Laura Secord, the Heroine of 1812 | Page 2

it seem asking more than a graceful act from the Government

of the Dominion--a Dominion which, but for her, might never have
been--to do its share in acknowledgment. One of her daughters still
lives, and if she attain to her mother's age has yet nearly a decade
before her.
The drama of "Laura Secord" was written in 1876, and the ballad a year
later, but, owing to the inertness of Canadian interest in Canadian
literature at that date, could not be published. It is hoped that a better
time has at length dawned.
S. A. CURZON.
TORONTO, 1887.
CONTENTS
LAURA SECORD, THE HEROINE OF THE WAR OF 1812
A BALLAD OF 1812
THE QUEEN'S JUBILEE
THE HERO OF ST. HELEN'S ISLAND
OUR VETERANS OF 1812. (A PLEA)
LOYAL
ON QUEENSTON HEIGHTS
NEW ORLEANS, MONROE, MAYOR
THE SONG OF THE EMIGRANT
TO THE INDIAN SUMMER
IN JUNE
LIVINGSTONE, IN MEMORIAM

THE QUEEN AND THE CRIMEAN SOLDIERS
TO A CHILD
HOME
LOST WITH HIS BOAT
LIFE IN DEATH
INVOCATION TO RAIN
REMONSTRANCE WITH "REMONSTRANCE"
THE ABSENT ONES
AWAY
POOR JOE
FRAGMENTS
THE SWEET GIRL GRADUATE. (A COMEDY)

FABLES: ORIGINAL AND FROM THE FRENCH.
THE CHOICE
INSINCERITY
THE TWO TREES Le May.
FABLE AND TRUTH Florian.
THE CALIPH Florian.
THE BLIND MAN AND THE PARALYTIC Florian.

DEATH Florian.
THE HOUSE OF CARDS Florian.
THE BULLFINCH AND THE RAVEN Florian.
THE WASP AND THE BEE Florian.

TRANSLATIONS.
IN MEMORY OF THE HEROES OF 1760 Le May.
THE SONG OF THE CANADIAN VOLTIGEURS Le May.
THE LEGEND OF THE EARTH Jean Rameau.
THE EMIGRANT MOUNTAINEER Chateaubriand.
FROM "LIGHTS AND SHADES" Hugo.
VILLANELLE TO ROSETTE Desportes.

NOTES
APPENDICES
MEMOIR OF MRS. SECORD
It is at all times an amiable and honourable sentiment that leads us to
enquire into the antecedents of those who, by the greatness of their
virtues have added value to the records of human history. Whether such
inquiry increases our estimation of such value or not, it must always be
instructive, and therefore inspiring. Under this impression I have
sought on every hand to learn all that could be gathered of the history
of one of Canada's purest patriots. As Dr. Ryerson aptly says in his U.
E. Loyalists and their Times, "the period of the U. E. Loyalists was one

of doing, not recording," therefore little beyond tradition has conserved
anything of all that we would now like to know of the heroism, the
bravery, the endurance, the trials of that bold army of men and women,
who, having laid strong hands on the primeval forest, dug wide and
deep the foundations of a nation whose greatness is yet to come. In
such a light the simple records that follow will be attractive.
Laura Secord came of loyal blood. She was the daughter of Mr.
Thomas Ingersoll, the founder of the town of Ingersoll, and his wife
Sarah, the sister of General John Whiting, of Great Barrington,
Berkshire County, Mass. At the close of the War of 1776, Mr. Ingersoll
came to Canada on the invitation of Governor Simcoe, an old friend of
the family, and founded a settlement on the banks of the Thames in
Oxford County. On the change of government, Mr. Ingersoll and his
struggling settlement of eighty or ninety families found their prospects
blighted and their future imperilled; Mr. Ingersoll therefore saw it
necessary to remove to Little York, and shortly afterward settled in the
township of Etobicoke. There he resided until some time after the War
of 1812-14, when he returned with his family to Oxford County. Here
he died, but left behind him worthy successors of his honourable name
in his two sons, Charles and James.
Charles Ingersoll, with that active loyalty and heroic energy which
alike characterized his patriotic sister, Mrs. Secord, held prominent
positions in the gift of the Government and of the people, and was also
a highly respected merchant and trader.
James Ingersoll, though of a more retiring disposition than his brother,
was a prominent figure in Western Canada for many years. He was a
magistrate of high repute, and occupied a foremost position in the
militia, in which he held the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel at the time of
his death. This event took place on the 9th August, 1886, at which date
he had been Registrar for the County of Oxford fifty-two years.
That Mrs. Secord should be brave, ready, prompt in action, and fervent
in patriotism is not surprising, seeing that all the events of her
childhood and youth were blended with those of the settlement of
Upper Canada by the U. E. Loyalists, in whose ranks her family held so

honourable a position, and whose character and sentiments were at all
times to be depended upon.
The family of Secord, of which she became so distinguished a member,
was also a