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 JULIANA HORATIA EWING'S 
 
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 CANADA HOME 
 
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LEAVES 
 
 FROM 
 
 JULIANA HORATIA EWING'S 
 "CANADA HOME." 
 
Some homes are where flowers forever blow, 
 The sun shining hotly the whole year round; 
 
 But our home glistens with six months of snow, 
 iVhere frost witbont wind brightens everjy sound. 
 
 And home is home, wherever it is, 
 
 When we 're all together, and nothing amiss. 
 
 J. H. E. 
 
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 ;^C«d's sh\\[ be ^H^\ come/' _ '^■^Vil ' "^^ •"•■^ i-^^J% 
 
LEAVES 
 
 FROM 
 
 JULIANA HORATIA EWING'S 
 "CANADA HOME." 
 
 C5atf)eren antJ CllustratcU 
 
 BY 
 
 ELIZABETH S. TUCKER. 
 
 Together with Facsimiles of Eight Water-Color Drawings 
 BY Mrs. Ewing's own hand. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 ROBERTS BROTHERS. 
 
 1896. 
 
Copyright, 1896, 
 By Roberts Brothers. 
 
 All rights reserved. 
 
 Slniijcrsitg i^r^ss: 
 John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. 
 
TO 
 
 ijflargaret fHctilEg, 
 
 THROUGH WHOSE KINDLY ASSISTANCE THESE MEMORIAL 
 
 LEAVES OF THE LIFE OF HER BELOVED FRIEND 
 
 ARE GATHERED, 
 
 THIS VOLUME IS LOVINGLY DEDICATED. 
 
 E. S. TUCKER. 
 
 586 
 
l,''!:'i;!'f"|!'!!W(,l| 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Leaves from Mrs. Ewing's "Canada Home 
 
 Mrs. Ewing's Leti^ers 
 
 Bishop Medley's Letier to Major Ewing 
 
 Page 
 II 
 
 144 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Juliana Horatia Ewing . Frontispiece 
 
 Soldier's Marching Kit Table of Contents 
 
 The House Motto (colored) Face page 1 1 
 
 Initial. Soldier and Lass ii 
 
 Mrs. Ewing's House, " Reka Dom" 15 
 
 Branch of Willow Tree 17 
 
 View of the River from Porch of " Reka Dom" . . 19 
 Ruins of Old Rose Hall, where Benedict Arnold once 
 
 lived and Mrs. Ewing stayed 21 
 
 Initial. Brushes and Ladder 23 
 
 Initial. Sword 26 
 
 The Old Barracks (colored) ... . . Face page 26 
 
 On Guard . . . . . .... . 27 
 
 Soldier's Sash 29 
 
 Mrs. Ewing and her Dog Hector 32 
 
 Mrs. Ewing's Seat in Choir of Cathedral 34 
 
 Old Government House, Fredericton 39 
 
 Primrose ..' ^ ....... 44 
 
 Initial. Orderly at the Door 45 
 
 Window in " Reka Dom " 47 
 
 Mrs. Ewing telling Stories to the Children. ... 53 
 
 Initial. Cathedral Spire 55 
 
 Fredericton Cathedral 57 
 
 Eastern Door of the Cathedral 61 
 
X L ist of Illustrations, 
 
 Pagb 
 
 BiSHOPSCOTE 63 
 
 My Mrs. Over-the-way at her Door 65 
 
 Initial. Dog and Snowshoes 67 
 
 Fir Bough Shelter 69 
 
 Mrs. Ewing's Barn and Canoe 71 
 
 Old Nashwaak Bridge 72 
 
 Initial. Trillium Flower 74 
 
 Primrose in Pot 79 
 
 Major, Mrs. Ewing and Hector 81 
 
 Pressed Leaves. Fac-simile of Mrs. Ewing's Water- 
 color Sketch 85 
 
 Fir Trees and Fence. Fac-simile of Mrs. Ewing's 
 
 Water-color Sketch Z^ 
 
 The Nashwaak River 99 
 
 Rear View of the Cathedral . . . 103 
 
 The Cathedral and Yellow Trees. Fac-simile of 
 
 Mrs. Ewing's Water-color Sketch 106 
 
 Yellow and Crimson Tree. Fac-simile of Mrs. Ewing's 
 
 Water-color Sketch no 
 
 On the Nashwaak 121 
 
 The Cathedral. Fac-simile of Mrs. Ewing's Water- 
 color Sketch 123 
 
 Ruins of Rose Hall of to-day 133 
 
 Magundy Church. Fac-simile of Mrs. Ewing's Water- 
 color Sketch 137 
 
 Church Spire. Fac-simile of Mrs. Ewing's Water-color 
 
 Sketch 140 
 
 Mrs. Ewing's Tomb at Trull «... 145 
 
Leaves from 
 Mrs. Ewing's ^^ Canada Home.'' 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 F that sweet writer, Juliana 
 HoRATiA EwiNG, whose busy 
 pen was not long since laid 
 aside, but whose memory lives 
 with us in the pages of some of the best loved 
 and brightest stories in the English language, these 
 are a few memories and facts of that portion of her 
 life spent on this side of the Atlantic, — a sort of 
 gleaner's sheaf, from the rich field of that life 
 already gone over and stored by her sister, Miss 
 H. K. Gatty,^ who, however, in her interesting 
 work has left almost untouched the record of 
 the two years in Canada. So that with the aid 
 
 1 "Juliana H. Ewing and her Books," by Miss H. K. Gatty, 1885. 
 
12 Leaves from 
 
 of loving memories held by her many old friends 
 there, together with some of her own charming 
 letters written " Home " at that time, we have 
 many things of interest to tell. 
 
 In the small provincial city of Fredericton, New 
 Brunswick, she spent two years of her earnest 
 life, writing there many of her sweetest stories; 
 and we find, in following her footsteps and in 
 reading her letters, how deeply she loved the quaint 
 old town whither she came, a stranger and a bride, 
 with her husband, Major Ewing, when his regi- 
 ment, the twenty-second of England, was ordered 
 there in 1867. 
 
 Her dearest friend there, Margaret Medley, wife 
 of the late Bishop Medley of Fredericton, has 
 been to me a veritable " Mrs. Over-the-Way " 
 in giving me of her " remembrances," as little Ida 
 in that story would say; and to her thanks are 
 due for the delightful letters, as well as the 
 interesting set of water colors drawn by Mrs. 
 Ewing's own hand. These were done, in fact, 
 especially for her revered and beloved friend the 
 Bishop of Fredericton, and were given to him 
 
Mrs, Ewings " Canada Homer 1 3 
 
 on her departure for England. Her love and 
 esteem for these two friends can readily be seen 
 by the frequent mention of them in these letters 
 " Home." It was to them she dedicated her book, 
 " A great Emergency," and she keenly enjoyed 
 her study of Hebrew with the Bishop, who in his 
 turn was greatly impressed by the quick mind 
 and retentive memory of his pupil. 
 
 Mrs. Ewing is described as having an earnest 
 face, with deep set, " thinking eyes," while her 
 slic^ht form seemed almost too frail and small to 
 carry the abundant crown of golden hair worn in 
 plaits coiled at the back of her head. 
 
 Can one not almost see her, sitting as in her 
 photograph here, that earnest face bending over 
 the papers on her lap, — writing, writing, writing 
 the lovely thoughts which flowed so readily and 
 continually from her magic pen t 
 
 The Ewings occupied three or four different 
 homes during their two years' stay in Fredericton, 
 but the favorite one was that which I can see from 
 my window here, with its three gray old willow 
 sentinels. She often speaks of this house in her 
 
14 Leaves from 
 
 letters, how much she enjoyed her life there. She 
 called it " Reka Dom " — House by the River, — 
 for it stands on the bank of the river St. John, 
 across the road from three old willows. There she 
 wrote her story of " Reka Dom," and here is a 
 sketch of the window in her room, — probably the 
 very one by which she sat when writing. 
 
 Once when she and her husband were walking 
 on the river bank not long after their arrival in 
 Fredericton, seeing this old shambling house — 
 which she describes in one of her letters, — she 
 expressed a wish to live in it ; and they moved 
 there as soon as they could get possession. 
 How she must have enjoyed the beautiful St. 
 John River flowing in front of their windows, 
 guarded by the rows of old willows! Her room 
 is in the lower right-hand corner, with the closed 
 shutters. 
 
 I think that dog " Nox," in " Benjy in Beastland," 
 must have had his " improvised morgue," for the 
 " bodies " he found in the river, under that very 
 old willow which still stretches out over the river 
 its " finger-like " leaves. This is what she says 
 
Mrs, Ewings ''Canada Homer 17 
 
 of it in 
 that story : 
 
 " Near the dog's home ran a broad, 
 deep river. Here one could bathe and swim most 
 delightfully. Here also many an unfortunate ani- 
 mal found a watery grave. There was one place 
 from which (the water being deep and the bank 
 convenient at this spot) the poor wretches were 
 generally thrown. . . . Hither at early morning 
 Nox would come, in conformity with his own 
 peculiar code of duty, which may be summed up 
 in these words : ' Whatever does not properly or 
 naturally belong to the water, should be fetched 
 out.' . . . Not far from the spot I have men- 
 tioned, an old willow tree spread its branches 
 widely over the bank, and here and there stretched 
 a long arm, and touched the river with its 
 pointed fingers. Under the shadow of this tree 
 was the morsrue, and here Nox brousfht the 
 
 2 
 
1 8 Leaves from 
 
 bodies he rescued from the river, and laid them 
 down." 
 
 This river was a great source of joy and plea- 
 sure to her beauty-seeing eye; and over its lovely 
 waters the richly toned Cathedral chimes, and 
 the bugle note from the barracks, tell the time of 
 day, and ring out calls to worship to-day, just as 
 they did when she lived in this house on its 
 banks. This view she constantly enjoyed while 
 they lived in that river house, — looking down the 
 river from the porch, — and she refers to its love- 
 liness in her letters. 
 
 Along this river bank of a Sunday evening the 
 soldier and his lass stroll to-day, with utter un- 
 concern for the passing beholder, as they did 
 then, making picturesque bits of red coat and 
 white gown against the blue river-line, — the red 
 of coat seeming to be compelled to keep the 
 rules of true picture-making by carrying a line 
 of the red across a certain narrow place on the 
 white. 
 
 It is just the same to-day; and seemingly the 
 very same children play under the wdllows, with 
 
"* 
 
 >. 
 
Mrs, Ewings ''Canada Homer 21 
 
 their dog friends, and drive cows leisurely along 
 early in the morning and late at night. 
 
 Mrs. Evving had another home on the bank of 
 the St. John — much farther "down river " (as they 
 
 RUINS OF OLD ROSE HALL, WHERE IJEXEDICT ARNOLD ONCE LIVED 
 AND MRS. EWING STAYED. 
 
 say) than " Reka Dom." There she occupied the 
 large drawing-room in an interesting old house 
 known as " Rose Hall," and noted for its lovely 
 river view and the fine old trees about its 
 
2 2 Leaves from 
 
 grounds. This place is of historic interest also, 
 for it was there that the traitor Benedict Arnold 
 lived while in Canada. A pile of ruins is now^ all 
 that is left of the place (which was destroyed by fire 
 years ago). Here once was heard the martial tread 
 of this mysterious man as he walked up and down 
 in meditation bent, and here our little lady trod 
 the trees and flowers among ; here the weeds pa- 
 thetically w^ave over the crumbled hearth-stones, 
 and the cows graze all about, while birds undis- 
 turbed build in the trees overhead, and countless 
 crickets chirp their everlasting note of the " un- 
 changeable " under all the seeming change of 
 this busy world. 
 
Mrs, Ewings " Canada Home'' 
 
 CHAPTER IL 
 
 ANY an amusing anecdote is 
 recalled of the industry and 
 dauntless energy of this " lit- 
 tle body with the great heart " 
 (as her sister tells us she is 
 described by a friend) who 
 desired to do all things. 
 
 A story is told of one of the houses she occupied 
 having such an offensive wall paper as to offend 
 her artistic eye ; and on her complaining of it to 
 a Canadian visitor, this latter said, half in fun, 
 that of course a Canadian girl would be able to 
 get over the difficulty by papering the room her- 
 self, but she supposed an English girl would not 
 know how, as, in her opinion, '' English girls had 
 only two left hands and no head." 
 
 This at once caused our little lady, and her 
 friend Mrs. Medley, to resent the implied discredit 
 
24 Leaves from 
 
 to the Old World training of a girl, and they at 
 once resolved to show what an " English girl " could 
 do if her powers were put to the test. 
 
 She accordingly bought " a delicate, useless, lav- 
 ender-tinted wall paper " (as I was told), and 
 though she did not probably know the difference 
 between a " hanger " and a whitewash brush, she 
 nevertheless proceeded to put up that paper. Of 
 this paper-hanging she gives such a bright account 
 in a letter — that of Oct. 12, 1868 — that one has 
 the whole picture. But she does not add what was 
 told to me by an onlooker — (in fact, the very caller 
 whose remarks upon English girls called forth the 
 event) — that while the two intrepid ladies were 
 hurrying up their work, to have it done when 
 Major Ewing should come home, he suddenly and 
 unexpectedly appeared. At his emphatic exclama- 
 tion of amazement, on seeing them on tall ladders 
 wielding brushes in such a professional manner, his 
 little wife, who had just finished what she consid= 
 ered her greatest achievement on that wall, — the 
 pasting over the chimney, — was overcome by her 
 laughter. Standing on the mantlepiece as she was. 
 
Mrs, Ewijigs " Caiiada Homer 25 
 
 she had to bend forward to recover her balance, and 
 leaning against that " lovely " paper, left the print 
 of a pasty apron and hands in the very centre ! 
 The house is little changed, but oh, that that 
 print of apron and hands could now be seen over 
 the hearth-stone ! 
 
