Widowed fathers in ill-health, and short of
work, feeling their utter helplessness to do for their motherless
flock, have come to Miss Macpherson entreating her to take care of
some of them.
2. "How come the Canadian farmers to be willing to take these
children?"
From a business point of view this is quite easily explained. Labour
is so scarce out there, and hired help so dear, while _food_ is
_so plentiful,_ that the Canadian farmer finds it quite worth
his while to take a little boy from the old country, whom he can
train and teach as his own, and who very soon will repay him in quick
ability for farm labour.
3. "Are you sure the children are really _better off_ there?"
Every boy in Canada has before him a definite hope for the future.
If he be steady, industrious, and of average intelligence, he may
reasonably look to being independent some day, to owning land of his
own, and attaining an honourable position in Canada. People do not
amass fortunes there as a rule, but they may all live in comfort and
plenty, and what they have is their own. Surely this is a brighter
prospect than the ceaseless round of toil at desk or counter, in
which so many in England,--even the more fortunate,--spend their
youth helping to make rich men richer.
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