XX. SOME PRESENT-DAY NEEDS OF THE PRAIRIE 104 APPENDIX 112 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS MAP OF THE CANADIAN DOMINION IN DIOCESES _Frontispiece_ THE CARAVAN AND HER CREW } } THE INTERIOR OF THE VAN } _Facing page_ 28 } TIDYING UP } } A SHACK ON THE MOVE } DIGGING OUT THE WHEEL } } THE TENT, AND MY ASSISTANTS AT LOREBURN } } HOUSEHOLD TASKS } " " 48 } MR. M. AND HIS MOTOR-CYCLE ON THE RAIL } WAY TRACK } A PRAIRIE SCHOOL } } A MAPLE-LEAF TEACHER AND HER PUPILS } } PRAIRIE SCHOLARS } " " 71 } A YOUNG HERDSMAN } } THE AVENUE AT BANFF, ALBERTA } LAKE LOUISE } } LUMBER ON THE BOW RIVER } } SLINGING HAY INTO THE BARN } " " 80 } THE CHURCH ON THE INDIAN RESERVE } ACROSS THE PRAIRIE IN A MOTOR CARAVAN CHAPTER I THE CALL OF THE PRAIRIE The diocese of Qu'Appelle, in the province of Saskatchewan, Western Canada, is so named from the Indian story which tells of the maiden who lay dying, calling piteously for her lover. He, far off in his canoe on the Saskatchewan River, suddenly heard a voice, and answered: "Qu'Appelle." The voice came again, and then he knew it for that of his beloved, and made all speed to her side. But, alas! when he reached her she was dead. _Qu'Appelle_ is a suggestive title and indicative of the call which so many have heard from the prairie provinces, a twofold call, urging some to earthly and some to spiritual husbandry. Some account of the Western Canada of to-day may be useful here. The exigencies of life on the prairie tend to make men think rather of building greater barns than of that day when their souls shall be required of them. When a man with little capital takes up a prairie "section" he is gambling with fortune, the welfare of his nearest and dearest being at stake. At the same time it is a worthy venture, a response to the age-old command to till the earth and subdue it; and it is often the only way whereby a man may become his own master, a landowner, and one who, in developing the treasures of the earth, adds materially to the well-being of his fellows. For the wheat from the prairies of Western Canada is the hardest and finest in the world.