The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1916-08-19
NOTES BY THE WAY-VlEWs AND
IMPRESSIONS - PLACES AND
PERsoNAGEs-ExcERPTs FROM
A TRAVELLERS NOTE BOOK.

i bVvtp b@SSb0sNS -SNS%S SNINS
MISUNDERSTANDING FROM
A TRAVELLERS NOTE BOOK.
My companion has just been explain
ing that the word "saunter" is of
French origin, and was first used after
the "crusades." Whenever man was
seen walking slowly and aimlessly
through the country he was judged,
and often correctly, to be returning
from the Sainte Terre, or Holy Land =
hence "saunterer."
Now are we not also pilgrims to a
| holy land? For what spot in all the
earth has not felt the impress of His
| finger? If we may not visit Bethle.
hem to learn the story of His love, we
may look up to the mountains and
| contemplate His power. If the flowers
that cheer our eyes have never bent
beneath His feet has not His hand PEN
ciled their dainty petals? So with all
due regard to the origin of the word,
we make our bow to you as saunter.
| ers.
1t is said that every district has its
| special attraction for the poet, the
historian, the painter or what not, and
it seems to me that the country lying
between ST. Paul and Winnipeg must
be especially dear to the heart of a
land agent. How many potential
homes are comprised in it's endless
stretches of prairie! | am taking it
for granted that the land agent is what
he ought to be, a patriot and lover
of his kind, whose mission is to assist
in founding homes and making the
barren wastes to smile, for that is the
ultimate results of his work, no mat
ter how low he sets his ideal.
Winnipeg is a beautiful city and if
the men in charge of the public build
ings there had been animated with the
right spirit they would have left no
BILE memorial to their name instead of
a criminal proceedings on the court
records. How mean they look beside
the builders of the Middle Ages who,
when they completed particularly
satisfactory piece of work, inscribed
it with their name or rather the sign
that stood for their name in the guild
book" as old Pilger who actually mod
elled his own face at the foot of that
wonderful pulpit stair in Stefans Dom,
Vienna.
The. Department Store.
The Winnipeggers have one institu.
ton of which they are extremely proud
and that is Eaton's. On our day there,
Eaton's was celebrating the birthday
of it's founder and it had ribbons on,
not figuratively speaking, but actually,
and casual acquaintance assured us
it was the only store in Winnipeg.
found afterwards this was the truth.
Eaton's does not attempt to purvey in
the line of tobacco, meat or liquors
and these stores seem to flourish es-
pecially the last "as a young bay tree,
bay rum tree, l suppose, but | hear
that it's day is over and Winnipeg
about to become dry town. The
grocer, the shoeman, the milliner, the
dry goods man, the ready-to-wear gar
ments man, in fact, all the purveyors
of the necessaries, are swallowed up
in the capacious NAV of Eaton's. The
sixty, seventy, or a hundred families,
who should be running their own
stores, paying the taxes, supporting
the schools, and the churches, devel
oping the play grounds, and parks
and owning their own homes, as man
| will if he has a surety that he will not
lose his job, were not, but in their
place was Eaton's hired help, who live
in rented houses, pay no taxes and
moved lightly from town to town.
Now Eaton is not to blame for this
condition of things. He merely seizes
an opportunity which the weakness OF
the people put in his way. That is
the privilege of a business man. The
trouble rises from the cupidity of the
people themselves. The people want
cheap goods. The healthfulness Of the
goods in the case of food or the dur
| ability in the case of clothing is not
considered. No law nor regulation
will cause the people to pay more for
an article to one man than they can
get it for from another, and no appeal
to town spirit is stronger than the
hope in a mans heart that he can
beat somebody-that he can get some