A number of years ago, when I was somewhat less fastidious in entering
into an engagement than I have latterly become, I was induced to go to
Ireland, to take charge of four young ladies in a gentleman's family.
It was going a terribly long way from home, and that was an unpleasant
circumstance to contemplate; but everybody told me that I should be so
very kindly treated, that I did not long hesitate; and so accordingly
behold me, in the first place, crossing the sea in a steamer to Dublin,
and afterwards driving southwards inside the mail-coach, my spirits
wonderfully up with the novelty of the scenery, and the beautiful
weather, which seemed to welcome me to 'the first gem of the ocean.'
I do not wish to tell the name of the town to which I was bound,
and need only say that it was a seaport, with some pretty environs,
embellished with gentlemen's seats and pleasure-grounds. In one of
these seats, a large and handsome mansion, surrounded by a park, and
approached by an 'elegant' avenue, I was to take up my residence. 'A
very pleasant affair I expect this is going to be,' said I to myself,
as I was driven up to the door of the hall in a jaunting-car, which had
been in attendance for me at the coach-office. 'Nice, kind people, for
having been so considerate--and what a good-looking establishment--as
aristocratic as anybody could wish!'
The Tolmies, as I shall call the family--of course using a fictitious
appellation--were really a most agreeable set of people. The head of
the house was much superior in station and character to a squireen. He
possessed considerable property, had been in parliament, and was a man
of respectable acquirements, with exceedingly accomplished manners. His
lady had been a reigning beauty in her youth, and was still a person of
fine appearance, though she seemed to have retired in a great measure
from the world of fashion. She dressed highly, and occupied herself a
good deal in doing nothing. With regard to her daughters, who were to
be my pupils, they were obliging, light-hearted, and pretty. I liked
them at first sight; nor did subsequent experience make any sensible
alteration on this feeling.
The range of my duties was soon arranged. French, music, and drawing
were to be the principal lessons; and to work we set in the best
possible spirits. I must say, however, that a chill began to creep over
me when I had time to look about me. Inside and outside the mansion
there was a curious mixture of the genteel with the shabby. There
seemed to be no exact perception of what was due to comfort, not to
speak of respectability. Several panes of glass were broken, and not
one of them was restored during my stay. Sometimes they were open, the
holes admitting rain and wind, and sometimes they were stopped with
anything that could be readily laid hold of. The glazier was always to
be sent for; but this proved only a figure of speech.
My own room contrasted unpleasantly with, what till this time, I had
been in the custom of thinking indispensable. On the night after my
arrival I wished to fasten the door of my room, but found that it had
no lock, and I was obliged to keep it shut by means of a piece of
furniture. This did not more disconcert me than the discovery next
morning that the room had no bell. I wanted a little hot water; but
how was I to make myself heard? In vain I called from the top of the
staircase; nobody came. At length I recollected that there was a bell
at the hall door; so, throwing on a cloak, I descended to the lower
regions, and tolled the entrance-bell. Great was the commotion at so
unusual a sound at this early hour, and servants were soon on the spot
wondering at the summons. The required hot water was brought to me in a
broken china jug.
A day or two afterwards, on going into my apartment, I was not a
little astonished at observing that the house-maid had been using my
toilet-apparatus, and was, at the very moment of my entrance, wiping
her face with my only towel.
'Judy,' said I, 'that is taking too much liberty, I must say. Go fetch
to me a clean towel at anyrate.'
'A clane towel, did you say, miss? Why, this one is not a bit the worse
o' me; for, you see, I washed my face afore I touched it.'
'I don't care,' I replied; 'I must have a fresh one, so be so good as
to bring it.'
'Sure!' exclaimed Judy, 'how can I do that, when there is only one for
each of us?'
'Do you mean to tell me that there is only one towel for each room in
the house?'
'Indeed I do, miss, and plenty; for we always washes them on Saturday
night, and dries them too; and in that way everybody has a clane one on
Sunday.'
Finding from one of the young ladies that this was really the case, I
could say no more on the subject. The next three days I dried my face
with one of my cambric handkerchiefs.
