realize that I was
then enjoying my happiest days; for, with many others, I now believe,
our school days to be the happiest period of life. Time passed on, till
I grew up, and married. I left my native place which was Salem, in the
State of New Hampshire, and removed to Western Canada. When you look
around, my boy, over this prosperous and growing country, with its
well-cultivated farms, and numerous towns and villages, you can form no
idea of what the place was like when I arrived here, fifty-six years ago
last February. Your grandfather was born, and passed the days of his
childhood and early youth, in Scotland, but when he was nearly grown to
manhood his parents emigrated to the United States, where he resided for
some years; but as he grew older he became prejudiced against the
'Yankee Rule,' as he styled the Republican Government of the United
State, and, soon after our marriage, he resolved to remove to Canada. 'I
desire,' said he, 'to seek a home where I hope to spend my life, be it
long or short, and that home must be in a country subject to the British
Government under which, I am proud to say, I was born, and under which I
wish to die.' I was willing to make any sacrifice to please my husband,
for whom I had a deep affection," and, as grandma said these words,
youthful memories moistened her eyes and caused her voice to tremble,
but she soon regained her composure, and continued: "I was then young
and full of hope, and the trials which I knew would fall to my lot gave
me no anxiety. The weather was bitter cold, during all that weary
journey to our forest home in Canada. We had been married less than a
year when we left our friends in New Hampshire to seek a home in this
new country. The summer before my husband visited the place to purchase
a lot of wild land, and build the log cabin which was to be our first
shelter in the Canadian wilderness. Much as he had told me, I had formed
but a very imperfect idea of the appearance of the place, till after a
ten days' journey (by slow teams) through the deep snows which often
impeded our way, we reached, near nightfall, the small log-hut which was
to be our home. I had ever thought I possessed a good share of fortitude
and resolution, but at that time it was put to a severe test. 'There
Martha, is our home,' said my husband, pointing to the rude pile of
logs, which stood in a cleared space, barely large enough to secure its
safety from falling trees, and beyond all was