Chapter I: NOW propose to give some account of the nine provinces in (5)

There are other possibilities in the country besides work on the farms. For instance, there is a demand for skilled workers in cheese factories, creameries, and so forth; and it seems to me that there would be a good opening in many a village for a man who had in his fingers some such trade as that of a shoemaker or harness maker. Often the country people have to take articles that need repairing to a distant town because there is no capable workman in the village where they go for their “mail” or groceries. If such a man had a taste for country life, he could often get a small house and a good garden cheap; and in the farmer’s busy seasons could, if he chose, add to his income by doing outdoor work at good wages. In this way he might soon be able to own his own house, paying for it in instalments; but, indeed, in some of the cities—Toronto, for instance—a thrifty working man often speedily saves enough to make the small first payment necessary to buy a house, and then gradually works off the remainder of the debt. Others buy lots on the outskirts of the town and put up for themselves small “shacks,” which they transform bit by bit into comfortable little houses.

But there are numerous evidences that in other lines than farming the British immigrant is needed, and can, under ordinarily fortunate circumstances, with industry and thrift, prove himself to be of value to Canada. For instance, it is noticeable that the first of the Imperial Home Reunion Associations was founded in Winnipeg by business men who believed that it would be for the advantage of the Dominion if the numerous British workmen employed in the cities and towns could immediately have their wives and children with them, instead of having to send money over to the “Old Country” for their support. This step would not have been taken had not the workmen in question proved their value. Another evidence is that of one’s senses. Alike in the far West, and in centrally-situated Toronto, one cannot enter a store or a street car without hearing voices that one recognizes as those of comparatively recent arrivals from Britain. These have obtained situations in a great variety of occupations; and if one sends for a gardener, a plumber, or a paperhanger to work about one’s house, it seems that every other man in such trades is English.

The Dominion government confines its direct invitations to immigrants to “farmers, farm labourers and domestic servants,” all of whom belong to classes singularly little troubled by fear of competition; but the Provincial governments sometimes venture to give a broader invitation. For instance, in a letter recently received from Mr. Arthur S. Barnstead, Secretary of the Department of Industries and Immigration of the province of Nova Scotia, it is stated that “the industrial expansion upon which Nova Scotia has entered has created a strong demand for industrial workers. Many of our plants have been unable to secure the necessary number of native workers, and thus have been compelled to engage British and foreign labour. Miners have been imported for our coal mines, iron workers for our steel works, as well as textile and other tradespeople. Last year, in the occupations taken up by the English-speaking newcomers to Nova Scotia, mining came first (numerically), though farming followed closely; and the list of 2,736 persons includes, besides “housewives” and children, craftsmen, tradesmen, clerks, professional men, soldiers, and others.”

Rapid industrial expansion is proceeding in other provinces, with a consequent demand for workers of all classes, and altogether, I am sure that the British immigrant of the right stamp—used to work and not expecting to get “good money” without giving a due equivalent for it—may find many an opening in Canada—in the cultivation of the soil, or in some other of the numerous occupations which civilized man has devised for himself. But there comes from British Columbia the warning, which may apply to other provinces also, that “the man without a trade, the clerk, the accountant and the semi-professional” has not a good chance for employment, unless he will do manual work in an emergency, or has means of support “for six months in a year while seeking a situation.”

XVII
THE WOMAN CANADA NEEDS

JUDGING by statistics, it may be averred that Canada needs women in general, especially in some districts, even more than men. At any rate, according to the census taken in 1911 there was, in a total population of a little over seven millions, an excess of males over females of four hundred and thirty-seven thousand, and as each year the immigration returns show the arrival of more men than women (the figures for 1911 were 211,266 males and 82,922 females), the disproportion between the sexes is growing continually greater; but it cannot be said that at present the Dominion makes the same effort to attract women as men. For instance, the bonus given to booking agents is less on a woman than a man, and the only way in which a woman can acquire a free grant of Dominion crown lands is in the character of a widowed mother of a child, or children, under eighteen years of age.

Possibly this inequality of opportunity has arisen from the notion that a woman is not suited for doing homestead duties—and many women are not—but as a matter of fact the wife of a struggling newcomer is often left alone for weeks at a time on the homestead, while her husband “hires himself out” to a farmer, or works on a new railway. In British Columbia, as already mentioned, a woman may take up a pre-emption, which is practically the same—so far as the obligations of residence and cultivation are concerned—as the Dominion free grants.

It must, I think, be frankly admitted that the isolation of the life in many instances either on a homestead or on a great Western farm is hard for the woman. Some little time since I met a bright young woman, with one small girl of four or five, who was thankfully travelling south to Vancouver from an island in the neighbourhood of Prince Rupert, where for a considerable part of two years she had been living on a pre-emption whilst her husband had been away working on the new railway. She told me that, with the exception of one solitary young man—a neighbouring homesteader—she had had no neighbour nearer than three miles away, and that there had been days during the two years when she had been so ill that she could not leave her bed to give bread to the little one, who, scarcely out of babyhood, had had to be sent herself to the “bread box” to get something to eat. Such a story seems suggestive of possible tragedy, but the woman did not dwell on what might have been, but rejoiced simply in the fact that the hard task was over, and that, largely through her effort, they had the patent for the land, which now they would be able to sell if they could find a purchaser.