If the stock of linen was rather scanty, it was not more so than
the bed furniture and some other articles usually considered to be
essential to comfort. For each bed in the house but one blanket could
be produced, no matter how cold was the weather; and I certainly should
have perished, if I had not taken the precaution of heaping my cloak
and other articles on my bed every night on retiring to rest. How my
young ladies managed I could not tell. Though well provided with frocks
and other outside attire, they were desperately ill off for those
articles which form the understratum of female apparel. Yet they were
unconscious of their deficiencies, and as happy and gay as if they had
possessed a draper's whole establishment.
The family had no lack of servants. There was a coachman, butler,
lady's-maid, and several house and kitchen-maids. I never clearly
understood the number of these female domestics. On the two or three
occasions that I entered the kitchen, there were always some women
sitting round the fire engaged in solemn conclave. One was pretty sure
to be smoking a black stumpy pipe, while the others were warming their
hands, and talking on some important piece of business. Such, I fancy,
were the hangers-on of the family. They would go an errand at a pinch,
or do any other odd job when required, for which, of course, they
enjoyed the loose hospitality of the Tolmies--'a true Irish family,
always kind to the poor; God bless them!'
One morning at breakfast Mr Tolmie kindly suggested that the young
ladies and I should have a holiday. 'There is to be some boat-racing
to-day down at the town,' said he, 'and you will all go and see it. My
brother, the colonel, will be there, and pay you all proper attentions.
So just take the car, and make a day of it. But don't forget the large
umbrella; for you may perhaps have a shower before you reach home
again.'
The offer was thankfully accepted, and we went off in the car, Reilly
the coachman driving us, and not forgetting the umbrella. We spent a
very pleasant day; and the colonel, to do him justice, proved a most
valuable cavalier. However, when the period for our return arrived,
there was no Reilly to be found. After a world of searching, the
faithless driver was discovered, not in the best balanced condition.
That, however, is nothing to an Irishman, who can drive as well drunk
as sober; so we got away in the car, not more than an hour behind our
time. When we had proceeded several miles on our way homewards, we
discovered that the large umbrella was gone.
'Reilly,' said I, 'where is the umbrella?' Reilly answered not a
word, but drove on furiously. I could not get him to speak; and as my
questions only caused him to drive with more frantic speed, I was fain
to desist. When we reached the hall, we communicated the loss to Mr
Tolmie, who did not express any anger on the occasion. 'Be quite easy
about the umbrella, my dears,' said he, 'for it will be quite safe.
Reilly has only pledged it for whisky, and we shall soon recover it.'
Next morning Reilly received an advance on his wages; and the whole day
was spent by him in bringing back the umbrella.
I mention this trifling circumstance only to show the want of exact
management both in master and man. Everything was done in a loose sort
of way, as if it were a matter of indifference how matters went. After
a windy night, we were sure to see the ground around the house littered
with lime and broken slates; but I never saw the damages repaired.
'Everything would do well enough, thank God!' Such was the consoling
philosophy of these curious people. As long as the house hung together,
and an outward appearance of gentility was maintained, there was little
regard for substantials. Often we had very poor fare; but there was a
tolerable show of plate; and if clean glasses were sometimes wanting,
there were at least not bad wines, for those who liked to partake of
these liquors.
I walked daily in the grounds with my young charges; and occasionally,
to amuse ourselves, we visited the cottages of the humbler class
of persons on the property. Mr Tolmie, who had been in England,
where he admired the houses of the peasantry, was rather anxious to
introduce the practice of keeping neatly-whitewashed cottages, and
he gave strict orders accordingly. His injunctions in this respect
were pretty generally obeyed; but unfortunately the whitewashing
was all on the outside. While the exterior was white and smart, the
interior--all within the doorway--was black, damp, and dirty. One of
the cleanest-looking cottages was the lodge at the gate, inhabited by
Larry the forester and his wife. In driving into the grounds, you would
have said, 'There is a comfortable little dwelling--it speaks well
for the proprietor.' Had you entered the cottage, how your feelings
of gratification would have been dispelled! The truth was, that the
interior possessed scarcely any furniture. The bed was a parcel of
straw, hemmed in by a deal on the floor; the whole cooking apparatus
was an iron pot; and a bottle, one or two pieces of earthenware, three
wooden stools, and a deal-table, maybe said to make up the entire list
of household articles. Breakfast, dinner, and supper consisted of a
pot of potatoes emptied on the table. Dishes at meals were out of the
question, and so were knives, forks, or spoons.
