NATURAL MATES

Evening Star, Issue 17968, 15 May 1922, Page 6

NATURAL MATES

\V 11 V (A N AIM AXS I.OVK BRITISH WDM 1:1 S. Of all iii;j mag" intermixtures under the suil. there in perhaps none that can compare with the one between, a Canadian man. and a British girl, writes a Canadian in the 1 Daily Mail.’ By a “ Canadian ” I mean a Canadian born, not an immigrant whoso Canadianism is but veneer, and by British I mean a typical middle-class girl from a London suburb or county town. As convoy ndicer In charge of hundreds of returning Canadian, soldiers and their brides, and as a Canadian who has encountered hundreds of such marriages in Canada, and elsewhere. I have tried to analyse, the. element oi their success. Tim Canadian man is as near 100 per cent, male as the Ibnlisli gni is 100 per cent, female, and the. result of this natural matin.; has. been children as near 100 per coni, perfect. and almost invariably of the male .-ex. tin’ a, new com try like Canada, this is "a consummation devoutly to be wi-Acd." The war, like. a. pruning Jniife, ha-, i oi a wav a., number of the dominion’s lines!, branebfs. ‘but it has only resulted in i!i' product ion of mure am) better fruit 'I he natural mating during the war, due. to the exa .;i;eraied PCX of tho two ;i:m !i,.i;alil !■ was a: Tele rat cd by other crensiuera! ions which have also tended lowan! lasting success. The men came from a- country where ibav '.wre in the majoiity, a.nd the Brilisli oil is from a laud where they formed Ihe bulk of Iho population. Having found the psychological situation to in' undoubtedly tavorabie, it only remained to be seen how the brides would survive the transplanting process from llnnr old to their new homes.

When 11 lev first arrived in Canada they found things different; they wore inclined In call them ‘'funny” nr •‘queer.” Th' 1 rains were different, the stations wei'-' ilillei'ent. (lie money was dilierent; ther" weu: no 'buses, no hedgerows, ami no double-decked, f ram way cars, only f-mins and street, ears.

They fell themselves in foreign surroundings. In their "blue” moments they longed for home. Distance clothed the s.enes of their childhood in roseate Colors.

The British love their islands and soon ■grow homesick I'nv them. ’Canadians know this; they also know tho remedy. The brides were sent home by their husbands to revisit old scenes.

At first they were happy in a. realisation of their dreams, then they became aware that things seemed duller and incredibly smaller than they has! remembered them; they missed tho telephones that were useful, the electrical hmiskeeping appliances, and most of all they missed “ the man.”

Finally, often before their lime was up, they asked to be brought back. Tjrcy returned Canadianiscd; Britain was a pleasant place to "hit, but now Canada was home.

These daughters of Empire, as they may rightly bo termed, are doing more to cement the bonds that hold the commonwealths together than all the politicians that have ever lived.

They are carrying British courage ami fiUunina. to t.lio new dominions. They are raising a, manhood with British ideals. Their sons will bo true sons of t he Great Dominion, but they will ever look' with affection to the home of their ■another, perhaps in the hour of its need,,