Chapter I: Front Matter

LIFE
IN
CANADA

by

Thomas Conant,
Author of “Upper Canada Sketches.”

Toronto
William Briggs
1903]

Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year
one thousand nine hundred and three, by THOMAS CONANT, at the
Department of Agriculture.

“_If a book comes from the heart, it will contrive to reach other
hearts; all art and author’s craft are of small account to that._”

Preface.

In the following pages will be found some contributions towards the history of Canada and of the manners and customs of its inhabitants during the hundred years beginning October 5th, 1792. On that date my ancestor, Roger Conant, a graduate of Yale University, and a Massachusetts landowner, set foot on Canadian soil as a United Empire Loyalist. From him and from his descendants--handed down from father to son--there have come to me certain historical particulars which I regard as a trust and which I herewith give to the public. I am of the opinion that it is in such plain and unvarnished statements that future historians of our country will find their best materials, and I therefore feel constrained to do my share towards the task of supplying them.

The population of Canada is but five and one-third millions, but who can tell what it will be in a few decades? We may be sure that when our population rivals that of the United States to-day, and when our numerous seats of learning have duly leavened the mass of our people, any reliable particulars as to the early history of our country will be most eagerly sought for.

As a native resident of the premier Province of Ontario, where my ancestors from Roger Conant onwards also spent their lives, I have naturally dealt chiefly with affairs and happenings in what has hitherto been the most important province of the Dominion, and which possesses at least half of the inhabitants of the entire country. But I have not the slightest desire to detract from the merits and historical interest of the other provinces.

THOMAS CONANT.

OSHAWA, January, 1903.

Contents.

CHAPTER I.

PAGE

Roger Conant--His position in Massachusetts--Remained in the United States two years without being molested--Atrocities committed by “Butler’s Rangers”--Comes to Upper Canada--Received by Governor Simcoe--Takes up land at Darlington--Becomes a fur trader--His life as a settler--Other members of the Conant family 13

CHAPTER II.

Colonel Talbot--His slanderous utterances with regard to Canadians--The beaver--Salmon in Canadian streams--U. E. Loyalists have to take the oath of allegiance--Titles of land in Canada--Clergy Reserve lands--University of Toronto lands--Canada Company lands 27

CHAPTER III.

The War of 1812--Canadian feeling with regard to it--Intolerance of the Family Compact--Roger Conant arrested and fined--March of Defenders to York--Roger Conant hides his specie--A song about the war--Indian robbers foiled--The siege of Detroit--American prisoners sent to Quebec--Feeding them on the way--Attempt on the life of Colonel Scott of the U. S. Army--Funeral of Brock--American forces appear off York--Blowing up of the fort--Burning of the Don bridge--Peace at last 37

CHAPTER IV.

Wolves in Upper Canada--Adventure of Thomas Conant--A grabbing land-surveyor--Canadian graveyards beside the lake--Millerism in Upper Canada--Mormonism 60

CHAPTER V.

Abolition of slavery in Canada--Log-houses, their fireplaces and cooking apparatus--Difficulty experienced by settlers in obtaining money--Grants to U. E. Loyalists--First grist mill--Indians--Use of whiskey--Belief in witchcraft--Buffalo in Ontario 72

CHAPTER VI.

A manufactory of base coin in the Province of Quebec--A clever penman--Incident at a trial--The gang of forgers broken up--“Stump-tail money”--Calves or land? Ashbridge’s hotel, Toronto--Attempted robbery by Indians--The shooting of an Indian dog and the consequences 87

CHAPTER VII.

The Canadian Revolution of 1837-38--Causes that led to it--Searching of Daniel Conant’s house--Tyrannous misrule of the Family Compact--A fugitive farmer--A visitor from the United States in danger--Daniel Conant a large vessel owner--Assists seventy patriots to escape--Linus Wilson Miller--His trial and sentence--State prisoners sent to Van Diemen’s Land 97

CHAPTER VIII.

Building a dock at Whitby--Daniel Conant becomes security--Water communication--Some of the old steamboats--Captain Kerr--His commanding methods--Captain Schofield--Crossing the Atlantic--Trials of emigrants--Death of a Scotch emigrant 114

CHAPTER IX.

