of England notes here, and registered letters are safe; and I shall perfectly understand the money is for land only. I meant to say a good deal more, but I have so little time. With love, etc.

TO HIS MOTHER.

Cyprus Lodge, Manitoba, December 4, 1881.— A merry Christmas to you all, and a happy new year. May the new year run in as happily with you as the old year is running out with me. There will be two absent ones from the flock this year at the Christmas dinner. I don't know where Bob will eat his, but I know where and what mine will be: roast beef (a great delicacy here) and prairie chickens, a bird with more flesh on it for its size than any other I know, domestic or otherwise. I remember wondering last Christmas where I should be this; and now I look forward a year, and wonder whether I shall have a house of my own next year. Two railroads will pass within a mile of this next

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winter. The South-Western, and a branch of the C.P.R. If only I could get lot nine, it will be worth eight or ten thousand dollars this time three years, besides being the best farming district this side the water, and the healthiest. I think I told you the Boultons are Plymouth Brethren, and we have prayers morning and evening, and grace before and after meals. . . . I can't tell you how much better I feel with this, than continually hearing religion ridiculed and made light of it used to weigh me down so. These people quiet me, nothing worldly about them, not ever ready to pick holes and find fault; Graham Boulton lively and energetic, always ready to tell me about the land and modus operandi, to show me my mistakes, and take an interest in my learning. Mrs. Boulton is a mother to me. It is indeed a change. How long will it be, dearest mother, before you can come across the water to unseen lands, everything new about you, from the earth to the

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beautiful clear sky above you? Poplar, and a few oaks, are the only trees here, with balm of gilead, wild hops interlacing the scrub; roses, plums, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, sprinkled in myriads around. who has once pitched his tent by the Red River always returns. Well, I can well believe it, though there are at present two feet of snow on the ground. For the last week the thermometer has ranged between 10° and 45°, for we have had a thaw, very unusual in this country, though it only lasted for an hour, and very nasty it iswet through the whole time; it is much nicer and more comfortable at 10° below zero, than 25° above. It seems warmer, because the air is dry, and the snow crisp. This morning I was wandering about in search of the cattle, with those heavy top-boots, a foot and a half of snow everywhere, and three or four feet in many places. It is too damp at present for moccasins, the heat of the foot thawing the snow; ther

mometer about 22°. I run the farm at present, as Boulton is threshing about the place from six in the morning till seven in the evening. You should see the evening! full moon, clear sky, every star like an electric light. There are about twenty settlers in this township; "Waymanasi" is its name. Four years ago there was not a human being. Whisky is not allowed on account of the Indians. . . . Good-night.

TO HIS MOTHER.

Cyprus Lodge, December 15, 1881.-As I know you are athirst for knowledge of the settler's life, I will try and give you all the points worthy of discussion, so that you may be able to form both your plans and your advice for my future advantage. I. As regards money; II. As regards time; III. As regards housekeeping.

I. Money. It is beyond the possibility of a doubt, that the first year the settler must have money enough to buy the necessities of life—oats

for his horses, if he has any, (a wise settler will have oxen the first year, as it is advisable to put nothing in but potatoes, as the ground never mellows properly with a crop the first year); also he has to buy tools, window frames, stove, cooking utensils, waggon sleigh, horserake for his hay, pigs, cow, lumber for the flooring of his house, etc. Shingles for his roof-they are like slates, only made of wood. Having told you, in a rough way, what he has to buy, I may now hint at the different methods settlers adopt of getting the necessaries. know all the settlers round here, and they, without exception, have adopted one of three methods. I. The older ones have some money of their own. The younger ones are given it by relations, who take an interest in their welfare. This is the easiest, and need I say it, as far as their farm goes, the best. 2. Are those who spend their summer up here, and have also some business down below (in Canada), either

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