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 THE LIBRARY 
 
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 THE UNIVERSITY 
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 MANITOBA MEMORIES 
 
 LEAVES FROM MY LIFE IN THE PRAIRIE 
 PROVINCE, i868-i884. 
 
 BY 
 
 REV. GEORGE YOUNG, D.D., 
 
 Founder of Methodist Missions in the Red River Settlement. 
 
 WITH INTRODUCTION BY 
 
 REV. ALEXANDER SUTHERLAND, D.D., 
 
 General Secretary of the Missionary Society of the Methodist Church. 
 
 SSHit^r |Jartrai;ts anb Illustrations. 
 
 TORONTO: 
 
 WILLIAM BRIGGS, 
 
 WESLEY BUILDINGS. 
 
 MOXTRKAL : C. W. COATES. HALIFAX ; S, F. HUEST1S. 
 
 1897.
 
 Entered, according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year one 
 thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven, by WILLIAM BRIGQS, at 
 the Department of Agriculture.
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 MANY a book has been published for which no good 
 reason could be assigned, but this book is not of that class. 
 Many manuscripts might have been consigned by publishers 
 to the waste-basket or the flames and the world have been 
 none the poorer ; but to have withheld these " Manitoba 
 Memories " from the public would have been a distinct and 
 serious loss. Methodists would have lost some pages of 
 inspiring autobiography, as well as the story of the plant- 
 ing of Methodism in the great North- West ; Christians 
 who can rise above the low level of denominational shib- 
 boleths would have lost the profit which comes from 
 studying the movements of other divisions of the Lord's 
 army than their own ; patriots would have lost the record 
 of some of the most stirring scenes in the founding of our 
 Western Empire ; and coming historians of both Church 
 and State would have lost a veritable mine of materials of 
 the highest value. 
 
 Only a single chapter is devoted to the author's auto- 
 biography, but the glimpses it affords of his early life serve 
 the good purpose of bringing the reader into sympathy 
 
 G95007
 
 4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 with the man and his work. From this starting point we 
 follow him with sympathetic interest through the valedic- 
 tory services at Toronto, before setting out with his com- 
 panions for their distant mission fields ; the long and toil- 
 some journey over the hundreds of miles of unsettled 
 prairie that intervened between St. Cloud and Fort Garry ; 
 the difficulties which beset his early ministry, growing in 
 part out of the sparseness of population, the long distances 
 between the settlements, the scarcity and cost of supplies, 
 and, last but not least, the bigotry of some who claimed 
 a monopoly of religious teaching, poorly qualified though 
 they might be to supply it. But all these were succes- 
 sively overcome, and the reader cannot fail to rejoice in 
 the success which ultimately crowned the labors of this 
 devoted missionary and those who succeeded him in the 
 work. 
 
 The part of these " Memories " which will most deeply 
 stir the hearts of loyal Canadians, irrespective of name or 
 party, is that which covers the revolt of the half-breeds 
 under Louis Riel in 1869. In this book we have a simple 
 narrative of the facts, recorded by an eye-witness whose 
 well-known reputation for integrity, veracity and upright- 
 ness precludes any suspicion of unfairness. The narrative 
 in its simplicity, directness, circumstantial details and 
 evident freedom from mere partizan bias, bears the stamp 
 of truthfulness upon its face, and the future historian will 
 find in it materials which he can use with unhesitating 
 confidence. The beginning of the troubles ; the persistent
 
 iNTfcODUCTION. 5 
 
 attempts of Riel to fan the passions of the ignorant half- 
 breeds (which a word from the Hierarchy could have 
 checked, had it been spoken) ; the seizure of Fort Garry 
 and the imprisonment of loyal Canadians ; the escape of 
 some and the recapture of part of them ; the climax of 
 crime and cruelty in the cold-blooded murder of Thomas 
 Scott ; the enforced exodus of the loyal element until order 
 was restored by the triumphal entry of the forces under 
 General Wolseley all these occurrences are detailed with 
 simple but graphic power, and supply information of intense 
 interest and permanent value. 
 
 Following the stirring chapters on the Riel rebellion, 
 the author turns again to the peaceful scenes of missionary 
 labor and the planting of the Methodist Church. " The 
 First Manitoba Missionary Conference," when Drs. Pun- 
 shon and Wood, and John Macdonald, Esq., (all of whom 
 have since joined the "great majority ") met the mission- 
 aries of the North- West, is sketched chiefly in the language 
 of contemporaneous records, and Dr. Lachlan Taylor's 
 journey through the " Great Lone Land " is given in the 
 words of the Doctor's own journal and report. The history 
 of the early educational movement is an interesting 
 chapter, and so is that which details two dissimilar mis- 
 sionary journeys in 1874 and 1875. The second of these 
 journeys was in the winter season, through an uninhabited 
 wilderness, and gave our author some experience of the 
 toils and hardships of missionaries in the far North. But 
 to follow the remaining chapters in detail would exceed
 
 
 
 the limits properly assigned to an Introduction, and I must 
 refer the reader to the book itself for further information. 
 A work such as was done by George Young and his 
 associates in the North- West does not bulk very large in 
 the public eye at the time. Theirs was emphatically the 
 work of laying foundations, and this is a work which has 
 to be done quietly, and, for the most part, out of sight ; but 
 its importance to the superstructure to be built thereupon 
 cannot be overstated. That these men planned wisely and 
 built solidly, the results abundantly testify. Not often is 
 it given to pioneers to see the full fruit of their labors ; but 
 it is matter of profound satisfaction that the man who, 
 under God, planted the seeds of Methodism in the Prairie 
 Province, has lived to see and help to gather the won- 
 derful harvest that sprang from his sowing. Some men 
 have monuments in dead marble, reared long after they 
 have passed away ; George Young has his monument to- 
 day in the living Methodism of the great North- West. 
 
 A. SUTHERLAND. 
 
 METHODIST MISSION ROOMS, 
 Toronto, May 10th, 1897.
 
 PREFATORY. 
 
 THE writer of this volume desires to intimate to its 
 readers that in its preparation and publication he has 
 simply yielded to the solicitations of many friends, as 
 well as to the request of the members of the Manitoba 
 and North-West Conference embodied in the following 
 resolution : 
 
 Moved by Rev. G. R. Turk, seconded by Rev. Dr. 
 Sparling 
 
 " That we have read with pleasure the letters of the 
 Rev. George Young, D. D., which have recently appeared 
 in the Christian Guardian. 
 
 " Because of his intimate association with the early 
 history of this country, Dr. Young is specially qualified 
 to impart information which can be obtained from no 
 other source, and which will be of great interest and 
 importance to coming years. We, therefore, as a Con- 
 ference, express the hope that Dr. Young may see his" 
 way clear to place the information contained in the 
 letters in permanent book form. Also, that a copy of 
 this resolution be forwarded to Dr. Young by the Secre- 
 tary of this Conference."
 
 8 PREFATORY. 
 
 My readers will suffer another prefatory remark : 
 
 I have given a more detailed account of some of the 
 events narrated than would be deemed advisable but for 
 the fact that hitherto they have not, to my knowledge, 
 appeared in print, or when they have were so inter- 
 blended with the fictitious as to be deservedly discredited 
 by their readers. I will also add, that in consenting to 
 prepare this volume I was influenced somewhat by the 
 strong probability that it would be read by a goodly 
 number of our young people whose birth has taken place 
 since the times when these recorded events transpired, 
 and who may not so much as have heard of their occur- 
 rence. 
 
 To such, and all others who may consult these pages, 
 I herewith give the assurance that I have not in the 
 least drawn upon my imagination in their preparation, 
 but in all cases where the incidents given or the events 
 described have not been matters of personal experience 
 or observation, I have drawn my information from what 
 I deem reliable sources.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. PA B 
 
 An Autobiographical Sketch. (1821-1868) . .11 
 
 CHAPTER It. 
 Valedictory Services . 29 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 The Forthgoing of the Missionary Party ... 54 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 Perplexities and Encouragements Interblending . . 67 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Arrival of an Efficient Helper 90 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Troublous Times 100 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Escaping for Life ........ 117 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 The Climax of Crime and Cruelty ..... 131 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Post- Mortem Indignities, etc. . . . . . 148 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 An Enforced Exodus 163
 
 10 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. PAaK 
 
 A Notable Military Expedition ..... 174 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 The Triumphal Entry, and What Came of It . . . 186 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 The Building of Our First Grace Church . . .200 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 The Fenian Raid of 1871 A Fizzle and a Farce . . 212 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 The First Manitoba Missionary Conference . . . 230 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Dr. Lachlan Taylor's Wonderful Tour Among the Mis- 
 sions in the " Great Lone Land " .... 250 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 Our Early Educational Movements in Manitoba . . 268 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Two Missionary Journeys into the Interior . . . 280 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 My Last Hand-Shake with an Heroic Missionary . . 302 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 Returning to Ontario . ... 317 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 My Second Appointment to Mission Work in Manitoba . 328 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 My Third Appointment to Mission Work in the North- 
 West 343
 
 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 
 (1821-1868.) 
 
 HAVING been spared to pass the seventy-fifth mile- 
 stone in my life's pathway, and to enjoy fifty-seven 
 years of membership in the Methodist Church and 
 fifty-five years of preacher life, it would seem as if 
 the requests of many friends that I should give a 
 brief sketch of some, at least, of my many recollec- 
 tions of events and experiences of bygone years, were 
 not altogether unreasonable. 
 
 To the chapters following this much larger space 
 will be given, as it is judged that my Manitoba 
 memories will be regarded as of more general inter- 
 est than those by which they were preceded, and 
 which will therefore be more briefly recorded, and 
 even in many cases barely summarized. 
 
 The two births of which I have been the subject 
 occurred at the following dates : The first on the last 
 day of the year 1821, and the second in October, 1840. 
 In the first I entered the life that now is; by the
 
 12 MANITOBA MEMORlfeS. 
 
 second I was introduced into " the household of faith," 
 and became a child and an heir of God and a "joint- 
 heir with Christ." My ancestors, who were of the 
 old U. E. Loyalist stock, emigrated from the States 
 and settled in_ those parts of the County of Prince 
 Edward still known as East and West Lake respec- 
 tively, considerably more than a hundred years ago. 
 When but nineteen years of age my mother became 
 the subject of three experiences such as have come 
 to but few in so quick succession a happy young 
 wife, a stricken widow, and an anxious mother and 
 all during the months of the year 1821. My early 
 days were passed with my mother in the old home- 
 stead with her parents, who, being Methodists, 
 accounted it a privilege to open their home for 
 public worship and as a resting-place for the weary 
 itinerants of those pioneering times. 
 
 Some of my earliest recollections are of the names 
 and appearance of those zealous servants of the Most 
 High. This is especially the case with one whom I 
 can never forget the Rev. Geo. Ferguson, an ex- 
 soldier bought out of the army by the Methodists a 
 man small of stature, but large of heart, and all 
 aflame with love to God and zeal for His glory, 
 whose energetic and persistent efforts in pulpit and 
 prayer-meeting exercises were greatly blessed in the 
 conversion of multitudes of those early settlers. The 
 one incident in connection with this consecrated man's 
 ministry of which I have the most vivid recollection 
 was the placing of his hands on my head and earn- 
 estly beseeching God to bless and save " the little
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 13 
 
 fatherless boy." Will not "the effectual fervent 
 prayer of a righteous man avail much ? " After 
 many years of devoted service in the itinerancy, and 
 when he was literally a " worn-out " preacher, the 
 name of this saintly man was placed on the list of 
 superannuates, where it remained until he was trans- 
 ferred to the ranks of the immortals. 
 
 Another distinct recollection I have of early child- 
 hood days was that of hearing in the class-room, to 
 which my mother led me, the earnest and frequent 
 singing of the hymn beginning with " A charge to 
 keep I have," which was so deeply impressed on my 
 mind even then as to become ineffaceable. To this 
 day I rarely read or hear it announced in worship 
 without being reminded of those messages which it 
 bore to my mind in the times long gone by. 
 
 After many years of widowhood my mother became 
 the wife of Mr. Thomas Bowerman, whereupon we 
 removed to a new home, in a much more sparsely 
 settled part of the country, where for several years 
 my educational opportunities were both few in num- 
 ber and poor in quality. Schools were distant, 
 teachers incompetent, text-books ill adapted, and op- 
 portunities for study few and far between, so that 
 my chances for getting an education were in striking 
 contrast with those now enjoyed by our highly fav- 
 ored youth, whether in city or country. Helping to 
 clear up land, to till soil difficult of tillage, ploughing, 
 harvesting, threshing, teaming, and caring for stock, 
 generally occupied my attention and called into exer- 
 cise my energies during the years most favorable for
 
 14 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 close work in school or college. Very true, much of 
 this was in a degree educative, though it tended to 
 the training and developing of muscle rather than 
 mind. Still it was not entirely valueless in its bear- 
 ings upon my future, inasmuch as it brought me such 
 practical knowledge as subsequently availed me much, 
 by producing in me such a purpose of self-help as I 
 have been thankful for ever since. 
 
 I will relate just here what I have ever regarded 
 as a very remarkable instance of Divine interposition, 
 which occurred prior to my conversion. Our barn 
 was built on a hill side, the timbers on the upper side 
 resting on a foundation built but little above the 
 ground, while on the lower side they rested on posts 
 some twelve or fourteen feet in height, the basement 
 becoming a shelter for the stock in wintry weather, 
 while the upper stories contained grain, threshed or 
 unthreshed, hay, etc. Early one stormy morning, 
 while I was engaged in feeding the cattle in the 
 basement stables, a terrific wind storm, a veritable 
 tornado, struck the building, and by its marvellous 
 force crushed the entire structure to the earth, as 
 if had been but a child's playhouse. Hearing the 
 crash of the falling and breaking timbers, I was 
 instantly prompted to fall on my knees and pray. 
 Responding immediately to the prompting, the prayer 
 of the penitent publican was earnestly uttered, and, 
 I fully believe, instantly answered. In a moment all 
 was over, and stillness and darkness reigned where 
 I was, the broken timbers having so encompassed me 
 and the mows of hay and wheat so completely covered
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 15 
 
 me that both light and sound were entirely excluded, 
 while I was as free from injury as before the crash 
 occurred. 
 
 My first thought was that I had been so buried 
 beneath the large quantities of hay and grain which 
 I knew had rested on the timbers above and must 
 have fallen along with them, that escape would be 
 impossible ; but a vigorous effort resulted in a few 
 minutes in making an opening through which light 
 streamed and out of which I rushed, without either 
 scratch or bruise. Then it was that I discovered that 
 in my kneeling to pray I had avoided the falling 
 beams and other timbers, now so piled upon each 
 other on either side and for about three feet above 
 my head as to leave a space about a yard square 
 the only space discernible where I could have escaped 
 being crushed to death. Had I been disobedient to 
 the prompting and remained standing, I must have 
 been instantly killed. Whence came that prompting 
 to kneel and pray was it from within or from 
 above ? Was it of blind chance that those falling 
 timbers were so piled on each other and at such 
 distances as to ward off the supports of the mow of 
 hay and grain, and thus shield me completely from 
 any injury whatever ? Of the many who came that 
 day to view the ruins all seemed, as they took in the 
 situation, to regard my escape as miraculous, and 
 many unhesitatingly declared it to be so. How could 
 they do otherwise ? Has the God of Almightiness so 
 laid aside His ability or His right to so direct and 
 control and counterwork the great forces of Nature,
 
 16 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 which are but of His ordaining, as to involve the 
 miraculous ? I believe in God as Preserver as well 
 as Creator, and that it was He and He alone that 
 " redeemed my life from destruction." 
 
 When the rebellion of 1837, known as Mackenzie's 
 rebellion, broke out, and a call came for volunteers to 
 aid in its suppression, my loyalty led me to respond 
 to the call, and joining a company of dragoons under 
 the captaincy of E. D. S. Wilkins, Colonel Landon 
 commanding the regiment, I came under military 
 rule in the service of Queen and country. For the 
 purpose of guarding Presque Isle Harbor, and also, I 
 suppose, of dissuading any in that region having dis- 
 loyal proclivities from making demonstration in that 
 direction, we were stationed, with two or three com- 
 panies of infantry, in the village of Brighton, where 
 barracks were secured for the men and stables erected 
 for the horses. Here we remained except when out 
 on duty in carrying despatches or patrolling engag- 
 ing daily in parades for drill in horsemanship, sword 
 exercise, etc., etc., during -our six months of service. 
 This also was, in a way, an educative process of some 
 value to me in after years when horse, saddle and 
 saddle-bags became so closely associated with me in 
 my circuit work. My soldier-life was no benefit to 
 me, however, religiously ; yet I am profoundly grate- 
 ful for the restraining grace which saved me from 
 being drawn into those excesses which proved the 
 ruin of some of my comrades in the service. 
 
 I now come to that more important event, my 
 second birth, which took place in October, 1840,
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 17 
 
 following a season of deep conviction which the Holy 
 Spirit wrought in me through the use of means of 
 His own choosing. A young friend of mine was sud- 
 denly stricken out of life under circumstances which 
 seemingly afforded no opportunity for preparation for 
 the great change. At the burial, as we stood by the 
 open grave, an earnest, godly neighbor, an exhorter, 
 was moved to speak such words of warning as greatly 
 impressed all who heard them, and also proved the 
 means of awakening to many of the associates of the 
 deceased young man. My spiritual emancipation took 
 place not many days thence, in connection with a 
 series of special services in our newly-erected little 
 school-house, which soon became the birthplace of 
 many awakened souls. Almost immediately after 
 this blessed incoming of life and light and peace, I 
 was moved to seek, by testimony and exhortation, to 
 persuade others to become reconciled to God, so that 
 now nearly fifty-seven years have elapsed since I 
 began to exclaim, " Behold the Lamb of God." At 
 the close of the services referred to, with many 
 others, I united with the Church and received bap- 
 tism from the Rev. Lewis Warner, who gave me my 
 first quarterly ticket, which I still hold, and which 
 reads thus : " To do good and communicate forget not, 
 for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." That 
 Scripture, coming to me as it did, was as a message 
 from heaven. As the weeks passed by, I was 
 induced to take part in prayer and fellowship 
 meetings, and occasionally to give an exhortation 
 2
 
 18 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 and " lead the meeting." Deeply conscious of my 
 need of the requisite qualifications even for such 
 exercises, I applied myself to the study of such com- 
 mentaries, sermons and biographies, etc., as came 
 within my reach, frequently devoting thereto the 
 three or four hours which preceded the dawn. In 
 the meantime, though still engaged in farm work, I 
 assisted in revival services in adjacent neighborhoods, 
 as best I could. In order that I might have educa- 
 tional advantages such as I had not hitherto enjoyed, 
 I attended the Grammar School in Picton for a sea- 
 son, and was privileged in boarding at the parsonage 
 and receiving assistance such as I much needed from 
 our minister. In due course I received license as a 
 local preacher, and being recommended by the Quar- 
 terly Official Meeting in Picton to the District Meet- 
 ing, was thereby recommended to the Conference, 
 after due examination, to be received on trial as a 
 candidate for our ministry. 
 
 Sabbath, June 12th, 1842, was one of the many 
 red-letter days in my life which I shall ever remem- 
 ber. On that day for the first time it was my privi- 
 lege to enjoy the solemnities of a Conference Sabbath, 
 and to me the privilege was great beyond description. 
 First of all was the early and " old-time " love-feast, 
 which was followed by the ordination sermon by 
 President Green on " The Great Pentecostal Revival," 
 and the ordination service. Then the three o'clock 
 service and an eloquent sermon by Rev. G. R. San- 
 derson on " Glorying in the cross of Christ only." 
 Then at seven o'clock another excellent and powerful
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 19 
 
 discourse from Rev. Dr. Ryerson, on " The excellency 
 of the knowledge of Christ," which helped to prepare 
 us for, as it was followed by, the holy communion. 
 No one will marvel when I state that these services 
 one and all left an impression on my mind which can 
 never be effaced. One, and only one, of the gifted 
 preachers of that Sabbath continues in the Church 
 militant at this date I refer to Rev. Dr. Sanderson, 
 who was my superintendent in 1845-46 in the Ade- 
 laide Street charge, Toronto, and subsequently our 
 Editor and Book Steward, etc. 
 
 On the following day (Monday, June 13th) the 
 Conference in the old Picton chapel (as we called it) 
 closed, and my name having been read off for my 
 first appointment, as assistant to my faithful and 
 zealous friend, Rev. S. C. Philp, sen., who is yet on 
 this side of the river, but " waiting for the boatman," 
 I made haste to get my few belongings in the way of 
 an outfit for my future life as an itinerant into shape ; 
 to say good-bye to my friends, and to set out, with 
 horse, saddle, bridle and valise, a few clothes and a 
 few books, for the somewhat distant field of labor, 
 the old Oxford Circuit. 
 
 And now to summarize, as want of space will not 
 allow of anything more extended. I will mention the 
 fields of labor to which I have been assigned from 
 year to year. The positions I have been permitted 
 to occupy have been duly reported in the Annual 
 Minutes, and need no mention from me, further than 
 this simple statement. My circuits have been as 
 follows: Oxford, Chatham, London (as a supply),
 
 20 MAXITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 Brantford, Toronto, St. Catharines, Gatineau and 
 Hull, Hamilton and Glanford, London (again as 
 a supply), Niagara and Drummondville, Belleville, 
 Montreal, Brantford, Kingston, Quebec, Toronto 
 (Richmond and Queen Street Churches). At this 
 point, however, I will diverge somewhat to make 
 special reference to the appointment which the 
 
 REV. HENRY WILKINSON. 
 
 Conference gave me in 1848 as the colleague of Rev. 
 Henry Wilkinson, Superintendent of the Hamilton 
 Circuit. 
 
 I had made the acquaintance of my now sainted 
 brother while he was President of Conference and 
 Chairman of Toronto District, and had a very high 
 estimate of his abilities, both as preacher and admin- 
 istrator, and also of his deep piety as well as his 
 uniform kindliness, for which, and other reasons, I was
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 21 
 
 greatly pleased with my appointment. Henry Wil- 
 kinson was a true out-and-out Methodist, and as a 
 minister a long way above mediocrity in spirituality, 
 zeal, industry, moral courage and faithfulness to his 
 charge, as well as in his preaching ability and 
 usefulness. It was a great blessing to me to be 
 associated so closely with him in circuit work, and to 
 enjoy a most friendly and free correspondence with 
 him through the years of his after life. After leaving 
 Hamilton, London, Toronto and Yonge Street Circuit 
 enjoyed his services, until, literally worn out with 
 hard work and the bearing of heavy responsibilities, 
 he rested from his labors in the little parsonage at 
 Eglinton, and went away to be "forever with the 
 Lord." His mortal remains, with those of his more 
 recently sainted wife, rest where so many of those 
 formerly associated with him in the ministry are 
 resting, in the crowded Necropolis in Toronto. 
 
 From the obituary which appeared in the Minutes 
 of Conference of 1863, I have gleaned the following 
 facts : In 1862 he was appointed to the North Yonge 
 Street Circuit, and entered upon his work with his 
 usual earnestness and activity. But he unhappily 
 overrated his physical ability, and was soon laid upon 
 what proved to be the bed of death. The second 
 Sabbath previous to his death he preached three 
 times, renewed tickets in two classes and conducted a 
 fellowship meeting, though unable all day to take any 
 food. 
 
 The Rev. James Elliott says : " I saw him on the 
 afternoon previous to his death. He remarked, ' I
 
 22 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 suppose it is all over with me now ; but it is all right.' 
 Being greatly exhausted, he said, ' Poor humanity ! ' 
 And then, as if passing suddenly in thought from the 
 present to the glorious future, he exclaimed, ' Glorious 
 humanity ! ' He repeated with deep feeling the verse 
 of the hymn ending with, 
 
 " 'When Jesus doth His blood apply, 
 I glory in His sprinkled blood. ' 
 
 He responded with great energy to my petitions in 
 prayer, and rejoiced with joy unspeakable. On the 
 following morning he finished his race in holy 
 triumph and passed to his reward, in the fifty-eighth 
 year of his age and thirty-first of his ministry." He 
 rests from his labors, and his works do follow him. 
 Would that we had a hundred such men on the walls 
 of our Zion to-day. 
 
 On the 13th of July, 1848, my marriage with the 
 w r ife of my youth, Miss Mary Alsy Holmes, daughter 
 of the late Rev. Ninian Holmes, took place, the Rev. 
 Samuel Fear officiating. Our first parsonage home 
 was a small frame building just erected by the circuit 
 on the plank road leading from Hamilton to Caledonia, 
 and in the neighborhood of the Glanford Chapel. 
 During our term on the Hamilton Circuit the field 
 was divided, Hamilton City being set off as a city 
 charge, while the county, with several appointments 
 added, formed a circuit for two men. I was left in 
 that charge, but, as it turned out, only for a few 
 months, when the Conference authorities removed 
 me to London to fill a vacancy occasioned by the
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 23 
 
 appointment of the Rev. S. S. Nelles to the presi- 
 dency of Victoria College, a position which he held 
 for thirty-seven years, discharging its manifold and 
 onerous duties most acceptably to the Church and 
 efficiently in the estimation of all who were most 
 deeply interested in the prosperity of the University. 
 At the time of his removal from London he was 
 but in his third year of ministerial labor, and the 
 twenty-seventh year of his age. The appointment to 
 such a responsibility of one so youthful was altogether 
 extraordinary, but neither the position of the College 
 nor the man thus appointed was of the ordinary. 
 I became acquainted with him in his early home at 
 Mount Pleasant in 1844, while he was still a student 
 in the University of Middleton, and enjoyed his 
 friendship, and often his society, through the subse- 
 quent years of his ever- increasing popularity until he 
 rested from his labors. The testimony borne by the 
 Rev. Professor Reynar, in his beautiful and most 
 appropriate memorial address at the funeral, con- 
 tained these words, " He was a man of many books, 
 like John Wesley ; but he was at the same time like 
 Wesley a man of one Book." On his death bed he 
 said to his wife, "I have studied much and read 
 many books, but there is no book like the Book, and 
 there is no name like Jesus." When he was near death 
 he sent back a message to the students as they were 
 about to assemble for College prayers : "Give the boys 
 my love and thank them for having been so thoughtful 
 and kind," and requested them also to sing in their 
 worship the first five verses of Cowper's familiar
 
 24 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 hymn, " There is a fountain filled with blood." That 
 dying request indicated the rock foundation on which 
 his faith rested. 
 
 A few brief extracts from a letter from Principal 
 Douglas, which was read at a memorial service held 
 in Kingston, must bring to a close my remarks 
 regarding this my beloved and now sainted brother. 
 " As a preacher, Dr. Nelles was distinguished among 
 his peers. His ministry was not remarkable for 
 evangelistic fervor, but it was analytical, marked 
 by the discussion of philosophical principles, full of 
 scientific allusions, and occasionally graced by sin- 
 gular brilliance in illustrative power. It had special 
 charm for the thoughtful and cultivated amongst his 
 hearers. The Christian character of Dr. Nelles was 
 the crowning secret of his power. The transparent 
 rectitude, the unsullied purity, the single-mindedness 
 of the man inspired confidence wherever he was 
 known. His sudden departure came like a thunder- 
 clap out of a clear sky. The end was worthy of 
 the man. Intellect, scholarship, and wide experience 
 of life, all bowed in sweet resignation to the Will 
 Divine, and with the restfulness of a little child he 
 reclined on the bosom of Jesus and went to 'the 
 rest that remaineth for the people of God.' Yet a little 
 while and we too shall hope to join him in singing 
 the new song through the glad forever. May this be 
 our beatitude when ' life's fitful dream is o'er,' and we 
 hear ' the bells of the Holy City and the chimes of 
 eternal peace/ " And that " little while " thus refer- 
 red to by Dr. Douglas in his eloquent testimony to
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 25 
 
 the gifts and great worth of his friend, came in due 
 course before seven full years had passed Dr. Nelles 
 having rested from his weariness on the 23rd of 
 October, 1887, the anniversary of his birth sixty-four 
 years before ; while Dr. Douglas entered upon the 
 everlasting rest of the saints for which he longed, on 
 the l()th of February, 1894. Who can doubt that 
 their re-union in " the Holy City " became a blessedly 
 realized fact at that date ? May it be ours, with all 
 their loved ones, to meet them again, and where there 
 shall be no darkness, no pain nor any such limita- 
 tions to holy service, as they both endured in this 
 life. 
 
 The death of my mother, who had suffered long 
 from that weakening, wasting and most depressing 
 disease, consumption, occurred during my second year 
 in Brantford. From an extended obituary prepared 
 by her minister, and which appeared in the Christian 
 Guardian soon after her death, I will make a few 
 such extracts as I may deem appropriate : 
 
 " Our departed sister was an Israelite indeed. Her 
 conversion to God took place under the ministry of 
 the Rev. Solomon Waldron. She was a woman of 
 superior judgment, a constant and unfailing friend, a 
 kind and affectionate mother, an obliging neighbor, 
 and a liberal supporter of the cause of God ; above 
 all, she was a devoted and exemplary Christian. Her 
 zeal, patience, resignation and enlightened piety 
 rendered her a pattern worthy the imitation of all 
 her surviving friends. On visiting her soon after my 
 arrival on the circuit, I found her sinking rapidly,
 
 26 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 and speaking to her of her future prospects, she 
 replied with emphasis, ' I am calmly trusting my all 
 on Jesus. He is my sure foundation.' For several 
 days before her death she was enabled to rejoice con- 
 tinually. Among her last triumphant utterances were 
 these words, ' All is well ! All is well ! ' and her mes- 
 sage to her son, the Rev. George Young, then in 
 Brantford, ' Tell him, should he not come till I am 
 gone, that I have gone to rest.' And then at the last, 
 calling her children together for her parting words, 
 she exhorted them to ' meet her in heaven.' Thus in 
 the full assurance of a blessed immortality she joy- 
 ously received her dismissal out of this life and passed 
 within the veil, on October 8th, 1860, in her fifty- 
 seventh year." 
 
 " O, may I triumph so 
 
 When all my warfare's past, 
 And dying, find my latest foe 
 Under my feet at last. " 
 
 And now I have to record a hitherto unanticipated 
 change in my position and work in the Church of my 
 early choice. It came about in this wise : The Rev. 
 Geo. McDougall, recently from his mission -field in the 
 Rocky Mountain regions, had, in the autumn of the 
 preceding year, attended the meeting of the Mission- 
 ary Board, held in the town of Whitby, and by his 
 stirring representations of the great need of the 
 heathen and others occupying those regions, so 
 deeply impressed and enthused the members of the 
 Board as to lead them to decide upon more vigorous
 
 AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH. 27 
 
 efforts to promote the evangelization of these be- 
 nighted thousands. He also made a strong appeal 
 for the establishment of a mission in the Red River 
 Settlement, now a part of Manitoba, which he felt sure 
 would ere long become the home of many of our 
 Canadian Church members and adherents, and where 
 there was already a population of ten or twelve 
 thousand, including natives and foreigners, many of 
 whom were insufficiently supplied with the ordinances 
 of religion. The result of his earnest appeal was that 
 the Board unanimously decided upon the opening of 
 the mission as soon as a suitable selection could be 
 made from among those who might volunteer for 
 that work, and a committee consisting of Revs. Dr. 
 Wood, Dr. Taylor and Geo. McDougall, and Mr. John 
 Macdonald, was appointed to make the selection 
 and report to the Board. As the weeks and months 
 passed by I had many opportunities of conversing 
 with Mr. McDougall in relation to the field and the 
 work to be undertaken, and also of consulting with 
 Dr. Wood, and was led, after gaining the consent of 
 my wife, to volunteer to go forth as the Church's 
 first missionary to the Red River country. My offer 
 was immediatly accepted by the committee, and as 
 soon as practicable the Conference Special Com- 
 mittee released me from my responsibility as Chair- 
 man of the Toronto District and superintendent of 
 the circuit, and appointed me to the far-away settle- 
 ment in question. Many of our friends in the various 
 stations we had occupied Toronto, Quebec, Kingston, 
 and others were much exercised in mind, in view of
 
 28 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 our withdrawal from the home field and appointment 
 to regions so remote, and where they feared we 
 should meet with privations and hardships such as 
 we were scarcely equal to ; still they refrained from 
 opposing the appointment. The preparations requi- 
 site for our departure and journey involved much 
 that was perplexing and wearisome. Horses and 
 harness, and waggons and tents, and clothing suit- 
 able, and a small outfit for housekeeping, had to be 
 purchased and put in shape for transportation, and 
 many friends were to be seen and parted with. 
 
 At length the last Sabbath of my ministrations in 
 the Richmond Street West Church, for no one knew 
 how long, came, and I preached a valedictory sermon 
 from Exodus, 33rd chapter and 15th verse, which was 
 followed by a most solemn and a largely attended 
 communion service in which several ministers par- 
 ticipated, among whom was the Rev. Dr. Ormiston, 
 of the Presbyterian Church. A very gracious influ- 
 ence attended throughout, which I regarded as in- 
 dicative of the Divine approval of our undertaking. 
 During the week, a memorable one to many of us, 
 valedictory services of special interest were held. 
 A further reference will be made in the chapter 
 following.
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 
 
 VALEDICTORY SERVICES. 
 
 THE farewell missionary gatherings took place 
 on the 7th and 8th of May and were very largely 
 attended. In making a record of these I cannot do 
 better than to incorporate much of what was re- 
 ported in the Guardian and Globe of those dates. 
 
 From the "Christian Guardian" of May 13th, 1868 : 
 
 " On Thursday evening last a valedictory 'service 
 of extraordinary interest was held in the Richmond 
 Street Wesleyan Church, in connection with the de- 
 parture of the Revs. G. Young, E. R. Young and 
 P. Campbell, the missionary band appointed to labor 
 in the great North- West. By seven o'clock, the hour 
 appointed for commencing the service, the immense 
 building was crowded to its utmost capacity, present- 
 ing a most magnificent spectacle. Not only was the 
 Methodism of Toronto fully represented in the gath- 
 ering, but from adjoining districts east and west 
 large numbers came thronging in, affording good 
 evidence that the flame of missionary zeal was still 
 burning in the heart of Methodism as warmly as 
 when Wesley went forth in the spirit of the well- 
 known motto, ' The world is my parish.' There was 
 also a good representation of sister denominations, 
 affording pleasing evidence of kindly feeling, and of 
 deep interest in the missionary work.
 
 VALEDICTORY SERVICES. 31 
 
 " On the platform were seated the Rev. James 
 Elliott, President of the Conference ; Rev. W. Morley 
 Punshon. M.A., Rev. Drs. Wood, Taylor, Green, Ryer- 
 son, Jeffers, Cocker and Jennings ; the Revs. Geo. 
 Young, Geo. McDougall, E. R. Young, and P. Camp- 
 bell, the missionaries for the Red River and Sas- 
 katchewan Districts; Revs. Wm. Pollard, R. Jones, 
 S. Rose, G. Cochran, R. Whiting, Wm. Young, J. G. 
 Manly, F. H. Marling, E. H. Dewart, John Carroll, 
 A. Sutherland, and John Macdonald, Esq., and A. W. 
 Lauder, Esq., M.P.P. 
 
 " The President took the chair at seven o'clock, and 
 opened the exercises by reading the 35th chapter of 
 Isaiah. He then gave out the 446th hymn, after 
 which the Rev. R. Jones led in prayer. 
 
 " The Chairman then called on the Rev. Dr. Wood, 
 General Superintendent of Missions, to addresss the 
 audience. The doctor said it was twenty-six years 
 since James Evans went to the great North- West, 
 and so faithfully did he labor that scarce any part of 
 the vast territory could now be found where that 
 devoted missionary had not preached the Gospel. 
 Mr. Evans was well-known as the inventor of the 
 ' syllabic characters,' into which the Word of God had 
 since been translated, and which was much better 
 adapted to the Jndian tribes than the ordinary 
 Roman characters. Through the labors of Mr. Evans, 
 and others who had succeeded him, thousands in that 
 far-off region had been brought to Christ. Evans 
 and Rundle were the first missionary laborers in the 
 Hudson Bay Territory. Rundle's health having 
 failed, he was compelled to leave the work ; but it 
 should be recorded as a remarkable evidence of the 
 power of Divine grace, that the Stoney Indians, 
 among whom he (Mr. R.) had labored, retained their 
 knowledge of Divine truth for seven years, during 
 which time they were without a missionary. Last
 
 32 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 November the Missionary Committee had resolved to 
 send a missionary to Red River, and another to the 
 Black feet Indians, the most warlike and savage tribe 
 on the great plains, and one to Norway House, to 
 supply the place of the Rev. C. Stringfellow, who 
 returns to Canada. He would refer to but one point 
 more. The authorities of the Church might have 
 appointed any one of our six hundred ministers to 
 this field, but they preferred to wait, and watch the 
 leadings of Providence in the selection of men. Those 
 upon whom the selection has fallen had the entire 
 confidence of the Missionary Committee. 
 
 "The Rev. E. R. Young was then called upon. He 
 said there were times when it was impossible to give 
 utterance to all the feelings of the heart, and this was 
 one of them. He felt this movement was of the Lord, 
 and he hoped, by God's blessing, to do some good. He 
 would urge upon all, ' pray for us.' It was hard to 
 say good-bye, but he was sure God would more than 
 make up what they might sacrifice for Him. He was 
 sure of one thing, those who had been appointed to 
 this work would not talk annexation. He would again 
 ask the prayers of God's people that they might be 
 made a blessing. 
 
 " The Rev. P. Campbell was next introduced. It 
 was thirteen years since he obtained salvation. It had 
 been previously impressed upon his mind that if he 
 obtained salvation he would have to preach the Gospel. 
 He was not willing to do this ; but the impression 
 returned again and again that he could not obtain 
 salvation until he was willing to go anywhere at 
 God's command. When he yielded the point he found 
 salvation. Eleven years ago he was called into the 
 work of the ministry, and God had blessed him with 
 some success. When he heard Brother McDougall's 
 statements at Whitby last year, he felt his desire to 
 engage in the missionary work revive, and he resolved,
 
 VALEDICTORY SERVICES. 33 
 
 should the Church appoint him, he would go. He had 
 no desire but to preach Christ. He expected difficul- 
 ties, but he had counted the cost, and trusted in the 
 promises. He felt it hard to bid good-bye to parents 
 and friends, but he was cheered by the prospect of 
 meeting them again in a brighter and happier world. 
 He felt that God's presence would compensate for the 
 breaking up of social ties. He prayed God for a 
 prosperous journey, and that he might be a useful 
 minister of Jesus. 
 
 " The Chairman gave out the hymn commencing, 
 ' On all the earth thy Spirit shower,' which was sung. 
 
 " The Rev. George Young was then called upon, and 
 was received with applause. He said it was with 
 great difficulty he had brought himself to say even a 
 few words. In 1840 he gave his heart to Christ, and 
 had never regretted the step. Some years after he was 
 led to give himself to the work of the ministry, and he 
 had never regretted that step. A few weeks ago he 
 yielded to the request of the Church to enter upon 
 this missionary work, and since that decision he had 
 not experienced one moment's regret. His future was 
 in God's hands. He could not tell how long he might 
 labor in the mission field ; but he had consecrated 
 himself to God, body and soul, and by God's grace 
 he would keep the offering upon the altar. He 
 expected the Divine presence all through their 
 prospective journey. He had a request or two to 
 make. They (the missionaries) wanted the prayers 
 of their Christian friends. He hoped the Missionary 
 Committee would not think them slow if they did 
 not report progress every few weeks, nor extravagant 
 if the figures looked somewhat formidable. He 
 hoped by God's blessing to return in the course of 
 years, and report in person what the Lord had 
 done for them. 
 
 " Rev. G. McDougall was the next speaker. He did 
 3
 
 34 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 not feel disposed to ask sympathy on account of pri- 
 vations in missionary work ; he considered it the 
 highest honor that could be conferred upon him. He 
 could not help thinking of the altered circumstances 
 of his brethren. In a few weeks Brother Young 
 would be gathering sticks for his camp-fire ; but then 
 he would be in the apostolic succession. (Laughter 
 and applause.) Brother E. R. Young and Brother 
 Campbell would soon be setting their nets for fish 
 at their missions, and they would therefore be in the 
 apostolic succession too. (Laughter and cheers.) The 
 last time he stood in this church, Dr. Stinson and 
 James Spencer were present, now they were both 
 gone. They (the missionaries) had a long and 
 dangerous journey before them, but God would take 
 care of them. He hoped they would soon have to ask 
 for more men for that field. 
 
 " John Macdonald, Esq., was then called upon, and 
 warmly greeted. He said this was an evening never 
 to be forgotten. If we enjoyed advantages not in- 
 ferior to those enjoyed in any part of the world, was 
 it too much to say we were indebted for them to 
 those who in early years preached to us the Gospel 
 of Christ ? We could not confer a greater boon upon 
 that interesting portion of our Dominion, the North- 
 West, than by sending these men to lay the founda- 
 tion of Christian institutions. Some might think 
 we were adding to our financial burdens. He 
 thought it would lessen them, for it would stir up 
 the missionary spirit, and increase the liberality of 
 our people. Mr. Macdonald here referred to several 
 liberal offers which had already been made by friends 
 in different parts of the country. He could not sit 
 down without expressing the gratification he felt in 
 meeting on the platform an honored minister of the 
 parent body. (Applause.) We would go on in our 
 great work trusting in the Lord,
 
 VALEDICTORY SERVICES. 35 
 
 " A. W. Lauder, Esq., M.P.P., was then introduced, 
 and received with cheers. He said he was proud to 
 stand among so many honored men, and lift his voice 
 on behalf of the noble brethren who were going out 
 on this mission work. He spoke but the voice of the 
 vast audience when he said that they parted with 
 their pastor (Rev. G. Young) with exceeding regret. 
 He was also proud to welcome among them, in the 
 name of the laity of Toronto, the ablest advocate of 
 missionary work in the world, the Rev. W. M. Pun- 
 shon. (Applause ) 
 
 " The Rev. James Caughey was introduced, and 
 received with repeated cheers. He felt as if he was 
 standing in the sunshine of the congregation. He 
 wished he had a text of some kind to hang a speech 
 upon ; but when he looked at the clock, he felt there 
 was scarce time even for what some called 'a nice 
 little speech.' The missionary cause was a good 
 cause ; but he did not say that a man should give all 
 he had to it, nor even that he should give a tenth, 
 but he would wish to take a man to the cross, bid 
 him look upon the dying Son of God, and then say to 
 him, ' How much owest thou unto thy Lord ? ' ' Pay 
 that thou owest.' He would say to the missionaries 
 that there were thousands in Canada who would sus- 
 tain them by liberal contributions and by earnest 
 prayer. 
 
 " The 700th hymn was then sung. 
 
 " The Chairman had been largely anticipated in the 
 work he was to perform. The duty he felt to be a 
 privilege, the duty of officially introducing the Rev. 
 W. M. Punshon, M.A. The announcement was re- 
 ceived with hearty applause. 
 
 " Rev. W. Morley Punshon was introduced in flat- 
 tering terms by the Chairman, and received with 
 applause. , After a few words, expressive of his 
 pleasure in meeting his audience, he compared his
 
 36 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 position to that of the Irishman who applied for a 
 situation and was asked for his character. He re- 
 plied that he left it at home, because he thought he 
 would be better without it ! He would very much 
 rather have been allowed to make his own way than 
 to have been introduced in such flattering terms by 
 certain of the gentlemen who had preceded him. He 
 had been thinking since entering the meeting of his 
 early experience, his first venture to put his foot on a 
 missionary platform. In the early part of his minis- 
 try he attended a meeting at which the speakers suc- 
 cessively entertained their audience with a list of the 
 talents with which they thought God had blessed 
 them. They did so mainly as one of those conven- 
 ient apologies that enable a man to glide easily into 
 a speech. One said that God had not blessed him 
 with a silvery tongue, but he had a talent for singing, 
 and he had cultivated that. Another talent was 
 instructing children in the Sunday School, and it 
 was his special vocation to bring them when young 
 to the fold of Jesus. Another, who happened to be an 
 Irishman, said while his talent had not shown itself 
 he thought that in the original distribution he could 
 not have been left out, that there must surely have 
 been a talent but it was difficult for him to find out 
 what it was. He had, however, found out that his 
 talent was to make apologies ; and it so happened that 
 the speaker had the last speech to make, and as all 
 who preceded him had been talented brethren, and as 
 one might as well be out of the world as out of the 
 fashion, he found himself possessed of a talent to be 
 happy at a missionary meeting, and rejoiced now that 
 something of the old feeling came over him. At the 
 ring of the true metal there was the same subtle elec- 
 tric sympathy in Canada as in England. Thinking of 
 this and rejoicing in the catholic and kindly feelings 
 evinced, his contemplations took a higher turn. But
 
 VALEDICTORY SERVICES. 37 
 
 he felt somewhat diffident from the nature of the 
 work he had to do. He could make a missionary 
 speech, and even a valedictory address, but could not 
 combine them. In the early days of missionary 
 work there was the excitement of novelty, of oppo- 
 sition, of romance ; but we must now try to get it on 
 the broad foundation of Christian principle. There 
 were peculiar difficulties in the way of missionary 
 work. It was difficult to dislodge a previously con- 
 ceived opinion ; but our missionaries went not to war 
 against wrong opinions, but against lusts and sins 
 not merely to subdue a man, a neighborhood, but 
 a world. The separation of the world into different 
 nations, governments and languages, interposed 
 another difficulty. There were dangers also to be 
 encountered. There was enmity in every human 
 heart. There were also the divisions and heresies of 
 the Church itself ; and a spirit of indifference where 
 there should be ardor. Looking at all these things, 
 it was not easy to convert the world. Mr. Punshon 
 then proceeded to speak of the principles on which 
 the work must be based. Mean or selfish motives 
 could not long sustain a man in this work principle 
 alone could do it. If there be nothing but imagina- 
 tion to sustain, the romance will soon be rubbed off. 
 We must have faith, and then imagination will not 
 lose its sense of duty. If those who go forth are sus- 
 tained by love, then they will be successful indeed. 
 He would remind those who were going forth that 
 they must work in patient hope. We were an im- 
 patient people in reference to missionary success ; but 
 we must remember sowing and reaping were two dif- 
 ferent things. One might go forth only with the 
 seed-basket ; but a time was coming when both sower 
 and reaper would rejoice together. The sower goes 
 alone, and he needs to encourage himself with the 
 word, 'be patient, therefore, brethren.' God works
 
 38 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 by means, and He won't do anything we can do. We 
 can't raise Lazarus from the dead, but we can roll 
 away the stone before, and unwind the grave-clothes 
 after the resurrection. Every member of the Church 
 had a part to do in this work, and he would conjure 
 them by the constraining love of Christ to present 
 their bodies a living sacrifice. We wanted all en- 
 gaged in this work, the young with their sympathies, 
 men in their prime with their energy, the aged with 
 their wisdom we want them all. Surely not one 
 would refuse to make the consecration. Mr. Punshon 
 resumed his seat amid loud applause. 
 
 " Dr. Taylor then called for the collection, and in 
 his own inimitable way pressed the claims of the 
 work, humor, pathos, and earnest appeal following 
 each other in rapid succession. The congregation 
 cheerfully responded, sending up a collection of about 
 180.00. On one of the plates was a piece of paper, 
 which, on being opened, was found to contain a 
 twenty-dollar gold piece, and the following words : 
 ' For the mission to the Blackf eet Indians, from a 
 great debtor to grace. Alleluia ! ' 
 
 " The hymn beginning, ' Joined in one spirit to 
 our Head,' was then sung, the Rev. S. Rose pro- 
 nounced the benediction, and thus closed one of the 
 most interesting meetings ever held in Toronto." 
 
 A FAREWELL BREAKFAST. 
 From the " Globe " : 
 
 " This morning the missionaries to Red River and 
 the Saskatchewan were entertained at a farewell 
 breakfast in the basement of the Richmond Street 
 Methodist Church. The attendance was very large, 
 being nearly sufficient to fill the church comfortably. 
 The breakfast was served in the basement and was
 
 VALEDICTORY SERVICES. 39 
 
 an excellent repast considering the circumstances 
 under which it was prepared. The six large tables 
 running from one end of the room to the other were 
 not sufficient to accommodate those present all at 
 once, and they were therefore spread a second time. 
 The room was slightly decorated for the occasion. 
 Along the south end were the words " Missionaries to 
 the Red River and Saskatchewan regions," while the 
 north end was decorated with the British flag. The 
 missionaries were seated at a cross table at the south 
 end. After singing a hymn, grace was said, and the 
 good things were then paid particular attention to. 
 
 " The Missionaries. 
 
 "' The gentlemen in whose honor the breakfast was 
 given, and who are about starting to the North- West 
 to engage in the missionary enterprise, are four in 
 number. The following are their names : The Rev. 
 Geo. Young, Toronto ; Rev. E. R. Young, Hamilton ; 
 Rev. Peter Campbell, Rockwood ; Rev. George 
 McDougall. The latter has for many years been 
 engaged in Christianizing the savages of the North- 
 West, and came down here recently for the purpose 
 of procuring assistance. He has been successful in 
 inducing those able ministers to return with him. 
 The three gentlemen will take their wives with them. 
 The Rev. George Young will officiate among the 
 whites in the Red River Settlement, while the other 
 three will be engaged among the savages farther 
 west and north. They go by the American route, 
 through the city of St. Paul, and start on Tuesday 
 next. It will take them several weeks to reach their 
 destination. Mr. McDougall and Mr. Campbell will 
 go 1,000 miles beyond Red River, away to the Rocky 
 Mountain region, and will still be in British territory. 
 This shows what a vast territory we have away in 
 the centre of the continent.
 
 40 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 "Meeting in the Church. 
 
 " After breakfast had been attended to, the congre- 
 gation assembled in the church, which they comfort- 
 ably filled. On the platform we noticed the Revs. 
 W. Morley Punshon, M.A., Dr. Wood, Dr. Ryerson, 
 Dr. Jennings, Dr. Willis, Dr. Taylor, Bishop Richard- 
 son, Dr. Caldicott, Mr. Reid, F. H. Marling, Dr. Green, 
 Mr. Manly, Mr. Rose, Mr. Wallace, Mr. Black stock, 
 Mr. Baker, Mr. McDougall, Mr. G. Young, Mr. E. R. 
 Young, Mr. Gregg, Mr. Campbell, Mr. Topp, Mr. 
 Byrne, John Young, John Macdonald, Esq., William 
 Gibbs, Esq., Rev. Wm. Stephenson, Mr. Beatty, M.P., 
 and Revs. Mr. McClure, Dr. Cochran, James Elliott, 
 and others. 
 
 " The chair was occupied by Mr. John Macdonald, 
 Treasurer of the Missionary Society. The proceed- 
 ings were commenced with singing and prayer. 
 
 " Rev. Mr. Elliott said that it afforded him much 
 pleasure to introduce Mr. John Macdonald, the Treas- 
 urer of the Society, who would now take the chair. 
 
 " Mr. Macdonald, on taking the chair, said that on 
 many occasions it had been his privilege to be present 
 at meetings in this church, but he had never more 
 pleasure than on the present occasion. Last night 
 they had met to bid farewell and say ' good-bye ' to 
 those who were going to a far distant land. These 
 missionaries were going to Red River, to Norway 
 House, to Woodville, to the wild, warlike and un- 
 tamable Blackfeet, and in their mission to that 
 country they would complete the chain of missionary 
 enterprise extending from continent to continent, 
 and when the men have gone friends will remember 
 that our missionaries have their Bibles in their hands 
 to preach the Gospel of Christ to extend the field of 
 missionary enterprise from the Atlantic to the Pacific 
 Ocean. It might be asked, Why do we send them to
 
 VALEDICTORY SERVICES. 41 
 
 the Red River, where there were already those 
 missionaries of the Presbyterian and Episcopal 
 churches ? Our friends, however, go with a catholic 
 spirit to work and heartily co-operate with their 
 fellow-laborers in the west. The brethren know well 
 from their knowledge of Brother Young that what he 
 is to do he will do well. Then Brother McDougall 
 was at any rate more than half an Indian and was 
 never so happy as when he was among the savage 
 tribes, and stood beside the bedside of the Crees or 
 Ojibeways when he has seen them pass from beds 
 of sickness to beds of eternal glory. As for Brother 
 Campbell, of Rama, he goes warm-hearted to the 
 work. Brother Young has been of much use in 
 Hamilton, which proves a sure guarantee that he will 
 do his work well. Brother McDougall's son, who 
 goes to the Blackfeet, is more than all the others 
 with his life in his hand that tribe being one of the 
 most savage. The speaker would not detain the 
 meeting, but beg to introduce Rev. Egerton Ryerson. 
 " Dr. Ryerson, being called on, said that the present 
 opportunity took his thoughts back to the time when 
 forty- two years ago he received orders to go out to 
 the Indians. It was the brightest year of his labor 
 in a comparatively chequered life when he slept in 
 the Indian tents, with only a mat and a blanket 
 between himself and the ground ; when in the early 
 morn he took the Indians out four by four and taught 
 them how to plough, or to build fences, prepare their 
 gardens or repair their implements, or when he had 
 to go from house to house teaching the women how 
 to wash their clothes (laughter) and sweep their 
 houses, telling that the one who did it best was the 
 one with whom he would dine that day. The speaker 
 was one who had drawn up the first report of the 
 Canadian Missionary Society, and he could assure 
 the audience that it took just as much trouble and
 
 42 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 labor to raise $500 then as it does to raise $62,000 
 now. He wished the missionaries God speed, health 
 and strength, and although they might not be with 
 them at the sowing, still they hoped to be with them 
 at the reaping." 
 
 Appropriate addresses were also given by the 
 following ministers and laymen : Rev. Drs. Willis, 
 Jennings, Caldicott and Cocker, Rev. Messrs. Manly 
 and Stephenson, and Messrs. Gibbs and Beatty. 
 
 " The Rev. W. Morley Punshon was then called on, 
 and stated that he was not accustomed to speak 
 under such difficulties as then surrounded him. To 
 be the centre of a battery of eyes on either side 
 of the platform, and in front of the platform, 
 was a Canadian novelty which he never had the 
 opportunity of becoming acquainted with, and which 
 needed a good deal of nerve to overcome. On this 
 occasion he felt disposed not to speak, but to talk, and 
 those of the audience who knew the force of the 
 synonym would see that there is a difference in what 
 appeared at first sight to be the same. This he appre- 
 hended was a social meeting, and one in which they 
 could say anything that suggested itself, and one in 
 which it was not necessary or even preferable to put 
 in the newspapers. Expressing his pleasure at the 
 unanimity displayed in the presence on the platform 
 of ministers of different denominations, he also rejoiced 
 in the familiar character of the meeting. They had, 
 he continued, representatives from he did not know 
 how many denominations, all animated by one spirit 
 and expressing the same hearty good wishes for 
 the success of the cause, and blessings on the men 
 who are to carry the Gospel to the far west. Indeed 
 it was a very encouraging indication of the spirit 
 of Christian principle, and the working of the leaven
 
 VALEDICTORY SERVICES. 43 
 
 that marks the increasing efforts for Christian union, 
 and he did not know why it should be otherwise. The 
 Bible enjoins that we are to endeavor to intensely 
 labor to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of 
 peace. Constituted as human society was, to expect 
 a union of all would be visionary, and with deference 
 to those who were of greater age than himself, he 
 would say it was undesirable. Comparison with 
 others has. sometimes been productive of important 
 results, and the Church that may be leaning back 
 listlessly and lazily will rise from its lethargy when 
 stimulated by more active Christian effort. To illus- 
 trate this, he proceeded to define the term ' beauty,' 
 which was an harmonious combination of varieties. 
 There was no beauty in the simple element. The 
 prismatic varieties fascinate and charm. One banner 
 in an army would create but little attention ; it - is 
 the host of streamers. Now the Church should be 
 the army of banners should be the iris illuminating 
 the globe with its beauty. The light should stream 
 from her windows, scattered as the rays, yet one as 
 the sun. The tide of our benevolence should flow 
 onward, distinct as billows yet one as the sea. He 
 was glad, moreover, that this greater unity was 
 brought about by greater effort. There was nothing 
 better calculated to bring Christians together, and it 
 is a well understood axiom that when men are en- 
 gaged in a great work they have no time for quar- 
 reling. Those who are engaged in spreading the 
 work of the Lord have a breadth of ideas which 
 tramples on the more insignificant feelings which are 
 the engendering of strifes among men. At the same 
 time, while he was a believer in the most extensive 
 catholic unity, he liked his own fireside best. He is 
 a churl who cannot warm himself at any other 
 hearthstone but his own, but he is only half a man 
 who does not love his own fireside best. (Cheers.)
 
 44 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 The man who is a general lover, without any one 
 particular object, is one that should not be trusted 
 except Dr. Taylor. (Laughter.) But after all who 
 were they that supported the great charities ? Not 
 the men who have no homes, not the loungers at the 
 cafe or club, but the men who have learned from the 
 preciousness of their own family retreats the worth of 
 such blessings, so wherever he saw a man without a 
 spiritual home he thought of him as a spiritual Ish- 
 maelite, his hand against every man and every man's 
 hand against him. He did not think there was any- 
 thing wrong in denominationalism as long as there 
 was Christian charity at the root. He believed he 
 could work best with the organization that reflected 
 his own spiritual sympathies, and while thinking so 
 he could shake the brethren of other Churches by the 
 hand and bid them God-speed in the great work. 
 
 " We can appeciate the excellences of the great 
 Republic, but sing with patriotic ardor ' God save 
 the Queen ' notwithstanding. The speaker then pro- 
 ceeded to discuss their missionary work, remarking : 
 Then as to this Methodist Missionary Society, Dr. 
 Newton used to tell that on one occasion a gentleman 
 met him and said he believed he was going to have a 
 great missionary ' do ' at his church to-night. He 
 said we have all along had a great missionary ' do,' 
 and while discoursing as he had, the practical should 
 not be forgotten. His figures were not all figures of 
 speech. He was told there was a vast amount of 
 debt on this missionary organization and that there 
 were some awful things in the shape of bank dis- 
 counts and advances by the Treasurer, so that if they 
 really meant to prosecute this work, something special 
 must be done. There must be a missionary ' do ' as 
 well as a missionary ' say.' He would, however, leave 
 this with them while he reminded them of what duty 
 brought them together. Their friend Mr. McDougall
 
 VALEDICTORY SERVICES. 45 
 
 did not need much of their sympathies, because he 
 was going home. But they were sending out six 
 missionaries. The speaker, hesitating, said Yes, 
 six; their wives go with them. Jf they were Mora- 
 vian, they would count two ; but with us the honored 
 wives claimed the sympathy of all, as well as their 
 husbands. They were really sending out six mission- 
 aries, and these had to be maintained. These are 
 women who hazard their lives as well as the men 
 women who make our manhood cheap, because they 
 are privileged to go forth without a murmur to the 
 sustentation of those whose name they bear ; and let 
 us, he said, not forget to pray for the wives, as well as 
 the men, that they, with frailer organizations, though 
 perhaps a well-knit network of nerves for there is 
 not so much of the robust muscular strength may 
 be preserved for the trial. They are as brave, as well 
 as firm and fervent, and trust in Christ, and are 
 entirely devoted to the Great Master and His work. 
 Do not, he continued, forget them in your prayers 
 and their wants in connection with the refinements of 
 life. The cheese-paring economy that would abridge 
 one cent of the efforts of the missionary, is a dishonor 
 to the Gospel of Christ. They go out with their 
 lives in their hands and offer up their ease, social 
 status, and all the other comforts of the well-regulated 
 Christian city home ; they go out as the heralds. See 
 to it, he added, that their families have power to 
 surround themselves with the things that will give 
 them a memory of your interest in them. 
 
 " Their friends, the missionaries, had had condo- 
 lence and congratulation. They needed both. It 
 struck him that if any of them should feel any mis- 
 givings as to their safety, they might, perhaps, get a 
 crumb of comfort from an interpretation of Scripture 
 to which their attention had not before been directed. 
 They remembered that the disciples were in two
 
 46 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 storms in the Lake of Gennesaret. They were in two 
 storms, the last greater than the first. The first was 
 in the day time, the second in the deep, dark, inhos- 
 pitable night. In the first, the wind was in their 
 favor and they were near where they wanted to be. 
 In the first storm, above all, Jesus was in the ship. 
 But in the last Jesus was not there. The storm was 
 contrary and driving them on the rocks ; but they 
 did not know that He was praying for them on the 
 shore all the while. He saw them toiling against the 
 wind, He came to them, and that angry sea as soon as 
 it felt His footstep subsided like a slumbering child. 
 He got into the ship and took the source of their 
 terror away before He rebuked them, and then said, 
 ' Why do ye fear, O ye of little faith ? ' Why did 
 He say that ? Because they were not entirely alone 
 in the storm. You will see, Mr. Punshon said, that 
 before they got into the boat Jesus said, ' Let us go 
 over to the other side.' And depend upon it, if God 
 says to anybody ' Go over to the other side,' He 
 never lets them sink in the middle. That thought 
 had comforted him very much, and he would like it 
 to comfort them. By His grace keeping them they 
 \vill more than conquer. Sometimes, he added, they 
 were paid to go over. They remembered the young 
 man who was privileged to wait on the prophet. He 
 said, ' Alas, Master, what shall we do ? ' The answer 
 was, ' Lord, open his eyes' ; and the moment they were 
 opened he saw that round about him were chariots 
 of fire. Some one had remarked the great difference 
 between contributions now and when they first began, 
 and in taking up this point the speaker referred to 
 the death of Mr. Evans, and his meeting with Mr. 
 Rundle, another missionary. He also knew Bishop 
 Anderson, of Rupert's Land, who now occupied a 
 living adjoining the speaker's own charge. He was 
 not so communicative as when in the North- West,
 
 VALEDICTORY SERVICES. 47 
 
 Snake-fences of this country, he said, were somewhat 
 easier to be got over than the briar fence at home, 
 and interchange of courtesies were not now so com- 
 mon. Returning to the missionary operations of the 
 Church, he noticed that the first contribution to the 
 support of a missionary of the body was made in the 
 British Methodist Conference. They taxed them- 
 selves, and the collection was 52. Two ministers 
 were despatched to a field of labor by this assistance, 
 but when the Conference sent them away they 
 thought they were altogether done with them. They 
 afterwards went to visit their lay friends in what is 
 now one of the best fields for missionary contribu- 
 tions. After the meeting, the laymen's contribution 
 was ten shillings. Times, he added, had changed. 
 Do not let us, he said in conclusion, be the poor 
 pensioners on the memory of the past the spend- 
 thrifts of the bounty of the present. Labor, and 
 pray, and give this is the trinity of man's duty so 
 that this great work may be carried on even to the 
 uttermost parts of the earth. 
 
 " The Rev. Dr. Taylor intimated that the collection 
 of last evening amounted to $168.33. Further collec- 
 tions to the amount of $18.00 were made, and the 
 assembly dispersed after singing the doxology." 
 
 An interesting item to me at least not referred 
 to in these reports, was the presentation to myself and 
 famity of a purse well filled with gold, and also two 
 beautiful testimonial addresses, one from the officiary 
 of the church and the other from the young men. 
 As I feel sure that my readers will be much interested 
 in these addresses, I will incorporate them along with 
 the reports already given of the valedictory addresses,
 
 48 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 FROM THE QUARTERLY OFFICIAL BOARD. 
 
 " To the Reverend George Young, Wesley an Mtthodist 
 Minister, Superintendent of the Toronto City West 
 Circuit : 
 
 "RKVEREND AND DEAR SIR, Prompted by the 
 warm friendship which we entertain for you, we em- 
 brace the occasion of your departure from amongst 
 us as a missionary to the North- West as a fitting 
 time to address you in this formal manner, and to 
 give a permanent and tangible expression to feelings 
 prompted by the very high place which you have in 
 our affections as a Christian minister. 
 
 " We are riot unmindful that your removal to a 
 new field of labor will eventually be looked upon as 
 marking a distinct era in the history of Methodism 
 in .British North America ; and while we are willing 
 to cheerfully submit to the authorities of the Church, 
 and to recognize the guiding hand of a wise Provi- 
 dence in this missionary movement, we very much 
 regret your departure from the circuit, and we shall 
 cherish with more than ordinary care the remem- 
 brance of your kind, zealous and faithful labors. 
 
 " You have labored amongst us affectionately and 
 faithfully in the cause of your heavenly Master. We 
 rejoice to know that many have been greatly blessed 
 and built up in the service of God through the instru- 
 mentality of your instructions and kind admonitions. 
 
 " Many of us, as parents and as the friends of the 
 rising generation, hare to thank you most heartily 
 for the affectionate and painstaking manner in which 
 you have labored to bring the young men of our 
 congregations under the blessed influence of the 
 Gospel and the practical relationships of a religious 
 life. The work of God in all its departments has
 
 VALEDICTORY SERVICES. 49 
 
 been much benefited by your labor and untiring 
 oversight since your appointment to the position you 
 have held amongst us during the last two years. 
 
 " Many Christian friends throughout the length 
 and breadth of the Dominion will join heartily with 
 us in wishing you great happiness and in praying 
 that the great Head of the Church may grant you 
 every needful blessing in the discharge of the oner- 
 ous duties which must necessarily devolve upon you 
 in the ' Far West.' 
 
