George Brown: In his own words (The Great Lakes)

After leaving Montreal I managed to work my way up on to the Lakes, most of my time being spent on the deck of a cargo steamer called the Reindeer. For such an old tub as she was they could not have selected a more inappropriate name. I have a very distinct recollection of sleeping for many nights on a lot of nail kegs which formed part of the cargo on deck, and many times I had to get up to turn over a keg from which the nails were projecting. However, she carried us safely up the St. Lawrence, through the canals, over Lake Ontario and Lake Erie; and finally I landed at a port some distance from New London, in Ontario West. Finding my way to New London, I found some relatives there, by whom I was kindly received. Mr. D- and his wife, who was my mother's eldest sister, had lived there for some time, and through their influence I obtained a situation in a large general store. New London at that time was a very small place, and the district round was most of it still in a state of nature. The farmers, with whom our business was principally done, depended on the winter months for getting their supplies out to their farms, for there were few made roads in those days, and it was only when the snow had levelled up the ground that they were able to get their goods out. During my stay in this place I had one very narrow escape, and learned a lesson which I think I have never forgotten. In the store in which I was employed there was another young man called Edwin S-, who had been there much longer than I had. My education, however, was somewhat better than his, and I was rapidly advanced to occupy positions to which he thought himself fully entitled. In addition to this there were some other reasons which made him very angry with me. The consequence was that, like foolish young men, we were often quarrelling. He was much stronger than I with his hands, but I had the advantage over him when it came to the use of hard words. One day I angered him so much that he came to strike me, and I, in a furious rage, seized hold of a large knife, and threatened to kill him. A few days after this we both went out shooting pigeons one morning before breakfast, and were in a lonely place about six miles from the town. We only had one gun, and he, after firing it, gave it to me to shoot. I had loaded the gun, and took aim at a flock of pigeons, but thinking they were out of range I dropped the piece across my elbow, and was putting the hammer down when it slipped from my finger and exploded the charge, which passed within a few inches of my companionÕs head. Had he been killed I cannot see how I could possibly have escaped. It was known that I had displaced him from his position, that we were constantly quarrelling, that I had threatened to kill him only a day or two before, and that a boyish love affair had increased the bad feeling between us. It would have been very difficult indeed to prove that he had been killed accidentally. We were both very much upset, and no more shooting was done by us that day.

George Brown: In his own words

The Early Years and The Call

The Early Years
and The Call