{"id":379,"date":"2018-05-05T13:27:32","date_gmt":"2018-05-05T13:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/?post_type=chapter&#038;p=379"},"modified":"2018-08-30T20:16:58","modified_gmt":"2018-08-30T20:16:58","slug":"document-3-susanna-moodie","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/chapter\/document-3-susanna-moodie\/","title":{"raw":"Document 2: Roughing it in the Bush","rendered":"Document 2: Roughing it in the Bush"},"content":{"raw":"<center><iframe src='https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/roughingitinbush01mood_0?ui=embed#mode\/2up' width='360px' height='247px' frameborder='0' ><\/iframe><\/center>\r\n\r\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/roughingitinbush01mood_0#page\/n5\/mode\/2up\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Susanna Moodie,\u00a0<em>Roughing it in the Bush or Life in Canada<\/em>, vol. 1, (London: Richard Bently, 1852)<\/a><\/h3>\r\n\r\n<hr \/>\r\n\r\n<strong>Introduction<\/strong>\r\n\r\nIn most instances, emigration is a matter of necessity, not of choice; and this is more especially\u00a0true of the emigration of persons of respectable connections, or of any station or position in the world. Few educated persons, accustomed to the refinements and luxuries of European society, ever willingly relinquish those advantages, and place themselves beyond the protective influence of the wise and revered institutions of their native land, without the pressure of some urgent cause. Emigration may, indeed, generally be regarded as an act of severe duty, performed at the expense of personal enjoyment, and accompanied by the sacrifice of those local attachments which stamp the scenes amid which our childhood grew, in imperishable characters upon the heart. Nor is it until adversity has pressed sorely upon the proud and wounded spirit of the well-educated sons and daughters of old but impoverished families, that they gird up the loins of the mind, and arm themselves with fortitude to meet and dare the heart-breaking conflict...\r\n\r\nThe choice of the country to which they devote their talents and energies depends less upon their\u00a0pecuniary means than upon the fancy of the emigrant or the popularity of a name. From the year 1826\u00a0to 1829, Australia and the Swan River were all the rage. No other portions of the habitable globe were deemed worthy of notice. These were the El Dorados and lands of Goshen to which all respectable emigrants eagerly flocked. Disappointment, as a matter of course, followed their high-raised expectations. Many of the most sanguine of these adventurers returned to their native shores in a worse condition than when they left them. In 1830, the great tide of emigration flowed westward. Canada became the great land-mark for the rich in hope and poor in purse. Public newspapers and private letters teemed with the unheard-of advantages to be derived from a settlement in this highly-favoured region.\r\n\r\nIts salubrious climate, its fertile soil, commercial advantages, great water privileges, its proximity to the mother country, and last, not least, its almost total exemption from taxation \u2014 that bugbear which keeps honest John Bull in a state of constant ferment \u2014 were the theme of every tongue, and lauded beyond all praise. The general interest, once excited, was industriously kept alive by pamphlets, published by interested parties, which prominently set forth all the good to be derived from a settlement in the Backwoods of Canada; while they carefully concealed the toil and hardship to be endured in order to secure these advantages. They told of lands yielding forty\u00a0bushels to the acre, but they said nothing of the years when these lands, with the most careful\u00a0cultivation, would barely return fifteen ; when rust and smut, engendered by the vicinity of damp over-hanging woods, would blast the fruits of the poor emigrant's labour, and almost deprive him of\u00a0bread. They talked of log houses to be raised in a single day, by the generous exertions of friends\u00a0and neighbours, but they never ventured upon a picture of the disgusting scenes of riot and\u00a0low debauchery exhibited during the raising, or upon a description of the dwellings when raised\u00a0\u2014 dens of dirt and misery, which would, in many instances, be shamed by an English pig-sty...\r\n\r\nMen who had been hopeless of supporting their families in comfort and independence at home, thought that they had only to come out to Canada to make their fortunes; almost even to realise the\u00a0story told in the nursery, of the sheep and oxen that ran about the streets, ready roasted, and with knives and forks upon their backs. They were made to believe that it it did not actually rain gold, that precious metal could be obtained, as is now stated of California and Australia, by stooping to pick it up.\r\n\r\nThe infection became general. A Canada mania pervaded the middle ranks of British society; thousands and tens of thousands, for the space of three or four years landed upon these shores. A large majority of the higher class were officers of the army and navy, with their families \u2014 a class perfectly unfitted by their previous habits and education for contending with the stern realities of emigrant life. The hand that has long held the sword, and been accustomed to receive implicit obedience from those under its control, is seldom adapted to wield the spade and guide the plough, or try its strength against the stubborn trees of the forest. Nor will such persons submit cheerfully to the saucy familiarity of servants, who, republicans in spirit, think themselves as good as their employers. Too many of these brave and honourable men were easy dupes to the designing land-speculators. Not having counted the cost, but only looked upon the bright side of the picture held up to their admiring gaze, they fell easily into the snares of their artful seducers.