 " The noble work of preaching the Gospel to the 
 inhabitants of those almost inaccessible and far-off 
 regions, and the organization and perfecting of a 
 more permanent system of missionary operations in 
 the North- West, has been given to you. We shall 
 rejoice at your success, and no doubt many of us will 
 hereafter read with deeper interest the missionary 
 intelligence from Red River and Saskatchewan, seeing 
 that one who was loved as a pastor and esteemed as 
 an affectionate friend, labors and toils there far 
 away from many of the valued refinements and en- 
 dearments of Christian society. 
 
 " Be assured that you have to accompany you to 
 Red River our warmest friendship, and you shall have 
 our most earnest prayers supplemented, no doubt, 
 by those of hundreds of as equally sincere friends in 
 other places that God in His great mercy and good- 
 ness would bless abundantly to yourself and family 
 this remarkable period in your personal history. 
 
 " We desire, dear sir, through the medium of this 
 address, to communicate to your kind and faithful 
 partner in life our earnest and warmest greetings, 
 and we would especially desire to speak cheering 
 words to her, knowing the self-denial to be exercised 
 on her part, and feeling as we do the certainty that 
 she will have to undergo trials and privations of a 
 kind to which she has hitherto been unaccustomed.
 
 50 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 " We hope that you will accept these tokens of 
 our affection and esteem which accompany this ad- 
 dress as an indication of the acceptability of your 
 labors in God's cause amongst us, and we trust they 
 may serve to remind you of your Methodist friends 
 in Toronto, when separated from them by hundreds 
 of miles of broad lake and expanding prairie. 
 
 " On behalf of the hundreds of friends you leave 
 behind you, we wish you God-speed and pray that 
 your steps may be ever under the direction and 
 guidance of our Omniscient and Infinite Father. 
 
 " We remain, honored and dear sir, 
 " Yours most truly, 
 
 "C. A. DREDGE, 
 HENRY GRAHAM, 
 JAMES ROONEY, 
 ADAM MILLER, 
 A. W. LAUDER, 
 JAMES B. MARSHALL, 
 JOSEPH HOWSON, M.D., 
 
 C. S. HAYMAN, 
 E. S. BARRICK, 
 
 D. THURSTON (U. S. Consul), 
 
 Members of Committee. 
 
 " JNO. C. CHARLESWORTH, 
 
 Chairman of Committee. 
 
 " HENRY E. CLARK, 
 
 Secretary and Treasurer. 
 
 "GEORGE COCHRAN, 
 
 Associate Minister. 
 
 " Toronto, May 8th, 1868."
 
 VALEDICTORY SERVICES. 51 
 
 I cannot repress a feeling of sadness as, in reading 
 over the names attached to the foregoing address, I 
 reflect that only four of these kind friends are now 
 living. 
 
 FROM THE YOUNG MEN. 
 
 " To the Rev. George Young : 
 
 "REVEREND AND DEAR SIR, On behalf of the 
 YOUNG MEN in connection with the congregation of 
 the RICHMOND STREET WESLEYAN CHURCH, 
 
 " We take the present as a fitting opportunity of 
 conveying to you an expression of the high appre- 
 ciation in which we, in common with the rest of the 
 attendants upon your ministry, have held your faith- 
 ful services as a preacher of the Gospel, and as one 
 who, with untiring zeal and fidelity, and uniform 
 Christian kindness, has exercised the pastoral care 
 pertaining to your office. 
 
 " Upon this the occasion of your removal from our 
 midst to another and distant field of labor, we would 
 fail in justice to our own feelings did we not give 
 you an earnest assurance of the heartfelt and sincere 
 regret with which we contemplate your departure. 
 At the same time, permit us to say that we fully 
 appreciate the truly missionary spirit actuating you 
 in the readiness with which you have yielded to the 
 call of duty, and the intimations of Divine Providence 
 in accepting a position with which many of the trials 
 and hardships peculiar to a new country must neces- 
 sarily be connected. 
 
 " In this honorable resolve, involving self-denial of 
 no ordinary character, we are persuaded you will be 
 fully sustained, that the promise, ' Lo, I am with you 
 alway, even unto the end of the world,' yea, and to
 
 52 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 the ends of the earth, will on your behalf as on that 
 of every true minister of Christ, be fully realized. 
 
 " In your capacity as a teacher of the truth we 
 take pleasure^in bearing testimony to your zeal and 
 faithfulness. In dividing the Word of Life you have 
 not failed to declare the whole counsel of God. As a 
 man and a Christian you have gained the highest 
 respect of all classes. And as a pastor you have 
 endeared yourself to the hearts of many, through 
 your faithful visitations, and the marked and unvary- 
 ing kindness that has ever characterized your per- 
 formance of this important part of the Christian 
 minister's work. 
 
 "Although at times you may have gone to the 
 discharge of your duties in such weakness of body 
 and depression of mind and in doubt as to whether or 
 not you were materially contributing to the building 
 up of Christ's cause on the earth, yet we are pleased 
 to know, and to you it may justly be matter of 
 rejoicing, that ' your labor has not been in vain in the 
 Lord ' ; for from this and many other congregations 
 throughout the length and breadth of this land there 
 will arise souls who, redeemed through your instrumen- 
 tality from the bondage of sin and death, will in the 
 day of righteous recompense be publicly given to you 
 as the attesting seals to your ministry, and the full 
 and satisfying reward of your zealous efforts in the 
 work of soul-saving. The consideration will prove 
 powerful to your support and comfort that for the 
 toilers in God's vineyard, for the watchers on the 
 walls of Zion, and for those who have mingled in the 
 vale of strife in closest conflict with the alien forces 
 of evil for all such there cometh a time of rest and 
 with it the hour of reward. 
 
 " We request your acceptance of this testimonial as 
 in some slight degree tangible evidence of the esteem
 
 VALEDICTORY SERVICES. 53 
 
 and affection we individually and unitedly entertain 
 for you ; and with it the prayer that you may be 
 abundantly successful in your mission work, and that 
 a happy and prosperous future may be granted unto 
 you and to your esteemed family. 
 
 " ROBERT MACDONALD, Chairman, 
 RICHARD JONES TACKABERRY, 
 GEORGE WRIGHT, A.M., M.B., 
 HENRY J. KEIGHLY, 
 WM. R. HAMILTON, 
 FRED. R. STEWART, 
 ROBERT THOMPSON, 
 M. L. HUTCHINS, 
 
 Committee. 
 
 " Toronto, May 8th, 1868."
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE FORTHGOING OF THE MISSIONARY 
 PARTY. 
 
 THIS took place on Saturday the 9th of May, when 
 we left Toronto for Hamilton, where we were to 
 spend the Sabbath and attend the opening services of 
 the new Centenary Church, there to enjoy the much- 
 desired privilege of hearing Dr. Punshon's dedica- 
 tory sermon, which, I need not say, was a magnificent 
 discourse. On Monday we were all exceedingly busy 
 in completing the preparations for our forward move- 
 ment. Horses, harness, waggons and some lug- 
 gage, as well as the entire party, except Mrs. Young 
 and myself, going ma the Welland Canal and Lake 
 Erie, left for St. Catharines, where they took the 
 steamer for Milwaukee. 
 
 As I was charged with the responsibility of bear- 
 ing, guarding and distributing the funds furnished 
 by the General Treasurer of the Missionary Society 
 to meet the expenses of the journey, and in part as 
 appropriations made as salaries, I remained a day 
 longer with Dr. Taylor and Mr. Sanford to perfect 
 arrangements for the exchange of our Canadian 
 money into United States currency, as " greenbacks " 
 were then considerably below par.
 
 THE FORTHGOING OF THE MISSIONARIES. 55 
 
 On the 14th of May we rushed on to Detroit, where 
 we took the steamer at midnight according to appoint- 
 ment. On landing at Milwaukee, we were, as a 
 matter of course, visited by the Customs officials, who, 
 despite the letters and assurances of the United States 
 Consul in Toronto, on which we fully relied as an all- 
 sufficient passport through their country for ourselves 
 and belongings, demanded duty on the entire outfit ere 
 we could be allowed to proceed. This demand, occa- 
 sioned us some perplexity and a full day's delay, with 
 hotel expenses. Assisted by a good friend whom I 
 had known years ago in Belleville, we communicated 
 by telegraph with the authorities in Washington, 
 giving the facts, whereupon the message came forth- 
 with to these officious officials " Allow the mission 
 party to proceed." We proceeded. I have not troubled 
 the Milwaukeeans since. Thence we travelled by rail 
 to the Mississippi River and thence by steamer to St. 
 Paul, where upon our landing a general reconstruc- 
 tion took place, and waggons and horses and aU 
 our effects put in shape in a hurry for another on- 
 ward movement. The freight and the luggage were 
 sent on by rail to St. Cloud, while we " hitched up " 
 and drove some eighty miles to Clearwater, a small 
 village pleasantly situated in a fine country. 
 
 I will now avail myself of a letter written by me 
 at Fort Garry, July 20th, 1868, which will suffice as a 
 description of the tedious journey before us : 
 
 " At Clearwater we pitched our tents in the midst of 
 good pasturage for our horses, and where our Cana- 
 dian animals received their first lessons in ' hobbling,' 
 to their great discomfort and annoyance.
 
 56 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 " This hobbling process, which consists in tieing the 
 forelegs of the horse together, or within a few inches 
 of each other ordinarily by a strap, with us by a piece 
 of cotton, one and a-half yards long and eight inches 
 wide seems a barbarous practice, and yet a necessary 
 evil on the plains. How else could we keep them 
 from ' stampeding ' when assailed by mosquitoes ? 
 When thus tied the poor creature can neither run, 
 trot, nor walk, but barely ' hobble.' For some time 
 they fret considerably ; but they become reconciled, 
 and then get up and down and roll over quite readily. 
 Here several of our party went into tent life ; others 
 found comfortable board, at reasonable rates, at the 
 Temperance House, while Brother McDougall and 
 myself, Mrs. Young and Miss McDougall received a 
 hearty welcome to the home of one of the most 
 generous men with whom it has been my privilege 
 to meet a Mr. Stevens, formerly of Stanstead, Canada. 
 This large-hearted man and his equally kind Ia4y 
 entertained us in the kindest manner during our stay, 
 and gave nearly all their time to the furtherance of 
 our objects. We feel under very high obligations to 
 Mr. and Mrs. Stevens, and pray that they may 
 receive their reward both in this world and in that 
 which is to come. Here the strange appearance of 
 Mr. McDougall's Red River carts amused us all not a 
 little. Since that we have seen so much of them that 
 all power to amuse has been forever lost. A very 
 peculiar kind of thing is the Red River cart. A pair 
 of very large awkward-looking wheels, attached to a 
 frame that serves for shafts, and also as box, and all
 
 THE FORTHGOING OF THE MISSIONARIES. 57 
 
 without iron. The raw hide of a buffalo or ox supplies 
 the lack of iron, both on the wheel and axle. But 
 little grease is ordinarily used on them, and as a con- 
 sequence they make music not exactly like an organ, 
 and when one hundred of them make up a train they 
 can be heard, as they come groaning and screeching 
 along, for a long distance. Mr. McDougall had a 
 number of these beauties at Clearwater to be repaired 
 and got ready for our journey and we all required 
 time to buy our provisions, waggon covers, and other 
 comforts and necessaries ' too numerous to mention,' 
 and to get our goods ready for transportation to Fort 
 Garry, and thus we were detained for several days 
 between Clearwater and St. Cloud. Leaving St. Cloud, 
 we left all railroading and telegraphing behind us for 
 a time. How strange it seems that I cannot now 
 travel by steam and communicate by lightning, nor 
 even ride in a stage coach ; these things are not here 
 as yet. And then, instead of two or three mails 
 a day, and daily papers from many points, here we 
 get a weekly mail and a weekly paper. From this 
 point, too, we strike out upon our long prairie drive 
 of six hundred miles to Fort Garry and well-nigh 
 sixteen hundred to Edmonton House for Brothers 
 Campbell and McDougall. 
 
 " All along our road to Sauk Centre, seventy miles 
 from St. Cloud, we found settlements where we 
 bought milk, or eggs, or bread, paying quite enough 
 always for the article. The railroad now reaching 
 to St. Cloud will next year, it is hoped, reach Sauk 
 Centre, and so the glory will depart from the former
 
 58 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 and go westward with ' the star of empire,' even to 
 the latter. Alexandria is a small village to which 
 we were conducted by a most wretched road through 
 eight miles of woods. Leaving it we forded a river 
 with some trouble, and soon found ourselves beyond 
 the settlements few houses being seen between 
 Alexandria and Fort Abercrombie. And Abercrom- 
 bie itself, though marked on the map, is vastly more 
 in the imagination of the student of the map than it 
 is a reality before the eye of the traveller. A few 
 log-houses and long stables, and one miserable store 
 with prices high enough to frighten one, and a sort 
 of wooden structure called a ' fort ' ; these make up 
 the celebrated, and to us long-looked for, Fort Aber- 
 crombie. Here we fell in with, and well-nigh into, 
 ' Whiskey Creek ' it is not whiskey, though else I 
 fear many would emigrate thither and form a settle- 
 ment. We found it a miserable mire-hole and un- 
 bridged, and so we had to set to work on a fearfully 
 hot day to fill it up with oak bushes and brush, and 
 then dash our tired horses across the abominable 
 place and up a steep bank, as best we could. 
 
 " ' Honor to whom honor is due,' therefore I 
 wish here to acknowledge our great indebtedness to 
 the experience, energy, courage and presence of mind 
 of our good Brother McDougall. Of course he was 
 commander-in-chief all through, but in these trouble- 
 some and dangerous places .we all looked to him for 
 guidance and help, and did not look in vain. We 
 certainly did plunge into some of the deepest slough 
 holes, where bottom seemed afar off, and climb up
 
 THE FORTHGOING OF THE MISSIONARIES. 59 
 
 some of the steepest and most slippery banks, and 
 run across some of the most rickety bridges, and 
 rock and roll along over or into some of the worst ruts 
 I have ever seen. These things considered, in con- 
 nection with the cruelty and neglect of some of these 
 teamsters, it is no marvel that the bones of so many 
 faithful horses and oxen are left annually along this 
 road to whiten on the plains. 
 
 " Through mercy our animals got through safely, 
 and, with one or two exceptions, not much poorer 
 than when we left St. Cloud. 
 
 " The mosquitoes were not so bad as last year, yet 
 bad enough, certainly. Nor are these prairie mos- 
 quitoes dwarfs by any means. A wit once said, 
 ' Many of them would weigh a pound ' ; I suppose 
 you know how that held good. Our horses were 
 tormented occasionally by a large fly called ' bull- 
 dogs ' out here. They are larger than our Canada 
 ox fly, and most cruel in their bite. In fact the 
 ' mosquito,' ' buffalo-gnat," and ' bull-dog ' seemed 
 to have prairie appetites, and every traveller across 
 these plains knows what that means. The fact is, 
 everything here is on a large scale here is pasturage 
 for a continent, a vast meadow of God's own planting 
 that almost resembles the ocean for extent. 
 
 " How appropriate that the appetites of all living 
 things, travellers, mosquitoes, horses and oxen, should 
 correspond ! Through the greater part of the road 
 settlers are not to be found. We travelled a week 
 across this ' living green ' of high prairie grass and 
 low bushes without passing a human habitation. At
 
 60 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 other points we saw them ten and fifteen miles apart 
 but little opportunity for tale-bearing in such 
 cases. 
 
 No doubt thousands of families long ere this would 
 have settled along this line of road and occupied 
 these fertile and beautiful plains but for the great 
 Sioux massacre which took place a few years ago. 
 We felt sad in gazing upon the ruins of many a house 
 where happy families once lived, whose blood was 
 shed by these cruel savages. The present scattered 
 population still have a dread of them, and asked us at 
 different places, ' Are you not afeard of the Injuns ? ' 
 Well, I am happy to say, we were kept from any 
 fear on that point and did not meet, so far as I know, 
 a single Sioux Indian. A large number passed close 
 by one day, and had we been an hour earlier we 
 should have met ; but we did not, nor did we desire 
 the interview. They are great thieves, and might 
 have coveted some of our horses. Glad I was that 
 temptation was not put in their way by us. They 
 hate the ' Yankees,' as they call the new settlers and 
 soldiers, and intend to scalp all they can ; and there 
 is no lack of hatred on the other side toward these 
 ' red devils,' as they call them. Up at ' Devil's 
 Lake ' what a name ! to which we saw many 
 waggon loads of provisions going for the soldiers 
 working at the fort, they have recommenced their 
 cruelties, and several have been scalped. Of course 
 this must come to an end ; the barbarian must suc- 
 cumb before the onward march of civilization. O 
 that he might be Christianized and saved ! But there
 
 THE FORTHGOING OF THE MISSIONARIES. 61 
 
 are many among these frontier men with whom ex- 
 termination is the one idea. They have little faith 
 in our efforts to evangelize, and would send the 
 soldier, and repeating rifle, and revolver, instead of 
 the minister, and the Bible, and the school. 
 
 " Georgetown is the name of a little village consist- 
 ing of a store and a few houses, and about half-way 
 to Fort Garry from St. Cloud. Here we ferried the 
 Red River. In high water the steamer comes up 
 from Fort Garry to this place, and with a little ex- 
 pense and with a smaller boat it might go up nearly 
 all the season. When -we passed she was going up 
 to Frog Point, about thirty miles, I believe, below 
 Georgetown. The sight of a steamer amid the soli- 
 tude of these uninhabited plains produced quite a 
 sensation in our camp ; and in a neighboring camp 
 of Canadians, who were from near Goderich, a greater 
 excitement was caused, for five or six fine horses 
 broke away and stampeded ten or twelve miles ere 
 they were caught. Pembina is another small place 
 marked on the map, and whose name is often on the 
 tongue of the traveller out here. It is the extreme 
 north-western boundary of Uncle Sam's extensive 
 farm. Of course there is a Customs house and post- 
 office here. A large business is done in the former, 
 and to the latter the United States postage stamp will 
 bring a letter from any part of the States, or one Cana- 
 dian ten-cent stamp from Canada, but the postage 
 hence to Red River Settlement is one penny sterling 
 on every letter and paper. This can't be prepaid, as 
 the postal arrangements are peculiar. Friends sending
 
 62 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 papers or letters can put on the proper stamps for 
 Canada and the States, and send on, and we'll do the 
 rest. Just across the lines here the Hudson Bay 
 Company have a comfortable and safe-looking fort. 
 But, perhaps, like some other places out here, ' 'tis 
 distance lends enchantment to the view.' 
 
 " After crossing into our good and beloved Victoria's 
 dominions, our party joined heartily in singing the 
 national anthem, after which our loyal brother, 
 E. R. Young, hoisted the Union Jack, a beautiful flag 
 with which he was presented in Canada. This little 
 manifestation of loyalty had a twofold effect. It 
 indicated to the settlers our nationality and home 
 feeling, and then it either frightened or vexed a pair 
 of United States horses connected with our train to 
 that degree that they forthwith ran away. The 
 skedaddlers ' were soon overhauled, and with the 
 good old flag leading us we pursued the even tenor of 
 our way. 
 
 " Leaving Pembina, nothing special occurred until 
 we arrived within four miles of Fort Garry. On that 
 day we fully expected to see the fort, and pushing 
 on, were not a little disappointed, and perhaps an- 
 noyed, that a miserable piece of a road, in a neglected 
 and miry condition, kept us back, and as night was 
 upon us we were compelled to camp within four miles 
 of the fort amid swarms of mosquitoes, and in a 
 place that seemed very uninviting. In this there 
 was a special Providence. About two o'clock the next 
 morning, amid much lightning and thunder, a fearful 
 storm of rain and wind, a sweeping tornado, came
 
 THE FORTHGOING OF THE MISSIONARIES. 63 
 
 suddenly upon us. It was indescribably terrific a 
 real prairie storm, such as the ' oldest inhabitant ' 
 does not remember to have experienced before. Two 
 tents were borne down by the first rush, and their 
 occupants left without shelter under the pelting 
 storm. Our tent was in danger of being run down 
 by our waggon and buggy, which were driven by the 
 wind right against it ; but the Lord kept us in safety, 
 and when the storm had raged out its hour we were 
 all thankful to find but little harm done. And now 
 mark the Providence. Had we reached the settle- 
 ment and tented in the open prairie where the storm 
 was more severe, our waggons and tents must have 
 been destroyed. Near the fort one cart was blown 
 right across the river and many were broken, several 
 houses were demolished, and a new Episcopal church 
 was levelled to the ground and a man killed. 
 
 " We felt that the hand of God was upon us for good, 
 and that it became us to bless His holy name for His 
 continued care. On the day following, we crossed the 
 Assiniboine by a ferry, looked into Fort Garry and 
 Winnipeg, and then passed on to an encampment on 
 the prairie six miles out, where the horses could rest 
 and graze during the Sabbath. Thus have we been 
 brought to our destination after a month's journey- 
 ing from St. Cloud to Fort Garry." 
 
 But what a sorry scene was presented by that 
 long-thought-of town of Winnipeg on the day we 
 entered it I What a mass of soft, black, slippery 
 and sticky Red River mud was everywhere spread 
 out before us ! Streets with neither sidewalks nor
 
 64 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 crossings, with now and again a good sized pit of 
 mire for the traveller to avoid or flounder through 
 as best he could ; a few small stores with poor goods 
 and high prices; one little tavern where "Dutch 
 George " was " monarch of all his survey " ; a few 
 passable dwellings with no " rooms to let," nor space 
 for boarders; neither church nor school in sight or 
 in prospect; population about one hundred instead 
 of one thousand as we expected such was Winnipeg 
 on July 4th, 1868. 
 
 How unlike that fine city at this date, with a 
 population of thirty-five or forty thousand, and its 
 magnificent churches and colleges, fine public schools, 
 Parliament buildings, Court House, City Hall, stores, 
 residences, railroad stations, factories, street railway, 
 parks, hotels and bridges. " The former things have 
 passed away." 
 
 " Distance lends enchantment to the view," and so 
 it was that Fort Garry and its environs fell short of 
 our expectations, and enchantment gave place to a 
 feeling of disappointment, with a strong tendency to 
 discouragement. Moreover, a locust plague was on 
 all the land, and fields and whole farms, where 
 growing or ripening grain should have appeared, 
 were swept clean by these detestable devourers, so 
 that great scarcity, and even suffering from want in 
 the near future, seemed inevitable / flour even then 
 was selling for from twenty-five to thirty shillings 
 sterling per hundred pounds, and oats for horse feed 
 two dollars a bushel, with the prospect of advance. 
 The buffalo hunters were despairing of success.
 
 66 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 After a brief rest in our encampment on the 
 prairies, during which our finances were adjusted 
 and a statement of all expenses up to date prepared 
 for the " Mission Rooms " in Toronto, our party, 
 which had grouped together from Hamilton as a 
 unit, separated and became three parties. Rev. E. R. 
 Young and wife, taking passage in the little Hudson 
 Bay trading and freighting boat, worked by oars or 
 sails, as most convenient, proceeded down the Red 
 River to its entrance into Lake Winnipeg, and thence 
 up that lake to Norway House, a distance of about 
 three hundred miles, to their future field of toil ; 
 Revs. George McDougall and daughter, Peter Camp- 
 bell, Mrs. Campbell and two daughters, and Bro. 
 Snyder, wended their toilsome way to their more 
 distant missions in the great Saskatchewan country, 
 to be reached only by a tiresome journey of about 
 one thousand miles; while the missionary for the 
 " Red River Settlement," wife and son, remained in 
 Winnipeg to " set up our banners " as best they could 
 in the little muddy embryo city and surrounding 
 regions.
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PERPLEXITIES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS 
 INTERBLENDING. 
 
 HAVING parted thus with our fellow missionaries, 
 our first effort was to secure a house to rent as a par- 
 sonage, and failing in this, as well as in our efforts to 
 secure a boarding-house, we began to fear lest we 
 should be compelled to " tent out " for a still longer 
 period. This was decidedly perplexing. Just then, 
 however, a kind-hearted couple invited us for a short 
 time to occupy a room in their rented home, into 
 which, with our tent furniture, we gladly moved. 
 There we remained for the next three months, and 
 there, on 'his invitation, I opened my commission on 
 the following Sabbath by preaching my first sermon 
 in the Red River Settlement, my text being, " I have 
 a message from God unto thee." 
 
 The work of 
 
 FOUNDATION LAYING, 
 
 to which I at once addressed myself, and which 
 thenceforth occupied my thoughts very fully, was 
 entered upon in the different localities which seemed 
 to promise best as centres of missionary operations ; a 
 work in which my immediate successors, and in fact
 
 68 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 all our pioneering brethren who have toiled in these 
 vast prairie regions since that period, have been 
 engaged ever and everywhere finding it, as I did, a 
 toilsome, tedious, expensive and undemonstrative, as 
 well as an indispensable, work. This early "breaking 
 ground " involved the surmounting of many diffi- 
 culties, a few of which only shall be indicated just 
 now. 
 
 In October, 1868, 1 closed a letter to the Christian 
 Guardian with these words : " Mercies abound, and 
 so do difficulties. Methodism was never yet estab- 
 lished in an important field like this without earnest 
 and persevering effort. The devil and bat-like bigots 
 have always opposed its introduction, but as the sun 
 shines in spite of all the owls and bats in creation, 
 so ' Christianity in earnest ' will advance if God give 
 His blessing." 
 
 Again in December, 1868, I wrote Dr. Wood thus: 
 " I am not a prophet, but I will predict for this 
 mission, whose foundations I am now trying to lay, a 
 glorious future." Whether in that I was really 
 " foretelling," or only " forthtelling," I must leave to 
 some of the highest of the " higher critics " to decide. 
 What has transpired since then within the bounds of 
 the old Red River Mission seems a glorious carry- 
 ing up of a grand superstructure on the foundations 
 then being laid; and the numerous self-supporting 
 charges, the fine and costly churches and parsonages 
 which have been built, the large congregations and 
 Sabbath-schools which have been gathered, and the 
 converted and influential membership which has been
 
 PERPLEXITIES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 69 
 
 enrolled and last, but not least, our college work, 
 now being so successfully prosecuted, with prospects 
 so encouraging all seem to show that I was not 
 prophesying falsely, even though not a professed 
 prophet. 
 
 My first sixty-mile trip through the settlements 
 along the Assiniboine River my son accompanying 
 me resulted in the securing of permission, from 
 several kindly-disposed strangers, to hold service and 
 preach in their homes to any whom I might persuade 
 to come and worship with us and hear the Word. 
 The journey commenced with three Sabbath appoint- 
 ments Winnipeg, Sturgeon Creek and Headingly; 
 then came a long, tedious drive on Monday of some 
 thirty-five miles through a very scattered population, 
 except in the " White Horse Plains," which was occu- 
 pied by French half-breeds, whose language I could 
 not use, and who, I presume, thought they had no use 
 for me, as they were well provided with a church and 
 bell, and priests and sisters of charity. But from 
 " Windmill Point," in the " Poplar Point " country, to 
 Portage la Prairie, through a very inviting region, we 
 found many who accorded us a hearty welcome, and 
 showed us needed hospitalities. True, all were not 
 like-minded. I suppose the exclusive, narrow-minded 
 and narrow -hearted bigot may be found everywhere 
 at any rate, I discovered as many of his kith and kin 
 in various parts of the country as I desired to meet, 
 for I felt then, as I feel now, that it will be quite soon 
 enough to come into close acquaintanceship with such 
 when we meet, if we ever do, in the " Promised Land."
 
 70 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 In the estimation of such I was an intruder, and my 
 coming an impertinence, an invasion of their rights ; 
 for they, seemingly, thought that they held a sort of 
 pre-emptive right to execute " the great commission " 
 in that country a right without any obligation being 
 coupled therewith. At " Windmill Point " I was 
 permitted to open an appointment in the home of a 
 kind man, an English half-breed Mr. Sandison, the 
 miller who later on became a useful and much- 
 respected member, and, I think, a class-leader. The 
 Rev. Mr. Robison, who came to my aid in 1869, was 
 made a great blessing to this neighborhood. Blessed 
 revival services were conducted and a little church 
 erected, which, having become dilapidated, is just now 
 being replaced by a better one. A few miles farther 
 on I was permitted to open an appointment which 
 has ever since been known as "Gowler's," from the fact 
 that Mr. William Gowler had kindly and promptly 
 opened his house and home to me on my arrival. Mr. 
 Gowler was and is one of " nature's noblemen," whose 
 nobility of character, as well as his enjoyments in 
 religion and zeal for God's glory, were ere long 
 greatly augmented. His house has been a resting- 
 place for many a weary missionary since he so 
 heartily welcomed me thereto in 1868. Here also a 
 class was formed and a church erected, and blessed 
 revivals experienced a little later on. I was greatly 
 delighted at meeting him at the Conference in 
 Winnipeg, June, 1892, as one of the lay-members of 
 that Conference, and to be reminded of the pleasing 
 fact that, having himself led the way into the " ark
 
 PERPLEXITIES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 71 
 
 of Christ's Church," he was soon followed by " all his 
 house," and many of his relatives and neighbors as 
 well. 
 
 It has been said, " Variety is the spice of life," 
 and so just here I will mention a somewhat spicy 
 occurrence which took place in those early days of 
 foundation laying in this locality. A certain fussy 
 little half -fledged, not over-gifted nor unduly popular 
 official regarded the advent of Methodism with much 
 disfavor and evident uneasiness, and thought it his 
 duty to express himself to Mr. Gowler anent the im- 
 propriety of which he had been guilty in opening his 
 house for Methodist preaching and in showing hos- 
 pitality to the wandering preacher who had the 
 audacity to come there to preach; affirming, more- 
 over, that it was very impolitic to do so, as I would 
 soon become discouraged and return to Canada, and 
 then he would find himself awkwardly situated, in 
 view of what he had done ; and still further, that I 
 had no right to preach, not having received authority 
 from the bishop. And so passing around the neigh- 
 borhood ahead of my appointments, using the same 
 arguments, he warned the people against attending 
 those meetings. This expenditure of logic was duly 
 reported to me, and drew forth the following reply : 
 " Say to Mr. that I was preaching the Gospel be- 
 fore he was in the cradle, and should continue doing so 
 during the Lord's pleasure ; and, also, that Methodists 
 and Methodist missionaries would be found in that 
 region until the millennium." More than a quarter 
 of a century has elapsed since, and it looks very much
 
 72 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 just now as if this forthtelling, or foretelling, were 
 likely to be literally fulfilled, for both at Windmill 
 Point and at Gowler's the work of erecting new and 
 greatly improved churches is being pushed forward 
 to completion by a people who are grateful for the 
 introduction of Methodism and its prevalence, despite 
 the puny opposition or cold-shouldering it met with 
 in 1868 ; and who, with help from above, will continue 
 faithful to the truth and loyal to Christ and His 
 Church until permitted to see either the millennium 
 or the New Jerusalem. 
 
 My next appointment was opened at the " High 
 Bluff," in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Angus Smith, 
 who kindly invited us to use a portion of their house 
 wherein to lodge and also to conduct services. Here 
 we organized the first class in the settlement Mr. 
 and Mrs. Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Inkster, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Norquay, Mr. and Mrs. Dillworth, Mr. Murray, and 
 several others becoming members thereof, with Mr. 
 Dillworth as their first leader. I shall never forget the 
 blessed influence experienced on that occasion, as I 
 addressed the people from " Fear not, little flock, for 
 it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the 
 kingdom," and as we held our first communion after 
 organizing the class. No wonder we went on our way 
 rejoicing after such a gracious uplift. Proceeding 
 thence seven or eight miles to Portage la Prairie, we 
 were favored by very kind Presbyterian friends, Mr. 
 and Mrs. McBean and their young people, in whose 
 home we found a comfortable resting-place, and a 
 room in which to conduct worship and preach the
 
 PERPLEXITIES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 73 
 
 Word. As this was practically the westerly limit of 
 the Red River Settlement at that date, I retraced my 
 steps to Winnipeg, to enter upon my next Sabbath's 
 duties. 
 
 As the weeks passed by, while we were occupying 
 the "one room " already referred to, we were ever on 
 the lookout for a house to rent wherein we might 
 winter and hold services. Failing in this, I arranged 
 for a building then in course of erection on the corner 
 of Portage Avenue and Main Streets at a monthly 
 rental of $26.00, the place to be ready for occupancy 
 within six weeks. But at the end of that term the 
 building was far from completion, while the owner's 
 funds were exhausted. As there seemed but one way 
 out, I deemed it advisable, under the circumstances, 
 to advance him three months' rent to enable him to 
 complete the work ; and after all we were compelled 
 to wait for many weeks more while we took board at 
 " Dutch George's " tavern. To expedite matters I 
 employed a plasterer, and turned in myself to pre- 
 pare and serve him with mortar, until the place was 
 roughly plastered. The intense cold soon froze the 
 plaster, which left the walls in a condition to render 
 our moving in for some time extremely hazardous. 
 However, we were tired of living in a tavern, and so 
 by keeping up fires in the rooms we succeeded in 
 " thawing out " and partially drying the walls so as to 
 make our entrance warrantable, despite the steam 
 and dampness that prevailed. On Saturday, the 13th 
 of December, we took possession of the building, and 
 on the next day opened the lower flat as our first
 
 74 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 " Wesley Hall." I preached at 10 a.m., and Mrs. 
 Young commenced Sabbath-school work at 3 p.m., 
 while I took my other two services in the country. 
 Our congregations, which had become small in the 
 little uncomfortable court-room at the fort, now 
 increased very considerably, and an evening service 
 and class-meeting during the week were commenced 
 forthwith. Thus we struggled on, with our high 
 rent and heavy outlay for fuel and provisions, etc., 
 during the severe winter of 1868-69. 
 
 My experiences during my first winter in the " Red 
 River Settlement " were decidedly unique, tending to 
 acclimatize on the one hand, and to test my faith 
 and hope and to tax and develop my sympathies 
 on the other. The season, to strangers in the country, 
 was a severe one : intense cold, blizzard gales and 
 deep snow-drifts combined to suggest for one's safety 
 buffalo-skin coats, fur mitts, and moccasins with 
 heavy feet wraps, with grizzly bear-skin or buffalo 
 robes for the cutter in day travelling, and for a bed 
 of warmth in the night season. The fuel brought by 
 the natives to our Winnipeg market was generally of 
 the poplar-pole sort, often green, and at best but a 
 poor substitute for the harder woods of Ontario and 
 Quebec, and yet equalling the best as to the price ! 
 But these experiences, with the long and tiresome 
 drives up and down the rivers and across the wild 
 prairies to the scattered settlements, were less trying 
 to the physical, than was the scarcity of life's neces- 
 saries, which was but too apparent in many a home.
 
 PERPLEXITIES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 75 
 
 THE FAMINE SEASON. 
 
 The winter of 1868-69 in the country now known 
 as Manitoba will be remembered by multitudes as a 
 season of famine, with urgent appeals from the needy 
 to those possessing abundance for speedy assistance to 
 prevent suffering and possible starvation. The reason 
 of this scarcity is easily given. To some extent the 
 cause was a two-fold failure an utter and universal 
 failure of the crops on the one hand, and failure of 
 the buffalo hunt on the other. The locust plague was 
 upon the land, hence the failure of crops. It is well- 
 nigh impossible to give an adequate idea to those 
 who have never witnessed the coming, in air-filling 
 clouds, of myriads of these detestable devourers, and 
 of the widespread devastation which is speedily 
 effected by them. In some respects such a scene is 
 better read of than witnessed. Pity the agriculturists 
 who are compelled to witness it! In the autumn 
 of 1867 the Province was invaded from the north- 
 westerly and less paradisaical portions of Uncle 
 Sam's domains, by a strong force of these " abomina- 
 tions " that cause desolation. Their arrival was too 
 late to cause much mischief in 1867, as the crops had 
 been already secured, but they speedily set to work 
 to do the next worst thing for the settlement, viz., to 
 deposit their eggs, myriads upon myriads of them, in 
 the soil of gardens, fields and prairies, and along the 
 hard-travelled road tracks, to render certain in the 
 early spring an upspringing of a great army of infant 
 destroyers, simultaneously with an upspringing of
 
 76 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 vegetation to feed and fatten on, to the prevention 
 of the harvest that men had hoped and toiled for. 
 
 The heavy frosts of the winter did not seem to 
 interfere with the aims of these parent locusts, for 
 with the coming of the warmth of spring came also 
 the hatching-out process, until it seemed as if every 
 blade of grass and every sprout of grain were pre- 
 empted by a score or more of these vigorous and now 
 naturalized hoppers. The tender plant was quickly 
 eaten off, and even quite down into the roots, and 
 this repeated until all vitality was gone and the 
 eater alone survived. Ere June ended, this work of 
 destruction had been about completed, and without 
 waiting for their wings, they took up their line of 
 march in a southerly direction, hopping along in 
 triumph until a further development should come, 
 when, fully equipped, they should ascend to the 
 region of the clouds, and taking advantage of fair 
 winds, should more easily and rapidly proceed in 
 quest of pastures fresh and more abundant. Our 
 party of missionaries, passing out of Dakota into 
 Assiniboia, met these hordes of evil-doers about July 1, 
 1868. It was as if the " prince of the power of the 
 air" had marshalled this powerful detachment of 
 destroyers to indicate his might, and discourage those 
 from entering the country whose mission was one of 
 salvation ; in the meanwhile soliloquizing thus : " If I 
 can't prevent your entering in, I will at least either 
 starve you out or make you very miserable after you 
 get in." 
 
 There seems as little of the haphazard and as
 
 PERPLEXITIES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 77 
 
 much of order in the movements of an army of 
 locusts as is manifest in those of a swarm of bees. 
 That there is leadership in both cases one can hardly 
 doubt, but the whereabouts or personnel so to 
 speak thereof is perhaps not so apparent in the 
 former as in the latter case. They appear much 
 averse to any effort to get around a difficulty or 
 obstacle, but greatly prefer surmounting or climbing 
 over it. The stone walls of old Fort Garry did not 
 tumble at their approach, and so carrying out their 
 principles and acting out " final perseverance," they 
 continued hopping against the rocky barrier until 
 they fell, rather ingloriously it must be admitted, as 
 many poor obstinate human fools have done, in at- 
 tempting the impossible. So great was the number 
 of these stupid suicides that, for sanitary reasons and 
 to get rid of an intolerable nuisance, the Hudson 
 Bay Company's officials sent a gang of men with 
 wheelbarrows to trundle these defunct devourers over 
 the bank and into the current of the Assiniboine 
 River, that they might be swept down stream to 
 Lake Winnipeg for the benefit, possibly, of the jack- 
 fish and catfish and sturgeons of that great lake. 
 
 Soon after our arrival it became apparent to us, 
 as to many others, that there was not a sufficient 
 supply of food in the country to tide the population 
 over the coming non-producing seasons of winter 
 and spring. Many were very slow to take in the 
 situation, and having a sufficiency for themselves and 
 families from what they had kept over from the 
 harvest of 1867, they hesitated not to declaim against
 
 78 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 any agitation of the question of the country's peril 
 as unnecessary and injurious to general interests. 
 My first missionary journey of one hundred and 
 twenty miles through the best grain raising portions 
 of the settlement satisfied me that, however safe 
 a few might be from scarcity of food, the many 
 must be brought into great straits and even peril if 
 left entirely to their own resources ; and this convic- 
 tion deepened and strengthened as the days went by 
 and my knowledge of the existing state of things 
 extended. In a few weeks, and mainly through the 
 representations of our only newspaper, The Nor- 
 wester, many were brought to see the need of con- 
 certed and immediate action in order to ward off 
 threatening calamity ; and as a result a co-operative 
 relief association was organized and a large committee 
 was appointed, consisting of the bishops and ministers 
 of the churches and several prominent and influen- 
 tial citizens, whose duty would be to make appeals to 
 the outside world for aid, to take in charge all con- 
 tributions that might be sent, and to inquire closely 
 and thoroughly into the circumstances of the families 
 seeking aid, as well as to distribute through sub- 
 committees the supplies required. 
 
 The result of our investigation was sufficiently 
 alarming to warrant solicitude and urgent efforts to 
 save large numbers from suffering, as the following 
 statement, made up as early as November, 1868, will 
 show : The schedules carefully filled up and sent in 
 from various parts of the country showed that there 
 were of the Protestant section, 216 families, repre-
 
 PERPLEXITIES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 79 
 
 senting 951 persons, in need of immediate aid ; and 
 in the Roman Catholic portion, 207 families, repre- 
 senting 1,391 persons, in similar need, making a total 
 of 423 families and 2,342 persons even then requiring 
 help if " the wolf was to be kept from the door." 
 Twenty barrels of flour per week, with a large 
 quantity of meat, were distributed as early as the 
 date above given. A little later on, the number of 
 cases needing help increased to over 3,000, and the 
 quantities of food given out proportionately increased. 
 Great difficulty was experienced in getting the sup- 
 plies forwarded in time to prevent suffering, inasmuch 
 as long stretches of unoccupied prairie intervened 
 between the terminus of the railroad at that time 
 and their destination ; and, winter having set in, the 
 freighting of these supplies across those untracked 
 regions, for three or four hundred miles, became both 
 tedious and hazardous as well as expensive. Many 
 of our hardy Red River freighters, however, under- 
 took the task for the consideration of one-half their 
 loads on delivery they having no share in the gra- 
 tuitous distribution. As the weary winter months 
 passed along, some were able to supplement the aid 
 received with game they were fortunate enough to 
 shoot or trap, or fish secured from the lakes and 
 rivers. In one of my missionary visits to White Mud 
 River, some eighty miles from Winnipeg, I found the 
 people of the settlement subsisting mainly on a 
 scanty supply of rabbits snared in the bush, and 
 jack-fish taken from under the ice in the river. The 
 unsuccessful buffalo hunters had very " hard luck "
 
 80 
 
 also, for, after their long journeys to the distant plains, 
 where they had been wont to fall in with vast herds 
 of buffalo, they utterly failed to find the over-hunted 
 animals, and were compelled to kill for food some of 
 their ponies to prevent starvation on the homeward 
 journey. 
 
 From these statements it will be seen that our first 
 winter in the Red River Settlement involved a good 
 deal that taxed heavily our sympathies, our faith 
 and hope, and also our slight income. Provisions of 
 all kinds went up to a high price. I paid in one 
 instance thirty-six shillings sterling a hundred for 
 flour, and for many months two dollars a bushel for 
 oats for my horse, a supply of which, by the way, I 
 always took with me on my journeys, for it was more 
 prudent for me to miss a meal than that my hard- 
 driven horse should go without grain. But the 
 " good hand of God was upon us for good," and we 
 were brought through it all in safety and in His good 
 time. With the opening of spring came in, by 
 flat boats and steamer, additional supplies of food for 
 the needy, and large quantities of seed grain and 
 potatoes for those who were pledged to plant and not 
 consume them. The summer, when it came, brought 
 us once more an abundant harvest, for which we 
 brought our offering of thanksgiving. 
 
 During the winter I received from many kind 
 friends, through the late Rev. Dr. Rose and others, 
 collections and contributions from various parts of 
 our work, to be distributed by me among the more
 
 PERPLEXITIES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 81 
 
 needy of my flock apart from the general distribution. 
 This was a great kindness and help. We had not as 
 yet any poor fund, and yet we had needy ones whom 
 we greatly desired to assist. 
 
 Together with this duty of caring for the needy, 
 my attention was given during the winter to the 
 necessary preparations for building both a parsonage 
 
 JAMES H. ASHDOWN, ESQ. 
 
 and a church in Winnipeg. Accordingly I made ar- 
 rangements with two of the members of our little 
 class at High Bluff, Messrs. Norquay and Smith, for 
 the getting out of such timber oak and poplar as 
 would be required for parsonage and church, they to 
 raft it down and deliver it on the bank of the river 
 at Fort Garry in the spring of ] 869. These brethren 
 did their work faithfully and well, and these requi- 
 sites were on hand when needed. My kind friend, 
 Mr. Ashdown then about the most industrious
 
 82 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 and courageous of all the new comers, and now 
 one of the most prosperous and wealthy of all the 
 hardware merchants in Manitoba and the North- 
 West aided me greatly with additional timber, and 
 also in lathing, painting, glazing, etc., in the com- 
 pleting of our parsonage. Many a hard day's work 
 we put in together on those premises. Mr. Ashdown 
 is now, and has been for years, an active member of 
 the Trust Board of Grace Church and the manage- 
 ment of Wesley College, and a liberal supporter of 
 these interests. May he long be spared to his kind 
 family and to the Church. 
 
 My application to Governor McTavish who was 
 ever a true friend of mine for a site on which to 
 erect a mission-house and a church, was presented by 
 him, with his recommendation, to the Governor-in- 
 Council of the Hudson Bay Company in London. 
 Owing to his influence, I presume and may I not 
 add, in answer to our earnest and importunate 
 prayers ? the company granted an acre of their land 
 for that purpose, leaving the locating thereof to the 
 Governor himself. In his absence there came about 
 a little hitch between the official in charge and myself 
 anent the location. I wanted it where he did not 
 wish to give it, and where he wished to give it I did 
 not want it. W"e finally struck this compromise : I 
 agreed, with his consent, to draw the timber then on 
 the river bank, with other building material, to the 
 spot I had chosen, and then on the Governor's arrival 
 which was looked for daily if he refused me that 
 site, to remove it as he should ctirect. The material
 
 PERPLEXITIES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 83 
 
 was drawn, the contract for putting up the mission- 
 house was let, and the carpenters engaged to com- 
 mence work in two or three days, and yet no arrival. 
 As aforetime, we went to the great Helper for help, 
 and help came. The Governor arrived in time, and at 
 once, and heartily, he gave me the site I had chosen, 
 to the great surprise of not a few. After much hard 
 work in hauling timber, stones, and carrying lumber, 
 etc., we succeeded in getting our new mission-house and 
 stable ready for occupancy, and took possession of it 
 as a family and held a class-meeting in it on the same 
 day (August 17th, 1869), reserving the lower flat for 
 our services. I preached my first sermon there on 
 August 22nd from the text, " Hitherto the Lord hath 
 helped us." In this room, as our " Wesley Hall " 
 No. 2, we continued to hold service until our new 
 church was completed in September, 1871. The 
 reason of this delay in the erection of the church I 
 may give later on. 
 
 The following report of a specimen trip in February, 
 1869, given in a letter to Mr. John Macdonald, may 
 not be deemed inappropriate in this connection. 
 
 " My mission now extends from this point, where 
 the Assiniboine River flows into the Red River, up 
 along the banks of the former eighty miles ; and 
 as I occasionally visit the lower fort, which is twenty 
 miles below this, on the Red River, I have a field of 
 one hundred miles in length. I shall give you the 
 best idea of my work, by placing before you, in diary 
 form, the work of a ' trip,' as we call it out here : 
 
 " January 31st, Sabbath Conducted Sabbath-school
 
 84 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 in ' Wesley Hall,' town of Winnipeg, at 9.25 a.m. A 
 very fair attendance and the best of attention. A 
 good number of verses were recited, and the catechism 
 lessons were well prepared. At the close of the school 
 a good congregation assembled, and service com- 
 menced at 10.30 ; the subject of meditation was 1 Peter 
 iv. 7. I trust 'the seed fell into good ground.' A 
 drive of six miles brought me to Sturgeon Creek, 
 where I conducted service on Sabbath at 2 p.m., in a 
 dwelling-house kindly opened for the purpose, the 
 parish deacon's protest to the contrary notwithstand- 
 ing. Here an exceedingly attentive little company 
 listened closely to a conversational style of discourse 
 on the beautiful text, Rev. xii. 11, 'The blood of 
 the Lamb.' What a theme ! and then, victory over 
 Satan 'by,' or an account of, or through the amazingly 
 efficacious blood of Christ. 
 
 " ' Dear dying Lamb, thy precious blood 
 Shall never lose its power.' 
 
 Another drive of four miles and the Gowler farm 
 was reached, where at 4.30 p.m., I superintended a 
 small Sabbath-school, and then at 5.30 held service, 
 and warned all ' neglecters ' of salvation from the good 
 old text, Hebrews ii. 3. In this neighborhood my 
 congregations have greatly increased of late, and a 
 nucleus of a society has been formed by four persons 
 whose hearts God hath touched, and who have, in 
 consequence, banded themselves together as those 
 'desiring to flee from the wrath to come.' After
 
 PERPLEXITIES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 85 
 
 sermon I met them as a class ; and so, after conduct- 
 ing two Sabbath -schools, preaching three sermons, 
 travelling ten miles, and holding a little class and 
 prayer-meeting, I closed a blessed Sabbath day with 
 conversation and worship with this kind family, and 
 wrapping myself in my two buffalo robes, with some 
 good, sweet, soft hay in the corner of a room, as my 
 bed, I slept sweetly, and dreamed of some of my kind 
 friends in Canada. 
 
 " Monday morning, rose at five o'clock, and got off 
 as soon as practicable on my long day's drive. The 
 cold was as severe as I have felt it here, but in this 
 high latitude we can bear it far better than a less 
 degree in a damp region. Travelled forty miles in all, 
 and preached to a full congregation gathered on two 
 hours' notice, and felt it good to be there. In all my 
 travels I have not seen a congregation who seemed to 
 drink in the word as those do who compose this one. 
 Surely the Lord will shortly pour upon them the 
 spirit of His grace ! 
 
 " Tuesday, drove eight miles, and preached to 
 another very solemn and attentive company of wor- 
 shippers at the High Bluff. Here, by God's blessing, 
 despite all misrepresentions, a class was formed in 
 October, and continues to meet each Sabbath, with 
 encouraging prospects. The neighborhood had been 
 greatly neglected until my arrival. Since that, al- 
 though I may not have ' provoked to love,' I cer- 
 tainly have to ' good works,' at least of a certain 
 kind. Never was so much clerical attention experi- 
 enced here before. In a fellowship meeting which I
 
 86 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 had held here, one of the newly gathered spake to 
 this effect : ' In our neglected condition I have often 
 ' prayed that some one might be sent to preach the 
 Gospel plainly to us, that we might understand it and 
 feel its power, and now I thank God He has heard 
 my prayer, and sent that blessed Gospel into our very 
 houses.' Some of these ' babes in Christ' were, a short 
 time ago, actively engaged in rebelling against the 
 Divine throne and Government. One who was in 
 danger of descending to a drunkard's hell, but has 
 been quickened into newness of life, has written me 
 a letter, which I have just received, in which he says, 
 ' I am happy to say that we are encouraged every 
 Sabbath, more and more, by God's help in our meet- 
 ings for worship. We thank God that He has sent 
 you among us, as an instrument in His hand, to put 
 it in our bearts to meet and pray together. We 
 never lived so happy as we do at present. Trusting in 
 God, we find that we get through the world much 
 easier than we did before. May God bless us and 
 give us strength to endure to the end.' 
 
 " On Wednesday morning the parties who came 
 from the White Mud River twenty-seven miles 
 from the Bluff met me according to appointment, 
 and we drove that distance without resting. We 
 passed the twenty miles across the prairies without 
 seeing a house until we reached the little settlement. 
 As we passed along I was surprised to see the tall 
 prairie grass in some places standing erect, and 
 reaching above the snow some three and even four 
 feet. Bands of horses were wintering on it, and
 
 PERPLEXIE1ES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 87 
 
 looked well. At 6 p.m. I preached to a little neg- 
 lected company in the presence of a poor sufferer, 
 from John v. 6. After visiting from house to house 
 these poor families, who subsisted chiefly on fish, and 
 preaching next morning at nine o'clock, and giving 
 the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper to a few aged 
 people, and baptizing a babe, I returned to the High 
 Bluff, twenty-seven miles, on Thursday evening. 
 
 Friday morning it was my privilege to minister 
 to the comfort of an aged woman, .who is said to be 
 fully one hundred years of age, and is the great-great 
 grandmother of the babe I baptized the day before, 
 and the mother of a Church of England mission- 
 ary. I need not state to you that I felt a peculiar 
 pleasure in communing with this ' aged disciple.' My 
 guide for this two miles' walk and back through the 
 woods, and who accompanied me to White Mud 
 River, is an aged man, whose case is a very interest- 
 ing one. He was brought up among the Indians, 
 and, until he was eighteen or twenty years of age, 
 knew not that there was such a being as a God. 
 Subsequently he came among the whites, but says 
 that he understood very little of the read sermons 
 to which he listened from Sabbath to Sabbath, and 
 often wished the ministers would come and explain 
 the Scriptures to him. I have tried to render him 
 the aid required, and the poor man has followed me 
 up from place to place on this trip, travelling over 
 sixty miles, and hearing me preach five sermons. 
 May he be saved ! Another poor man said to me, at 
 the White Mud River, ' We are thankful to you for
 
 88 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 coming among us, as we can understand you well, 
 and if I had money enough I would never let you go 
 away.' On Friday night I preached in a neighbor- 
 hood near the Bluff in a new appointment, and on 
 Saturday night lectured on temperance, when over 
 twenty signed the pledge. This land is rum-cursed, 
 and I feel it my duty to preach and lecture temper- 
 ance everywhere. 
 
 " Sabbath, the 7th February. Met class at nine ; 
 preached at 10 a.m. ; drove eight miles, and preached 
 at one o'clock, and then pushed on rapidly fifteen 
 miles, visiting a sick woman along the road, and 
 preached again at five to a crowd. After receiving 
 three members on trial as the nucleus of another 
 class, and driving a mile after eight o'clock, I felt 
 that ' the sleep of a laboring man is sweet.' This day 
 I travelled twenty-five miles. 
 
 " Monday morning, rose at half-past four, and set 
 out on my return journey of a forty miles' drive, as 
 soon as practicable ; and after resting for the night at 
 Headingly, I reached home Tuesday about noon, 
 thankful indeed to find all well, and for the strength 
 thus to preach the blessed Gospel in the ' regions 
 beyond.' Oh, how delightful it is, my dear brother, 
 to preach ' Jesus and the resurrection,' to these hungry 
 and thirsty souls. But I can't bear the thought of 
 seeing so many desiring instruction, and yet feel, as 
 I do, that I can't supply all the lack. Let the patrons 
 of your our noble Missionary Society but know the 
 case, and I am sure the fault will not be theirs if an 
 assistant be not sent out in May next. Many are
 
 PERPLEXITIES AND ENCOURAGEMENTS. 89 
 
 waiting to see if I will get help before they cast in 
 their lot with us, for they say that I can't keep up 
 this field alone, but getting tired or worn out will 
 give them up, and then they will have to go back 
 where they were. 
 
 " ' Pray for us, and choose me out a good man, full 
 of faith and of the Holy Ghost,' and send him for- 
 ward to help reap ' the fields already white unto 
 harvest.' "
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF AN EFFICIENT HELPER. 
 
 ON July 14th, 1869, I was reinforced not very 
 numerously, it is true, and yet very efficiently by 
 the arrival of Rev. Matthew Robison as my assistant. 
 I had been pleading very importunately with the 
 Mission Rooms, Toronto, for a helper, urging, how- 
 ever, that none but an earnest, devout, adaptive and 
 consecrated young man one who would be willing 
 to face difficulties and hardships and much hard work 
 should be sent to fill that position. The selection 
 was wisely made, and Mr. Robison, from the first, 
 filled the bill as well, probably, as any other would 
 have done whom they could have chosen. After a 
 tedious journey across the plains from St. Paul, 
 Minnesota, in company with some Red River freight- 
 ers, he reached Winnipeg at 11 p.m., on Wednesday, 
 July 14th, and reported himself at once at our little 
 mission home as ready for service at any point I 
 might indicate. On Thursday he accompanied me to 
 one of my week-day appointments a few miles up the 
 Assiniboine River, and opened his commission by 
 preaching his first sermon in the settlement. His 
 text was, " The Lord is my portion." Possibly he
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF AX EFFICIENT HELPER. 91 
 
 may have concluded already from our surroundings 
 that he would hereafter have special need of a 
 " portion " such as earth cannot afford ; be that as it 
 may, he preached a plain, practical, earnest and 
 comforting sermon. The privilege of hearing a 
 sermon from some one else than myself was a rare 
 one, and much enjoyed, while the prospect of having 
 the counsel and co-operation of a missionary of our 
 own Church tended to relieve that feeling of isola- 
 tion and even loneliness which I had experienced 
 during the year past, as well as to strengthen my 
 hands in the great and good work. His arrival 
 afforded much comfort to the mission family, as well 
 as to myself, inasmuch as it would render unneces- 
 sary those long trips and absences from home, and 
 from my work in Winnipeg, which had been too 
 frequent in the past for the good of the cause. 
 
 After securing for him the needful outfit of horse, 
 harness and buckboard, I accompanied him on his 
 first trip through the country, and introduced him 
 to the people, with whom he soon became well 
 acquainted, and to whom his ministrations were 
 greatly blessed. Henceforth the old " Red River " 
 mission of magnificent distances became two missions, 
 Brother R. taking High Bluff as his centre of opera- 
 tions, and undertaking to sustain the appointments I 
 had opened in the neighborhoods adjacent, Windmill 
 Point, Gowler's, the Bluff, Portage la Prairie, White 
 Mud River, etc., and to open new ones as soon as 
 opportunities might be afforded ; while I undertook 
 to supply as best I could the appointments I had
 
 92 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 commenced at Headingly, Sturgeon Creek, Wood- 
 lands, Rock wood, Lower Fort Garry, Springfield, 
 Prairie Grove and Winnipeg. Each mission was 
 still rather too large for the comfort of the mis- 
 sionary. 
 
 The people of the High Bluff mission soon found in 
 their new pastor one whom they unanimously re- 
 garded as " the right man in the right place." Nor 
 could it well be otherwise, for his Christian simplicity 
 in spirit and manner, his ardent desire, manifest in 
 his preaching and pastoral visits, to do them good in 
 the highest sense of the term ; his readiness to sacri- 
 fice ease and even to devote his scanty supply of funds 
 in order to the extension and consolidation of the 
 good work, commended him to them as a true minister 
 of Christ. His preaching and exhortations had the 
 genuine old Methodist ring in their definiteness, in- 
 cisiveness, and faithfulness ; while his personal testi- 
 mony for Christ was given in tenderness, without any 
 seeming self -exaltation, and his prayers in family or 
 congregational worship were as free from cold for- 
 mality and stiltedness on the one hand, as from a 
 rhapsodical verbosity on the other. His free use of 
 the gift of song was a help and no hindrance to his 
 ministry. 
 
 At first all our services were of necessity held in 
 the homes of those who kindly gave us the privilege 
 solicited; but Mr. Robison, as soon as practicable, 
 summoned his hearers to co-operation in the work of 
 erecting two or more small churches for their better 
 accommodation. His method as mine had been,
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF AX EFFICIENT HELPER. 93 
 
 and later on as that of Revs. M. Fawcett and J. M. 
 Harrison of those early days, and as has been of those 
 who have succeeded us and have succeeded in their 
 work was not to say go, but come, and the people 
 generally showed a readiness to come. What it cost 
 him in hard work and weariness for months together 
 to get out timber and build and fit up those little 
 churches cannot be imagined by those now occupying 
 that field. Matthew Robison was no loiterer, stand- 
 ing idle in the market-place and " waiting for some- 
 thing to turn up." Pioneer missionaries who are too 
 dignified or dilatory to assist, or even lead on, in such 
 a work, or to care for their own horse in journeying, 
 or to assist, now and again, when they have time and 
 strength to do so, the brother whose hospitality they 
 have shared, are not sufficiently Pauline to make 
 much headway among the people. I am sorry to say 
 that I think I have known a few such. To them- 
 selves their want of success seemed a great mystery, 
 while it was not so regarded by the toil-worn ones to 
 whom they had been sent as laborers in the Master's 
 vineyard, and whose prejudices they had so unneces- 
 sarily turned against themselves. I have no patience 
 with, and not over much expectation from, a Metho- 
 dist preacher, whether on missions or self-supporting 
 circuits, who is manifestly guilty of neglect or cruelty 
 towards the poor animal whose misfortune it has 
 become to be compelled to carry or draw him through 
 mud and storm in heat and cold, and to and fro in 
 the performance of his duty; and I am persuaded 
 that the right thinking of his hearers will think and
 
 94 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 feel as I do. In all my journeyings, through all the 
 years of my itinerancy during which I required a 
 horse, I am glad to be able to say that the people 
 with whom I lodged, if they still survive, will bear 
 me witness that I never relegated to others the work 
 of feeding, grooming or harnessing the horse I used. 
 Those who pursue an opposite course from the love 
 of ease, and especially among new settlers, or those 
 who are pressed with their own work, oftentimes 
 bring upon themselves, unwittingly, reflections that 
 would be very unpleasant for them to hear. 
 
 In 1869 and 1870 Brother Robison, as well as 
 myself, had much to meet with that was trying to 
 patience and faith and hope. There were two set- 
 backs to the work which occurred during those years, 
 to which I will refer but briefly just here, and more 
 lengthily later on. First there was the locust plague, 
 the embarrassing results of which were still apparent 
 when he came. Such a pre-occupancy of thought re 
 the necessaries of life could not but prove very influ- 
 ential for ill in preventing the Word preached from 
 having "free course" in the minds of its hearers. 
 The fact that " the bread that perisheth " was so 
 scarce with many, drew away their thoughts fre- 
 quently from the " Bread of Life " offered so freely 
 in the Gospel. This operated as a hindrance to the 
 good work. And then, secondly, and much worse 
 than the former, came that inexcusable agitation 
 which certain restless spirits caused by their misrep- 
 resentations of the arrangements made for the afore- 
 time asked-for transfer of the vast territory of the
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF AX EFFICIENT HELPER. 95 
 
 Hudson Bay Company to Canada, and the unreason- 
 ing uprising of the French half-breed portion of the 
 country's population, with the unprincipled Kiel at 
 their head, to prevent the establishment of the Gov- 
 ernment decided on at Ottawa. 
 
 Notwithstanding these set-backs to our work, Mr. 
 Robison prosecuted his labors in visiting outposts ; in 
 keeping up his appointments; in working with his 
 people in erecting the churches already referred to, 
 and in visiting the sick and dying, especially in and 
 about Winnipeg, during a season when a distressing 
 and often fatal fever was sweeping away many who 
 had but recently arrived in the country. His special 
 evangelistic services in the two newly-built churches 
 were signally owned and blessed of God. Many were 
 " brought from darkness into a marvellous light," and 
 added to the Church of Christ. In the midst of this 
 great activity and usefulness, to my great regret he 
 was led, I know not by what means, to decide on 
 retiring from the work in Manitoba, in order to pur- 
 sue a course of study in Victoria University at 
 Cobourg. Knowing, as I did, his attachment to the 
 people of his charge, and their strong regard for 
 him, and the grief his severance from them must 
 occasion, his decision came to me both as a surprise 
 and a cause of much anxiety. I urged a reconsidera- 
 tion of the question, and in view of all the facts 
 especially as we had no one in the country at that 
 date fully competent to fill his place earnestly 
 entreated him to remain at least a year or two longer 
 with those he had gathered into the fold of the Good
 
 96 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 Shepherd. Just at this crisis he was summoned by 
 his mother, then rapidly declining in health, to hasten 
 to her home that she might see him once more ere 
 she departed. This decided him to act promptly, and 
 in a few days he started upon his long and hazardous 
 journey across the prairies in a season of severe cold 
 and fierce storms. Could the dear ones at home have 
 known what exposure that journey would involve, 
 they would have hesitated to urge him to undertake 
 it. The long prairie trail from Winnipeg to Moor- 
 head was traversed by miserable stages, and but 
 irregularly, because of the deep snowdrifts, and the 
 railroads thence to St. Paul just then were badly 
 blocked, so that it was extremely difficult for him to 
 accomplish the journey. But, what was saddest of 
 all, the ending of the journey only brought to him 
 sore disappointment and grief his mother had passed 
 away days before his arrival. This to our brother 
 was a severe blow, and one that called forth great 
 sympathy on his behalf. After several weeks in 
 Ontario, and due consultation with the Mission 
 authorities, he returned to Manitoba in time to 
 attend the Missionary Conference which was held 
 there in July, 1872. His decision remained un- 
 changed, and contrary to the entreaty of the friends 
 on his mission, and the advice of Drs. Punshon and 
 Wood and Mr. Fawcett and myself, he still pressed 
 his claim to take a course of study in college. 
 
 In all this Brother Robison had the courage of his 
 convictions, and was thoroughly honest, I doubt not, 
 and yet I am compelled to think to-day, as in the
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF AN EFFICIENT HELPER. 97 
 
 past, that in this persistence he unwittingly diverged 
 from his providential course, and realized, as many 
 who have erred in the same direction have done, 
 disappointment and ultimate failure. Under the 
 pressure he put upon himself in hard study and close 
 confinement at college, his health ere long gave way, 
 and after struggling along for a while, supplying the 
 work at a few points in Ontario, and battling heroic- 
 ally with diseased throat and lungs, he was compelled 
 to accept the inevitable. In the autumn of 1878, 
 when much enfeebled by disease, he decided to visit 
 Manitoba again, hoping that the invigorating air of 
 the higher altitude might prove helpful, and that 
 meeting again with those converts to Christ who 
 loved him as their spiritual father, he might possibly 
 afford comfort and help to them as well. Alas ! it 
 was too late. He stayed a night with us in Toronto, 
 on his way west, when it was painfully apparent 
 that his strength was unequal to the undertaking. 
 His rapid decline after reaching Manitoba led to a 
 speedy return home, where, after the wearisome jour- 
 ney, he arrived at length in great debility of body, 
 but joyful through hope, to await his Master's call. 
 On December 17th, 1878, the summons came, and my 
 former co-laborer in the West, and the faithful 
 servant of Christ, passed away from the loved ones of 
 earth and went to see "the King in His beauty." 
 Summoned to attend the funeral solemnities, I 
 preached a memorial sermon from, " Well done, good 
 and faithful servant," etc. "Blessed are the dead 
 which die in the Lord," 
 7
 
 98 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 A PECULIAR CORRESPONDENCE. 
 
