The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1873-11-01 00:00:00

WITH MR. ARCH IN CANADA.

The f.llowlne letter from a Cerreepondent of the Daily
Neva written under date, Hanteville, Oct. IS, gives an insight
In to the life of settle's, which will &Herd valuable informa-
tion to intending emigrants :

We left Niagara -con the morning of the 29th tilt. for
Pelham Townehip, where a local agricultural chow was
to be held. The aeventeen miles drive took us through
come of the beat and most fruitful land in Csnada.
Orchard &Per orcherol, anol vinery alter vinery met our
view, and on reaching Fen 'rick, the village where the
chow wee, other Bien, of u aterial prosperity appeared.
Scores of eingle and double limed " buggiee " were
standieg übout, an I the Ptrret wan full of comfortably-
dreamed f ormera, with their wives, none, and datightera.
Convereing freely with these good folks, we gathered •
variety of valualne iutoorinatien bearing on our auction.
It appeared that whir none of the ferment were million-
soiree, most of them were well off. The township
of Pelhem contains about 30,000 acres divided be-
tween some 300 owners 'And what ii the average
amount of labour emp'oyed on these farina 1" I aeked
an iutelligent farmer • Srarcely one paid labourer
each," he replied. Here was • revelation touching
Cauadian farming. Well may the farms everywhere
preseat the lalenrostarved appearance they do. Each
of thoee 300 hundred faro:ere oncht to have at least ale
laboourere on his otate to develop it properly. The
fruits of this district were remsokably fine, especially
the apples and grapes. From this Place we drove over
to St. Catherine's, about fourteon moles dietaet, and
took the rail for Hamilton., who re another large -how was
to be held 011 the morrow. We arrived there toward,
evening, ant found the town full of people. The next
clay we visited the show' and a splendid loffair it was.
Ac we peened through the great buildinge where
the various prooducte of lb, country were dieplayed.
aistionishment wee the moat prominent feeling with us,
I fancy Englishmen pent-rally have a very imperfect
cenceptinn of the productiveness and enterprise of
Canada. It would have made the fruit merchants if
Coovertrogerden open their eyes to lee the magnificent
varietiee of apiece, ileitis, grapes, pistons, &c., which
filled the lone ranee of tables. Not lees excelleut were
, the fire route, such as beet, swedes, turnips, Atc., which
these Ontalo.farmers had to display. The horses, too,
m
were a spieel o ight. A dozen teams of what they
call "general purioese" home, a sort of cros between
oer carriage and cart horse, would have been a Ptriking
feivure even in one of our own great agricultural
shows. Canoviiens evidently pay a god deal of atten-
tion to their horses ant few to the farmers are with
oont two or there wilieh would excite adrniratim in
Rotten row. The light gige, ti, which they drive
are exceedingly elegant, end after riding in them for
come hundreds of nodes, I can only express the hope '
that they will soon become general in England. The
speed with which a couple of horses will carry you in
them f corn village to village is very great. The horoso
seems to have nothing behind him. A drive of 25
miles without • rest is noihing uncommon. Accent.
panieol by the courteous M.yor of Hamilton, we paid
• visit to come of the uomida Aeries of the town. The
most striking wee that of thoiWanzerrewirog machines.
Here some 500 hands see employed, and 150,000
dollars are paid yearly in wages, the next morning
we returned to Toronto, and had the honour of lunch-
ing wile the LieutenantoGevernor of the }novices and
• large number of the leading men of the city.
_ _

