E-text prepared by Al Haines
by
Author of "Black Rock" and "The Sky Pilot"
The Westminster Company Limited
Publishers
Toronto
Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year onethousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, by The Westminster Company,Limited, at the Department of Agriculture.
Have you ever caught the scent of the clover as you were whirled awayby the train beyond the city on a summer's day and sped through therich pasture lands? And do you remember how you stepped forth at thefirst halting-place to secure a sprig of the sweet, homely flower thathad spoken to you so eloquently in its own language, and how youpressed it in your book? Does not its perfume remain with you tillthis day? And every now and then a fragrance is wafted to our innersenses as we read some simple story which is to us as a breath of theclover, bringing us a message of sweetness and beauty, and goingstraight to our hearts with the power that belongs to the secrets whichlie hidden at our lifers core.
And this sweet prairie idyll is surely one of those fragrant messageswhich lays its hold on us as we pause for a moment in the midst of ourfevered lives and anxious thoughts, and step across the threshold ofthat chamber where we must needs put our shoes from off our feet, forthe place whereon we stand is holy ground. And as we press on again tolife's duties, may we bear with us something of the precious perfumediffused by plants which are divine in their origin and which must bedivine in their influence.
[Transcriber's note: "ISHBEL" is correct. It is not "ISABEL",misspelled.]
The missionary of the Bonjour field found me standing bag in hand uponthe railway platform watching my train steam away to the east. He isglad to see me. I am of his own kind, and there are so few of his kindabout that his welcome is strong and warm. He is brown and spare andtough-looking. For six months he has driven along the pitching trailsand corduroy roads, drenched by rains, scorched by suns, and pursued bythe flies. As to the flies there is something to be said. They addmuch to the missionary's burden, and furnish unequaled opportunity forthe exercise of the Christian graces of patience and self-control. Inearly spring they appear, and throughout the whole summer they continuein varying forms, but in unvarying persistence and ferocity. There aremarsh flies, the bulldogs, "which take the piece right out," the graywings, the blue devils (local name), which doubtless take severalpieces right out, the mosquitoes, unsleeping, unmerciful, unspeakable,the sand flies, which go right in and disappear, and the black flies.
"When do they go away?" I asked a native.
"Oh, them black fellows go away on snow-shoes."
These each and all have taken a nip and a suck from the missionary ashe pushed on by night and by day through their savage territory. Iglance at him, and sure enough they seem to have got all the juice outof him, but they have left the sinew and the bone. His nerve, too, isall there, and his heart is sound and "under his ribs," which one ofhis admiring flock considers the right spot.
It is Saturday afternoon, and we are to drive to the farthest of histhree stations to be ready for the Communion Service there, athalf-past ten to-morrow morning....