The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1929-11-29

( ing for it's motif the activities
: members OF the Royal Mort
D West Mounted Police, a readan
public, unable to observe the fore
at close range, has, it appears, col
ceived the %flattering impression
that a Mountie was loath to cal
it a day until he had rescued
beautiful maiden from moral o
physical peril at the hands Of
brute or the elements. And, toe
while the well-meaning novelist
were having their way, the force
was composed of handsome scion!
of English nobility. Each police
man invariably had a liberal par
entail allowance that enabled him
eventually to live happily ever
afterward with the lovely heroine
of an amatory departure from the
exacting routine of guarding the
lives and property of settlers dott-
ing promiscuously some million or
so square miles of desolation.
1t is unkind to disillusion ro-
nance of tavorite fancies, but in
justice to the seven hundred or
SO he-men constituting the force
during the period when it reached
the point of its greatest efficien-
cy, let me testify in their behalf
that affairs of the heart played
little part in their lives as police
men. AS individuals, naturally, they
were no different from other men,
but as wearers of the regulation
redcoat, these guardians of the
vast north were far less suscep-
tible to the charm of a pretty
face and figure than many brill
liant authors would have their
readers believe. 1t was part of
the training to resist affection OF
personality while typifying the i'm
partially OF the laws Of the land.
Throughout two decades Of po-
lice work, during which years
duty involved such prosaic tasks
as acting as midwife in the iso-
lated shack of a homesteader, or
presiding at the preliminary hear
ing of a murderer, l did not save
4 single beautiful girl, and, furth-
ermore, | did not make the ac-
luaintance of a trooper who had.
There were such incidents, no
but they did not come I'M
Ter my observation. AS for being
handsome, if there were any who
so regarded me, they kept it to
themselves to a di~scouraging ex-
ent. 1t is true that my family has
recognized claims to a
title, but l became a po-
iceman in spite of that and be-
ause of the absence of an allow {
nee. Few men reared in ease {
nd affluence who could possibly {
ontinue thus enviably, would sub s
ect themselves to the hardships !
+ service in the Royal North /
Vest Mounted Police. The silver. {
pooners were eliminated during 7
he first three months of train
lg usually, although l have known '
everal who survived the severity
f recruit days to become splendid |
Ulcers. Permanent enlistment in t
strictest military es- L
Enlistment was actuated by the L
re of the unlimited wilderness n
Id the opportunity of serving a +
,nglomerate humanity. Z
There were beautiful women and Z
mantle in the work of the Mount =
/ Police, but the. very nature of Il
lie country precluded such ell p
nents from taking the prominent p
art in the life of the force of NJ
.e ~fictionists have portrayed. In >
lie main we lived in an atmos- u
mere of survival of the fittest,
which the primitive instincts of u
en-and women-were outstand- y
g. Physical beauty was rapidly
lpaired by the harshness of the u
)rthwest winters and the undi- y
.rsified diet and habits Of the 81
,mesteaders, the miners, the d.
appers, the traders and the In 10
ans. Beauty Of the kind extolled y
the writer's Of the Mounted y
m