"O, _he_ stuck to his land, and he has now five acres cleared: and he's planted a bit of a garden, and he has two cows and a calf, and two pigs; and he's got his house comfortable--and stopped up the holes, and built himself a chimney." "That's well; but why are you not with him?" "O, he married again, and he's got two children, and I didn't like my stepmother, because she didn't use my sisters well, and so I came away." "Where are your sisters now?" "Both out at service, and they get good wages; one gets four, and the other gets five dollars a month. Then I've a brother younger than myself, and he's gone to work with a shoe-maker at London. But the man drinks hard--like a great many here--and I'm afeard my brother will learn to drink, and that frets me; and he won't come away, though I could get him a good place any day--no want of places here and good wages too." "What wages do you receive?" "Seven dollars a month and my board. Next month I shall have eight." "I hope you put by some of your wages?" "Why, I bought a yoke of steers for my father last fall, as cost me thirty dollars, but they wont be fit for ploughing these two years." (I should inform you, perhaps, that a yoke of oxen fit for ploughing costs about eighty dollars.) I pointed out to him the advantages of his present situation, compared with what might have been his fate in the old country, and urged him to avoid all temptations to drink, which he promised. "You can read, I suppose?" He hesitated and looked down. "I can read in the Testament a little. I never had no other book. But this winter," looking up brightly,--"I intend to give myself some schooling. A man who has reading and writing, and a pair of hands, and keeps sober, may make a fortune here--and so will I, with God's blessing!" Here he gave his whip a very expressive flourish. We were now near the summit of a hill, which he called Bear Hill; the people, he said, gave it that name because of the number of bears which used to be found here. Nothing could exceed the beauty and variety of the timber trees, intermingled with most luxuriant underwood, and festooned with the wild grape and flowering creepers. It was some time, he said, since a bear had been shot in these woods; but only last spring one of his comrades had found a bear's cub, which he had fed and taken care of, and had sold within the last few weeks to a travelling menagerie of wild beasts for five dollars. [Footnote 10: Of the commuted pensioners, and their fate in Canada, more will be said hereafter.] THE FUTURE OF CANADA.