X.XV111 BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 



rather the reverse. The author's cheerful, happy spirit had, 

 robbed the backwoods of its terrors. 



When the rebellion of 1837 broke out, Mr. Traill — as did 

 every other half-pay officer in the clearing — hastened to offer 

 his services to the Government. 



" The tidings of the rising was brought to our clearing from 

 Peterborough," writes Mrs. Traill, " the messenger arriving at 

 midnight through the snow to call all loyal men to the defence 

 of their country. No time was lost that night, and before dawn 

 I said farewell to my husband. The next day my maid left 

 me — she had a lover and must go and keep him from going to 

 the wars — then the man-servant had to follow and see about 

 his people ; so there I was alone in the bush with three small 

 children, the eldest scarcely four years old. Jamie and I had 

 to roll in the logs for the fire. He was the cleverer of the two, 

 for he tied a rope to the log, and with his baby help I man- 

 aged to keep the fires going until a neighbor came to help us." 



Mr. Traill, however, only went as far as Cobourg, for by 

 the time the men there were enrolled, orders countermanding 

 their march came from Toronto, and, after some weeks of 

 vexatious delay and uncertainty, they were disbanded and 

 returned to their homes. Mr. Moodie had, however, gone 

 direct to Toronto, and, being commissioned in one of the regi- 

 ments serving on the Niagara frontier, his return was delayed 

 for months. During this long winter Mrs. Traill was often 

 with her sister, and Mr. Moodie, , in several of his letters, 

 speaks most gratefully of their kindness to his wife. 



In the sketch, " The First Death in the Clearing," Mrs. 

 Traill gives an instance of how she was called upon to go to 

 the bedside of sorrow or sickness, and reading between the 

 lines one can see what a comfort her loving sympathy must 

 have been to the bereaved mother. Jessie is still alive and 

 often visits Mrs. Traill, bringing her kindly offerings of fresh 

 eggs and butter from the farm. Last summer when Mrs. 

 Traill was so ill that few thought she would recover, .Jessie's 