I could not help thinking that one quality of the woman that Western Canada needs is courage, and another is resourcefulness; and perhaps if I repeat here the story told me by the wife of a successful pioneer farmer in Saskatchewan, it may help, more than any generalities, to give an idea of a woman’s lot on a prairie farm. Mrs. Smith—as I will call her—had gone as a bride to a little house of one lower room (fourteen feet by sixteen) and a half storey upstairs. She, by the way, had spent her girlhood in the West, and perhaps knew from experience how to manage under circumstances which would have sorely tried an Englishwoman of her class.

The tiny dwelling, lined with building paper and thin boards, was not plastered for a year or two and at first the one room was kitchen, dining-room and washhouse. The house was a full mile from the next one, and stood in the centre of a great field of wheat, which sometimes, when the babies (who soon arrived) began to toddle, seemed to the young mother to grow perilously high, for she had heard stories of little ones wandering off into the tall wheat and being lost.

The coming of the little ones to a pioneer woman is often a terrible test of courage and endurance, for it is hard to get either doctor or experienced nurse at the right time. Sometimes the prospective mother goes into town to a hospital or to some friend; but generally she stays at home. The neighbours do the best they can, and often all goes well—and sometimes it does not. In such a case and in many another emergency the rural telephone is a wonderful boon and comfort—and may be even counted a life-saving agency. Incidentally, I may mention that women, competent to take care of mother and infant or to help in case of sickness, who would be willing to take charge also of the domestic arrangements of a little house, while its mistress was incapacitated, would not be likely to lack work in the West. Many people, who could hardly meet the high charges for a regularly trained nurse, would be glad to pay well for such services. Mrs. Smith told me, however, that it was practically impossible to get help, and that a neighbour had driven hither and thither for a week in a vain search for someone to take care of his wife, at last getting an old woman from the immigrant shed in a somewhat distant town. My informant’s impression was that there was “a great chance” for “hired girls” in these prairie communities, for on the farms they are treated like “one of the family.” Nevertheless they generally prefer to stay in the towns.

Gradually things improve as the neighbourhoods get settled, though the great farms of the exclusively wheat-growing districts “make few neighbours.” The more so, because many a Western farmer develops a passion for adding field to field—or “quarter-section to quarter-section.” The Smith farm, for instance, grew to be “seven miles” round; and the husband was often working a mile away from home, but after the first few years he managed to get a man and his wife to live on the farm. Despite the isolation, Mrs. Smith did not regard the life as a hard one. She “liked the farm very much,” she said, and thought the women in the West had “easier times” than those in the East, for the regular “hired men” lived in the bunk-house, though they came to the house for their meals, and after the first two years she did not have to cook for the harvesters and threshers, whose meals were provided from “a cook car.” She was, however, fortunate in having a husband who was both considerate and capable.

As to the social aspects of life, she had been used in her girlhood, though that, too, was spent on a prairie farm—near Regina—to go out a great deal in the evenings “with her musical brothers” to meet other young people, and no doubt she felt the change to the new district, where, of the few women who could be counted neighbours, some were very rough. But soon there were alleviations. From the first there was a church only five miles away, and later there were services in the school-house, which, by the way, in that section at least was very much of a social centre.

Mrs. Smith usually boarded the lady who taught there, and the section had “fine teachers,” who brought on the little flocks of from sixteen to twenty-six children most successfully, lent books to the readers of the community and got up the summer picnics in connection with the school—the more enjoyed, perhaps, because other entertainments were so few and far between. These consisted of a Sunday school Christmas tree, an occasional concert, or a public dance to which “nice women” did not go—at least, in that particular district—as it was open to everyone who could pay, and was attended by men of the rougher sort, who thought it impossible to enjoy themselves without much whiskey.

By the help of the neighbours, the mail was usually brought from the post office, ten miles distant, three times a week, and the Smiths subscribed for several magazines and newspapers. The telephone, when it came, was “a great help”; but, when “the children began to want to see people” and to need somewhat better education than could be gained in the little country school, this family moved into one of the gay, bustling little prairie towns. Mrs. Smith’s experience, it must be remembered, was that of a pioneer, and there are districts in the provinces where that kind of life is becoming a thing of the past, though pioneers are still plentiful.

In the particular town to which the Smiths moved (and I have reason to believe it not exceptional) there is a high proportion of young people in the population and brides are often numerous, whose trousseaux are, perhaps, accountable for setting the pace in a style of dressing which is costly, and which seems almost incongruously handsome in comparison with the tiny houses in which many of the young couples dwell. But money is easily earned and quickly spent by the eager optimistic Westerner; and, doubtless, if domestic servants were easier to get and to keep, more well-to-do folk would turn their attention to building larger houses.

