CHAPTER IVEARLY COURTS AND ELECTIONSAll that territory from the Ottawa River to the Detroit, in which the Loyalists settled, inclusive of the western bank of the latter river, was, of course, part of the Province of Quebec; but there was very little in common between the newly-arrived settlers and their French neighbours on the lower St. Lawrence. There were no judges, no lawyers, and no regularly established courts in any of the new settlements. The people were too busy to devote much time to litigation. The nearest court was at Montreal, and to the English-speaking settlers the French civil code, which was in force, was an untried experiment, and they wisely endeavoured to avoid making use of the legal machinery at their disposal. Minor differences were frequently referred to some of the officers who had been appointed to take charge of the bands of emigrants when they left their former homes. These officers did not profess to be versed in the law, but they had exercised a certain amount of authority during the voyage and in locating the families committed to their care, and in distributing the supplies. It was quite natural that they should be appealed to when the parties to a dispute were unable to come to a satisfactory understanding between themselves. They were not hampered by hair-splitting precedents or long-established forms of procedure; but they made the best use of their common sense in their efforts to apply the Golden Rule, and so far as is known, substantial justice was done. As early as 1785, indeed, the Justices of the Peace were given jurisdiction in civil cases up to £5 ($20); but they had little to do, and their courts were very informal.On the 24th of July, 1788, Lord Dorchester, Governor of Quebec, issued a proclamation dividing the newly-settled territory into four districts as follows: Lunenburg, composed of all that portion east of the Gananoque River; Mecklenburg, from Gananoque to the Trent; Nassau, from the Trent to a line running north and south through the extreme projection of Long Point into Lake Erie; and Hesse, that portion of the province west of the last mentioned line. There was established in each district a Court of Common Pleas of unlimited civil jurisdiction, presided over by three judges (except in Hesse, where one judge only was finally appointed), attended by a sheriff and the other necessary officers.In naming the first judges to serve in the newly-established courts, Lord Dorchester selected men of well-known probity from different walks of life, regardless of their experience in courts of law.On the division of the old Province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada, John Graves Simcoe was appointed the first Governor of Upper Canada; and the first Parliament met at Niagara on the 17th day of September, A.D., 1792. With a due regard for the wishes of the people, the first Act placed upon the statute book abolished the French code, and declared that "in all matters of controversy relative to property and civil rights, resort shall be had to the laws of England." This was a longed-for boon welcomed by all classes.At the same session, there was passed an Act for establishing Courts of Request for the recovery of debts up to forty shillings, whereby it was declared to be lawful for any two or more Justices of the Peace, acting within the respective limits of their commissions, to hold a court of justice on the first and third Saturdays of every month at some place fixed within their respective divisions, for the purpose of adjudicating upon these small claims. It was essentially a justices' court. They appointed their own officers, devised their own forms, and laid down their own method of procedure. These courts afforded the magistrates an opportunity of appearing upon the bench and taking part in judicial proceedings, without calling for the exercise of any superior legal knowledge. This was a privilege which many of them greatly enjoyed and of which they took full advantage, as is shown by the fact that as many as ten have been known to preside at a sittings, although only two were necessary.[#][#] I find upon an examination of the records of the Court of Requests, held at Bath, covering a period of eight years from 1819, that rarely were there less than four justices present, frequently there were more than that number, and at the four sessions of March and April, 1827, there were seven, ten, six, and eight, respectively.There were no court houses at the disposal of the justices when the Act first came into force, and only one in each district when buildings were afterwards erected; so they were forced to hold their courts in private residences, taverns, or any convenient room that could be secured. When we endeavour to picture a row of justices behind a deal table across the end of a low-ceiling kitchen, crowded with litigants, any preconceived notions of the dignity of the Court of Requests are speedily dispelled.In 1816 the jurisdiction of the Court of Requests was extended to claims of £5, where the amount of the indebtedness was acknowledged by the signature of the defendant, or established by a witness other than the plaintiff. It did not take the merchants long to discover that it was greatly to their advantage, in more ways than one, to take from their customers promissory notes in settlement of their accounts; for by thus obtaining a written acknowledgement of the debt, an action for the recovery of the amount within the increased jurisdiction could be brought at a trifling expense in this court.By another Act of 1792 the German names of the four districts were changed respectively to the more acceptable English ones. Eastern, Midland, Home, and Western; and provision was made for the erection of a gaol and court-house in each of them. Before these very necessary public buildings were erected, even the higher courts were held in cramped and uncomfortable quarters. It is said that the first sentence of capital punishment imposed in Upper Canada was pronounced in a tavern on the shore of the Bay of Quinte at Bath, and, as summary execution was the recognized method of carrying into effect the judgment of the court, the convict was immediately hanged to a basswood tree on the roadside, only a few rods distant. The pathetic part of this tragic incident is that it was afterwards learned that the poor victim was innocent of the charge of which he was found guilty, the theft of a watch. Such a stigma attached to this particular basswood tree that it was adopted and used for years as a public whipping-post.[#][#] This incident was, I believe, first published by Dr. Canniff in 1869 in hisSettlement of Upper Canada. I am unable to point to any official record bearing out his statement; but up to a few years ago old residents, including descendants of the tavern-keeper, told the story and evidently believed it.In the early courts the parties before them were occasionally represented by counsel; but the only recognized standard of admission to the bar was under an ordinance of the old Province of Quebec, and few were called. Under such conditions it can readily be conceived that it would be difficult to maintain any uniformity in the practice. In 1794 the Legislature empowered the governor, lieutenant-governor, or person administering the affairs of the province, to "authorize by license, under his hand and seal, such and so many of His Majesty's liege subjects, not exceeding sixteen in number, as he shall deem from their probity, education, and condition in life best qualified, to act as advocates and attorneys in the conduct of all legal proceedings in the province." In 1803 the demand for lawyers had become so pressing—at least so it was alleged—that an Act was passed making it lawful to add in a similar manner six more practitioners to the roll. Neither of these Acts called for any educational test or professional experience. It is not therefore a matter of surprise to learn that the gentlemen of the long robe, who were thus admitted to the bar, were sometimes alluded to as "heaven-born lawyers", though some of them were of the highest standing, one becoming a judge of the King's Bench, another treasurer of the Law Society.The Law Society of Upper Canada, which has now its headquarters at Osgoode Hall, Toronto, may properly be classed among the pioneer institutions of the province. It came into being under the provisions of a statute of 1797, which made it lawful for all persons then practising at the bar to form themselves into a society, under the name which it still retains. The declared purpose of the society, in addition to caring for the needs of the legal profession, was "to support and maintain the constitution of the said province." It was created a body corporate by an Act of 1822, and its affairs are administered to-day upon somewhat the same lines as those upon which it was first formed.Before the arrival of Governor Simcoe, many of the communities had organized their town meetings and appointed their local officers, such as clerks, constables, and overseers of highways. The provisions of the first statute authorizing such meetings were based upon the organizations already in existence, so that the idea of local self-government did not originate with the Legislature. Parliament merely legalized and made general throughout the entire province the holding of just such town meetings as had already been organized in many of the older townships.