Full of Hope and Promise: The Canadas in 1841McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP, 1991 - 169 pagina's As in his popular earlier book Beyond the River and the Bay, the bulk of the story is told by a character of Ross' invention, Ian Alexander Bell Robertson. Robertson, an Edinburgh gentleman born at the end of the Scottish enlightenment, acquired a deep sympathy for the displaced crofters and agricultural labourers of the Scottish Highlands. He lived in Quebec City between 1840 to 1842 to prepare a study of the Canadas intended either as a guide for the immigrant or, as Ross feels more likely, a record of the colonies at the moment they united and embarked on a promising future together. While Ross himself sets the work in historical context and explains the use of a fictitious author, it is Robertson, a keen observer, who describes in detail numerous aspects of Canadian life in 1841: transportation, communications, social institutions and customs, life on the new farms, and the relationship between the French and English residents of the colonies -- a relationship which in many ways resembles that of today. Throughout the book, Ross has interspersed snippets of information and illustration to supplement Robertson's writings. Scrupulously researched and easily accessible, Full of Hope and Promise will interest anyone wishing to know more about everyday life in Upper and Lower Canada at the time of the 1841 Union. |
Overige edities - Alles bekijken
Veelvoorkomende woorden en zinsdelen
American arrived become bees boats Britain British building Bytown Caledonia Springs camp meeting Canadian Scenery Catholic Champlain church colonies common Cunarders Edinburgh emigrants English Eric Ross Ericsson especially French Canadians Historical Society Hôpital Général horses hospital House immigrants improvement J.P. Cockburn James Silk Buckingham John Kingston labour ladies Lakes land large number Literary and Historical live locks London Long Sault Lord Sydenham Lower Canada merchants Metropolitan Toronto Metropolitan Toronto Reference migrants miles Montreal navigation newspapers Niagara officers old country Ontario Ottawa Ottawa River passengers patients penitentiary poor prisoners propeller province railway rapids Rideau Canal river Ross Robertson Collection sailing Scotland Scottish settlement settlers ships sleigh Society of Quebec soldiers spirit St Lawrence St Louis steam steamers streets Susanna Moodie tion Toronto Reference Library trade union United Upper Canada Upper Town market visitors W.H. Bartlett Watercolour winter