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THE INDUSTRY OF THE PEOPLE—THE HOSPITALITY OF THE
PEOPLE—THE AMUSEMENTS OF THE PEOPLE—THE SCHOOLS—THY SCHOOL-HORSES—THE
CHURCHES.
HABITS of
industry were inherited by the old pioneers. The
people who emigrated from the New England States
and from New York and New Jersey necessarily
belonged to an industrious race. Their ancestors had cut down the primeval
forests in these States, and had gone through experiences and privations
similar to those which our forefathers had gone through in this country.
The thrift and industry of the "Pennsylvania Dutch,"
many of whom settled in Canada, are proverbial, their farm houses and
farms being almost everywhere models of neatness and order. While the
early settler was clearing his land, sowing, planting and reaping his
crops, his industrious spouse was kept equally busy with matters
pertaining to household affairs, and yet she was not above
going out on the farm and giving her husband a
hand if occasion required it. We can see her picking up sticks and chunks
in the logging field; helping to cut (with the sickle) and bind the
sheaves of wheat; at work in the sugar bush and hoeing and planting in the
garden.
The women folks wove the woollen
blankets and linen sheets for the beds, cloth for their clothing and
carpets for the floor. When they grew old and feeble they spent their time
in knitting, sewing carpet rags, plaiting straw for hats and darning
stockings. The writer can well remember grandmother's work-basket, which
stood on the sitting-room table, with its spools, scissors, twist, piece
of wax, thimble, spectacles, and the stocking she was knitting. Happy,
quiet days!
In studying the times of our
forefathers, we see clearly illustrated the truth of the old saying,
"Necessity is the mother of invention" for, in order to have the
conveniences and luxuries of life, outside of a few store goods, they were
obliged to produce them themselves, as most manufactured articles had to
be imported from the Old Country, and for that reason were very expensive.
They were very ingenious, however, and whatever they made was well made
and not loosely put together in a frail manner, as such things are now.
Many articles of furniture then made by them still defy the lapse of time,
and are preserved by some of their descendants, giving strong evidence
that they were made to last.
The Hospitality of the People.
Among the old settlers it was not
necessary to lock the entrance door, the latch string being frequently
left hanging outside, so that anyone could enter that wished. It is said
that oftentimes when the folks got up in the morning they would find
several Indians lying before the fire. The old settlers never turned a
stranger from the door; in fact, they were always glad to have someone
come along and partake of their hospitality. This was one way they kept
themselves informed of the goingson in the outside world, for there were
very few newspapers at that time, and the news in those they received was
weeks and months old before reaching them, and did not contain anything
like the amount of reading matter in the newspapers of the present day.
There generally seems to be more
of a feeling of social equality in the backwoods—anyway, all are
comparatively poor and, therefore, on the same level. As the land gets
cleared up and this one and that one gets a new house or barn, then the
class distinction begins, and envy, jealousy and pride assert themselves.
The houses of our forefathers were always welcome stopping-places for the
emigrant from the States, and some romantic marriages were not
infrequently the result of the -acquaintanceship thus formed. The people,
having to produce nearly everything themselves, were usually good
providers; and their tables were bountifully supplied with good things to
tempt the appetite of the visitor. The women folks were not behind the
times in making mince pies, pumpkin pies, doughnuts, ginger snaps, etc.,
and the old-time sausage, head-cheese and "liver-wurst," were not to be
excelled.
It was more customary in the early
days for people living long distances apart to visit each other at certain
set times, even if they were obliged to go on foot. People were known to
travel back and forth from the States in this manner. Neighbors would
frequently change work, and in that way were often thrown into each
other's society. "Bees" of different sorts were the fashion. There were
"bees" for logging, ploughing, sheep-shearing, wool-picking, quilting,
apple-paring, corn-husking, etc. These gatherings all helped to bring the
people together and encouraged sociability among them.
Smoking was quite an evening
pastime among the people. Almost all the men smoked, and some of the old
women even did not conceal the pleasure derived by them at being addicted
to the practice. After the toils of the day were over, the men folk could
be seen sitting around the fire-place smoking their pipes the whole
evening long, and, of course, chatting with a neighbor crony who might
drop in to have an evening's social enjoyment.
The Amusements of the People.
Even with all our so-called modern
improvements and facilities for enjoying ourselves, it is doubtful whether
the people of the present day enjoy themselves any better, if as much as,
the people of fifty and one hundred years ago. Their amusements were
simple, it is true, but they entered into them with a heartiness and
freedom that gave to the social atmosphere a charm that could not be
surpassed. Although their opportunities were limited the spirit of
contentment seemed to thoroughly prevail among them. They had varied
amusements for every season of the year. The list included paring bees,
husking bees, horseback riding (riding parties), skating, sleighing
parties, taffy pulls, quilting bees, etc. These gatherings as a rule wound
up with a dance, unless this amusement was interdicted by the religious
society to which they belonged.
The Schools.
