Life in the Clearings versus the Bush

ce

think--I c

name of Go

f mine can

usness of g

f blood is

f Cain is o

ghastly p

and the s

face still ha

hot eye that

darkness--o

steel--but

t bends its

ll drops of

row, and hell

in my brain

death, yet

is now a w

hat dread

punishment

iption of it here. I was greatly pleased, as I think every stranger must be, with its general aspect, particularly as seen from the water, in which respect it has a great advantage over Toronto. The number of vessels lying at the different wharfs, and the constant arrival of

lways be the key of the Upper Province, the great rallying point in case of war or danger. The market house is a very fine building, and the wants of the c

uropean town. The houses are chiefly of brick and stone along the public thoroughfares, and there are many neat private dwellings inclos

ere employed at their different trades, their sleeping cells, chapel, and places of punishment. The silence system is maintained here, no conversation being allowed between the prisoners. I was surprised at the neatness, cleanliness, order, and regularity of all the arrangements in the vast building, and still more astonished that forty or fifty strong active looking men, unfettered, with the free

the other yellow, with trowsers to correspond, a shirt of coarse factory cotton, but very clean, and good stout shoes, and warm knitted woollen socks. The letters P.P. for "Provincial Pe

thick stone walls. They are locked in every night at six o'clock, and their cell is so constructed, that one of the keepers can always l

there are air holes for breathing, the look and name of the thing is more dreadful than the punishment, which cannot be the least painful. I asked the gen

the States. Of the Scotch we have very few; but they are very bad--the most ungovernable, sullen, and disobedie

the assizes for stealing curious coins from a person who had brought them out to this country as old fam

all at once. We passed him as he sat on the bench, while the barber was cutting his hair and shaving off his whiskers. His handsome suit had been removed--he was in the party-coloured dress before described. Ther

different times to it, and had grown so attached to their prison that they preferr

atrocious criminals are found within these walls--men and wom

xcellent soups, with a portion of the meat which had been boiled in it, potatoes, and brown bread, all very

me, well-cooked meal, how much better they were fed and lodged than thousands of honest industrious me

tions. One man in particular, who had committed a very atrocious murder, and was confined for life, had a most singular head, such as one, indeed, as I never before saw on a human body. It was immensely large at the base, and appeared perfectly round, while at the crown it rose to a p

. I noticed this to my companion. He had never observed it before, but said it was strange. The convicts were m

n an instant. They seldom retain it, or bear malice. Not so the dull, putty-coloured, sluggish man. He is slow to act, but he broods over a supposed affront or injury, and never forgets it. He plans the moment of retaliation, and stabs his enemy when least prepared. There were many stolid, heavy-look

age and bearing, particularly arrested my attention. I pointed him out to Mr. ---. "Tha

to the law. A clever man too; but these walls do not contain a worse in every respect. He was put

, "who have not the appearance of cr

o soldiers put in here for a

to degrade them in this ma

ill make them desert to the St

ttle boys; what a

er!" whis

y seat; it appeared to

his own age with a hoe, and burying him under the roots of a fallen tree. Both of these boys come from the neighbourhood

ngs is still unstained with the blood of a criminal. There is so little robbery committed in this part of the country, that the thought of thieves or hous

on, does not always make a good citizen. During the last assizes at Cobourg, a black man and his wife were condemned to be hung for a most horrible murder, and their son, a young man of twenty years of age, offered the sheriff to ha

hen this anecdote was told in his hearing--"If a man w

eaks much for the superior moral training of the feebler sex. My chief object in visiting their department was to look at the celebrated murderess, Grace Marks, of whom I had heard a great deal, no

e of this remarkable criminal, it may not be uninteresting to t

have forgotten; but this is of little consequence to my narrative. Both circumstances could be easily ascertained by the curious. The captain had been living for some time on very intimate terms with his housekeeper, a handsome young woman of the name of Hannah Montgomery, who had been his servant of all work. Her familiarity

self-elected mistress. MacDermot was the son of respectable parents; but from being a wild, ungovernable boy, he became a bad, vicious man, and early abandoned the parental roof to enlist for a soldier. He was soon tired of his new

