Letter No. 4.
September 17th, Toronto, The "Chestnuts."
My beloved Mother.—I forgot to mention your birthday when I last wrote, but you know how glad I am that you were born! And how much I prize every year that is added to your life; and now as this will find you at dear Mary's, please give her my fond love and best wishes for this day, and I shall drink her health to-day, and call upon my sons to do the same. I posted my last letter at Montreal on Thursday; Dick was quite ill that day, and after seeing him twice and shopping, I bid good-bye to Mr. Angus, who went to New York, and then Miss Angus drove me to see poor Mrs. Walter Brown, whose husband was dying at the Hospital. I sent my card in and she asked to see me. I did not know her much, but it was very touching, and I felt my heart quite drawn to the poor young woman, who came out with her husband on a pleasure trip, and now has to leave him buried in a far land. He got typhoid fever, and inflammation of the lungs, and was lying unconscious on a hospital bed, while she sobbed on my shoulder, and said "Oh what shall I do? what shall I do?" I asked her if she had any difficulty about money matters, but she said Captain Douglas Galton had called and kindly arranged everything for her with one of our kind hosts at Montreal. Her father was coming out to her as fast as he could, but could not be at New York till the 12th, and her poor husband died that night, and was buried yesterday. After this, which upset me much, I went to the Stephens' and met John and E—- and told them, and John went off also to see Mrs. Brown, for Mr. Brown had been a friend of his. The Stephens' house is very gorgeous, and full of beautiful satin-wood walls, and the staircase finely carved mahogany. Mr. Angus' house, too, has much beautiful carved wood about it, but the houses are kept so dark on account of the heat and flies, that one can hardly see well enough to appreciate these beauties. Excepting in this respect, and the amount of carved wood, the style is very like the houses of the middle class of well-to-do men in Scotland.
Friday.—I got up at six, and walked to see Dick, and found him better, and he arranged, if well enough, to follow us to Toronto; then we breakfasted and all the family were up to see us off, and we joined John and E—- at the station and arranged ourselves in the Directors' car (Canadian Pacific Railway), a drawing-room with beds (sofas), dining-room and table in centre, a little kitchen, private bedroom, and two lavatories. We had a very hot and dusty journey but were otherwise comfortable, and arrived at Ottawa about twelve. John and E—- went off to lunch with Lady Melgund at Rido, but as she did not know we were coming I was not invited, and so Hedley and I lunched in our car, and then drove to lionize the Claudiere Falls, where the Ottawa River falls about two hundred feet. The quantity of wood piled about is amazing (lumber they call it) and it chokes up and destroys the effect of the river, but it is not in itself ugly, for they arrange it so beautifully and the colouring is bright. Then we drove to the Government buildings, and there I was agreeably surprised by the beautiful view, not so grand as Quebec certainly, but very fine—the Ottawa, with headlands, well wooded, frequently breaking the line of the river, and the far reach of country with blue mountains in the background, and then the air so deliciously sweet and pure, and reviving. We returned there again in the afternoon, and sat reading till half-past seven, when we returned to our small house and John and E—-, and the conductor gave us a capital dinner—champagne and all sorts of good things, and we all enjoyed it. Then we chatted and played whist, and then to bed. Hedley and I in the drawing-room, and John and E—- in small room, the maids in dining-room. I can't say I slept well for they moved our car once, causing our conductor to storm at them for their impertinence, and the arrival and departure of various trains and fog signals, &c., were not calculated to favour one's slumbers! Hedley declares that a fog signal in the morning did not awake me, but he slept through all. About twelve, Dick arrived from Montreal, much better, and our car was fastened to the train and on we went to Toronto. We all tried to read, but oh! the shaking, and dust, and heat were overpowering; still it was interesting to see what appeared a primitive country with forests half burned, with stations at "cities" consisting of apparently two or three wooden houses in the wood—I say apparently, for Sir D. Macpherson told me there were splendid farms near the railway. Sometimes we saw a pretty lake with park-like scenery around, and we thought "here we could make a pretty country place." At ten o'clock Saturday night we arrived at Toronto, and Sir David Macpherson and his carriage were waiting for us, and it was so delightful to drive in an open carriage with a lovely moon shining and the sweet, cool air refreshing us, that we were very sorry the drive was so short. Lady M—- and her daughter, Miss M—-, only in their house, which seems like an English one in the style of arrangements—servants and conservatories, and greenhouses, &c., and my bedroom is furnished like a Scotch one, full of pretty quilts and muslin covers, and odds and ends. I was delighted to find myself between two very fine sheets, and slept like a top. Evelyn had a headache and did not get up or go to church. We drove to the nearest and had a nice service and fair sermon from a Mr. de Barr, son of a Canadian Judge; Dick, Miss, M—-, and I stayed to Holy Communion, and I was struck with the remarkable number of young people who remained. After luncheon I had a long talk with Sir David. He says we are quite wrong about free trade: as the world is, it should be fair trade, or England will continue to lose, as she is now losing, every year. The Canadians are obliged to have Protection on account of the United States, who would send their manufactured goods by English vessels and so ruin Canadian workshops. No country can grow and prosper which only produces the raw article of food, &c. Land alone cannot make a people rich or great; he thinks the Conservative party are not half, active or energetic enough, and we must have workmen orators stumping all over the country to reach their own class, or we shall lose all influence with those who will really be the ruling power. Here, he says, the Conservatives are two to one in the House of Commons; the Radicals here abuse their country, and try to hinder and injure all the enterprise which would enlarge its borders and bring emigrants to take possession, and do all they can to lower it in the estimation of outsiders, in hopes that if things come to smash they might have a chance of a reign of power. Doesn't this remind one of some people in our own country? Radicals are called "grits" here, and they say you can recognize a "grit" when you see him, for though they are not at all from one class or one industry, they have heads that might betoken a sojourn in a penitentiary!
