140 WHEAT AND WOMAN 



vocation for agriculture can give towards its develop- 

 ment. It is a godsend to the migrating agricultural 

 labourer with a family, and it might be a godsend 

 to some women-farmers if it were open to them, but 

 the way it has been used by emigration agents and 

 others merely as a bait to attract any sort of popula- 

 tion to Canada has often been bad for the land, and 

 sometimes worse for the man. 



He left finally on March 6, and from then until 

 the 19th I was alone. The big team went with 

 him until I required them for seeding. Dick, the 

 survivor of the light team, and Nancy became great 

 comrades ; and if Nancy refused to forget her 

 absent master except when I was in the saddle, 

 Dick adopted me from the first, and initiated me 

 into the art of horse-feeding and stable-cleaning. 

 Immediately after breakfast and grooming he took 

 Nancy out to graze, but at sundown he brought her 

 back and waited at the well for drinks, and then 

 begged for oats in his own matchless manner. 



On March 11 a tiny calf arrived. Molly, the 

 mother, seemed to expect all sorts of things from 

 me ; but I was not at home with cows and didn't 

 appreciate the task of cleaning out the cow stable. 

 Mabel Mazey as usual came to my rescue. She 

 bundled the newcomer into the five-stall stable, 

 milked Molly, and gave her a bran mash, fed the 

 little calf with her fingers, and every day for a week 

 she rode over twice a day to milk. The matter of 

 the feeding of the calf I accompUshed easily enough. 



" My, you're handy yourself ! " she said one 

 morning as she watched my method with the little 

 thing. " Guess it wouldn't take you long to milk 

 either." 