In the rural districts of the older provinces there are plenty of somewhat isolated farmhouses; but there are also many farming communities where the families are close enough together to enjoy a good deal of social life; and where this is the case the country life is a delightful one, for young folk especially. The boys and girls on the farms learn early to do the work of men and women; but it is work which, if not overdone in amount, is healthful for mind and body; and the informal country merry-makings have a charm of their own.

A sleigh ride of several miles, on a moonlight night, through a lovely snow-covered landscape of hill and woods and valley, does not detract from the enjoyment of an informal carpet dance, especially when the vehicle is a big box sleigh, filled with a dozen lively lads and lasses, whose songs and laughter ring out above the jingling bells. A wedding feast or a barn-raising bee, a church social, or a school concert, a “strawberry festival” or a “Christmas tree”—country folk know how to enjoy all these things; as they enjoy chance meetings in the store or at the church door—and now there are in most provinces Farmers’ Clubs and Women’s Institutes to aid in the good work of drawing together country neighbours of all the different denominations. Above all, the country is the place for the little ones, where they may spend their first years amongst the animals and birds and flowers, which the normal child loves, leading a simple, outdoor life.

But one of the needs of Canada is more women (she has some already) who shall appreciate the country and know how to make the best of it for themselves, their families and their neighbours. She wants women of any race, British or foreign, who are strong enough and wise enough to discover ways of developing the fine possibilities of country life, and counteracting any tendency towards its degeneration into dulness and stagnation. To-day the trend of the population of this new and supposedly agricultural country citywards is a fact which is at once remarkable and rather disquieting. Perhaps it is due in part to “the earth hunger” that besets many a farmer, and inclines him to sacrifice to it the comfort of his family and the possibilities of congenial society. Whatever its cause, women may, perhaps, do quite as much as men to stem the current and make country life what it ought to be.

The woman Canada asks for, by the official voice of the Dominion Immigration Department, is the domestic servant, and when necessary the government assists the girl with a loan of £4 for her passage money. Now there is no question that from coast to coast there is a demand for the woman who will help with domestic work. A healthy, intelligent, industrious girl, if she has had any experience in general housework, can command wages of from $10 (£2) to $16 (£8 4_s._) a month in the East up to $80 in the West, in both cases with room and board included, whilst a housekeeper or a competent cook gets $30 (£6) or $35 (£7) or even more. For domestic servants the demand is practically unlimited both in town and country. The wages are not quite so high in the rural districts, but in many cases the girl in farm and country houses is treated like a member of the family, so far at least as having her meals with her employers; and not infrequently a good girl is actually treated like a daughter of the house, taking her share in whatever little festivities there may be.

Perhaps, however, an “Old-Country” girl, brought up amongst the servant-keeping instead of the service-giving class, and coming to Canada to act as “home-help” or “lady-help,” is sometimes deceived into expecting too much by the phrase of “being treated like one of the family.” In the first place, if, as sometimes happens, the mistress, who unreservedly treats her domestic help as “one of the family,” is herself not a highly-educated woman, the “lady-help” too frequently assumes a condescending attitude towards her employer, and the connection naturally proves unsatisfactory. In the second place, a “young lady” from England often hardly understands what hard work really means, and she is too apt to feel that she ought—in virtue of her education—to be excused from various necessary household duties. But if a girl intends to take a “home-help’s” position in Canada she should make up her mind not to think any task beneath her dignity which some woman of the house must do. No one really wants a “lady-help” for an ornament, though a lonely woman here and there may desire to have one partly for the sake of companionship. When, indeed, the “help” really makes it her business to “help,” the relationship may be very satisfactory; and when she has proved both her usefulness and her refinement she will usually be able to get a situation which ought to satisfy her. Often, however, this will be where the mistress is elderly, or invalided or widowed, for there is not much demand for this kind of assistance in families consisting largely of lively young people. If a lady desires a position as “home-help,” I believe it would be well for her to obtain introductions, if possible, to ladies in the province where she is going, as friends often know of each other’s needs in such a case, and will gladly assist in bringing the would-be “help” and prospective employer together.

There is a generally good though rather intermittent demand for charwomen and occasional helpers in towns, cities, and the settled rural districts; and the wife of a man who has obtained employment on a farm may often add considerably to the family resources by washing and doing other work for the farmer’s wife or neighbours. The wages in the East range from about $1 (4_s._) a day in the country, to $1·25 (5_s._), always with meals, in the cities. Some little time ago an enterprising party of young Scotch women, who had come to Toronto to be ordinary servants, clubbed together, took a room or two, and went out working by the day, with the result that they earned more money and had their evenings and Sundays to themselves. They had no difficulty in obtaining as much work as they desired; and their experiment points towards one probable solution of the domestic help problem; but, of course, there are great risks for unprotected girls in every city; and in most Canadian cities the rent of rooms and the cost of living is very high.

