Produced by David T. Jones, Al Haines, Alex White & the online Distributed Proofreaders Canada team at http://www.pgdpcanada.net [Illustration: GEORGE H. HAM. (From a recent photograph) ] REMINISCENCES OF A RACONTEUR _Between the ’40s and the ’20s_ BY GEORGE H. HAM _Author of “The New West” and “The Flitting of the Gods”_ TORONTO THE MUSSON BOOK COMPANY LIMITED Copyright, Canada, 1921 THE MUSSON BOOK CO., LIMITED PUBLISHERS TORONTO MUSSON ALL CANADIAN PRODUCTION To RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD SHAUGHNESSY, K.C.V.O., of Montreal, Canada, and of Ashford, County Limerick, Ireland, This book is respectfully dedicated in grateful remembrance of many kindnesses in the vanishing past. CONTENTS I. Seventy Years Ago—My Early Days in Kingston and Whitby—Boyhood Friends—Unspared Rods—Better Spellers Then than Now—A Cub Reporter—Other Jobs I Didn’t Fill—Failure to Become a Merchant Prince—Put Off a First Train II. A Momentous Election—Meeting Archie McKellar—Go on the Turf—A Sailor Bold—A Close Shave—Stories of Pets—An Exaggerated Report—Following Horace Greeley’s Advice—And Grow Up with the Country III. Winnipeg a City of Live Wires—Three Outstanding Figures—Rivalry Between Donald A. and Dr. Schultz— Early Political Leaders—When Winnipeg was Putting on its First Pants—Pioneer Hotels—The Trials of a Reporter—Not Exactly an Angelic City—The First Iron Horse—Opening of the Pembina Branch—Profanity by Proxy—The Republic of Manitoba—The Plot to Secede IV. The Big Winnipeg Boom—Winnipeg the Wicked—A Few Celebrated Cases—Some Prominent Old-Timers—The Inside Story of a Telegraph Deal—When Trouble Arose and Other Incidents V. The Boys are Marching—The Trent Affair—The Fenian Raid—The Riel Rebellion—A Dangerous Mission—Lost on the Trail—The First and Last Naval Engagement on the Saskatchewan—Rescue of the Maclean Family—A Church Parade in the Wilderness—Indian Signals VI. Governors-General I Have Met—Dufferins and the Icelanders—The Marquis of Lorne and Wee Jock McGregor—Unpleasantness at Rat Portage—Kindness of Princess Louise—Lord Landsdowne at the Opening of the Galt Railway “My” Excellent Newspaper Report—Talking to Aberdeen—Minto, the Great Horseman—Earl Grey