On the arrival at Prince Rupert the populace came out to meet the young soldier. In him they honoured all Canadian soldiers who were offering their lives that their Empire might live and that the freedom of humanity from Prussian tyranny might be preserved. There was more than one band of music at the station, and musicians, soldiers, and people joined in the war song: "When my King and Country call me and I'm wanted at the front, Where the shrapnel shells are bursting in the air; When the foe in fury charges and we're sent to bear the brunt. And the roll is called for service,--I'll be there! "When the Kaiser's lines are broken and his armies out of France, When the Belgian desolation we repair; When the final muster's ordered and the bugle sounds 'Advance' May the God of Battles help me to be there! "When for me 'Last Post' is sounded and I cross the silent ford, I've a Pilot who of 'mine fields' will beware; When 'Reveille' sounds in Heaven and the Armies of the Lord Sing the Hallelujah chorus,--I'll be there!" {188} No literature relating to the terrible struggle could have brought home such an intense realisation of the significance of the war, and the indomitable courage and splendid loyalty of the Dominion, to the passengers on that Grand Trunk Pacific train as did these personal contacts and experiences. Canada is not a military nation. She desires to follow the paths of peaceful progress and noble development. She has no enmities toward any race, but she sees clearly the utter demoralisation of the entire world if militarism and armaments are not exterminated. "The people of the British dominions are animated by a stern resolve that there shall be no such outcome," said Premier Borden in an address before the New England Society, "and they believe it possible to create a well-ordered world whose harmony shall be based on a mutual respect for common rights." [Illustration: Indian Totem Pole, Alaska] The wonderful journey, whose majestic splendour so impressed itself upon individual life that, in a sense, it could never be over, had its termination at Prince Rupert. There, again, one may watch the rose and flame of dawn and the glory of colour from terraced heights over-looking sea and land; and in all the play of colour reflected from a thousand waters he may almost find prefigured the twelve gates of the Heavenly City that were all of pearl; and the foundations of the wall which were garnished with precious stones--jasper and sapphire, emerald and chrysolite, and last--an amethyst! {189} CHAPTER IX PRINCE RUPERT AND ALASKA