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Les diagrammes suivants illustient ia m6thode. 1 2 3 i a • ■:::♦' * 6 "iv ■♦f ^ • m !!!ii!iiS!5||!ifc, '"isf'i;,;"?;::":::';",. ■■'"fii r 11: II (5 '■'JA v^'-' *s;. ni J ; ' v;/"' % u . ^ .4 £ .:* 1, 1 ■i t, ■ i -i i < f ^ ^ u^ • /' ,^ 1 ' * is I--' / ;i.- ■m/ WEST-NOE'-WEST. BY JESSIE M. E. SAXBY, AUTHOR OF "THE LADS OF LUNDA," "THE YAKL'S YACHT," .'THE HOME OF A NATURALIST," "GLAMOUR FROM ARGYLLSHIRE "CONSTABLE Al," " SALLIE'S BOY, ETC. West-nor'-West ! There is hope, there is freedom and wealth ; There our kindred are reaping the harvest of health ; There a new Land rewards all who come on fair quest ; There a far greater Scotland awaits. To the West ! LONDON: JAMES NISBET & CO., 21 BERNERS STREET. MDCCCXC. (WITH PERMISSION) TO THE MARQUIS OF LORNE, WHO HAS TAUGHT BRITONS TO LOOK WITH PRIDE AND HOPE UPON THEIR GREATER BRITAIN OF THE WEST. I II r \ VI VI] I X XI XI 3 CONTENTS. I. THE BRITON'S HIGHWAY II. ON THE "C. P. R." III. THROUGH "THE WOODS" IV. PRAIRIE HOMES V. A SUNDAY IN THE FAR WEST VI. WINNOGENE (A fllAPTER FOR THE CHILDREN) VII. A KIRK BY THE QU'APPELT.E VALLEY VIIL "A CANADIAN M.P." IX. OUR WESTERN LIMIT X. GREATER SCOTLAND XL WOMEN WANTED .... XII. AN EFFICIENT CORPS . XIIL TO BE, OR NOT TO BE— ANNEXED XIV. ABOUT THEIR FATHER'S BUSINESS XV. HOMEWARD BOUND I 9 19 28 39 49 53 60 79 92 100 113 120 129 141 6oot)*b\?e to ScotlanD. On Board the Allan Liner Nonvegian. The holy hills of Scotland, With sunset glories cro-wned, Look from familiar places Upon us outward-bound. They stand like olden prophets To bless our ocean-way, And with a tender reverence lleeeivo what wo would say. O holy hills of Scotland, Our i)ath is o'er the sea, To where a greater Scotland Is growing grand and free ; To Avhere a Land of Promise Gives hope to every one Who names yon new Dominion Their country's noble son. But, holy hills of Scotland, Your royal jnaks rise high Around tlio homes of childhood, Within your shadows lie The kirks where we were christened. Our honoured fathers' graves ; — The spell yc cast upon us Engirdles like the waves. GOOD-BYE TO SCOTLAND. And, holy hills of Scotland, The sun that shines on yon, Tlie God whom Scotsmen honour, The faith that keeps them true, " Noblesse oblige " of country. Dear love of early home, Tlie name and fame of Scotland Go with us o'er the foam. Thus, holy hills of Scotland, We carry to the West An influence ver^' sacred, A blessing that makes blest ; To Canada we carry Old Scotia's might and light ; So, trustfully and tenderly, We bid her hills " Good-nidit." THE BRITON'S HIGHWAY. -«^«e- If America could be got at by roads, over hills, and throuo;h "lens — thoudi the road were ten times as long as the ocean highway — the starving crowds of our cities and over-populated islands would soon find their way to the fallow prairies and teeming mountains of the West. Hundreds, indeed thousands, of our home- folk are deterred from emigrating to Canada by fears connected with the ocean journey. Naturally, that which they do not know, or com- prehend, they dread. I wish I could explain to all those stayers-at-home how the dangers and discomforts of a long ocean journey have been surmounted by science, and our sea-path made smooth. Business made it imperative that I should cross the Atlantic with the least por^sible delay, by the firs^. vessel leaving Glasgow, and that an emigrant ship. Tims I found myself, on the 26th May 1888, on board the Allan Liner Norwegian. I was travelling alone, and had never made a long journey before ; but no sooner had we cleared the quay at Glasgow than I found myself among a kind and I i J. i ! 2 WEST-NOR'-WEST. courteous company of "friends" — never seen before that hour, but always to be remembered with gratitude. What a strange sensation — strange, yet familiar to us all — is produced when a great ship bears us from the land ! As I leaned over the vessel's sMe to cast some flowers to the " boys " waving good-bye, it seemed they who were receding from me, not I who was being borne from them. All the way till we were off Greenock, it seemed as though the ship were stationary and everything else in motion. But later my impression changed. When " she " was off, the throb of her mighty motive-power pulsing through all her bulk, and the hills of Scotland lessening behind her, I realised that it was "she" who was moving — not the dear old land. The Norwegian is not a large vessel, but none the worse for that, and a fair sample of the emigrant ship. She is fitted up especially for "intermediates." The classes that travel intermediate are chiefly artisans, the families of aspiring tradespeople, single young gentlemen of education and good birth following fortune, girls in search of employment, and newly married couples with small means, anxious to begin life under better auspices than possible to them in Scotland. The greater number of our party were going to the cities to prosecute their trades ; only a few seemed to h ve made up their minds to try farming. Many had no definite plan, but were merely going out to friends, who had settled in Canada, " to try it." These were the intermediates. The greater number 3fore :ude. ir to from cast emed 4 THE BRITON'S HIGHWAY. 3 of the steerage passengers seemed to have no fixed plan beyond earning a living, putt 'ig their hands to any job that came first, hoping everything, trusting the future. They had most vague ideas regarding Canada, and scarcely a shilling in their pockets beyond what was needful for travelling expenses. I thought they were like the beasts and birds who "seek their food from God;" and I must confess I was deeply touched by the faith exhibited by those simple folk. I conversed with many. They had had " hard times at home," but that had not shaken their trust in Providence : so they had gone forth without fear, never doubting. The accommodation on board was wonderfully com- fortable and airy, kept clean and tidy by an efficient staff of attendants. The men's quarters were on one side, the women's on the other ; but there were family cabins also. There was plenty of freedom allowed to all, but at the same time a rigid discipline was main- tained. The Norwegian is a " temperance ship." Her captain headed the list of total abstainers, and I am sure the fact added greatly to the confidence of the passen- gers. The food provided was very good indeed, and in absolute abundance. Altogether there is as little peril and much more pleasure in an Allan Liner than there is in the train between Edinburgh and London. I cannot understand the false sentiment, or foolish fear, which keeps so many people in Britain, struggling, starving, when such facilities for emigration are offered, and an ocean highway to a great land has been made so safe and so pleasant. I almost venture to call that I I .4 WEST-NOR'-IVEST. reluctance to leave overcrowded localities a criminal disregard of God's command that men should go forth and replenish the earth. I had never before that voyage been so far at sea as to lose sight of land all round, and I had imagined that there would be an awesome feeling when I should behold nothing but a limitless expanse of ocean and a great boundless sky. I was nmch disappointed. The Atlantic rollers did not strike me with the awe and wonder I had expected. When the sun was not shining on the waves it seemed as if our ship were cutting her way through a solid body — solid and metallic in appearance. Then the sky seemed to close quite near around us — a fairy curtain wondrously wrought and coloured, dropping into the sea on every side within a little way of our ship — but leaving no field for speculating upon " vast unpeopled space." Then our ship felt such a great strong creature cleaving her way through the water in such a safe simple manner. The majesty of nature and the power of man seemed to have reversed their usual positioiic in my mind, and it was not a pleasant " unfixing " to one who has ever been a devout nature worshipper. Our skipper comforted me by the assurance that I should find the sea looking anything but solid when a storm came on ; and that our cloud-curtains indicated his " pet aversion "—fogs off Newfoundland. Just so. One day we had a little " toss " just by way of letting THE BRITON'S HIGHWAY. 5 i us see what old ocean was really made of. No women appeared on deck that afternoon except a very few bold spirits. The captain put my chair in a sheltered nook, lashing it to a rail, so that I might not slide across decks when " she " pitched ; and I greatly enjoyed watching the changes upon the face of the deep — changes familiar enough to me though that was my first voyage "far far at sea;" for we Shetlanders on our rocks get much the same feel about ocean, and acquaintance with it, that folk on board ship have. I was allowed the run of the ship, and must acknow- ledge that I took every advantage of my privilege, making friends with the steerage passengers for'rard, joining the amusements of the intermediates, taking walks with the skipper, and lessons in chess from the chief engineer. We were a very social and good- natured crew. E-'erybody seemed anxious to be helpful and agreeable to some one else. I do not know if our tempers and amiable traits would have been the same if a storm had come on, but as things were the voyage was in every respect a dream of delight. Through the courtesy of Messrs. Allan I was allowed a cabin in the officers' quarters — as the Norwegian had no regular accommodation for saloon passengers. Thus I enjoyed a " retreat " as roomy and more quiet than if I had been on board one of the floating palaces of Liverpool, or London. Near me was "located" an old couple in whom I was greatly interested. They were very willing that 4 6 WEST-NOR'-WEST. I should use their experience as an encouragement to otliers, so I here give a little bit of their story. They left Glasgow forty-seven years ago, a young pair, with one baby, and " not a cent, sure as can be." By industry and carefulness and "canny" farming they had secured what the good old man called " a com- petency, and ye can make that what figure ye like." They had married off, and settled around them, seven sons and two daughters ; and having retired from active life, had come •"'ver to see the Exhibition in "auld Glaskee." But the gentle old dame pined for her forty-one grandchildren in Minnesota, so they cut short their trip, and were hastening home again when I had the pleasure of meeting them on board the Norwegian. They were proud of the old land, fond of it too ; but America had become home — tho happy home they had made for themselves, where the visible reward of Heaven had descended upon pious faith rnd honest endeavour. The new railway, binding Canada more closely and equally to the United States (from a commercial point of view) runs through a part of the old man's land, and he— being observant and shrewd in a high degree— had much to say that was of interest and weight regarding the relations between the two countries. Perhaps I ought to mention here a regulation lately made, that no one is to be allowed to pass into Canada and the United States who has not been vaccinated within seven years ! THE BRITON'S HIGHWAY. 7 If the emigrant cannot prove that the thing has been done, he is put in quarantine and vaccinated " whether or no." It is an excellent law, but does not seem to be widely known, consequently our doctor had his hands full ! All submitted good-humouredly except one man, who held out until ^thr- quarantine boat was alongside. Emigrants should have this done before leaving home, and so avoid the discomfort of vaccination when reach- ing the new land. There is something rather trying to a person who hates routine in the exact method and rule of ship-life. After the first two days of " clock-work " I began to desire mightily that meals would not appear to the minute, that somebody would break the law or a bone. I even hoped for a storm, and kept a keen look-out for mermaids and sea-serpents. Nothing happened, and before the voyage was ended I quite enjoyed the order and method of our sea life. I became possessed of a ravenous hunger, and blessed the stewards who so punctually set good meals before me. I began to realise how truly "good habits are secondary religion," and that it is a very good habit indeed to be under the laws of method and routine. Need I say how — in spite of the pleasures of our voyage — we looked for land, and hailed it with mingled feelings of pleasure and wonder ? No words could express our admiration of the noble Gulf of St. Lawrence, which opens wide its arms to give 8 WEST-NOR'-WEST. the ocean-wanderers welcome to the new land; then draws them by winding silvery ways to anchor beside the stately walls of old Quebec. There the Allan Company handed us over to the Canadian Government, and we regretfully bade good- bye to the Noru'crjian. I I 4 ; then beside :o the gooJ- ON THE "C. P. R." My first impression upon landing on the otlier side of the Atlantic was — " What a hurry everybody is in ! They look as if they expected to be cut off in the prime of their days, and required to cram into a decade the work of a century." The next thought I had was — " What utter idiots Britain must be sending in shoals to America, if one may judge from the questions put and the directions given by officials." Plainly the best thing one could do was to appear as inane as the other idiots, and leave one's self helplessly in official hands. The arrangements for assisting and forwarding incompetent strangers are perfect, and the order which a Canadian official can evoke from chaos is simply an effort of genius unknown to Brilish road- and-rail-men. The Canadian Pacific Ptailway is a "great institution," and considering that it is a new track through a wild land, it ?., a marvel. But it may be well that folks at home, accustomed to the comforts of our railroads, should be prepared for some of the inconveniences they must meet crossing the Dominion by the " C. P. IV 4 10 WEST-NOR'-WEST. When we left our good sliip at Quebec we were taken ill hand by a Government official, and soon found our- selves in the cars which we were told would take us straight through without change. We expected to leave at once, but hour followed hour, and we sat there waiting. The why and wherefore of delay we could not ascertain, and I suppose never shall. There was some grumbling among the emigrants, for had they known the hour of leaving they would have employed the interval in seeing a little of Quebec, and in visiting friends in the city. At last we started, and