Railway part of nationhood

Part three of three
parts.

It is the Pfitzer Memorial
Tower erected by the later-
to-become Father Bede
Reynolds to his dead,
beloved wife. For some min-
utes it remained — a long,
blunt finger pointing unwa-
vering to the pink opalesque
sky and for a few brief mo-
ments I happily joined the
monks at Vespers in the
scarcely-seen monastery be-
low.

John CHARTERS

.-
—-_. 4
a
Reflections

Recollections |

And the morning and the
evening were the first day.

The journey through the ab-
solutely magnificent Rockies,
down the everchanging and
beautiful foothill country of Al-
berta and across the vast ani-
mal-rich tapestry of the
prairies — the historic and
lovely city of Winnipeg is to
throw open the gates of vision
and perspective and its still on-
ly halfway across our land.

It should be a mandatory
trip for every Member of Par-

and

Soon, however, the rich
fields and meanders of the lower Fraser Valley
give way to rugged black rocks and high jut-
ting mountains.

The train now crawls through a canyon
which is so steep that the evergreens clingi
to inexplicably narrow ledges and unseen
cracks must certainly brush the vertical walls
with their upper branches.

Earl (I now know his name) returns from
some brief foray of duty, devours a large, pink
peach and directs the attention of the passen-
gers to a long string of white floats in the riv-
er. They look like resting seagulls, dividing the
wild storm of swirling green water from a qui-
et back eddy. “Native fishermen,” he says,

“know the best fishing spots, resting places for
the spawning salmon, and set their nets there.”

Meanwhile on the scalloped, lesser slopes
above, a dark freight crawls around the cliff
base across the river.

The canyon widens a little and ripe-grape
windowed houses and a square steepled Indian
church, ragged trees and dirt roads coast by in
erratic procession. A railway bridge makes a
graceful leap on skinny orange legs across the
now khaki-colored river, while the train twists
back on itself, dives into brief darkness, out
again, then in again. In the growing gloom the
train wheels rumble and click in a soft, soporific
lullaby.

We had opted at the beginning for a late sup-
per, but now begin to regret the decision for it
has been a long day, and firefly lights of traffic
on the concrete causeway across the river and
the mountains now drawing softly back into
the pale evening sky, combine to make the
thought of sleep almost irresistible.

Dinner in the dining room is not a success
and most certainly not as I remembered it in
earlier days. In fact it is a poor pale shadow of
a former CPR catering glory, almost a carica-
ture, in fact, but that is a tale unto itself. It is
good therefore to return to our little room to
find the bunks made up, top and bottom, the
lights low, and covers turned down. Sleep
comes soon as we click-click into night.

liament — Vancouver, B.C. to
St. John, Nfld. by train, plus a brief survey
course ‘on Canadian history — before he or she
sat in the House.

The first step in a Canadian vision needs to
start with the education of MPs. Think of the
savings alone — not to mention the blunting
or our natural ialism!

As I said in the beginning, nothing quite
matches a trip on the train. It is a part of our
heritage, a part of our unrealized wealth. We
cannot allow ashort sighted government and
an indifferent bureaucracy to destroy our
birthright by slow attrition and active malice.
It is our unity as a nation and the future of our
children and our grandchildren, which is at
stake if it is allowed to slip from us. Already the
hour is late.

In 1850, in a speech in Mason’s Hall in Hal-
ifax, Joseph Howe, Canadian statesman said:
“I am neither a prophet, nor the son of a
prophet, yet I will venture to predict that in five
years we shall make the journey hence to Que-
bec and Montreal and home through Portland
and St. John by rail; and I believe that many in
this room will live to hear the whistle of the
steamengine in the Rocky Mountains and to
make the journey from Halifax to the Pacific
in five or six days.”

In 1916, O.D. Sketlon wrote in Railway
Builders that “The railway found Canada
scarcely a geographic expression and made it a
nation.”

These were men of vision. Pray God there
are enough such Canadians left to carry it on or
our Canada will surely go the way of the steam-
whistle and the passenger pigeon.

In the Remembrance Day celebrations this
year of all years, when we honor those who died
that Canada might survive as a free nation and
not as an appendage toa ruthless dictatorship,
I hope that is remembered that well, both the
living‘and the dead, wore those Canada shoul-
der flashes with pride and that the railway,
that band of steel, was both a bond and adjunct
to our sense of nationhood. And let us not for-
get — stillis.

