Part 20
At the time to which our recollections are just now transporting us, the windows of the part of the house that had been the store were always seen with the shutters closed. Mr. Wood was a bachelor; and it was no uncosy sight, towards the close of the shortening autumnal days, before the remaining front shutters of the house were drawn in for the evening, to catch a glimpse, in passing, of the interior of his comfortable quarters, lighted up by the blazing logs on the hearth, the table standing duly spread close by, and the solitary himself ruminating in his chair before the fire, waiting for candles and dinner to be brought in.
On sunny mornings in winter he was often to be seen pacing the sidewalk in front of his premises for exercise, arrayed in a long blue over-coat, with his right hand thrust for warmth into the cuff of his left sleeve, and his left hand into that of his right. He afterwards returned to Scotland, where, at Stonehaven, not far from Aberdeen, he had family estates known as Woodcot and Woodburnden. He died without executing a will; and it was some time before the rightful heir to his property in Scotland and here was determined. It had been his intention, we believe, to return to Canada.--The streets which run eastward from Yonge Street, north of Carleton Street, named respectively "Wood" and "Alexander," pass across land that belonged to Mr. Wood.
Many are the shadowy forms that rise before us, as we proceed on our way; phantom-revisitings from the misty Past; the shapes and faces of enterprising and painstaking men, of whose fortunes King Street hereabout was the cradle. But it is not necessary in these reminiscences to enumerate all who, on the right hand and on the left, along the now comparatively deserted portions of the great thoroughfare, amassed wealth in the olden time by commerce and other honourable pursuits,--laying the foundation, in several instances, of opulent families.
Quetton St. George, however, must not be omitted, builder of the solid and enduring house on the corner opposite to Mr. Wood's; a structure that, for its size and air of respectability; for its material, brick, when as yet all the surrounding habitations were of wood; for its tinned roof, its graceful porch, its careful and neat finish generally, was, for a long time, one of the York lions.
Mr. Quetton St. George was a French royalist officer, and a chevalier of the order of St. Louis. With many other French gentlemen, he emigrated to Canada at the era of the Revolution. He was of the class of the noblesse, as all officers were required to be; which class, just before the Revolution, included, it is said, 90,000 persons, all exempt from the ordinary taxes of the country.
The surname of St. George was assumed by M. Quetton to commemorate the fact that he had first set foot on English ground on St. George's day. On proceeding to Canada, he, in conjunction with Jean Louis, Vicomte de Chalus, and other distinguished _emigres_, acquired a large estate in wild lands in the rough region north of York, known as the "Oak Ridges."
Finding it difficult, however, to turn such property speedily to account, he had recourse to trade with the Indians and remote inhabitants. Numerous stations, with this object in view, were established by him in different parts of the country, before his final settlement in York. One of these posts was at Orillia, on Lake Couchiching; and in the Niagara _Herald_ of August the 7th, 1802, we meet with the following advertisement:--"New Store at the House of the French General, between Niagara and Queenston. Messrs. Quetton St. George and Co., acquaint the public that they have lately arrived from New York with a general assortment of Dry Goods and Groceries, which will be sold at the lowest price for ready money, for from the uncertainty of their residing any time in these parts they cannot open accounts with any person. Will also be found at the same store a general assortment of tools for all mechanics. They have likewise well-made Trunks; also empty Barrels. Niagara, July 23."
The copartnership implied was with M. de Farcy. The French General referred to was the Comte de Puisaye, of whom in full hereafter. The house spoken of still exists, beautifully situated at a point on the Niagara River, where the carriage-road between Queenston and the town of Niagara approaches the very brink of the lofty bank, whose precipitous side is even yet richly clothed with fine forest trees, and where the noble stream below, closed in towards the south by the heights above Lewiston and Queenston, possesses all the features of a picturesque inland lake.
Attached to the house in question is a curious old fire-proof structure of brick, quaintly buttressed with stone: the walls are of a thickness of three or four feet; and the interior is beautifully vaulted and divided into two compartments, having no communication with each other: and above the whole is a long loft of wood, approached by steps on the outside. The property here belonged for a time in later years to Shickluna, the shipbuilder of St. Catharines, who happily did not disturb the interesting relic just described. The house itself was in some respects modernized by him; but, with its steep roof and three dormer windows, it still retains much of its primitive character.