, made to Mr. Mac--ie, who had conducted his defence, the night previous to his

e house-keeper, whom she hated, and to whom she was often very insolent and saucy. Her whole conversation to me was on this subject. 'What is she better than us?' she would say, 'that she is to be treated like a lady, and eat and drink of the best. She is not better born than we are, or better educated. I will not stay here to be domineered over by her. Either she or I must soon leave this.' Every little complaint Hannah made of me, was repeated to me with cruel exaggerations, till my dander w

some complaint against us to him, and he had promised to pay us off on his return. This had come to the ears of Grace, and her hatred to the housekeeper

work, we got recapitulating our fancied wrongs over some of the captain's whisky. I urged my suit to Grace; but she would not think of anything, or listen to anything, but the insults and injurie

ord. Her eyes flashed with a horrible light. 'You dare n

not d

oman for me!'

drawing a little back from her. 'If you will promise to run

you like; but you m

ot in earne

n what

it? She is away now, and she may not

back to see after the house,

leeps w

s. She will

l her with a blow of the axe on the head. It will be o

s for you. I will pretend to have the toothache very bad, and will ask to sleep next the wall to-night. She is kind to the sick, and will not refuse me; and a

I felt equally tempted to tell her she was a devil, and that I would have nothing to do with such a horrible piece of business; but she looked so handsome, that

laughed and chatted as merrily as possible. And Grace, in order to hide the wicked thoughts working in he

felt sorry for the error of my ways, and had even vowed amendment, and prayed God to forgive me, and make a better man of me for the time to come. And now, here I was, at the instigation of a young girl, contemplating the death of a fellow-creature, with whom I had been laughing and talking on apparently friendly

ielded to her request, and was lying with her head out over the bed-clothes, in the best possible manner for receiving a death-blow upon her temples. She had a sad, troubled look upon her handsome face; and once she moved her hand, and said 'Oh dear!' I wondered whether she was dreaming of any danger to herself and the man she loved. I raised the axe to give the death-blow, but my arm seemed held back by an invisible hand. It was the hand of God. I turned away from the bed, and le

with the pails in her hand, going out to milk the cows. As she passed me, she gave m

se and mercy forsook me from that instant, and darker and deeper plans of murder and theft flashed through my brain. 'Go and milk the cows,' said I with a

avy blow on the back of the head with my axe. She fell to the ground at my feet without uttering a word; and, opening the trap-door that led from the kitchen into a cellar where we kept potatoes and other stores, I hurled her down, closed the d

he milk they contained. She turned pale when her eye met mine. I

h?' she asked,

'What! are you tu

dreadful. I am afrai

n. You have taught me how to kill, and I don't care who, or how many I kill now. When Kinnaird comes

ng towards me, and, clinging to my

on't ki

u, girl, if you dare to breathe a word to any one of my intention, o

'Don't kill me,' she whined, 'don't kill me, Macdermot! I

vil do you want

so han

sha

ood-na

ast man on earth to have killed her. You belong to me now; and though I believe that the devil has given me a bad bargain in you, yet, s

t she looked dogged and su

s not dead, as I had thought; the blow had only stunned her. She had partially recovered her senses, and was kneeling on one knee as we descended the ladder with the light. I don't

en more dreadful than that of the unfortunate woman. She ut

damned me

nd planting my knee on her breast, I tied the handkerchief round her throat in a single tie, giving Grace one end to hold, while I drew the other tight enough to finish

may come up and

went upstairs and ate a good breakfast; and I laughed with Grace at the

e I was chatting with the pedlar, I remarked that Grace had left the house, and I saw her through the kitchen-window talking to a young lad by the well, who often came across to borrow an old gun from my master to shoot ducks. I called to her to come in, which sh

nt, Macdermot!'

