Dr. Bobardt, my young Australian colleague, and I now decided to cross
over to Halifax. We had only a certain amount of money for the
venture; it was our first visit to Canada, and we knew no one. We
carried credentials, however, from the Marquis of Ripon and other
reputable persons. If we had had experience as commercial travellers,
this would have been child's play. But our education had been in an
English school and university; and when finally we sat at breakfast at
the Halifax hotel we felt like fish out of water. Such success as we
obtained subsequently I attribute entirely to what then seemed to me
my colleague's colonial "cheek." He insisted that we should call on
the most prominent persons at once, the Prime Minister, the General in
charge of the garrison, the Presidents of the Board of Trade and
University, the Governor of the Province, and all the leading
clergymen. There have been times when I have hesitated about getting
my anchors for sea, when the barometer was falling, the wind in, and a
fog-bank on the horizon--but now, years after, I still recall my
reluctance to face that ordeal. But like most things, the obstacles
were largely in one's own mind, and the kindness which we received
left me entirely overwhelmed. Friends formed a regular committee to
keep a couple of cots going in our hospital, to collect supplies, and
sent us to Montreal with introductions and endorsements. Some of these
people have since been lifelong helpers of the Labrador Mission.
By the time we reached Montreal, our funds were getting low, but Dr.
Bobardt insisted that we must engage the best accommodations, even if
it prevented our travelling farther west. The result was that
reporters insisted on interviewing him as to the purpose of an
Australian coming to Montreal; and I was startled to see a long
account which he had jokingly given them published in the morning
papers, stating that his purpose was to materialize the All Red Line
and arrange closer relations between Australia and Canada. According
to his report my object was to inspect my ranch in Alberta. Life to
him, whether on the Labrador Coast, in an English school, or in his
Australian home, was one perpetual picnic.
Naturally, our most important interview was with Lord Strathcona. He
was President of the Hudson Bay Company, the Canadian Pacific
Railroad, and the Bank of Montreal. As a poor Scotch lad named Donald
Smith he had lived for thirteen years of his early life in Labrador.
There he had found a wife and there his daughter was born. From the
very first he was thoroughly interested in our work, and all through
the years until his death in 1914 his support was maintained, so that
at the very time he died we were actually due to visit him the
following month at Knelsworth.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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