St. Paul daily globe., 1884-08-02
count schedule went

to station, those who are going away run
and jump on board, and before they
are fairly seated away the train flies again
The majority of the stops were made for five
minutes, in many cases there being con-
Meeting roads at the hating places. The
people at the stations were in no hurry They
bid their friends good bye in lesiurely
style, attended to baggage with as much de-
liberation as an American truckman handl-
ing freight and their whole air seemed to say
''there's no hurry The station agent
with his bell reminded me of the boyish foot
race plan where the umpire gives the word
by counting,
One to begin,
Two TO show
Three to make ready,
And four to go.
The station agent rings first bell to make
ready, and second one ''to go''
The train runs sufficiently fast between
stations to allow for this circumlocution, much
of the running being at forty miles an hour,
and none under thirty The steel rails and
well ballasted track made it necessary to
time the train by the mile posts to realize the
rate of speed.
AS was in through car from Chicago to
Boston my companions were all Americans
and 1 amused myself by walking through the
day coaches where I found t'John Bull and
his Island" together with fair sprinkling of
Canadian French in all their glory It was
very entertaining to me to step from -one
car to the ether and note the contrast between
the two classes of people. I have no doubt
they are just as happy and contented as we
are and consider their country superior to
all others as they ought to, but the contrast
was entertaining nevertheless.
Twas surprised to note the level surface of
the country through which the Grand Trunk
runs from Toronto to Montreal I do not
recall a single deep cut or heavy fill the en-
| tire distance, and though Canada is not re-
garded as prairie country the route of this
| railroad has the benefit Of prairie conditions
so far as grading is concerned. The coun-
try has, of course, an old and settled look,
many portions greatly resembling Ohio, and
| the rocky sections reminding one of Connec-
ticut and Massachusetts, The rail fence,
the standard fifty or hundred years ago pre-
dominates with only occasional board fences
and once in a while that modern infection
barbed wire. 1t was evidently 'thaying
time" in Canada on the day Of my ride and
that was about the only industry I could see
in progress. They have moving machines,
but in other repects they work in the old
fashioned way, which was in vogue when
''you and l were boys" The pitchfork
spreaders. the hand rakers making the long
winrows were there in all their glory. In
the multitude of hay fields we passed I saw
but one horse rake in operation the
entire day. The one horse
carts upon which the hay was loaded
were an institution peculiar to the country,
and were the only exclusively original mat
ter could discover in connection with Ca
| madam haying. The shady hooks where the
worm rail fences ran beneath trees afforded
convenient depots for jugs of water (of
course it was water) and in several instances
noticed the hay fielders leisurey assuaging
their thirst. But this is neither new or
novel. / think l can remember having
seen boys on hot summer day require an
hour to visit a shady fence corner in a small
meadow to get drink, and if the
shade was produced by fruit tree,
| be the fruit ever so unripe, the thirst quench-
| ing interval would be prolonged. / rather
| sympathized with the fence corner boys in
| those Canadian meadows, and commend
them for adhering to the traditions of their
| fathers, which was to spend as much time
quenching thirst and eating melons as pos
sible and as little as possible making hay in
| the hot sun. There are some things
which the growth of the country and the adj
vancement of civilization does not require
to be changed and the lazy way of permitting
the sun to do most Of the haymaking, while
| the boys loaf in the fence corners,
was handed down to posterity by the Puritan
Fathers and honor them for 1t. The Puri-
| tan Father on the other shore ought to look
| down (or up) with pleasure on the small boy
sweating in hay field, and feel thankful
| that he had the opportunity to invent shady
fence corner where the small boy can
loaf two-thirds of the day on the pretence
/ that he needs several barrels of water to
| quench his thirst
| The first town of consequence / found
after leaving Toronto was Port Hope, SO
[
thing over 5000 population. Coburg with It's
| 5000 population and Belleville with 5000
are passed and we halt at Kingston. We
have been skirtiDg the banks of Lake
Ontario all the morning but here the train
reaches the st. Lawrence, and pleasure
seeking travellers leave to take the sail down
the river and inspect the famous Thousand
| islands, which are scattered from Kingston
| to BrockEiIle, a distance Of fifty miles.
There are really nearer 1000 than 1000
| Islands, and am surprised at the spirit OF
conservative regard for the truth
which led to the collection being
named, 1.-THE Thousand Islands," in
stead Of Thousands OF Islands"
These islands vary in size from little clumps,
| Of rocks and bushes to those Of several acres
and the few caught sight of from the train
were chiefly of the former description. Per-
haps the sojourner of truth who invented the
name for the collection concluded the little
ciumps were too small TO count, and hence