armer Harry, as we will call my young friend, had now three instead
of two hundred acres to attend to, but he had a flock of sheep, a pair
of oxen, the _span_ of horses I brought for him, several cows, much
poultry, and a whole drove of pigs, with barns full of wheat, peas,
hay, and oats; an excellent garden, a fine little brook full of trout
at his door, plenty of meadow, and his harvest just over.

To help him, he had a hired man, who drove the oxen and assisted in
ploughing; and to bring in his harvest there were three hired
labourers, at two shillings and sixpence a day each, and their food
and beds, with two maid-servants, one to assist in the dairy. Labour,
constant and toilsome labour, was still necessary in order to make the
farm pay; for there is no market near, and everything is to be bought
by barter.

Salt, tea, sugar, and all the little luxuries must be had by giving
wheat, peas, timber, oats, barley, the fleeces of the sheep, salted
pork, or any other exchangeable property; and thus constant care and
constant supervision of the employed, as well as constant personal
labour, are requisite in Canada on a farm for very many years, before
its owner can sit down and say, "I will now take mine ease."

The female part of the family must spin, weave, make homespun cloth,
candles, salt the pork, make butter for sale, and even sell poultry
and eggs whenever required; in short, they must, however delicately
brought up, turn their hands to every thing, to keep the house warm.

The labour of bringing home logs for fuel in winter is not one of the
least in a farm, and then these logs have to be sawed and split into
convenient lengths for the fireplaces and stoves.

But all this may be achieved, if done cheerfully; and, to show that it
can, I will add that, amidst all this labour, my young friend was
building himself a dam, where the beavers, in times when that politic
and hard-working little trowel-tailed race owned his property, had
seen the value of collecting the waters of the brook. He was repairing
their decayed labours, for the purpose of washing his sheep, of
getting a good fish-pond, and of keeping a bath always full for the
comfort of his family.

What a change in ten years! The forest, which had been silent and
untrodden since the beavers first heard afar off the sound of the
white men's axes, was now converted into a smiling region, in which a
prattling brook ran meandering at the foot of gently swellin