 My correspondence was considerably increased by 
 letters asking for information, of which I will give 
 two specimens. A stranger asked me to furnish an 
 anxious enquirer with the names of all the tribe^ of 
 Indians living in British North America, the language 
 and dialects spoken by the same, the religious 
 denominations to which they belonged, the number 
 of souls in each tribe, the number speaking each 
 language, the numbers of each tribe belonging to each 
 Christian denomination, the number of pagans, and 
 the names of the districts inhabited by each tribe. 
 All these questions were also asked separately regard- 
 ing the Esquimaux ; and all this asked for simply, 
 as alleged in the letter, to gratify a desire to acquire 
 statistical information ! I also received the following 
 letter, which is given verb, et lit.: 
 
 " SIR, I depend upon you as a friend to give me a 
 correct statement of the Red river country and all 
 the parts you have travel through 
 And in particular the kind of Gaim let me know iff 
 the buffalo is as plenty as they formerly was 
 There is a lot of familyes would imigrate there in the 
 spring iff they could have the particulars of the 
 country and in particular about the crops 
 plese state whether there is any deer or bear or wolves 
 and all kinds of wild animals and all kinds of fish 
 and state the climate and soil an what kinds of crops 
 there is this year and the markets and the mode of 
 living the people has and the best rout for going 
 there and what it would cost a young single man to
 
 THE ARRIVAL OF AN EFFICIENT HELPER. 99 
 
 go there Mention all kinds of fowl in particular it has 
 been a cold wet frosty summer here i would like to 
 know how much snow you had there last winter 
 there is a good many would like to know if there is 
 any rattle snakes there mention all kinds of snakes 
 sir if there is any thing not asked as we are inquiring 
 about the particulars of that country i trust you will 
 mention it Sir i trust you as a friend will answer this 
 letter direct to Ethell pos office Ontario."
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 TROUBLOUS TIMES. 
 
 OUR efforts to prepare the foundations which I 
 had been trying to place in position for an enduring 
 superstructure, met with a very serious reverse in the 
 troublous times of 1869 and 1870. There were some 
 in the country at that date, as possibly there are now, 
 of the milk and water class, whose principles (?) would 
 not allow of their using the term rebellion in this 
 connection, and so they could only write or speak of 
 the " troubles " through which the Red River Settle- 
 ment was passing. Yet to many of us these troubles 
 were even more than troublesome, and the troublers 
 themselves none other than organized rebels, who, 
 having in a treacherous way possessed themselves 
 of power, were now using that power in terrorizing, 
 plundering and cruelly imprisoning many of Her 
 Majesty's loyal subjects, whose misfortune it was, for 
 the time, to be their fellow-citizens. 
 
 I should state here, preparatory to my remarks on 
 the insurrection, that the Government of the Province 
 of Assiniboia, of which the Red River Settlement was 
 a part, consisted of an elective Council, presided over 
 by the Governor of the Hudson Bay Territory, and
 
 TROUBLOUS TIMES. 101 
 
 was recognized by both the Imperial and the Cana- 
 dian Governments. As I have already intimated, 
 Governor McTavish was at this time at the head of 
 the Council. 
 
 The beginning of the insurrectionary movements, 
 which so soon culminated in this miserable rebellion, 
 were seemingly too insignificant to be a reason for 
 alarm. Early in 1869 we were warned by our only 
 newspaper, the Norwester, that an agitation was then 
 going on and gaining headway among a certain por- 
 tion of the people of the country (the French half- 
 breeds) on account of the proposed transfer of " The 
 Hudson Bay Territory," including the Province of 
 Assiniboia, to the Dominion of Canada, and the estab- 
 lishment, at an early day, of a Government by the 
 authorities at Ottawa. This seemed at first all the 
 more incredible, inasmuch as a numerously signed 
 petition had been forwarded by the people to the 
 Canadian Parliament, as far back as 1857, asking that 
 the necessary preliminaries be arranged, as soon as 
 possible, for the bringing about of such a transfer ; 
 and, also, inasmuch as the supplies of food and seed 
 grain, which had been so generously sent forward by 
 Canada to prevent suffering and even starvation dur- 
 ing the, famine season, and which had been partici- 
 pated in very largely and eagerly by these people, 
 were not yet exhausted. That they could cherish and 
 manifest so much ill-will toward the source of so 
 much of their greatly-needed relief did seem to many 
 in the country both incredible and ungracious. 
 Nevertheless it soon became only too apparent that
 
 102 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 mischievous agitators were at work circulating 
 reports that were as false as damaging, and that 
 many of the people, uninformed and unsuspecting, 
 were receiving these misrepresentations as true, and 
 were becoming greatly excited in view of the alleged 
 wrongs which, they were told, the Imperial Govern- 
 ment, the Hudson Bay Company and the Govern- 
 ment of Canada were conspiring to inflict upon their 
 country. 
 
 Emboldened by the countenance given him by 
 some, from whom better things might well have been 
 expected, and encouraged by the manifest influence 
 he was exercising over those among whom he was 
 operating, the leading spirit in this movement (so far 
 as was apparent ; I cannot vouch for what was going 
 on behind the scenes) openly summoned his fellow- 
 countrymen and co-religionists to meet from time to 
 time at their church doors at the close of the Sabbath 
 service and elsewhere, to listen to his exciting elo- 
 quence, as he harangued them anent the peril in 
 which their possessions and homes and altars and 
 liberties were becoming involved, urging the neces- 
 sity for concerted and prompt action on their part, 
 that they might be able to avert these threatening 
 dangers. Those who have listened to Kiel when 
 speaking on this hobby of his, and when at his best, 
 as he was in 1869, will readily admit that as a 
 speaker in his own language, addressing his own 
 people, he was possessed of marvellous power to 
 excite and dominate according to his pleasure. 
 
 The result of these public efforts, which probably
 
 TROUBLOUS TIMES. 103 
 
 he was aided in planning and executing by older and 
 wiser heads, very soon appeared in the organization, 
 in military form, of well officered companies, com- 
 posed well-nigh exclusively of French half-breeds, 
 and exclusively of his co-religionists, who were kept 
 well in hand by means of these frequent gatherings 
 and stirring appeals. When it became known that a 
 Government for these Territories had been outlined at 
 Ottawa, and a Lieutenant-Governor (the Hon. Wm. 
 Macdougall) appointed, neither of which was accord- 
 ing to their liking, and that said Governor-elect, 
 with a party of officials, were on their way to 
 establish that Government, they speedily ranged 
 their forces in positions the most favorable to resist 
 and repel these audacious invaders. 
 
 Their first step in open rebellion against the 
 Government and laws of the Province of Assiniboia 
 was taken on October 21st, 1869 a few days after 
 Mr. Howe's mysterious visit had terminated when 
 a large detachment of armed men, with their officers, 
 took possession of the highway of traffic, and at a 
 narrow pass near Stinking River erected a large 
 cross, and proceeded to barricade that highway and 
 to stop all travellers and all trains of freighting carts 
 with their loads, subjecting them to a close examina- 
 tion and allowing none to pass except those having 
 permits from their head officials. In some cases 
 these loads of freight were allowed to pass on to 
 Winnipeg, but in others the property was declared 
 confiscated and appropriated to their own use. The 
 incoming supplies and furniture, with some small
 
 104 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 arms and ammunition, for the use of the Lieutenant- 
 Governor and his party were thus eagerly expro- 
 priated and appropriated. On October 25th, the 
 Governor and Council of Assiniboia met and urged 
 the leaders in this insurrection to cease their opposi- 
 tion to the incoming of Mr. Macdougall, but to no 
 avail. A few days later, having become aware of 
 his arrival at Pembina, they despatched an officer 
 with a document, which was duly handed him, for- 
 bidding him to enter the Territory on any account 
 except by their permission. This prohibitory enact- 
 ment of theirs did not actually prohibit, for the party 
 crossed the boundary line and entered the Territory 
 not many hours later on, but having camped at the 
 Hudson Bay Company's trading post, were soon after 
 waited on in a threatening manner by a company of 
 armed and mounted guards, led by Lepine, who 
 warned them to leave the country by nine o'clock 
 next morning or take the consequences. 
 
 About eight o'clock next day the rebel party re- 
 turned, and with still more threatening demonstra- 
 tions declared that if they did not leave by nine 
 they would not answer for their lives, and proceeding 
 to arrest Mr. Hallett, who went with a message to 
 them, they tied him to a cart, forbidding him to 
 speak to any of the Governor's party. Finding him- 
 self in the midst of such unreasoning and determined 
 foes and utterly defenceless, Mr. Macdougall wisely 
 decided to retrace his steps across the boundary, and 
 await further developments at Pembina. 
 
 In thus refusing the right of the highway of travel
 
 TROUBLOUS TIMES. 105 
 
 to the party, and expelling them from the country 
 without giving any opportunity for such explana- 
 tions as the Governor might wish to make to the 
 people, these French half-breeds acted entirely on 
 their own responsibility, and as though they were 
 the sole occupants and owners of the country, or at 
 least as though they alone had the right or com- 
 petency to decide whether or not the residue of " the 
 people of the North- West" should have an oppor- 
 tunity of receiving any explanations whatever from 
 Canada through its appointed representative. They 
 never conferred, up to that date and prior to that 
 outrage, with the other and larger and more intelli- 
 gent and influential portions of the people in relation 
 to this matter; but treating the entire Protestant 
 population of English, Scotch and Irish half-breeds 
 and Canadians and Americans as if they were 
 nonentities, took it upon themselves to rush into 
 rebellion for the twofold purpose of preventing the 
 establishment of a Government such as the majority 
 of the people would have voted for if asked, and in 
 order to secure the establishment of a government of 
 their own with their " head centre " as governor. It 
 is true that subsequently to this expulsion of the 
 Lieutenant-Governor elect from the country, Kiel did 
 consent to a conference between a few representatives 
 of the English-speaking Protestant population with 
 himself and an equal number of his confederates, in 
 which it was supposed the advisable would be freely 
 discussed ; but as soon as these anti-insurrectionists 
 expressed a desire that Mr. Macdougall should be
 
 106 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 brought into the country, that the intentions of 
 Canada might be explained to the people, he excitedly 
 and indignantly protested, affirming that " he could 
 only come in over their dead bodies," thus terminat- 
 ing very abruptly a conference which he never in- 
 tended for free discussion of the situation and free 
 action subsequently. On November 17th the Governor 
 and Council of Assiniboia met again and issued a 
 proclamation, duly signed, urging the insurrectionists 
 to lay down their arms and submit to the Queen's 
 authority, but these masters of the situation gave no 
 heed to the proclamation. 
 
 THE REBELS SEIZE FORT GARRY. 
 
 The seizure took place on November 3rd, 1869. 
 After having turned back the incoming Lieutenant- 
 Governor, Kiel lost no time in making his position, 
 and that of his confederates, as secure and comfort- 
 able as possible, by taking possession of the fort, with 
 the enormous stores it contained, as the principal 
 receiving and distributing depot of the Hudson Bay 
 Company. This he accomplished without resistance 
 as he marched through the gate of the fort at the 
 head of one hundred and twenty- five armed half- 
 breeds, who forthwith took possession. And now 
 they were really masters of the situation so far as 
 the fort, and even the surrounding country, was 
 concerned ; for, being thus organized throughout 
 their settlements in companies embracing a totality 
 of five hundred or six hundred men, a hundred 
 and more of whom were within the walls of Fort
 
 TROUBLOUS TIMES. 107 
 
 Garry, and well equipped and supplied, as they had 
 never been before, with comfortable quarters, and 
 clothing and food, what could the unorganized and 
 unequipped loyalists, who were widely scattered, 
 reasonably hope to accomplish by any attempt they 
 might make in this wintry season of the year, to 
 dispossess them ? 
 
 Their first step when within the walls was to get 
 the cannon and rifles and ammunition now entirely 
 at their service they had thirteen six-pounders and 
 four hundred Enfield rifles into such positions in the 
 bastions and about the gateways as seemed to promise 
 the greatest availability and effectiveness in repelling 
 any attack that might be made. When the Chief 
 Factor in charge of the post asked Kiel, " Why have 
 you brought all these men into the fort, and closed 
 the gates ?" he received the unsatisfactory reply, " To 
 protect the fort." " From what?" was asked. "From 
 all danger," was the only answer vouchsafed. This 
 rather unique seizure was accomplished so quietly, 
 and with such precautions, that the people of the 
 village knew nothing of what was occurring until 
 one of the clerks in the Hudson Bay Company's 
 store (a young Canadian), having taken in the situa- 
 tion, made a dash for the outside, spiking one of the 
 guns on his way, and leaping from the walls, soon 
 reported the fact, to the amazement of those who 
 were not in sympathy with the rebels. From this 
 date the tyranny of this well-fortified and well- 
 provisioned upstart tyrant was seen and felt, both 
 within and without the fort, for ten long months,
 
 108 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 until Colonel Wolseley and his expeditionary force 
 put in an appearance, on the morning of August 24th, 
 1870. Just prior to this capture of Fort Garry by 
 Kiel and his following, a number of loyalists had 
 advised its occupancy and defence by themselves, but 
 for want of unanimity nothing was then attempted. 
 
 A COUNTER MOVEMENT 
 
 in the interests of peace and good order had its 
 inception at this date, and on this wise : Mr. Mac- 
 dougall, still at Pembina, having been assured, on 
 what seemed most reliable authority, that the "trans- 
 fer" would take place on the 1st of December, pro- 
 ceeded on that day to issue his celebrated " Queen's 
 Proclamation," and also to commission Colonel Dennis 
 as his "Lieutenant and Conservator of the Peace 
 for the North- West Territories," authorizing him to 
 appoint officers and organize into companies, and 
 equip and drill for service, those loyalists who might 
 volunteer for the suppression of rebellion and the 
 re-establishment of peace. For a brief season this 
 enrolling of names went on briskly until some four 
 hundred men, mostly of the lower settlements and 
 Winnipeg, had joined in with the movement ; but a 
 feeling of discouragement became manifest as soon 
 as it was realized that no sufficient supply of the 
 munitions of war for this hastily extemporized force 
 was forthcoming, and, what was well-nigh as serious 
 a matter, that they were without that steady-handed 
 and able generalship which was essential to success 
 in such a critical time. As a consequence, there
 
 TROUBLOUS TIMES. 109 
 
 was, ere long, a considerable falling away, until the 
 number of those who were willing and ready to do 
 and to dare became ominously small. The " Con- 
 servator of the Peace," however, had about fifty 
 volunteers in quarters at the lower fort, to guard 
 it and its surroundings from rebel invasion. This, I 
 take it, was a wise precaution. But his next step 
 was not equally wise, for with an unaccountable 
 short-sightedness he placed about fifty or sixty 
 poorly-equipped and insufficiently-officered volun- 
 teers in an unprotectable position, to guard some 
 Government provisions, then in store in Dr. Schultz's 
 buildings, with the hope, no doubt, of imposing a 
 check thereby on the ambitious controller of affairs 
 in Upper Fort Garry. This movement, though well- 
 intentioned, was most impolitic and hazardous, and 
 soon proved very disastrous. These buildings were 
 quite within range of the fort guns, and easily sur- 
 rounded, and so, cut off from all possible supplies of 
 wood and water, a circumstance quickly perceived by 
 the opposing force and utilized in order to a victory. 
 Colonel Dennis, still at the lower fort, feeling him- 
 self unable to afford relief, ordered them, we were 
 told, to " fall back to a place of greater safety ; but 
 whether the order fell into the enemy's hands, or was 
 received and disobeyed, I know not, but this I was 
 compelled to know, that after being surrounded and 
 besieged for three days, they had no alternative save 
 one. To attempt to fight their way against such 
 odds would have been sheer madness, and so these 
 brave, loyal, but badly handled men were compelled
 
 110 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 to listen to the propositions of those who were 
 seeking to negotiate a surrender. In view of the 
 preparations being made at the fort for an assault 
 upon the buildings thus occupied, I decided, on the 
 morning of the 7th of December, to try to dissuade 
 Kiel from an act which would certainly result in 
 much bloodshed, and also to secure, if possible, the 
 release of our son, who was one of the volunteers. 
 In my desperation, I presume I put the case before 
 him pretty urgently, receiving in return such brow- 
 beating and insulting language as was decidedly 
 trying to patience and self-respect, until, seeing an 
 opportunity as we neared the buildings, I beckoned 
 my son, and, unhindered by the surrounding guards, 
 we both made our way to our mission home close by. 
 Immediately I returned, and urged that others whose 
 families were in need of their help should be allowed 
 to leave at once, when he very indignantly dismissed 
 me with, " You are going too far ; this is my busi- 
 ness," etc. Thus repelled, I stood aside to witness 
 one of the saddest scenes I ever witnessed. At this 
 juncture, Kiel was approached by Mr. Bannatyne, one 
 of the merchants of Winnipeg, and others, for the 
 avowed purpose of negotiating a cessation of hostil- 
 ities, on terms that might be agreed upon, and which, 
 after considerable delay, were made known and ac- 
 ceded to. These terms, we were informed, were that 
 the surrendering parties should " leave their guns, 
 ammunition, etc., in the buildings, and be marched 
 to the fort, and then allowed to go where they 
 pleased."
 
 TROUBLOUS TIMES. Ill 
 
 Some doubted the sincerity of the promise, but on 
 being assured, as we have been told, by Mr. Banna- 
 tyne that the agreement would be faithfully kept and 
 that he would personally guarantee all private pro- 
 perty, they surrendered. Pursuant to this agreement, 
 some fifty disarmed and anxious loyalists, with three 
 ladies Mrs. (Dr.) Schultz, Mrs. (Dr.) O'Donnell and 
 Mrs. Mair, who accompanied their husbands were 
 ordered into line and, surrounded by Kiel's guards, 
 wended their way into the fort, the gates of which 
 were closed upon them as soon as they entered, 
 revealing to them very quickly the painful fact that 
 they had been cruelly betrayed, and that now a very 
 uncertain fate awaited them. Undeniably the pro- 
 mise made by Mr. Bannatyne induced the surrender, 
 and as undeniably that promise was basely violated ; 
 but the question arises, Who in this instance was 
 the betrayer ? Was Mr. Bannatyne authorized by 
 Kiel to make it ? If so, then he was grossly imposed 
 upon ; and if not so authorized, then his course was 
 highly censurable. Certainly there was treachery 
 somewhere, and cruel disappointment and great and 
 prolonged suffering followed in due course. 
 
 A GLOOMY OUTLOOK. 
 
 After the surrender there came to these betrayed 
 loyalists such indignities, privations and sufferings as 
 far exceeded all that the most timid among them had 
 feared before they passed within the walls of the now 
 rebel-ruled fort. 
 
 The personnel of these prisoners stood about as
 
 112 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 follows : Several were married, with families either 
 in Ontario or the settlement, while others, perhaps 
 the majority, were bachelors ; but all alike had come 
 to the country intending to pursue their respective 
 professions or callings. Physicians, druggists, clerks, 
 mechanics and farmers were all represented, as was 
 proven after the days of their captivity ended, when 
 many of them sprang quickly to the front in social 
 and business circles some taking up and holding 
 important positions in the community as medical 
 practitioners, merchants, magistrates, and others as 
 legislators. One, for whom Kiel had nothing less 
 than death in store, became Lieutenant-Governor of 
 Manitoba ; while others distinguished themselves by 
 the ability and enterprise they have manifested in 
 matters commercial, political, educational and re- 
 ligious. Such, in brief, were the loyal men who 
 were kept for months caged up in the prisons of Fort 
 Garry, as if too vicious and dangerous to be allowed 
 their liberty. In regard to ecclesiastical preferences, 
 they were divided principally among the Episco- 
 palian, Presbyterian and Methodist Churches, with 
 two or three Roman Catholics ; a majority of them, 
 however, had attended our services either at Winnipeg 
 or at some out-appointment. 
 
 On the morning following the surrender I went at 
 an earlier hour, as seemed advisable, waiting for the 
 subsidence of the night-long pow-wow, in which these 
 over- stimulated captors had indulged, to seek from 
 Kiel permission to hold service with them on Sabbath 
 in such place as he might order. My application was
 
 TROUBLOUS TIMES. 113 
 
 promptly and emphatically negatived : " No, you 
 cannot meet them altogether, nor speak to them, but 
 you may go and pray with them only, for they much 
 need to be prayed for." I was thankful for even that 
 much in the way of permission. Their condition in 
 their places of confinement, as I found to my sorrow 
 on that day, was indeed a most pitiable one; no 
 description that I can give will convey an adequate 
 idea thereof to those whose good fortune it was 
 to neither experience nor witness it. 
 
 The prisoners were all at first located in the upper 
 flat of a two-storey building, ordinarily occupied by 
 the Hudson Bay Company's staff of accountants and 
 clerks ; the lower flat being used as offices, while the 
 five or six small rooms in the upper storey were their 
 sleeping apartments, which opened severally into a 
 central corridor, reachable only by an outside stair- 
 way. This roomy corridor came into use as a " guard 
 room," while the five or six stoveless, bedless and 
 chairless rooms were packed with prisoners; so 
 crowded in fact as to necessitate the breaking of a 
 pane of glass in each room to prevent suffocation, in 
 consequence of which the piercing winds and sting- 
 ing frosts came in upon them to their great discom- 
 fort, and the imperilling of health and even life. 
 No marvel that some became very ill as the result 
 of such overcrowding and exposure, and that several 
 contracted ailments from which they never fully 
 recovered. The crowded state of these rooms was 
 relieved somewhat by the removal of a number to 
 the little jail outside the walls, in which there was a 
 8
 
 114 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 court-room and several small cells, which were found, 
 as described by Mr. McVicar, to be " very filthy and 
 crawling with vermin." The court-room was required, 
 of course, by the gentlemen " guards " who might be 
 on duty from time to time, and who frequently 
 became very uproarious through a free use of " Hud- 
 son Bay rum," greatly to the annoyance of the 
 prisoners in the cells. The food supplied to them 
 was mainly pemmican of poorest quality, and tea ; 
 which, however, was soon supplemented somewhat 
 by the kindness of certain loyal ladies in Winnipeg, 
 who prepared and sent baskets of bread, biscuits, 
 cooked potatoes, etc., which not only relieved hunger 
 but probably warded off disease. These much-needed 
 supplies were generally carried to the prisons by 
 Mr. Crowson, a deeply afflicted loyalist friend of 
 the prisoners, who was often annoyed and grieved 
 beyond measure at seeing much that he had with 
 such difficulty brought to their doors, snatched from 
 his baskets by these already well-fed bandits. As he 
 reported back these acts of unutterable meanness, we 
 all felt with him that these things were hard to bear, 
 and yet these true " sisters of charity," aided by this 
 " Christian brother " of the right stamp, continued 
 thus to minister to their imprisoned friends, while 
 there were such to be ministered to. Will not such 
 ministrations be remembered in two worlds ? 
 
 I availed myself of Kiel's permission to visit the 
 prison and pray with the prisoners, generally twice 
 during the week, and once each Sabbath morning, 
 always, however, under strict surveillance an armed
 
 TROUBLOUS TIMES. 115 
 
 guard attending and standing by me during my 
 brief services in the different rooms. To be thus 
 closely watched while seeking to worship God was 
 to me a new and most unwelcome experience, and yet 
 I had to submit to it, not only in these prison exer- 
 cises, but also when visiting a sick lady wife of a 
 prisoner in her own home ; for even there, and not- 
 withstanding her severe illness, a rough fellow as a 
 " guard " invariably entered her room when I did, 
 and seating himself on the side of the sufferer's bed, 
 watched me while I besought the God of mercy for 
 " mercy and grace to help in that time of need." As 
 I recall these experiences to-day, I fear I was not 
 always as free from unkindly feelings toward these 
 men, nor as hopeful of doing them good, as I might 
 have been. Be that as it may, I will just here nar- 
 rate an incident reported to me years after by a sur- 
 veyor, who was just in from a remote settlement, 
 which may seem to have some bearing on this matter. 
 I give it as he gave it to me, without either vouching 
 for or questioning its correctness. He said : " I feel, 
 Mr. Young, that you should be told a fact that came 
 to my knowledge not long ago. It is this : The half- 
 breed guard who used to stand guard over you 
 during your services in the prisons in 1869 and 1870, 
 and who has recently died, when urged in his last 
 illness to have the priest brought, said to his friends, 
 ' If you can bring Mr. Young, I should like him to 
 come and pray for me as I used to hear him pray 
 with the prisoners in Fort Garry.' " I was not sent 
 for, I am sorry to say, but I shall hope that this poor
 
 116 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 man, who had but little light, was mercifully remem- 
 bered by the " Sufferer of Calvary," and so received 
 into Paradise when dismissed out of this life. I 
 should like to meet him in " the house of many man- 
 sions." 
 
 These short services of Scripture reading and 
 prayer, in these five or six different prison rooms, 
 were followed on each Sabbath by my three regular 
 preaching services in this order, viz.: Our mission 
 hall, Winnipeg, 10.30 a.m. ; then a drive of six miles 
 and a service at 2.30 p.m. ; and then a drive of about 
 six miles more, and a service at 6 p.m., after which I 
 generally returned to Winnipeg, making a round trip 
 during the day of twenty-five miles, which was fre- 
 quently done -in deep snow and in severely cold and 
 stormy weather.
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 ESCAPING FOR LIFE, 
 
 FROM the 7th of December, 1869, to the 9th of 
 January, 1870, our suffering fellow-loyalists languished 
 in close confinement without indicating any intention 
 of attempting an escape ; but on the night of the 9th 
 a surprise was given their over-confident oppressors. 
 In the morning of that day, as on previous Sabbaths, 
 I conducted a short service with those in the outer 
 prison, and, going beyond Kiel's permission, left with 
 them a Bible and some tracts for their perusal. 
 During that night, which was severely cold and 
 stormy, ten of their number " broke jail," and struck 
 out into the darkness, to make their way, if possible, 
 over deep snowdrifts and across trackless prairies in 
 quest of liberty and safety. As may be supposed, 
 they were unsuitably clad for such an exposure, and 
 in consequence suffered much as they tramped their 
 weary way during that terrible night. One of them 
 
 a Mr. H , from London, Ont., was so badly 
 
 frozen as to be compelled to seek refuge in a house, 
 where he was recaptured and forced back into the 
 prison from which he had so recently escaped, while 
 the nine succeeded in reaching places of refuge in
 
 118 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 either the lower or upper settlements. At a late hour 
 of night, one of the escaping men called on me to get 
 the money he had deposited with me for safe -keeping 
 at the time of the surrender, after which he heroically 
 started for distant Canada, an undertaking which 
 seemed, under the circumstances, most preposterous ; 
 and yet he and many others preferred to brave the 
 hardships and perils that would be involved therein 
 rather than hazard liberty and life in a prolonged 
 imprisonment such as they had been enduring. How 
 this man accomplished that journey I know not ; but 
 he did accomplish it, and after the reign of terror was 
 ended, returned with his family and became a settler. 
 A coincidence, which was to me for a time the 
 occasion of some uneasiness, occurred on the night of 
 Sabbath, 23rd of January, 1870, when a more notable 
 escape was effected from one of the inner prisons. 
 After visiting the other prison-rooms in the morning 
 of that day, I had a short season of prayer with Dr. 
 Schultz, who, for reasons unknown to me, was then 
 in solitary confinement, and who asked me to favor 
 him with a Bible. As I had a few minutes before 
 designedly left one on the floor where I knelt in 
 another room, I requested the guard in attendance to 
 bring it and hand it to the doctor, which he did, 
 relieving me thereby of any responsibility in the mat- 
 ter. The coincidence referred to came in just here 
 and in this wise : The escape of the ten men from the 
 jail outside followed my leaving them a Bible, and 
 now two weeks later the giving of another Bible to 
 another prisoner was followed that same night by
 
 ESCAPING FOR LIFE. 119 
 
 his escape also. When told of this sudden departure 
 without any leave-taking, it occurred to rne that Kiel's 
 suspicions might be aroused, and that he might order 
 me into the room so unceremoniously vacated by my 
 friend. My fears, however, were not realized. When 
 the prison was found empty in the morning, and 
 the prisoner actually unfindable, there was no small 
 stir among the rebel rulers of the fort, and no little 
 wonderment and gladness among the loyalists both 
 within and without. At first it was supposed that 
 some of the guards had "taken the shilling" and 
 looked the other way, and that some friend in the 
 secret had been in readiness outside the walls with 
 horse and sleigh to expedite the escape ; but, as I 
 afterwards learned, all this guessing was at fault, and 
 that notwithstanding the many and great difficulties 
 in his way e.g., the presence of the guard at his 
 door, the distance of the ground from his window, the 
 height of the fort wall, and the absence of such appli- 
 ances as would seem indispensable to his escape, as 
 well as the severity of the night and the distance to 
 a place of safety yet he did most certainly, and 
 without human aid, make well his escape. Nor do I 
 know how to account for it, unless that the means at 
 his command, which seemed so utterly insufficient 
 (consisting barely of a small gimlet, pocket-knife and 
 buffalo-robe), were made effectual to his deliverance 
 by a Presence and a Power unseen by mortal eye. 
 With less nerve and determination he would have 
 abandoned all hope of escape after the severe injury 
 he received in falling heavily to the ground, from
 
 120 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 the failure of either the gimlet or the buffalo-line 
 to bear his weight, and which resulted in much 
 suffering and long-continued lameness. But " liberty 
 is sweet," and life still more so, and hence his per- 
 sistent efforts, despite his sufferings, to reach a place 
 of safety. Nor was his marvellous escape prema- 
 ture. I doubt not but that the same " council of 
 war " which subsequently, and with inhuman cruelty 
 and for no just cause, sent poor Thomas Scott to 
 his sudden death would, under similar pressure, 
 have voted the same sentence for Dr. Schultz had 
 he been still in their power ; for, after his escape, 
 Kiel said to me, "The guards are out looking for 
 him, and they have orders to shoot him on sight." 
 His escape was not fully assured, however, until 
 after he, with his faithful friend and helper, Monck- 
 man, had completed their adventurous and toil- 
 some tramp of five hundred or six hundred miles 
 through the wilds then intervening between the Red 
 River of the North and Fort William. Snowshoeing 
 their way, and drawing along a little sled loaded 
 with scanty supplies of food and blankets, resting 
 over night occasionally in a friendly Indian's hut, 
 and sometimes by their camp-fire in the thicket, 
 they toiled on, crossing the ice-bound lakes and 
 rivers, as well as the vast uninhabited wilderness 
 regions that were in their way until, after twenty- 
 four days of hard struggling, despite their scant fare 
 and the doctor's lameness, they once more crossed the 
 bounds of civilization. I still hold a letter which Dr. 
 Schultz wrote me from Fort Alexander, while making
 
 ESCAPING FOR LIFE. 121 
 
 that wonderful journey, in which the true source of 
 the guidance and help and the unceasing protection 
 he so much needed, was duly recognized and prayer- 
 ful remembrance earnestly solicited. As I now recall 
 the perils which were thus escaped twenty-seven 
 years ago, and then note the position he reached and 
 the work he was enabled to do for his country in 
 subsequent years, I think I see some at least of many 
 reasons why the hand of God was manifestly in this 
 history of deliverances. 
 
 A wonderful history was that of my friend Dr. 
 Schultz. Our first meeting was on the wild prairies, 
 somewhere between Georgetown and Fort Aber- 
 crombie, in 1868, he journeying toward St. Paul and 
 I moving slowly toward Fort Garry. During my 
 early toils in Winnipeg I ever found him ready to 
 oblige me when he could do so. His loyalty to 
 Canada in the midst of the disloyal and in times of 
 peril needs no mention from me his record through 
 the years that followed, as well as the positions to 
 which he was elevated by his country and Govern- 
 ment, his occupancy of the Lieutenant-Governorship 
 of Manitoba for so long a term, as well as the richly- 
 merited honor of knighthood conferred upon him, all 
 testify thereunto. His was for many years a life of 
 suffering. I doubt if much of it was not the result of 
 the injury he received while escaping from Fort 
 Garry, and the strain and exposure associated with 
 his wonderful journey through the wilderness. It 
 was not long after he had been relieved from the 
 responsibilities of the Governorship, and while in
 
 122 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 quest of relief from feebleness and disease in a foreign 
 country, that he received his dismissal from the life 
 that now is, and entered, as I firmly trust, into a 
 state of being where the " wicked cease from troub- 
 ling and the weary are forever at rest." 
 
 A second and more disastrous counter-movement 
 than the one already recorded was inaugurated for 
 the relief of the prisoners who, despite all the 
 promises given by Kiel for their release, were still 
 held in close confinement. The result was that 
 further humiliation and suffering were endured by 
 those participating therein. Some of the loyal people 
 of the western parishes, such as Portage la Prairie, 
 High Bluff, Poplar Point and Headingly, in conjunc- 
 tion with those of the " lower settlements," unable 
 longer to endure the painful suspense in which they 
 had been kept waiting, moved simultaneously for a 
 grand rally at some central point, that should serve 
 both as a demonstration and an opportunity for 
 consultation and concerted action along the line of 
 persuasive measures for the relief of their friends. 
 Some seventy or more true and brave loyalists vol- 
 unteered their services, and proceeded, under com- 
 mand of Major Boulton, toward the point of general 
 rendezvous. As their line of march led through the 
 White Horse Plains neighborhood, where disloyalty 
 predominated and from whence Kiel had drawn a 
 large number of his " guards," their movements were 
 at once observed, and quickly reported to their 
 leaders in Fort Garry, who forthwith called in all 
 available reinforcements, so that by the time Boulton
 
 ESCAPING FOK LIFE. 123 
 
 and his poorly-equipped little force passed by for 
 Kildonan, a force of five hundred or six hundred 
 well-armed men was in readiness to defend their 
 stronghold and repel its assailants. These western 
 loyalists were joined at Kildonan on February loth 
 by a much larger number of Canadians and natives, 
 who had also volunteered for active service. And 
 now the question, "What persuasive measure shall 
 we resort to in order to secure the result at which we 
 are aiming ? " I suppose, came under anxious con- 
 sideration. But while they were thus deliberating 
 and resolving and re-resolving, a most deplorable 
 occurrence took place in the neighborhood of the 
 camp, involving the slaying of an estimable and 
 promising youth, connected with one of the principal 
 families of the parish. The attendant circumstances, 
 as reported, were as follows : A half-breed, thought 
 to be a spy sent by Kiel, was arrested and brought 
 into camp, who, watching his opportunity, made a 
 dash for liberty, snatching a loaded gun as he ran. 
 Just as his fleet pursuers were overhauling him, most 
 unfortunately he was met by young Sutherland, who 
 was riding toward the camp, but not in any way 
 participating in the movement; whereupon, sup- 
 posing that he was going to aid in his capture, or 
 else hoping to expedite his escape by securing the 
 horse, the half-breed fired on him, inflicting wounds 
 that proved fatal in a short time. This was one of 
 the saddest outcomes of this most unfortunate counter- 
 movement. Taking place, however, just when it did, 
 it may have had some bearing on the decision soon
 
 124- MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 after reached, to pursue the more pacific course of 
 sending a message to Kiel, instead of making an 
 immediate attack on the fort. Be that as it may, 
 a message was soon sent demanding the release at 
 once of all the prisoners, which was followed by 
 several interchanges, until an arrangement was 
 entered into securing the release demanded, and also 
 involving the disbanding and peaceable return to 
 their homes of the volunteers on the following day. 
 
 In the early morning of February 17th, 1870, these 
 western men, as a part of the force thus disbanded, 
 " struck camp," tied up their few belongings (blankets, 
 buffalo robes and food for the journey), and, sup- 
 posing that they were " homeward bound," joyously 
 faced the west, hoping soon to meet their released 
 friends and return to their own pleasant and peaceful 
 firesides. But a great disappointment was before 
 them, and ere it was noonday it was realized by them. 
 That they might not on their return pass offensively 
 near the fort, they had agreed (it was said by Kiel's 
 request) to diverge from the travelled road, just north 
 of Winnipeg, and strike across the untracked prairies, 
 to the Portage la Prairie trail, making a detour of 
 about two miles. It was doubtless well known to 
 Riel that there were ravines then completely filled 
 with snowdrifts, which it would be difficult to cross. 
 The sequel seemed to indicate his object in making 
 the request, and that those who complied therewith 
 were treacherously and humiliatingly outwitted. 
 While I was watching their slow and toilsome move- 
 ments, as men and horses were struggling through
 
 ESCAPING FOR LIFE. 125 
 
 these snow-filled ravines, I was greatly surprised and 
 distressed by the rushing from the fort of a large 
 number of armed guards, mostly mounted, who, with 
 their usual accompaniment, the terrifying war-whoop, 
 struck for a point where they could head off and 
 surround the returning party. Some, it was said, 
 were disposed to resist, but this seemed useless, as 
 many of them where without arms, and besides, they 
 were told by those in command of their assailants 
 that Kiel simply desired them to call at the fort and 
 see him before their return home. After reluctantly 
 complying and entering the fort, the gates were closed 
 upon them, as was the case in the surrender of Decem- 
 ber 7th, and they were, forthwith declared prisoners, 
 and their horses, sleighs and property seized and con- 
 fiscated, while they were hustled into the very prisons 
 from which their friends had been liberated only a 
 day or two before. What a complete reversal of cir- 
 cumstances ! These men, at risk of liberty and life, 
 came for the deliverance of others, and succeeded, 
 and now they were themselves in need of deliverance. 
 But whence, and how, and when that deliverance 
 should come was a problem none of us could solve. 
 My duties within the fort, which I had hoped were 
 ended, were now considerably augmented, and that, 
 too, for a very uncertain period duties, as ere long 
 appeared, involving greater trials of patience and faith 
 and fortitude than I had faced aforetime. A reign of 
 terror, including tyranny and cruelty far exceeding 
 what had been already endured, was now seemingly 
 established, and what the end would be no one could 
 predict.
 
 126 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 It soon became evident, however, that Kiel was not 
 disposed to regard all these prisoners with equal dis- 
 favor, and that while all were at the outset subjected 
 to harsher treatment than were their predecessors, 
 some were predestined by him to much severer pun- 
 ishment than others. Of these, Boulton, Scott, 
 Powers, McLeod and Parker occupied foremost posi- 
 tions, and Major Boulton was the first to receive 
 special attention. The " council of war," it was said, 
 met at once, and decided that he was guilty of trea- 
 son and should be shot, whereupon Kiel sentenced 
 him to be shot at noon the next day. Archdeacon 
 McLean was sent for to minister to the now con- 
 demned man, and his intercessions were so far re- 
 garded that the execution was postponed until mid- 
 night, Kiel declaring that he would yield no further 
 unless Dr. Schultz should be recaptured in the mean- 
 time, in which case he would be shot instead. It was 
 also reported that up to 10 p.m. of the 19th of Febru- 
 ary no consent for the sparing of his life was obtained, 
 and then only by the importunities of Commissioner 
 Smith (now Sir Donald) and the Archdeacon, and 
 their promise to proceed, even at that midnight hour, 
 to the lower settlements and persuade, if possible, the 
 people to fall into line and elect representatives to the 
 " Assembly " that Kiel was intent upon having estab- 
 lished ; then, and not till then, did he so far yield as 
 to suspend that terrible sentence, awaiting results, 
 declaring, at the same time, that " On your success 
 depends the lives of the Canadians in the country." 
 The efforts of their intercessors proved successful, and
 
 ESCAPING FOR LIFE. 127 
 
 for that reason only, so far as I know or believe, 
 Major (now Senator) Boulton escaped the bullets which 
 Kiel's guards, on the word of command, would have 
 sent through his heart on their mission of death. 
 
 And yet a more horrible tragedy, that we could not 
 avert, has to be recorded. 
 
 As a connecting link, the following letter of mine 
 to the Guardian will not be deemed out of place : 
 
 " WINNIPEG, RED RIVER, Jan. 22nd, 1870. 
 
 "My DEAR MR. EDITOR, Events of considerable 
 importance have transpired in connection with the 
 revolutionary movements in this country, since the date 
 of my last communication. A gentleman who landed 
 here a few weeks ago, and reported himself at Riel's 
 headquarters, to which he was conducted, as Mr. 
 Smith, an official of the Hudson Bay Company, despite 
 the watching and guarding to which he has been sub- 
 jected, (and he has had two or more guards charged 
 with that duty, and has not been outside of the fort 
 since his arrival) has become developed into a real 
 (and, if you will) ' live ' commissioner, duly appointed 
 and fully accredited by His Excellency the Governor- 
 General of Canada. On the arrival of Mr. Smith and 
 Mr. Hardisty, another official of the Hudson Bay Com- 
 pany, and his travelling companion and guide, they 
 were both taken into the office of 'President' Riel, 
 where they were closely catechized as to their business 
 here and any papers in their possession ; whereupon 
 Mr. Smith assured the catechizer that he had not 
 in his possession, at that time, any documents except 
 such as he would show him ; and suiting the action to 
 the word, he opened his desk for his inspection. Of 
 course nothing contraband was found. After remain- 
 ing quiet for some two weeks he seems to have
 
 128 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 deemed it time to be ' up and doing,' and accordingly 
 it is said he intimated to Mr. Kiel that he was now 
 under instructions to inform him that when he should 
 have permission to do so, he had certain things to say 
 to him from the Governor of Canada, and also certain 
 documents at Pembina which he would like to pre- 
 sent. This information, I doubt not, took our little 
 Napoleon by surprise; but as he keeps his wits 
 generally about him, Kiel directed, I understand, a 
 guard to accompany Hardisty and bring in the papers. 
 In the meantime some of the most influential and in- 
 telligent and brave of Kiel's counsellors and army 
 had become ' enlightened ' ('tis not necessary to say 
 how), and a goodly number of this class, we are told, 
 set out to meet the party returning with the papers, 
 and having met them, forthwith demanded the prized 
 documents, and took the guard and all under their 
 charge. Proceeding towards Fort Garry they met 
 Riel, who, not going about his business as they thought 
 he should, it is said one of his French fellow-religion- 
 ists placed his revolver to his presidential head, and 
 hinted that he must be careful how he acted or he 
 would send him where he would not care to go. 
 Arriving at the fort, some thirty or forty of the loyal 
 French, with some others, were there to receive and 
 guard the papers, and to insist that the commission 
 of Mr. Smith should be made public, and these 
 messages or proclamations, whatever they were, 
 should be read and made known. After a good deal 
 of parleying, and some sharp hints from the ' seceders,' 
 Riel, I am told, consented, though reluctantly, that a 
 ' mass meeting ' should be called, when Mr. Smith 
 should explain his mission and read his papers. On 
 Tuesday last, at noon, a large number of both parties 
 assembled in the fort, in the open air, and although 
 the thermometer was 20 below zero, yet there they 
 stood, till 5 o'clock, trying to learn all about a matter
 
 ESCAPING FOR LIFE. 129 
 
 in which they felt a deep interest. It is doubtful if 
 a gentleman so perfectly gentlemanly as is Mr. Smith, 
 and representing a Government of so much import- 
 ance, and having the best and kindliest of aims for 
 the country visited, was ever so cross -questioned and 
 badgered as he patiently and good-humoredly sub- 
 mitted to be on that occasion, for the sake of peace 
 and this country's good. He was treated all through 
 the early part of the meeting as if suspected of being 
 a mere pretender with the worst of intention. 
 
 " When he read a letter of instruction from Sir 
 John Young, signed simply 'John Young,' he was 
 roughly asked 'Who is John Young?' 'Why does 
 he not sign his name as Governor, then ?' As the 
 day was ending and the business of the meeting not 
 completed, it was decided to adjourn until the day 
 following, whereupon a Mr. Burke called the atten- 
 tion of the meeting to the state of the prisoners, who 
 for nearly two months had been kept in close confine- 
 ment, and urged their release that evening. His 
 language was earnest, and I presume by a portion of 
 the French guard understood, for directly the abomin- 
 able Indian war-whoop was heard, and off they rushed 
 to their guns and bayonets. With a few threats and 
 a good deal of noise the excitement passed off. The 
 next day a larger number of people came, and a 
 greater number of guards were under arms, but the 
 meeting was quiet. Mr. Smith had fewer interrup- 
 tions and received kindlier treatment. The documents 
 were read and well received by the people. The 
 liberal policy, declared to be that which the Govern- 
 ment intended to have adopted, took all by surprise, 
 and made some, I judge, regret that anything had 
 been done by them to keep such a Government from 
 being established. The meeting ended with this 
 immediate result each class, that is of English and 
 French people, to appoint ticenty delegates to meet 
 9
 
 130 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 next Tuesday to deliberate on the matters brought 
 under their notice by Mr. Smith. When this council 
 shall have done its work I hope to write you again. 
 I send you herewith a copy of our new ' annexation ' 
 paper, which contains a report of the meeting referred 
 to, and also the different communications from Eng- 
 land and Canada which it was our privilege to have 
 had read to us by Mr. Smith ; in regard to whom I 
 may here state, that throughout he has managed this 
 very delicate business with great prudence and tact, 
 and yet in a very straightforward and honorable 
 manner. The scheme of annexation to the United 
 States, which this paper has undertaken to ' write up,' 
 does not meet with approval even among the French 
 people. It is stated that even Kiel must ' cold- 
 shoulder ' that scheme, or be cold-shouldered by his 
 former friends, ar\d furthermore it is rumored that 
 the paper in question will be very apt to back down 
 a little on that scheme ere long. But rumors here 
 are the veriest uncertainties, and especially now. 
 The prisoners, poor fellows, are still held in their 
 close quarters, constantly expecting to be allowed to 
 go about their business, and yet daily doomed to sore 
 disappointment. Dr. Schultz's property, it is said, is 
 wasting away, and not very slowly either, especially 
 certain casks of what has been called ' distilled dam- 
 nation,' which some of those who have been repre- 
 sented as having sworn not to touch the intoxicating 
 cup are now using freely for other than ' medicinal 
 purposes.' Business matters are as stagnant as ever, 
 and many intend to emigrate in spring if there is not 
 a speedy and satisfactory settlement of these ' vexed 
 questions.' The winter is more severe than the last 
 was, though the snow is only about a foot deep."
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE CLIMAX OF CRIME AND CRUELTY. 
 
 THE criminality and cruelty of Kiel and his " coun- 
 cil of war " reached a most deplorable and never-to- 
 be-forgotten climax in that bloody tragedy which 
 they enacted on March 4th, 1870. After disposing of 
 Major Boulton to his satisfaction, and making all the 
 capital possible out of the case, Riel proceeded forth- 
 with to give special attention to another of those he 
 had recently captured, toward whom, for reasons 
 never clearly defined, he was harboring feelings of 
 intense hatred and cherishing purposes of the utmost 
 barbarity. I refer to that brave and loyal young 
 Irishman the unfortunate Thomas Scott. In a 
 former chapter I stated that he was one of the ten 
 who escaped from the outer prison on the night of 
 December 9th, 1869, and also referred to his volun- 
 teering in association with Boulton's Portage Com- 
 pany, forty-eight of whom were so treacherously 
 entrapped and thrust into prison on February 17th, 
 1870. Thus he was twice a prisoner, and yet in 
 neither instance taken under arms. When first 
 arrested he was bearing a request to Riel that the 
 ladies then resident in Dr. Schultz's besieged build- 
 ings should be permitted to retire therefrom, as they
 
 132 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 were suffering from prolonged excitement and alarm. 
 The request was refused and he was forthwith shut 
 up in prison. His second arrest was, if possible, still 
 more treacherously effected, inasmuch as he, with the 
 forty-eight already referred to, had disbanded and 
 were returning peaceably to their homes pursuant to 
 an agreement with Kiel, and in full confidence of 
 being unmolested, when they were suddenly surprised 
 in their helplessness, and then decoyed into the fort, 
 when the trap was sprung and their imprisonment 
 entered upon. I am the more desirous of emphasiz- 
 ing this fact, inasmuch as false and damaging repre- 
 sentations have been widely circulated, designed to 
 excuse the severity of his punishment. It has been 
 stated, e.g., that in order to secure his release from 
 prison he took what amounted to an oath of allegi- 
 ance to Kiel, violating which he rendered himself 
 liable to the punishment that followed. Unhesitat- 
 ingly I pronounce this a malicious misrepresentation 
 and vilification. He was never released from prison 
 except by self-help, and never took an oath of any 
 description of Kiel's proposing. 
 
 On Sabbath, February 27th, while visiting the vari- 
 ous prisons, I was pained to learn that Scott had 
 been sent into solitary confinement, and going at oncd 
 to his room, found him in a most pitiable condition 
 a dirty and fireless room, a single blanket to rest on 
 or wrap himself in, and with manacles on both wrists 
 and ankles. No marvel that he shivered and suffered 
 under such circumstances. On my asking if he knew 
 the reason of this increased severity, he assured me
 
 THE CLIMAX OF CRIME AND CRUELTY. 133 
 
 that he did not, and readily promised to carefully 
 avoid, in action and utterance, whatever might be 
 offensive to the guards. After our season of worship, 
 with much anxiety concerning his fate, I passed on 
 to meet others who were awaiting a pastoral call. On 
 the evening of March 3rd, just after returning home 
 from an appointment in the country, I was surprised 
 by a call from one of the guards, who requested me 
 to accompany him to the fort, as I was wanted there, 
 and when asked for what, replied that Riel had 
 sent for me as a man named Scott was to be shot at 
 noon on the morrow, and that he wished to see me at 
 once. Promptly obeying this startling summons, I 
 was soon by the side of the condemned man, who, as 
 we conversed freely re probabilities, said, " I believe 
 they are bad enough to shoot me, but I can hardly 
 think that they dare do it ; " to which I replied that 
 " the only safe course for us both would be to act on 
 the assumption that the sentence would be carried 
 out," to which he readily assented. In his so-called 
 trial, before the seven members of the council of war, 
 Riel acted as prosecutor, witness and judge, and 
 when Scott objected that he did not know what he 
 was accused of, as he did not understand the language 
 used by them, he was simply told that he was " a 
 very bad man and must die." Learning these facts 
 from the prisoner, and wishing to ascertain if possible 
 Kiel's intentions, as well as to remonstrate as best I 
 could, I proceeded to his headquarters in the fort, 
 but failing to obtain an interview returned immedi- 
 ately to the prisoner to render such help as might be
 
 134 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 possible by counselling, encouraging and praying 
 with him as he groped his way toward the light and 
 faith and hope now so absolutely essential as a 
 preparation for the sudden termination of his pro- 
 bationary life. It was wickedly stated in communi- 
 cations which appeared in certain partisan political 
 Quebec papers, sent evidently by Kiel or some of his 
 accomplices, that I found him indifferent, and that 
 my exhortations and prayers were unheeded until 
 " Kiel and some two hundred of his guards, moved 
 with pious solicitude, knelt in prayer that God would 
 give him repentance, after which, as was soon known, 
 he became contrite." 
 
 I cannot affirm that no such prayer-meeting was 
 held by this devout (?) " president " and his guards, 
 many of whom were in a state of semi-intoxication 
 at that hour ; but I do affirm that Mr. Scott was from 
 the first most attentive to my ministrations, and, so 
 far as appeared, contrite in spirit and earnest in 
 prayers for the needed mercy and grace which, I 
 trust, was granted him. At a late hour he suggested 
 that I should retire and seek rest and return early in 
 the morning, and that he would write to his mother 
 and brother in the meantime. To this I consented, 
 offering, however, to stay with him to the last if he 
 preferred me to do so. 
 
 Quite early in the morning I went in quest of co- 
 operation from several persons who seemed friendly 
 to Kiel, hoping to bring such pressure to bear as 
 would lead him to spare Scott, as he had Boulton, 
 but this effort availed nothing. They one and all
 
 THE CLIMAX OF CRIME AND CRUELTY. 135 
 
 regarded it as a " scare " only, and did not interfere. 
 I then waited on Mr. Commissioner Smith, who 
 consented at once to go to Kiel and remonstrate and 
 plead, suggesting, however, that I should go first, 
 and if I failed, send a message and he would do his 
 utmost in behalf of the prisoner. Gaining the hearing 
 desired, I was informed by Kiel that the sentence 
 would be executed, whereupon I urged, in effect, as 
 follows : " He is now powerless as your prisoner. 
 His life spared can endanger no one ; and what has 
 he done to render it proper for you to take away his 
 life ? " His reply was quite emphatic and to this 
 effect : " He is a very bad man, and has insulted my 
 guards, and has hindered some from making peace ; 
 so I must make an example to impress others and 
 lead them to respect my government, and will take 
 him first, and then, if necessary, others will follow." 
 I then urged for delay, at least for a day more, that 
 I might have more time with him, saying, "It is 
 dreadful to send a soul so suddenly into eternity." 
 But finding this of no avail, I sent a messenger to 
 Mr. Smith, as arranged for, while I returned to my 
 sad duty in the prison. Kiel was urged by him with 
 pressing importunity to spare his life, even " for the 
 sake of One who died for us all." But Kiel continued 
 unmoved, notwithstanding the touching allusion. 
 
 The eleventh hour had now come, and as we were 
 engaged in spiritual exercises, Scott inquiring and I 
 answering, and both pleading with God for the mercy 
 and grace so much needed, we were interrupted and 
 startled by the entrance of several guards, who were
 
 136 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 sent to bind and blindfold the prisoner and to lead 
 him out to the place appointed for his execution. 
 All hopes for deliverance vanished at once. At my 
 request the guards withdrew for a few minutes to 
 allow us another opportunity for prayer, but this 
 delay gave annoyance to Kiel, who came to the door 
 vociferating his reproofs and orders as if intent on 
 hurrying up the execution or murder about to be 
 perpetrated. The only request made by Mr. Scott 
 was to be permitted to bid his fellow-prisoners "good- 
 bye," which being granted, and as I led him to their 
 rooms and opened the doors, he with wonderful calm- 
 ness and tenderness said, " Good-bye, boys," after 
 which we were conducted down the outside stairway 
 and through the east gate of the fort to the spot 
 where the sentence was to be carried out. As we 
 were moving slowly forward, the following words 
 were uttered by him, which I can never forget, and 
 have often repeated since that sad hour, "This is 
 horrible ! This is cold-blooded murder. Be sure to 
 make a true statement." Twenty-seven years have 
 elapsed, and on many a platform and frequently 
 through the press I have tried to obey, as I am now 
 obeying, that solemn injunction. At my request we 
 were again allowed a brief season of prayer, and 
 kneeling in the snow we unitedly lifted our hearts to 
 God for help in this time of special need. " Can you 
 now trust in Christ for salvation ? " I asked. To my 
 great comfort he replied, " I think I can." And 
 after advising him to remain kneeling, and by his 
 request placing the blindfolding cotton more directly
 
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 a 50 
 
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 f I *
 
 THE CLIMAX OF CRIME AND CRUELTY. 137 
 
 over his eyes, we bade each other a solemn " good- 
 bye." Immediately after, I spoke to the captain com- 
 manding the firing party, urging him to spare his life 
 at least a day longer. I was told promptly, " His 
 time is come and he must die," and then speaking to 
 O'Donohue I said, " I know you have the power to 
 stay the execution for a day longer. Will you not do 
 so ? It is dreadful to send a soul into eternity with 
 so little time for preparation." He admitted that it 
 was, but simply said, " It is very far gone," and did 
 not interfere. The poor, brave loyalist was then 
 placed in such a position as they desired, a few yards 
 east of the present track of the street railway, when 
 he again knelt in the snow, and then, at the signal 
 given, several rebel bullets were sent on their 
 mission of death, into and completely through his 
 breast, causing the snow to be stained and saturated 
 with his heart's blood, while his spirit quickly passed 
 from the presence of his murderers to the presence of 
 God. Immediately after the firing I approached the 
 prostrate body, then quivering in death, and saw a 
 half-drunken guard fire a revolver at his head, as he 
 held it quite near, after which all seemed to be over. 
 Thus it was, in brief, that those who were responsible 
 for this tragedy reached a terrible climax in crime 
 and cruelty. 
 
 A rumor was circulated in a day or two that Scott 
 was not dead when the body was placed in the box 
 called a coffin, and was living five hours later, when 
 he was put to death by Kiel and one of his guards in 
 the bastion to which he had been removed. This
 
 138 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 intimation was made to me on the evening of the 
 murder by the editor of the New Nation, a paper 
 that was started in the interests of the rebels, and 
 designed by many of its supporters, I have ever 
 believed, to favor annexation to the United States. 
 It was decidedly anti-Canadian in its spirit and influ- 
 ence. At the time I disbelieved the rumor utterly, in 
 view of what I had witnessed at the shooting, and 
 also because of the large quantity of blood which 
 saturated the snow where he fell and struggled. 
 However, long after the New Nation ceased to exist, 
 its former editor, Major Robinson, made a statement 
 in the St. Paul Press, to the effect that Scott was not 
 only shot by order of Riel, but that, after his body had 
 been pierced by the balls of the firing party, he was 
 fastened up, still living, in his coffin. I quote from 
 the article referred to as follows : 
 
 " Major Robinson stated that he could not credit 
 that the deed of blood had been actually perpetrated, 
 and expressed his incredulity. Seeing this, President 
 Riel asked him to come with him, and led the way 
 into the court and to one of the sheds which lined the 
 interior of the walls, where there was a sentry. Riel 
 and his companion approached, and the former threw 
 open the door, exposing the fatal box, from which the 
 blood dripped into the snow. Hardly had he realized 
 this grim fact, when Major Robinson was horrified to 
 hear a voice, proceeding from the box, or coffin, in 
 anguished but distinct tones exclaim : ' Oh, let me 
 out of this ! My God ! How I suffer ! ' With blood 
 curdling in his veins, he retreated from the spot. 
 Riel called the sentry, and the two entered the shed 
 and closed the door. A moment later there was the
 
 THE CLIMAX OF CRIME AND CRUELTY. 139 
 
 sound of a shot within, and the murdered man was 
 probably released from his torture. Kiel returned 
 with the major to the fort, where he dismissed him 
 with a significant warning to secrecy. To compre- 
 hend the full horror of this tragedy it must be 
 remembered that this last incident of Scott's life 
 occurred five hours after he had been shot and cof- 
 fined, and with the thermometer many degrees below 
 zero." 
 
 On March 5th, the day following the tragedy, I 
 wrote Scott's brother in Toronto, and, as it may be 
 noted, very cautiously, for the outgoing and incoming 
 mails were tampered with by this unprincipled 
 tyrant, who, I knew, would not hesitate to put me 
 along with those in prison if I gave the least ground 
 of offence. 
 
 " To Hugh W. Scott, Esq. : 
 
 " MY DEAR SIR, It is my very painful task to con- 
 vey to you intelligence of the most heart-rending 
 description. I promised your late brother, Thomas, 
 in his last hours, to write you, and give you a true 
 statement of all that he was charged with, and his 
 trial and end. It will be proper for me to delay 
 giving that statement for a little, as it might not be 
 allowed to pass out with the mail, and might also 
 involve me in unpleasantness. 
 
 " Let me then express my deep sympathy for you 
 and your bereaved family in this sore trouble. As 
 you know, probably, already, your brother was taken 
 prisoner by Mr. Kiel in December last, and made 
 his escape after many weeks' imprisonment. But, 
 joining another company of volunteers, he was again 
 captured with forty-seven others. The day before
 
 140 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 yesterday he was singled out and tried for these 
 offences, as well as for ' insulting Mr. Kiel and the 
 guards by something he said ' which he positively 
 denied and was sentenced to be shot at noon next 
 day. I was sent for as a minister who had visited 
 the prisoners regularly, and was known by him. 
 During the evening I stayed with him, giving instruc- 
 tions and exhortations, and engaging frequently in 
 prayer. He was deeply penitent and earnestly 
 prayerful before God. Next morning I went again 
 and begged personally of Mr. Kiel, and got Commis- 
 sioner Smith to do the same. We urged one day more 
 to be given him to prepare. But alas ! all in vain. 
 I was with him to the end. He prayed fervently 
 said ' it was dreadful to put him to death ' but 
 expressed a hope of salvation. He was led out a 
 few feet from the walls of Fort Garry, where again 
 he knelt in the snow and prayed remaining on his 
 knees until the fatal shots were given. Poor Thomas ! 
 many tears were shed for thee, but in vain. 
 
 " I have begged the body which Kiel intended to 
 bury in the fort, and I think, through others helping, 
 we shall get it, when we intend burying it at the 
 Presbyterian churchyard, five miles below this. . . . 
 If we should get the body interred in time for the 
 mail, I will write again and enclose with this. May 
 God sustain and comfort you. I do believe Thomas 
 is saved. " G. YOUNG. 
 
 " Winnipeg, March 5th, 1870." 
 
 Mr. Hugh Scott replied to my letter of the 5th of 
 March on the 8th of April as follows : 
 
 " TORONTO, April 8th, 1870. 
 
 " REV. AND DEAR SIR. Your esteemed favor of 5th 
 ult. I duly received, and although containing news of
 
 THE CLIMAX OF CRIME AND CRUELTY. 141 
 
 the most painful description yet news which filled 
 my soul with gladness I cannot convey to you in 
 words my heartfelt thanks for the kind and Christian 
 interest which you manifested towards my late 
 brother. May God reward you for it. 
 
 " Sad indeed to me was the fate of my poor brother, 
 but that was forgotten in the joy at the hopes of his 
 soul's salvation. Your kindness shall live in my 
 memory while life shall last. I am satisfied that you 
 did your duty as a Christian friend and minister. 
 What consolation it will be to his aged father and 
 mother when they read your letter. 
 
 "I hope and trust that you are safe from the 
 attacks of these ruffians and murderers, and that no 
 hurt will befall yourself or family. 
 
 " I shall be very glad to hear from you when you 
 find it convenient to write. Just enclose a note as 
 you did before. Thomas had some photographs which 
 I should like to get if possible, but I suppose all was 
 taken from him. I may mention that his cruel 
 murder has aroused the feeling of all the loyal 
 people in the Dominion, and all are anxious of 
 having the opportunity of avenging it. I also shall 
 not make my letter any longer, as Mr. Clark has 
 kindly consented to enclose it with his, but hoping to 
 hear from you soon and again asking you to accept 
 my best thanks for your kindness and love, 
 " I remain, 
 
 " Your faithful and esteemed friend, 
 "HUGH SCOTT." 
 
 Mr. Hugh Scott, whose letter I have given, lost his 
 reason after the death of his brother. I visited him 
 when in the asylum, but, poor fellow, his mind was so 
 wrecked as to forget that he had ever had a brother 
 called Thomas, and ere long he passed away, and, I
 
 142 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 trust, entered upon a life where the mind will never 
 become unbalanced. 
 
 MRS. SCOTT'S REQUEST. 
 
 Before his death his aged mother in Ireland wrote 
 her daughter-in-law, wife of the afflicted man, the 
 following very touching letter : 
 
 " DEAR DAUGHTER, I am very glad to hear of the 
 Rev. Mr. Young calling to see my poor son. I would 
 desire that Mr. Young should attend his funeral 
 if it is the Lord's will to take him ; and if I may not 
 be permitted to meet him on earth, as it seems I never 
 shall, may we all meet around the throne in heaven, 
 where parting is no more ; and I shall ever feel 
 grateful to Mr. Young for his kind services to my 
 poor son Thomas in Red River. I have thanked God 
 many times that there was a minister in that place to 
 attend to my poor son before his death ; and I shall 
 ever bear a fond remembrance of Mr. Young on my 
 heart while I live. Poor Thomas ! There was no 
 father, mother, brother or sister with him in his 
 dying hour, but there was the all- seeing eye of Him 
 who i ever near to those who put their trust in Him. 
 May God be with us all and enable us to submit to 
 His will." 
 
 A short while before the death of her son at the 
 Asylum in Toronto,. Mrs. Scott was called to lay aside 
 her heart-breaking sorrow and enter into rest. 
 
 A FEW "IN MEMORIAM" REFERENCES. 
 
 These must be very brief, because of my scanty 
 store of needful facts. I am glad, however, that I 
 have enough of these to show that Scott was not thus
 
 THE CLIMAX OF CRIME AND CRUELTY. 143 
 
 treated by Kiel for any justifiable cause. Among 
 his papers which I forwarded to his brother, Hugh 
 Scott, of Toronto, were many commendatory letters 
 of introduction, with certificates of good character, 
 from Sabbath-school teachers and the Presbyterian 
 minister with whose church he had been connected in 
 Ireland, as well as from employers whom he had 
 served faithfully. I quote one entry which appeared 
 in his journal, made on Queen's Birthday, 1869, 
 which is peculiarly admonitory : "Brother and I 
 were out rowing on the Bay (Belleville). I wonder 
 where we shall both be ten years from to-day?" 
 Alas, poor fellow, before ten months had passed away 
 his lifeless body, in its shroud of chains, was resting 
 on the bottom of the Red River of the North ! 
 
