e,
especially in the situation of our land, which has increased in value
very considerably; our chief difficulties are now over, at least we hope
so, and we trust soon to enjoy the comforts of a cleared farm.

My husband is becoming more reconciled to the country, and I daily feel
my attachment to it strengthening. The very stumps that appeared so
odious, through long custom, seem to lose some of their hideousness; the
eye becomes familiarized even with objects the most displeasing till
they cease to be observed. Some century hence how different will this
spot appear! I can picture it to my imagination with fertile fields and
groves of trees planted by the hand of taste;--all will be different;
our present rude dwellings will have given place to others of a more
elegant style of architecture, and comfort and grace will rule the scene
which is now a forest wild.

You ask me if I like the climate of Upper Canada; to be candid I do not
think it deserves all that travellers have said of it. The summer heat
of last year was very oppressive; the drought was extreme, and in some
respects proved rather injurious, especially to the potatoe crop. The
frosts set in early, and so did the snows; as to the far-fa_med Indian
summer it seems to have taken its farewell of the land, for little of it
have we seen during three years' residence. Last year there was not a
semblance of it, and this year one horrible dark gloomy day, that
reminded me most forcibly of a London fog, and which was to the full as
dismal and depressing, was declared by the old inhabitants to be the
commencement of the Indian summer; the sun looked dim and red, and a
yellow lurid mist darkened the atmosphere, so that it became almost
necessary to light candles at noonday. If this be Indian summer, then
might a succession of London fogs be termed the "London summer," thought
I, as I groped about in a sort of bewildering dusky light all that day;
and glad was I when, after a day or two's heavy rain, the frost and snow
set in.

Very variable, as far as our experience goes, this climate has been; no
two seasons have been at all alike, and it is supposed it will be still
more variable as the work of clearing the forest goes on from year to
year. Near the rivers and great lakes the climate is much milder and
more equable; more inland, the snow seldom falls so as to allow of
sleighing for weeks after it has become general; this, considering the
state of our bush-roads,