Chapter XIII: Part II (3)

The superintendent of the home ought to be a man of some education, of sound common sense, of large Christian sympathy, one who would feel it a pleasure as well as a duty to smooth the path of the weary travellers who accepted the gratuitous shelter provided for them. Surely for such a desirable object as the one in view, the sanction and co-operation of the Dominion Government might be obtained, and a sum of money granted to establish the home, which might then be kept up by small annual subscriptions from the wealthier inhabitants of Bracebridge, whose commercial prosperity must so greatly depend upon the settlements beyond and about it. Numbers of emigrants come in every year who have left behind them in the old country dear friends and relations, who only wait for their favourable verdict upon the promised land, to come out and join them.

Would it not be well that emigrants should be enabled to write home truthfully and gratefully that they were met on their arrival at Bracebridge with brotherly kindness, Christian sympathy, shelter for their wives and families, sound reliable advice as to their future course, and help and encouragement suited to their especial need? It may be urged that pecuniary assistance and gratuitous shelter for his wife and children would impair the self-respect of the emigrant, and place him in the light of a pauper to himself and others.

I do not think this would be the case. It appears to me that an emigrant, arriving as too many do with his means utterly exhausted and with little but starvation in view for his family and himself, would have his British feelings of sturdy independence considerably modified, and would be willing to accept of the help tendered to him, not as a charitable dole from those above him in rank, but as a willing offering from those who for their Saviour’s sake acknowledge a common brotherhood with every suffering member of the great human family. Nor would the establishment of such a home at all interfere with the legitimate profits of the hotel-keepers.

From personal observation, I can testify that in numerous cases they are called upon to give, and do most liberally give, food and shelter gratuitously to those who cannot pay. Of course such a plan as this would have to be matured and carried out by wise heads and efficient hands. I can only humbly offer a suggestion which seems to me worthy of consideration, and I cannot end my few observations better than with the refrain of a deservedly popular song:

“Then do your best for one another,
Making life a pleasant dream;
Help a worn and weary brother
Pulling hard against the stream.”

THE END.

BILLING AND SONS, PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, SURREY.

_S. &. H._

End of Project Gutenberg's Letters from Muskoka, by Harriet Barbara King