Across the Prairie in a Motor Caravan: A 3,000 Mile Tour by Two Englishwomen on Behalf of Religious EducationHasell, Frances Hatton Eva
Religion
Across the Prairie in a Motor Caravan: A 3,000 Mile Tour by Two Englishwomen on Behalf of Religious Education
Hasell, Frances Hatton Eva
Missions -- Canada
After the school there was a Family Service (characteristic of the
prairie) at which all are present, from the father to the infant in
arms. There were a great many baptisms, which made one think of
Whitsuntide in the early Church. A delightful feature of the service was
the freedom with which the children ran out to play when tired. I could
see them from the window jumping in and out of the cars. But when they
had worked off their superfluous energy they came back quietly to their
places.
After the service we were introduced to all the people, and one young
man remarked: "We thought your car was a motor ambulance and supposed
there'd been a scrap."
The fervour of these people, and their evident appreciation of the
services of the Church, made a strong impression on me. It was shown by
their coming long distances--twenty miles in some cases--after working
very hard for very long hours all the week.
In the evening I drove the vicar to another church for evensong. It was
coated so thickly with dust from the storm of the morning that we had to
clean it down before a service could be held.
Next morning the vicar showed us his stable, and we photographed his
special pride, a handsome colt which he had broken himself. We had had a
most delightful week-end, and were much cheered by our kind reception
from the vicar and his wife, and felt quite weak with laughter at the
former's amusing stories.
In the afternoon we started for Eyebrow, but did not get very far that
day, as we stuck in the mud and had to wait to be pulled out. We arrived
at Eyebrow next day, however, and went to see the layman in charge of
the mission. It had not been possible as yet to arrange for us to visit
any schools, so we decided to go on and spend some time here on our
return journey. They entertained us most hospitably to supper, and
allowed us to put our baggage in the church porch as it was raining in
torrents. We next made a two days' journey on to Riverhurst, and on
arrival went into a Chinaman's restaurant for supper. The food in these
restaurants is both good and cheap. A three-course dinner costs only
about one and eightpence in English money. As we were comfortably eating
our supper we were surprised and rather alarmed to see a district
policeman making straight for us. He put us through a searching
catechism. Who were we and where did we come from? A brother officer had
seen us and put him on our trail. We told him who we were and whose
authority was behind us, and after a few more questions he seemed
satisfied and left us to finish our supper in peace. We longed to know
what crimes he had mentally charged us with.
We found that there was a Union Sunday school at Riverhurst which all
the children attended, including the only Anglican children in the
place, four in number. It seemed hopeless to try to start a Sunday
School for these four, so we noted them for enrolment in the Sunday
School by Post, and went on towards Elbow.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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