A hundred things enter into the list of what constitutes home comforts. But spare, indeed, were the articles to be found upon the kitchen shelves. Plain enough, was the spread table, at which the family gathered morning, noon, and night. Many had but one or two dishes, often of wood, rudely made out of basswood; and spoons of the same material. Knives and forks in many families were unknown. A few families had brought a very limited number of articles for eating, relics of other days, but these were exceedingly scarce. The wooden spoon was the most common table article with which to carry food to the mouth. By and by the pedlar brought pewter spoons, and once in a while the settler procured pewter and moulds and made spoons for himself. VARIOUS HARDSHIPS. Apart from the suffering arising from want of food, and clothing to wear, and furniture to make the house comfortable, there were others of more or less magnitude. It would naturally be expected that one of the first dangers in entering a wilderness, would be from the Indians, whose territory was being occupied. But in the main this evil was not added to their other distress. The considerate and just policy pursued by the British Government, left the Indians no cause of complaint, and they did not at any time assume an hostile attitude toward the infant colony. But that curse of the human race,—baneful curse to the Indians, alcohol, came with the white man; and, too often, the unscrupulous trader, and merchant would, not only sell the fire water to them, but rely upon its intoxicating qualities, to consummate more excellent bargains for furs. The evil thus inflicted upon the Indian, returned in some cases, upon innocent pioneers. The Indians under the influence of liquor are particularly savage and ungovernable; prone to exhibit their wild nature. Thirsting for the liquor, they would sometimes enter dwellings, when they knew the men were absent, and endeavour to intimidate the women to give them rum. A few instances of alarm and actual danger, come to us, among the bay settlers. At one time particularly, there arose a wide spread alarm, (long remembered as the “Indian alarms,”) that the Indians were, upon some fixed night, when the men were away to Kingston mills, going to massacre the settlers. This arose from some remarks, let fall by a half drunken Indian. A few of the settlers, did actually leave their homes, and sought protection in a more thickly settled locality, while active steps were taken to defend their homes against the Indians. Mrs. Dempsey, of seventh township, gathered up what she could, and with her children crossed in a canoe to the eighth township. On another occasion, when her husband was absent, several half drunken Indians came to the house, and one stepping up to where she sat, trembling with fear, and with her little ones nestling close to her, drew his knife, and cutting a piece from the palm of his hand, held the bleeding wound