After spending Sunday at Missenabie, a day’s journey brought the travellers to Missenabie station. The Indians heard for the first time the voice of the ‘steam giant.’ Paddling with some difficulty under the wooden bridge which is the path of the ‘fire-sledge,’ the station was presently reached. It was a dreary spot—a tent or two, a couple of tumbledown stores, a house or two for the railway officials, and multitudes of mosquitoes. A railway truck was the bishop’s parlour; in the booking-office he held services in three languages, Cree, Ojibbeway, and English. Very early in the morning the train came in from the West, and carried the party away. To the little grandson, aged eight, all things were new and strange. A lad passed through the cars with oranges and apples for sale; the child had never seen either an apple or an orange in his life, and when one of each was handed to him, he asked, ‘Grandpapa, which is which?’
At Ottawa, Montreal, and the grand old town of Quebec, our travellers had some few days’ rest. At the latter place, Master Fred saw a Punch and Judy show for the first time, and enjoyed it; and the bishop enjoyed it ‘almost as much as he.’ Grandfather and grandson visited the site of the battle which gave Quebec to England, and the monuments erected to the memory of the brave Generals Montcalm and Wolfe. Twelve days later they were in England. ‘But,’ says the bishop, ‘the heart was still far away across the water, amid the secluded forests of Moosonee.’
CHAPTER XX
CLOSING LABOURS
Bishop Horden did not spend a very great many months in England. He left again on May 22, 1889, the parting from wife and family being softened by the hope of shortly returning to them. Taking steamer direct for Quebec, he went on from thence to Montreal—‘one of the most beautifully situated cities in the world, containing fine shops, a noble quay, many grand houses, and a large number of very fine churches.’
The following evening he took his place in the train going west, to spend three days and two nights in it. The car was crowded, and each day he—indefatigable man that he was—gave a much appreciated lecture to the occupants packed closely together around him. After passing through hundreds of miles of wilderness he at last landed at Winnipeg, the capital of the West. Two or three hours later he was sitting in the Parliament House, witnessing the conferring of university degrees by the Metropolitan, amongst the students being Miss Holmes, the first lady who had taken a degree in Manitoba. On Sunday there was an ordination and confirmation, and in the evening Bishop Horden preached in the cathedral, although he was suffering from a severe cold contracted during his long railway journey. The following day he started by rail and steamer for Norway House, which he reached on June 14.
There used to be stirring times at Norway House. Here the great council was held. Here in olden time the Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company, who possessed more real power than the most arbitrary of sovereigns, held his court annually, and to it flocked the principal officers of the company. The affairs of the country were discussed, and everything was arranged for another year. During the whole summer the greatest activity prevailed. Boats were continually arriving and departing; now an immense brigade from York Factory, then another from the Saskatchewan or the Mackenzie River district. The dwelling-houses were crowded, and the great stores were constantly receiving or giving out supplies.
But the railway and steamers have changed all this, and among other results have brought about the downfall of Norway House. Goods for the interior are no longer sent to York Factory, and thence by boat to the various stations. They are forwarded to the Saskatchewan by rail and steamer, and thence onward to the interior. Now Norway House supplies only two or three trading posts in its immediate district. Very few officers and few men are required for the business. The stores lie empty, and the great square is almost deserted.
Bishop Horden spent two Sundays here, waiting for the boats to Oxford House, whence he journeyed on to York Factory. Then he set off for Churchill, another journey of two hundred miles.