Westward with the Prince of WalesNewton, W. Douglas (Wilfrid Douglas)
History
Westward with the Prince of Wales
Newton, W. Douglas (Wilfrid Douglas)
Canada -- Description and travel; Windsor, Edward, Duke of, 1894-1972
Calves and steers were roped and dragged to the corral, where they were
flung and the brand seared on their flanks with long irons taken from a
fire in the enclosure.
The Prince did not spare himself, and worked as hard as any cattleman
in the business, and indeed he satisfied those exacting critics, the
cowboys, who produced in his favour another Westernism, describing him
as "a Bear. He's fur all over." Then, as though a strenuous morning
in the saddle was not enough, he went off in the afternoon after
partridges, spending the whole time on the tramp until he was due to
start for Calgary.
His pleasure in his experience was summed up in the terse comment:
"Some Ranch," that he set against his signature in Mr. Lane's visitors'
book. It also had the practical result of turning him into a rancher
himself, for it was at this time he saw the ranch which he ultimately
bought. It is a very good little property, close to Mr. Lane's, so
that in running it the Prince will have the advantage of that expert's
advice. Part of the Prince's plan for handling it is to give an
opportunity to soldiers who served with him in the war to take up
positions on the ranch. Mr. Lane told me himself that the proposition
is a practical one, and there should be profitable results.
Leaving Bar U, the Prince returned to High River at that Canadian pace
of travelling which sets the timid European wondering whether his
accident policy is fully paid up. In High River, where the old
cow-puncher ideal of hitting up the dust in the wild and woolly manner
has given way to the rule of jazz dances and bright frocks, he mounted
the train and steamed off to Calgary.
In Calgary great things had been done to the Armoury where the ball was
to be held. Handled in the big manner of the Dominion, the great hall
had been re-floored with "hard wood" blocks, and a scheme of real
beauty, extending to an artificial sky in the roof, had been evolved.
At this dance the whole of Calgary seemed in attendance, either on the
floor, or outside watching the guests arrive. In Canada the scope of
the invitations is universal. There are no distinctions. The pretty
girl who serves you with shaving soap over the drug store counter asks
if she will meet you at the Prince's ball, as a matter of course. She
is going. So is the young man at the estate office. So is your taxi
chauffeur (the taxi is an open touring car). So is--everybody. These
dances are the most democratic affairs, and the most spirited. And as
spirited and democratic as anybody was the Prince himself, who, in this
case, in spite of his run before breakfast, a hard morning in the
saddle, his long tramp in the afternoon, his automobile and railway
travelling, danced with the rest into the small hours of the morning.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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