It will be seen from these notes on social history that
the Loyalists had no primrose path. But after the first
grumblings and discontents, poured into the ears of
Governor Haldimand and Governor Parr, they seem to have
settled down contentedly to their lot; and their life
appears to have been on the whole happy. Especially in
the winter, when they had some leisure, they seem to have
known how to enjoy themselves.

In the winter season, nothing is more ardently wished
for, by young persons of both sexes, in Upper Canada,
than the setting in of frost, accompanied by a fall
of snow. Then it is, that pleasure commences her reign.
The sleighs are drawn out. Visits are paid, and
returned, in all directions. Neither cold, distance,
or badness of roads prove any impediment. The sleighs
glide over all obstacles. It would excite surprise in
a stranger to view the open before the Governor's
House on a levee morning, filled with these carriages.
A sleigh would not probably make any great figure in
Bond street, whose silken sons and daughters would
probably mistake it for a turnip cart, but in the
Canadas, it is the means of pleasure, and glowing
healthful exercise. An overturn is nothing. It
contributes subject matter for conversation at the
next house that is visited, when a pleasant raillery
often arises on the derangement of dress, which the
ladies have sustained, and the more than usual display
of graces, which the tumble has occasioned.