e old settlers clung to them
long after they could have afforded to build better. This
was doubtless partly due to the fact that log-houses were
exempt from the taxation laid on frame, brick, and stone
structures.

A few of the Loyalists succeeded in bringing with them
to Canada some sticks of furniture or some family heirlooms.
Here and there a family would possess an ancient spindle,
a pair of curiously-wrought fire-dogs, or a quaint pair
of hand-bellows. But these relics of a former life merely
served to accentuate the rudeness of the greater part of
the furniture of the settlers. Chairs, benches, tables,
beds, chests, were fashioned by hand from the rough wood.
The descendant of one family has described how the family
dinner-table was a large stump, hewn flat on top, standing
in the middle of the floor. The cooking was done at the
open fireplace; it was not until well on in the nineteenth
century that stoves came into common use in Canada.

The clothing of the settlers was of the most varied
description. Here and there was one who had brought with
him the tight knee-breeches and silver-buckled shoes of
polite society. But many had arrived with only what was
on their backs; and these soon found their garments, no
matter how carefully darned and patched, succumb to the
effects of time and labour. It was not long before the
settlers learnt from the Indians the art of making clothing
out of deer-skin. Trousers made of this material were
found both comfortable and durable. 'A gentleman who
recently died in Sophiasburg at an advanced age, remembered
to have worn a pair for twelve years, being repaired
occasionally, and at the end they were sold for two
dollars and a half.' Petticoats for women were also made
of deer-skin. 'My grandmother,' says one descendant,
'made all sorts of useful dresses with these skins, which
were most comfortable for a country life, and for going
through the bush [since they] could not be torn by the
branches.' There were of course, some articles of clothing
which could not readily be made of leather; and very
early the settlers commenced growing flax and raising
sheep for their wool. Home-made linen and clothing of
linsey-woolsey were used in the settlements by high and
low alike. It was not until the close of the eighteenth
century that articles of apparel, other than those made
at home of flax and wool, were easily obtainable. A calico
dress was a great luxury. Few daughters expected