The Further You Go From Charlotte Town, The More Primitive And Hospitable
The People Become; They Warmly Welcome A Stranger, And Seem Happy, Moral,
And Contented.
This island is the only place in the New World where I met
with any who believed in the supernatural.
One evening I had been telling
some very harmless ghost stories to a party by moonlight, and one of my
auditors, a very clever girl, fancied during the night that she saw
something stirring in her bed-room. In the idea that the ghost would
attack her head rather than her feet, she tied up her feet in her bonnet-
de-nuit, put them upon the pillow, and her head under the quilt - a novel
way of cheating a spiritual visitant.
There are numerous religious denominations in the colony, all enjoying the
same privileges, or the absence of any. I am not acquainted with the
number belonging to each, but would suppose the Roman Catholics to be the
most dominant, from the way in which their church towers over the whole
town. There are about eleven Episcopalian clergymen, overworked and
underpaid. Most of these are under the entire control of the Bishop of
Nova Scotia, and are removable at his will and pleasure. This will
Bishop Binney exercises in a very capricious and arbitrary manner.
Some of these clergymen are very excellent and laborious men. I may
particularise Dr. Jenkins, for many years chief minister of Charlotte
Town, whose piety, learning, and Christian spirit would render him an
ornament to the Church of England in any locality. Even among the clergy,
some things might seem rather peculiar to a person fresh from England. A
clergyman coming to a pause in his sermon, one of his auditors from the
floor called up "Propitiation;" the preacher thanked him, took the word,
and went on with his discourse.
The difficulty of procuring servants, which is felt from the Government
House downwards, is one of the great objections to this colony. The few
there are know nothing of any individual department of work, - for
instance, there are neither cooks nor housemaids, they are strictly
"helps" - the mistress being expected to take more than her fair share of
the work. They come in and go out when they please, and, if anything
dissatisfies them, they ask for their wages, and depart the same day, in
the certainty that their labour will command a higher price in the United
States. It is not an uncommon thing for a gentleman to be obliged to do
the work of gardener, errand-boy, and groom. A servant left at an hour's
notice, saying, "she had never been so insulted before," because her
master requested her to put on shoes when she waited at table; and a
gentleman was obliged to lie in bed because his servant had taken all his
shirts to the wash, and had left them while she went to a "frolic" with
her lover.
The upper class of society in the island is rather exclusive, but it is
difficult to say what qualification entitles a man to be received into
"society." The entree at Government House is not sufficient; but a
uniform is powerful, and wealth is omnipotent. The present governor, Mr.
Dominick Daly, is a man of great suavity of manner. He has a large amount
of finesse, which is needful in a colony where people like the
supposition that they govern themselves, but where it is absolutely
necessary that a firm hand should hold the reins. The island is prospering
under its new form of "responsible government;" its revenue is increasing;
it is out of debt; and Mr. Daly, whose tenure of power has been very
short, will without doubt considerably develop its resources. Mrs. Daly is
an invalid, but her kindness makes her deservedly popular, together with
her amiable and affable daughters, the elder of whom is one of the most
beautiful girls whom I saw in the colonies.
I remained six weeks in this island, being detained by the cholera, which
was ravaging Canada and the States. I spent the greater part of this time
at the house of Captain Swabey, a near relation of my father's, at whose
house I received every hospitality and kindness. Captain Swabey is one of
the most influential inhabitants of the island, as, since the withdrawal
of the troops, the direction of its defences has been intrusted to him, in
consideration of his long experience in active service. He served in the
land forces which assisted Nelson at the siege of Copenhagen. He
afterwards served with distinction through the Peninsular war, and, after
receiving a ball in the knee at Vittoria, closed his military career at
the battle of Waterloo. It is not a little singular that Mr. Hensley,
another of the principal inhabitants, and a near neighbour of Captain
Swabey's, fought at Copenhagen under Lord Nelson, where part of his cheek-
bone was shot away.
While I was there, the governor gave his first party, to which, as a
necessary matter of etiquette, all who had left cards at Government House
were invited. I was told that I should not see such a curious mixture
anywhere else, either in the States or in the colonies. There were about a
hundred and fifty persons present, including all the officers of the
garrison and customs, and the members of the government. The "prime
minister," the Hon. George Coles, whose name is already well known in the
colonies, was there in all the novel glories of office and "red-tapeism."
I cannot say that this gentleman looked at all careworn; indeed the cares
of office, even in England, have ceased to be onerous, if one may judge
from the ease with which a premier of seventy performs upon the
parliamentary stage; but Mr. Coles looked particularly the reverse. He is
justified in his complacent appearance, for he has a majority in the
house, a requisite scarcely deemed essential in England, and the finances
of the colony are flourishing under his administration.
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