wondered at the
width of the St Lawrence and at where all the water came from to dash
down its rapids, but this great lake surprised us more, with its
sea-gulls and big white painted ships bowling along. Mr Auld remarked
the county of Ayr would be but an island in it, and Mr Brodie that you
might stick Glasgow in a corner and never know it was there were it not
for the reek. Many were the surmises as to how the master had got on, if
he had got land, if he would meet us, and what our next move would be.
The mistress shared in none of their anxiety. She was calm in her
confidence of her husband's ability and energy. She was convinced he had
secured land and that he would be waiting on the wharf when the steamer
sailed into Toronto. They were what every married couple ought to be--of
one mind and one heart. Our first sight of Toronto pleased us all, and
we had a long view of it, sailing round the island before reaching the
entrance to the harbor. Our eyes were strained as we came near the wharf
in the hope of picking out master among the people who crowded it. All
of a sudden Robbie shouted Father, and a man waved his hand, whom, as
the boat drew closer in we all recognized. The sailors were still
hauling the steamer into her berth, when Mr Brodie shouted 'Have you got
land?' Yes, was the reply. 'Thank God!' ejaculated Mr Brodie, and we all
said the same in our hearts; the relief we felt only emigrants, after a
weary journey, to a strange country can know. Pressing round the master,
with Ruth in his arms and Robbie pulling at his coat tails, he said he
had got land, not far from Toronto, and had secured carts to move us
that day to take possession. First of all, he said, we will have dinner.

Here I stopped. It was my youngest daughter who insisted on my telling
How I Came to Canada, and I had consented on condition she would write
down what I said, for I am a poor penman and no speller. Recalling what
had happened in my early life, and I did so generally as I lay in bed in
my wakeful hours, I dictated to Mary as she found leisure. On reading
over what she had written I had only one fault to find with her
work--she had not taken down the Scotch as I had spoken it. She had put
my words, so she said, into proper English. She protested against my
halting in my narrative with the arrival at Toronto, and insisted I go
on and tell of our life in the backwoods. I cannot resist her pretty way
of pleading with me when she wan