“Oh! the glory of it—to rescue the man I loved.” (See page 298)
Copyright, Canada, 1915, By
THE MACMILLAN COMPANY OF CANADA, LIMITED
To
MY MOST PATIENT CRITIC
PREFACE
The purpose of this story is to form someimpression of salient facts and tendencies inCanadian life, and to show its strength, andthrough its strength, its weakness. So Iplanned before the gods ruled for war, andthe soldiers began to write history with thesword which, despite Lytton, is proved infinitelymightier than the pen.
However, here is the book, and I hope thereader will not be sorry to meet again oldfriends. Elsie has—though she does not intendit—a serious purpose.
The English have never truly understoodthe Colonial.
In May of last year (1914) a writer in theTimes said that he had lived in Canada fora number of years, and was satisfied thatCanada was becoming Americanized, becausethe Canadian talked with an American accent.It was possible that what he saw and regardedwith alarm is what I have here drawn ingentle satire. Society is our bane; and a newsociety is certain to be, in many respects,intolerable. The craze for, and hunt after,society is not limited to any country; itis a world-wide weakness. The Snob is—asThackeray showed us—ubiquitous.
As to my references to the Spread-Eaglecitizens of the United States, I have had accessto two books, The Loyalists of Massachusetts,by John H. Stark, Boston, published by himself,and The True History of the AmericanRevolution, by Sydney George Fisher, (Lippincott).These are remarkable books; and aknowledge of the contents of either wouldgo far to enable an Englishman to measurethe Canadian’s attitude towards the UnitedStates. The story these books tell parallelsthat set forth in the press, as shown by theonslaught of German hordes into Belgium.The outstanding difference is that whereas theGermans cry “Kultur” the Yankees yelled“Liberty.” The Archives of the United Statestell of 30,000 cases of outrage against theLoyalists which, I fancy, is a greater numberthan can be laid at the door of the Huns.
The books mentioned are significant of apopular move. That this move should haveoriginated in the “Land of the Free” is remarkable.That popular appreciation shouldhave been held from the Canadian so long isdeplorable. That recognition has been withheldfrom Canadians is shown by the after-dinnerspeech made a few years ago at NewYork, by a noble Lord. The gentleman I referto is reported to have said in effect: “TheRevolutionists would have been unworthy oftheir ancestors had they not taken up arms.”Th