then each prepared to make himself at home, expecting that car to he home for some days. Packages were unpacked, beds arranged, babies undressed, &c., &c. At dusk we drew near St. Martin's, and as we neared the station ; man came through the cars calling — "All for Winnipeg change here." Consternation 1 Out of the cars hurried, as best we might, those of our ship's company who were going to the West-nor'-West. We were set down on a cheerless railway station, and oft' went the train. How long we were to remain we did not know, and ao person at the place seemed to know. We thought tlien of procuring food (those of us who had understood we should get all we wanted on the cars, but found we must pay not less tlian three shillings for every meal, and that the dining-car accom- panied lis only over certain stnges— not all through) ; but could get nothing at the station except bread and tinned provisions at starvation prices. ON THE "C. P. R." II 1 » Many of our party had been armed by fore-knowledge, and had brought with them everythmg needful for a good "feed." Spirit-lamps, tea and coffee utensils, meat, bread, fruit, Swiss milk, and so on. Those of us who had come on ignorantly were in sorry plight. I was fortunate in having for my escort two gentlemen who had come from Scotland in the Norifcgian with me, and into whose care our cap- tain had consigned me. I shall never cease to be grateful for the kindness those stranger gentlemen showed me, and I often thought " what would have become of me without them ? " I do not think a woman should travel alone over such a track," unless she breaks the journey at some of the important stages, and has good store of courage and mother-wit. In the neighbourhood of Quebec, and while we passed through the country of French Canadians, the journey was frequently made extremely disagreeable by men walking into the cars, some drunk, all insolent, and stopping to stare at every woman — everybody, in fact, that it so pleased them to stare at. Shortly after stopping at St. Martin's those of our sliip's company who were not going to JManitoba and tlie further west territories left us. I confess there was a feeling of solemnity about that parting, even though it was amid the distracting bustle of a railway station ; and I was deeply touched as one after another my felluw-voyagcrs from Scotland shook hands and wished each other farewell. I I f 12 WEST-NOR'-WEST. I knew we — who had been in such close communica- tion for a time, learning to know each otlier, and be- coming familiar with each other's faces — should probably never meet again upon earth. Possibly the clianges of life may bring one or another within reach again ; but all will not meet till gathered to tell the story of Time upon the sliore of Eternity. I see them now! The pale intelligent carpenter, with his bright little Irish wife, and one precious babe. The young farmer and his bride. The two timid sisters. The fussy matron and her brood. The jolly smith. The canny mason with his whole connections about him, brother, wife, bairns, father-in-law, sister. The student, the sailor, the weaver, the gov^erness, the servant girl, the millworker. As they all passed into the cars, and we waved them a last good-bye, it was natural enough to ask, "I wonder what will come of each one ?" There was a marsh and pond by the station, and while we'waited in the dusk for our train, we amused ourselves — at least one or two " boys " and myself did — with trying to catch bull-frogs and curious moths. None of us had heard before the shrill loud call of those ridiculous frogs, but I had so often heard their music described that I had no diflliculty in identifying the incessant noise they made. When we were not liuntiii" bull-frogs we were grumbling at the "C. V. K' ; lut I have since learned tliat ours was an exceptional experience, and that there is seldom such detention on the line. ON THE "C. P. R." 13 t What the Scottish Thistle objected to was being promised one thing, and given anoth'"". " We don't mind roughing it," one of our party said ; " but let us know we are to rough it, and then we come prepared. Don't let us be assured that all is smooth sailing, and then find that sometimes it is very mU' the reverse." I mention this not from any desire to find fault — personally I was not inclined to grumble, remembering how short a time ago it is since the track of the " C. P. E." was a howling wilderness — but because the overcoloured official and " interested " reports have shaken the confidence of the British public ; and they are inclined to fiy to the opposite extreme, and believe that nothinr/ is true which government agents or rail- way authorities say. The point which seemed to require attention on the *' C. P. Tu" is the accommodation for ladies. There certainly ought to be a compartment in every " settler's car " where a woman, if she chooses, may travel in the company of her own sex only. The gentlemen have their smoking compartment : why not concede a like luxury to the ladies ? As we left the French element behind, we thouf^ht we came among a finer people, and the further we got away from old-world civilisation the more civility we found. Comfortable meals at reasonable rates were provided at the railway stations. The cleanliness, prompt atten- tion, pleasant manners, were most refreshing. 4 s (* II' 14 WEST-NOR'-WEST. There was no want of expanse about the heavens that arched over the western world, so different from what we had noticed for the first few days at sea. The sky seemed so very far away I almost felt as if Heaven were not so near the earth when I looked up to that clear blue, whose clouds were so lucid you could see through them, and whose boundless ranges stretched so far — so far ! But the lack of our kindly grey cloud-curtains was more than compensated for by the buoyancy of spirit, the energy, the life imparted by the delicious atmos- phere. One felt as if a low roof, a prison door had been swept away — that soul and body had got freedom, and a limitless region through which to ily ! I thought it would not be difficult to lose one's way in Canadian skies, as it is not difficult to get lost in more practical fashion amid Canadian woods and on Canadian prairies. On the third day we knew we were nearing tlie "Greater Scotland." The physique of the people was Scottish on a large scale, their courtesy and " heartiness" an improvement on the somewhat stiff manners and too often surly bearing of stay-at-home-Scots. Our national pride was very much gratified to find Scottish names prominent in almost every place along the main line of railway across Canada. On the largest stores, manufactories, hotels, we saw Grant, Bruce, Macdonald, Fraser, &c., plainly proving that the canny Scot is "to the fore" in that great young nation, and means to keep first place there. ON THE «C. P. R." 15 % I found on inquiry that Irishmen easily and speedily find their fittiLg sphere at the desk, on the platform, in the editor's office — wherever quick brain, superior intellect, ready speech, and fine tact are wanted. When Canada is making herself felt as a power among the nations, and the admiring eyes of the world are turned upon her, we shrill see that Irish brains have largely helped to place her in a front rank. As we passed through towns and villages, I was very much impressed by the fact that a church (or churches) formed a conspicuous feature in each town. Even where the buildincjs consisted of little more than a railway station, store, wood sheds, and shanties, yet there was a House of God. Evidently, I thought, Canada believes more in u spiritual police-force than in any kind of physical 'suasion ; for military and civil police are " conspi- cuous through their absence," whe^^ compared with the moral-'suasion corps, whose douce garments and friendly faces one sees everywhere in the Dominion. I met with a pleasing instance of Canadian loyalty on the line. "We were examining some silver cent- pieces which we had received in exchange for our shillings and half-sovereigns, and I remarked — " I did not know that American coinage circulated here. I thought British money would be used in Canada." From the opposite side of the car came a voice, strong, decided, gentlemanly — "Excuse me, m dame, but ours is British money. We find it convenient to usq i6 WEST-NOR'-WEST. the decimal system, but we have the Queen's head as well as you. Observe the difference," and he selected from a handful of coins one with the United States stamp and one with the Canadian stamp. Handing these to me, he added : " jSTo ! We don't object to Yankee dollars when they come across the line ; but we don't think we can have a better head on our money than ffers ! " There was a most delightful mixture of pride, affec- tion, and independence in the way he spoke of Her — the mother of nations — and an assenting smile was on every face in the car. One gentleman lifted his hat in graceful deference to the name of Britain's Queen. I was struck very much by the feeling of loyalty to the Old Country exhibited everywhere I went, in particular among those who sympathised with the " Home Eulers ; " and I thought that a very significant fact. I had some conversation with officials at many of the most important places e^i roiite, and all were ready to give the fullest information. All ofticials along the C. P. E. are civil and obliging when not beset by a crowd of bewildered strangers asking the most unreasonable and unanswerable ques- tions — a too common circumstance, and one calculated to try the temper of even an American gentleman. I cannot enough praise the patience and courtesy shown to ignorant or lorn passengers. When I men- tioned to a "railroad boss" some matters connected with travelling by their railway, which in my insular and feminine judgment seemed to want mending, he ON THE «C. P. R." T7 replied, " Well, just tell that in your report. The Com- pany is very willing to act upon useful suggestions." At home one is so accustomed to a surly answer, a rebufif, an evasion, from official sources that I was more than surprised — I was grateful to find so much cheer- ful service politely given. In no case did I find it otherwise, and I was taxing the official courtesy rather considerably, for my time was limited, and I was anxious to glean as much authentic information as possible. The C. P. R. would do well to set aside some of its cars for the exclusive use of women and children; observe that the water-tanks fail not ; and that women do not require to wash and dress under the eyes of men ; also that food at reasonable rates is provided for second- class passengers. I hope I have made it plainly understood that the discomforts to which I allude pertain to the " settlers' cars " only. Nothing can be more luxurious than the first-class carriages on the C. P. E. The dining saloons are also everything one could wish, and the food most excellent — even dainty. In no British cafu could one get such meals for such small prices. But then, as an emigrant with many children to feed remarked — " No doubt the fare is worth the three shillings, but what we want is a bit plain meat and vegetable for a third of the money." I am sure the Company is anxious to " make things pleasant," therefore I am sanguine that the magic belt across Canada will be smoothed for the emigrant ere B r i8 WEST^NOR'-WEST. I ? 5 :. lon^T. In days to come, wheu that iron road shall pass through teeming cities where now are lone solitudes, people shall tell with gratitude of the marvellous enter- prise which cut a way from shore to shore of this mighty land, and gave to Britain the vast resources of a greater Britain. The country which is traversed by the C. P. R. is exquisitely beautiful ; but, as a whole, it impressed me profoundly by its want of human life. It looked like a land which had dared man to break its solitudes. Agpiii, and again, and again, all along the way we came to traces of wliere man had been beaten back by nature. If the " great lone land " is to be changed into the fruitful Paradise God meant it to be, it must be peopled by great numbers working together, by families, by educated as well as working men. It is m'^Tancholy to see along the shores of vast Lake Superior miles and miles of country covered with dead wood and fertile soil, and not a living soul. Scenery of the most magnificent description, a glorious atmos- phere, promise of " plenty," and nothing w^anting but men — men, not in twos and threes, but in thousands. We have driven the red men out of this land, and left nature mistress of the situation; and nature, when so left to her elf, becomes a tyrant instead of a benefactor. We mar when we dare to meddle with the balances which a Power beyond both man and nature has adjusted according to His own laws. t $ f f lall pass Dlitudes, IS enter- > mighty I greater P. R. is ssed me ked like olitudes. we came y nature, into the 3 peopled lilies, by ast Lake i^ith dead Scenery atmos- ting but lousands. and left when so nefactor. balances ;ure has THROUGH ''THE WOODS.' -45.