 Captain Rowe, of Madoc, Ont., to whose company 
 he had belonged, thus described him in his report to 
 Colonel Brown, in command of the regiment : " I have 
 to inform you that the unfortunate man, Scott, who 
 has been murdered by that scoundrel, Riel, was for a 
 time a member of my company, and did duty with 
 the battalion at Sterling in 1868. He was a splendid 
 fellow, whom you may possibly remember as the 
 right-hand man of No. 4, and I have no hesitation in 
 saying, the finest-looking man in the battalion. He 
 was about six feet two inches in height, and twenty- 
 five years of age. He was an Orangeman, loyal to the 
 backbone, and a well-bred, gentlemanly Irishman." 
 
 It is a significant fact, which makes his murder 
 wear a blacker aspect, that all who knew Scott were 
 favorably impressed by his manliness and courtesy.
 
 144 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 Mr. Charles Mair, who frequently shared his blanket 
 with him, speaks of him in terms of the warmest 
 admiration. Mr. S. H. Harvard, who spent several 
 months at Red River in 1869, in a private letter to a 
 friend in this city, says : 
 
 " On my outward trip last summer, I reached St. 
 Cloud, where the railway then terminated. On 
 getting into the coach next day, I found just one 
 other passenger a fine, tall, muscular youth of some 
 twenty-four years of age. One glance showed he 
 was a Canadian, and in a land of strangers and 
 foreigners. I felt drawn towards him. He was a 
 stranger to me. I knew nothing of him ; but he 
 behaved properly, and I was singularly struck with 
 his inoffensive bearing towards those with whom we 
 came in contact. The day before we reached Aber- 
 crombic, we stopped for the night at a lonely road- 
 side inn, and beds being scarce, we shared one together. 
 I found from him that he was going to Cariboo, to 
 the gold mines ; that he had been working at Madoc- 
 This man was Thomas Scott, who has lately been 
 murdered in cold blood." 
 
 It cannot be deemed inappropriate that we inquire 
 respecting the impression that was made on the 
 public mind by this most cruel criminality. The 
 report given in the Guardian of a large meeting held 
 in Toronto is as follows : 
 
 INDIGNATION AND SYMPATHY. 
 
 " It is a long time since Toronto has seen such an 
 immense and enthusiastic meeting as that held last 
 Wednesday evening, to welcome the deputation of 
 escaped prisoners from Red River, to express indigna-
 
 THE CLIMAX OF CRIME AND CRUELTY. 145 
 
 tion at the .murder of Scott, and to urge upon the 
 Government the importance of prompt action for the 
 relief of the loyal Canadians suffering from the 
 tyranny of Kiel. An attempt was made to hold the 
 meeting in the St. Lawrence Hall ; but it was found 
 that no building could be found large enough to hold 
 the people, and the meeting adjourned to the square 
 in front of the City Hall. The crowd was immense, 
 and the expressions of sympathy were unmistakably 
 enthusiastic. After the Mayor and Mr. M. C. Came- 
 ron had spoken, Mr. Setter, Mr. Mair, Dr. Lynch and 
 Dr. Schultz successively addressed the meeting. At 
 different points in their speeches they were greeted 
 with vociferous cheers. The spirit of the vast con- 
 course showed that the people of Ontario are not 
 disposed to temporize with Kiel and his disloyal 
 clique in Red River. While Mr. Cameron was speak- 
 ing, the Queen's Own, headed by their band, playing 
 military airs, marched past, and were saluted by loud 
 cheers from the crowd. The remarks of the speakers 
 added little to our previous knowledge; but it was 
 rousing to hear the thrilling story of suffering from 
 the lips of men who had been imprisoned by Riel and 
 escaped from bondage. Dr. Schultz alluded to the 
 unfounded boast of Riel, that he would turn the 
 Indian tribes against the Canadians ; and said that 
 the reason he came there from Fort Garry to Fort 
 William was to ascertain the feeling of the Indians 
 in that section, through which our troops must pass, 
 and that he had slept in the wigwams all along the 
 route, and found them unflinching in their loyalty to 
 our Government. Whatever faults of judgment Dr. 
 Schultz may have shown, it is impossible not to 
 admire the pluck and endurance of a man who baffled 
 the vigilance of his enemies, and leaving his family 
 behind unprotected, came at such an inclement season 
 all the way from Fort Garry to Fort William, on 
 10
 
 146 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 snowshoes. It beats Xenophon's retreat of the ten 
 thousand Greeks. 
 
 " Another immense gathering was held on Front 
 Street, on Saturday night, to express indignation at 
 the murder of Scott, and to press upon the Govern- 
 ment the necessity of immediate and decisive action 
 to suppress the insurrection in Red River, and annex 
 the country to Canada. The chair was taken by Aid. 
 Metcalf, and stirring speeches were made by Mr. 
 Thomas Nixon, Aid. Dickey, Mr. Boulton, Mr. Hugh 
 Scott, Mr. Fleming, Mr. Robin, and Mr. Cunningham 
 of the Globe. The resolutions, which were enthusi- 
 astically adopted, gave no uncertain sound on the 
 question of the hour." 
 
 But are we warranted in regarding the death of 
 Thomas Scott as murder and those who sentenced 
 and put him to death as murderers ? Consider the 
 following utterances of those high in authority, and 
 then judge : 
 
 LORD DUFFERIN. "The killing of Scott was not 
 an exercise of jurisdiction known to any form of 
 law, but an inhuman slaughter of an innocent 
 man, aggravated by circumstances of extraordinary 
 brutality." 
 
 He also states, " The utmost alleged against Scott is 
 that he used violent language in the prison, and that 
 he had alluded to an intention of capturing Riel and 
 retaining him as a hostage for the release of the 
 prisoners ; but even these allegations were not proved, 
 nor, had they been ten times over, could they have 
 rendered him liable to serious punishment." 
 
 And, further, " All the special pleading in the 
 world will not prove the killing of Scott to be 
 anything else than a cruel, wicked and unnecessary 
 crime."
 
 THE CLIMAX OF CRIME AND CRUELTY. 147 
 
 LORD CARNARVON in his despatches designated it 
 as a " brutal and actrocious crime," and spoke of it 
 as a "murder" no less than five times in the course of 
 his remarks, and concluded by saying that " such 
 a murder as that of Scott, cannot be allowed to go 
 unpunished." 
 
 The Hon. EDWARD BLAKE, then member for South 
 Bruce, in an exceedingly able address on this subject, 
 remarked as follows : " The murder of Scott was per- 
 petrated on the ground of pure personal revenge, 
 and ... it was a most unprovoked and damn- 
 able murder." 
 
 The CHIEF JUSTICE OF MANITOBA, in passing sen- 
 tence upon Lepine, said to the prisoner : " You robbed 
 Her Majesty's loyal subjects of their property and 
 plundered whenever you could do so, with impunity. 
 And, lastly, you crowned the catalogue of your crimes 
 with the slaughter of Thomas Scott for no other 
 offence than loyalty to the Queen." 
 
 The late SIR GEORGE E. CARTIER, in a private 
 communication to Lord Lisgar, says, " The killing of 
 Scott was an excessive abuse of power and cruel 
 barbarity."
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 POST-MORTEM INDIGNITIES, ETC. 
 
 THE name of Thomas Scott will never perish from 
 the earth so long as the Canadian histories relating 
 to that period shall continue to be read. Neither 
 tomb, tablet, nor monument shall be needed to per- 
 petuate his memory. The cruelties attending his 
 death were narrated in my last chapter, and now two 
 questions may with propriety be considered. 
 
 First : Why was he put to death ? 
 
 It was not, certainly, because he was such a des- 
 perado as to render his continuance in life a menace 
 to the liberties and lives of others. Nor was it be- 
 cause he was guilty of any offence punishable by 
 death according to the laws of the British Empire, of 
 which he was a subject and within which he suffered. 
 True, he was twice a prisoner, but was never taken 
 " under arms," as I have already shown. It has been 
 charged that he brought this punishment upon him- 
 self by his violent and insulting conduct while a 
 prisoner. But what authority had Riel and his 
 confederates in rebellion to inflict capital punishment, 
 even for conduct ever so violent and insulting ? Be- 
 sides, I was assured by his fellow-prisoners that his
 
 POST-MORTEM INDIGNITIES. 149 
 
 conduct in prison was not in any way exceptionally 
 violent, and that the offence cited against him by his 
 enemies, as giving special annoyance, really occurred 
 on this wise : He was suffering from an ailment which 
 compelled him to ask permission to retire frequently 
 to premises in the rear. On this occasion he was cruelly 
 and insultingly refused by the guards, and as he urged 
 his request, O'Donohue entered the corridor and re- 
 proved him sharply for the disturbance he was caus- 
 ing, reminding him that he was now in prison; to 
 which he replied that they should be treated decently, 
 even though they were in prison. This was pronounced 
 an insult to an officer, and the offender was ordered 
 to be put in irons and in close confinement, from 
 whence he was taken a few days later to receive his 
 death sentence. That this was the reason for his 
 being thus sentenced was the merest, shallowest and 
 meanest pretence imaginable, as the following facts 
 clearly show. Two ex-insurrectionists, Bruce and 
 Dumas, testified in the witness-box at Lepine's trial, 
 the former that Lepine, the "adjutant-general," 
 told him about twenty days before Scott's death that 
 " the prisoners would be let out soon, but that one or 
 two would be shot first ; " while the other swore that 
 " for about a week before, it was talked about among 
 the guards that Scott would be shot." The offence 
 which some have declared brought on the death 
 punishment had not been committed on either of 
 those dates, and the secret of this great cruelty was 
 not so much in what Scott had done, as in what Riel 
 expected to be able to do by means thereof. It was
 
 150 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 probably in his mind, and in the minds of some who 
 were secretly co-operating with him, that this stroke 
 of policy would lead the loyalists of the western 
 settlements to elect representatives to his Assembly, 
 and thereby, seemingly at least, support his govern- 
 ment and secure the passing and sending to Ottawa of 
 the " bill of rights," which in that case would be re- 
 garded as expressing the views, wishes and demands 
 of a united people ! Thus this young life was sacri- 
 ficed, I fully believe, to strengthen and intensify the 
 terrorism he was exercising ; in a word, as a master- 
 stroke of policy. 
 
 Secondly : What was done with the body ? 
 
 A rough box had been brought to the place ap- 
 pointed, before Scott and I arrived ; but before the 
 body was placed therein, I requested permission of 
 Kiel to remove it to my home, and take it thence to 
 Kildonan for Christian burial. To this he consented 
 at first, but quickly withdrew his consent. In the 
 morning I was informed, by one whose aid I had 
 asked for, that Kiel had consented that if I would 
 come, together with the Bishop of Rupert's Land, and 
 guarantee that the burial should take place quietly, 
 " without any demonstration," he would allow us to 
 remove the body ; but when we applied, as advised, 
 he promptly refused us, on the ground that the adju- 
 tant-general insisted that it must be buried in the 
 fort, telling us that a grave was then being dug 
 sufficiently large to contain it and any others that 
 might have to follow. But was it so disposed of ? 
 Undoubtedly it was placed in the box, and the box
 
 POST-MORTEM INDIGNITIES. 151 
 
 and body placed in one of the bastions of the fort; 
 but, as undoubtedly, only the box and rope used in 
 binding the arms were placed in the long, trench-like 
 grave. After the arrival of Colonel Wolseley and his 
 troops, and the dispersion of this abominable con- 
 federacy, we were allowed to open the grave and 
 search for his body. The following account of our 
 proceedings and the results appeared in a Winnipeg 
 paper of that date : 
 
 "THE LATE THOMAS SCOTT UNSUCCESSFUL SEARCH 
 FOR HIS REMAINS. 
 
 " On Thursday forenoon the inside of the quadrangle 
 of Fort Garry presented a scene somewhat singular. 
 A few paces in front of the north end of the store, 
 some half dozen men were seen, by turns, busily at 
 work digging out what looked to be, and what was 
 thought to be, a grave. They were searching for the 
 remains of Thomas Scott. 
 
 " There was a large crowd around, amongst whom 
 we noticed His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, 
 Rev. Messrs. Black, Fletcher and Young, Drs. Codd, 
 Schultz and Lynch, Mr. J. McTavish and Messrs. 
 Cunningham and St. John of the Toronto press, etc. 
 
 " The excavation was carried on under the direction 
 of the Rev. Mr. Young, and was proceeded with with 
 great vigor. As the hole deepened, the excitement 
 became the more intense, and when, after digging 
 some six feet, the spade struck on a board, and when 
 the earth was removed and disclosed a deal board 
 shaped like a coffin, everyone held his breath. But 
 the excitement was turned into something like dis- 
 appointed rage when one of the diggers thrust his 
 arm into the box and pronounced it empty! It was
 
 152 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 empty, excepting only the rope with which Scott's 
 arms had been pinioned." 
 
 Now, more frequently than ever, the question was 
 asked, " Whatever have they done with poor Scott's 
 body ? " After months had elapsed, one of the ex- 
 guards gave me the following information, which I 
 have ever since regarded as a satisfactory answer to 
 the question. He stated that before the box was 
 buried, the body, now stiff in death, was taken there- 
 from, and after it was weighted heavily with chains, 
 placed about it like a network, it was plunged through 
 a hole in the ice, and thus made to sink quickly to 
 the depths of the river, where, being thus anchored, 
 it will probably remain for long ages. Thus, having 
 pursued the poor young loyalist to his death, and 
 denied Christian burial to his mutilated body, they 
 rested not until they had chased it down to the deep- 
 est depths of their deep, muddy river. 
 
 CERTAIN UNDERRATED CRUELTIES. 
 
 In the previous chapter the " climax of crime and 
 cruelty " was represented as reached when, by order 
 of Kiel and his " council of war," Thomas Scott was 
 barbarously put to death on March 4th, 1870. 
 
 I am very glad and thankful that it may be truth- 
 fully stated to have remained without a parallel dur- 
 ing the entire course of the rebellion, but am sorry 
 to have to add that some speakers, and even authors, 
 in making much of that fact, representing it as "Kiel's 
 one dark crime," have used language seemingly 
 intended to imply that but for its commission all his
 
 POST-MORTEM INDIGNITIES. 153 
 
 other wrong-doings would have been regarded as 
 mere trivialities, which were either justifiable or con- 
 donable. This disposition to minify his lesser cruel- 
 ties, I take it, is attributable either to ignorance of 
 both their nature and number, or to the desire to mis- 
 lead others. If those who have taken such lenient 
 views of the case had been compelled to experience, 
 or even witness, these cruelties, they would not have 
 so erred in underrating them. The " foot hills " near 
 the Rockies are not regarded as mere mole-hills 
 because small in comparison with Mount Sir Donald 
 or Mount Lord Stephen. Having already referred to 
 the treatment accorded to Dr. Schultz, Major Boulton 
 and Thomas Scott, I shall now specify certain other 
 cases of severe suffering which have been generally 
 overlooked. Even prior to Scott's murder, Messrs. 
 Hallett and Gaddy, worthy natives of the country 
 and respected members of the community, had the 
 misfortune to come into special disfavor with Riel. 
 They were both, I think, employed by Colonel Dennis, 
 before the outbreak, as guides and helpers, and on the 
 arrival of Governor Macdougall at Pembina, Hallett 
 was sent to pilot him and his party into the settle- 
 ment, and with them, after being roughly handled, he 
 was ejected by the French half-breeds. Returning to 
 his home near Winnipeg, he came into notice soon 
 after in association with Scott on an errand of mercy 
 to Riel, which resulted in the imprisonment of both. 
 After enduring close confinement and hard fare with 
 his fellow prisoners for many weary weeks, and while 
 Riel was in a most unamiable mood on account of the
 
 154 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 fortunate escape of Dr. Schultz, he seemed moved to 
 pay special unkind attention to Hallett, and to make 
 his prison life a severer punishment than hitherto. 
 As testified to by an ex-prisoner at the Lepine trial, 
 the beginning of greater severity was on this wise : 
 While the poor man, well on in the sixties, was, by 
 permission of the guards, seeking a little warmth by 
 the stove in the corridor, Kiel entered and indignantly 
 demanded of the guards, " Why are these dogs allowed 
 out here ?" Hallett, replying simply, " We should not 
 be treated worse than dogs," was ordered to be hand- 
 cuffed and sent into solitary confinement. The little 
 room from which Dr. Schultz had recently escaped, 
 with the broken window as the fleeing doctor had 
 left it, became his prison, and as the cold outside was 
 thirty below zero, it is simply wonderful that he did 
 not perish then and there. In this cold, wretched 
 place he was kept for several weeks. Is there any 
 marvel that the sufferings caused thereby did not 
 terminate with his imprisonment ? From that date, 
 it was stated, his health was completely and irretriev- 
 ably broken, and, what was vastly worse, his mind, 
 through physical ailments and sufferings, became so 
 unbalanced as to lead to his seeking relief in suicide ! 
 Doubtless in this he was entirely irresponsible ; but 
 not for a world would I have resting on me the re- 
 sponsibility of having tormented him into insanity 
 and irresponsibility. 
 
 The other case, that of Mr. Gaddy, was likewise 
 one of prolonged suffering. He was accused with 
 acting as a spy for Colonel Dennis, and condemned
 
 POST-MORTEM INDIGNITIES. 155 
 
 to death : but for some reason, instead of being shot, 
 he was placed in one of the rough stone bastions, 
 and there kept in a most pitiable condition for 
 weeks, until he made good his escape. During his 
 imprisonment the report was circulated I suppose 
 for the terrorizing of his friends that he had 
 been put to death ; a report which he was enabled 
 to contradict himself by his unlooked-for arrival 
 at home. Whence, in such instances as these, and 
 after such sort, came "man's inhumanity to man," 
 this de-humanizing of the human ? I know not, 
 unless it resulted from the coalescing and co- work- 
 ing of the two well-nigh ubiquitous spirits, the 
 spirit of rum and the spirit of the nethermost 
 regions. As Kiel had stated to me that after the 
 terrible example he had made of Scott, should the 
 result contemplated not follow, and especially if the 
 prisoners were not more careful, others would cer- 
 tainly follow in the same way, beginning with certain 
 persons whose names he mentioned, I proposed, with 
 his permission, to see the prisoners and dissuade them, 
 if possible, from giving offence in any way to the 
 guards and their officers. To this he at once con- 
 sented, and I went forth on the errand I had sug- 
 gested. Intimating to them that I viewed their situa- 
 tion as most critical, I advised them to studiously avoid 
 all, in word or deed, that might give offence, and also 
 to do whatever might be required, so long as it did not 
 involve sin, which they one and all without hesitation 
 promised. The names he gave me as standing first 
 on his black list were, Powers, McLeod and Parker, a
 
 156 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 trio of loyal, respectable and brave men. Sergeant 
 Powers, who prior to his arrest resided on his farm 
 west of Winnipeg, had served many years in the 
 army, and at this date was one of Her Majesty's pen- 
 sioners. He was soldierly in appearance and manners, 
 and highly esteemed, where best known, as an intelli- 
 gent, honorable, peace-loving member of the com- 
 munity. After the suppression of the rebellion his 
 worth was recognized in his appointment by the 
 Government as Warden of the prison in Winnipeg, 
 where it became his duty to turn the keys upon 
 several of his former oppressors, notably the notorious 
 adjutant-general referred to a turn in the wheel, 
 certainly, on account of which many rejoiced. But 
 Kiel hated him, as he did Hallett and Parker and 
 McLeod, with no ordinary hatred, as the sequel will 
 show. The promise I have referred to as given me 
 by the prisoners, was soon subjected to a test much 
 more severe and disgusting than we had thought pos- 
 sible ; but it stood the strain and was fulfilled to the 
 letter. I witnessed with sorrow and indignation the 
 testing a few days later, when I saw these men, each 
 walking between two armed half-breeds, with wheel- 
 barrow in hand, and engaged as directed, in scaveng- 
 ing of the most offensive description, in clearing away 
 and wheeling to the river the accumulations from 
 the rear premises of the fort. That such brave and 
 worthy subjects of our Gracious Queen should be 
 compelled to do such vile work at the bidding of 
 these contemptible rebel masters, was greatly in 
 excess of our forebodings. Nevertheless, they kept
 
 POST-MORTEM INDIGNITIES. 157 
 
 their promise, and thereby, I shall ever believe, 
 escaped what was planned as a second " stroke of 
 policy " for the hastening of the desired consumma- 
 tion. Remembering these facts as I do, I must be 
 excused from regarding these underrated cruelties as 
 mere uncensurable trivialities. 
 
 BRIGHTENING PROSPECTS. 
 
 Soon after the period referred to in the closing 
 sentences of my last chapter, the dark clouds, which 
 for. so long seemed to be lowering just above our 
 heads, began to brighten somewhat, through a few 
 rifts which had been caused to appear here and there 
 betokening the approach of a brighter day for our 
 disturbed and terrorized country. "Let honor be 
 given to whom honor is due ; " but the question 
 arises, to whom is the honor really due of causing 
 those rifts and of bringing about such a brightening 
 of our prospects ? In order to avoid being misappre- 
 hended by any, I will try to be very explicit, and 
 may be deemed, by some, rather personal in my 
 statements. Ever keeping in view that " the heavens 
 do rule," and that while " man proposes God disposes," 
 we may nevertheless gratefully acknowledge indebt- 
 edness for help and deliverance to those whose efforts 
 became the means of bringing that help and deliver- 
 ance. The mission of Mr. Commissioner Smith (now 
 Sir Donald) to "the people of the North- West," at 
 that particular juncture, was confessedly one of great 
 importance, and his eminent and exceptional fitness 
 for so responsible a position was, I presume, considered
 
 158 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 with much care ere he received his " special " 
 commission, nor have I seen reason to doubt that 
 the bearings of his patient, gentlemanly and prudent, 
 as well as loyal, conduct under Kiel's brow-beating 
 and insults during his semi-imprisonment in Fort 
 Garry (for although a duly certified commissioner, he 
 was nevertheless treated rather as a prisoner, and not 
 allowed to pass out of the fort unless attended by 
 two armed guards), and his earnest efforts in behalf 
 of the liberty and lives of imperilled loyalists, were 
 very influential in bringing about the changes at 
 which I have hinted. I am aware that there were 
 those both within and without the prisons who, worn 
 out with weary waiting for their own release, or the 
 release of their friends, through his influence became 
 impatient and complaining on account of what they 
 regarded, through not knowing the circumstances, as 
 sheer tardiness, indicative of a censurable want of 
 either sympathy or courage. Such, however, were 
 not my views. Had I been circumstanced as they 
 were, possibly I should have felt as they did, but 
 knowing what I knew from personal observation and 
 contact with all parties, I felt then, as I feel now, 
 that it was far wiser, safer and likelier to lead to 
 success that he should "make haste slowly." The 
 task he undertook was no easy one, as he saw clearly 
 on his arrival at Fort Garry, but he so prosecuted it 
 as to accomplish vastly more in the way of weaken- 
 ing Kiel's influence, and preparing the way for his 
 final overthrow, than has been generally understood. 
 Very true, he was unsuccessful in his efforts to secure
 
 POST-MORTEM INDIGNITIES. 159 
 
 the immediate release of the prisoners, and to save 
 the life of poor Thomas Scott, but he was successful 
 in the case of Major Boulton, and in his efforts to 
 gain such knowledge of the views and feelings and 
 wishes of different classes for incorporation in his 
 report to the Government as were most valuable, and 
 also in his subsequent efforts to aid in restoration of 
 order, and in the adjusting of manifold and conflict- 
 ing interests ; so that in these and many other ways, 
 as I view it, Sir Donald has placed the Dominion 
 under obligation for services rendered in the North- 
 West. 
 
 The late Consul Taylor, in a carefully prepared 
 paper read before the Historical Society, Winnipeg, 
 bore this testimony: "I believe the time will come 
 when the services of Sir Donald A. Smith to the 
 people of Canada and of Manitoba, in the conferences 
 he held with the people in 1869 and 1870, will be 
 regarded as of the highest value and as constituting 
 the most eventful incidents of his life." 
 
 Nor can his worthy example as a philanthropist, as 
 seen in his munificent donations for the establishing, 
 or extending, or supporting of some of the worthiest 
 institutions of our country, fail to do great good by 
 suggesting to other men of wealth that there is " a 
 more excellent way " than that of accumulating and 
 hoarding, and by stimulating them to a similar use of 
 what they are but holding in trust for a brief period, 
 which will be followed by their accounting in full to 
 the one great Proprietor. 
 
 I have pleasure here in mentioning the name of
 
 160 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 another whose friendship I enjoyed for many years 
 in that country. I refer to the Archbishop of 
 St. Boniface (now deceased). After long absence 
 from his diocese, while attending the Ecumenical 
 Council at Rome, the bishop returned a few days 
 only after the death of Scott. Alas ! that he did not 
 return a few weeks earlier ; then I am fully persuaded 
 that atrocity had not been perpetrated, aye, and here 
 let me add, what I fully believe, that his presence at 
 St. Boniface during the autumn and winter preceding 
 would have rendered such a rebellion utterly impossi- 
 ble. He was too wise a man, and too good a Chris- 
 tian, to do else than oppose such a movement, and 
 with Bishop Tache at home, and in opposition, Kiel's 
 following would have been most insignificant and 
 feeble ; a single official wave of his hand would have 
 proved more potent than all the plausibilities and 
 exciting harangues of that mischievous agitator. It 
 has ever seemed to me very unfortunate, also, that 
 the authority with which he entrusted one of his 
 leading ecclesiastics, to exercise during his absence, 
 was not so exercised as to discountenance and sup- 
 press the spreading evil. This he might have done 
 very effectually, I judge, at the outset, but failing to 
 do so he assumed a tremendous responsibility. 
 
 Commissioner Smith, who, after the murder of 
 Scott, had no further communication with Kiel save 
 in seeking permission to return to Canada, was now, 
 though with seeming reluctance on Kiel's part, allowed 
 to leave ; and what was still more indicative of a 
 power above the tyrant's presidential throne, which
 
 POST-MORTEM INDIGNITIES. 161 
 
 he dared not resist, the bishop's request for the 
 release of the prisoners was so far granted that 
 about half their number were liberated, and a pro- 
 mise given that the remainder would be released 
 very shortly. Those then liberated were required, 
 however, to leave the country at once on penalty of 
 being re-imprisoned. Not very long after this par- 
 tial gaol delivery another slight " rift in the clouds " 
 appeared, which was reported to have been caused by 
 a peculiar flag manoeuvre, which seemed at first as 
 difficult of interpretation as was the " handwriting 
 on the wall " in ancient Babylon. The grand old flag 
 that has so long " braved the battle and the breeze," 
 and which had not been permitted to wave in Fort 
 Garry for many months, was suddenly run up in the 
 place of another a kind of nondescript, a thing of 
 mongrel type, a sort of Franco-Fenian emblem which 
 rather appropriately represented the double-headed 
 Riel-O'Donohue rule, with their respective proclivi- 
 ties. How was this ? Report, not always reliable, 
 but probably correct in this instance, stated that it 
 was owing to the bishop's influence with Kiel, and 
 that a very sharp altercation took place between Kiel 
 and O'Donohue re the displacing of their mongrel 
 flag, which represented disloyalty, by one that should 
 stand for loyalty, whereupon a compromise was 
 thought of and agreed to, that came like oil on the 
 troubled waters. It was on this wise : An additional 
 flag-pole was erected, and so quite near each other 
 the two flags were permitted to float as if in perfect 
 harmony. Some, I presume, will feel like saying, 
 
 u
 
 162 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 what a pity that compromise was thought of; far 
 better had it been for the country if these two mad- 
 caps had fought it out like " Kilkenny cats " to their 
 mutual and complete extermination. 
 
 An instance of sudden conversion in the history of 
 the press took place at nearly the same date. The 
 New Nation Kiel's organ suddenly vaulted over 
 from utter disloyalty and the advocacy of annexation 
 to the United States, to the opposite extreme. This 
 also was deemed significant, and regarded as an en- 
 couraging " sign of the times," in which, also, it was 
 thought that the hand of one mightier than Riel 
 could be easily traced. 
 
 So much for the brightening of our prospects. 
 "Honor to whom honor is due."
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 AN ENFORCED EXODUS. 
 
 I HAVE referred to the fact that Kiel's release of 
 one-half of the prisoners was conditioned on their 
 promising to leave the country forthwith. ' Such an 
 enforced exodus at that inclement season, of those 
 who had been so weakened and made tender by 
 their prison life, and with such exposures and toil as 
 would inevitably be theirs in tramping their way 
 across the prairies for hundreds of miles, was a fur- 
 ther manifestation of the tyrant's cruelty. But they 
 deemed the exposure and toil and hardships of the 
 way preferable to continued imprisonment, and ac- 
 cordingly bravely set themselves to face all in order 
 to regain their liberty. Arrangements were made 
 with a half-breed freighter for ponies and sleds and 
 men to care for them, for the conveying of their lug- 
 gage, such as clothing, blankets and food, and to assist 
 them in a general way in reaching Fort Abercrombie, 
 where they hoped to connect with a line of stages 
 for St. Cloud, the railway terminus. 
 
 At a prior date I had written to Dr. Wood : " As 
 to the direction in which we are drifting, I give no 
 opinion. My trust is in God. ' I know whom I have
 
 164 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 believed,' etc., but with a sick wife, my present sur- 
 roundings, and the forebodings of many ever ringing 
 in my ears, it will be no marvel to you if I say I 
 have some rather dark hours. But rest assured / 
 shall not flee I stay, even if Mrs. Youny's failing 
 health renders it a matter of humanity, and so of 
 duty, for me to get her away for medical treatment 
 in the early spring." 
 
 And now, owing to two facts, a still further break- 
 down in the health of my wife, and the opinion of 
 her medical adviser that no improvement might be 
 expected unless she could be removed, and that ere 
 long, from these exciting scenes, and also the peril of 
 our son, who had incurred Kiel's displeasure by join- 
 ing the volunteers we decided, after much prayerful 
 deliberation, on their making an attempt to accom- 
 pany the released prisoners on their long journey to 
 Toronto. Accordingly, we arranged with the half- 
 breed referred to for two ponies and sleds, which he 
 was to care for on the journey one sled to be 
 covered in and supplied with buffalo-robes for the 
 exclusive use of Mrs. Young, and the other for my 
 son's use, and for the luggage and food. One hundred 
 dollars for the service was the sum demanded and 
 paid, though the entire outfit was scarcely worth that 
 amount, and before starting we found that barely the 
 ponies and sleds were forthcoming, and that we had 
 to supplement the sum agreed upon by considerable 
 outlays for a cover to the sleigh, and for buffalo-robes 
 and blankets, which he failed to provide. But this 
 was no time for parleying. The journey to Aber-
 
 AN ENFORCED EXODUS. 165 
 
 crombie, and even to St. Cloud, proved both tedious 
 and severe, owing to the heavy snowfalls and strong 
 winds at first, which were followed by heavy thaws, 
 causing the ice of the rivers and smaller streams to 
 be covered to a considerable depth with water and 
 slush, through which my son and others were com- 
 pelled to wade, after many a hard day's walking, in 
 order to secure wood for cooking and warming pur- 
 poses. It was, I doubt not, because of special Divine 
 protection and blessing that they escaped with their 
 lives, and emphatically so, that Mrs. Young, in her 
 enfeebled condition, and notwithstanding that for 
 many nights she had to sleep out in the open without 
 any shelter, and dependent solely for warmth on their 
 camp fire, was enabled to reach her destination in 
 improved health. 
 
 Instructions came from the fort on Saturday even- 
 ing that the party must leave the next morning 
 without fail. This was to us decidedly embarrassing, 
 as we had not completed our preparations; but the 
 inevitable had to be accepted, and so early Sunday 
 morning we set forth, sadly indeed, from our mission 
 home, to journey together a few miles and then to 
 part, we knew not for how long. I accompanied the 
 party some ten or twelve miles to the place of the 
 " barricade," to assist in getting the required " per- 
 mits " to leave the country, and then a little further 
 on, and out on the prairies we bade each other adieu 
 with feelings not imaginable, my wife and son under- 
 taking a journey that might end disastrously, and I 
 to return to my mission work and now lonely home- 
 not knowing what might await me there.
 
 166 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 Thenceforth for a time our mission premises were 
 occupied by a trio, one belonging to the genus homo 
 and the other two, I suppose I must believe, belong- 
 ing elsewhere. When at home my merriest and most" 
 chatty companion was " Poll," the parrot, but when 
 journeying to and from my distant appointments 
 " Polly," my trusty roadster, who served me and the 
 Church for eight years, was esteemed of greater value. 
 " Poll parrot " was an inmate of our home for four- 
 teen years, and evidently felt herself quite at home. 
 During the season of my loneliness she was sometimes 
 very amusing, but occasionally she would express 
 what was too much of a felt reality to amuse me just 
 then as, for example, when associating herself with 
 me, she would repeat in a most lugubrious tone the 
 words " Poor critters," leading me half involuntarily 
 to respond, " Aye, Poll, we are indeed poor critters." 
 
 My duties during the next four months, in addition 
 to ordinary mission work, included journeys to Pem- 
 bina, U.S., each involving a round trip of over 150 
 miles, where I conducted services in the village and 
 also in the fort, preaching to the officers and men of 
 the United States army then, and for years, without 
 a chaplain or public religious services. Besides these 
 outpost duties, there were certain miscellaneous 
 activities requiring attention, such as the collecting 
 of timber, lumber, shingles, sand and other essential 
 prerequisites for the " Grace Church " that was then 
 in my mind, but nowhere else. My work of founda- 
 tion-laying during those times, when faith and 
 patience and fortitude were being tested, was greatly
 
 AN ENFORCED EXODlTS. 167 
 
 and annoyingly retarded. A quotation from my 
 Journal on May 24th, 1 870, will be excused, I trust : 
 " Hired a half-breed to help me in quarrying stone ; 
 drove out six miles ; hot day, mosquitoes very trouble- 
 some ; tired from heavy lifting ; a fine lot ready for 
 being drawn. Shall I ever regret these tiresome 
 efforts for a church ? I cannot think it." And up to 
 date, 1897, I have not. 
 
 Soon after the opening of navigation, my friend 
 Governor McTavish, then much weakened and wasted 
 by sickness and worry, and descending rapidly into 
 the valley of shadows, bade Fort Garry a final adieu, 
 hoping to make the voyage across the Atlantic ere his 
 life voyage should terminate ; but the two voyages 
 ended well-nigh simultaneously. It was a sad ending 
 of his official life in the country which owed him 
 much, and whose interests he had grieved to see so 
 ruthlessly trampled on during the weeks and months 
 in which he had striven hard, but unsuccessfully, to 
 brace himself against discouragement and a wasting 
 disease. 
 
 A change for the better in my circumstances 
 occurred when my wife and son arrived from Toronto 
 on July 13th, 1870. Through the kindness of the late 
 Mr. Hardisty, of the Hudson Bay Company, and Mrs. 
 Hardisty, they were invited to return with them in 
 their comfortable waggons from St. Cloud to Winni- 
 peg. Thus their return journey proved a great im- 
 provement on the outgoing journey ; and yet it is 
 noteworthy that while the severer trip was without a 
 death, the homeward trip was attended by the death 
 of one of the party.
 
 168 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 A young lady from the Saskatchewan District, who 
 had been at the Ladies' College, Hamilton, quietly 
 breathed her last in their waggon as they were 
 moving slowly toward a suitable resting-place. After 
 a brief halt the body, with appropriate funeral 
 solemnities, was laid away to rest in the little ceme- 
 tery at Sauk Centre. Their arrival at Winnipeg 
 came as a surprise to Rev. George McDougall and 
 myself, just as we were about to retire for the night. 
 They had not written us of their intended coming, 
 fearing that Kiel would get possession of the letters 
 and send his guards to prevent their entering the 
 country. It seemed providential that Brother Mc- 
 Dougall had remained with me longer than he had 
 intended, as he was now able to accompany his 
 friends to their home, still one thousand miles distant. 
 
 On their arrival at the ferry near Fort Garry, my 
 son was ordered by Kiel into the fort, which caused 
 us not a little anxiety. However, after a brief 
 catechization he was permitted to join us in our 
 home, and thus we became a reunited family. What 
 a wonderful turn of the wheel that was which 
 brought Kiel a prisoner, after his defeat at Batoche, 
 in 1885, under the charge of my son (then acting 
 Brigade-Major), to whom General Middleton gave 
 command of a strong guard, with orders to hold 
 Kiel at all hazards, and to take him with as little 
 delay as possible by river and prairie and rail to 
 Regina, where, after a speedy and safe trip, they 
 handed him over to the Mounted Police for safe 
 keeping. In due course this man, who had caused so
 
 AN ENFORCED EXODUS. 169 
 
 much suffering in 1869 and 1870, and now again in 
 1885, was tried before an able judge, and though 
 defended by the ablest advocates his sympathizers 
 could send up from the Province of Quebec, was con- 
 victed and condemned to death ; and though appeal 
 after appeal to the utmost limit possible was made 
 and investigated, yet all were negatived, and "the 
 law allowed to take its course." Thus ended a life 
 that might have proved a benediction to multitudes, 
 but, ignobly failing therein, proved the very opposite. 
 In explanation of the military appearance of the 
 accompanying picture, I take the liberty of making 
 brief extracts from a well-written article in the 
 March number of Massey's Magazine, by Mr. W. L. 
 Marschamps, on the Winnipeg Field Battery and 
 my son's relation thereto. 
 
 " Captain G. H. Young, whose name figures pro- 
 minently in the battery history, was the first ser- 
 geant-major and was subsequently appointed lieu- 
 tenant. He had been prominent on the side of the 
 loyal party during the Kiel troubles of 1869-70, and 
 in 1878 left the battery to organize the ' Winnipeg 
 Troop of Cavalry ' which was deemed necessary on 
 account of disturbances threatened by the western 
 bands of Indians but rejoined the battery again 
 temporarily for the campaign of 1885. Of these 
 events Captain Young preserves as interesting relics, 
 the rope Thomas Scott was bound with when led to 
 his death by order of Kiel in 1870, and the handcuffs 
 he used himself upon Louis Riel fifteen years later 
 when in command of the escort that took him to 
 prison at Regina both gruesome mementoes framed 
 together upon the same shield. . . . Sir Frederick
 
 170 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 Middleton, in his official report upon the cam- 
 paign, gave special thanks to Major Jarvis and the 
 battery for excellent service, and praised Captain 
 Young for his zeal and ability, as well as for the 
 efficient manner in which he performed his staff 
 duties while acting as Brigade Major, and afterwards 
 when attached for special duty in the conveyance of 
 Kiel to Regina upon his capture at Guardupuis Land- 
 ing." 
 
 It may not be uninteresting to many to state that 
 the prisoner, while on board the steamer which con- 
 veyed him and his guard from Batoche to Saskatoon, 
 amused himself by composing a sort of historic poem 
 of several verses, from which I select the following : 
 
 " Middleton, you are so generous ; 
 
 I owe you for food and good rest ; 
 I have found you magnanimous, 
 For your treatment is of the best. 
 
 " CHORUS. Honor to the guards who guard me ; 
 The North- West sighs to be free. 
 
 " Middleton gave me his own coat ; 
 
 And has he not chosen nobly, 
 To take care of me on the boat, 
 
 The courteous Captain Young truly. Cho. 
 
 " My fate, as a prisoner of war, 
 
 May lead soon to death and the tomb ; 
 Oh, mother earth ! is the time far 
 
 When I shall take rest in your womb ? " Cho. 
 
 The journey across the prairies from Saskatoon to 
 Moose Jaw was made in waggons in very quick time ; 
 and thence to Regina by the C.P.R. As is generally
 
 CAPT. G. H. YOUNG. 
 
 (By permission of " Massey's Magazine.")
 
 AN ENFORCED EXODUS. 171 
 
 known, Kiel was guarded in his prison by the 
 Mounted Police until in due time he was tried, con- 
 demned and executed. 
 
 The following statements of several who had 
 escaped Kiel's cruelties may not be deemed inappro- 
 priate. I reproduce here a reference which appeared 
 in the Christian Gv&rdian of April 13th, 1870 : 
 
 "THE REV. GEORGE YOUNG. 
 
 " Mr. Charles Mair and some others are very free in 
 blaming the Protestant ministers of Red River for 
 preventing, by their peaceful counsels, the warlike 
 purposes of a portion of the settlers who were dis- 
 posed to march on Fort Garry. But it is probable 
 that they by this act prevented scenes of blood and 
 suffering. We know what the result of the peace 
 policy is. We cannot say what the result of a war 
 policy would have been. We are gratified to know 
 that our missionary, the Rev. George Young, has 
 acquitted himself like a man and a true Christian in 
 the trying ordeal through which he has passed. The 
 Daily Telegraph reports a conversation with a reliable 
 gentleman just arrived from Red River an eye- 
 witness of recent events in which Mr. Young's name 
 is mentioned with much admiration. The following 
 is the conversation as given by the Telegraph : 
 
 " ' Reporter We are particularly desirous of having 
 information as to the Rev. Mr. Young. What is he 
 doing, and how is he treated ? 
 
 "' Mr. A. Mr. Young told me the night before I left 
 that he was determined to stay at Red River. He 
 has acted as a man throughout the trying times of 
 Red River. When the prisoners were first taken at 
 Schultz's he visited them and wdh their confidence, 
 and so impressed was Riel with the man's goodness
 
 172 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 of heart and upright character, that many favors were 
 granted the prisoners through his intervention. 
 
 "' Reporter He was present when Scott was mur- 
 dered ? 
 
 "'Mr. A. Yes. He was sent for at ten o'clock on 
 the night previous to the execution, and remained 
 with Scott till an early hour the next day. Mr. Young 
 was, up to that hour, under the impression that 
 Scott's life would be saved. 
 
 "' Reporter Has he a large congregation ? 
 
 '"Mr. A. Not now, since the Canadians left. He 
 has a comfortable two-storey log house near the fort, 
 neatly furnished, and a large room, intended eventu- 
 ally for a drawing-room, is at present used as a place 
 of worship till a church is built. For his building 
 fund he has received subscriptions from people of all 
 denominations in the settlement. He has shown 
 more courage and pluck than any other clergyman of 
 any denomination at Red River.' 
 
 " FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE. 
 
 " The Editor of the Selkirk, Man., Record, who was 
 one of Riel's prisoners in 1870, copies the Rev. Dr. 
 Young's graphic letter on the murder of Thomas Scott, 
 and vouches for its exact truthfulness. He adds 
 further : 
 
 '" We remember full well when we were surrounded 
 by Riel's treachery and made prisoners, how Mr. Riel 
 addressed his ragged crew in a bombastic speech, and, 
 pointing at us, said, " Vous ayez les chiens La ; traitez 
 les comme les chiens " " You have dogs there ; treat 
 them like dogs." And right well his rebel banditti 
 carried out his behests. Twenty-six persons were 
 thrown into a room ten feet by twelve, where we. 
 were forced to break some of the window panes to 
 prevent suffocation, and there we were for three
 
 AN ENFORCED EXODUS. 173 
 
 months, without fire, and snow often lying thick 
 upon us in the morning, blown in through the broken 
 windows ; fed upon rotten pemmican or such garbage 
 as the filthy crowd of robbers saw fit to give us. 
 After undergoing such an ordeal it cannot be sup- 
 posed that we at least can, for a moment, feel an atom 
 of sympathy for the fate of Kiel. The account of 
 the fortitude he displayed on the gallows, the full 
 relation of his last words, the gushing admiration of 
 his beauty when laid in his coffin, the ceremonies 
 attendant upon his remains when consigned to the 
 grave, and the crowd who witnessed his interment, 
 go with us for nothing. We do not have one senti- 
 ment of admiration or awe for the whole concern ; 
 our views of the whole matter are in unison with 
 those of the Rev. Mr. Silcox or rather of the prophet 
 Jeremiah. The letter of Dr. Young at the present 
 time is opportune. When men's minds through the 
 Dominion are so divided with regard to the justice or 
 injustice of the sentence carried out upon Kiel, this 
 letter will go far to show the worthlessness of the 
 creature that people are so agitated about, as we can 
 truly say that it gives a faithful description of Kiel, 
 and a true account of the circumstances connected 
 with the murder of Thomas Scott.' "
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 A NOTABLE MILITARY EXPEDITION. 
 
 THE reference is to the "Red River Expedition " of 
 1870, necessitated by the rebellion of a portion of 
 the French half-breeds of the Red River Settle- 
 ment, and decided on by the Governments of Eng- 
 land and Canada, in order to the suppression of that 
 revolt, and to secure the transfer of the great North- 
 West Territory to our Dominion. The totality of 
 thought, consultation and correspondence which led 
 up to that decision, and continued throughout the 
 times of preparation and, in fact, until the suc- 
 cessful ending of the expedition itself and the estab- 
 lishment of a Canadian Government in that country, 
 was far in excess of what most people have imagined 
 or ever can imagine. For many months prior to the 
 organization of the " expeditionary force," it was the 
 subject of anxious inquiries and the burden of earnest 
 prayers with tens of thousands of others than politi- 
 cians and statesmen, and those who became ulti- 
 mately instrumental in its accomplishment. After 
 the loyal people of the North- West became convinced 
 that both Governments had really determined that 
 the transfer, pursuant to the agreement entered into
 
 A NOTABLE MILITARY EXPEDITION. 175 
 
 by them with the Hudson Bay Company, should not 
 be prevented by that unjustifiable rebellion which had 
 been so inexcusably encouraged by certain mischiev- 
 ous non-resident agitators, the quieting feeling 
 quickly prevailed that its suppression and the restor- 
 ation of right rule in their country would surely be 
 brought about in the near future. But while all were 
 quite aware that great difficulties would, in that case, 
 have to be faced and overcome, only a few were com- 
 petent to form a correct estimate either of their magni- 
 tude or their manif oldness. However, after they had 
 been surmounted, and the " consummation devoutly 
 wished for " reached, and the official reports of the 
 costly preparations made by the two Governments 
 had been published, and especially after the ex- 
 ceedingly interesting " official journal " of Colonel 
 Wolseley had been printed and made accessible, all 
 felt that success had been achieved under circum- 
 stances extraordinarily embarrassing, and despite the 
 existence of obstacles seemingly well-nigh insur- 
 mountable. 
 
 To indicate a few of the many preparations needful 
 in order to the collecting and proper equipment and 
 support and transport of such a force, I quote briefly 
 from a communication of General Lindsay, the chief 
 in command, to the Governor-General, bearing date 
 April, 1870 : " The expedition is one of considerable 
 difficulty and magnitude, owing to the number of 
 men composing the force, to the character of the 
 country through which they will have to pass, and 
 to the time occupied by the constant changes caused
 
 176 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 by alternate navigation of lakes and rivers with 
 numerous portages and dangerous rapids and, above 
 all, the distance of Fort Garry from the base of 
 operations." In view of the facts thus summarized, 
 every probable and almost every possible contingency 
 had to be carefully considered and prepared for. 
 
 Colonel Wolseley (now General Lord Wolseley), 
 having been appointed to the command under General 
 Lindsay, suggested at the outset that the force should 
 number not less than 1,200 fighting men. These were 
 to consist of seven companies of the First Battalion of 
 the 60th Rifles, 350 strong, besides twenty men of the 
 Royal Artillery with four seven-pounder mountain 
 guns, and twenty men of the Royal Engineers, and a 
 proportionate number as army hospital corps and 
 army service corps, making in all over four hundred 
 regular soldiers, to be associated with a militia force 
 to be taken from the drilled militia regiments of 
 Ontario and Quebec, and enlisted for a two-years' 
 service, if required, making up two battalions of 
 350 each of non-commissioned officers and men. 
 Detachments were to be left at different points for the 
 protection of reserve stores: One company of the 
 Quebec battalion at Port Arthur, with two of the 
 seven-pounders and a small number of artillerymen 
 in charge of them ; also one company of the Ontario 
 battalion at Fort Frances, for a similar purpose, 
 awaiting the return of the regulars from Fort Garry, 
 when they should proceed to their destination ; so 
 that the full force was never massed at any one point 
 after leaving Toronto in May, When the expedition
 
 A NOTABLE MILITARY EXPEDITION. 177 
 
 passed into Lake Shebandowan, about the middle of 
 July, moving westward, it numbered, all told, 1,431, 
 of whom 92 were officers, 1,051 non-commissioned 
 officers and men, 274 voyageurs and 14 guides. Many 
 of these voyageurs, having been found inefficient, 
 were dropped out and their places filled by Indians 
 and half-breeds, who were more familiar with the 
 route and the work before them. 
 
 The distance of their destination from Toronto via 
 the route they took was, in round numbers, 1,280 
 miles, Thunder Bay being about midway. At the 
 start it was supposed that their luggage would be 
 transported without any detention from Collingwood 
 to Port Arthur by the steamers chartered for that 
 service. But a disappointment came in at Sault Ste. 
 Marie, where the men were given a taste of hard work 
 in unloading, storehouse building, road constructing, 
 and portaging their freight for a distance of three 
 miles around the rapids on the Canadian side. This 
 occasioned an annoying delay, which was all the more 
 annoying because it was occasioned by the unneigh- 
 borly conduct of our Fenian-influenced neighbors of 
 the United States. The steamers did not offend by 
 attempting to pass the canal with soldiers on board, 
 or their arms and other " contraband of war." These 
 were first landed on the Canadian side, after which 
 they steamed over with their freight to the mouth of 
 the canal, but were peremptorily refused entrance, 
 inasmuch as they had brought up a portion of the 
 force, and might, when once through the canal, take 
 them on board again for Port Arthur, And this act
 
 178 MANITOBA. MEMORIES. 
 
 was all the more unneighborly and annoying because 
 of its being well known that we had no boat at that 
 moment on Lake Superior by which the troops could 
 be conveyed to Prince Arthur's Landing. Conse- 
 quently the Canadian Government was compelled to 
 charter, at an exorbitant price, an American steamer. 
 This arrangement was made, I believe, through the 
 intervention of John M. Hamilton, Esq., subsequently 
 judge at Port Arthur. 
 
 By the earnest remonstrance of Mr. Thornton, Her 
 Majesty's Minister, the Washington Government was 
 induced to withdraw the obnoxious restriction. More- 
 over, the Fenian and rowdy element then abounding 
 on the United States side of the river threatened to 
 raid the stores then waiting to be sent forward, neces- 
 sitating the keeping up of a strong guard -for their 
 protection. Had that been attempted by these 
 worthies, it would have proved to many, if not all 
 of them, their last raid. They also reported their 
 purpose of attacking the vessels while passing through 
 Lake Superior, again necessitating the presence of a 
 strong guard on each. But as these contemptible 
 agitators have always shown themselves more ready 
 to solicit funds and utter threats than to assail a force 
 prepared to meet them, no attack was made. By the 
 21st of June, the whole of the force, with all the 
 stores, had arrived at Port Arthur. Once landed 
 there, the colonel in command had forthwith to face 
 the greatest difficulties and discouragements of the 
 entire route, and to bring into requisition both the 
 "land transport service" and the "boat transport
 
 A NOTABLE MILITARY EXPEDITION. 179 
 
 service" which had been provided by the Govern- 
 ment, in order to reach Lake Shebandowan, fifty miles 
 distant from Prince Arthur's Landing. 
 
 A large number of teams, waggons, teamsters and 
 laborers, to work at road- making or transporting 
 luggage, had been sent forward, and were either 
 organizing for or engaging in their difficult work. 
 The country intervening was one of the very worst 
 through which to construct a passable road. A suc- 
 cession of steep hills of light sand, reaching some 
 eighteen miles, then a nine-mile stretch of a peculiar 
 kind of clay that became miry after rain ; then thickly 
 wooded lands, partially burnt over, and then swampy, 
 muskegy portions, which seemed almost bottomless 
 and required to be corduroyed. Miry creeks and 
 rapid rivers, too, had to be bridged that teams and 
 loads might pass over. Within a distance of about 
 forty-four miles were three good-sized rivers, at 
 distances of twenty-two, twenty-seven and thirty- 
 nine miles from Lake Superior. The Kaministiquia 
 required a strong bridge 320 feet long and 18 feet 
 wide; the Matawan, a bridge 216 feet long and 18 
 feet wide; and the Oskondagee, a bridge 75 feet 
 long, besides several smaller streams. The "boat 
 transport service" consisted of nearly two hundred 
 boats, each capable of carrying two or three tons of 
 freight, besides ten or twelve men. The voyageurs, 
 a large number of whom accompanied the force, were 
 to manage the boats, as well as aid in loading and 
 unloading and portaging, while the soldiers worked 
 with them in rowing, poling, tracking and dragging
 
 180 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 the boats up the steep inclines of the many portages 
 they had to cross in avoiding the rapids and falls of 
 the different rivers. On the lakes, when the wind 
 was favorable, sails were brought into use ; but more 
 frequently oars, four pairs to each boat, were the 
 means of propulsion. The portages were about fifty 
 in all, making a totality of over eight miles of rough 
 and steep points to be traversed, the boats and their 
 loads of arms and ammunition and supplies of all 
 kinds being carried up and over. Officers, men and 
 voyageurs worked together early and late, in rain 
 and shine, despite the incessant and annoying attacks 
 of swarms of mosquitoes, black-flies, sand-flies and 
 deer-flies. The frequent changes of the heavy lug- 
 gage from boats to waggons and from waggons to 
 boats, which was unavoidable while passing from 
 Lake Superior to Lake Shebandowan, proved very 
 wearing, not alone on clothing, but on men and boats 
 and luggage as well, and caused great delay. For a 
 length of time the entire force was scattered all along 
 the line, from lake to lake, working at making or 
 repairing roads, or pushing forward the boats and 
 luggage as rapidly as possible. 
 
 Lake Shebandowan was left by a portion of the 
 expeditionary force on the evening of July 16th, when 
 three brigades of boats, seventeen in all, with two 
 companies of the 60th Rifles, and detachments of the 
 Royal Artillery and the Royal Engineers, each boat 
 carrying two voyageurs and eight or ten officers and 
 soldiers, with provisions for sixty days, besides much 
 miscellaneous luggage, all moved forward toward
 
 A tf of ABLE MILITARY EXPEDITION. 181 
 
 their destination. From this point the entire force 
 was divided into twenty-one brigades, each consisting 
 of six boats, with their proportion of men and freight. 
 By August 1st all the troops en route for Fort Garry 
 had embarked for Fort Frances, distant nearly two 
 hundred miles, and the Lake Shebandowan post was 
 for a time deserved. Fort Frances so called in honor 
 of the deceased wife of Sir George Simpson, then 
 Governor of the Hudson Bay Company is but a 
 trading post of that company, and is situated on the 
 Rainy River, three miles below Rainy Lake, its source. 
 It is 242 miles from Lake Superior, 150 from Rat 
 Portage and 410 via Lake Winnipeg from Fort Garry. 
 Rainy Lake is about fifty miles long and about thirty 
 or forty wide, connecting with Rainy River, which is 
 eighty miles long, forming, for that distance, the 
 boundary between the United States and Canada, 
 and connecting with the Lake of the Woods. 
 
 At Fort Frances a military store for reserve sup- 
 plies and a hospital were established, and one company 
 of the 1st Battalion of Ontario Rifles left in charge 
 until the return of the regulars, when they were to 
 move on to Fort Garry. Colonel Wolseley and staff, 
 after seeing the regular troops and two battalions of 
 the militia pass on their way to Rat Portage, left on 
 August 10th for the same point. The Lake of the 
 Woods is a body of water seventy-two miles long, 
 and in certain parts nearly as broad, and forms an 
 important link in this chain of magnificent water- 
 stretches: it is divided by three promontories into 
 what really seem three good-sized lakes, the Lower
 
 182 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 part of the last one, for good reason, being fitly 
 described as a " mass of islands." The most westerly 
 point of this lake is known as " The North-west 
 Angle," which, by a direct line across the country, 
 is within 115 miles of Fort Garry; but as no road 
 had been completed across the swampy, muskegy 
 portion thereof, the expedition was compelled to make 
 the long and difficult, and somewhat perilous, detour 
 via Rat Portage, Winnipeg River, Lake Winnipeg and 
 Red River, thereby increasing the distance fully 150 
 miles, and adding greatly to the toil of the already 
 toil-worn men. 
 
 Rat Portage, now a prosperous town on the 
 C. P. R., is situated at the point where the waters 
 of the lakes and rivers, through which they had 
 already passed since leaving the head of Lake 
 Shebandowan, plunge over three large and distinct 
 falls into the rapid Winnipeg River, which, after 
 running 163 miles, and making a descent of 350 feet 
 as it dashes over cataracts and sweeps through 
 cascades and rapids and eddies, pours its waters into 
 Lake Winnipeg. In that distance are twenty-five 
 portages, some of which are long and steep and 
 rough. These the force had to cross, dragging their 
 boats and portaging their loads as best they could. 
 Verily these men were not "playing at soldiering." 
 Fort Alexander, which is an important trading post 
 of the Hudson Bay Company, very pleasantly situ- 
 ated on the banks of the Winnipeg River, two miles 
 from its mouth, was reached by Colonel Wolseley and 
 staff in four days and a half from Rat Portage, 161
 
 A NOTABLE MILITARY EXPEDITION. 183 
 
 miles distant. Here they were joined by the Governor 
 of the Hudson Bay Company, now Sir Donald A. 
 Smith, to whom the force was much indebted for 
 guidance and aid, in a variety of ways, until they 
 reached their destination. 
 
 I may here pause to remark, that on this expedition 
 no intoxicating liquor was allowed to officers or men. 
 The good results of this practical application of prohi- 
 bition may be gathered from the following extract 
 from Colonel Wolseley's report : " From first to last 
 there was a total absence of crime, and I may add, of 
 sickness also. Never has any body of men on active 
 service been more cheerful or more healthy. This 
 has been one of the few military expeditions where 
 spirits have formed no part of the daily ration, and 
 where no intoxicating liquor was obtainable. I con- 
 sider that the above-mentioned happy results are in a 
 great measure to be attributed to this fact a large 
 ration of tea was issued instead and I found that the 
 men worked better than I had ever seen soldiers do 
 upon any previous occasion where rum formed part of 
 their daily allowance." I will also add a brief quota- 
 tion from General Lindsay to the Secretary of State 
 for War: " I join with Colonel Wolseley in laying great 
 stress upon the advantages to health and discipline 
 resulting from the non-issue of a spirit-ration, and I 
 trust that its days are numbered in the British army." 
 
 There can be no doubt and the fact is now well 
 recognized that total abstinence from intoxicants by 
 men of all professions, and under whatever pressure 
 by fatigue and exposure, will ever be found the best 
 policy.
 
 184 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 On August 21st the little army, consisting of the 
 regulars of the 60th Rifles, and the accompanying 
 detachments of Royal Artillery and Royal Engineers, 
 left Fort Alexander in fifty boats for Fort Garry. 
 Lake Winnipeg, the upper part of which they crossed 
 in order to enter the mouth of the Red River, is a 
 larger body of water by far than most people imagine, 
 it being one and a half times larger than our 
 magnificent Lake Ontario, having an area of nine 
 thousand square miles, and a length of two hundred 
 and sixty-four miles, with an average width of thirty- 
 five miles. The mouth of the Red River is forty- 
 five or fifty miles distant from Upper Fort Garry, 
 the " Lower Stone Fort " being about midway. 
 Arriving at this Lower Fort Garry on August 23rd, 
 the force proceeded very cautiously up the river, an 
 advance guard of scouts preceding them on each 
 bank and keeping up communication with those in 
 the boats, thus feeling their way through the rapids, 
 and St. Andrew's parish and Kildonan, until they 
 reached their camping-ground in the evening in the 
 neighborhood of St. John's College and the English 
 cathedral. The intention of Colonel Wolseley was to 
 push on by day-break to Fort Garry, about four 
 miles distant, and so give its occupants a " surprise 
 party." But the night was fearfully stormy, and the 
 morning not less so, the heavy rainfall filling the 
 creeks and sloughs with water, and rendering the 
 roads well-nigh impassable to both man and beast, so 
 that instead of this early march to Fort Garry direct, 
 he deemed it advisable for the main force to keep to
 
 A NOTABLE MILITARY EXPEDITION. 185 
 
 their boats and work their way up the river to Point 
 Douglas, while the scouts continued to keep a very 
 close lookout as they moved along the roadside or 
 riverside toward that point. Landing from the boats 
 in the early forenoon, the storm not abating in the 
 least, they were quickly ordered into readiness for 
 marching, through two miles of the stickiest, slip- 
 periest mud they ever saw to say nothing of its 
 depth towards the fort, where they were hoping for 
 an opportunity of testing the courage and generalship 
 of Kiel, O'Donohue and Lepine and their guards, of 
 whom they ha'd heard so much. Without a single 
 exception, I judge, officers and men were eager for the 
 fray as they neared the fort, and looked for the first 
 time on its walls and bastion and mounted cannon, 
 and called to mind what many loyal subjects of Her 
 Majesty had suffered within those gates. But they 
 were doomed to be disappointed ; the fort and guns 
 and ammunition and stores were there, but the 
 vaunting braves were not there they had vanished.
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY, AND WHAT 
 CAME OF IT. 
 
 OUR long longed-for deliverance came, as already 
 intimated, on Wednesday morning, August 24th, 
 1870. That was to many of us a day never to be for- 
 gotten. Up to eight or nine o'clock of that unpleas- 
 antly wet morning, Kiel, O'Donohue, Lepine, et al., 
 reigned and ruled and terrorized, and feasted and 
 dissipated to their hearts' content, as they had been 
 wont to do for the ten months last past ; but at that 
 time, or thereabouts, their revelry received a check by 
 something more tangible than the mystic handwriting 
 on the wall of Belshazzar's palace. 
 
 In the early morning a rumor was said to be afloat 
 to the effect that Wolseley and his soldiers were com- 
 ing up the river with all possible haste ; whereupon 
 a few loyal young men, my son among them, unable 
 longer to restrain themselves, set out on horseback to 
 see if it were really so, and, if so, to greet and wel- 
 come them as our country's long-looked-for deliverers. 
 On meeting the advance guard, they were instructed 
 'to "fall in," and not precede, but accompany them to 
 their destination. An hour or so before the arrival 
 of the troops, a prominent Kildonian, whom I recog-
 
 THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. 187 
 
 nized, galloped quickly through the village and on 
 to the fort, and then, after a brief halt, galloped back 
 as if under the pressure of some excitement. His 
 errand, I suppose, was to warn Kiel that Wolseley 
 had come, and to advise him and his confederates to 
 make all possible haste in making sure of their escape. 
 Very soon after his disappearance, O'Donohue gal- 
 loped past, in evident haste, to Dr. Schultz's buildings, 
 where some of the guards had been quartered, and 
 who were then despoiling the stores of their counters 
 and doors and other movables ; and then, with equal 
 haste, returned to the fort, followed by those whom 
 he had warned of coming danger, whereupon a general 
 stampede took place of men, mounted and unmounted, 
 all anxious now to leave the fort which they had been 
 so eager to enter ten months before. 
 
 The welcome word that the troops had landed, and 
 were marching at that moment through the village 
 toward Fort Garry, was brought me by the late Mr. 
 Benson, of Peterboro', of the department of the voy- 
 ageurs and boatmen. In a very short time after his 
 decidedly energetic knock at my door, I accomplished 
 the pleasing task of nailing to our bell-tower a 
 strip of white cotton, prepared aforetime, on which 
 appeared in very large letters the word " Welcome," 
 and then the bell, sent us by my friend Mr. Gibbs, 
 of Oshawa, by my aid rang out our doxology with 
 all the vim and emphasis I could command. Very 
 frequently did I ring that bell, both before and after 
 that hour, but never so joyously as then. The bell- 
 ringing over, I proceeded to the fort to welcome in
 
 188 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 person these new arrivals, making better time in my 
 walk thither, despite the rain and mud, than I ever 
 did before or since. 
 
 In attempting a description of the approach of the 
 troops to the fort, and their entrance, I cannot do 
 better than to quote from a telegraphic despatch 
 which Colonel Wolseley forwarded that evening to 
 General Lindsay, the chief in command : 
 
 " FORT GARRY, 24th Aug., 1870. 
 
 " It rained heavily last night. Landed early this 
 forenoon at Point Douglas, and marched about two 
 miles to this place. Upon reaching the village the 
 inhabitants said Kiel was still in the fort and intended 
 resistance. Could see guns mounted on the bastions 
 and gateway ; advanced with due precaution, and 
 found that Kiel and his banditti, had just left. Some 
 of his counsellors while escaping were arrested by 
 our skirmishers, and have since been released. Large 
 stores of ammunition, numerous loaded muskets and 
 several field-pieces found. Have been welcomed by 
 the inhabitants as their deliverer from the oppression 
 and plunder to which they have been subjected for 
 months past." 
 
 This triumphal entry was not attended by such 
 "pomp and circumstance" as have attended many 
 events recorded in history. The rain fell too fast ; 
 our native mud, so celebrated for its adhesiveness 
 and slipperyness, was too abounding, and the loyal 
 people, who were aware of what was about to take 
 place, were too few and too widely scattered for that; 
 but never was a military entry effected, on however 
 large a scale, that was more heartity welcomed than
 
 THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. 189 
 
 was this, and all the more so as it was not attended 
 by the slaying of any of the brave men who had 
 come so far to secure our country's deliverance. 
 
