BETTY IN CANADA t »'' / mX /f*A LITTLE PEOPLE EVERYWHERE Betty in Canada, 3 1924 014 518 827 hate (Sallege of J^lgtitultute No ffitbratg EVERYWHERE Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924014518827 BETTY AND BETSY Little People Everywhere BETTY IN CANADA A GEOGRAPHICAL READER BY ETTA BLAISDELL McDONALD Joint author of '* Boy Blue and His Friends," "The Child Life Readers," etc. AND JULIA DALRYMPLE AothoT of " Little Me Too," " The Make-Believe Boys," etc. r School Edition ^BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY ' 1912 Copyright, tgio. By LITTI.S, Brown, and Company. All righti tmitrved 8. J. Pabsbill a Col, BoaiToa, C. B. A, CONTENTS I. A Letter for Betfy I II. " The Elvins Are Coming " 8 III. The Young Habitant . IS IV. Across the Continent . 22 V. Planning the Pageant . . 3° VI. Indians and Explorers 36 VII. Silver Brook Farms 43 VIII. A Day in Ottawa . . 49 IX. Down the Timber Slide . 56 X. Three Young Scouts . . 62 XI. Mount Royal .... . 67 XII. " King Wheat "... ■ 73 XIII. In Old Quebec ■ 78 XIV. " The Maple Leaf Forever " 85 XV. On the Way to St. John . . 92 XVI. With the Tide . 98 XVII. Dominion Day in Halifax . . 106 PREFACE North of the United States, stretching across the continent from the Atlantic to the Pacific, lies the Dominion of Canada. From the green meadows of Grand-Pre in the East to the snow-clad peaks of the Rocky Mountains in the West, it is a land of varied scenery and vast resources. The people are alert and energetic, quick to see their oppor- tunities, eager to improve them. The growth and progress of the country during the last quarter of a century have been almost phenomenal. Betty Butler, the daughter of an Ontario farmer, is a type of the young Canadian of to-day. Her interests lie on her father's farm, and it is her great ambition to become a help to him. Her two cousins from the West are wide-awake, active lads, who come to spend the summer with Betty. The three children have all sorts of good times together. They do a little farming, plan and carry out a simple pageant, and ride down a timber slide; but the best time of all is a trip to Montreal, Quebec and Halifax, with an adventure which wins for Betty a coveted prize. ILLUSTRATIONS Pagb Betty and Betsy .... Frontispiece in Color " Sheep-dales stretched back from the St. Lawrence" 1 1 Banff, in the Canadian Rockies 25 Scene in the Pageant at Quebec 33 Parliament Building at Ottawa 52 Down the Timber Slide 60 Wheat is King in Canada 75 Quebec. The Chateau Frontenac, DufEerin Terrace and the Lower Town 79 The Wolfe Monument ...... 89 BETTY IN CANADA CHAPTER I A LETTER FOR BETTY Flyaway Betty ran out of the little country post-office and down the tree-bordered road toward home with twinkling feet. In her hand she carried a letter which the post- mistress had just given her, and she stopped at the gate to look once more at the curious address: — Miss Betty Butler, Longitude 75, Latitude 45. " It is from Uncle John Elvin, of com-se," she said to herself. " No one else in the world would ever think of addressing a letter like that. To think that it came 'way across the continent to find me! " and Betty turned the envelope over and over to be sure that no clue was hidden away in any corner. " Longitude 75, latitude 45," she repeated. " That is surely where we live; but why didn't he put on the town and province? It must be just 2 BETTY IN CANADA one of Uncle John's jokes," and a merry smile twinkled in her blue eyes. " I hope mother is at home," she thought, as she ran along between the hedgerows of lilacs that bordered the path to the house. " A letter from Uncle John always brings good news, but I shall not read it without mother." Across the broad veranda and into the wide hall she sped, calling a sweet clear bird-note up the stairso " Pr-r-r, Mother mine! Where are you. Mother ? Pr-r-r! " and her voice ended in a canary ripple of music. But no answer came from high or low, and Betty turned back to the veranda with a shade of disap- pointment on her dimpled face. " I must wait until she comes," she said, slip- ping the letter into her pocket. " I suppose she has gone to Madame Juneau's with some sewing," and she leaned against one of the great round pillars and looked down over the sloping fields to the river. It was the St. Lawrence River that rolled so majestically past the broad farm-lands at the foot of the hill. Betty Butler's twelve years had been spent on its banks, and hardly a picture was stored away in her busy little brain that did not have the beautiful blue St. Lawrence for a background. A LETTER FOR BETTY 3 As she stood now, looking across its rippling water and beyond the two pretty islands toward the farther shore, a boat slipped around a bend in the river and glided swiftly down the stream. Boys' voices, chanting the melody of the Cana- dian boat-song, floated through the soft air to Betty's ears, and she sang the words with them as they dipped their oars to the rhythm of the music: — " Faintly as tolls the evening chime. Our voices keep tune and our oars keep time. Soon as the woods on the shores grow dim, We'll sing at Saint Anne's our parting hsmm. Row, brothers, row; the stream runs fast. The rapids are near and the daylight's past." Even as the words fell from her lips there came the sound of church bells chiming through the valley, and the tints of a golden sunset crept slowly across the sky. Betty forgot the unopened letter, with its news from her uncle, and stood gazing over the smooth fields to the quiet water edges. The young, yellow-green of the spring was all about her, in the half-opened leaves on the trees and the new-springing grass of the sod. Alders were blooming, willows were dragging their droop- ing branches in the water, and robins in the tree-tops were singing cheerily to each other. A white sheep with a heavy coat of wool rounded 4 BETTY IN CANADA the corner of the house, bleated a cry of welcome, and trotted on slender legs toward the little girl. She held out her hand and spoke gently to her pet, but she kept her eyes on the river, which had begun to redden in the siuiset glow. " Spring is the best time in the whole year in Canada," she said to herself. Then, turning from the veranda, she ran quickly across the lawn and through a thrifty orchard of young fruit trees until she reached a gate in a rail fence. Beyond the fence was a second orchard, smaller, but just as thrifty; and beyond this orchard, cud- dling down behind the trees, was a low rambling cottage. Betty opened the gate and followed the narrow footpath under the trees. " Auntie Doris! " she called, running around to the front of the house, and startling an old tabby cat from her comfortable nap on the worn doorstone. "Auntie Doris!" she called again, pushing open the door, and stepping through the tiny square entry into the bright sitting-room. " What is it that you want, Cherie ? " ques- tioned the little French lady, who was sewing at the window, with gay-colored pieces all about her on the floor. Betty was on her knees in a moment, gathering up the pieces and sorting out the scraps for the A LETTER FOR BETTY 5 rug basket. " This is like the dress I am wearing now," she said; and she put her finger on a bit of bright blue print. " Your moder she gave it to me yesterday. I am making an apron for Marie Louise," said Madame Juneau, holding up a handful of dainty ruffles. " Where are all the children ? " questioned Betty. " They have gone to the garden with Fernand." " And where is my mother ? " asked Betty, suddenly remembering her errand. " I thought I should find her here. I have a letter to read with her." "I do not know. I have not seen her this day," and Auntie Doris picked up the apron and basted on a ruffle with skillful fingers. " It is a letter from Uncle John Elvin," Betty explained. " I am in a dreadful hurry to read it," and she jumped up impatiently from the floor. " Why not read it now? " " Because I like to share pleasant things with my mother. That makes them twice as pleasant, and mother is always so happy over them that she seems just like another little girl, and not like a grown-up mother at all. I wish father was like that," and Betty piursed up her mouth into a tiny knot at the thought in her mind. " Now, now! somebody must be grown up, or 6 BETTY IN CANADA what would become of you all ? " replied Auntie Doris, shaking her head at the little girl. " Sister Mary could easily take care of us. She is always saying, ' I am older than you and I know what is best.' " Betty said it with a twist of her head and a sidelong look from her eyes that made the little lady smile in spite of herself. " You know, Auntie Doris," Betty continued, " father could be such good friends with me if he would only let himself. But he has been so busy all his life, getting the finest farm in Ontario into good shape, that he hasn't had time to think of his two daughters. We have grown up with what help mother has been able to give us. We have always been to Sunday-school, of course, and to day-school, — everybody goes to day-school; and we have had enough to eat, and plenty of good clothes to wear, and all that; and books to read, and playthings, and — " " Well, well, Betty Butler! what more in the world could you possibly want ? " interrupted her friend. " I want to help my father look after his farm," said Betty earnestly. " But your father does not need your help. There are ten men who work for him now. A little twelve-year-old girl would be in the way." " You don't understand, Auntie Doris. It A LETTER FOR BETTY ^ isn't that my father needs my help. I need to help father. Haven't I shown him that I can raise sheep ? There isn't a finer sheep on the farm than my Betsy, and I have taken care of her ever since she was