My Strange Rescue, and Other Stories of Sport and Adventure in CanadaOxley, J. Macdonald (James Macdonald)
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My Strange Rescue, and Other Stories of Sport and Adventure in Canada
Oxley, J. Macdonald (James Macdonald)
Canada -- Juvenile fiction; Canada -- Juvenile literature
The shantyman’s recess comes when the evening meal has been despatched.
He has an hour or more before bed-time. It is pipes all round, and song
and joke and story win generous applause from the not over-critical
audience. The French-Canadians are especially fond of singing. They
have many songs, some of which, like "À la claire fontaine" and "En
roulant ma boule," are full of spirit and beauty. If François or Alec
has remembered to bring his fiddle with him—and he seldom forgets it—the
singing is sure to be followed by dancing as the evening goes on.
Bedtime comes early in the shanty. By nine o’clock, at the latest, all
have "turned in." The process of going to bed consists simply in taking
off one’s coat and boots, and rolling up snugly in a couple of thick
blankets. Many a millionaire would gladly give one of his millions for
the ability to sleep as soundly and restfully in his soft bed as does
the shantyman upon his pine boards.
In the dusk of early morning the foreman’s loud voice is heard calling
to the men,—
"Turn out now, and get your breakfast!"
The lumberman has been asleep ten good hours, but he feels as if he had
just lain down!
Sunday is the day the shantyman likes best. No work is done upon that
day. He can spend the time as he pleases. Generally he is content to
lounge about smoking, and enjoying the luxury of doing nothing. A
religious service is so rare a treat that when there is one all attend
it without reference to their creed.
Thus the long winter slips by. The logs accumulate upon the river bank
or out upon the icy lake. When the warm days of spring come the
lumberman’s labours are at an end, so far as the shanty is concerned.
The great spring drive begins. The logs start upon their journey
southward, and the shantyman becomes a river-driver. Armed with
pike-pole or camp-hook, he hurries his awkward squads of logs down
stream as a shepherd drives his flock to market.
This is often a very exciting and dangerous occupation. The Canadian
rivers abound in falls and rapids, past which the flocks of tree-trunks
have to be guided skilfully. Many a time the river-driver’s life is in
peril as he wades through the turbulent, ice-cold water, or leaps from
rock to rock, or from log to log, in his efforts to prevent his charges
from stranding.
When the drive is finished the shantyman’s labours are over, until the
return of autumn recalls him to the forest.
[Illustration: Lacrosse headpiece]
*LACROSSE.*
What the game of cricket is to England, and the game of base-ball to the
United States, is the game of lacrosse to Canada; and yet it is worth
noting that, both cricket and base-ball flourish in Canada, which goes
to show that the young Canadian seeks for quantity as well as quality in
his sport.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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