 Wolseley's description of the Fort Garry of 1870 
 may not be uninteresting, and especially as it, like 
 many a much stronger hold, has vanished from the 
 face of the earth. " The Upper Fort Garry proper is 
 a rectangular building about two hundred yards by 
 eighty-five in extent. The original fort was built in 
 1840, and enlarged to its present size about 1850. It 
 has a stone wall about ten feet high, with circular 
 bastions pierced for guns. It stands at the angle 
 formed by the junction of the Assiniboine and Red 
 Rivers ; the site is pretty, and commands a beautiful 
 view of the prairie on all sides." All that remains 
 of the fort to-day is the high arched gateway, on the 
 top of which cannon were formerly placed. His 
 description of the little village of Winnipeg of 1870, 
 which is to-day a city of over 30,000 inhabitants, 
 may not be out of place : " I should say there are 
 about fifty houses in all ; there are a few stores, but 
 grog-shops are the principal feature of the place, and 
 for the last two nights (August 24th and 25th) these 
 saloons have reaped a rich harvest. Voyageurs, half- 
 breeds and Indians, in all stages of drunkenness and 
 quarrelling, made the place a very pandemonium. 
 But few soldiers were drinking to any extent after 
 the first night, and a strong picket, to patrol the 
 village, was kept up every night till everything was 
 quiet." This is indeed a dark picture, and yet not 
 overdrawn in the least, as I sorrowfully observed, It
 
 190 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 was most distressing for me to see, on that first night 
 especially, so many of these men soldiers, voyageurs 
 and Indians who had abstained from all intoxicants 
 so advantageously to themselves and the entire force, 
 now so crazed with the vile stuff they were buying 
 at very high rates from these abominable rum-shops, 
 a to be actually rolling and fighting in the miry 
 mud holes of Winnipeg. 
 
 This dreadful revelry, and worse than beastly 
 conduct, was soon, I am happy to say, checked by 
 the exercise of the authority of Colonel Wolseley 
 in command of the troops, and of the Governor of 
 the Hudson Bay Company, Mr. Donald A. Smith, 
 who acted as magistrate by authority of the Gov- 
 ernment of Assiniboia, which was not yet superseded 
 by the establishment of our Canadian Government. 
 Such scenes contrasted very unfavorably and sugges- 
 tively with those described by Colonel Wolseley in 
 his official correspondence, in which he comments 
 most favorably on the conduct of the entire force 
 during their journey ings to Fort Garry. In his offi- 
 cial reports to the Military Secretary, he says : " The 
 objects of the expedition having been successfully 
 accomplished without loss of life, I take the liberty 
 of again bringing to your notice the conduct of the 
 troops engaged in it. I have no hesitation in saying 
 that the excessive labor so cheerfully endured and so 
 equally shared in by all ranks has never been sur- 
 passed in any previous militarj^ expedition. The 
 regular troops and militia vied with one another in 
 their enthusiastic anxiety to push forward, each
 
 THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. 191 
 
 being mutually determined that neither should outdo 
 the other. This praiseworthy rivalry enabled them 
 to make the entire distance of over six hundred 
 miles in about thirteen weeks, carrying with them 
 their provisions for sixty days, two seven -pounder 
 guns with their equipment, a large amount of am- 
 munition and hospital and other stores, all of which 
 had to be carried on their backs over forty-seven 
 portages, making a total distance of about eight 
 miles. When officers set such an example in carrying 
 heavy loads, their men, as might be expected, imitated 
 them unhesitatingly." 
 
 Moreover, during those weeks which elapsed be- 
 tween the disembarkation at Prince Arthur's Landing 
 and their marching into Fort Garry it rained on 
 forty-five days, and often for days together their 
 clothing was wet through. But a brief period was 
 given to the " regulars " after their arrival, as a 
 breathing spell ; for having marched into Fort Garry 
 on August 24th, the first detachment marched out 
 again to return by the way they came on the 29th ; 
 while by September 3rd the entire force of the 
 regular troops had left en route for the east, one 
 company only, as an experiment, going via the 
 " North- West Angle " of the Lake of the Woods, 
 the others returning via the rivers, lakes and por- 
 tages with which they had already become so familiar. 
 Wolseley left Fort Garry on his return on September 
 10th, and reached Prince Arthur's Landing on Sep- 
 tember 22nd. On August 27th, two days before the 
 departure of the 60th Rifles, the brigades of the
 
 192 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 militia force began to arrive, and ere long we rejoiced 
 in witnessing the safe arrival of so many of our 
 friends from Ontario and Quebec who had loyally, 
 at their country's call, volunteered for this service. 
 
 Those who have followed me in this sketch of the 
 expedition must have felt that the expenditure 
 necessarily amounted to an enormous sum ; and so it 
 did, and so have all the military expeditions of any 
 size that have continued for any considerable time. 
 The Abyssinian expedition, for example, which re- 
 sulted in the rescuing of some half-a-dozen British 
 subjects from the tyranny of a barbarous chieftain, 
 and which commanded the sympathy and flattered 
 the vanity of all classes of Englishmen, cost the 
 nation the immense sum of 9,000,000 sterling ; while 
 our Red River expedition, organized and prose- 
 cuted for the purpose of rescuing thousands of Her 
 Majesty's loyal subjects from an abominable system 
 of terrorism, and the breaking up of a miserable 
 confederacy which at one time threatened us as a 
 Dominion and Empire with the loss of a magnificent 
 stretch of territory, the incalculable importance of 
 which to us is becoming more and more manifest as 
 the years go by, involved the expenditure, we have 
 been told, of about 400,000 sterling, of which Eng- 
 land paid the one-fourth. 
 
 Some of the many resultant benefits of the incom- 
 ing of our troops and the deliverance effected thereby, 
 soon appeared in the revival of business in the 
 country and the incoming of a desirable class of 
 settlers. To me, certainly, there came an inspiriting
 
 THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. 193 
 
 uplift in my work of " foundation laying," which was 
 so greatly retarded during the rebellion. 
 
 READJUSTMENTS. 
 
 Immediately after the arrival of the troops, and 
 the suppression of the miserable rebellion which had 
 resulted in the scattering and, in many cases, im- 
 prisonment of numbers who had attended our min- 
 istry, we found ourselves able to push forward our 
 work more vigorously and expeditiously than was 
 practicable during that exciting period. A speedy 
 restoration of good order and of a spirit of hope- 
 fulness in the community followed, as also the 
 disposition as well as the opportunity, on the part of 
 many of the scattered ones, to return to our religious 
 services. This, in connection with the arrival of a 
 strong reinforcement of Methodistically-inclined sol- 
 diers, resulted in a speedy augmentation of our 
 congregations and membership and of efficient helpers, 
 together with a complete readjustment of our much 
 deranged church appliances. Among the officers, 
 non-commissioned officers and privates of the Ontario 
 battalion especially, were many who came, not merely 
 with kindly greetings and good wishes, but with 
 willing and generous hearts and helping hands to 
 co-operate with me in the work and services of the 
 church. A considerable number of these had been in 
 membership in Ontario, and desired to retain that 
 membership in military as well as in civil life. This 
 sudden influx of earnest workers afforded ground for 
 encouragement and special rejoicing to the small band 
 13
 
 194 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 who had been toiling under great discouragements, 
 ever trying to avoid the " despising of the day of 
 small things," and to look confidently forward to the 
 arrival of great things. Our week-evening as well as 
 our Sabbath services were very soon encouragingly 
 attended, and our Sabbath-school, which had been 
 suspended for a time, owing to the scattering of the 
 
 COLONEL KENNEDY. 
 
 families during the reign of terror, was reorganized ; 
 and by the aid of those who had been teachers in 
 Ontario, and the attendance of a goodly number of 
 men, advanced classes were formed, and thus the 
 school started out forthwith with unwonted vigor 
 upon a career of prosperity which has gone on in- 
 creasingly ever since; until now Methodism in 
 Winnipeg rejoices over several large and efficient
 
 THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. 195 
 
 schools, where we were unable for a time to sustain 
 even one. 
 
 Among those of the military who rendered special 
 assistance in this good work I mention with peculiar 
 pleasure the names of Messrs. Kennedy, Mulvey and 
 Gardiner. Lieutenant (afterwards Major) Mulvey, 
 was an Episcopalian, but in the largeness of his heart 
 and catholicity of his Christianity he came at once 
 to our aid and rendered valuable service as a teacher 
 of a large Bible-class and assistant superintendent of 
 the school. Captain (afterwards Colonel) Kennedy 
 taught a large class and sought in every way 
 practicable to promote the prosperity of the school 
 and the church. In after years he became regis- 
 trar, and for several years mayor of the city; con- 
 tinuing, whatever his position, to show a cheerful 
 and unfailing readiness to assist the pastors of the 
 churches in hospital, educational and ecclesiastical 
 matters. The sudden ending of his mortal life in 
 London, England, from that terrible disease, small- 
 pox, after he had passed through the fatigues and 
 perils of the " Soudan campaign," as a staff officer 
 with Sir Garnet Wolseley, brought to me, as to many 
 others, a feeling of personal bereavement. It seemed 
 mysterious to us that ere mid-life had been passed, 
 and while the regiment he had organized in Winni- 
 peg, and of which he was yet the colonel, was fighting 
 bravely the miscreant Kiel and his half-breed and 
 Indian following at Batoche, he should have been 
 languishing and dying in a London hospital. But I 
 trust that grace, mercy and peace were made to
 
 196 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 abound unto him in those dreary hours of suffering, 
 and that when all was over, a merciful and gracious 
 Saviour received his redeemed spirit into rest eternal. 
 The Imperial authorities duly honored him with 
 their wonted consideration in the burial solemnities, 
 and kindly provided by pension for his stricken 
 family. The constancy, wise counsels and liberality 
 of this true and unassuming man, and his untiring 
 co-operation, contributed very largely to the up- 
 building of the Methodist Church and her institu- 
 tions in Winnipeg. 
 
 In November, 1870, telegraphic communication 
 with the great outside world was made to us a possi- 
 bility, and the first messages sent and received were 
 as follows : 
 
 "FORT GARRY, November 20th, 1871. 
 
 "Right Honorable Lord Lisgar, Governor-General 
 
 of Canada: 
 
 "The first telegraphic message from the heart of 
 the continent may appropriately convjey on the part 
 of our people an expression of devout thankfulness to 
 Almighty God for the close of our isolation from the 
 rest of the world. This message announces that 
 close as its receipt by your Excellency will attest 
 it. The voice of Manitoba, uttered this morning on 
 the banks of the Assiniboine, will be heard in a few 
 hours on the banks of the Ottawa, and we may hope 
 before the day closes that the words of your Excel- 
 lency's reply, spoken at the capital of the Dominion, 
 will be listened to at Fort Garry. We may now 
 count in hours the work that used to occupy weeks. 
 I congratulate your Excellency on the facility so 
 afforded in the discharge of your high duties, so far
 
 THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. 197 
 
 as they concern this Province. I know I can better 
 discharge my own when at any moment we can 
 appeal to your Lordship for advice and assistance. 
 (Signed) " ADAMS G. ARCHIBALD." 
 
 To the above dispatch the following reply was sent: 
 
 " To Lieutenant -Governor Archibald, Winnipeg, 
 
 Manitoba : 
 
 " I received your message with great satisfaction. 
 The completion of the telegraph line to Fort Garry is 
 an auspicious event. It forms a fresh and most im- 
 portant link between the Eastern Provinces and the 
 North-West, and is a happy augury for the future, 
 inasmuch as it gives proof of the energy with which 
 union, wisely effected of Her Majesty's North Ameri- 
 can possessions, enables progress and civilization to 
 be advanced in different and far-distant portions of 
 the Dominion. I congratulate the inhabitants of 
 Manitoba on the event, and join heartily in your 
 thanksgiving. (Signed) " LISGAR." 
 
 During the autumn and winter of 1870 and 1871, 
 I was enabled to keep up several outside appoint- 
 ments as well as to continue the regular services in 
 town, which were now increased by an evening as 
 well as a morning service on each Sabbath, and a 
 regular mid-week meeting for praise and prayer and 
 exhortation. With this increase of pastoral duties 
 and the looking after the finances of the missionaries 
 of the two districts, and the purchasing and forward- 
 ing to them of such supplies as they might order, 
 together with the necessary efforts to secure and 
 bring together the required material for church- 
 building in the spring, my time was fully occupied.
 
 198 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 Our intention at first was to build both parsonage 
 and church during the summer of 1869, but owing to 
 the fall of the water in the river a considerable 
 portion of our raft from High Bluff failed to reach us 
 until the spring of 1870, when the rebellion was in 
 full blast, with the results already recorded. Thus it 
 was rendered altogether impracticable for us to pro- 
 ceed with our preparations for building until order 
 was restored by the arrival of the troops. In addition 
 to the heavy timbers of oak and poplar and elm, 
 which we required for the frame of the church, and 
 which did not arrive until the spring of 1870, we had 
 to gather from distant points the lumber required, as 
 there were no mills near by for its manufacture, and 
 this circumstance added greatly to its cost. Owing 
 to this fact we were often obliged to resort to the 
 "pit sawing" process, which at the best is a very 
 laborious, tedious and costly as well as unsatisfactory 
 way of getting lumber, both the quantity and the 
 quality being often far from satisfactory. Much of 
 what was obtainable from the saw -mills in the dis- 
 tance was made of " spruce," and badly sawn, and 
 yet sold at prices which may seem well-nigh in- 
 credible to those unfamiliar with such surroundings. 
 Mr. Begg, then and for years a resident, in his 
 history of these times, wrote thus : " In the spring 
 of 1871 " (when I was preparing to build), "common 
 lumber sold for $70 a thousand feet, and the best 
 quality of dressed lumber brought $100 a thousand." 
 
 This should be borne in mind when we come to the 
 figures which show the expenditures incurred in the
 
 THE TRIUMPHAL ENTRY. 199 
 
 erection of these mission premises. To economize 
 where practicable, I occasionally purchased from the 
 freighters the " flat boats " which had been used to 
 bring loads of freight down the river, in order to 
 secure the pine lumber used in their construction,! and 
 then broke them up myself to avoid the lumber 
 being injured ; thus securing, at less cost than I 
 could otherwise, the material required in certain 
 portions of the building. This was decidedly un- 
 pleasant and tiresome work, but, under the circum- 
 stances, it was warrantable and not " infra dig" 
 "Necessity is the mother of invention" sometimes, 
 and knows no law. The most annoying part of the 
 business to me, I confess, was to be compelled to note 
 the manifest disposition of many of those conscience- 
 less laborers to whom I was paying from two to two 
 and a half dollars a day, to squander the time which 
 was not theirs in smoking and gossiping with such 
 idling half-breed or Indian cousins as might loiter 
 along, while the " pit saw " and its work stood still. 
 Perhaps my patience did not always bear the strain 
 as well as it should, and yet I don't know that under 
 similar circumstances it would behave differently 
 to-day.
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 THE BUILDING OF OUR FIRST GRACE 
 CHURCH. 
 
 WE do not always " see ourselves as others see us," 
 and so I will quote again from Mr. Begg's history of 
 those earlier days. Thus he wrote : " On the 10th of 
 April, 1871, the Rev. G. Young commenced building 
 operations in the erection of Grace Church, the 
 reverend gentleman superintending the work him- 
 self. Mr. Young was a clergyman specially fitted for 
 establishing a church in a new country ; he was not 
 afraid of work, and could have been seen, crow-bar in 
 hand, as busy as any of the workmen on that morning 
 assisting to move the heavy timbers used in the con- 
 struction of the church." If ever that " first Grace 
 Church" building should be taken down it will be 
 found that the foundations of double oak sills and 
 sleepers which we then placed in position were indeed, 
 as Mr. Begg has stated, " heavy timbers." And yet 
 by means of a somewhat ingenious use of a pair of 
 very large Red River cart wheels and axle, with a 
 strong pole and rope, they were suspended separately 
 by self-help, and then hauled from the bank of the 
 river, where they had been landed, to the site of the 
 building, by my spirited and faithful roadster 
 "Polly."
 
 BUILDING OF OUR FIRST GRACE CHURCH. 201 
 
 Thus far I had written when the Guardian 
 brought me the following account, given in the 
 correspondence of the Rev. Mr. Morden, of the 
 almost complete destruction of my dear old Grace 
 Church by burning. In the near future, I presume, 
 the foundations I helped to lay and the "heavy 
 timbers" aforesaid will be at least all that is left of 
 them unearthed and exposed to view, and then 
 unceremoniously dragged away. 
 
 "OLD GRACE CHURCH. 
 
 " A recent fire has given passers-by on Main Street, 
 Winnipeg, an opportunity of once more seeing a por- 
 tion of the old Grace Church, which, with the Wesley 
 Hall block, built during the pastorate of the late Rev. 
 Dr. Rice, in 1881, on the site of the parsonage occu- 
 pied by the Rev. George Young, D.D., and his suc- 
 cessor, Rev. J. F. German, M.A., was destroyed a few 
 weeks ago, and along with it the greater portion of 
 the block adjoining it on the south, into which the 
 church had been enlarged. As the enlargement pre- 
 served nothing of the appearance of the original 
 building, probably few of the present citizens were 
 aware that it was still standing ; but the fire has left 
 a portion of the old lecture-room exposed to view 
 from Main Street, though from the rear it has all the 
 time been an object of interest to people who were 
 here in the earlier days. The blackened ruins are the 
 last of the old Grace Church that anybody will ever 
 see, as the building is too badly damaged to be 
 repaired. The site is too valuable to be long left 
 vacant, hence, no doubt, soon after the building 
 season opens, the last vestiges of the historic struc- 
 ture will be carted away, and a fine business edifice
 
 202 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 will occupy the ground with which so much of 
 Methodist history is associated. The building of the 
 old Wesleyan Institute, the forerunner of Wesley 
 College, is still in existence, and not much changed in 
 its outward appearance, though scarcely recognizable 
 in its surroundings. The splendid seven-storey Mani- 
 toba Hotel now stands where it stood, and the 
 pioneer home of Methodist teaching is to be seen a 
 few doors farther south on the same side of the street. 
 The Institute cannot be said to have grown into 
 Wesley College, seeing that an interval of some years 
 was allowed to occur, during which Methodism was 
 without an institution of learning, and then Wesley 
 College had to begin at the very bottom to work its 
 way up ; yet the efforts of Rev. Dr. Young, Mr. Allan 
 Bowerman, M.A., and the Methodists of Winnipeg, 
 who were associated with them in their early educa- 
 tional struggle, had no unimportant relation to the 
 future of the Church. Like the old Grace Church, 
 the work done remains, though it may not be visible 
 to the crowds who pass along the busy and crowded 
 street. 
 
 " Winnipeg, Tuesday, February 16th, 1897." 
 
 In the early spring of 1871 we solicited tenders for 
 the carpenter work only, leaving the building of the 
 lecture-room as well as the plastering and painting, 
 etc., for separate contracts. And here we were fur- 
 nished with evidence of the truth of the old copy 
 we used to write after in early boyhood, " Many men 
 of many minds." Three tenders came in, making very 
 diverse proposals. The first offered to do the work 
 according to specifications for $1,900, the second for 
 $1,200, and the third for $600 quite a difference 
 certainly. Messrs. Gardiner & Dawson secured the
 
 BUILDING OF OUR FIRST GRACE CHURCH. 203 
 
 contract and commenced the work forthwith, and 
 right honorably did they complete it, and the lecture- 
 room in the rear as well. Mr. Gardiner, at the time 
 of taking the contract, was still doing duty as one of 
 the Canadian volunteers in Fort Garry; but as the 
 time was near when he was to receive his discharge, 
 the commandant kindly gave permission for him to 
 make the contract and also to commence the work. 
 He and his partner, Mr. Dawson, subsequently erected 
 a goodly number of buildings in the town, one of 
 which was the first Zion Church. 
 
 The size of Grace Church was 30 x 50 feet, with 
 eighteen-foot posts, and a steep churchy roof, as will 
 be seen from the accompanying illustration, which 
 first appeared under Dr. Wood's administration, in the 
 Wesleyan Missionary Notices. The building was well 
 painted throughout, the roof with fireproof paint; 
 the interior wainscotted with well-seasoned basswood 
 and grained oak. When completed it was voted the 
 neatest little church north of St. Paul. Mr. Begg, 
 from whose book I have already quoted, described it 
 as " a credit to the city, and especially to the Rev. 
 George Young, who labored so assiduously to provide 
 a suitable place of worship for his people." The 
 beautiful stained glass windows, prepared by Mr. 
 McCausland, of Toronto, were specially attractive, 
 and bore the names of the several congregations and 
 Sabbath-schools in Ontario and Quebec whose liberal 
 donations were sent to Mr. (now Senator) Sanford, of 
 Hamilton, and by him applied to the payment of Mr. 
 McCausland's bill. The beautiful circular window
 
 BUILDING OF OUR FIRST GRACE CHURCH. 205 
 
 which was placed in the front of the church and 
 admired by all who saw it, whether pagan or Christ- 
 ian, was donated by Mr. McCausland. It was a 
 question with many who saw the windows ere they 
 were packed, as Dr. Wood wrote me, how they could 
 ever be freighted through to Red River in safety; 
 and yet they were so carefully put up in long narrow 
 cases as to bear all kinds of rough usage, in their 
 transportation by steamer and freight cars and Red 
 River carts, without any serious breakage. After the 
 first Grace Church was found too small, and super- 
 seded by the erection of the large block known as 
 " Wesley Hall block," the lower flat of which was for 
 rental as stores and the upper as a large hall for 
 worship (which could accommodate a congregation of 
 eight hundred or more), these windows were trans- 
 ferred to a new church, now known as " Wesley 
 Church." 
 
 In the unpacking, arranging and putting up of the 
 windows I received much aid from my two friends 
 Messrs. Kennedy and Ashdown, without which I 
 know not how I could have succeeded. Colonel 
 Kennedy was in earlier days a first-class painter, 
 grainer and letterer, and his work on the doors, 
 wainscotting and desk, as well as in lettering the 
 name which was placed on the front gable, was so 
 artistically executed that not a few wondered, when 
 the building was opened, whose handiwork it was 
 that so beautified our little temple. The name 
 " Grace Church " was given by me to this our first 
 Methodist church in Winnipeg in view of what I
 
 206 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 deemed its appropriateness. There was so much of 
 " grace," both Divine and human, in the disposing and 
 enabling of so many to aid us in our desire to " arise 
 and build," considered in connection with the antici- 
 pation that special prominence would be given by all 
 its ministers to the " exceeding riches of His grace " 
 for whose glory the mission had been established and 
 the building erected, that this name beyond all others 
 seemed most fully to harmonize with our feelings at 
 the time. Two other names competed somewhat with 
 this for a season, but preference was finally given, for 
 the reason just indicated, to the one chosen, and 
 " Zion " and " Wesley " were held over for a more 
 convenient season, and then given to the two Meth- 
 odist churches next built in the town. 
 
 When the building was nearly completed, and the 
 opening services were occupying my thoughts a good 
 deal, I was favored with a friendly call (not the first 
 nor the last by any means) from the Bishop now 
 Archbishop of Rupert's Land, one of the most schol- 
 arly, liberal-minded, godly bishops of the Anglican 
 Church. As he looked through the building and 
 expressed his admiration, I suggested the following 
 programme of an opening service, prefacing it with 
 the remark that while he would much oblige me, as 
 well as many others, by its acceptance, still that I 
 should not feel myself aggrieved should he deem it 
 inconsistent or unadvisable to do so. The proposal 
 was that he should conduct the opening service and 
 preach the sermon precisely as if in one of his own 
 churches, allowing me the privilege of a fellow-wor- 
 shipper and a hearer a proposal, certainly, I would
 
 BUILDING OF OUR FIRST GRACE CHURCH. 207 
 
 not have made to any other minister in all the North- 
 West. The good bishop thanked me in the kindliest 
 manner, and assured me that personally, if circum- 
 stances were favorable, it would afford him great 
 pleasure to accede to my wish, but as he was just 
 then preparing to leave for England, and many duties 
 and cares were pressing, he felt that he must beg me 
 to excuse him from undertaking the service. So 
 much for catholicity on both sides. 
 
 The 17th of September, 1871, arrived at last, and 
 was indeed a red-letter day in our history in Winnipeg. 
 The pastor preached at 10.30 to a crowded congrega- 
 tion from Eph. ii. 7 : " The exceeding riches of His 
 grace." The Rev. M. Robison preached at 2.30, and 
 the pastor occupied the pulpit again in the evening. 
 Many of our friends who had hoped to worship with us 
 in these opening services were prevented . by the pre- 
 vailing "Red River fever," some of them sick nigh 
 unto death, so that we felt compelled to postpone 
 for a season the concert and soiree for which prepara- 
 tions had been made. 
 
 The collections at the opening services amounted to 
 $122.12, and the net proceeds of the concert held De- 
 cember 6th, 1871, were $267.50. The amount collected 
 by myself and two or three helpers, among the mili- 
 tary in Manitoba, was $1,366.87, and subsequently by 
 Colonel Kennedy and Mr. Ashdown, $250, making in 
 all for Winnipeg and the adjacent neighborhoods 
 $1,616.87, to which if we add the proceeds of Dr. 
 Punshon's lectures and the collections made on the 
 Conference Sunday, and the excess of our Sunday 
 collections over running expenses, we have a total of
 
 208 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 $2,100.16, which I think will be considered, in view 
 of the circumstances, as exceedingly gratifying and 
 creditable. 
 
 The accompanying kindly references by Dr. Wood 
 in the Methodist Missionary Notices of October, 1875, 
 will be appreciated : 
 
 " The mission was begun by the Rev. Geo. Young, 
 in 1868. Bro. Young gave up his pastoral charge 
 of the Richmond Street Church and congregation, 
 Toronto, and the Chairmanship of the District, in 
 response to an invitation to begin this new enterprise. 
 True, there had for a long time been Wesleyan mis- 
 sionaries to the west and north of Fort Garry, the 
 former one thousand miles away and the latter five 
 hundred, but these principally labored among the 
 Cree and Stoney Indians. A change in the relation- 
 ship of these vast territories from the Honorable 
 Hudson Bay Company to the Home Government and 
 the Dominion of Canada, would naturally throw open 
 for immediate settlement the fine lands on the Red 
 River, the Assiniboine, with other attractive sec- 
 tions, now embraced in the Province of Manitoba ; to 
 prepare for the movement, Bro. Young began his 
 labors. 
 
 "A valuable and commodious site, in what will 
 become a city of large dimensions, was generously 
 presented to the Society by the Honorable Hudson 
 Bay Company, and on this, with indefatigable labor, 
 and for the first two years with a good deal of social 
 inconvenience to his family, he erected Grace Church, 
 with its school-room and comfortable parsonage and 
 out-buildings. The heavy frame of timber between 
 the two buildings bears up a fine-toned bell, given by 
 the Sabbath -school at Oshawa, as the inscription cast 
 upon the external surface points out ; this bell pealed
 
 BUILDING OF OUR FIRST GRACE CHURCH. 209 
 
 forth its notes of welcome when Colonel Wolseley and 
 the British troops marched into Winnipeg to put down 
 the Kiel rebellion. 
 
 " In the year just closed there were eight Methodist 
 ministers among the settlers in Manitoba. In the 
 past seven years eight sanctuaries have been built, 
 societies organized, and the ordinances of religion 
 maintained with much regularity. The grasshopper 
 plague has diminished the ability of the people to 
 sustain the cost of these missions, but we are antici- 
 pating more fruitful harvests, and a tide of greater 
 prosperity pervading the whole Province. Attached 
 to the sanctuaries and ' preaching places ' are two 
 hundred and seventy-nine Church members, with 
 ever increasing congregations." 
 
 The large donations from the kind friends in the 
 east, which so greatly encouraged us, and without 
 which we could not have built as we did, nevertheless 
 were much less than they ever imagined, because of 
 the enormous freighting and other charges which 
 came along with them, and which I had to meet ere 
 the goods were delivered. The freight from Canada 
 at that date through the United States, via rail and 
 steamer and ox or pony carts, generally ran up into 
 the neighborhood of $10 a hundred, and when the 
 weight of the strong packing-cases had to be added 
 and paid for at the same rate, it can easily be seen 
 why the expenditures were not smaller. The con- 
 stant worry I experienced over these excessive but 
 unresistable charges was far more wearing on me 
 than all the hard work involved in the handling of 
 the materials until they became a part of the building. 
 
 The following, communicated by the late Dr. 
 14
 
 210 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 Stafford to a paper since then discontinued, will 
 indicate his views of the situation in the times of 
 which I write. At the date of his writing he was the 
 popular pastor of the present costly Grace Church in 
 the City of Winnipeg : 
 
 " Very few even of Dr. Young's intimate friends 
 know what an experience he had from his arrival in 
 Winnipeg in the summer of 1868, till the fall of 1871 
 saw the completion and dedication of Grace Church. 
 A coolness, not arising from indifference on the part 
 of other churches, was overcome by patient endurance 
 and by such prudence as he had manifested before in 
 many fields of labor. There was lack of church 
 accommodation. A room was rented for a time till a 
 parsonage was ready, which did double duty for 
 preaching place and residence. The rebellion broke 
 out. The missionary was simply loyal, and his record 
 throughout these troublous times is so much a matter 
 of history that no mention need be made of it here. 
 After the rebellion, Grace Church, which had been 
 indefinitely delayed, was pushed forward to comple- 
 tion. The share he had in this, bearing the expense 
 personally in a great measure and toiling with his 
 own hands to bring the material and aid in the 
 erection, is known fully only to those who aided him 
 in the task, and have shown the same willingness to 
 speak of the work. A small congregation of faithful 
 friends gathered in and steadily increased in numbers. 
 Still, many journeys had to be undertaken in various 
 directions to establish or visit missions, and the rapid 
 growth of the city, from 1872 to 1876, required every 
 effort to visit newcomers, look after the sick, provide 
 for the poor, and bear a share in the various educa- 
 tional, religious and temperance movements then 
 exciting attention in the new city." 
 
 The following report of the soiree already referred
 
 BUILDING OF OUR FIRST GRACE CHURCH. 211 
 
 to, which I quote from The Manitoban, may not be 
 uninteresting, especially as it gives the names of 
 several ladies and gentlemen who so kindly con- 
 tributed to our aid in that time of need : 
 
 "A very successful soiree, in aid of the building 
 fund of Grace Church (Wesleyan Methodist), Winni- 
 peg, came off on the 6th inst. The church, which 
 is a handsome, comfortable structure, was pretty well 
 filled, there being, probably, 250 persons present. 
 The evening's entertainment opened with tea and 
 cakes in the school- room attached to the church, the 
 ladies, who were mainly instrumental in getting up 
 this part of the affair, presiding over the refreshment 
 tables ; and these, we may observe, were well loaded 
 with eatables of a most appetizing description. This 
 was succeeded by music, and addresses delivered by 
 the Rev. Mr. Young, Eev. John Black, Rev. Professor 
 Bryce, Rev. Mr. Robison, and Mr. Edwards. The 
 choir, with Capt. Kennedy as leader, was composed 
 of Mrs. Young, Mrs. Lusted, Miss McDougall, Miss 
 Linton, Miss Grozen, Miss Chambers, Miss Hodgkiss, 
 Miss Walkley, and Messrs. Ashdown, Emslie, Hackett, 
 Kellond, John Kerr, David Young and George Kerr. 
 Some choice solos, duets, and chorus pieces were 
 rendered in excellent style, especially a couple of 
 solos by Mr. Blanchard. 
 
 "In the course of Rev. Mr. Young's remarks, he 
 gave some statistics regarding the mission property, 
 as of much interest. The site for the mission was, 
 he explained, granted by the late Governor McTavish, 
 of the Hudson Bay Company. The total expenditure 
 for all the mission buildings, consisting of Grace 
 Church, the first Zion Church, with school, parsonage, 
 house for the man who takes care of the premises, 
 barn, stable, was $7,318.33. The receipts from all 
 sources amounted to $4,475.56." The deficit was 
 provided for later on.
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE FENIAN RAID OF 1871 A FIZZLE AND 
 A FARCE. 
 
 VERY soon after that sunny Sabbath when Grace 
 Church No. 1 was opened for worship, we were sur- 
 prised by the sudden gathering of lowering clouds 
 which seemed to threaten an oncoming storm. 
 Rumors were circulating freely in the community to 
 the effect that General O'Neil, of Fenian notoriety, 
 was again working up a raid on the pocket-books of 
 the confiding Irish servant-girls of the neighboring 
 republic in order to secure funds to enable him to 
 deal a stunning blow to England through Canada, and 
 that by means of a carefully planned invasion of her 
 distant and newly acquired Province of Manitoba. 
 Several circumstances seemed to conspire to promise 
 him a far easier task and much greater success than 
 he had hitherto realized, in this invading business. 
 It has been stated by O'Donohue, Riel's ex-treasurer, 
 that he was assured by the French half-breeds of 
 Manitoba of a friendly reception and their hearty 
 co-operation. Added to this, he was confident of an 
 ample supply of brave men, whose hatred of all that 
 was British was undoubtable, and who had been 
 employed in the construction of railways in the neigh-
 
 THE FENIAN RAID. 21 3 
 
 boring State of Minnesota, and were just then being 
 discharged. Of arms and ammunition it was reported 
 that he was sure of an abundant supply, inasmuch as 
 the United States Government had kindly returned 
 all that had been seized after their former raids. It 
 was not therefore surprising that this rather over- 
 sanguine individual should be easily persuaded to 
 undertake the liberation of poor oppressed Ireland 
 after this rather circuitous fashion. In a letter from 
 O'Donohue to the Speaker of the House of Commons 
 at Ottawa, dated St. Paul, Minnesota, February 26th, 
 1875, he stated emphatically that he could prove by 
 documents in his possession " that the so-called Fenian 
 invasion was a misnomer, and that the movement was 
 simply a continuation of the insurrection inaugurated 
 in 1869-70 in the Red River Settlement, and with 
 the same avowed intention and by the same parties." 
 These statements, as was to be expected, were indig- 
 nantly denied by some who were anxious to save the 
 French half-breeds from this suspicion. A competent 
 authority, however, took very different ground, and 
 assured us that he had carefully investigated the 
 matter, and that he could see no reasonable grounds 
 to doubt but that Riel did fan the movement at the 
 first, and that it was only after the raid had failed, 
 and the valorous O'Neil had for the third time sought 
 and found safety in the arms of a United States mar- 
 shall, that he came to the conclusion that " discretion 
 was the better part of valor," and so hastened to offer 
 his services and those of his following to Governor 
 Archibald. And in harmony with this view it may be
 
 214 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 proper to note another fact showing that this miser- 
 able movement was no impromptu act. 
 
 At the trial of Lepine, in 1874, one of the loyalist 
 ex-prisoners swore that when he was put in prison 
 with the others, Lepine took from him his pocket- 
 book, containing $300 in money, and that after being 
 released he visited that worthy's quiet home, and 
 asked for his money, but was coolly told that he 
 " could not get it," and furthermore that he had better 
 keep quiet, for the Fenians were coming with 
 O'Donohue, and that it would be better for him to say 
 nothing more about it. Well, the Fenians, at least a 
 few of them, came ere long with O'Donohue, but the 
 $300 never to this day returned to the pocket-book of 
 that loyalist. 
 
 At about 7 a.m. on the 5th of October, 1871, the 
 raiding force, a mongrel sort of thing, and numer- 
 ously generalled by O'Neil, Donnelly, Curry and 
 O'Ponohue, and I don't know how many others, 
 with about thirty-five " rank and file/' crossed the 
 boundary and attacked, and did really capture, the 
 undefended trading-post of the Hudson Hay Com- 
 pany, which was commonly known as a fort. The 
 modus operandi in this wonderful achievement will 
 be best seen from the sworn testimony of Mr. Watt, 
 who was then in charge of that post : 
 
 " W. H. Watt, sworn and examined by the Attorney- 
 General 
 
 " ' Am in charge of the Hudson Bay Company's post 
 at Pembina. About half -past seven on the morning 
 of the 5th of October, a party of armed men took
 
 THE FEtflAK RAID. 215 
 
 possession of the place in the name of the Provisional 
 Government of Ked River. I was taken prisoner 
 while in bed and held until our release by the Ameri- 
 can troops between two and three o'clock p.m. The 
 men who took the place were armed with rifles and 
 bayonets, and some with side arms. Prisoner was one 
 of them ; did not know any in command of the party 
 till next morning. Saw O'Donohue, O'Neil, Curry 
 and Donnelly there. They were called generals, 
 colonels and commanders-in-chief. (Laughter.) The 
 Hudson Bay Company's fort is on British territory. 
 While I was prisoner there were acts of robbery com- 
 mitted. A great quantity of provisions was taken 
 out of the store and loaded into waggons in the 
 square of the fort. They plundered the place while 
 there and made prisoners of the people of the fort. 
 They placed sentries on the gates and made them- 
 selves perfect masters of the place. Witness then 
 narrated the arrival of the United States troops, 
 and said that when Curry and O'Neil heard of it, 
 the former said that the waggons with the plunder 
 must be got out. That was Curry's last order 
 before he fled with the rest. The rank and file 
 were already (continued witness) nearly all gone 
 some on horseback and some on foot prisoner along 
 with the rest. They scattered in all directions. 
 While the Fenians were in the fort the commands 
 were given in English, by all the four officers; counted 
 thirty-seven armed men inside the square at one time. 
 Saw the witnesses brought in prisoners by the 
 Fenians, but not prisoner at the bar. He was with 
 the body of armed men who took the fort, and armed 
 like them. While the armed men held possession of 
 the fort, their officers told me they had taken it in 
 the name of the Provisional Government of Red River, 
 and that they were going to take Fort Garry also. 
 The Fenians crossed the river after they fled from
 
 216 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 the troops. When the Fenians were apprised by the 
 horsemen that the United States troops were upon 
 them, I looked into the square of the fort and saw a 
 great commotion among the Fenians. Each one ran 
 hither and thither some escaping by one gate and 
 some by another. I soon found myself without a 
 guard. All the generals and colonels had skedaddled 
 except one man.' 
 
 " To the Attorney-General 
 
 " ' That one man was O'Donohue.' " 
 
 The reason of this friendly intervention of the 
 United States troops has been given by the United 
 States Consul, the late Consul Taylor, in the following 
 statement : The consul says that he obtained infor- 
 mation early in September, 1871, of the probability 
 of a Fenian attack upon Manitoba, which he com- 
 municated to Governor Archibald and his ministers, 
 and received an assurance that neither the Manitoba 
 authorities nor the Canadian Government would object 
 to a movement of American troops across the inter- 
 national boundary for the suppression of a violation 
 by Fenians of the Neutrality Laws of the United 
 States. On the llth of September a full statement 
 of the situation was forwarded to Washington. On 
 the 19th of September orders were sent to Colonel 
 Wheaton to make the proposed armed intervention, 
 which he gallantly executed, and under date of Octo- 
 ber 5th was able to communicate the capture. The 
 100,000 more cut-throats who were to follow O'Neil 
 and company never came. 
 
 For the service to both countries Colonel Wheaton 
 and Consul Taylor received through the Department
 
 THE FENIAN RAID. 217 
 
 of State, by Sir Edward Thornton, the thanks of the 
 British Government. 
 
 Major Mulvey, then the editor of The Manitoba 
 Liberal, was in command of a company of volunteers 
 who went to the front to repel the invaders, and thus 
 wrote concerning the raid : 
 
 " In our last issue we stated that a Fenian invasion 
 of the Province had taken place. Upon the strength 
 of the Governor's proclamation we made the assertion. 
 But at the time of its issue, men in a position to 
 know positively asserted that it was no Fenian raid 
 that it was nothing more or less than a projected 
 rising of the supporters and friends of the old Pro- 
 visional Government. Men who had carefully 
 watched the conduct of Kiel in this Province since 
 last Christmas, and who had heard his seditious 
 harangues outside of chapel doors on Sundays, knew 
 better what was in the wind, and notified the authori- 
 ties accordingly, who treated the information with 
 indifference. Now it is ascertained that O'Donohue 
 was aided and abetted by Kiel and his friends in this 
 Province, and was told time and again that the 
 French population in this country were ready to take 
 up arms on his side. The fort was taken possession 
 of, not in the name of the Fenians or Irish Republic, 
 but in the name of the Provisional Government of 
 Red River. 
 
 "VOLUNTEERING AMONG THE ENGLISH. 
 
 " As soon as the Governor's proclamation was 
 issued calling upon all classes and political parties to 
 ' rally around the flag,' a public meeting was called 
 in Winnipeg and largely attended. By six o'clock the 
 following morning nearly three hundred men from
 
 THE FENIAN RAtfr 219 
 
 Winnipeg alone were enrolled, marched to the Govern- 
 ment House and their services proffered. Before the 
 sun set the following day the men who at first de- 
 clared they would never again shoulder a musket 
 were on their way knee deep in mud. 
 
 "DEPARTURE FOR PEMBINA. 
 
 "On Friday, at 1.30 p.m., an order was issued to 
 the Winnipeg company to assemble for parade, and 
 inside of an hour they paraded ninety strong. At 
 three o'clock they were ordered to equip themselves 
 and to be ready to march at four. Although there is 
 considerable difficulty in providing men with muni- 
 tions of war and necessaries for the route, yet through 
 the exertions of Major Irvine and Major Peebles and 
 the company officers, they were equipped and ready 
 before the appointed time. 
 
 . " Many of our citizens closed their places of busi- 
 ness, amongst whom may be mentioned Davison & 
 Miller, of the Manitoba Hotel, and Dawson & Gar- 
 diner, contractors ; in fact, almost every man of the 
 company left at great personal sacrifice. No induce- 
 ments could prevail on Mr. Farquarson and Mr. 
 Armstrong, two aged men, to remain behind. 
 
 " At five o'clock the little expedition, numbering 
 two hundred men and twenty teams, moved off from 
 the fort across the Assiniboine. 
 
 " In the pelting rain the men had to stand for nearly 
 three hours waiting for the whole to cross that 
 abominable ferry. The Winnipeggers had only fifty- 
 five blankets for eighty-eight men, and these were 
 wringing wet, so that the comfort of the first night's 
 campaigning was not very agreeable. But the men 
 were in the best of spirits. The roads were nearly 
 impassable, and we had scarcely marched two miles ere 
 the teams got off the road, so we threw out a line of
 
 220 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 skirmishers to find it, and when they came to a ditch 
 they shouted out to the driver 'right' or 'left,' as they 
 were unacquainted with the teaming phraseology of 
 ' gee ' and ' haw.' We succeeded in making five 
 miles of as miserable a march as ever soldiers made, 
 when the sound of the bugle told us that we were to 
 pitch tents for the night. 
 
 " On the wet ground, covered by a single wet blan- 
 ket, the gentlemen soldiery of Winnipeg spent the 
 first night." 
 
 I deemed it my duty to join them next morning, 
 my son having done so already. 
 
 " The little expedition halted the following day at 
 Stinking River for some five or six hours. Here we 
 ascertained that O'Donohue was taken prisoner and 
 released again. The men began to doubt the prob- 
 abilities of getting a chance at the Fenians this time, 
 and this threw them into a state of bad humor. After 
 travelling the following day to Larocque's in St. 
 Agathe, where we remained over night, we retraced 
 our steps and arrived home on Tuesday afternoon 
 after a five days' campaign, sorely disappointed at not 
 seeing the face of a Fenian. 
 
 " FRENCH VOLUNTEERING. 
 
 " Before leaving the fort and while on our way we 
 heard a great deal about the French volunteers. 
 Well, we could not find a man who saw a French 
 volunteer on the way, further than a few men under 
 that well-tried and sterling loyalist Wm. Dease, and 
 a few scouts from Winnipeg under Captain Plainval. 
 
 " On the 3rd of October the proclamation was 
 issued; by next day it was nobly responded to by 
 the English ; and on the eighth, when, as far as is
 
 THE FENIAN RAID. 221 
 
 known, the danger was entirely past and not a Fenian 
 remained in the country, the French offered their 
 services what patriotism ! 
 
 " Before the men dispersed, they halted at the par- 
 sonage, and gave three hearty cheers for the Rev. 
 George Young, their worthy chaplain, who, through 
 commendable self-denial, accompanied the little ex- 
 pedition from the start, and who preached on Sunday 
 a most eloquent sermon. Too much praise cannot be 
 given the reverend gentleman, for, if there be one man 
 who has acted a soldierly, manly part in the affairs of 
 this country, that man is well-known to be the Rev. 
 George Young." 
 
 In the midst of these excitements, a correspondence 
 of the Lieutenant-Governor with Priest Ritchot, of 
 St. Norbert, seems worthy of a place in these records, 
 inasmuch as it throws some light, by obvious impli- 
 cations at least, upon matters under review : 
 
 "ST. BONIFACE, 5th October, 1871. 
 " To His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor : 
 
 " May it please your Excellency, In the conversa- 
 tion which I had the honor to hold with you yester- 
 day we both agreed that it was proper to secure the 
 influence of Mr. Riel to direct his compatriots in the 
 present state of affairs, and prevent them taking a 
 false course. 
 
 " Upon deep reflection, I take the liberty of re- 
 marking to your Excellency that inasmuch as Mr. 
 Riel is in such a position that he cannot act openly 
 as a citizen, I do not believe that he should place 
 himself at their head unless he had some guarantee 
 that his proceedings would be looked upon with 
 favor by your Excellency. 
 
 " Consequently, I beg leave to ask of you some
 
 222 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 assurance which will shelter him from any legal pro- 
 ceeding, at least for the present (pour la circonstance 
 actuelle). 
 
 (Signed) " N. J. RITCHOT. 
 
 " P.S. Being about to leave immediately for my 
 parish, I beg to request your Excellency will kindly 
 give an answer to the bearer, who will at once bring 
 it to me. (Signed) " N. J. R." 
 
 " GOVERNMENT HOUSE, October 5th, 1871. 
 
 " REVEREND SIR, Your note has just reached me ; 
 you speak of the difficulties which might impede any 
 action of Mr. Riel in coming forward to use his influ- 
 ence with his fellow-citizens to rally to the support 
 of the Crown in the present emergency. 
 
 " Should Mr. Riel come forward as suggested, he 
 need be under no apprehension that his liberty shall 
 be interfered with in any way ; to use your own 
 language, ' pour la circonst-mce actuelle.' 
 
 " It is hardly necessary for me to add that the 
 co-operation of the French half-breeds and their 
 leaders "in the support of the Crown, under present 
 circumstances, will be very welcome, and cannot be 
 looked upon otherwise than as entitling them to most 
 favorable consideration. 
 
 " Let me add that in giving you this assurance with 
 promptitude, 1 feel myself entitled to be met in the 
 same spirit. 
 
 " The sooner the French half-breeds assume the 
 attitude in question, the more graceful will be their 
 action and the more favorable their influence. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, Reverend Sir, 
 
 " Yours truly, 
 (Signed) " H. G. ARCHIBALD, 
 
 " Lieutenant-Governor. 
 " Rev. Pere'Ritchot, 
 
 ""St. Norbert."
 
 THE FENIAN RAID. 223 
 
 Messrs. Kiel, Lepine and Parenteau wrote to Gov- 
 ernor Archibald as follows : 
 
 "ST. VITAL, 7th October, 1871. 
 
 " May it please your Excellency, We have the 
 honor of informing you that we highly appreciate 
 what your Excellency has been pleased to communi- 
 cate to Rev. Mr. Ritchot, in order that we might be 
 better able to assist the people to answer your appeal. 
 As several trustworthy persons have been requested 
 to inform you, the answer of the Metis has been that 
 of faithful subjects. Several companies have already 
 been organized, and others are in process of forma- 
 tion. 
 
 " Your Excellency may rest assured that, without 
 being enthusiastic, we have been devoted. 
 
 " So long as our services will be required you may 
 rely on us. 
 
 " We have the honor to be, etc , etc., . . . 
 
 (Signed) "Louis RIEL. 
 
 "A. D. LEPINE. 
 "P. PARENTEAU. 
 
 " To the Honorable G. Archibald, Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor of Manitoba." 
 
 To this the Governor caused the following answer 
 to be made : 
 
 " GENTLEMEN, I have it in command from His 
 Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor to acknowledge 
 the receipt of your note of this morning, assuring 
 His Excellency of the hearty response of the Metis 
 to the appeal made to them in His Excellency's pro- 
 clamation. 
 
 " You may say to the people, on whose behalf you 
 write, that His Excellency is much gratified to receive
 
 224 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 the assurance which he anticipated in his communica- 
 tion with the Rev. Pere Ritchot, and which your 
 letter conveys, and that he will take the earliest 
 opportunity to transmit to His Excellency the Gover- 
 nor-General this evidence of the loyalty and good 
 faith of the Metis of Manitoba. 
 
 " His Excellency will be pleased to be furnished, as 
 soon as possible, with a nominal list of the persons in 
 each parish who desire to enroll in active service in 
 the present emergency. 
 
 " His Excellency will rely upon their readiness to 
 come forward the moment they receive notice. 
 
 " I have the honor to be, gentlemen, 
 " Your obedient servant, 
 (Signed) " W. F. BUCHANAN, 
 
 "Acting Private Secretary. 
 
 " To MM. L. Riel, A. D. Lepine, Pierre Parenteau." 
 
 The day following the date of this last letter an 
 incident transpired which called forth a good deal of 
 sharp criticism. I quote again from the Liberal : 
 
 " THE GOVERNOR AND RIEL. 
 
 " We briefly referred in our last to the fact that on 
 Sunday afternoon, the 8th inst., the Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor was sent for by Louis Riel, who, with about 
 one hundred of a gang who aided him in his villainies 
 of 1869 and 1870, took up a position on the east side 
 of the Red River, opposite Fort Garry. The sum- 
 mons was duly and expeditiously answered by His 
 Honor's appearance among them, and in the blaze of 
 day, and within a gunshot of the spot where Thomas 
 Scott was murdered, the Queen's representative shook 
 hands with the murderer. It will be seen from other 
 columns that Riel, on hearing of O'Donohue's failure
 
 THE FENIAN RAID. 225 
 
 at Pembina, decided, instead of going to join that 
 worthy, as was his original intention, on offering his 
 services to Mr. Archibald. The acceptance of his 
 services was in entire accordance with the Lieutenant- 
 Governor's policy. We cannot find language to ex- 
 press the deep humiliation created in the minds of 
 the people who witnessed or heard of this climax of 
 insult to loyal men in the Province." 
 
 The results of this correspondence and hand-shak- 
 ing were such as might have been anticipated. These 
 well-mounted Metis, headed by Kiel and Lepine, now 
 volunteered their services as scouts to guard the fron- 
 tier against further raids that might be attempted, of 
 which there was not the remotest danger. Their 
 offer was made for a widely different purpose ; it 
 was, however, accepted forthwith (shall I say by the 
 unsuspecting Governor ?), and as soon as duly supplied 
 with provisions, etc., etc., they left to go where they 
 pleased and enjoy themselves as they well knew how 
 to do. A detachment of this somewhat belated 
 scouting force paid a visit to a small settlement of 
 loyal Protestants at Boyne River, sixty miles distant 
 from Winnipeg, where I was accustomed to hold ser- 
 vices and do pastoral work. The object of their visit 
 seemed to the settlers to be to terrorize, in order to 
 induce them to promise to give up their " claims " in 
 this pleasant and well- wooded locality and go else- 
 where in quest of homes. They were told that they 
 were authorized to stake out claims for themselves in 
 that section, and that they would return before long 
 and build their houses on them. At my next visit to. 
 15
 
 226 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 the settlement, when this was reported to me, I 
 advised the people, who were considerably disturbed 
 by this visit from the " scouts," to rest quietly and 
 await further developments. As I was returning 
 across the forty-mile stretch of unoccupied prairie, I 
 saw in the distance quite a number of these mounted 
 volunteers who where provisioned to guard the 
 frontier, but who, having tired, I suppose, of their 
 hardships and privations in soldiering, were then 
 " homeward bound." They never returned to disturb 
 the Boyne River settlers, and it was well for them- 
 selves that they did not. 
 
 Thus ended the farce that followed the fizzle, and 
 yet the two combined occasioned another "call to 
 arms" in Ontario, and another heavy expenditure to 
 the Dominion Government, in the sending out of a 
 second expedition under Captain Scott to reinforce 
 the company in Fort Garry, and so to be the better 
 prepared to deal with either raiders or insurrectionists 
 that might require attention. This expedition of two 
 hundred men left Collingwood on the 21st of October, 
 1871, reached Port Arthur on the 24th, and arrived 
 within twelve miles of the North- West Angle of the 
 Lake of the Woods on the 12th of November, where 
 they were compelled to leave their boats and march 
 across the newly formed ice to the road leading to 
 Fort Garry, and proceeding thence, in intensely cold 
 weather, arrived at the fort on November 18th 
 a marvellous march certainly under such circum- 
 stances 110 miles in a little over four days. The 
 journey from Collingwood to Winnipeg was performed 
 ill eighteen days.
 
 228 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 In January, 1872, Riel and Lepine consented to 
 retire from Manitoba, and of course cease agitating 
 the people for a time, in consideration of receiving 
 each the sum of $1,600, while provision was to be 
 made for their families for a period of not less than a 
 year. They had found it so profitable to agitate and 
 cause an insurrection, and then to seize the fort and 
 its contents of goods and food, and liquors and money, 
 and then to imprison many of their former neighbors 
 and confiscate horses, sleighs and robes, and even 
 money, in 1869 and '70, that now in 1872 they seemed 
 to think that their demands for almost any sum, as 
 an inducement to retire, should at once be met. 
 
 So much for the " peace at any price policy." And 
 what seems almost incredible, this was being done in 
 the same Dominion in which and while a reward of 
 $5,000 was being offered for their arrest ; a portion of 
 which, if not all, was paid subsequently to those who 
 took part in the arrest of parties implicated to some 
 extent in the murder of Scott. In his restless ambi- 
 tion for position and power, Riel returned to Manitoba 
 and was elected by these loyal (?) Metis to represent 
 Provencher in the Dominion Parliament. 
 
 On the 30th of March, 1874, he appeared at Ottawa, 
 and, signing the roll of the House, quickly vanished, 
 and on the 16th of April he was duly and deservedly 
 expelled. 
 
 A revelation, both encouraging and admonitory, 
 followed this contemptible fizzle : 
 
 First. The loyalty, bravery and reliability of the 
 Protestant sections of the population were revealed 
 as never before.
 
 THE FENIAN RAID. 229 
 
 Second. There was also a fuller disclosure of the 
 extent to which the Metis were controlled by unpat- 
 riotic influences than many had hitherto suspected. 
 
 Third. That the real motive of those who com- 
 bined to bring about this raid and the consequent 
 disturbance, was not so much conquest as intimida- 
 tion, in order to an amnesty for Kiel and Lepine and 
 their coadjutors in rebellion and crime, and for 
 "better terms" for the French half-breed element. 
 In this I doubt not they acted under dictation. The 
 volunteers, whether Canadians or natives, who rallied 
 around the old flag and followed it to meet the foe, 
 required no urging from their clergy to induce them 
 to take up arms for the defence of the country, and 
 certainly they received no instructions to clamor for 
 " better terms " before consenting to do so. Had all 
 pursued a similar course, a better state of things 
 would have speedily obtained throughout the country.
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE FIRST MANITOBA MISSIONARY 
 CONFERENCE. 
 
 IN accordance with our request, the Board of Mis- 
 sions appointed a deputation to visit Winnipeg and 
 meet, for consultation, etc., the missionaries from the 
 interior, who should be called together for that pur- 
 pose. On the 16th of February, 1872, I received the 
 following telegram from the Mission Rooms, Toronto : 
 
 " Summon missionaries of both Districts to meet 
 deputation, Punshon, Wood and Macdonald, August 
 first, at Winnipeg. 
 
 (Signed) " WOOD AND TAYLOR." 
 
 Of course I did as bid, and the brethren were not 
 disobedient to the authoritative summons. Of the 
 deputation, Dr. Wood was the first to arrive, and a 
 most trying trip for one of his age he had from 
 Moorehead to Winnipeg by stage. Two days and two 
 nights it took, amid dust and mosquitoes, for the old 
 tumble-down rig to bring its passengers through. 
 The good doctor arrived at our parsonage at midnight 
 very much exhausted, and next . day wired Dr. Pun- 
 shon and Mr. Macdonald at Moorehead to be sure and
 
 FIRST MANITOBA MISSIONARY CONFERENCE. 231 
 
 connect with the steamer on Red River and not come 
 by stage. And it was well for them that they heeded 
 his warning. 
 
 As the missionaries and the other members had not 
 yet arrived, Dr. Wood, after resting for a few days, 
 accompanied me on a trip to Portage la Prairie, High 
 Bluff and Poplar Point, which involved a drive of 
 120 miles, in order that he might personally look 
 over the ground and judge of the present condition 
 of the work and its future prospects. Services were 
 held at several points, and the doctor returned, pleased 
 with the country and the people h^ had met and the 
 prospects. 
 
 Soon after our return the missionaries from the 
 regions beyond reported at the parsonage, as did 
 the remainder of the deputation. All were in ad- 
 vance of the time appointed in the summons sent us 
 over the wires, and therefore, instead of August first, 
 our conference opened on July 26th, 1872, in our 
 first Grace Church. During the few days following, 
 ere the brethren separated, we enjoyed the great pri- 
 vilege of hearing two of Dr. Punshon's inimitable 
 lectures, which were well attended and highly appre- 
 ciated by the people ; he also preached on the Sabbath 
 in the morning, Dr. Wood preaching in the evening, 
 By all it was accounted a rare privilege indeed to 
 hear these lectures and discourses from such honored 
 and gifted ministers. 
 
 For a description of the conference and its work I 
 cannot do better than quote the report presented to 
 the Board of Missions by the deputation on their
 
 232 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 return to Ontario. The report was presented at the 
 annual meeting of the Board, held on this occasion in 
 the town of Brockville, and was as follows : 
 
 "REPORT OF THE DEPUTATION APPOINTED TO VISIT 
 MANITOBA. 
 
 " By the President's direction, the missionaries in 
 the Red River and Saskatchewan Districts were sum- 
 moned to meet the deputation at Winnipeg on the 1st 
 of August. Through the good providence of God the 
 whole of the brethren were in Winnipeg with the 
 exception of J. Sinclair, native teacher at Oxford 
 House on Tuesday, the 23rd of July. One party 
 had been travelling twenty-five days, and another 
 twenty days. These were from the Saskatchewan 
 District, who, having their horses and travelling 
 equipage, preferred camping on the prairie, in the 
 vicinity of the town, during the whole of their stay, 
 choosing the air and freedom of such a home before 
 the best accommodation they could have in the 
 houses of friends who would willingly have received 
 them as guests for their works' sake. 
 
 " The deputation being completed on the 2oth, by 
 the arrival of Messrs. Punshon and Macdonald, the 
 following are the names of the members who consti- 
 tuted the meeting, which began its conversations 
 upon the state of the work of God in this vast coun- 
 try, on the morning of July 26th, 1872, in the Wes- 
 leyan Church, Winnipeg, Province of Manitoba : 
 
 " The Rev. W. Morley Punshon, LL.D., President of 
 the Conference ; Rev. E. Wood, D.D., Secretary of the 
 Missionary Society ; and J. Macdonald, Esq., Treasurer 
 of the Society, deputation from the Committee and 
 Conference. Rev. George Young, Winnipeg, Chairman 
 of the Red River District; Rev. George McDougall,
 
 FIRST MANITOBA MISSIONARY CONFERENCE. 233 
 
 Edmonton House, Chairman of the Saskatchewan 
 District; Rev. Michael Fawcett, High Bluff; Rev. 
 Matthew Robison, High Bluff; Rev. Henry B. Stein- 
 hauer, White Fish Lake ; Rev. Peter Campbell, Vic- 
 toria; Rev. John McDougall, Woodville; Rev. E. R. 
 Young, Rossville, Norway House ; Rev. A. Bowerman, 
 Winnipeg. A candidate for the ministry, George 
 Edwards, employed by the Chairman, was also 
 present. 
 
 " After religious exercises the first question which 
 engaged the attention of the meeting was the spirit- 
 ual state of the several missions. The deputation 
 heard, with pleasure and gratitude to Almighty God, 
 that at all the stations occupied by the Society the 
 ' signs ' of true evangelical prosperity exist. This they 
 attribute, in connection with the Holy Spirit's influ- 
 ence, to the devotedness of the missionaries to their 
 high calling, other testimony than their own being 
 given that they pay no more attention to the seculari- 
 ties of life than what they are compelled to do from 
 a sense of duty in providing for the wants of them- 
 selves and families, and presenting an example of 
 industry in their domestic arrangements for the con- 
 verted Indians to imitate. 
 
 " The congregations in Winnipeg vary much, as the 
 people arrive and depart to other locations. The 
 building will easily accommodate 250 ; at times the 
 place is crowded with a devout assemblage. The 
 means of grace peculiar to us as a Church have 
 been established by Mr. Young, and are much appre- 
 ciated by the more spiritually minded. Up to the 
 time of the visit of the deputation, the only week- 
 evening service among Protestants in the town was 
 held by Mr. Young. Besides supplying Winnipeg, 
 the missionary has extended his visits occasionally to 
 a distance of sixty miles hence Boyne River, Stur- 
 geon Creek, Headingly, and Victoria Settlement are
 
 234 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 places where he has been welcomed as a minister of 
 Christ. Now that an assistant has been given him, 
 and the population at these appointments being 
 rapidly on the increase, the prospects of usefulness 
 are very cheering. 
 
 "The High Bluff Mission was visited, embracing 
 Poplar Point and Portage la Prairie Mr. Robison's 
 labors here have been greatly blessed. The people 
 highly appreciate the ordinances established among 
 them. In addition to the two churches already built, 
 preparations are being made for one at Gowler's and 
 another at the Portage. Mr. Fawcett has entered 
 upon his labors here in a cheerful and self-denying 
 spirit. The deputation regret the inconveniences he 
 and his truly devoted wife had to endure for the 
 want of household accommodation. Should success 
 attend the efforts made for the erection of a parson- 
 age, or the hiring for the time being of a house to 
 shelter themselves, we may anticipate continued pros- 
 perity in the discharge of his ministerial duties, and 
 of those associated with him in this truly missionary 
 field. 
 
 " Settlements are forming beyond the Portage, 
 which have already been visited by the Society's 
 missionaries, and as these extend and increase in 
 numbers they should secure our practical sympathies 
 by sending to them additional laborers. 
 
 " The statements of the Rev. E. R. Young respecting 
 Norway House Mission were full of encouragement. 
 Far away from the many allurements to evil which 
 beset other Indian communities especially in Ontario 
 these converts display a consistency of deportment, 
 attention to the means of grace, and practical remem- 
 brance of religious instruction, which result in an 
 intelligent growth in Christian knowledge and expe- 
 rience. Beside visiting Oxford House, and adminis- 
 tering the ordinances to the members of the Church
 
 FIRST MANITOBA MISSIONARY CONFERENCE. 235 
 
 there, which is more than two hundred miles north- 
 east of his own mission, his visits to Nelson and 
 Berens Rivers have been attended with great success. 
 At one time he met at Nelson River 250 Indians : of 
 these 110 have been baptized, seventy of whom were 
 adults. Several of these were at Winnipeg, and 
 sought an interview with the deputation for the pur- 
 pose of entreating them to send a teacher to their 
 people. Two of them belonged to bands five hundred 
 miles still farther north. The whole region is purely 
 a fur-bearing country ; the people are unsettled and 
 migratory in their habits, and yet hundreds of them 
 are calling for that knowledge which can only be 
 imparted by the Bible and the servants of God. The 
 most feasible plan for supplying these wants, as it 
 appeared to the deputation, would be to employ one 
 or more native agencies, and allow the missionaries 
 at Rossville to direct their labors, and administer the 
 ordinances of religion at their gatherings each year 
 for purposes of trade. The months of April and May, 
 and August and September, are the best times of the 
 year for meeting large numbers of Indians at Nelson 
 River and other places. Norway House is 340 miles 
 north of Fort Garry ; and Berens River, where the 
 Hudson Bay Company have a trading post, a little 
 more than half way to the Rossville Mission, being 
 on the eastern shores of Lake Winnipeg, 180 miles 
 distant. Connected with this is Pigeon River, the 
 residence of a small band, ten miles by water and six 
 by land from Berens River. There are 250 Indians, 
 all accessible to your missionary, sixty- eight of whom 
 have given in their names for Church membership, 
 and ten of whom Mr. E. R. Young pronounces to be 
 soundly converted to God. The land in this locality 
 is very good for settlement, and the fisheries inex- 
 haustible. As Rossville is becoming overcrowded, 
 and the soil there for agricultural purposes only
 
 236 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 limited, if the Society establish a substantial mission 
 at Berens River, having the same spiritual advan- 
 tages which are enjoyed at Rossville, no doubt a 
 number of Indian families would make Berens River 
 their home, and thereby constitute a growing, healthy 
 mission station, midway between Red River and 
 Norway House. The Indian will leave his hunting 
 and trapping and hesitate not to travel 150 miles, if 
 necessary, to attend sacramental service : and that, 
 too, without any reliance upon ritualistic merit, but 
 purely from the love of Christ in his heart, and obe- 
 dience to the law of his Divine Master. It was 
 reported to the deputation that for the want of ordi- 
 nances once enjoyed at a mission station five hundred 
 miles away from Rossville transferred some years 
 since by the parent Society to another branch of the 
 Church of Christ thirty-five members had removed 
 the whole of this distance to Rossville for no other 
 reason than that they might enjoy class and prayer- 
 meetings, in addition to what they called a different 
 ministry, without which they declared they could 
 not live. 
 
