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Visit to the Doukhobors
Manitoba Morning Free Press
The year 1902 was
a turbulent one for the Doukhobors in Canada. Disputes with government over
homestead entry, internal dissension and zealot activity turned the tide of
public opinion against them, prompting many wildly outrageous and grossly
exaggerated reports. Despite this, some fair-minded Canadians continued to
stand up unreservedly for the Doukhobors. One such citizen, E.H. Blow of
Fort Pelly, Assiniboia, wrote a detailed and sympathetic account of the
Doukhobors of the North Colony, extolling their prosperity and progress,
social customs, skills, industry, work ethic, and charity, homes, buildings
and yards, and other positive characteristics. Published in the Manitoba
Morning Free Press on October 1, 1902, his message was simple and direct:
Leave the Doukhobors alone. Give them a chance, and let them become
Canadians on their own terms.
The peaceful, inoffensive, industrious Doukhobor
has been the subject of much talk of late. This talk has been caused by the
foolish utterances of idle and irresponsible people, and by the malicious
statements of mischief makers. All the reports that have been spread abroad
are either willfully false or grossly exaggerated. With the exception of his
disinclination to observe three simple governmental regulations on account
of his religious beliefs, there is no reason for complaint against him. He
is a hard-working, uncovetous, and exceedingly charitable to all but when he
has to rub shoulders with government, he becomes obstinate and fortifies
himself with the instilled faith that God alone is supreme, and his laws
only are to be observed. As the human Laws of all Christian nations today
are based on God’s law, the Doukhobor cannot be regarded as other than an
admirable character.
His present obstinate refusal to enter for his homestead, to register his
vital statistics and to pay his road tax is no doubt annoying, but as some
one has remarked “obstinacy is not to be commended but fidelity to what one
deems to be right and proper is ever to be commended and recognized.” Leave
the Doukhobor alone and he will soon became a citizen of Canada whose
example in matters of industry and religious zeal will be worthy of
emulation. The minds of the young men are turning in the right direction and
victory will be with them.
It has just been my privilege to visit the thirteen Doukhobor villages in
the Swan River valley, extending from Thunder Hill, eighteen miles along the
Swan River, in Eastern Assiniboia, and the impressions that I formed from my
personal contact with the Doukhobors and from my observations of their
habits and customs is extremely favorable in their behalf. In the thirteen
villages there are 2,500 souls, the population of the villages ranging from
100 to 250. These villages comprise what is known as the north colony.
Store Houses Filled to
Overflowing
It is a little over three years since they settled on the land set apart for
them by the Dominion government. They had no cattle, horses or implements to
start with, but the good Quakers of the United States came to their aid and
furnished them with means to purchase these necessary articles in a limited
way. With primitive methods they went to work with characteristic energy and
abounding patience and faith and today they have under cultivation an
aggregate of 5,540 acres of which they have reaped this year a rich harvest
of wheat, barley, oats, flax and vegetables, so that their store houses are
filled to over-flowing, sufficient to place them, beyond all possibility of
need for the next five years, supposing they did not wish to produce any
more during that period. But they do intend to produce more, because they
are now busy at work plowing the stubble fields and breaking new land. They
had the wheat cut and stacked two weeks earlier than the English speaking
settlers in the district and have a good part of their threshing done, not
withstanding the fact that they have no modern machinery and do practically
all their work by hand labor.
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Village of Vosnesenya,
North Colony, c. 1904. Library and Archives Canada
C-000683. |
The
Doukhobor Homes
The Doukhobor villages and the Doukhobor home life are picturesque. It is
like a bit of the old world transplanted into the newest. The cottages are
ranged on either side of an open street and are tastefully constructed,
presenting an attractive appearance. The material used in the construction
of the houses is un-sawn spruce timber. Both the exterior and interior are
plastered over with a clay mixture and then painted with a wash made of
white painted clay, the prevailing white being relieved by dadoes around
walls and posts made from a wash of yellow clay. The roof logs project over
the walls and form verandahs which are neatly ornamented with woodwork, in
some instances carved and scrolled. Beneath the verandahs on the sides of
the houses mostly used are plank, stone or earthen platforms. Erected over
the gates are ornamental arches such as are common in Northern Europe and
eastern countries. The home yards are kept as neat as a palace walk by means
of sand spread on the ground and watered and swept every morning, and once
or twice during the day. The interior of the houses, with scarcity an
exception are spotless. The walls and ceilings are immaculately white, while
the tables, benches, and chairs all made of lumber fairly shine with the
constant scrubbing and polishing of the good housewives. Generally speaking
the houses each have a living and sleeping room, kitchen, and work and store
room. In some cases where families live together under the same roof, the
living and sleeping rooms are duplicated, both families using the kitchen in
common. Where two or more families live together, they are usually
relatives, the parents and their sons’ wives and children. The son always
takes his wife to his father’s home and there they live until the young
folks build for themselves, or if the husband has to go away to work, his
wife and children are under the care and protection of his parents.