Well, this family of husband and wife was one morning augmented by the
arrival of a baby, for which, as I learned in the course of the day,
little or no preparation in the way of apparel had been made, and the
little stranger was accordingly clothed with such scraps of dress as
the young ladies and I could gather together at a short notice--all
which was declared to do beautifully, 'thank God.' The second or third
morning afterwards, dreadful news was brought respecting baby: it
had been attacked by a rat in the night-time, and very much bitten
about the forehead. But the 'ugly thief' had been scared away before
he actually killed the infant, which was considered a 'lucky escape,
thank God for it.' In spite of this untoward disaster, the child throve
apace; and with never a shirt to its back, grew up as healthy, and
plump, and happy as any of its unsophisticated ancestors.
The gleam of joy which the arrival of baby had given to Larry's cottage
was destined to be of short duration. Larry, poor man, had been for
some time suffering under what he called a 'bad cowld,' but which I
apprehended was a bronchial affection, aggravated by want of medical
care. At all events, from bad to worse, and when nobody was expecting
such a melancholy event, Larry died. His wife did not discover her
misfortune till she found in the middle of the night that her husband
was lifeless, or in a swoon. Franticly, as we afterwards learned, she
drew the body from the bed, laid it before the expiring embers of the
fire--possibly with the view of catching a little warmth--and then went
to alarm the neighbours. The first female acquaintance who arrived
in the cottage was Alley Doyle. All was pitch-dark, and as Alley was
hastening through the apartment to the bed where she supposed the dead
or dying man lay, she stumbled, and fell over the corpse; and before
she could recover herself, others tumbled in, and increased the heap
on the floor. The yelling and struggling which ensued I leave to the
imagination of the reader! Not till lights were brought was the full
extent of the catastrophe learned in all its grotesque horrors.
When it was discovered that Larry was dead beyond recall, his body was
laid out on the top of the table; candles were placed according to
custom; and forms being brought in, all sat down, and began a regular
course of wailing, which lasted till the morning; and even then the
uproar did not subside. On looking into the cottage in the forenoon,
I was surprised to see, in broad daylight, four candles burning
within, and all the shutters closed. The air of the house was hot and
stifling from the number of breaths. Around the apartment sat the
mourners, muffled up in blue-cloth cloaks; and nothing was heard but
one monotonous chant, again and again repeated--'Sure he is not dead;
for if I thought he was dead, I would go distracted now!' By this time
Larry was in his coffin; but still on the table, and his face uncovered.
This miserable scene, so characteristic of Irish habits and feelings,
continued till next day at twelve o'clock, when, by Mr Tolmie's orders,
a hearse and cars were at the gate to carry the body of the deceased
to the grave. Being anxious to witness the departure, but not wishing
to intrude, I stood at a respectful distance from the cottage. This
was likely, however, to prove rather a tiresome affair. One o'clock
came--two o'clock came--and yet the funeral did not lift or move off.
The lid of the coffin stood at the door, as if it were going to be a
fixture. Astonished at the delay, I ventured forward to ask the reason.
Nobody could tell, although hundreds of people were waiting.
'Where is the undertaker?' I inquired.
'There is none,' was the reply.
'Then who has charge of the funeral?' I again inquired of a person who
seemed to be chief mourner.
'Nobody,' said he.
'In that case,' I observed, 'I think it would be proper for you and
the others to get the lid put on the coffin, and go away as soon as
possible; for it is getting late, and there is a long way to go.'
'Ah, miss,' said the man, as if clinging to the semblance of authority,
'I wish _you_ would give the orders, and we would all do your bidding,
and be thankful.'
Thus encouraged to take the upper hand, I requested some of the
bystanders to follow me into the cottage, to fix down the lid on the
coffin, and bear it to the hearse. All was done according to my orders;
but such a scene I shall never forget--the widow dismally wailing when
she saw the coffin borne off; the candles, with their long unsnuffed
wicks, melting in their sockets from the heat; and the haggard faces of
the mourners, worn out with their vigils. At my request all left the
cottage; and in five minutes the mournful procession moved off.