 " From the long period of time Oxford House has 
 been left without an ordained missionary, there are 
 not the same gratifying features of life and vigor 
 existing there which we all earnestly desire. In the 
 judgment of the deputation, this post should imme- 
 diately receive the appointment of a minister in full 
 standing. Whilst approving of the appointment, by 
 Mr. E. R. Young, of the excellent brother now at 
 Berens River, yet the authorities of the Church 
 would act quite in accordance with the importance 
 of the work if they appointed an ordained man to 
 take charge of this station, and for which, in addition 
 to the free-will offerings of generous and esteemed 
 friends, it is hoped the committee will make suitable 
 appropriations.
 
 FIRST MANITOBA MISSIONARY CONFERENCE. 237 
 
 " Lengthy conversations were held upon the re- 
 ligious state of the work at Edmonton House, Wood- 
 ville, Victoria, and White Fish Lake Saskatchewan 
 District from which the deputation received favor- 
 able impressions of the present healthy and prosper- 
 ous condition of all the missions. The two day- 
 schools have received much support from the Hon. 
 Hudson Bay Company's officers, and the settlers 
 who have located where these are in operation. The 
 deputation are convinced that the brethren there are 
 truly devoted to their work ; and whilst they have 
 been preserved amidst many dangers in their frequent 
 and laborious journey, God has graciously owned 
 their testimony of the truth as it is in Jesus, so that 
 the Cree and the Stoney join their songs of praise for 
 converting grace with their more favored brethren, 
 ' the pale faces.' The deputation commend to the 
 committee a new post selected by the Chairman, of the 
 Bow River, as a most favorable point to operate 
 among the Blackfeet, whose disposition to receive a 
 missionary is now very earnest, but whose wants 
 cannot be fully met until another missionary is sent 
 to that District, which they hope will not fail to be 
 done early in the ensuing spring. 
 
 " Upon the subject of education, the deputation 
 desire to draw the attention of the Church to the 
 desirableness of an early effort to establish a college at 
 Winnipeg. Mr. Macdonald was requested to name 
 this to Governor Smith, from whom he received the 
 assurance that if the Wesleyan Church entered into 
 this enterprise the Hudson Bay Company would 
 provide gratuitously sufficient land for this purpose. 
 A day-school should also be established at Oxford 
 House, Woodville, and Edmonton House. 
 
 " The deputation feel much indebted to Governor 
 Smith for the great courtesy and hospitality which 
 they received from him during their stay at Fort
 
 238 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 Garry, and for the interest which he and other officers 
 of the company showed, especially in the trouble and 
 expense incurred in fitting up accommodations in their 
 commodious new warehouse for Dr. Punshon's lecture 
 on the evening of the 30th of July. This large and 
 respectable assemblage was presided over by His 
 Excellency Governor Archibald, whose attendance at 
 the ordination service, in addition to this, evinced a 
 catholicity of spirit encouraging to all laborers in the 
 Church of Christ. The proceeds of this lecture, and 
 one delivered in the Wesleyan Church on the previous 
 Friday evening, when Jas. W. Taylor, Esq., American 
 Consul, presided, were generously presented by the 
 President toward the liquidation of the debt upon our 
 church and parsonage. The religious services excited 
 much interest in the settlement, and were seasons of 
 profit and delight. 
 
 "In conclusion, the deputation congratulate the 
 committee on having brethren in these Districts of 
 whom gentlemen in high authority speak with great 
 respect, and hold them in much esteem as Christian 
 ministers ; and for them and their work they bespeak 
 a continued manifestation of that confidence, sympa- 
 thy, and liberality which have hitherto marked all 
 their dealings with those new and distant missions. 
 Considering the vast extent of their work, their 
 appeals for a few extra grants are not very large, to 
 which it is hoped a cheerful response will be given. 
 They would also press upon the attention of the 
 committee the following resolution, being deeply con- 
 vinced that great good will result from its being 
 practically, and at an early day, complied with : 
 
 " Moved by the Rev. George Young, seconded by 
 the Rev. George McDougall, ' That it is the unani- 
 mous judgment of this meeting that the remoter 
 missions of these Districts should be visited by an 
 officer of the Society, or a senior member of the Con-
 
 FIRST MANITOBA MISSIONARY CONFERENCE. 239 
 
 f erence ; and we earnestly solicit the General Com- 
 mittee to make arrangements for this desirable object 
 as early as practicable.' 
 
 " In the accomplishment of so long a journey, the 
 deputation would gratefully acknowledge their in- 
 debtedness to the goodness of God in preserving them 
 from harm. Two of them experienced a remarkable 
 deliverance from imminent peril on the waters of 
 Lake Superior, in interposition of Divine mercy to 
 many others embarked in the same steamer with 
 Messrs. Punshon and Macdonald, which resulted in 
 voluntary thank-offerings that will greatly assist in 
 the erection of Providence Church in Prince Arthur's 
 Landing, commemorative of their marvellous rescue, 
 and their heartfelt gratitude to Almighty God." 
 
 I deem it appropriate to insert here the concluding 
 paragraph in the Minutes of the Conference which 
 was taken by myself as Secretary : 
 
 " The business for which the missionaries had been 
 called together having been finished, appropriate and 
 affectionate farewell addresses and counsels were 
 given by the lay Treasurer, Mr. Macdonald ; the Rev. 
 Dr. Wood and President Punshon, after which the 
 539th hymn was sung and the Divine blessing in- 
 voked upon the missions throughout, as well as upon 
 the missionaries in their long, tiresome and perilous 
 journeys, and their flocks in the distance. The meet- 
 ing closed with the benediction from the President." 
 
 The following extracts are from addresses given at 
 the Brock ville meeting by the late John Macdonald, 
 Esq., and the late Rev. Dr. Punshon : , 
 
 Mr. Macdonald said : " It may be expected that 
 I may have a few words to say about the Red River,
 
 240 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 being one of the deputation to that distant part of 
 our work. Time was when a visit to that land, the 
 Red River of the North, meant a long and fatiguing 
 journey. To reach it from Toronto it was necessary 
 first to go to Montreal, to follow the old canoe route 
 of the Hudson Bay Company, by water and portage, 
 to be bitten and tortured by mosquitoes, as our good 
 President was, to reach that land maimed and 
 wounded, and then to be shut out from civilization for 
 years, perhaps for many of them. The journey itself 
 was one which could be undertaken only by those of 
 rugged constitution, those having great powers of 
 endurance, and these would be abundantly called into 
 exercise before he reached the end of his journey. 
 The land itself was a sealed land, apart from the 
 traders of the Hudson Bay Company ; none but some 
 hardy venturer undertook that journey, and he, when 
 he ventured, became as much an object of wonder as 
 he would have been had he been an Arctic explorer ; 
 and should he furnish a paper on that country less 
 important than it is in the power of the members of 
 this deputation to furnish, he was as certain as he 
 was a living man to be made a member of the Royal 
 Geographical Society. All this is now changed. We 
 came back not to find that we were objects of wonder 
 not to be feted or made members of the Senate, for 
 contributions which we have made to the existing 
 knowledge of that country, but to find that we are 
 only ordinary mortals ; that we have done only what 
 you may do, and do so quickly that your friends will 
 scarcely notice your absence. The land is no longer 
 a sealed land ; you can now reach it by lake and 
 railroad in a few days ; and although our visit has 
 been so recent, yet since then railroad communica- 
 tion has been extended within seventy miles of Fort 
 Garry ; so that now even an invalid can go there and 
 not only be none the worse, but much the better for
 
 FIRST MANITOBA MISSIONARY CONFERENCE. 241 
 
 the journey. Sir George Simpson, in a work which 
 he published of a ' Voyage Round the World/ spoke 
 of that district as amazingly fertile, very salubrious, 
 and large enough to receive the millions from the over- 
 crowded cities of the Old World. When examined 
 before a select committee of the British House of 
 Commons, he withdrew any statement of the kind, 
 and represented it as unfit for settlement, and the 
 climate so uncertain as to render the growing of 
 grain very precarious. The Hudson Bay Company, 
 I have no doubt, discovered, ere this, that their in- 
 terest lies in diffusing information about the country, 
 not withholding it, and that in proportion as the land 
 is opened up their own interests will be promoted. 
 Well, I will not detain you with the journey down 
 the river, beautiful as it is ; of the tortuous windings 
 of the river, so many that a distance of two hundred 
 and fifty miles by land is extended to about seven 
 hundred miles by river, where all the bends in the 
 river are so alike that you cannot tell one from the 
 other, and all so beautiful that despite the unvarying 
 sameness you can look at them day after day with- 
 out tiring, and feel that 
 
 ' A thing of beauty is a joy forever.' 
 
 Nor am I going to speak to you about the boundless 
 prairie, stretching away for a thousand miles, and I 
 cannot tell how much farther and fertile as bound- 
 less. Nor am I going to speak of the climate, charm- 
 ing as that was when I was there, and pleasant and 
 healthful as I was told the winters were. Nor am I 
 going to speak of the political opinions that prevail, 
 for I hold that a Society like this should have nothing 
 to do with political parties. Their work is to do good 
 to the bodies as well as to the souls of men, without 
 reference to their politics, nationality or creed. My 
 remarks must have reference only to our work there. 
 
 16
 
 242 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 " You will remember that the effort for the building 
 of the Fort Garry church originated at the meeting 
 of this committee in Guelph four years ago. That 
 was the first meeting of this committee at which the 
 President sat, and his name was at the head of the 
 subscription list. Very wise was the election of the 
 Rev. George Young for that work, who has so labored 
 as to have secured the confidence of all classes of the 
 community. His circuit to-day is one of the most 
 desirable in the Dominion. The church property 
 itself is a beautiful property ; the church, as chaste 
 as any that I have seen in any of the rural districts. 
 The windows are all of beautiful stained glass, and 
 four designs in the centre show that they have been 
 the gifts of the Sunday-schools from Main Street, 
 Mount Zion, Centenary, Hamilton; North Street, 
 London; Ottawa, Brantford, Picton, and Quebec. I 
 do not remember seeing Brockville, but any neglect 
 there you purpose, I am persuaded, correcting now. 
 Of the church itself, an Indian who came with Rev. 
 E. R. Young from Norway House said, on seeing it, 
 ' This is very beautiful. I am going to heaven, and 
 I hope it will be as beautiful as this.- At the request 
 of the other members of the deputation, I brought 
 under the notice of the Governor of the Hudson Bay 
 Company, the Hon. Donald Smith, the matter of a 
 grant in Winnipeg for an educational establishment, 
 and with the same princely conduct which marked 
 all the other acts of that Company toward the mem- 
 bers of the deputation, Mr. Smith said a suitable 
 grant would be given; in fact, all that would be 
 needed ; and when you are told that fifty-feet lots 
 were sold in Fort Garry, while we were there, for 
 two thousand dollars, you will understand that such 
 a grant means money. If we are to do our work 
 there as we should, we must have our educational 
 establishment. The Church of England has one.
 
 FIRST MANITOBA MISSIONARY CONFERENCE. 243 
 
 The Free Church has one. We should have one. 
 We want about $3,000 to commence this work, and 
 we have good hope that we will get it to-night. I 
 was in hopes, sir, that you would have the honor of 
 commencing this work, as Oshawa had the honor 
 that is the Sunday-school of contributing the bell, 
 the only one in Winnipeg. And let me say of this 
 bell, that it not only calls to the house of God, but 
 during days of darkness, when the land was in the 
 midst of a rebellion, it rang out not only sounds of 
 deliverance to the settlers, but sounds of welcome to 
 our volunteers who came to their help. Well, sir, I 
 have in my hands a note about this scheme : If it be 
 true (and you as a politician will know whether it is 
 or not) that one vote before twelve o'clock is worth 
 two after, then what I am about to announce will 
 have an important bearing upon this effort. Mr. 
 John Torrance, who, I regret, is unable to be with us, 
 writes me with a readiness and liberality which char- 
 acterize all his efforts in connection with our funds, 
 to put him down for $250. That is a good com- 
 mencement, and, I think, assures us of the result. 
 The resolution with which I am entrusted has matter 
 enough to enable one to speak for a month; it speaks 
 of ' gratitude to God, spiritual success, enlarged in- 
 come, Divine promises, providential openings, and 
 increased liberality/ Now, upon this I must only 
 venture a few words : Why the increased wealth 
 which is flowing in so abundantly to Christ's people ? 
 Is it to make them increasingly sordid ? Is it to lead 
 them to say that they have much goods laid up for 
 many years ? What does the remarkable prosperity 
 of the past few years the most remarkably pros- 
 perous, perhaps, the world has ever seen say to us ? 
 ' Speak to the people that they go forward.' . . . 
 I am to be followed by the President, and must not 
 longer detain you, but trust that this evening we 
 shall raise the amount we require for this institution.
 
 244 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Punshon, in seconding the third 
 resolution, said : " My friend Mr. Macdonald, in mov- 
 ing this resolution, said it was one on which a speech 
 might be made for a month. But I am not disposed 
 to make a speech to-night, and were I so disposed, 
 the taste and temper of this congregation are not, at 
 this hour, disposed to listen. But one thing you have 
 the opportunity of doing, under the influence of what 
 you have heard that is, to follow up the challenge 
 given in reference to the proposed institution at 
 Manitoba. I must say, I don't like this pronuncia- 
 tion of Manito&tt, this Frenchified mode which some 
 purists have adapted. But Mr. Macdonald has really 
 stolen my speech. I have been dwelling on the hope 
 of giving some account of my visit, in company with 
 him and with Dr. Wood, to the Red River country. 
 In this, however, he has anticipated me. I may just 
 note, with respect to our country, that while it was 
 interesting, it was a most eventful journey. We 
 were mercifully delivered from the disaster of ship- 
 wreck after we had crossed from Sarnia, and were 
 approaching the opposite side. I shall not soon 
 forget what I then witnessed of the wonders of 
 the Lord on that wonderful lake. After reaching 
 Duluth, we proceeded by the Northern Pacific Rail- 
 road. From what we witnessed in this land journey, 
 and from a sense of duty to carry out the advice of 
 Mr. Wesley, to ' go not only to those who want us, 
 but to those who want us most,' there are many 
 places through which we passed in the United States 
 to which we should send missionaries. Of these I 
 may mention Brainard, a village on the bank of the 
 Mississippi. I cannot tell whether or not it is named 
 after the celebrated missionary, and therefore predes- 
 tinated to be missionary ground. It is a little city 
 in a forest. Each inhabitant seems to have cut away 
 the trees only that were required to give space for his
 
 FIRST MANITOBA MISSIONARY CONFERENCE. 245 
 
 house. Thus there were presented vistas most pic- 
 turesque and beautiful. This town dates from a year 
 ago last month, and has now about eight hundred 
 inhabitants. We passed through it twice, once on 
 our outward journey, and again, after an absence of 
 three weeks, on our return, and in that short time 
 one man had been shot, one stabbed, -and two Indians 
 were tried by Lynch law, and strung upon tall trees 
 in front of a saloon, with the appropriate name of 
 ' The Last Turn.' We certainly might send mission- 
 aries there with advantage if we had the means, if 
 only to teach them reverence for human life. Then 
 there was the town of Moorehead, of which Dr. 
 Wood has a pleasant and salubrious remembrance. 
 There every second dwelling is a gambling-house, a 
 dance-house, or a saloon. There is no church, no 
 school, no Sabbath, every one carries arms, and as 
 one of their own citizens remarked, ' It is a dull day 
 which passes without a shooting.' Possibly some 
 missionary effort might not be wasted there. You 
 may imagine that travelling is not altogether pleas- 
 ant in these parts. I say nothing of the voyage 
 down the Red River for seven hundred miles, nor of 
 the mosquitoes as blood-thirsty cannibals as ever 
 stuck spears into human flesh nor of the discomfort 
 of the steamboat, nor of the tortuous character of 
 the river, which winds so persistently and so ex- 
 tremely, that we passed by a man's house on two 
 sides of it, and were half an hour by the watch in 
 getting from one side to the other. I pass on to 
 notice our work. Our first Sabbath in Winnipeg was 
 a high day. First, we had a love-feast in the morn- 
 ing, starting in good Methodist fashion ; then, in the 
 forenoon, I preached, after which the ordination of 
 the Rev. John McDougall took place. In the after- 
 noon we held a missionary meeting. In the evening 
 Dr. Wood occupied the pulpit ; and this remarkable
 
 246 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 day closed with the administration of the Sacrament 
 of the Lord's Supper, at which were present Chris- 
 tians of all colors, white and red and yellow, all 
 animated by the one hope, and rejoicing in the one 
 Saviour. We were made glad in witnessing these 
 results of missionary toil." 
 
 As the result of this Conference the Mission Rooms 
 became not only better acquainted with the vastness 
 and importance of the work in which we were 
 engaged, but with the necessity of increasing the 
 staff of laborers, as well as the appropriations to 
 these toilers in order to secure greater progress. 
 
 After the many allusions in the preceding remarks 
 of Mr. Macdonald and Dr. Punshon re the Red River 
 of the North, the following correspondence and poem 
 will not be, to many at least, void of interest. 
 
 THE BELLS OF ST. BONIFACE. 
 
 In a poem by John Greenleaf Whittier, " The Red 
 River Voyageur," there is a beautiful allusion to the 
 " bells of the Roman Mission," now the Arch-episco- 
 pate of St. Boniface, " calling to the boatman on the 
 river and the hunter on the plain," and invoking at 
 the close of life's voyage " the signal of release in the 
 bells of the Holy City, the chimes of eternal peace." 
 Archbishop Tache, returning from his late visit to 
 Montreal, was reminded by Lieutenant-Governor 
 Schultz that the 17th of December was the eighty- 
 fourth birthday of the poet, and His Honor suggested 
 that the anniversary should be greeted by a joy-peal 
 from the tower of the cathedral of St. Boniface. His
 
 FIRST MANITOBA MISSIONARY CONFERENCE. 247 
 
 Grace cordially concurred, waiving the usage that 
 the bells should cease their chimes after the Angelus, 
 and the graceful tribute was directed and rendered at 
 midnight with the last stroke of the clock ushering 
 the natal day. Mr. Whittier, having been informed 
 of the incident by U. S. Consul Taylor, addressed the 
 following letter to Archbishop Tache, who kindly 
 consented, at our request, to its publication, as follows : 
 
 " NEWBUR.YPORT, MASS., 3 mo. 5, 1892. 
 " To Archbishop Tache : 
 
 "Mr DEAR FRIEND, During my illness from the 
 prevailing epidemic, which confined me nearly the 
 whole winter, and from which I am but very slowly 
 recovering, a letter from the U. S. Consul at Winnipeg 
 informed me of thy pleasant recognition of my little 
 poem, " The Red River Voyageur " (written nearly 
 forty years ago), by the ringing of " The Bells of St. 
 Boniface " on the eve of my late anniversary. 
 
 " I was at the time quite unable to respond, but I 
 feel that I should be wanting in due appreciation of 
 such a marked compliment if I did not, even at this 
 late hour, express to thee my heartfelt thanks. I 
 have reached an age when literary success and mani- 
 festations of popular favor have ceased to satisfy one 
 upon whom the solemnity of life's sunset is resting ; 
 but such a delicate and beautiful tribute has deeply 
 moved me. I shall never forget it. I shall hear the 
 bells of St. Boniface sounding across the continent, 
 and awakening a feeling of gratitude for thy generous 
 act. With renewed thanks, and the prayer that our 
 Heavenly Father may continue to make thee largely 
 instrumental in His service, I am, 
 
 " Gratefully and respectfully, 
 " Thy friend, 
 
 "JOHN G. WHITTIER."
 
 248 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 Thinking it possible that the poem which had been 
 the occasion of this exchange of delightful greetings 
 may be unfamiliar to some of our readers, and 
 knowing that it will be welcome to all, it is here 
 republished : 
 
 "THE RED RIVER VOYAGEUR. 
 
 ' ' Out and in the river is winding 
 
 The links of its long, red chain, 
 Through belts of dusky pine land 
 And gusty leagues of plain. 
 
 " Only at times, a smoke wreath 
 
 With the drifting cloud-rack joins 
 The smoke of the hunting lodges 
 Of the wild Assiniboines. 
 
 " Drearily blows the north wind 
 
 From the land of ice and snow ; 
 The eyes that look are weary, 
 And heavy the hands that row. 
 
 " And with one foot on the water, 
 
 And one upon the shore, 
 The Angel of Shadow gives warning 
 That day shall be no more. 
 
 " Is it the clang of wild geese, 
 
 Is it the Indian's yell, 
 That lends to the voice of the north wind 
 The tones of a far-off bell ? 
 
 " The voyageur smiles as he listens 
 To the sound that grows apace ; 
 Well he knows the vesper ringing 
 Of the bells of St. Boniface.
 
 FIRST MANITOBA MISSIONARY CONFERENCE. 249 
 
 " The bells of the Roman Mission, 
 
 That call from their turrets twain, 
 To the boatman on the river, 
 To the hunter on the plain. 
 
 " Even so in our mortal journey 
 The bitter north winds blow, 
 And thus upon life's Red River, 
 Our hearts, as oarsmen, row. 
 
 " And when the Angel of Shadow 
 
 Rests his feet on wave and shore, 
 And our eyes grow dim with watching, 
 And our hearts faint at the oar, 
 
 " Happy is he who heareth 
 
 The signal of his release 
 In the bells of the Holy City, 
 The chimes of eternal peace."
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 DR. LACHLAN TAYLORS WONDERFUL TOUR 
 
 AMONG THE MISSIONS IN THE " GREAT 
 
 LONE LAND." 
 
 THE incorporation of the following most interest- 
 ing account by our now departed brother, of his long 
 tour of " inspection," will, I am sure, gratify large 
 numbers, many of whom have never before enjoyed 
 the opportunity of reading it. He and his fellow- 
 traveller, George McDougall, have long since rested 
 from their toils for the Master : 
 
 " In pursuance of the important object of the 
 mission to which I was appointed, I left Toronto May 
 5th, 1873, en route for Manitoba and the great North- 
 West. Arriving at Chicago the following morning, 
 we remained a few hours examining the growth and 
 progress of the city, and the marvellous and in- 
 credible rapidity with which its miles of ruins by the 
 disastrous conflagration are being restored ; the city 
 rising from its ashes with far more than its former 
 magnificence and splendor. 
 
 " We left in the evening for St. Paul, and thence 
 by the North-Western and the great North Pacific 
 Railway for Moorehead on the Red River. On 
 arriving, we found that we were most fortunate in 
 the time spent in Chicago, as it abridged by so many 
 hours our stay in Moorehead. The steamer having got
 
 bR. LACHLAN TAYLOR'S TOUR. 25 1 
 
 in a few hours before us, would have to discharge her 
 cargo and take on a large freight before we set out 
 for our destination, but, on the whole, limiting our 
 stay to ten or twelve hours in the meanest and 
 muddiest village we met in all our travels, and the 
 crossing of whose principal street when we were there, 
 was like crossing the Rubicon, for none wanted to 
 repeat or try it again. 
 
 " The Red River is one of the most tortuous and 
 crooked rivers in America, sometimes almost doubling 
 upon itself like a great boa constrictor, running nine 
 hundred miles from its source in Dakota to where it 
 empties into Lake Winnipeg, falling only two hun- 
 dred feet in six hundred miles; its valley being 
 twenty thousand square miles, a territory as large as 
 both the States of Vermont and New Hampshire, and, 
 like Manitoba generally, the richest soil I have 
 seen since I left the banks of the Nile ; and as the 
 heavily-laden steamer, towing two scows loaded to 
 the water-edge, moved slowly on, and the river being 
 very high, we had a fine chance when we came to our 
 own country of surveying the prairie from the upper 
 deck, which contrasted favorably with Minnesota and 
 Dakota, being more elevated and dryer, and if only 
 half cultivated, would wave with golden grain and 
 garnered harvests, richly rewarding the tillers' toil. 
 
 " On May 14th, the ninth day after leaving To- 
 ronto, we sighted Fort Garry and the thrifty and 
 prosperous little town (now the city) of Winnipeg. - 
 We were still more delighted to have pointed out to us 
 as we neared, what they called Mr. Young's church, 
 which, with its neat red roof, is one of the most con- 
 spicuous objects in the little city, the future metro- 
 polis of the great North- West. I was highly pleased, 
 as our noble deputation the preceding year must have 
 been, to find that Mr. Young, in securing the large 
 and valuable lot on which the premises stand, had
 
 252 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 made the very best selection he could have done, as it 
 is, from the growth of the town towards the fort, in 
 the very heart of the city, and must be very valuable 
 in the coming time. 
 
 " When we landed we received a cordial salutation 
 from our esteemed brother, and a hearty Methodist 
 welcome from his family, and felt at once all the 
 comforts of a home. I preached on Sabbath morning 
 to a congregation of nearly three hundred, and we 
 took up a collection for the Missionary Society. 
 Addressed the large and interesting Sabbath-school 
 in the afternoon, whom I found well up in Bible 
 history ; and my friend Bro. Armstrong preached a 
 most effective and practical sermon in the evening. 
 As all the facts connected with our important cause 
 here were so well put in the report of the deputation 
 of last year, as well as the facts communicated by 
 Bro. Young himself during his recent visit, I need not 
 enlarge ; but bear my testimony to the wisdom of the 
 choice that was made in selecting him for his present 
 position. I was highly delighted to find that he was 
 regarded by all as a first-class representative of our 
 body on any and every occasion, both in the pulpit 
 and on the platform; and it gave me great pleasure 
 to see his unwearied devotion to the interests of every 
 missionary in the work in the whole country; in 
 many cases anticipating their wants and studying in 
 every way to promote their welfare. The firm and 
 manly stand he took during the dark and perilous 
 days through which the infant colony passed, when 
 traitors were in the ascendant, and his magnanimous 
 and Christian heroism in standing by the side of poor 
 Scott, tying at his request the bandage tighter over 
 his eyes and administering to him what consolation 
 he could, and breathing the name of Jesus in his ear 
 a minute or two before he was shot, have given him 
 place in the affections and memories of the people
 
 DR. LACHLAN TAYLOR'S TOUR. 253 
 
 that will not be forgotten during the present genera- 
 tion. 
 
 " Bro. Young drove me to two of his out-stations, 
 Stoney Mountain and Headingly, where we found 
 twenty-eight hearers at the former, whom I ad- 
 dressed, and twelve at the latter, to whom Bro. 
 Armstrong preached, and I closed with an exhorta- 
 tion. At some of these places it is emphatically the 
 day of small things, but our Church from the be- 
 ginning, true to her character, must be the pioneer 
 and carry the message of life to those that will be 
 scattered abroad over that land of magnificent dis- 
 tances 
 
 " Embracing the first opportunity, we sailed the 
 following Thursday in the boat of a private trader 
 (as it was uncertain when the Company's boats would 
 be ready) for Norway House, which we reached in 
 thirteen days and a half, time enough to cross the 
 Atlantic, although it is only about 360 miles. This 
 was the most uncomfortable voyage I ever performed, 
 for the following reasons : First, an open boat with- 
 out any chance of walking or promenading, or exer- 
 cise, and obliged to sit all day in a space about six feet 
 by eight, and as we were voyaging in the very worst 
 time of the flies, when we went ashore either for cook- 
 ing meals or camping for the night, millions of 
 mosquitoes were ready to pounce upon us, and whose 
 voracious powers no language could describe. Our 
 digestive organs got sadly out of order, and we could 
 sympathize with our esteemed brethren, the mission- 
 aries and their families, who have had to take a 
 similar voyage to reach that field of self-denying toil 
 and labor. On the fourteenth day from Winnipeg, 
 sailing on slowly on a beautiful little lake called 
 Mission Lake, the master of the boat exclaimed : 'We 
 are only about half-a-mile from Mr. Young's house,' 
 and never was intelligence received with more joy by
 
 254 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 an Atlantic voyager after a stormy voyage, than we 
 received the welcome announcement, and soon that 
 joy was heightened by our kind reception at the par- 
 sonage, although we arrived at an unseasonable hour. 
 Mr. Young was soon up, and after a comfortable 
 supper, with Christian family comforts, we conversed 
 till full dawn, and then went to rest. On Sabbath 
 morning we heard the bell ring at half -past six for the 
 morning prayer-meeting ; it rang again for Sunday- 
 school at nine. As the mission premises are located 
 on an elevated point of land, almost surrounded by 
 water, it was a grand sight, that glorious Sabbath 
 morning, to stand and see boats approaching in every 
 direction, some rowing, some paddling, some sailing, 
 from the tiny little bark canoe, to the " Lady of the 
 Lake," rowed by eight stalwart Orkney men and High- 
 landers, having on board the officers of the Hudson 
 Bay Company, from the fort ; and all if not flying as 
 a cloud and as doves to their windows, yet coming on 
 the wings of the wind as ships to their haven, and 
 voyagers to the port of peace the sanctuary of God. 
 I preached at eleven o'clock to nearly four hundred, 
 including officers and employees of the Hudson Bay 
 Company, Orkney men and a few enthusiastic High- 
 landers, and some half-breeds. But the large majority 
 were Indians, members and adherents of our Church, 
 and seldom have I witnessed, either at home or abroad, 
 such devout attention to the word preached and such 
 a spirit of devotion in the congregation that inde- 
 scribable something that pervades the service, felt alike 
 by both preacher and hearer, when praying hearts are 
 lifted up in communion with God. Upwards of one 
 hundred and twenty partook of the Lord's Supper in 
 the afternoon, and a few had come over twenty miles 
 to be present. The preceding Sabbath, when we were 
 expected, and before the large brigade of boats had left, 
 upwards of two hundred and twenty had communi-
 
 DR. LACHLAN TAYLOR'S TOUR. 255 
 
 cated, and although we were deeply sorry that we 
 failed to reach them, yet we did our best to get there, 
 and could do no more. In the evening we crossed to 
 the fort, and had service in the neat room fitted up as 
 a church by the Company. My esteemed fellow- 
 traveller, Mr. Armstrong, preached, and we felt it 
 was good to be there. We spent a couple of hours in 
 the Mission School, and found a fine school with sixty- 
 five scholars in attendance. We heard them read the 
 Scriptures, both in English and in Cree, in the syllabic 
 characters, and also heard them examined in No. 1 
 Catechism, and was delighted at the accuracy of their 
 answers in English to some of the most difficult 
 questions, especially as they speak and think in 
 Cree, although they may know a little English. 
 Brother Young gave out some hymns in Cree, 
 which they sang charmingly, and their writing and 
 the cleanness of their copy books would compare 
 favorably with those of any school in this favored 
 Province. When I looked at the prosperity of the 
 mission and the school, and cast a retrospective glance 
 up to the days of the devoted James Evans, I could 
 not but reflect on what immense benefits have been 
 bestowed on that people and their children by the 
 Wesleyan Missionary Society, and at the same time 
 exclaiming, as I did after the Sunday morning ser- 
 vice : Much as the parent Society, as well as our own, 
 have expended on this mission, it is repaid a thousand 
 times in the sound conversion, consistent lives, and 
 happy deaths of these simple-minded followers of the 
 Lamb. It is doubtless the finest Indian mission in 
 the Dominion, if not in America. 
 
 " 24th (Tuesday), enjoyed a strong breeze and a 
 favorable wind from the south. Accompanied by my 
 brethren, Messrs. Young and Armstrong, we embarked 
 with a fine brigade of three boats of the Hudson Bay 
 Company, all manned by our people, for Oxford
 
 256 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 House, some two hundred miles distant. On this 
 voyage we saw a most remarkable proof of their gifts 
 and piety. Supper done, at the call of their pastor, 
 the crews of the three boats came together, a hymn 
 was sung, given out in English and Cree ; and the 
 commodore of the fleet, Bro. Cochrane, led in prayer, 
 and one of the ministers followed us in a short one in 
 English; and Bro. Young informed us that if we 
 sailed for ten days he could call on a fresh one each 
 time to lead our devotions, out of a company of 
 twenty-six men. Where would you find such boat 
 crews on the waters of the globe, such a majority that 
 could lead fluently and appropriately in prayer ? more 
 in proportion than in any of our city churches. The 
 company at devotion would have been a grand scene 
 for an artist. The grave and devout appearance of 
 the worshippers, prostrate with their faces to the 
 ground ; the ministers in the same position ; the two 
 tents representing pilgrim life ; the camp fires burn- 
 ing ; and the charming background of poplars, firs, 
 spruce, and larch, would make a picture fit to fill a 
 niche in any gallery in the world. And, what the 
 artist could never touch with his pencil or his brush, 
 the deep emotion and peace of souls in communion 
 with God, and the felt consciousness of the Divine 
 presence. After a most wonderful voyage, in which I 
 saw specimens and examples of navigation that I 
 never saw equalled, we arrived at Oxford House, 
 beautifully situated on Oxford Lake, one of the 
 finest in America, and received a cordial welcome 
 from the gentlemanly officer in charge, C. Sinclair, 
 Esq. 
 
 " On Sabbath morning I gave them ' Walks about 
 Jerusalem,' applying it spiritually, and Mr. Sinclair, 
 our evangelist there, interpreted ; but unfortunately, 
 one of my finest points on the prayer-meeting in the 
 garden of Gethsemane, under the magnificent olive,
 
 DR. LACHLAN TAYLOR'S TOUR. 257 
 
 was shorn of its glory in one particular, by Bro. 
 Young hearing him translate the olive as a greasy 
 tree or stick, and for the moment to me ignorance 
 was bliss, and I passed on or had I known it I 
 certainly would have said : Can you not do better 
 than that ? If not, pass it by. Bro. Young gave 
 them an instructive address in the afternoon, after 
 which we had the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper, 
 and baptized several children. Though all were glad 
 to see the visitors, and there was a general rally for 
 miles around, making a congregation of about sixty, 
 yet we found the cause in a low and depressed state, 
 and the general aspect and condition of the mission 
 most unsatisfactory. An evangelist who cannot 
 administer the ordinances must always be placed at 
 a disadvantage, especially where there are a number 
 of church members, and this was not an exception. 
 Again, the members and adherents were divided 
 between the old locality, or head of the mission, at 
 Jackson's Bay, and the fort, eighteen miles distant 
 the large majority being at the fort and anxiously 
 desiring the removal of the church and mission 
 thither; but three or four families pleading for 
 things to remain as they were, regarding it as a 
 better place for their fishing, with small patches 
 of arable land where they raised a few potatoes, 
 arrangements were made for the removal of excellent 
 materials which the assistant had prepared and 
 erected for a new church, ready for the plates, from 
 the bay to the fort ; and the erection there of the 
 new premises ; and for the school -house at the bay to 
 be fitted up for a little church, which has been done, 
 and will more than accommodate the few that are 
 remaining. It is to be hoped that ere long the few 
 still at the bay will come to the fort, and not only 
 save the missionary fatigue and labor, but enable him 
 to concentrate his efforts with greater success where 
 17
 
 258 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 they are most needed. An old local preacher, how- 
 ever, named Daniel Belton, visited us, and in an elo- 
 quent oration (as understood by Bro. Young and Mr. 
 Sinclair), set forth their claims, and his whole manner 
 and bearing commanded our unqualified admiration. 
 They complained that they had had no school for 
 eight years, but now they will have a faithful and 
 effective man from Norway House, and who will, we 
 believe, make a most successful helper. From the 
 spirit and courage which our Brother German mani- 
 fests and in which he enters on his work, we believe 
 Oxford House Mission has entered on a new era of 
 spiritual prosperity. 
 
 " As we could not wait for a couple of weeks till 
 the first brigade, which was expected, returned from 
 York Factory, we were obliged to hire two small 
 bark canoes, manned by two men each, with one of 
 ourselves in the centre of the tiny craft with his 
 paddle, for the return journey to Norway House, and 
 although one sitting in his easy chair in a parlor may 
 admire Longfellow's description : 
 
 ' ' And the forest life is in it, 
 All its mystery and its magic ! 
 All the lightness of the Birch tree, 
 All the toughness of the Cedar, 
 All the Larch's supple sinews, 
 And it floated down the river, 
 Like a yellow leaf in Autumn ; 
 Like a yellow water-lily." 
 
 Yet it is much more practical, and another thing, 
 when crossing a lake twelve or fifteen miles long, 
 in a pretty stiff breeze, and only nine or ten inches 
 above the water. The Superintendent of Norway 
 House seemed in his element, and the Indians said 
 the visitor could paddle pretty well. 
 
 "After four days' hard paddling we arrived at 
 Norway House, and found all well. Although com-
 
 DR. LACHLAN TAYLOR'S TOUR. 259 
 
 plaining next day, I had a comfortable Sabbath and 
 preached at the fort in the evening. Next day we 
 bade our friends adieu, and Bro. Semmens and myself 
 sailed with the same trader with whom we went out, 
 arrived safely in Winnipeg, where I found my guide, 
 companion, and famous fellow-traveller, for the prairie 
 and the great North- West, Bro. John McDougall, had 
 been waiting patiently with his men for three weeks 
 for my arrival.' 
 
 " Our dashing, unbridled native steeds being col- 
 lected from their great unfenced pasture field our 
 little stores purchased and packed as necessary to be 
 secured before you start on your journey through 
 ' The Great Lone Land ' as if you were part of an 
 Eastern caravan our carriages, an ordinary Ontario 
 waggon and two buckboards ; a small party of three 
 men, subsequently increased to six, started from what 
 is now the City of Winnipeg, on a tour of two thousand 
 miles, and ten weeks' continuous travel, to visit all 
 the important points where our missions have been 
 or may yet be established, and explore generally the 
 largest and grandest division, although the least 
 known, of our glorious Canadian Confederation. 
 
 " From Rat Creek, and Messrs. Grant's and McKen- 
 zie's farms, the present ultima Thule of civilization on 
 the great highway to the Saskatchewan, we saw only 
 one house, and that uninhabited, till we reached Fort 
 Ellice, on the bank of the Assiniboine two hundred 
 and thirty miles from Fort Garry where we received 
 a Highland welcome from Mr. McDonald, the gentle- 
 manly officer in charge. Having rested and recruited, 
 we set out for the next grand stage, and saw not a 
 house till we came within eighteen miles of Fort 
 Carlton, which is three hundred and seven miles from 
 Fort Ellice, almost as far as from Toronto to Mont- 
 real, without seeing a human abode, civilized or sav- 
 age, and passing nearly the whole of the distance^
 
 260 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 through a most picturesque and charming country. 
 Here two or three of our shoeless horses began to get 
 footsore and we had them shod, also sundry repairs 
 to some of our gear and trappings. We travelled one 
 hundred and sixty-seven miles farther, when my 
 active companion, leaving the man and myself to cook 
 and prepare our dinner, communicating by signs, 
 mounted one of the best saddle horses, and from what 
 is termed the guard of Fort Pitt, galloped off to the 
 fort, and in the course of two or three hours returned, 
 accompanied by the Chairman, Brother George Mc- 
 Dougall, and a servant, Brother Peter Campbell, his 
 boy and another boy that came with them, which 
 threw a new element of life into our party ; and after 
 mutual congratulations we went on our way rejoicing. 
 Nearly one hundred miles farther and not very far 
 from the royal little Victoria, we turned our faces 
 directly north, leaving the boys in charge of the tent 
 and baggage, and rode forty miles on horseback to 
 White Fish Lake Mission, which, in one day on a 
 native horse, without having had practice for some 
 years, made sleep sweet on the hard floor with my 
 coat for a pillow. Here we were much disappointed 
 to find the neat mission house locked, and the mis- 
 sionary and his family, and the teacher and his family, 
 with the large majority of our people, women and 
 children, away hundreds of miles on the plains 
 hunting the buffalo. But we found the locum 
 tenens of the place, Benjamin Sinclair, who was 
 overjoyed to see us, and he hardly knew what to 
 say, or how to express himself, when I presented 
 him with the $120 from the Committee towards 
 making up his loss when the canoe upset with 
 himself and Peter Jacobs. His conversion, as re- 
 lated by himself, is intensely interesting. While 
 my friends were getting the horses ready, I went 
 to the church and rang the Toronto bell, which
 
 DR. LACHLAN TAYLORS TOUR. 261 
 
 was presented by our esteemed colleague, Mr. Mac- 
 donald, and in ten minutes we had seventy of a con- 
 gregation; Brother John McDougall interpreted with 
 great earnestness, and we had a time of refreshing 
 from the presence of the Lord. This mission, located 
 at 54 north latitude, more than eleven degrees north 
 of Toronto, was commenced in 1856, b}^ the excellent 
 brother who has been the pastor from the commence- 
 ment till last June, when he was appointed to Wood- 
 ville. During his seventeen years, God has given him 
 great success; the membership being one hundred 
 and eighteen, and the congregation about two hun- 
 dred, with a school of sixty children. The premises 
 are a plain log church, thirty by twenty, a mission 
 house with five rooms, and a kitchen, neat and com- 
 fortable, and a stable that answers the purpose, and 
 all erected with the missionary's own hands, with 
 what help the Indians could give him, and without 
 expense to the Society. The mission lot, of five or 
 six acres, may be cultivated, for the soil is as rich as 
 Solomon's gardens. There is a lake at the door 
 abounding with the finest fish in America. Many 
 happy deaths might be named connected with the 
 history of this mission if our space would permit. 
 
 " The next mission in order is Victoria, pictur- 
 esquely situated on the Saskatchewan, 54 north lati- 
 tude, and, by odometer, eight hundred and sixteen 
 miles from Fort Garry. We received a warm wel- 
 come from Mrs. David and Miss McDougall, and then 
 passed on to our comfortable home with Brother 
 Campbell's family in the parsonage. This mission 
 was commenced by Bro. George McDougall, in 1862, 
 beginning with a large body of Crees, professed ad- 
 herents of our Church, and therefore classes were 
 organized in a short time. A church and mission 
 house was built in two years, which cost $2,000, 
 which was all defrayed by local contribution and
 
 262 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 personal effort. There are about ten acres enclosed, 
 which is considered the mission lot, although in 
 reality there are no bounds to the north till you reach 
 the Arctic circle. The mission-house has eight rooms, 
 four above and four below ; a fine garden, a snug 
 little church, which must soon give place to a larger 
 one, as it will hold only about one hundred and fifty ; 
 and a bell to summon the worshippers at the hour of 
 prayer. 
 
 " In the garden we saw the mournful monuments 
 of the tidings we heard in this land, in the four 
 graves three of Bro. McDougall's daughters (two his 
 own, and the daughter of Ogemawahsis, adopted), 
 and Bro. John McDougall's first wife ; and the tragic 
 details of the former ; the death of the three by small- 
 pox, and the father and son putting the lovely 
 daughter and sister in the coifin digging the grave 
 themselves and covering it none daring to come near 
 to aid or administer consolation. Poor Mrs. Mc- 
 Dougall kept up till the last one was gone, and then 
 she swooned, and did not recover consciousness for 
 some forty-eight hours. 
 
 " Our services on Sabbath were well attended, 
 although the large majority of the Indians were 
 away hunting the buffalo. The half-breeds of the 
 fine little settlement and the employees of the Com- 
 pany made quite a congregation. English sermon in 
 the morning, a talk of an hour and a half on the 
 Holy Land, translated into Cree, in the afternoon, 
 and a fine Cree service by Bro. John McDougall, in 
 the evening, filled up this delightful Sabbath. Mem- 
 bership seventy, thirty of whom were received on 
 trial in the revival last spring, under the labors of 
 Bro. Campbell ; ten removals and four deaths during 
 the year ; and when the Indians are at home the 
 congregation is about one hundred and twenty ; sixty 
 children in the school during the week, and sixty -five
 
 bit. LACHLAN TAYLOR'S TOUR. 263 
 
 on the Sabbath ; and the school, taught by a gentle- 
 manly, well-educated half-breed of the name of Mc- 
 Kenzie, a local preacher in our Church and a good 
 man. Of the many remarkable and happy deaths 
 that have occurred in the history of the mission, a 
 few might be cited did space permit. 
 
 " The next mission in order was Fort Edmonton, 
 for which we set out on Monday (for Mr. McDougall 
 meant business), after bidding adieu to our kind 
 hostess, Mrs. Campbell, in whose comfortable house 
 we were as much at home as in many of the mansions 
 of the older Canada, and reached the second day 
 before tea time, seventy-one miles distant. The 
 second day in the afternoon, while passing through a 
 magnificent section of country, looking like an Eng- 
 lish park, with beautiful groves of aspen and fir in 
 the distance, and some twelve or fourteen miles from 
 Edmonton, we met the Chief Factor, Mr. Hardisty, 
 Mr. McDougall's son-in-law, and his second son-in- 
 law, the son of the Hon. John Young, of Montreal, 
 Mr. Leslie Wood, and Mrs. Hardisty, Mrs. Young and 
 Mrs. John McDougall, who had a most luxurious 
 spread on the beautiful sward, Canadian pic-nic 
 fashion, to which we were welcomed and invited in 
 the style which characterizes the princely benevolence 
 of the officers of the Hudson Bay Company. 
 
 " After a quiet evening and rest of one night only, 
 we set out next morning for Woodville, fifty-six 
 miles south south-west from Edmonton, travelling by 
 buckboard and on the saddle, and arriving the second 
 day in time for a social service at the mission house 
 in the evening. Here we were on the ground of, in 
 some respects, the finest band of Indians in all the 
 territory that stretches from Fort Garry to the Rocky 
 Mountains, " The Stonies," and although located in 
 one of the finest situations in all that country, yet the 
 Bow River valley, where Bro. John McDougall has
 
 264 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 gone, is to be their future horne. The mission was 
 named after my esteemed colleague, Dr. Wood, and 
 he would be proud of it if he saw it. Pigeon Lake, 
 on whose bank the premises stand, is one of the very 
 finest lakes in America ; from fifteen to twenty miles 
 long, and from six to eight miles wide ; and if located 
 in Europe, would find its place in the fellowship of 
 Como, Maggiore, Lucerne, Windermere, or Loch Lo- 
 mond. It is swarming with white fish of Al quality, 
 that can be caught at any season of the year, and as 
 many as five hundred have been caught in a day, 
 averaging four pounds each. This mission was com- 
 menced by Bro. John McDougall, in 1864, who built 
 the little mission house and church with his own 
 hands, with such help as the Stonies could give him. 
 The Mountain Stonies, as a tribe, are our members, 
 or adherents, and the old ones have remained faithful 
 since the days of the devoted Rundle, thirty years or 
 more ; but some have fallen asleep. 
 
 " Edmonton is next in order. The devoted Rundle 
 made Edmonton his headquarters, and from which 
 he went forth on his evangelistic tour to the sur- 
 rounding tribes. When he left there was a vacancy 
 of seven years, when Brother Woolsey was appointed, 
 who remained nine years, labored faithfully and was 
 much beloved and respected ; but no premises were 
 erected and no class formed, and the services were 
 held in the fort. Then they were only occasion- 
 ally visited after Brother Woolsey left, for six or 
 seven years, till Brother George McDougall went and 
 properly established the mission, and of his persever- 
 ance and success we cannot speak in too strong terms, 
 and must ever command our highest admiration and 
 praise. Now there are twenty members ; a congrega- 
 tion of about sixty, and constantly increasing ; two 
 services on Sabbath and one during the week, and as 
 it is a grand centre it is of the utmost importance
 
 DR. LACHLAN TAYLOR'S TOUR. 265 
 
 that it be properly sustained. The new church, which 
 we dedicated, is a neat building, well finished ; the 
 work having been done by the Rev. Benjamin Jones 
 in good style. The dimensions are thirty-two feet 
 long and twenty-four feet wide, and all the pews were 
 let before it was dedicated. "The mission-house has 
 five rooms, with a large kitchen ; and the premises 
 cost at least $3,000, only $500 of which was granted 
 by the Society. The lot joins the fine property of the 
 Company (who own three thousand acres in a block) 
 and is fifty rods frontage on the Saskatchewan, and 
 runs back or north to some imaginary line between 
 that and the North Pole. The whole of that region 
 covers one of the finest and largest coal beds in the 
 world. The services on Sabbath were : sermon and 
 dedication in the morning; sermon in Cree in the 
 afternoon, by Brother J. McDougall ; and Brother 
 Campbell preached an excellent sermon in the even- 
 ing. Preparations being all made, stores purchased, 
 Brothers George and John McDougall, Brother Snyder, 
 a young man who is entering our work, the visitor, 
 William the servant, and a Cree Indian that joined 
 us subsequently, crossed the Saskatchewan in all, six 
 men and eleven horses, for a journey of about eight 
 hundred miles and over four weeks' constant travel, 
 to survey that grandest section of the field for future 
 openings, the new mission field in the magnificent 
 Bow River valley, Morleyville, and especially to see 
 the various tribes of Indians on the plains, in their 
 numbers and strength, and judge of the mission work 
 yet to be done by our beloved Church, which has, 
 from the beginning of her history, taken the lead in 
 benefiting those original masters of the soil who are 
 fast melting away. We met four camps of the Crees, 
 with each of whom we had service, and then came to a 
 camp of forty-three or forty-four tents ; held a service 
 in the evening and another in the morning, with a fine
 
 266 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 audience, and afterwards had council with them for 
 over three hours. Three days afterwards, as we were 
 journeying over a magnificent treeless prairie, a scout 
 from the savage and ferocious Blackfeet, who were 
 camped in their strength a short distance from us, 
 galloped into their camp and sounded the alarm that 
 ' American traders ' were approaching. As they 
 were in a valley hidden from us, we knew nothing till 
 we saw some sixty men, armed to the teeth, and 
 mounted on swift horses, approaching on the full 
 gallop, bent on blood, and with a solemn resolve to 
 kill us, before they would allow us to enter the camp, 
 and exhibit, as they supposed, our wares for sale. But 
 when they ascertained that, instead of being a party 
 of those outlaws who have injured them in every 
 possible form, we belonged to their country and to 
 their Great Mother across the big waters, and were 
 missionaries and men of peace, we were marched into 
 the chief's tent, where, much to our physical discom- 
 fort, we spent that evening, the whole of the next day, 
 being the Sabbath and Sabbath night, and departed 
 next morning in peace, after a general shaking of 
 hands, and in their way friendly good-bye. We held 
 a religious service in the afternoon, and when we 
 knelt on the ground to pray, they gazed at us with 
 intense amazement and all the expression of wonder 
 at our mode of worshipping the Great Spirit. When 
 we reflected on our signal deliverance, we raised our 
 hearts in devout thanksgiving and praise unto God, 
 and realized perhaps as we never did before, ' For 
 the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them 
 that fear Him and delivereth them.' 
 
 " Tuesday, after leaving the Blackfeet, we descended 
 into the splendid Bow River valley, and the next 
 day camped within five miles of the location of the 
 future Morleyville, doubtless the most romantic and 
 grandest site for mission premises in all our work, if
 
 DR. LACHLAN* TAYLORS TOUR. 267 
 
 not in all America. Fronting on the Bow River is 
 the main branch of the South Saskatchewan, a clear 
 rapid stream swarming with fish, flanked and sur- 
 rounded by the chain of foot hills, which constitute 
 the Propylon, or majestic gateway to the Rocky 
 Mountains, thirty or forty of whose giant peaks can 
 be seen from the mission-house door, having on their 
 northern shoulders the snows that never melt ; and in 
 a clear morning, as the rising sun successively gilds 
 the peaks according to their altitude or position, the 
 scene is one of indescribable beauty, sublimity and 
 grandeur. Between the foot hills and the mountains 
 are wide vales or wadys from fifteen to twenty miles 
 wide, where horses and cattle graze and fatten the 
 winter through ; and to this desirable spot, having a 
 reserve twenty miles on each side of the Bow River, 
 the Stonies have promised to come in a body, and it 
 is hoped that the Blackfeet who, to the present, have 
 been restless roamers, will be induced to come there 
 also, for there is room enough for all. The committee 
 have made provision for two interpreters, and no 
 church was ever blessed with a better agent, or a man 
 possessing higher qualifications for that work, than 
 Brother John McDougall. 
 
 "Ten days after, we reached Fort Benton, the 
 head of steamboat navigation on the Missouri, 
 hoping from information previously received that 
 Bismarck, where the Northern Pacific crosses the 
 river, was not a very long distance from us, but, 
 alas for our ignorance of the geography of the great 
 North- West ! that laud of magnificent distances, for 
 we found that it was more than one thousand miles 
 by the river and between seven and eight hundred by 
 land, and either was dangerous unless there was a 
 large party, for the meanest and most treacherous of 
 all the Indian tribes occupy those regions."
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 OUR EARLY EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTS IN 
 MANITOBA. 
 
 FROM the addresses of Messrs. Macdonald and 
 Punshon, delivered at the annual meeting of the 
 Missionary Board at Brockville, as given in the 
 preceding chapter, it will be seen that the establish- 
 ment of an educational institute in Winnipeg at an 
 early day had received their careful consideration, 
 and was regarded with special favor. Mr. Macdonald 
 had secured a promise from Hon. Donald A. Smith, 
 then Governor of the Hudson Bay Company, of a 
 suitable lot on which to place college buildings, and 
 subscriptions amounting to a large sum were called 
 for and received at the Brockville meeting. As I 
 was reminded by Mr. Macdonald of this promise, I 
 applied to Mr. Smith, requesting him to kindly locate 
 the lot thus promised, and was assured that this 
 should be done as soon as we were prepared to 
 commence the building or buildings in question and 
 proceed with the contemplated college. But inasmuch 
 as we were not in the possession of funds sufficient 
 to warrant our entering upon what would necessarily 
 involve a heavy outlay, and also as the number and 
 circumstances of our adherents in Manitoba were not
 
 OUR EARLY EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTS. 269 
 
 such as to promise the patronage requisite for the 
 sustentation of such an effort, we felt that for us to 
 enter thereupon, until our Methodist community 
 should be considerably increased, would be decidedly 
 injudicious. The fulfilment of the promise was not 
 realized, for the reason indicated. I make this record 
 chiefly to relieve the minds of any who may have 
 expressed surprise at my having allowed the promise 
 of Mr. Smith to lapse, thereby missing a gift that 
 would have been of great value to the Church at a 
 later period. I was as unable to comply with the 
 condition on which the gift was offered as I was to 
 proceed to the erection of college buildings or to do 
 any other impossible thing. In the spring of 1873, 
 however, there came into existence what seemed a 
 sufficient reason for the commencement of a move- 
 ment, though on a very small scale, for the twofold 
 purpose of safeguarding our youth from error and 
 adverse influence, and also to secure for them better 
 educational advantages than those hitherto enjoyed. 
 The Winnipeg Free Press of the 10th of May con- 
 tained the following criticism of the public school 
 facilities of the town : "The common school system, 
 as our legislators have left it, has not yet done much 
 for the country, and the present state of things (edu- 
 cationally) is far from satisfactory. 
 
 " We have the public school of the district, and the 
 Roman Catholic school, recognized by law as a separ- 
 ate common school. The first of these has never 
 received the united support of Protestants which it 
 needed to put it on a proper basis.
 
 270 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 " We hear of a good deal of dissatisfaction in rela- 
 tion to it, and that the children are not advancing, etc. 
 
 " The Roman Catholic school has profited from the 
 misfortune of the school of the majority, etc." 
 
 Under the condition of things, of which a glimpse 
 is afforded in these quotations, a considerable number 
 of the Protestant children of the village were being 
 sent to the institution opened by the " Sisters of 
 Charity " in Notre Dame Street East, and among 
 them several of the Sabbath-school scholars of Grace 
 Church. The parents of some of these, finding that 
 they were learning and adopting some un-Protestant 
 notions and customs, such as crossing themselves 
 before meals, etc., complained to their pastor, asking 
 if something could not be done to protect them from 
 such teaching, whereupon I offered to meet the case 
 at once by building, without cost to them, a small 
 school house on the church lot, and employing a 
 competent lady teacher, if they would promise to 
 sustain the school by sending their children and by 
 paying a reasonable fee. This was readily and cheer- 
 fully agreed to the building was erected, and in a 
 few days Mrs. D. L. Clink, who had been accustomed 
 to teach in Ontario, was placed in charge. The school 
 soon became so popular, and the attendance so large, 
 that the building was found quite too small to accom- 
 modate all desiring admission. 
 
 In June, 1873, I attended Conference in London, 
 after an absence therefrom of six years, when the 
 needs of my distant parish were duly considered, and 
 it was recommended that my stay in the country
 
 OUR EARLY EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTS. 271 
 
 should be so prolonged as to enable me to visit the 
 principal towns and cities, and solicit funds for the 
 two-fold object of aiding in the building of small 
 chapels in some of the outposts; and also in the 
 erection of a suitable building in Winnipeg as our 
 Wesleyan Institute. My work began forthwith, the 
 ministers at the Conference and many kind friends 
 in London subscribing very liberally to the fund. 
 During the next two months I visited Brantford, 
 Hamilton, Toronto, Oakville, Port Hope, Peterboro', 
 Belleville, Picton, Kingston, Ottawa, Montreal and 
 Quebec, with encouraging results the subscriptions 
 amounting to about $3,000, which in addition to 
 what Dr. Punshon and Mr Macdonald had secured 
 in subscriptions at Brockville, a good deal of 
 which I collected, totalled nearly $6,000. My sum- 
 mer's work was not by any means a light one. 
 Early in September I returned to Winnipeg, bringing 
 with me a somewhat expensive outfit for the Institute, 
 in maps, charts, globes, and apparatus, as well as 
 books for library reference, etc. On the 27th of 
 September, our Winnipeg newspaper reported that 
 " The frame of the Wesleyan Institute was now up " 
 and that the building was of two stories and would 
 be very commodious, and later on the report given 
 was that " the opening of the Wesleyan Institute 
 took place on the 3rd of November, and that the 
 building had been erected on the corner of Main and 
 Water Streets, on the same lot as that occupied by the 
 parsonage and Grace Church." The cost of the build- 
 ings and equipment was nearly $3,000. A portion of
 
 272 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 the balance of the collections made as referred to, was 
 used in aiding in the erection of the first Zion 
 Church in the North Ward, and also in aiding the 
 people in building small places of worship at Rock- 
 wood, Poplar Point, High Bluff, Palestine, and near 
 the third crossing of the White Mud River. By the 
 balance remaining, the excess of expenditures over 
 receipts in the running of the Institute, which un- 
 avoidably amounted to a considerable annual deficit, 
 was in most part paid, aid being afforded us from the 
 Educational Fund of the Church in small grants for a 
 short time, until in 1877, when, the fund being ex- 
 hausted and in association with another reason I will 
 mention, it was deemed advisable to suspend opera- 
 tions for a season. That suspension was all the less 
 regretable in view of the greatly improved condi- 
 tion of our public schools, and the fact that those who 
 had hitherto supported the Institute found that the 
 " school tax," which they had to pay in common with 
 those who were profiting therefrom, together with the 
 fees of the Institute, amounted to more than they 
 were able to pay. In connection with the opening on 
 the 3rd of November the following circular was 
 issued : 
 
 "MANITOBA WESLEYAN INSTITUTE. 
 " 1873-4. 
 
 " On the occasion of the opening of the new build- 
 ing and the beginning of advanced classes, the Board 
 of Management desires to call attention to some of the 
 advantages of this School of Higher Education. 
 
 " Its central position, on Main Street, near Grace
 
 OUR EARLY EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTS. 273 
 
 Church and the new Post Office, makes it of easy access 
 from all parts of the town and vicinity. 
 
 " The building is commodious, school-rooms large 
 and well lighted, ceilings high, and in heating and 
 ventilation as well as in the arrangements of desks, 
 seats, blackboards, etc., special care has been taken to 
 have everything in accordance with the most approved 
 designs. Ample accommodation is thus afforded for 
 more than one hundred pupils. 
 
 " The apparatus is, probably, the best of the kind 
 in the Province, having been specially selected from 
 the Educational Depository of Ontario, and consists 
 of maps, charts, globes, philosophical apparatus and 
 general school-room outfit. 
 
 " The Institute will be in charge of Rev. A. Bower- 
 man, B.A., assisted by a staff of competent and 
 experienced teachers." 
 
 The number of pupils whose names were entered 
 in the register for the first month after the opening 
 was forty-seven. Arrangements were also made for 
 evening classes in a commercial course and in modern 
 languages. 
 
 At the close of the session of 1875-6, the Principal 
 presented the following report : 
 
 " To the Board of Management of the Wesleyan 
 Institute : 
 
 " The attendance has been considerably in advance 
 of any previous year, and with a more promising class 
 of pupils. This is, no doubt, owing in a great mea- 
 sure to the increase in the staff of teachers as well as 
 to an increase of population. The following is a 
 classification of the attendance : 
 
 "The Higher Department, Ancient and Modern Lan- 
 guages, Higher Mathematics, etc. 18. 
 18
 
 274 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 " Intermediate Department, the English branches of 
 the Ontario High School Course. 13. 
 
 " Primary Department, consisting of all below the 
 standard of entrance to a High School in Ontario. 40. 
 Total 71. 
 
 " The evening classes of Mr. Morden in German and 
 Shorthand have been fairly attended. The character 
 of the work done is very evident from the marked 
 progress of his pupils. The class in Vocal Music has 
 been of great value to the Institute during the past 
 year. 
 
 " The Primary Department has been well attended 
 and has already furnished a number of pupils for the 
 higher departments. 
 
 " In regularity and punctuality on the part of the 
 pupils and interest on the part of the parents, there 
 has been a marked improvement. Two young men 
 are just completing their preparation for the Univer- 
 sity of Victoria College. This one item, small as it 
 seems, is the best possible evidence of the value and 
 necessity of the Institute to Methodism. No student 
 from the other denominational schools (and we will 
 have nothing else here for several years) will go to 
 Victoria. The apparatus, though scanty, is sufficient 
 for the present need ; one globe, a full set of maps, a 
 magic lantern with several hundred views, a case of 
 chemicals, a lot of charts of various kinds, and a 
 variety of books very good for prizes, with a number 
 of educational works, complete the list. A few text- 
 books also remain on hand. 
 
 " Respectfully submitted, 
 
 (Signed) " A. BOWERMAN. 
 
 " Winnipeg, May llth, 1876." 
 
 I have pleasure in acknowledging my indebtedness 
 for what follows, in relation to both the Wesleyan
 
 OUR EARLY EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTS. 275 
 
 Institute and to Wesley College, to the Rev. T. E. 
 Morden, B.A. The chapter as a whole will indicate, I 
 judge, that the Institute was the College in embryo. 
 
 " Principal Bowerman continued his work, with an 
 assistant in the Preparatory department, until May, 
 1876, when he returned to Ontario. The work of 
 that year was completed by Rev. T. E. Morden, B.A., 
 Miss Fraser, of High Bluff, Man., conducting the 
 Primary department for part of the time, and Miss 
 Spencer (afterwards Mrs. Large, of Japan) continuing 
 it until its close about a year later. The growth of 
 the city and the improvement of the Public School 
 system had by this time removed the necessity for 
 the maintenance by the Methodist Church of a separ- 
 ate elementary or a preparatory school ; and the 
 city and country did not seem prepared as yet to 
 sustain a college. The patronage would have been 
 too limited, and funds could not have been secured 
 from Manitoba or Ontario for its sustenance. 
 
 " THE ESTABLISHMENT OF WESLEY COLLEGE. ' 
 
 " For some years previous to the founding of the 
 Manitoba Wesleyan Institute, the Church of England 
 had had St. John's College; the Roman Catholic 
 Church, St. Boniface College; and the Presbyterian 
 Church, Manitoba College, engaged in doing the 
 educational work of those denominations. These 
 institutions did not then conduct many students 
 beyond university matriculation ; and there was no 
 degree-conferring body in the Province. In 1877 the 
 Manitoba Legislature established the University of 
 Manitoba, with the three colleges named in affiliation ; 
 at the same time a charter was granted to ' Wesley 
 College,' with provision made for its affiliation as 
 soon as it should be established as a teaching institu- 
 tion with a certain number of professors, and become
 
 276 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 possessed of a suitable building. No further progress 
 was made towards meeting the educational require- 
 ments of Methodism in Manitoba and the North- West 
 until 1886, when an amended charter was granted by 
 the Legislature to Wesley College. The question of 
 providing training for candidates for the ministry 
 was, however, often discussed in conferences and 
 district meetings, and resolutions were passed, accom- 
 panied in some instances with offers of subscriptions 
 of considerable sums. 
 
 " The actual work of teaching was begun in the fall 
 of 1888, the appointment of the Principal, Rev. J. W. 
 Sparling, D.D., dating from August of that year, and 
 the commencement of lectures by the first professors, 
 R. R. Cochrane, M.A., and G. J. Laird, M.A., Ph.D., a 
 few months later. Steps were soon afterwards taken 
 to secure the affiliation of the College with the 
 University of Manitoba, which result was effected 
 before the close of the academic year. The Depart- 
 ment of Theology was instituted at the beginning of 
 the second year, when the Principal began to devote 
 his full time to his College duties, his position as 
 President of the Montreal Methodist Conference and 
 pastor of a large church in the City of Kingston, Ont., 
 having retained him in Eastern Canada during the 
 greater part of the first year. 
 
 " The teaching of the first year was done in the class 
 rooms of Grace Church. For the second and third 
 years a building on Albert Street was rented. The 
 constantly increasing attendance then made it abso- 
 lutely necessary to remove to a third place, and 
 fortunately the Board succeeded in securing premises 
 more commodious and fairly suitable for the purpose, 
 which are still occupied by the college, namely a 
 three-storey brick veneered building at the corner of 
 Broadway and Edmonton Streets. These, though far 
 superior in accommodation to the quarters previously
 
 11 ' *l^ ; i^" 7 "*"* 
 
 ' '
 
 OUR EARLY EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTS. 277 
 
 occupied, have long since become too small, and are 
 otherwise unsuitable, thus making it highly necessary 
 that the college should have a building of its own 
 erected. 
 