«!i— " The Woods " is the name given to that portion of the Canadian Pacific Eailway which lies between Quebec Territory and the north-west prairie lands. The scenery is extremely varied, though woodlands form the chief feature throughout. Sometimes it is sublime in mountain outlines and mighty lakes ; some- times it is savage in aspect, rearing naked scaurs from depressions of swamp; frequently you emerge from a cloud of >sand, over tracts of wliich the train has slowly dragged itself, to look on uplands as green, tender, and smiling as the dimpled lawns of England. Then, before you have done feasting your eyes upon that delicate verdure and restful beauty, the scene changes, and tlie cars are oscillating along crags which overhang lakes that remind one of Scottish lochs and northern seas. Here islands of fantastic form, clothed in loveliness, rise from great sheets of pellucid water ; there an impetuous torrent comes rushing down a hillside ; next a ravine appears holding fragments of the winter snows. Anon you hear a hissing and squelching, and you find your wheels are splashing through a marsh where tall reeds quiver, and bull-frogs continuously shriek the 20 ]VEST-NOR'-\VEST. terrors of malaria. Next appears a streamlet meander- ing among homesteads ; and presently the little blue beck expands into a mnjestic river, over some necks of which you are carried by bridges more substantial and safe than they either look or feel. Then, it may be, you pass along a level plain of rich soil, sparsely culti- vated, thinly peopled, till your train — screaming, pant- ing, full of its own importance — rushes into a bustling town, where " A/tei' time " is posted up on a black-board for the humiliation of your laggard engine. Yet she, poor thing, has done her best ; but to drag heavy cars through sand and water, along edges of precipices, around the sharpest of corners, up the steepest of inclines, is no easy task, and may ^v<^ll excuse her for coming into the station overdue. "All aboard 1 All aboard ! Go ahead ! " and — screaming, panting as before — away rushes the land-ship along her iron road and lii'O the solitudes of nature. And always along that line, whether it go by lake or swamp, by hill or plain, by city or farm, " The Woods " interfuse, giving a certain sameness of character to the various landscapes which spread over thousands of miles. Some of those forests are altogether, or in part, composed of dead trees, blasted by fire or killed by one another. Earth is so fruitful in those regions, life 30 eager to assert itself individually, that every little seed which finds rest within the smallest morsel of soil springs up at once and insists upon becoming a tree. In 30 insisting, it commits murder and suicide. Out of the mud of a stream, from the crevice of a rock, 1 THROUGH "THE WOODSJ' 21 jander- le blue ecks of ial and nay be, y culti- T, pant- )ustling k-board fet she, ,vy cars icipices, pest of use her aboard 1 iting as on road s along hill or giving dscapes n part, by one •ns, life ry little orsel of X a tree. |e. Out a rock, from sand wafted hither and thither by the winds, from a floating spar, from the prostrate forms of kindred, do the young trees lift their green crowns, while shoving their roots around in search of a foot- hold. They jostle and trample each other like human beings, and end in killing each other — very much as men do with their fellows in an overcrowded country. The " forest kings " who survive that fierce struggle for existence are attenuated, but grow to a great height. Their dead brethren, too, are tall. When tliey all began life, their supreme desire was to look upon the sun, for without him they could not flourish ; so they pressed up and up, pushing ahead, in hope of rising above their fellows to behold their god; and died, striving for that end. It is a pathetic sight — those slim, straight trunks standing leafless, lifting naked arms, as if they had died in an agony of beseeching prayer, their bark stained russet and gold, crimson and ruby, by the sun, whose rays could only reach them when Death made bare and open to his light the depths of their forest primeval. Some of these poor dead creatures lie prostrate, riven and distorted as though they had " died hard ; " others of them the kindly mosses have covered with a verdant shroud. Those who have passed through the fire to Moloch stand very stark and red, belting groups of living trees which have escaped the conflagration, or grown up since it passed over the spot. The contrast between the living and the dead — the \ 22 WEST-NOR'-WEST. one green and graceful, the otlier scorched and stiff- is very striking. But when the suu slides low towards the horizon, his many coloured rays create a wonderful transformation in those woods. Living and dead trees, fallen trunks and stately stems, gnarled roots and swaying boughs, are glorified by the setting sun. All those marvellous tints which he gives to the clouds are cast upon " The Woods," and blend them together, as it were, in one glowing, harmoniou'? picture of beauty. I cannot attempt to describe that which has defied the powers of many a more facile writer. I can only say that some of those sunset scenes M'hich I witnessed while passing through that region were more iror'Teous, more lovelv, more like dreams of fairyland than any transformation scene depicted on the stage. ]]ut it was not always sunset, nor always visions of natural beauty ; and when one's eyes were not filled with the picturesque, the solitude, the lack of life, the absence of human beings brought depression of spirit which produced most morbid imaginings. At rare intervals we spied a solitary log-house, or a group of shanties, and near these there might be a few cattle or other "tame" beasts. More often we saw the deserted remains of rough-and-ready habitations standing — or rather, tumbling to bits — in the centre of a " clearing " fast returning to its prinr'tive state. Mauy a charred stump on such spots told how men had come there fall of vigour and hope, ready to attack nature and redeem the wilderness. Many a fair young sapling springing into exuberant life from the ashes of its I THROUGH "THE IVOODS." 23 If martyred kin, proclaimed how the lonely pioneer had wearied and given up the unequal fight with nature. During long hours, the train rocked on, and little ■^N'as to be seen on either hand but trees — trees dead and trees living ; trees felled and trees fallen ; trees of all shades of green, in all stages of progress and decay. Having just come from the teeming isles of Britain, the absence of mankind was painfully impressed upon our minds in those " Woods." It is true the warm winds of the west are the Providence of countless butterflies and other winged beings. If your glance rests U2"»on the waters, you will see fishes splashing and birds playing. High over the topmost boughs soar mighty eagles ; and on many a branch and by many a pool the solemn-visaged heron meditates. The ferns tremble as some stealthy-footed rodent or subtle reptile glides among their fronds. Flowers bloom, little birds sing, and a sky more clear and pure and blue than we ever look np to in the north arches over all ; yet, because man is not then*, all seems lifeless and melancholy. When first those " Woods " begin to attract yojr notice, you exclaiiu about their beauty — and indeed all the time you willingly admit that — but by-and-by you find yourself regretting that they hide some fine view afar from your point of observation. After a while you think them just a little monotonous; then you become sure they look rather dreary and impracticable ; but you retract some of these thoughts when suddenly you behold them clothing a grim mountain or fringing 24 WEST-NOR'-IVEST. a stagnant lake. "How those trees improve every- thing — if only they were not so dense ! " you ejaculate ; and shortly after that you soliloquise : " Dear me, how it stifles one to look into the depths of those woods !" Presently, you find yourself fancying they are "no canny;" that there is something weird and fearsome in the way those trees start up as the adjunct to every landscape. Then you begin not to reflect on or speak of " The "Woods," but you fed them. They grow upon your imagination, they press upon your feelings, they exercise a most strange fascination over you. An awe-stricken sensation takes hold upon you, and you are spellbound by those mystical woods. They seem peopled by ghosts ; indeed, the trees appear ghosts themselves, for, as the daylight fades and shadows gather among them, the motion of the train seems transferred to the trees, and they bend and dodge and waltz as if endowed with sentient life. Here a twistod root takes the semblance of a coiled snake stranMin*' some victim ; there a decaying stump having put out, as a last protest against deatli, some slender twigs, looks like an antlered creature couching amoncr tlio ferns. Dusky savages in waving plumes and flowing robes, mammotli beasts, dryads, demons, seem there. You would fain not look, not imagine, wlien all this is repeated so often that it becomes vivid and real; but in spite of yourself " The Woods " liold you in thrall. Even when darkness conies, you cannot forgot them ; you feel their power tliough tliey are no longer visible. They are there, around you, all the same, all the time, THROUGH ''THE WOODS." 25 ML;liiig and at peep of day you gaze out of the car window to behold them as before. I had a dream of those Caradian "Woods" while travelling through them ; and because I know that dream must come true in the fulness of time, I tell it now. Lly dream was of the future, and I was travelling along the Canadian Pacific Eailway fifty years hence. Men had come to "The Woods" again, but not singly to toil in solitude, as in the days when there was no Canadian Pacific liaihvay opening a way through unpeopled wastes. These men had come in large companies, and they were not the ne'er-do-wells of decent families, nor the shiftless scum of our cities, nor disappointed competitors for place in an old country. Every man of them had brought pracLical knowledge of the arts of civilised life with them, a little money in their pockets, boys and girls at their back to be reared able citizens of a new country; at their side women, to do the woman's work of a settle- ment, and in fulfilliuLf those humble duties liftinf:c high the bannei of sellless morality. Some of these men had been agriculturists, some artisans, some gentlemen with a modest income which in Britain was not enou- Eegina (so christened by the Marquis of Lome) stands upon the level prai'-ic, and derives its interesting appearance from no natural surroundings, but from the irregularity of its buildings, their bright colouring and clean trimness, and the manner in which they are squatted here and there and anyhow. Presently, as the town grows — and it is doing so fast — the houses will be arranged in straight lines to form squares, streets, and avenues. At present every habitation is planted according to the will of its owner, I think ! Hotels, complete and comfortable as any in the old country, stand side by side with wooden shanties. Shops where you may buy lace and ribbons and photographic albums flaunt themselves close to police stations. Mexican saddles rub shoulders with tea-trays in one store. Tinned meats jostle bananas and oranges in another. There are always interesting groups of men, horses, cowboys, and Indians beside the wells, M'here the pump handles are seldom at rest. One of the leading men of liegina said to me — " When the town grows larger, we shall have to meet 1 PRAIRIE HOMES. 29 and solve the great problem of our prairie cities — the water supply." He said it with a confidence which meant " of coursf" we shall find a way to overcome the difficulty." The belief in themselves which Americans and Canadians have is amazing ! Long Lake must be within one hundred miles of Eegina. It is a large sheet of splendid water, and I shall not be surprised if Western enterprise brings that supply to the capital as well as other towns. The way distances are bridged over in Canada startles one accustomed to hear Londoners speak of Scotland as some remote place which it requires much consideration to visit once a year. When a fire, however trivial it may seem, breaks out in Eegina, every man closes his shop or house door, and runs to assist in extinguishing the flames. This town is the headquarters of the mounted police, which is really a military force, and as fine a body of men as any one could desire to see. I could not sufficiently admire both horses and men of the police force. Their duties are arduous, and not unattended by danger, but they look quite equal to any duty, how- ever desperate. The prairie territories are very featureless and un- interesting compared with the mountain and lake districts; though possessing compensation in the rich level tracts of soil ready for the plough. Efforts are being made to plant trees, and when their farms and cities are dressed in foliage, the prairie-lands will rival ; l»! i' f 7 30 IVEST-NOR'-WEST. in beauty, as they equal in prosperity, the Provinces east and west of them. The paths across the prairie are called '' trails," and a trail is made by skinning the turf from a strip of "round wide enough to allow two vehicles to pass each other. No attempt is made to harden the road ; the hum- mocks are merely smoothed a little ; but it is very pleasant driving along a trail if the day be fine. If the wind blows you are enveloped in clouds of dust ; if it rains, you pass along a track of mud, portions of which adhere to the wheels of your " rig," making weary work for the horses. The favourite vehicle is a " buckboard " which is made after a plan authorised by Government. I was told Government will not allow vehicles of the same class, employed for certain service, to be constructed on any other plan. These backboards are capable of going over ground where any of our conveyances would assuredly come to grief. I have crossed ravines (on a buckboard) as steep as many parts of Hawthornden, and my alarm amused the rough-i'iaers very much. Not till after mar ' scares did I learn to place the smallest confidence in a buckboard behind a " broncho." As you follow the trail over great tracks of fertile land you pass the homes of settlers, which look lonely enough standing divided from each other by miles of prairie, and without wood or hill to shelter them. 1 was sorry to see so few attempts at planting trees, PRAIRIE HOMES. 31 or doing more than turning over the rich earth for mere farming purposes, although the subject ought to be of chief consideration. It will only be when family life takes the place of "batching" (bachelor life) that proper attention will be given to horticulture, and gardens, poultry-yards, orchards, and hedgerows will be added to log house or shanty. About twenty miles from Eegina I descended through break-neck ravines and "creeks" into the beautiful Qu'appelle Valley, which winds through the level prairie for hundreds of miles. It is well-wooded, well- watered, abounding in all forms of life save human life, and that is painfully sparse. No need to plant gardens in this exquisite vale. Tlie whole valley seems to be a succession of gardens, planted and tended by nature ; blooming as Eden, inviting mankind to come and people its lovely solitudes, and reap from them the harvests of health and plenty which so surely follow on " going forth " in " certoin hope." It is to be greatly desired that folks at home, our Government and private companies, should second the efforts of Canada more than they do in peopling her waste lands. We should look upon the British Isles as the cradle and nursery of the world — a nursery- garden where the best kinds of seedlings and saplings are trained into vigorous young life for the purpose of transplanting into wide gardens, lawns, and wood- lands ! What sort of a place would the nursery-garden lil I i 32 WEST-NOR'-WEST. become, what sort of plants would the promising shoots develop into, if incessant and careful trans- planting were not carried out? What sort of credit would attach to the gardener who consigned to his customers only diseased, pining, puny, malformed plants ? We ought to send to our colonies — to the whole un- inhabited, or sparsely-peopled, or savage-haunted places of the earth — " well-assorted specimens " from our home nursery-garden, and our transplanting of those goodly young shoots should be more systematic, more dis- cerning, and more wholesale than it is at present. Overcrowding is poisoning and killing the life of Britain, its social, happy, prosperous life as a whole. Is the triumph of a section, the success of a tithe, worth the sacrifice that goes on day by day — the loss of souls and bodies which should have expanded into power and joyous existence ; which could have so expanded if they had been set within the M'ider area of a world beyond our little Isles ? When shall we learn to act wisely on God's commands ? When shall we fully accept, and show ourselves equal to, our unique destiny — that of a dominating race which must absorb within itself all lower races, and make itself the ruling power for good of a planet ? When Britain fully comprehends her mission on earth she will undertake this noble business of emigra- tion in a very different spirit from heretofore, and the world as well as Britain herself will go forward on PRAIRIE HOMES. 