There was no system of public
schools in the early days, schools partly supported by taxation not being
introduced till near the close of the first quarter of the century. The
usual way the people had of supplying their children with the means of
education was for the different families in the neighborhood to club
together and subscribe a certain sum towards the maintenance of a
schoolmaster, each paying according to the number of children in the
family. The pay the teacher received did not, as might be expected in such
circumstances, amount to too much. He had, however, free board, the custom
being to have the teacher board around among the people during his term of
engagement. These school- masters, as a rule, were not over-learned
graduates in their profession. Many of them were discharged British
soldiers, and others came from the ranks of worn-out tailors, shoemakers,
etc. It was not necessary to hold a diploma in those days in order to be
allowed to teach school. There were some few of these teachers, no doubt,
who had the advantage of a superior education, but the great majority of
them had no regular training, and were wholly unfit for the work. Their
primary efforts did undeniably good service in the case of beginners, but
the smart pupils soon outstripped the master. The reference here is, of
course, confined to the schools in the country districts. In the towns
there were private schools and boarding schools, which offered superior
facilities for getting a liberal education, although very few of the
people in the farming community were able to avail themselves of these
advantages for their children. Notwithstanding that the chances for
obtaining a higher education were limited, all the people were not by any
means illiterate. In fact, many of them, being great readers, were what
might be called self-educated men, whose education extended even to a high
range of subjects and various branches of knowledge. It has been alleged
that a large percentage of the people could not read or write, and such
was probably the case, but it has to be remembered that people of this
class were mostly immigrants and foreigners from the Old Country and from
European nations. The settlers being so widely scattered over large areas,
many of them were prevented from giving their children the advantages of
school training. Attending school not being compulsory, many of them who
were not well educated themselves neglected the education of their
children. They thought that because they had succeeded well enough without
education their children should.
About the only subjects taught in
the early schools were reading, writing and arithmetic. Many of the
teachers themselves had very little knowledge of any other subjects. Of
grammar many of them knew nothing. Their knowledge of arithmetic very
seldom went beyond the Rule of Three. Of geography they were ignorant. The
people in the early times having fewer books and papers to read, their
memories generally retained what they did read. The knowledge they got of
subjects other than those taught in the schools was mostly obtained by
reading.
In regard to the discipline in the
schools in the early days, it may be said that order was maintained in
most cases by a liberal use of the "birch rod" or "blue beech." Nowadays a
teacher who depended on corporal punishment for securing obedience would
not be tolerated.
The public schools were at one
time called "common" and "district" schools. The change in name and
designation to that of public schools was more in accordance with the
progressive spirit of the times, which gave the grammar school, the high
school and the collegiate institute.
The School-houses.
Before regular school-houses were built, it was
customary to hold the school in private houses, one of the neighbors
having a house large enough setting a room apart for this purpose. The
first school-houses were built of logs, and had two rows of desks, one on
each side, facing the windows, and placed against the walls, with two rows
of benches or forms without backs for seats for the scholars, and were
placed so high from the floor that the feet of the younger children
dangled in the air. At one end of the room was the master's desk or table,
and chair, and in the middle a big box stove, with a bench on each side,
on which the children collected at recess or before school hours. There
were no such things as blackboards, maps or globes, and quill pens were
used exclusively for writing. Part of the master's work was to see that
the children's pens were kept properly made and mended, his ability as a
teacher being reckoned largely by his proficiency in this line in a time
when to read, to write and to cipher were considered sufficient education
for ordinary people.
In localities where there were no churches, the
schoolhouses were often used for divine worship on Sunday, as well as for
singing schools, lectures, political meetings and polling places at the
elections.
The scholars' hats and dinner pails were hung on
wooden pegs driven into the logs, or into a piece of board at the back end
of the school-room. The benches were made of boards with legs of wood
driven into auger holes at each end. When the writer first went to school
stone ink bottles were the fashion. Every scholar was obliged to furnish
his own ink. On cold, frosty mornings in the winter, it was customary for
the scholars to place these bottles on the stove to thaw out the ink.
Occasionally some mischievous boy would leave the cork in the bottle; the
result would be an explosion and a large black spot on the ceiling of the
room.
The Churches.
Churches in the country places
were few and far between, most of the people having to travel miles to the
place of worship, and yet the people, if anything, were more devoutly
religious than they are now. In many places, if there was no church
convenient, religious services were held in school-houses, in private
houses, and even in barns; and although the ministers' as a rule, were not
a highly educated class of men, the people were always glad to listen to
anyone who felt himself "called of the Lord" to preach to them the gospel
of Christ. Many of these preachers were noble men and endured hardships
and privations that they might carry the good tidings to the remote
settlements. They were always made welcome guests and were generally on
hand to console the people in times of grief and trouble. In the towns and
villages there was usually an English or Presbyterian church, or both. The
ministers of these churches, aside from the magistrates, were the only
persons authorized to marry. The Presbyterian minister could only marry
when at least one of the contracting parties was a member of his
congregation, magistrates only when the parties wishing to be married
lived more than eighteen miles from a fully authorized minister. It was
not until 1831 that a law was passed allowing ministers of any
denomination to marry. In the very earliest days, before even magistrates
and parsons had been appointed, in garrison towns, like Niagara, it is
said the ceremony was occasionally performed by army officers. To make the
contract more binding, the parties to it would sometimes have a minister
go through the ceremony afterwards. Marriages of this kind were performed
in St. Mark's parish, Niagara (see church register of Mr. Addison, the
first minister).
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