Northern Trader by H.S.M. Kemp

Author:H.S.M. Kemp
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Regina Press
Published: 2014-10-06T04:00:00+00:00

The Revillon Frères store (foreground) and house (right) in Stanley Mission.

As the canoe beached a score of people watched us. We went up and shook hands with them all. These were the Stanley Indians of whom we had heard so much. They were reportedly the finest Indians in the country. We didn’t know it then, but for Elsie, the kids and myself these were to be our customers, our neighbours, our friends for more than the next five years.

We went up to the house. The previous manager had pulled out just before we arrived. I never knew what caused his hurry. He was a bachelor, and the house bore proof of it. Elsie cooked a meal, and as night was falling at the end of it we made up beds and turned in.

Matt Cowan had come up to install me in my new post. From there, he would continue his inspection. I was glad he had come along, for he was able to get a picture of what was required. Starting at the lean-to, Elsie took him on a tour of the whole dwelling.

She needed a new kitchen, a bigger one. Logs were in the bush; they could be cut and squared. All that would have to be shipped in were shingles, a door and a couple of windows. A half-partition would have to be built across the main room to provide a dining-room; one great room gave the feeling of living in a barn. Linoleum, of course, would be required for both rooms, and she would require paint and varnish. Gallons of the stuff. She thought that would be all, except for a new screen door, several yards of curtaining, half a dozen kitchen chairs, and two new beds, complete with mattresses.

Matt plucked at his lip. This meant money. He wondered if she could manage.…

She certainly could not manage. But she could go out again with Seekoos and Roderick. The choice, of course, rested with Revillon Frères. I might have settled for the paint and the two beds; Elsie would settle for nothing less than everything. Everything—or else!

Matt Cowan shrugged Okay, okay; he would send up what he could from Lac la Ronge and he would order the rest from Prince Albert. Mrs. Kemp certainly drove a hard bargain.

Mrs. Kemp said she liked to be clean.

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