33 broader lines, and on tlie more enduring basis of religious duty. Such were my thouglits as I gazed on rich lands with here and there a sign of man's presence, and scarcely anything to tell that ivoman was in the territory at all ! I wished with all my heart that I could have shipped off a dozen cargoes of well-assorted damsels from Scotland to Canada, where women and women's work are so much required. I speak, of course, of the North- West chiefly. In the older provinces east, I fancy things are very much as they are at home — prejudices of class preventing educated ladies from engaging in certain kinds of work — luxury and poverty side by side, laziness and industry bearing their fruits as in the old country ; perhaps fewer shams than we indulge in, but, as a set-off to that, a greater amount of barefaced wickedness. That is what I gathered from what I saw and heard. Possibly, like many otliers who go and hear, and cannot stay ai:d prove, I may have be>.n mistaken. I confess my enthusiasm was reserved for the young new provinces whose vitality seems immense, in proportion to their population, and whose aims are so grand. They are truly a fine race, those prairie settlers ; and their hospiiality is as lavish as their "bields" are quaint and small. One dwelling-house was log built. The logs are cemented together by mortar, and lined with smooth plank. This house stands by the side of a liillock, and the outer wall of the kitchen is the hill-side. I 1 |i 34 WEST-NOR'-WEST. On the day I arrived the kitchen was being roofed, and I stepped from the mound upon the roof to inspect tlie tar paper which was being stretched over the wood. In winter-time the house is '-'banked" round with earth, which adds greatly to the warmth. Besides the log-house there is a shanty, which makes a delightfully cool sleeping room in summer. In winter it is drawn up to the house, and "banked" also. A shanty is so constructed that it can be moved any- where. One of our Shetland colonists bought a second- hand shanty, an excellent house of two storeys, stair, cupboards, windoM-s, doors, complete. Twenty oxen were hitched to the house (which was set upon two long logo split in half), and they dragged it many miles up hill and down dale. It now stands on the side of a pretty ravine, and not even a pane of glass was cracked during the transference. Under the houses are cellars dug out of the earth ; and these are the store-rooms of the establishments. Some settlers had dug out stables and "byres" in the sides of the hillocks — where hillocks are. On the prairie where the ground is level, structures are made (for the accommodation of animals) in some cases like mere wooden frames "banked" about with turf or straw. In some places I saw stables such as we have at home ; but I was told these are not so useful in the Wild West, where the cold is most intense in winter. PRAIRIE HOMES. 35 Horses (bronchos) dou't miud the cold, but cattle require careful " keep " and warm lodgings. One house which I visited was a picture of neatness, comfort, and beautv. It belonged to Mr. Carss (the little settlement is named Carssdale), one of the first of those Qu'appelle settlers who, with his brave and bonnie wife, took up his abode here amid Eed Indians and wild deer, and saw no white men, save his own smill party, for many a long day. One little cliild is left to this heroic couple, a veri- table Prairie Flower ; and I cannot express the strange thrill it gave me to see a pretty wee lassie flitting among those grave and bearded men in that lonely valley. I shall have more to tell of this child later. Mr. Jamieson, a young Shetlander, went to the Qu'appelle with Mr. Carss, and is now the head of a large household of relatives who have followed him to the West. Not far from Mr. Jamieson's farm is located in a log house of their own building Willie Smith, our minister's son, and another young fellow from far Unst in Shetland. I called upon them on Sunday morning, and found the young men in the picturesque garb of the prairies, having just finished milking their cows. They looked brown and healthy, and seemed to be enjoying their life thoroughly. " Next door " to these is the movable residence of Mr. Hamilton, son of the late Dr. Hamilton of Eressav. When I was making " calls " in the Qu'appelle valley I I 36 WEST-NOR'-WEST. Mr. Hamilton and his man Lovvrie were batching in the shanty, and, both being family men, were grumbling over the hardships of housekeeping. Since then the true wife and her brood of boys and girls have gone to share the pi.-^h'ie-life. Their neighbours across the valley are grandsons of the late Dr. Ingram, long known as the Father of the Free Kirk. Then, nearer the line of the new railway, and further down the valley, my two boys, and a young Englishman, Mr. Maxpm, with his bright Shetland bride, have set up a joint establishment. Thus our little northern colony seems on the road to a happy and prosperous future. The climate of the Qu'appelle valley is delightful. In summer very hot, but invigorating. In winter extremely cold, but dry, bright, and windless. Toth extremes of cold and heat are much more healthy, and far more endurable, than the fitful storms, damp, frost and thaw, rain and sunshine of Britain. I thought the great plague of the prairies wag mosquitos "and such like," but I was told tlir.t the insect pest disnppears very much before " the plough." Possibly they find it hard to live and thrive without the native grasses, and I am afraid there will always, be enough of tliat to keep the mosquito race from do- generating so as to leave man with an unrullled temper and skin! Tlicre is a kind of hearty yet high-bred hospitality among Canadians that is very pleasant to their guests. They don't prepare specially for you, nor invite people I jk_ \ ■ ■ PRAIRIE HOMES. 37 " to meet you " (how I dislike that expression for what it implies) of a set purpose ; but they bid you come and they welcome y^a cordially, and they let you share their family life ; or if there is any person you particu- larly want to see they " have him up " at once ; and they make you feel — down to the toes of your boots and right away to the ends of the feathers in your bonnet — that they are very glad you came to see them ; that they like you very much, and wish you would stay with them eternally. You are sure yju have not put them about by your visit ; on the contrary, that some- liow you have conferred a real pleasure on them. You expect they will get over the parting from you some time, though you are convinced that they mean to be your friends all through. If that isn't first-class hospitality, I do not know what is. I was particularly struck by the thirst for knowledge which exists among Canadians, and the prompt practical manner in which information is obtained. At first I fancied — my insular prejudices being hard to die — that people were " cheeky " when without pre- face of any sort, I was asked (courteously enough) whero I came from, where I was going; was I nianied, had I any children ; wliat had I left home for, when was I going back, kc, &c. Very soon, the polite way I was addressed, and the frank manner of conliiling the personal history of tho questioner in return, and unasked, showed that it was "just their way" — a way 1 very soon adopted, and i 38 WEST-NOR'-WEST. thereby collected a large amount of interesting " copy " not otherwise obtainable. We all recognise the '.viJe-awake American, as he appears casting a keen glance at the tartans and cairngorms in our shop w'idows, or when he is — in his honest warm way — admiring our lochs and bens; but he must be seen at home to be found at his best. The "aggressive Briton " flaunts the Union Jack very insolently when Jic is abroad, and the American is apt to follow suit. Tlius we see ratlier more of tlie staia and stripes in our own laud than in their native States, I am told. The Canadian resembles the Yankee and liriton in this, and wlien he visits us we call him rather bumi)tiou3 and distinctly self-assorting. That is not the charac- teristic of the Canadians in their own land, I think. At least my impression was that they are a dignifie;], self-respecting people, conscious of a lately-acquired nationality all their own, and careful to live as becomes a noble nation. 1 thought the Canadians liad struck a happy medium between tlie exclusive Ihitislier and the all-eml)racin'' Yankee, and 1 liked the medium best of the three. A SUNDAY IN THE FAR WEST. _^t^:P— . It was Sabbath mornincr, and I folt it to be so, aliliouf];b no sound of church-bull, no vision of neighbours in Sunday-best, proclaimed that the Scot in a far land was honouring the Holy Day of his old home. Tlie ordinary duties of the morning on a prairie-ftirni were performed in a leisurely manner, quite unlike the bustling energy with which they were " tackled " on week-days ; and the faces of all the household wore a quiet pleased expression which said how grateful to the busy hands and heads was the rest of Sunday. Sunday ! yes ; the day of the Sun of llighteousness. Tlie lunii)iary which lie has deigned to call the symbol of Himself was shedding its glory from ether, flecked by those wonderfully transparent clouds which beautify without dimming the splendour of American skies. Some birds, whose voices seemed like those of our yellow-hammer and linnet, were singing matins over the knolls which straggle from the bosom of the valley till they reach the level prairie, spreading like a broad ocean on either side of the river's delta. Wild llowera I knew and loved Cmingled with others tluit were strangers yet not less beautiful) were lifting 40 WE3T-N0R'-lVESr. 1: their bright faces to tba heavens, thanking God no doubt in their own way for the sunshine and sweet winds upon which they were nourished. The valley looked like a garden of the Lord on that Sabbatli morning, and as I gazed upon its lovely un- peopled solitudes I wished that some of the struggling, suffering crowds of Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, could be transported to such a scene of peace, such a land of plenty. I thought of the many at that hour within hearing of city-bells calling to worship, who are miserable enough to feel that summons a mockery ; who, if hcrCf would feel that God's bounty is not offered grudgingly, and that His day of rest is still the right of those who, in faith and hope, obey His command, " Six days shalt thou labour." There my meditations were interrupted. My brother-in-law had announced that he was to have a "dinner-party" at his shanty that day, and I was requested to be one of the guests. It was a busy season of the year, and the scattered settlers had few opportunities of exchanging home civilities. Tlie shanty was some miles distant and on tlie way to the kirk, so I right willingly agreed to Mr. amilton's proposal. I also knew that the other guests were the sons of our two Unst ministers. I wanted to carry home to the parents news of their prairie-lads, and I knew I should liave no other opportunity of seeing them. To walk for miles under a broiling sun, and tliroiigli scrub, &c., was not to be dreamed of; so a "broncho" I i A SUNDAY IN THE FAR WEST. 41 >i was " hitched " to a " buckboard," and Mr. Hamilton and I set out, some of the others to follow on horseback. We drove along the valley smoothly enough for a short way, but very soon a ravine had to be crossed, and the broncho began to baulk in a manner that brought my heart into my mouth. At one place the descent was so steep that my courage failed altogether and I got off the " buckboard " and crossed the creek on foot, tearing my dress among the brambles and wading through mud. Sometimes i thought the broncho was to fall back upon us, sometimes it seemed imminent that we should be jjitched forward on the broncho. But after a time T began to take hope from the manner in which the light, wonderfully constructed vehicle managed to keep its proper position, as well as from the sure-footed way the horse proceeded. As the baulking always ended in notliing worse than a mild tussle I became more re- assured, and sat still while my expert driver had it out with the beast — though much of my pleasure in tho beautiful scenery was spoiled for me on that and other occasions by baulking bronchos behind buckboards ! Thus we wont along rich fields and finely wooded dells, by hillocks clothed with rose and currant bushes, and over burns tiickling down to the rivers which they feed, and so enable to thread a way along the valley for hundreds of miles. By-and-by we came upon a herd of cattle which were coolly grazing on somebody's corn. Fields are not enclosed, and cattle stray far if not herded. Naturally they piefcr tender young wheat to prairie grass, and it I * ill 42 IVEST-NOR'-WEST. gave us some trouble to persuade those cattle that they had no business there. The broncho had been trained for herding, and conducted the " rig " and myself in a very adroit manner at tne tail of the cattle, wliile Mr. Hamilton on foot kept the drove from breaking off and returninti to the field. I thoui^lit of the words of One who could feel for all ; and I was assured that Christ would have set the case of a neighbour's ox destroying another's corn beside the case of