Two 19th Century Books

I have just finished reading two memoirs set in Canada in the 19^th century. One is entitled The Mysteries of Montreal: Being Recollections of a Female Physician by Charlotte Fuhrer. Written in 1881 it is a marvellous picture of life in Montreal in the 19^th century. The other, Life in the Backwoods of Canada, written by Suzanna Moodie in the1840's, is set in the primeval forest near Peterborough, Ontario. Both authors are “ladies” in the 19^th century sense of the word, in that they expected to have servants and to be spared from the chores of domestic life. Ms Fuhrer was raised in Germany while Ms Moodie grew up in upper class English society.

Ms Fuhrer claims that the stories the book contains are true, but, I have some doubts about that. At the least, they appear to have been somewhat embellished. Each chapter is a story about a woman and her (often extra-marital) problems centering on the birth of a child. Needless-to-say, for a book written in the 19^th century, all pay the “price” for their “crimes” of conceiving a child outside of legal wedlock. In that sense, the book reminds me of the books by Horatio Alger who wrote “morality stories” involving orphaned teenage—or younger—boys whose honesty and perseverance resulting in their being adopted by a millionaire.

I have no doubts about the accuracy of Ms Moodie’s descriptions of her seven years spent in the remotest of areas of Canada at the time. Her husband was an officer in the British military and, was common at the time, was pensioned off with a grant of land in Canada. They arrive at their holdings in two wagons, with children and servants, in mid-winter—which was the best time for travel at the time, as roads, made of logs laid side-by-side (called “corduroy”) were smoothed out by the winter snows. Out of virtually nothing, they clear land and build a house, then plant crops and clear more land. Just as they were getting settled into their lifestyle, Mr Moodie was called up to help put down the rebellions centered in Toronto, leaving his wife, children, and a few servants, to fend for themselves.

In contrast Ms Fuhrer and her husband settled on Montreal as the city where she would establish her practice—partly (and get this!) because the climate was more agreeable than that of the Eastern USA. Also, Montreal was more “European” in outlook and so more likely to accept the idea of a female midwife. (Female physicians were very rare in the 19^th century, and, in North America, at least, all “midwives” were males.) She, and many of her clients, lived in the area now between Concordia and McGill Universities. Mountain, McTavish, McGregor are all streets I recognize. Though many have been torn down or converted to businesses, the elegance of the old mansions can still be seen.

Both women have a generous side. Neither thinks anything of inviting strangers into their homes whether it be single mothers, as in Ms Fuhrer’s case, or indigents, as in Ms Moodie’s case. However, in Ms Moodie’s situation, the poverty was overwhelming, but, what little she had, she shared. The same can be said of her neighbors, both settlers and First Nations (Mississaugian and some Ojibway). Like the famous Plymouth Pilgrims, the First Nations people kept the whites from starvation and helped them to adjust to their strange new environment. There is no trace of condescension in Ms Moodie’s writing about the people she encountered, and, though Ms Fuhrer could be generous, there is a clear distinction in her attitudes towards her English neighbors and the French Canadians she encounters, who appear only as landladies, working men, or nuns.

I found Ms Fuhrer’s moralizing and odd lack of empathy with the women she helped off-putting. However, I genuinely like Ms Moodie. Despite her upbringing she does reach a point where she realizes that she has to work as hard as her servants in order to survive and she does so uncomplainingly. She helps clear land and plants crops despite the blackflies and mosquitoes, hauls firewood and water, and, in one case, goes on a long trek to take baskets of supplies to a woman and children whose husband had abandoned them. It’s as though Ms Fuhrer saw the world through the eyes of someone privileged, but, yet with a genuine desire to help the less fortunate; while Ms Moodie saw the world as a place where we must all work together to ensure our survival, a place where the ability to hunt and trap, to travel the forests and swamps, were highly desirable skills. She judged people by what they could contribute whilst Ms Fuhrer judged them by their moral (in her judgement) character.

As I get older I have come to appreciate more the stories of what would be my grand-parents and great-grandparents. They remind me that we are not so far removed from a world where people had to be self-reliant; they could not call a veterinarian if a cow took sick, or a doctor if a child had a fever. If a tool broke, they had to repair it; if part of a house burned down, they had to rebuild it. Dying of starvation and exposure were very real possibilities. There are places in the world, even in our “civilized” country, where all that is still the case. Something to remember next time you adjust the thermostat, call for delivered pizza, or purchase a new winter coat on the Internet.