62 RURAL LIFE IN CANADA 



apart from Canada, ranking first. Our poets then sang 

 with pride: 



I see to every wind unfurled 

 The flag that bears the maple- wreath ; 



Thy swift keels furrow round the world, 

 Its blood-red folds beneath; 



Thy swift keels cleave the farthest seas, 

 Thy white sails swell with alien gales * 



and the building of these vessels gave our sea-board 

 cities economic and social wealth. 



The cause of this loss lies in the genius of the modern 

 industrial world. The processes which have wrought 

 out this modern system destroyed an industrial order 

 which had been in building since the destruction of the 

 ancient Roman civilization. The characteristic mark 

 of this vanished order was household industry engaged 

 in local production for local use^" The modern~indus- 

 trTaT worTd""Br6ughTTin the fa~cto~ry system and world- 

 wide transportation, each of which owes its rise to the 

 invention of machinery and the discovery of power, and 

 by means of these has developed its characteristic and 

 epitome, the modern city. 



The year 1769, an even century before the date of our 

 description of village crafts, marks an epoch in the 

 world's history. In tkat year Arkwright patented his 

 spinning frame and set up his first mill equipped there- 

 with, driven as yet by horse-power, but marking the be- 

 ginning of the factory system. In that year Watt 

 patented his steam engine, which alone could have ren- 

 dered the factory system effective. In the same decade, 

 another genius, James Brindley, gave to the world the 



* Charles G. D. Roberts, " In Divers Tones." 



