“’Thy country shall be my country; thy people shall be my people; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried:  the Lord do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.’

“A tender and affectionate partner hast thou been to me, Mary,” he added, turning his eyes affectionately on the mild and dignified matron, whose expressive countenance bespoke with more eloquence than words the feelings passing in her mind.  She replied not by words, but I saw the big bright tears fall on the work she held in her hand.  They sprang from emotions too sacred to be profaned by intrusive eyes, and I hastily averted my glance from her face; while the pastor proceeded to narrate the particulars of their leaving England, their voyage, and finally, their arrival in the land that had been granted to the little colony in the then unbroken part of the township of ------.

“We had obtained a great deal of useful advice and assistance from the Government agents previous to our coming up hither, and also hired some choppers at high wages to initiate us in the art of felling, logging, burning, and clearing the ground; as it was our main object to get in crops of some kind, we turned to without any delay further than what was necessary for providing a temporary shelter for our wives and children, and prepared the ground for spring crops, helping each other as we could with the loan of oxen and labour.  And here I must observe, that I experienced every attention and consideration from my friends.  My means were small, and my family all too young to render me any service; however, I lacked not help, and had the satisfaction of seeing a little spot cleared for the growth of potatoes and corn, which I could not have effected by my single exertions.

“My biggest boy John was but nine years old, Willie seven, and the others still more helpless; the two little ones you see there,” pointing to two young children, “have been born since we came hither.  That yellow-haired lassie knitting beside you was a babe at the breast;—­a helpless, wailing infant, so weak and sickly before we came here that she was scarcely ever out of her mother’s arms; but she grew and throve rapidly under the rough treatment of a bush-settler’s family.

“We had no house built, or dwelling of any kind to receive us when we arrived at our destination; and the first two nights were passed on the banks of the creek that flows at the foot of the hill, in a hut of cedar and hemlock boughs that I cut with my axe, and, with the help of some of my companions, raised to shelter my wife and the little ones.

“Though it was the middle of May the nights were chilly, and we were glad to burn a pile of wood in front of our hut to secure us from the effects of the cold and the stings of the mosquitoes, that came up in myriads from the stream, and which finally drove us higher up the bank.

“As soon as possible we raised a shanty, which now serves as a shed for my young cattle; I would not pull it down, though often urged to do so, as it stands in the way of a pleasant prospect from the window; but I like to look on it, and recall to mind the first years I passed beneath its lowly roof.  We need such mementos to remind us of our former state; but we grow proud, and cease to appreciate our present comforts.