13 AUGUST 1853, Page 19

LIFE IN THE CLEARINGS versus THE BUSH. * This title is

rather inaccurate. Mrs. Moodie's new work does not present the same practical picture of daily life and family ad- venture among gentlemen colonists, who have been wise enough to settle upon a cleared farm with plenty of neighbours in a similar position, as her .Roughing it in the Bush exhibited of the struggles of a half-pay officer in attempting the part of a backwoodsman and clearing the forest himself. Something of Canadian life among the I better classes in or near towns is delineated, and descriptions are 1 given of Kingston and Toronto. In an account of Belleisle, where Mrs. Moodie resides, the reader is presented with a view of the changes which a few years make in Upper Canada in a settlement that succeeds ; and many sketches of Colonial manners and amuse- ments are found in the volume. As a whole, however, Life in the Clearings wants spontaneity and a sense of reality. There is too much of digression and disquisition,—as in an article on Wearing Mourning for the Dead, and another on Education. Tales, rather laid in America than closely illustrative of the writer's avowed I object, and partaking too much of the common magazine story, are introduced. They want closeness, strength, and dramatic character. The effort of the writer to impart connexion to her papers has contributed to give the book something of the made-up character it undoubtedly possesses. The framework is a voyage on Lake Ontario and the Niagara river from the writer's residence to the Falls. As long as the articles introduced are directly connected with the journey,—as the districts or the cities on the banks of the lake, which the steamer sees or calls at,—the description is appropriate. When night or some other interruption is made an excuse for spinning a yarn or introducing a discussion, the artifi- cial character of the scheme is too apparent. It would have been better to limit the book directly to the voyage, or to have pub- lished the papers as what they are—a series of tales and sketches relating to Canada. I Although Life in the Clearings is not entitled to take high rank either as a book usefully informing respecting a new country or as a production of pure belles lettres, some useful information will be found in it, and a good deal of light and pleasant reading respect- ing Canadian life and manners. The following, however, is not a pleasant picture of the rising generation's contempt for age. Mrs. Moodie is inclined to ascribe it in part to the intellectual difference between the old colonists, who have come from the British Isles without education, and their children, whom the gains of their parents has educated. It may be so, although that does not say much for the sort of education given in Canada ; but the same thing takes place in the United States, where the remark does not apply.

"Tired and ill, I was glad to lie down in one of the berths in the ladies' cabin to rest, and, if possible, to obtain a little sleep. This I soon found was out of the question. Two or three noisy spoiled children kept up a constant din ; and their grandmother, a very nice-looking old lady, who seemed nurse-general to them all, endeavoured in vain to keep them quiet. Their mother was reading a novel, and took it very easy ; reclining on a comfort- able sofa, she left her old mother all the fatigue of taking care of the chil- dren and waiting upon herself. "This is by no means an uncommon trait of Canadian character. In families belonging more especially to the middle class, who have raised themselves from a lower to a higher grade, the mother, if left in poor cir- cumstances, almost invariably holds a subordinate position in her wealthier son or daughter's family. She superintends the servants, and nurses the younger children ; and her time is occupied by a number of minute domestic labours, that allow her very little rest in her old age. "I have seen the grandmother in a wealthy family ironing the fine linen or broiling over the cook-stove, while her daughter held her place in thi; drawingroom. * * *

"Age in Canada is seldom honoured. You would imagine it almost a crime for any one to grow old—with such slighting cold indifference are the aged treated by the young and strong. It is not unusual to hear a lad speak of his father, perhaps in the prime of life, as the 'old fellow,::v/aeer

old boy,' and to address a grey-haired man in this disrespectful and familiar manner. This may not be apparent to the natives themselves, but it fails to strike every stranger that visits the colony. " To be a servant is a lot sufficiently hard—to have all your actions dic- tated to you by the will of another—to enjoy no rest or recreation, but such as is granted as a very great favour; but to be a humble dependent in old age on children, to whom all the best years of your life were devoted with all the energy of maternal love, must be sad indeed. But they submit with great apparent cheerfulness, and seem to think it necessary to work for the

shelter of a child's roof and the bread they eat. • • • " You are wrong, sir, it is not so'—` Mamma, that is not true; I know better,' are expressions which I have heard with painful surprise from young people in this country : and the parents have sunk into silence, evidently abashed at the reproof of an insolent child."

• Life in the Clearings versus the Bush. By Mrs. Moodie, Author of " Roughing it in the Bush," &c. Published by Bentley. As in the United States, and all new colonies where life is fre- quently risked and time is too much occupied to be given to re- flection, death is little thought of. In the following anecdotes, the unsophisticated Canadians appear not to have learned to affect the solemn on appropriate occasions. "It is certain that death is looked upon by many Canadians more as a matter of business, and a change of property into other hands, than as a real domestic calamity. I have heard people talk of the approaching dissolution of their nearest ties with a calm philosophy which I never could comprehend. 'Mother is old and delicate ; we can't expect her to last long,' says one. My brother's death has been looked for these several months past ; you know he's in the consumption.' My husband asked the son of a respectable farmer, for whom he entertained an esteem, how his father was, for he had not seen him for some time. I guess,' was the reply, that the old man 'a fixing for the other world.' Another young man, being asked by my friend Captain — to spend the evening at his house, replied—' No, can't—much obliged ; but I'm afear'd that grandfather will give the last kicks while I'm away.' "