born." " Yes, yes; we have all heard you tell what a fine sheep Betsy is," replied Auntie Doris with a laugh. " And there are my hens, too. Has not your Fernand promised that they will bring a good price when he takes them to market in Ottawa to-morrow ? " " Yes, yes ! " and Madame Juneau nodded her curly head. " Then my father should let me help him with his own sheep and hens. I know just how — " But a gay little laugh outside the window inter- rupted the sentence, and a merry voice called out, " What is this talk all about? " " There is mother! " Betty exclaimed. " Now we can read the letter," and she dashed out of the house and threw herself into her mother's arms. CHAPTER II " THE ELVINS ARE COMING " " Unfurl all your banners, — we're leaving the West ! Go bring out your trumpets and blow them your best The Elvins are coming, so start up your drumming. The Elvins are coming, — Yo ho ! Yo ho ! "There's Archie and Reggie and gay Uncle John, They're leaving to-morrow before it is dawn. Be ready to. meet them, to hug and to greet them. The Elvins are coming to On-ta-ri-o ! " Betty read the letter, with Reggie's poetic post- script, and waved it over her head with a glad shout. " Come quick and get ready for them," she cried, starting on another run toward home. Mrs. Butler, round and rosy enough to be a girl herself, stopped to speak to Madame Juneau about some sewing, and then followed her daughter across the orchard. " We'll have to invite the boys from the village to play with Archie and Reggie," Betty called back over her shoulder. " And we'll have a picnic in the woods, and go boating on the river. But where will they all sleep ? That's the first question." Across the lawn and through the house she sped, up the stairs and into the guest chamber, to see if it were quite ready for their guests. " We must put a cot bed in here, Mother," she said, as the little mother arrived, very much out of breath with her unaccustomed haste. " I am afraid three men-folk from the mountains of the wild West will open their eyes at the sight of so many white muslin ruffles and pink ribbon bows," said Mrs. Butler, looking doubtfully at curtains and counterpane. " We might leave the room as it is until after they have seen it, and then we could banish the frills and turn it into barracks," Betty suggested; and she hurried up the attic stairs, to return in a moment, dragging a folded cot behind her. " Mary," she called, as she heard a light step on the veranda; "come up here, Mary," and she leaned over the banister to look down at her school- teacher sister. " Yes," replied Mary's gentle voice, " I'm com- ing; " but she stopped to take off her hat, coat and gloves, and put them carefully away before she mounted the stairs to see what impetuous Betty was doing. " What is going to happen now? " she exclaimed, when she found the cot bed at the guest-room door. " Uncle John and Archie and Reggie are coming 10 BETTY IN CANADA to visit US, and we must get a bed ready for Uncle John," said Betty in a business-like tone. Mary looked doubtfully at the cot. " Uncle John is much longer than that bed," she said. " The last time he was here he measured six feet and two inches in his stockings. That cot is one I outgrew two years ago." " Well, one of the boys can sleep in it then," Betty suggested, " The boys are over five feet if they are an inch," said Mrs. Butler. " Mary will have to sleep in your room and give her room to your uncle. We can put the cot in your room and you can sleep on it." Betty threw herself down on the floor beside the cot, and stretched herself out to her full length. " Yes, it will do," she admitted reluctantly; " but I did hope I was as tall as the boys. Into my room it goes then," and she dragged the cot toward her own chamber. It was a pretty room, with chintz curtains and big comfortable chairs where Betty could curl herself up and read her favorite stories undisturbed. Pic- tures covered the walls and stood on the tables, dressing-case and bureau. But, instead of pictures of people or places, they were all pictures of ani- mals, — sheep, horses, cows, and even a few gayly-colored hens and chickens. Some of them were photographs of famous ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 ■PKl ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^■^"l ^^I^^^B ■'■^i- ,. :.'^l>i . • ■ - f - ■ ,■',.- visits,,. .j-Jji'-' Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. 'The sheep-dales stretched back from the St. Lawrence." Page II paintings, and others were kodak pictures of the animals on their own farm, for Mr. Butler owned the most valuable thoroughbred stock for many miles around. Betty loved the animals, and one of her greatest pleasures was to wander away from the house and lose herself among her father's sheep-dales, which stretched back from the St. Lawrence for nearly a mile. She knew almost every sheep on the farm, and had names for many of them. Her own special pet, Betsy, was her pride and Joy. It had taken several prizes at the great fair in Toronto, and was known far and wide as Betty Butler's blue-ribbon Betsy. A photograph of the sheep and her mistress stood on the table, and even in her hurry, Betty caught it up to look at it. " You dear old Betsy! " she said. Just then her eyes caught sight of a picture of some hens and she turned again to the cot. " We must hurry, Mary," she cried. " It is almost supper-time, and I must run and wash my hens for Fernand to take to market." " Oh, Betty," remonstrated Mary; " don't do such a thing! No one was ever known to wash hens." Betty shook her head willfully. " The reason my Betsy took those prizes was because she looked so clean and white>" she said firmly. " I shall 12 BETTY IN CANADA wash my hens just as carefully as we washed Betsy, and then Fernand will get a good price for them." " But the hens will not like to take a bath," her sister told her. " I am older than you and I know best." Poor Betty soon discovered that Mary was right. The hens squawked and fluttered and made such a terrible fuss over their bath that both Mrs. Butler and Mary ran out behind the house to see what was the matter. There at the pump, bending over a tub of water, stood resolute Betty, with the spray dashing furi- ously into her face and over her clean blue dress. The hen which was being washed was fighting for her life, fighting with all her might, but take her bath she must; Betty was firm and her hands were strong. " Dear me!" exclaimed Mary, "I don't know which is getting the worst of it. Betty can change her dress, but the hens will surely take cold in this ■chilly air." Mrs. Butler could not help laughing at the sight of the struggle. " Betty will carry it through," she said. " She will wash every one of those six hens before she is done. The best thing for us to do is to help her take care of them after they are washed; " and she hurried down into the yard and called above the squawking of the hens, "Have " THE ELVINS ARE COMING " 13 you thought that they may catch cold after their bath?" Betty nodded. " I told Hannah to make a fire in the fireplace in the living-room," she answered. " I can take them in there and let them dry ofE in front of the blaze." Her mother held up her hands in amazement. Then she laughed a merry laugh like a girl. " It is Just as well that your father has gone to Ottawa," she said. " He might not have enjoyed the company of your hens while he was reading his paper." But she went back into the house and told the astonished Hannah to make the fire as Betty had directed. " There will be no harm done," she said. " The hens will be in a cage." When at last the cage was set in front of the fire, and the hens had found their dignity again, the little family spent a quiet evening. The living-room was long and wide, the walls were lined with bookcases, and there were little tables and comfortable chairs everywhere. The great fire in the fireplace sent its warm glow over books and pictures, and the hens blinked their eyes wearily and clucked themselves off to sleep. Betty curled herself up in the depths of the largest armchair and read a fairy story, Mary brought out a bundle of papers to correct, and Mrs. Butler took up a bit of embroidery. 14 BETTY IN CANADA " Bedtime," she announced, when the tall clock struck nine; but Betty shook her head. " Please, Mother mine," she begged, " let me sit up a little longer. Fernand is coming for the hens, and I ought to be here to tell him about them." " You may sit up until ten then, but no longer," her mother said, kissing her good-night. Then she took the candle which Mary lighted for her, and followed her older daughter up the stairs, while Betty curled herself up once more in the big chair. In a little while the house grew very quiet, and only the flickering flames of the fire and the blink- ing eyelids of the hens moved up and down. CHAPTER III THE YOUNG HABITANT The tall clock in the hall, which had come over from England with Betty's great great grandfather, struck ten and then eleven. The fire on the hearth died down to ashes, and the hens tucked their heads under their wings and snuggled closely together in their cage; but Betty slept so soundly that Fer- nand, and the hens, and her mother's bidding were all forgotten. The shrill whistle of a train sounded in the distance, and she moved a little in the armchair, but she did not wake up until a quarter of an hour later, when the sound of footsteps on the gravel walk filtered through her dreams. She stirred and stretched, but even then she did not open her eyes until, suddenly, the footsteps sounded softly on the veranda. Then she sat up straight in her chair and listened intently. She could hear voices whispering outside the window, and for a moment she held her