[#][#] For instance, the town meetings of the township of Sidney date from 1791, and those of Adolphustown from 1792, although the statute authorizing them was not passed until July, 1793.It is no particular mark of superiority to-day to be enrolled as a Justice of the Peace. Not so in the early days of Upper Canada. The humblest citizen may now in correspondence be addressed as "Esquire"; but, a hundred years ago, all hats were doffed when the "Squire" passed through the streets of a village. He was a man of some importance. He tried petty offences in his own neighbourhood; as a member of the Court of Requests, minor civil actions were heard by him; but, as a member of the Court of General Sessions, he rose to his greatest dignity. This body of justices, assembled in General Sessions, not only disposed of criminal cases, except those of the gravest kind, but were clothed with executive power as well. They enacted local legislation for the districts which they represented, they levied and disbursed the taxes, granted licenses, superintended the erection of court houses and gaols, the building of bridges, and generally performed the functions of our municipal councils of to-day. They met periodically in the leading village of the district and sometimes remained in session for a week, and, considering the amount of business they transacted, they were very expeditious, as compared with the modern county council. Few would gainsay the statement, if I were to add that the municipal legislators of to-day frequently do not, in many other respects, attain the standard of a hundred years ago.[image]PIONEER STAGE COACH. The Weller Line from Toronto EastThe town meetings continued to meet once a year on the first Monday in March, to appoint officers, and, although they had no jurisdiction to do so, to pass, repeal, and amend enactments for purely local purposes. These "Prudential Laws", as they called them, regulated such matters as the height of fences, the running at large of certain animals, and the extermination of noxious weeds. The people favoured the town meeting, as it was of their own making. It was the first step in democratic government by and for the people. The chronic grumbler found there an opportunity to air his grievances. The loquacious inflicted his oratory upon his assembled neighbours. Each man to his liking played his part at the annual gathering, and realized that he was of some consequence in controlling the affairs of the township. Thus did the inhabitants continue to encroach upon the authority of the Justices in Session, who from time to time issued their decrees, dealing with some of the matters over which the town meetings had assumed jurisdiction, until 1850, when our present municipal system was introduced and the justices were practically shorn of all but their judicial power.Parliamentary elections to-day are very tame affairs compared with those of a century ago. The open vote afforded opportunities for exciting scenes that the rising generations know not of. The closing of the bars on election day has robbed the occasion of a good deal of romance. The actual voting contest is now limited to eight hours, from nine to five; and to-day one may rest peacefully in a room adjoining a polling booth and not be aware that an election is in progress.It was all very different in the days of our grandfathers. Whiskey and the open vote were two very potent factors in keeping up the excitement. Instead of having several booths scattered throughout each township, there was only one in the electoral district. The principal village in the district was generally selected, but sometimes the only booth was set up in a country tavern, especially if it was in a central location and the proprietor could pull enough political strings. A platform was constructed out of rough boards and protected from the weather by a sloping roof. On Monday morning of election week the candidates and their henchmen assembled in the vicinity of the platform, which was known as the hustings. The electors came pouring in from all parts of the district. Each party had its headquarters at a tavern, or tent, or both, where the workers would lay their plans. The forenoon was spent in listening to the orators of the day, and at one o'clock the polling began. It is easy to imagine what would happen to the doubtful voter when he arrived at the village. As the poll was kept open all day and every day until Saturday night, it is not quite so easy to picture the scenes during the last day or two of a hot contest. Couriers with foaming horses were going and coming. Heated discussions frequently terminated in a rough-and-tumble fight, in which a score or more participated. Drunken men reeled about the streets until carefully stowed away by their friends in a tent or in a stall in the tavern stable. If the inebriate had not yet polled his vote, his whilom friends were most solicitous in the attention bestowed upon him.It not infrequently happened that the indifferent voter purposely played into the hands of both parties. It was a golden opportunity for free lunches and free whiskey; and the longer he deferred the fateful hour when he had to announce to the returning officer the candidate of his choice, the more difficult it was for him to choose. In his dilemma he would seek his solace in a little more whiskey, and, in the end, perhaps vote for the wrong man. If unhappily he did make such a mistake, his political guardians never failed to call his attention to the error in a manner not likely soon to be forgotten—such incidents were thereafter associated in the mind of the offender with unpleasant recollections of the village pump or the nearest creek.CHAPTER VSCHOOL TEACHERS AND PREACHERSThe Loyalists were so busy in clearing the land and getting the new home into shape that little time was left for looking after such matters as educating the young. There were no laws regulating the school system, no buildings nor funds for school purposes, no officials to take the lead, and what was done was the spontaneous outcome of a desire to equip the rising generation for the duties of citizenship.[#][#] The first enactment of any kind respecting schools in Upper Canada was passed in 1807. This made very inadequate provision for the establishment of one public school in each district. The first legislative attempt to encourage, assist, or regulate common schools was by an Act passed in 1816. Both of these statutes were very crude and left much to be desired.The first efforts were those of the mother and other elder members of the household. Later on a few families clubbed together and employed a man to instruct their children in the rudimentary elements of a common school education. There was no building for the purpose, so a room was set apart in one of the dwellings, probably the only room on the ground floor, and while the good housewife busied herself about her duties on one side of the room the teacher was training the young ideas how to shoot on the other side. For one or two weeks he would remain with this family, getting his board and washing and two or three dollars a week, and then he would move on to the next neighbour with his little flock, and so on until the circuit of his subscribers of five or six families was completed, when he commenced again at the first.As late as 1818 in a contract entered into between a teacher and a few of the farmers in one of the first townships, we find the covenant to teach in the following words: "That the party of the first part engages to keep a good school according to his ability, and to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic." His hours were from eight o'clock in the morning until four in the afternoon, with one and one-half hours for noon. He was to teach every alternate Saturday. In addition to his board, lodging, and washing, he was to be paid the princely salary of twelve and one-half dollars a month, "whereof one-half in cash at the end of the quarter and the other in orders or other value monthly."Soon the little log school-house appeared, not larger than fifteen by twenty feet, with a door in one end and a window on each side. On the inside holes were bored in the logs about two feet six inches from the floor, pegs inserted, and upon these pegs rested a plank. This was the desk, and the pupils, while working at it, necessarily sat with their faces towards the wall. A rude bench without a back was the only seat. Books were very scarce. About the only real school book that ever found its way into the hands of the pupil was Mayor's spelling book. The New Testament was the universal reader, and if any other books were in use in the school the teacher was the only one who had access to them. The three R's: "Reading, Riting, and Rithmetic" were the extent of the general curriculum. There were no authorized text-books, and such as were in use were far from perfect.[#][#] The Act of 1816 required the trustees of each school to report to the district Board of Education the books used in the school, and it was lawful for the Board to order and direct such books not to be used; but no one was clothed with authority to order what books should be used.For many years the only Geography used in the schools contained the following information relating to the continent of America:"What is America?""The fourth part of the world, called also the New World.""How is North America divided?""Into Old Mexico, New Mexico, Canada or New France, New England, and Florida."The next answer must have been particularly enlightening to the ambitious youth thirsting for knowledge."What is New France?""A large tract of ground about the River St. Lawrence, divided into East and West, called also Mississippi or Louisiana."Having given this very lucid explanation the author then proceeds to make his readers feel at home by acquainting them with their neighbours."What does the East contain?""Besides Canada, properly so-called, it contains divers nations, the chief of which are the Esquimalts, Hurons, Christinals, Algonquins, Etechemins, and Iroquois. The considerable towns are Quebec, Tadousac, and Montreal.""What is New Britain?""It lies north of New France, and is not cultivated, but the English who possess it derive a great trade in beaver and originac skins." (In passing it may be pointed out that "originac," or more correctly "orignac," was the name applied to the moose.)The painful part of the story of this most extraordinary geography is that what I have already quoted was all there was between its two covers in any way touching upon North America.