"Oh! it's parsons who are called bush brothers, is it?" asked Jack, a little disappointed at so commonplace an explanation.
"No, not all parsons, but just a few of us who have undertaken a particular kind of work. We heard of Englishmen who had emigrated to the colonies and settled in places very far away from their fellows, who year after year lived out their lonely lives never getting a chance to have their little children baptized, or their sick people visited, whose Sundays were just spent like other days because they had no services to go to, so a few of us banded ourselves together in a sort of brotherhood——"
"What's that mean?" Jack asked.
"A society or company that binds itself together to do the same work, and the work we brothers put before us was to come out to the colonies for a few years and make it our special business to find out all the lonely settlers in the bush and visit them, and try to gather them together for little services. Now you see why we call ourselves bush brothers: because our work lies, not in townships and places such as this, although I am going to be here on Sundays for a little while whilst your clergyman is away on sick leave, but we wander from place to place, to all the most distant homesteads, some of them buried miles and miles away in the bush."
"Does you walk?" asked Eva in her matter-of-fact fashion.
"Sometimes I walk and sometimes, when I know the distance is too great, I hire a horse and ride, and sometimes the way is hard to find, and I get lost. I was lost for two whole days not long ago, and had to camp out at night without either food or shelter. I was glad, I can tell you, when I struck the track again and found myself not far from a farm where they showed me the greatest kindness. I spent a Sunday there, and the farmer and his sons gathered together a few other people not far away, and we had service in a barn, and I baptized three little children that had been born since last a parson had visited them. I stayed there for a week, and gave the children lessons every day, and they were so pleased and eager to learn, poor mites. They did not even know the stories about Jesus when He was a baby. It's not often I find children as ignorant as that, but many of them get very little teaching about the Bible. Very often there is not a Bible in the house. I don't always have tiny congregations. Last Sunday I was miles away up there," pointing to the bush-clad hills which bounded the horizon, "where there are some large lumber works, and quite a lot of men are at work there. So I spent the few days before in making friends with them, and asking them to meet me at service on Sunday, and we had quite a fine service in the open air, and you should have heard the singing. It was glorious."
"I'd like it ever so much better than going to the wooden church down here," said Jack.
Uncle Tom laughed genially. "Aren't you fond of going to church, then?"
"Not very; you've got to sit so quiet. I like the singing though, and it's not so dull now Eva comes too."
"Well, well; we'll see if you can't learn to like it better. Meanwhile, let's have a game before I pay my respects to your grandfather and grandmother."