\r\n\r\nTo prove their zeal as colonists, they were induced to purchase large tracts of wild land in remote and unfavourable situations. This, while it impoverished and often proved the ruin of the unfortunate immigrant, possessed a double advantage to the seller. He obtained an exorbitant price for the land which he actually sold, while the residence of a respectable settler upon the spot greatly enhanced the value and price of all other lands in the neighbourhood.\r\n\r\nIt is not by such instruments as those I have just mentioned, that Providence works when it\u00a0would reclaim the waste places of the earth, and make them subservient to the wants and happiness\u00a0of its creatures. The Great Father of the souls and bodies of men knows the arm which wholesome labour from infancy has made strong, the nerves which have become iron by patient endurance, by exposure to weather, coarse fare, and rude shelter; and he chooses such, to send forth into the forest to hew out the rough paths for the advance of civilisation. These men become wealthy and prosperous, and form the bones and sinews of a great and rising country. Their labour is wealth,\u00a0not exhaustion; its produce independence and content, not home-sickness and despair. What the\r\nBackwoods of Canada are to the industrious and ever-to-be-honoured sons of honest poverty, and\u00a0what they are to the refined and accomplished gentleman, these simple sketches will endeavour to portray. They are drawn principally from my own experience, during a sojourn of nineteen years in\u00a0the colony...\r\n\r\nIn this pleasing task I have been assisted by my husband, J. W. Dunbar Moodie, author of \"Ten\u00a0Years in South Africa.\"\r\n\r\nBelleville, Upper Canada,","rendered":"<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/roughingitinbush01mood_0?ui=embed#mode\/2up\" width=\"360px\" height=\"247px\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>Source:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/stream\/roughingitinbush01mood_0#page\/n5\/mode\/2up\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Susanna Moodie,\u00a0<em>Roughing it in the Bush or Life in Canada<\/em>, vol. 1, (London: Richard Bently, 1852)<\/a><\/h3>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Introduction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In most instances, emigration is a matter of necessity, not of choice; and this is more especially\u00a0true of the emigration of persons of respectable connections, or of any station or position in the world. Few educated persons, accustomed to the refinements and luxuries of European society, ever willingly relinquish those advantages, and place themselves beyond the protective influence of the wise and revered institutions of their native land, without the pressure of some urgent cause. Emigration may, indeed, generally be regarded as an act of severe duty, performed at the expense of personal enjoyment, and accompanied by the sacrifice of those local attachments which stamp the scenes amid which our childhood grew, in imperishable characters upon the heart. Nor is it until adversity has pressed sorely upon the proud and wounded spirit of the well-educated sons and daughters of old but impoverished families, that they gird up the loins of the mind, and arm themselves with fortitude to meet and dare the heart-breaking conflict&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>The choice of the country to which they devote their talents and energies depends less upon their\u00a0pecuniary means than upon the fancy of the emigrant or the popularity of a name. From the year 1826\u00a0to 1829, Australia and the Swan River were all the rage. No other portions of the habitable globe were deemed worthy of notice. These were the El Dorados and lands of Goshen to which all respectable emigrants eagerly flocked. Disappointment, as a matter of course, followed their high-raised expectations. Many of the most sanguine of these adventurers returned to their native shores in a worse condition than when they left them. In 1830, the great tide of emigration flowed westward. Canada became the great land-mark for the rich in hope and poor in purse. Public newspapers and private letters teemed with the unheard-of advantages to be derived from a settlement in this highly-favoured region.