CHAPTER VIII 



The province of Manitoba — The realization of "Sea 

 Dreams" — Civic and agricultural growth — Winnipeg — Railway 

 enterprise — The Canadian Pacific and Grand Trunk Railways 

 — System of Government — Schools — Public Park — Prices of 

 produce — "Ralph Connor" — The Canadian Northern Railway 

 — Winnipeg to Edmonton — The chance of a millionaireship 

 — Edmonton — The lady and the " gentleman" bus conductor — 

 Colleges and schools — Churches and drinking saloons — 

 Vegetable products — Edmonton to Calgary — Flourishing 

 agriculture. 



WHEN we think of the years necessary to 

 achieve the wealth and splendour of nations, 

 and look at the Province of Manitoba, it almost 

 seems as if some good genius had waved her wand, 

 and lo, a barren lonely marsh and wild prairie are 

 suddenly changed, and golden harvest-fields, lowing 

 cattle, model dairies, comfortable homesteads and 

 happy children rise as if by magic before our eyes. 

 We not unnaturally ask, " Whence came these ? " and 

 then think of the city clerk's vision in Tennyson's 

 " Sea Dreams," of a woman grown to enormous 

 strength by " working in the mines," and like him 

 wake to realize that honest toil — hard and matter-of- 

 fact — is the secret of collective as well as individual 

 growth. 



122 



