CHAPTER VII 



TORONTO AND NIAGARA 



We reached Toronto about nine in the evening of 

 December 29, and drove to Chestnut Park, a Httle 

 way outside the town, where we were the guests of 

 Sir David and Lady Macpherson. Sir David, as 

 will be seen from his photograph, was a very hand- 

 some old gentleman, with a fine presence and genial 

 manners. Of Scotch origin, he went to Canada as 

 a youth, and amassed a fortune in large engineering 

 undertakings, chiefly in connection with the Riche- 

 lieu Navigation Company. Later in life he took up 

 politics, and was both Speaker of the Senate and 

 Minister of the Interior. We had a very late dinner 

 that night, but it was a very recherche one, and no 

 fewer than twenty-six partook of it. We were all 

 about played out when at last we got to bed between 

 one and two o'clock in the morning. Alluding to 

 this dinner, the Toronto World of the following day 

 said : " This party had been arranged, and was made 



up of many of Toronto's handsomest young ladies, 



98 



