TRANSCRIPT

The New Arrival
A short story from 'Pioneer Tales and Other Human Stories'
By H.B. Adshead

And arrived at the shack where the water was running down the walls and dripping from the roof, except in the one spot where the boards on the roof had made it fairly dry.
Time passed from noon to dark and from dark to midnight, and good old Doc.'s face looked grave, as it was evident the mother's strength was failing. He whispered something to me about instruments, and there amid the eternal rain, doctor, nurse and mother battled for life, and it was not until the clock said 2 a.m. that this Alberta boy was born.
How many pioneer women, not having medical aid, have passed into the great beyond? And yet, with uncomplaining, unflinching courage, they have entered the valley of the shadow and battled with the king of terrors to bring into being a new human life. And we men call them the weaker sex!
Least we forget, again I say, All honor to the pioneer mothers of Alberta.