Page:Public School History of England and Canada (1892).djvu/237

 by pounding the grain in the hollow of a hard-wood stump, or by using a steel hand-mill, provided in these days by the Government. Instances were not rare of a man trudging forty miles to get a bushel of wheat ground by a grist-mill, and then trudging home again with his load lightened by the miller’s toll. Roads were few and rough, made, as they were, through the woods. Frequently there was nothing more than a “blazed” path for the foot-traveller or the solitary horseman. In other places swampy and low ground was bridged over by logs laid side by side, forming the famous “corduroy roads” our fathers and orandfathers tell about, and the remains of which are to be found in many localities to-day. The daily life of these hardy people (for they usually had good health and strong frames) was very simple and free from luxury of any kind, unless the abundance of game and fish may be called such. They wore home-made clothing, had very rude furniture, often, also, home-made, and rode in carts and sleds drawn by oxen. Yet, notwithstanding these hardships, they lived happy, contented lives. They were very sociable with their few neighbours, helped each other in their “logging bees,” and their house and barn “raisings,” which gatherings were sometimes marred by the rather free use of distilled liquors. Once in a long time, they were visited by a travelling preacher, who, by almost incredible toil, made his way to the “sheep” scattered in the “wilderness.” Then, in some rude log-cabin, the few settlers gathered together to listen to a sermon, have their children baptized, and perchance, other solemn religious rites performed. Of education, there was little or none. Not that the settlers despised it, but the inhabitants were too few, too busy, and too poor to employ competent teachers and send their children to school after they could help on the farm. Later on, as we shall find, the Government tried to help the people in this respect, but the aid they got for many years was of little value. Old and worn-out pensioners took to teaching to get a scanty livelihood, and paid for their “board” and small salary by giving the youths of the school district a very imperfect knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic. The salary of the teacher was too small to enable him to pay for his board, so it was arranged that he should “board around” among the different families sending their children to the school. The prudent teacher usually managed to spend the most of his time in the homes where the most comfort prevailed.