Odd Characters
"Dear merry reader, did you ever hear,
Whilst travelling on the world's wide beaten road,
The curious reasoning, and opinions queer,
Of men, who never in their lives bestow'd
One hour on study; whose existence seems
A thing of course--a practical delusion--
A day of frowning clouds and sunny gleams--
Of pain and pleasure, mix'd in strange confusion;
Who feel they move and breathe, they know not why--
Are born to eat and drink, and sleep and die."
S.M.
The shores of the Prince Edward District become more bold and beautiful
as the steamer pursues her course up the "Long Reach." Magnificent trees
clothe these rugged banks to their very summits, and cast dense shadows
upon the waters that slumber at their feet. The slanting rays of the
evening sun stream through their thick foliage, and weave a network of
gold around the corrugated trunks of the huge oak and maple trees that
tower far above our heads. The glorious waters are dyed with a thousand
changeful hues of crimson and saffron, and reflect from their unruffled
surface the gorgeous tints of a Canadian sunset. The pines, with their
hearse-like plumes, loom out darkly against the glowing evening sky, and
frown austerely upon us, their gloomy aspect affording a striking
contrast to the sun-lighted leaves of the feathery birch and the rock
elm. It is a lonely hour, and one that nature seems to have set apart
for prayer and praise; a devotional spirit seems to breathe over the
earth, the woods, and waters, softening and harmonising the whole into
one blessed picture of love and peace.
The boat has again crossed the bay, and stops to take in wood at
"Roblin's wharf." We are now beneath the shadow of the "Indian woods," a
reserve belonging to the Mohawks in the township of Tyendenaga, about
twenty-four miles by water from Belleville. A broad belt of forest land
forms the background to a cleared slope, rising gradually from the water
until it reaches a considerable elevation above the shore. The frontage
to the bay is filled up with neat farm houses, and patches of buck-wheat
and Indian corn, the only grain that remains unharvested at this season
of the year. We have a fine view of the stone church built by the
Indians, which stands on the top of the hill about a mile from the
water. Queen Anne presented to this tribe three large marble tablets
engraved with the Ten Commandments, which, after following them in all
their ramblings for a century and a half, now grace the altar of this
church, and are regarded with great veneration by the Indian settlers,
who seem to look upon them with a superstitious awe. The church is built
in the gothic style, and is one of the most picturesque village churches
that I have seen in Canada. The Indians contributed a great part of
the funds for erecting this building. I was never within the walls
of the sacred edifice; but I have wandered round the quiet peaceful
burial-ground, and admired the lovely prospect it commands of the bay
and the opposite shores.
One side of the churchyard is skirted by a natural grove of forest
trees, which separates it from the parsonage, a neat white building that
fronts the water, and stands back from it at the head of a noble sweep
of land covered with velvet turf, and resembling greatly a gentleman's
park at home, by the fine groups of stately forest trees scattered over
it, and a semicircular belt of the original forest, that, sloping from
the house on either side, extends its wings until it meets the blue
waters of the bay, leaving between its green arms a broad space of
cleared land.
The first time my eyes ever rested on this beautiful spot it appeared to
me a perfect paradise. It was a warm, balmy, moonlight evening in June.
The rich resinous odour of the woods filled the air with delicious
perfume; fire-flies were glancing like shooting stars among the dark
foliage that hung over the water, and the spirit of love and peace sat
brooding over the luxurious solitude, whose very silence was eloquent
with praise of the great Maker. How I envied the residents of the
parsonage their lovely home! How disappointed I felt, when Mrs. G---
told me that she felt it dull and lonely, that she was out of society,
and that the Indians were very troublesome neighbours! Now, I have no
doubt that this was all very true, and that I should have felt the same
want that she did, after the bewitching novelty of the scene had become
familiar; but it sadly destroyed the romance and poetry of it to me at
the time.
This part of the township of Tyendenaga belongs almost exclusively to
the Mohawk Indians, who have made a large settlement here, while the
government has given them a good school for instructing their children
in the Indian and English languages; and they have a resident clergyman
of the Establishment always at hand, to minister to them the spiritual
consolations of religion, and impart to them the blessed truths of the
gospel. The Rev. S. G--- was for some years the occupant of the pretty
parsonage-house, and was greatly beloved by his Indian congregation.
