|
OUR school sports went off
very well and were a great success, at least financially; but all thought of
them has been put out of our heads by your offer of a trip home ; you cannot
imagine how excited we all are. I think that I can manage it better this
year than next, for next year I hope to have over 100 acres in wheat.
We should prefer coming via
New York, as the journey via St. John's is bad in winter, and our harvest
will be so late this year, that we shall not be able to leave here before
the first week in December, I am afraid, and we must be back again before
the break up, so as to be ready for spring work.
A terrible event has taken,
place since I last wrote.
On Wednesday, in the midst of
a violent storm, the brother of one of our nearest neighbours went out to
shut the stable door, and was struck dead by lightning. When I picked the
poor lad up I could not believe that he was dead; he was lying on his back,
his eyes wide open and a smile on his face.
It has been a terrible shock
to us all, for young R---- was such a straight honest fellow, with not an
enemy, liked by every one who knew him and only 25 years old.
I think that this sad death,
the first in our midst, will change many of us and make us think more
seriously of the life to come, which any of us, like this dear lad, may be
called upon to enter at any time without a moment's notice.
I remember an old Indian
General telling my mother that we ought not to pray against sudden death,
because every moment of our life ought to be a preparation to meet it, and
his words made a greater impression because some three days later he died
quite suddenly.
We are having very wet
weather and bad storms, and unfortunately I have a lot of hay out; I am
afraid a great deal will be spoilt.
The crops round my way are
looking well, much better than last year; mine is all headed out and quite a
picture, so I hope for a good yield and a big price in the fall.
Our place is beginning to
look more like a farm now, with a crop growing, more land ready to crop, and
a good pasture up. I got that up last week, and the first thing one of my
horses did was to jump the barbed wire and cut himself; luckily he got off
with very little damage, and he gives the wire a wide berth now. I do not
suppose that he had ever, seen barbed wire before. |