breath in fear. It could not be her father, he would not return from l6 BETTY IN CANADA Ottawa for several days. It was not Fernand, for he would come alone. Who could it possibly be? In a moment she guessed the truth, and with one bound she was out of her chair and in the hall. Like a flash she turned the key and threw the door wide open. " Be ready to meet them, to hug and to greet them. The Elvins have come to On-ta-ri-o! " she cried, and threw her arms around the big burly figure of a man who stood with his hand stretched out to ring the doorbell. " Bless my stars, Betty Butler! What do you mean by taking me so by surprise? I supposed you were in bed and asleep hours ago! " and Uncle John staggered back in astonishment at his niece's sudden greeting. But the two tall lads who stood beside him shouted, " Good work. Cousin Betty! It serves him right for trying to surprise you ; " and their laughter echoed through the hall and up the stairs, waking Betty's mother and sister, and startling the hens in front of the fireplace. " What queer company is this ? " exclaimed Uncle John, as the hens set up a cackling at the sight of the strangers. " In the mountains we were accustomed to having bears and wolves prowling around our camp, but I didn't sup- THE YOUNG HABITANT I? pose they were so thick here that you had to keep the hens in the house." " Oh, Uncle John, you know we don't have bears and wolves aroiind our farm," said Betty. " These are my hens, and Fernand Juneau is going to sell them in Ottawa for me. You have come just in time to help carry them over to his house." . " Good," said Uncle John heartily. " This re- minds me of the time when I was a youngster my- self, and used to start off to market with my father. Lend a hand, boys, and we'll hunt up this Fernand Juneau." Archie took hold of one side of the big wooden cage, Reggie took the other, and Betty and her uncle led the way across the lawn to the orchard fence. " Who is Fernand Juneau ? " questioned Archie, as Betty stopped to open the gate. " He is Madame Juneau's oldest boy," replied Betty. " His father died last fall, and now he is taking care of the farm and the family the best he can. They are habitants." " And what are habitants ? " asked Reggie. He had lived in the West long enough to be familiar with Indians and settlers and iramigrants, but he had never seen the French-Canadian habitants. " Habitants is a French word and means inhab- l8 BETTY IN CANADA itants," his father told him. " The early settlers who came here from France to make their home were called habitants to distinguish them from the explorers and fur-traders and missionaries; and the name has stuck to them through all these years." " There is a book of poems about them," added Betty. " Mary gave it to me for a birthday gift, and I read it to Auntie Doris sometimes when she is sewing. She loves it, but it often makes her cry." " I knew Drummond, the author, very well," said Uncle John. " His death was a great blow to the Canadians. These spring days always re- mind me of one of his poems; " and as they walked along through the moonlit orchard he recited: — ' " Wen small sheep is firs' comin' out on de pasture, Deir nice leetle tail stickin' up on deir back, Dey ronne wit' deir moder, an' play wit' each oder, An' jomp all de tarn jus' de sam' dey was crack. " Dat's very nice tarn for wake up on de momin', An' lissen de rossignol sing eVry place. Feel sout' win' a-blowin', see clover a-growin', An' all de worl' laughin' itself on de face." " Here we are," cried Betty, opening the gate and leading the way across the yard to Madame * Copyright 1897, by G. P. Putnam's Sons. THE YOUNG HABITANT 19 Juneau's door. " And here is Fernand with his market-wagon," she added, as she spied a boy of sixteen standing at the horse's head. The boy was tall and straight, with black eyes and curly hair, and he took off his cap and bowed politely as Betty introduced her uncle and her two cousins. " My moder has gone to the house for some stock- ings she has knit, and Mars, he will ronne away if I let him go," Fernand explained, when Betty asked him where to put the hens. " I'll hold him," Reggie volunteered, and took the bridle while Fernand went to the back of the wagon and pushed the boxes and barrels together to make room for the cage. " What are you taking to market ? " questioned Uncle John. " I have some potatoes and apples, and some good tobacco which I raise and dry myself," Fer- nand answered. " And my moder she send butter andeggs and a cotolan rug." " Who will buy all your things ? " asked Betty, peering into the heaped-up wagon. " Mrs. Gilbert on Lewis Street will buy the butter and eggs. She take dem every week. And the tobacco, some Frenchmen I know, dey say it is the bes' dey can find," and Fernand smiled a proud smile as he thought how carefully he had picked 20 BETTY IN CANADA and dried the stout leaves of strong Canadian to- bacco. " Here is my rug, and this is the box of stock- ings," said Madame Juneau, coming from the house with her hands full of packages. " Be sure you sell them both." " And be sure you sell my hens for a good price," added Betty. " Yes, yes, I sell everything, if Mars he no ronne away and smash something," said Fernand, climb- ing into the wagon and gathering up the reins. " Does Mars run away often?" asked Archie, staring in surprise at the steady-looking horse. It almost seemed as if Mars had heard the ques- tion, for he leaped forward and dashed through the wide-open gate at a breakneck speed; but Fernand held the reins in a strong grasp and let the horse have his head. " How long will he keep up that speed? " asked Uncle John as the sound of the hammering hoofs died away in the distance. " Not very far," answered Madame Juneau; " but he will go at a good pace all the way to Ot- tawa." " How far is it over the road to Ottawa? " ques- tioned Reggie, straining his eyes through the moonlight as if he expected to see the city beyond the trees. THE YOUNG HABITANT 21 " Twenty miles," Madame Juneau told him. " Whew! " exclaimed Reggie. " Is Fernand going to drive home again to-morrow? " " But yes," answered the little lady cheerfully. " Our Canadian farmers often drive many miles to market. Fernand wears warm clothes, and Mars trots along; and by noontime he is in the city and has sold his produce. Then he goes to the market and buys whatever we need, and at four o'clock he is on his way home. It is a long day for a boy, but my Fernand is strong and he does the best he can." " Father says Fernand is a son to be proud of," said Betty rather wistfully, as she slipped her hand into her uncle's and turned to lead the way toward home. But it was almost an hour before the family at last settled down for the night, for a good supper was spread out in front of the fireplace, a bright fire was blazing on the hearth, and Mrs. Butler and Mary were waiting to welcome the guests, and hear about the journey across the continent. CHAPTER IV ACROSS THE CONTINENT When Uncle John went downstairs the next njorning he found Betty in the living-room with a beautiful Angora kitten in her lap. " Where is your dog ? " he asked, as the kitten jumped down and ran out of the room. " I haven't any dog now," she answered soberly. " No dog L" exclaimed Uncle John. " How does that happen ? I thought you always had a dog and half a dozen cats." " Some one stole my dog," Betty explained. " But now, if Fernand sells my hens for five dollars, I am going to buy one of Jack Russell's Airedale terriers. They are the sweetest little things you ever saw," and Betty ran to the desk to find a picture of them. Just then Mary came into the room to say that breakfast was ready, and as they sat down to the table Uncle John tossed a package of railroad cir- culars into Betty's lap. " Perhaps you would like to see how far we have travelled since last Friday," he said. " We left ACROSS THE CONTINENT 23 Banff on the Canadian Pacific train just twenty- four hours after our letter, and we came whizzing across the prairies and beside the Great Lakes, all the way to Ottawa, without once changing cars." Betty opened the circulars eagerly and looked at all the photographs of mountains, lakes and rivers, before she turned to the map of Canada. " Where is the Canadian Pacific Railroad ? " she asked. " Does it run through our town ? " " No, that is the Grand Trunk Railroad," spoke up Reggie, " There are two great railway systems in Canada, and new lines are being built in every direction all the time. Father is going north with the surveyors next week to look over the ground of the new Hudson Bay route, and he has just finished a short line in the Rocky Mountains." • " That's right," said Archie. " Canada is building railroads and canals and grain elevators and docks all the time, but her railroads are the hummers." " I've found the Canadian Pacific," Betty an- nounced. " It goes right straight across the con- tinent to Vancouver." " That is why it is called a transcontinental line," her sister told her. " There will soon be another," said Archie, help- ing himself to some marmalade. " The Grand 24 BETTY IN CANADA Trunk is building a new railway across Canada, which they expect to finish next year." " Then that's the one I choose," said Betty, " because it goes right past our farm, and I can jump on the train here and go flying out to the Pacific coast to see the Indians." " Indians! " exclaimed Reggie; " you'll find more white people than Indians out there now. The railroads have opened up enormous tracts of land, and settlers have gone there from England and all the other countries of Europe." " The railroads run right through the Rocky Mountains, don't they ? " said Betty, tracing with her finger the red line that crossed the fuzzy trail