The native residents of these woods clear farms, and build and plant
like their white neighbours. They rear horses, cattle, and sheep, and
sow a sufficient quantity of grain to secure them from want. But there
is a great lack of order and regularity in all their agricultural
proceedings. They do not make half as much out of their lands--which
they suffer to be overgrown with thorns and thistles--as their white
neighbours; and their domestic arrangements within doors are never
marked by that appearance of comfort and cleanliness, which is to be
seen in the dwellings of the native Canadians and emigrants from Europe.
The red man is out of his element when he settles quietly down to a
farm, and you perceive it at a glance. He never appears to advantage
as a resident among civilized men; and he seems painfully conscious of
his inferiority, and ignorance of the arts of life. He has lost his
identity, as it were, and when he attempts to imitate ihe customs and
manners of the whites, he is too apt to adopt their vices without
acquiring their industry and perseverance, and sinks into a sottish,
degraded savage. The proud independence we admired so much in the man of
the woods, has disappeared with his truthfulness, honesty, and simple
manners. His pure blood is tainted with the dregs of a lower humanity,
degenerated by the want and misery of over-populous European cities. His
light eyes, crisp hair, and whitey-brown complexion, too surely betray
his mixed origin; and we turn from the half educated, half-caste Indian,
with feelings of aversion and mistrust.
There is a Mohawk family who reside in this township of the name of
Loft, who have gained some celebrity in the colony by their clever
representations of the manners and customs of their tribe. They sing
Indian songs, dance the war-dance, hold councils, and make grave
speeches, in the characters of Indian chiefs and hunters, in an artistic
manner that would gain the applause of a more fastidious audience.
The two young squaws, who were the principal performers in this
travelling Indian opera, were the most beautiful Indian women I ever
beheld. There was no base alloy in their pure native blood. They had the
large, dark, humid eyes, the ebon locks tinged with purple, so peculiar
to their race, and which gives such a rich tint to the clear olive skin
and brilliant white teeth of the denizens of the Canadian wilderness.
Susannah Loft and her sister were the _beau ideal_ of Indian women; and
their graceful and symmetrical figures were set off to great advantage
by their picturesque and becoming costume, which in their case was
composed of the richest materials. Their acting and carriage were
dignified and queen-like, and their appearance singularly pleasing and
interesting.
Susannah, the eldest and certainly the most graceful of these truly
fascinating girls, was unfortunately killed last summer by the collision
of two steam-carriages, while travelling professionally with her sister
through the States. Those who had listened with charmed ears to her
sweet voice, and gazed with admiring eyes upon her personal charms, were
greatly shocked at her untimely death.
A little boy and girl belonging to the same talented family have been
brought before the public, in order to supply her place, but they have
not been able to fill up the blank occasioned by her loss.
The steamboat again leaves the north shore, and stands across from the
stone mills, which are in the Prince Edward district, and form one of
the features of the remarkable scenery of what is called the "high
shore." This mountainous ridge, which descends perpendicularly to the
water's edge, is still in forest; and, without doubt, this is the most
romantic portion of the bay, whose waters are suddenly contracted to
half their former dimensions, and glide on darkly and silently between
these steep wood-crowned heights.
There is a small lake upon the highest portion of this table-land, whose
waters are led down the steep bank, and made to work a saw-mill, which
is certainly giving a very unromantic turn to them. But here, as in the
States, the beautiful and the ideal are instantly converted into the
real and the practical.
This "lake of the mountains" is a favourite place for picnics and
pleasure trips from Northport and Belleville. Here the Sabbath-school
children come, once during the summer, to enjoy a ramble in the woods,
and spread their feast beneath the lordly oaks and maples that crown
these heights. And the teetotallers marshall their bands of converts,
and hold their cold water festival, beside the blue deep waters of this
mysterious mountain-lake.
Strange stories are told of its unfathomable depth; of the quicksands
that are found near it, and of its being supplied from the far-off
inland ocean of Lake Huron. But like the cove in Tyendenaga, of which
everybody in the neighbourhood has heard something, but which nobody has
seen, these accounts of the lake of the mountain rest only upon hearsay.
