into his son’s defiant face and realized that he planned to side with his wife, no matter what.
“I’m sorry, Will, but the plan was that the farm would support the family and there’s no reason that it shouldn’t. As far as I can see you’ve made a success of your part of it, and now the rest of the family has to pitch in. From what I hear, your mother has been doing more than her share. I don’t see why Nabby can’t at least tend the chickens and make the butter. It’s not as if she has anything else to do.”
“Nabby can’t. She’s not strong enough. And she’s even more delicate now. She can’t go flaunting herself around town with a babe on the way. I won’t allow it.” Will’s face reddened a little at this — the news that they were expecting a child.
“An expectant mother should retire until after the blessed event,” Nabby added. “It’s not seemly to go out in company in this state.”
This was such utter nonsense that Lewis again was at a loss for words, but it also reflected something he was beginning to encounter on his long rounds — this idea that the natural processes that women went through were somehow shameful and should be kept from public view, as though no one wanted to admit where children came from in spite of the fact that they all arrived the same way. It went hand in hand with the notion of keeping women at home by the hearth, as though they were not partners in a marriage, but possessions, admired for their ability to produce children — but only after the fact, when the babes were safely delivered, never during or, strike even the thought of it, at the beginning of the process.
If only Sarah were here, he thought. She would have lit into her brother, booted her sister-in-law into action, and given them both a piece of her mind. He admired Betsy’s forbearance, for he could see that she was ready to explode but knew she shouldn’t and couldn’t, for it would only make matters worse.
“I see,” he said finally. “Very well. Something else will have to be done, then, won’t it? Right now the most important thing is to put money back into stock, and that means that you’re going to have to live on whatever the farm produced last season until the new crops come in. And I suggest that someone see to the chickens, if they haven’t all been picked off by hawks and weasels.”
“But I need new clothes,” Nabby said. “I don’t fit into my old ones anymore. And I need things for the baby, too. And what about Martha? She’s growing so fast, she grows right out of her things. Why I had to throw away her Sunday dress just last week.”
Lewis came very close to losing his temper then, but managed to say only, “Well, you’ll have to cut up your old dresses and sew them into something that will do for Martha and the infant as well. And if you have to spend the next few months in a grain sack, then that’s your look out. If there’s any money at all, it goes to the farm.”
Will’s face was a thunderous cloud. “I don’t see why we have to live like paupers.”
“You’re not exactly paupers, Will. This farm was producing enough to feed a family when I leased it, and it’s no fault of mine that it doesn’t anymore. No more expenditures until you set your house in order, do you understand?”
Will stormed out the door, Betsy looked dubious, and Martha started to cry. But it was Nabby’s reaction that flummoxed him. She sat at her needlework placidly, looking for all the world as though none of the discussion had anything to do with her.
II
The Old Waterloo Circuit included not only villages like Portland and Camden, but the town of Kingston as well. Though he was often occupied in the smaller villages for weeks, Lewis could catch up on the latest news as soon as he returned to the large town with its bustling market and busy harbour, overlooked by the grey limestone walls of Fort Henry.
His estimation of the lawyer Macdonald went up when he learned that he had somehow arranged for the repatriation of a number of the American Hunters, most of them no more than lads who had got caught up in the excitement without any real understanding of the consequences. Many of the rest were sentenced to be transported to Van Diemen’s Land, and Lewis reflected that between Mackenzie’s rebellion and this last incident, that faraway place must be positively teeming with Upper Canadians and close to overflowing with felons and rebels.
As expected, the leader, Von Schultz, and those officers who could be credited with authority were condemned to be hanged. Lewis inquired at the gates of the fort as to whether any of them required the ministrations of a Methodist preacher, but he was turned brusquely away. He looked in vain for the officer who had so obligingly signed the papers excusing him from militia duty, but he was nowhere in sight. Not surprising, he supposed, as soldiers were moved around so much.
It seemed that the people of Kingston had only just got over the excitement of imprisoning these notorious criminals when they were stirred up again by the report issued by Lord Durham, the man sent to find a solution to Britain’s colonial problems. To everyone’s surprise and astonishment, he laid the blame for the unrest squarely on the shoulders of the government, particularly noting the roles played by Sir Francis Bond Head and the Family Compact cronies who dominated the Executive Council of Upper Canada.
“It appears as if the rebellion had been purposely invited by the Government which then severely punished the unfortunate men who were deliberately trapped into taking part in it,” he wrote.
His recommendations were astounding. “Combine the two colonies, Upper and Lower Canada, give them a reasonable government and let them get on with it,” was the concise summation of the report, as pronounced by the stonemason with whom Lewis stayed when he was in Kingston. “Doesn’t sound like such a bad idea to me, provided we can keep the Pope out of our affairs.”
This was the one drawback to the whole scheme, as far as anyone could see — all those Catholics in the lower colony against all the good Protestants in the upper. But the English speakers of Quebec combined with the English speakers in Upper Canada were enough to outnumber those who claimed French as a mother tongue, and Durham seemed to think that they would all be assimilated in time anyway. He speculated that eventually the French in Quebec would be indistinguishable, in either language or religion, from the rest of the population. Lewis wasn’t so sure. His own church was meant to have been assimilated by the Wesleyans, but the forced marriage was teetering on the brink of annulment, and Methodists like himself stayed staunchly Episcopal. Change didn’t happen easily, just because someone wished for it.
Generally, though, people warmed to the idea of turning two colonies into one, especially when it was revealed that, in spite of the disparity in numbers, there would be an equal representation for each — a decision that could well work to Upper Canada’s advantage. Lewis began to hear the phrase “responsible government” bandied about in almost every conversation.
There was even some talk that Kingston itself might become the capital of the newly fledged union of Canada East and Canada West. The young queen would have the final say, of course, but with its new penitentiary and its strategic location at the southern end of the Rideau Canal, the city stood a good chance of being considered for the honour. There was even some speculation that the Presbyterians might realize their long-held dream of establishing a university. All that was needed was for the Queen to grant the charter.
Thaddeus wasn’t surprised that the Presbyterians were campaigning. The Methodists already had their own academy at Cobourg. The Anglicans had established their institution at Toronto, close to the current seat of colonial government. They paid little attention to the older city at the eastern end of the lake. If Kingston were to become the capital, though, there would be a scramble to re-establish themselves closer to the centre of power, and then the Presbyterians could probably
