This Accounted For The Delay In Our Getting Assistance, And
Fortunately For Us All, That Our Small Accident Happened When It Did.
As
our friends from Winnipeg thankfully exclaimed, "if it had not been for
your accident, which was happily so
Harmless, we should have gone over
that bridge, and as our train was faster and heavier there would
probably hare been a greater smash;" and we exclaimed, "but for our
comparatively harmless accident, we should have gone over that bridge
that night and come to great grief." Wasn't it a mercy we escaped? We
had Professor Boyd Dawkins, Professor Shaw, Mr. de Hamel, Bishop of
Ontario, Mr. Stephen Bourne, &c., on our car for some miles on our way
_back_, and then we were shunted on a siding to wait as patiently
as we could. At this _Hawk_ something station we parted with our
British Association friends, with many good wishes and waving of
handkerchiefs, and were left shunted on the edge of a disagreeable
embankment over the lake. After all this excitement we read, had dinner
and played whist; then made our own beds, and all the 'boys' slept in
the drawing room with me last night, and E - - had the state cabin to
herself. It was very cold in the night, and I had to hunt up another
rug. We breakfasted at half-past eight, and now the others are taking a
walk while I write. I forgot to say Gibson and Roberts went on with our
luggage, across the bridge (or rather, by its side), in the train which
returned to Winnipeg, and there they will stay till we return from the
Rockies. E - - and the boys are just off in the cab of an engine
exploring to the broken bridge. It will he fun, perhaps, for them, but
_I_ find I have frights enough to endure in our necessary journeys.
There is actually a cow at this station, so we had milk for porridge and
tea; moreover, there is a piece of ploughed land, a rare sight in this
wild stony _watery_ country. The Canadian Pacific Railway have not
had experience before this autumn of the effect of heavy rains on their
roads, bridges, &c., and things have sometimes come to grief in
consequence; some bridges are very good and not temporary.
_Later_. - Since writing the foregoing, John and E - - and Hedley
went off on the cow-catcher of an engine for two or three miles
excursion! Dick did not "paddle his own canoe," but the station master
did for him on the lake here, and he _nearly_ succeeded in catching
a large trout! He and I wandered afterwards on the Rocky Hill, and
picked enough blueberries for dinner, and I refreshed my eyes with some
lovely-berried red-leaved little shrubs. Since luncheon a telegram came,
telling us we might go over the bridge, and so off we went, and on
arriving walked all about, some sketching the fallen engine, &c. We set
off with Mr. Egan the manager, in his car in front of us, _en
route_ for Eat Portage, where I am finishing this journal up to this
date, Wednesday, September 17th. It is lovely weather now, and this
place is very pretty, and looks quite civilized after our wilderness
kind of scenery. Mr. Egan is now going on to Winnipeg, and will post
this for me. After our return from the Rockies to Winnipeg, we shall go
to Chicago, Washington and Philadelphia, where write.
Letter No. 6.
_September 21st_, 1884. - I am beginning this in our car _en
route_ to the Rockies, in fact with their snow-covered summits well
in sight. I posted a letter to you, No. 5, at Winnipeg, and also a
newspaper for Mary. From Winnipeg the Canadian Pacific Railway is much
more comfortable, for on the boundless flat of the prairies there is no
need for many tressel bridges or crumbling embankments, and we went
along without fear, excepting that in the neighbourhood of settled
parts, we had to look out for cows. Once we stopped very suddenly (their
brakes are so good in America), having near gone over one in the dark.
They use sometimes a curious kind of sound from the engine, not unlike
the _moo_ of a cow in distress, and I saw it effectually drive some
off the line. The maids met us at Winnipeg Station, and seemed anxious
to go to the Rockies, so we settled they might, and they rushed back for
their things, but they returned only in time to see our train off! On
the whole we thought it was as well they had not come, for maids don't
generally like this kind of life, and we did not need them. We changed
cooks at Winnipeg against my wish, but the others were not satisfied
with our first one, and we have certainly not changed for the better; he
is a coloured man called David, and has been ill, or pretends to be,
since yesterday, and another coloured man whom, we call Jonathan, comes
in to help him.
_Saturday_. - We arrived at Moose Jaw after a very rocking journey,
so bad that I could not sleep, and sat in a chair part of the night; at
last, however, the cold and sleepiness overcame all fear, and I slept in
my bed soundly. We saw lots of Indians in red and white blankets, ugly
and uninteresting creatures. We made acquaintance with the Roman
Catholic Archbishop, who has been travelling in the car next to ours. He
is a French Canadian, but talked English well. He is very pleasant. He
introduced me to two priests, one of whom had been working among the
Indians thirty years. Afterwards he had a talk with John, and remarked
upon my youthfulness to be his mother. Of course, I am always being
taken for his wife, and they seem very much puzzled about it altogether.
_Saturday night, the 20th_. - We reached Calgary after a quieter
night - quite an important city.
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