But, led by
the true instinct of natural affection, they were speedily recognised by
those of their relatives who were on the wharf, and many a joyful meeting
followed which must amply have compensated for the dreary separation of
years.
It was in an old-English looking, red brick mansion, encircled by
plantations of thriving firs - warmly welcomed by relations whom I had
never seen, for the sake of those who had been my long-tried friends -
surrounded by hearts rejoicing in the blessings of unexpected re-union,
and by faces radiant with affection and happiness - that I spent my first
evening in the "Garden of British America."
CHAPTER III.
Popular ignorance - The garden island - Summer and winter contrasted - A
wooden capital - Island politics, and their consequences - Gossip - "Blowin-
time" - Religion and the clergy - The servant nuisance - Colonial society - An
evening party - An island premier - Agrarian outrage - A visit to the
Indians - The pipe of peace - An Indian coquette - Country hospitality - A
missionary - A novel mode of lobster-fishing - Uncivilised life - Far away in
the woods - Starvation and dishonesty - An old Highlander and a Highland
welcome - Hopes for the future.
I was showing a collection of autographs to a gentleman at a party in a
well-known Canadian city, when the volume opened upon the majestic
signature of Cromwell. I paused as I pointed to it, expecting a burst of
enthusiasm. "Who is Cromwell?" he asked; an ignorance which I should
have believed counterfeit had it not been too painfully and obviously
genuine.
A yeoman friend in England, on being told that I had arrived safely at
Boston, after encountering great danger in a gale, "reckoned that it was
somewhere down in Lincolnshire."
With these instances of ignorance, and many more which I could name, fresh
in my recollection, I am not at all surprised that few persons should be
acquainted with the locality of a spot of earth so comparatively obscure
as Prince Edward Island. When I named my destination to my friends prior
to my departure from England, it was supposed by some that I was going to
the Pacific, and by others that I was going to the north-west coast of
America, while one or two, on consulting their maps, found no such island
indicated in the part of the ocean where I described it to be placed.
Now, Prince Edward Island is the abode of seventy thousand human beings.
It had a garrison, though now the loyalty of its inhabitants is
considered a sufficient protection. It has a Governor, a House of
Assembly, a Legislative Council, and a Constitution. It has a wooden
Government House, and a stone Province Building.
