34: RURAL LIFE IN CANADA 



in discussing this problem. In his boyhood there were 

 only two French-speaking families in the village of 

 Ormstown. A few years ago he attended a political 

 meeting there. Chairman and speakers were French. 

 A fragment of the time was given to an address in 

 English. 



It is unfortunate that this matter has to be referred 

 to in terms of race, inasmuch as it is not racial in 

 essential character. There is absolutely no racial 

 barrier to prevent our French and English-speak- 

 ing peoples commingling. In the writer's mind one 

 French-Canadian, who was throughout his boyhood and 

 youth employed on his father's farm, stands as a type 

 of a splendid race. He had the physical hardihood that 

 enabled him to handle a logging-chain bare-handed in 

 the woods in winter, the mechanical aptitude which 

 made all his work artistic in finish, the bonhomie of 

 spirit which kept him ever genial and sprightly, and the 

 faithfulness of character which made every task, how- 

 ever remote from oversight, not eye-service, but good- 

 will. The respect and the affection with which the 

 French-Canadian is regarded by the British-Canadian 

 where he is intimately known is returned with recip- 

 rocal affection and respect. Witness Sir Wilfrid 

 Laurier's tribute to Mr. Murray, his host in school days 

 while he gained his rare mastery of the English tongue. 

 Yet we have a race-movement in Canada planned with 

 consummate skill and carried out with tenacity of pur- 

 pose, affecting the population of wide extents of terri- 

 tory. 



The problem given us by this race-movement is not 

 simply one of ministering to the weakened remnant; 

 not, for example, how to care for the 12,000 children 



