"Let the canoe float down the current till we get close to the
island; then run her into the land. I saved myself once before
by this plan."
We did so, and were safe; but there we had to remain, wet to our
skins, until the wind and the rain abated sufficiently for us to
manage our little craft. "How do you like being upon the lake in a
storm like this?" I whispered to my shivering, dripping companion.
"Very well in romance, but terribly dull in reality. We cannot,
however, call it a dry joke," continued she, wringing the rain from
her dress. "I wish we were suspended over Old Snow-storm's fire with
the bull-frog, for I hate a shower-bath with my clothes on."
I took warning by this adventure, never to cross the lake again
without a stronger arm than mine in the canoe to steer me safely
through the current.
I received much kind attention from my new neighbour, the Rev. W.
W - -, a truly excellent and pious clergyman of the English Church.
The good, white-haired old man expressed the kindest sympathy in all
my trials, and strengthened me greatly with his benevolent counsels
and gentle charity. Mr. W - - was a true follower of Christ. His
Christianity was not confined to his own denomination; and every
Sabbath his log cottage was filled with attentive auditors, of all
persuasions, who met together to listen to the word of life
delivered to them by a Christian minister in the wilderness.
He had been a very fine preacher, and though considerably turned of
seventy, his voice was still excellent, and his manner solemn and
impressive.
His only son, a young man of twenty-eight years of age, had received
a serious injury in the brain by falling upon a turf-spade from a
loft window when a child, and his intellect had remained stationary
from that time. Poor Harry was an innocent child; he loved his
parents with the simplicity of a child, and all who spoke kindly to
him he regarded as friends. Like most persons of his caste of mind,
his predilection for pet animals was a prominent instinct. He was
always followed by two dogs, whom he regarded with especial favour.
The moment he caught your eye, he looked down admiringly upon his
four-footed attendants, patting their sleek necks, and murmuring,
"Nice dogs - nice dogs." Harry had singled out myself and my little
ones as great favourites. He would gather flowers for the girls, and
catch butterflies for the boys; while to me he always gave the title
of "dear aunt."
It so happened that one fine morning I wanted to walk a couple of
miles through the bush, to spend the day with Mrs. C - -; but the
woods were full of the cattle belonging to the neighbouring
settlers, and of these I was terribly afraid. Whilst I was dressing
the little girls to accompany me, Harry W - - came in with a message
from his mother. "Oh, thought I, here is Harry W - -. He will walk
with us through the bush, and defend us from the cattle."
The proposition was made, and Harry was not a little proud of being
invited to join our party. We had accomplished half the distance
without seeing a single hoof; and I was beginning to congratulate
myself upon our unusual luck, when a large red ox, maddened by the
stings of the gad-flies, came headlong through the brush, tossing
up the withered leaves and dried moss with his horns, and making
directly towards us. I screamed to my champion for help; but where
was he? - running like a frightened chipmunk along the fallen timber,
shouting to my eldest girl, at the top of his voice -
"Run Katty, run! - The bull, the bull! Run, Katty! - The bull,
the bull!" - leaving us poor creatures far behind in the chase.
The bull, who cared not one fig for us, did not even stop to give
us a passing stare, and was soon lost among the trees; while our
valiant knight never stopped to see what had become of us, but made
the best of his way home. So much for taking an innocent for a
guard.
The next month most of the militia regiments were disbanded. My
husband's services were no longer required at B - -, and he once more
returned to help to gather in our scanty harvest. Many of the old
debts were paid off by his hard-saved pay; and though all hope of
continuing in the militia service was at an end, our condition was
so much improved that we looked less to the dark than to the sunny
side of the landscape.
The potato crop was gathered in, and I had collected my store of
dandelion-roots for our winter supply of coffee, when one day
brought a letter to my husband from the Governor's secretary,
offering him the situation of sheriff of the V - - district. Though
perfectly unacquainted with the difficulties and responsibilities of
such an important office, my husband looked upon it as a gift sent
from heaven to remove us from the sorrows and poverty with which we
were surrounded in the woods.
Once more he bade us farewell; but it was to go and make ready a
home for us, that we should no more be separated from each other.
Heartily did I return thanks to God that night for all his mercies
to us; and Sir George Arthur was not forgotten in those prayers.
From B - -, my husband wrote to me to make what haste I could in
disposing of our crops, household furniture, stock, and farming
implements; and to prepare myself and the children to join him on
the first fall of snow that would make the roads practicable for
sleighing. To facilitate this object, he sent me a box of clothing,
to make up for myself and the children.