a neighbour's ox fallen into a pit. When we reached the shanty — a neat wooden house of two storeys which had been buught to that spot " ready- made "two months previously — we were delighted to see clouds of swallows preparing to colonise the eaves. We were duly welcomed by Lowrie, the intelligent man who had accompanied my brother to the far West, and who is his indispensable "help." After a few minutes* rest and interested watching the swallows, we set out again to call upon our minister's son, \\hose farm lies two miles further up the valley. As the b'lckboard drew near his log-house we saw stalwait Willie Smith come to the door, which lie more than iilled, and look amnzedly at the apparition of a lady driving up to his prairie-home on Sunday mcning. I thought how it would ha^ e uladdened his mother's heart to have looked as I did on the bright bronzed face and strong frame of her Shetland boy. lie had been in Canada only a year and a half, but miglit pass for a brawny native of that land of giants if the accents of the A SUNDAY IN THE FAR WEST. 43 island tongue, and the softened light which came to his blue eyes when we spoke of mother and home, did not tell a different story. The comrade who shares his home is also a Shetlander, and they seemed very hopef il and healthy, though feeling the isolation of their life very much. They gave me a comforting draught of rich milk, as is the hospitable farm-usage. Thanks to the wisdom of a good government, no drink stronger than milk can be obtained in that territory without an official " permit." After reminding Willie of his en- gagement for dinner an hour later, we departed again ; and presently beheld young Ingram come striding across the valley to keep his engagement. He surveyed me from under a huge straw hat which was removed when he drew nearer, and then I recognised the " family face," tanned and strengthened, but familiar to one who had known his people. Family likeness is wonderfully marked in Shetlanders. When we reached the shanty again we found Lowrie "far through" with his duties, and ready to tackle the linal preparations for dinner. I watched him deftly arrange his pots and pans until I felt ashamed of myself — as a woman naturally must feel when sitting idle while a lord of creation performs domestic duties ; so I put off cloak and gloves, and de- spite of mosquitos and a roaring fire, I helped Lowrie to prepare a savoury dish of beefsteak and onions, also a huge potful of potatoes. Mr. IlaTuilton collected his nondescript assortment of plates, &c., which Lowrie arranged upstairs iu what one might style the shanty 44 IVEST-NOR'-WEST. \ I li i ! drawing-room ! A plank resting on two stools was laid alonfj one side of the table, the three chairs of the establishment, with a box, and a bucket turned lipside down, filled the places at head and foot and 'tother side of the board. Tinned peaches, pepper-box, salt- cellar, and a small supply of silver, added exceptional luxuries to a new prairie-home. As a rule the pioneers are not so well provided, and I thought of the wifely heart away in the north which had so tenderly striven to impart home comfort to the shanty life. By the time our arrangements were complete most of the guests had arrived, and Mr. Hamilton had the satis- faction of beholding his beefsteak (brought from the town twenty miles away) fully appreciated by healthy fellows who had seldom leisure or opportunity to enjoy a meal which their own hands liad not helped to cook. The hour for service was drawincj near, and the kirk was at some distance:, so those of us who wished to attend hurried through dinner, before all the guests had assembled, and set out. Driving and riding we clambered out of the valley, and going over the prairie at a rapid pace reached the kirk in good time. It is a plain wooden building, most primitive in appearance. It stands by itself, unadorned, square, solitary : neither tree nor hill nor rock to shelter it. It might be a barn. Yet it wore a beauty of its own, for I thought of it as on' >f God's milestones set upon the wide waste of prairie to point the way heavenward. Nor is the little kirk unconsecrated and altogether I A SUNDAY IN THE FAR WEST. 45 lonely, for beside it are two graves — that of a little child and an old man. The kirk is open for service only during the summer. While the long, cold Canadian winter lasts there can be no assembling of themselves together, seeing that the congregation is so widely scattered, and the kirk is not heated. When we arrived, there were picketed around the kirk a number of horses and gigs ; for, as I said, the congregation collects from afar, and no one dreams of walking any distance in these localities. The kirk could hold some hundreds comfortably. On this occasion the number assembled was about forty — an exceptionally large congregation I was told, five-sixths of these being men. The minister who officiates regularly was away on duty somewhere else, and a layman conducted the service. If he was not a layman he was a very un- pretending, earnest preacher of the Methodist, or some such, denomination. The service was most simple and " auld-warld." The dear old hymns of the dear old land were sung. The prayers were interspersed with ejaculations from numbers of the congregation. " Yes, glory to His name!" "Amen, amen!" "Praise the Lord," &c. The prayers were also interrupted by the manifold attacks of mosquitos. There was no petition for " Queen and Country ; " but I think the preacher belonged to the United States, which may account for the omission. I found all the 46 WEST-NOR'-IVEST. Ml li i Western folks I met most loyal to Britain. The text cliosen was, *'Is there no balm in Gilead ? Is there no physician, there?" and the poetic words were treated with some poetic effect. The sermon was not wanting in eloquence; nor was it very long. While Jt was pro- ceeding Willie Smitli's horse was seen struggling in- discriminately among the buckboards, and his master darted out of church abruptly. Eviden'ly such inter- ruptions were not novel. The preacher went on calmly as before, and everybody F:.t unconcerned. Ko damage was done to either beast or vehicles. After service, as before it, the people stood outside the kirk conversing, as I have seen my countryfolks do in Unst when the kirk-door was the newsagent of the island. When my son made known to some ot those who had been his friends that th.e lady "in company" was his mother, I met tlie hearty clasp of many a strong honest hand. A bright-faced and comely lady asked nie to come and have tea at her house, and I gladly agreed. What a surprise it was to enttr lier home and find it as dainty in its furnishings, as fresh and comfortable, as any one could desire. I cannot imagine liow a ^rand piano, sofas, mirrors, carved brackets, crewel- work, crystal, china, pictures, M-ere transported to that lonely farm-house, but there they were, and lliiting among them was a pretty wee lassie in a dainty white frock and fresh ribbons, herseli' the most unique thing there! The gentlemr.u who had officiated at church was also the gu"st of Mrs. Carss that evening, and wo I h\ A SUNDAY IN THE FAR WEST. 47 had some very interesting conversation, chastened and grave as became the Holy Day. The " Sabbath-feel " was " in the aii " all the time- had been somehow all through the dav, though little talk which is strictly religious had marked our intercourse, There had been what is more true, more earnest, more heart-felt than theological conversation — a sense of relief from work, a reunion and good fellowship rarely enjoyed and most necessary, a God-given peace and rest, an unconscious turning from mere worldly care to nature and nature's God and thoughts of a life beyond the things of eartli, a conviction that of all good gifts to man the Sabbath stands as one of the most needed and the most to be valued. Such feelings, I may be pardoned for saying, I felt were more useful in strengthening and ennobling than lengthened public ordinances could have been in such a locality and under such circumstances. The drive home with my son Horace in the cool quiet evening was very delightful, although in crossing one cieek I felt on the brink of my grave. I do not think there can be anything in nature more exquisitely beautiful than the beauties of an American sunset — always excepting sunrise and sunset at sea. I dare net attempt to describe the tints on sky and earth and water and foliage ; but my soul went up iu an exceeding thank, hiess to the Creator for this world of ours, so dowered with loveliness, so filled with tlie riches of His bounty, so wonderfully ruled by His unsearchable laws, so blessed by His love. 48 WEST-NOR'-WEST. :l il I I 1 i ! A fit conclusion to that Sunday on the prairie came when Charlie played our favourite hymns on his little missionary -organ; and my boy's music had never seemed more sweet in our Scottish liome than it was in that log-house amid the wilds of the far West. P r. I same little ever was WINNOGENE. A CIIAPTEll FOR THE CIIILDREX. I SHOULD like to tell you about a little wliite child who dwells in the Ted-raan's land, and who has for one of her names the pretty word which heads this narrative. " Winnogene ! " Is not that a pretty name for a girl ! and I think its meaning is even more pretty than its sound. "A bricjht rav of li-dit " — that is the literal meaning of the Indian word; and the girl who is so named is a ray of brightest sunshine in a lonely prairie- home. She is a young child, and a very sweet one ; but she has imbibed a prejudice against the "Nichies" (a con- temptuous term applied to Indians), and does not wish to be called by a Nichie's name. I am sure when she is older and understands thincjs that are dark to her at •J present, she will like that she was named Winnogene. Iler parents were among the first settlers who fixed theii- liabitation in that far away locality. They wandered and wandered west for hundreds of miles with a wacrgon and small store of household i^ear. Winnocrene's mother was the only woman of the party. What a brave woman she was ! I have heard from some who were with her of her energy and courage. She never mur- D so WEST-NOR'-WEST. s , mured, was always cheerful and ready to help. Then, later, when her husband had decided upon where ho would locate himself, how nobly she bore all the priva- tions and trials of the rough prairie-life ! At that time the wliole country round there was in an unsettled state. Indians and half-breeds were roaming the land athirst for revenge on the conquering race, enger for plunder, ignorant, debased ; all the worst passions of their savage nature roused by injustice and harsh treat- ment. Alas ! when we do not practise Christianity in our dealings with savages, how can we expect them to meet us with any spirit more tolerant than their own heathen creed of "an eye for an eye " ? The martyrdom of missionaries, the patient self- sacrifice of good men through long years, scarcely suflice to blot from a lled-man's mind the belief that the " Paleface " is his mortal foe ; and we have no business to wonder that it is so; for in the past our £';ern pioneers neither gave nor took " quarter." It will be for the children growing up in the Indian's land to teach tlie poor conquered " ^'icliies " a moro Ciirist-like creed than that which was practised by their conquerors. Now you will see some of the reasons why Winnogenc dislikes a Nichie's name, and why I called Winnogenc'^ mother a brave woman. One night she was roused by n terrible noise outside, which for some minutes she never doubted was caused by Indians come to 7;iurder IheuK The noiso was caused by wolves— not less terrible than the lled-skins when met out of doors ; ^ WINNOGENE. ■51 len, he iva- U but fortunately for the defenceless household, not able, like the Indians, to plan an attack upon unarmed men within a dwelling. The wolves, like the Indians, have now become few and afraid to face the intrepid settlers, so that women and children con sleep without dread in those lonely prairie-homes. Although this lady, of whom I speak, never lost courage, yet the strain ui.on her nerves must have been very hurtful. Slie lost her babies one after another, and was more than once nigh unto death herself. At last it happened that one dear little one lived, and in cxcecJing thankfulness for such a precious ray of heaven's own light and life, the mother added "Winnogenc" to the other names bestowed upon the child. Children, you are all more or less accustomed to the companionsliip of small people like yourselves. You have child-friends who pl.iy with you and are in class with you. You meet children at church, in the street, by tlie sea-shore. You compete with others of vour a''e at jjames and in school. You chat tojrcther over your lessons and toys ; and you have huge enjoy- ment in the exchange of confidences and sweeties with some little body who is your s])ccial chum. Can you imnqine how vou should feel if you were like Winno- gene — almost the only child within a circle of many miles, seldom seeing another child, and never enjoying the daily companionship of children ? I really cannot describe what a queer sensation it gave me to sec that brig'.