[Illustration: “ROBERT GRABBED THE SAVAGE BY THE THROAT IN A VICE-LIKE
GRIP.”
_See page 76._]
THE MAKING OF
A MAN
BY
W. D. FLATT
TORONTO
WILLIAM BRIGGS
1918
Copyright, Canada, 1918
by W. D. FLATT.
NOTE
THIS BOOK IS NOT SOLD FOR THE USUAL COMMERCIAL RETURNS. THE PROFITS
WILL BE DEVOTED TO PATRIOTIC PURPOSES
TO
The Twenty-eight Boys in My Sunday School Class
at Port Nelson, Ontario, whose joys and
sorrows I try somewhat to share--this
story of real men and
women is dedicated
Your battle of Life, boys, has just begun. If you have the courage
to be fair, honest, strong and clean now, and if you follow along
the paths your conscience indicates, you will have the strength of
character which produces heroes, in your years of manhood
CONTENTS
PAGE
FOREWORD 9
CHAPTER I.
LEAVING HOME 13
CHAPTER II.
THE VOYAGE 21
CHAPTER III.
NEW EXPERIENCES IN A NEW LAND 44
CHAPTER IV.
AN APPLICATION OF PRINCIPLES 57
CHAPTER V.
STIRRING ADVENTURE IN THE NORTH 72
CHAPTER VI.
NEW DUTIES LEAD TO LARGER TESTS 77
CHAPTER VII.
SANDY’S VISIT HOME 97
CHAPTER VIII.
HOPES REALIZED AND THE JOURNEY ENDED 106
HOW “KID” MADE GOOD 133
AN APPEAL TO PLAY THE GAME FAIRLY 149
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
“Robert Grabbed the Savage by the Throat” _Frontispiece_
Hearing the Story of Opportunity 14
Saying Good-Bye to the Home-Folk 19
“He Leaped from the Deck” 32
“For the First Time Saw Polar Bears” 38
“The First Man to Grasp the Hand of the Captain” 40
Starting Out from Fort Churchill 44
“With a Farewell Wave of the Hand” 46
“Companionship in the Temple of God’s Great Solitude” 50
“The Animals Rushed to One Side” 53
The Party Leaving Fort Garry 63
Starting a Fifteen-Hundred-Mile Journey 77
“Wolf After Wolf Fell from the Blows” 88
“You’re a Coward” 91
“For a Moment He Hesitated” 100
“No Letter from Sandy” 103
“One Morning a Youth Started Out” 106
“He Cooked His Supper Over the Fire” 109
“With a Prayer of Thankfulness” 117
“Thus Were Robert’s Early Hopes and Plans Realized” 128
A Scene in the Lumber Woods Thirty Years Ago 143
Dressing a Pine Monarch for Shipment 143
Some of Canada’s Big Men 149
“Men of To-Morrow” 151
Boys and Girls of the Burlington Public School 153
FOREWORD
The story within these covers has been written from impressions
received in boyhood days, ideas which time could not erase and which
the passing of the years has developed and strengthened. It is perhaps
only fair to state frankly that the story is largely founded on fact,
though, for purposes which will be obvious, the characters have been
treated from a general rather than a particular sense.
The aim has been to follow a young man’s life from his home in the
Orkney Islands, one hundred years ago, through his experiences in what
was then an untravelled country in the Canadian West, and to show how,
in his humble, commonplace way, he took hold of the opportunities which
presented themselves, small though they might seem to us to be, and
built up a character and a place for himself in the community which
stood the test of time.
Hundreds of our Canadian pioneers did just this in the simple, honest,
straightforward lives they led in the early days of this country,
and it is on the foundations they laid in those days that Canada’s
greatness now has been reared.
All honor to the stalwart Canadian pioneer. Both the young and the old
of to-day may well renew in memory the struggles and sacrifices by
which Canada’s foundation was well and truly laid. It is one of the
greatest legacies which the past has bequeathed to us. It is one of the
treasures that we should fondly cling to.
May we never forget the heroic daring, the finer qualities of
self-denial, of loyalty to duty, stronger than the love of life, of
the temper which dreads dishonor more than it fears death and the
patriotism which makes love of home and country a passion.
Never were the fortunes of a vast heritage, such as Canada possessed,
entrusted to stouter hearts than those of the pioneers. They were
the resolute, grim, silent heroes of the majestic Canadian forest
solitudes. They were intense in doing good and were possessed of great,
chivalrous souls.