[#][#]Documentary History of Education in Upper Canada, Vol. I., page 106.The great drawback to the legislative efforts to improve the system was the lack of uniformity. Each section, and later, each district, followed its own inclination, and no satisfactory results were attained until Egerton Ryerson introduced his reforms, and brought every school in Upper Canada under the same general supervision.The old teacher of the pioneer days is gone from us forever, and, while he served his day and generation as well as he could, we cannot entertain any feelings of regret that he will never return. Brute force played an important part in his system of instruction. The equipment of no school was complete without the tawse or leather strap, and the offending pupil was frequently despatched to the neighbouring woods to cut from a beech tree the instrument of torture to be applied to his particular case.The minor parts of speech were recognized as such, not from the functions performed by them in the sentence in which they appeared, but from the fact that they were in the list which the pupil was forced to memorize. "With" was a preposition because it was in the list of prepositions, and "forth" was an adverb because the teacher said it was, and if by chance, from nervousness or any other cause, the boy with a treacherous memory failed to place it under its proper heading, a flogging was considered a proper chastisement for the offence. It sometimes happened that a boy did not see eye to eye with his teacher upon this question of corporal punishment, and a scrimmage would ensue. If the teacher came out second best, his usefulness in that neighbourhood was gone.To be learned, as the teacher was supposed to be, was a distinction which gave him a certain amount of prominence, and opened up for him several other fields of usefulness. He was frequently called upon as arbitrator to adjust complicated accounts, or to settle disputes in the measurement of wood or lumber, or to lay out a plot of ground with a given acreage. He was the court of last resort in matters of orthography and spelling. If he happened to be of a religious turn of mind, he might be called upon to fill the pulpit in the absence of the regular clergyman.The Squire and the school teacher each played his part in the administration of the affairs of the neighbourhood. Each carried some weight and commanded a certain amount of respect; but both yielded first place to the clergyman. While there were several other denominations, the Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Methodists formed the great mass of the population. The Anglicans were the pampered class; they received most of the public favours and were correspondingly haughty and independent. For the first fourteen years of the settlement the clergymen of this church enjoyed a monopoly in the matter of marrying. It was a common occurrence, before there was a Protestant parson or minister duly ordained residing in the province, for a Justice of the Peace to tie the knot, and in rarer cases still for a military officer to perform the ceremony.[#][#] All such marriages were confirmed and made valid by "The Marriage Act" passed in 1793; and it was declared lawful for a Justice of the Peace to solemnize marriages under certain circumstances, when the parties lived eighteen miles from a parson of the Church of England.In 1798 the privilege of performing the marriage ceremony was extended to the ministers of the Presbyterian Church, and as they did not insist upon the wedding party going to the church, the "meenester" secured many fees which otherwise would have gone to his Anglican brother of the cloth. The great democratic body of Methodists were severely handicapped, and did not come to their own until 1831, when the gate was thrown wide open, and the clergy of nearly every recognized religious denomination were placed upon the same footing in respect to marrying as the Anglicans and Presbyterians.Some of the extreme Loyalists could not reconcile Methodism and loyalty to the Crown, and the records inform us of more than one persecution for preaching the doctrines of the Methodist Church; in fact, one duly elected member of the Legislative Assembly was refused his seat in the House, because he had upon occasions filled the pulpit in a Methodist meeting-house. It is only fair to those who supported such extreme measures to explain that these extraordinary occurrences took place at a time when the feeling in this country against the United States was very strong, and the Methodist body in Upper Canada was under the jurisdiction of a General Conference across the line.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.[image]FOOT STOVE. CRACKLEAmong 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.The Quakers were uncompromising in their opposition to the liquor traffic, and could be relied upon to support all measures for the advancement of temperance. They were progressive in educational matters; they established and maintained efficient schools, and generally took a deep interest in all matters directed towards the general improvement of the country. Beneath their quaint garb and solemn faces, there frequently was found a deep sense of humour, all the more effective when expressed in their peculiar form of speech.CHAPTER VIPROVISIONS AND PUBLIC HIGHWAYSThe staple articles of food among the pioneers were much the same as in our day. Pork formed the chief item of meat. The hams and shoulders were smoked and the rest of the carcass preserved in a strong brine. The flour was coarser than the article we get from the modern roller mills, but none the less, rather the more, wholesome. Corn meal was used much more extensively than now; it was boiled and used as porridge for breakfast, a thick covering of brown sugar being sprinkled over it; what was left over became quite firm as it cooled, and was eaten for supper with milk, or cut into thin slices and fried. Corn meal griddle-cakes were also in great demand. Johnny-cake was not popular, as it was regarded as a Yankee dish; and it took a good many years for the Loyalists to reconcile themselves to anything in any way associated with their former persecutors.Wild strawberries, raspberries, plums, and gooseberries were to be had for the picking, and the thrifty housewife always laid in a good supply. The raspberries and plums were dried in the sun and put away for future use, or made into a jam, like the gooseberries and strawberries.The maple furnished the most of the sugar, but cane sugar was afterwards imported—not the white lump or granulated sugar of to-day, but a moist, dark-brown, unrefined product known as "Muscovado".Tomatoes were not considered fit for human food until after the middle of the nineteenth century. If grown at all, the fruit was used merely for purposes of ornamentation, suspended from strings in the windows under the name of "love-apples". Many believed that they would cause cancer in those eating them—a notion that is not even yet wholly dead in some places.Although our fresh waters abounded in fish of a superior quality, the Loyalists were not what we would call a fish-eating people—perhaps no people ever were or are as a matter of choice. Most of us enjoy a fish dinner once in a while; but few, if any, of us would care to accept it as a steady diet, or as a substitute for meat. The rigors of our climate and the outdoor life of hard work seemed to call for something more sustaining. The bays and rivers teemed with maskalunge, bass, salmon, pickerel, and pike, and in the late autumn months the whitefish and herring were very plentiful. The "mascos" were speared at night by the aid of a jack-light; they were even shot from the shore as they were lazily swaggering along in the shallow water. In the early spring, a mess of pike could be secured at any time with very little effort; every inlet and creek seemed to be alive with them. The whitefish always has held first place among our merchantable fish. In the summer season they were caught in nets upon the shoals of the Great Lakes, and in October and November the seines were thrown across their path as they were running up the lesser bodies of water. I have heard an octogenarian, whose truthfulness even in a fish story I had no reason to doubt, declare that he had frequently, when a boy, speared fifty or sixty whitefish in one night.If we examine the map of any of the first townships, we find that the road allowances are in straight lines, intersected at right angles by cross-roads, also in straight lines. About the only exceptions are the roads along the waterfront, which of necessity must conform to the irregularities in the shores. How few, however, of the roads in actual use are straight! We find them twisting and turning in every direction and intersecting each other at various angles.During the first few years of the settlements a path through the forest was all that was required. A low piece of ground, a steep precipice, or even a fallen tree, which would present no difficulty to the modern road-builder, might at the time have been deemed a sufficient cause for departing from the blazed trail. Once such a path was laid out and improved from time to time, it became a very easy matter for it to be recognized and adopted as a regular highway. In time the cause for the deviation may have passed away, but the crooked road remained. The writer knows of several "jogs" in public thoroughfares which were so constructed in order to pass around buildings carelessly erected upon the road allowance. Many of the most important highways in Ontario appear to be the shortest practical lines between certain towns or villages, and were unquestionably laid out as a matter of convenience, with an utter disregard for the road allowances reserved by the government surveyors.During the second session of the first Parliament of Upper Canada the Legislature passed an Act to regulate the laying-out, amending, and keeping in repair the public highways and roads of the province. Under its provisions the whole