The Sleeping Apartments
A number of the members of a family may and do sleep in the same room.
Because of this fact, some people are disposed to harshly criticize the
Doukhobors, but it must be remembered that this habit is customary among the
peasant folk of other European nationalities and thee are many pioneers in
this country who can recall the time when Canadian settlers in their first
homestead shacks were compelled to live in a similar way. Some of these
settlers today are living in houses that cost from six to ten thousand
dollars, and they will tell you not with a blush, but with feelings or
pride, of the inconveniences they had to put up with in the early days, and
how they overcame them. The Doukhobor is a God-fearing good-living moral
man. No one can deny that. He who says to the contrary speaks with a false
or foolish tongue. While to those who know naught to the contrary it may
appear that there is no privacy in the Doukhobor home; there is privacy and
above all there is sanctity. The Doukhobor believes with Canon Farrer: “It
may not be ours to utter convincing arguments, but it may be ours to live
holy lives; it may be ours to be noble, and sweet, and pure,” and so he
lives by day and by night.
Clean
Barns and Stable Yard
As neatness and cleanliness is the conspicuous feature of the Doukhobor
home, so is with all about the homestead. There is a place for everything
and everything is kept in its place. The horse and cattle stables are warm
and clean. The manure is not thrown out of the stable and left there to
contaminate the air or to pollute the earth. It is hauled away to the fields
or otherwise disposed of. When the cattle come home at night, they are
corralled some distance from the house and the feed is not thrown to them on
the ground, but placed in racks, so that there may be no waste and no
litter. Everything is neat and tidy and thrifty-like. Some settlers could
get many useful sanitary and economic pointers by a visit to the Doukhobor
villages.
Evidence
of Taste and Skills
The large oven found in every house is an interest object. In its capacious
interior all the baking and cooking is done, while sufficient heat is
radiated from its ample surfaces to warm the entire house. On top the little
children and old women have their sleeping place. The oven is kept
scrupulously clean, the same as every other part of the house. Stoves are
now coming into use in most of the villages. In every house visited there
were plants in the windows, curtain draperies and little ornamental
knickknacks of silk and woodwork, giving evidence of skill and taste on the
part of both men and women.
Will
Build Better Homes
The Doukhobor house is of a character that no pioneer in a new country need
be ashamed of, but the Doukhobors are not satisfied. They have already
expressed their intention of erecting larger and more substantial homes as
soon as they get more land under cultivation. Their new homes will be
chiefly of stone and each man will build on his own farm. Many of the men
are skilled in the art of stone masonry, and as the shallow river beds in
the region where they live abound in boulder stone, it is natural that they
should decide to build their permanent homes of this excellent material.
The Women Spin and
Weave
The ancient spinning wheel is found in every home and with it the women make
yarn from the wool of their sheep and also spin flax thread, from which they
weave coarse, serviceable cloth and also make twine, etc. The Doukhobors
appear to understand the manufacture of hemp, and the industry among them
should be encouraged. With improved machinery they could manufacture a
number of merchantable articles, such as binder twine, rope and linen. What
they are doing in this line now is on a small and crude scale. The women are
skillful with the needle, their lace and silk work being very artistically
designed and splendidly executed. The women also excel in basket making, the
fancy straw baskets made by them being equal to anything ever imported into
Winnipeg from abroad. This work they do, it would seem, for amusement, and
generally to present to friends as souvenirs, though they turn it to
profitable account sometimes. Some of the men carve animals and birds, and
all are handy with carpenters’ and smithing tools. They are able to make
anything they want out of the most unlikely material. The Doukhobor is by no
means the stupid being hat some people think. Necessity has made him a
genius. It has sharpened his wits and inspired his hand, and as soon as he
feels that he is an absolutely free man he will become a model citizen. He
has no vices; his wants are simple, and he follows the Bible precept that it
is more blessed to give than to receive. He gives away one-tenth of what he
produces, here again showing his strict observance of Biblical teaching.