Apart from housework, in any form, immense numbers of immigrant girls find employment in shops and factories, and not a few as typists. In Toronto, a typist coming out through the colonization department gets an initial wage of $10 (£2) a week, and one who is also a stenographer gets from $11 (£2 4_s._) to $15 (£3) the week. In Winnipeg (where there are said to be “ten thousand lady stenographers and book-keepers”) “the wages run from $35 (£7) to $75 (£15), or even $100 (£20) per month.” The saleswomen in shops do not receive nearly so much, and good wages are very necessary in the towns if a girl is to live under proper and healthful conditions. Women’s work is not as yet much organized in Canada, though in Montreal and other cities there are a few women’s labour unions.

There is perhaps nearly as much demand for competent dressmakers as for domestic servants, either to make dresses at home or to go out by the day. This demand comes not only from the cities, such as Toronto, where, for example, good dressmakers can earn, in addition to their meals, from $1·50 to $2 (6_s._ to 8_s._) the day, or Winnipeg, where their charge is $2 or $2·50 (8_s._ to 10_s._) the day; but from country towns and rural districts. In the latter they can earn $1 or $1·25 (4_s._ to 5_s._), with board and lodging, for the time of their engagement; and I think it would be well worth while for girls who understand dressmaking to try their fortune in some village in a good farming country. I know that there is a large demand for their services in such places, and though they would not receive city prices for their work, neither would they have to pay city prices for the rooms which they would need as headquarters. In a good village two sisters or friends might very well make the experiment together; or a girl understanding dressmaking, whose parents were coming to the country, might easily work up a good business connection. I should not forget to say that the farmers’ wives are quite willing to send a “buggy” or carriage a considerable distance for the dressmaker.

There is a great demand in Canada for teachers, and a father who comes out with a family of young people might well endeavour to get some of them (if they show any aptitude for the work) trained for teachers. It is desirable that the students should finish their preparation and pass the necessary examinations in the province where they intend to teach, as professional teachers’ certificates only hold good in the province where they are granted, though temporary “permits” to teach may be given in other provinces.

The rate of salaries varies somewhat in different parts of the Dominion, the salaries given in the West being generally higher than those in the East. There are not many openings for private governesses, though a few find employment in ladies’ schools, and there is a small demand in the households of the rich for nursery governesses for very little children.

Girls coming out with the intention of entering any occupation (except that of domestic servants) should have a little money in hand to support them whilst looking for employment; but for women, as for men, there are numerous opportunities in Canada for the alert, intelligent girl—“on the spot”—who knows how to work.

With regard to the acquirement of land, opportunities in Canada are by no means as favourable for women as for men. In a general way women can only obtain land by purchase, and are shut out from the advantage of homesteading; but, as already mentioned, they are permitted in British Columbia to take up pre-emptions on practically the same terms as men. The laws, by the way, concerning the civil rights of women vary in different provinces; but from the women’s point of view Canada lags behind some of the States of the Union, in the fact that not one of the nine provinces of the Dominion has, as yet, accorded parliamentary representation to women. Even the people most strongly averse from the change are, however, beginning to prophesy dolefully that “it has got to come.”

In educational facilities, the women of Canada are treated liberally. In the public and high schools co-education is general, and usually the universities admit women on the same terms as men. The medical profession is open to women; and in some provinces that of the law also. There are many women journalists and writers who are banded together into an organization for the Dominion—“The Canadian Women’s Press Club.”

A very active and comprehensive organization in Canada is the “National Council of Women,” with which many other women’s associations are affiliated. Among these may be named the Women’s Institutes (which, in Ontario alone, have over twenty thousand members), the Women’s Art Association, the Girls’ Friendly Society, the Victorian Order of Nurses, the Canadian Suffrage Association, the National Historical Society, the Peace and Arbitrations Society, etc., etc. There are many other extremely important women’s organizations, such as the Missionary Societies (called by different names) of the several churches, which, besides supporting foreign missions, make an especial effort to aid religious work in the newer sections of the Dominion. There is also the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, which has for long been engaged in effective work against the liquor traffic.

It may be asked what has all this to do with “the woman Canada needs,” and with opportunities for women? My answer is that such a list (which might be much lengthened) shows what the women of Canada are thinking about and working for; that what has been done, may be done again; what is being done now, may be multiplied enormously with the advent of more workers. That these organizations are flourishing suggests the need and the opportunity there is for the work of public-spirited, true-hearted women in Canada—in helping to refine the rough, to smooth down the rugged, to hold up the higher ideals of life in this new land; to fill its towns with pleasant, beautiful homes, and to make its solitary places blossom like the rose.