In 1805 we find Mr. St. George removed to York. The copartnership with M. de Farcy is now dissolved. In successive numbers of the _Gazette and Oracle_, issued in that and the following year, he advertises at great length. But on the 20th of September, 1806, he abruptly announces that he is not going to advertise any more: he now once for all, begs the public to examine his former advertisements, where they will find, he says, an account of the supply which he brings from New York every spring, a similar assortment to which he intends always to have on hand: and N. B., he adds: Nearly the same assortment may be found at Mr. Boiton's, at Kingston, and at Mr. Boucherville's, at Amherstburgh, "who transact business for Mr. St. George."
IMPORTS AT YORK IN 1805.
As we have, in the advertisements referred to, a rather minute record of articles and things procurable and held likely to be wanted by the founders of society in these parts, we will give, for the reader's entertainment, a selection from several of them, adhering for the most part to the order in which the goods are therein named.
From time to time it is announced by Mr. St. George that there have "just arrived from New York":--Ribbons, cotton goods, silk tassels, gown-trimmings, cotton binding, wire trimmings, silk belting, fans, beaded buttons, block tin, glove ties, cotton bed-line, bed-lace, rollo-bands, ostrich feathers, silk lace, black veil lace, thread do., laces and edging, fine black veils, white do., fine silk mitts, love-handkerchiefs, Barcelona do., silk do., black crape, black mode, black Belong, blue, white and yellow do., striped silk for gowns, Chambray muslins, printed dimity, split-straw bonnets, Leghorn do., imperial chip do., best London Ladies' beaver bonnets, cotton wire, Rutland gauze, band boxes, cambrics, calicoes, Irish linens, callimancoes, plain muslins, laced muslins, blue, black and yellow nankeens, jeans, fustians, long silk gloves, velvet ribbons, Russia sheetings, India satins, silk and cotton umbrellas, parasols, white cottons, bombazetts, black and white silk stockings, damask table cloths, napkins, cotton, striped nankeens, bandana handkerchiefs, catgut, Ticklenburg, brown holland, Creas a la Morlaix, Italian lutestring, beaver caps for children.
Then we have: Hyson tea, Hyson Chaulon in small chests, young Hyson, green, Souchong and Bohea, loaf, East India and Muscovado sugars, mustard, essence of mustard, pills of mustard, capers, lemon-juice, soap, Windsor do., indigo, mace, nutmegs, cinnamon, cassia, cloves, pimento, pepper, best box raisins, prunes, coffee, Spanish and American "segars," Cayenne pepper in bottles, pearl barley, castor oil, British oil, pickled oysters.
Furthermore, china-ware is to be had in small boxes and in sets; also, Suwarrow boots, bootees, and an assortment of men's, women's and children's shoes, japanned quart mugs, do. tumblers, tipped flutes, violin bows, brass wire, sickles, iron candlesticks, shoe-makers' hammers, knives, pincers, pegging awls and tacks, awl-blades, shoe-brushes, copper tea-kettles, snaffle-bits, leather shot belts, horn powder flasks, ivory, horn and crooked combs, mathematical instruments, knives and forks, suspenders, fish-hooks, sleeve-links, sportsmen's knives, lockets, earrings, gold topaz, do., gold watch-chains, gold seals, gold brooches, cut gold rings, plain do., pearl do., silver thimbles, do. teaspoons, shell sleeve buttons, silver watches, beads. In stationery there was to be had paste-board, foolscap paper, second do., letter paper, black and red ink powder and wafers.