 " The attendance of the first year numbered only 
 seven students, the decision to open classes having 
 been reached too late in the year to admit of sufficient 
 publicity being given to the fact throughout the 
 country. For the past two years there have been 
 over seventy in the classes, which is certainly a highly 
 creditable showing for a history of practically little 
 more than four years. 
 
 " At the end of the first year there were no gradu- 
 ates to present themselves at the University convoca- 
 tion for degrees ; at the end of the second year two 
 received the degree of B.A., namely, Miss Earle and 
 Mr. J. D. Hunt ; the third year three, Messrs. Garratt, 
 Shipley and Tufts, were sent up for similar parch- 
 ments ; the fourth year saw the number increased to 
 five; the fifth year it had grown to six; and it is 
 expected that the convocation of next June will see 
 about twelve come forward to bow at the feet of the 
 Chancellor and receive their B.A. hoods, thereby 
 swelling the number of graduates to the respectable 
 total of thirty. 
 
 " Besides the Principal, and Professors Cochrane and 
 Laird, the first College staff included, as tutor of 
 French, Mons. Le Chevalier de la Mothe. Subse- 
 quently Rev. A. Stewart, B.D., was appointed a tutor, 
 and at the end of a year he was made a professor. 
 Mr. Ed. Bourgeois, LL.B., succeeded M. de la Mothe 
 as tutor in French. Mr. T. J. .McCrossan, B.A., was 
 the next to occupy a position on the College staff; he 
 served very efficiently for two years as tutor in 
 Classics, while pursuing at the same time his B.D. 
 course under Prof. Stewart. His successor was Rev. 
 J. H. Riddell, B.A., B.D., who still performs the work
 
 78 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 required in this department. The latest addition to 
 the staff is Mr. W. F. Osborne, B.A., who recently 
 graduated with high honors from Toronto University, 
 after pursuing his course of study at Victoria College. 
 He has charge of the Department of Moderns. The 
 names mentioned comprise the staff as it now is, by 
 whom the work is done with some occasional assist- 
 ance from student-tutors. 
 
 " Though laboring under many inconveniences and 
 disadvantages, the students of Wesley College have 
 upheld the honor of their alma mater in carrying oft 
 their fair share of the medals and scholarships of the 
 University. 
 
 " Financially, Wesley College is sustained chiefly by 
 the liberality of the people of Manitoba and the 
 North -"West, who, in an unexampled way, undertook 
 to bear the heavy burden because of their conviction 
 of the absolute necessity of the establishment of such 
 an institution in the interests of the Methodist Church. 
 The annual givings of the people to this cause, to- 
 gether with a grant from the Educational Fund of the 
 Church, amount to about Si 0,000. The Bursar, Rev. 
 Dr. Sparling, visits all parts of the country in pre- 
 senting the claims of the College ; and the remarkable 
 success in sustaining its interests is due to his untir- 
 ing energy and the hearty co-operation of the minis- 
 ters of the denomination and the loyalty of the people 
 throughout the bounds of the Manitoba and North- 
 West Conference. 
 
 " The College also commends itself to the sympathy 
 and support of the Church in Eastern Canada, seeing 
 that its work is to a great extent of a missionary 
 character. One of its graduates is now a missionary 
 in China, and many other missionaries will be found 
 in both the foreign and domestic fields who will have 
 received their training here. 
 
 " The affairs of Wesley College are under the able
 
 OUR EARLY EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTS. 279 
 
 management of a Board of thirty-six members, of 
 whom eighteen resident in Winnipeg constitute the 
 Executive. The officers of the Board are : Mr. J. A. 
 M. Aikins, Q.C., Chairman ; Mr. J. H. Ashdown, Vice- 
 Chairman ; Rev. Principal Sparling, Bursar ; Mr. G. H. 
 Campbell, Secretary ; Dr. Laird, Assistant Secretary. 
 
 " Wesley College, including the site and building, 
 cost in round figures $100,000 something over rather 
 than under that sum. The subscription list amounts 
 to between $94,000 and $95,000, of which about 
 $67,000 is already paid in. With improvements made 
 and increase of value of the land, the property is con- 
 sidered to be worth at present about $125,000. 
 
 " The registered attendance of students this year is 
 127. There are 49 graduates in Arts and 2 in Divin- 
 ity. The students in attendance last year numbered 
 121 ; those of the year before, 83. There are out in 
 the work of the ministry 35 who have attended the 
 College, of whom 13 are graduates; and there are 28 
 probationers now attending."
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 TWO MISSIONARY JOURNEYS INTO THE 
 INTERIOR. 
 
 IN June, 1874, a strong detachment of the Mounted 
 Police Force, under the command of Colonel French, 
 left Winnipeg for Fort Pelly and Swan River, where 
 they were to have their headquarters, at least for a 
 time. I presume it was in view of the line of the 
 C. P. R. passing through that region on its way to the 
 Rockies and the Pacific Coast that the Government 
 of the day decided to centralize the force at that 
 point; but as the route was soon changed so as to 
 pass through the country a long way to the south and 
 through a prairie instead of a thickly wooded and 
 often swampy region, this most unsuitable place was 
 abandoned, and great loss incurred by the heavy ex- 
 penditures made in surveying the line and in building 
 a steam saw-mill, stables and barracks, and officers' 
 quarters, etc., at Swan River. 
 
 At the date referred to it was thought that large 
 settlements would soon spring up in that region, and 
 that these incoming settlers, together with those 
 already there, as well as the police and a large band 
 of Indians near by, would render it the duty of the 
 Church to establish a mission among them, and so
 
 TWO MISSIONARY JOURNEYS. 281 
 
 bring Gospel ordinances within their reach. As yet 
 the place was far distant from any mission and had 
 not been visited by a missionary. 
 
 It was in order that I might be able to come to an 
 intelligent conclusion as to our duty as a Church to 
 these far away people that I decided on a journey 
 thither. In an interview with Colonel French in 
 regard to the matter, I received a very kind invitation 
 to accompany the force and to share " pot luck " with 
 the officers and men during their journey. Accordingly 
 I started from Winnipeg on the 18th of June, and over- 
 taking them in camp near Portage la Prairie, I held 
 service and preached at 11 a.m., and then preached 
 again in the church in the village in the evening. 
 On Monday evening we camped at Totogan, near 
 where the "White Mud River" enters Lake Manitoba, 
 and proceeding during the week, crossed that 
 crooked little stream at no less than three crossings, 
 and also the Little Saskatchewan River, and made 
 our way over the Riding Mountain and across the 
 prairies until we reached Shoal Lake on Saturday, the 
 26th, where we camped for several days while a depot 
 for supplies was being built, and where a number of 
 the men and horses were left for a time. On the 
 Sabbath I preached once or twice to an attentive 
 audience. On the 30th we struck our tents again and 
 moved on toward our destination, crossing many 
 leagues of beautiful farming prairie land and fording 
 several streams such as Bird Tail and Shell Rivers 
 and others and clambering up and down many high 
 banks, which seemed as we viewed them at first
 
 282 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 well-nigh insurmountable, until at length, weary with 
 travelling, we reached and looked in upon Fort 
 Pelly, and then pushing on twelve miles farther we 
 came to Swan River barracks, where we found a 
 resting place on the 6th of July. 
 
 Fort Pelly was simply a Hudson Bay Company's 
 trading post, consisting of a store, dwelling and cer- 
 tain stores and outhouses, the premises surrounded by 
 a stockade, which was connected with a small farm 
 under cultivation, and all in charge of a very kind 
 Presbyterian, a Mr. McBeth, from whom I obtained 
 much information. Colonel French, and in fact all 
 the officers and men, treated me with much respect 
 and kindness throughout the journey ; Dr. Kitson and 
 Inspector Dickens, son of the great novelist, sharing 
 their tent accommodations with me. 
 
 Several of the young men of the force were graduates 
 of European universities ; but unsteady habits, in 
 most cases, had resulted as never anticipated by their 
 parents or themselves. 
 
 Captain John French, a brother of the Colonel, poor 
 kind-hearted, impulsive fellow, lost his life at Batoche 
 in 1885, through incautiously exposing himself from 
 a window after the battle was over, when a miserable 
 half-breed rebel shot and killed him instantly. It 
 was some satisfaction that his slayer, being seen by 
 one of our volunteers, was in turn shot and killed only 
 a few moments later. 
 
 After such a survey of the surrounding country as 
 was practicable, and after visiting the few settlers, I 
 arranged my three appointments for the following
 
 TWO MISSIONARY JOURNEYS. 283 
 
 Sabbath thus : Barracks at ten o'clock, Pelly at two, 
 and then Chief Cotie's, twenty miles distant, at seven ; 
 but I was unable to fill the last appointment through 
 failing to have present an interpreter, a disappoint- 
 ment which I very much regretted. At my service 
 at the fort I baptized several Indian children. 
 
 A SNAKE STORY. 
 
 The barracks at Swan River were located on a 
 rocky hill which was specially noted for the multi- 
 tudes of snakes, said to be harmless, which were 
 known for years to have infested the place. In the 
 early spring they were wont to crawl from their 
 winter quarters in the crevices of the rocks, and 
 seek more warmth and comfort in the sunshine, 
 where, in masses often of almost incredible size and 
 numbers, they coiled and wriggled until by an 
 increasing vitality they should feel themselves ready 
 for their accustomed summer pursuits. The sight 
 was not a pleasant one to the police, who, after 
 consultation, decided upon a war of extermination. 
 The attack was to be made on the Queen's birthday, 
 and in this wise : Two detachments of fifteen men 
 each were matched for a snake-killing game, which 
 was to occupy just half an hour. A number of 
 empty flour barrels were placed in convenient 
 positions, into which the captured ones were to be 
 thrown, whether living or dead, and then at the 
 close of the half hour, the detachment having the 
 largest showing would be proclaimed and rewarded 
 as per agreement. The result of this sanguinary
 
 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 attack upon their snakeships, as I was assured by an 
 officer present on the occasion, was that there were 
 eleven thousand fewer snakes on that stony hill than 
 before it began a very good showing for that half 
 hour's slaughter. The same officer also estimated 
 that not less than twenty thousand of these reptiles 
 were killed during that spring. They were decidedly 
 scarce at the date of our arrival. 
 
 This round trip, as I made it, extended to about 
 seven hundred miles, and during the journey out, 
 which occupied over twenty days, I held services 
 and preached on four Sabbaths. Returning with my 
 kind and good roadster, " Nechie," I made the run in 
 six days, but we were homeward bound, and the 
 trails being in good condition, and leaving each morn- 
 ing at 4.30, we were able to make, without injury to 
 horse or driver, an exceptionally good run. Before 
 parting with Colonel -French I had arranged for 
 accommodations for a missionary to be sent on my 
 return home. In due course, the brother, accom- 
 panying another party of men going out to join the 
 force, reached his post and entered upon his duties. 
 He was charged with the responsibility not only of 
 giving ministerial attention to the Police and of 
 preaching to them, but also of visiting the settlers 
 and the Indians and of making special efforts for 
 their evangelization. His mission, I am sorry to 
 say, proved a failure. He was poorly adapted to the 
 position, the Police did not take kindly to him, and 
 so after about three months he became discouraged 
 and left the mission. The results were very disap-
 
 TWO MISSIONARY JOURNEYS. 285 
 
 pointing to me, but I trust we were both instrumental 
 to some extent at least, in doing good to those to 
 whom we preached " the everlasting Gospel." 
 
 Soon after my return a sore trial came to our 
 home. Our son was stricken down with the prevailing 
 Red River fever, and for nearly two months vibrated 
 'twixt life and death. On two occasions we were 
 forced to regard him as having passed away, but 
 the Lord's "good hand was upon him and upon us 
 for good," and after distressing solicitude on our 
 part and inexpressible suffering on his, his health was 
 restored. In the latter part of September I attended 
 the first General Conference in Toronto, which con- 
 summated the union of the following Conferences: 
 The Wesleyan Conference of Canada, The Wesleyan 
 Conference of Eastern British America, and the 
 Methodist New Connexion of Canada; the uniting 
 bodies to be henceforth known as "The Methodist 
 Church of Canada." 
 
 My second missionary journey into the interior 
 was very unlike the first, and I will avail myself of 
 the report I made thereof to the " Mission Rooms," 
 and which Dr. Wood published in due course in the 
 Missionary Notices, and which may instruct or 
 interest some who have not before read it. 
 
 " On the 7th December last, it was my privilege to 
 assist in the opening services of a new church on the 
 High Bluff Mission, about forty-eight miles west of 
 Winnipeg. My good Brother Fawcett has cause for 
 rejoicing in the completion of so comfortable a church 
 at a point where it was so much needed. Mr. W.
 
 286 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 Gowler, whom I found, on my first visit in 1868, more 
 than ready to give me a hearing, and to show kind 
 hospitality, has by the power of grace become a 
 happy, consistent and zealous Christian, and as the 
 Lord has prospered him in worldly pursuits, he has 
 evinced a commendable liberality in giving several 
 acres of land near his residence for church premises, 
 besides a considerable sum in contributions, and a 
 good deal of labor on the building. The opening 
 services were attended by large and seemingly devout 
 congregations, upon whom gracious influences rested 
 during the day, as a result of which special services 
 were commenced. On my return home, Monday 
 evening, I found the Rev. E. R. Young waiting, with 
 Indians, dogs and sleds, to take me to Berens River, on 
 my long trip to visit the Indian missions of the north. 
 I was led to decide on making this trip by a conviction, 
 long felt, that I could not discharge aright my duties 
 either to the Missionary Committee, or the mission- 
 aries, without such a knowledge of the field and the 
 work as can be secured only by actual observation. 
 My purpose had been to make the journey during 
 the summer, but I chose the winter instead, from a 
 wish to get in my report before next Conference, 
 because of a saving of time in making the trip 
 larger numbers of Indians to be met at certain points, 
 and greater press of duties in Manitoba in the 
 summer ; besides which, I desired, as a means to an 
 end, a just appreciation of the toils, privations, ex- 
 posures and expenses inseparably connected with the 
 long winter trips in this ' Wild North Land,' which 
 are being made by my brethren in the prosecution of 
 the great work of evangelization. To be the more 
 systematic in my statement, I shall group my obser- 
 vations in the following order : The journey made, 
 the country passed through, the missions visited. 
 " The journey extended to a distance of well nigh
 
 288 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 one thousand two hundred miles, occupied twenty- 
 eight travelling days, and was performed by some 
 walking, and a good deal of riding in dog-sleds. The 
 sixteen dogs, four sleds, four Indians, and two mis- 
 sionaries made up such a procession, as we left in 
 the early morn of December 9th, as would have 
 brought to the front a crowd of spectators had it 
 appeared on King Street, Toronto, instead of the Red 
 River of the North. Let me describe. Foremost of 
 all was the ' runner,' Jake Savanas, or South wind, a 
 fat young Indian, a good runner, a still better feeder. 
 Then came the Rev. E. R. Young, with his valuable 
 train of dogs, and a sled, heavily laden with supplies 
 needed at home. Next in order, my cariole, with its 
 one hundred and eighty pounds, more or less, of hu- 
 manity ; and how much of bedding, clothing, pemmi- 
 can, etc., I know -not ; and then two other trains, 
 loaded with flour, pork and fish, either for use on the 
 trip or to meet the wants of the people at Berens 
 River. Two of the four teams of dogs and sleds 
 were required for my use, the other two were inde- 
 pendent though 'attached,' for reasons sufficiently 
 apparent. The dog-sled, used as a cariole, is made of 
 thin oak, about an inch thick, fourteen or eighteen 
 inches wide, and about ten or twelve feet long ; with 
 the front end turned up like a skate, while the sides 
 and back are made of parchment drawn tightly 
 around a framework, and so hinged to the bottom of 
 the sled as to yield a little when it runs against 
 blocks of ice or trees, and thereby escape being 
 wrecked, even though the passenger experiences an 
 unpleasant squeeze from the collision. The whole 
 thing is very light, and runs easily and rides smoothly 
 on smooth ice, or a well-beaten road ; otherwise, not. 
 My experience in dog-sledding was of the following 
 order : First period quite amusing ; the thinness 
 of the oak bottom and the pliability of the sides
 
 TWO MISSIONARY JOURNEYS. 289 
 
 render it a springy sort of thing ; and as it runs over 
 an uneven surface, the bottom changing quickly from 
 the straight to the convex, and then to the concave, 
 and back to the straight again the sides meanwhile 
 working like the leather sides of a bellows it seems 
 almost a thing of life, and might easily suggest to a 
 half-awake passenger the idea of his being a sort of 
 second Jonah, who by some hook or crook had got 
 inside some monster, who, though on the ice, was 
 making desperate strides toward an opening, through 
 which to plunge with his victim into his native ele- 
 ment, the ' vasty deep.' Two months before this, to 
 a day, I was enjoying a ride on one of the beautiful 
 and comfortable Pullman cars, between Chicago and 
 St. Paul. Between that ride and this there was but 
 little semblance, save that in each one is conscious of 
 being strangely jerked, feet foremost, toward some 
 place, he scarcely knows where. The second period 
 barely enjoyable, with interruptions; sitting for 
 hours, not as in a chair, but after the fashion of a 
 jack-knife half open, with an occasional let down, 
 when the sled drops from a cake of ice or log, while 
 the dogs are at a trot, or to be capsized and find one's 
 self as helpless as an Indian babe in a ' moss-bag,' to 
 say nothing of the cool attentions of Jack Frost, when 
 thermometers, indicate forty or fifty degrees below 
 zero. These things act as interruptions to the barely 
 enjoyable in a dog-sledder's experience. The third 
 period is one of desire to have done with dog-sledding 
 for ever. This I reached while yet far away from 
 the home-side end of my journey. The dog-train is 
 managed by a driver running behind without any 
 reins, but with many words of which ' yee,' ' chaugh ' 
 and ' march ' are among the most important, and in 
 some instances the least objectionable ; to these 
 words are added certain persuasive measures in 
 which a whip, often loaded with shot, is brought into 
 19
 
 290 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 painful requisition. Unlike the horse or ox, the dog 
 speaks out his feelings in relation to these passing 
 matters. By ' running ' in this connection I do not 
 mean that either Indians or dogs literally run ; nor 
 do they walk much ; both take a kind of ' shack,' a 
 sort of nondescript gait, which they can do very 
 well, even to the extent of sixty or seventy miles per 
 day, on a pinch. In that case they set off from camp 
 at two or three in the morning, and deducting simply 
 brief rests, during which two meals are taken by the 
 men, they continue running until sunsetting, or even 
 late in the evening when the end of the journey is to 
 be reached. These long day journeys can only be 
 made with good dogs, and on smooth ice or roads. To 
 those who have not witnessed it, the statement that 
 these men can travel so far in a day seems incredible ; 
 but so much for use. And let no one imagine that 
 all this is done quite easily ; not so, these achieve- 
 ments are the results of straining, fatiguing and 
 wearing efforts, which in many cases are followed by 
 an early breakdown. 
 
 " The camp for the night is quickly made by all 
 hands setting to work some scraping back snow, 
 some cutting spruce boughs and carpeting the place, 
 building up a back wall with them about three feet 
 high, and others getting fuel for the fire. Thawing 
 fish for the dogs, getting supper, getting frost and ice 
 from clothes, preparing flat cakes and cooking pork 
 for the next day, constituted the work of the evening 
 around the camp-fire. Then after our evening hymn 
 and prayer the weary ones retired for rest in the 
 open wild, sometimes with snow falling thickly and 
 wind blowing sharply, with ' spruce feathers ' under 
 them and a blanket or two over them, to sleep com- 
 fortably sometimes. I found that as long as I could 
 avoid turning in bed I could keep warm, but to turn 
 or to strike a match to see my watch, for I kept time
 
 TWO MISSIONARY JOURNEYS. 291 
 
 for the men, was to give the cold an entrance, and 
 then to sleep or to shiver became the question. 
 Among the last things done before sleep, and the 
 first on waking by most of the men, was to drink 
 strong tea and smoke tobacco, large quantities of 
 which had to be supplied them. Nor can such ex- 
 ertions be sustained, and such intense cold endured, 
 without frequent replenishings with nourishing food. 
 Four meals a day are requisite ; a strong tea, pemmi- 
 can, or pork, or venison, or fish, with flat cakes often 
 baked in fat, seem necessary. In these almost Arctic 
 regions such a head of steam as is requisite can be 
 kept up only by a heavy supply of fuel. This will 
 account for the fact that the supplies for one of these 
 trips in the land of ' magnificent distances ' and high 
 prices, run up to an amount that cannot but astonish 
 the uninitiated. The different stages in my journey 
 were : from Winnipeg to Berens River, about five 
 days ; thence to Norway House, four days ; thence to 
 Oxford House, five days ; the return trip occupying 
 about the same time. During these twenty-eight 
 days I camped out some twenty-three or twenty-four 
 nights, some of which were colder than any I had 
 ever before experienced. My aim was to walk about 
 five or six miles a day, but in crossing a long rough 
 portage I made one day about fifteen miles, and suf- 
 fered for it too. 
 
 " The country through which I passed is one in 
 whose praise I cannot say much. From Winnipeg to 
 the last house in the lower settlement, about thirty- 
 five miles, the land resembles the other portions of 
 Manitoba, rather flat, some timber, but generally 
 prairie ; the soil, however, of the richest description. 
 From that point to Lake Winnipeg, about fifteen 
 miles, we passed over a marshy, muskegy region. The 
 beach at the lake is high, made up of sand and flat 
 stones. Once on the ice of this great lake, which is
 
 292 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 nearly three hundred miles long, and of peculiar 
 shape, we struck for the western shore, along which 
 we found for a long distance large quantities of tim- 
 ber, mostly poplar, which may yet serve us in Mani- 
 toba for building purposes and for fuel. The soil 
 here is no doubt very good. 
 
 " Our day's run brought us to the region of ever- 
 green trees spruce, Norway pines, all too small to be 
 of much value except for fuel or fences. Here I had 
 my first night in a winter camp. From that point 
 until I came back to it, excepting barely portions of 
 country near Berens River, I saw very little afford- 
 ing any encouragement to the agriculturist. In 
 fact, there are two things which would discourage 
 any farmer, and which must be met all through this 
 northern region want of soil and want of season ; 
 soil in depth and of season in length. As a general 
 thing the soil barely covers the rocks to a depth 
 sufficient to grow shrubs or small trees, whose roots 
 often strike down into the clefts of the rocks. In 
 the lake there are two large islands, on which timber 
 large enough for saw logs, or for small frames, can be 
 obtained. On one of these a steam saw-mill has been 
 recently erected, and from the other Mr. E. R. Young 
 obtained the timber used in the buildings he had 
 erected on his mission premises, drawing it with dogs 
 across the ice, a distance of ten or twelve miles. From 
 Norway House to Oxford House the country seemed 
 to have no higher destiny than to be what it now is, 
 the roaming, feeding and hiding ground of game and 
 fur-bearing animals, and the home of those who hunt, 
 trap, fish, or ' trip ' for a living. The soil is thin and 
 poor, the timber fit only for fuel, or to supply poles 
 for the Indian's cabin, or for his use in making the 
 traps or dead-falls wherewith he kills his game. 
 Small lakes, rivers, marshy grounds, tamarac swamps 
 and rocky hills these make up the variety between
 
 TWO MISSIONARY JOURNEYS. 293 
 
 those two points. Unless valuable minerals should 
 be discovered, I should think that fifty years hence a 
 thousand acres of this land might be worth a thousand 
 cents. 
 
 " On the east shore of Lake Winnipeg there are 
 large quantities of iron sand, which the magnet takes 
 up readily ; what this may betoken I know not. The 
 tracks of game and fur-bearing animals, however, all 
 through the northern region, abound, while in the 
 lakes and the rivers the finest fish in the world are to 
 be found. Fish is the main dependence of the people 
 as food for themselves and dogs. During the trapping 
 season the Indians are obliged to scatter in every 
 direction. We saw the wood traps all along the 
 shores of the lakes and rivers as we passed, and the 
 number of skins of beaver, otter, mink, fox, lynx, 
 bear, etc., which these hunters bring into the Hudson 
 Bay Company stores at the different trading posts, 
 all tell of their success. 
 
 "The missions I visited belong to the Methodist 
 Church ; no other denomination has ever occupied this 
 ground. 
 
 " The Rossville Mission is very pleasantly situated 
 on the shore of a beautiful little lake, within two 
 miles of Norway House post, and is the oldest and by 
 far the strongest of our Indian missions in the North- 
 West. It was established in 1840 by the Eev. Mr. 
 Rundle, Wesleyan missionary from London. The 
 church was built by Rev. Mr. Evans in 1844, and 
 enlarged by Rev. G. McDougall in 1861-2. In look- 
 ing over the register of baptisms and marriages, 
 which has been carefully kept from the first, I found 
 the first baptism recorded on May 28th, 1840, by Mr. 
 Rundle, and the last on January 3rd, 1875, by myself ; 
 between these dates one thousand five hundred and 
 sixty baptisms were registered. Mr. Rundle was 
 succeeded by the late Rev. James Evans, who, in
 
 294 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 labors and travels and successes, was 'more abun- 
 dant,' and whose name is ever mentioned by these 
 Christian Indians with profoundest respect and grati- 
 tude. Probably one thousand Indians or more con- 
 sider this place, and neighborhoods adjacent, their 
 home. The mission itself embraces a large number 
 of families who live in very comfortable and clean- 
 looking little houses, not far from the church and 
 school and mission house. . . . 
 
 " Since the Rev. Mr. Evans, the mission has been 
 occupied by Rev. Messrs. Hurlburt, Brooking, George 
 McDougall, Stringfellow, E. R. Young, and their 
 present pastor, Mr. Ruttan, all of whom have 
 been made great blessings to this once benighted 
 people. At present there is a membership of three 
 hundred and eighty-one, of whom forty-seven are on 
 trial, making a net increase this year of sixty-four. 
 There are eighteen classes with leaders and assistant 
 leaders, one day-school and one Sabbath-school at 
 Rossville, and one day-school and a Sabbath -school at 
 ' Crooked Turn/ about eight miles away. In these 
 schools there are about one hundred and fifty 
 scholars. 
 
 " At the love-feast there were present three hun- 
 dred people, while nearly two hundred came to the 
 Lord's table, among whom one was over one hundred 
 years of age, and one came one hundred miles to 
 attend the services. 
 
 " New Year's day was ' a high day ' with the Indi- 
 ans of Rossville, over five hundred of whom feasted 
 on ' fat things,' all of which were gratis to the 
 feasters. From morn till even the eating went 
 briskly on amid indication of good appetites, and 
 great enjoyment, and but little weariness. I reached 
 the mission on my return trip from Oxford, about 
 10 a.m., just in time for the feast. In the evening 
 they had the public meeting with ' Big Tom ' for a
 
 TWO MISSIONARY JOURNEYS. 
 
 chairman, who, by the way, is a good man and 
 true, but oh, so slow in getting up to speak, and, in 
 speaking, exceedingly slow. Just imagine a great 
 tall man getting up an inch at a time, and waiting 
 between the inches. But he got all the way up at 
 last, and spoke, I presume, very sensibly, which is 
 more than many a white man does who gets up with 
 less hesitancy. A number of speeches were made, 
 and a very enjoyable meeting indeed terminated in 
 good time. I visited both schools, and while pleased 
 with the appearance of the children, regret that I 
 cannot report more favorably of their study of the 
 English language. . . . 
 
 " The Rev. Mr. Ruttan has succeeded admirably at 
 this post ; his kind, prudent and Christian walk, and 
 his zealous and faithful ministry have borne fruit 
 abundantly, while his excellent young wife, right 
 from the Wesleyan Ladies' College, Hamilton, only a 
 few weeks elapsing from the day she left her studies 
 till she entered upon her duties in this far-off mission, 
 has been ' a helper indeed ' to her husband. Long 
 may these devoted servants of Christ be spared to 
 each other, the Church, and the great work they are 
 now so heartily and so cheerfully prosecuting. 
 
 ' At Norway House I received the most kind and 
 considerate attention from the Chief Factor, Mr. Ross, 
 and also from Messrs. Sinclair and McTavish ; in fact, 
 this holds good of all the officials of the Hudson Bay 
 Company at every post I visited. They are all mani- 
 festly interested in the mission work, and in sympathy 
 with our missionaries, of whom they spoke to me in 
 the kindest and most commendatory terms. 
 
 " The mission at Jackson's Bay, near Oxford 
 House, and about two hundred miles north-east from 
 Norway House, was established at a more recent 
 period, and has been occupied by Rev. Messrs. Stein- 
 hauer, Brooking, Stringfellow, Sinclair and the present 
 missionary, Mr. German.
 
 296 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 "At the outset, premises as mission and school 
 houses and a church were erected, and, I understand, 
 paid for by the Missionary Society in England. The 
 expenditure must have been very heavy. At the 
 present time the tendency of the settlement seems 
 towards the fort, which is about fourteen miles from 
 the mission house at the bay. The decision to build 
 a church near the fort was a wise one. Here large 
 numbers collect every season for trading purposes, 
 and several families reside permanently, who, with 
 the officers and servants of the company, will make a 
 good congregation throughout the year. A beautiful 
 site has been selected and a comfortable church 
 erected, and is now in use, though not quite finished. 
 The mission house at the bay is occupied by Mr. 
 German, our bachelor missionary, who has his inter- 
 preter and family residing in a portion of the build- 
 ing, by whom he gets his ' house-keeping ' managed. 
 A comfortable building, comparatively new, is used 
 both for the school and the place of worship. It 
 seems necessary to keep these two extreme ends of 
 an awkwardly shaped mission, as many families will 
 continue to reside at the bay on account of an excel- 
 lent fishery there, while others will reside near the 
 fort as employees of the Company. In working the 
 mission, Mr. German gives one Sabbath at the old 
 fort, and the next at the old mission, holding two 
 services at each place, with prayer-meeting, and class 
 and Bible-class during the week, as he can get them 
 together. During the summer a school is kept open 
 at the bay, with about forty children, but in winter 
 the families scatter, as elsewhere, to their hunting- 
 grounds, and the school is interrupted. The member- 
 ship when Mr. G. went there in September, 1873, 
 consisted of about sixty. Since that date he has 
 received fifty-seven - on trial, and the membership is 
 now one hundred and seventeen. He also visits an
 
 TWO MISSIONARY JOURNEYS. 297 
 
 outpost about one hundred and fifty miles away, 
 where he has instructed and baptized a large number 
 who were unevangelized prior to the above-given 
 date. I was greatly pleased with the heartiness and 
 cheerful spirit manifested by Brother German in the 
 prosecution of his work, notwithstanding his lonely 
 position and hard field. ' The Lord loveth a cheerful 
 giver,' whether the gift be in money or in service. 
 
 " We reached the mission on the evening of Christ- 
 mas day, after a very fatiguing day's run, from early 
 morn till long after dark. On Sabbath I preached 
 and gave the Sacrament, and baptized a child at 10 
 a.m. at the bay, and then we crossed over to the fort, 
 fourteen miles, and held service there. The night 
 was the coldest I had ever experienced, and when we 
 set off next morning before sunrise to cross the lake 
 a distance of about forty miles, it is said with wind 
 sharp ahead, neither present experience nor future 
 prospects for that day were very pleasing. The 
 Indians with me froze cheeks and ears in a very 
 general way, but said very little about it, while I felt 
 the cold very much with all my mummy-like wrap- 
 pings, till finally I had to get out and run to keep my 
 feet from freezing. The thermometer at the fort was 
 useless in such intense cold I have no doubt.it 
 should have gone down to fifty degrees below zero. 
 I mention this to show under what circumstances of 
 discomfort and peril our devoted missionaries are 
 often placed. Dr. Taylor once in his life endured the 
 almost purgatorial sufferings occasioned by the 
 swarms of mosquitoes, which gave him such a warm 
 reception in this same region, and glowingly did he 
 depict his sufferings. Once in my life, for a little 
 while, I have felt the discomfort and faced the peril, 
 and endured the toil of a trip through there in mid- 
 winter; But what is all this in either case to 'what 
 our dear brethren stationed out Here have to meet
 
 298 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 with every summer and every winter and are they 
 not equally susceptible to suffering as either of us ? 
 
 " Let our good brethren in the more comfortable 
 home-work bear them up in their prayers, and use all 
 allowable means to secure to them the most liberal 
 ' appropriations.' These are the toilers who earn 
 and really need the highest salaries going. High 
 prices prevail, hungry Indians clamor, and perquisites 
 and presents are unknown these are noteworthy 
 facts. 
 
 " The Nelson River Mission is situated about two 
 hundred miles north from Norway House, and is the 
 most northerly point of our mission field. The work 
 of instructing these poor pagans was commenced by 
 Rev. E. R. Young during the occupancy of Rossville, 
 and by him a large number were baptized. Through 
 his representations and influence mainly, the authori- 
 ties of the Church were led to open a mission there, 
 and to appoint the Rev. J. Semmens as their first 
 missionary. Upon him rests the heavy responsibility 
 of making, if possible, this mission a success, and his 
 will be the honor in that case from the Church of the 
 future. As I understood that the Indians were gener- 
 ally away to their hunting-grounds, I decided not to 
 extend my long and tedious and costly trip to that 
 point; but, during my visit to Oxford House, the 
 missionary arrived at Norway House, so that on my 
 return I met him there, and received from him a full 
 statement of the work done and of his plans for the 
 future. During the last few months he has baptized 
 fifty-five persons, and conducted services regularly on 
 the Sabbath, with congregations not very large, but 
 attentive, some seven of whom have become com- 
 municants. According to the returns made to the 
 Hudson Bay Company's officer, Mr. Ross, the Indians 
 in that vicinity numbered in 1872, fifty-five husbands, 
 having among them sixty-eight wives, ninety children,
 
 TWO MISSIONARY JOURNEYS. 299 
 
 and fifteen widows and several orphans ; but I believe 
 that there are other bands near by, so that Mr. 
 Semmens rec'kons about five hundred Indians as 
 placed under his pastoral care. According to the 
 judgment of Chief Factor Ross, as well as Rev. E. R. 
 Young, this field is a central and very important one, 
 which should be worked with energy and true faith. 
 " The new mission at Berens River is situated on 
 the shore of a pleasant little bay which puts in from 
 Lake Winnipeg, on the east side of the lake, and 
 about midway from the mouth of Red River and 
 Norway House. The mission was opened by Rev. 
 E. R. Young in 1873. When the statement of Rev. 
 John Ryerson, as published in his book of travels 
 through this land in 1854, is remembered, that this 
 point ought to be made a mission, that the Indians and 
 the Company's officials desired it, and that missionaries 
 in passing had promised that they should have a mis- 
 sionary, and then the fact noted that, despite all this 
 importunity and recommendation and promise, no 
 missionary was sent until 1873, the old adage, 'large 
 bodies move slowly,' will be apt to occur to the 
 mind. On Sabbath, the 13th of December, I reached 
 this pleasantly- situated mission in time to enjoy a 
 service in the ' tabernacle,' as they call it, erected a 
 few months ago. Our arrival was followed by no 
 small stir among the natives, who, on the call of the 
 beautiful bell given by Jas. Ferrier, Esq., assembled, 
 and gave earnest attention to my message from 
 ' Behold, I bring you glad tidings,' etc. Each Sab- 
 bath services are conducted in the Tabernacle at 11 
 a.m., in Indian, through an interpreter, and at 6 p.m., 
 at the fort, in English. Class and prayer-meetings 
 and a Bible-class are conducted in the afternoon or 
 during the week. At the three services I attended the 
 congregations were very encouraging about twenty 
 received the Sacrament and three were baptized.
 
 300 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 "As a centre, the mission is of great importance. 
 Large bands of Indians yet unchristianized can be 
 easily reached, as at Poplar River, Jack's Head, Sandy 
 Bar, Pigeon River and Grand Rapids, many of whom 
 will probably settle near the mission ere long. 
 
 "The fisheries and hunting-grounds are the best. 
 I suppose, on the lake. Being about midway between 
 Norway House and Red River, it will afford our mis- 
 sionaries, as they pass to and fro, a much needed and 
 quiet resting-place, securing to the mission a visit, 
 and to the weary travellers a home and a Sabbath 
 rest. To my mind the field here is attractive, and 
 the prospects of the mission are cheering. Mr. and 
 Mrs. E. R. Young are toiling hard, and even with 
 weeping, to scatter ' precious seed.' May they soon 
 realize the promise fulfilled, and ' come again with 
 rejoicing, bringing their sheaves with them.' I felt 
 it my duty here and elsewhere to speak with plain- 
 ness on the real mission of a missionary, informing 
 the Indians that it was not to scatter presents, either 
 of food or clothing, so much as to teach them the way 
 to the Saviour. The idea of some of them seems to 
 be that a missionary must be a sort of unweariable 
 giver, and with such I am sure I must have made 
 myself very unpopular. In my judgment our mis- 
 sionaries will have to insist on a little more of ' self- 
 help ' among them. During my journey I had sev- 
 eral conversations with uninstructed pagans, all of 
 whom professed to feel dissatisfied with their position, 
 and to desire more light, and to be anxious for 
 instruction in the doctrines of Christianity. From 
 several I got a promise that they would pray to the 
 Great and Good Spirit to lead them into the true 
 light. Polygamy, a superstitious dread of their 
 medicine-men and conjurers, wandering habits, and 
 an idea that he who would teach them ought to feed 
 them to a considerable extent these are obstacles
 
 TWO MISSIONARY JOURNEYS. 301 
 
 in the way of their Christianization, but they are 
 surmountable, and have been surmounted in thousands 
 of instances. The difficulty of mastering their miser- 
 able language so as to preach in it, or of getting the 
 truth properly before them through an interpreter, is 
 felt by all our missionaries. From them we need 
 fear neither violence nor opposition. The term 
 ' savages,' if by any applied to the Indians of this 
 country, whether Christian or pagan, is a misnomer. 
 Openings for schools and missionaries abound ' The 
 fields are white unto the harvest ' the laborers are 
 comparatively few, and the funds are not as plentiful 
 as they should be in the treasury of a Church bought 
 with the Redeemer's blood. 
 
 "After parting with the kind people of Berens River 
 on the llth of January, I reached home on Friday 
 the 16th, weary and sore indeed, better as I supposed 
 in health, and yet after the services of Sabbath the 
 reaction came, and for several days it seemed uncer- 
 tain whether an attack of fever or inflammatory 
 rheumatism awaited me. However, deliverance came, 
 as has been usual with me, through the infinite mercy 
 and goodness of God. I am thankful that I have 
 been enabled to make the trip in the winter, but this 
 one, with its fatigue and exposure, must suffice for 
 me. Were I possessed of the vigor and activity and 
 endurance and lightness which were mine thirty 
 years ago, I might decide otherwise. Providence 
 permitting, I hope to start in a day or two for the 
 extreme limit of our Province to the westward, and 
 to visit the missions in that direction. This journey 
 over, I shall have visited each mission on this large 
 District since December 9th, excepting barely that at 
 Nelson River, and travelled one thousand two hundred 
 miles with dogs, and five hundred with my horses."
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 MY LAST HAND-SHAKE WITH AN HEROIC 
 MISSIONARY. 
 
 BEFORE entering upon the subject indicated by the 
 above heading, I will make, by way of introduction, 
 brief references to the circumstances under which, 
 and to two or three consecrated men by whom, the 
 early missions of Methodism were established among 
 the aboriginal peoples of these great lone lands. 
 
 In the same year in which I was converted, and at 
 about the same time, now fifty-seven years ago, the 
 authorities of British Methodism, having decided 
 upon establishing certain missions in these Territories, 
 appointed the following brethren as missionaries to 
 the following places, viz. : Norway House, Lake 
 Winnipeg, James Evans ; Moose Factory, etc., George 
 Barnley; Lac-la-Pluie and Fort Alexander, William 
 Mason ; Edmonton and Rocky Mountain House, 
 Joseph Rundle ; James Evans, General Superin- 
 tendent. Thus we trace up to its source a stream, 
 small indeed at the first, which has, nevertheless, 
 flowed on and on, ever widening and deepening as it 
 flowed, till it has become as a mighty river bearing 
 offers of life and salvation with manifold and great
 
 LAST HAND-SHAKE WITH HEROIC MISSIONARY. 303 
 
 benefits to tens of thousands of redeemed and immor- 
 tal men. The "day of small things" which some 
 despised has become a day of great things not now to 
 be despised even by our enemies. As we look over 
 this " list of stations " we may well be struck with 
 the vastness of that District over which they extended, 
 of which Mr. Evans was appointed Chairman, and the 
 work throughout which he was to supervise ; and yet 
 right well did he accomplish the work given him to 
 do in that he visited every mission in his District, and 
 journeyed far into " regions beyond," preaching the 
 "everlasting Gospel." Thus this man of great 
 resources in himself, and of never failing courage, 
 and with his great heart all aflame with love to God 
 and humanity ; this heroic and zealous and success- 
 ful apostle to the Indians and Hudson Bay Com- 
 pany officials as well, literally rushed, now by canoe 
 of his own construction, and now by train of dogs of 
 his own training, from point to point in this country 
 of magnificent distances, proclaiming " the unsearch- 
 able riches of Christ," and declaring the way of 
 salvation to all from whom he might gain a hearing. 
 The dangers he faced, the toils and hardships he 
 endured, and the privations and vexatious trials which 
 he suffered were far beyond any that fell to the lot of 
 any of his associates or successors in this great work 
 of evangelization. Yet his faith failed not, and not 
 fearing " the wrath of man," he unflinchingly pressed 
 on in his work until relieved of his heavy responsi- 
 bilities, first by the authorities by whom he was 
 appointed to his difficult mission, and then by the
 
 3(H MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 ever-observant and sympathizing Head of the Church, 
 who said, " It is enough ; come up higher." 
 
 It has been thought by some (perhaps uncharit- 
 ably) that missionaries sometimes have trenched 
 rather closely on the extravagant and the imagina- 
 tive in their reports given through the press and on 
 the platform, of scenes witnessed, perils braved, and 
 achievements effected by themselves. Be that as it 
 may, I have never read or heard of any such accusa- 
 tion against our sainted brother. He was too great a 
 man and too good a Christian to indulge in exaggera- 
 tion in order to self-laudation, or to gain popular 
 applause, while recounting the Lord's doings where 
 he toiled. In his Master's good tune this worker 
 " was not, for God took him." The Lord of the great 
 harvest " can bury His workmen, and yet carry on 
 His work." 
 
 Of this band of pioneer missionaries there are other 
 names which should be held in grateful remembrance 
 by all who rejoice in the progress of the work of 
 grace among the Indians of the North- West. First 
 and foremost, next to that of Mr. Evans, is that of 
 Robert Rundle. His appointment was to " Edmonton 
 and Rocky Mountain House," a field fully one thousand 
 miles distant from any of his brother missionaries, 
 where, in the midst of the then wandering, warring, 
 and superstitious Crees and Stonies, he was to " lift 
 high" the blood-stained banner, and seek both to 
 teach the children and persuade these braves of the 
 plains to be at peace with each other and to be recon- 
 ciled unto God. The bearing of the teaching and
 
 LAST HAND-SHAKE WITH HEROIC MISSIONARY. 305 
 
 example and efforts of Mr. Rundle and his successors 
 in this work on the safety of property and life, in the 
 case of many a traveller and trader, has been most 
 direct and influential for good. The rights, and even 
 lives, of the " pale faces " were not always accounted 
 very sacred by those who, having been often wronged 
 by the white man, sometimes avenged themselves 
 terribly, even upon the innocent, until the missionary 
 visited and taught and influenced them. Thus these 
 holy men, with trust in God, and yet, as men say, 
 " with their lives in their hands," ofttimes stood up 
 between imperilled ones and these avengers of blood, 
 rescuing those about to perish; and yet, in many 
 cases, they have received but little, if any, credit 
 for it. 
 
 Many of the fruits of the labors of Mr. Rundle 
 remain to this day. Among both Crees and Stonies 
 are those long ago converted through his instru- 
 mentality who testify with gratitude and deep feel- 
 ing to the light and blessedness of salvation which 
 came to them through his faithful and loving min- 
 istry. Mr. Rundle, I take it, was rather an evan- 
 gelizer than an organizer. Perhaps there was but 
 little opportunity for organizing in his day, and so 
 without any seeming centre of operation, he moved 
 as the Indians moved, following them to the buffalo 
 hunt or wherever they might roam, in order to have 
 opportunities of teaching their children and preach- 
 ing to and evangelizing their adults. A truly and 
 fully consecrated life was his, and not unworthy the 
 distinction conferred upon him by the giving of his 
 20
 
 306 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 name to a grand mountain with snow-clad peak 
 jn the immediate neighborhpod of Banff, which he 
 ascended, guided by an Indian convert (and, I judge, 
 was the first white man who ever did so), and which 
 is still called " Bundle Mountain," an everlasting mon- 
 ument, seen from afar, as is another great mountain 
 nearer Morley, appropriately called " McDougall 
 Mountain," in well deserved honor of the heroic and 
 now sainted George McDougall. 
 
 Mr. Rundle, after several years of toil in these vast 
 and wild regions, returned to England, where, for 
 many years, he rendered very efficient service in the 
 home work. After a season of superannuation, he 
 was only recently called from labor to reward. 
 
 It would be inexcusable in me to pass over the 
 name of another in this " bright succession," who was 
 one of my early friends in the ministry, and is, by all 
 who know him, highly esteemed and honored for his 
 godly character and his " works of faith and labors of 
 love." I refer to Rev. Thomas Woolsey, the successor 
 of Mr. Rundle. I received from officers of the Hudson 
 Bay Company's service, more than a score of years 
 ago, most gratifying testimonies to his Christian 
 deportment and his self-sacrificing zeal as a mis- 
 sionary. Like Rundle, he traversed the great plains 
 with his pastoral charge, ever acting the part of a 
 good under-shepherd, even though perils had to be 
 braved and hardships endured. I met godly Indians 
 at Morley, quite recently, who gratefully and lovingly 
 remembered the good missionary and his work. Like 
 Evans and Rundle, Thomas \Voolsey also has left it>
 
 LAST HAND-SHAKE WITH HEROIC MISSIONARY. 307 
 
 to others to proclaim his exploits in the days gone 
 by, while with the Psalmist he ever exclaimed, " Not 
 unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name be all the 
 praise." 
 
 He, like his friend and predecessor, Mr. Rundle, 
 has but recently entered upon his everlasting rest. 
 The name of the missionary hero to whom the 
 remainder of this chapter will relate, and who was a 
 worthy successor of Evans, Rundle, and Woolsey, will 
 be readily anticipated. Dr. Chalmers has been credited 
 with the affirmation, " Methodism is Christianity in 
 earnest." He might have added, very truthfully, 
 that whenever that ceases to be true of Methodism, 
 there will be but little left worthy of extension or 
 preservation. What wonders have been accomplished 
 through the instrumentality of an " earnest ministry 
 and a working Church;" and what opportunities, 
 more than golden, have been lost forever aye, 
 criminally lost through the dilatoriness of an un- 
 earnest ministry, and an inactive, ease-loving Church? 
 
 George McDougall was a man of intense earnestness 
 from the date of his " second birth," until he " ceased 
 at once to work and live." Having given himself to 
 the mission work, " he counted not his life dear unto 
 himself " from that hour forward, but heroically, and 
 with full trust in God, set himself to face whatever 
 might threaten to obstruct his way, or hinder him in 
 the prosecution of that work. 
 
 " Send us a good swimmer ; our last preacher was 
 drowned in trying to reach one of his appointments," 
 was the earnest message sent to Bishop Asbury by a
 
 308 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 hardy pioneer, when petitioning for a missionary 
 adapted to the requirements and difficulties of a new 
 field. It was well, both for himself and many others, 
 that George McDougall was a "good swimmer" he 
 had need to be. Many a rushing and unbridged 
 stream was crossed by him, both in making and 
 fulfilling his appointments, without either boat or 
 raft or float of any kind, and thus for long years, not 
 alone by driving or riding or walking over roadless 
 prairies, but frequently by swimming unfordable 
 rivers and streams, he carried the " glad tidings " to 
 the un- Christianized humanity of the North- West. 
 Brave, earnest man, 
 
 " Whose living like I shall not find, 
 Whose faith and works were bells of full accord." 
 
 Concerning him and a host of others, who have 
 vanished out of our view, we cherish the hope 
 
 "That we shall meet, 
 In life complete, 
 At Jesus' feet, 
 
 And say a glad good morning, in a higher, brighter, happier 
 clime than this." 
 
 The Rev. George McDougall was born in Kingston, 
 1820; was born again in his nineteenth year; was 
 received on trial for the work of the ministry in 1850, 
 and owing to the special need of an ordained man 
 where he was laboring and also to his special fitness 
 for it, he was ordained in 1852. The various fields of 
 labor occupied by him, as the years went by, were :
 
 LAST HAND-SHAKE WITH HEROIC MISSIONARY. 309 
 
 Alderville, Garden River, Rama, Norway House, 
 Victoria, Edmonton House, and Morleyville. 
 
 In July, 1875, after long years of acquaintance and 
 close friendship, the Rev. Dr. Wood and he met in our 
 little parsonage, Winnipeg, and after three days spent 
 in conferring with each other and myself, parted for 
 the last time. 
 
 On Monday Dr. Wood arrived by steamer from the 
 
 REV. GEORGE M'DOUGALL. 
 
 south, and in the evening he preached and ordained 
 a missionary in Grace Church. During the three 
 days of his stay with us we had consultations relating 
 to the management and prospects of the " Wesleyan 
 Institute," and the appointment of the Rev. Mr. 
 Manning, then with us in Winnipeg, to the Saskatche- 
 wan District, and other important matters. I was, 
 very unwillingly, in the minority in regard to Mr.
 
 310 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 Manning, for he was proving a great blessing in our 
 work on my District, to which he was specially 
 adapted, but of course the minority had to yield, and 
 Brother Manning went west. Dr. Wood took steamer 
 for home on the 21st of July. 
 
 On Sabbath, 1st of August, Mr. McDougall preached 
 in Grace Church and joined us in the Holy Com- 
 munion, and on the following Sabbath he took three 
 services in Winnipeg, while I ministered to the scores 
 of railroad men at Rat River and other points along 
 the line on the east side of the Red River. 
 
 Just then, when Mr. McDougall was preparing for 
 his return journey, exciting rumors came from Carl- 
 ton and still farther west, to the effect that the 
 Indians were threatening to give serious trouble. 
 Surveyors had been laying out the line of the railroad 
 and blocking out the land where they claimed owner- 
 ship, prior to any explanation of matters such as 
 should have been given them, and to any treaty being 
 entered into. This certainly was an unaccountable 
 oversight. It was a fortunate circumstance that Mr. 
 McDougall was then within reach, and Lieutenant- 
 Governor Morris, sending for him forthwith, urged 
 him to undertake a journey among these distant and 
 much agitated tribes for their pacification and to 
 secure promises from them to meet a Government 
 Commission in the following summer, to arrange and 
 sign treaties, etc. But he was anxious to push on at 
 once, by the shortest and quickest route, for his 
 distant mission-home, from which he had been so long 
 absent, and so, hesitating to comply with the Gov-
 
 LAST HAtfD-SHAKE WITH HEROIC MISSIONARY. 31 1 
 
 ernor's request, he conferred with me on the subject. 
 My judgment was, that as the circumstances were 
 alarming, he should consent to go as requested, if the 
 Government would furnish a sufficient outfit of carts, 
 horses and provisions for the long journey, and for a 
 wise distribution of presents to the needy ones, and 
 also give him positive assurance that the Indians 
 should not be disappointed in the following summer, 
 by the non-arrival of the Commission. He there- 
 upon gave his consent, and in a few days all needful 
 authority from Ottawa was received, and all arrange- 
 ments requisite were made and he was ready to begin 
 his journey. 
 
 On the 9th of August we grasped hands for the last 
 time, when I was much surprised by his saying, 
 " Brother Young, we will not likely ever meet again in 
 this world. You are going back to the work in Ontario, 
 and I am undertaking a difficult and perilous journey 
 and task in order to pacify these excited Indians, and 
 I know not what may befall me ; and besides that, I 
 am frequently suffering from a sharp pain about my 
 heart, which came upon me while addressing large 
 meetings so often in Canada and England, together 
 with irregularities as to diet and hours of retirement 
 which seemed unavoidable. This pain has troubled 
 me a good deal during the last few days, but I hope 
 when I shall get out on the plains again, that the 
 change will bring me all right." I tried to utter a 
 few encouraging words, and we parted with a solemn 
 " Good-bye." His reference to that pain in the region 
 of the heart came forcibly to my mind when I received
 
 312 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 the sad intelligence of his sudden and mysterious 
 decease on the western prairies. 
 
 Leaving Winnipeg, he struck first for Carlton and 
 thence to Prince Albert, and having interviewed the 
 natives at these points and by the route taken, he 
 started out westward for the big plains. Travelling 
 from camp to camp and meeting large numbers of 
 the already disturbed Indians, he explained to them 
 the matters in question, assuring them, according to 
 his instructions, that in the following summer Com- 
 missioners would be sent into their country to treat 
 with them. He was received everywhere with con- 
 fidence, and his words being believed, the Indian 
 mind all over the country was set at rest, despite 
 the efforts of agitators and the prophesying of the 
 envious. 
 
 In due course the Commissioners put in their ap- 
 pearance, and after a good deal of speech-making and 
 distributing of presents, the treaties were signed. In 
 January, 1876, it was found that the food supplies 
 with the mission families at Morley were running short, 
 and there being no parties available to employ as 
 buffalo hunters, he and his son and nephew left home 
 on a hunting expedition to secure the needed supply 
 of buffalo meat. On the 23rd of January, after a 
 successful but very hard day's work, they started at 
 nightfall to retrace their steps toward the camp, 
 which was about eight miles distant; and when 
 within two miles of the place, Mr. McDougall pro- 
 posed that his son, then walking and weary, should 
 take the pony he was riding, and proceed to the camp
 
 LAST HAND-SHAKE WITH HEROIC MISSIONARY. 313 
 
 and make ready the supper. To this John demurred, 
 requesting his father to continue riding, while he 
 would follow the loaded sleighs as he had been doing; 
 whereupon, directing attention to a certain star toward 
 which they were to move, he set off, galloping his 
 pony in the direction indicated. They never saw him 
 again in life. " By a mysterious providence, never to 
 be revealed in this life, he failed to reach the camp and 
 perished on the plains. Diligent search was made at 
 once by his son, and then by a large number of anxious 
 friends, but it was not until the thirteenth day that 
 the frozen body was found, uninjured, and as if laid 
 out by loving hands for burial." His son, the Rev.- John 
 McDougall, states in a beautiful memorial volume : 
 " As I looked at him and beheld his features, I said, 
 Whatever may have happened my father, he was 
 conscious at the last, and feeling that death was 
 upon him, he picked out a level spot and laid him- 
 self out straight and crossed his hands and thus pre- 
 pared to die. His face was perfectly natural, bearing 
 an expression of conscious satisfaction. Reverently 
 the body was lifted to the sleigh, and we started 
 that Sunday afternoon on our homeward journey." 
 He also adds, in reference to the sad occurrence, about 
 the cause of which there were so many differing 
 opinions : " My own theory is that some disease affect- 
 ing either his heart or his brain so acted upon him 
 that for the time being he was rendered unconscious 
 of his surroundings, otherwise I cannot explain his 
 being lost." 
 
 As soon as the report reached me at Winnipeg, I
 
 314 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 wired Dr. Sutherland in relation to it, and received 
 the following reply : " I fear there is absolutely no 
 hope. Thus has fallen one of the noblest and most 
 self-sacrificing missionaries that ever entered the 
 work. I feel as though in this calamity I had lost 
 a brother." 
 
 On the following Sabbath evening I preached a 
 memorial sermon in Grace Church, from the text 
 (Genesis v. 24): "He was not, for God took him." 
 In the concluding part of the discourse I remarked 
 as follows : " Our departed brother was a man of 
 wonderful resources, possessing more of what is 
 called ' self-help ' than any one I had previously 
 known. His courage and presence of mind never 
 failed him, even amid scenes of greatest danger. 
 Circumstanced as we are to-day, with but few facts 
 before us, we can scarcely avoid asking questions 
 which must remain unanswered, at least for the 
 present. What became the agency used in his dis- 
 missal from the toils and trials of this life ? Was it 
 what is now so often reported as the cause of sudden 
 death ' heart failure ' ? Those of us who knew him 
 well cannot bring ourselves to believe that George 
 McDougall perished as an ordinary wanderer who 
 had missed his way perishes. And did he, suffering 
 the loss of consciousness for a time, regain it when 
 near his last moments; and as he sank amid the 
 whirling clouds of frost and snow, did he realize the 
 presence and helping hand of an Almighty Saviour, 
 who so transfigured the driving snow-clouds as to
 
 LAST HAND-SHAKE WITH HEROIC MISSIONARY. 31 5 
 
 cause them to seem but as the chariots and horses of 
 light which were commissioned to bear his ransomed 
 and released spirit away to the glorious presence of 
 Elijah's God ? Let all this be as it may, we are 
 confident that the seeming severity and desolation 
 by which the external circumstances attending his 
 decease were characterized, were in striking contrast 
 with what was internal to the departing servant of 
 his Lord. All there was calm, peaceful, blissful and 
 heavenly. ' He was not ' that is, to those who 
 sought him, an embodied being. His body, once so 
 full of life and vigor, was near, and it may be that 
 his spirit, then separated from that body, looked 
 down upon them as they prosecuted their search, 
 while he was in blessed companionship with many 
 whom he had instructed and led to Christ, including 
 some even of his own loved ones who had passed 
 on before, he and they alike enjoying the ' beatific 
 vision.' " All that was mortal of our sainted brother 
 rests in the cemetery at Morley, where a substantial 
 and appropriate monument has been reared by those 
 who are following after. On the occasion of each 
 of my two visits to that beautifully situated mission, 
 in 1892 and 1893, I spent some time at the grave of 
 my former associate in the work of the Master, while 
 my thoughts went forth to some period in the future 
 when I hope to meet him on the Mount of God. 
 
 It seems appropriate that this chapter should close 
 with the following brief sketch, written by the late 
 Rev. Dr. Stafford in 1883 :
 
 316 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 " ENOCH WOOD SKINNER. 
 
 " Among those who accompanied the mission party 
 from Toronto to the North- West in 1868, was the 
 lad whose name heads this brief notice. For several 
 years he resided with the late Rev. George McDougall, 
 where he saw and heard much of missionary life, 
 learned the Cree language, and with the zealous 
 missionary travelled extensively through that great 
 country. After his return to Toronto to his parents 
 he was converted to Christ, and immediately his 
 heart was drawn toward the poor unevangelized 
 aborigines of the far west, whose habits, language and 
 needs he knew so well. Consulting frequently and 
 prayerfully with the Rev. Drs. Wood, Sutherland 
 and Young in relation to the matter, he finally ob- 
 tained permission to enter upon what he intended to 
 be his great life work, and started for the field of 
 toil he so greatly desired to occupy. His outfit was 
 secured at Winnipeg, and several hundreds of miles 
 journeyed over with his ponies and carts, and then 
 Enoch ' was not, for God took him.' Alone on the 
 wild prairie, from an accidental discharge of his 
 gun, his young life was instantly terminated. How 
 very mysterious that he, as well as his sainted friend 
 McDougall, should have passed out of life, like Moses, 
 with no earthly friend near. It cannot be doubted 
 but that in his case the will was accepted, by the 
 Master, for the deed, and that in the great reaping 
 and rewarding day, Enoch Wood Skinner will ' stand 
 in his lot ' among that great multitude of earnest 
 workers, who, having sown ' precious seed ' weeping, 
 shall come again with rejoicing, bringing their sheaves 
 with them. The grave of this zealous young mis- 
 sionary is at Prince Albert, where a Methodist mission 
 was subsequently established."
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 RETURNING TO ONTARIO. 
 
 I WAS led to decide in favor of this return by three 
 considerations, which I shall specify as follows : 
 
 First, my belief was then, as it is now, that, except 
 in the case of remote missions, our Methodist system 
 of itinerancy is far better adapted to the needs of the 
 people and to promote the edification and extension 
 of the Church, than is a settled pastorate. This 
 consideration seemed to me to be of special force in 
 my case, in 1876, because of the interblending of 
 educational with evangelistic interests in Winnipeg. 
 
 For eight years I had ministered to the congrega- 
 tion there, and for three years had been closely 
 connected with the management of the Wesleyan 
 Institute, a position which I deeply felt implied 
 and needed a scholarship and an experience such 
 as I could not lay any claim to. In view of these 
 combined interests, I felt certain that the Confer- 
 ence could easily select from among its university 
 graduates a successor who should more efficiently 
 discharge these multiform duties than I could hope 
 to do. In order that such a turn in the great wheel 
 of our itinerancy might take place, I forwarded my
 
 318 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 request for the double transfer myself to the work 
 in Ontario, and some more competent brother to 
 Winnipeg. 
 
 A second consideration which influenced me in 
 making the request was what I may designate as 
 an increasing weariness of "serving tables." My 
 position in that centre of communication with the 
 remote Indian missions of two Districts had rendered 
 it seemingly necessary for me to take on, with my 
 other duties, that of making purchases for the 
 missionaries and their families, such as might be 
 ordered, making payments out of the proceeds of 
 their "authorized bills" from the Mission Rooms, 
 and then securing their transportation by carts or 
 boats to their distant destinations. All this required 
 more attention to bookkeeping and more labor in 
 selecting and sending off the required supplies than 
 was compatible with my other responsibilities, and 
 became exceedingly irksome and tiring, especially 
 when the requisitions called for more than appeared 
 to the credit of the requisitionist. 
 
 A third consideration was a conviction that the 
 transfer sought would afford me greater opportunities 
 than I could otherwise enjoy of advocating the claims 
 of our missions in the North- West in committees and 
 at missionary anniversaries. 
 
 In connection with our making arrangements to 
 leave Winnipeg, the following testimonial addresses 
 were presented to me, the one by the late Chief 
 Justice Wood, and the other by the late Sir John C. 
 Schultz, afterwards Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba :
 
 RETURNING TO ONTARIO. 319 
 
 "REVEREND AND DEAR SIR, It becomes us to 
 acquiesce in the decrees of Providence, and yet it is 
 no less becoming at times to manifest regret at the 
 substance of these decrees as they specially affect us. 
 
 " Your removal from this wide field of usefulness, 
 where you have so long endured hardship as a good 
 soldier of Jesus Christ, maintaining a character with- 
 out reproach, and in the zealous and discreet exercise 
 of your sacred calling, gaining the good-will and 
 respect of all classes without distinction of creed, may 
 be (as we trust it will) for the benefit of the Church 
 with which you are immediately connected, for the 
 Church generally, and for yourself particularly, never- 
 theless the present loss is ours, and we can not but 
 express our sense of it. We part with you, therefore, 
 as one parts with a friend. 
 
 " Be assured you carry with you our best wishes 
 for your future welfare and happiness, and that in 
 your new sphere of usefulness you may be blessed 
 with abundant success as a faithful husbandman in 
 the Lord's vineyard. 
 
 " We cannot close this address without expressing 
 our deep sense of the obligation the citizens of Red 
 River Settlement are under to you for the patriotic 
 course taken by you during the troubles of 1869 and 
 70, in this country. 
 
 " In connection with this address we beg to present 
 you with the accompanying purse as a small testi- 
 monial of our respect and esteem. 
 
 " Signed on behalf of the citizens of Winnipeg, 
 
 "E. B. WOOD, 
 
 " Chairman of Committee, Chief Justice of Manitoba. 
 
 " To REV. GEO. YOUNG, 
 
 4 ' Wedeyan Methodist Minister. 
 " Winnipeg, Man., 26th May, 1876."
 
 320 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 " To Rev. George Young, Pastor of Grace Church, 
 Winnipeg : 
 
 " SIR, Remembering your connection with the 
 events of the Red River rebellion ; willingly giving 
 your only son to aid those who strove to main- 
 tain law and order and to defend the flag of their 
 country ; your ministering care of those who lan- 
 guished in prison, and of him who was put to a cruel 
 death ; and the fearless discharge of your duties at 
 all times at great personal risk : those who were 
 witnesses of your conduct and the recipients of your 
 ministrations have thought it well to offer you a 
 slight testimonial on the occasion of your departure 
 from among us. 
 
 " A meeting of the prisoners of 1869-70 have ac- 
 cordingly instructed us to express to you their high 
 appreciation of your conduct as a minister of the 
 Gospel and a patriotic man during these trying times ; 
 to tender their thanks for your zealous, kindly and 
 sympathizing attention to them while in prison ; and 
 to say to you that, among the many who are now 
 publicly testifying their appreciation of the services 
 you have rendered this country, there are none who 
 more deeply regret your departure, or who will longer 
 hold you in grateful remembrance. 
 
 " JOHN SCHULTZ, Chairman. 
 " JAMES STEWART, Secretary. 
 
 " Winnipeg, Man, 25th May, 1876." 
 
