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THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



speech that fits the Highlander's mouth 

 to a nicety, that becomes him like his kilt 

 and bonnet ; a speech that readily sounds 

 a note of war and just as readily suits 

 itself to devotional purposes ; it is 

 adapted to a fine, long grace before meat 

 or to a lusty war-cry that startles the 

 very eagles in their eyries." 



BRED TO HARDSHIPS AND DANGERS 



In the north and west of the island in 

 particular these hardy mountaineers arid 

 islesmen found much to remind them of 

 their native hills and glens and sea-girt 

 coasts. Bred to the hardships and dan- 

 gers of warfare through all their history, 

 they were peculiarly fitted to endure the 

 privations of pioneer life in this north- 

 ern wilderness. They were pitifully un- 

 skilled in the use of the axe and the plow 

 and unprepared for the cold of winter, 

 yet they endured where almost any other 

 people would have perished. 



In their descendants the same qualities 

 of fearlessness and unswerving purpose 

 are leaving their impress upon the citi- 

 zenship of the American States and the 

 western provinces, whither the youth of 

 Cape Breton are flocking yearly. 



This seeking of wider opportunities by 

 her most enterprising sons and daugh- 

 ters is a serious loss to Cape Breton and 

 a problem which it is hoped a greater 

 commercial development of the island 

 will solve. 



They can be found occupying positions 

 of trust in profession and trade alike : 

 whether in lumber or mining camp, be- 

 fore the mast or on the bridge, on both 

 seaboards and the Great Lakes, in the 

 university, in law or medicine, or in the 

 Church — they are Cape Bretoners all. 

 coheirs of that "dash of poetry, a touch 

 of genius that belongs of the same fine 

 quality, to no other people." 



THE CAPE P.RETOXER AS A SOEDIER 



In speaking of the appearance of the 

 Canadian troops in the late war. Lord 

 Northcliffe said: "Many are of a great 

 stature, especially the Scotsmen from 

 Nova Scotia and New Brunswick and 

 Cape Breton — some of the descendants 

 of the disbanded Highland regiments of 

 long ago." 



Another writer, more enthusiastic than 

 accurate, calls them "a race of men phys- 

 ically the superior of any other on the 

 face of this continent." "They are 

 chiefly of Highland Scottish descent, 

 with a sprinkling of French Canadians 

 and, as a matter of course, nearly all 

 Roman Catholics in their religious be- 

 lief." 



His observations of the Highlanders 

 was apparently confined to the stalwart 

 descendants of the Barra Islemen, de- 

 vout sons of the Church. Had he pene- 

 trated far, in Victoria County for in- 

 stance, he would have breathed the at- 

 mosphere of Calvin's five points, where 

 the open-air sacraments of the Scottish 

 Covenanters are still held, with services 

 in English and Gaelic. There are still 

 old people who speak no other tongue 

 than their native Gaelic and many who 

 are more at home in it than in the speech 

 of the Sassenach. 



Hundreds of Cape Bretoners fought in 

 the American Civil War. There are vet- 

 erans still living on remote Cape Breton 

 farms who can tell of walking all the way 

 to Maine to enlist. Her sons followed 

 the Empire's call on South African kopje 

 and veldt; and since 1914, out of a popu- 

 lation of approximately 122,000 men 

 women, and children, Cape Breton con- 

 tributed 13,000 volunteers to the Cana- 

 dian forces. 



Large as the proportion is, it repre- 

 sents, after all, only a fraction of the 

 island's contribution, for the honor roll 

 of the Great War contains the names of 

 hundreds of her sons who enlisted in 

 other provinces and the United States. 

 And there were no better soldiers on any 

 front. 



One Cape Breton Highlander, a 

 bronzed, kilted giant who might have 

 sped the fiery cross in "the '15" or "the 

 '45," told of an informal presentation to 

 an officer of the Allied High Command : 



"Ah!" said he, "you are from Canada? 

 I don't know much about Canada, except 

 that there is a place there called Cape 

 Breton, and the men are born fighters." 



From the second battle of Ypres. 

 where a Cape Breton company first won 

 distinction in this war, to the undying 

 glory that was theirs at Vimy Ridge and 