26 
 
 Leaves from 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 AJOR Ewing had his office in 
 
 a small red brick building 
 
 joining the old gray barracks 
 
 now occupied by the officers and 
 
 their families. 
 
 The drawing opposite shows some 
 parts of this picturesque barrack as 
 it is to-day, with bits of its unique 
 life. 
 
 The children still play with the regimental 
 dogs as they did in days of old, and here Mrs. 
 Ewing used to come to sit under the great old 
 willows, whence she could get those lovely glimpses 
 of the blue river beyond. 
 
 It was in this very yard that she saw the pet 
 bear of the reoiment eatins: his dinner, while his 
 favorite dog sat by and " licked his nose every 
 time it came up from the bucket," as she writes 
 in one of her home letters. 
 
ON GUARD. 
 
Mrs. Ewings " Canada Honied 29 
 
 Here one may see, as in her day, the various 
 scenes of a military life, — a red-coated British 
 soldier, standing " at ease " under the old gallery by 
 the worn stairs with his black 
 cat friend peeping through the 
 rails, or running a lawn-mower 
 over the well-kept tennis green. 
 
 It was in these barracks that 
 she found and rescued a black 
 retriever from death, he bavins: 
 been shut up and basely de- 
 serted by the outgoing regi- 
 ment. She named him l>ouve, 
 and it is his likeness she has 
 drawn in her story of " Benjy 
 in Beastland," as Nox. There is 
 a descendant of Black Trouve's 
 at the barracks to-day, — the children's pet and 
 playfellow. Poor Trouve had such an appetite that 
 he was never satisfied, and was always stealing the 
 meat for dinner; and his mistress had often to send 
 and borrow of some kind neighbor, " as company 
 was expected and Trouve had eaten the joint ! " 
 
30 Leaves from 
 
 His mistress's fondness for all animals is shown 
 throughout her writings. In reading that deli- 
 cious bit of bush-life depicted by Father and 
 Mother Hedgehog in the tale of " Father Hedge- 
 hog and his Neighbors," one can see how truly 
 the author saw under prickly coats of quills the 
 true instincts of animal life. 
 
 Dogs were her special favorites, and nothing 
 was too good for them to eat, and no place too 
 clean to be climbed on by their muddy paws. 
 She was always most tender of hurting their feel- 
 ings, while many a stray pussy has found a com- 
 fortable home with her. 
 
 She did not care to cage a bird, for she loved 
 them too deeply, — as she has shown in her " Idyll 
 of a Wood." 
 
 Her dear dogs were her intimate friends, and 
 once when she was callino: at the house of a 
 friend, where the vestibule had been newly 
 scrubbed scrupulously clean, she w^as asked by 
 her hostess to leave her dog, whose feet and coat 
 were very muddy, out on the steps. She did so, 
 but was compelled to go out several times during 
 
Mrs. Ewings " Canada Horned 3 1 
 
 her visit, and whisper words of apology and con- 
 dolence in the ear of her big banished pet, for 
 fear he might be hurt in his doggish mind — at 
 being left outside. 
 
 Here is another instance of her tender, droll 
 ways with her dog friends. 
 
 A visitor calling at her house one day found 
 her deep in wTiting, every chair and table being full 
 of papers and books, so that there was no room 
 for the tea-tray when the servant brought it in. 
 Mrs. Ewing, looking up, said, "Oh, put it on the 
 floor." So down it went. Now one of the doo: 
 friends (a great fellow) was present, and of course 
 was curious to sniff the contents of the tray. The 
 visitor was horrified at seeino^ his q-reat muzzle 
 nosing over the things, and exclaimed about it. 
 Down on the floor beside him went his tender 
 mistress, and with both arms about his neck she 
 whispered to him not to mind that " horrid per- 
 son's" insinuations and suspicions, but to watch 
 her, that when she went she did not " carry away 
 the silver spoons with her ! " Wherever she went 
 her dear doos went with her, and wherever she 
 
32 Leaves from 
 
 speaks of animal life in her books, she shows her 
 
 deep interest in their welfare, and insight into 
 their habits. 
 
 MRS. EWING AND HECTOR. 
 
Mrs, Ewings " Canada Home J' 2>2> 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 LL of her friends remember 
 Mrs. Ewing's keen apprecia- 
 tion of anything humorous, 
 and the ready names, both apt 
 and droll, but always quite 
 inoffensive, that she applied to people and things 
 as her vivid imagination suggested. 
 
 Even in the choir of the Cathedral, where she 
 always wished to be most reverent, her sense of 
 the ridiculous sometimes overcame her, and she 
 would have to smile almost audibly at some little 
 incident insignificant in itself. 
 
 Across from where she sat in the choir of the 
 church, she codld see the verger blowing the bel- 
 lows of the great organ, and as his stooping 
 figure bent over, the long handle of the bellows 
 stuck out from under the drooping fold of his 
 black robe, giving the droll appearance of a tail ! 
 
 3 
 
34 Leaves from 
 
 This was always, to her imagination, a most 
 comical sight, and more than once she smiled at 
 her friend on the seat opposite, quite upsetting 
 that quiet lady's dignity. 
 
 One little lady in the choir, who always slid 
 and glided into her seat with an undulating 
 movement, never allowing her garments to touch 
 anything as she went, was called by her, " Patha 
 Furtiva," which is the Hebrew for a " thing 
 which glides." Another's voice she always spoke 
 of as " weepingly pitched " — which perfectly de- 
 scribed it ! 
 
 There was a family of unruly children living 
 near her, by whose actions she was always much 
 entertained. Doubtless some of the rather naughty 
 — but oh, so natural ! — boys and girls in some of 
 her stories are drawn from these very children's 
 characters. 
 
 On one occasion, when she was calling on their 
 mother, sitting in the parlor, they noticed a rust- 
 ling or scrambling in the great fireplace, behind 
 the old fashioned fire-board. Presently down 
 came this board flat, with a puff of dust, disclos- 
 
. c<iX' - He. ti t" 
 
 
 lU-A "gT- 
 
 • c**- j^i,.; O^Mk 
 
 
 MRS. EWING'S SEAT IN CHOIR OF CATHEDRAL. 
 
Mrs, Ewings ''Canada Homer 2*7 
 
 ing all the children in a bunch, with sooty faces 
 and garments, sitting in the fireplace ! They had 
 hidden there, but, quarrelling, had pushed the 
 board down. 
 
 Mrs. Ewing was interested in a story, then 
 coming out in " Aunt Judy's Magazine," called 
 " The Scaramouches," and she then and there 
 bestowed upon these " mischief makers " the ap- 
 propriate title of Scaramouches, by which they 
 were always known thereafter. 
 
 She was interested in all the customs of this 
 quaint colonial town, and of the Canadian winter 
 dress she speaks in the story of " Three Christ- 
 mas-Trees," where a boy is described as wearing 
 " a hooded Indian winter coat of blue and scar- 
 let," which is the picturesque Canadian blanket 
 coat of winter. In that story she speaks also of 
 the dry cold snow, so strange and wonderful to her 
 English eyes, telling how, when the boys tried to 
 make a real live snow-man, " the snow would 
 not stick anywhere except on his shoulders," 
 showing the extreme dryness and powdery light- 
 ness for which our Canadian snow is noted. 
 
38 Leaves from 
 
 In this story there is an account of the life in 
 this little town of her day, which tells of a custom 
 still kept up by the Governor of the Province, of 
 giving the children a Christmas-tree, or a party 
 some time through the winter. Christmas-trees 
 were then by no means so universal, even in Eng- 
 land, as they now are, and in this little colonial 
 town they were unknown, — unknown, that is, till 
 the Governor's wife gave her great children's party. 
 
 " The Governor had given a great many parties 
 in his time. He had entertained big wigs and 
 little wigs, the passing military and the local 
 grandees. Everybody who had the remotest claim 
 to attention had been attended to : the ladies had 
 had their full share of balls and pleasure parties : 
 only one class of the population had any complaint 
 to prefer against his hospitality ; but the class was 
 a large one — it was the children. However, he 
 was a bachelor, and knew next to nothing about 
 little boys and girls : let us pity rather than blame 
 him. At last he took to himself a wife; and 
 among the many advantages of this important step 
 was a due recognition of the claims of these young 
 
Mrs. Ewings ''Canada Homey 41 
 
 citizens. It was towards happy Christmas-tide 
 that ' the Governor's amiable and admired lady ' 
 (as she was styled in the local newspaper) sent in- 
 vitations for the first children's party. At the top 
 of the note-paper was a very red robin, who carried 
 a blue Christmas greeting in his mouth, and at the 
 bottom — written with the A. D. C.'s best flourish 
 — were the magic w^ords, A Christmas-Tree. In 
 spite of the flourishes — partly, perhaps, because of 
 them — the A. D. C.'s handwriting, though hand- 
 some, was rather illegible. But for all this, most 
 of the children invited contrived to read these 
 words, and those who could not do so were not 
 slow to learn the news by hearsay. There was to 
 be a Christmas-tree I It would be like a birthday 
 party, with this above ordinary birthdays, that there 
 were to be presents for every one. 
 
 " One of the children invited lived in a little white 
 house, with a spruce fir-tree before the door. The 
 spruce fir did this good service to the little house, 
 that it helped people to find their way to it ; and 
 it was by no means easy for a stranger to find his 
 way to any given house in this little town, espe- 
 
42 Leaves from 
 
 cially if the house was small and white, and stood 
 in one of the back streets. For most of the houses 
 were small, and most of them were painted w^hite, 
 and the back streets ran parallel with each other, 
 and had no names, and were all so much alike that 
 it was very confusing. For instance, if you had 
 asked the way to Mr. So-and-So's, it is very prob- 
 able that some friend would have directed you as 
 follows : ' Go straio^ht forward and take the first 
 turning to your left, and you will find that there 
 are four streets, which run at right angles to the 
 one you are in and parallel with each other. Each 
 of them has got a big pine in it — one of the old 
 forest trees. Take the last street but one, and the 
 fifth white house you come to is Mr. So-and-So's. 
 He has green blinds and a colored servant.' You 
 would not always have got such clear directions as 
 these, but with them you would probably have 
 found the house at last, partly by accident, partly 
 by the blinds and colored servant. Some of the 
 neighbors affirm.ed that the little white house had 
 a name ; that all the houses and streets had names, 
 only they were traditional and not recorded any- 
 
Mrs. Ewifzgs " Canada Home!' 43 
 
 where ; that very few people knew them, and no- 
 body made any use of them. The name of the 
 little white house was said to be Trafalgar Villa, 
 which seemed so inappropriate to the modest 
 peaceful little home, that the man who lived in it 
 tried to find out why it had been so called. He 
 thought that his predecessor must have been in 
 the navy, until he found that he had been the 
 owner of what is called a ' dry-goods store,' which 
 seems to mean a shop where things are sold which 
 are not good to eat or drink — such as drapery. 
 At last somebody said, that as there was a public- 
 house called ' The Duke of Wellington ' at the cor- 
 ner of the street, there probably had been a nearer 
 one called ' The Nelson,' which had been burnt 
 dow^n, and that the man who built ' The Nelson ' 
 had built the house with a spruce fir before it, and 
 that so the name had arisen, — an explanation 
 which was just so far probable, that public-houses 
 and fires were of frequent occurrence in those parts." 
 This was the way it was when she was living 
 here. How fond she was of the beautiful woods, 
 and of always searching for, and finding the small- 
 
44 Leaves from 
 
 est thing, seeing the fuhiess of God's great love in 
 all, and so, keenly appreciating it. 
 
 See how in her " Idyll of the Wood " she makes 
 the wise old man say :" Well, well, my children, 
 
 to know and love a 
 w^ood truly, it may be 
 that one must live in 
 it as I have done ; 
 and then a lifetime 
 will scarcely reveal 
 all its beauties or ex- 
 haust its lessons ; but 
 even then one must have eyes that see, and ears 
 that hear, or one misses a good deal," — speak- 
 ing all through this delightsome Idyll as only 
 one who knows and sees the " woods " root and 
 branch can speak of its glories. I seem to feel her 
 very presence in those woods to-day, and love to 
 fancy her eager face peering among the waving 
 ferns for the hidden treasures, and looking up 
 through the thick, waving branches laced into a 
 canopy overhead, now in deep shade and now 
 flecked over with the peeping sunshine. 
 
Mrs. Ewings " Canada Home,'' 
 
 45 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 HE housekeepers in this com- 
 munity still smile over the 
 recollections of many amus- 
 ing scenes in the household 
 of these two literary, musical, 
 military people, both so ab- 
 sorbed in their special work, 
 making use of the smallest 
 amount of furniture possible, and allowing the 
 household to " run itself," as the saying is. Funny 
 times and droll mistakes are recalled, such as 
 the stopping of a stove-pipe hole in the chimney 
 with a bath sponge, causing a long search for this 
 article, and a smoking flue in consequence of the 
 stopped draught, windows being left wide to let 
 in W'inter breezes and do away with the smoke, 
 while the occupant of the room sat wrapped up 
 and complained of the cold ! 
 
^6 Leaves from 
 
 Many a morning, early, the pair used to -go 
 over to Bishopscote and beg to be asked to break- 
 fast, as that meal had not been provided for in 
 their household. 
 
 However, with the most, at times, untidy aspect 
 of rooms, it was always a very attractive place to 
 visit, and many loved to go to this home with its 
 nameless charm of literary disorder, always some 
 pretty decorations, and here and there Mrs. 
 Ewing's own sketches pinned on the walls. 
 
