Pioneer Life among the Loyalists in Upper Canada

by Walter Stevens Herrington

The life of a preacher even in our day is not one of unadulterated bliss. But as far as the comforts of this world are concerned, the modern clergyman has a very easy time of it when compared with the life of the pioneer preacher of a hundred or more years ago. Then the clergyman travelled on horseback with his Bible and a change of clothing in his saddle-bags, preaching ten or twelve times a week in churches, schoolhouses, taverns, and the log cabins of the settlers, wherever a few could be collected to receive the Gospel message. In all kinds of weather, he might be seen plodding along through the heavy snow drifts, or fording the unbridged streams, upon his holy mission to the remotest corners of the settlements. No complaint escaped his lips as he threaded his way through the lonely forest, now and then humming a few snatches from some old familiar hymn. Perchance he halted beside a spring for his mid-day meal, and fervently thanked God, from Whom all blessings flow, as he hauled from his spacious pockets the sandwiches furnished by his host of the night before.

His circuit extended sometimes for fifty, sixty, or an hundred miles, and he rarely spent his evenings at home, if he had one, but slept where night overtook him, glad of the opportunity to share a bunk with his parishioners' children, or make himself as comfortable as he could upon a mattress on the floor. His uniform may have been frayed and not of the orthodox cut; his sermons may not have possessed that virtue of brevity which so many congregations now demand; they may have fallen far short of some of the sensational discourses of to-day; but he was a faithful exponent of the Gospel, the plain and simple truth as he found it exemplified in the life of our Saviour. That the pioneers closely followed the tenets of the Golden Rule is largely due to the self-sacrificing efforts and exemplary life of the early missionaries.

FOOT STOVE. CRACKLE

Among the Methodists no other religious gathering could compare with the camp-meeting. It was the red-letter week of the year, given up wholly to prayer, singing and exhortation. In selecting a location for these annual gatherings there were several details to be considered. The first essential was a grove, high and dry, and free from underbrush, accessible both by land and water. The auditorium was in the shape of a horseshoe, about one-half acre in extent, surrounded by tents made of canvas or green boughs supported by poles. Across that part corresponding with the opening in the shoe was a preachers' platform. In front of it was a single row of logs—the penitent bench—and the rest of the space was filled with parallel rows of logs—the pews.

Thither by land and water came the devout Methodists of the district; but then, as now, the women far outnumbered the men in their religious observances. With them they brought chests of provisions, their bedding, and Bibles. Morning, noon, and night, the woods resounded with songs of praise, the warning messages of the preachers, and the prayers of the faithful, pitched in every conceivable key. The surroundings seemed to add an inspiration to the services. When the great throng joined fervently in "All hail the power of Jesus' name", to the accompaniment of the rustling leaves, the hearts of all present were deeply moved. During the closing exercises, marching in pairs around the great circle, with mingled feelings of gladness and sorrow, they sang lustily the good old hymns and then, with many affectionate leave-takings, dispersed to their several homes.

The Methodists looked upon dancing not only as a very worldly but also as a very sinful form of amusement, and as the violin was closely associated with the dance it also was placed under the ban. The Loyalists were musically inclined, but during the first years of the settlements little opportunity was offered for the development of their talents in that direction. Later on singing in unison was extensively practised, and singing schools were organized during the winter months in nearly every neighbourhood. There was a great scarcity of musical instruments before the introduction of the accordeon and concertina, both of which were invented in 1829.

The members of the Society of Friends, or Quakers, as they were more commonly called, were sorely handicapped by reason of their refusal to take an oath under any circumstances. By their strict adherence to this article in their creed they were debarred from holding any public office, or giving evidence in any court of law. That this was a great hardship, from which no relief could be obtained except by legislative enactment, goes without saying. One of their number was regularly elected to the first Parliament and trudged through the forest to the seat of government at the assembling of the members. From purely conscientious scruples he refused to take the prescribed oath, so his seat was declared vacant, and he trudged back home again.

It is not to the credit of the other denominations of Christians, that no steps were taken to relieve the Quakers from the disability under which they were placed, until after twenty-five years of patient endurance. It is true the disability was self-imposed; but they were actuated by the purest of motives, and their exemplary lives and standing in the community entitled them to more consideration from their fellow citizens. The relief first extended to them, after the lapse of a quarter of a century, was only partial, and allowed them to give evidence in civil courts by a simple affirmation instead of an oath. The Legislature having to that extent admitted the principle of affirming instead of taking an oath, could find very little to justify its course in postponing for another twenty years the admission of the Quakers to their full rights, by accepting their affirmation in criminal courts and in all other matters in which an oath was required.

The Quakers took a most decided stand against the law of primogeniture, whereby the eldest son of a man who died intestate inherited all the real estate of his father to the exclusion of all the other sons and daughters. In this respect they were in advance of their age and insisted upon an equitable distribution among all the children of the deceased. Many a young Friend was given the alternative of dividing among his brothers and sisters the real estate thus inherited according to law, or of submitting to the humiliation of being expelled from the Society. To their credit it can be said that very rarely was there any occasion to enforce the latter alternative. The statute abolishing primogeniture came into force on January 1st, 1852.