GALT GUELPH WAGGONER AT TABLE, 



161 



to a gentleman in Gait, whom we understood to be in the habit 

 of receiving the bearers of such letters coolly. In order to 

 guard against apparent disappointment, we delayed calling 

 with the letter till after dinner, and gave instructions for the 

 horses to be put to the waggon before we left the inn. Our 

 reception was, however, all w r e could have wished, being 

 asked to take wine, and tea, both of which we declined. 

 In conversation, we learned he had left his own residence to 

 avoid company, and building-lots in the village were not 



sold, for creating opposition to Mr s store. The prospect 



from Gait is pine forest of stunted growth, with a few strag 

 gling cedars on the margin of the river. We left Gait in 

 the afternoon, and reached Guelph at eight P.M. Next 

 day we rode into the township of Eramosa, and returned to 

 Guelph in time for dinner, and reached Gait in the evening. 



Guelph is finely situated on the river Speed, a branch of 

 the Grand River, and is well supplied with water from springs 

 as well as the river, which drives mills, and over which there 

 are two bridges. There are about fifty houses in the village, 

 only one of which is of stone. There is a market house 

 of wood, roughly finished, and without a stall or a frequenter 

 of any kind. Three considerable sized churches of different 

 sects, Catholic, Episcopalian, and Presbyterian, are being 

 erected. Three weeks previous to our arrival, a range of six or 

 seven wood houses had been burnt down, the brick chimneys 

 of which were standing. 



This village could boast of ruins, if not of antiquities. The 

 bridges over the Speed at Guelph, and the corduroy, were 

 decayed, and in a shameful state of neglect, alike marking the 

 worthless nature of the wood and insufficient road-way ma 

 nagement of the district. 



The inn at Guelph is a good establishment for the countryj 

 and greatly superior to that at Gait. Our waggoner break 

 fasted and dined at the public table, in company with twa 

 gentlemanly-looking persons, lately from England, without any 

 explanation from the landlord. The waggoner was a Lower 

 Canadian, of French descent, and strongly resembling in size 

 and feature the common description of Scotch peasantry. He 



