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148 THROUGH T H E M A C K E N Z I E B A S IN
Perhaps he w i l l be none the worse for this. It bred i n the
pioneers of our old provinces some of the highest qualities:
courage, iron endurance, self- denial, homely and upright life,
and, above all, for it includes all, true and ennobling patriotism.
The survival of such qualities has been manifest in
multitudes of their sons, who, remembering the record, have
borne themselves manfully wherever they have gone.
But modern conditions are breeding methods new and
strange, and keen observers profess to discern i n our swift
development the decay of certain things essential to our welfare.
We seem, they think, to be borrowing from others—
for they are not ours by inheritance— their boastful spirit,
extravagance, and love of luxury, fatal to any State through
the consequent decline of morality. The picture is overdrawn.
True womanhood and clean life are still the keynotes
of the great majority of Canadian homes.
Tet very striking is the contrast with the old days of household
economies, the days of the ox- chain, the sickle, and the
leach- tub. A l l of these, some happily and some unhappily,
have been swept away by the besom of Progress. But i n any
case life was too serious i n those days for effeminate luxury,
or for aught but proper pride i n defending the country, and
i n work well done. And it is just this stern life which must
be lived, sooner or later, not only i n the wilds of Athabasca,
but i n facing everywhere the great problems of race- stability
— the spectres of retribution— which are rapidly rising upon
the white man's horizon.
For the rest, and granting the manhood, the future of
Athabasca is more assured than that of Manitoba seemed to
be to the doubters of thirty years ago. In a word, there is
fruitful land there, and a bracing climate fit for industrial
man, and therefore its settlement is certain. It xyill take
time. Vast forests must be cleared, and not, perhaps, until
railways are built will that day dawn upon Athabasca. Yet
it will come; and it is well to know that, when it does, there
is ample room for the immigrant i n the regions described.
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| Title | Page 170 |
| OCR | 148 THROUGH T H E M A C K E N Z I E B A S IN Perhaps he w i l l be none the worse for this. It bred i n the pioneers of our old provinces some of the highest qualities: courage, iron endurance, self- denial, homely and upright life, and, above all, for it includes all, true and ennobling patriotism. The survival of such qualities has been manifest in multitudes of their sons, who, remembering the record, have borne themselves manfully wherever they have gone. But modern conditions are breeding methods new and strange, and keen observers profess to discern i n our swift development the decay of certain things essential to our welfare. We seem, they think, to be borrowing from others— for they are not ours by inheritance— their boastful spirit, extravagance, and love of luxury, fatal to any State through the consequent decline of morality. The picture is overdrawn. True womanhood and clean life are still the keynotes of the great majority of Canadian homes. Tet very striking is the contrast with the old days of household economies, the days of the ox- chain, the sickle, and the leach- tub. A l l of these, some happily and some unhappily, have been swept away by the besom of Progress. But i n any case life was too serious i n those days for effeminate luxury, or for aught but proper pride i n defending the country, and i n work well done. And it is just this stern life which must be lived, sooner or later, not only i n the wilds of Athabasca, but i n facing everywhere the great problems of race- stability — the spectres of retribution— which are rapidly rising upon the white man's horizon. For the rest, and granting the manhood, the future of Athabasca is more assured than that of Manitoba seemed to be to the doubters of thirty years ago. In a word, there is fruitful land there, and a bracing climate fit for industrial man, and therefore its settlement is certain. It xyill take time. Vast forests must be cleared, and not, perhaps, until railways are built will that day dawn upon Athabasca. Yet it will come; and it is well to know that, when it does, there is ample room for the immigrant i n the regions described. |
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