Lord Strathcona began life as a poor boy in Scotland and he ended up
by being one of the richest men in Britain, and, not only the richest
in money, but in having also the admiration and affection of a vast
number of his fellow-countrymen.
When he was eighteen, as plain Donald Smith, he went out to Canada and
joined the Hudson Bay Trading Company there. This Company used to buy
fur skins from the trappers and Indians, and their trading stations
were built in far-off, out-of-the-way places in order to be near to
the hunting-grounds of these people.
Also, as you never could trust the Red Indians, they were all
fortified posts, ready for defence against attack.
Young Smith was sent up to a place called Mingan, right away up in the
north-east of Canada, in Labrador, a cold, bleak, dreary country.
After he had been there some time, his eyes began to give him great
trouble, and he feared he was going blind. There was no doctor nor
anyone else to consult, so he started off to make his way down to
Montreal to see a doctor. He took with him as guides two half-breed
Indians.
For weeks he toiled through the awful wilderness, among snow and
blizzard, but at length he reached Montreal.
Do you think they made a hero of him?
Not a bit of it. His employers rounded on him for quitting his post
without leave, and told him to go back at once.
At first he felt--like many of us would have done--so angry that he
was on the point of throwing up the whole thing and leaving the
service of the Hudson Bay Company.
But on second thoughts he felt that, after all, the managers were
right. They had put him there to have charge of valuable stores and
important work, and that it was his duty to stick there, and not to
come in to civilised parts for his own sake.
So he accepted the wigging, and started back on the long, dreary
journey to his gloomy post in Labrador.
He had luckily been able to see a doctor, and had got his eyes put
right.
It was an awful journey: so bad that the two guides gave way under
their hardships and died. But again Donald Smith _stuck to it_,
and struggled on, and in the end he just managed to get to his post,
worn out and exhausted.
But that sticking to it was exactly what was the secret of his
success.
For thirteen _years_ he stuck to his job in that awful country
and then his employers saw that he was so strong on doing his duty
that they promoted him to higher and more important work, till in the
end he became Chief Factor or Head Manager of the Company.
Then came the idea of making the Canadian Pacific Railway right across
Canada.
People said it was a mad scheme; that it could never pay to make a
railway into that vast wilderness which in those days had not been
properly explored.
But Donald Smith looked far ahead, and saw the time when Britain would
be overcrowded with people, and corn-growing, cattle-raising land
would be needed for colonists.
So he put his savings into the railway and worked hard to make it a
success.
Everything seemed to go against it. But he _stuck to it_, and
fought against all difficulties, until in the end he _came_ out
successful. And to-day the Canadian Pacific is one of the greatest
railways in the world, and has opened up Canada to be a great country,
peopled by thousands of British colonists.
And so he made his fortune, and later on, in return for his splendid
work for the Empire, he was made Lord Strathcona.
Most men leave off work when they are between sixty and seventy, but
Lord Strathcona did not. He still continued to _stick to it_ for
twenty or thirty years longer than most men. Only a few days before
his death he was at work in his office (and he died at the age of
ninety-four).
And in his office every day he _stuck to it_, for he went there
about eleven in the morning, but seldom left before seven--often he
was there till nine.
When all the neighbouring offices in Victoria Street had turned off
their lights and closed their doors for the night, Lord Strathcona's
window was to be seen still brilliantly lit up, so much so that the
policemen and others about there called it "The Lighthouse."
Now, why should a man go on working overtime like that? He was not
making money; he had enough of that and to spare. It was simply
because he considered it was his duty, and he _stuck to it_.
Besides his adventures in Canada, and besides his power of sticking to
his duty, Lord Strathcona was also a good scout, because he was kind
and helpful to others.
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