matter was left in the hands of the Justices of the Peace, who were declared to be commissioners of highways to lay out and regulate the roads within their respective divisions. They were also given power, upon the sworn certificate of a majority of twelve of the principal freeholders of the district, summoned for the purpose by them, to alter any road already laid out or to construct new ones. We can readily imagine how many of the crooks and turns in our roads were thus introduced in the first instance to serve the temporary purpose of some friend of the commissioners, or to satisfy the whim of some influential land owner.By the same Act was introduced a form of statute labour, which has deservedly met with little favour and much condemnation; but has undergone little change for the better from 1793 to the present time. Men possessing little or no qualifications for the position are appointed pathmasters to act as foremen over their friends and neighbours. Annually they turn out in full force, do a good deal of visiting and some work, and frequently leave the road they were supposed to repair in a worse condition than they found it.To overcome the accumulation of snow in the roads a very simple remedy was provided as follows: "In case any highways are obstructed by snow at any time the overseers are hereby ordered to direct as many of the householders on the road as may be necessary to drive through the highway." So long as the present system of statute labour remains in force and gangs of unskilled workmen persist in annoying the travelling public by rendering the highways practically impassable, this section might, with appropriate modifications, be re-enacted to-day.CHAPTER VIIDOCTORS, DOMESTIC REMEDIES, AND FUNERALSOur forefathers were subject to the same physical ailments as ourselves, but they do not appear to have suffered to the same extent from disease as we do in our day. The surgeon was rarely called upon to exercise his calling, and then only when amputations were felt to be necessary, or some mutilated member needed mending. Fashionable operations were unknown. The vicious tendencies of thebacteriain the human body were not then discovered, or, if they had, war had not yet been declared upon them. Men went about their daily occupations, too busy to bother with the microbes that the modern scientists tell us are gnawing at our vitals. Their greatest fear was from epidemics like smallpox, which occasionally swept through a neighbourhood, leaving a trail of sorrow in its wake. Of licensed practitioners there were but few; and they were, for the most part, attached to the military posts. Occasionally, if the roads were passable, and they felt in the humour and saw a prospective fee of respectable proportions, they might be induced to visit a patient in the neighbouring townships. In this, as in all other matters, the settlers did their best to serve themselves.In no community of this or any other age have there ever been lacking the services of skilled specialists in any line very long, before some unqualified individual volunteered to supply the lack. It was not long before the quack doctor with his vile decoctions appeared among the pioneers. Strenuous efforts were made to legislate him out of existence, but he managed to evade the statutory prohibitions and has even survived to the present day.During the first few decades of the Loyalist settlements it was not so much a question of whether the quackcouldpractise in the townships,[#] but the question more to the point was whether the educated and skilled physicianwouldpractise. The settlers had become so expert in treating most of their complaints, that they rarely deemed it necessary to secure the services of the medical practitioner; and, when the real physician did take up his abode among them, he not uncommonly engaged in some other calling as well and practised his profession as a side-line.[#] The first statute providing for the licensing of practitioners in physics and surgery throughout the province was passed in 1795. Up to that time the quacks had it pretty much their own way. The Act was found unworkable and was repealed in 1806; a new and more effective Act was passed in 1815.The mother or grandmother, as a rule, was the doctor, nurse, and apothecary for the whole family. In the month of September, or perhaps October, when the phase of the moon was supposed to be favourable for the purpose, she organized an expedition to the woods in search of a supply of herbs to replenish her medicine chest. In some cases she dug in the ground for roots, in others the bark, leaves, or stems were sought, and in others still the fruit or seeds possessed the necessary medicinal properties. When she had gathered in her stores, she tied them up in bundles and hung them up in the attic, or stowed them away in some convenient nook until required. Her collection contained specifics for nearly every ache and pain.It may be that in those days there was not the mad rush for excitement and wealth, and the average citizen kept better hours, ate more plain and wholesome food, had some respect for the different organs of his body, and did not make such ridiculous demands upon them as are made by some of the high livers of to-day. It may be, too, that mother's simple remedies went a long way to correct the excesses and indulgences of the weak and careless and to restore the health of the sickly. In any event the mortality among the pioneers does not appear to have been any greater than it is to-day. It may not be out of place to enumerate some of the uses to which some of the common herbs were put, as they possess the same, if any, medicinal properties to-day.For coughs and colds, a syrup was made from the roots of the spignet, another name for spike-nard. The tuber of the blood-root was dried and then grated into a fine powder; this was snuffed up the nostrils as a cure for polypus. Catnip has lost little of its popularity as a medicine for children. There are few, if any, of us who have not protested vehemently against having our mouths pried open to receive a spoonful of tea made from the leaves of this common weed; the first symptoms of a stomach-ache were sufficient to set the vile decoction brewing and almost any affection of the throat called for a dose of the same liquid.The word "tansy" is derived indirectly from a Greek word meaning "immortality", because the yellow blossoms, when dried, lose very little of their original shape and colour. It is doubtful if the name had anything to do with the prescribing of tansy-tea as a tonic. It was extensively used for this purpose, and I can readily conceive a patient, after taking a dose, being quite ready to eat the first thing in sight to overcome the disagreeable taste left in his mouth by the medicine. Hop-tea for indigestion and cherry bark tea for regulating the blood were remedies widely known and extensively used.Reference has already been made to the danger of children falling into the tub of hot water used in scrubbing the unpainted floor. This and the open fire-place were sources of great anxiety to the mother of a young family. The frequency of severe scalds and burns from these causes created a demand for a soothing and healing salve. A favourite prescription was black alder, lard, resin, and beeswax.Smartweed steeped in vinegar was applied to bruises and swellings where there was no abrasion; it gave instant relief from pain and reduced the swelling. For use upon dumb animals, particularly the legs of horses, wormwood was substituted for smartweed.For lame feet and other troubles requiring a soothing poultice, the leaves of the plantain were used. The stems and ribs were first removed, the leaves allowed to wilt and were then crushed by rolling them between the hands.A healing ointment for abrasions and open sores was made from the leaves of the ordinary garden bean. These were cut up, mixed with lard, and heated over a slow fire. While still hot, the liquid lard, which had absorbed some of the juice of the leaves, was poured off and allowed to cool, when it was ready to be applied to the affected part.Even the roots of the burdock, a most persistent and troublesome weed about most country homes, were put to an useful purpose. These were preserved by being dried, and when required were steeped and the tea thus produced was administered as a cure for indigestion and to regulate the blood.The mandrake, mandragora, or may-apple, has attracted much attention from the days of King Solomon to the present day. It has figured in literature in many capacities, all the way from a death-dealing agent to the main ingredient of a love potion. From its roots our forefathers made a tea which they used as a gargle for sore throat.The roots of the nerve-vine were chewed to quiet the nerves; hence the name. The roots of elecampane were utilized for man and beast; when steeped they produced a soothing and healing lotion for open wounds, and made into a syrup, were administered to children suffering from whooping-cough. Spearmint tea was given to "break up" a cold; and an infusion of mullein was administered to give relief in the more advanced stages of the same complaint. The more bitter the medicine, the more frequently was it prescribed. Thus wormwood tea was regarded as a general tonic to be given in almost all cases where other remedies failed.It was not at all uncommon for a plain and simple farmer, with no pretension to a knowledge of medicine or surgery, to acquire a reputation as a specialist in some particular branch of the profession. Perhaps in some emergency he would set a broken limb, with results so satisfactory that his services would be requisitioned in the next case of a similar character. His patients so successfully treated would proclaim his fame abroad, and with the little experience thus acquired he would, in the eyes of his neighbours, become an expert in this operation. Another may accidentally have had thrust upon him the distinction of being able to reduce a dislocated joint.
