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THE MAN WHO "STUCK TO IT."
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.