on the map which stood for the great Rocky Moun- tain system. " We say it runs over the mountains," said her uncle; " but you are right, it really runs through them. It is the surveyor's business to find passes between the mountains, and then the railroad is buUt through these gaps, in steep winding curves and zigzags. At some points on the line the trav- eller can look up to snow-clad peaks a mile above the track." " Have you been in such places ? " asked Betty, turning the pages of the circular to find a picture of snow-capped mountains. " Yes; often," replied Uncle John. " It is my Copyright by Underwood & Underwood, N. Y. Banff, in the Canadian Rockies Page 25 ACROSS THE CONTINENT 2$ business to hunt up good routes for the railroads, and I have to travel through the mountains and out into the wilderness before the road is built." " And so have we," put in Reggie. " Some- times father takes us with him when he is going surveying." Betty clasped her hands and looked at her uncle, who was eating bacon and eggs as calmly as if he / had lived on an Ontario farm all his life. " We ought to have given you roast turkey at least," she said impulsively. " Why ? " asked her uncle in surprise. " Because you have travelled among the snow- clad peaks of the longest continuous moun- tain system on the earth," said Betty in an awed tone. Uncle John and the boys laughed at her words and the expression on her face, but Betty shook her head. " Please don't laugh," she said. " My geography makes it out a wonderful thing, — that Rocky Mountain system. I am sure that the peaks and glaciers and canyons must be a beauti- ful sight." Her uncle stopped laughing and said kindly, " You are right, Betty. It is a wonderful sight. I never feel like laughing when I stand on a peak high up among the clouds and look down at the mountains and valleys, lakes and rivers, spread 26 BETTY IN CANADA out before me, just as they have lain for ages past and will lie for ages to come." Betty drew a long breath, " That is what I want to see," she said eagerly. " Couldn't you take me with you when you go exploring on the shores of Hudson Bay?" Her uncle shook his head. " That is too much wilderness even for my boys at present," he said. " How long is the Canadian Pacific Railway? " questioned Mary, who was always storing up in- formation for her pupils. " The line across the continent is more than three thousand miles long," Uncle John told her; and he traced the red line from Vancouver on the Pacific coast, eastward over the wall of mountains, down into the plains, and across the prairies and rivers till it skirted the Great Lakes; then on be- yond, to Ottawa and Montreal. " It used to stop here," he said, " Montreal is the summer port for many ocean-going steamers." " But Canada runs farther east than Mont- real," and Betty's finger ran along the St. Lawrence, and across New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. " That is true," replied her uncle, " and now the Canadian Pacific owns a line to St. John, New Brunswick. In the winter the St. Lawrence River is frozen for four or five months, and so St. John ACROSS THE CONTINENT 27 and Halifax are winter ports. The harbor at St, John is kept free from ice by the high tides. " There was a raihoad running from Montreal to Quebec many years ago. These eastern cities are old, but the West is new. When the Canadian Pacific was pushed across the plains in 1882 and 1883, scattered settlements followed in its wake, and from these some of our great western cities like Winnipeg and Vancouver have grown. Now the Canadian Northwest is the pride and glory of the Dominion. That is where the promise of Canada lies. " The Hudson Bay Company and the Northwest Fur Company had always considered the North- west their own preserve since the first fur-traders arrived in Canada, more than three hundred years ago; but in 1870 the Government paid a large sum for the land, and since then the Northwest Territories have been making all the rest of the world open its eyes." "How?" questioned Betty, who liked to talk about things that sounded big and important, and made her feel proud of being a Canadian. " By their rapid growth and their vast resources," replied her uncle. " We are just beginning to find out what a great country this is. We have some of the richest wheat soil in the world, and people must always have bread, you know. 28 BETTY IN CANADA " This wheat land covers millions of acres, and besides this we have immense grazing plains for cattle. On the shores of the northern lakes and among the mountains we have some of the richest mineral fields in the world. Gold, iron, coal, and many other valuable minerals are waiting to be mined. " And just as important as all these are our for- ests. There is no other country in the world except Russia with so much timber land." Uncle John took hold of Betty's cheeks and pinched them roguishly as he finished his long speech, but she looked up at him earnestly. " Who is going to raise the wheat, and mine the minerals, and cut down the trees ? " she asked. " That is what the settlers and immigrants are doing," spoke up Archie. " They are building up an enormous business for the country, and there are some splendid cities on the prairies. There's Winnipeg, half-way between Montreal and Van- couver, — they call it the ' Chicago of the North.' It is bigger than Ottawa, and as handsome — al- most." "Almost!" echoed Betty with a laugh. "I rather think you didn't see such handsome Govern- ment Buildings in Winnipeg as there are in Ot- tawa." " No, of course not," Archie admitted, " because ACROSS THE CONTINENT 29 Ottawa is the capital of the whole Dominion, and Winnipeg is only the capital of the province of Manitoba. And, besides, I have never seen Ot- tawa except when we changed cars there last night; but Winnipeg is the finest city I ever saw." " You have never seen many cities, have you? " asked Betty, with a saucy twinkle in her eye. " I was born in Vancouver, and we lived there for ten years," answered Archie rather hotly. " Come, Betty, it is time for you to go to school," her mother interrupted, as she rose from the table and led the way to the living-room. But the children were not so near quarrelling as she thought, for as Betty slipped past Archie she whispered, " Day after to-morrow is Saturday, and we shall have all day to play. I've been thinking that we can have a pageant. You can be an ex- plorer, and Reggie can be a missionary. All the little Juneaus can be Indians, and we will explore Silver Brook down in our meadow." CHAPTER V PLANNING THE PAGEANT " Coo-EE, coo-ee, coo-ee! " sang Betty, at the orchard gate, and in a few n[iinutes all the little Juneaus, — Jean Baptiste, Julie, 'Poleon, and Marie Louise, — came running down the path to see what was wanted. " We are going to have a pageant to-morrow after- noon, down in our meadow, and we want you to be Indians," Betty explained, while Archie began an Indian dance, and Reggie gave a war whoop to show what she meant. Marie Louise hid behind her sister and peeped out in terror at the two wild Indians, but 'Poleon asked eagerly, " What is a pageant ? " " It is a picture of history," Betty explained. " But who will paint it ? " questioned Julie. " No one will paint it. It is more like a moving picture, and we will all take part in it," Betty told her. " They had a pageant in Quebec in 1908, when the city was three hundred years old. Father and mother went to see it, and they brought home ever so many pictures of the different scenes. PLANNING THE PAGEANT 31 " The Prince of Wales was there, and the Gov- ernor-General, and oh, it was wonderful! There were hundreds of people in the pictures, and thou- sands of people went to see them." The dark faces of the little French children glowed with delight, and their eyes fairly danced in their heads at the idea of taking part in a play. " I don't see how we can manage to have an audience for our pageant," Betty continued; " but we can have four good pictures, and you can be in every one of them if you will be Indians. I thought it all out last night before I went to sleep." " We have some Indian suits that we have out- grown. Baptiste and 'Poleon can wear them," suggested Jack Russell. He and his brother Dick had come to spend the afternoon with Archie and Reggie, and they were as eager as Betty over the pageant. " What shall I wear ? " asked black-eyed Julie. " You can be an Indian squaw and wear a blanket and some moccasins. You can braid yoiu' hair in two braids and twine it with long strings of beads," Betty told her. Marie Louise crept out from behind her sister at the mention of beads. " Marie can be an Indian papoose, and Julie can carry her on her back," Reggie suggested. " I'm afraid Marie is too big to be a papoose," 32 BETTY IN CANADA said Betty; " but she can be a little Indian girl. I have the dearest suit that father brought me when he went to visit one of the Indian reservations. He brought a picture of the Indian children, too; but they don't wear blankets and feathers nowa- days." "What pictures can we have?" questioned Reggie, who was anxious to get on with the plans. " First we can have Jacques Cartier coming over from France in 1535. He sailed up the St. Law- rence and discovered the Indian village of Sta- dacona, where Quebec is now, and then he went on farther, to Hochelaga, where Montreal stands," said Betty, referring to a slip of paper which she took from her pocket. " I read about it in my history to-day. There were nearly one thousand Algonquin Indians in the village of Hochelaga, and they had three rows of palisades around their wigwams to keep out the other Indians. Can you be a thousand Indians ? " she asked, turning to the Juneaus. Jean Baptiste seized a stick