Those rugged sons and daughters of the Motherland crossed the sea and
marched into the Canadian forest solitude without beat of drum. They
built their log cabins amidst the towering forest giants, the giants
which reached heavenward.
The fire of love for right and liberty which shone so brightly in the
pioneers’ everyday life still burns fiercely in the hearts of Canada’s
sons. The heroic deeds of valor, of service and sacrifice on the
battlefields of Flanders by our boys have thrilled the heart of the
world and welded forever an unbroken chain between that of the early
pioneer fathers and mothers, and that of their sons and daughters of
to-day, for the cause of liberty, freedom and righteousness, for the
love of home and country, for the love of the Motherland, for the love
of peace and goodwill to men.
If the story herein told marks the path of duty more plainly for
others; if it assists the youth in steering his life ship clear of the
danger shoals discovered on my life’s voyage; if it inspires a more
sturdy character, or if it influences one young man or young woman
helpfully, I shall be well repaid.
W. D. Flatt
THE MAKING OF A MAN
CHAPTER I.
_LEAVING HOME._
Close to the bleak coast of the Orkney Islands, not far from where Lord
Kitchener found his final resting-place and where the waves seemed to
dash ceaselessly upon the rocky coast with an echo of the wonderful
leader’s message, “Your King and Country need you,” there resided, in a
cottage home, a family of seven, father and mother, four brothers and a
sister. Luxuries were things unknown in the home, since the securing of
a mere living was in itself a considerable problem, and so, while the
children had been reared in habits of industry and thriftiness, they
early appreciated that under these circumstances the future did not
present an especially rosy aspect.
[Illustration: ROBERT AND WILL HEARING THE STORY OF OPPORTUNITY IN A
NEW LAND.]
The situation appealed particularly to the eldest sons, Robert and
William, who were sixteen and eighteen years of age, stalwart youths
who, if no other gifts had been given them, were endowed with splendid
constitutions, capable of great endurance. There was little or no work
to be had at their island home and consequently little opportunity
for advancement. Their father realized that the sons should be given
an opportunity to hew out a destiny greater than their immediate
condition would permit, but the mother, like all good mothers, found it
exceedingly hard to countenance the thought of her boys leaving home.
Even so early as this, a hundred years ago, stories of the wonderful
opportunities of the new colony across the seas, Canada, had found
their way to the little Islands, and it was perhaps only natural that
the thoughts of the youths should turn toward this country of untried
hopes. Since money was not plentiful in the home there was no means
at hand to provide for the securing of a passage, but ultimately the
opportunity was presented in an unexpected way. As we now know so well,
early Canadian development, particularly in the West, was largely in
the hands of the Hudson’s Bay Company, which had been, even for some
years previous to this, carrying on a large fur trade under special
Government permission. Since young men were exceedingly scarce in
Canada, when the Company desired new employees they naturally turned to
the Old Land. In this case an experienced employee on such a search,
knowing something of the characteristics of the Orkney men, visited
the Islands, and his requirements became known to the two brothers.
Only specially fitted young men of fine physique and those who had been
trained in their homes to a knowledge of discipline and duty, which, of
course, meant a knowledge of what hard work implied, were considered.
The applicants must necessarily possess reputation without reproach,
and a character which stood out upon their faces. What the Company
wanted were young men of the highest type, who could be absolutely
depended on to do their whole duty amid the most trying circumstances.
The necessity for this can be understood when it is known that the work
of these employees demanded dealing with the Indians as well as with
the white men, and possibly the protection of the rights of the Company
against a whole Indian tribe. Robert and William, although they were
somewhat younger than the men usually chosen, measured so fully up
to the required standard that they made a splendid impression on the
Company’s employee, and were consequently placed under contract.
Aside from the novelty and excitement of experiences to be expected
in a new land, the immediate financial terms of the position were not
great. An iron-clad contract providing for payment of ten pounds per
year for the first four years was signed by the lads. This, it will be
noted, was the equivalent of about fifty dollars each per year, which
was surely a low salary for picked young men. When it was considered
that the duties to be expected of the men were not only arduous
but dangerous, and would require isolation from civilization for a
considerable period, the wages offered could not be said to be large.