CHAPTER IV
EARLY COURTS AND ELECTIONS
All that territory from the Ottawa River to the Detroit, in which the Loyalists settled, inclusive of the western bank of the latter river, was, of course, part of the Province of Quebec; but there was very little in common between the newly-arrived settlers and their French neighbours on the lower St. Lawrence. There were no judges, no lawyers, and no regularly established courts in any of the new settlements. The people were too busy to devote much time to litigation. The nearest court was at Montreal, and to the English-speaking settlers the French civil code, which was in force, was an untried experiment, and they wisely endeavoured to avoid making use of the legal machinery at their disposal. Minor differences were frequently referred to some of the officers who had been appointed to take charge of the bands of emigrants when they left their former homes. These officers did not profess to be versed in the law, but they had exercised a certain amount of authority during the voyage and in locating the families committed to their care, and in distributing the supplies. It was quite natural that they should be appealed to when the parties to a dispute were unable to come to a satisfactory understanding between themselves. They were not hampered by hair-splitting precedents or long-established forms of procedure; but they made the best use of their common sense in their efforts to apply the Golden Rule, and so far as is known, substantial justice was done. As early as 1785, indeed, the Justices of the Peace were given jurisdiction in civil cases up to £5 ($20); but they had little to do, and their courts were very informal.
On the 24th of July, 1788, Lord Dorchester, Governor of Quebec, issued a proclamation dividing the newly-settled territory into four districts as follows: Lunenburg, composed of all that portion east of the Gananoque River; Mecklenburg, from Gananoque to the Trent; Nassau, from the Trent to a line running north and south through the extreme projection of Long Point into Lake Erie; and Hesse, that portion of the province west of the last mentioned line. There was established in each district a Court of Common Pleas of unlimited civil jurisdiction, presided over by three judges (except in Hesse, where one judge only was finally appointed), attended by a sheriff and the other necessary officers.
In naming the first judges to serve in the newly-established courts, Lord Dorchester selected men of well-known probity from different walks of life, regardless of their experience in courts of law.
On the division of the old Province of Quebec into Upper and Lower Canada, John Graves Simcoe was appointed the first Governor of Upper Canada; and the first Parliament met at Niagara on the 17th day of September, A.D., 1792. With a due regard for the wishes of the people, the first Act placed upon the statute book abolished the French code, and declared that "in all matters of controversy relative to property and civil rights, resort shall be had to the laws of England." This was a longed-for boon welcomed by all classes.
At the same session, there was passed an Act for establishing Courts of Request for the recovery of debts up to forty shillings, whereby it was declared to be lawful for any two or more Justices of the Peace, acting within the respective limits of their commissions, to hold a court of justice on the first and third Saturdays of every month at some place fixed within their respective divisions, for the purpose of adjudicating upon these small claims. It was essentially a justices' court. They appointed their own officers, devised their own forms, and laid down their own method of procedure. These courts afforded the magistrates an opportunity of appearing upon the bench and taking part in judicial proceedings, without calling for the exercise of any superior legal knowledge. This was a privilege which many of them greatly enjoyed and of which they took full advantage, as is shown by the fact that as many as ten have been known to preside at a sittings, although only two were necessary.[#]
[#] I find upon an examination of the records of the Court of Requests, held at Bath, covering a period of eight years from 1819, that rarely were there less than four justices present, frequently there were more than that number, and at the four sessions of March and April, 1827, there were seven, ten, six, and eight, respectively.
There were no court houses at the disposal of the justices when the Act first came into force, and only one in each district when buildings were afterwards erected; so they were forced to hold their courts in private residences, taverns, or any convenient room that could be secured. When we endeavour to picture a row of justices behind a deal table across the end of a low-ceiling kitchen, crowded with litigants, any preconceived notions of the dignity of the Court of Requests are speedily dispelled.
In 1816 the jurisdiction of the Court of Requests was extended to claims of £5, where the amount of the indebtedness was acknowledged by the signature of the defendant, or established by a witness other than the plaintiff. It did not take the merchants long to discover that it was greatly to their advantage, in more ways than one, to take from their customers promissory notes in settlement of their accounts; for by thus obtaining a written acknowledgement of the debt, an action for the recovery of the amount within the increased jurisdiction could be brought at a trifling expense in this court.
By another Act of 1792 the German names of the four districts were changed respectively to the more acceptable English ones. Eastern, Midland, Home, and Western; and provision was made for the erection of a gaol and court-house in each of them. Before these very necessary public buildings were erected, even the higher courts were held in cramped and uncomfortable quarters. It is said that the first sentence of capital punishment imposed in Upper Canada was pronounced in a tavern on the shore of the Bay of Quinte at Bath, and, as summary execution was the recognized method of carrying into effect the judgment of the court, the convict was immediately hanged to a basswood tree on the roadside, only a few rods distant. The pathetic part of this tragic incident is that it was afterwards learned that the poor victim was innocent of the charge of which he was found guilty, the theft of a watch. Such a stigma attached to this particular basswood tree that it was adopted and used for years as a public whipping-post.[#]
[#] This incident was, I believe, first published by Dr. Canniff in 1869 in hisSettlement of Upper Canada. I am unable to point to any official record bearing out his statement; but up to a few years ago old residents, including descendants of the tavern-keeper, told the story and evidently believed it.
In the early courts the parties before them were occasionally represented by counsel; but the only recognized standard of admission to the bar was under an ordinance of the old Province of Quebec, and few were called. Under such conditions it can readily be conceived that it would be difficult to maintain any uniformity in the practice. In 1794 the Legislature empowered the governor, lieutenant-governor, or person administering the affairs of the province, to "authorize by license, under his hand and seal, such and so many of His Majesty's liege subjects, not exceeding sixteen in number, as he shall deem from their probity, education, and condition in life best qualified, to act as advocates and attorneys in the conduct of all legal proceedings in the province." In 1803 the demand for lawyers had become so pressing—at least so it was alleged—that an Act was passed making it lawful to add in a similar manner six more practitioners to the roll. Neither of these Acts called for any educational test or professional experience. It is not therefore a matter of surprise to learn that the gentlemen of the long robe, who were thus admitted to the bar, were sometimes alluded to as "heaven-born lawyers", though some of them were of the highest standing, one becoming a judge of the King's Bench, another treasurer of the Law Society.
The Law Society of Upper Canada, which has now its headquarters at Osgoode Hall, Toronto, may properly be classed among the pioneer institutions of the province. It came into being under the provisions of a statute of 1797, which made it lawful for all persons then practising at the bar to form themselves into a society, under the name which it still retains. The declared purpose of the society, in addition to caring for the needs of the legal profession, was "to support and maintain the constitution of the said province." It was created a body corporate by an Act of 1822, and its affairs are administered to-day upon somewhat the same lines as those upon which it was first formed.
Before the arrival of Governor Simcoe, many of the communities had organized their town meetings and appointed their local officers, such as clerks, constables, and overseers of highways. The provisions of the first statute authorizing such meetings were based upon the organizations already in existence, so that the idea of local self-government did not originate with the Legislature. Parliament merely legalized and made general throughout the entire province the holding of just such town meetings as had already been organized in many of the older townships.[#]
[#] For instance, the town meetings of the township of Sidney date from 1791, and those of Adolphustown from 1792, although the statute authorizing them was not passed until July, 1793.