There was also the following supply of Literature:--Telemachus, Volney's Views, Public Characters, Dr. Whitman's Egypt, Evelina, Cecilia, Lady's Library, Ready Reckoner, Looking Glass, Franklin's Fair Sex, Camilla, Don Raphael, Night Thoughts, Winter Evenings, Voltaire's Life, Joseph Andrews, Walker's Geography, Bonaparte and the French People, Voltaire's Tales, Fisher's Companion, Modern Literature, Eccentric Biography, Naval do., Martial do., Fun, Criminal Records, Entick's Dictionary, Gordon's America, Thompson's Family Physician, Sheridan's Dictionary, Johnson's do., Wilson's Egypt, Denon's Travels, Travels of Cyrus, Stephani de Bourbon, Alexis, Pocket Library, Every Man's Physician, Citizen of the World, Taplin's Farriery, Farmer's Boy, Romance of the Forest, Grandison, Campbell's Narrative, Paul and Virginia, Adelaide de Sincere, Emelini, Monk, Abbess, Evening Amusement, Children of the Abbey, Tom Jones, Vicar of Wakefield, Sterne's Journey, Abelard and Eloisa, Ormond, Caroline, Mercutio, Julia and Baron, Minstrel, H. Villars, De Valcourt, J. Smith, Charlotte Temple, Theodore Chypon, What has Been, Elegant Extracts in Prose and Verse, J. and J. Jessamy, Chinese Tales, New Gazetteer, Smollett's Works, Cabinet of Knowledge, Devil on Sticks, Arabian Tales, Goldsmith's Essays, Bragg's Cookery, Tooke's Pantheon, Boyle's Voyage, Roderick Random, Jonathan Wild, Louisa Solomon's Guide to Health, Spelling-books, Bibles and Primers.
Our extracts have extended to a great length: but the animated picture of Upper Canadian life at a primitive era, which such an enumeration of items, in some sort affords, must be our apology.
In the _Gazette_ of July 4, 1807, Mr. St. George complains of a protested bill; but consoles himself with a quotation--
Celui qui met un frein a la fureur des flots, Sait aussi des mechants arreter des complots.
Rendered rich in money and lands by his extemporized mercantile operations, Mr. St. George returned to his native France soon after the restoration of Louis XVIII., and passed the rest of his days partly in Paris and partly on estates in the neighbourhood of Montpellier. During his stay in Canada he formed a close friendship with the Baldwins of York; and on his departure, the house on King Street, which has given rise to these reminiscences of him, together with the valuable commercial interests connected with it, passed into the hands of a junior member of that family, Mr. John Spread Baldwin, who himself, on the same spot, subsequently laid the foundation of an ample fortune.
(It is a phenomenon not uninteresting to the retrospective mind, to observe, in 1869, after the lapse of half a century, the name of Quetton St. George reappearing in the field of Canadian Commerce.)
Advancing now on our way eastward, we soon came in front of the abode of Dr. Burnside, a New-England medical man of tall figure, upright carriage, and bluff, benevolent countenance, an early promoter of the Mechanics'-Institute movement, and an encourager of church-music, vocal and instrumental. Dying without a family dependent on him, he bequeathed his property partly to Charities in the town, and partly to the University of Trinity College, where two scholarships perpetuate his memory.
Just opposite was the residence of the venerable Mrs. Gamble, widow of Dr. Gamble, formerly a surgeon attached to the Queen's Rangers. This lady died in 1859, in her 92nd year, leaving living descendants to the number of two hundred and four. To the west of this house was a well-remembered little parterre, always at the proper season gay with flowers.
At the next corner, on the north side, a house now totally demolished, was the original home of the millionaire Cawthra family, already once alluded to. In the _Gazette and Oracle_ of June 21, 1806, Mr. Cawthra, senior, thus advertises:--"J. Cawthra wishes to inform the inhabitants of York and the adjacent country, that he has opened an Apothecary Store in the house of A. Cameron, opposite Stoyell's Tavern in York, where the Public can be supplied with most articles in that line. He has on hand also, a quantity of Men's, Women's, and Children's shoes and Men's hats. Also for a few days will be sold the following articles, Table Knives and Forks, Scissors, Silver Watches, Maps and Prints, Profiles, some Linen, and a few Bed-Ticks, Teas, Tobacco, a few casks of fourth proof Cognac Brandy, and a small quantity of Lime Juice, and about twenty thousand Whitechapel Needles. York, June 14, 1806." And again, on the 27th of the following November, he informs the inhabitants of York and the neighbouring country that he had just arrived from New York with a general assortment of "apothecary articles;" and that the public can be supplied with everything in that line genuine: also patent medicines: he likewise intimates that he has brought a general assortment of Dry Goods, consisting of "broad cloths, duffils, flannels, swansdown, corduroys, printed calicoes, ginghams, cambrick muslins, shirting, muslin, men and women's stockings, silk handkerchiefs, bandana shawls, pulicat and pocket handkerchiefs, calimancoes, dimity and check; also a large assortment of men's, women's, and children's shoes, hardware, coffee, tea and chocolate, lump and loaf sugar, tobacco, &c., with many other articles: which he is determined to sell on very low terms at his store opposite Stoyell's tavern." York, Nov. 27, 1806. (The Stoyell's Tavern here named, had previously been the Inn of Mr. Abner Miles.)
