SIMCOE 



5387 



SIMMS 



JOHN GRAVES SIMCOE 



face the hardships of the earlier Loyalists who 

 had settled in Canada. He was a man of great 

 energy, and personally supervised the building 

 of roads and bridges. Simcoe, too, was largely 

 responsible for 

 the removal of 

 the capital from 

 Newark to To- 

 ronto, and he 

 camped in a tent 

 on the site of the 

 future city until 

 better quarters 

 could be pro- 

 vided. Lake Sim- 

 coe and the town 

 and county of 

 Simcoe in Ontario were named in his honor. 



After leaving Canada in 1796, Simcoe was 

 governor of Santo Domingo for nearly two 

 years. In 1806 he was appointed commander- 

 in-chief in India, but returned home almost at 

 once on account of illness and died in England. 

 He was created lieutenant-general in 1798. 



Consult Scott's John Graves Simcoe. 



SIMCOE, LAKE, a small lake in Ontario 

 about midway between Georgian Bay and Lake 

 Ontario. It has an area of 271 square miles, 

 a length of thirty miles and a maximum width 

 of eighteen miles. Its surface is about 130 feet 

 above Georgian Bay, into which its surplus 

 waters flow through Lake Couchiching and the 

 Severn River. Lake Simcoe is a delightful sum- 

 mer resort, and its many pretty islands and 

 densely-wooded shores are studded with cot- 

 tages and villas. During the winter the lake 

 freezes over sufficiently to provide a thorough- 

 fare and also to supply Toronto and other near- 

 by cities with a large part of their summer's 

 supply of ice. Barrie and Orillia are the prin- 

 cipal towns on its banks. 



Lake Simcoe is of considerable historic in- 

 terest. In the days of the coureurs-de-bois it 

 was on the main route from the east to Lake 

 Huron and Fort Mackinac. This route began 

 with a long portage from the site of Toronto, 

 on Lake Erie, to Lake Simcoe. After crossing 

 Lake Simcoe the trappers again portaged to 

 the Nottawasaga River, and down the river to 

 Georgian Bay. This region was the scene of 

 the great war in which the Iroquois practically 

 exterminated the Huron Indians. The lake was 

 named for John Graves Simcoe (which see). 



SIMILE, sim'ilee, a figure of speech in 

 which some resemblance between two objects 

 essentially different is pointed out by means of 



some definite word, as like or as. It is this 

 explicit statement of the comparison which dis- 

 tinguishes it from the metaphor. Such com- 

 monly used expressions as "She ran like a 

 deer," "It was as sudden as lightning" are 

 similes, but all figures of this class are not so 

 simple. The so-called Homeric simile is a long, 

 involved comparison, worked out beyond the 

 point where real resemblance ceases. 



Often similes become so much a part of 

 everyday speech and thought that the specific 

 word of comparison, like or as, is dropped, and 

 the figure becomes a metaphor. Thus, when 

 a crafty, cunning man was first described in 

 the words "He is like a fox," the figure was 

 doubtless striking; but the resemblance has 

 come to be taken so completely for granted 

 that the metaphor, "He is a fox," is much the 

 more natural expression to use. See FIGURE 

 OF SPEECH. 



SIM 'LA, the capital of the district of Simla, 

 in the province of the Punjab, India, and the 

 summer capital of British India. Because of 

 its situation on a spur of the Himalaya Moun- 

 tains, 7,000 feet above sea level, and its cool, 

 healthful climate, a great number of Euro- 

 peans from all parts of India make it their 

 temporary residence during the hot season. The 

 viceroy of India and his assistants retire from 

 the capital to Simla early in the summer, and 

 several government officials have established 

 permanent headquarters there. In the place 

 there are many picturesque villas, churches, 

 institutions, schools, hotels, clubs and banks. 

 The town is about 170 miles north of Delhi, 

 and since 1903 has had connection with the 

 Peninsular railway system. Permanent popula- 

 tion, about 15,000; summer population, about 

 35,000. See PUNJAB. 



SIMMS, WILLIAM GILMORE (1806-1870), an 

 American novelist and poet, with the excep- 

 tion of Edgar Allan Poe the most brilliant man 

 of letters produced by the South before the 

 War of Secession. For spirited narrative, vivid 

 description and faithful portrayal of local con- 

 ditions, nothing excels his border romances of 

 the Southwest Guy Rivers, Border Beagles 

 and Beauchampe; his story of Indian warfare 

 in the early days of the Carolinas Yemassee; 

 or his tales of the Revolutionary War Melli- 

 champe, The Scout, Woodcraft and others. In 

 these romances he shows himself a disciple of 

 Cooper. He was also a successful writer of 

 short stories, the best of which may be found 

 in the two volumes published under the title 

 The Wigwam and the Cabin, A history of 



