The descendants of the ancient Canadian colonists re tain all the politeness, sprightliness, and easy manners of the old French, from whom they are sprung.
They are healthy and robust in early- life, and, when urged by necessity, capable of enduring patiently the greatest fatigues ; but they soon lose their strength, and begin to have an aged appearance. Every man in the country is his own tradesman, intelligent in his own affairs, and not liable to be easily overreached. They are naturally lively and thoughtless ; and hence, perhaps,yather chargeable with inconstancy and ingrati trade. The landhold( rs arc (I( scribed, as how s', Ito pit bk., religious, inoffensive, modest an I civil ; but ( x treni•ly indolent, and strongly attached to ancient int-in dices. Contentment of mind and mildnes; of dispr•,ition are said to constitute the leading t•; turns of the it cha racter. The country people still rc Alt, limn a tin it ancient simplicity, in point of doine•aie accommodation, and mode of living. The furniture (.1 'heir habitations is generally of thew own workinal ip, nd of con e quence is seldom very ornamental. Their principal article of food con ,ists of pease soup, with a small tity of pork boiled in it, and a di di of thick sour mill, They sometinn•s indulge theniselvt s n ith a little tea 6 coffee ; but, in these cases, the frying pm is genert.113 made to perform the office of a tea-kettle. worn and children seldom use any other driA, than milk and water, but the men are till passionately fond of rum ; and few of them, when they go to mai ket v. HI their commo dities, return home perketly sob( r. Their addl.( ss to strangers is more polite and unimbarrassed, than that of any peasantry in the world. " It adds greatly ," says • recent and intelligent writer on this cot.rr•to th • comfort of travelling in Canada, that you arc every where treated with the greatest politeness and attention."—" A Canadian landlady, the moment you stop, receives you at the door with a degree of politeness and urbanity, which is as unexpected, as it is pleasing ; Voulez vous Monsieur, avoir la complaisance d'entrer; voila une chaise, Monsieur, asscyez vous s'il vous plait. If they have got any thing you want, it is given at once with a good grace. If they have not, they tell you so in such a tone and man ner, as to show that they are sorry for it. Jc n'en ai point, Monsieur; 81144 mortific." "Indeed you need never be at a loss for it house to stop at. There is not a farmer, shopkeeper, nay, nor even seigneur, or country gentle man, who, on being civilly applied to for accommodation, will not give you the best bed in the house, and every ac commodation in his power." Grey's Letters from Cana da, p. 126.
The following character of the French settlers, con trasted with that of the British or American, and from a pen, which must be considered as sufficiently impartial, may prove interesting and even instructive to our readers. That the description may have its full effect, N% e shall adhere very closely to the words of its ingenious and lively author. "The American settler, of English or German descent, naturally cold and phlegmatic, sedately forms a plan of managing a farm. lie turns his mind, not ardently, but without ceasing, to every thing conducive to its formation or improvement. If, as some travellers have laid to his charge, be be comes idle, it is not till he has obtained the object of his pursuit, what he considers as a competency. The Frenchman, on the contrary, with his troublesome and restless activity, is led by enthusiasm, or some sudden fit, to undertake a project, of which he has calculated nei ther the expellee nor the difficulties. More ingenious, perhaps, he rallies the slowness of his German or Eng lish rival, which he compares to that of an ox ; but the German or the Englishman will answer with his cool good sense, that the patience of the ox is better adapted to the plough, than the fire of the mettlesome racer. And in fact it often happens, that the Frenchman. after having undone, corrected, and altered what he had begun, and harassed his mind with desires and fears, is at length dis gusted, and relinquishes the whole. The American
settler, slow and silent, does not rise very early ; but • ' when he has once risen, he spends the whole of the day in an uninterrupted series of useful labours. At break fast, he coldly gives orders to his wife, who receives them with coldness and timidity, and obeys them without contradiction. If the weather be fair, he goes out,ploughs, fells trees, makes fences, or the like : if it be wet, he take's an inventory of the contents of his house, barn, and stables ; repairs the doors, windows, or locks ; drives nails, makes chairs or tables ; and is constantly employed in rendering his habitation secure, convenient, and neat. With these dispositions, sufficient to himself, he will sell his farm if an opportunity offer, and retire into the woods, thirty or forty miles, to form a new settlement. There he will spend years in felling trees, making for himself first a hut, then a stable, then a barn ; clearing the ground and sowing it, &e. His wife, patient and serious as him self, will second his endeavours on her part, and they will remain sometimes six months without seeing the face of a stranger. But, at the expiration of four or five years, they will have acquired an estate, that ensures a subsistence to their family. The French settler, on the contrary, rises early in the morning, if it be only to talk of it. He consults his wife on what he shall do, and listens to her advice. It would be a miracle if they were always of the same opinion ; the wife argues, opposes, disputes ; the husband insists upon or yields the point, is irritated, or disheartened. Sometimes his house is irksome to him, and he takes his gun, goes a shooting or a journey, or to chat with his neighbours. At other times, he stays at home, and spends the time in talking with good humour, or in quarrelling and scolding."—" This alone is one of the most distinguishing and characteristic features of the two nations ; accordingly, the more I re flected on the subject, the more I am persuaded that the domestic silence of the Americans is one of the most radical causes of their industry, activity, and success in agriculture, commerce, and the arts ; and the same ap plies to the English, Dutch, and other people of the north, from whom they are descended. In silence they con centrate their ideas, and have leisure to combine them, and make accurate calculations of their cxpcnces and returns. They acquire more clearness in their thoughts, and consequently in their expressions. Hence there is more decision in their conduct, both public and private, and it is more to the point. On the contrary, the French man, with his perpetual domestic chattering, evaporates his ideas, submits them to contradiction, excites around him the tattling of women, backbiting, and quarrels with his neighbours ; and finds at length he has squandered away his time, without any benefit to himself or his family." cc This moral and physical dissipation must have a p"articular efficacy in rendering the mind superfi cial ; for having several times questioned the frontier Canadians respecting the distances of times and places, or measurt s of magnitude or capacity, I have found that, in genera!, they had no clear and precise ideas ; that they received sensations without reflecting on them ; in short, that they knew not how to make any calculation, that was e er so little complicated."—" But there is not a single _American settler, who does not give with precision the number of miles, or hours, and weights and measures, in feet or yards, pounds or gallons ; and who does not very readily make a calculation of several actual or con tingent elements. Now this kind of practical science has very important and extensive consequences in all the operations of life ; and it may surprise my reader to be mformed. that it is much less common among the French, even in Europe, than he would be disposed to imagine." Volney's View of the United States, p. 383, &c.