The last rays of the sun still lingered on wood and stream when we
arrived at Picton, which stands at the head of the "long reach." The bay
here is not wider than a broad river. The banks are very lofty, and
enclose the water in an oblong form, round which that part of the town
which is near the shore is built.
Picton is a very beautiful place viewed from the deck of the steamer.
Its situation is novel and imposing, and the number of pretty cottages
that crown the steep ridge that rises almost perpendicularly from the
water, peeping out from among fine orchards in full bearing, and trim
gardens, give it quite a rural appearance. The steamboat enters this
fairy bay by a very narrow passage; and, after delivering freight and
passengers at the wharf, backs out by the way she came in. There is no
turning a large vessel round this long half-circle of deep blue water.
Few spots in Canada would afford a finer subject for the artist's pencil
than this small inland town, which is so seldom visited by strangers and
tourists.
The progress to wealth and importance made by this place is strikingly
behind that of Belleville, which far exceeds it in size and population.
Three years ago a very destructive fire consumed some of the principal
buildings in the town, which has not yet recovered from its effects.
Trade is not so brisk here as in Belleville, and the streets are dull
and monotonous, when compared with the stir and bustle of the latter,
which, during the winter season, is crowded with sleighs from the
country. The Bay of Quinte during the winter forms an excellent road to
all the villages and towns on its shores. The people from the opposite
side trade more with the Belleville merchants than with those in their
own district; and during the winter season, when the bay is completely
frozen from the mouth of the Trent to Kingston, loaded teams are passing
to and fro continually. It is the favourite afternoon drive of young and
old, and when the wind, sweeping over such a broad surface of ice, is
not _too cold_, and you are well wrapped up in furs and buffalo robes, a
sleigh ride on the ice is very delightful. Not that I can ever wholly
divest myself of a vague, indistinct sense of danger, whilst rapidly
gliding over this frozen mirror. I would rather be out on the bay, in
a gale of wind in a small boat, than overtaken by a snow storm on its
frozen highways. Still it is a pleasant sight of a bright, glowing,
winter day, when the landscape glitters like a world composed of
crystals, to watch the handsome sleighs, filled with well-dressed men
and women, and drawn by spirited horses, dashing in all directions over
this brilliant field of dazzling white.
Night has fallen rapidly upon us since we left Picton in the distance.
A darker shade is upon the woods, the hills, the waters, and by the time
we approach Fredericksburg it will be dark. This too is a very pretty
place on the north side of the bay; beautiful orchards and meadows skirt
the water, and fine bass-wood and willow-trees grow beside, or bend
over the waves. The green smooth meadows, out of which the black stumps
rotted long ago, show noble groups of hiccory and butter-nut, and sleek
fat cows are reposing beneath them, or standing mid-leg in the small
creek that wanders through them to pour its fairy tribute into the broad
bay.
We must leave the deck and retreat into the ladies' cabin, for the air
from the water grows chilly, and the sense of seeing can no longer be
gratified by remaining where we are. But if you open your eyes to see,
and your ears to hear, all the strange sayings and doings of the odd
people you meet in a steamboat, you will never lack amusement.
The last time I went down to Kingston, there was a little girl in the
cabin who rejoiced in the possession of a very large American doll,
made so nearly to resemble an infant, that at a distance it was easy to
mistake it for one. To render the deception more striking, you could
make it cry like a child by pressing your hand upon its body. A thin,
long-laced farmer's wife came on board, at the wharf we have just
quitted, and it was amusing to watch her alternately gazing at the
little girl and her doll.
"Is that your baby, Cissy?"
"No; it's my doll."
"Mi! what a strange doll! Isn't that something _oncommon?_ I took
it for a real child. Look at its bare feet and hands, and bald head.
Well, I don't think it's 'zactly right to make a piece of wood look so
like a human critter."
The child good-naturedly put the doll into the woman's hands, who,
happening to take it rather roughly, the wooden baby gave a loud squall;
the woman's face expressed the utmost horror, and she dropped it on the
floor as if it had been a hot coal.
"Gracious, goodness me, the thing's alive!"