 Ah, it was the gentle manner of the beautiful 
 hostess, — that inborn grace of spirit which in 
 a short conversation would cause the most critical 
 housekeeper to entirely forget the surroundings, 
 and to rejoice in that sweet society ! A visitor 
 would perhaps find her hostess seated on the 
 hearth-rug, her papers on her lap, feet outstretched, 
 writing away to get her manuscript complete for 
 the story that was to go by the English mail, an 
 orderly standing the while, like a wooden sen- 
 tinel, waiting to take the packet when it should 
 be ready. 
 
 Waving her pen hospitably, and going straight 
 
^«*^.^ 
 
 ^■^ 
 
 K THE sr^f^Po^ oT-r«s RooNV 
 
 WINDOW TN "REKA DOM." 
 
Mrs, Ewing's '''Canada Homer 49 
 
 on with her work, she would invite the friend 
 to enter — to excuse the disorder and lack of 
 chairs (all occupied by piles of manuscript), sug- 
 gesting that if the caller really wished to help 
 her, she could do so by gathering up the various 
 piles in the order of their numbering, and bring 
 them to her to tie up. 
 
 At one time this little mistress, so absorbed in 
 her great work that all else seemed of minor 
 importance (for which we ought to be truly thank- 
 ful), determined to give a dinner party in return 
 for the many invitations and hospitalities that 
 she had received. So many obstacles, in the 
 way of lack of proper dishes and the necessary 
 accoutrements for such an affair, in her limited 
 military establishment, arose, that they would have 
 daunted many a housewife, — but not our little lady 
 of the " great heart." Her ready wit supplied the 
 lack, and her own generous and liberal mind made 
 her believe that others were the same ; so she sent 
 out and borrowed all the necessary articles, in- 
 cluding glass, china, and silver candlesticks, from 
 her neighbors and friends. 
 
50 Leaves from 
 
 Her rooms were crowded, and it was a most 
 brilliant affair — where the people, with apprecia- 
 tion of her entertainment, noticed but little the 
 lack of things which usually go to make up the 
 substance of social affairs. As the last guests 
 were leaving, however, there was a great uproar 
 heard from the basement kitchen regions of the 
 house, which became so pronounced that Mrs. 
 Ewing asked her husband to descend and inquire 
 into the cause thereof, as she feared the orderly 
 and the borrowed butler were quarrelling. He 
 found this indeed the case, as the two were having 
 a stand-up fight amid the wreck of many borrowed 
 articles of glass, dropped in his heat by the 
 butler, on the kitchen floor, while the cook was 
 prone upon the hearth in a semi-intoxicated state, 
 and literally a " heap of smoking ruins " (as Mrs. 
 Ewing expressed it), having put a lighted pipe 
 into her pocket- 
 
 Her merriment over this amusing incident was 
 (as always) most infectious, and what to some 
 would have been a trial and almost a disgrace, 
 was turned into an amusing episode, looked 
 
Mrs, Ewings ''''Canada Homer 51 
 
 at with her full appreciation of its humorous 
 aspect. 
 
 Her absorption in anything which gave her an 
 idea for a story was really wonderful, and showed how 
 her active mind was always in its beloved work. 
 
 Once when she was calling at Bishopscote, the 
 English mail, arriving then only once or twice a 
 month, came, bringing to the Bishop a new book 
 of interesting travel and research in the Arctic 
 Seas. She seized upon the volume and sat down 
 to devour its contents, which suggested a new 
 theme to her. When it came time to leave she 
 refused to be torn away from her treasure trove, 
 and begged hard to be invited to ** stay to tea," 
 that she might finish the book. But this not 
 being at all possible in the Bishop's household 
 that special evening, she was compelled to part 
 with it, and going home, at once wrote out the 
 story it inspired, which afterward developed into 
 that charming tale of Kerguslen's Land, with such 
 a charming description of the home of the myste- 
 rious albatross, and the fascinating conversations 
 carried on between Father and Mother Albatross, 
 
52 Leaves from 
 
 over their nest of little ones, about the cast-away 
 man, — Father Albatross discoursing about him in 
 this fashion, in superior contempt: — 
 
 " They are very curious creatures " (he says to 
 Mother A.). " The fancy they have for wandering 
 about between sea and sky when nature has not 
 enabled them to support themselves in either, is 
 truly wonderful! " 
 
 The whole dialogue is most delightful, showing 
 her marvellous insight throughout this, as in all 
 her other wonderful animal stories, both of birds 
 and furry folk. She would forget all else in read- 
 ing a book, and become wrapped in a dream of re- 
 producing an idea suggested by some subject in it. 
 How keenly she saw from a child's eyes, and with 
 a child's mind its outlook on life, is shown by the 
 " real child " language in those stories where the 
 child hero or heroine are made to, as it were, tell 
 the story themselves ; " Mary's Meadow" and " Flat- 
 iron for a Farthing " being especially good exam- 
 ples of this wonderful power of hers, of being able 
 to see from all points. 
 
 Here is another sweet recollection : While Mrs. 
 
Mrs» Ewings ^^ Canada Homer 
 
 53 
 
 MRS. EVVING TFXLING STORIES TO THE CHILDREN. 
 
 Ewing was living here, a little lad was very ill, and 
 kept within doors all winter. Our tender little 
 lady used to go every evening, towards dusk 
 (" story time "), and tell to him the most beauti- 
 ful stories by firelight. 
 
54 Leaves from 
 
 This " story-telling " was a great gift of hers, 
 as her sister relates in her account of her child- 
 hood. And the stories were so wonderful, and, 
 told in her own sweet manner, so irresistible, that 
 a group of grown folks usually crowded about the 
 door of the room where she was " telling a story " 
 to that favored little boy ! 
 
 Her lessons to her class in Sunday School were 
 made so attractive that the class next to hers 
 had hard work not to neglect their own lessons 
 and teacher in listening to her most interesting- 
 way of putting things. 
 
Mrs. Ewings ''Canada Home" 55 
 
 CHAPTER VI, 
 
 T 
 
 HE Cathedral of Fredericton 
 was a great source of comfort 
 and pleasure to Mrs. Evving, who was 
 always devoted to her church, and did 
 not expect to find so beautiful a speci- 
 men architecturally of an English 
 church in our Canadian land. 
 
 Her husband was organist in this choir during 
 their stay, and wrote many beautiful musical com- 
 positions during his lifetime, perhaps the best 
 known being that grand hymn " Jerusalem the 
 Golden," which has sometimes been wrongly at- 
 tributed to his uncle, Bishop Ewing.^ He also 
 conducted the Choral Society, of which she speaks 
 
 > Major Alexander Ewing passed away in the summer of 1895, 
 and in the interesting account of his life, printed at the time in the 
 " Aberdeen Times," there is special mention made of his wonderful 
 musical abilities. 
 
5 6 Leaves from 
 
 in her letters. How dearly she loved to sit in her 
 seat in that choir, listening to the inspired tones 
 from her beloved husband's hands, under her 
 revered Bishop, and opposite to her friend his 
 wife ! 
 
 Sometimes to-day, when one sees this latter 
 gentle lady sitting in her accustomed place in the 
 choir, one can fancy that the scene before her 
 fades away, leaving but the two faces she loved so 
 well, — that of " her dear Lord " in his Bishop's seat, 
 and of the sweet singer opposite to her. For, as 
 this singer herself says, in " The Story of a Short 
 Life," " Can the last parting do much to hurt such 
 friendships between good souls, who have so long 
 learnt to say farewell ; to love in absence, to trust 
 throuQ-h silence, and to have faith in reunion } " 
 Surely, blessed are such reunions ! 
 
 In this seat in the choir did our little lady love 
 to sit, much enjoying always the beauty of the 
 Cathedral with its many rich parts, each having 
 its own special meaning in ornament, in window, 
 and in the very shape of the building itself, all 
 bearing witness to the deep thought and reverent 
 
<JATH£DK.\L OF FRtDLKlClU.N. 
 
Mrs, Ewings " Canada Honied 59 
 
 care bestowed upon its structure by him who 
 was its first Bishop, who for so many years de- 
 voted his life to its erection. The rich chime of 
 bells, and much of the ornamentation, were brought 
 over by his efforts from England, and in the 
 shadow of its beautiful spire his body rests to^ay, 
 close under its gray walls, which are a fitting 
 memorial to his love and zeal for his church 
 and its people. 
 
 There she must often have watched, as we can 
 to-day, the red coats of the officers as they filed 
 up the centre aisle of the church, with much 
 clanking of swords and ringing of spurred heels. 
 And out of the beautiful Eastern Door she has 
 looked in loving admiration, seeing through its 
 stone Gothic curves, in the soft light of a sum- 
 mer evening, the arches of the graceful branch- 
 ing trees over the path beyond. As I sketched 
 this seat of hers, the verger handed me an anthem 
 composed by Major Ewing, with this, to me at 
 that time, singularly meaning-full title, " Why seek 
 ye the living among the dead?" which seemed so 
 to fit her own hopeful views of death. 
 
6o Leaves froiit 
 
 In many of Mrs. Ewing's clever sketches about 
 F'redericton the old gray willows appear. She 
 used to form merry parties of sketchers, herself 
 always ready to help and offer assistance to unac- 
 customed hands. 
 
 The spire of her beloved Cathedral is also often 
 seen, taken from all points of view; and much 
 of her time was spent within the hospitable, vine- 
 covered walls of Bishopscote, — of which we have 
 a little picture, with a glimpse of its gentle 
 minister's wafe in the doorway, to whose aid w^e 
 owe so many of these recollections. 
 
 Here she always made herself quite at home, — 
 running in and out at all times, finding in the 
 Bishop's wife a loving friend and admonisher, though 
 the latter must often have been sorely tried by our 
 little lady's caprices and unpractical experiments. 
 
 Like a child, her bright, joyous nature seized 
 upon any novel experience with pleasure, and 
 any play was entered into with zest. 
 
 Once in the attic she discovered an old set of 
 battledore and shuttlecock, and soon had every 
 one in a merry game. And to-day, there may be 
 
EA61LKN iXK>K O^ IHE CAIHEUKAL. 
 
Mrs. Ewhigs " Canada Homer 63 1 
 
 seen, in testimony of her eager play, a broken 
 battledore belonging to the old set! 
 
 BISHOPSCOTE. 
 
 Her love of doing everything, whether she 
 understood the mechanical part of it or not, was 
 shown once when she came to Bishopscote, and, 
 finding every one busily engaged on some work 
 for church decoration, she determined to work with 
 them, and insisted that she should be allowed to 
 do so. Thereupon she proceeded to cut out the 
 
64 Leaves from 
 
 letters for an illuminated text, — from the only 
 paper obtainable for it, — but cut them every one 
 out on the zvrong side of the paper, so that 
 upon turning them all were backward ! She 
 crushed them up in her hands and declared all 
 would be right, for she would send to England 
 for more paper; but upon being told how impos- 
 sible this would be, as the work had to be ready 
 for the morrow, her contrition was great! Down 
 upon her knees she went, with her hands in a 
 prayerful^ attitude before her, and, supplicating 
 them all to forgive her for her naughtiness, drove 
 away the cloud caused by her mischievousness, 
 with her droll merry manners, as was always 
 her way of doing, from a child. 
 
 Her love of fun was so irresistible, her repent- 
 ance for wrong-doing so great, the sternest heart 
 could not hold anything against her. Many a 
 scrape has she got her beloved doggies out of, 
 by her manner of turning away the wrath of their 
 accusers ; for the love she bore these dogs, great 
 and small, was wonderful 
 
ri^.-M^ 
 
 , AAY MRS. OVER-TH£-WAY 
 , ifNl HER DOOF? 
 
 '1/ 
 
 lA 
 
 r^^ 
 
Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer 67 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ACK of the town there is a 
 range of low hills, and on 
 that part of it to which the 
 University of New Brunswick 
 has given the name of College 
 Road, she used to walk and 
 enjoy its Canadian aspect. It was from that point 
 many of her lovely sketches in color were painted. 
 Here, also, in the winter, she and her husband, 
 
 with their dear friends the Misses R and 
 
 others, used to walk on snow-shoes, and sit un- 
 der shelters made of fir boughs, going over their 
 Hebrew study together, or singing with their keen 
 love for music. The Ewings greatly enjoyed the 
 '* musical evenings " (of which she speaks in one of 
 the letters printed here) spent with these friends 
 while in Fredericton. 
 
68 Leaves from 
 
 In her walks over these hills, and in the gardens 
 of the town, she found many new flower friends. 
 
 The Trillium she first saw here, and it was a 
 great joy to her, with its beauty and graceo After 
 returning to England she had some seeds of this 
 plant sent out to her, and tried to grow it there, 
 and it inspired her to write the beautiful legend 
 of " The Trinity Flower," in which she immortal- 
 izes this pure blossom of our wilds, thus describing 
 its beauty : " Every part was threefold. The 
 leaves were three, the petals three, the sepals three. 
 The flower was snow white, but on each of the 
 three parts it was shaded with crimson stripes, like 
 white garments dyed in blood." 
 
 The Lily of the Valley was another special 
 favorite of hers, and inspired the graceful legend 
 which she wrote, wherein she calls the plant " Lad- 
 ders to Heaven," saying, " It hath a rare and deli- 
 icate perfume, and having many white bells on 
 many footstalks up the stem, one above the other, 
 as the angels stood in Jacob s dream, the common 
 children call it ' Ladders to Heaven.'" 
 
 She found so many new wild flowers, that she 
 
Mrs, Ewings ''Canada Homer 71 
 
 made an extensive collection, of which she speaks 
 in one letter, and I am told that she also added the 
 Mellicite Indian names to her specimens, through 
 the aid of her Indian " brother" of whom she speaks. 
 
 • -.Ml,. x4.,<r4<«. 
 MRS. EWING's barn AND CANOE. 
 