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Doukhobor women baking
bread in outdoor ovens. British Columbia Archives E-07248. |
Everybody Works
I have seen the people in their homes, in the fields, in the towns and on
the trail. They are always at work, and everybody from the youngest to the
oldest, finds something to do. Many hands lighten the burden, and their work
seems to be a pleasure. The household duties of the women are light, owing
to the assistance they receive from the young girls, consequently they
accompany the men to the fields and help with what work there may be there
to do. The outdoor work done by the women is voluntary. They go with the men
more as a matter of comradeship and as the men are kind to the women, the
latter are anxious to help all they can in sewing, caring for and reaping
the crops. Many of the women who go to the fields do not join in the farm
work, but take their sewing and knitting, with them. I have seen several
groups of women of the various villages sitting around the stacks while the
sheaves were being hauled in, or at the winnowing grounds, busily employed
with their fancy work, while the children played about or occupied
themselves with light employment. These scenes were very pretty and reminded
one more of a happy family picnic party than anything else. Yet the work of
the harvest was going on unceasingly and it was wonderful what a few men
could accomplish in a day. Three stone flour mills are being put up in the
north and south colonies, and the rivers are being utilized for motive
power.
How the
Doukhobor Threshes
The Doukhobor threshes his grain in the fields either with flails or by
horses attached to corrugated rollers, the tramping of the animals and the
pounding of the rollers separating the wheat from the straw. The threshed
grain is finally cleaned by throwing it into the air so that the chaff and
light foreign seeds may be blown out by the wind. The grain is then passed
through home-made sieves and is then ready for mill or market. The process
is slow but with the number of winnowing grounds in a field a lot of grain
can be harvested in a day. I saw in one field a party of fifty men and women
standing in a circle threshing with flails. It was a pretty picture of
industry, the effect being heightened by the quaint multi-colored garb of
the women. They sang as they worked, and were apparently as happy as school
children.
Social Customs
The community system prevails among the Doukhobors. All moneys earned by the
members of a village are pooled and each village has a common storehouse in
which provisions and supplies are kept. Individuals may contract debts, but
the village to which they belong becomes responsible for payment. All debts
are promptly met, so that no business man hesitates to give the Doukhobors
credit for any amount. Those who have commercial dealings with these people
hold them in high esteem for their unfailing probity.
The marriage ceremony of the Doukhobors is simple. It is merely a
declaration made before elders, but it is to them just as solemnly binding
as any rite, ritual, or sacrament of the great church denominations. The
story that a Doukhobor may divorce his wife at pleasure is untrue. The
Doukhobor who does not treat his wife kindly, who fails to provide for her
properly or deserts her is excommunicated, as it were and becomes a social
outcast. To the Doukhobor, so firm in his simple Christ-like faith, this is
a severe penalty as is rarely if ever incurred.
Cleanliness of person is one of the cardinal principles of the Doukhobor
doctrine. The first house built in a village is a Russian bath-house which
is used daily and in addition to this, men, women and children are
frequently to be seen bathing in the rivers in nature’s attire. For the
benefit of those who think this a depraved or questionable custom, the
well-known motto of the British royal coat of arms may be cited. However, as
the district becomes settled up and the Doukhobors become familiar with the
customs of the country they will, no doubt, perform their outdoor ablutions
in a more conventional manner. They would not wittingly give offense to any
person.
The Doukhobor is
Sociable
To the casual observer the Doukhobor might appear sullen and distrustful.
But such is not his nature. He is merely respectful among strangers and
training refrains him from being familiar. When approached, however, in a
friendly spirit, he warms up and becomes sociable. He is full of good humor
and wholesome fun. He bubbles over with a happy spirit. Children and adults
are the same. The youngsters romp and frolic in the villages and have their
play things, always homemade, the same as other children.