The little girl laughed heartily, and, taking up the discarded doll,
explained to the woman the simple method employed to produce the sound.
"Well, it do sound quite _nataral_," said her astonished companion. "What
will they find out next? It beats the railroad and the telegraph
holler."
"Ah, but I saw a big doll that could speak when I was with mamma in New
York," said the child, with glistening eyes.
"A doll that could speak? You don't say. Oh, do tell!"
While the young lady described the automaton doll, it was amusing to
watch the expressions of surprise, wonder, and curiosity, that flitted
over the woman's brig cadaverous face. She would have made a good study
for a painter.
A young relative of mine went down in the steamboat, to be present at
the Provincial Agricultural Show that was held that year in the town of
Buckville, on the St. Lawrence. It was the latter end of September; the
weather was wet and stormy, and the boat loaded to the water's edge with
cattle and passengers. The promenade decks were filled up with pigs,
sheep and oxen. Cows were looking sleepily in at the open doors of the
ladies' cabin, and bulls were fastened on the upper deck. Such a motley
group of bipeds and quadrupeds were never before huddled into such a
narrow space; and, amidst all this din and confusion, a Scotch piper was
playing lustily on the bagpipes, greatly to the edification, I've no
doubt, of himself and the crowd of animal life around him.
The night came on very dark and stormy, and many of the women suffered
as much from the pitching of the boat as if they had been at sea. The
ladies' cabin was crowded to overflowing; every sofa, bed, and chair was
occupied; and my young friend, who did not feel any inconvenience from
the storm, was greatly entertained by the dialogues carried on across
the cabin by the women, who were reposing in their berths, and lamenting
over the rough weather and their own sufferings in consequence. They
were mostly the wives of farmers and respectable mechanics, and the
language they used was neither very choice nor grammatical.
"I say, Mrs. C---, how be you?"
"I feel bad, any how," with a smothered groan.
"Have you been sick?"
"Not yet; but feel as if I was going to."
"How's your head coming on, Mrs. N---?"
"It's just splitting, I thank you."
"Oh, how awful the boat do pitch!" cries a third.
"If she should sink, I'm afeard we shall all go to the bottom."
"And think of all the poor sheep and cattle!"
"Well, of course, they'd have to go too."
"Oh, mi! I'll get up, and be ready for a start, in case of the worst,"
cried a young girl.
"Mrs. C---, do give me something good out of your basket, to keep up my
spirits."
"Well, I will. Come over here, and you and I will have some talk. My
basket's at the foot of my berth. You'll find in it a small bottle of
brandy and some crulls."
So up got several of the sick ladies, and kept up their spirits by
eating cakes, chewing gum, and drinking cold brandy punch.
"Did Mrs. H--- lose much in the fire last night?" said one.
"Oh, dear, yes; she lost all her clothes, and three large jars of
preserves she made about a week ago, and _sarce in accordance!_"
[A common Yankee phrase, often used instead of the word proportion.]
There was an honest Yorkshire farmer and his wife on board, and when the
morning at length broke through pouring rain and driving mist, and the
port to which they were bound loomed through the haze, the women were
very anxious to know if their husbands, who slept in the gentlemen's
cabin, were awake."
"They arn't stirring yet," said Mrs. G---, "for I hear Isaac (meaning
her husband) _breezing_ below"--a most expressive term for very hard
snoring.
The same Isaac, when he came up to the ladies' cabin to take his wife on
shore, complained, in his broad Yorkshire dialect, that he had been kept
awake all night by a jovial gentleman who had been his fellow-traveller
in the cabin.
"We had terrible noisy chap in t'cabin. They called him Mr. D---, and
said he 'twas t'mayor of Belleville; but I thought they were a-fooning.
He wouldn't sleep himself, nor let t'others sleep. He gat piper, an' put
him top o' table, and kept him playing all t'night."
One would think that friend Isaac had been haunted by the vision of the
piper in his dreams; for, certes, the jovial buzzing of the pipes had
not been able to drown the deep drone of his own nasal organ.
A gentleman who was travelling in company with Sir A--- told me an
anecdote of him, and how he treated an impertinent fellow on board one
of the lake boats, that greatly amused me.