 Peter Poultice, who came from his encampment 
 (there to-day) just across the river to visit his inter- 
 ested friends, the pale faces from over the great 
 ocean, and to sell them bead work and moccasons, 
 as is the custom of the red brother here always. 
 
 They had a canoe from him, and Mrs. Ewing 
 was remarkably fearless in this frail craft for one 
 so unaccustomed to such venturous boating. The 
 temptations to her, of the many beautiful views on 
 
"ji Leaves from 
 
 and about this great broad river St. John, and of 
 being able with a canoe to enter the lovely little 
 streams which flow into it, made her enjoy it 
 keenly. 
 
 I can fancy her delight in the great beauty of 
 those two streams, the Nash-waak, and the Nash- 
 wa-sis (or little Nashwaak), known to every canoe 
 lover in these parts. 
 
 THE OLD NASHWAAK BRIDGE. 
 
 This picturesque bridge is the entrance to that 
 lovely little stream the Nashwaak, which she 
 describes in her letter that tells of their picnics 
 in canoes. It w^as evidently then as it is now, 
 except that the graceful bridge has been replaced 
 
Mrs. Ewings " Cayiada Homer 73 
 
 by a hideous structure, which I am glad her artist 
 eye did not have to see in those days. And to-day 
 the sawdust from the great ruthless mill at the 
 head of the stream is fast filling up and spoiling 
 the beautiful wavy stream, narrowing it even to the 
 exclusion of canoes. 
 
74 Leaves from 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ER great fondness for flowers 
 is seen all through her writ- 
 ings, and her " Letters from a 
 Little Garden " shows her prac- 
 tical experience in flower growing 
 and tending. In her books she gives good ad- 
 vice to other flower lovers, quoting from Charles 
 Dudley Warner's " My Summer in a Garden/' with 
 a full appreciation of its delicious humor. 
 
 In her verses and maxims for use in garden- 
 ing (" Garden Lore "), two trite maxims bespeak 
 the thorough sympathy she had for plants and 
 plant growers. She says, in this " Garden Lore," 
 " Cut a rose for your neighbor, and it will tell two 
 buds to blossom for you ; " and again : " Enough 
 comes out of anybody's old garden in autumn to 
 stock a new one for somebody else. But you want 
 
Mrs. Ewmgs " Canada Home'' 75 
 
 sympathy on one side, and sense on the other, and 
 they are rarer than most perennials ! " 
 
 How sorely tried such a lover of plants and 
 '* little gardens'* must have been in her life as 
 an officer s wife, sent from post to post, at having 
 to break up her homes, leaving many little gardens 
 just started ! 
 
 How tenderly, in the letter written from Alder- 
 shot Camp back to Fredericton, shortly after she 
 returned to England, does she speak of her house 
 plants there, and the care she takes of them ! She 
 was very fond of the dear old English custom of 
 having house mottoes ; and the one reproduced in 
 the front of this book she had painted and framed, 
 to hang on the wall of each new home : — 
 
 " Ui migratumsy habitaP 
 " Dwell as if about to depart ! " 
 
 Another favorite one of her many house mottoes 
 is this cleverly arranged Latin one, curtailing one 
 word into four meanings : — 
 
 " AmorCy more^ ore^ re.** 
 " By love, by manners, by word, by action I " 
 
76 Leaves from 
 
 Things with meanings rejoiced her heart, and 
 her own sweet namesake flower, the Chinese Prim- 
 rose, which is about her portrait here, was a 
 favorite with her; and it seems to make the little 
 primrose as familiar to us as a choice potted plant, 
 dearer and nearer, to know of its association with 
 her. A spray of this flower is carved upon her 
 quiet tomb at Trull. 
 
 This letter was written shortly after her return 
 to England. 
 
 Mrs. Ewings Letter, 
 
 25 Feb., 1870. 
 X Lines S. Camp, Aldershot. 
 
 My dear B : We were delighted to get 
 
 yours (and M.'s) long letters. We have many kind 
 correspondents in Fredericton, and all the news 
 interests us. You have had a w^onderful winter. 
 Here we have had a little — so cold — that frozen 
 sponges, cruelly killed plants, and cutting winds 
 piercing our wooden walls, quite recalled New 
 Brunswick! ... I used to take my poor plants 
 into my bedroom at night, and cover them up — 
 
Mrs. Ewings ''Canada Homer 77 
 
 but all in vain ; they were frozen as completely 
 as in D J s " old barn ! " 
 
 But oh ! I ^ revel in the spring days we get 
 now from time to time. I long to see primroses 
 — and I have not seen a daisy for three years. 
 How I hope they won't send us away first to 
 "furrin" parts! We still know nothing about our 
 future. We have many charming friends here, 
 and are very comfortable. Mr. Ewing has a very 
 nice organ to play upon at " All Saints' " near 
 here. We often go there on Sunday, for he plays 
 very often at the services, and there is also a 
 Wednesday evening service at which he always 
 plays. But we have very few week-day services, 
 and miss the daily prayer at the Cathedral very 
 much indeed. If at our next station we have 
 more "church privileges," it will go far to recon- 
 cile me to the move. I hope to go home before 
 we settle again. Indeed, we have promised my 
 mother to do so if all be well. . . . 
 
 We had an evening party the other night in 
 our tiny habitation ! We turned out of our bed- 
 room (which opens into the drawing-room), and 
 
"jS Leaves from 
 
 I made a pretty little coffee-room of it. All went 
 off very well, but it seems dreary work to me to 
 have a commonplace evening when we have been 
 used to musical ones ! I fear we could not get 
 one up here. And then the rooms are too small. 
 The dining-room is so narrow that we could only 
 sit on one side of the. supper table. . . . 
 
 At the beginning of this month I was very busy 
 composing valentines for my sisters, etc., etc., and 
 Rex insisted on having one, so I had to make 
 one for him, of which Trouve was the subject! 
 That dear old boy is very well, and in fine con- 
 dition. We have another dog also living with 
 us, and they are great friends. Trouve sleeps 
 with us, and the other sleeps with my maid. 
 
 Do you know whether the S s are still in 
 
 Fredericton } I have often wondered what be- 
 came of them in the giving up of the barracks. 
 They are very unpractical — poor souls — and I 
 . would like to hear if they were doing well or ill. 
 Can you find out for me, my dear ? 
 
 We are very glad to hear how the Choral S. 
 holds on. The other day, we and some friends 
 
Mrs, Ewings " Canada Homer 79 
 
 of ours went to the Crystal Palace, and heard 
 Mendelssohn s (Lobgesang). We did enjoy it! 
 One verse of the choral was sung in unison by all 
 voices (about two hundred and fifty or more). 
 Imagine the effect ! My husband s love and mine. 
 Trouve s respects to Thistle. 
 
 Yours, dear B , very affectionately^ 
 
 Juliana Horatia Ewing. 
 
 How like her own dear 
 self is this rare plant, 
 coming from a far- 
 away land, but famil- 
 iarizing itself 
 to us so sweetly 
 in an every-day 
 
 life, until now it is a household favorite ! It is not 
 hard to understand the deep hold she obtained on 
 
8o Mrs. Ewings " Canada Home," 
 
 the hearts of her Canadian friends, in the all too 
 short years she spent with us, on this continent. 
 And now, comes a budget of her own brilliant 
 letters which we are indeed fortunate in secur- 
 ing, full of a sweet personality and gayety — in 
 whose glowing pages we can see more clearly 
 into the character and life of our dear friend than 
 in any other way now possible to us. They are 
 indeed a rich treat, and cannot fail to reawaken 
 our love for her, and to help towards keeping 
 that sweet memory " green " in our hearts. In 
 fact, the sketches and letters taken together seem 
 to be an autobiography almost, written and illus- 
 trated by herself, of her life with us. 
 
MAJOR AND MKS. LWING AND HECTOR. 
 
MRS. EWING'S LETTERS 
 
 AND 
 
 FAC-SIMILES OF HER WATER-COLOR SKETCHES 
 
 MADE WHILE IN FKEDEKICTON. 
 
Mrs. Ewing's Letters. 
 
 Fredericton, New BRUNS^^'ICK, 
 July, 1867. 
 
 My dear Mrs. Ewing, — . . . Since we must 
 be " abroad " somewhere, I do not think we could 
 well have been more fortunate in a station than 
 we are in being sent here. There is that most 
 disagreeable Atlantic between us and Great Bri- 
 tain, but otherwise it is in many respects very 
 like home. We hear rather appalling accounts 
 of the winter, but we were told awful things of the 
 summer heats ; and yet (except for occasional op- 
 pressive days) we have found it delightful. It is 
 rather blazing in the morning often, and makes 
 one rather giddy if one attempts to walk much ; 
 but the evenings and nights are delicious, and 
 quite cool. Fredericton is on the river, and all 
 
86 Leaves from 
 
 by the river side it is lovely, and we have not yet 
 been able to decide by what lights and at what 
 time of day it looks most beautiful. Very fine 
 willows grow on the bank, and the fireflies float 
 about under them like falling stars. The moon- 
 light and starlight nights are splendid, and the 
 skies are particularly beautiful. We were detained 
 for some days both at Halifax and at S. John ; 
 but we are very glad that our lot has fallen here 
 rather than in either of those places. Halifax has 
 lovely country near it, but S. John is a town pure 
 and simple ; and I think if one must live in a 
 town one likes it to be as highly civilized a city 
 as possible. S. John is more like a watering 
 place without the shore. I suppose the New 
 Brunswickers would be duly indignant at my not 
 calling Fredericton a town, for it is a city ! but it 
 is all in lovely country, the streets are planted with 
 trees, and have no names, and there are very few 
 lamps ; most of them are like shady lanes, with 
 pretty wooden houses with (generally) very pretty 
 faces at the windows ! For another attraction 
 which this place possesses is the beauty of the 
 
Mrs, Ewings " Canada Home'' 87 
 
 women, both of the upper and lower classes. Not 
 that we have seen any one very beautiful woman 
 (such as one sometimes sees at home) but that, 
 almost every girl you meet is \try pretty^ and very 
 gentle and sweet looking. The young ladies have 
 particularly pleasant, unaffected manners, too. . . . 
 The ferns, flowers, mosses, and lichens in the 
 woods about here are most beautiful, and it is an 
 utterly new pleasure to me to find so many plants 
 I have never seen. In fact, the botany of these 
 parts seems richly luxuriant, and to have been 
 very little investigated. I have dried a few things 
 in my blotting-books, etc., but we have no appara- 
 tus with us. However, we have ordered two 
 boards at the carpenter's for a press, and when 
 we have out a box from England we shall have 
 some proper paper and portfolio sent — and I hope 
 we shall be able to bring home some specimens 
 of the beautiful things out here. For want of 
 proper means to preserve those we first got, I 
 have been making rough coloured sketches of 
 them in a note-book of Alexander's which we have 
 devoted to the purpose ; and whenever we meet 
 
88 Leaves from 
 
 anybody who seems likely to be knowing on the 
 subject, we ask the names of the flowers. Some 
 have exquisite perfumes, which, unhappily, one can 
 neither figure nor preserve ! One almost wonders 
 that more plants from this country are not culti- 
 vated in England, as whatever can stand these 
 winters would well live with us. We have just 
 heard of some wonderful orchids in a bog two or 
 three miles away, and I am greatly impatient to 
 get at them, for vegetation is so rapid here, — the 
 flowers are out and then gone in a day or two. . . . 
 I am sending you a small sketch of our house, 
 and also one from a hasty sketch I made in my 
 note-book as we came up the river into Frederic- 
 ton. It was, in fact, our first view of our new 
 home. . . . You cannot think how lovely it is 
 coming up the river from S. John to this place. 
 The colouring is so exquisite, the sky and clouds 
 are so beautiful, the pine woods look at times the 
 richest purple in the distance ; and the foliage of 
 the white birches, and brushwood, and grass near 
 the shore, was of most vivid pale greens when 
 we came up. I suppose in autumn, when the 
 
Mrs. Ewings " Canada Home'' 89 
 
 maple trees turn scarlet, it will be lovelier still. 
 People say that whatever you may have heard or 
 read about American woods in autumn, nothing 
 but seeing them can give you an idea of the 
 wonderful brilliancy of their colours. . . . 
 . I must tell you about our house. You will, I 
 think, be amused at its palatial appearance ; it is 
 much larger than necessary, though Rex justly 
 says I always give it a more magnificent appear- 
 ance on paper than it really possesses. It fiaSy 
 however, twenty-one rooms in it I ! though they 
 are not very large ones. He could keep an hotel 
 — or invite my seven brothers and sisters to visit 
 me. We talk of giving Trol (the dog) a bed- 
 room, sitting-room (and he might have a dressing- 
 room ! ) to himself when he arrives. Don t think 
 us quite mad 1 We had much humbler inten- 
 tions, but it fell out thus: When we arrived we 
 w^ere told we should have to wait a long time for 
 a house, as none were vacant ; of course it was 
 desirable to get one as soon as possible. The 
 second day, Rex discovered this one, which was 
 in a fearful state of disrepair, but was being put 
 
90 Leaves from 
 
 in order by the landlord ; he took it, and we are 
 only furnishing just what we want. It has many 
 great advantages. It is in the best situation we 
 could have chosen, there is a well of good water, 
 we have very nice neighbours, and we are close 
 to the Cathedral. We are not overlooked, and 
 have a lovely lookout over the river, with a ferry- 
 boat just opposite to our front door. There is 
 ample space for a good garden, and our landlord 
 is building us a huge sort of barn, which I fancy 
 is to embrace coach-house, stables etc., and which 
 (as we possess no equipage) I think will have to 
 be devoted to the pig we purpose to keep ; he 
 will consequently have as much spare space as 
 ourselves I Fancy Alexander coming in yesterday 
 and announcing to me his intention (please the 
 pigs!) of fattening a porker for Christmas!! An 
 officer has told him that a young pig may be 
 bought for half a dollar, and live on the house- 
 hold refuse till Christmas, and then either be 
 killed or sold. As we neither of us like pork, I 
 think otiv " little pig will go to market I " Most 
 opportunely in turning out his (very untidy) 
 
Mrs, Ewings " Canada Homey 91 
 
 drawers yesterday he found a half dollar which 
 had been there since he was in China, so we may 
 look upon the pig as purchased — so to speak. 
 
