“Under these circumstances, it has become a prevailing opinion, and maintained by many as an indisputable maxim, that a Canadian proprietor cannot cultivate with advantage by means of hired servants, but must himself perform the full task of a common labourer. Those only are represented in the way of well-doing who have constantly in their hands the axe or the plough, whose ladies are seen milking the cows, churning, and performing the humblest menial offices. We must frankly say that, if such be the necessary lot of a settler in Canada, we cannot but concur with Captain Hall in thinking it unfit for the class now in consideration. Can it be supposed that a young man, accustomed to refined society, should renounce friends and country, and remove to a remote land, not to improve his condition, but to reduce himself to the level of a common labourer? How can he expect a fair partner, accustomed perhaps to value somewhat too highly the immunities of a refined society, to share with him so hard and humble a lot? We most readily admit that the labouring classes have within their reach the best blessings of life, and are often happier than those called their superiors. Still the desire of exemption from bodily toil, and of enjoying a portion of the conveniences and elegancies of life, is natural, and has a salutary effect in stimulating to activity and invention. The lively author of the “Backwoods,” a zealous advocate of the working system, admits the hardship of a young gentleman, employed to “chop down trees, to pile brush-heaps, split rails for fences, dressed in a coarse over-garment of hempen cloth called a logging shirt, and a Yankee straw hat flapped over his eyes.” We cannot help thinking that this ingenious lady is somewhat too severe on those of her own sex who, without her internal resources and powers of reflection, could not accommodate themselves to the hard and dreary life consequent upon this system. In short, we may observe, that if land in Canada will pay nothing but the mere manual labour put upon it, it is fitted only for the peasant settler, and can never afford an income for a person of better rank. This opinion seems confirmed by the judgment of the learned lady herself, when, after an experiment of three years, she concludes, that for a gentleman a small income is almost indispensable,—a good one desirable; this last a case not very likely to occur.