Lost and Found

As the nineteenth century was drawing to a close, several significant social shifts were occurring concurrently in Canada. One of the most significant changes that affected the entire country, was the opening of the Western territories to settlement, and the subsequent development of the provinces Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan. At the same time the expansion of the railway system enabled people to move to previously unheard-of locations with an ease that was inconceivable a generation earlier. Thousands of families were drawn from various places in Canada, each seeking a future in the new land. The story I tell is the account of one such family. All of the characters are real people, who by one means or another found their way into a new community and life. The events are all real, but they are not singular. The kinds of things which happen in this story happened again and again, to various people, in various places, at various times. Henry and Velma's story is the story of countless from countless rural places in Canada, who, for a variety of reasons moved to one city or another looking for an opportunity to build a life. In the process, and in the alienation caused by their dislocation, they came in contact with other people of like mind, who shared a common need: to be loved and accepted as they found their way in the complex society of the twentieth century city.