-t little Morning llay — Winnogene — shedding its I : 52 IVEST-NOR'-IVEST. light and beauty upon the lives of the grave grown-up folks in her home. Slic was dressed as any girl in Scotland might be — in a white frock and pretty sash. She looked like any Scottish lassie might — rosy-cheeked, glad-eyed, child-like, and happy ; yet I felt how much more Winnogene was than any girl at home. Jlcrc wo have more little girls than we often know what to do with; there one little girl is a pearl of exceeding price, a token of love, a centre of attraction, a something to evoke tenderness, to suggest purity, to soften stern men doing stern work. jMorning liays ! Children, 3'ou are all " Winnogencs " in a certain sense. Are you trying to live up to such a beautiful name, trying to shed gladness, purity, warmth around you ? Are you trying to come and go like the sunbeams, lighting up the dark places of the earth, rejoicing sad lives around vou, kindling now life in deadened souls, being in your sjihores what "Wiimogene is in her prairie-home, a briglit ray of light? Every beam of light whicli comes to our eartli is a golden arrow sent from the soul of the sun. Kvery little child id a ray of divine life scut from tlie heart of God. Oil, if every child wore to perform its oarlhly mission as faithfully as the sunbeams perform theirs, what a bright and happy world this would be ! i 1 led, iicli wo do ICG. A KIRK BY THE QU'APPELLE VALLEY. — «5,-J*- A Scottish settlement does not long exist before its members — tliough they may be few in number — begin to think about having a kirk of their ain. The popuhitiou of Carssdale and its neighbouring districts are few and scattered of course; but they wanted their kirk and they got it. Even those of their number who were not of Scottish extraction agreed that tlieirs must be a Presbyterian church. That form of religion is better adapted for the wants of an infant settlement of intelligent and civilised people than any other. There is no elaborate ritual, no organ, no altar, no choir-buys, no consecration services, no white surplice, no rigid order of ]irayer required. An earnest energetic man, fired with holy fervour and a llible in his hand, is all that the kirk rccpiires. The kirk itself may be as plain and free from ornament as a barn. There is not much money among those busy strug- gling settlers; but there are strong hands and willing hearts, ami ihe unpretending little church was raised. Nevertheless some money was needed to set it agoing, and a sum was collected, tlrough not enough for tho I \ 1 J 54 WEST-i\OR'-]VEST. purpose. Then a brilliant idea occurred to somebody — "Let us bring the matter before all at the annual picnic, and solicit assistance." No sooner said than done. The place where the kirk had be m set is within twenty miles of Eegina ; and Picgina always cordially patronises the go-ahead efforts of the surrounding farm- settlements. Folk of all nations are there — French, Englibh, Icelandic, American, Dutch, Irish, Scotch (the last perhaps preponderating) ; but all were right willing to join in such a pleasant way for such a good purpose. A fine feature in the life of Canadian settlers is this readiness with which they come forward to help each other to get on. If a neighbour is lazy, or foolish, or sellish, they let him alone "to go to pieces" as he best i)leases ; or they cheat and filch him. If he is arrogant and "gives himself airs" they take pleasure in making him find his level. lUit if he is a pushing fellow, trying to get on in life, and work with a will, believing every honest man to be his equal in rank, and doing his best to prove himself the equal in manhood of every neighbour, each one is ready to give him the helping hand. llegina was pleased to help her " Trairie-dogs," and gave tlie kirk-scheme willing support. Shortly before the usual time fi.Ked upon for the annual picnic, the little kirk was opened for divine service. A short and simple service, such as we hear in any 1 J Kly lual hill illy rill- f J A KIRK BY THE QU'APPELLE VALLEY. 55 of our Scottish churclies, "consecrated" the plain wooden buildiiif? to the uses of reliction. I think. our Father must have been pleased that His people of latter-day times had carried the faith of their former home into that far and new land. I am sure many of those brave men anu high-hearted women must have been transported in thought to the glens of Scotland, to the English villages, to the Isles of the North, when the psalms or hymns of the grand old land were sung in the little new kirk. I imagine the Psalmist and His greater Son must have rejoiced when the note of praise went up from that far west prairie to heaven. Once, we know, a people chosen of God hung their harps upon the willow, and refused to sing the Lord's song in a strange laiul. But tJinj were captives and exiles who had forsaken Him, and felt spiritless and despairing. Not so do His chosen people of to-day ! lytci/ go forth with free hands and free will, carrying His word as their passport, triumphantly singing His song in every land, and claiming as their heritage, under His blessing and His promise, the uttermost parts of the earth. Well, the kirk was "planted," and the picnic was looked forward to with a new interest. Kurly in July brought the ai)pointed day. No distracting fears n-garding the weather caused anxious farmers or nicely-dressed girls to look up at tho sky. A clear blue was overhead, a genial sun was h I PI ! I k6 WEST-NOR'-WEST. pouring liia i^lory upon the rolling prairies and the fertile valleys ; not a cloud wp.s visible — unless we call a few soft Hakes of floating gauzy substance, amber- tinted and curled like foam, cloud ! Bullock-cai t.=!, bronchos, waggons, buckboards, and, notably, shanks-liis-mare, were set in motion ; and soon a goodly company, numbering more than one hundred, met by the banks of a river (which, I think, is a branch of the "Wascana) where their tables were spread under the grateful cdiade of trees. What a charming banqueting hall that was ! The foliage in many parts was woven in a dense, green, graceful canopy overhead. The ground under foot was dry and firm ; the turf perfumed and richly coloured by beautiful llowers ; the water sparkled and made meiry music close by. After the oldest and best method of picnicing every- body had contributed to the bill of fare. One dame, lately arrived from Scotland, had baked a goodly array of oatcakes. A stalwart Northman found huge enjoyment in presiding over the teapots. A little English boy made himself useful in carrying heaped dishes. An emigrant from Ontario contributed a noble supply of butter, his r .dghbour of Frenrii extraction provided milk for the party, and so on. Tliero were gatnes of all sorts played on the nioro open ground beyond the groves whore the tables were arranged. There were songs sung, and speeches made ; and fair hands found plenty of employment in scrviii" out iced cream and lemonade to the merry-makers. A KIRK BY THE QU'APPELLE VALLEY. 57 11(1. icli Intoxicating liquors are not permitted to the Xorth- West Territories. If any person requires to use brandy, wine, or any other strong drink, he must have a doctor's certificate that it is needful for his healtli ; and after that he must have a " permit " from some oflicial, besides paying a big price for the liquor. No wonder that those Ca ladian farmers are strong, manly, handsome fellows, prosperous, happy, moral. When shall ice see the usual order of tilings reversed and tlio parent taking example from the child ? Happy will Scotland be when she follows the example of her stalwart Canadian son, and converts her corn into por- ridge instead of whisky. Ill day will it be for the "West-Xo'-'-West when it relaxes its prohibition laws so as to put the cursed "fire-water" within reach of every " weak brother." In this country we never seem able to have a "good time" without the aid of intoxicating liquor. Tliat picnic in the (^u'appelle valley was most enjoyable though nothing was drunk stronrrer than tea. When the proceedings of the day were pretty far advanced some informal talking brought the kirk and its requirements before the party; and before it dis- persed all tlie money re([uired was furthcoming — perlia})S vioi'c than M'as required ; for our Dominion ' Loy" is laige in mind as well as in person. He has not discarded his Scottish in-udence ami thiift with his Scottish weakness for fire-water ; but ho puts the ono witli the other under proper management. His Yankee neighbour shows him a fine example of 58 U'EST-NOR'-WEST. I ; II I i J i 1 geuerosity — it is V-: v'; .3 ^ar excellence of the American, he "licks t; ati'iii " in his giving. The motto of the Statti raid uxf' Dominion is, "What- soever tliy hand findeth to do, ao i; with thy might" — a magnificent motto, matching the vast continent which they are rapidly converting from a wilderness to a garden. ]\Iore power to our brothers of the mighty West! God speed the people who carry the manly faith of their fathers where v'er they go, and who rear an altar for Him before they convert their log huts into com- fortable houses, who remember to "give thanks" ere they sit down to enjoy His benefits. These Prairie Kirks sometimes serve a double pur- pose, and often become the schools of tlieir district. If it can be shown that ten cliildren of "school ago" reside within a certain limit, then that locality is taxed for educational purposes ; and government gives help liberally as well. The lioard of Education consists of eight members, five of whom are Trotestant and three lloman Catholic. A " school district" must not com- prise an area of more tlian twenty square miles, and must contain four resident heads of families. Tliree ratepayers can apply to have tlieir district brought under the Education rules, and, if a majority of the settlors agree, the thing is done. The Lieutenant- governor sees that Trustees are elected, and ample powers given them to conduct all matters connected with the " schooling " of the district. We, who have our schools and our churches iu almost I A KIRK BY THE QU'APPELLE VALLEY. 59 every street, and witliin easy distance of every farm— who never have to send our children further than a mile or so along a pleasant country road, or by a tram- car, can scarcely estimate the value of such a kirk as I have told you about— set down in such a locality. We cannot enough commend the wisdom and energy which actuates ihe settlei., and impels them to plant a kirk in the middle of each settlement, like the lamp lu tl^e centre of a room lighting even its dimmest corners. ''A CANADIAN MJ\" -«i^f»- A YOUNG nation lias been rapidly growing strong, and developing a distinctive national character iiuder our eyes, and we are scarcely aware of the fact, though it is an obvious fact. AVe are npt to name the Canadians " American," and we do not realise how much the great mass of them resent being identified with the " Yanks ;" but, in truth, our brothers of the Dominion are as different (as a people) from our cousins of the States as we are ourselves, and it will not be without a fierce struggle that they will merge their nationality iu that of Jonathun. King Commerce is not so absolute a monarch in Canada as he is across the boundary-line, and nothiiig less than the strong hand will compel her io accept annexation ; therefore, if England stands by her, she will fight for he* independence as firmly and as successfully as the States did for theirs. It is somewhat surprising to note how short a time seems necessary for the full development of national character in Canada. Some scientists tell us that a human body is changed in every particle during the period of seven years, and that the form we inhabit at twenty- one is not the earthly tabernacle which was ii "A CANADIAN M.P." 6i our abode at fourteen. A process of that sort apparently goes on in the characters of those who settle in Canada ; for at the end of, say, seven years, we find born Scan- dinavian, Celt, Latin, and Anglo-Saxon converted into patriotic Canadian?, with traits belonging to no land but that of their adoption. It may be interesting to follow in pnrt the career of a Canadian gentleman (who may fairly be taken as an example of his countrymen of the cultured class), as, in so doing, we may realise more fully the wcU- defmed lines of national character peculiar to the Dominion. Nicholas Flood Davin, M.P. for Western As.5iuiboia, was born an Irishman, educated an English barrister, M'orked as a journalist, and is now, in the ripeness of his experience and manhood, a Canadian statesman ! The natural enthusiasm and sentiment of the Irisli character have been tempered and kept in " wisdom's ways" by his legal training. The mighty power of literature has expanded his views and enlarged his synipatliies, so that he is no mere party-man in the Senate House of his adopted country. lie is a patriot — in the truest sense of the word — and does not hesitate to throw the strength of his influence into whichever "side" seems to him to be ^ onestly striving for the advancement of the nation. Tims, sometimes he has been called a " Trimmer." nises of Parliament would be all the better of a fe\ .iiore such " Trimmers " and a few less factionists ! A Conservative in Canada docs not mean what 62 WEST-NOR'-WEST. embodies the term in England. We have no party in the State (at present) occupying the position which a Canadian Conservative holds, but if we took the best traits from our Unionist, Nationalist, Conservative, and blended them into one — into a Patriot who loves his country better than his place — we should get a legis- lator like the men who follow Sir John MacDonald at Ottawa. Mr. Davin is one of these. lie is entirely opposed to the proposed Unrestricted Reciprocity Treaty with the United States, because he can look far ahead ; and, beyond the mere temporary commercial advantages of to-day, he sees a great and noble future before Canada as an independent State, M'ith an individuality of her own. He believes ihat, if she has patience to wait for it, her future must be a far grander one, standing by herself, than it can ever be if she becomes merged in the United States. He is opposed to Home liule in Ireland on the extreme lines which coercion has provoked a down- trodden people to clamour for ; but he desires for the old home of his birth " local self-government as in Canada." In an eloquent speech given in the House of Commons two years ago he said ' 'I'he man who would try to make an Irishman feel that he is alien in the British Empire is either an ignoramus or a scoundrel. Therefore, if you want Home llule, you cannot want it in contradistinc- tion to alien rule, because you have Home Ilule already, and for that reason I prefer the phrase local govern- ''A CANADIAN M.P." 63 ty 111 ch a best and his sis- Id at ment. . . I believe it would be a good thing to have a local Assembly that would give the Irish people the excitement of local politics, and would help to develop the country. . . I have often spoken to my countrymen on questions affecting Ireland, and they know well tliat I have never flattered them, for they know that I love them too well to flatter them. I prefer to tell them tlieir faults, and for my part I do not care one straw whether my bpcech is popular or unpopular, provided 1 tell the truth." These are brave and manly words, whether we agree with them or not, and it is well we should know some of the opinions of those who represent the 2^cop^<^ of our colonics on the question of our day, whicli can be discussed calmly at Ottawa, while raising nothing but party passions at Westminster. Mr. Davin has written a book, " The Irishman in Canada," of which he says — " The scope of the book takes in some of the history of Canada, and tries to persuade Irishmeii to forget Old World feuds and Old World misfortunes, and devote themselves to their adopted country." la all this, however, Mr. Davin does not f;iil to prove himself a