Catharine Parr Traill - The Canadian Settlers Guide

Catharine Parr Traill

Published by Good Press, 2021

EAN 4064066361167

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

The value attached to this little work may be estimated in some degree by its having already reached a Seventh Edition.

The testimony borne to its worth and utility to actual and intending Settlers, by persons so well entitled to give an opinion of its merits as William Hutton, Esq., Secretary to the Board of Agriculture and statistics; Frederic Widder, Esq., Resident Commissioner of the Canada Company, and A. O. Buchanan and A. B. Hawke, Esqs., The Government Emigration-Agents at Quebec and Toronto, has doubtless given it an importance which it otherwise might not have attained.

The Appendix has been added by the Publisher, who has collated his information from the most authentic and reliable sources.

The matter in the other portion of the book is written by Mrs. Traill, after a residence of twenty-five years in the Colony, a considerable portion of which has been in those "Backwoods of Canada," so vivid and interesting a description of which she gave to the public through the columns of Knight's volumes.

The growing interest felt in Canadian matters at home, and the prospect of an extensive Emigration to this Province in the approaching year, have caused a large demand for the work from Great Britain and other parts of Europe; with a view therefore to make it more useful and acceptable, a very large and valuable addition has been made to it, selected from the works and "endorsed" by the opinions of some of the most eminent authorities in Canada.

The addition made consists of the following articles:

These various documents comprise an amount of information, the result of actual experience, and bearing the stamp of official authority, upon which the utmost reliance may be placed; and they are published with a view to the instruction and guidance of Settlers of all classes who may contemplate a residence in this thriving Colony, whose onward progress exceeds that of any other dependency of the British Crown.

It is proper to state that the Statistical Information given herein comes up to the last period to which official returns have been rendered, but the progress made in the five years which have elapsed since that time very far exceeds any similar period in every particular.

Then no Railroads were in progress, now there are fifteen hundred miles in full operation, extending from Portland to the extreme western boundary of Upper Canada!

To this brief notice the Publisher will only add his earnest advice and decided opinion that future Emigrants should, on every account, avail themselves of the facilities for reaching Canada by the Canadian Screw-Steamers which hereafter will regularly sail from British Ports to Portland, Quebec or Montreal, from all of which places access can be had to every part of the Province by the Grand Trunk Railway, by the Directors and Officers of which every possible facility will be given for their cheap and expeditious transit to their various destinations, every attention paid to their comforts, and the most reliable information afforded.

The Publisher has carefully abstained from giving any account of the Province more favorable than the one borne out by official returns as to fertility and climate.

The inserted in the appendix is rather under than over the prices now readily obtainable.

The prices of labour and provisions are all reckoned in Canada currency. A deduction of one-fifth brings them all as nearly as possible into sterling value.

Toronto, C. W. , 1st January, 1857.

N.B. The printed in the Appendix has been considerably modified, and is not to be relied upon at the present moment.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Among the many books that have been written for the instruction of the Canadian emigrant, there are none exclusively devoted for the use of the wives and daughters of the future settler, who for the most part, possess but a very vague idea of the particular duties which they are destined to undertake, and are often totally unprepared to meet the emergencies of their new mode of life.

As a general thing they are told that they must prepare their minds for some hardships and privations, and that they will have to exert themselves in a variety of ways to which they have hitherto been strangers; but the exact nature of that work, and how it is to be performed, is left untold. The consequence of this is, that the females have everything to learn, with few opportunities of acquiring the requisite knowledge, which is often obtained under circumstances, and in situations the most discouraging; while their hearts are yet filled with natural yearnings after the land of their birth, (dear even to the poorest emigrant), with grief for the friends of their early days, and while every object in this new country is strange to them. Disheartened by repeated failures, unused to the expedients which the older inhabitants adopt in any case of difficulty, repining and disgust take the place of cheerful activity; troubles increase, and the power to overcome them decreases; domestic happiness disappears. The woman toils on heart-sick and pining for the home she left behind her. The husband reproaches his broken-hearted partner, and both blame the Colony for the failure of the individual.

Having myself suffered from the disadvantage of acquiring all my knowledge of Canadian housekeeping by personal experience, and having heard other females similarly situated lament the want of some simple useful book to give them an insight into the customs and occupations incidental to a Canadian settler's life, I have taken upon me to endeavor to supply this want, and have with much labour collected such useful matter as I thought best calculated to afford the instruction required.