A LABRADOR SPRING 



years ago under the direction of Mr. Donald 

 Alexander Smith, who was then the factor at 

 this Post. Mr. Smith is now Lord Strathcona 

 and Mont Royal, the head of this rich and 

 powerful Company of Hudson's Bay. This 

 historic house is not used now, as a larger one 

 has since been built for the factor. It is a 

 small single story square house, painted white, 

 standing just to the eastward of the tiny office 

 building, its platform surrounded by a neat 

 white fence. The dark coloured roof with the 

 usual upcurved edges is relieved by white 

 dormer windows. A great knocker adorns the 

 door, which has two small panes of glass set 

 near the top. Lord Strathcona began his 

 service for the Honourable Company as an 

 apprentice at Rigolet in 1838, and served for 

 thirteen years on the Labrador coast. I 

 could not help picturing the possible future of 

 the young blue-eyed, fair-haired clerk, but a 

 year out from Scotland, who was tactfully 

 managing the black-eyed, dark- haired Indians 

 at the store-house, and I was amused to hear 

 him conversing with them in their own language 

 with a broad Scotch accent. He seemed to be 

 particularly successful in his sales of a calicc 



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