Homesteading 



Our friends from No. 9 arrived, and some one 

 asked : " Where's the secretary ? " and Sunny- 

 Jim repHed, *' He's coming along ; Silas is sure, 

 if he's slow," and soon after that worthy appeared. 



He was an able man of business from the Old 

 Country, but his kindness and gentleness towards 

 his oxen made him known throughout the dis- 

 trict as the slowest traveller on the trails. 



The earnestness of these folk may be gauged 

 from the fact that many of them had, after a 

 day's work, travelled several miles in a biting wind 

 with the thermometer far below zero. 



The chairman was a young Englishman, who 

 was also the local member of the municipality, and 

 he called the meeting to order, and those present 

 found seats at the children's desks. 



Among the incidents of prairie-life it may 

 be mentioned that the chairman's partner, another 

 promising young Englishman, had, after consult- 

 ing the doctors in Saskatoon, been advised to 

 return to England if he wished to see his parents 

 again, as he was suffering from some apparently 

 incurable complaint. It was a sad blow to both 

 men, for after working some time in Manitoba 

 they had homesteaded together further North 

 and made a splendid start. 



The secretary having read the minutes of the 

 last meeting, business proceeded, with some in- 



i8o 



