To her toilet see each goddess throng,
One cannot all, but each a charm bestows
Could all these beauties in one female be,
Her whom I sing would be the lovely she.'
"This effusion provoked more criticism than many a book of poetry is
subjected to nowadays, and the censors were in their turn criticized
by others. Montreal even took part in this literary tournament. But we
are left in the dark as to its effect on the spirits, tempers or
destinies of Miss MacCulloch and her sister belles.
"It would seem that the author was a young clerk or merchant of
Quebec, as one of the critics spitefully tells him not to desert his
shop. The ladies themselves do not escape, one writer suggesting that
they are coquettish enough already without making them more so. The
Montreal correspondent is warned off as an intruder, and told that he
had better have saved his ninepence of postage money. Just imagine
this silly acrostic furnishing gossip for Quebec and matter for the
Gazette for two months!
"As another note of the state of society at that time may be mentioned
occasional advertisements for the sale of negro lads and wenches, or
of rewards for the recovery and restoration of missing ones. Slavery
was not abolished in Lower Canada till 1803. In Upper Canada, as a
separate province, it hardly ever existed. Did the manumitted blacks
remain in Canada after their liberation, or did they seek a more
congenial climate?
"For education there does not seem to have been any public provision,
but private schools for both sexes were numerous. These were probably
expensive, so that the poorer classes were virtually debarred from the
advantages of learning. The instruction of Catholic children was in
the hands of the clergy, and it may be that in some of the conventual
schools a certain number were admitted free of expense or at reduced
rates. It would appear that some of the young ladies were sent to
English boarding-schools, if we may judge by advertisements in which
the advantages of these institutions are set forth.
"A Miss or Mrs. Agnes Galbraith not only taught school, but also
carried on the millinery business, to which she informs the public
that she had served a regular apprenticeship, besides having been 'a
governess for several years to a genteel boarding-school.'
"The principal of a boys' school who resided at Three Rivers
'respectfully begs leave to remark that he means to presume no further
than he is perfectly able to perform, and build his hope of
encouragement on no other foundation than his assiduity to merit it.'
His 'course' is nevertheless a pretty full one, including English,
French, Latin, Greek, writing in a natural and easy style after the
best precedents; arithmetic, vulgar and decimal; geography, with use
of the globes; geometry, navigation with all the late modern
improvements; algebra, and every other useful and ornamental branch of
mathematical learning.
