I could never have landed, the confusion was so great, had
not Captain D - - assisted me. One porter ran off with one trunk, another
with another, while three were fighting for the possession of my valise,
till silenced by the cane of a custom-house officer. Then there was a
clamorous demand for "wharfage," and the hackman charged half a dollar for
taking me a quarter of a mile. All this somewhat damped my ecstacies, and
contrasted unfavourably with the orderly and easy way in which I landed on
the shore of the United States.
At Russell's Hotel I rejoined Mr. and Mrs. Walrence, who said "they would
have been extremely surprised if a lady in their country had met with
the slightest difficulty or annoyance" in travelling alone for 700 miles!
My ecstacies were still further toned down when I woke the next morning
with my neck, hands, and face stinging and swollen from the bites of
innumerable mosquitoes.
CHAPTER X.
The Place of Council - Its progress and its people - English hearts -
"Sebastopol is taken" - Squibs and crackers - A ship on her beam-ends -
Selfishness - A mongrel city - A Scot - Constancy rewarded - Monetary
difficulties - Detention on a bridge - A Canadian homestead - Life in the
clearings - The bush on fire - A word on farming - The "bee" and its produce
- Eccentricities of Mr. Haldimands - A ride on a troop-horse - Scotch
patriotism - An English church - The servant nuisance - Richard Cobden.
The people of Toronto informed me, immediately on my arrival in their
city, that "Toronto is the most English place to be met with out of
England." At first I was at a loss to understand their meaning. Wooden
houses, long streets crossing each other at right angles, and wooden side-
walks, looked very un-English to my eye. But when I had been for a few
days at Toronto, and had become accustomed to the necessarily-unfinished
appearance of a town which has only enjoyed sixty years of existence, I
fully agreed with the laudatory remarks passed upon it. The wooden houses
have altogether disappeared from the principal streets, and have been
replaced by substantial erections of brick and stone. The churches are
numerous, and of tasteful architecture. The public edifices are well
situated and very handsome. King Street, the principal thoroughfare, is
two miles in length, and the side-walks are lined with handsome shops. The
outskirts of Toronto abound in villa residences, standing in gardens or
shrubberies. The people do not run "hurry skurry" along the streets, but
there are no idlers to be observed. Hirsute eccentricities have also
disappeared; the beard is rarely seen, and the moustache is not considered
a necessary ornament. The faded careworn look of the American ladies has
given place to the bright complexion, the dimpled smile, and the active
elastic tread, so peculiarly English.