Immediately across, at the corner on the south side, was a depot, insignificant enough, no doubt, to the indifferent passer-by, but invested with much importance in the eyes of many of the early infantiles of York. Its windows exhibited, in addition to a scattering of white clay pipes, and papers of pins suspended open against the panes for the public inspection, a display of circular discs of gingerbread, some with plain, some with scalloped edge; also hearts, fishes, little prancing ponies, parrots and dogs of the same tawny-hued material; also endwise in tumblers and other glass vessels, numerous lengths or stems of prepared saccharine matter, brittle in substance, white-looking, but streaked and slightly penetrated with some rich crimson pigment; likewise on plates and oval dishes, a collection of quadrangular viscous lumps, buff-coloured and clammy, each showing at its ends the bold gashing cut of a stout knife which must have been used in dividing a rope, as it were, of the tenacious substance into inch-sections or parts.
In the wrapping paper about all articles purchased here, there was always a soupcon of the homely odors of boiled sugar and peppermint. The tariff of the various comestibles just enumerated was well known; it was precisely for each severally, one half-penny. The mistress of this establishment bore the Scottish name of Lumsden--a name familiar to us lads in another way also, being constantly seen by us on the title-pages of school-books, many of which, at the time referred to, were imported from Glasgow, from the publishing-house of Lumsden and Son.
A little way down the street which crosses here, was Major Heward's house, long Clerk of the Peace for the Home District, of whom we had occasion to speak before. Several of his sons, while pursuing their legal and other studies, became also "mighty hunters;" distinguished, we mean, as enthusiastic sportsmen. Many were the exploits reported of them, in this line.
We give here an extract from Mr. McGrath's lively work, published in 1833, entitled "Authentic letters from Upper Canada, with an Account of Canadian Field Sports." "Ireland," he says, "is, in many places, remarkable for excellent cock-shooting, which I have myself experienced in the most favourable situations: not, however, to be compared with this country, where the numbers are truly wonderful. Were I to mention," Mr. McGrath continues, "what I have seen in this respect, or heard from others, it might bring my graver statements into disrepute."
"As a specimen of the sport," he says, "I will merely give a fact or two of, not unusual success; bearing, however, no proportion to the quantity of game. I have known Mr. Charles Heward, of York," he proceeds to state, "to have shot in one day thirty brace at Chippewa, close to the Falls of Niagara--and I myself," Mr. McGrath continues, "who am far from being a first-rate shot, have frequently brought home from twelve to fourteen brace, my brothers performing their part with equal success."
But the younger Messrs. Heward had a field for the exercise of their sportsman skill nearer home than Chippewa. The Island, just across the Bay, where the black-heart plover were said always to arrive on a particular day, the 23rd of May, every year, and the marshes about Ashbridge's bay and York harbour itself, all abounded with wild fowl. Here, loons of a magnificent size used to be seen and heard; and vast flocks of wild geese, passing and re-passing, high in air, in their periodical migrations. The wild swan, too, was an occasional frequenter of the ponds of the Island.
XV.
KING STREET, FROM CAROLINE STREET TO BERKELEY STREET.
Returning again to King Street: At the corner of Caroline Street, diagonally across from the Cawthra homestead, was the abode, when ashore, of Captain Oates, commander of the _Duke of Richmond_ sloop, the fashionable packet plying between Niagara and York.
Mr. Oates was nearly connected with the family of President Russell, but curiously obtained no share in the broad acres which were, in the early day, so plentifully distributed to all comers. By being unluckily out of the way, too, at a critical moment, subsequently, he missed a bequest at the hands of the sole inheritor of the possessions of his relative.