It is customary in Ireland for women to accompany funerals to the
grave; but on this occasion I endeavoured to dissuade the poor widow,
exhausted by hunger, grief, and watching, from going in the procession.
At this impious proposal I was beset by two viragos, who brandished
their fists in my face, and dared me to prevent a woman from looking
after her husband's corpse. I said that I had no objection to her
going, further than that she was evidently unfit for the journey,
and had not a farthing to buy any refreshment by the way. This
announcement had a wonderfully cooling effect. The vixens ceased their
remonstrances; and when the very discouraging intelligence of 'no
money--no drink' spread through the miscellaneous groups who were now
on the move, all gradually slunk away; and Larry's corpse was left to
the charge of the kitchen-maid, the stable-boy, and the gardener and
his sister.
I was thankful that even these few members of the procession proceeded
to do their duty; and having seen the last of them, went home to the
mansion, thinking of course that Larry would encounter no further
difficulty in getting below the ground. Delusive hope! I did not know
Ireland. Next morning I learned, that when the hearse arrived at the
burying-ground, it was all at once discovered that that very important
particular, a grave, had been unaccountably forgotten. The party looked
about and about, but no grave or apology for a grave could they cast
eyes on; and, worse and worse, there was no shovel of any description
wherewith a restingplace for the unfortunate Larry could be dug. So
off the gardener trotted to borrow the necessary implements; and these
being fortunately procured at a farmhouse not more than three miles
off, a grave was at length prepared; and the coffin was entombed just
about midnight, all right and comfortably, 'thank God!'
I did not remain long in Ireland after this event. All the family were
as kind as they possibly could be. But there were deficiencies in the
_ménage_ which the utmost stretch of politeness could not compensate.
The rude disorder which prevailed was disheartening; and as my health
began to leave me along with my spirits, I longed for _home_. I am now
in that dear home, which no temptation, I trust, will ever again induce
me to leave.
'L'ACADIE.'
'L'Acadie, or Seven Years' Explorations in British America, by Sir
James E. Alexander,'[4] is one of the latest published books of travel,
and differs so much from other works of its class, that it comes
before us with the effect of novelty. Sir James is a soldier, was
on active service in the country he describes; and to military men,
therefore, his volumes will be more acceptable than to the reading
world generally. At the same time there is much pleasant, off-hand
observation on matters of social concern; and the author's account
of his proceedings while surveying for a military road through New
Brunswick is in a high degree amusing and instructive.
We should be glad to think that officers of Sir James Alexander's
standing partook of the sentiments we everywhere see expressed in
the work respecting temperance and rational economy. Wherever it can
be done appropriately, he gives a smart rap to smoking, drinking,
and similar follies. At a public dinner he attended at New York,
plates of cigars were handed round during the toasts, and almost all
helped themselves to one; whereupon he observes--'One gentleman said
he always smoked twenty-five cigars a day, and often forty. It is
really astonishing that men of intelligence and education will cloud
their senses, and ruin their constitutions, with this absurd habit,
originating in youth in the desire to appear manly.'
We have a long disquisition on desertions in Canada, the close
neighbourhood of the United States offering a ready refuge to men who
are disposed to break their allegiance. The monotony of garrison life
and drunkenness are described as the principal causes of disgust with
the service; and Sir James recommends employment, and the encouragement
of temperance societies in regiments, as means for assuaging the evil.
According to his account, deserters are not esteemed, and seldom do
any good within the American territory. Many men, however, are either
drowned in attempting to swim across to the States, or are captured.
'The drowned bodies of deserters have been seen circling about for
weeks in the Devil's Whirlpool below Niagara.' An amusing story is told
of the capture of a deserter:--'He left Amherstburg to swim across
at night to the opposite shore. He managed to give "a wide berth"
to Bois-blanc Island, on which there was a guard, and he breasted
the stream gallantly; but getting among some other islands, he got
confused; and instead of keeping the stream always running against
his right shoulder, he got it on his left, and actually relanded on
the British shore in the morning, thinking it was the American. A
woman coming down for water was naturally a good deal surprised at
the appearance of a man issuing, like Leander, from the flood close
behind her, and exclaiming to her, "Hurrah! here we are on the land of
liberty!" "What do you mean?" she asked. "In the States, to be sure,"
he answered. The woman immediately saw the true state of the case, and
saying "Follow me," he found himself in the guard-room.'