Canada has scope for the employment of the energies of all of the best types of women, and we have got beyond the notion that there is only one noble type of woman; but if one goes back to that severely practical document, the Census Report, it really looks as if the woman which Canada needs above all is the wife and mother, who is awaiting in the Old Land the chance to rejoin her immigrant husband; and the “marriageable girl.” “The Imperial Home Reunion Associations” already mentioned are doing good work in bringing out the former, with her children; but it is a more delicate matter to settle the latter in regions where her best opportunity lies. In the early French times, the authorities managed this matter with business-like frankness, shipping out consignments of girls and marrying them in haste on their arrival in the colony. Such a method is distinctly out-of-date, but more might be done to encourage the immigration of families and of young women (under proper conditions and safeguards), for in the West especially, behind the opportunities for girls as workers in household service and shops and factories and offices, many of them find the opportunity of taking up the _rôle_ of the wife, the mother and the “home-maker.”

Unfortunately it is a common assertion, that a considerable proportion of girls “in business” are so occupied with the probabilities of “having homes” of their own, that they regard their work at the typewriter or in the office as a mere stop-gap, to be performed perfunctorily. Let us hope this is a slander; and at any rate some business men testify that the girl clerk is, as a rule, quite as conscientious, steady-going and dependable as the boy clerk, if not more so. However that may be, the fact remains that there is a need for the coming out to Canada of a good type of girls, more in proportion than at present to the numbers of the male immigrants, if the Dominion is to be, in accord with the best Anglo-Saxon ideals, a nation of homes.

XVIII
HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

IN the foregoing pages, I have tried not to be led by my real belief in the country into over-statement of the advantages of Canada and to under-statement of difficulties and disadvantages. I know that when all possible care is taken, it is difficult to convey to anyone exact impressions of an unknown country, for the reader or listener naturally translates what is said in terms of his own experience. Now I should like here, before bidding farewell to any reader who has some notion of making a home in Canada, to add one or two suggestions which may save him (or her) some discomfort.

The first is an awkward matter to mention, but I will venture to speak plainly, only reminding the reader that if my remarks are offensive, Canada cannot be held responsible for them, for I am myself an Englishwoman.

I have said, and I firmly believe, that the immigration of people from the British Isles is much desired in Canada; but an individual may not always get that impression, and I should like to ask him to consider whether it may not sometimes be his own fault? It is, unfortunately, a fact that many new arrivals from England (by no means all, of course) have a way of stroking the Canadians the wrong way, if one may use the phrase. Sometimes I wonder whether the phrase in our old school books—the “British Possessions”—has anything to do with the condescending frame of mind in which many a British immigrant lands in the Dominion, and begins cheerfully setting affairs right on his first walk through the seaport town which receives him. Again and again it has been a fine thing in British history that the English people have a way of identifying themselves with their national institutions, but if a Briton will persist on feeling, and making it known, that he is a kind of pocket edition of all that the great British Empire stands for, while the Dominion is “one of our colonies,” and the Canadians are just “colonists,” he will probably get into trouble in a week with the men whom he undertakes to work for or amongst. He ought to try to realize that, in the main, Canadians are Britons like himself, and that, being “chips of the old block,” colonists have many characteristics in common with the stay-at-home Britons—amongst them, a rooted objection to a treatment which seems to imply that they are a nation of inferiors.

Perhaps there is something in the invigorating air of this young country which gets into the heads of newcomers, and makes them “apt to teach” if they never were so in their lives before; but many an immigrant would find his first few months here much smoother, if he could resist the temptation to put into words his wonder “at the way they do things here. Why, in England——” etc., etc. Of course, if he is an intelligent man, he has his contribution to make to the common stock of knowledge and wisdom, and the time may come when it will be welcome in Canada. In many instances, however, the newcomer does not wait to ascertain whether or not there may be a sound reason, in some peculiarity of climate or circumstances, to account for the practice he condemns, but at once jumps to the conclusion that it is un-English and therefore wrong, and proclaims aloud his discovery at the top of his voice. The “canny Scot” is much less prone to hasty, outspoken criticism, and consequently settles down a little more easily than do Englishmen of a certain type.

It may be said that this blunder on the part of English people is so rare and so limited to the wholly uneducated as to be unworthy of serious attention. But I believe it is common. I know I have heard Englishmen criticizing the shortcomings of “the Canadians” in Canadian houses, where they were guests, with a freedom that accounts for a good deal of prejudice against the new arrivals. Others perpetually grumble during their first months in the country.

Happily this kind of thing soon wears off in all but the very worst subjects, and those usually end by returning home, and continuing their criticism of matters Canadian where they cannot be easily answered. Happily, also, some English immigrants, blessed with a little imagination and the sympathetic power of seeing how things will affect other minds, are free from the disease. It has been suggested that a good and practical rule for an Englishman would be to make up his mind to refrain, for at least a year after his landing, from criticism of the things in Canada that displease him, whether these happen to be manners or methods, municipal regulations or country roads.

