THE FORTUNES OF MICHAEL HALE AND HIS FAMILY. A TALE ABOUT LIFE IN
CANADA.
The sun shone brightly out of a deep blue sky. His rays glanced on the
axes of several sturdy men, who with shirt sleeves tucked up and
handkerchiefs round their waists, were hewing away lustily at some tall
pine-trees. A few had already fallen before their strokes, making a
small clearing in the thick forest. Through the trees the glittering
water of a lake could be seen, but on every other side the thick forest
alone stood up like a dark wall. Yet all that thick underwood and those
tall trees must be cut down and cleared away before the newly arrived
settlers would find means of living. It was enough to try the bold
hearts of the men as they looked round and saw the work before them.
Not an inch of ground turned up, nor a hut built, and winter not so very
far-off either. Yet it must be done, and could be done, for like work
had been done over and over again in the country. The ground rose at
first gently and then steeply from the lake, while the splashing sound
of a stream on one side gave promise of good water-power for the new
settlement. There were not only firs but many hard-wood trees. Such
are those which shed their leaves, maple, birch, oak, beech, and others,
all destined soon to fall before the sturdy backwoodsman's axe.
The scene I have described was in that fine colony of Old England across
the Atlantic Ocean, called Canada, and in a newly opened district of its
north-west part between the great river Ottawa and Lake Ontario.
Old and young were all at work. There were some women and children of
the party. The women were busy in front of some rough huts which had
been built Indian fashion, something like gipsy tents in England, and
covered with large sheets of birch-bark. They were soon made, with a
ridge pole, supported by cross-sticks ten feet long. Other thin poles
were placed sloping against the ridge pole, and then the birch-bark was
put on. The bark comes off the trees in lengths of eight or more feet,
and two and three wide.
By the side of the huts casks of provisions, pork, flour, tea, sugar,
and such-like things, and household goods, were piled up, covered over
with bark or bits of canvas. In front of each hut was a fire, at which
some of the women were busy, while others were dressing or looking after
the younger children.
"Breakfast ready, breakfast ready," cried out the women one after the
other, as they placed ready for their husbands and sons savoury dishes
of pork, or beef, and fish, with hot cakes of wheaten flour or
Indian-corn, baked in the ashes, to be washed down with good tea,
sweetened with maple sugar. Of milk and butter of course there was
none. The men soon came in, and sat down on the trunks of trees rolled
near for the purpose, with appetites sharpened by their morning's work.
With one of the families we have most to do. The father, Michael Hale,
was a broad-shouldered, fair-haired, blue-eyed man, with a kind, honest
look in his face. Following him came his three stout sons, Rob, David,
and Small Tony, as he was called, and small he was as to height, but he
was broad and strong, and so active that he did as much work as any of
the rest. He was such a merry happy little chap, with such a comical
face, so full of fun, that he was a favourite everywhere.
Two men also sat down to breakfast whom Michael had hired to help him
clear his ground.
Mrs Hale had two stout girls well able to help her, and three smaller
children to look after, while her eldest girl, Susan, had gone out to
service, and was getting good wages.
"Well, Martha, I hope that we shall have a house ready for you and the
little ones in a few days in case rain should come on. We've got stuff
enough to build it with," said Michael, pointing to the huge logs he had
been felling.
"We do very well at present in the hut," answered his wife, smiling. "I
have a liking for it--no rent and no taxes to pay; it is ours--the first
dwelling we ever had of our own."
"Ay, wife; and now we have forty acres of land too of our own: little
value, to be sure, as they are; but in a few months, when we have put
work into them, they'll yield us a good living," observed Michael,
glancing his eye down his allotment, which reached to the lake. "We
shall have four acres cleared, and our house up, before the snow sets
in; and if the boys and I can chop three more in the winter, we shall
have seven to start with in the spring."
"You'll do that, master, if you work as you've begun," said Pat Honan,
one of the men Hale had engaged to work for him. "Arrah now, if I had
the wife and childer myself, maybe I'd be settling on a farm of my own;
but, somehow or other, when I go to bed at night, it isn't often that
I'm richer than when I got up in the morning."
"You won't have the whiskey here, Pat; so maybe you'll have a better
chance. Just try what you can do," said Michael, in a kind tone.
"Ah, now, that's just what I've thried many a day; and all went right
till temptation came in my way, and then, somehow or other, the throat
was always so dhry that I couldn't, for the life of me, help moistening
it a bit."
Pat's companion, another Irishman, Peter Disney, looked very sulky at
these remarks, and Michael suspected that he had often proved poor Pat's
tempter.
Near Michael's tent there was another, owned by an old friend of his,
John Kemp. They had come out together from the same place in England,
and for the same reason. They had large families, and found work hard
to get at fair wages. Michael Hale was a day labourer, as his father
was before him. He lived in a wild part of Old England, where schools
were scarce. He had very little learning himself; but he was blessed
with a good wife, who could read her Bible, and she had not much time to
read anything else. Michael fell ill, and so did two of his children
(that was in the old country); and when he got better, he found that his
old master was dead. For a long time he went about looking for work.
