Roughing It in the Bush

this fellow was the

my days, but I neve

upon emigration to Canada. He has just returned from the North American provinces, and his lectures are attended by vast numbers of persons who are anxious to obtain information on the su

half. "What a backwoodsman he will make! What a loss to the single lad

ugh. I am certain that most of my readers would have joined in her laugh had they known the object which provoked her mirth. "Poor Tom is such a dreamer," said my sister

way, that he is a coarse, vulgar fellow, and lacks the dignity of a bear. Oh! I am certain they will return quite sickened with the Canadian project." T

broad thoroughfares of life more eccentric than ever we read of in books; people who, if all their foolish sayings and doings were duly recorded, would vie with the drollest creations of Hood, or George Colman, and put to shame the flights of Baron Munchausen.

ich his evil courses, bad as they were, could not wholly deprive them. The young people-and a very large family they made of sons and daughters, twelve in number-were objects of interest and commiseration to all who knew them, while the worthless father was justly held in contempt and detestation. Our hero was the youngest of the six sons; and from his childhood he was famous for his nothing-to-doishness. He was too indolent to engage heart and soul in the manly sports of his comra

eatures that one moment expressed the most solemn seriousness, and the next, the most grotesque and absurd abandonment to mirth? In him, all extremes appeared to meet; the man was a contradiction to himself. Tom was a person of few words, and so intensely lazy that it required a strong effort of will to enable him to answer the questions of inquiring friends; and

ortion which he meant for a smile, or, if he did trouble himself to find words, with, "Well, tha

iculous or impertinent question completely disarmed and turned the shafts of malice back upon his opponent. If Tom was himself an object of ridicule to many, he had a way of quietly ridiculing others that

he was, he was the soul of truth and honour. You might suspect his san

very ugly young man considered himself an Adonis; and I must confess that I rather inclined to this opinion. He always paced the public streets with a slow, deliberate tread, and

ed at me for several minutes, as if

s that y

and he answered, with one

te well, or I should not be walking h

ld I know

queer dog, too; but I never could

g, hearing, and comprehending, than is possessed by the generality of his species; and to such a length did he carry this abstraction of soul and sense, that he would often leave you abrup

ham, in honour of the great singer of that name. Tom made no answer, but started abruptly away. Three months

's-Braham, I think you called him-yes, Braham; a strange name for an a

lson, to enable you to remember such a

? Why, I have thought of

animal who had dwelt so long in his thoughts; but there were times when he surmount

essed as an Italian mendicant, with a monkey perched upon his shoulder, and playing airs of his own composition upon a hurdy-gurdy. In this disguise he sought the dwelling of an old bachelor uncle, and solicited his charity. But who that had once seen our frien

vented in those days), he entered into conversation with an intelligent farmer who sat next to him; New South Wales, and his residence in that colony, forming the leading topic. A d

solemn tone, without deignin

ing his hands into his breeches pockets. "A

unced when the questioner called the coachman to stop, preferring a ride outside in the rain to a seat wit

ith considerable taste and execution. The sound of a favourite melody operated upon the breathing automaton like magic, his frozen faculties experienced a sudden thaw, and the stream of life l

toned flute, and this flute Tom re

n that flute. Take care of your black wife," (a name he had bestowed

to die, and leave you my black wife as a legacy,

o now contemplated an emigration to Canada. How he

lson returned from Y--. I had provided a hot supper and a cup of c

rits, and appeared wholly ben

nt, Mr. Wilson," said I, "to engage

be groping for words in the salt-cellar, having deliberately turned out its contents upon

to do with the subst

d to think so, by the attention they paid to it during the discussion. But, come,

the lecture? Why, my dear fellow,

pose to obtain information on the

o I bought the book, and spared myself the pain of listening to the oratory of the writer. Mrs. Moodie! he had a shocking delivery, a drawling, vulgar voice; and he spoke with such a nasal twang that I could not bear to look at him, or listen t

sed at his description of Mr. C--, fo

entertain yourself, Mr. Wil

ther, to listen to one greater than the rest. B

ere did

ous likeness there was between him and the roast pig he was carving! I was wondering all dinner-time how that man contrived to cut