In various parts of Canada bodies of Scotch are settled in clusters, or
at least at no great distance from each other; and according to ancient
habit, they endeavour to maintain some of their national customs. At
one place Sir James had an opportunity during winter of engaging in the
game of 'curling.' Instead of stones, however, which would have cracked
with the frost, masses of iron of 56 to 80 lbs. weight, of the shape of
curling-stones, were used. On St Andrew's Day he attended the dinner
given by the Scotchmen at Kingston; and here he made the acquaintance
of the chief of the MacNabs, who some years ago removed to Canada with
318 of his clan. The locality they selected was on the Upper Ottawa, in
a romantic and agreeable situation near Lake Chats. Strange, to find
a colony of the ancient Gael perpetuating the language and manners of
their ancestors in the recesses of a Canadian forest! At the dinner
in question, 'the MacNab was distinguished by a very fine appearance,
stout and stalwart, and he carried himself like the head of a clan. His
manners, too, were particularly courtier-like, as he had seen much good
society abroad; and he was, above all, a warm-hearted man, and a true
friend. He usually dressed in a blue coat and trousers, with a whole
acre of MacNab tartan for a waistcoat--at great dinners he wore a full
suit of his tartan. On the jacket were large silver buttons, which his
ancestors wore in the "rising" in 1745.'
Another anecdote of a different kind informs us that the commercial
genius of the New World has found in _rattlesnakes_ an object of
regular traffic:--'My respectable old friend, T. M'Connell the trapper,
told me that he was in the habit of visiting Niagara for the purpose
of killing the rattlesnakes for the sake of their fat, and that he
has sometimes killed three hundred in a season, and thus:--He watched
beside a ledge of rocks where their holes were, and stood behind a
tree, club in hand, and with his legs cased in sheepskins with the
wool on, to guard against bites. The snakes would come out cautiously
to seek on account of food or to sun themselves, fearing to go far for
their enemies, the pigs. The trapper would then rush forward and lay
about him with his club; those which escaped to their holes he seized
by the tail; and if they turned round and bit him in the hand, he
would spit some snake-root (which he kept chewing in his mouth) on the
wound: it frothed up, and danger would cease. The dead snakes were then
roasted, hung up by the tail over a slow fire, and their fat collected,
taking care there was no blood in it. The fat would sell for twelve
dollars a bottle, and was considered of great value by the country
people in cases of rheumatism and stiff joints.'
The survey of the great military road through the interior from
Halifax, which was projected by government in 1844, formed a suitable
opportunity for Sir James employing his skill in engineering; and he
was accordingly engaged on a section of the undertaking. The road was
designed to extend upwards of five hundred miles in length. Beginning
at Halifax, it crossed Nova Scotia by Truro and Amherst; having arrived
in New Brunswick, it pursued a pretty straight line by Boiestown and
Lake Madawaska to the south bank of the St Lawrence, whence it went
onward to Quebec. The main object of the line was to favour the transit
of troops to Canada; but practically it would open new and vast regions
for settlement, and greatly advance the prosperity of the colonies,
New Brunswick in particular. Already a travelled road existed for a
hundred miles or more at each end, and therefore the only trouble lay
with the central divisions. The exploration of the portion from near
Frederickton to Boiestown was assigned to Sir James Alexander; and
his party was to consist of one officer, one assistant surveyor, one
Indian guide, and eight attendants, woodmen, or lumberers. The duty
was of a very serious kind. It was to hew a track of six clear feet
through the trees and brush, so as to permit the use of the measuring
chain and compass with sights; and this being done, axemen were to
follow and blaze the trees, by cutting a slice of bark off each tree
along the proposed line. When it is considered that the line was to
perforate woods which had never been traversed by civilised man; that
for months the party would not see a town or village, if, indeed,
any human habitation; and that provisions and all other articles
required to be carried on men's backs--for no beast of burthen could
travel such entangled wildernesses--the difficulties will seem
almost insurmountable. Yet even all this was found to be as nothing
in comparison with that most fearful of all torments--the plague of
insects. That a gentleman accustomed to ordinary refinements should
have volunteered such an exploration, is only another proof of the
sturdy heroism of the English soldier, who fears nothing in the cause
of duty, or which can redound to the glory of his country.
