Roughing It in the Bush or Life in Canada (Virago/Beacon Travelers)

A bit of rough sloughing. Didn't read the poetry.

This is one of those classic Canadian books that most Canadians have heard of but I wonder how many have read. I've had this copy in my possession for over 7 years but it was the impetus of Canada's sesquicentennial and the CBC list of 100 True Stories that Make You Proud to Be Canadian that pushed

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me to pick this as my first read of 2017.

Susanna Moodie and her husband J. W. Dunbar Moodie (JWDM) emigrated from Britain in 1832 to Canada. JWDM had been a captain in the British army and then farmed in South Africa. He received half-pay as a retired captain but when he returned to England and married Susanna Strickland he realized that would not be enough to support a family in England. He had intended to return to South Africa after his marriage but Susanna was afraid of the wild beasts there. So they chose to go to Canada where JWDM would receive a grant of 400 acres of land as a British officer. Susanna's brother and her sister were living on land north of Peterborough and that was where JWDM received his grant. They spent seven years living in the bush in total. JWDM's experience farming in South Africa did not do him much good in Canada and Susanna was totally unused to pioneer life. Although Susanna continually bemoans their lack of funds they did have sufficient to always hire a maid for the house and they often also had a farm hand. But it is no doubt that they really did "rough it" during their sojourn in the bush. JWDM was called up to put down William Lyon Mackenzie's rebellion of 1837 and he stayed on with the miliitia for some time after. The salary he received enable him and Susanna to pay down debts accumulated but when his time with the militia came to an end they would again have a hard time. Fortunately (thanks to Susanna writing to the governor) JWDM was offered the job as a sheriff located in the thriving community of Belleville. That was the saving of the family which had then grown to include 5 children.

The style of writing is so old-fashioned. Each chapter is prefaced and concluded with a verse or a complete poem composed by the author or JWDM or, in one instance, Susanna's brother. Although, at the time of writing, the poetry was probably perfectly common it now seems quaint and overdrawn. Then there is the habit of only using the first initial for people's names and even towns. I can understand that the names might belong to people still alive when the book was first written and so, to avoid law suits, they needed to be obscured. However, I can't really understand why the town of Cobourg was shown as C_______ especially when Peterborough was shown in full and the Moodies journeyed north from C______ to Peterborough. Anyone with a map could figure out that the town on Lake Ontario that the Moodies started from could figure out it was Cobourg. Once you get your head around the old-fashioned style it does add some verisimilitude to the story and thus it is a "True Story that Makes You Proud to be Canadian".

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I must admit I was disappointed that there wasn't an overall narrative, the book is a series of sketches and episodes. Entertaining in its way but I wanted more of the camera focused on the Moodies than what was portrayed. But still worth reading, gives a broad picture of life in Ontario in this

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era. Rough, beautiful and very dangerous at times.

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