The warmth of the welcome that a stranger receives to the Doukhobor home is
marked. There is no doubt about the genuineness of the hospitality. Gate and
door are flung wide open and food for man and beast in abundance is
instantly forthcoming if wanted. To offer payment for the entertainment is
to offer insult. They will give but not receive.
Deeds of Charity
To illustrate the great Christian charitableness with which these people are
imbued, it may be mentioned that they have frequently made gifts of animals
and provisions to poor English speaking settlers whom they had accidentally
learned were in needy circumstances. It is not long since that some of the
villagers in the South or Yorkton colony, hearing that the house of an
English speaking settler had been destroyed by fire, went to the forest, cut
logs, hauled them to the unfortunate man’s farm and built him a new house
and offered other material aid. One village also gave to Mr. Harley,
Dominion land agent and Post master at Swan River six cows, with the request
that they be given to any poor settlers that might be in his district. Many
similar instances of exceeding generosity and kindness are on record.
Charity is one of the virtues that the Doukhobor believes in exercising
freely, and his charity is dispensed unostentatiously. When he sees
opportunity to do good he does it as a solemn duty and without expectation
of worldly favor or reward.
The North Colony
Reserve
The north colony reserve is eighteen miles long and twelve wide, comprising
six townships of 188,240 acres. The soil is uniformly good, being a rich
loan. The land generally is what is known as highland prairie, much of the
tract being open, but there are belts of excellent timber along the Swan
River and in the hills. The typography of the country is attractive, being a
succession of gently rolling hills, scored with ravines, which run back from
the valley of the Swan River and furnish natural drainage. The Swan Valley
west and north of Thunder Hill, is very beautiful. The banks in some places
rise to a height of 300 feet above the meandering serpentine stream, and
with treeless buttes and wooded dales present as lovely a picture of nature
in its wild state as one could wish to gaze upon. The villages extend along
the river southward from Thunder Hill, and are nearly all situated on the
river banks, some on the north and some on the south side. Numerous spring
creeks rise in the hills and furnish the purest of water. Some of these
creeks run all winter and have never been known to freeze.
What can be said of the Doukhobor reserve may be said of the entire Swan
River valley, so that the Doukhobors have no monopoly of the good things.
There are thousands of acres of the very best agricultural lands west of the
Duck Mountains, extending north from Shell River to the Swan valley, and
westward from there indefinitely to the Saskatchewan country. This vast
territory will soon be open for homesteading. Some of it already is, so that
the Doukhobor reserve is but a speck on the map. The land between Swan River
town and the first Doukhobor village just outside the province is a splendid
district, and the Canadian and other settlers who have located there
consider themselves very fortunate. The Doukhobors are well satisfied with
their land, their only regret being that they cannot grow fruit as they did
in Russia; but they have decided that it is more profitable and less trouble
to grow wheat and buy apples. The country is overrun with small wild fruits.
The Doukhobors are good farmers. They are careful and study the nature of
the soil. When they acquire machinery, as they assuredly will as they grow
richer, they will be big exporters of all kinds of cereals.
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Doukhobor pilgrims
leaving Yorkton to evangelize the world, 1902. Library and Archives Canada
C014077. |
Religious Zeal
The Doukhobors are intensely religious. Their zeal in this respect has
recently created a nine days’ wonder for such it will prove to be. Some of
the old men fearing that their sudden change from poverty to plenty might
make them worldly, or that prosperity might cause the younger members of the
community to relax in their faith, agitated for a thank offering to God, and
advised that this offering should take the form of liberating their horses,
oxen and cows. They also advised the renewal of vows not to kill or destroy
life or use the product of any beast, bird or being that had been killed.
The influence of the elders is strong. Obedience to the will of the elders
is instilled into the Doukhobors from childhood, so it is little wonder that
the strange propaganda had its effect. However, all the people were not
carried away by the “craze.”, more than half of them refusing to give up
their live stock or to follow any lead that made for retrogression. Less
than 500 animals - horses, cows and sheep - were turned away from the two
colonies of 4,500 people. A few sold their animals and bought implements.
Those who declined to give up their live stock are among the most
intelligent of the people, who recognize the advantages of having horses and
work cattle for the carrying on of their agricultural pursuits. This faction
will continue to add to their live stock and implements whenever they can
afford it, and in fact were among the buyers at the sale of the Doukhobor
cattle at Fort Pelly last Wednesday.
