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Scale and Context: Approaches to the Study of Canadian Migration Patterns in the Nineteenth Century

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 January 2016

Randy William Widdis*
Affiliation:
University of Regina, Regina, Saskatchewa, S4S oA2

Extract

Picture, if you will, a little Methodist church in a rural setting. The year is 1890. It is the first day in January. Saturday afternoon. The church bell peals a welcome to family and friends celebrating the marriage of John Albert Salsbury and Alberta Effa Edgar. Some arrive on foot and others in horse-drawn vehicles. The horses are tied to the hitching-post and left to munch oats from their feed bags.

The people enter the church, and the minister greets each by name. A good turnout. Camden East is a close-knit community, and yet the preacher notes sadly that the congregation is getting smaller every year. Soft organ music plays as the people take their places. Then all becomes quiet: a short lull before the Wedding March begins. Everyone turns around to look at the smiling bride being led down the aisle by her proud father.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Social Science History Association 1988 

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