Later, when he has got his bearings, if he chooses to attempt to lead a reformation, he will find plenty of native-born Canadians to back him; for, however it may appear in the heat of argument, in nine cases out of ten, they are just as convinced as the newcomer that neither the country nor themselves are anywhere within sight of perfection. In twelve months he may be beginning to feel that he has some part and lot in the Dominion, and the honest criticism of one who is anxious to improve conditions which he has tested and believes to be capable of improvement is a very different matter from the superior and comprehensive grumblings either of “a fish out of water,” or a mere “bird of passage.” For convenience I have used the masculine pronoun, but the woman-immigrant is not free from this sin of rash and ill-mannered criticism.

Now, in all this I would by no means be understood to be reflecting on the newcomer, who, having suffered from failure on the part of some official or private person to carry out his engagements, or having other real cause of complaint concerning the way in which he has been treated, demands an investigation into his grievance. Of course, the new arrival has his rights as much as the native-born, and if he is at any time ill-used or treated with serious neglect, he will be doing a public service in calling attention to the wrong-doing. This is very different from the mere purposeless grumbling and captious criticism to which I referred above; and while the Dominion and Provincial governments do their utmost to protect the newcomer against misrepresentation and fraud and extortion, there are persons in Canada, as elsewhere, on the watch to take advantage of the inexperienced.

It is best for the immigrant who is without friends in the country to go in the first place for information and advice to the accredited immigration officials. (See Appendix, Note A, pg. 295.) There are different methods in vogue in the different provinces, but all endeavour to look to some extent after the immigrants, who, indeed, are regarded as of great potential value to the nation; and far-sighted people recognize that every measure which aids the immigrant to succeed is of advantage to the public generally, and is a necessary corollary of the fact that the Canadian government maintains fifteen hundred agents in the towns and villages of Great Britain and Ireland, and pays a bonus on each of the immigrants obtained, of certain classes.

In Nova Scotia, in order to prevent newcomers being drawn into the purchase of “farm properties unsuitable to their requirements,” a farm inspector has been appointed to the staff of the Bureau of Industries and Immigration, which has been in existence since 1907, and any _bonâ fide_ settler can avail himself of his services free of cost. An agricultural settler is met on his arrival, and a list of available farms likely to suit him is prepared for him, and, after he has seen them, but before he buys, the farm inspector visits the property and gives him “a disinterested opinion on the intrinsic value of the place.” This plan has been found to work well, insuring for the newcomer good value for his money, and saving him much time and expense in the search for a suitable farm. Moreover, if the new arrival desires it, the inspector will continue his visits at intervals to give expert advice respecting the best local markets and the methods of agriculture best adapted to the land purchased.

In a great many central places, the Dominion government has built Immigration Halls, where free accommodation is provided during two or three days, while the head of the family makes arrangements to go to work or to a homestead, as the case may be; but the immigrants are required to provide their own food. In Toronto, the “British Welcome League” also provides beds for British immigrants on their arrival, and in addition gives a free meal, besides trying in other ways to make the strangers feel at home. (See Appendix, Note F, pg. 301.)

Young women and girls coming to Canada need especially to be on their guard against persons of both sexes, masquerading as benevolent and disinterested, who are seeking to entrap the unwary into the terrible life of the “white slave.” If ever at a loss where to go, they should accept advice only from uniformed officers of the Immigration Department, from one of the deaconesses or ladies wearing the “Travellers’ Aid” badge, or from an officer of the Salvation Army, which also looks after immigrants. A safe place to make inquiry for lodgings and employment is, of course, any branch of the Young Women’s Christian Association, of which there are many in the Dominion. (See Appendix, Note F, pg. 301, for list.) In summer, a secretary of the Y.W.C.A. meets the steamers at Quebec, and will do her best to help girls on their way.

The Presbyterians, the Methodists and the Church of England in Canada have chaplains who meet the immigrant ships at the ports of Halifax and St. John in winter, and at Quebec in summer. There are also agents of the Y.M.C.A. at these ports to assist newcomers in every way possible. If the immigrant can find time on landing to speak either to a chaplain or to an agent of one of the societies named above, it may prove very helpful in finding friends in the place to which he or she is going, for these secretaries will give addresses of clergymen or others anxious to befriend the newcomer; and it is a great advantage to have someone to refer to in a strange place, even if it is only for the sake of being able to obtain disinterested and reliable information. For instance, suppose a girl comes out intending to try dressmaking in a country place (as suggested previously), if she has a card of introduction to a Y.W.C.A. secretary or to a minister, though they might not be able to tell her offhand of a district where she could hope to be successful, either would certainly be able to put her into communication with another secretary, or clergyman’s wife, or secretary of a Woman’s Institute, who would give the information needed.

