TORONTO OP OLD. 257 



His successor here was Mr. Calvin Davis, whose name became as familiar a sound to the ears 

 of the early townsfolk of York as Mr. Klinger's had been. 



It seems in the retrospect but a verj' short time since Yonge Street south of King Street, now 

 so solidly and even splendidly built up, was an obscure allowance for road, visited seldom by 

 any one, and for a long while particularly difficult to traverse during and just after the rainy 

 seasons. 



Few persons in the olden time at which we are glancing ever dreamed that the intersection of 

 Yonge Street and King Street was to be the heart of the town. Yet here in one generation we 

 have the Carfax of Toronto, as some of our forefathers would have called it— the Quatrevoies, 

 or Grand Four-cross-way, where the golden milestone might be planted whence to measure 

 •distances in each direction. 



What are the local mutations that are to follow ? Will the needs of the population and the 

 ■exigencies of business ever make of the intersection of Brock Street and Queen Street what the 

 intersection of Yonge and King Street is now ? 



In the meantime, those who recall the very commonplace look which this particular spot, 

 viz., the intersection of King Street and Yonge Street long wore, when as yet only recently 

 reclaimed from nature, cannot but experience a degree of mental amazement whenever now 

 they pansy for a moment on one of the crossings and look around. 



A more perfect and well-proportioned rectangular meeting of four great .streets is seldom to be 

 seen. Take the view at this point, north, south, west, or east, almost at any hour and at any 

 season of the year, and it is striking. 



It is striking in the freshness and coolness and comparative quiet of early morning, when 

 few are astir. 



It is striking in the brightness and glow of noon, when the sons and daughters of honest toil 

 are trooping in haste to their mid-day meal. 



A few hours later, again, it is striking when the phaetons, pony-carriages, and fancy 

 eqiiipages generally, are out, and loungers of each sex are leisurely promenading, or here and 

 there placidly engaged in the inspection and occasional selection of " personal requisites," of 

 some one or other of the variegated tissues or artificial adjuncts demanded by the modes of the 

 period, while the westering sun is now flooding the principal thoroughfare with a misty splen- 

 dour, and on the walls, along on either side, weird shadows slanting and elongated, are being 

 cast. 



Then, later still, the views here are by no means ordinary ones, when the vehicles have for 

 the most part withdrawn, and the passengers are once more few in number, and the lamps arc 

 lighted, and the gas is flaming in the windows. 



Even in the closed-up sedate aspect of all places of business on a Sunday or public holiday, 

 statutable or otherwise, these four streets, by some happy charm, are fair to see and cheery. 

 But when drest for a festive gala occasion, when gay with banners and festoons, in honour of a 

 royal birth-day, a royal marriage, the visit of a prince, the announcement of a victory, they 

 shew to special advantage. 



So, also, they furnish no inharmonious framework or setting, when processions and bands of 

 music are going by, or bodies of military, horse or foot, or pageants such as those that in 

 modem times accompany a great menagerie in its progress through the country — elephants in 

 oriental trappings, teams of camels clad in similar guise, cavaliers in glittering mediaeval 

 ■armour, gorgeous cars and vans. 



And again, in winter, peculiarly fine pictures, characteristic of the season, are presented 

 here when, after a plentiful fall of snow, the sleighs are on the move without number and in 

 Infinite variety ; or when, on the contrary, each long white vista, east, west, north, and south 



glistening, perhaps, under a clear December moon, is a scene almost wholly of still Ufe 



scarcely a man or beast abroad, so keen is the motionless air, the mercury having shrunk 

 down some way below the zero-line of Fahrenheit. 



But we must proceed. From the Lake to the Landing is a long journey. 



In the course of our perambulations we have already noticed some instances in the town of 

 long persistency in one place of business or residence. Such evidences of staidness and 

 substantiality are common enough in the old world, but are of necessity somewhat rare amid 

 the chances, changes, and exchanges of young communities on this continent. An additions 



5 



