emain with S------ and his family till we
have got a few acres chopped, and a log-house put up on our own land.
Having determined to go at once into the bush, on account of our
military grant, which we have been so fortunate as to draw in the
neighbourhood of S------, we have fully made up our minds to enter at
once, and cheerfully, on the privations and inconveniences attending
such a situation; as there is no choice between relinquishing that great
advantage and doing our settlement duties. We shall not be worse off
than others who have gone before us to the unsettled townships, many of
whom, naval and military officers, with their families, have had to
struggle with considerable difficulties, but who are now beginning to
feel the advantages arising from their exertions.

In addition to the land he is entitled to as an officer in the British
service, my husband is in treaty for the purchase of an eligible lot by
small lakes. This will give us a water frontage, and a further
inducement to bring us within a little distance of S------; so that we
shall not be quite so lonely as if we had gone on to our government lot
at once.

We have experienced some attention and hospitality from several of the
residents of Peterborough. There is a very genteel society, chiefly
composed of officers and their families, besides the professional men
and storekeepers. Many of the latter are persons of respectable family
and good education. Though a store is, in fact, nothing better than what
we should call in the country towns at home a "_general shop_," yet the
storekeeper in Canada holds a very different rank from the shopkeeper of
the English village. The storekeepers are the merchants and bankers of
the places in which they reside. Almost all money matters are transacted
by them, and they are often men of landed property and consequence, not
unfrequently filling the situations of magistrates, commissioners, and
even members of the provincial parliament.

As they maintain a rank in society which entitles them to equality with
the aristocracy of the country, you must not be surprised when I tell
you that it is no uncommon circumstance to see the sons of naval and
military officers and clergymen standing behind a counter, or wielding
an axe in the woods with their fathers' choppers; nor do they lose their
grade in society by such employment. After all, it is education and
manners that must distinguish the gentleman in this country, seei