TO invalids, or to the really destitute, Canadian winters, clear and
bright though they are, may seem unduly long; but for our little
Canadian Cousins, warmly clad, warmly housed, and revelling in the
season's healthful sports, the months went by as if on wings. With
March, though the winds were strong, the sun began to show his power,
and by the middle of the month the sap was running, and the
maple-sugar-making had begun. Jackie persuaded his father to take him
out one morning to the woods, and to help him tap a number of trees.
When they went back later and collected the tin cups which they had left
under the holes in the trees, they found altogether about a pint of sap.
This they took carefully home, and Jack persuaded every one to taste
it, then boiled the remainder until it thickened a little,--a very
little, it is true,--and the family manfully ate it with their muffins
for tea, though Mrs. Merrithew declared that she believed they had
tapped any tree they came across, instead of keeping to sugar-maples.
Toward the end of the month Mrs. Grey got up a driving-party to one of
the sugar-camps, and though it was chiefly for grown people, Mrs.
Merrithew allowed Dora and Marjorie to go. The drive was long, and
rather tiring, as the roads were beginning to get "slumpy," and here and
there would come a place where the runners scraped bare ground. But when
they reached the camp they were given a hearty welcome, allowed to
picnic in the camp-house, and treated to unlimited maple-syrup, sugar,
and candy.
The process of sugar-making has lost much of its picturesqueness, since
the more convenient modern methods have come into use. Mrs. Grey
remembered vividly when there were no camp-houses, with their big
furnaces and evaporating pans, and no little metal "spiles" to conduct
the sap from the trees to the tins beneath. In those days the spiles,
about a foot in length, were made of cedar, leading to wooden
troughs,--which, she maintained, gave the juice an added and delicious
flavour. But this their host of the sugar-camp would not admit, though
he agreed with her that the process of boiling must have been much more
interesting to watch when it was done in big cauldrons hung over
bonfires in the snowy woods. When the visitors left camp, each one
carried a little bark dish (called a "cosseau") of maple-candy,
presented by the owner of the camp, and most of them had bought
quantities of the delicious fresh sugar.
April brought soft breezes, warmer sunshine and melting snow. It seemed
to Dora that people thought of scarcely anything but the condition of
the ice, and the quantity of snow in the woods. Then they began to say
that there would be a freshet, and Debby, who was apt to forebode the
worst, announced that the bridges would go this time, sure! Mr.
Merrithew only laughed when Marjorie asked him about it, and said that
this prophecy had been made every year since the bridges were built, and
that there was no more danger this year than any other. But Mrs.
Merrithew, though she could not be said to worry, still quietly decided
what things she would carry with her in case of a flight to the hills!
The freshet which was talked about so much was, in spite of Mr.
Merrithew's laughter, a remote possibility; certainly not a probability.
In his own and Mrs. Merrithew's youth, it had been so imminent that
people actually _had_ gone to the hills. A tremendous jam had been
formed a few miles above town; but a few days of hot sun had opened the
river farther down, and the danger had passed. Since the two bridges,
however, had been built, some people thought that there was a chance of
the ice jamming above the upper bridge. Usually the worst jams were
between the islands, not far above town.
Each day some fresh word was brought in as to the river's condition.
"The River St. John is like a sick person, isn't it?" Dora said one
afternoon. "The first thing every one says in the morning is, 'I wonder
how the river is to-day.'"
The words were scarcely out of her mouth when Mr. Merrithew came in
hastily, calling out:
"Come, people, if you want to see the ice go out. The jam by Vine Island
is broken. Come quick. It's piling up finely!"
In a very few minutes the whole family answered to his summons, and they
set out in great excitement to watch their dear river shake off its
fetters. They made their way quickly to the wooden bridge, and found a
good share of the population of Fredericton there assembled. It was
truly a sight well worth going to see. Below the bridge the dark water
was running swiftly, bearing blocks of ice, bits of board, and
logs,--indeed, a fine medley of things. But _above_ the bridge! Jackie
clapped his hands with delight, as he watched the ice, pushed by the
masses behind it, throw itself against the mighty stone piers, and break
and fall back, while the bridge quivered afresh at each onslaught. It
was truly grand to see, and they stayed watching it for more than an
hour; stayed till Jackie began to shiver, and Mrs. Merrithew hurried
them home.
By the next morning the river was rapidly clearing, so that some
reckless spirits ventured to cross in boats and canoes, dodging the
ice-cakes with skill worthy to be employed in a better cause. In a day
or two more the deep whistle of the river-boat was heard; a sound that
brings summer near, though not a leaf be on the trees. But it was not
until the ice had entirely ceased running, and the river had begun to go
down, that really warm weather could begin, for, until then, there was
always a chill air from the water.
But after that,--ah, then spring came in earnest, with balmy airs and
singing birds, pussy-willows, silver gray, beside the brooks, and little
waterfalls laughing down the hills. Then came the greening fields, the
trees throwing deeper shadows, and the Mayflowers, pink and pearly and
perfect, hiding under their own leaves in damp woodland hollows! The
children made many excursions to gather these fragrant blooms, and kept
quantities of them in the Den until the season was over. It would be
hard, Mrs. Merrithew thought, to find anything more lovely, and to show
how thoroughly she appreciated their attention, she made for each child
a little Mayflower picture in water-colours. In Marjorie's the flowers
were in a large blue bowl, on a table covered with an old-blue cloth;
for Jackie she painted them in a dainty shallow basket, just as he had
brought them from the woods; and for Dora there was a shadowy green bit
of the woodland itself, and a few of the braver blossoms just showing
among leaves and moss.