The state cabins in these large steamers open into the great saloon; and
as they are often occupied by married people, each berth contains two
beds, one placed above the other. Now it often happens, when the boat
is greatly crowded, that two passengers of the same sex are forced to
occupy the same sleeping room. This was Sir A---'s case, and he was
obliged, though very reluctantly, to share his sleeping apartment with
a well-dressed American, but evidently a man of low standing, from the
familiarity of his manners and the bad grammar he used.
In the morning, it was necessary for one gentleman to rise before the
other, as the space in front of their berths was too narrow to allow of
more than one performing his ablutions at a time.
Our Yankee made a fair start, and had nearly completed his toilet, when
he suddenly spied a tooth-brush and a box of tooth-powder in the
dressing-case his companion had left open on the washstand. Upon these he
pounced, and having made a liberal use of them, flung them back into the
case, and sat down upon the only chair the room contained, in order to
gratify his curiosity by watching how his sleeping partner went through
the same process.
Sir A---, greatly annoyed by the fellow's assurance, got out of bed; and
placing the washhand basin on the floor, put his feet into the water,
and commenced scrubbing his toe-nails with the desecrated tooth-brush.
Jonathan watched his movements for a few seconds in silent horror; at
length, unable to contain himself, he exclaimed.
"Well, stranger! that's the dirtiest use I ever see a toothbrush put to,
any how."
"I saw it put to a dirtier, just now," said Sir A--- very coolly.
"I always use that brush for cleaning my toes."
The Yankee turned very green, and fled to the deck, but his nausea was
not sea-sickness.
The village of Nappanee, on the north side of the Bay, is situated on a
very pretty river that bears the same name,--Nappanee, in the Mohawk
language, signifying flour. The village is a mile back from the bay, and
is not much seen from the water. There are a great many mills here, both
grist and saw mills, from which circumstance it most likely derives its
name.
Amherst Island, which is some miles in extent, stands between Ontario
and the Bay of Quinte, its upper and lower extremity forming the two
straits that are called the Upper and Lower Gap, and the least breeze,
which is not perceptible in the other portions of the bay, is felt here.
Passing through these gaps on a stormy day creates as great a nausea as
a short chopping sea on the Atlantic, and I have seen both men and women
retreat to their berths to avoid disagreeable consequences. Amherst
Island is several miles in extent, and there are many good farms in
high cultivation upon it, while its proximity on all sides to the water
affords excellent sport to the angler and gunner, as wild ducks abound
in this vicinity.
Just after you pass the island and enter the lower gap, there are three
very small islands in a direct line with each other, that are known as
the three brothers. A hermit has taken up his abode on the centre one,
and built a very Robinson Crusoe looking hut near the water, composed
of round logs and large stones cemented together with clay. He gets his
living by fishing and fowling, and you see his well-worn, weather-beaten
boat, drawn up in a little cove near his odd dwelling. I was very
curious to obtain some particulars of the private history of this
eccentric individual, but beyond what I have just related, my informants
could tell me nothing, or why he had chosen this solitary abode in such
an exposed situation, and so far apart from all the comforts of social
life.
The town of Bath is the last place of any note on this portion of the
Bay, until you arrive at Kingston.
A Morning Song.
"The young wheat is springing
All tender and green,
And the blackbird is singing
The branches between;
The leaves of the hawthorn
Have burst from their prison,
And the bright eyes of morn
On the earth have arisen.
"While sluggards are sleeping,
Oh hasten with me;
While the night mists are weeping
Soft showers on each tree,
And nature is glowing
Beneath the warm beam,
The young day is throwing
O'er mountain and stream.
"And the shy colt is bounding
Across the wide mead,
And his wild hoofs resounding,
Increases his speed;
Now starting and crossing
At each shadow he sees,
Now wantonly tossing
His mane in the breeze.
"The sky-lark is shaking
The dew from her wing,
And the clover forsaking,
Soars upwards to sing,
In rapture outpouring
Her anthem of love,
Where angels adoring
Waft praises above.
"Shake dull sleep from your pillow,
Young dreamer arise,
On the leaves of the willow
The dew-drop still lies,
And the mavis is trilling
His song from the brake,
And with melody filling
The wild woods--awake!"