and brandished it in the air, while 'Poleon pranced around in a circle, yelling, " Ya, ya! Wow, wow! Me big injun! Wow! " " Jack might be Cartier," said Reggie, " and we could be his followers." " You'll be needed for the other pictures," Betty PLANNING THE PAGEANT 33 told him; " but Jack can be Cartier and sail up Silver Brook until he comes to that great rock just beyond the maple tree. That can be Stada- cona, and then he can go on up to the little island beyond the pasture bars, and that can be Hoch- elaga." " We ought to have Champlain, too," said Archie. " He sailed up the St. Lawrence in 1603, and found that the Indian villages had been de- stroyed; and then, five years later, he started a little colony at Stadacona and called it Quebec. That was the beginning of our famous city." " That can be our second picture," said Betty, " and you can be Champlain, and go exploring up the St. Lawrence and discover Lake Cham- plain." " Where do I come in ? " questioned Reggie. " I thought you could be a fur-trader, and I could be a trapper," Betty told him. " When Canada was discovered, men began coming over from France to buy furs from the Indians. They paid for them with little things like beads and knives, and then they sold them in France for a great deal of money. You might be the Hudson Bay Company and buy furs from the Indians and settlers. We have plenty of old furs in the house which mother will let us take, and there is an old bearskin robe in the barn." 34 BETTY IN CANADA " Fernand has a fur cap and gloves," suggested Julie. " And a sheepskin coat," added 'Poleon. " You'll make a fortune with your fur-trading," laughed Archie. " Just like the Hudson Bay Company," put in Dick Russell, who was a shy, quiet little lad, with big gray eyes and a serious look on his pale face. " Oh, Dick," exclaimed Betty, " I almost forgot your part! Will you be Father Jogues? He was one of the most famous of the Jesuit missionaries who came over from France to convert the Indians, and he travelled for hundreds of miles, up and down the lakes and rivers, and all through the wilderness." " And he was captured by the Iroquois and ter- ribly tortured," added Dick, who knew his history very well. " They tortured him for days and weeks, but he finally escaped and went back to France. He came to New France a second time, and then, when the Indians caught him, they tortured him until he died." " We'll leave all that out," said Betty decidedly. " You can be living in a wigwam and trying to convert Julie and Marie Louise. " Of course we can't have such a splendid pageant as they had in Quebec, with lords and ladies, and a prince of the realm; but a pageant of the Indians PLANNING THE PAGEANT 35 and explorers will show the early history of our country, and we will make it as nearly true as we possibly can. Mother will help us get our cos- tumes ready, and Mary will make us a French flag." " Let's get the boat ready now," suggested Jack Russell. " And then we can build the wigwams at Stada- cona and Hochelaga," added Reggie, and he started off across the meadow to Silver Brook, followed by all the others, who practiced war whoops and Indian dances on the way. CHAPTER VI INDIANS AND EXPLORERS It was mid-afternoon. The sun sent a shaft of light through the trees, and made a bright setting for the picture which met the eyes of two men who had just crossed the meadow and were standing under a spreading willow near the bank of Silver Brook, Below them, on the same bank, was a huge boulder, and at the foot of the rock, floating broad- side in the brook and tied seciurely to a tree, was an old flat-bottomed scow. Around the rock two young Indians were dancing and prancing. They were gayly decorated with war .paint and feathers. Their noble legs were encased in leather-fringed trousers, and red blan- kets were draped over their shoulders. One of them carried a bow and arrow, and the other brandished a stick which was evidently intended for a tomahawk. On top of the rock a squaw and her little girl were sitting in the door of their wigwam. INDIANS AND EXPLORERS 37 A boy who had been standing in the bow of the boat, shading his eyes with his hand to watch the antics of the Indians, now stepped on shore and planted a strong staff in the soft earth. As he shook out the French flag he announced solemnly " In the name of France and the King I take pos- session of this land." It was plainly Cartier discovering New France. The two men stood still under the tree and watched with interest while the Indians greeted the famous French explorer, who was the first white man to set foot on the great rock which later became the fortress of Quebec. " The children are having a pageant. Let us sit down and watch thern," one of the men said to the other; and they found a comfortable seat where they could see the tableaux without being seen themselves. For more than half an hoiur one historic scene followed another. The Indians welcomed Cartier to their village with shouts of joy, and told. him, by means of signs, about Hochelaga, an Indian village on an island many days' journey up the river. Champlain sailed up the brook and founded the little colony of Quebec on the rock where Cartier had seen the Indian village of Stadacona. Then he went on up the brook, and in imagination 38 BETTY IN CANADA no doubt discovered the beautiful lake which bears his name. A Jesuit missionary appeared, to convert the Indians, and wandered off to visit distant villages; but the Indians cast dark looks at the black-robed figure. They declared that he brought hunger and disease among them, and caused severe storms and poor hunting. But Betty, the trapper, was the most picturesque figure of them all. She wore a gymnasium suit of blue flannel, no longer dedicated to the peaceful art of poise, but wild with leather straps and shaggy fringe. Traps hung from her belt, a bundle of furs was thrown over her shoulder, and on her arm she carried a big basket. Beside her trotted the little Airedale terrier, and behind her stalked the two Indians, also carrying furs. They all boarded the boat and there they found Reggie, the trader, who bought their furs for a handful of red beads and packed them carefully away, ready to take back to France. This was evidently the last scene in the great pageant, for Betty opened her basket and dis- played provisions more delicious than any the early explorers of Canada would have dared to expect from their mother country. " We can play that I am a relief ship sent over with food for the starving colonists," she said, INDIANS AND EXPLOEEBS 39 as she passed sandwiches and cookies to the white men and the Indians. " And you can play that we are the Prince of Wales and the Governor- General who have been viewing your pageant and think it was a great success," said Uncle John, as he and his com- panion suddenly stepped out from behind the tree and appeared before the astonished children. "Oh, Father!" cried Betty, "when did you come home ? " and she jumped on shore in such haste that she almost upset the famous ship which had made so many imaginary journeys up and down the St. Lawrence in the course of one short afternoon. " He came two hours ago and brought news that I must be off for Hudson Bay at once," her uncle told her, while Mr. Butler was welcoming his two nephews. " Does that mean that Reggie and I have march- ing orders, too, sir ? " asked Archie when he heard the news. " How would you like to stay here on the farm and help me this summer ? " suggested Mr. Butler, without waiting for the boys' father to answer. " That is just what I should like very much, sir," spoke up Reggie at once; but Archie looked inquiringly at his father. " We have been talking the matter over this 40 BETTY m CANADA afternoon," Mr. Butler continued, " and we have come to the conclusion that a little knowledge of farming will do you more good than a summer in the wilderness." " It will surely be a help to know something about farming when I take up my homestead claim," said Reggie with a laugh, " There is splendid wheat land out West which the government is giving away to any man who will cultivate it, and I mean to get my share some day." " Then this is a good chance for you to learn how to cultivate it," said Mr. Butler; " and I have been looking for a good boy to help me with my work. You and Archie have come at just the right time." He did not notice the tears which came into his daughter's eyes at his words; but when the children had bidden good-bye to the Russell boys, and had started off toward home with their furs and blankets. Uncle John walked along beside Betty and drew her hand into his own. " So you don't wish to have your cousins stay here this summer," he said. " You think they ought to go off to the woods with me." " No," answered Betty, " I am glad they are going to stay; but I wish my father would let me help him, too." " Oh, ho! " said Uncle John with a whistle, INDIANS AND EXPLORERS 4^ " Father thinks that girls should work in the house, does he ? " Betty nodded her head. "Attention all!" called Uncle John suddenly, and the little party halted under the orchard trees. " I am going to offer a prize," he announced, as soon as the children were listening. " I am going to offer a prize to the one who can show the best returns from a vegetable garden this fall." " All of us ? Me ? " asked each one of the seven children. " Yes, all of you," replied Uncle John. Mr. Butler laughed. " We shall have some funny gardens," he said; " but I will provide the land. It shall run down to the water's edge in long strips, like the farms that belong to the French Ca- nadians in the province of Quebec; and I will see that you have some good seeds, too." As soon as they were on their way again, Betty said