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CHAPTER I....continued
The Irish, including Protestants and Catholics, are estimated at 100,000. The larger proportion of the Protestants were originally from the north of Ireland, or had left the United States after they had achieved their independence; and their descendants now possess nearly the whole of the counties of Colchester and Cumberland. They took up most of the lands from which the French Acadians were banished in the year 1755. That they should be prosperous and independent is consistent not only with the sturdy energy of their nature, but with the countenance and support which they received from the colonial authorities and home government. With them, as with their brethren in all the British colonies, things went favourably: not so with the Catholics, who had much to contend with, and everything to do for themselves.
A striking proof of the position of Irish Catholics in Nova Scotia--to which the vast majority emigrated under the most unfavourable circumstances--may be mentioned: namely, that of the 2,000 Catholic voters in the city and county of Halifax, all, or nearly all, own over 501. of real estate, and but very few of them claim the franchise through the annual payment of a rent of 501. and upwards.
The necessity of taking passage at Pictou for Prince Edward's Island brought me to that town, which is prettily situated on the shore of the harbour. The Irish do not, at least as yet, form any considerable proportion of the population, the Catholic congregation being little more than one hundred in number. But it would be difficult to behold anywhere a more remarkable instance of generous devotion to their faith than the Catholic Irish have displayed in this place, where they are so numerically weak. To the stranger entering the harbour the most striking object is a well-built brick church, with lofty spire surmounted by a gilded cross. This imposing structure--the first actually built in the town, though a handsome Protestant church was being erected in the October of 1866--is the work of the small Catholic congregation, whose zeal and liberality may be estimated from the fact that it has cost about 2,000l., the greatest portion of which was supplied from their own narrow resources. In an honest compatriot, Peter C----, to whom I speedily became known, I saw the type of the true-hearted Irishman, who not only maintained the character of his faith by his own conduct, but would make any sacrifice for the honour of his church.
Peter, commencing with little indeed, had worked his way with resolute energy, and was then a prosperous man, with something laid by for the rainy day. The new church, which the Archbishop was to consecrate in a few days after my departure, was the delight of Peter's heart; and from Peter I heard how grandly the little congregation responded to the appeal of their pastor, who, his Glengarry blood notwithstanding, had the face of a Spanish saint. Peter gloried in the site, at once beautiful and commanding--in the solid well-made bricks, and the manner in which they were laid--in the buttresses, which he patted with a caressing hand, as if he were encouraging them to do their duty faithfully; but, above all, in the steeple, which could be seen far and wide, `I collected 100l. myself from Protestants for it; and what is more, they helped to clear the foundations, which was done in a single day. 'Tis the blessed truth I'm telling you,' said my friend Peter, with emphatic triumph.
Peter, like all sober and steady Irishmen whom I have met with in America, had a keen relish for 'real estate,' and being already possessed of an odd 'lot' here and there, he had his eye on other bits in convenient sites,--I shall not say where, as in that case I should be deliberately violating the promise of strict secrecy imposed on me as the condition of his unreserved confidence. I trust Peter will have gratified the object of his honest ambition before these pages reach Pictou; but if not, he may feel sure that the identical `bits' will never be even indicated by me either to friend or foe.
Among the lions--the live lions--of Pictou to whom I was duly introduced by Peter, was the American Consul, and a most agreeable lion he proved to be; courteous and kindly, as all true American gentlemen are. The Major, for such was his rank, evidently held Peter in high esteem, and Peter repaid the Major's good opinion of him with liberal interest. Peter had previously held out to me the hope, based indeed on his own confident belief, that the Major would be good enough to favour me with an inspection of the many strange and curious things which he had collected, and which had more than once excited Peter's unaffected amazement. I was of course humbly hopeful that, through my friend's influence, I should be deemed worthy of so great a favour, though possessing only the questionable claim of a stranger and a traveller. The introduction effected, the application, made with modest boldness by Peter, met with instant success. 'Didn't I tell you how it would be?' whispered Peter, as we stood in the presence of the accumulated wonders. A nod, which eloquently expressed 'You did, sure enough,' was received by Peter as a satisfactory reply. The collection was really interesting, embracing many natural curiosities, including fossils, shells, minerals, reptiles, animals, birds, fishes, teeth of extinct animals, implements of savage warfare, evidences of bygone civilisation, and a variety of other matters.