WANETA PLAZA

TOYOTA

STEVE
WHITTLETON
Soles Representotive!

Located 1 mile
South of Weigh

rus 16 «see de ,
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@ Saturday, | 9, 1991

Future lies in choic

There was once a very gi
ed child who when he
plu ahaa ty ge me

world.

While still at home with his
parents he knew the answer to
every question and from the
far ends of the earth people
came to him to listen to his
wisdom. He decided to take a
journey so he could see and ex-
perience the whole world
which until now had come to
him only by hearsay.

One hour after leaving his
house he came to a fork in the
road which forced him to make
a choice. He decided to take

Pulpit &
Pew
St. Rita’s
Catholic
Church

Rev. HermanENGBERINK

the road that went to the right
and he had to leave the valley
on the left unseen. His world
had shrivelled.

As he travelled and grew
older, he had to leave thou-
sands of roads untravelled and

a

ed, he continued on the road
he had started. A short dis-
tance separated him from the
end.

There were no more forks in
the road. One straight stretch
lay ahead and in spite of all his

oppor He
spoke less and only a few came
to listen to him.

One day he sat down on a
milestone and talked to him-
self: “I am a loser in every way,
every day of my life I become
smaller, every stop I make
moves me further away from
something. I should have
stayed at home where I knew
everything and had every-
thing. Then I would not have
had to make choices and all
possibilities would still be
there.”

Alth h "

th he was

and speeches he had
breath for only one last word.
He spoke that word which no-
body heard.

He looked around and was
surprised to see that he stood
on the top of a mountain. The
lands he had left behind, and
considered lost, lay in terraces
below him.

He overlooked the whole
world, even the paths he could
not take before. He saw that
during his journey he had be-
come smaller, he had been
moving to the top. It had tak-

en a life

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Media Workshop: “How to

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Wed., Oct. 30, 7-9 p.m. $39 plus GST, all materials included. Class to be

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‘qwareness about literacy. Nov. 15, 9 a.m.-5 pm. at the Castlegar Public
Library. To register call Judy Wearmouth at 365-7765.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO REGISTER CALL:
CASTLEGAR CAMPUS - 365-1261

es of past

It is not difficult to recog-
nize ourselves in this story. All
of us remember times in our
lives when we believed we
could realize all our dreams.

We believe we can become
famous without a struggle. We
believe we can have children
and at the same time arrange
our day according to our own
personal pleasures so they
don’t interfere with our
lifestyle.

It takes a long time to un-
derstand we cannot have ev-

er

Each choice binds a person
and has consequences — and
we have to accept them
whether we understand them
or not.

There will be moments of
doubt, moments we seem to
lose everything — our land,
our knowledge, our dreams.

Every step moves us away
from something, but at the
end the gifted one makes the
surprising discovery of his life:
he stands at the top and what
he thought he had left behind
lies before him.

In Robert Frost's poem, The
Road Not Taken, a man comes
to a fork in the road. The last
three lines of the poem sum-
marize the man’s decision:
“Roads diverged in a wood,
and I — I took the one less
travelled by, and that has
made i

all the
Ee ret er RR
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009 Merry Creek Rd. 365-3430
PASTOR: BOB MARSH
— SUNDAY MINISTRY —
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eh once per month only.
Deadline is the last Wed-
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vening
Groups (Bible Study
& Prayer) Various Weeknights
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- COME

awaren ess about literacy issues in

Selkirk College

WOTETL

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UNITED CHURCH

OF CANADA
2224-6th Avenue
10 a.m. Worship
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x 8337
REV. ANN POLLOCK

ADVENTIST CHURCH
1471 Columbie Ave. Trajl 364-0117
Regular Saturday Services
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PASTOR STUART LAURIE » 365.3278 ~

Worship 10:30 e
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ST. DAVID S
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8 A.M. - HOLY COMMUNION
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AND CHURCH SCHOOL
NURSERY AVAILABLE
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365-2271 or 365-6720
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CHURCH OF GOD

2404 Columbia Avenue

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Morning Worship 11 a.m.

Pastor Ira Johnson * 365-6762
_eeenensomnaainaiiinnnintti ete
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Morning Worship
11:30 a.m

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365-2438 1-226-7540

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| eRe
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Phone 365-6317
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— SUNDAY SER'
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