 August ist, 1867. "Reka Dom," 
 Fredericton, N. B. 
 
 My dearest Father, — I am going to write to 
 you this time. . . . We have had some very rainy 
 weather, and some uiiensely hot (even Rex allow- 
 ing that it was overpowering and like China). 
 To-day, a cloudless sky and brilliant sun, but a 
 refreshing breeze; and what breeze is to be got, 
 we get, — living by the river. Did I tell mother 
 of that beautiful thunder-storm we saw just before 
 leaving our last hotel } The sky had been of 
 such a blue as I never saw, — a pure, intense, 
 opaque, speedwell colour. It seems a poor compari- 
 son, but it reminded me of the blue which they 
 use on church or cathedral roofs with golden 
 stars, and which is usually deeper and more intense 
 than the sky which it represents. On this were 
 wonderful cumulus clouds of splendid tints. 
 One grand mass standing off in awfully powerful 
 
92 Leaves froTn 
 
 relief, against a golden glow, reminded us of 
 Sinai, when the mount burned with fire, and 
 one expected to see the tables of the law appear. 
 These mountainous masses faded after sunset, 
 and then two other currents of very electrical 
 appearance touched each other, and till dark 
 we watched them emitting the loveliest lightning 
 I ever saw. The sheet lightning was incessant, 
 and the forked ran among it and cleft the clouds 
 in the most lovely way. They had a ludicrous 
 resemblance to two gigantic and wonderful fire- 
 stones perpetually rubbed together. Rex fetched 
 me to see this storm from the other side of the 
 house, where I was frantically splashing paint 
 on to paper, trying to catch the sunset sky, 
 against which stood off one of the houses they 
 build here for the swallows. ... 
 
 Last Thursday we went to dine at Government 
 House, the first time, — about twenty-two people, — 
 and as we were in the very worst of our difficulties 
 a capital dinner was an absolute treat! The gene- 
 ral introduced me to the Bishop, and he took 
 me in to dinner. I enjoyed it immensely, for 
 
Mrs, Ewings ** Canada Home'' 93 
 
 he is very clever and awfully amusing, and told 
 me the funniest anecdotes. He has been away 
 until now, but next day he and Mrs. Medley 
 called on us, and we like them both extremely. 
 Mrs. Medley told us some clergyman has been 
 raving in their house about mothers writings, 
 and had said that whole pieces were taken out 
 of Aunt Judy's Magazine into American news- 
 papers, sometimes without an acknowledgment. 
 When he went away, the Bishop looked at me 
 in his point-blank way and said, very kindly, after 
 his rather awkward fashion, " If you would like 
 to see Maryland Church, I will drive you there, — 
 not to-morrow, Saturday is a busy day with me, 
 but next week." Is n*t it kind ? So I expect we 
 shall probably get to see some of the country in 
 very good company. Yesterday he preached both 
 A. M. and p. M., and I really doubt if any of our 
 English swells beat him, on the whole. The learn- 
 ing, the logic, the irrepressible irony at times, the 
 intense simplicity, and the exquisite touches of 
 pathos, I hardly think Oxon, VaugKan, Eber, or 
 anybody could excel. He preached a. m. on the 
 
94 Leaves from 
 
 " whole creation groaning," etc., and brought out 
 a forcible and (to me) new idea, — that if we had 
 been alive in any of the periods of great " disturb- 
 ance " of the physical world (the glacial or vol- 
 canic, etc.), our faith would probably have failed 
 to foresee the physical beauty and order that 
 would come out of it all : the rocks on the 
 sunny hillside, the waters in their own places, 
 the flowers, etc., etc. ; and that, although the divi- 
 sions of the Church of Christ, the distractions and 
 confusions and inconsistencies which make Chris- 
 tianity seem almost useless, the darkness of dis- 
 pensations and all the disturbance of the moral 
 world, make one inclined to give up hope, we 
 were to draw comfort from creation. He had 
 been charmingly sarcastic in the hastiness and 
 almost invariable erroneousness of mans very 
 self-satisfied judgment of providence in all times ; 
 but there was a sort of grave authority that was 
 very impressive as he admonished us that since 
 God had loved His lower creation so well as to 
 bring such beautiful order out of such ghastly 
 confusion, He would brinor out of all the moral 
 
Mrs. Ewing's *' Canada Home'" 95 
 
 disorder and disturbance a new heaven and a new 
 earth for those whom Jesus died to redeem. 
 Towards the end he gave a practical turn, and 
 speaking of the love of Christ, — '* a love such as 
 no earthly friend can feel for us, suffering as no 
 earthly friend ever suffered for one, interced- 
 ing as no earthly friend can plead, a Home at 
 last such as no one who loves us can provide 
 here, however they may wish and try." He uses 
 very simple, forcible language, has a voice as 
 soft as Vaughan's, and it is as clear as a bell. 
 He hardly ever lifts his eyes, and uses no action 
 whatever. His premises and deductions, his biting 
 bits of sarcasm, and his touches of pathos go down 
 the Cathedral without the slightest assistance from 
 "delivery;" but they are just the reverse of the 
 style of sermon which Goulburn calls " like the 
 arrow shot at a venture that hit King Ahab," 
 with the difference that they seldom hit anybody 
 in particular. When he is most severe he looks 
 so awfully innocent, p. m. he preached on Rizpah, 
 the daughter of Aiah, and the execution of SauFs 
 sons. It was cleverer than the other, — one of the 
 ablest bits of Biblical criticism one ever heard. 
 
96 Leaves from 
 
 Rex said the composition seemed to him so per- 
 fect. It really is a wonderful piece of good fortune 
 to be under him. He has been out here twenty- 
 two years (or more, — I forget), and he turns up 
 at the 7.30 A. M. daily services, and walks into the 
 Cathedral with a pastoral staff much bigger than 
 himself. Tell Regie I have got a " relic " for him 
 which I will send him. It is a bit of lichen from 
 the nameless grave of one of the first settlers here. 
 In old Judge Parker's garden (a very pretty place, 
 with a lovely peep of the river through trees, like 
 an Italian lake), in a field, are the graves of the 
 first settlers. On one are some rudely cut initials, 
 the last being " B." It was really an affecting 
 sight, amid the prosperity to which this lovely 
 spot has attained. One imagines how beautiful 
 it must have looked to their eyes as a spot to 
 '' settle " in. We have made out a great many 
 both of the ferns and flowers, and we have a good 
 many in press, and to-day I am going to try and 
 get some paper to " fix " them in. . . . 
 Ever, my dearest Father, 
 
 Your loving daughter, 
 
 J. H. EwiNG. 
 
Mrs, Ewings " Canada Home,'' 97 
 
 iiTH Sunday after Trinity, 1867. 
 
 We have the most charming room, with two 
 windows looking east to the river; Rex says the 
 view beats the Lake Hotel at Killarney ! He 
 wakes at unearthly hours, and lies wrapt in the 
 enjoyment of using a telescope in bed!! He kept 
 us awake from 3 a. m. the first morning, looking 
 at the view, and indeed it was lovely, — the white 
 mist rolling off the river, sunrise behind the pine 
 woods and willows, and canoes coming down 
 reminding one of Hiawatha's " Like a yellow leaf 
 it floated." They do look just like autumn leaves 
 floating on the water. I don't think Rex will 
 exist long without one ! . . . 
 
 Last Friday we were asked to Government House 
 for a picnic. . . . We went across the river, and by 
 water up the Nashwaak Cis. (i. e., Little Nashwaak), 
 and landed at a very pretty spot, where we ate 
 luncheon off such lovely old china I wonder his 
 Excellency had the heart to risk it at a picnic! 
 The A. D. C. lent Rex his own boat, that Rex 
 might row me there. I told him I must have a 
 
 7 
 
98 Leaves from 
 
 good wrap and got a buffalo robe to keep me warm, 
 and sat like a queen in the stern. There were lots 
 of canoes and a few boats, . . Coming back down 
 the Cis it was lovely, half dark, and the canoes 
 gliding past among the shadows. The Cis was 
 very narrow and required careful steering. I got 
 some new water lilies. When we got into the big 
 river again, the wind was very high, and it was 
 nearly dark, and the waves w^ere quite wonderful. 
 . . the canoes found it tiresome work. There was 
 a dance afterwards at Government House, but we 
 left in good time, and walked home. About half- 
 past one, I was roused by Rex asking if anything 
 w^as the matter. I could hear nothing, but he ex- 
 claimed, " It's the fire-bell !'' and jumped up like a 
 shot. 
 
 [I must tell you that, the day the Medleys left, 
 the Bishop told us that he had told his next-door 
 neighbour where the church plate was, in case of 
 a fire, and what he specially wished to be saved, 
 adding that the man had looked at a long box and 
 said : " Is this valuable } " " Very," said the Bishop, 
 " What is it } Music ? " on which, as the Bishou 
 
Mrs, Ewin£s " Canada Homey loi 
 
 said he did not seem to see it, Rex said, " Well, if 
 there s a fire, / must save the music."] 
 
 Well, when I went into the bath-room and saw 
 the blaze in the sky, it seemed to me to come from 
 the Medleys, so I told Rex. " Then I must save 
 the anthems!" he cried in a thunderous voice (it 
 was almost amusing), and off he went. We 
 could n't find matches, so he dressed in the dark, 
 and in the dark I was left. I could hear the 
 peculiar roar of the fire, and see the flames rising 
 up through the open window. I got awfully 
 lonely, so I awoke *' Sarah " with much difficulty and 
 got a light, and told her to make a fire and get tea 
 ready for Rex when he returned, and went back to 
 the window to watch. Time went on, the fire got 
 larger, and no Rex returned. At last I got so 
 nervous I wrapped up, left the house, took my 
 maid with me, and went ofif to find the fire, — and 
 Rex ! When we got to the Cathedral and Bishops- 
 cote happily it was not there, so on we went. Fire 
 is very delusive at night, and I may as well say it 
 was in the position of the Bishops palace, only 
 about a quarter of a mile or more further up the 
 
I02 Leaves from 
 
 town. As we 2:ot nearer we seemed to be ooinsj 
 into the blaze of falling sparks, and at last we found 
 it. We had passed the place an hour or so before ! 
 It was a square called Phoenix Square, and how 
 many times it has risen from its own ashes I know 
 not, but the other half of the square was burned 
 down just before we came, and when Sarah and 
 I reached the spot, not one stone was left upon 
 another, or rather not one plank, for it was wood, 
 of course. But a large building at the corner, — a 
 brick house, offices, ■ — which had held out sometime, 
 was in full blaze. It was a wonderful sight. The 
 flames poured out of the windows, and licked round 
 the walls, reminding one of the fire that licked up 
 the water in the trench round Elijah's sacrifice. 
 Rex was with the other officers, keeping an eye 
 on the fuel-yard which was near, and from which 
 soldiers were employed in sweeping away the burn- 
 ing embers as they fell. It was most providential 
 that the wind set over the river instead of over the 
 city, otherwise, being a dry night, high wind, and 
 the fire engines about as available as a boy's squirt, 
 probably two-thirds of the town would have gone. 
 
Mrs, Ewings " Canada Homer 103 
 
 An almost comical element (as one didn't suffer 
 one's self) was to see the spectators, who kept get- 
 ting the falling sparks into their eyes, going about 
 with pocket-handkerchiefs to their faces. Also a 
 small boy who laid a complaint to Major Graham 
 against the soldiers who were protecting the rescued 
 property, because they would n't give him some 
 small article that belonged to him. The disgusting 
 part is that these fires are said to be almost always 
 the work of incendiaries. . . . 
 
 Your loving sister, 
 
 J. H. EWING. 
 
 17 August, 1867. 
 Reka D<^Nr." Frfdertcion. 
 
 My dearest 
 Mother, — . . . Now 
 I must tell you all 
 our news. First about 
 the Episcopal family. 
 You know they have 
 been away for five 
 weeks, and we met 
 
I04 Leaves from 
 
 them first at Government House. Since then they 
 have certainly done their best to make up for 
 lost time, in the way of kindness, and it is not 
 the least of the many blessings of my home here 
 to have such very kind people about one, as our 
 neighbours in general are, and such unusually 
 good, intellectual, and friendly friends as the Med- 
 leys. He was a friend of John Newman, and 
 associated with him in working at the Lives of 
 the Fathers, etc., and Newman's secession was a 
 great grief to him. He is awfully fond of music, 
 and composes chants, etc. He is a fluent Hebrew 
 scholar, and is certainly, as I told you, one of the 
 ablest preachers I ever heard. He has been very 
 near to Qfoino: home to the council that is to be 
 held at Lambeth, only he could not make out that 
 the subjects of discussion had been settled, so was 
 not certain that it would come to much, and had 
 confirmations here, and did not like to bring Mrs. 
 Medley back in winter, for she is nearly as bad a 
 sailor as I am, or you might have seen them, and 
 heard of us. They are great admirers of yours. 
 Especially they are devoted to the Parables. Mrs. 
 