true-hearted son of Erin. In thai same speech from which we have quoted he says — " We live in a new country which eman- cipates us from Old World prejudices. In England and Ireland feudal structures anomalously linger in luxurious pomp or proud decay, and prejudices cling round them like ivy round the long-disused battlement. Under those circumstances a statesman like Lord 64 U'EST-NOR'-WEST. Salisbury, or any English statesman, may actually not have so good a standpoint from \vhich to arrive at a just conclusion on political questions as have people ^vho breathe the broader and freer air of this continent. I confess, from Mhat we know English statesmen have done for Canada, we cannot feel tliat they are above the possibility of error, and looking back, as far as my reading of history goes, to the great names, as I sup- pose they will be called, the great statesmen who have ruled England, only three or four really understood how to deal with Ireland. . . Tiie legislation of !Mr. Clladstone, as I have said, was beneficent legislation, but it n\ust be confessed it has not had a clianco. . . For dark decades Ireland's soil has been wet with blood and tears; she has had a fearful baptism of sorrow for centuries. . . In every walk of life you find the Irish- man doing his part in building np the Ein])ire during these two centuries. There is not a (juarry from which a stone has been taken to build np that grandiose structure, where you will not find Irishmen working side by side witli Englishmen and Scotchmen ; there is not a stone in the majestic edifice of the liritish Empire in which there is not the mark of the Irish chisel." The deliberate and legal manner in which ^fr. Davin brings hard practical facts and statistics to enforce his arguments, dressing them up in graceful language, and tossing them at his op])onent3 as if they wore sugar plums, is somewhat amusing, and speaks him a true Canadian, manufactured from the best elements of the Saxon and Celtic characters. y ' not at a }oplo tient. "A CANADIAN M.P." 65 His refined and pleasing manners, ready wit, and unerring tact, all dashed with the poetic fervour of the Emerald Isle, are Irish, of course. The sound, common sense which has made him representative of practical, liard-working, prairie settlers is redolent of the new soil wherein he has planted himself — or, as he puts it — " Came to this country for my health, fell in love with Canada." It is always profoundly interesting to look back into the early life of public men, therefore, with ;Mr. Davin's permission, we give a few glimpses from his past, liorn at Killinnane, not far from some of the loveliest scenery in the south-west of Ireland, ns a boy he must have learned that keen knowledge of, and warm love for Nature, which have made him a poet. His education began in the common country school, but though he showed great love of learning, and strong literary bias, he was bound apprentice to a steel manufacturer, liut "bars of brass and triple steel" will not bind tlie soul of a born litterateur ; so the hot-hearted young author ran away to Dublin, but was brouLiht back again, and induced to wear the dialing iron belt a little longer. V>y good fortune — or CJod's guidance, we should call it — one who could Eymp;ithiso and help aspiring genius heard the hid make a little speech. His blue, candid eyes, pleasing voice, and winning air no doubt added much to the interest raised, and the result was his good fairy put it in his power to receive a University education, and lit himself for a life somewhat beyond steel. He went E 66 ]VEST-XOR'-]VEST. \i !| to Queen's College, afterwards " entered Middle Temple — called to English Bar Hilary Term." After that comes a romantic and almost tragic episode. Mr. Davin went through the Franco-German War, on the French side, as correspondent for a leading Kuglish newspaper. It was at that time that he met Marshal Mac]\Iahon, of whom ho says — " lis face strongly reminded me of the face of an Irish gentleman. He had all the facial characteristics of an Irishman." It is interesting to hear in this way that " the great French general is the descendant of one of those men " who were driven out of Ireland by William of Orange. Our Canadian M.P. was in his youth a daring rider. Tliere is before me at this moment a stirring narrative of how he rode against " Tlie Favourite" on one occa- sion when he was a mere stripling, and tlie Jockey was unable to be at liis post. The boy after a brealv-neck race won by half a liead, and wlien (in later years) he tells the story, he ends it thus — " I doubt if anything I ever did in after life gave me as mucli i)leasure as that. And the way I was received at home! V>y Jove !" Well, that yciuthful daring nearly cost liim his life, for near the close of the Franco-German War, when riding with the troop?, he was thrown from his liorso and picked up shatlered, and I do not tliink Mr. Davin has done much rougli-riding since that. It uas when recovering from these eflects of a Wu^ corre- Bpondent's romantic career that ho went to Canada and remained taere, " believing in and fighting hard fur the North-West." 1 I ".1 CANADIAN M.P." 67 I Tliere is something very remarkable in the manner with which " strangers born " become enthused witli the Canadian spirit. We do not see this in the case of naturalised Australians, or Indians, or Africanders — at least, it does not show itself so soon, or so markedly. One wonders wliether the magic lies in the earth, or the air, or in the persons themselves ! I am tempted here to quote largely from a speech delivered by Mr. Davin the other day in " the House," because it gives such an admirable account of the pro- gress made by the West-nor'-West since the opening of these territories by the C. P. E. Mr. Davin's statements are backed br voluminous and undeniable statistics. He said — " In making this motion I desire to occupy the time of the House for a few moments, and that the House listen, not to my words, but to tlie voice of what, without a figure of spceclj, may be properly called a New World. It has been opened up by you, and it is under your charge. It is some six years since that greater Canada was opened by a railway, a railway »vliicli not merely opens up tliat great Territory, but constitutes a hi ,hway for the world. It is a railway that realises the dreams of great and enthusiastic men. Lachine, near ^lontreal, nuuks the object of one, and the Knglish Franklin aimed at doing, and gave his life in trying to do, what this great work luis accomplislied for iluj wnrhl. Xow, sir, sis. years ago I witnessed the opening of the ih'st North-West Council, not the first North-West Council held in the Territory, but the llrst 68 IVEST-NOR'-WEST. : 'I hald at licgina. That Council was crude, but " :lie succeeding years it did good work and laid the ..uuda- tion of our educational and municipal systems, and our criminal and civil jurisprudence. At that time, Brandon, which is now a llourisliing city, whence v>e get one of our ablest members of this House, the hon. member for Sel- kirk (Mr. Daly) — ]jrandon was crude, and 1 remember that my lion, friend welcomed us to a Tent Club. At tliat time, a little over six years ago, Calgary had no existence — it was merely Fort Calgary ; Medicine Hat had no e::istence, Moose Jaw had no existence, and none of the flourishing little towns that litretch across the prairie now had any existence at that time. The prairie itself was practically virgin of the plough. Now it produces millions of bushels of grain, and Me exported such quantities of grain the year bufore last as to almost embarrass the Canadian racific Kailway. Not only so, but coal mines have come into existence, saw mills, Hour mills, cheese factories, dairies. L'anching and horse raising are carried on to a very large extent, and the day is at hand when we sliall have smelting and re- ducing works there ; and there is no reason whv, at thir. moment, we should not have tanneries llourishinfj in ite;^i';r», Moose Jaw, and Calgary. Every year at Cal.'^ary you have 10,000 hides and 3000 sheep-skins, so tii.H taniiing r uld b') c.irried forward successfullv. The uouiicil has, withii'. a short time, owing to the action " ' .'I'l"; uifut last year, grown into a Legislative Asse'.nbly. 'Ihat Assembly sat last year, and I am only cciioiug the langunge of persons who visited it ii I I 1 •M CANADIAN M-P." 69 I from the east, wlieii it was in session, in stating that that Assembly need not fear comparison with any Provincial Assembly in the Dominion in the jier- sonncl of its members, in their intelligence, and in the interest they give to legislation. During that time the ]\Iinister of tlie Interior presided over the destinies of that country, and took a deep interest in its welfare, and it is due to him to say, that the educational pro- gress we have has been largely due to the great in- terest he took in the Territorv. I ask the attention of members of this House for that portion of the Dominion, because I think this House is pretty well sensible that in that vast and fertile rogion we liave the solution of the difliculty in the way of Canada Ijecoming at one dav, however distant, a self-contained nation. As re- gards the settlers who are in that prairie region, I will say this for them, that there arc not in the whole Empire men more calculated by reason of their intel- ligence, morality, and business qualities to lay the foundations of a great and prosperous community. They are all energetic, most of them reading men, some are cultured men, and there is no doubt whatever t. -it the free and independent bearing which characterises the men in the North-West is due in part, possibly wholly, to their free surroundings. It may bo that even the associations of the North-West have some inlluence on them. The associations of the North - West are of the most inspiring kind, for though a new land, it is a land which has historical associations of which people can never read or think without en- I > u I I I J II I i 70 u'z-sr-.voA:'- 117:5 r. tliusiasm. Some 150 years ago Tierre Gautliier tie Varennes traversed those very regions, and Forte dii Pas, Forte 'Ui Grande liapide, at the rapids of the Saskatchewan, Forte la Corne, and other phices familiar to Nortli-"\Vest travellers, are among the footmarks that are living yet. Tiiat prairie region alone contains 1 33,000 square miles, reaching up from the arid plateau of tlie IMissouri to the forests of the Saskatchewan, and stretching from Manitoba to the foot of the L'ocky Mountains. That whole region may be described as one wheat mi/zj. There can be no doubt 'u the mind of any man who visaed that country last year, that it is destined to be the great whe;)t-produt'ing region of the future. ^ly lion, friends from Hamilton visited the country last year. Duth of them went north and south and saw what sort of ta country was there. Tlio correspondent of The JCmjnrr, Frofessor Dawson, visited the country, and probaMy some hon. members have read liis letters about the country; but my hon. friends from Ha!nilton, with visitors from Ontario, at an earlier period, saw with wonder the extraordinary crops pro- duced in that region. It is not merely, as I have already stated, a wheat-producing country. We have fanners in every part of the Nortli-West who are also cniiaged in stock raising. If vou "o north of Ilecina or Moose Jaw you will inid farmer;? who came in without $100, a*:^ tliey will tell you. owniiig herd.s, with nearly their wliole liomestead cultivated. In tlio (ju ai)pelle valley you v, ill Imd sfveral herds increasing at an almost matlieujaiical raiio every year, and horso 'M CANADIAN M.P." 71 ranching south of llegina is most successful. I have here a pamphlet issued by the Itegina IJoard of Trade, I will not trouble the House with the details contained in this pamphlet." The speaker then gave a few quotations from the ])amphlet to which he referred. One of these is par- ticularly interesting. ISFr. Davin says — " J. "W. lleynokU, eighteen miles north of Picgina, advises young men to go to the country. He savs — " * Yos, I liko the cotuitry, climate gooil, health tlitti; going to have 8chool-houfe right oji my farm; lk(';^iiia and Lunt,' Lake Kaihvay across corner of my land. Have oxen, ton head of cattic, farm imiilement?, good frame hou.so. Just threshed, wheat gone over tliirty busliels to the acre, No. I hard at that, and no fi-o.