"I consider,"
said he handsomely, "that it is a privilege." He clasped
his hands behind his back and threw out his chest.
"Opinions have differed in England as to the value of
the colonies, and the consequence of colonials. I say
here with pride that I have ever been among those who
insist that the value is very high and the consequence
very great. The fault is common to humanity, but we are,
I fear, in England, too prone to be led away by appearances,
and to forget that under a rough unpolished exterior may
beat virtues which are the brightest ornaments of
civilization, that in the virgin fields of the possessions
which the good swords of our ancestors wrung for us from
the Algonquins and the--and the other savages--may be
hidden the most glorious period of the British race."
Mr Hesketh paused and coughed. His audience neglected
the opportunity for applause, but he had their undivided
attention. They were looking at him and listening to him,
these Canadian farmers, with curious interest in his
attitude, his appearance, his inflection, his whole
personality as it offered itself to them--it was a thing
new and strange. Far out in the Northwest, where the
emigrant trains had been unloading all the summer,
Hesketh's would have been a voice from home; but here,
in long-settled Ontario, men had forgotten the sound of
it, with many other things.
Pages:
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303
304
305
306
307
308
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316