ing with yourself when you

er by sucking my paws. In the summer there will be plenty of

to induce him to abandon a scheme so hopeless, "do you think t

p of his forehead, and fixing his leaden eyes steadfastly upon his interrog

r? I am sure I asked you

it is so unusual that you

go, partly out of a whim, partly to satisfy my curiosity whether it is a better country than New South Wales; and lastly, in the hope of bettering my condition in a small way, which at present is so bad that it can scarcely be worse. I mean to purchase a farm with the three hundred pounds I received last week from the sale of my father's property; and if the Canadian soil yields only half what Mr. C-- says it does, I need not starve. But the refined habits in which you have been brought up, and your unfortunate literary propensities-(I say unfortunate, because you will seldom meet people in a colony who can or will sympathise w

himself, he sprang abruptly from the table, overset a cup of coffee into my lap,

e willing to allow; for youth and hope were on our side in those da

nd in the hurry and bustle of a sudden preparation to

er at such a season was doubly so. I went to take a last look at the old Hall, the beloved home of my childhood and youth; to wander once more beneath the shade of its venerable oaks-to rest once more upon the velvet sward that carpeted their roots. It was while reposing beneath those noble trees that I had first indulged in those delicious dreams which are a foretaste of the enjoyments of the spirit-land. In them the soul breathes forth its aspirations in a language unknown to common minds; and that language is Poetry. Here annually, from year to year, I h

ave loved and suffered as I did, say. However the world had frowned upon me, Nature, arrayed in her green loveliness, had ev

to return and die upon your wave-encircled shores, and rest my weary head and heart beneath your daisy-covered sod at last! Ah, these are vain outbursts of feeling-melancholy relapses of the spring home-sickness! Canada! thou art a noble, free, and risin

*

lowly up the path that led to the house. He was dressed in a new shooting-jacket, with his gun

y sister instead of me. "I suppose I shall see Moodie in Lond

st," said C--. "Do you m

d the beast! Ha, ha, ha! I gave two guineas for her last night." (I tho

o town to-night, Mr. Wilson? I thought as you came u

re is capital sh

nd wolves. I suppose you take out

," sa

not going to take

very best venture I could take. My brother Cha

said I. "May you prove as lucky

sister, and beginning to dream, which he invariably

er; "but I have not time to tell you more about him now. If you so to St. Paul's Churchyard, an

u a safe voyage across the Atlantic; I wish I could add a happy meeting

you in the backwoods of Canada before three months are over. What adve

*

he is, I parted with him with a full heart; I felt as if we never should meet again. Poor Tom! he is the only brother left me now that I can love. Robert and I never agreed very

od spirits whe

harles,' he said, with a loud laugh, 'tell the girls to get some new music against I r

strange

oring companion! 'Besides, Charles,' quoth he, 'I cannot endure to share my little cabin with others; they will use my towels, and combs, and brushes, like that confounded rascal who slept in the same berth with me coming from New South Wales, who had the impudence to cl

. He was afraid that my baby would keep him awake of a night. He

*

f May, and had a speedy passage, and was, as we heard from his friends, comfortably settled in the bush, had bought a farm, and meant to commence operations in the fall. All this was good n

likely, owing to the number of strangers that had arrived for several weeks, that we could obtain one by searching farther. Moodie requested the use of a sofa for me during the night; but even that produced a demur from the landlord. Whilst I awaited the result in a passage, crowded with st

son, is

in the world. It is I, I swear!-although very little of me is left to swear by. The best part of

r. S--, for love or money, to l

ittle parlour, which is a joint-stock affair between some of us young hopefuls for the time being. Step in here, and I will go for Moodie; I long to tell him what I think of this confounded country. But you will find it out all in g

for your family; but we are crowded-crowded to excess. My wife and daughters are obliged to sleep in a little chamb

ith Tom Wilson to the little parlour, in

at I should be the first to we

ou doing here,

uch a confounded rattling; you would think they were all quarrelling which should first get

in and pale he had become, "that t

soon be quits, for, to let you into a

ossi

is t

what have you

ld

our ou

that

wh

find them out. Such a take-in!-God forgive them! I never could take care of money; and, one way or other, they have cheated me out of all mine. I have scarcely enough left to pay

