poor, widows getting a large share of this bounty.

John Wesley, very soon after he began his life-work, found his way to
Yorkshire, and nowhere had he more sincere or devoted followers, many
of whom were among the first emigrants to Nova Scotia. To the England
of the eighteenth century America must have presented great attraction,
especially to the tenant-farmer and the day-laborer. The farmer in that
country could never hope to own his farm, and the wages of the
agricultural laborer were so small that it was only by the strictest
economy and the best of health that he could hope to escape the
workhouse in his old age. In America land could be had for the asking.
The continent was simply waiting for the hands of willing workers to
make it the happy home of millions. The reaction in trade after the
Seven Years' War made the prospect just starting in life gloomier than
ever, and many a father and mother who expected to end their days in
the Old Land, decided, for the sake of their children, to face the
dangers of the western ocean and the trials of pioneer life.

Charles Dixon, one of the first of the Yorkshire emigrants, writes of
England before he left: "I saw the troubles that were befalling my
native country. Oppressions of every kind abounded, and it was very
difficult to earn bread and keep a conscience void of offence." Under
these circumstances, Mr. Dixon and a number of others decided to
emigrate. It is not surprising then, that when Governor Franklin, at
the invitation of the Duke of Rutland, went down to Yorkshire in 1771,
to seek emigrants for Nova Scotia, he found a goodly number of persons
ready to try their fortunes in the new land.

Governor Franklin did not stay long in the northern district, but left
agents who, judging by the number that came to Nova Scotia during the