very much harder for the poor to be virtuous than it is for the
rich; and the good that is in them, shines the brighter for it. In
many a noble mansion lives a man, the best of husbands and of
fathers, whose private worth in both capacities is justly lauded to
the skies. But bring him here, upon this crowded deck. Strip from
his fair young wife her silken dress and jewels, unbind her braided
hair, stamp early wrinkles on her brow, pinch her pale cheek with
care and much privation, array her faded form in coarsely patched
attire, let there be nothing but his love to set her forth or deck
her out, and you shall put it to the proof indeed. So change his
station in the world, that he shall see in those young things who
climb about his knee: not records of his wealth and name: but
little wrestlers with him for his daily bread; so many poachers on
his scanty meal; so many units to divide his every sum of comfort,
and farther to reduce its small amount. In lieu of the endearments
of childhood in its sweetest aspect, heap upon him all its pains
and wants, its sicknesses and ills, its fretfulness, caprice, and
querulous endurance: let its prattle be, not of engaging infant
fancies, but of cold, and thirst, and hunger: and if his fatherly
affection outlive all this, and he be patient, watchful, tender;
careful of his children’s lives, and mindful always of their joys
and sorrows; then send him back to Parliament, and Pulpit, and to
Quarter Sessions, and when he hears fine talk of the depravity of
those who live from hand to mouth, and labour hard to do it, let
him speak up, as one who knows, and tell those holders forth that
they, by parallel with such a class, should be High Angels in their
daily lives, and lay but humble siege to Heaven at last.
Which of us shall say what he would be, if such realities, with
small relief or change all through his days, were his! Looking
round upon these people: far from home, houseless, indigent,
wandering, weary with travel and hard living: and seeing how
patiently they nursed and tended their young children: how they
consulted ever their wants first, then half supplied their own;
what gentle ministers of hope and faith the women were; how the men
profited by their example; and how very, very seldom even a
moment’s petulance or harsh complaint broke out among them: I felt
a stronger love and honour of my kind come glowing on my heart, and
wished to God there had been many Atheists in the better part of
human nature there, to read this simple lesson in the book of Life.
* * * * * *
We left Montreal for New York again, on the thirtieth of May,
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crossing to La Prairie, on the opposite shore of the St. Lawrence,
in a steamboat; we then took the railroad to St. John’s, which is
on the brink of Lake Champlain. Our last greeting in Canada was
from the English officers in the pleasant barracks at that place (a
class of gentlemen who had made every hour of our visit memorable
by their hospitality and friendship); and with ‘Rule Britannia’
sounding in our ears, soon left it far behind.
But Canada has held, and always will retain, a foremost place in my
remembrance. Few Englishmen are prepared to find it what it is.
Advancing quietly; old differences settling down, and being fast
forgotten; public feeling and private enterprise alike in a sound
and wholesome state; nothing of flush or fever in its system, but
health and vigour throbbing in its steady pulse: it is full of
hope and promise. To me – who had been accustomed to think of it
as something left behind in the strides of advancing society, as
something neglected and forgotten, slumbering and wasting in its
sleep – the demand for labour and the rates of wages; the busy
quays of Montreal; the vessels taking in their cargoes, and
discharging them; the amount of shipping in the different ports;