It is no particular mark of superiority to-day to be enrolled as a Justice of the Peace. Not so in the early days of Upper Canada. The humblest citizen may now in correspondence be addressed as "Esquire"; but, a hundred years ago, all hats were doffed when the "Squire" passed through the streets of a village. He was a man of some importance. He tried petty offences in his own neighbourhood; as a member of the Court of Requests, minor civil actions were heard by him; but, as a member of the Court of General Sessions, he rose to his greatest dignity. This body of justices, assembled in General Sessions, not only disposed of criminal cases, except those of the gravest kind, but were clothed with executive power as well. They enacted local legislation for the districts which they represented, they levied and disbursed the taxes, granted licenses, superintended the erection of court houses and gaols, the building of bridges, and generally performed the functions of our municipal councils of to-day. They met periodically in the leading village of the district and sometimes remained in session for a week, and, considering the amount of business they transacted, they were very expeditious, as compared with the modern county council. Few would gainsay the statement, if I were to add that the municipal legislators of to-day frequently do not, in many other respects, attain the standard of a hundred years ago.
[image]PIONEER STAGE COACH. The Weller Line from Toronto East
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PIONEER STAGE COACH. The Weller Line from Toronto East
The town meetings continued to meet once a year on the first Monday in March, to appoint officers, and, although they had no jurisdiction to do so, to pass, repeal, and amend enactments for purely local purposes. These "Prudential Laws", as they called them, regulated such matters as the height of fences, the running at large of certain animals, and the extermination of noxious weeds. The people favoured the town meeting, as it was of their own making. It was the first step in democratic government by and for the people. The chronic grumbler found there an opportunity to air his grievances. The loquacious inflicted his oratory upon his assembled neighbours. Each man to his liking played his part at the annual gathering, and realized that he was of some consequence in controlling the affairs of the township. Thus did the inhabitants continue to encroach upon the authority of the Justices in Session, who from time to time issued their decrees, dealing with some of the matters over which the town meetings had assumed jurisdiction, until 1850, when our present municipal system was introduced and the justices were practically shorn of all but their judicial power.
Parliamentary elections to-day are very tame affairs compared with those of a century ago. The open vote afforded opportunities for exciting scenes that the rising generations know not of. The closing of the bars on election day has robbed the occasion of a good deal of romance. The actual voting contest is now limited to eight hours, from nine to five; and to-day one may rest peacefully in a room adjoining a polling booth and not be aware that an election is in progress.
It was all very different in the days of our grandfathers. Whiskey and the open vote were two very potent factors in keeping up the excitement. Instead of having several booths scattered throughout each township, there was only one in the electoral district. The principal village in the district was generally selected, but sometimes the only booth was set up in a country tavern, especially if it was in a central location and the proprietor could pull enough political strings. A platform was constructed out of rough boards and protected from the weather by a sloping roof. On Monday morning of election week the candidates and their henchmen assembled in the vicinity of the platform, which was known as the hustings. The electors came pouring in from all parts of the district. Each party had its headquarters at a tavern, or tent, or both, where the workers would lay their plans. The forenoon was spent in listening to the orators of the day, and at one o'clock the polling began. It is easy to imagine what would happen to the doubtful voter when he arrived at the village. As the poll was kept open all day and every day until Saturday night, it is not quite so easy to picture the scenes during the last day or two of a hot contest. Couriers with foaming horses were going and coming. Heated discussions frequently terminated in a rough-and-tumble fight, in which a score or more participated. Drunken men reeled about the streets until carefully stowed away by their friends in a tent or in a stall in the tavern stable. If the inebriate had not yet polled his vote, his whilom friends were most solicitous in the attention bestowed upon him.
It not infrequently happened that the indifferent voter purposely played into the hands of both parties. It was a golden opportunity for free lunches and free whiskey; and the longer he deferred the fateful hour when he had to announce to the returning officer the candidate of his choice, the more difficult it was for him to choose. In his dilemma he would seek his solace in a little more whiskey, and, in the end, perhaps vote for the wrong man. If unhappily he did make such a mistake, his political guardians never failed to call his attention to the error in a manner not likely soon to be forgotten—such incidents were thereafter associated in the mind of the offender with unpleasant recollections of the village pump or the nearest creek.
CHAPTER V
SCHOOL TEACHERS AND PREACHERS
The Loyalists were so busy in clearing the land and getting the new home into shape that little time was left for looking after such matters as educating the young. There were no laws regulating the school system, no buildings nor funds for school purposes, no officials to take the lead, and what was done was the spontaneous outcome of a desire to equip the rising generation for the duties of citizenship.[#]
[#] The first enactment of any kind respecting schools in Upper Canada was passed in 1807. This made very inadequate provision for the establishment of one public school in each district. The first legislative attempt to encourage, assist, or regulate common schools was by an Act passed in 1816. Both of these statutes were very crude and left much to be desired.
The first efforts were those of the mother and other elder members of the household. Later on a few families clubbed together and employed a man to instruct their children in the rudimentary elements of a common school education. There was no building for the purpose, so a room was set apart in one of the dwellings, probably the only room on the ground floor, and while the good housewife busied herself about her duties on one side of the room the teacher was training the young ideas how to shoot on the other side. For one or two weeks he would remain with this family, getting his board and washing and two or three dollars a week, and then he would move on to the next neighbour with his little flock, and so on until the circuit of his subscribers of five or six families was completed, when he commenced again at the first.
As late as 1818 in a contract entered into between a teacher and a few of the farmers in one of the first townships, we find the covenant to teach in the following words: "That the party of the first part engages to keep a good school according to his ability, and to teach reading, writing, and arithmetic." His hours were from eight o'clock in the morning until four in the afternoon, with one and one-half hours for noon. He was to teach every alternate Saturday. In addition to his board, lodging, and washing, he was to be paid the princely salary of twelve and one-half dollars a month, "whereof one-half in cash at the end of the quarter and the other in orders or other value monthly."
Soon the little log school-house appeared, not larger than fifteen by twenty feet, with a door in one end and a window on each side. On the inside holes were bored in the logs about two feet six inches from the floor, pegs inserted, and upon these pegs rested a plank. This was the desk, and the pupils, while working at it, necessarily sat with their faces towards the wall. A rude bench without a back was the only seat. Books were very scarce. About the only real school book that ever found its way into the hands of the pupil was Mayor's spelling book. The New Testament was the universal reader, and if any other books were in use in the school the teacher was the only one who had access to them. The three R's: "Reading, Riting, and Rithmetic" were the extent of the general curriculum. There were no authorized text-books, and such as were in use were far from perfect.[#]
[#] The Act of 1816 required the trustees of each school to report to the district Board of Education the books used in the school, and it was lawful for the Board to order and direct such books not to be used; but no one was clothed with authority to order what books should be used.
For many years the only Geography used in the schools contained the following information relating to the continent of America:
"What is America?"
"The fourth part of the world, called also the New World."
"How is North America divided?"
"Into Old Mexico, New Mexico, Canada or New France, New England, and Florida."
The next answer must have been particularly enlightening to the ambitious youth thirsting for knowledge.
"What is New France?"
"A large tract of ground about the River St. Lawrence, divided into East and West, called also Mississippi or Louisiana."
Having given this very lucid explanation the author then proceeds to make his readers feel at home by acquainting them with their neighbours.
"What does the East contain?"
"Besides Canada, properly so-called, it contains divers nations, the chief of which are the Esquimalts, Hurons, Christinals, Algonquins, Etechemins, and Iroquois. The considerable towns are Quebec, Tadousac, and Montreal."
"What is New Britain?"
"It lies north of New France, and is not cultivated, but the English who possess it derive a great trade in beaver and originac skins." (In passing it may be pointed out that "originac," or more correctly "orignac," was the name applied to the moose.)
The painful part of the story of this most extraordinary geography is that what I have already quoted was all there was between its two covers in any way touching upon North America.[#]
[#]Documentary History of Education in Upper Canada, Vol. I., page 106.
The great drawback to the legislative efforts to improve the system was the lack of uniformity. Each section, and later, each district, followed its own inclination, and no satisfactory results were attained until Egerton Ryerson introduced his reforms, and brought every school in Upper Canada under the same general supervision.
