Trifling Specimens

Susanna Moodie to the Editor of the Albion, New York

Hamilton,

Upper Canada

February 14th, 1833.

Sir,

The pleasure I derived from the perusal of several of the last numbers of your clever and interesting paper, has made me ambitious, of the honour of contributing to its pages; and if the assistance of a pen, deemed not unworthy of public notice in my native land, when held by Susanna Strickland, can in any way be acceptable to you, and your readers, it will afford me much pleasure to transmit to you, from time to time, a few small original poems.

I now enclose the first flight* of my muse on Canadian shores. But the chilly atmosphere, at present, is little favourable to the spirit of Poesy. The minds of the inhabitants being too much engrossed, in providing their families the necessaries of life, to pay much attention to the cultivation of literature. However mortifying to the vanity of an Author, this indifference may be, it would be unjust to censure my fellow settlers for suffering more urgent and important duties to render them deaf to the voice of the syren, whose wild flights and vagaries have charmed me from my youth upwards. The close confinement of a log cabin, and the cares of a family, though they engross much of my time, have not been able to chill those inspirations, which in my own beautiful and beloved land were a never failing source of amusement and delight. The little sympathy which such feelings can meet with, in a new colony, where every energy of the mind is employed to accumulate wealth, has made me anxious to seek a more liberal channel of communication with the public, and I know no one to whom I can better apply than to the Editor of a Journal, which finds its way into the study of every respectable family on this side of the Atlantic, and is not inferior in literary merit, to any publication of the same class in Great Britain.

Should the trifling specimens* enclosed meet with your approbation and be deemed worthy of insertion in the Albion, they are at your service.

I remain, Sir, Yours respectfully,

Susanna Moodie

*Song: The Strains We Hear in Foreign Lands and Sleigh Bells: A Canadian Song. These poems were published in the Albion in March of that year, though under the incorrect name of Agnes Strickland, her rather more well known sister back in England. A correction later followed. The poems were later published with many others, in her memoir, Roughing it in the Bush, or Life in Canada(1852).

--from Susanna Moodie: Letters of a Lifetime edited by Carl Ballstadt, Elizabeth Hopkins, and Michael Peterman. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993) p. 90.

Miss Strickland to Miss Mitford

To Mary Russell Mitford

[c. 1829]

. . . There is another very interesting gipsy family of the name of Chilcotditto Barwell; perhaps you may have met them in your peregrinations. In your delightful sketch of Grace Nugent I was much amused by the donkey messengers. Such mercuries are common in Suffolk, and I greeted your boys as old acquaintances. My eldest brother, who is settled in Upper Canada, was a famous cricket-player, and I used often by his earnest solicitations to walk across Southwold Common, to witness his dexterity, and I felt no small degree of interest in his eclat. He was a fine handsome fellow, and promises to do something for himself in the country to which he has emigrated, and to which I often feel strongly induced to follow him, having many dear friends in that land 'of the mountain and the flood' . . .

Yes, I do agree with you that a woman would miss the smile of affection more than all the applause of the world. I know I would rather give up the pen than lose the affection of my beloved sister Catharine, who is dearer to me than all the world--my monitress, my dear and faithful friend. She is the author of several popular works for children: The Step-brothers, Young Emigrants, Juvenile Forget-me-not (the first series),* and many other works of the same nature. But it is not for her talents that I love my Kate; it is for herself. She is absent now for a few days, and I feel lost and lonely without her; she is the youngest of the six girls, next to me. We are all authoresses but Sarah, the third; but then she is a beauty, and such a sweet girl withal, that everybody loves her, and I often think she is the best off, for she has elegant tastes and pursuits, and no clashing interests to interfere with the love her sisters bear to her. I am writing a sad, egotistical letter; my tongue and my pen never know when to lie still, and I quite forget your dignity as a celebrated writer when I am scribbling to you as a friend. Mr. Pringle will, I know, kindly enclose this in the next packet he transmits to you. In the meantime, believe me, dear Miss Mitford, to remain

Your grateful sincere friend

S.[usan] S.[trickland]

*The Stepbrothers {London: Harvey and Darton 1828); The Young Emigrants; or, Pictures of Canada, Calculated to amuse and instruct the minds of youth {London: Harvey and Darton, 1826}; The Juvenile Forget-Me-Not; or, Cabinet of Entertainment and Instruction {London: N. Hailes, 1827}, the latter jointly written by Catherine and Agnes.

-from Susanna Moodie: Letters of a Lifetime edited by Carl Ballstadt, Elizabeth Hopkins, and Michael Peterman. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993) p. 42-43.

A Young Susanna Strickland

To James Bird *

Reydon House

Nov 9th [1827]

My sister Agnes wishes to consult you on some matters relative to her New Poems of which she received the first bound copies today and if fine we promise ourselves the pleasure of seeing you tomorrow and if perfectly convenient to Mrs. Bird will avail ourselves of her kind offer and stay all night. We have borrowed a donkey for the expedition and mean to start early to arrive late for tis a sorry beast whose paces will not exceed two miles an hour and you might compassionate the character of this long eared Pegasus but poor Poets must put up with all shifts, such trifles do not ruffle them. I think a little inconvenience often enhances the pleasures we afterwards feel in meeting our friends. If the day should be unfavorable we will postpone our Journey till Monday. I am fearful that Mamma has just started a new plan and John is to drive us as far as Thorington and we can then walk on to the prettiest village in Suffolk and I must descend from my dignity my poetic dignity and condescend to carry a basket. What would the fashionables I know in Bedford Square say could they see me. I almost wish they could I pride myself on my independence . . .

I am quite impatient for my last communication from London. No lover of romance ever wished so ardently for a peep at his mistress as I do for the sight of my packet. Now don't be saucy. It contains no love letters, but the reminiscences of friends are as dear to my heart as the light is to my eyes. Their correspondence constitutes almost the whole sum of my happiness . . . When I begin to write I never know when to lay down my pen. Closing a letter, to me is as hard as saying adieu to a friend. I liked your sermon as you were pleased to call the reflective part of your letter amazingly. I should like to hear your preach just such another. Do sensible women prate? I thought wisdom wore a grave aspect in the weaker sex, that it might be the better distinguished from such merry madcap vendors of nonsense as myself! Was it not Dr. Clarke that once said to his scholars who were at play when a grave bigwig entered the ground Boys! Boys! be wise. Here comes a fool!

My wisdom must reside in an organ of my brain as yet undiscovered by the lynx eyes of philosophy for I never could find it out though I have made many useless voyages of discovery through my pericranium to that effect but was as much disappointed as Capt. Parry in his North West Passage.

Susanna Strickland

*James Bird, a bookseller and published poet who lived in Yoxford, Suffolk, good friend of the Stricklands and one who encouraged the literary aspirations of Sussanah and her sisters.

-from Susanna Moodie: Letters of a Lifetime edited by Carl Ballstadt, Elizabeth Hopkins, and Michael Peterman. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1993) p.19-20.