It is a good thing for the immigrant who has at home belonged to a church, or Sunday school, or social organization, to bring from the clergyman or minister or teacher a letter of introduction to a minister in the place to which he or she is bound, or to someone living in the district. To give an actual, though perhaps unnecessary, instance of the usefulness of letters of introduction—my father, who, though quite inexperienced in agriculture, had decided to farm in Canada, came out armed with letters of introduction, kindly given by friends (some of whom had hazy ideas of the size of the Dominion) to persons living anywhere from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Many of these were, of course, useless, but one led to another introduction to two excellent Scotch farmers, who, when the time came to make choice of a farm, kindly did for us the work which the Government expert now does for immigrants going to Nova Scotia. They looked over the farm and gave a careful opinion as to its value. No newcomer, however anxious to be independent, however unwilling to “impose upon good nature,” need be afraid or ashamed to ask advice in matters where he cannot be supposed to be on a par with those who have had experience of the country.

Years ago it was sometimes suggested that Canada was a good country for persons of small fixed incomes. I doubt whether many of this class ever did come; and now, at any rate, the cost of living and the wages of servants are so high that it is not a good country for such people. Moreover, unless they should come out with their families, elderly men or women would rarely be wise to risk the change of climate and environment.

In this connection, it is very satisfactory that such a large proportion of the children sent out by the various orphanages and “homes” of the British Isles grow up good citizens of the Dominion. Only a very small proportion of these children turn out criminals or ne’er-do-wells, but the rare cases when any of them are convicted of crime are usually followed by a great outcry against bringing them. There is, however, a very practical evidence that they are most welcome, for five to ten applications are received for every child to be placed. There is an advantage in sending them out in early life, for “the sooner they get into the Canadian atmosphere the better it is for Canada and for them.” Many of the children fill useful positions, as they grow old enough, as “hired” boys and girls; and not a few are adopted, and well provided for, by childless people. The annual report of the “Chief Inspector of British Immigrant Children and Receiving and Distributing Homes” is a most interesting document. During the eleven years from 1900 to 1911, nearly twenty-four thousand child-immigrants were brought to Canada by various societies and agents, of whom almost half were from Dr. Barnardo’s homes.

The immigration of families consisting of parents and children is still more satisfactory from the Canadian point of view, for this, in ordinary cases, means that the children, brought up under normal conditions, will be assimilating in their early years Canadian customs, methods of work, and habits of thought. This is a process that all immigrants, young or old, must go through to a certain extent, if they are really to “settle” in the country. Speaking broadly, adaptation to new conditions is much more difficult for the young man than for the child, and for the old person than the young, unless in the case of those exceptional people who seem to have discovered the secret of perpetual youth, and are alert, ready to learn, adaptable, and intensely interested in life and their surroundings to old age.

In many instances the process is not only difficult but painful; and I should like to speak a word of encouragement to the immigrant in his first year or two, when the exciting novelty of the change has worn off, and he has not yet become thoroughly acclimatized either to the physical or mental atmosphere of the new country. In some cases he passes through a period of miserable homesickness, when everything seems disappointing. Then, even such minor ills as unfamiliar kinds of implements to work with (for instance, in the case of a woman, stoves in place of the accustomed open fires) seem to add sorely to the hardships of life. I can remember very well the general depression of spirits in our family when we were trying in vain to keep ourselves warm and to cook in bitter wintry weather with green basswood, foisted upon us by our next-door neighbour, who in some other little ways showed himself very ready to “turn an honest (?) penny” out of our inexperience.

But discouragement passes; soon the newcomer learns how to take care of himself, and, looking back, wonders how his “mole-hills” ever came to be such mountains. A good stock of patience and some small sense of humour ought to make part of the equipment of every immigrant, for there is nothing like the power of seeing the funny side of things to help one over the minor trials of life, and it is good not to take oneself too seriously.

Nevertheless, an immigrant should not make himself unnecessarily funny in the eyes of others. For example, unless the young Englishman is bound for the backwoods, it really is not necessary for him to attire himself in the strange and shaggy garments which the town-bred English tailor thinks appropriate for “the colonies.” In most towns and settled country districts he will need much the same kind of clothing as he would use in such places in England. Often, during the first winter, the Englishman does not feel the need of much warmer clothing than he was accustomed to wear at home; but he should have a good heavy overcoat, and, if he is bound for the West, a fur coat or one lined with sheepskin will be a great comfort. He should also have a warm cap which he can pull down over his ears when driving, for the ears are peculiarly liable to get frost-bitten, and one or two stout pairs of woollen or warmly-lined leather gloves will be found useful, for here men do not work in the winter months with uncovered hands, except perhaps west of the Rocky Mountains. In the case of a family, every member of it, from the father to the little tots, should be provided with woollen gloves or mittens, warm caps or hoods, and warm underclothing. All these things, and some wraps and rugs in addition, may prove very useful on the voyage at any time of year; and they will usually be needed on the first arrival in Canada, for most immigrants come in the early spring, when the weather is still cold.