^^t. I tliink this is the country for good ]n'actical farmers, would like to see every half section ♦uken u]), and have no hesitation in advising energetic young men to come here.' "John M'lntyre, a la-oiher of Mr. Duncan M'Intyre, who has a very large farm, gives similar testimony. Thomas Jiarton, an Knglishman, whose farm I have visited, corroborates this. Mr. liarton's farm is certainly one of the most interesting jdaces that one could visit, because it is a piece of Knghmd transferred to the wilds of the west. He lias a cottage buried in flower-:, and it is lianl, when sitting in his 2'arlour and looking at the wealth of llowers around you, to realise tliat you are in a cottage wliich Mas raised tiiere live or six years ago when all was n wilderness around, Mr. liartou says— 72 U'EST-NOR'-WEST. " 'This 3'car I invested inalhrosliiiig niacliino, and for tlic past r>innth have been threshing in tlio district, and I can testify to tlic great productiveness of the soil. Iluve just got througli at ]\Ir, llonry Fislier's farm, wlierc we threshed over 8000 hushels of grain. Wheat is yielding all the way from 22 to 42 l)usliels to the acre, and oats from 50 to 90, and in a few cases, on my own farm, for example, over 100. I find Rcgina a good market fur all kinds of farm produce, grain, buttrr, eggs, pork, and fat cattle always find ready sale. As to how I like the country, I wy first class. If a man works hard and is a good manager, ho will get rich quicker i-^^^ming than in any other country in the world that 1 know ?»nything about. All branches of farming can be carried on, dairying, cattle raising, wheat growing. Large areas of land can be put luider cuUivation in a short time, and there is plenty of pasture to start as big a herd of cattle as a man likes. Don't thuik I have any more to say, unless I might add that this appears to me to be the right country for good, liard working men, who are living in the old country from liand to mouth. To all such I say, sell all you have and come out here and start over again. If you are not a practical farmer, you will soon learn, if you arc willing to learn and willing to work. Hoping, gentlemen, you will succeed in getting us more neighbours.' " Sir, I could mention case after case. There is a gentleman here .'it present, ^Mr. Carss, who was a Carleton farmer well known in this district, and ho is now one of the most successful men in the whole North-West. He has a large henl and farms exten- sivel}^ He is here at the present moment, speaking to his friends in Carleton, and giving tliem sonie idea of the Land of Promise where Ik 'dniself has succeeded so well. A moment ago I apo' about the schools in the Nortli-Wcst, and I si i now refer to them "J CANADIAN M.P:' 73 I a'Aiin. This House will be f:;lad to know that in that new region opened up six. years ago, \\t have 167 schools at the present time; the teachers are carefully examined, they require to have certificates just as your teachers have here; and, as I visited many of the schools, I can bear testimony to their efliciency. I would like to impress on the Government, and especially on the ^Minister of the Interior, that I really think a step might be taken further in the matter of education, and something done in the way of having a hiuh scliool at some central place. The children that went to our ordinary schools six years ago have now grown beyond the teachers, and we ought to have a high school for them. 1 spoke to you a moment ago about that Assembly which has charge of so important a part of our interests. It has very wide powers lunv, and it is gliding ijito responsible government. Tiiat Assembly passed a number of memorials which it is desired should bo brought before this House. Tiie first relates to a subject which need not be impressed upon any hon. member: it is the necessity of opening up as rapitlly as possible the Saskatchewan district by railway com- munication. I believe the Government have dono their part in this matter, and that we shall soon havo a railway opening up the Saskatchewan territory. It is a district of tlic Nortli-\V\st which is, if anything, more attractive than even our prairies along tlie lino, because it is varied with hill and forest and stream, and the House will easily understand what an attractivo 74 IVIiST-XOR'-WEST. ])lace for immigration it will be when a railway gives facilities for the ingress of immigrants and for the egress of the crops and products which they grow." Lilt Mr. Davin's sympathies arc not limited to the Territory of which he is a representative. In his poem of "Eos, a Prairie Dream," we find him musing over Quebec — " That city hoar Wliifli wears an old face in a worhl all m.'\v, From who.sc high plain and storied citadel AVolfe'.-i glory .streams lor evi-r ;" and with a poet's prescience he declares — "This (Jallic .'i^treiuii will play a nohle part"' in the future of Canada, whose people he likens to the mighty St. Lawrence — "A race whiih, gathering strength from divers founts, AVill — a majestic liver — onward How FuU-volunied, vast." In the same poem he expresses a true man's feeling for the conquered — "The Indian's doom should toiuh youi- heart. I've seen Types disa]i]>ear before. I'ut kindnesses On dying races, as ini dying men, shouhl wait." I venture to think that the all-embracing sympathy which is characteristic of Irish folk, and which Mr. Davin has in a large degree, may, in a great measure, be responsible for the position and the inlluence he now holds. His first public service was to edit a popular paper; next to publish his book upon the Irishman in Canada. I T "J CAXADJAS M.P." 75 gives igress I* After tliat he went to Washington to study the American system of industrial schools ; then to Winnipeg to take evidence as to tlie best sites fur such. Presently the Indian question, which ^Ir. Davin had been deeply interested in for some time, engaged Ids closer attention, and he was called upon to report on the Education of Indians. Ilis views are being " carried out to-day with some success " he modestly tells us. In 1881-S2 he was Secretary to the C. 1*. R. Commission, and subsequently to the Ciiinesc Commission. ^leanwhile numerous publications Lad come from his ready pen — " British versus American Civilisation," " The Earl of r.eaconsfield," " Thoughts on the Death of President Garfield," "Creat Speeches," "Ireland and the Empire," "Home liule," "Unrestricted lieciprocity," " Eos, a Prairie Dream, and other Poems" (first edition). In 1883 he started the llctjuia Leader, an enter- prising newspaper which will bear comparison with any localised journal. Tlien he took up the cause of the settlers, and fought their battles so well that they sent him to Parliament in 1887. So much for ]\Ir. Davin as a public character. It is the true, frank, warm-hearted, private individual who says — " Tliank God for the P>att]e of Life ; " "I am con- scious how arduous is the task which is before me ; " " Eor I huve the utmost faith in Canada;" " I love the old laud, of course, but I am now a Canadian heart and soul." " I am very fond of Scotch people. I like their thoroughness and sincerity ... I like people I can lean heavy on and know they won't break." IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) <''-.V^. 1.0 I.I IA£IM |2.5 |50 ^^" ■■i ■^ Uii 12.2 £f Itf 12.0 lit M. 1.25 II 1.4 1^ ^ 6" ► Photographic Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STillT WIII*TIR, NY. MStO (7I6)I«72-4S03 '^ ,l.'' I ■ * ^i- I question if those revered "Sirs" did better service in their day than the plain " bobbies " of our century do ! A patrol system, cleverly arranged and energeti- cally carried out by tlie Mounted Tolico, keeps the Indians in order, and prevents the settlers from en- croaching upon the privileges wliieh a conciliatory Government gives to the ancient owners of the soil. It may not be generally known that "until the Indian Depnitment was formed the Indians looked to tlie police su]ierinte]ulent for food, for ammunition, for farm tools, for advice, for protection from one another. Thus the hand that punislied also fed and guarded. In this way the police acquired an influence among the AN EFFICIENT CORPS. 119 helmet, men, in 1 leatlier Pxed" ses were le men's noticed as tliey revolver the belt brawny, as tliey ts ridintr • service century snerwti- eps the I'om en- viliatory soil, itil the :)ked to ion, for mother. iianhNl. 3ng the Indians which they have never lost, and which civil authority or military command would be decades even in approximating." Indeed, I gather from various authentic sources that the police have in their keeping "the maintenance of peace and 'prohibition' between the Indians and the settlers, and the Indians and themselves." Prohibition (of intoxicating liquors) could not be carried out as it is in the North-West without the vigilance of the police. Cases of drunkenness in the force itself are very rare. Small wonder ! A heavy fine and imprisonment follow the first lapse ; a year in confinement and final discharge is the fate of the man who ventures on getting drunk more than twice ! The men undergo a very careful examination before enlisting, for only strong constitutions can stand the severe drill and duty of the life. Those who pass the medical overhauling seem able enough and willing enough for their position ; and certainly tliey satisfy the nation whose guardians they are as much as they please the eyes of wonnm, who are very good judges of what constitutes a "wise-like chiel." I i' i5| TO BE, OR NOT TO BE— ANNEXED. -fe^j**- A FEW years ago — for decades count as " few " in the growth of nations — Mother Britannia weaned a fair and promising infp^^t, and turned it into the day- nursery to share pot-luck with her other children. They are a roystering, troublesome brood, and Britannia's attention has necessarily been so much given to enforcing obedience, teaching the rudiments, cooking the victuals, patching the garments and squabbles, that she has not found much leisure to study the individual characters of lier progeny, or to mark the changes wrought by time in the physique of each. She hos been obliged to content herself with knowing that all were apparently progressing, healthy, and likely to do her credit some day. Occasionally Britannia hns fetlaucl folk-lore. Mr. Ednionston's stories aud siiuple style of telling them will charm every reader." — Manchester Unardinn. "Mr. Ednionston's chapters on Slietlaud sport and fauna — the notes on the habits of the strange menagerie of pets that were gathered about the naturalist's home, and of excursions after wild fowl and seal in tliis remotest nook of the Biitisli Islands — are specially ])leasing and well-written, and should give the book a permanent interest and value in the eyes of naturalists." — &cots Observer. "One of the best books of the season, pleasantly written, and will be devoured by inl'ant Darwins and embryo Bucklands." — Pall Mall Garxtte. "Tlie son and daughter of the late Dr. Edmonston of Shetland have given one of the mo.-t charming works we havi; had the good fortune to come across. It is a l)ook of sketches of the Shetland Isles, of their natural history, scenery, of the people, and their folk- lore." — Litrrarji Ch nrrlt ina)i. "Seldom have we seen a more fascinating volume than 'The Home of a Naturalist.' An ornament to the diawiiiu'-room table, it Avill be e([ually in the right ])hu;e in the parish library or the schoolboy's box. The shoit stories of Slietland lil'e are / Ga-efte. " A charming idyl of home and family life.'' — Academy. : i LONDON : JAMES NISBE'I' k CO., L'l 15EKNERS ST15EET. i' :i I': !"•! If" ■ 1 • iiii 1 ■li- ^1 11 ■ (•r- u,.,. 1,;, 1. , 1 iiil Reccnthj Pnhlishcd. With Illustrations. Croivn Sco, Ss. Gd. THE LADS OP LUND A. BY JESSIE M. E. SAXBY, Author of "Breakers Ahead," "Stories of Shetland," &c. SELECT NOTICES BY THE PRESS. "A boy's book, and a very delightful one." — Literary Churchman. "A perfect botjk for boys — generous, wholesome, manly in tone, and withal thoroughly young, fresh, and natural. The story of Fule-(jililne is peculiarly lovely and touching. We recommend the book hcr.tily, not only to all boys, but to every- body who knows ami iikes brave boys." — Guardian. "A capital book, telling of the freaks of boys in the far-away Shetlands. The tale-i are full of fun and pathos."— ithena;um. " Mrs. Saxby's northern seascapes are delightfully fresh and breezy, quite a variety in the ordinary routine of boys' books." — GraiMc. *'AVe can partly iinngine, tliough we cannot fully realise, the immense pleasuic which true-hearted British boys will derive from the perusal of these fa>:cinatiug pages." — Country Gentleman. "Much that is fascinating to boys is to be found in the long Shetland winter and the wild fowl which frequent the shores ; and Mrs. Saxby has made the best of her opportunity. Not many boys will read the^e jAeasant pages without an intense longing to visit the Shetlands." — Acadtmij. " * The Ladsof Lunda' should be a source of unalloyed plea- sure to many boy readers. There is not a tedious chapter or page in the volume." — Scottish Leader. "A capital series of tales. Tlie ])icturcs of land and sea, of life and manners, aic graphically sketched by a lady who is evidently thoroughly familiar with them." — 2'imcs. "A charming tale. It is so full of life and fresh originality, mingled with delicate touches of real pathos and quiet humour, that it cannot fail to fascinate readers young and old." — Literary IForld. LONDON: JAMES NISBET L CO., 21 LERNERS STREET. A. &c. Rxcnfhj Pahlkhi I. JFifh III nitrations. Crown Svo, 3s. Od. THE YARL'S YACHT. BY %\ \hiirchman. manly in iral. Tlie i"g. We to every. ! far-away henceum. iVesli and 's' books." 'calise, the 'ill derive Gentleman. I the Ion" e shores ; N'ot many e longing yed plea- V or page id sea, of r who is ginality, humour, ■Literary JESSIE M E. SAXBY. "This story is a continuation of tlio cliarmin:? Sliotland tale, 'Tlie Larls of Lundf ,' of wliich wc spoki; so lii.,'hly last year. It is not often that sequels are as j^ood as tlie stnry of wliidi they aie the CDinplement, but the present is an exception to the lule, ami ' 'rinj Yarl's Yacht ' is even superior in interest to its predecessor," — StiiKlant. "Another of Mrs. Sixhy's eharriiin'4 stories of Shetland life. She knows youui^ jx-ople as few know tiiein, and they will in return tiio- rouglily ai)i>ieciate her. As lou'^ as slie writes siicli genuine, refreshing, liappy-fainily stories for thorn, they certainly will bo most fortunate." — Spccttftor. "TIio Northern islands, Idendin:? the associations of the modern sea- farini^ life witli tlie traditions of tlie Vikin'.j a'j;e, are fascinating grounds for the ronianee-wiiter to work in, and .Mrs. S i.vby writes of them with tlic atfei'tion of intimate knowledge. Her story is full of local colour. fresh, wholesome, and interesting." — Srntti.^h LkcIcv. '' Full of life and action, and will be popular with girls and boys alike," — Literary Ch urchman. "Another of Mrs. Suxhy's deli-htfnl tales of Shetland. There are plenty of exciting scenes, graphicilly desciihed. Tiie l)ook cannot fail to fascinate all readers, both ohl and young." — Church Times. " ' The Yarl's Yacht ' is a breezy, healthy, and exciting story." — Public Opinion. "The book is written in an excellent spirit, and will bo found useful as a Sunday-school prize." — Church Stintlaii School Mti'iazine. "Full of life and fresh originality; its graphic sketches cannot fail to delight readers,"— r/«r(A'<(V(>i Commonwealth. "Mrs. Saxby is one of the laily writers whose books come as a blessing to the conscientious reviewer, ftlrs. Six'iy riM"MS indisputably the fiueea of the bleak and storm-driven Shetla; d«. Tiie Yarl's Yacht' is a de- lightful secpiel to ' The Lads of Lv.ivl.i."'- -Times. "Tiie story is one that will be void with interest, .-is it does not run on the well-known lines so familiar m readers of si i -^ales. It is, more- over, capitally written and well i'hi-trated."— /"''n' //. If. "Bovs will delight in the freshness and originality of the tale, while they will bo impressed by the reality and grandeur of the word j)ictures.'' — Banner. EET. LONDON : JATklES NISliET k CO., 21 BKUNKES STIIEET. ■II 1 i I I s BOOKS RECENTLY PUBLISHED BT JAMES NISBET & CO. PEN AND PENCIL SKETCHES, And Reniiniscencea of Twelve Years' Service in the Royal Artillery, aud Fifty Years as a Clergyiiuvn of the Church of liugland. By the Rev. F. B. Ashlky. With 42 FuU'imge Illustrations. Demy 8vo, 16s. SIMPLE LESSONS FROM NATURE. By the lion. M. C. Lkicmi. Small crown 8vo. 1h. Gd. HIDDEN HOMES; Ob, the CHILDllENS DISUOVEllIES. By M. A. Paull Riplky. With Illustrations. Crown 8vo. 2s. fid. 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