Maple sugar making--The Indian method--“Sugaring-off”--The toothsome “wax”--A yearly season of pleasure 122

CHAPTER X.

Winter in Ontario--Flax-working in the old time--Social gatherings--The churches are centres of attraction--Winter marriages--Common schools--Wintry aspect of Lake Ontario 129

CHAPTER XI.

The coming of spring--Fishing by torch-light--Sudden beauty of the springtime--Seeding--Foul weeds--Hospitality of Ontario farmers 136

CHAPTER XII.

Ontario in June--Snake fences--Road-work--Alsike clover fields--A natural grazing country--Barley and marrowfat peas--Ontario in July--Barley in full head--Ontario is a garden--Lake Ontario surpasses Lake Geneva or Lake Leman--Summer delights--Fair complexions of the people--Approach of the autumnal season--Luxuriant orchards 145

CHAPTER XIII.

Some natural history notes--Our feathered pets--“The poor Canada bird”--The Canadian mocking-bird--The black squirrel--The red squirrel--The katydid and cricket--A rural graveyard--The whip-poor-will--The golden plover--The large Canada owl--The crows’ congress--The heron--The water-hen 159

CHAPTER XIV.

Lake Ontario--Weather observations with regard to it--Area and depth--No underground passage for its waters--Daily horizon of the author--A sunrise described--Telegraph poles an eye-sore--The pleasing exceeds the ugly 170

CHAPTER XV.

Getting hold of an Ontario farm--How a man without capital may succeed--Superiority of farming to a mechanical trade--A man with $10,000 can have more enjoyment in Ontario than anywhere else--Comparison with other countries--Small amount of waste land in Ontario--The help of the farmer’s wife--“Where are your peasants?”--Independence of the Ontario farmer--Complaints of emigrants unfounded--An example of success 180

CHAPTER XVI.

Unfinished character of many things on this continent--Old Country roads--Differing aspects of farms--Moving from the old log-house to the palatial residence--Landlord and tenant should make their own bargains--Depletion of timber reserves 201

CHAPTER XVII.

Book farmers and their ways--Some Englishmen lack adaptiveness--Doctoring sick sheep by the book--Failures in farming--Young Englishmen sent out to try life in Canada--The sporting farmer--The hunting farmer--The country school-teacher 208

CHAPTER XVIII.

Horse-dealing transactions--A typical horse-deal--“Splitting the difference”--The horse-trading conscience--A gathering at a funeral--Another type of farmer--The sordid life that drives the boys away 219

CHAPTER XIX.

City and country life compared--No aristocracy in Canada--Long winter evenings--Social evenings--The bashful swain--Popular literature of the day--A comfortable winter day at home--Young farmers who have inherited property--Difficulty of obtaining female help--Farmers trying town life--Universality of the love of country life--Bismarck--Theocritus --Cato--Hesiod--Homer--Changes in town values--A speculation in lard 227

CHAPTER XX.

Instances of success in Ontario--A thrifty wood-chopper turns cattle dealer--Possesses land and money--Two brothers from Ireland; their mercantile success--The record of thirty years--Another instance--A travelling dealer turns farmer--Instance of a thriving Scotsman--The way to meet trouble--The fate of Shylocks and their descendants 244

CHAPTER XXI.

Manitoba and Ontario compared--Some instances from real life--Ontario compared with Michigan--With Germany--“Canada as a winter resort”--Inexpediency of ice-palaces and the like--Untruthful to represent this as a land of winter--Grant Allen’s strictures on Canada refuted--Lavish use of food by Ontario people--The delightful climate of Ontario 255

CHAPTER XXII.

Criticisms by foreign authors--How Canada is regarded in other countries--Passports--“Only a Colonist”--Virchow’s unwelcome inference--Canadians are too modest--Imperfect guide-books--A reciprocity treaty wanted 268

CHAPTER XXIII.

Few positions for young Canadians of ambition--American consulships--Bayard Taylor--S. S. Cox--Canadian High Commissioner--Desirability of men of elevated life--Necessity for developing a Canadian national spirit 277