Will Result in Good
This wave of religious zeal will do good. It will probably result in the
solution of the little difficulties that have been encountered with respect
to the observance of the governmental regulations already referred to. There
are already signs that this will be the effect. The factions are now at outs
with each other, and the progressive spirits will break way from the
prevailing communistic ideas and will strike out for themselves. When the
others see how well these succeed they will fall into line. They are
thinking and debating, and discussing and all will end right, because the
young men who are breaking away are now just as stubborn as the elders,
though it causes them many a heart pang and brings down upon them a species
of petty persecution that under the circumstances requires a strong will and
much moral courage to withstand. The two factions are known among themselves
as the “bad Doukhobors” and the “crazy Doukhobors.”
The Passing of the
Craze
When the Doukhobors became affected with the craze, they discarded their
boots, woolen stockings and every article of clothing made wholly or partly
of leather or wool. They bought rubber boots and made shoes of planed binder
twine with wooden soles. They took the leather peaks and bands from their
caps and replaced them with cloth, and took the place of the horses and oxen
at the wagons and plows. They are getting tired of this practice now as it
evidenced by the remarks that the “bad Doukhobors” let fall occasionally
among their English speaking friends; and I saw myself people from one of
the villages who had turned loose their sheep, hauling sacks of wool home
from Swan River. This is indicative of a recantation which all who are in
touch with the situation, believe will soon become general. They probably
realize that their extreme self-abnegation before God involves altogether
too much punishment of the flesh without corresponding benefits to the soul.
No one minds if they do make cart horses of themselves. That is their own
business.
Some may think it cruel to have the women helping to
pull the wagons, but the women do this of their own accord and against the
wishes of the men, and the loads are so light, compared to the number of men and
women who do the hauling, that the individual work load is light. As they march
along the road they sing joyful songs and laugh and joke one with the other. The
women do not hitch themselves to the wagons in all cases. They accompany the men
to town to make purchases and to prepare the meals at the roadside camps, and
may frequently be seen on the trial, walking ahead while the mean pull the
wagons and carts. No argument can convince the Doukhobor that he is wrong in
giving up his horses and cattle. When cornered by a Bible quotation, he
repudiates the Old Testament, falls back on the New, and finally tells you that
he gets his teachings and inspirations from the Book of Life. The Doukhobors are
not the only people who are carried away by religious fads. Only a few months
ago in Winnipeg then were men and women who gave up all their money and land to
join some Bible school that was conduced by a Yankee on Broadway and there are
several other sects in the city whose religious practices are so emotional that
they partake of the nature of mania.
Objections to Government
The Doukhobor does not believe in government. He recognizes but one ruler and
that is God. “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” and therefore,
he must not lay proprietary claim to anything in the earth, under the earth, or
in the sky. Hence his objections to the making entry for his homestead, to pay
road tax, and to the registration of vital statistics. He will build roads, but
he wants no government supervisions; he is willing that the homesteads be
entered for in the name of the village, but will not agree to individual
ownership. He would also report the births, deaths and marriages, but fears that
that means taxes and taxes mean government. He is afraid that compliance with
these simple but important regulations would be the inserting of the thin end of
the wedge and the end would be tyranny. He does not understand, but soon will.
The government will find means to convince him that he has nothing to fear and
the example of those of his brethren who have homesteaded, will have a salutary
effect, though it may be slow. It took the children of Israel a whole generation
to realize and appreciate the benefits of their release from thralldom, and so
it takes time with all people who have been subjected for centuries to the
falling yoke of despotism, and have learned to hate their oppressors with a
bitterness that knows no bounds to get rid of their prejudices, their fears, and
their doubts. It is safe to predict that before next spring the number of
Doukhobors to take up their homesteads will largely swell the present list.
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Doukhobors plowing, North
Colony, 1905. Library and Archives Canada
A021179. |
The Doukhobors Developing
The Doukhobors are developing. Those who saw them arriving in Winnipeg a little
over three years ago would scarcely know them now. Many of them have laid aside
their national peasant garbs and adopted Canadian attire. They young people want
to get on: it is the elders who cling tenaciously to their old habits, customs
and beliefs, just the same as the old men of those excellent people the
Mennonites cling to theirs and urge the young people to do the same. But with
the progressive influences surrounding them, neither the young Doukhobor nor the
young Mennonite can be checked. The Mennonites have been in Manitoba nearly 30
years, but yet their advance towards that goal which Canadians desire to see
them attain is only beginning to be noticeable. It will take another generation
to evolve the real thing.
