The Savannah morning news., 1903-08-30


this journey is that 1 can stop off any
where. at farm house on the prairie,
ar an Indian tepee in the mountains,
inst as the unfettered fancy strikes me.
took advantage of this privilege re-
Gently and passed a day in the wheat
fields Of Manitoba. The farmer had
not expected me, nay. had not invited
me: but that made no difference. They
are so glad to see strangers, hoping
FOR "the angel unawares.' This angel
passed the day in asking questions and
came away with all the facts his hat
could hold, of that fascinating human
story, how man and his wife, start
tng in the germ-form of a poor colonist
and his helpmeet, with all their world
w goods tied up in a red pocket hand
kerchief, came to the final stage of
evolution as rich planter of wheat,
with a front parlor and a piano in it.
The story is worth telling.
The CO1Onist and His Family.
This is the germform, and you see it
in the "colonist" cars all the way from
Montreal to the final end of the prai-
ries. In legions the immigrants are
coming west to these vast developing
prairies: Englishman, he comes sing
~ as a rule; American, he comes en-
famille, so to speak; Galicians and
Dourhkoboys, they come in colonies.
They fill every day two or three colon
list coaches; they cook their food on
ranges furnished by the railroad, ard
they sleep somehow. How they carry
their baggage was delicious to me, who
have always regarded a trunk as a
limitation on personal freedom, and
the packing of it as an act of penance,
done in advance for the good time to
come. These people escape the, con-
ventionality of packing. They house
their belongings in delightful negligee;
some in bags, some in red and yellow
comfortables, and they string their
farm and kitchen utensils all over their
children, so that the little ones re-
semble perambulating tin shops. 1t is
so like nature, so like the mountains
who store away the snow wherever
there is a Granny for it and throw the
stones helter-skelter down the sides. 1
confess during the whole trip, being
more at home with the deniZens of the
colonist cars than with those of the
drawing rooms, and whenever the train
stopped III LlIHQJeS 10 take breath, ana
1t did so quite frequently l consorted
with them and found out all they
would tell me. 1 admired their total
disregard of convention in the matter
of foot gear and head-gear. The mai
verte with which they would chase a
prairie dog and sit watching for him
to reappear; the happiness they took
out of things generally; the certainty
with which they contemplated that
iTi Of
wealth for them; all this inspired me
with wholesome respect, and made me
anxious to see them at a later stage
of development.
The Prairie Wheat Fields.
The land which they go to possess
may be called 'the 1imitless prairie;"
but as this is somewhat indefinite, let
US size it up. Winnipeg is the gate
way of the prairies-Calcary is the CEN
ter of the foothills. between the two
points are 900 miles. Down south in
Texas, I'D North in Athabasca. this
same prairie is still found. The gem
tleman who has figured out that in 1863
years the inhabitants of the earth will
have only two feet of ground to the
man, need not be alarmed. During
all that time you can keep on putting
farm houses on the prairies, and they
will not be within shouting distance of
ern pilgrim with his family on the site
of his future home. In Winnepeg or
some other land Office he has taken up
section of 100 acres. The train
whistles for a stop; there is a station
house, and one of the rich Mr.. Ogil-
vie's thousand elevators. That is all
that can be seen: except the two prai-
ries, the blue fiat sky above, stretching
away into infinitude and the green flat
haIn ety. io%o
lessness. The Colonist, his wife. his
children, are specks in a boundless sea
OF green. His lares and penates lie
Jumbled around him on the floor of the
station. Whence shall he get him a
house? Not tree in sight, not a stick
of timber anywhere. Well, there is the
sod. Whence shall he draw him water
Tor man and beast? Not stream in
sight nor spring. The government
will send him a man to do the hor-
ing, if he pays for the pipe. Whence
snail he buy bread here in the wilder
ness? The black soil at his feet is a
perpetual granary, out of it without
fertilizer will come forth bread for the
soWer and 140,000,o00 bushels of wheat
Tor the rest of the hungry world. That
was the contribution of the wheat belt
OF canada last year. We pass over
the first year or two of the hard and
trying life of the poor settler, while he
IS laying the foundations of his future
nome We take him at an advanced
stage of evolution. The sod-house or
the Lighthouse has given place to COM
portable frame mansion. with lumber
brought from the East. stil1 his first
nome, with affectionate regard, is pre-
served in one corner of his lot. like an
aged relative by the fireside. The new
mansion is tasteful home two stories
hlgh-on the first kitchen, dining room
ana parlor. There is a piano in the
parior for the daughter, and otherwise
also the room is quite comfortable with
modern knick-knacks. Upstairs, bed
rooms for the entire family, and a neat
suest chamber, all clean and nice with
celled walls of pine and spruce. Every