- And ha-a-w's the old woman?"
At first I could not conceive whom he meant by this very homely
appellation; and I very simply asked him what person he alluded to,
as I had no old woman in my establishment.
"Why, YOUR old woman, to be sure - your missus - Mrs. Moodie,
I guess. You don't quite understand our language yet."
"O! now I understand you; she's quite well, I thank you; and how
is our friend Mrs. S - -?" I replied, laying a slight emphasis on
the MRS., by way of a gentle hint for his future guidance.
"Mrs. S - -, I guess she's smart, pret-ty CON-siderable. She'll
be right glad to see you, for you're pretty considerable of a
favour-ITE with her, I tell you; but now tell me what you will
drink? - for it's my treat."
As he said these words, he strutted into the tavern before me,
throwing his head and shoulders back, and rising on his tiptoes at
every step.
Mrs. S - - had been a very handsome woman, and still retained much
of her good looks. She was a most exemplary housewife and manager.
I was often astonished to witness the incessant toil she had to
ensure in attending to the wants of such a numerous household.
She had plenty of Irish "helps" in the kitchen; but they knew as
much of cookery as they did of astronomy, and poor Mrs. S - -'s
hands, as well as her head, were in constant requisition.
She had two very pretty daughters, whom she would not suffer to do
any rough work which would spoil their soft white hands. Mrs. S - -,
no doubt, foresaw that she could not expect to keep such fair
creatures long in such a marrying country as Canada, and, according
to the common caution of divines, she held these blessings with a
loose hand.
There was one sweet little girl, whom I had often seen in her
father's arms, with her soft dark eyes, and her long auburn ringlets
hanging in wild profusion over his shoulders.
"I guess she likes pa, SOME," Mr. S - - would say when I remarked her
fondness for him.
This little fairy had a natural genius for music, and though she was
only four years old, she would sit for an hour at a time at the door
of our room to hear me play on the flute, and would afterwards sing
all the airs she picked up, with the sweetest voice in the world.
Humble as the calling of a tavern-keeper may be considered in
England, it is looked upon in the United States, where Mrs. S - - was
"raised," as extremely respectable; and I have never met with women,
in any class of society elsewhere, who possessed more of the
good-feeling and unobtrusive manners which should belong to ladies
than in the family of this worthy tavern-keeper.
When I contrast their genuine kindness and humanity with the
haughty, arrogant airs assumed by some ladies of a higher standing
in society from England who sojourned in their house at the same
time with ourselves - when I remember their insolent way of giving
their orders to Mrs. S - -, and their still more wounding
condescension - I confess I cannot but feel ashamed of my
countrywomen. All these patronising airs, I doubt not, were assumed
purposely to impress the minds of those worthy people with an idea
of their vast superiority. I have sometimes, I confess, been a
little annoyed with the familiarity of the Americans, Canadians as
well as Yankees; but I must say that experience has taught me to
blame myself at least as much as them. If, instead of sending our
youthful aristocracy to the continent of Europe, to treat the
natives with contempt and increase the unpopularity of the British
abroad, while their stock of native arrogance is augmented by the
cringing complaisance of those who only bow to their superiority in
wealth, they were sent to the United States, or even to Canada, they
would receive a lesson or two which would be of infinite service to
them; some of their most repulsive prejudices and peculiarities
would soon be rubbed off by the rough towel of democracy.
It is curious to observe the remarkable diversity in the accounts
given by recent emigrants to this country of their treatment, and of
the manners and character of the people in the United States and in
Canada. Some meet with constant kindness, others with nothing but
rudeness and brutality. Of course there is truth in both accounts;
but strangers from an aristocratical country do not usually make
sufficient allowance for the habits and prejudices of a people of a
land, in which, from the comparatively equal distribution of
property, and the certain prosperity attendant on industry, the
whole constitution of society is necessarily democratical,
irrespectively of political institutions. Those who go to such a
country with the notion that they will carry everything before them
by means of pretence and assumption, will find themselves grievously
deceived. To use a homely illustration, it is just as irrational to
expect to force a large body through a small aperture. In both cases
they will meet with unyielding resistance.
When a poor and industrious mechanic, farmer, or labourer comes here
without pretensions of any kind, no such complaints are to be heard.
He is treated with respect, and every one seems willing to help him
forward. If in after-years the manners of such a settler should grow
in importance with his prosperity - which is rarely the case - his
pretensions would be much more readily tolerated than those of any
unknown or untried individual in a higher class of society.