One day he called at the house of a gentleman, one Mr Forster, five
miles from where he lived.
"I cannot give you work, but I can give you advice, and maybe help,"
said Mr Forster. "If you cannot get work at home, take your family to
a British colony. I am sending some people off to Canada, to a brother
of mine who is settled there; and, if you wish, you shall go with them."
"Where is Canada, and what sort of a country is it, sir?" asked Michael.
"It is away to the west, where the sun sets, and across the Atlantic
Ocean; and a vessel, sailing at the rate of nine or ten miles an hour,
takes between twelve and fourteen days to get there. It is a country
full of large rivers and lakes and streams, and has railroads running
from one end to the other. There is much forest-land to be sold; and a
man working for another for one or two years is generally able to save
money and to buy a farm, and set up for himself. The climate is very
healthy. The summers are hotter than in England, and the winters much
colder. The ground is then covered thickly with snow; but the snow is
looked on as a blessing, as, when beaten down, a capital road is made
over it, and besides it makes the earth fertile. Everything that grows
in England will grow there, and many things besides, such as
Indian-corn, or maize. Though the summers are short, they are very hot,
and corn is quickly brought to maturity. A man must work there, as
everywhere, for a living; but if he keeps from drinking, he is sure to
get plenty of work, and to be well paid."
"I think, sir, that country will just suit me," said Michael. "I find
it a hard matter to get work; and when my boys grow up, it will be still
worse."
"Well, think it over," said Mr Forster. "If you can get work, stay
where you are; if not, remember what I tell you, that Canada is a fine
country for a hard-working, strong man; and that if you determine to go
there, I will help you."
Michael thought over the matter, and talked over it with Martha, and
they agreed to go. Michael Hale told his neighbour, John Kemp, what he
was thinking of doing. When John heard that Michael was going, he said
that he would go too, for much the same reason; he had five children,
and might have many more; and the day might come when he could get no
work for himself or them either.
Michael could not have got out if it had not been for the help given him
by Mr Forster; but John Kemp had a cow and calf, two pigs, and some
poultry; and, by selling these and the furniture, he had enough to pay
his passage, and some money over. They went to Liverpool, where Mr
Forster took a passage for them on board a large ship, with nearly three
hundred and fifty other persons, also going out to settle in Canada.
They felt very strange at first; and when the ship began to roll from
side to side, and to dip her head into the big seas, they did not know
what was going to happen; but it soon got smooth again, and though they
were nearly a month at sea, they were not the worse for the voyage. The
ship was some days sailing up a large river, called the Saint Lawrence,
which runs right across Canada, from west to east. They only went up
part of the way in her, as far as Quebec, a fine city, built on a steep
hill. They thought the high mountains very fine on the sides of the
river, and wondered at the curious places where settlers had built their
houses. Wherever there was a level spot on the side of the mountains,
some quite high up, there was sure to be one or more fields, an orchard,
and a cottage. They were told that these were the farms of French
people, whose fathers had come over to the country many years ago, when
it was owned by France; and that a great many French still live in the
east part; but that in the west, where they were going, the inhabitants
are nearly all English, or Scotch, or Irish. They found that there was
an agent at Quebec, a government officer, as well as at every large
town, whose business it is to tell newly arrived emigrants all about the
country, how to get up to where they want to go, and to help those who
want it.
Michael and his friends went up to Montreal, another large city, in a
big steamer. From Montreal they went on sometimes in a railway; then in
a small steamer on a river, then on a canal; then across two or three
lakes, and again on a river and canal; and then they landed, and went
across country in a wagon, and for some miles over a lake, and along a
river, in an open boat, till at last they reached the place where Mr
Forster's brother lived. Here Michael and John engaged themselves to
serve two settlers, at good wages, for a year; their wives were to cook
and wash; their cottages and food were found them; while the children
were to go to school, and to help in harvest and other times when they
were wanted. Michael and John agreed that they had good reason to be
satisfied with the change they had made.
For two years Michael and John worked on steadily for their masters, as
did their wives and elder children, getting good wages, and spending
very little. They were employed in clearing the ground; that is,
chopping down trees, under-brushing, cutting the underwood, building log
huts, fencing, ploughing, and digging, road making--not as roads are
made in England, though, but with logs and planks--and building carts
and wagons, and bridges too; indeed, there were few things they did not
turn their hands to.
Now, with fifty pounds each in their pockets, over and above what they
had laid out in provisions and stores for the winter, they had come up
to take possession of forty acres apiece of freehold land, for part of
which they had paid, the rest was to be paid for by a certain sum each
year. They had to lead a rough life, but they did not mind that; they
knew what they were to expect. They did not fear the cold of winter;
for their log-houses would have thick walls, and they had large iron
stoves with flues, and plenty of fuel to be had for the trouble of
chopping. After the snow had fallen, the boys would chop enough in a
few days to last them all the winter, and pile it up in a great heap
near the house. They had plenty of clothing, and they had found the
climate, in summer or winter, as healthy as they would wish.
They were not long at breakfast, and did not give themselves much time
to rest, but up they were again, axes in hand, chopping away at the big
giant trees which came crashing quickly down one after the other before
their strokes.