MuseuM AND Art NOTES 97

Miss Lottie Bowron and others. Chairman Avison acted efficiently as Master of
Ceremonies, and, in his introductory remarks, touched a high strain of eloquence
which greatly impressed his hearers. His speech showed that he was well acquainted
with the history of the gold fields. Mr. Avison told something of the strenuous work
that he and his committee had done in perfecting the arrangements leading up to the
unveiling, how that it was his desire that just for a day they might recapture the
atmosphere and spirit of the old town away back in its palmy days. He hoped that
what with the horse racing in the streets, the old revived games and dances, the
refreshments, and the celebrations generally, visitors would have the feeling that they
had been suddenly transported back to the hectic gold rush period. Mr. Avison was
followed by Mr. Russell McDougall, who gave an address of welcome in behalf of the
local Masonic Lodge, which, as everybody knows, is the oldest in the country, having
received its charter from Edinburgh in the 60’s. The chief oration was, of course,
very fittingly made by His Honour Judge F. W. Howay, British Columbia’s repre-
sentative on the Historical Sites and Monuments Board. As an open-air speaker
Judge Howay is without a peer. The writer has heard him on many such occasions
and has always been properly impressed not only by his extraordinary historical
knowledge and exactness, but also by his genuine gift of pure oratory. The Judge
recounted in fine language the story of the coming of the first miners and the gradual
exploitation and development of the gold fields. The audience listened entranced to
his story, which, unfortunately, was not reported verbatim. It was a story of adven-
turous courage, hardihood and privation unequalled in the annals of any country.
The Judge was at his best when he drew a graphic picture of the four hundred mile
trek of the early miners. Time did not permit him to touch upon the subject of the
building of the road. The next speaker, Mr. R. L. Reid, K.C., made an all too brief
but eloquent address, concluding with a remarkably beautiful poem, which we repro-
duce herewith:

TO BARKERVILLE AND BACK

Come o’er the hills to Barkerville and back again with me,

Come, climb up high, where bluest sky and truest joy may be,

Come, wing your feet with snowshoes fleet, and fill your heart with song,
For breakneck heights reserve delights for brave and bold and strong.

Come, climb again, where many men, when Cariboo was new,
Dreamed golden dreams by chattering streams—rewhispering to you.
The men have passed, the hills shall last, the streams shall yet remain
To leap and sing and laughing bring old dreams to newer men.

Let life’s highway hold what it may of cloud or sunny skies,

Let fortune smile or frown a while, the mountain trail brings joys
To you and I—beneath the sky—when rambling fancy free
Across the hill to Barkerville and back again with me.

Keithley Creek, B.C., —Wn. J. Ryan.
August 9th, 1926.

(First published in Cariboo Observer, Quesnel, B. C., August 8, 1926)