Instead of tents, which would have been cumbersome, the party took
three sheets of ticking, which, unrolling at night, they stretched on
poles to windward, the poles being cut on the spot; and under lee of
this shelter, and wrapped in blankets, they lay down to rest. There
was no undressing or shaving except on Sunday, when, no work being
done, the day was spent in religious exercises and general recreation.
The fare was simple, chiefly salt pork, tea, and biscuits, and little
cooking was necessary. The expedition started from the end of the line
next Nova Scotia, so as to explore northwards to Boiestown; their
departure being on the 28th of May, while yet the snow was not quite
thawed and gone. Starting from their lairs at five in the morning after
the first bivouac, all were speedily at their assigned duties. Sir
James went ahead, axe on shoulder, and with a compass and haversack,
exploring with the Indian André, and indicating the line of march.
With intervals for meals, all went merrily on till five P. M., when
the party camped for the night. 'The anxious inquirer may ask how
many miles we got over in a day, suggesting "eight or ten?" and will
doubtless be surprised to hear that a mile and a-quarter a day (though
sometimes double that was accomplished), cut through the bush, was
considered a fair day's work, and yet we were regularly at it from
morning till night.'
The heat was usually about 60 degrees in the morning; at noon 75
degrees; and at sunset 65 degrees. This range of temperature would
have been very pleasant in an open airy country; but in the stagnation
of the woods the closeness was sometimes terrible to bear. Then came
the savage accompaniments--'the minute black fly, the constant summer
torment; the mosquito, with intolerable singing, the prelude of its
sharp probe; the sand-fly, with its hot sting; the horse-fly, which
seems to take the bit out of the flesh; and the large moose, or
speckled-winged fly. The party were never,' adds Sir James, 'free from
flies of some kind or other; and I have seen the five different kinds
just enumerated "doing their worst" at the same time in our flesh, and
the black pests digging into it, and elevating their hinder end like
ducks searching below the surface of a pond.' To avert the attacks of
these winged pests, all the members of the expedition wore gauze veils,
tucked in carefully round the face and neck; but with this and all
other precautions--such as constantly carrying a burning green stick,
so as to raise a smoke--proved of comparatively small account. To vary
the entertainment, a bear or wolf occasionally looked in upon the camp;
but no accident was suffered from their visitations.
The country through which the line was tracked is generally level, of a
good soil, and requires only to be cleared to be fit for the settlement
of a large population. Several small rivers were forded by the party;
and at different places picturesque falls made their appearance. One of
the largest rivers reached was the Gaspereau on the 10th of July, which
it was not easy to cross with loads. Shortly after this, they entered
on the scene of the great Miramichi fire of 1825, a conflagration
of the pine-forests over many hundred square miles of country, and
which is understood to have burnt to death five hundred people. The
blackened stumps of the magnificent trees which were destroyed still
remain on the ground, interweaved with a new vegetation, differing, as
usual, from that which preceded it. After chaining about ninety miles,
and when nearly knocked up with fatigue and privations, the party of
explorers came in sight of the limit of their measurements. Here they
got well housed, and their hunger was satisfied with the wholesome
country fare in Mackay's Inn at Boiestown, on the Miramichi.
It is much matter for regret that the engineering explorations of Sir
James Alexander and others on this proposed road should have ended in
nothing being done. At an expense of L.60,000, the road, it is said,
might have been made; and made it probably would have been, but for the
freak of making a railway instead. This new project, started during
the railway mania of 1845, and which would have cost that universal
paymaster, Great Britain, not more than three or four millions of
money(!), did not go on, which need not to be regretted; but it turned
attention from the only practicable thing--a good common road; and till
this day the road remains a desideratum.
After the pains we have taken to draw attention to the work of Sir
James Alexander, it need scarcely be said that we recommend it for
perusal. In conclusion, we may be allowed to express a hope that the
author, the most competent man for the task perhaps in the Queen's
dominions, will do something towards rousing public attention to the
vast natural capabilities of New Brunswick--a colony almost at the
door, and that might be readily made to receive the whole overplus
population of the British islands. To effect such a grand social move
as this would not be unworthy of the greatest minds of the age.