This Display Of Attachment To England
Was Not Confined To The Loyal And Aristocratic City Of Toronto; At
Hamilton, A Thriving Commercial Place, Of Suspected American Tendencies,
The Town-Council Was Assembled At The Time The Despatch Was Received, And
Instantly Voted A Sum For An Illumination.
From my praise of Toronto I must except the hotels, which are of a very
inferior class.
They are a poor imitation of those in the States.
Russell's Hotel, at which I stayed for eight days, was a disagreeable
contrast to the National Hotel at Detroit, and another of some
pretensions, the North American, was said to be even more comfortless. The
bedrooms at Russell's swarmed with mosquitoes; and the waiters, who were
runaway slaves, were inattentive and uncivil.
After staying some little time with my friends at Toronto, I went to pay a
visit to some friends at Hamilton. The afternoon was very windy and
stormy. The lake looked very unpromising from the wharf; the island
protected the harbour, but beyond this the waves were breaking with fury.
Several persons who came down, intending to take their passage for
Hamilton, were deterred by the threatening aspect of the weather, but, not
having heard anything against the character of Lake Ontario, I had
sufficient confidence in it to persevere in my intention. I said to the
captain, "I suppose it won't be rough?" to which he replied that he could
not flatter me by saying so, adding that he had never seen so many persons
sick as in the morning. Dinner was served immediately on our leaving the
harbour, but the number of those who sat down, at first about thirty, soon
diminished to five, the others having rushed in a most mysterious manner
to state rooms or windows. For my own part, I cannot say that the allowed
excellence of the cuisine tempted me to make a very substantial meal,
and I was glad of an excuse for retiring to a state-room, which I shared
with a lady who had just taken leave of her three children. This cabin was
very prettily arranged, but the movements of things were rather erratic,
and my valise gave most disagreeable manifestations of spiritual agency.
The ship was making little way, and rolling and pitching fearfully, and,
knowing how very top-heavy she was, I did not at all like the glimpses of
raging water which I with difficulty obtained through the cabin windows.
To understand what followed it will be necessary for the reader to
recollect that the saloon and state-rooms in this vessel formed an
erection or deck-house about eight feet high upon the deck, and that the
part of the saloon where most of the passengers were congregated, as well
as the state-room where I was sitting, were within a few feet of the bow
of the ship, and consequently exposed to the fury of the waves. I had sat
in my state-room for half an hour, feeling very apathetic, and wishing
myself anywhere but where I was, when something struck the ship, and the
wretched fabric fell over on her side. Another and another - then silence
for a second, broken only by the crash and roar of winds and waters. The
inner door burst open, letting in an inundation of water. My companion
jumped up, shrieking, "Oh, my children! we're lost - we're lost!" and
crawled, pale and trembling, into the saloon. The vessel was lying on her
side, therefore locomotion was most difficult; but sea-sick people were
emerging from their state-rooms, shrieking, some that they were lost -
others for their children - others for mercy; while a group of gentlemen,
less noisy, but not less frightened, and drenched to the skin, were
standing together, with pale and ashy faces. "What is the matter?"
inquired my companion, taking hold of one of these men. "Say your prayers,
for we are going down," was the brutal reply. For the first and only time
during my American travels I was really petrified with fear. Suddenly a
wave struck the hapless vessel, and with a stunning crash broke through
the thin woodwork of the side of the saloon. I caught hold of a life-buoy
which was near me - a gentleman clutched it from me, for fright makes some
men selfish - and, breathless, I was thrown down into the gurgling water. I
learned then how quickly thoughts can pass through the mind, for in those
few seconds I thought less of the anticipated death-struggle amid the
boiling surges of the lake, and of the quiet sleep beneath its gloomy
waters, than of the unsatisfactory manner in which those at home would
glean the terrible tidings from the accident columns of a newspaper.
Another minute, and I was swept through the open door into a state-room -
another one of suspense, and the ship righted as if by a superhuman
effort. There seemed a respite - there was a silence, broken only by the
roar of winds and waves, and with the respite came hope. Shortly after,
the master of the ship appeared, with his hat off, and completely
drenched. "Thank God, we're safe!" he said, and returned to his duty. We
had all supposed that we had struck on a rock or wreck. I never knew the
precise nature of our danger beyond this, that the vessel had been thrown
on her beam-ends in a squall, and that, the wind immediately veering
round, the fury of the waves had been spent upon her.
Many of the passengers now wished the captain to return, but he said that
he should incur greater danger in an attempt to make the harbour of
Toronto than by proceeding down the open lake. For some time nothing was
to be seen but a dense fog, a storm of sleet which quite darkened the air,
and raging waves, on which we mounted sometimes, while at others we were
buried between them. In another hour the gale had completely subsided,
and, after we had changed our drenched habiliments, no token remained of
the previous storm but the drowned and dismantled appearance of the
saloon, and the resolution on my own mind never to trust myself again on
one of these fearful lakes.
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