind in contriving or carrying them into execution. One day, however, I was caught and severely thrashed. This so mortified me that I jumped out of the window and went home. An investigation followed, and I was whijiped by my father and sent back. Poor old Dominie, he has long since put by his Slick, and passed beyond the reach of uni'uly boys. Thus I passed on fitm teacher to teacher, staying at