Monday, September 8th.—We did not go anywhere last evening but strolled about the garden. Mr. Brand, son of the late Speaker, Mr. Morris, member of the Senate, and another man, dined. Mr. Morris was Governor of Manitoba. He said in the year 1870 Winnipeg was a little wild village. Now, when I asked him about buying a few things at Toronto for the Rocky Mountains expedition, he exclaimed "Oh! wait until you get to Winnipeg, you can get everything there!" He described a ball he had given to some royalties (I forget which) and how he had to scour the country for three hundred miles round to get provisions enough for the supper, in the year 1874. In my youth I remember reading of Winnipeg, Fort William and Lake Superior as the outposts of the Hudson Bay Company, and how travellers, trappers, &c., endured all manner of hardships, and crossed hikes with Indians carrying the canoes from lake to lake, and guiding them through endless swamps and rocky bills, until half-frozen and starved they arrived quite exhausted at these distant forts. Now we travel by rail in a private car, and Mr. Donald Smith has a country house near Winnipeg, to which he invited us, and all along there are "rising cities" which did not exist in any shape five years ago. When this Canadian Pacific Railway is finished to British Columbia, and the Atlantic and Pacific are united by it in one, our "Dominion" then ought to have a splendid future. I don't think I told you about Mr. Tan Horn's conversation with me at Montreal he said "we are a great deal too quiet in Canada; we don't puff ourselves enough or make enough of our advantages and our doings. Why, we live next door to fifty millions of liars and we must brag or we shall be talked out."
Monday, later.—I have just returned from a drive with Miss M—- and Hedley to Toronto, and I am surprised at its size and importance, and busy look and general air of English prosperity and neatness. Though Montreal is very pretty, the town is too French and idle-looking to be impressive—there are numbers of well-kept villas and gardens here. We are now going out to see a regatta on Lake Ontario and to the island. Lady M—- said last night, when making arrangements, "I think this will suit the young people," and I exclaimed "Don't put me among the old ones, please," so I am going. Sir D—- has gone to Ottawa on Ministerial business.
Letter No. 5.
September 12th, Niagara Falls.
On Tuesday we drove with John, and Dr. Wilson showed us over the University and some pretty sketches he had taken. We got berths on board the steamer from Owen Sound on Saturday. It is difficult to find out who manages these things, and we had telegrams going to two or three places before we could make certain of our berths. At four o'clock all sorts of people called, being Lady Macpherson's "at home" day, and many on me and E—-. I don't admire Canadian women especially! We had fourteen at dinner and a delightful old Irishman, Chief Justice Haggerty, took me in. The Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Robinson, though only the Provincial Governor, is treated as the representative of the Queen, and goes before every one. Professor Godwin Smith and his wife were also of the party. He says (but I am sure he is prejudiced and that it is not true) that the Canadian Government is just as corrupt and that there is as much bribery as in the States. Mr. G. Smith differs in opinion with every one, for the Liberal side would not publish his letters in the papers, and so he sent them to the Conservatives, and he says they are far more impartial and just.
Wednesday, 10th.—We started here at one o'clock, first by steamer on Lake Ontario. It was refreshing after being nearly melted at Toronto, for there was a good breeze. The size of these inland seas strike one much. We arrived at Niagara about four, and found Mr. Plumb, John's quondam friend of eighteen years ago, waiting for us in waggonette, and we drove at once to his pretty house, surrounded by peach orchards and vines, an untidy but pretty garden. He asked after Leonard and Mary. Then we had tea, presided over by his pretty daughter of sixteen, and then the train by his orders stopped for us at his garden door, and, as he informed me, the last time it did so, was for the Prince of Wales! We arrived here, Clifton House, the Hotel, by a picturesque railway journey, and are opposite the American Falls, and the Horse Shoe Falls are on our right, nearly facing us. Like many other people, I am rather ashamed to confess I am not as much impressed and overwhelmed as I ought to be! Dick took a note from Mr. Plumb to his nephew, Mr. Macklem, and he arranged to call for us at three. In the morning we drove to the Rapids and Whirlpool, and went up and down all sorts of queer places in queerer elevators. The river looked beautiful, a blue-green colour, and the whirlpool is mysteriously curious, where poor Captain Webb disappeared! In the afternoon the Macklems took us to the American side on the fine Suspension Bridge, and then to Prospect Park, Goat Island, and different peeps and vistas of the Falls and Rapids. I think the immense breadth and volume of water, with the incessant rush and roar of the river, strike me more than the actual Falls. We saw some rapids between the islands "Weird Sisters," and finally drove to Mr. Macklem's place, surrounded by rapid streams of the Niagara and very pretty. There seems no end to this river, it has so many turns and arms and rapids. We had tea (by this time I was nearly dead), and three dear small boys appeared; one only two and half had a violin, and he imitated a person playing on it, and made the sounds with his voice in the most amusing clever way, and laughed so merrily when we shouted applause. Mr. Macklem drove us home, and after dinner we played whist in E—-'s nice bedroom. This morning I am not well! We have seen the maids off with the luggage by early rail and boat for Toronto and follow in afternoon.