<\/p>\n<p>Its salubrious climate, its fertile soil, commercial advantages, great water privileges, its proximity to the mother country, and last, not least, its almost total exemption from taxation \u2014 that bugbear which keeps honest John Bull in a state of constant ferment \u2014 were the theme of every tongue, and lauded beyond all praise. The general interest, once excited, was industriously kept alive by pamphlets, published by interested parties, which prominently set forth all the good to be derived from a settlement in the Backwoods of Canada; while they carefully concealed the toil and hardship to be endured in order to secure these advantages. They told of lands yielding forty\u00a0bushels to the acre, but they said nothing of the years when these lands, with the most careful\u00a0cultivation, would barely return fifteen ; when rust and smut, engendered by the vicinity of damp over-hanging woods, would blast the fruits of the poor emigrant&#8217;s labour, and almost deprive him of\u00a0bread. They talked of log houses to be raised in a single day, by the generous exertions of friends\u00a0and neighbours, but they never ventured upon a picture of the disgusting scenes of riot and\u00a0low debauchery exhibited during the raising, or upon a description of the dwellings when raised\u00a0\u2014 dens of dirt and misery, which would, in many instances, be shamed by an English pig-sty&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>Men who had been hopeless of supporting their families in comfort and independence at home, thought that they had only to come out to Canada to make their fortunes; almost even to realise the\u00a0story told in the nursery, of the sheep and oxen that ran about the streets, ready roasted, and with knives and forks upon their backs. They were made to believe that it it did not actually rain gold, that precious metal could be obtained, as is now stated of California and Australia, by stooping to pick it up.<\/p>\n<p>The infection became general. A Canada mania pervaded the middle ranks of British society; thousands and tens of thousands, for the space of three or four years landed upon these shores. A large majority of the higher class were officers of the army and navy, with their families \u2014 a class perfectly unfitted by their previous habits and education for contending with the stern realities of emigrant life. The hand that has long held the sword, and been accustomed to receive implicit obedience from those under its control, is seldom adapted to wield the spade and guide the plough, or try its strength against the stubborn trees of the forest. Nor will such persons submit cheerfully to the saucy familiarity of servants, who, republicans in spirit, think themselves as good as their employers. Too many of these brave and honourable men were easy dupes to the designing land-speculators. Not having counted the cost, but only looked upon the bright side of the picture held up to their admiring gaze, they fell easily into the snares of their artful seducers.<\/p>\n<p>To prove their zeal as colonists, they were induced to purchase large tracts of wild land in remote and unfavourable situations. This, while it impoverished and often proved the ruin of the unfortunate immigrant, possessed a double advantage to the seller. He obtained an exorbitant price for the land which he actually sold, while the residence of a respectable settler upon the spot greatly enhanced the value and price of all other lands in the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n<p>It is not by such instruments as those I have just mentioned, that Providence works when it\u00a0would reclaim the waste places of the earth, and make them subservient to the wants and happiness\u00a0of its creatures. The Great Father of the souls and bodies of men knows the arm which wholesome labour from infancy has made strong, the nerves which have become iron by patient endurance, by exposure to weather, coarse fare, and rude shelter; and he chooses such, to send forth into the forest to hew out the rough paths for the advance of civilisation. These men become wealthy and prosperous, and form the bones and sinews of a great and rising country. Their labour is wealth,\u00a0not exhaustion; its produce independence and content, not home-sickness and despair. What the<br \/>\nBackwoods of Canada are to the industrious and ever-to-be-honoured sons of honest poverty, and\u00a0what they are to the refined and accomplished gentleman, these simple sketches will endeavour to portray. They are drawn principally from my own experience, during a sojourn of nineteen years in\u00a0the colony&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>In this pleasing task I have been assisted by my husband, J. W. Dunbar Moodie, author of &#8220;Ten\u00a0Years in South Africa.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Belleville, Upper Canada,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"menu_order":3,"template":"","meta":{"pb_show_title":"on","pb_short_title":"","pb_subtitle":"","pb_authors":[],"pb_section_license":""},"chapter-type":[48],"contributor":[],"license":[],"part":371,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/379"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1046,"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/379\/revisions\/1046"}],"part":[{"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/parts\/371"}],"metadata":[{"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapters\/379\/metadata\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"chapter-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/pressbooks\/v2\/chapter-type?post=379"},{"taxonomy":"contributor","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor?post=379"},{"taxonomy":"license","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openhistoryseminar.com\/canadianhistory\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/license?post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}