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CHAPTER VI....continued
There is still living in Hamilton, Western Canada, as Vicar-General of the diocese, an Irish priest--Father Gordon, from Wexford--who has witnessed astonishing changes in his time. He has seen the city founded, and the town spring up; the forest cleared and the settlement created; the rude log chapel, in which a handful of the faithful knelt in the midst of the wood, replaced by the spacious brick church in which many hundreds now worship. And not only has he witnessed astonishing changes, but he has himself done much to effect the changes which he has lived to see accomplished. It is now about thirty-seven years since he came to Toronto, then a small place, and known by the name of Little York. Bishop McDonnell, a Scotchman, was the first Catholic Bishop of the diocese, at that time of immense extent. Father O'Grady, a Cork man, was stationed at Little York, and though even at that time the position of the Irish Catholic was miserable in the extreme, Father O'Grady was a favourite with the authorities: and indeed such were his social qualities and charm of manner, that no dinner party was considered complete without his genial presence. Father Gordon had charge of the back townships, twenty-four in number. We may appreciate the extent of his spiritual jurisdiction when we learn that a township comprised an area of twelve miles square; and Father Gordon had to attend twenty-four of these!
Irish Catholics there were, scattered through this vast territory--very nearly all of which was in its natural state, as it came from the hand of God; but they were few and far between, hidden in the recesses of the forest, most of them not having seen a priest for years, perhaps since they left their native home. Many of these had worked on the Erie Canal, and had come to Canada and taken land to settle. The fewer in number brought some little money with them, but generally their wealth consisted of provisions, which they had to carry on their backs through the woods, a distance of thirty, forty, even fifty miles. So long as the provisions lasted, they cut away and cleared; but as soon as the stock was near being exhausted they returned to the States, and went again on the public works. And thus they worked and laboured until they raised sufficient food to be independent of the merchant and the storekeeper. At this day these men are amongst the most prosperous in Canada.
The townships of Adjala and Tecumseth, in the county Simcoe, are amongst the most Irish and Catholic of any in Upper Canada. When Father Gordon became acquainted with them, there were in both but thirty or forty families, and these were scattered in every direction. Few were the visits which he could make in each district of his far-extended mission; he was in one place this Sunday and a hundred miles in an opposite direction the following Sunday. But the visit of the clergyman was an occasion of jubilee, in which all participated. About the time his arrival was expected, scouts would be on the watch to give the first notice of his approach, and if there were a hill-top in the neighbourhood, a signal fire would spread the glad intelligence to the anxious colony. With joyous cries, and clapping of hands, and eloquent sobs, the pious people would hail the priest, as his wearied horse bore him into their midst; and catching the contagion from them, the travel-worn missionary would forget his long journey and his many privations at the spectacle of their devotion and the cheering accents of their Irish welcome. Sheep and poultry, and even oxen, would be sacrificed by the prosperous settler, who was proud to have his home selected for the 'station;' and after confessions had been heard and Mass celebrated, and Communion received, then would follow the abundant breakfast, of which all partook, and then the grand dinner, for which such slaughter had taken place; and those whom long distance had kept for months apart would now rejoice in the opportunity of talking of the old country and former times, while the priest was appealed to on every side, as the best and surest authority as to what was going on in the world at the other side of the Atlantic, especially in Ireland--that spot to which every heart turned with unceasing love.
In 1833 Father Gordon determined to commence the work of church building in the forest, and his first effort was successfully made on the confines of Adjala and Tecumseth, where he resolved on erecting a log church. Assembling the people, he asked them to assist him in the good undertaking. They were delighted with his proposal, and willingly placed themselves at his command.
`There is one thing, boys, you must also promise me,' said the priest.
`Why, then, whatever it is, your reverence, we'll promise it, sure enough.'
`Well, boys,' continued Father Gordon, `whiskey is like the devil--it is the father of mischief, and you know it is one of the greatest enemies of our race and country. It makes the best friends fall out, and it is the cause of violence and murder.'
A chorus of voices--'True for your reverence--'tis the blessed truth.'
`Well, then,' continued the good pastor, 'I want you to join me in performing one of the most acceptable works which man can perform for his Creator; that is, to raise a temple to His honour and glory, in which you and your children can worship the Great Being who has watched over you, and protected you and yours in the midst of this forest. I ask you to consecrate this great work by an act of self-denial which will be pleasing in His sight. I want you to promise me that you will not drink a drop of anything this day but water from that beautiful spring, fresh and sparkling from the hand of God, while you are engaged in erecting the temple to His honour. Promise me this, and you will have a blessing on your work, and you will bring gladness to the heart of your priest.'
