CANADIAN LIFE AND MANNERS. 137 



in every Canadian prove his salvation. And when 

 he really is "up against it," and has to cope with 

 a difficulty, he shows a striking absence of fuss or 

 worry. 



On the other hand, this very spirit of all-subduing 

 hopefulness, and this well-proved self-confidence, are 

 probably responsible for what may perhaps be re- 

 garded as a blemish, or, at all events, as a lurking 

 tendency to detriment, in the Canadian character, 

 namely, the want of foresight. The fact that the 

 telephone is ever at his elbow, ready to serve him at 

 a moment's notice, tends to strengthen that tendency 

 in him in a way that he probably does not yet suffi- 

 ciently realise. With these allies at his back — his 

 hopefulness, his self-confidence, his resource, his 

 swiftness in action, backed by the telephone — your 

 Canadian has no dread of difficulties. When they 

 come, they do not daunt him. When they are over- 

 come, he does not exult. They have been part of the 

 everyday routine of things; the overcoming of them 

 has formed part of the daily tale of duties to be done. 



These same qualities of mind, acting and reacting 

 upon the almost infinite possibilities of a new and 

 undeveloped country, have engendered in the 

 Canadian of the West a marked love of speculation, 

 an ever present readiness to dare and do, and to risk 

 all on the toss of the dice. A man having a sum of 

 capital at his disposal is not content to invest it, even 

 when he can do so on the safest security, for a return 

 of seven, eight, or even ten per cent. Nothing less 

 than the chance to double it will satisfy him. 



For instance, a certain gold mine was abandoned 

 by the lessees as being practically worked out. One 