Capt. Oates was a man of dignified bearing, of more than the ordinary height. He had seen service on the ocean as master and owner of a merchantman. His portrait, which is still preserved in Toronto, somewhat resembles that of George IV.
A spot passed, a few moments since, on King Street, is associated with a story in which the _Richmond_ sloop comes up. It happened that the nuptials of a neighbouring merchant had lately taken place. Some youths, employed in an adjoining warehouse or law-office, took it into their heads that a _feu de joie_ should be fired on the occasion. To carry out the idea they proceeded, under cover of the night, to the _Richmond_ sloop, where she lay frozen in by the Frederick Street wharf, and removed from her deck, without asking leave, a small piece of ordnance with which she was provided. They convey it with some difficulty, carriage and all, up into King Street, and place it in front of the bridegroom's house; run it back, as we have understood, even into the recess underneath the double steps of the porch: when duly ensconced there, as within the port of a man-of-war, they contrived to fire it off, decamping, however, immediately after the exploit, and leaving behind them the source of the deafening explosion.
On the morrow the cannon is missed from the sloop (she was being prepared for the spring navigation): on instituting an inquiry, Capt. Oates is mysteriously informed the lost article is, by some means, up somewhere on the premises of Mr. J. S. Baldwin, the gentleman who had been honoured with the salute, and that if he desired to recover his property he must despatch some men thither to fetch it. (We shall have occasion to refer hereafter to the _Richmond_, when we come to speak of the early Marine of York Harbour.)
Passing on our way eastward we came immediately, on the north side, to one of the principal hotels of York, a long, white, two-storey wooden building. It was called the Mansion House--an appropriate name for an inn, when we understand "Mansion" in its proper, but somewhat forgotten sense, as indicating a temporary abode, a place which a man occupies and then relinquishes to a successor. The landlord here for a considerable time was Mr. De Forest, an American who, in some way or other, had been deprived of his ears. The defect, however, was hardly perceptible, so nicely managed was the hair. On the ridge of the Mansion House roof was to be seen for a number of years a large and beautiful model of a completely-equipped sailing vessel.
We then arrived at the north-west angle of King and Princes streets, where a second public well (we have already commemorated the first,) was sunk, and provided with a pump in 1824--for all which the sum of L36 17_s._ 6_d._ was paid to John James on the 19th of August in that year. In the advertisements and contracts connected with this now obliterated public convenience, Princes Street is correctly printed and written as it here meets the eye, and not "Princess Street," as the recent corruption is.
Let not the record of our early water-works be disdained. Those of the metropolis of the Empire were once on a humble scale. Thus Master John Stow, in his _Survey of London, Anno 1598_, recordeth that "at the meeting of the corners of the Old Jurie, Milke Street, Lad Lane, Aldermanburie, there was of old time a fair well with two buckets; of late years," he somewhat pathetically adds, "converted to a pump."
Just across eastward from the pump was one of the first buildings put up on King Street: it was erected by Mr. Smith, who was the first to take up a building lot, after the laying-out of the town-plot.
On the opposite side, a few steps further on, was Jordan's--the far-famed "York Hotel"--at a certain period, the hotel _par excellence_ of the place, than which no better could be found at the time in all Upper Canada. The whole edifice has now utterly disappeared. Its foundations giving way, it for a while seemed to be sinking into the earth, and then it partially threatened to topple over into the street. It was of antique style when compared with the Mansion House. It was only a storey-and-a-half high. Along its roof was a row of dormer windows. (Specimens of this style of hotel may still be seen in the country-towns of Lower Canada.)
When looking in later times at the doorways and windows of the older buildings intended for public and domestic purposes, as also at the dimensions of rooms and the proximity of the ceilings to the floors, we might be led for a moment to imagine that the generation of settlers passed away must have been of smaller bulk and stature than their descendants. But points especially studied in the construction of early Canadian houses, in both Provinces, were warmth and comfort in the long winters. Sanitary principles were not much thought of, and happily did not require to be much thought of, when most persons passed more of their time in the pure outer air than they do now.