The old teacher of the pioneer days is gone from us forever, and, while he served his day and generation as well as he could, we cannot entertain any feelings of regret that he will never return. Brute force played an important part in his system of instruction. The equipment of no school was complete without the tawse or leather strap, and the offending pupil was frequently despatched to the neighbouring woods to cut from a beech tree the instrument of torture to be applied to his particular case.
The minor parts of speech were recognized as such, not from the functions performed by them in the sentence in which they appeared, but from the fact that they were in the list which the pupil was forced to memorize. "With" was a preposition because it was in the list of prepositions, and "forth" was an adverb because the teacher said it was, and if by chance, from nervousness or any other cause, the boy with a treacherous memory failed to place it under its proper heading, a flogging was considered a proper chastisement for the offence. It sometimes happened that a boy did not see eye to eye with his teacher upon this question of corporal punishment, and a scrimmage would ensue. If the teacher came out second best, his usefulness in that neighbourhood was gone.
To be learned, as the teacher was supposed to be, was a distinction which gave him a certain amount of prominence, and opened up for him several other fields of usefulness. He was frequently called upon as arbitrator to adjust complicated accounts, or to settle disputes in the measurement of wood or lumber, or to lay out a plot of ground with a given acreage. He was the court of last resort in matters of orthography and spelling. If he happened to be of a religious turn of mind, he might be called upon to fill the pulpit in the absence of the regular clergyman.
The Squire and the school teacher each played his part in the administration of the affairs of the neighbourhood. Each carried some weight and commanded a certain amount of respect; but both yielded first place to the clergyman. While there were several other denominations, the Anglicans, Presbyterians, and Methodists formed the great mass of the population. The Anglicans were the pampered class; they received most of the public favours and were correspondingly haughty and independent. For the first fourteen years of the settlement the clergymen of this church enjoyed a monopoly in the matter of marrying. It was a common occurrence, before there was a Protestant parson or minister duly ordained residing in the province, for a Justice of the Peace to tie the knot, and in rarer cases still for a military officer to perform the ceremony.[#]
[#] All such marriages were confirmed and made valid by "The Marriage Act" passed in 1793; and it was declared lawful for a Justice of the Peace to solemnize marriages under certain circumstances, when the parties lived eighteen miles from a parson of the Church of England.
In 1798 the privilege of performing the marriage ceremony was extended to the ministers of the Presbyterian Church, and as they did not insist upon the wedding party going to the church, the "meenester" secured many fees which otherwise would have gone to his Anglican brother of the cloth. The great democratic body of Methodists were severely handicapped, and did not come to their own until 1831, when the gate was thrown wide open, and the clergy of nearly every recognized religious denomination were placed upon the same footing in respect to marrying as the Anglicans and Presbyterians.
Some of the extreme Loyalists could not reconcile Methodism and loyalty to the Crown, and the records inform us of more than one persecution for preaching the doctrines of the Methodist Church; in fact, one duly elected member of the Legislative Assembly was refused his seat in the House, because he had upon occasions filled the pulpit in a Methodist meeting-house. It is only fair to those who supported such extreme measures to explain that these extraordinary occurrences took place at a time when the feeling in this country against the United States was very strong, and the Methodist body in Upper Canada was under the jurisdiction of a General Conference across the line.
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.
[image]FOOT STOVE. CRACKLE
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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.
The Quakers were uncompromising in their opposition to the liquor traffic, and could be relied upon to support all measures for the advancement of temperance. They were progressive in educational matters; they established and maintained efficient schools, and generally took a deep interest in all matters directed towards the general improvement of the country. Beneath their quaint garb and solemn faces, there frequently was found a deep sense of humour, all the more effective when expressed in their peculiar form of speech.
CHAPTER VI
PROVISIONS AND PUBLIC HIGHWAYS
The staple articles of food among the pioneers were much the same as in our day. Pork formed the chief item of meat. The hams and shoulders were smoked and the rest of the carcass preserved in a strong brine. The flour was coarser than the article we get from the modern roller mills, but none the less, rather the more, wholesome. Corn meal was used much more extensively than now; it was boiled and used as porridge for breakfast, a thick covering of brown sugar being sprinkled over it; what was left over became quite firm as it cooled, and was eaten for supper with milk, or cut into thin slices and fried. Corn meal griddle-cakes were also in great demand. Johnny-cake was not popular, as it was regarded as a Yankee dish; and it took a good many years for the Loyalists to reconcile themselves to anything in any way associated with their former persecutors.
Wild strawberries, raspberries, plums, and gooseberries were to be had for the picking, and the thrifty housewife always laid in a good supply. The raspberries and plums were dried in the sun and put away for future use, or made into a jam, like the gooseberries and strawberries.
The maple furnished the most of the sugar, but cane sugar was afterwards imported—not the white lump or granulated sugar of to-day, but a moist, dark-brown, unrefined product known as "Muscovado".
Tomatoes were not considered fit for human food until after the middle of the nineteenth century. If grown at all, the fruit was used merely for purposes of ornamentation, suspended from strings in the windows under the name of "love-apples". Many believed that they would cause cancer in those eating them—a notion that is not even yet wholly dead in some places.
Although our fresh waters abounded in fish of a superior quality, the Loyalists were not what we would call a fish-eating people—perhaps no people ever were or are as a matter of choice. Most of us enjoy a fish dinner once in a while; but few, if any, of us would care to accept it as a steady diet, or as a substitute for meat. The rigors of our climate and the outdoor life of hard work seemed to call for something more sustaining. The bays and rivers teemed with maskalunge, bass, salmon, pickerel, and pike, and in the late autumn months the whitefish and herring were very plentiful. The "mascos" were speared at night by the aid of a jack-light; they were even shot from the shore as they were lazily swaggering along in the shallow water. In the early spring, a mess of pike could be secured at any time with very little effort; every inlet and creek seemed to be alive with them. The whitefish always has held first place among our merchantable fish. In the summer season they were caught in nets upon the shoals of the Great Lakes, and in October and November the seines were thrown across their path as they were running up the lesser bodies of water. I have heard an octogenarian, whose truthfulness even in a fish story I had no reason to doubt, declare that he had frequently, when a boy, speared fifty or sixty whitefish in one night.
If we examine the map of any of the first townships, we find that the road allowances are in straight lines, intersected at right angles by cross-roads, also in straight lines. About the only exceptions are the roads along the waterfront, which of necessity must conform to the irregularities in the shores. How few, however, of the roads in actual use are straight! We find them twisting and turning in every direction and intersecting each other at various angles.
During the first few years of the settlements a path through the forest was all that was required. A low piece of ground, a steep precipice, or even a fallen tree, which would present no difficulty to the modern road-builder, might at the time have been deemed a sufficient cause for departing from the blazed trail. Once such a path was laid out and improved from time to time, it became a very easy matter for it to be recognized and adopted as a regular highway. In time the cause for the deviation may have passed away, but the crooked road remained. The writer knows of several "jogs" in public thoroughfares which were so constructed in order to pass around buildings carelessly erected upon the road allowance. Many of the most important highways in Ontario appear to be the shortest practical lines between certain towns or villages, and were unquestionably laid out as a matter of convenience, with an utter disregard for the road allowances reserved by the government surveyors.