to her uncle, "Did you mean to give me a chance to show my father what I can do out of doors ? " " That is exactly what I did mean," replied Mr. Elvin. " You'll see that I shall win the prize then," Betty said decidedly. " I shall spend every spare minute in my garden, and I'll just make the things grow." 42 BETTY m CANADA " That is right," said her uncle; " and while you are planting seeds in the ground, you may be planting seeds of another sort in your father's mind." Betty gave a happy little laugh. " I wish you were going to be here to see both kinds of seeds grow," she said. Her uncle shook his head. " I must be off for the North this very day," he replied. " There is a garden up there where I must help to plant the seeds of growth and prosperity." CHAPTER VII SILVER BROOK FARMS The daily papers in Ottawa and Montreal an- nounced that seeding had begun on the great wheat lands of the West at least a week earlier than usual that spring; but they made no mention of the fact that seven young farmers in Ontario had their vegetables well started by the first of May. " Of course Uncle John will not expect to see the vegetables when he comes back in the fall," said Betty, when they were looking over their seeds. " We shall have to sell them and save the money we earn to prove that our gardens were a success." " What are you going to plant ? " questioned Reggie, looking up from a seed catalogue which he had been studying. " I have decided to raise green peas and canta- loupes," Betty answered. " I can plant every bit of my land to peas, and between the rows I can plant melon seeds. Then, when I have sold the peas, I can pull up the vines and have a good crop of cantaloupes." 44 BETTY IN CANADA " I shall raise all kinds of vegetables," spoke up Archie. " And I shall raise buckwheat, and put one of the beehives down beside my garden where the bees can get the honey from the blossoms," de- clared Reggie. " Clover makes better honey," Betty told him, and turned to ask Jean Baptiste what he was going to plant. " We are all going to have market gardens," he replied. " Then Fernand can sell our vegetables in Ottawa; " and he hurried home to ask Ms brother what he could sell the easiest and what would bring the best prices. The seven gardens were ranged side by side along a swale between the orchard and the brook, so Betty called them " Silver Brook Farms." Mr. Butler had the land ploughed and made ready for planting. Then he marked it off in equal strips and let the children draw lots for them. Maxie Louise drew first because she was the youngest of the farmers. She drew an outside strip, the one nearest the orchard, and Jean Bap- tiste offered to take care of it for her if he could have the strip next hers. Julie and 'Poleon laughed to hear his offer, till Jean's face grew red with anger. " Jean Baptiste, he never take care of any gar- SILVER BROOK FARMS 45 den before," Julie explained. " When Fernand try to make Jean help him in the garden, Jean, he go a-fishing and stay all the day." Perhaps it was because he knew they were watching him closely that Jean Baptiste did not go fishing once that spring. He worked in the two strips early and late, and was rewarded by such a wonderful growth that the other children often compared their gardens with his. " Jean's peas are an inch high," Betty an- nounced at the breakfast table, one morning about three weeks after the seeds were put into the ground. " I am going to hoe mine this afternoon and see if it won't make them grow faster. Fer- nand says the first peas bring the best price." " I heard of a man once," spoke up Reggie, " who made his son hoe potatoes for a penny a row. The penny was always hidden at the end of the row, and the boy had to dig until he found it." " I should have begim digging at that end of the row," said practical Betty, and she hurried off to school, determined that her peas should all be hoed before nightfall, pennies or no pennies. But when she came home at noon she had for- gotten her peas in the excitement of something new. " Mother mine," she said, running upstairs to find her mother, " I've invited company to dinner, and he is out on the veranda now. He is a teacher 46 BETTY IN CANADA from the Agricultural College at Guelph. He wants to go over the whole farm with father this afternoon, and he is going to take a look at Silver Brook Farms, too. He has been inspecting our school garden this morning, and he gave us a talk about the work in his college. " They teach everything about fanning and gardening and housekeeping, and, if you please, I should like to go there just as soon as I am old enough," and Betty held her breath while she waited for her mother's answer. " We will welcome your guest first, and decide about your college career a little later," said Mrs. Butler, and she went out to the veranda to meet Mr. Browne. At the dinner table the visitor told so many inter- esting stories about the work at the Agricultural College that Reggie decided to go there himself, and wanted to write to his father at once to ask permission. " We like to have our students know something about farming before they come to us," Mr. Browne told him; " but I understand you have a garden of your own where you are getting excellent experi- ence this spring. Perhaps you may be ready for the examinations next fall." Then he turned to talk with Mr. Butler about fruit-growing, and after dinner the two men went SILVER BROOK FARMS 47 off to a distant peach orchard to see some trees which were just beginning to bear. It was late in the afternoon before Mr. Browne was ready to visit Silver Brook Farms. There he found Betty digging away, with a flushed face and blistered hands. Every row of peas had been hoed, not a weed showed in the whole strip, and her eyes shone with delight when the inspector praised her work. " Girls can be farmers as well as boys, can't they?" she asked eagerly; and when he told her that some girls are better farmers than boys she looked quickly to see if her father had heard his words. But Mr. Butler was thinking of a question of peach-growing which they had been discussing. " Come back to the house and spend the night," he said to Mr. Browne, " and to-morrow we will ride up to the Experimental Farm at Ottawa in my new automobile and talk it over with the Director. " We might take Archie and Reggie, too, if you have no objection. They have never seen the Farm, and the trees and flowers are beautiful at this time of the year." " I'd like to take Betty, too," suggested Mr. Browne. " She seems to be as much interested in farming as the boys are." 48 BETTY IN CANADA Betty clapped her hands with delight, at the idea of an automobile ride to Ottawa, and she hurried away to tell her cousins about it. ■ But the morning brought sad news to Canada, and all plans for sight-seeing and pleasure excur- sions were postponed, for in the night Kling Ed- ward VII, ruler of the British Empire, had died, and all his loyal subjects mourned his loss. ' CHAPTER VIII A DAY IN OTTAWA It was more than three weeks before Mr. Butler found time to take Betty and her two cousins on their promised ride to Ottawa; but one morning in early June the fine new automobile rolled through the main street of the little village, bearing three happy children who were eager to see the sights in the capital city of the Dominion. " What do you want to see first ? " questioned Mr. Butler, as they whizzed along past fruit orchards and broad fields of blossoming clover. " I'd like to see the Parliament Building, sir," spoke Archie quickly. " And I'd like to see Rideau Hall where the Governor- General lives," added Reggie. " I'll tell you what I'd like better than anything else," said Betty. " I'd like to see the big sawmills and have a ride down a timber slide. Fernand rode down once with his cousin who is a river driver, and he told us all about it. It is the most exciting thing in the world, and I don't believe it can be very dangerous." 50 BETTY IN CANADA Mr. Butler looked at his daughter in surprise. " I didn't suppose girls cared anything about saw- mills," he said; " but we'll take a look at them if we have time. I have a friend who owns one of the mills. Perhaps he will let us go down the slide on one of his cribs." " How does Ottawa happen to be such a lum- bering center when it is the capital of the Do- minion? " questioned Archie. " It was a lumbering center long before it was the capital," his uncle told him. " A man by the name of Wright, from Massachusetts, came up here into the wilderness in 1800, and started a lumber busi- ness because there were immense forests, and two good rivers, the Ottawa and the Rideau, to float his logs down to the St. Lawrence. " Twenty years later he sold the site of the present city to one of his teamsters for two hundred dol- lars; and a settlement, which was called By town, grew up slowly between the two rivers. " In 1854 it became a city and was named Ottawa, and in 1858, when there was a hot dispute as to whether Quebec, Montreal, Kingston or Toronto should be the capital of Canada, Queen Victoria settled it by selecting Ottawa." " I thought Ottawa was the capital of the whole Dominion," said Archie. " So it is now," replied Mr. Butler. " At first A DAY IN OTTAWA $1 Canada included only Ontario and Quebec, but on July ist, 1867, these two provinces were united with Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to form the Dominion of Canada. Then Ottawa became the capital of the Dominion, and July first has always been celebrated as Dominion Day." " Doesn't the Dominion include the whole coun- try?" exclaimed Betty. " It does now, with the exception of Newfound- land," replied her father. " The other provinces were included later." " We must be coming into the