"I made my 'entree' into Canada, as a resident and a fugitive, in October, 1851, at Montreal. I had been to Queenstown, Windsor, and Kingston, as well as Niagara Falls , at various times within eleven years, as a mere visitor, then little dreaming of the necessity of my going as a settler. After spending a few days at Montreal, I ascended the St. Lawrence , to Kingston ; thence by Lake Ontario to Toronto, my present residence. It is impossible to coney to an English reader anything like a just idea of the St. Lawrence scenery in October. This is my third autumn in Europe; but never , in the British Isles, did I witness such splendor of landscape as that river presents, in autumn. The river is large and majestic--near Montreal, where the placid Ottawa empties itself into its most magnificent. The Ottawa, as smooth as a polished mirror, opening its ample mouth to the width of a lake, gently glides into the St. Lawrence ; the latter with a quiet dignity receiving the tribute of the former, as an empress would graciously accept the homage of a courtier, rolling downward towards the gulf, as if created on purpose to convey to the ocean the tributes and the trusts committed to it, and as if amply powerful to bear both the honor and the burden."
P. 95, "First Impressions. Reasons for Labors," AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FUGITIVE SLAVE by Samuel Ringgold Ward (1855)
Wednesday, March 22, 2017
AUTOBIOGRAPHY FUGITIVE SLAVE
"I made my 'entree' into Canada, as a resident and a fugitive, in October, 1851, at Montreal. I had been to Queenstown, Windsor, and Kingston, as well as Niagara Falls , at various times within eleven years, as a mere visitor, then little dreaming of the necessity of my going as a settler. After spending a few days at Montreal, I ascended the St. Lawrence , to Kingston ; thence by Lake Ontario to Toronto, my present residence. It is impossible to coney to an English reader anything like a just idea of the St. Lawrence scenery in October. This is my third autumn in Europe; but never , in the British Isles, did I witness such splendor of landscape as that river presents, in autumn. The river is large and majestic--near Montreal, where the placid Ottawa empties itself into its most magnificent. The Ottawa, as smooth as a polished mirror, opening its ample mouth to the width of a lake, gently glides into the St. Lawrence ; the latter with a quiet dignity receiving the tribute of the former, as an empress would graciously accept the homage of a courtier, rolling downward towards the gulf, as if created on purpose to convey to the ocean the tributes and the trusts committed to it, and as if amply powerful to bear both the honor and the burden."
P. 95, "First Impressions. Reasons for Labors," AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FUGITIVE SLAVE by Samuel Ringgold Ward (1855)
"I made my 'entree' into Canada, as a resident and a fugitive, in October, 1851, at Montreal. I had been to Queenstown, Windsor, and Kingston, as well as Niagara Falls , at various times within eleven years, as a mere visitor, then little dreaming of the necessity of my going as a settler. After spending a few days at Montreal, I ascended the St. Lawrence , to Kingston ; thence by Lake Ontario to Toronto, my present residence. It is impossible to coney to an English reader anything like a just idea of the St. Lawrence scenery in October. This is my third autumn in Europe; but never , in the British Isles, did I witness such splendor of landscape as that river presents, in autumn. The river is large and majestic--near Montreal, where the placid Ottawa empties itself into its most magnificent. The Ottawa, as smooth as a polished mirror, opening its ample mouth to the width of a lake, gently glides into the St. Lawrence ; the latter with a quiet dignity receiving the tribute of the former, as an empress would graciously accept the homage of a courtier, rolling downward towards the gulf, as if created on purpose to convey to the ocean the tributes and the trusts committed to it, and as if amply powerful to bear both the honor and the burden."
P. 95, "First Impressions. Reasons for Labors," AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A FUGITIVE SLAVE by Samuel Ringgold Ward (1855)