Mrs^ Ewin/s " Canada Homey 105 
 
 Medley told me to-day they owe you so much, she 
 was delighted to do anything for your daughter; so 
 you see, dear mother, you have, so to speak, pro- 
 vided me a motherly friend in these distant parts. 
 She is a great gardener and a botanist, and litho- 
 graphs a little. . . . They are going away again 
 on a Confirmation tour directly, but meanwhile we 
 see them constantly ; they ask us in perpetually to 
 meals, and send us vegetables and flowers. I need 
 hardly say that Rex and Episcopus himself are 
 pretty inseparable at " the instrument," and that 
 Rex is appointed supplementary organist, and has 
 joined the choir. He is going to play at the anni- 
 versary festival next Sunday, and the choir gener- 
 ally are quite as much edified and charmed to see 
 the author of " Jerusalem," and quite as much as- 
 tonished to find (and still a little sceptical) that 
 " Argyle and the Isles " was not the composer, as if 
 we all were living in a small English watering 
 place. This you would anticipate ; but you would 
 hardly expect to hear that the Bishop evolved and 
 propounded to me the proposal, that if I would 
 teach him German this winter, he would teach me 
 
io6 Leaves from 
 
 Hebrew. He buys books evidently with an appe- 
 tite, and will lend us any^ so we are well off to 
 an extent that seems marvellous and is truly 
 delightful 
 
 We have free access to the Provincial Library 
 here. This is an admirable theological and grave 
 library, all Jeremy Taylor s, and almost every ordi- 
 nary theological reference book, besides Greek and 
 Hebrew grammars and lexicons. I am absolutely 
 the only member at this present time ! At the 
 present moment I have all " Nature and Art " (for 
 the water-colour lessons,) and Rex has Blunts 
 " Undersigned Coincidences " from the Bishop. 
 I have Harding's "Lessons on Art" and a book 
 on colour from the Provincial, and Alex. Knox 
 from the Cathedral, libraries. We only want a 
 . modern foreign library to be perfect, so as to get 
 at Schiller, or Faust for the Bishop. As it is, we 
 mean to put him through Grimm ! ! ! 
 
 I am just now very busy upon an interior of the 
 Cathedral, at which I work, while Rex practises. 
 I have got some good hints from Harding's book 
 about drawing the arches, etc. I got dreadfully 
 
Mrs. Ewings ''Canada Homer 107 
 
 grieved at my stupidity over the colouring about 
 here. I do wish I were a better artist! and Rex 
 thinks I have gone back rather than forward. 
 However, I have got some good books here, and 
 I mean to work hard this winter indoors. I think 
 my " interior " looks wonderfully promising so 
 far. 
 
 I am going to save seed of all the wild flowers 
 I can, and shall send it home, so have a nice sunny 
 bit got ready to sow them in ! You know what 
 lives here will live with you, and some of the 
 flow^ers are truly lovely. Spotted yellow lilies and 
 splendid Michaelmas daisies grow wild, and a 
 lovely white flower, something like a white foxglove 
 (a Chelone glabra!), which I hope will seed itself 
 like a foxglove, and so be easily grown. Beautiful 
 spireas too ; and oh ! the pitcher plants grow here, 
 but we have not seen them. One plant held four 
 or five quarts of water, they tell us. 
 
 Your loving daughter, 
 
 J. H. EWING. 
 
io8 Leaves from 
 
 October, 1867. 
 My dearest Mother, — I wish you could come 
 in this moment ! I have got a nice wood fire in 
 my grate (for it is a coolish morning, one of 
 those clear fresh mornings that I fancy we shall 
 have pretty consistently through the autumn). 1 
 am afraid I shall hardly have time this mail, but 
 I must make you a sketch of my room ! " Sarah " 
 has a great admiration for my table of little 
 things (of which she always leaves the dusting 
 to me). She says "Mrs. Coster" (her former 
 mistress) "had a great many little things, too, not 
 so many as you, ma'am, but then she was burnt 
 out three times ; but any little things she did 
 save she was very choice of. She saved one plate 
 out of her dessert service." The coolness with 
 which people regard being " burnt out " here is 
 amazing ! ! The day of the fire Sarah was telling 
 me all sorts of " burning out " anecdotes. Some 
 people seem to be under a sort of evil spell as 
 regards it. " The fire hunts him everywhere." 
 There is a certain man she told me of, and wher- 
 ever he settles fire follows him ! ! One could 
 
Mrs, Ewings ''Canada Homer 109 
 
 make a splendid Salamander story from it in the 
 Edgar Poe style ! One comical idea one can 
 quite understand, viz., that as much is broken as 
 burnt in these fires often. Sarah told me of one 
 in which, in his anxiety to save, a man flung a 
 fine mirror out of the window into the street, to 
 save it from the flames. Of course it was smashed 
 to shivers ! 
 
 I have got you a dial, and mean to make the 
 sketch, and send it herewith. It is in the garden 
 of a little old lady here, a Mrs. Shore. She is 
 very tiny and very old. She goes to the 7.30 ser- 
 vice like clockwork, has a garden, paints life-size 
 portraits in oils ! ! and complains that, *' between 
 housekeeping, literature, and the fine arts, she 
 never has time for anything." I sat v/ith her last 
 night for a bit. *' Do you find the days long 
 enough, my dear } " " Not one-half," I said ; " but 
 they say the winter is long." " You will never 
 find it long enough, my dear." 
 
 The woods now are lovely. The autumn tints 
 are beyond describing, or colouring. One day I 
 began a sketch, but it is most unsatisfactory, and 
 
I lo Leaves from 
 
 now it is raining, and I am so afraid of getting 
 no more opportunity. A tree stands off against 
 a grey woody background, and it is a brilliant 
 yellow and crimson. Sometimes a whole tree is 
 canary colour, and another near it one uniform 
 rich deep red, another like bronze, and so on. 
 They are not all so by any means, of course; but 
 in the " College Grove," as it is called (which is 
 something like a beautiful bit of English pasture, 
 and park, and wood scenery), are the loveliest 
 varieties of colour. 
 
 I had a jolly drive with the Medleys the other 
 day. We got out and went across country a bit, 
 over hedges and ditches, and I sketched a little at 
 intervals. Once I said, " I really hope we may 
 be here another summer, that I may get some of 
 these trees done," and the Bishop groaned, " Don't 
 talk of another summer ! you must stay here for- 
 ever." Rex is still at the organ, and the Bishop 
 bristles with new chants. Rex is at work on a 
 Christmas anthem ; words my choosing. 
 
 Recit, and Bass Solo. " And Balaam said : I 
 shall see him, but not now. I shall behold Him, 
 
Mrs, Ewings " Canada Home'' 1 1 1 
 
 but not nigh. Alto Solo. There shall come a 
 Star out of Israel. {Chorus. A Star out of Israel). 
 Quartet. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. 
 A Sceptre of Righteousness is the Sceptre of 
 Thy Kingdom." Final chorus not decided on. I 
 must stop. 
 
 Your loving sister, 
 
 J. H. E. 
 
 January 26, 1868. 
 My dearest Mother, — ... I must tell you 
 about the sleigh drive. It was given by Col. 
 Harding (who is the temporary governor as well). 
 The etiquette of such affairs is, that the leader 
 drives wherever he likes, and the other sleighs must 
 go after him. (They say General Doyle used to 
 go into the most audacious places to try and upset 
 the tandems !) The young men ask the young 
 ladies to drive with them as they would ask them 
 to dance, and we old couples go Darby and Joan 
 together. Rex got a nice little sleigh with buffalo, 
 robes in it, and the horse went capitally. We met 
 before the House of Assembly, and kept driving 
 
112 Leaves from 
 
 round and round in circles till all assembled (about 
 twenty-six sleighs). Then, bells ringing, red tassels 
 waving, away we went. The colonel took us in 
 and out about the town, but no really nasty places, 
 and then into the barrack-yard, where the soldiers 
 cheered, and his horses got so unmanageable that 
 he and his young lady nearly came to grief ; then 
 out into the open country. I don't think I ever 
 saw anything much prettier than the line of jingling 
 sleighs, flying over the snowy roads, with the pure 
 fields of snow on all sides broken by the dark firs 
 and country homesteads. Once we went up a 
 narrow hill meet to be drawn by Dore (or rather 
 Dore might give one a faint idea of its beauty), 
 snow pure white before us and under our feet, and 
 great dark firs on each side almost touching over 
 our heads. We stopped at a country inn, where 
 lunch was prepared, sandwiches and hot spiced 
 negus, and very jolly we were, Rex's " tscho-ga,'' 
 which he wore over his coat, exciting considerable 
 admiration. 
 
 Do you know we mean to " flit " this May ! It 
 
Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer 1 1 3 
 
 will be a grief to part with the lovely views from 
 this dear old Reka Dom, but it is too huge and 
 too cold in winter, and burns enough fuel to — 
 well, as one of Rex's men said, " It would take a 
 major-general's allowance, sir!" We have our eye 
 on a comfortable little house close by, with garden, 
 and eight rooms in it, and they say well-built and 
 convenient. 
 
 Your loving daughter, 
 
 J. H. E. 
 
 22 March, 1868. 
 People are very kind. I was walking to church 
 when Dr. Ward met us, going off on a professional 
 drive. He turned out his man, took me into the 
 sleigh, and drove me to the Cathedral before pro- 
 ceeding on his way, that I might not have to wade 
 through the snow. Mrs. Shore (the lady with the 
 dial in her garden; says (she comes regularly to 
 the daily services with small regard to the weather) 
 that she thinks Providence always sends somebody 
 to help her home. In this weather she needs some 
 one, and Rex occasionally tenders his arm ! 
 
 8 
 
114 Leaves from 
 
 Mrs. Shore (the dial lady) is as lively as ever. 
 We have a little joke every day almost after morn- 
 ing prayers. I say, " Mrs. Shore, allow me to be 
 your particular Providence,' and she says, " My 
 dear, I was looking for you," and I give her my 
 arm to take her home over the slippery ice. 
 
 Easter Tuesday, 1868. 
 
 Dear little Mrs. Shore I told you about. We 
 have been so grieved the last week, as she has been 
 very ill. On Good Friday she was given up, but 
 with some difficulty the Bishop obtained leave to 
 see her. They told him that it was no use, as she 
 was unconscious etc. ; however, she revived when 
 he went in, and he bathed her face with eau-de- 
 cologne, and she revived ; and he sent Mrs. Medley 
 to her,, who has been nursing her since, and she is 
 now recovering. Today, much better. 
 
 April 26, 1868. 
 
 Poor dear little Mrs. Shore was buried on the 
 day of the snow-storm. Such a wild day, I was not 
 
Mrs, Ewings " Canada Homer 1 1 5 
 
 able to go to her funeral, for which I was sorry. 
 The choir went in black, and sat in their places. 
 Rex went, and played the Dead March, and went 
 on to the cemetery. I went to see her after she was 
 dead. It was a lovely little face. It is to me very 
 comforting to see how faces that have been marred 
 by the struggle of life, and disfigured by the odds 
 and ends of mortality (queer caps, and wrappings, 
 mannerisms, and traces of illness, etc. !), become 
 beautiful in the peace of death without becoming 
 unrecognizable. Don't you know .'^ I saw so clearly 
 what a pretty girl Mrs. Shore must have been, and 
 it makes one understand how hereafter one may 
 be beautiful, and yet recognized. There were 
 lovely fiowers in the room, and a saucer of salt 
 on her breast. I fancv she must have been laid 
 out by an Irish nurse. We all feel very much for 
 poor Miss Garnison; she has lost a happy home. 
 She will remain here a bit, and Rex will give her 
 some lessons on the organ. - • 
 
 Mv DEAREST D., — ... Rex has got a pair of 
 snow shoes, and a pair are ordered for me ! Peter 
 
1 1 6 Leaves from 
 
 Poultier, our Indian brother, guffawed loudly at 
 the idea of my having them, and says, " She 'II 
 make them " (i. e., his squaw). You should have 
 seen Rex wading about on the deep snow of our 
 garden the other night, — the Costers, Sarah, and 
 I watching him. Everybody said we should tumble 
 down at first, and Rex said he must have out the 
 orderly to pick him up. " Hartney " ! " Yes, sir." 
 " Be ready in the garden to pick me up when I 
 fall ! " " Yes, sir." 
 
 Tell D. that the ankles are quite equal to snow- 
 shoeing, which is a thousand times easier than 
 skating, though Captain Poulton did yell with 
 laughing so loud that I told him he could be 
 heard at S. John. The first time, he saw me in 
 them, about a quarter of a mile off, and would 
 give no further account of himself than " Mrs. 
 Ewing in snow-shoes, wading up a bank, was too 
 many for his feelings." But I believe that my 
 " carriage " is rather graceful than otherwise on 
 them ! Rex says I go like a squaw, which is 
 really a compliment, though the gait is more 
 
Mrs, Ewin^s ** Canada Homer 1 1 7 
 
 peculiar than absolutely beautiful. A sort of up- 
 right, easy swing of a walk 1 1 ! 
 
 • • • • • 
 
 I hope Rex's Easter Anthem will be very 
 successful. It begins with a Bass Recit. Solo: 
 " Very early in the morning on the first day of 
 the week, they came unto the sepulchre." (Trio 
 of women s voices) : " They have taken away the 
 Lord, and we know not where they have laid Him." 
 {Alio Solo — Angel): "Why seek ye the living 
 among the dead .^ He is not here." (Clionis)', 
 " He is not here. He is risen." {Chorus) : " He is 
 risen." It ends with a full chorale : " Christ is 
 risen from the dead, and is become the first- 
 fruits of them that slept. Alleluia, Amen." 
 