city," said Reggie suddenly. " I can see some tall spires among the trees." " Yes," replied his uncle, " there is the Rideau River, and we shall soon see the Rideau Canal." " It seems to me that everything in Ottawa is named Rideau," Betty remarked. " Rideau is a French word and means cur- tain," her father told her. " The river which empties into the Ottawa pours over the rocks in beautiful falls, so much like a curtain that the French called them Rideau Falls, and then the river and canal were given the same name." " Where are we going first? " questioned Betty, as the automobile rolled slowly through the city streets. " I thought we would take a look at the Parlia- 52 BETTY IN CANADA ment Building, to please Archie," said her father; and in a moment they were on top of the bluff over- looking the Ottawa River, where the government buildings stand. No government in the world is more proudly seated. The buildings are magnificent. They are surrounded by beautiful lawns, and flower-beds bright with blossoms. The children wandered up and down the grav- elled paths, while Mr. Butler went into one of the offices to attend to some business. Betty had eyes only for the flowers and trees, but Reggie walked about vujtil he found the best view of the river and the Chaudi^re Falls, where the water plunges down fifty feet over ragged ledges of rock. There was so much that was interesting for them to see that the time passed quickly, and it seemed but a few minutes before Mr. Butler was back again, ready to take them out to Rideau Hall. As they took their seats in the automobile once more, he turned to look back at the majestic build- ings in their setting of green lawns and trees. " The last time I was here," he said, " was the day of King Edward's funeral, when we were having a memorial service, and it was a scene that I shall never forget. Throngs of people, and companies of soldiers in uniform, filled the square and all the near-by streets, and massed bands in the center A DAY EST OTTAWA S3 of the squaxe played a funeral march, while every- one stood still with bowed head. " At half-past one the music ceased, and all over the city, for three minutes, not a wheel turned in car or factory, not a sound was to be heard except the solemn tolling of the bells. " Then, at the end of the silence, the bands played the National Anthem, and under the bright sun and the cloudless sky, thousands of voices sang together: — "God save our gracious King, Long live our noble King, Giod save the King! Send him victorious, Happy and glorious. Long to reign over us, God save the King ! " Betty's eyes filled with tears. As she put up her hand to wipe them away she asked, " Did you ever see King Edward?" " Yes," replied her father; " but it was when I was a very small boy and I have almost for- gotten it. He came here in i860, when he was the Prince of Wales, to lay the foundation stone of the Parliament Building, and I went with my father to see him. I have heard that he had a ride down one of the timber slides," he added with a smile. 54 BETTY IN CANADA " You saw King George V, too, when he was the Prince of Wales, didn't you?" questioned Archie, as they crossed the bridge over the canal and turned into Major's Hill Park. " Yes," answered Mr. Butler; " he was here in 1908. I saw him in Quebec at the time of the pageant, and also when he was in Ottawa as a guest of the Governor- General." The Dominion of Canada is one of the colonies of the British Empire; but it has its own Houses of Parliament, where it makes laws for the manage- ment of its home affairs. The Governor- General is appointed by the king, and his salary is paid by Canada. As he represents the king, he maintains a court, on a small scale, quite as the king does in England. He lives at Rideau Hall, just across the Rideau River, and the mansion is surrounded by a large park, with tree- shaded avenues and flower-bordered paths. At one end of the park there is a skating-pond, where there is always a gay scene in winter; and it was here that the children ate the dainty lunch which they had brought from home. It was the middle of the afternoon before they were ready to ride back into the city, and the moment they were in the car Betty reminded her father of his promise. " You thought we might visit one of the sawmills A DAY IN OTTAWA 55 and ride down a timber slide," she suggested, rather timidly. Mr. Butler looked at his watch, and then con- sulted the chauffeur, while the children waited eagerly for his decision. " Yes," he said at last, " we shall have two hours before we need to start for home. You shall have your promised ride. You will find it more exciting than the steepest toboggan slide you ever saw." CHAPTER IX DOWN THE TIMBER SLIDE " Two hundred and seventy-five million feet of lumber are sawed in the mills of Ottawa in one season," Mr. Butler told the children, as they left the automobile and walked toward the sawmills on the bank of the river, near the Chaudi&'e Falls. " Where do they get all the lumber to saw? " questioned Archie. " There are vast forests all over Canada," replied his uncle; " and the work of getting out the logs, and floating them down the rivers, furnishes employment to hundreds of men. " In the fall gangs of men are sent away up north by the owners of the timber limits, and after they leave the railroad they often have to ride thirty or forty miles through the woods. " They select a good place for their camp. Then they cut down the trees and build a shelter for their horses, a cook-house, and several log cabins where they sleep. They build passages to connect these huts, so that they can go from one to the other after dark without fear of being attacked by wolves." DOWN THE TIMBEK SLIDE S7 " Wolves! " exclaimed Betty. " Are there wolves in the woods? " " You'd think so," spoke up Archie, " if you had heard them howling around our camp in the Rockies last summer. Father never let us step away from the cabin after dark." " As soon as the men get their camp ready they begin getting out the logs," Mr. Butler con- tinued. " Some chop down the trees and others trim off the branches. Some saw the logs into lengths which will be easier to handle, while others sort them out and blaze them with the owner's mark. " Then they are loaded on bob-sleds and drawn down to the bank of the river. If there is no river near by, they are taken to the nearest railroad and hauled to the sawmills on freight cars; but it is much cheaper to float them down the rivers when the ice breaks up in the spring." " How do the men get anything to eat, away off there in the woods ? " questioned Archie. " The provisions are carried from the railroad to the camp on sleds drawn by horses; or, if the snow is too deep for that, they are packed on toboggans and drawn in by men on snowshoes. The cook is kept pretty busy providing food for so many hungry men. At noon, if they are a mile or more from the camp, their lunch is sent to them; 58 BETTY m CANADA but their breakfast and supper are eaten in the shanty, as the cook-house is called." " I shouldn't think they would have very good things to eat," Betty said, with a shrug of her shoulders. " Oh, yes they do," replied her father. " They have pork and beans, apple pie made with dried apples, biscuits, tea, and delicious bread which is bakeE 10 1 in," the stranger reminded her. " It will be seven or eight hours before you can go to Avonport in the boat, and then you can't come back imtil to-morrow. The tide is so strong that the boat comes and goes with it, so it makes only one trip a day each way." " Oh dear! What shall I do? " and Betty gave a sigh of disappointment. " Father is so anxious to find the right man to-day, and he must be in Halifax to-morrow to make his speech." She looked off, as she spoke, at the little village twelve miles away, nestling among the trees, with its white church spire pointing toward the blue sky. " I shall hire a carriage and drive down to Avonport," she decided after a moment. " Will you come with me, Reggie ? " " Of course I will," said her cousin. " Do you suppose I would let you go alone ? " "Then we must hurry," Betty told him; and, bidding good-bye to the stranger, they hurried down the hill to find a carriage and driver. Two hours later, when Mr. Butler returned from a fruitless search, he found Archie looking dis- consolately for the truants. But no one had any idea where they were, and for another hour uncle and nephew searched the little town in the greatest anxiety. I02 BETTY IN CANADA Meanwhile Betty and her cousin were having an exciting adventure. Avonport was farther away than they had ex- pected, the horse was slow and the roads were rough. The rivers of Nova Scotia are salt arms of the sea that come rushing in with the high tides, undermining the bridges, washing out the roads, and making the travelling extremely poor. At the end of two hours Avonport was still three miles away. " We shall never get back in time! " Betty exclaimed, as the horse toiled slowly up a gentle hill. " Please urge the man to drive faster." Reggie explained their haste to the driver. " We have to be back in Windsor to get the train for Halifax," he said. " Well, you'll never do it with old Tom here," the man told them. " But the tide is coming in now, and you can go back on the boat. That ought to be fast enough for you," and as he drove up to Martin Mack's house he pointed out the boat- landing on the bank of the river, which was now a torrent of water rushing up the stream toward Windsor. " You'll have to hurry a little yourself," he added; " the boat will be going up in less than half an hour." While Reggie paid the driver, Betty jumped down WITH THE TroE I03 and hurried up to the door of the neat little farm- house. " Are you