Catholic Problems in Western Canada

by George Thomas Daly

—(Proudhom)

CHAPTER 1

THE CALL OF THE WEST[1]

A Call from the West

Who has not heard the call of the West? Like the blast of the hunter's horn in the silent forest, its thrilling and inviting sound has awakened the echoes throughout the land. Springing from the granite heart of our mighty Rockies, that call comes through their valleys, is heard over the "Great Divide" and whispers its way to the foothills. Soft as the evening breeze, strong as the howling blizzard, we hear it across the prairie, gathering as it were, on its triumphal march to the East, something of the immensity of the plains and freshness of the lakes.

In the din of our manufacturing cities, in the quietness of our towns and villages, by the rivers and winding bays of our Maritime Provinces, along the peaceful shores of the St. Lawrence, the call of the West has been heard.

Its alluring sound has cast a spell upon our youth, the hope of the country. Faces flushed with the bright hues of life's dawn, eyes sparkling with the fires of early youth, instinctively turn to the West. From all points of Eastern Canada young men and young women are leaving for that mysterious land of brilliant promise and great possibilities.

The Call of the West! All Canada is eager to hear its message. Has not the merchant his ear to the ground, listening to the throbbing of the growing harvest on our Western prairies? He knows that in the furrows of that rich loam lie the wealth and prosperity of the country at large. The Eastern manufacturer anxiously scans the daily paper to be posted on crop conditions in the West. They regulate to a great extent the activities and output of his plant. And when college and university days are over, where does the young professional man turn his eyes? To the West. Westward, with the sun, he travels; its fiery course is an invitation to and a harbinger of his bright career.

The Call of the West! Across the ocean it has gone and awakened the dormant energies of old European nations. Settlers of every race and creed have rushed to our shores, like the waves of "the heaving and hurrying tide."

The attraction of the Canadian West has become general, at home and abroad. Nothing can stop this onward march to the land of promise. A new Canada is being created beyond the Great Lakes.