THE FROZEN HARVEST OF 1907 335 



to me two days later. " He's the first stooker that 

 ever made me get an extra hustle on the binder." 



The Wiltons arranged to come to me. I agreed to 

 pay a dollar a day wages till freeze-up, and to 

 board them with their two children. Through the 

 winter they were to receive ten dollars a month 

 wages and plain board, consisting of meat, meal, 

 potatoes, tea, sugar, rice, evaporated fruit, and 

 dairy produce, and what butter and eggs they did 

 not need in the winter had to be bartered in exchange 

 for groceries. I made it quite clear that any more 

 luxurious fare they might require for themselves 

 and their children they had to provide for them- 

 selves ; but subsequent events proved that I failed 

 to make it quite clear that although I undertook 

 to pay for adequate fuel from Hudson Bay Reserve 

 or elsewhere I expected him to fell it and have it 

 home ready for use. 



I was still busy stocking when Mrs. Wilton came 

 up to see what my house offered as a comfortable 

 home for the winter, and we concluded arrange- 

 ments for them to come in on Thursday, October 3. 



Meanwhile, my stooker had justly earned my very 

 highest opinion, backed by Si Booth. He was the 

 most energetic, intelligent, and conscientious work- 

 man I met in Canada. He had trained as a chartered 

 accountant in England, but his health obliged him 

 to seek a less sedentary occupation, and he had gone 

 to New Zealand, and from there he came on to 

 Canada, to compare the possibilities of the two 

 countries, before advising his brother which to select 

 from the points of view of farming and family con- 

 sideration. 



His fame spread, and my neighbour George Hart, 