Ordinarily, the trains are sufficiently heated, but there is often a good deal of waiting at wharves or stations. There may be a long drive from the railway to the final destination, and it is best to be well provided for such contingencies. Soon after the arrival of the spring immigrant, however, cool, light clothing for the hot months of the Canadian summer will be required, and it is well for a woman to bring, if possible, some supply of cotton blouses and dresses. The woven, porous kind of cotton underclothing is cheap and suitable for the climate. In their first year, Englishwomen often make the mistake of overloading themselves and their children with heavy garments. I remember, on a hot July day, seeing a poor little English year-old baby swathed in one layer of flannel above another, with the perspiration running down its face, while its sisters, old enough, I suppose, to rebel at such treatment, looked comparatively cool and comfortable in light cotton dresses.

Upon the whole, clothing is dearer in Canada than in England, but the extra cost of the various articles is in a measure neutralized by the fact that a cheaper class of goods—that is, cotton and muslin—can be worn, at least in the inland parts, for a longer period in the year. If possible, it is well to bring out a good supply of boots and shoes and clothing, but not too many of such outer garments, which a change of fashion may render conspicuously out-of-date within a year or two, for Canadians of all classes pay a good deal of attention to dress.

It is good to bring some blankets, and wadded quilts and table-linen, which are all more expensive in Canada than in the “Old Country.” On the other hand, it is not well for the newcomer of little capital to put too much of his small stock of money into such provision for the future, for often the articles bought far in advance do not seem quite what would be bought after some experience in the new home; and it is most desirable to keep a few pounds—or dollars—on hand against a possible emergency.

In fact, the government requires that every adult immigrant—except farm labourers and domestic servants—should have some money in his or her possession when landing (See Appendix, Note C, pg. 298); and half as much is required for children under eighteen. This rule is strictly kept, and during the last ten years no less than 1,471 immigrants (of course, by no means all British) were sent back on their arrival on account of lack of funds; and a considerable number of British and other immigrants are not allowed to land, or are deported within two years, on account of insanity, tuberculosis, or other diseases of mind or body. Others have been rejected on account of criminality or bad character; or because there was reason to believe that they would be, or had actually become, public charges.

With regard to the question of admittance, it is most desirable that anyone thinking of coming to Canada, and having a suspicion of some defect or disease in himself or any member of his family, should be very careful to make sure before starting whether or not he and the rest of his party would be admitted. In case of doubt, he would be wise to write to the Assistant Superintendent of Emigration, 11 and 12, Charing Cross, London, giving full particulars, for it is worse than useless for anyone to have the trouble and expenses of the sea voyage only to be sent back. It is much better not to start at all.

For information concerning the cost of passage, the amount of baggage allowed, and so forth. (See Appendix, Notes D, pg. 299 and E, pg. 300.)

Where distances are so great as in Canada, it is often necessary for the immigrants to pass several nights on the train. There are three classes of sleeping cars in use on the Canadian railways. In the “colonist sleeping cars,” which are free to second-class passengers on the Canadian lines, berths are provided, but they are not upholstered, and the occupants may use such bedding and rugs as they have with them, or the whole outfit of mattress, pillow, blanket, and a pair of curtains can be purchased for the sum of $2·90 (about 12_s._), or the separate articles in proportion.

When it can be afforded, however, the immigrant would be wise to pay the additional price for a berth in a “tourist sleeper” (which is about half that of the “standard sleepers”). In the tourist cars the accommodation is excellent, bedding is provided, and each car has its attendant porter. The travellers in these cars may either take their meals on the dining-car (when there is one on the train, and when the question of minor expense is not a very important one), or may carry their food with them, making tea for themselves, heating food for a baby, etc., in a little kitchen at the end of the car. These cars are much used, for the sake of convenience, by persons travelling with children who could well afford to travel in the first-class sleepers.

Before buying tickets for Canada, however, the intending emigrant might do well to write to Commissioner D. C. Lamb, of the Salvation Army, which makes arrangements for emigrants (of whom it is said less than 20 per cent. belong to the Army) to obtain tickets from England to certain points in Canada, “including the cost of bed and food on rail.” (See Appendix, Note D, pg. 299.) The Army also arranges for “reserved carriages and special rail accommodation, chiefly for women,” who “are accompanied by experienced conductresses from the beginning to the end of their journey.” (See Appendix, Note F, pg. 301.)

We will now suppose our British immigrant to have reached his destination, in East or West or Central Canada; and our final word to him, perhaps, should be not to be in too much hurry to commit himself to some irrevocable step. If he has capital, it is often wise for him to let it lie for a little while at interest while he gets to know the country, possibly working on wages for someone else. If the newcomer has little money, then it is best to accept for a time almost any honest work that offers, especially work in which something may be learnt of the country; and to change to something more desirable when the chance comes—as it will come—to the alert and thrifty and industrious. For, after all, the newcomer must learn for himself the things he most needs to know. Many of these things cannot be put into a book, for books must deal largely with generalities, while each immigrant brings his own idiosyncrasies to the problem of fitting into a peculiar environment.