 Rex has got some lovely songs lately. A lot 
 of F'ranz's and of Schumann's. The way those 
 men "marry music" to Heine's "immortal verse" 
 is wonderful. You really would enjoy the exqui- 
 site delicacy with which some of Heine's gems are 
 set. 
 
ii8 Leaves from 
 
 First Sunday after Epiphany, 1868. 
 The other night I looked out and saw that the 
 moon was shining on the snow, looking exactly 
 as if the river had opened, and there was a water- 
 surface. This was because the intense frost had 
 . crusted and glazed the snow on the river so that 
 it reflected. Meanwhile a high wind was blowing 
 what loose snow there was in w^hite wreaths hither 
 and thither. The Indians, by the bye, call Feb- 
 ruary " the moon in which there is crust on the 
 snow." One really hardly knows w^hat snow is in 
 England. It is so dry here it is like dust, and is 
 blown about the streets. It takes a considerable 
 time to melt when you get it into the house, and 
 of course does not wet your feet or clothes out 
 of doors unless it is thawing. We keep little 
 brooms in the halls here to brush the snow from 
 our feet and clothes when we come into a house. 
 November is called " the moon in which the frost 
 fish comes," by which I suppose are meant the 
 " cusks " (as they call them here), a very nice fish 
 we get when the river closes. The men cut 
 holes in the ice and get them out. I don't know 
 
Mrs, Ewings ^^ Canada Homer 119 
 
 the process, though I have seen them in the 
 distance. I suppose the fish come to the hole 
 attracted by the light, but I don't know. Rex 
 says they had them in the north of China. 
 
 18 March, 1868. 
 The bull dog is just barking at the avalanches 
 of snow that keep shooting off the roof with a 
 roar like thunder. For we are in the middle of 
 a thaw, and after being about 35° below zero last 
 Monday morning, to-day it is 50° above, and the 
 ice is beginning to thaw upon the river; however, 
 I fancy it will all harden up again. A priest was 
 ordained to-day, and there were two awful ava- 
 lanches during service. Such a noise it does 
 make. The musical abilities of our clergy were 
 brought into effective use to-day, for they and 
 the Bishop sang their own lines of the Veni 
 Creator, the choir singing the alternate ones. 
 The effect was really most impressive. Costers 
 fine bass, Mr. Pearson's sweet tenor, etc., and the 
 Bishop s hearty voice support alternate lines with 
 
1 20 Leaves from 
 
 ample power, and it was very pretty, the men's 
 voices, as they all stood round the new priest, 
 and then the response of the choir. It was to a 
 simple old psalm tune. 
 
 I must add to my list of friends our new neigh- 
 bours, or rather " Over-the-ways " — two very old 
 ladies who were among the first settlers, (The 
 Loyalists came here and " settled " in Fredericton 
 in 17 — alas ! I forget; '^'^ I think). There was one 
 old wooden church in those days, and terrible 
 battles about pews, which were put up to auction 
 in the church, and principal residents insisting on 
 having pews of double size. The parson lived on 
 the other side of the river, and one day he came 
 over in a birch-bark canoe and went back the 
 same way, and was never heard of again. Miss 
 Bailey remembers that on June ist, being the 
 King's birthday, they fired cannon over the river 
 to raise the body, but it was not found for eight 
 days. When the Bishop came, people went, once 
 to church on Sunday, and in the afternoon paid 
 visits and played cards. You may imagine the 
 storm created by his insisting on free seats. 
 
Mrs. Ewings " Canada Home' 
 
 121 
 
 July 7, 1868. 
 . . . How I wish for you on moonlight nights in 
 the canoe. The other night we went out before 
 sunset and stayed late. The sunset was wonderful, 
 
 
 and whilst the crimson was still deluging the sky 
 and river, the moon looked through it like a ghost. 
 We went up the Nashwaak Cis (Little Nashwaak, 
 a tributary of S. John), and lay to close to a large 
 green bullfrog, who looked at us, but never moved. 
 A bittern was groaning in the ferns by the bank 
 (masses of Onoclea), and song birds were singing 
 everywhere. We came out into the S. John as the 
 
122 Leaves from 
 
 moon rose, and finally two other canoes joined us, 
 and we flew up and down through the water, and 
 then lay to and listened to the 22nd band through 
 the mess room windows. Does n't it seem funny 
 to you to fancy me paddling on a great beautiful 
 river like this? Rex and I go alone now (I bow, 
 he stern), and enjoy ourselves amazingly — 
 
 August 29, 1868. 
 . . . How thankful I am that my letters have 
 somewhat counteracted the Bishop s vivid descrip- 
 tion of the climate ! In this glorious autumn 
 weather it does indeed seem a " need not " for you 
 to be distressing yourself, as you sit in the fogs of 
 dear old Yorkshire, about us in our bright clear 
 atmosphere. . . . For a short sojourn, and with no 
 necessity for fifty miles' journeys in sleighs and 
 such-like fatiguing expeditions, we are simply un- 
 speakably fortunate in the climate. I hope I told 
 you that snowshoeing is an amusement, like skating^ 
 and that there is tio more necessity for me to snow- 
 shoe on this river than there ever was for me to 
 skate on the dam ! I thoroughly enjoy it. People 
 
Mrs. Ewings ''Canada Homer 123 
 
 make parties to snowshoe, and splendid fun it is. 
 Why, WE PICNIC in the winters here, which is more 
 than you do at home ! Picnic in the woods, and 
 hot spiced claret supersedes champagne cup! 
 And sometimes girls meet and make snowhouseSy 
 inside which you are as warm as an Esquimaux. 
 I talked of having one last winter to sketch from, 
 and this one perhaps I shall ! . . . 
 
 Monday, 31. Such a lovely day! As Mrs. 
 Medley said to me this morning as we came out 
 of church, " It is a splendid climate! We have so 
 few dull days, so many clear bright ones ! " Did 
 I tell you of our latest picnic? No. It was the 
 jolliest we have had, I think. We took the Parrys 
 in our canoe. I had a little funked it, it was so 
 hot, and I sometimes get a headache from the sun, 
 and when we paddle against stream and wind I 
 can't use an umbrella, and we had a good many 
 miles to go about midday. But we found an old 
 " puggaree " of Rex's, of Constantinople days, 
 fastened it on to my hat, and it answered perfectly. 
 
 We had a charming day. I did a little sketch- 
 ing, and we came home by moonlight, fourteen 
 
1 24 Leaves from 
 
 canoes lashed together. We were in the middle, 
 so Rex and Capt. P. were idle, except that Rex 
 " conducted " the singing with a paddle ! We had 
 a good many comic songs, and some part singing. 
 The most interesting to me was a song sung by 
 Gabriel, the Indian, a curious wild, monotonous, 
 plaintive affair, but wonderfully in keeping with 
 the motion of the canoes, and the plash of the 
 water in the moonlight. 
 
 October 12, 1868. 
 My dearest D. : — The paper is up ! ! ! I leave 
 you to imagine my feelings. I told you how Mrs. 
 Medley and I had felt ourselves cut out by 
 " Bluenoses " when we found that Mrs. D. and 
 Miss P. Q,o\3Xdi paper and we could not! Where- 
 upon (having found a cheap paper in a stationer's 
 shop where Rex was music-hunting) I determined 
 to paper our dining-room ; and as Mrs. D. was 
 on a visit to Mrs. M., I called to draw out a few 
 incidental instructions in the course of conversa- 
 tion!! I found Mrs. M. had been before me, and 
 had papered a closet ! ! ! The two ladies an- 
 
Mrs, Ewmgs ''Caiiada Home!' 125 
 
 nounced their intention of calling in to see how 
 I got on, and after church on Friday morning, 
 having borrowed steps of Mrs. L. and an old 
 whitewash brush of Mrs. C, and having cut a 
 good many rolls of paper over night, I donned 
 my old blue print, and sent for the orderly to take 
 out the picture nails. He began — "When the 
 man that 's going to paper comes, ma'am " — and 
 I felt very proud to shut him up with " / 'm the 
 man that s going to paper, Hartney " (in a parlia- 
 mentary sense of man ! !). Just then the bell rang, 
 and he came back with a very solemn face — " It 's 
 the Bishops lady, mum!!" — leaving her at the 
 door. However, the B.'s lady and Mrs. D. ended 
 by working with me till lunch, which, though it 
 diminishes my credit, decidedly accelerated the 
 work. They were intensely good, and we got 
 fully half done. Next day Mrs. D. and Miss J. 
 came and helped me, and late on Saturday evening 
 I finished it off myself. I think it looks quite as 
 well as the other papers. 
 
126 Leaves from 
 
 S. John's Day, 1868. 
 ... I will tell you how we spent our Christmas. 
 It did not promise very brightly, for the cold 
 which seemed to hang so unaccountably about 
 me, turned out to be a sort of epidemic variety 
 of influenza, i. e. influenza, without any cold in 
 the head, but feverish discomfort and a sort of 
 throat affection, something like mumps in a mild 
 form outside, and swelling within also ; in fact, 
 " mumps, lumps, and dumps " about sums it up ! 
 " Everybody " has had it. ... I did not get to 
 church on Christmas Day, but that was our only 
 drawback, and we were so jolly and comfortable 
 that we had a delightful day. On Christmas Eve 
 we were sitting on the landing by the dumbstove, 
 when (very late) a ring came at the door, and a 
 parcel was put into Rex's hands by an unknown 
 *' party." It was a very pretty plated coffee pot, 
 and ditto butter cooler, with a note to the effect 
 that some members of the choir beQ:ged him to 
 accept this little Christmas gift as a very small mark 
 of their gratitude for his kindness in taking so 
 much trouble with them. This was rather a pleas- 
 
Mrs, Ewings " Canada Homer 1 2 7 
 
 ant beginning to Christmas, was n't it ? Rex had 
 previously dressed the house with some " pricknig '* 
 thoughtfully sent by Mrs. Medley, and had carried 
 me round the house to see the effect. I had had 
 some fun sending Hetty shopping for our turkey 
 and various odds and ends of Christmasings. On 
 Christmas eve, also, " Peter Poultice," our Indian 
 brother, gave us a call, and Rex took the oppor- 
 tunity to buy me a pair of bead-worked moccasins, 
 the first smart pair I have had. Then I sent 
 him up the town to his favourite " store " to buy 
 a piece of music as a Christmas box from me to him, 
 and he returned with " Israel in Egypt," and an 
 American stereoscope for me. . . . Then in the 
 evening Rex went downstairs and played " Chris- 
 tians, awake" lovelily with all kinds of stops and 
 different effects, and I sat upstairs by the dumb- 
 stove, and was not entirely in Canada, as you rnay 
 fancy! He did this for me last year. When he 
 had done he came up again, and said he hoped he 
 would play that for me every Christmas Eve, wher- 
 ever we were, even when he was an old man and 
 his old fingers trembled on the keys. It was after 
 
128 Leaves from 
 
 that the testimonial came. Then the R. C. bell 
 began to chime for midnight Mass, and Hetty went 
 to bed, and Rex read the evening service with me 
 as Christmas Eve passed into Christmas Day. . . . 
 I am at this moment waiting for the Bishop, 
 with whom I am going to communicate with the 
 *' Loyalist Ladies." They are two very old ladies 
 who live in a cottage opposite. Their father was 
 one of the loyalist Americans who left the States 
 to settle in Canada when the States rebelled ; I 
 mean in the old American War. They were some 
 of the first settlers in Fredericton. The two sisters 
 are a single lady (Miss Bailey) and a widow 
 (Mrs. Emmerson). They called me their " little 
 neighbour," and are pleased to look very favourably 
 on me, and they like me to come when they receive 
 the Holy Communion, which they do from time 
 to time, as they never go out now. I accuse Rex 
 01 a penchant for Miss B. and a flirtation from 
 his dressing-room window. She is immensely old, 
 ninety — something, but on dit that she does not 
 like it to be supposed that she is so old. However, 
 she likes me, though I was injudicious enough to 
 
Mrs, Ewings " Canada Homer 1 29 
 
 enquire how the first French Revolution affected 
 this Province from her experience ! . . . 
 
 April 10, 1869. 
 
 . . . Rex has been appointed conductor of the 
 Choral Society. There have been two nights 
 under the new baton, and the people are delighted. 
 "We" are to give a concert shortly, and you shall 
 have a programme. Rex is writing a thing with 
 an " invisible chorus " on the words of Miss Proc- 
 ter's " Vision." Mr. Roberts (basso prof undo) is 
 to take the first part (solo), half the chorus is to 
 take the mourner's song " on the stage," Mrs. 
 Rowan (soprano) is to take the second part (solo), 
 and the other half of the chorus will sing the 
 Angels' song " behind the scenes." I am to be 
 with the party in front so as to hear the invisible 
 chorus. It seems so strange to have so much to 
 do with concerts and choir here, and not to be 
 able to have any oi you in them ! I want the ladies 
 to be dressed in uniform, and hope it may come to 
 pass. We shall probably all be in white, with 
 different coloured ribbons for sopranos and altos. 
 
 9 
 
1 30 Leaves from 
 
 April 17, 1869. 
 
