"You Britishers Are Too Superstitious," One Of Them Told Me On A
Particular Occasion.
It was some time before I found out what he meant by the term
"superstitious," and that it was generally used by them for
"supercilious."
New settlers of the lower classes were then in the habit of
imitating their rudeness and familiarity, which they mistook for
independence. To a certain extent, this feeling still exists amongst
the working class from Europe, but they have learnt to keep it
within prudent bounds for their own sakes; and the higher class have
learnt to moderate their pretensions, which will not be tolerated
here, where labourers are less dependent on them for employment. The
character of both classes, in fact, has been altered very much for
the better, and a better and healthier feeling exists between
them - much more so, indeed, than in England.
The labouring class come to this country, too often with the idea
that the higher class are their tyrants and oppressors; and, with
a feeling akin to revenge, they are often inclined to make their
employers in Canada suffer in their turn. This feeling is the effect
of certain depressing causes, often remote and beyond the reach
of legislation, but no less real on that account; and just in
proportion to the degree of poverty and servility which exists among
the labouring class in the particular part of the United Kingdom
from which they come, will be the reaction here. When emigrants have
been some years settled in Canada, they find out their particular
and just position, as well as their duties and interests, and then
they begin to feel truly happy.
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