All Were
Voluble And In High Spirits (Coming Home), And Were Very Large
About The Hard Biscuits They Had Eaten
- Some, as one 'boy' said - for
they are all 'boys,' not 'men,' as with us - with the stamp
Of 1810 upon
them, - of camping out - keeping sentry at night, &c., &c., &c. They had
three young fellows, girlish-looking lads, with them, 'sick;'
two - one certainly - sick under death; just get home to die! I went into
the baggage car and saw them lying on the floor, covered up in
tarpaulins and blankets, poor fellows!
"I have been to the Catholic Cathedral at Montreal to-day, and heard
high mass. I visited it in 1851. Fine church, fine music, and a good
sermon, in French; but I thought I should have preferred Mr. Woolnough
and the little church at home.
"The matter of business I have in hand is surrounded with difficulty,
and there are here, I fear, two classes in connection with the concern.
Mr. Baring and Mr. Glyn have been, I can see already, deceived by over
sanguine estimates - and they do not know all yet, but they shall, if I
can find it out.
"Letters leave here to-morrow, and I shall open this before I post it
should there be any new feature. As at present advised, I shall go to
Quebec on Wednesday night, and spend four or five days in that
district. Then I shall come back here, and then go to Toronto and the
western portion of the line. After that, all will depend upon whether
the Government will call a special session, or not. We shall see. I
shall know, perhaps, in time for the following post."
"HAMILTON,
"Sunday, I Septr. 1861.
"I left Toronto on Tuesday and went to Samia, stayed till Wednesday
morning, and then went on to Detroit. Spent the day in Detroit, and
then went on to Chicago; stayed Thursday in Chicago, and went on Friday
into Illinois, over the Prairies as far as Urbano. Came back to
Calumet - near to Chicago. Near Chicago I visited poor dear Ingram's
drowning place. Alas! More about it hereafter - and came on thence to
Detroit and this place, which I reached yesterday at 2-tired and
irritated with tooth-ache, which has never left me for some days and
sticks by me yet. I have travelled 1,300 miles since last Tuesday, and
3,070 in all since I landed at New York. This has necessitated
travelling during eight nights out of the eighteen I have spent in this
country. However, I have thereby cleared off some subsidiary work and
have seen the extremes of the territory over which I have to work and
plan, and by to-morrow I shall have looked at, and taken account of,
most of the people I shall have to deal with. This will enable me now
to go to work, and will, I hope, so much shorten my stay on 'this
Continent,' as they call it.
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