Their feelings are not chilled by poverty or
corrupted by plenty; their occupations preclude the hope of wealth and
forbid the fear of distress. Dependent on each other for mutual
assistance, in those things that are beyond individual exertion, they
interchange friendly offices, which commencing in necessity, grow into
habit, and soon become the 'labour of love.' They are poor, but not
destitute, a region in my opinion in which the heart is more fully
developed than in any other. Those who are situated like Steele and
his wife, and commence a settlement in the woods, with the previous
training they have received in the rural districts, begin at the right
end; but they are the only people who are fit to be pioneers in the
forest. How many there are who begin at the wrong end; perhaps there
is no one subject on which men form such false notions as the mode of
settling in the country, whether they are citizens of a colonial town,
or strangers, from Great Britain.
"Look at that officer at Halifax: he is the best dressed man in the
garrison; he is well got up always; he looks the gentleman every inch
of him; how well his horses are groomed; how perfect his turn-out
looks; how well appointed it is, as he calls it. He and his servant
and his cattle are a little bit of fashion imported from the park, and
astonish the natives. Look at his wife, ain't she a beautiful
creature? they are proud of, and were just made for each other.
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