There Seems No End To This River, It Has So
Many Turns And Arms And Rapids.
We had tea (by this time I was nearly
dead), and three dear small boys appeared; one only two
And half had a
violin, and he imitated a person playing on it, and made the sounds with
his voice in the most amusing clever way, and laughed so merrily when we
shouted applause. Mr. Macklem drove us home, and after dinner we played
whist in E - -'s nice bedroom. This morning I am not well! We have seen
the maids off with the luggage by early rail and boat for Toronto and
follow in afternoon.
_Friday, continuing_. - I was unable to see anything more of
Niagara; the others crossed the ferry. We left at twenty minutes to
five, and owing to the steamer being late on Lake Ontario we did not
reach the Macpherson's till half-past nine. They waited dinner, and we
rushed down, at least I did, just twelve minutes after my arrival, and
also dressed! A Mr. Pattison, a very agreeable-looking man, who seems an
authority on farming, and a Mr. and Mrs. Plumb (son of our Niagara
friend), who was once at T - - P - -, but I had entirely forgotten him.
Mr. Pattison spoke of the ignorant, idle, good-for-nothing young men
sent out here to make a living by their worried relations, sometimes
with scarcely a sixpence, in which case they starved but for the charity
of himself and others, or if with any money they fell into bad hands and
lost everything. So many are sent here that he has made a kind of home
for the destitute.
_Saturday Morning_. - Sir David M - - returned from Ottawa, and we
breakfasted together. We nearly missed the train at Toronto (not having
Miss M - - to keep us in order; I call her Queen Christina, she is so
masterful), but just managed to get ourselves and luggage in, and to see
George Bunburg, whom I had made several attempts to see before, and who
I hear is enterprising and likely to do well. We reached Owen Sound, and
got into the steamer all right about three o'clock. Nice farms nearly
all along the line.
_Sunday, 14th September_. - I slept pretty comfortably. We got into
a narrow passage between Lakes Superior and Huron, which was pretty and
curious, great numbers of islands and a very narrow path marked out for
steamers, which, as we met several, made the risk of collision seem very
imminent; they moved very slowly, and have established regular rules of
the road, but cannot travel by night, or if a fog comes on. St. Mary le
Soult is a pretty place, on one side American, where they have made a
lock to avoid the rapids from Lake Huron to Lake Superior. We waited
some time to get into the lock, and then found ourselves in the largest
lake in the world, five hundred miles long by three hundred and fifty
miles wide.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 35 of 75
Words from 17931 to 18434
of 39002