All these wonders were explained and rendered intelligible to his visitors by the Major, who favoured us with a sufficient account of each. Peter's genuine admiration as he listened to the Consul, and then glanced at me, as if to witness the effect produced on my mind by the tooth of the megatherium, or the fossil with the impression of a plant, a shell, or a reptile, was every moment becoming warmer and more explosive. His 'Oh, Major!' grew more and more enthusiastic; but when the owner of the treasures exhibited in glass jars the various products derived from a particular description of coal, and Peter was assured that all those beautiful colours were produced by chemical action from a lump of coal such as he held in his hand, his 'Oh, Major!' was largely tinged with awe. He frankly declared that he had never seen the like in all his life, and was profuse in his acknowledgments for the kindness which, at his influential request, had been conferred on his friend, my unworthy self. The Major pleasingly varied the intellectual treat with refreshment of more material kind, to which neither Peter nor his companion proved insensible.
Under Peter's competent guidance, I sauntered through the town and rambled along the shore, and, with Peter as my companion, I sat on a piece of timber within a few feet of the water, which murmured in the tiniest wavelets on the beach, scarcely moved by the soft air of the Indian Summer, that harmonised deliciously with the exquisite colour of the sky, in which grey and blue were blended into an indescribable tint of loveliness; and while the sea murmured as it kissed the beach, and the soft air brought with it a sense of mental repose, I listened to Peter, who told of his trials and difficulties bravely met and manfully overcome, and gave me the benefit of his shrewdly expressed opinions on his race, their many virtues, their few but dangerous defects. 'This is a fine country for any man that's inclined to work, and able to work, and it's a man's own fault if he won't get along, and be respected, no matter who or what he is; but it's a bitter bad place for the drunkard anyhow, whether there is a good place for him in any country, which I am not sure there is,' added Peter doubtingly. Peter had an eye for the picturesque and beautiful as well as for choice bits of real estate, and was fond of the views to be seen from various points. Seated in Peter's comfortable 'trap,' gallantly bowled along by his well-trained and vigorous horse 'Charley,' I enjoyed many charming pictures of land and water, enhanced not a little by my companion's intelligent comments on men and things.
Peter insisted that I should not think of leaving Pictou without visiting what he held to be one of the wonders of the world--the mines at New Glasgow, at the other side of the harbour; and having nothing better to do, I closed with his offer to accompany me in my first subterranean adventure. So up at six, breakfast at seven, on board at eight, at New Glasgow in an hour after, and then on to the mines. As we crossed the harbour, Peter's glance rested lovingly on the red-brick church, the gleaming windows, the tall spire, and the glittering cross. 'Well, surely, it does look beautiful, out and out; and only to think how few of us there were to do it! Glory be to the Lord! It seems wonderful,' said Peter.
Arrived at the Albion Mine, permission to visit which had been previously obtained, Peter and I assumed the requisite but unbecoming costume, and were in rapid yet easy descent, under the cautious guidance of the head banksman, an Irishman from Wexford. To one who goes down into a mine for the first time, the aspect of everything in a quite new world is necessarily strange, and even startling. The meteoric lights, the long and murky galleries, the lofty chambers faintly illumined and replete with dense shadows, the rattle of the cars, the cries of the drivers, the stroke of the pick, and the other noises of a coal mine in active work--all produce for the moment a bewildering effect. Below as well as above were Irishmen employed in every capacity, the majority engaged in the ordinary manual labour, but not a few entrusted with positions of responsibility, or employed in work of a higher class.
The manager, Mr. Hudson, spoke of them in terms of praise, as steady, industrious, sober, and trustworthy. `There is a man,' said the manager, 'who came here a labourer; he has charge of property worth several thousand pounds. If he was not a good man, he would not be in that position. That man, like many more of his countrymen, has brought up a family with great care; and the young people are now profitably employed, some as engineers, some in other skilled branches.' Go in what direction I might, I met with a countryman. To an emigrant of eighteen years back I imparted the latest tidings from Dunmanway, in Cork county; to a 'boy' of thirty from Connemara I was able to communicate the agreeable intelligence that his old Parish Priest was 'alive and hearty,' which was received with `more of that to him!' and on assuring another 'boy,' not long from 'sweet Tipperary,' that the 'members stood by the people in Parliament,' he prayed `that the Lord might strengthen their endeavours, for, faith, the poor people wanted friends, sure enough.' The Irish took great pride in the celebrity of the mine, and the amazing depth of its working seam, over 44 feet; which was to be `shown to the world' at the Paris Exhibition by the pillar, 37 feet 10 inches in height, which was hewed from this magnificent bed of coal. They were as proud of that pillar as if they were the owners of the mine.
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