met with the hearty
approval of all his neighbours, and for some years each Sabbath
afternoon saw most of the neighbours collected together for the best
mode of worship within their reach. The bush settlements at this period
were much infected by bears, and they often proved very destructive to
the crops of the early settler, and also a cause of no little fear. I
believe the instances have been rare when a bear has been known to
attack a person, although it has happened in some cases; but the
immigrant has so often listened to exaggerated accounts regarding the
wild animals of America, that those who settle in a new section of
country find it difficult to get rid of their fears. On one occasion
when the Sabbath meeting met at Mr. Ainslie's house, Mrs. Ainslie urged
her mother to remain and partake of some refreshment before setting out
on her walk homeward. "Na, na," replied the old lady. "I maun e'en gang
while I ha'e company, I dinna expec' to leeve muckle longer at ony rate,
but wouldna' like to be eaten by the bears;" and for several years the
one who ventured alone to the house of a neighbour after dark was looked
upon as possessing more courage than prudence. But although the settlers
often came across these animals, on the bush-road, I never heard of one
being attacked by them. An old man, upon one occasion, returning in the
evening from the house of friends, and carrying in his hand a torchlight
composed of bark from the cedar tree, met a large bear in the thick
woods. Being asked if he was not frightened, he replied, "Deed I think
the bear was 'maist frightened o' the twa', for he just stood up on his
twa hind legs, and glowered at me for a wee while till I waved the torch
light toward him, when he gi' an awfu' snort, and ran into the woods as
fast's ever he was able, an' I cam awa' hame no a bit the war, an' I
think I'll never be sae' muckle feared about bears again." But these
early settlers certainly found these animals very troublesome from their
frequent depredations upon their fields of grain, and they often spent a
large portion of the night watching for them, prepared to give them
battle, but it was not often they saw one on these occasions, for these
animals are very cunning, and seem at once to know when they are
watched. It sometimes also happened that during the early period of this
settlement people lost their way in the bush while going from one house
to another. A woman once set out to go to the ho