MANITOBA. 



3T3 



of Yorkton there was no organization to cope 

 with the situation, and for ten days the Doukho- 

 bors overran the country. At no time was there 

 any fear of violence from the pilgrims, for the 

 Doukhobors' doctrine teaches universal, peace; 

 but the suffering from cold and starvation was 

 pitiable, and, swayed as they were by their im- 

 plicit faith in their crazy leaders, all efforts were 

 futile to persuade them to give up the search and 

 return to their farms. All night long fresh bands 

 continued to arrive. Some remained awake, 

 chanting and praying, but the majority, worn 

 out by their long tramp and stupid with cold and 

 hunger, lay down to sleep in the open, with little 

 or no protection from the biting wind and with 

 the thermometer 10 below freezing. In the morn- 

 ing the immigration officials, interpreters, and 

 citizens attempted to persuade them to turn 

 back; but this was only the signal for a fresh 

 outburst of singing and praying, and the mob 

 soon followed the deputation into the town. " It 

 was a motley crowd that entered the public 

 square. First came the men bareheaded, clad in 

 the coarsest cotton garments, and not very much 

 of even those. Most of them walked in their bare 

 feet, but a few wore rubber boots, and some wore 

 short boots made from braids of binder twine. 

 As they marched along they chanted a weird, 

 rhythmic hymn, which at times rose almost to 

 a martial strain. Next in the line came the lit- 

 ters on which the sick were being carried, and 

 at the end of the procession the women and chil- 

 dren dragged their feet wearily one after the 

 other. The women were clad much the same as 



and the mounted police, cut out from the main 

 body the women and children and the sick, and 

 housed them in available places of shelter. These 

 were not allowed to leave the buildings, and the 

 men, realizing the firmness of the authorities, 

 were forced to abandon them. The women re- 

 fused all food, and pleaded passionately to be 

 allowed to join the men on the march. During 

 the days following, their condition, and particu- 

 larly that of the children, was beyond description. 

 Many became insane, all were starving, and all 

 were insistent in their belief that they had re- 

 ceived a spirit message and must find Jesus. 

 After a night spent in prayer and the chanting 

 of songs of praise, nearly 600 of the men set out 

 on the long march of 300 miles eastward across 

 the snow-covered prairie to Winnipeg, Manitoba, 

 where they confidently expected to meet the 

 Saviour, who, reincarnated, was to lead them 

 forth to evangelize the world. An eye-witness 

 thus describes the weird procession : " I overtook 

 them at Binscarth, a little village on the North- 

 west branch of the Canadian Pacific Railway 

 about 200 miles from Winnipeg. They came 

 straggling into the town in a procession 2 miles 

 long. Picturesque figures they were, mostly clad 

 in blue and with gaudily colored scarfs. The 

 wide, flaring skirts of their coats were kilted be- 

 hind. Though the snow lay 3 inches deep on the 

 ground, fully a score were barefoot. More than 

 double that number were hatless. In front 

 strode a majestic figure black as Boanerges and 

 with a voice like a bull of Bashan. He was bare- 

 foot. On his head was a brilliant red handker- 



DOfKHOBORS PLOWING. 



the men, and the children were also forced to 

 adopt the inadequate cotton garments. Babes in 

 arms clutched at their mothers' breasts in vain, 

 and their thin, blue little faces, their starved 

 appearance, and their heartrending cries were 

 the first to bring the citizens to a full sense of 

 the seriousness of the situation. Each of the 

 pilgrims carried slung over the shoulder a bag 

 containing about half a peck of bread, made from 

 the whole wheat ground between stones and 

 baked into a hard mass. This was cut into 

 squares and soaked in what water could be found 

 by the roadside to make it edible. This was all 

 the food that the wanderers had brought with 

 them, and it would be exhausted in a very short 

 time. The young children could not subsist upon 

 it, and many were on the verge of starvation." 

 The immigration officials, aided by cowboys 



chief, and his body was clothed in a long, dusty, 

 white felt mantle reaching almost to his feet. 

 The Binscarth people gave them food dry oat- 

 meal, which they poured in little heaps on blank- 

 ets, half a dozen pilgrims helping themselves from 

 each heap. The meal was preceded by their fa- 

 vorite chant from the eighth chapter of Romans 

 and by the repetition in unison of prayer. Then 

 the pilgrims sat in parallel lines and ate oat- 

 meal dry from the sack. This, with bread, 

 apples, and the dried rose-haws picked from the 

 prairie rose-bushes, formed their menu. After the 

 meal, which lasted about an hour, they repaired 

 to the back yards of the residences, and for a 

 quarter of an hour the pumps were worked with- 

 out cessation to satisfy their thirst. An hour 

 afterward the procession was formed and the 

 eastward journey resumed. . . . The snow began 