During the second session of the first Parliament of Upper Canada the Legislature passed an Act to regulate the laying-out, amending, and keeping in repair the public highways and roads of the province. Under its provisions the whole matter was left in the hands of the Justices of the Peace, who were declared to be commissioners of highways to lay out and regulate the roads within their respective divisions. They were also given power, upon the sworn certificate of a majority of twelve of the principal freeholders of the district, summoned for the purpose by them, to alter any road already laid out or to construct new ones. We can readily imagine how many of the crooks and turns in our roads were thus introduced in the first instance to serve the temporary purpose of some friend of the commissioners, or to satisfy the whim of some influential land owner.
By the same Act was introduced a form of statute labour, which has deservedly met with little favour and much condemnation; but has undergone little change for the better from 1793 to the present time. Men possessing little or no qualifications for the position are appointed pathmasters to act as foremen over their friends and neighbours. Annually they turn out in full force, do a good deal of visiting and some work, and frequently leave the road they were supposed to repair in a worse condition than they found it.
To overcome the accumulation of snow in the roads a very simple remedy was provided as follows: "In case any highways are obstructed by snow at any time the overseers are hereby ordered to direct as many of the householders on the road as may be necessary to drive through the highway." So long as the present system of statute labour remains in force and gangs of unskilled workmen persist in annoying the travelling public by rendering the highways practically impassable, this section might, with appropriate modifications, be re-enacted to-day.
CHAPTER VII
DOCTORS, DOMESTIC REMEDIES, AND FUNERALS
Our forefathers were subject to the same physical ailments as ourselves, but they do not appear to have suffered to the same extent from disease as we do in our day. The surgeon was rarely called upon to exercise his calling, and then only when amputations were felt to be necessary, or some mutilated member needed mending. Fashionable operations were unknown. The vicious tendencies of thebacteriain the human body were not then discovered, or, if they had, war had not yet been declared upon them. Men went about their daily occupations, too busy to bother with the microbes that the modern scientists tell us are gnawing at our vitals. Their greatest fear was from epidemics like smallpox, which occasionally swept through a neighbourhood, leaving a trail of sorrow in its wake. Of licensed practitioners there were but few; and they were, for the most part, attached to the military posts. Occasionally, if the roads were passable, and they felt in the humour and saw a prospective fee of respectable proportions, they might be induced to visit a patient in the neighbouring townships. In this, as in all other matters, the settlers did their best to serve themselves.
In no community of this or any other age have there ever been lacking the services of skilled specialists in any line very long, before some unqualified individual volunteered to supply the lack. It was not long before the quack doctor with his vile decoctions appeared among the pioneers. Strenuous efforts were made to legislate him out of existence, but he managed to evade the statutory prohibitions and has even survived to the present day.
During the first few decades of the Loyalist settlements it was not so much a question of whether the quackcouldpractise in the townships,[#] but the question more to the point was whether the educated and skilled physicianwouldpractise. The settlers had become so expert in treating most of their complaints, that they rarely deemed it necessary to secure the services of the medical practitioner; and, when the real physician did take up his abode among them, he not uncommonly engaged in some other calling as well and practised his profession as a side-line.
[#] The first statute providing for the licensing of practitioners in physics and surgery throughout the province was passed in 1795. Up to that time the quacks had it pretty much their own way. The Act was found unworkable and was repealed in 1806; a new and more effective Act was passed in 1815.
The mother or grandmother, as a rule, was the doctor, nurse, and apothecary for the whole family. In the month of September, or perhaps October, when the phase of the moon was supposed to be favourable for the purpose, she organized an expedition to the woods in search of a supply of herbs to replenish her medicine chest. In some cases she dug in the ground for roots, in others the bark, leaves, or stems were sought, and in others still the fruit or seeds possessed the necessary medicinal properties. When she had gathered in her stores, she tied them up in bundles and hung them up in the attic, or stowed them away in some convenient nook until required. Her collection contained specifics for nearly every ache and pain.
It may be that in those days there was not the mad rush for excitement and wealth, and the average citizen kept better hours, ate more plain and wholesome food, had some respect for the different organs of his body, and did not make such ridiculous demands upon them as are made by some of the high livers of to-day. It may be, too, that mother's simple remedies went a long way to correct the excesses and indulgences of the weak and careless and to restore the health of the sickly. In any event the mortality among the pioneers does not appear to have been any greater than it is to-day. It may not be out of place to enumerate some of the uses to which some of the common herbs were put, as they possess the same, if any, medicinal properties to-day.
For coughs and colds, a syrup was made from the roots of the spignet, another name for spike-nard. The tuber of the blood-root was dried and then grated into a fine powder; this was snuffed up the nostrils as a cure for polypus. Catnip has lost little of its popularity as a medicine for children. There are few, if any, of us who have not protested vehemently against having our mouths pried open to receive a spoonful of tea made from the leaves of this common weed; the first symptoms of a stomach-ache were sufficient to set the vile decoction brewing and almost any affection of the throat called for a dose of the same liquid.
The word "tansy" is derived indirectly from a Greek word meaning "immortality", because the yellow blossoms, when dried, lose very little of their original shape and colour. It is doubtful if the name had anything to do with the prescribing of tansy-tea as a tonic. It was extensively used for this purpose, and I can readily conceive a patient, after taking a dose, being quite ready to eat the first thing in sight to overcome the disagreeable taste left in his mouth by the medicine. Hop-tea for indigestion and cherry bark tea for regulating the blood were remedies widely known and extensively used.
Reference has already been made to the danger of children falling into the tub of hot water used in scrubbing the unpainted floor. This and the open fire-place were sources of great anxiety to the mother of a young family. The frequency of severe scalds and burns from these causes created a demand for a soothing and healing salve. A favourite prescription was black alder, lard, resin, and beeswax.
Smartweed steeped in vinegar was applied to bruises and swellings where there was no abrasion; it gave instant relief from pain and reduced the swelling. For use upon dumb animals, particularly the legs of horses, wormwood was substituted for smartweed.
For lame feet and other troubles requiring a soothing poultice, the leaves of the plantain were used. The stems and ribs were first removed, the leaves allowed to wilt and were then crushed by rolling them between the hands.
A healing ointment for abrasions and open sores was made from the leaves of the ordinary garden bean. These were cut up, mixed with lard, and heated over a slow fire. While still hot, the liquid lard, which had absorbed some of the juice of the leaves, was poured off and allowed to cool, when it was ready to be applied to the affected part.
Even the roots of the burdock, a most persistent and troublesome weed about most country homes, were put to an useful purpose. These were preserved by being dried, and when required were steeped and the tea thus produced was administered as a cure for indigestion and to regulate the blood.
The mandrake, mandragora, or may-apple, has attracted much attention from the days of King Solomon to the present day. It has figured in literature in many capacities, all the way from a death-dealing agent to the main ingredient of a love potion. From its roots our forefathers made a tea which they used as a gargle for sore throat.
The roots of the nerve-vine were chewed to quiet the nerves; hence the name. The roots of elecampane were utilized for man and beast; when steeped they produced a soothing and healing lotion for open wounds, and made into a syrup, were administered to children suffering from whooping-cough. Spearmint tea was given to "break up" a cold; and an infusion of mullein was administered to give relief in the more advanced stages of the same complaint. The more bitter the medicine, the more frequently was it prescribed. Thus wormwood tea was regarded as a general tonic to be given in almost all cases where other remedies failed.
It was not at all uncommon for a plain and simple farmer, with no pretension to a knowledge of medicine or surgery, to acquire a reputation as a specialist in some particular branch of the profession. Perhaps in some emergency he would set a broken limb, with results so satisfactory that his services would be requisitioned in the next case of a similar character. His patients so successfully treated would proclaim his fame abroad, and with the little experience thus acquired he would, in the eyes of his neighbours, become an expert in this operation. Another may accidentally have had thrust upon him the distinction of being able to reduce a dislocated joint.