“So far we have passed through the winter splendidly, and up to the time of writing (January 19th) we have brilliant sunshine from one week’s end to another. Our bungalow is kept beautifully warm. We have a good supply of wood from our own land, and so the price of coal is an item over which we have no need to worry. We have to pay very dearly for flour—$4½ for 100 lb. It is of course freightage that makes things dear. It is expected that the railway will be here and working in a year from now, and then everything will be cheaper. The telegraph will be in working order in a few weeks’ time. We have two large general stores, a drug store, and a resident doctor, with a hospital in view. Our choral union now numbers 120 members, and a rifle corps is being formed with 160 names enrolled. At the time of writing there are twenty-eight degrees of frost, and those who have been outside say it is a bit nippy. If we do not take proper precautions to protect our noses and ears, we are liable to get them frost-bitten. “The land here is of splendid quality and fit to grow anything, being specially adapted for mixed farming. And when I remember all these things, I cannot help smiling to think of those in the old country who have been commiserating our lot. They have far greater need for pity than we, for while they are still plodding and hibernating, we are on the progressive, and are probably making greater headway in twelve months than they in as many years. For Canada is nothing if not a go-ahead country.” From this point, probably because of superior claims upon her attention, Mrs. Rendall allowed a long break to occur in her instructive record of a settler’s experiences. When, several months later, she resumed the narrative, it was to say: “Much has happened since I last wrote, and I hardly know where to begin. Lloydminster is quite a little town. The railway is here, and the station is a pretty addition to our buildings. Little did I think that the whistle of an engine would ever sound so sweet! The passenger service is not properly organised yet, and the line is still in the hands of the construction party. But as soon as the line is entirely completed, and it is handed over to the Canadian Northern Railway Company, we shall have a regular service.