 Our return to the work in Ontario was facilitated 
 and made all the more pleasant by the fact that two 
 important charges, which I had previously ministered 
 to, intimated, as soon as they knew of my purpose, 
 that their "gates were ajar" for our re-entrance. 
 A sense of obligation to the officiary and friends of
 
 RETURNING TO ONTARIO. 321 
 
 the Richmond Street Church, in view of their exceed- 
 ing liberality in the support of the little Red River 
 mission, and the encouraging kindness which they 
 had shown by word and deed through the eight years, 
 influenced me, not a little, in my decision in favor of 
 their "call" should the Conference approve. Our out- 
 going from Winnipeg at that date, as may be 
 imagined, was in striking contrast with our ingoing 
 in 1868. Numerous kind friends accompanied us to 
 the steamer, prayerfully asking for us all needful 
 guidance, protection and blessing for coming days. 
 Our route was by steamer to " Fisher's Landing " on 
 the Red Lake River, thence by cars to St. Paul, 
 Chicago, Detroit and Toronto, where a deputation was 
 waiting our arrival at the depot, and we were con- 
 ducted to the pleasant home of my faithful friend, 
 the late H. E. Clarke, M.P.P., where we were most 
 kindly entertained until the parsonage was ready for 
 our occupancy. Pursuant to the request from the 
 Official Board of Richmond Street Church, the Con- 
 ference appointed me to that charge, and to the 
 Chairmanship of the Toronto District, in June, 1876. 
 
 Very noticeable changes had taken place both in 
 the arrangements of the building and in the congre- 
 gation since I left the charge in 1868. The order of 
 things in the interior of the church had been, at a 
 heavy outlay, so modernized as to involve a complete 
 reversal of pulpit and pews the former removed from 
 the front to the rear end of the auditorium, while 
 the south end of the all-around gallery had been cut 
 down to make room for the pulpit and platform, and 
 21
 
 322 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 the pews changed to face the pulpit in its altered posi- 
 tion. Several other changes had been made in order 
 to rejuvenate the old, out-of-fashion structure, and 
 make it attractive as far as practicable. I do not 
 think the expenditure was warranted. It did not 
 arrest the manifest down-town tendencies of the 
 locality, nor diminish the absorbing power of the great 
 central and in every way attractive Metropolitan 
 Church, then at its very best in its newness, and by 
 reason of its popular ministry and choir, and the social 
 status of its leading officials and members. It was 
 not at all marvellous, therefore, that the crowded con- 
 gregations of the old church of 1850, 1864 and on to 
 1870 were not there in 1876. Families by the dozen 
 and hearers by the score had transferred themselves 
 to the newest and most magnificent church home in 
 the city. 
 
 The depletion of the Richmond Street Church con- 
 gregation did not result from any failure of the Con- 
 ference to send to the charge ministers whose abilities 
 and faithfulness were most likely to prevent such a 
 result. 
 
 The Rev. T. W. Jeffrey, who was my immediate 
 predecessor, was by no means an easy man to follow. 
 He was a gifted brother, and though somewhat pecu- 
 liar in his style and eccentric in his manner, with 
 views on many profound subjects that were somewhat 
 startling to his hearers yet in his best moods he 
 was a really brilliant and attractive, as well as impres- 
 sive preacher. He was, as a pastor, a general favorite 
 and especially with the young people, to whom his
 
 RETURNING TO ONTARIO. 323 
 
 influence was stimulative and his addresses inspiring, 
 even when, through no fault of his, they failed to 
 instruct. Mrs. Jeffrey was a great help to her hus 
 band in his pastoral work, and no one can overestimate 
 the value, to him and his charges, of her holy life and 
 counsels and prayers. Though afflicted for years with 
 a distressing ailment, yet to her and to the Church 
 death came suddenly at length. While her husband 
 was engaged in his Sabbath morning service in the 
 sanctuary, she was released, and doubtless through the 
 ministry of holy angels she entered the upper 
 sanctuary and engaged in the " nobler worship there " 
 ere he returned. 
 
 The hour of Brother Jeffrey's return to God came 
 several years later. After languishing for months from 
 an incurable heart-ailment ending in dropsy and disso- 
 lution, he also received the summons on a Sabbath 
 and while his congregation were worshipping in the 
 Berkeley Street Church at the evening service. With 
 only his little daughter and a domestic in the house, 
 he passed out of the " earthly tabernacle " to enter 
 the " house not made with hands." " Blessed are 
 the dead which die in the Lord." 
 
 To be associated again in Christian fellowship 
 and service with so many whom I had ministered 
 to and worked with on my former term in this 
 charge, was to me a source of much enjoyment, but it 
 was only by our united and persistent efforts in 
 Sabbath-school and pastoral work and evangelistic 
 services that we succeeded in holding our own from 
 quarter to quarter. And no pastor ever enjoyed a
 
 32-i MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 heartier co-operation from his officiary and member- 
 ship than I did. The energy, wisdom, and faith of 
 Mr. Pearson, our popular Sabbath-school superin- 
 tendent, so guarded and guided the interests of the 
 school as to secure an advancement that, under 
 the circumstances, was really marvellous; while as 
 leader of the largest society class he was equally suc- 
 cessful. Mr. H. E. Clarke, afterwards M.P.P., was one 
 of the most instructive Bible-class teachers as well 
 as the best Recording Steward I have ever known. 
 
 These earnest and gifted brethren, in association 
 with Rev. Dr. Withrow, J. J. Withrow, H. Walton, 
 Richard Clarke, and many others, stood by us nobly 
 even while the absorption process was going steadily 
 on. The result, by the Divine blessing, was a slight 
 increase, during our first year, in membership and 
 connexional funds. 
 
 At the Conference of June, 1877, my brethren did 
 me the unearned honor of appointing me to the 
 presidential office, thereby assigning me responsibili- 
 ties which hitherto I had not been called to sustain 
 In this, I take it, they had respect, not so much to 
 any special fitness for the position, as to my eight 
 years' service in the mission field. In their generosity, 
 by a proportionate assessment of their charges, they 
 provided for the support of an assistant for the year, 
 in order that I might be able to visit throughout the 
 Conference as circumstances might require, and assist 
 by sermons and addresses in missionary and other 
 anniversaries. Their selection of my assistant was 
 a very wise one and in every respect acceptable to the
 
 RETURNING TO ONTARIO. 325 
 
 church as well as helpful to myself. The Rev. Dr. 
 Wallace, now of Victoria University, proved himself to 
 be the right man for the position. His ordination, as 
 ordered by the Conference, took place in our church 
 early in the year. His rapid progress in ministerial 
 service and professional work in the University have 
 given him a prominent place in the ministry as well as 
 in the affections of the many students who have had 
 the good fortune to attend his classes. At the end of 
 my term of office I was glad to be released of all 
 presidential responsibilities and to welcome to the 
 chair as my successor the Rev. E. B. Harper, D.D. 
 
 My third year, which was really my fifth in the 
 pastorate of this church, was decidedly one of much 
 hard work, for Brother Wallace was no longer my 
 assistant, and the full measure of pulpit and pastoral 
 duties fell to my lot. But notwithstanding the predic- 
 tions of a few, ever ready to act the part of alarmists, 
 and to declare that this old " down town " church 
 was on the "down grade," at the summing up at 
 the end of the year our membership and finances 
 showed that the work had been well sustained. The 
 Conference of 1879 appointed the Rev. I. To veil as 
 my successor, and I was placed in charge of the 
 Berkeley Street Church. 
 
 Ere my term in Richmond Street closed, the follow- 
 ing notice appeared in the New York Christian 
 Advocate, at whose instance I never knew : 
 
 " Cornell College, Iowa, conferred the degree of 
 Doctor of Divinity on Rev. George Young, President 
 of the Toronto Conference of the Methodist Church
 
 326 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 of Canada. Dr. Young has for thirty-six years 
 proved himself a man of unsullied character and 
 worthy scholarship. For eight years the great 
 mission work in Manitoba flourished under his super- 
 intendence, while as President of this honored Con- 
 ference he has secured to himself a lasting hold on 
 the affections of his brethren." 
 
 This was an honor to which I have never felt 
 myself on any imaginable account entitled. 
 
 The Official Meeting of the Richmond Street Church 
 I was leaving entered upon its records the following 
 resolution, which was forwarded to me in due course: 
 
 "At the last Official Meeting of the Richmond 
 Street Methodist Church, the following resolution 
 was unanimously adopted : ' That in view of the near 
 approach of the time when our pastor, Rev. Dr. 
 Young, will by the disciplinary arrangements of our 
 Church be removed from us to some other field of 
 labor, we, the members of the Official Board, desire 
 to record our high appreciation of his unvarying 
 deportment as a Christian gentleman, his earnest and 
 efficient ministrations, and wise government of the 
 affairs of the Church, and would hereby assure him 
 and his estimable partner of our warmest love and 
 esteem, and of our earnest prayers that they may 
 have both temporal and spiritual prosperity, and that 
 the Divine blessing may rest upon their efforts 
 wherever their lot may be cast/ " 
 
 My term of service in the Berkeley Street Church 
 terminated with the first half of 1879. As the result 
 of a great deal of house to house visiting as well as 
 earnest pulpit work, and the co-operation of the 
 church, a gratifying increase in the congregation and 
 class services was manifest, and the prospect for a
 
 RETURNING TO ONTARIO. 32? 
 
 successful year seemed very encouraging; but just 
 then " a Macedonian cry " was heard at the Mission 
 Rooms. A considerable number of our people had 
 established themselves in business in a small village 
 on the boundary between Minnesota and Manitoba, 
 about seventy miles south of Winnipeg. At that date 
 a new line of railway, from St. Vincent to Winnipeg* 
 had just been opened, and as several small villages 
 were springing up along the line, and many . new 
 settlements were being formed in the section of 
 which Emerson was seemingly a promising centre, 
 the urgent request of our friends for the immediate 
 opening of a mission in that locality seemed but 
 reasonable, and the decision of the Board accorded 
 therewith. 
 
 As in 1868, I offered my services, and in a very 
 short time, being relieved of my responsibilities both in 
 the Berkeley Street Church and the Toronto District, 
 and my successors duly appointed, we made ready 
 for our journey to what seemed in that booming 
 time a most inviting field. 
 
 The ministers of the Toronto District assembled 
 immediately after my leaving and passed the follow- 
 ing resolution, which reached me in due course : 
 
 " Moved by Dr. Sutherland, seconded by Dr. Ryer- 
 son, That this meeting hereby records its sincere 
 appreciation of the fidelity and efficiency with which 
 the Rev. G. Young, D.D., has discharged the duties of 
 his office as Chairman while on this District, and that 
 whilst regretting his departure, we do earnestly pray 
 that his return to the Province of Manitoba may be 
 signally owned of God for good." Carried unan- 
 imously.
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 MY SECOND APPOINTMENT TO MISSION 
 WORK IN MANITOBA. 
 
 THE reason for that appointment, and the circum- 
 stances under which it was made, are given in the 
 preceding chapter. 
 
 The winter of 1879-80 in the North- West was 
 very much more severe in its cold and wind-storms 
 than were any I had hitherto experienced in the 
 country ; so that the occupants of cheaply built and 
 unplastered frame dwellings, and especially travellers 
 and unhoused animals, suffered greatly. And then 
 each cold snap seemed but the precursor of a relent- 
 less blizzard, which rendered travelling over trackless, 
 houseless and treeless prairies exceedingly hazard- 
 ous. Of this my son, Captain G. H. Young, had 
 ample proof. While engaged in Customs duties along 
 the United States boundary between Wood Mountain 
 and the Rockies, and especially while crossing the 
 prairies from Wood Mountain to Fort Qu'Appelle, a 
 distance of two hundred miles, in the coldest and 
 stormiest season of that severe winter, he with two 
 or three assistants experienced a notable escape from 
 death by freezing. The snow was deep, and in the 
 ravines badly drifted, and fuel hard to find, while
 
 MY SECOND APPOINTMENT TO MANITOBA. 329 
 
 their only shelter was a tent. The great marvel is 
 that they did not all perish during the same intensely 
 cold night when seven or eight of their hardy ponies 
 were frozen to death. As a last resort, when nearly 
 helpless from the cold and want of fuel and proper 
 food, but fortunately when near their destination, 
 they were compelled to make fuel of their sled and 
 to pack the few necessaries of life still remaining on 
 their well-nigh exhausted ponies, and in this plight 
 they reached a settlement where their wants were 
 supplied. To us it was a time of intense solicitude, 
 for while we had reason to fear peril and suffering, 
 we could afford them no assistance, nor for many 
 weeks get any tidings concerning them. As may be 
 imagined, it was with special thanksgiving that we 
 received a telegram from Portage la Prairie announc- 
 ing their arrival in the settlement. The good hand 
 of God was upon them, and upon us, for good. 
 
 On our arrival at Emerson on the 19th of Decem- 
 ber, 1879, a small, poorly-furnished hall was rented 
 as a place of worship pro tern. 
 
 As soon as practicable the trustees secured a fine 
 large lot in a desirable locality as a site for a parson- 
 age and church. There were on the lot two small 
 buildings intended for dwellings, which, being joined 
 together, formed for us a parsonage sufficiently large 
 for our requirements, and thus a mission home was 
 very quickly made ready for our occupancy. 
 
 After a brief delay a cheap, rough, unplastered 
 building was erected to be our " house of prayer," and 
 henceforth known as "The Tabernacle." From the
 
 336 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 date of its opening our congregations increased very 
 considerably. The Trustees of Grace Church, Winni- 
 peg, generously donated to me personally the bell 
 which had already become somewhat historic, and 
 which they did not require, as the first Grace Church 
 had given place to the Wesley Hall block. The good 
 old bell was duly loaned by me to the Board in 
 Emerson for use until such time as required else- 
 where. For the last seventeen years the loan has 
 been continued, but I think the time has now fully 
 come when it is more fitting that it should be re" 
 turned to Winnipeg to become a portion of the equip- 
 ment of Wesley College, where I trust it may long be 
 regarded as a suggestive memento of former times. 
 
 I quote from an Emerson paper the following in- 
 teresting history of the Tabernacle bell : 
 
 " In our last issue we were slightly in error in 
 stating that the Trust Board of Grace Church, Win- 
 nipeg, had donated the bell, which had been used in 
 their church until quite recently, to the Trust Board 
 of the Methodist Church of Canada in Emerson. 
 The gift was made to the Rev. Dr. Young, pastor of 
 the Tabernacle, to be used in any way he might 
 direct, but still to remain his property. As he is 
 now loaning it to his congregation in Emerson, it is 
 presumable that it will do service here for a consider- 
 able term. The bell was cast in Troy, N.Y., in 1869, 
 in fulfilment of an order from the Sabbath-school in 
 Oshawa, of which the Hon. W. H. Gibbs was super- 
 intendent, and it bears an inscription to that effect. 
 At the suggestion of John Macdonald, Esq., of Toronto, 
 Mr. Gibbs and his Sabbath-school made this appro- 
 priate gift 'To the first Methodist Church in Red
 
 MY SECOND APPOINTMENT TO MANITOBA. 
 
 River country,' not then a portion of the Dominion. 
 Its weight is about two hundred and fifty pounds, it 
 is artistic in its appearance, and has a clear, musical 
 ringing tone which all will admire. In 1869 it was 
 freighted out from St. Cloud, then the terminus of 
 railroad communication, in this direction, on an ox 
 cart. For the first two or three years it was rung 
 for service chiefly by the missionary, Dr. Young, who 
 discharged the duties of pastor and sexton at the 
 same time, and never did he ring it more heartily and 
 energetically, we are told, than on the morning when 
 Colonel Wolseley and the troops passed through 
 the village and disturbed Kiel and his tatterdemalion 
 army in Fort Garry. That day has long since passed 
 away, but those who were here during that nonde- 
 script reign are not likely to forget the unpleasant 
 experiences which were theirs. All will feel that 
 the Board of Trustees did a very nice thing in a most 
 appropriate way when they unanimously passed the 
 resolution, and directed their Secretary to prepare 
 the letter, which we have been permitted to subjoin : 
 
 " WINNIPEG, April 15, 1881. 
 " Rev. Geo. Young, D.D., Emerson, Man. : 
 
 " REVEREND AND DEAR SIR, It is my pleasing 
 duty as Secretary of the Board of Trustees of Grace 
 Church to inform you that, at a meeting of that 
 Board, a resolution was unanimously adopted that, 
 in recognition of your valuable services in times past 
 in connection with our church in Winnipeg, there 
 should be presented to you the bell and belfry of old 
 Grace Church, to be used in whatever place you may 
 desire. We are now only commencing to realize the 
 extent of those services not only as a pastor but as 
 one who had the material interests of the church in 
 view. To your foresight and judgment we are much
 
 332 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 indebted for the valuable property now owned by 
 the church in this city. 
 
 " We trust you will accept this gift, which, although 
 of little intrinsic value, will be a souvenir to you of 
 the incidents of the eventful years during which you 
 took so prominent a part in the history of our young 
 Province. I am also instructed to express to you the 
 sorrow of the members of the Board at your great 
 bereavement, and to assure you that you have their 
 deepest sympathy. I am, dear sir, respectfully yours, 
 
 " J. S. AIKINS, Secretary of Board." 
 
 Our little village soon became the head of a Circuit 
 embracing .several small neighborhoods adjacent 
 thereto. One, more remote than the others, was a 
 settlement of Prince Edward Islanders in Minnesota, 
 U. S., who were entirely destitute of the means of 
 grace. Years after, while attending missionary anni- 
 versary services on the Island, I met with their near 
 relatives and received hearty thanks for having 
 visited and ministered to their distant friends in 
 advance of any missionary from any Church in their 
 adopted country. Dominion City, so called, where I 
 established week -evening services at first, soon became 
 the head of a pleasant mission, and is now, I judge, 
 a self-supporting charge. West Lynne, at the first 
 an exceedingly promising village just across the 
 Assiniboine from Emerson, became a Sabbath 
 appointment, where we built a small but neat place 
 of worship, and enjoyed a season of revival. In the 
 history of this place we met with a sore disappoint- 
 ment. Its booming days were of brief continuance, 
 and were followed by a disastrous collapse. Inun-
 
 MY SECOND APPOINTMENT TO MANITOBA. 333 
 
 dated and desolated by the great overflow of the 
 river in 1882, its population became so utterly dis- 
 couraged (fearing subsequent liability to similar 
 calamities), that they very generally moved away 
 from scenes which must continually remind them of 
 their disappointment and loss, and established homes 
 in more promising localities. The flood was a great 
 calamity to Emerson and its surroundings in that 
 section of the country. The rushing waters bore 
 with them immense masses of ice which, though 
 broken, remained quite firm, and which, as they 
 crushed over the banks of the river, speedily swept 
 away the costly bridges which had been but recently 
 erected, and with them the storehouses and landings 
 belonging to the merchants and . forwarders of the 
 town. The streets, especially in the lower portions of 
 the place, were flooded to the depth of eight or ten feet> 
 necessitating a hasty removal of the goods in the stores 
 and of the families as well, to the higher stories or to 
 higher grounds until the flood should subside. A 
 steamer unloaded its freight of lumber, etc., in one of 
 the principal streets, while sidewalks and crossings 
 were generally destroyed. Making "a virtue of neces- 
 sity," each householder became a boat owner in very 
 quick time. Marketing had to be done by means of 
 boats. I found it necessary to learn to manage my 
 little craft in order to visit the butcher and baker and 
 store, or even the Tabernacle. Fortunately our little 
 parsonage was built on a slight elevation, so that 
 the rising water simply filled the cellar and reached 
 within an inch of the floor of the house before it
 
 334 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 began to abate. Union services were held in the 
 Baptist Church, which stood on higher ground, while 
 our Tabernacle, with four or five feet of water cover- 
 ing the floor, might have served for the immersing of 
 the people had it been so required. 
 
 Great as was this calamity to us in 1882, the 
 following extract will show that the Red River 
 settlements in earlier days had suffered greater losses 
 from the same cause : 
 
 " In this connection we might mention the follow- 
 ing extracts from an old diary, which were made some 
 time ago by Mr. A. McDermot. In 1826 the flood 
 began early in May. May 14th, water came into the 
 upper church (St. John's). The people removed to 
 Snake Indian Hills (Stony Mountain), where they 
 remained until June 12th. Only three houses were 
 left standing in the settlement. 1852, the ice broke 
 on the 28th April. The winter had been fine until 
 the end of February, and there had been much snow 
 during March. May 2nd, water rising; people alarm- 
 ed ; snow and sleet. May 9th, water at the corner 
 of the churchyard, St. John's. May 12th, house still 
 dry; water entering hall. May 19th, water at a 
 stand-still. Highest point reached, 40 inches in the 
 bishop's house. May 21st, water receding. May 
 26th, water down to 20 inches in the bishop's house. 
 June 1st, flood abated in the upper church; weather 
 very hot. The church was closed altogether five 
 weeks. The people went out to Little Stony Moun- 
 tain, and St. James (Silver Heights), the latter 
 locality being dry, as well as the former." 
 
 I deeply regret that at the time of this writing 
 (April, 1897), Emerson is reported as again inundated 
 by the overflow of the Red River,
 
 MY SECOND APPOINTMENT TO MANITOBA. 335 
 
 From these representations it will be seen that the 
 church which still exists in Emerson was founded, by 
 the blessing of God, in trying times and amid mani- 
 fold discouragements. And yet I have to refer to a 
 still darker shadow which was projected across my 
 pathway while I was prosecuting the work the 
 Church had given me to do. In less than a year 
 after we entered our little parsonage already referred 
 to, the wife of my youth, who for thirty-two years 
 had been my wise counsellor and most devoted and 
 efficient helper in the service of the Church, after a 
 brief and distressing illness, was stricken out of the 
 life that now is, and advanced to an infinitely higher 
 life among the immortals. The following kindly 
 in memoriam references by Dr. Wood, and an obit- 
 uary notice, both of which appeared in the Guardian 
 shortly after her decease, will not, I trust, by any, be 
 deemed inappropriate in this connection : 
 
 From the Methodist Mission Rooms, for the " Christian 
 Guardian" 
 
 " To identify and perpetuate the memory of Sister 
 Young 'as a servant of the Church,' in carrying on the 
 work assigned to the Methodist Missionary Society, 
 we place her obituary in the columns assigned to 
 missionary intelligence. She was the first of our 
 sisters to accompany her husband to Fort Garry, now 
 the City of Winnipeg, and hers is the first grave that 
 has been opened to receive all that was mortal of a 
 faithful and devoted laborer in the Lord's vineyard. 
 Forty years have passed since the first Wesleyan 
 missionaries began their missions among the Indians 
 some three hundred miles north of Dr. Young's first
 
 336 
 
 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 station; of these laborers Mr. and Mrs. James Evans, 
 Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hurlburt, and Mrs. Brooking 
 have gone to rest ; but Mrs. Young belongs to the 
 foundation of a colony, and with it the establishment 
 of the Methodist Church at the entrance of a magni- 
 ficent country containing all the elements for national 
 greatness and homes for millions. Called by the 
 Church, she willingly gave up her happy associations 
 
 THE LATE MRS. (DR.) YOUNG. 
 
 in Ontario, and though unaccustomed to the rough 
 and exposed travel attendant upon camp life, cheer- 
 fully contended with its inconveniences, blending her 
 energies and knowledge of domestic wants to promote 
 the comfort of her fellow-travellers, The first two 
 or three years at Fort Garry were accompanied by 
 many trials; but before leaving that newly-formed 
 mission she had to rejoice in the success attendant 
 upon her husband's ministry, having succeeded in the 
 erection of a sanctuary, a mission house, and the
 
 MY SECOND APPOINTMENT TO MANITOBA. 337 
 
 ingathering of a living Church, to the formation of 
 which she consecrated her time and influence. 
 
 " Our esteemed and lamented sister was distin- 
 guished for her diligence, love of order, and punc- 
 tuality, courteous hospitality, and an intelligent 
 spiritual-mindedness. She both pointed to heaven 
 by her instructions, and led the way by her example. 
 Nor has she been alone in this work ; for verily we 
 think too little of Methodist ministers' wives, both at 
 home and abroad, who, by their sacrifices and efforts 
 contribute largely to their husbands' success, and the 
 prosperity of the varied institutions of the Church. 
 We need more of the spirit and remembrance of St. 
 Paul, as shown in his last chapter to the Romans." 
 
 THE OBITUARY. 
 
 Mary Alsy Homes, the beloved wife of the writer, 
 was born October, A.D. 1822, and entered into rest on 
 the 2nd day of December, 1880. Hers was a godly 
 ancestry. Her father, the late Rev. Ninian Holmes, 
 was one of the pioneer Methodist missionaries who did 
 such good service for their blessed Master in the wilds 
 of Canada during the period of its early settlement, 
 and a worthy associate of the apostolic Dr. Nathan 
 Bangs, whose achievements in various fields of Chris- 
 tian usefulness the Methodists of Canada and of the 
 United States will never forget. Two events of untold 
 importance to the subject of this notice, and to many 
 others, transpired during her childhood-days, viz., the 
 sudden death of her saintly father and her own con- 
 version to God. The genuineness of that conversion 
 and the practicability of a true and enduring Christi- 
 anity in association with the well-known character- 
 32
 
 338 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 istics of early youth, were fully demonstrated by her 
 subsequent life. Realizing continually that she was 
 Christ's, she steadily aimed at unreserved consecra- 
 tion to His service, sought and experienced the cleans- 
 ing and healing which the " precious blood " only can 
 accomplish, and daily studied and planned to do good 
 from love to the world's Redeemer. Her experience 
 in the deep things of the faith and inner life of the 
 Christian as related by her in love-feasts, class and 
 fellowship meetings, led many to feel that she had 
 been much with Jesus, and had received rich baptism 
 from His hand. She possessed a large measure of the 
 true missionary spirit. And all that she did and 
 endured during the eight years from 1868 to 1876, 
 and especially in March, 1870, in connection with the 
 opening and organization of the Methodist missions 
 in the Red River country, can never be made known 
 to the Church whose interests she so earnestly strove 
 to promote. Yet when the way opened in December, 
 1879, for a return to the mission work in Manitoba, 
 she rejoiced exceedingly, for she desired most to work 
 where workers were most needed. In her little book 
 for " Memos " the following record appears, which was 
 made on the train which bore her towards her new 
 field of labor : " December 19th, 1879. Left Toronto 
 to-day for Emerson, to help commence a work for the 
 blessed Master. Lord help us." Words which indi- 
 cate her life aim which was " to help " in every good 
 word and work to the extent of her ability. Quebec, 
 Ontario and Manitoba can testify that she was indeed 
 a very efficient helper. While she saw nothing that was,
 
 MY SECOND APPOINTMENT TO MANITOBA. 339 
 
 attractive in the merely frivolous, whether in society 
 or amusements or literature, she specially delighted 
 in the study of the Word, in the ordinances of God's 
 house, in close communion with God, in the society of 
 the godly, and in energetic action for the glory of 
 Christ and the salvation of souls. In fact, her ruling 
 passion was to work for the salvation of souls ; and 
 this feeling seemed to deepen and become intensified 
 as her years increased, and even when death drew 
 near, for when told of the fears of her medical adviser 
 she promptly expressed her belief that " God had 
 some more work for her to do here." And so he had, 
 but it was to be accomplished by means of her peace- 
 ful and confident death, rather than by her loving, 
 earnest entreaties and prayers. Her health had been 
 uniformly good since her return to this country until 
 within a few days of her decease, when the disease 
 which struck her down so quickly (pleurisy) seemed 
 to fasten upon her at the outset with a 4eath-grip 
 which was never relaxed for a moment until the 
 silver cord was loosed and the golden bowl broken. 
 When asked if the intimation that she was nearing 
 the world of spirits startled her, she replied instantly, 
 " Certainly not." " Have you any fear ? " " Not in 
 the least," was the prompt response. " Is Jesus pre- 
 sent with you in your great suffering ? " " Oh, yes, 
 He is very near to me all the time," was the comfort- 
 ing answer. After such a life of trust and consecra- 
 tion, and with such a testimony borne within a few 
 minutes of her departure, what more could have been 
 reasonably required ? Our son, having arrived from
 
 340 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 Winnipeg, was recognized at once, to our great joy, 
 and having looked her love and blessing, for she could 
 do no more, she rested her weary head on the pillow 
 gently and "was not, for God took her." As we 
 bowed in that death chamber, amid tears and sobs, 
 and asked the Father of spirits to minister an 
 entrance abundantly to her dear departing spirit 
 into the celestial city, we all felt that all of heaven, at 
 least, was not very remote. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact that a considerable num- 
 ber of young persons, for whose conversion she had 
 earnestly labored and prayed, many of them members 
 of her Bible class, have been led to accept the Saviour's 
 grace since her decease, attributing their conversion 
 mainly to her influence and prayers and the Divine 
 blessing which attended the deeply-mysterious and 
 afflictive dispensation. 
 
 The following is a portion of a testimony borne to 
 Mrs. Young's useful life, as it was published in a 
 Winnipeg paper : 
 
 " Her consecrated life and untiring endeavors in 
 the Church were signally instrumental in gathering 
 many into the fold of the Good Shepherd. None 
 made greater sacrifices in the interests of the Meth- 
 odist Church in Manitoba than did she, and her deep 
 solicitude for the safety of her husband and son, dur- 
 ing the long weary months of the rebellion, in 1869 
 and 1870, will never be fully known." 
 
 And yet another of the little family circle of three 
 individuals who entered the parsonage home in 1880, 
 was called from suffering to rest ere my third year in
 
 MY SECOND APPOINTMENT TO MANITOBA. 
 
 Emerson had ended. For nearly ten years Miss 
 Linton, formerly of Kingston, was closely associated 
 with Mrs. Young in household cares, and in earnest 
 Sabbath-school work. In the providence of God they 
 were not long separated, and their graves may be 
 seen in the same family plot in the cemetery near the 
 city of Winnipeg. Thus I alone remained of the 
 little circle so broken into by death. 
 
 At the close of my term in Emerson an exceedingly 
 well written address, accompanied by a beautiful 
 album containing the photos of many friends, was 
 presented me on my leaving for Ontario. The Con- 
 ference of 1882, yielding to my request, allowed me a 
 year without an appointment. It was my privilege 
 to accompany my friends, Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Douglas, 
 on a tour to the Maritime Provinces, in order to visit 
 the Nova Scotia and New Brunswick Conferences. 
 To me this was a season of special interest and enjoy- 
 ment. I had opportunities of addressing, from plat- 
 form and pulpit, large numbers whom I had not met 
 before, and of becoming acquainted with many of the 
 elect brotherhood of these two Conferences. Parting 
 with Dr. and Mrs. Douglas at St. John, N.B., I 
 went on to Prince Edward Island, where I also had 
 many opportunities of preaching and of associating 
 with the ministers and membership of our Church in 
 that pleasant and interesting country. During my 
 stay on the Island I took board for a time near the 
 sea-shore, not far from Rustico, with a kind family 
 in whose house my eloquent brother of former years, 
 the Rev. Lachlan Taylor, D.D., " finished his course " 
 and passed over into the great spirit world.
 
 342 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 During the next few months, after voyaging in the 
 Gulf, .staying for a little at Cacouna, and at Brant- 
 ford, I visited Chautauqua, and enjoyed the only 
 opportunity I ever had of hearing that prince of 
 preachers, Bishop Simpson, on the text, "The morning 
 stars sang together, and the sons of God shouted for 
 joy" a wonderful sermon. In the autumn of 1882 
 I attended the General Conference in the city of 
 Hamilton. One of the many important decisions of 
 that Conference was the organization of " The Mani- 
 toba and North- West Conference " and the appoint- 
 ment of a Superintendent of Missions for the North- 
 West, whose duty it should be to organize the Con- 
 ference in 1883 and act as its first President. The 
 selection of that official was relegated to the Board of 
 Missions, which was called to meet at once after the 
 close of the Conference. The next day I received 
 notice by a telegram of my appointment, and a request 
 to meet the Board as soon as practicable.
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 MY THIRD APPOINTMENT TO MISSION WORK 
 IN THE NORTH-WEST. 
 
 THE Missionary Notices for October, 1882, issued 
 soon after the appointment was announced, and I 
 was duly "certificated" with the accustomed cordi- 
 ality of the General Secretary, contained the follow- 
 ing reference : 
 
 " The announcement that the Rev. Dr. Young has 
 been chosen to fill the arduous and responsible post of 
 Superintendent of Missions in the North- West, will, 
 we are sure, be received with lively satisfaction by 
 the whole Church. Dr. Young's long experience in 
 that country will be of immense service in the work 
 to which he is now called, while his whole record will 
 carry the fullest confidence that the task of laying 
 foundations will be conducted alike with prudence and 
 vigor. Immediately after receiving his appointment, 
 Dr. Young started for Manitoba, where he will spend 
 the present month in the work assigned him. He 
 will then return eastward, and spend some time in 
 missionary anniversaries, and in promoting the 
 interests of the Church and Parsonage Aid Fund. 
 We need not bespeak for him a cordial reception ; he 
 is sure to get that wherever he goes." 
 
 In accordance with this notice my appointment 
 was made on the 29th of September. On the 2nd of
 
 344 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 October I started on my journey to the North- West 
 to engage in the work assigned me. Reaching 
 Winnipeg, I proceeded at once to visit certain points 
 which required early attention. Regina, now the 
 capital of the North-West Territories, but then only 
 six weeks old, belonged to that class. At that date 
 it was represented as containing eight hotels, eighteen 
 stores, two blacksmith's shops, one saddler's shop, two 
 livery stables, two tin shops, two laundries, three 
 billiard halls, two bakeries, one drug store, one 
 jeweller's shop, two doctors, six lawyers, and four 
 lumber yards, and a population of between eight and 
 nine hundred souls. 
 
 On returning to Winnipeg an interviewer from the 
 office of the Free Press drew from me such replies as 
 enabled him to produce the following report : 
 
 " REV. DR. YOUNG'S WESTERN TOUR. 
 
 "Rev. Dr. Young, Superintendent of Missions, 
 Methodist Church of Canada, arrived here on Tuesday 
 evening from the west, after having paid his first 
 official visit to various points in this Province and the 
 North-West Territories. He left Winnipeg on Satur- 
 day, 7th inst., and arrived at Millford by way of 
 Brandon the same evening. The following morning 
 he conducted the services in connection with the 
 opening of a new church at Millford, and in the after- 
 noon returned to Brandon, where he preached that 
 evening. He found the church at Brandon in a 
 flourishing state. The congregation at the evening 
 service numbered some five hundred people, and about 
 filled the church. An enlargement of the building is 
 projected, to come into effect next spring. 
 
 "Leaving Brandon on Tuesday, 10th inst., Dr.
 
 MY THIRD APPOINTMENT TO THE NORTH-WEST. 345 
 
 Young continued on his journey westward and reached 
 Regina on Wednesday. On Friday he went, in 
 company with Rev. Mr. Hewitt, of Regina, to Moose 
 Jaw Creek, and then on to Old Wives' Lake. The 
 regular passenger trains running only as far as 
 Regina, it was necessary to travel the remainder of 
 the distance, nearly a hundred miles, in a caboose 
 attached to a construction train, carrying rails, ties, 
 etc. The track was laid about eighteen miles beyond 
 Old Wives' Lake, but the latter point was the terminus, 
 so far as the construction train was concerned. Its 
 distance from Winnipeg is a little over 470 miles. 
 
 " Regina was found to be progressing very rapidly. 
 Several frame buildings were in course of erection, so 
 that henceforth the place is not likely to consist, as 
 during some time past, entirely of tents. There were 
 already in existence hotels and business places of 
 various kinds, and small buildings, for use as such, 
 were rapidly going up. The people might be said to 
 be in reality merely squatters who had taken posses- 
 sion in the expectation of being able to purchase as 
 soon as the land should come into the market, but 
 having no certainty as yet as to their ownership. 
 
 "On Sunday, 15th instant, service was held by 
 Rev. Dr. Young twice at Regina, a large tent, capable 
 of accommodating two or three hundred people, being 
 used for the purpose. The congregation was estimated 
 to number about fifty. The circulation of a sub- 
 scription was commenced, with the object of pro- 
 viding for the erection of a place of worship. The 
 sum of $250 was subscribed, but it is expected that 
 this amount will be considerably increased. With 
 this result of local effort, together with some assistance 
 from the Church Extension Fund, it is expected that 
 the tent, which has been in use during the summer, 
 will be replaced this fall by a place of worship more 
 suitable for winter occupancy."
 
 346 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 On the 23rd of October, having visited seven or 
 eight of these recently occupied fields of missionary 
 effort and travelled 4,322 miles in twenty-four days, 
 I left Manitoba for the remote east, and reaching 
 Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, on the 3rd of 
 November, I began the work assigned me by preach- 
 ing missionary sermons in that town on the day 
 following, and arranging for a series of meetings 
 during the week on several of the more important 
 charges in that very pleasant country. On the 
 following Sabbath I took full work in Windsor, 
 Nova Scotia; and thenceforward, in city, town, 
 or neighborhood, in both Nova Scotia and New 
 Brunswick, on Sabbath and week-day evenings, I 
 tried to fulfil my mission, until my campaign in the 
 Maritime Provinces ended on the 20th of December, 
 1882. During the first six weeks of the new year, 
 I was similarly engaged in various parts of Ontario, 
 but unfortunately, as the result of this overtaxing of 
 voice and strength and of undue exposure, I was 
 compelled to cancel many other engagements, by a 
 sharp attack of bronchitis which shut me in for a 
 month, necessitating medical treatment as well as 
 absolute rest. Convalescing, however, I was enabled 
 to return in March to the North- West, and to take 
 up the line of work I had left in the preceding 
 October, and to visit many inviting openings both in 
 Manitoba and the adjoining territory, and preach and 
 render such other aid as opportunity afforded until 
 June, when I returned to Ontario in time for the 
 Toronto Conference at Peterboro', where I hoped to
 
 MY THIRD APPOINTMENT TO THE NORTH-WEST. 347 
 
 secure more volunteers for earnest work in these 
 rapidly extending mission fields. On July 3rd I left, 
 via the lakes, for Winnipeg, in order to make such 
 arrangements as seemed needful prior to the assem- 
 bling of the brethren as ordered by the General 
 Conference, for the purpose of organizing an Annual 
 Conference for Manitoba and the North- West. The 
 proceedings of the Conference, which were full of 
 interest, were admirably reported for the Free Press, 
 but want of space will prevent me from giving more 
 than a few selections from these reports : 
 
 "THE NEW CONFERENCE. 
 
 " The Manitoba and North- West Conference of the 
 Methodist Church of Canada met for organization 
 yesterday morning in Wesley Hall, Rev. George 
 Young, D.D., first President, taking the chair, in 
 accordance with the appointment of the General 
 Conference. 
 
 " The first hour, beginning at ten o'clock, was spent 
 in singing, reading of the Scripture and prayer, Rev. 
 S. D. Rice, D.D., President of the General Conference; 
 and Rev. Messrs. Halstead, Bristol, Betts, Hewitt and 
 Colpitts taking part. 
 
 "THE PRESIDENT'S INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 
 
 " The prayer-meeting having closed, the President, 
 Rev. Dr. Young, delivered the following address : 
 
 " My dear brethren, we meet this hour under cir- 
 cumstances quite unique, and exceedingly interesting. 
 As a section of the Church in this land, we have 
 before us, in some respects, a new departure. We are 
 about to inaugurate a new era in our church work by 
 organizing an Annual Conference, thereby bringing
 
 348 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 the number up to seven, which will be further 
 increased very soon to nine or ten such Conferences 
 in our Dominion. In 1872 a Conference was held 
 near this spot, in the Grace Church of that period, 
 which was presided over by the late Dr. Punshon and 
 attended by Rev. Dr. Wood and missionaries of that 
 time in the North- West, but while it involved con- 
 sultation and decisions on many matters of impor- 
 tance, and was followed by important results, yet it 
 did not involve organization. 
 
 " You are all aware that the General Conference of 
 last September authorized the organization of a Con- 
 ference at this date and in this place, for Manitoba 
 and the North-West, and also, whether wisely or un- 
 wisely, it is not for me to say, appointed the Super- 
 intendent of Missions in this country to preside and 
 to continue in the presidency for one year. 
 
 " Your first duty to-day will not be, therefore, as in 
 the ordinary Annual Conference, to elect a President, 
 but to proceed at once to the appointment of a 
 Secretary for the year before us. I need not remind 
 you, brethren, that during our different sessions you 
 will be called upon to deliberate carefully and prayer- 
 fully upon a variety of questions, which have most 
 important practical bearings. The duty of outlining 
 work in the committee room, and of accepting or 
 rejecting or modifying the various reports and resolu- 
 tions that may be submitted, of adopting measures 
 for the sustenance of the connexional funds, for the 
 extension of our mission work, and for the promotion 
 of great educational interests, will demand much 
 prayerful consideration. 
 
 " We do not feel that we have fallen behind any of 
 the Churches in our efforts, during the last fifteen 
 years, to supply both the aborigines and the new 
 settlers with the ordinances, and yet we have cause 
 for regret that more has not been done, and ought to
 
 MY THIRD APPOINTMENT TO THE NORTH-WEST. 349 
 
 feel the obligation pressing to still more earnest 
 endeavors. In order to reach the more remote settle- 
 ments as quickly as possible, it will be necessary for 
 us to imitate as closely as may be the early Methodist 
 itinerants of Ontario in performing frequent and long 
 journeys, and in visiting scattered settlers during the 
 week when it cannot be accomplished on Sabbaths. 
 Forty sermons in four weeks, with journeys of 
 hundreds of miles on the saddle, was no very uncom- 
 mon achievement in those days. Under existing 
 circumstances the Master requires a consecration of 
 all our energies. This Conference session will doubt- 
 less be brief, and yet it may be to us all a memorable 
 and profitable season. Soon we shall separate, and 
 possibly not meet in Conference again. Let us, 
 therefore, strive together in our prayers and godly 
 councils, that we may go forth all the wiser and 
 holier for the privileges we now enjoy. 
 
 "ROLL OF CONFERENCE. 
 
 " At the conclusion of the President's address, the 
 roll of the Conference members was called, and Con- 
 ference Secretary appointed, when the President then 
 introduced Rev. S. D. Rice, D.D., President of the 
 General Conference, who gave a brief address. He 
 explained that he found himself unexpectedly able to 
 be present after having written to the effect that he 
 could not come, owing to other duties. He spoke of 
 the peculiar interest which he felt in everything 
 connected with the North- West, and which was shared 
 by everyone who had anything to do with this 
 country. He regarded this as prophetic of what was 
 to be in this North- West prairie land. He had found 
 the eastern climate very trying, but felt himself 
 greatly invigorated on reaching the prairies again. 
 He had hardly supposed it possible that he would 
 look into the faces of so many that he did not know,
 
 350 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 He contrasted the number of ministers here with that 
 of the very few who were here three years ago when 
 he first arrived. He considered that the responsibili- 
 ties of the work here were such that they could 
 hardly be overestimated. Those who had been here 
 but a short time could form no conception of the 
 responsibilities and the glory to be associated with 
 laying the foundations of this country if rightly laid ; 
 though those who had been here longer might some- 
 what appreciate them. These responsibilities were 
 such as belonged to no other part of the world that 
 he had seen or known, and they could only be looked 
 upon in the most serious light. He was very glad to 
 meet his brethren again, both those whom he knew 
 and those whom he did not know. (Laughter.)" 
 
 The report of the Committee on Statistics, as then 
 presented, and as compared with the statement made 
 by a similar committee at the Conference of 1896, 
 will indicate a wonderful progress realized during 
 those years. 
 
 " There are at present sixty-eight missions and cir- 
 cuits in connection with this Conference, of which 
 five are self -sustaining ; forty-six missions to the 
 white settlers, and seventeen to the Indians. Our 
 missionaries traverse an area of 175,000 square miles, 
 containing two hundred and sixty-nine preaching- 
 stations where regular services are maintained, forty- 
 eight churches, thirty-two parsonages, and twelve 
 rented houses. 
 
 "The services are attended by thirteen thousand, 
 eight hundred and seventy-five hearers. There are 
 two thousand, eight hundred and eighty-three mem- 
 bers, and one thousand, seven hundred and sixty- seven 
 families in connection with our Church. 
 
 "For ministerial support there was raised last year
 
 MY THIRD APPOINTMENT IN THE NORTH-WEST. 351 
 
 $13,085, which amount will be largely increased 
 during the current year. The society classes num- 
 ber eighty-two, the Sunday-schools sixty-eight, two 
 hundred and thirty-six officers and teachers, and not 
 less than three thousand scholars." 
 
 The following comparative statement, showing the 
 progress made since the Conference was organized, 
 will, I am sure, be most gratifying to all who have in 
 any way contributed to results so unspeakably 
 important : 
 
 1883. 1896. 
 
 Number of preaching-places 269 548 
 
 " members 2,883 16,131 
 
 " Sabbath-schools 68 245 
 
 " Scholars 3,000 14,241 
 
 Paid by circuits for ministerial support . $13,085 $59,433 
 
 " " sustentation of College $7,030 
 
 all purposes $170,731 
 
 On the last day of its sessions the members of the 
 Conference were favored with a visit and an address 
 from one of world-wide celebrity, who at that date 
 was giving a series of lectures in the city. The 
 following is a brief synopsis of the address : 
 
 "A DISTINGUISHED VISITOR. 
 
 " Rev. Henry Ward Beecher at this stage of the 
 proceedings entered the room, accompanied by the 
 Rev. Mr. Stafford, who introduced him to the Presi- 
 dent of the Conference. The President welcomed the 
 reverend gentleman in cordial terms, and introduced 
 him to the Conference, all the members rising and 
 loudly manifesting their applause,
 
 352 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 " Rev. Mr. Beecher said he perceived that most of 
 the assembly were young men, not having yet reached 
 the meridian of life. The fact brought back to him 
 reminiscences of his own early ministry, for he, too, 
 had been a pioneer preacher. He had labored in 
 Indiana when all the northern part of the State was 
 an Indian possession. He remembered to have ridden 
 over Illinois, and, looking upon the prairies without 
 stone, coal or wood, except a ribbon of forest along 
 the river, concluded that it would never be settled ; 
 that there might be a few farms along the river, but 
 that the great interior of the State would never be 
 settled. But the railroad had changed all that, and 
 now there were great and flourishing cities there. He 
 had received all his early inspirations for the ministry 
 in the mission-field, performing just such work as had 
 fallen to the most of his hearers, and he therefore 
 had sympathy for those who were beginning their 
 ministry, and for those of any age who were laying 
 foundations upon which other men would build when 
 they were gone. This was the most honorable work 
 of the whole Christian ministry the original creative 
 work of going where no man had gone, of which Paul 
 had boasted. It was laying a foundation, the super- 
 structure of which they would see only when looking 
 out from Heaven's window, and it was the manliest 
 and most Christian work that man was called to. In 
 later life he had seen a great deal of work, both in 
 Europe and America, so that he might say the experi- 
 ence of his later years was as directly opposed to his 
 early experience as could be imagined. Yet he could 
 bear witness that he could be glad to go back again 
 to the ministry with which he had begun his work 
 among the poor, outlying districts, and suffer, if need 
 be, as he had done, poverty and ill-health. One of 
 the most commanding words of Sacred Writ to him, 
 one that ought to knock at the door of every
 
 MY THIRD APPOINTMENT TO THE NORTH-WEST. 353 
 
 man that had scanned the word of inspiration, was 
 this, ' To you it is given to suffer with Him.' There 
 were degrees of enjoyment that were never attained 
 by prosperity, that belonged to a magnanimous life, 
 and a self-sacrificing life. The depth, height, breadth 
 and length of the love of Christ was shown in His 
 suffering for the objects of His love. All love, deep 
 and eternal, was to be measured by what one would 
 suffer for love's sake. He honored their vocation, he 
 might almost say he envied it. By-and-by, when 
 these scenes were over, and they were drawn by the 
 heart of God to stand around their beloved Saviour, 
 it would matter very little whether they labored on 
 the prairies of the North- West, the middle regions or 
 the populous cities. Their joy would be to see Christ 
 and find they were like Him, and to be eternally 
 satisfied. He thanked them for their greeting, and 
 trusted they would have more and more the joy of 
 bringing in the sheaves and reporting what the Lord 
 had done through their instrumentality. He looked 
 forward to the time when this Conference would 
 become so unwieldy that it would have to be divided. 
 The reverend gentleman was loudly applauded as he 
 resumed his seat." 
 
 In reporting the adjournment of the Conference of 
 1883, the Winnipeg Free Press made the following 
 appropriate reference to the occasion, which I have 
 much pleasure in reproducing : 
 
 " The meeting of the North- Western Conference of 
 the Methodist Church of Canada, which has just 
 adjourned its first session in this city, marks a 
 momentous era in the religious history of the 
 Dominion. It also marks an important stage in the 
 progress of the North-West. Hitherto this section of 
 the Church has been under the supervision of the 
 23
 
 354 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 Toronto Conference ; but, having grown with the 
 country, it has attained sufficient importance to justify 
 the handing over of its interests into its own keeping. 
 
 " The progress of development of the Methodist 
 Church in the North- West has been truly wonderful. 
 A great work has been already accomplished by it ; 
 and, so much having been done while its matin beams 
 are but just beginning to shine above the boundless 
 horizon of our great north-western prairies, what may 
 we not anticipate when its meridian glory shall have 
 been attained ? Forty years ago its labor of love was 
 begun among the aborigines of this country. In 1868 
 Rev. Dr. Young, now Superintendent of Missions and 
 first President of the first North- Western Conference, 
 arrived and laid the foundations of the prosperity 
 which the Church has since attained among the then 
 small, though now large and rapidly increasing white 
 population. There are at present about seventy 
 clergymen in connection with the Church in the 
 North -West, most of whom are young, vigorous men, 
 thoroughly alive to the importance of the interests 
 committed to their care, and anxious to promote them 
 to the full extent of their ability. With such an 
 army of workers, a great future is necessarily in store 
 for the Methodist Church in this country. 
 
 " This first session of the new Conference was 
 worthy of such a body. It was marked throughout 
 by the greatest unanimity and energy of action. 
 Business of the highest importance was transacted 
 with a promptitude and a freedom from petty dissen- 
 sions and bickerings which older bodies would do well 
 to take a pattern from." 
 
 Immediately after the close of this interesting 
 season of conferences, I visited Brandon and also a 
 recently formed mission in the Souris country, in 
 charge of Brother Harrison. On Sabbath a round
 
 MY THIRD APPOINTMENT TO THE NORTH-WEST. 355 
 
 trip was made of twenty miles, in a day more than 
 ordinarily warm, and because urged to do so, I 
 imprudently preached three times, and then on the 
 following evening attended and gave an address at a 
 tea-meeting, resulting, so far as I was concerned, in 
 an illness which would have proved more serious but 
 for the prompt and skilful treatment of my kind 
 friend, Dr. Fleming, of Brandon, who attended me 
 night and day until I reached convalescence. I shall 
 never forget the distress I endured during the drive 
 from Souris to the comfortable home of Mr. and Mrs. 
 Sifton, where I was cared for in the kindest manner 
 until I recovered. 
 
 On the 29th of August following I reached Belle- 
 ville, where the General Conference assembled, at 
 which, after very able and prolonged debating, the 
 " Union " was consummated. On the Sabbath I 
 enjoyed the privilege of hearing an excellent sermon 
 by my friend the Rev. Chancellor Nelles, the last I 
 was permitted to .hear from him. In the evening of 
 the same day I preached in the Methodist Episcopal 
 Tabernacle. On the 26th of September I was again 
 on my way, via Chicago and St. Paul, to our great 
 Canadian North- West, reaching Winnipeg on the 
 29th. Sabbath, the 30th September, was a day of 
 special interest to Methodism in Winnipeg, inasmuch 
 as the new and costly and commodious Grace Church 
 No. 2 was then opened for worship. By request, I 
 preached at 11 a.m., and conducted the dedicatory 
 service. The Rev. Dr. Gordon (Presbyterian) preached 
 at 3 p.m., and Dr. Stafford, the pastor, gave an
 
 356 
 
 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 admirable discourse in the evening. The congrega- 
 tions were very large and the offerings liberal, 
 amounting to over $400. What a change in our 
 circumstances from the Sabbath in September, 1871, 
 when I preached the opening sermon in Grace Church 
 No. 1. On the 3rd of October I left for Medicine 
 Hat, stopping over at Brandon and Moose Jaw on 
 official duties. 
 
 SECOND "GRACE CHURCH." 
 
 The following extracts from my letters to the 
 Mission Rooms, reporting progress at various points, 
 will be in order here : 
 
 EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS. 
 
 " WINNIPEG, Oct. 24, 1883. 
 
 "I am glad to be able to report myself in good 
 health and quite ready for any reasonable amount 
 of work. . . . My visit to the western missions 
 was very satisfactory, to myself at least.
 
 MY THIRD APPOINTMENT TO THE NORTH-WEST. 357 
 
 "At Medicine Hat, where Brother Bridgman has 
 been less than three months, I opened a new church 
 24 x 40, and preached to good congregations. He 
 conducts service each Sabbath at the coal mines, 
 eight miles distant, to upwards of eighty miners and 
 clerks, and in the village at ' The Hat ' he is the only 
 resident missionary. 
 
 " At Broadview Brother Joslyn has opened a very 
 large mission. He goes one Sabbath in the month to 
 Crescent City, forty-five miles distant, where he has 
 a class of about fifteen members, and good congrega- 
 tions. Then along the railroad he has appointments 
 about thirty miles, and south and south-west he has 
 several others. He has built a parsonage and church 
 by aid of a loan of $500. He has secured good lots, 
 and is doing nobly all in three months. 
 
 "At Qu'Appelle Brother Lawson has two new 
 churches, aided by a loan of $500, the last to be 
 opened next Sabbath. At Virden a good building for 
 parsonage, with hall for church purposes, is nearly 
 completed. The brethren are doing nobly. But the 
 reduced grants under such circumstances cause me 
 great sadness." 
 
 Returning I visited Regina and Qu'Appelle and 
 Broadview also, where I found our zealous mission- 
 ary, Brother Joslyn, carpentering in a new church in 
 order to have it ready for the opening services on 
 Sabbath, when I preached twice to full congregations, 
 and we rejoiced in hope of brighter days in the near 
 future. At 4 p.m. next day I took cars for Portage 
 la Prairie and Winnipeg. 
 
 In looking over my journals and reckoning up 
 distances, I find that from October 2nd, 1882, to 
 October 16th, 1883, I had travelled a distance of
 
 358 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 20,900 miles, by rail or steam or buggy, in the Pro- 
 vinces and adjoining Territory of our great Dominion. 
 
 After preaching missionary sermons on Sabbath at 
 Brandon, and speaking at the meeting Monday even- 
 ing, and then doing the same at Portage la Prairie on 
 the following Sunday and Monday, and again engag- 
 ing in similar services in Emerson, I left for Ontario, 
 to enter upon another winter's missionary campaign 
 at the several points for which I was booked by the 
 General Secretary, which in the good providence of 
 God were all reached in due course. Among these 
 were Scarboro, Queen and Elm Street Churches 
 (Toronto), St. Catharines, Drummondville, Welland, 
 St. Thomas, Aylmer, Sparta, Tilsonburg, London 
 Circuit, Sarnia, Petrolia, Meaford, Mitchell, Clinton, 
 Owen Sound, Markdale, Flesherton, Streetsville, 
 Meadowvale, Port Hope, Cobourg, Belleville, and 
 Brantford. 
 
 Returning to Manitoba in May, I preached twice in 
 Winnipeg, also in Portage la Prairie, at Neepawa and 
 Minnedosa, and at Prospect and Burnside. On Sat- 
 urday, 7th of June, I was taken violently ill with 
 congestion of the liver, which brought me very low 
 in a few days. Fortunately I was at the parsonage 
 in Portage la Prairie, and enjoyed the kind and 
 thoughtful care of Rev. Mr. and Mrs. Woodsworth, 
 and Mrs. Young, who was with me on this trip. In 
 consequence of this illness, I was unable to join in the 
 opening of the Conference of 1884, at Brandon, when 
 Dr. Stafford was elected my successor in the presi- 
 dency. Being advised by my physician that I must
 
 MY THIRD APPOINTMENT TO THE NORTH-WEST. 35$ 
 
 seek rest for some time, or imperil my life, I asked 
 the Conference upon my arrival, shortly before its 
 close, for a superannuated relation for one year. My 
 case was submitted to the Committee on Church 
 Relations, with the following result : 
 
 " A report from the Committee on Church Rela- 
 tions was read, submitting in the case of Rev. Dr. 
 Young that he was temporarily unable, owing to 
 illness, to engage in regular work. 
 
 " Rev. Dr. Young was heard in reference to his 
 own case. With deep feeling he referred to his past 
 work in this country and spoke of his continued 
 interest in the welfare of the Church here, and his 
 joy in the success of its great prosperity. His phy- 
 sician, however, advised that he must be set free from 
 all responsibility, and he himself felt the necessity of 
 this for the present. He therefore asked that he be 
 placed in the position of a superannuated minister for 
 one year, though hoping still to help forward the 
 work. 
 
 " Rev. Jas. Woodsworth moved, Rev. John McDou- 
 gall seconding, that the request be granted. Both 
 mover and seconder spoke in terms of the deepest 
 regret that Dr. Young's temporary retirement, even 
 for a short period, should be necessary. 
 
 " Rev. Messrs. Rutledge, Halstead, Dyer, Ruttan, 
 Betts, and the President spoke with evident emotion 
 in reference to Dr. Young's work, and the occasion 
 was felt to be the most solemn one during the session 
 of the Conference. The motion was carried, all the 
 members of the Conference rising. 
 
 "Rev. Messrs. Stewart and Woodsworth were ap- 
 pointed a committee to draft a suitable resolution to 
 be inserted in the published Minutes, expressing the 
 feelings of the Conference in reference to the retire- 
 ment of Dr Young."
 
 360 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 The following is the resolution thus prepared, and 
 which was subsequently published in the Christian 
 Guardian : 
 
 " Moved by Rev. J. Woodsworth, seconded by Rev. 
 John McDougall, and unanimously resolved, That we 
 as a Conference do hereby express to Rev. Dr. Young 
 our sense of joy at seeing him with us once again a 
 joy that is mingled with great sadness because of his 
 being compelled, by reason of failing health, to ask 
 for a superannuated relation. We cannot allow this 
 opportunity to pass without expressing our high 
 appreciation of the value of Dr. Young's labors as the 
 pioneer missionary of the Methodist Church to the 
 white settlers of the North- West. We glorify God 
 for what He hath wrought through the instrumen- 
 tality of His servant, and join in the earnest prayer 
 that, being restored to health, the Church may for 
 many years enjoy the benefit of his godly example 
 and wise counsels." 
 
 As already intimated, I became an itinerant Meth- 
 odist preacher in June, 1842. The month of June, 
 1892, therefore, brought me to the fiftieth anniver- 
 sary of that event. In view of that fact, my 
 ministerial brethren of the Manitoba Conference who 
 had been appointed a committee to arrange for the 
 services to be held during its sessions in Winnipeg, 
 gave me a very cordial invitation to preach my 
 Jubilee sermon on the Conference Sabbath. My 
 acceptance of the invitation was followed by a severe 
 attack of la grippe just prior to that date, which, 
 although it did not seem to justify the cancelling of 
 the engagement, did nevertheless so affect me as to
 
 MY THIRD APPOINTMENT TO TflE NORTH-WEST. 361 
 
 make the duty a more than ordinarily difficult task. 
 My brethren of the Conference and the large con- 
 gregation present gave me a patient and prayerful 
 hearing while I preached from the text, " The Lord 
 hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad ; " 
 and reminded them of a few of the many " great 
 things " which the Lord had done for us as a Church 
 and as individuals, for which we should be glad 
 before Him with no ordinary gladness. During the 
 five years which have elapsed since then, I have had 
 many opportunities of preaching the Word in dif- 
 ferent parts of the Dominion. But the end draweth 
 nigh. 
 
 I have referred before in these pages to the devoted 
 native missionary, Rev. H. B. Steinhauer, now passed 
 to his reward, and I cannot bring myself to close 
 these reminiscences without giving my readers the 
 following synopsis of an exceedingly interesting 
 address delivered by him at the Conference mission- 
 ary meeting, and which appeared in the Brandon 
 papers at that date : 
 
 " Being introduced and received with applause, 
 Mr. Steinhauer said that he was an example of the 
 fruit of missionary labor. He referred to his ex- 
 perience during the last forty-four years. Men now 
 came to the North- West in a sleeping-car, and 
 sighed to heaven over the great hardships they 
 had to undergo. (Laughter.) He came with Rev. 
 James Evans by way of Fort William, whence they 
 had to paddle their own canoes and carry them 
 on their shoulders across portages. Mr. Evans went 
 first to Norway House, and the speaker to Fort
 
 362 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 Frances, whence, however, he was soon called by 
 Mr. Evans to act as interpreter and school teacher. 
 He continued in this capacity some time with Mr. 
 Evans, until the latter finished his invention of the 
 syllabic characters, when the speaker began trans- 
 lating the Scriptures into these characters. The 
 characters were very simple and easily learned by 
 the Indians. On being given them in the morning, 
 an Indian would sometimes be able to read the same 
 night. He had been given the Book of Job to trans- 
 late, and thence to the end of the Prophets, and from 
 the Acts of the Apostles to the end of the New 
 Testament; and, as was known, these were hard 
 portions to translate. Although difficult for one 
 man, yet by the help of God the work was done; 
 and now, he was glad to be able to say, these Scrip- 
 tures were being read by the Indians. On the mis- 
 sion where he had spent a long time there was hardly 
 a man, woman or child but could read the Scriptures 
 in these characters. In their religious gatherings, 
 every Indian was to be seen having under his arm 
 his Bible and hymn-book ; and they would search 
 out the texts of the sermons and follow the preacher 
 as he read. This was what had been accomplished 
 by missionary labor, and the Indians would be bene- 
 fited by it as long as they lived. About twenty-nine 
 years ago he had been sent to the Saskatchewan 
 country, after having spent already fourteen years in 
 service on missions. He had opened up the Oxford 
 House Mission, where Rev. Enos Langford had been 
 a missionary for four years. From there he had 
 been sent to open a mission at White Fish Lake, in 
 the Saskatchewan country. The beginnings were 
 small. Besides the occupants of his own tent and 
 that of another, there was no human being near. 
 They never forgot to assemble for worship, although 
 they were so few. After a while the Indians came
 
 MY THIRD APPOINTMENT TO THE NORTH-WEST. 363 
 
 around, but were very shy. By handing around the 
 pipe of peace, he caught them with guile, and gained 
 the opportunity of firing upon them the Gospel gun. 
 After that a great many came to the ground, and he 
 commenced preaching the Gospel among them. God 
 blessing his labors, he did some good to some of them, 
 and they felt the converting power of the Gospel. 
 At present there were about four hundred Indians 
 there professing Christianity. When they commenced 
 imitating the white man in making their living out 
 of the ground they had no hoes, so they made wooden 
 spades with which they broke some ground. After 
 a while the missionary got what was called a Scotch 
 plough ; but they could not make their ponies work, 
 as, instead of going ahead, they came back. (Laugh- 
 ter.) Not willing to be beaten, he took some shag- 
 anapi and hitched up twelve Indians, by which means 
 he broke up a small piece of ground. On this he 
 sowed some barley, and thus farming was commenced 
 at White Fish Lake. He was glad to say that every 
 family, almost, had now a yoke of oxen, cows, pigs, 
 etc. Before they embraced Christianity the poor 
 women did ajl the work, but now the men shared 
 the burdens and no longer treated the women as 
 slaves. They were poor people and could not have 
 everything they wanted, yet, notwithstanding, they 
 were trying to imitate the white man as far as they 
 were able. The women would like to dress some- 
 thing like the white women. Formerly it took only 
 two yards of cloth to dress an Indian woman, so they 
 did not have long trains. In the early days there 
 was a fashion among the women which they had 
 since given up ; but he saw that among the white 
 ladies it was becoming resuscitated ; they called it 
 banging, he thought. (Cheers and laughter.) If the 
 fashion continued it might come to that of the Black- 
 feet, who wore a bunch of hair coming down under
 
 364 MANITOBA MEMORIES. 
 
 the nose and then turned up. (Laughter.) Traders 
 had wanted to establish posts there, but he would 
 not allow it. If he had done so at first, there would 
 have been no mission ; but their Indians were now 
 somewhat established in Christian knowledge. They 
 were very zealous in attending the means of grace. 
 They had two local preachers who led the service in 
 his absence, five classes, two day-schools, and one 
 flourishing Sabbath school. (Applause.) Some of 
 the children were beginning to read the Word of 
 God in English, and they learned thirty to fifty 
 verses at a time to recite in Sunday-school. They 
 were very fond of singing, and it was delightful in 
 travelling over the plains on a buffalo hunt to hear 
 them sing their beautiful hymns. Formerly, before 
 the missionary came, only the war-song was heard. 
 He gave an illustration of this singing, and by way 
 of contrast sang a hymn in Indian to the tune, ' Hold 
 the Fort,' and was applauded with spirit on conclud- 
 ing. He expressed his pleasure in the kind reception 
 given him ; thought that the same feelings would not 
 be given to the pagan Indians seen on the streets of 
 the town, and said that the difference, in his favor 
 was due to missionary labor. But for this and the 
 treatment bestowed by the Hudson Bay Company, 
 the white people would not have got up here so 
 easily and possessed themselves of the heritage of 
 the Indians. It was not the redcoats who had 
 secured this peace, though he would not speak dis- 
 respectfully of them ; it was Christianity. He hoped 
 his hearers would be more than ever for the spread 
 of this cause, that every Indian in the North- West 
 ' might know the only true God, and Jesus Christ 
 whom He has sent.' " (Applause.)

 
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