294 CANADIAN TUKF RECOLLECTIONS 



jans against us, seeking to divert the trade to their city 

 instead of Toronto. I had held a meeting twenty miles 

 away in the afternoon and had driven Priceville way to 

 attend one still further south, but finding it had been 

 postponed through a fire in the school house, I decided 

 to drop in and hear what the advocates of the Hamilton 

 railway had to say in its favor. There were two of us, 

 John Canavan being my partner that night. It was not 

 known we were in the village, and a few minutes after 

 the meeting had opened we were able to drop into a back 

 seat in the hall without being observed. The speakers 

 of the evening were two clergymen from Durham. He 

 who was addressing the meeting was quite facetious at 

 the expense of the Toronto scheme and in a quiet neigh- 

 borly manner was evidently making a good impression 

 on his hearers. He raised a lot of fun by describing our 

 line as follows: 



"Those Toronto people who want to build a narrow 

 gauge, but which I call a narrow gouge railway (laugh- 

 ter), are carrying around a portly alderman named John 

 Baxter, who weighs 350 pounds, and they declare that 

 two men of his size can sit comfortably in one seat 

 (roars of laughter). My friends, it is a prodigious 

 fabrication ; two men of such size would be almost as big 

 a load as one of their toy engines could haul (loud 

 laughter). My dear brethren, they tell us these narrow 

 gauge roads are a great success in Norway and Sweden. 

 Why don't they tell us of some place nearer home where 

 we could learn something about them? I tell you, my 

 friends, they cannot do it. They cannot tell us of a single 

 country nearer Canada where there ever was one, much 

 less one that is a paying investment." 



Recognizing that the parson's talk was having a de- 

 cided effect on the voters, I jumped to my feet and 

 begged permission from the chairman to ask a question 

 of the reverend gentleman. It was granted me. I be- 

 gan: '*Sir, you have told our friends here to-night that 

 the Toronto people cannot mention a single narrow gauge 

 railroad outside of Norway and Sweden. I accept the 