but tonight do tell us something about

stretching out his legs and yawning horribly, "a worse biographer. I never can find w

g at and listening to Tom Wilson, and he gave us, at

my canine friend. I never spoke to him again during the rest of the voyage. Nothing happened worth relating until I got to this place, where I chanced to meet a friend who knew your brother, and I went up with him to the woods. Most of the wise men of Gotham we met on the road were bound to the woods; so I felt happy that I was, a

n the woo

on learned to sing that same, as the Iris

ly tickled with his reminiscences, for he leaned back in his chair

oing mad?" said my h

through those woods, shooting-though not a thing could I ever find to shoot, for birds and beasts are not such fools as our English emigrants-and I chanced to think

id I, "let us neve

nation minus that indispensable covering. It was night when we got to Mr. --'s place. I was tired and hungry, my face disfigured and blistered by the unremitting attentions of the blackflies that rose in swarms from the river. I thought to get a private room to wash and dress in, but there is no such thing as privacy in this country. In the bush, all things are in common; you cannot even get a bed without having to share it wit

t pork is served to you three times a day. No wonder that the Jews eschewed the vile animal; they were people of taste. Pork, morning, noon, and night, swimming in its own grease! The bishop who complained of partridges every day should have been condemned to three months' feeding

in the hope of drowning upon the waters all reminiscences of the hateful banquet; but even here the ver

the country for such minor evils as these, wh

he house that gentlemen should not come to this country without they were able to put up with a little inconvenience; that I should make as good a settler as a butterfly in a beehive; that it was impossible to be nice about food and dre

black the shoes-an operation which she performed with a mixture of soot and grease. I thought I should be better off in a place of my own, so I bought a wild farm that was recommended to me, and paid for it double what it

blessed God that it reached the ground without killing me in its way thither. When I was about it, I thought I might as well make the canoe big enough; but the bulk of the tree deceived me in the length of my vessel, and I forgot to measure the one that belonged to Mr. --. It took me six weeks hollowing it out, and when it was finished, it was as long as a sloop-of-war, and too unwieldy for all the oxen in the township to draw it to the water. After all my

ain, he could not be dissuaded from his p

ob of Indian corn, which he held in his paw, and looked half human as he sat upon his haunches, regarding us with a solemn, melancholy air.

re brothers;" and taking in his hand the chain that held the bear, he bestowed upon him

child of nature, and worthy to be my friend; the

ced him so low that I began to think he never would see his native shores again. H

in the best manner I could. The local papers were soon exhausted. At that period they possessed little or no interest for me. I was astonished and disgusted

cket, an opposition brother; calling him a reptile-a crawling thing-a calumniator-a hired vendor of lies; and his paper a smut-machine-a vile engine of corruption, as base and degraded as the proprietor, &c. Of this description was the paper I now held in my hand, which had the impudence to style itself the Reformer-not of morals or manners, certainly, if one might judge

ered so much from the ague the day before that when he did enter the room to lead me to dinner, he looked like a w

n the miserable looking-glass that formed the case of the Yankee clock, and was ostentatiously displayed

arance of a gentleman, but who was evidently much flustered with drinking. He thrust his chair

persons who frequented the hotel; "there is no fish, sir. There wa

etch me

o, sir," said the obli

ig, and was in the act of helping a lady, when the rude fe

eaten among you all the fish, and now you are g

r, then very coolly placed the whole of the pig on his plate. "I have hea

me?" cried the stranger, his

the waiter, "go to the stable and bring in my bear; we will place him at t

ear threw the gentlemen present into convulsions of laughter. It was too much

o him; for in his then weak state it was impossible for him to return to England. His funds were getting very low, and Tom thankfully accepted

OF A CANADI

in spirit stil

my country, stil

ts quick, and my

e last glance I g

ight round thy white

was no spot like

h memory so fon

within me so m

side me whose pr

sorrow that tro

my bosom so ca

s they rose, and al

e struggle, from t

es I quitted both

he Free! I must v

cast on this f

ark forests my sou

above me no m

wild winds-the r

d music that w

y England! my sp

oodlands, thy gre

grow cold to the m

est Nature! shall

nd virtue no

bosom, and war

ave cherish'd, my

thy daughter exti