The promise so solemnly solicited was given with one impulse, and it was religiously kept. Animated by the right spirit, the brave fellows addressed themselves to their labour of love; and so earnestly did they work that they cleared an ample space, as if by magic, and before the night set in they had erected a log church, 50 feet by 30, on the same spot on which now stands one of the finest ecclesiastical buildings in Canada. While the work was proceeding the poor priest was attacked with ague, and he was compelled to lie at the foot of a great tree on a couch constructed of the coats of the hardy church-builders. When the crisis, passed he was again in their midst, assisting them by advice or cheering them by a kindly word; but during that clay he was frequently driven beneath the pile of clothing by a new paroxysm of his disorder. In a similar manner the same indefatigable priest erected six other churches in the course of three years: and so careful was he in selecting the best sites, as to position, convenience, and conspicuousness, that in every case these primitive structures have been replaced by good churches, solidly built, with comfortable dwellings for the priests attached. These churches, erected in the midst of the forest, are now every Sunday surrounded by forty or fifty 'waggons,' many of them with a pair of good horses, the property of the substantial yeomanry, nay the gentry of the country, who, little more than a quarter of a century since, were penniless emigrants, with no friend save Providence, and no capital other than their strength, their industry and their intelligence. Let us take one of these pioneers of civilisation as an instance of what in those days they had to endure.
It is now about thirty years since an honest hardworking Irishman determined to go into the woods, and there make a home for himself and his wife and infant child. He had not, as he afterwards used to declare, `as much as a half-crown in the world.' He however managed to take, and pay for by instalments, 100 acres of land, then covered with forest. Hiring himself to a farmer at some distance, he was enabled to purchase a stock of provisions and an axe; and, thus provided, he resolutely faced the wilderness, and there erected a shanty for himself and his little family. Like others similarly circumstanced, he then commenced to hew down the trees that overshadowed his primitive dwelling. Having effected a certain amount of clearing, he would again seek for such employment as enabled him to renew his stock of provisions; and thus alternately working abroad for others and at home for himself, this sturdy settler gradually succeeded in making a home for his now increasing family. His first crop of wheat, raised from the small patch which he had then cleared, he was compelled to carry on his back to the nearest mill, to be ground into flour. The distance was thirty miles--not of road or river, but through the dense forest, at that time but rarely intersected by open paths.
Returning on one occasion with the customary bag of flour on his back, the night overtook him while he was still far away from home. Blindly stumbling about in every direction, he fell, and, perhaps owing as much to the burden he carried as to the manner in which he came to the ground, broke his leg. Here was indeed a sad position!--in the midst of a lonely forest infested with wolves, away from all human assistance, and writhing in exquisite pain. There he lay for the whole night, moaning helplessly in agony of mind and body, as he thought of his young wife and his little children, far away from friendly assistance, and of the wild terror which his unaccountable absence would be sure to occasion. He was fortunately discovered next morning by a settler, who was attracted by his cries of distress, and who assisted in conveying him to his almost distracted family. For some months he lay helpless in his cabin, full of anxiety as well as pain; but no sooner was he once more able to be on his legs than he was again at work.
That man never ceased his hard toil till he had cleared his first lot, of 100 acres, and added time by time to his property; and he is this day the possessor of 900 acres of as good land as any in Canada, as well as the owner of saw mills and grist mills, in which the inhabitants of the neighbourhood may grind their corn. Toronto was over twenty miles distant from his log cabin, and when he first settled in the bush it was only at rare intervals that he had a visit from the priest. It was his custom to go to the city as often as he could, to perform his religious duties; and as, for the first years of his settler's life, he could not afford to purchase a horse, he was compelled to walk the whole of the way. When he brought one of his children with him to Mass, which it was his habit to do, in order, as he said, to make a strong religious impression on their youthful minds, he would divide the journey into two stages, and making the house of a friend his resting-place for the Saturday night, would set out at break of day on Sunday morning, holding his boy by the hand, or bearing him on his back. He would thus arrive some time before Mass commenced, so as to prepare for Communion, which he received with edifying piety; and after a brief rest and refreshment he would face towards his friend's house, his resting-place for the night. Nor was the good Irish father disappointed in his hopes of his children, all of whom grew up strong in the faith. Three of his sons received a collegiate education, and are now amongst the most respected members of the society in which they creditably move.
Father Gordon spent half his time in the saddle; and though he spared neither himself nor his horse--but himself much less than his horse--it was with the utmost difficulty that he could visit the more distant portions of his mission oftener than twice or thrice a year. Many a time did the active missionary lose his way in the midst of the woods, and after hours of weary riding find himself, in the dusk of the evening, in the very same spot from which he set out in the morning! His safest plan was to leave himself to the discretion of his trusty companion, that rarely failed him; thus, when puzzled as to the path, or rather track, he would throw the bridle on his horse's neck, and at the end of some time he was sure to be brought up before a cottage door, which was generally opened to him in welcome, for even those not of his faith respected the zealous 'Irish minister.' There was, however, one occasion when his reception was of a very different nature; and as the circumstances of the case are remarkable, it deserves to be told. I may say that I heard it the first time in Toronto from a warm admirer of the fine old priest, and afterwards in Hamilton from his own lips.
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