Homesteading 



pushed on fast and got to their house by dinner- 

 time. 



The country continued roUing, though appar- 

 ently gradually rising from the river valley. As 

 we came to the top of the rises we could see 

 our dark-brown road stretching before us in a 

 straight line due north. But little of the land 

 hereabout had been broken, and though the 

 snow had now ceased, the sky was overcast, and 

 the wide expanse of bleached prairie looked 

 ghastly as the snow was rapidly leaving it. Here 

 and there it was a little relieved by the dark, 

 leafless willow bluffs, but it must be confessed 

 the prospect was not inspiring at this season 

 to our EngHsh eyes. 



Now and then we passed a shack or house, 

 but even the best of them looked little better 

 than hovels to us, fresh from the English land- 

 scape. Still, as I pointed out to Tom, " we were 

 at the beginning of things, as it were, and must 

 let our imaginations picture the face of the country 

 in a few years' time." 



We had, however, in the course of our 

 journey, passed one or two of the lumber-built, 

 white-painted schoolhouses so familiar to the 

 prairie-dweller, and now in the distance we saw 

 a Uttle church built in the same style, but with \ 

 the addition of a square tower. 



52 



