190 THE GREAT NORTH-WEST 



It is surprising how easily, at the expenditure of a little 

 tactful trouble, men can be led. What is required is 

 contrast. Light upon dark. Men whose physical powers 

 have been greatly tried, must have mental relaxation, or 

 the balance is lost, and either health, or morals, are 

 destroyed. No matter how ignorant, how illiterate, men 

 may be, healthful literature always has an attraction for 

 them. If they cannot read, they invariably will listen to 

 him who can, if he will only be at the trouble to put his 

 heart into his reading. Nothing is a success that is done 

 perfunctorily, and discretion is necessary. A man that 

 has been studying closely all day requires outdoor 

 amusements, as football or cricket ; he who has been 

 straining every muscle of his body from daybreak to 

 sunset, must assist the rest of his tired frame by having 

 his mind exercised, and that not in a laborious manner. 

 He is too tired for strong mental exertion. In order to 

 amuse him he must be interested in such a way that he 

 entirely forgets exertion of all kinds. In providing the 

 means of doing this the world's great writers of fiction 

 have done a grand, a noble work, for which their fellow- 

 men can never be too grateful to them. What they 

 have done to prevent crime and lunacy can never be 

 known on this side of the dark river ; like all true and 

 good work, theirs is too quiet, too unobtrusive, to be 

 thoroughly appreciated, even by those who most benefit 

 by it. I will prose no more on this subject, but I must 

 record a fact that to my mind is most interesting. There 

 were four books only in camp — the Bible, " Oliver Twist," 

 "The Heart of Midlothian," and "Valentine Vox," and these 

 books were re-read to the assembled toilers several times 

 before the winter was over, for the evenings were long ; 

 and in so great reverence were they held, that any man 

 who had ventured to tear a leaf from one of them with 

 which to light his pipe, would have been in some danger 

 of being lynched ; he certainly would have been chastised. 