Not a few of the Doukhobors can now speak English, especially the young lads.
Several boys have been employed as store clerks in Swan River town, and a couple
are engaged there now. The merchants speak highly of their ability as salesmen,
and of their energy and faithfulness to duty. They are bright and quick to
learn, mastering all the details of counter work in a few weeks. These lads are
well dressed and if they were placed with a group of Canadians, any one who did
not know them, would not be able to identify them. I have watched the
immigration of foreign peoples since the arrival of the Mennonites, and in my
opinion the Doukhobors are equal as agriculturists to the very best Europeans of
the peasant class that have come to this country and much better than a good
deal of it. They are self reliant, good providers, and will never cost the
country one cent. Some of those who stubbornly cling to their belief may perhaps
endeavor to seek an asylum where they will be allowed to follow their peculiar
ideas regarding government without interference, but there will be few.
Not Illiterate
It is frequently asserted that the Doukhobors are illiterate. This is not a
fact. The majority of them can read and write in their own language, even the
young boys can read and I have frequently seen them reading letters and the
tracts received from a Russian committee that has headquarters in London,
England. They Doukhobors do not favor the establishment of English schools, but
teach their children at home. Every father is the teacher at his own house, and
also the preacher. The children are taught the unit system of reckoning by the
use of the abacus, such as the Chinese use for calculating. The Bible is the
only book seen in their homes, but they receive papers and tracts from abroad.
How the Doukhobors Came
An impression has gained ground that the Doukhobors were brought to the
Northwest at an enormous expense to the Dominion government. This is erroneous,
as most of the reports about these people are. The Doukhobors were sent to
Canada by money provided
by the Society of Friends in England, and the Quakers of the United States
furnished money to buy them seed grain, live stock, and implements. In two or
three trifling cases the government did advance money for implements, but on
making inquiry I ascertained that the amount has been repaid. The per capita
bonus paid to European steamship companies for promoting emigration, was given
to the Doukhobors as the steamship agents had not worked among them and waived
their claim. Part of this money was used in purchasing food supplies under the
direction of a committee of local gentlemen. Considering the expenditure for
advertising, agents, etc., the average British immigrant costs per head vastly
more than the Doukhobors did. I am informed that all inducements given to the
Doukhobors are open to any large bodies of desirable settlers from any other
part of the world.
As to the character of the Doukhobor, his industry, his morals, his charity, I
am glad to state that the opinion I have formed in respect thereto is shared by
the business men of the towns where they trade and by those who have had
occasion to come in contact with them in matters of business or otherwise. One
business man said: “If they will only leave the Doukhobors alone until they get
to understand things here. They will make a veritable garden out of this
country.”
Not All Alike
The people in each village have their own little fads about dress and edibles,
and sometimes the people of the same village hold diverse views about these
things. Now, regarding the turning away of their live stock, only a certain
percentage in each village have done this. Out of thirteen villages that I have
visited there were only two that had
no horses, oxen or cattle. In the others more than half of the live stock has
been retained, and as I have said more will be purchased by the independent men
as soon as they can get the money. In every field passed, I saw more men at work
with oxen and horses. I saw no women pulling plows or wagons on the farms. Some
won’t eat butter; others will, and I saw the women making excellent butter. Meat
in all forms is tabooed, but fish has a place on the bill-of-fare in some homes.
However, a straight vegetarian diet is the prevailing rule, and it seems to
agree with these people, for they are stalwart, healthy and strong. The children
are the picture of health. They would make fine illustrations for health food
advertisements. Disease is rarely known among them. Both men, women and children
are comfortably clad, and in all the colonies there is every appearance of
comfort, happiness and prosperity. Leave the Doukhobor alone. Give him a chance
and he will soon evolve into a sturdy, worthy Western Canadian citizen.
E.A. Blow
Fort Pelly, Assiniboia
September 26, 1902.
Special thanks to Corinne Postnikoff of Castlegar,
British Columbia for her assistance with the data input of this article.
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