Mr. Mack ? " she asked eagerly, the moment a man opened the door; and when he told her that was his name, she continued, " I am Betty Butler, and I would like to see your farm. My father has been looking for you, but he has gone the wrong way. I would like to see the whole farm, and I shall have to hurry. We are going back to Windsor on the boat." Martin Mack always said afterwards that the next twenty minutes were the busiest of his life. Betty hurried from the barn to the dairy and pasture, and she asked questions faster than he could answer them. " I'll tell father all about your farm," she said, as she hurried away to the boat. " He will write to you to-morrow." Then, just as the bell clanged, she ran across the gangplank to the deck of the little steamer, and threw herself upon a bench. " There, we did it! " she cried, and she snatched off her hat to fan her flushed cheeks. Reggie looked at his watch. " You certainly are a hummer, Betty Butler," he said admiringly. " You've found Martin Mack and seen his farm; but I don't believe we can get back in time to catch the train." I04 BETTY IN CANADA " Yes, we will," Betty assured him. " We've just got to! " and she stood up to watch the boat as it rode swiftly on the torrent of the tide. Minas Basin is a part of the great Bay of Fundy, which is famous all over the world for its high tides. When the tide turns, the water comes pour- ing in with a tremendous rush. In some places it rises as much as fifty feet, covering the mud-flats and filling the salt arms which form the rivers of the west coast of Nova Scotia. It is a wonderful thing, this rise and fall of the tides. Twice a day the rivers and bays axe emptied and filled with surprising rapidity. " Look, Reggie! " Betty cried in a few minutes; " there is Windsor now. We are just flying! " and she pointed to the chimneys and spires of the little town. Reggie looked at his watch again as they left the boat. " It took us three hours to drive down to Avonport, and only half an hour to come back," he announced; but Betty was already far ahead of him on her way to the hotel. " Oh, Father!" she called, when she caught sight of him on the veranda, " I've found Martin Mack. Can we catch the train ? " They did catch the train, by running all the way to the station; and when they were leaning back in their seats in the " Flying Blue-nose," as the WITH THE TIDE lOS Halifax train is called, Mr. Butler turned to his little daughter. " My dear," he said rather sternly, " I shall be glad to hear, at your convenience, where you have been." It was Reggie who told the story of the afternoon's adventure, while Archie and his uncle listened in amazement. " We saw the whole farm in twenty minutes," he ended, " and you should have heard the questions Betty asked," " What kind of sheep has he. Betty? " asked her father. " And how does his farm look?" " His sheep are as good as ours," she answered; " and his farm is just as well kept." " Then you think he will do for our foreman? " " I do," said Betty decidedly; " and now you will reach Halifax in time to make your speech, won't you ? " "We shall be in Halifax before sunset," her father answered, " and to-morrow we will celebrate Dominion Day in the capital of Nova Scotia." CHAPTER XVII DOMINION DAY IN HALIFAX " Dominion Day, and a Friday," said Betty, as she sat down to breakfast in the Halifax Hotel. " I wonder if I shall have bad luck because it is Friday, or good luck because it is the birthday of the Dominion." " You will have good luck," her father told her. " It has begun already," and he took a letter from his pocket and passed it across the table. " Oh,. it is from mother!" exclaimed Betty, as she glanced at the address; and she read the letter eagerly, while her cousins waited to hear the news from home. " Fernand has sold all my peas," she told them, as she stopped to turn the page. " They brought a good price, and mother has put the money in my bank." But as she read the next paragraph her face fell. "It is bad luck, after all, Father," she said, trying to smile over her disappointment. " My melons have all died. Mother says it was too hot DOMINION DAY IN HALIFAX ID? and dry for them. Jean watered them, but it was too late; and now I can't possibly win the prize." " Jean Baptiste deserves it any way," Archie told her. " He has worked early and late in his two gardens." " But I wanted to show father what a good farmer I can be," Betty insisted. " He'll never want me to help him if I let my garden dry up while I go travelling around the country." " If you succeed in finding a good foreman for me on your travels, you will be helping me now," her father told her. "Cheer up. Cousin Betty!" Reggie added. " The day has just begun. You may have all sorts of good luck before night." " What are we going to do to-day ? " questioned Archie, to change the subject. " Father is going to make his speech, for one thing," Betty reminded him. " And you children are going to have a three- hour drive around the city," added her father. " The carriage will be here at nine o'clock, and I want you to promise me not to climb any grain elevators, or go flying off to hunt up another stranger." " If father had seen old Tom he wouldn't have called it flying, would he, Reggie ? " Betty asked under her breath; but she promised to be as good I08 BETTY IN CANADA as gold, and when her father went away to his meeting she ran after him to say, " I am truly glad that Jean Baptiste will win the prize; only please don't think I couldn't learn to be a good farmer." Their carriage was already at the door when she ran back to the hotel, and she generously gave up the seat beside the driver to Reggie, while she sat beside Archie. The bustle of a city's celebration was in the air. Troops of soldiers were marching down the street from the gate of the Citadel, and groups of school children in holiday attire were hurrying toward the Common where they were to sing. All the houses were decorated with streamers and banners; and Canadian flags, blood red, with the Union Jack in one corner and the Canadian coat- of-arms in another, fluttered gently in the cool breeze which blew up from the harbor. Halifax has the finest harbor on the Atlantic coast of North America, and, as they drove out of the city toward Point Pleasant Park, the children caught frequent glimpses of the broad basin, where hundreds of white-winged yachts tugged at their moorings or skinmied gracefully over the blue water. " That is a British man-of-war," the driver explained, as he pointed out a splendid battle-ship DOMINION DAY IN HALIFAX I09 which was anchored in the harbor. " And over there, on George's Island, is a fortress stronger than the one in the city." " It looks like a little green island," said Betty. " I don't see any fort." " There are many forts in the harbor, but they are all hidden in the same way, with grass-covered earthworks," the driver told her. " Halifax has the strongest fortifications on the continent." Betty looked at Archie with laughing eyes. " You see," she said, " we have all the best things on the continent." " Why is Halifax so strongly fortified ? " ques- tioned Reggie. " Because it is one of the keys to the interior of the country," said the driver. " When we reach the martello tower in the park, I will show you how the forts and guns are placed to protect the city." It was a wonderful morning for the children. They drove through the tree-shaded roads of the park, and climbed the stone steps of the ancient tower to look out over the harbor. Then they returned to the city and listened to the patriotic songs sung by the school children on the Common. Again, they heard the stirring words of some orator, inciting the Canadian people to fresh endeavors in commerce, in industry and education. no BETTY IN CANADA There was also a splendid review of the Cana- dian troops. The soldiers marched and counter- marched to the music of military bands, with flags flying and banners waving in the breeze. At last Betty grew tired with all the excitement and confusion, and she begged to go back to the hotel to rest. They found Mr. Butler there before them, and after luncheon he suggested that they should take a look at the Public Garden. If anything could be lovelier than Halifax harbor it is the Halifax garden, with its beautiful shade trees, its smooth green lawns and its picturesque lake, where tiny ships ride at anchor just beyqpd the reach of eager children on the shore. " Tell us about your speech, Father," urged Betty, as they found a seat on a bench beside the pond. " Was it a success ? " " I think so," replied her father. " They seemed to like what I said." " What did you tell them, sir ? " asked Archie. " I told them of all the opportunities Canada has to become a great nation; and I spoke especially of the need of educating our boys and girls, and teaching them the best methods of scientific farming." " GHs! " echoed Betty. " Did you say girls? " "That I did," declared Mr. Butler; "and I told them about my own little daughter who is DOMINION DAY IN HALIFAX III going to be educated at an agricultural college, and will some day be her father's partner on an Ontario farm." Betty sprang to her feet with such a shout of joy that a group of children on the bank of the pond turned to look at her in surprise. " May I truly be your partner some day ? " she cried. " That's the best prize of all! " " Here's to Cousin Betty, U. E. L.," exclaimed Archie, rising to give her a military salute; while Reggie swung his cap in the air and gave three cheers for " Betty Butler, her father's partner, and the coming Canadienne! " little-pitopl: EVERYWHERE Iff im u !l ! I, II 'I '' I , ill H ' 'II h' 'ill ,' I A l|,l'>l| ' I i iiV 1^ mm ! It I 11 III . Y I \\\f\r\ !, I 1 !