106 &quot;LAKE SIMCOE. 



CHAPTER XIV. 



Excursion to Lake Simcoe Hope David Willson Meeting-house 

 Tenets of the Children of Peace Northumberland Farmer 

 Soil Notices Excursion to Niagara Scenery of Lake Ontario 

 Return to York. 



NEXT day my friend D and I set out for Lake Simcoe 



by the Newmarket stage, passing along a road called Younge 

 street, a small part of which was Macadamized, in the vicinity 

 of York. At Richmond hill, our dinner consisted of roast 

 beef alone, so tough that my friend remarked the animal must 

 have died in the- yoke from distress. Human teeth could 

 make little impression on it, and I satisfied hunger with bad 

 bread and water, thankful that keenness of appetite exceeded 

 my nicety of palate. At Newmarket we were disappointed at 

 learning the steam-boat, passing round Lake Simcoe once a- 

 week, had left Holland-landing shortly before our arrival, and 

 there was no other possible mode of conveyance ; I therefore 

 committed letters to people residing on the margin of the lake 

 to the post-office. 



In the morning we were conveyed in a waggon round the 

 neighbourhood of Newmarket, our first stage being the vil 

 lage of Hope, known also by the name of Davidstown, the 

 residence of a religious sect called the &quot; Children of Peace,&quot; 

 founded by^David Willson. It is upwards of four miles from 

 Newmarket, and consists of sixty or seventy houses scattered 

 up and down. Not finding Mr Willson at his house, where 

 we saw his wife, a thin yellow sickly looking person, we pro 

 ceeded to the counting-room, a fanciful building, which was 

 open, and no one within. Mr Willson being pointed out on 

 the street, I introduced myself as a stranger anxious to see 

 his place of worship, to which he dryly assented. He 

 asked if I belonged to government, and on learning the object 