Oa Friday the 3rd we started for a tour
through thin Mvek district.. We rode by the Nor-
ti.e,n Red nay to Washaso, about 120 mike Iron.
Toronto. We then drove along a bad road to! some It
miles to Graveohnrat. a stragnling sort of village— I
heg the Clilltlediel.l2ls' I,odn, I *lnuit! LAve said turm—
oil the side of the beautiful bay of Muskoka. Here •
weamer took or across the hay and up the picturrsque
river Mtivkoks some twelve miles to Brecebridge,
another Cimadi n "tow." Nothing could exceed the
exquisite beguty of the leer, which winds like • ter
ta-ut, and of the tdituritnal tints of It thickly wood& i
odes. The town wag dirtsp.rointing. It consisted of
few straggling wooden buildings and of streets which
were mud track& The people were ragged and haggard-
looking. On the morrow we started on • primitive sort

of carriage drawn by • can* of good stout horses
on a 25 miles' drive right through the district to
Huntsville. Anything more desolate than that wild
track through the forest I cannot conceive. The
hundred acres of land given to settlers are a port of
white elephant to the unfortunate recipients. The
donation drags them down to the very verge of bar.
herniae A very intelligent young married lady on
board our steamer was returning to her home on one
of these grants. Her htiehand had held • good position
in England, bat, attracted by the representetioes of a
pamphlet on Muakoka, he had thrown up his situa-
tion to come out here some seven years ago.
Ile had about a thousand pounds with him,
and got a pretty good stait. Their life, how-
ever, had been one of inteuse privation and dis-
con,fort, and ehe had been glad to teach in the
public school to eke out their scanty existence. The
truth I. none but the hardiest and most perseverieg
m n can do any good in these wild region., aid they
must lay thi ir a -count for yeses of "roughing it." f
am driven to the cinclasion that if men in England
were to work as hard and to live as hard, and to abstain
from strong drink, as they do and must do to get on
almold, very few of them would need to leave their old
homes. Those poor villagers of my acqueintance in
Berkshire, °elm dahire, and Wiltshire, are rich by cent-
rist-I-on with maey of thew owners of huedredsot acre..
They have social comforta and advantages which I look
In vain for moot the scattered shanties of these Cana-
dian forelite. The truth is that the voluntary hardships
of Canadian settlers are far greater than any of the
involuntary ones which are imposed on English
labourers. Take • case in illustration. Just as we
were ploughing one way through the last mile or two
of mud before reaching this town, we pulled up to
speak to a farmer who was standing at his shanty
door. This man was the first settler in this neigh-
bourhood. He told us that when he came nine years
ago he had to hold his own against the Indians. One
day an old Indian came into his log hut, and
brandishing a formidable club about him, warned
him off the place, crying out, "What busi-
ness have you white man here in our lend ?" The
white man was unarmed, but by a firm demeanour
managed to get rid of the intruder. There
were ether Indians close at hand. After years of
incessant toil he has got some forty acres of his land
"cleared," by which term it must not be understood
that the land is anything like our Euglith &Ile. They
cut the trees down within &hoot three feet of the
ground, anal when the timber has been either burnt or
cut up into "lumber," as the caw may be, they call
the land " cleared." The final stage of clearing—the
removal of the stumps—le extremely hard work, and
where it is done exteusively you have the beat possible
proof of the pocsrerity of the owner. I 1141,/ among
the implements at Hamilton a machine fur the forcible
rim ival of these stumps.
By • reference to the map of the province of Ontario
it will be seen where we are. All around us is the
primeval ton-se Yonder exquisite sheet of water is •
part of the Muskoka river, one of the most picturesque
rivers in Canada. Scattered about on the shores of
this river are the wooden shanties, the hotel in which
I now write, a general store, and a general church
where all sects meet for worship—the Episcopalian in
the morntrig, and some other sects in the other parts
of the day. I winh I could convey by my pen an idea
ef the rare beauty of these interminable forests just
now. The deep crimson of maple trees, the bright
yellow of the beech, and the different shades of
the evergreen hemlock and balsam, make up a
glowing picture. Unfortheately, the phenomenon in-
dicated by the name Muskoka—clear sky—has not
been vouchsafed to us during our brief visit. A cloudy
sky and • continuous rainfall have been the only
welcome accorded us. But even under these adverse
circumstance., and traversing • road which would have
thrown any English home, and smashed up any
Eoglieh carriage, my enjoyment w great. I suavely
wonder that wild all their hardships the settlers 'brink
from the thou, i a of leaving their forest homes. After
all it is their own, and they are wholly unfettered by
the conventionalisma of society.