Homesteading 



are now increased to four ; but the Canadian 

 knows something of the difficulty of working 

 traffic in his cHmate, with the immense distances 

 the trains have to traverse and the varying 

 conditions they are apt to meet in their trans- 

 continental journeys, and so, where an English- 

 man might be inclined to grumble, he takes such 

 matters very philosophically. 



Perhaps the extremes of Western life come to 

 the fore more in travelling than in any other 

 way. In a luxurious parlour car or sleeper, made 

 up as a day car with thick velvet cushions and 

 thick carpets, or in the diner with its three-fold- 

 thick glass windows, one may enjoy a luxury 

 of travel superior to that on our British railways 

 or, indeed, to the ordinary run of hotels ; for the 

 large open cars are kept at a temperature that 

 renders overcoats and rugs and headgear need- 

 less, and are in many cases vestibuled, so that 

 one may pass from one to the other of the glass- 

 enclosed end platforms without being exposed 

 to the bitter outer air. Yet here you may pos- 

 sibly meet men who have recently come hundreds 

 of miles over snow and ice with a dog team, or 

 from some lonely shack whence they have spent 

 many months, having travelled to the railroad 

 with their team of oxen. Such are the con- 

 trasts in the mere material environment of the 



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