However, the outlook for a future in a country which was known in those
days as a mighty wilderness, with rivers and lakes so large that the
early explorers had been able to trace only a slight portion, and famed
for its game and fur-bearing animals, possessed a wonderful attraction.
Again, since money had been so little known at home the sum seemed
very large to them, much larger than it would have done to lads under
different circumstances. Some idea of their characters may be gleaned
from the fact that they requested a special clause in the contract
providing for one half of their earnings to be paid direct to their
parents, and with the contract once signed it was realized by all who
knew them that it would be thoroughly lived up to. They were prepared
to give their best in the hope of making a favorable impression upon
the Company’s Chief Factor, who had charge of the concern’s business in
Canada. To them the word of encouragement meant considerably more than
did their wages.
Farewells in those days were just as painful as they are now.
Naturally, as the time for departure drew near, the bustle of
preparation was the main factor in evidence in that Orkney Island
home. Mother and sister worked early and late knitting socks, making
warm underclothing and a supply of woolen shirts, together with every
necessary outfit. Nowadays, lads in similar circumstances would have
used trunks for their equipment, but such things were not known
at all familiarly and, besides, could not have been afforded. The
equipment was packed in two boxes which had been made by the two lads
themselves and which, for strength and workmanship, were of a kind not
seen to-day. Nails, too, were not known in that day, and their place
was taken by wooden pegs. Nowadays, too, articles of other than home
manufacture would have found a large place in the boxes. How this was
obviated then is explained in a special case. The father of the home
had been accustomed to making the footwear for the family. He made
special inquiry from the Company’s agent as to what would be best for
his sons in their long and trying journeys in the wilderness, and after
a good deal of labor intermingled with love, provided a supply to last
a considerable time. One gift, however, was purchased. Out of the very
small store of money which was kept for emergencies the mother took a
little and, unknown to the others, sent the sister, Jeanette, to the
little village to purchase two small Bibles. In them, written with her
own hand and accompanied by an earnest prayer commending them to God’s
tender love and care, were their names.
[Illustration: SAYING GOOD-BYE TO THE HOME-FOLK.]
Finally the day arrived for the departure. As could be anticipated,
the family all went to the dock for the last farewell, and even the
faithful collie which Robert had raised from a pup was there and
appeared to understand in his own way that his master and chum was
leaving, probably never to return. Robert patted the dog, who wagged
his tail and looked up at his master with affection in his eyes.
Outside the family, many of their school chums, both boys and girls,
were present, and the tears in their eyes readily indicated their
feelings. The young people had been, as it were, one big family, and
the hearts of the others were touched when they realized that two of
their chums were leaving them. This again gave evidence of the standing
of the young men in the community. Their sterling deeds and kindly
words had made a host of friends for them. They had no enemies and, of
course, the preacher, the school teacher, and other people of standing
in the community were present to sympathize and to be near the two
young men who were so loved and respected. As the moments passed before
the vessel’s cables were drawn in all had said their farewell but the
mother. She sobbed bitterly and clung to her sons, and apparently could
not console herself for allowing them to leave the fireside of their
home. The boys in turn caressed their mother, moistening her cheeks
with their tears, and spoke many cheery words, assuring her they would
write to her often and would do their best to return some day when the
bright future they anticipated had been realized. The mother’s last
words were: “Remember your Bibles, boys. I wish you would read them
often and get to know the good things in them well. Don’t forget that
God will be with you just as well across the sea as He would here. It
doesn’t matter where you are, in the wilderness or by the lakes, He
will stay with you night and day just the same, and if you love and
serve Him truly there will not be any doubt about the future for all of
us.” After a moment, when she was again able to control herself, she
went on: “If it should happen that I do not see you again at our home
here, my lads, I will be waiting for you in a better place up yonder.”
The happenings on the dock had had an interested watcher. The captain
of the vessel, a bluff old tar who had witnessed many similar partings,
was naturally interested in the crowd which had gathered on the dock
to say farewell to the two stalwart youths. As the mother clung to the
boys past the moment of departure, he hadn’t the heart at once to give
the order to cast loose, and when finally the order came it was not
in the gruff voice which usually prevailed, and as the vessel slowly
drew away from the dock he doffed his cap to the mother and, in a voice
still showing his feeling, called out:
“Don’t worry, mother. Your boys will be safe on my ship.”