 My dearest Father, — 1 wanted to adorn your 
 letter, but I fear I have not succeeded. The illustra- 
 tion is by way of giving you an idea of the finest 
 " aurora " I have ever seen. I have been a little 
 disappointed with the want of colour in the auroras 
 I have seen here hitherto, and they have only 
 occupied part of the heavens; but on the 15th, 
 from 8 to 9 P. m. (with us) the above was visible, 
 and poured from the zenith to the horizon, north, 
 south, east, and west. In the west the rays were 
 beautifully coloured, and the sky looked as rosy 
 as after sunset or a fire in the woods. Against 
 this the " young moon in the old moon's lap " over 
 the dark chimney tops of the Rectory, was certainly 
 a lovely sight. The magnetic storm seemed to 
 rage in some places, and the general brilliancy 
 faded from time to time, and then burst out again 
 in vivid streams at particular points. It began in 
 the south, and passed northwards, not a usual 
 thing here. In fact, it was altogether more like an 
 Australian aurora, Rex says. The lovely (or 
 
Mrs, Ewmgs " Canada Homer 1 3 1 
 
 rather grand) feature was the corona at the zenith 
 above our heads. It changed as ceaselessly as the 
 rays, — sometimes obscured. A dark mass would 
 suddenly rifi with an effect like one of Martin's 
 boldest imaginations in his Milton. The rays were 
 sharpest near the corona, and then again near the 
 horizon. It was like standing under a tent of 
 celestial proportions, where the curtains showed 
 light and shadow as they rustled. Occasionally 
 in the west the rosy tint was mixed with greenish 
 and yellow rays, never very brilliant that we saw, 
 but we did not see it at the very best, I believe. . . 
 The Bishop said he had not seen such a one for 
 twenty years. 
 
 Rose Hall, Fredericton, N. B. 
 8 May, 1869. 
 
 . . . This is our new nest ; it is a lovely summer 
 resting place. We take it by the month, and there 
 seems a fair prospect of our not having to move at 
 any rate for two or three months, but there is no 
 certain news for anybody as yet. . . . We get more 
 and more pleased with our present arrangements. 
 
132 Leaves from 
 
 It is a great point to have big airy rooms in the 
 hot summer here/ 
 
 June 14, 1869- 
 We have at last had a John Gilpin jaunt in our 
 honeymoon, and it has been enjoyable. . . The 
 contractor for the board of the men on lookout for 
 deserters to the States, stationed at the outpost at 
 Eel River, having fortunately chosen this lovely 
 season for failing to fulfil his contract, Rex had to 
 go there on business, and I accompanied him for 
 pleasure ! . . . We had never been " up river " 
 before, except ten miles or so in canoe. The 
 " boats " only run in the spring and autumn fresh- 
 ets. We left here at 5.15 a. m., and got to Eel 
 River about 2 p. m. (sixty miles or so). It was 
 lovely, though the " black fly " hardly left us alive ! 
 We spent the night at the inn, took the boat again 
 on Tuesday morning, and came down river (forty- 
 eight or fifty miles down). / landed at Crock's 
 Point, where Mr. Bowling met me in his '' wagon " 
 
 1 These desolate ruins are all that are now left of the Rose Hall 
 Mrs. Ewing knew and loved, as the place was destroyed by fire some 
 seven years ago. 
 
Mrs. Ewmgs ''Canada Homer 135 
 
 (the four-wheeled "gig" of the country), and Rex 
 went on to Fredericton for the Choral Society's 
 practice. At Douglas we had some dinner, and in 
 the afternoon Mr. D. having to visit a sick man in 
 his Keswick district, he, I, and Mrs, Dowling 
 squeezed into the wagon and drove eighteen miles 
 through lovely country, on such a beautiful evening. 
 I saw the Keswick Church (to the consecration of 
 which Rex went in the winter of 1867), a very nice 
 little one. Coming back poor Mr. D. had " hard 
 times " of it with me and his wife, for we had 
 brought a trowel, and we found " ladies' slippers " 
 and other treasures not so common close at hand, 
 and it seemed very doubtful if we could get home 
 before dark, though it is midsummer! Old " King," 
 Mrs. D.'s dog, was with us and enjoyed him- 
 self greatly. When we came in, we found Mr. 
 Hannington en route home from a drive in his 
 wagon. People exercise unlimited hospitality of 
 its quiet kind in the country, and he stayed all 
 night. We meant td go to bed very early, but we 
 ended in sitting up rather early! in the study, 
 discussing Tennyson, Handel, miracle plays, 
 
1 36 Leaves from 
 
 Jeremy Taylor, table turning, etc. Somebody 
 promised to " call " Mr. H., who had to drive fifteen 
 or sixteen miles to Jones's Island, where Rex was 
 to be deposited by the morning boat from Fred- 
 ericton. Happily he called himself, for we were 
 all too thoroughly done up to wake early. Mrs. D. 
 and I went out and botanized till a little after 
 dinner time, and then she and I got into the 
 wagon, packed my traps, took King, and bid 
 Dousflas adieu, and drove to Prince William. It 
 is about sixteen miles, and, as we had a " wait " at 
 the ferry, we did not get there till 8 p. m., when the 
 Hanningtons and Rex had almost given us up. 
 They had a roast turkey for us, and w^e had a capi- 
 tal dinner and were much refreshed, but so sleepy 
 all the evening that I discovered as in a dream that 
 Mr. Hannington was prizeman for botany at the 
 college here, and that he exhibited to me a very 
 ingenious press, and gave me some splendid speci- 
 mens of brown trillium. Again we all faithfully 
 promised to " call " each other, and rolled into bed. 
 We started off again next day, Mr. H. and I 
 packed into his wagon, Mrs. Dowling and Mrs. H. 
 
Mrs. Ezvi7tgs ^''Canada Homer 137 
 
 into the DowHngs' ; Rex rode the spare horse, and 
 away we went. It was a twenty miles' drive, and 
 part of the time the sun was very hot, and I had 
 to take off my grey cloak and put the table cloth 
 round me to turn the sun. As we crept up the last 
 hill (through country more like our moors, saving 
 that the hills and slopes are covered not with 
 heather but the illimitable forest), Mr. H. wildly 
 begged me to shut my eyes. I kept them closed 
 till we were on the summit and by the church. It 
 
 looks down on " Killarney on a larger scale," 
 
 says Rex, the distant ranges not so high in propor- 
 tion, but a wide, wide beautiful lake, dotted with fir 
 covered islands deep down in the valley below the 
 church. On the other side it looks down on an 
 ocean of unbroken forest, softening into purple and 
 blue with distance, but " woods, woods, woods." 
 Against this background far down the little quaint, 
 white-painted Magundy Church shines like a star; 
 around the church is a churchyard (if you knew 
 how often settlers bury their people in their own 
 gardens, etc., as if they were their old horses or pet 
 dogs, you would know the value of the sight !) full 
 
138 Leaves from 
 
 of white stones and with clumps of the apple-green 
 osmundas on the graves. All Saints will be a 
 very pretty church. (N. B. — It is not built of logs, 
 but of wood like the houses, and very pretty.) It 
 is roofed in, and is to be consecrated in September. 
 One grave is already in the churchyard, among the 
 wild strawberry blossom and the fern, that of a very 
 good girl and a communicant. We picnicked in the 
 valley below the lovely trees. Then we went on 
 to the lake, and it is lovely. The shore is gleaming 
 white sand {porphyry, says Mr. H., and it is lovely 
 stuff ; I brought a handkerchief full to put in my 
 aquarium). Out of the sand grow blueberry plants. 
 Mr. H. " whipped off " his shoes and stockings 
 and walked about so along the shore. When we 
 returned our horse had escaped, and the men had 
 to hunt for him. I dug up flower roots with 
 dogged persistency, though the mosquitos and 
 black fly bit me till I rushed madly to the lunch 
 basket, grabbed the butter, smeared my face and 
 hands all over, and — went back to the trilliums ! 
 Tell Stephen I saw fourteen different species of 
 fern that I knew in that one drive, and I got 
 
Mrs, Ewmgs " Canada Homer 1 39 
 
 pitcher plants (full of rain water!), etc. Well, we 
 got our horses, Mr. H. rode, and Rex drove me. 
 When we got back to All Saints I went over it, 
 and then went back into it again to use it as a 
 house of prayer for once, for the strange, sad feeling 
 is we shall probably never see it again. Coming 
 out, I found that Rex had been adjuring the old 
 iron grey " Dolly " on the subject of men and 
 beasts praising the Lord. He is delighted with the 
 church, and he and I are to give the prayer desk. 
 One of the people had prepared a tea for us at 
 Magundy, so we did not get home till nearly mid- 
 night, and twenty miles in the dark, through woods, 
 do seem U7icommo7ily long. Next day we drove 
 to the river bank, canoed to Jones's Island, took 
 the boat, and came home. 
 
 July II, 1869. 
 
 . . . On Wednesday evening I had the Cathe- 
 dral Choir and the members of Rex's Friday class 
 to tea, nearly forty people. I went into the 
 market and secured a lot of the wild strawberries, 
 which are just beginning, butter, etc., borrowed 
 china and glass of my friends, and all went off 
 
140 Leaves from 
 
 very successfully. The music (it was a practice) 
 was very good. I wish you could hear the move- 
 ment from Rex's anthem of " When the Lord 
 turned again the captivity of Sion " — " He that 
 now goeth on his way weeping." Mrs. Rowan 
 sings it beautifully, and the chorus of " They 
 that sow in tears shall reap in joy " was really 
 fine. . . . 
 
 July has been altogether an exciting month to 
 us. The paper I send will speak for itself as to 
 the second concert, which was most successful. 
 I only wanted some of your dear old faces to 
 reflect my pride and pleasure at the way people 
 heaped praise and applause on Rex's head. Mr. 
 Roberts broke down in reading the address, which 
 I now keep in a sacred drawer. It is a most ele- 
 gant affair, tied with red ribbon. But the upset- 
 ting thing was when the Bishop left the audience 
 and came up on to the platform. He had known 
 nothing about it, and his " say " was of course all 
 impromptu ; the newspaper does it no manner of 
 justice. When he turned his loving face on Rex 
 to bid him good bve, it was — well, what the 
 
Mrs, Ewmgs " Ca7iada Homer 141 
 
 whole thing was — almost more than one could 
 bear. We are going to scramble in another con- 
 cert before the month is out, if all be well, and 
 we suspect there is to be another ''demonstra- 
 tion" then!! 
 
 10 August, 1869. 
 
 Fredericion, N. B*^. 
 
 Our very dear Mother, — We would fain 
 spare you the uncertainty which is the shady side 
 of our wandering life. But (as we have often 
 reason to say) " one can't have everything." Up 
 to yesterday afternoon we hoped and believed that 
 this very day we should begin the journey that, 
 please God, is to end in the old nest; but it is 
 not to be for a little bit yet. We hope, however, 
 that it is only deferred for a few weeks. We felt 
 rather " knocked over " yesterday evening, but all 
 right to-day. I had rather dwelt on the joy of 
 sending you a telegram from Liverpool in place of 
 a letter across the Atlantic; but still we feel keenly 
 enough how much — how very much — we have 
 to be grateful for ; and if we are allowed to go 
 
142 Leaves from 
 
 home this time, I shall make few grumbles as to 
 route, vessel, everything else, I promise you ! 
 
 . . . On Tuesday evening the Choral Society 
 gave a small concert, where Sir James Carter sat 
 smiling in the front ranks, and Major Cox sat 
 meditative by the door! After the Hallelujah 
 Chorus, the Bishop came forward and in the 
 name of the society gave Rex a silver cup and 
 a watch chain. The cup is very light and artistic, 
 very pretty indeed, and beautifully engraved with 
 an inscription on one side, and a " design " of 
 musical instruments on the other. The chain is 
 simple and pretty. The people were wonderfully 
 kind, and are forever bemoaning our departure. 
 . . . It is very pleasant to get a kind word and 
 a hearty regret from every tradesman one pays 
 off and every friend we say good bye to. . . . 
 Poor Mrs. Medley broke down so bitterly in con- 
 gratulating me on going home to my mother, — 
 " She will be so proud of you both, and the love 
 you have won here ! " and the poor soul sobbed, 
 and did I not sympathize } 
 
 . . . Did I ever tell you of the Bishop's present 
 
Mrs. Ewings ''Canada Homer 143 
 
 to Rex? — two huge splendid volumes of Anthems, 
 etc., by Purcell and others, published by the 
 Motet Society, with an inscription in the first 
 page, — 
 
 "To Alexander Ewing, from his sincere friend, John 
 Fredericton. In remembrance of many happy hours 
 spent in the Service of the Church of God." 
 
 I am very proud of it, and it is a valuable work 
 in many ways. 
 
144 Leaves from 
 
 Letter to Major Ewiitg after the passing away 
 of his beloved wife, in 1885. 
 
 Fredericton, 
 St. John Baptist's Day, 1885. 
 
 My dear Major Ewing, — I hope I need not 
 assure you of our true sympathy under the heavy 
 affliction you have sustained, and our heartfelt 
 sorrow for a loss felt by thousands besides our- 
 selves. We have long feared that your dear wife 
 would break down under the mental strain of 
 writing what gave such infinite pleasure, not only 
 to children,. but to grown persons, and yet we felt 
 sure that it was a fire that could not be restrained, 
 and that the mind of true genius would consume the 
 frail body. We have followed as well as we could 
 every step as mourners, and through the " Guar- 
 dian " we seemed to be part of the procession and 
 to bear a bunch of flowers, though the wide sea 
 rolls between us. I never pass the little white 
 cottage without thinking of you both as we all 
 sat down to read a chapter in Hebrew, and we 
 
Mrs. Ewings " Canada Homer 145 
 
 shall never have again one to lead us in the 
 choir as you used to do. 
 
 We have had two other losses of dear friends 
 this year, — one most distressing, Col. F. Strang- 
 ways, and by the last mail we hear of the death of 
 Archdeacon Woolcombe, an old Exeter friend. Our 
 circle is indeed narrowing to a very small space. 
 Will you accept our kind love and sympathy, and 
 please to convey the same to her sister, who, I 
 understand, is still with you, and believe me 
 
 Your sincere friend, John Fredericton. 
 
 MRS. EWING S TOMB AT TRULL. 
 
 " . . // is the good, and not the great things, of my life that bring 
 me peace : or, rather, neither one tior the other, but the itndeserved 
 mercies of my 6"^^^ / " — Friederich's Ballad. 
 
■vlK'.-