Homesteading 



mean much, but to others of a more imaginative 

 turn, some of the environment of a life to which 

 they have looked forward for many years may 

 begin to materialize. 



A few more hours brings us alongside the wharf, 

 and the usual medical and official examination 

 is courteously made, though with some care, 

 for Canada wants none of the really unfit. Then 

 comes the baggage examination of the Customs, 

 often rigorous enough to seem ridiculous to 

 a Free-trade Briton, but usually amounting to 

 little to the genuine settler landing for the 

 first time. 



One of us purchases bread, butter, fruit, and 

 other food supplies, while the other three are 

 fortunate enough to secure a section in a nice 

 colonist car, and having checked our baggage, 

 tickets have been taken in exchange for our 

 vouchers, and we have begun the railroad journey 

 of some three thousand miles or so. 



We find ourselves seated two and two, face 

 to face, on fairly roomy if hard seats, which draw 

 out at night and make a six-foot-long bed for 

 two, while overhead a shelf of similar length 

 and width lets down for the other two ; far from 

 luxurious, of course, but with rugs and coats 

 good enough for men prepared to rough it, as 

 all should be who tackle the prairie life. 



28 