u are,--you are plotting mischief against me; but if you betray me

d, Macdermot? Do you thin

e too bad to be trusted. What were

in was not at home, and I d

The gun will be

gh of blood, and shewed some feeling at last. I kept my eye up

e had time to alight, he asked for Hannah. I told him that she was out, that she wen

business to leave the house during his absence,--tha

she should get

d wait till Hannah came back, and

imself down upon the sofa, commenced reading a

nt. I wonder why I could not make him as good a cup of coffee as Hannah. I have often made it for him when

ut came the captain to t

Hannah b

,--S

ge. Which wa

ut said that, as you were out, it would be a

he say she w

her last night

rning to me. 'Put the saddle on my riding horse. I will go

anged glanc

stay till aft

too uneasy about the girl to eat. Macdermot, be quick and saddle

ding-coat; and I went into the harness-house, not

to a discovery. The only way to prevent this was to murder him, take what money he had brought with him from Toronto, and be off with Grace to the States. Whatever repugnance I migh

he harness-house, I went into the parlour. I found the captain lyinig on the sof

e horse

your new English saddle almost to pieces. I wish you would step ou

vil would think it worth their while to break into the harness house to cut a saddle, when they coul

rd. At any rate, it would be a satisfacti

at a hurry. Put

hand. 'It's only a step fro

wn two steps into it. He went on before me, and as he descended the steps, I clutched the gun I had left behind the door, took my a

the wound; he bled internally. He had on a very fine shirt; and after rifling his person, and posse

was how the pedlar was supposed to have had a hand in the murder. T

I have told you,

court. How came that magazine, which was found in the housekeeper's bed saturated w

ands. Almost all the blood that flowed from it was caught in that book. It required some force on my part to take it from his grasp after he was dead. Not knowing what to do with it, I flung it into the housekeeper's bed. While I harnessed

ms very unjust to me, for she is certainly more criminal than I am. If she had not instigated me to commit the murder, it

ck, in front of the jail. I have seen the order sent by the governor to the sheriff, and that was my reason for visiting you to-night. I was not satisf

. He dashed himself on the floor of his cell, and shrieked and raved like a maniac, declaring that he could not, and would not die; that the law had no right to murder a man's soul as well as his body, by giving him no time for repe

ak to her; and Mrs. M---, I never shall forget the painful feelings I experienced during this interview. She had been five years in the Penitentiary, but still retained a remarkably youthful appearanc

I said, 'how is

eful to you for all the trouble you took on my account. I thought yo

s that,

errible face and those horrible bloodshot eyes have never left me for a moment. They glare upon me by night and day, and when I close my eyes in despair, I see them looking into my soul--it is impossible to shut them out. If I am at work, in a few minutes that dreadful head is in my lap. If I look up to get rid of it, I see it in the far corner of the room. At dinner, it is in my plate, or grinning between the persons who sit opposite to me at table. Every object that meets my sight takes the same dreadful

who could say a word of comfort to such grief? it wa

She passed me on the stairs as I proceeded to the part of the building where the women were kept; b

ful figure. There is an air of hopeless melancholy in her face which is very painful to contemplate. Her complexion is fair, and must, before the touch of hopeless sorrow paled it, have been very brilliant. Her eyes

itentiary was so unexceptionable, that a petition was signed by all the influential gentlemen in Kingston, which released her from her long imprisonment. She entered the service of the governor of the Penitentiary, but the fearful hauntings of her brain have

he W

of air, wild v

heavens, and earth

ow murmurs the

roused in his

hing pinions dest

sweep the wide

bursts over mo

ath mark thy tra

lies cradled wit

tribes crouch in

the forest, the t

d shook at the t

the heavens, and ca

und were the

he dense rolling

f Omnipotence r

d he spake, when m

his anguish dare

he told him his

correction, and k

the voice of the

bones,' to breat

the sea, could the

life when the

dering ashes thy

cy slumbers of

ife took the wi

souls of the ch

of God! I shri

rm hills to their

that conflict--earth

illing sigh will