The Canadian Brothers; Or, The Prophecy Fulfilled: A Tale of the Late American War — Volume 1Richardson, Major (John)
History
The Canadian Brothers; Or, The Prophecy Fulfilled: A Tale of the Late American War — Volume 1
Richardson, Major (John)
United States -- History -- War of 1812 -- Fiction; War stories
adoration towards the Creator. Here is to be heard,
neither the impertinent coxcombry, of the European self
styled exclusive, nor the unmeaning twaddle of the daughter
of false fashion, spoiled by the example of the said
exclusive, and almost become a dowager in silliness,
before she has attained the first years of womanhood. No
lack-a-daisical voice, the sex of which it is difficult
to distinguish, is attempted to be raised in depreciation
of the party to which it had been esteemed too great an
happiness to be invited, the evening before; nor is the
bride of last week heard boastingly to deplore, the
enormous sums lost within the last week, at the private
gaming table of her dear friend, the Duchess of this, or
the Countess of that. One half of the party address not
the other in doled accents of fashionable friendship, in
one key, and abuse them piteously in another. No sarcastic
allusion seeks to stamp with ridicule, the amusement in
which the utterer is embarked, as if a sense of shame
attached to the idea of being amused, by that which
affords amusement to his associates; nor is the manner
of the actors, that, of people suffering an infliction
rather than participating in a pleasure. The sneer of
contempt--the laugh of derision--is no where to be heard;
neither is the pallid brow, and sunken cheek, the fruit
of late hours and forced excitement to be seen. Content
is in each heart, the flow of health upon each face. All
appear eager to be happy, pleased with each other, and
at ease with themselves. Not that theirs is the enjoyment
of the mere holiday mind, which grasps with undiscerning
avidity, at whatever offers to its gratification, but
that of those, on whom education, acting on innate good
breeding, has imposed a due sense of the courtesies of
life, and on whom fashion has not superseded the kindlier
emotions of nature. These at least WERE traits of
simplicity, peculiar to Upper Canada, at an early period
of its settlement. What they are now, we pretend not to
determine.
Several of these pic-nics had taken place among the party
at Detroit, confined, with one or two exceptions, to the
officers of the garrison, and the family of Colonel
D'Egville, with their American inmates; and it was proposed
by the former, that a final one should be given a few
days prior to the embarkation in Gerald Grantham's new
command, which lay waiting in the river for the purpose.
The Major remaining as hitherto at home, under the
guardianship of the benevolent Mrs. D'Egville, whose
habits of retirement disinclined her to out door amusement.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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