Homesteading 



would not rise above freezing-point probably for 

 months now. 



A few of my readers may have read in times 

 long ago of the Ice Palace and Winter Carnival 

 which used to be held at Montreal, and, prompted 

 by tourist posters of winter sports in Switzerland, 

 imagined the prairie in winter as a second Davos 

 or St. Moritz. If so, the sooner they dismiss 

 the idea the better. 



In these days, when it is the ambition of many 

 Canadians for their country to pose as the granary 

 of the Empire, if not of the world, it would not 

 at all fit in with the schemes of the financial 

 interests which are trying to exploit the Prairie 

 Provinces to build ice palaces and hold carnivals 

 of winter sports. Such things may have been, 

 and perhaps may be again, but do not go well 

 with glowing pictorial advertisements of rich corn- 

 fields and fruit orchards. Nevertheless, there are 

 some glorious winter days when there is little 

 or no wind, but brilliant sunshine with the ther- 

 mometer about zero, when a good bit of skating 

 may be enjoyed. One such day there was near 

 the beginning of the freeze-up, when Tom and 

 I set forth to try what it was like on a large slough 

 not far from my homestead. 



We found that though it was rough round 

 the edges, where the snow had drifted and lain, 



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