We all steered up the field road on foot, and when we came to Richmond Hill, and looked around us upon the country far and wide, we were all perfectly enchanted with the view, and one and all of us exclaimed, "What a beautiful land! Fair as the Garden of Eden before the Lord! Beautiful as Tirzah!" Then we all went into the house, where we disposed of our trunks, and all the rest of our things, after which we sat down and talked, and felt thoroughly at home. Indeed, there was a home feeling about the place that was irresistible. With true Canadian kindness refreshments were immediately placed before the young man who drove the hired conveyance, and after he had helped himself to his heart's content, he took his departure for Ingersoll, where I doubt not he arrived safely in a short time.
A good supply of bread and cheese and milk were set upon the table, and each of us took a snack only, because the afternoon was now wearing on apace, and supper would be ready in a couple of hours. In the meantime, we all put on our hats and bonnets, and accompanied by several members of the family, we took a walk up to the top of the range of hills that ran away above the house, from whence we could see the sloping lands and dales that lay away beyond them; and, indeed, we had a most complete view of the whole country as far as the eye could reach. There was something perfectly sublime in the scenery that lay all around us, far and wide. How we did admire the fair-faced forest land, where the streams rolled away for Lake Erie, winding round, and round, and round; and the forests grew on both sides all down their banks, and the rest of the country was under a course of careful, splendid cultivation.
We were so much taken with the glorious views of fair and fertile Canada that we felt in no hurry to return, but sat down on the hill-top, like a lot of birds of passage resting after a long flight, and inhaled the very inspiration of the joyous scene. But at last time was called for, and we all steered back to the house, where we found Doctor and Mrs. McKenzie, of the Presbyterian Church, to which the Gibsons go, in the little country town three miles off. The McKenzies live in a beautiful mansion among the trees on the hill-top opposite Richmond Hill. (We left the mansion on our right hand before we descended the last hill). They had heard that we six had come, and in our absence had arrived to pay us a visit. Dr. McKenzie and wife are excellent company; they are highly intelligent, and come from the highlands of Scotland. We had attended his church in the town upon our last visit in the autumn of 1863.