MCMXIV
The climate has honest heat in summer and honest
cold in winter. The sun is seldom hidden, and
men see many seasons, and are healthy, strong,
and active.—The Marquis of Lorne, K.T.
PREFATORY NOTE
By the very writing of this book, I am in a measure offering myself as a guide to any prospective immigrant choosing to avail himself of my services. It is well, therefore, to explain that I myself came out from England, a good many years ago, as one of a large family, to settle in Canada, and so know something at first hand, of the difficulties, the trials and the pleasures that await the newcomer in the attempt to “make good” under unfamiliar circumstances.
My father had had no previous experience of farming, but fortunately one of my brothers had had a little training on a Cheshire farm. We settled ourselves on a good-sized farm in a fertile district of Ontario, and there we had an experience probably broadly resembling that of many new arrivals—sometimes amusing, sometimes vexatious, or worse. Of course we made some mistakes and had to pay for them; and we took, I am inclined to think, several years really to settle down. But in the end we all “believe in Canada,” though I dare not say we believe in everything we read about Canada.