Author: Susanna Moodie

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2017-10-31

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 9780260027955

Excerpt from Roughing It in the Bush, Vol. 1 of 2: Or, Life in Canada IN most instances, emigration is a matter of necessity, not of choice and this is more especially true of the emigration of persons of respectable con nections, or of any station or position in the world. Few educated persons, accustomed to the refinements and luxuries of European society, ever willingly re linquish those advantages, and place themselves beyond the protective influence of the wise and revered institutions of their native land, without the pressure of some urgent cause. Emigration may, indeed, generally be regarded as an act of Severe duty, performed at the expense of personal enjoy ment, and accompanied by the sacrifice of those local attachments which stamp the scenes amid which our childhood grew, in imperishable characters upon the heart. Nor is it until adversity has pressed sorely upon the proud and wounded spirit of the well educated sons and daughters of old but impoverished families, that they gird up the loins of the mind, and arm themselves with fortitude to meet and dare the heart-breaking conflict. The ordinary motives for the emigration of such persons may be summed up in a few brief words 5 the emigrant's hope of bettering his condition, and of escaping from the vulgar sarcasms too often hurled at the less wealthy by the purse-proud, common place people of the world. But there is a higher motive still, which has its orig1n In that love of independence which springs up spontaneously in the breasts of the high-souled children of a glorious land. They cannot labour in a menial capacity in the country where they were born and educated to com mand. They can trace no difference between them selves and the more fortunate individuals of a race whose blood warms their veins, and whose name they hear. The want of wealth alone places an impassable barrier between them and the more favoured Off spring of the same parent stock; and they go forth to make for themselves a new name and to find another country, to forget the past and to live in the future, to exult in the prospect of their children being free and the land of their adoption great. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.