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TAMING A TEXAS TEASE
BAD BOY RANCH, BOOK 7
KATIE LANE
Taming a Texas Tease

Copyright © March 2021 by Katie Lane

All rights reserved.

This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are a
product of the writer’s imagination. All rights reserved. Scanning, uploading, and
electronic sharing of this book without the permission of the author is unlawful
piracy and theft. To obtain permission to excerpt portions of the text, please
contact the author at katie@katielanebooks.com Thank you for respecting this
author’s hard work and livelihood.

Cover Design & Interior Format by The Killion Group, Inc.

 CONTENTS

Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21

Sneak Peek!
Also by Katie Lane
About the Author
To my Boone, for giving me the moon
 PROLOGUE

“T ake me to the moon, B oone ,” Emma yelled into the star-filled sky.
Boone laughed and pushed her higher. “Only if I can come too,
Emma Lou.”
She giggled at his familiar response—one he had given her since
they’d been in kindergarten—and leaned back in the swing as sheer
happiness consumed her. She didn’t want to be anywhere else on
earth but right here in the middle of Simple Park . . . with Boone.
He pushed her higher and higher until she felt like she could reach
out and touch the moon.
“What will you do when you get there?” he asked as she swung
back—so close she could feel his breath on her neck.
She didn’t even have to think before she answered. “I’ll open the
first moon bookstore so no space traveler will ever have to go
without a good book. What will you do first?”
“I’ll take a big bite out of the moon to see if it tastes like cheese
pizza.”
She laughed. “You’re always thinking about food, Boone Murphy.”
There was a long a pause as she swung forward and back. “Not
always.”
 She was about to ask him what else he thought about when the
park sprinklers came on. The autumn wind caught the high spray
and swept it over to the playground. She released a shriek as the
cold mist hit her bare legs.
Boone laughed. “Afraid of a little water, Em?”
“It’s cold.”
“And it’s hot.” He stopped pushing her. “Too hot.”
She glanced over her shoulder and saw him kicking off his flip-
flops. “What are you doing?” She slowed the swing down with her
feet. In the darkness, she saw his flash of teeth. Boone had the best
smile.
“I’m cooling off.” He pulled off his shirt, and her breath got stuck
like a big wad of bubble gum in her chest. Since turning fifteen,
Boone’s body seemed to be sprouting muscles daily. The more
muscles he got, the more breathless she seemed to get whenever
he took off his shirt.
Now, he didn’t just take off his shirt. He slipped off his shorts
too. She hadn’t seen Boone in his underwear since they were in
preschool. The saggy Spiderman underwear he’d worn then didn’t
have the same effect on her as the navy-blue boxer briefs did now.
Emma looked away and brought the swing to a complete stop.
“Don’t you dare strip naked, Boone Murphy.”
“Why not? We used to run through the sprinklers nek-ked.”
“We are not running through the sprinklers—nek-ked or
otherwise.”
“You might not be, but I am.” Boone jogged toward the grassy
area the rotating sprinklers were watering. Thankfully, he’d left his
underwear on. Although the sight of his butt still made her feel a
little woozy. He disappeared in the spray of water and hooted like
he had when they’d run through the sprinklers in their front yards as
kids. A few seconds later, he reappeared, looking like a happy
drenched puppy. A muscular and hot drenched puppy.
“Come on, Em.” His grin was devilish. “I dare you.”
Dares from Boone had always been her kryptonite.
She toed off her sneakers. Since she wore a sports bra, she
didn’t hesitate to take off her t-shirt too. Leaving on her shorts, she
raced toward the sprinklers and Boone. She shrieked as the first
spray hit her and ran faster to avoid the next one. Boone was right
behind her, laughing and hooting. They ran all over the park like a
couple of kids until Emma got too close to a sprinkler head and got
knocked to her fanny by the force of the spray. Boone ran over to
help her to her feet. They were both thoroughly drenched and
laughing hard . . . until they stopped laughing.
In the cool mist of the sprinklers on that hot September night,
the friendship they had guarded so carefully over the years shifted
and the physical attraction they had been trying to ignore could be
ignored no more. Like two magnets flipped to the right side, they
came together.
Boone lowered his head and Emma lifted hers. Right before their
lips touched, he whispered.
“Em.”
Just one breathy syllable and she knew. She knew that things
between them were about to change forever. Two best friends were
about to become something more. Much more.
What she didn’t know then was that more wasn’t always better.
 CHAPTER ONE

T here w as no way on God’s green earth she was going to let him
win.
Even if she got killed in the process.
Which seemed likely when Emma Johansen took the corner
going close to fifty and the back tires of her Honda Civic fishtailed.
She corrected and kept the pedal to the metal as she sped down
the street towards her parents’ house. But before she could pull into
their driveway, a blue Dodge Ram pickup came out of nowhere and
cut her off. She saw a flash of Boone Murphy’s gloating face before
he swerved into the driveway, leaving her no choice but to slam on
the brakes or end up attached to his trailer hitch. Of course the
selfish, self-centered, self-absorbed jerk took both parking spaces in
the driveway, leaving her no choice but to park at the curb.
But she still had a chance to beat him to the door.
She was out of the car in a flash, hurdled her father’s perfectly
trimmed rose bushes, and cut across the pristine lawn to the front
door at a dead run. She made it to the porch steps first, but was
knocked out of the way by a big, uncouth man with no manners.
Before she sailed into the front hedge like the last bowling pin in a
spare, Boone’s arm snaked around her waist and set her back on
her feet.
“Whoa there, Emmie.” God, how she hated that name, and by
the twinkle in his eyes, he knew it. “Have you been tipping the
bottle in the back room again?”
She jerked away from him and gritted her teeth. “I have never
drank at work and you know it, Boone Murphy. Unlike you, who has
no problem inviting all your bad boy buddies to the hardware store
for a beer.”
“Only after we’re closed up. And my friends aren’t bad boys
anymore. They’re married men who only stay for one beer before
they go home to their balls and chains.”
He did have a good point. Cru, Logan, Holden, Val, Lincoln, and
Sawyer were no longer the bad boys who had spent one summer at
the Double Diamond Boys’ Ranch. Nor were they the troubled men
who had returned to the ranch to help out the two old cowboys who
owned the Double Diamond. After falling in love, they were all
happily married husbands and respectable citizens of Simple, Texas.
Why they wanted to hang out with a degenerate like Boone Murphy
was beyond her.
“Simple Hardware is not a bar, Boone,” she said. “If you want to
have a beer with your buddies after work, go to Cotton-Eyed Joe’s.”
He leaned closer so the brim of his brown Stetson almost
touched her forehead. “I know you love to be in control . . . Emmie.
But it’s half my business. And if I want to drink a beer with my
friends after hours, I’ll drink a beer with my friends. If you don’t like
it, you can always leave instead of sulking around listening to our
conversations.”
She snorted. “I have better things to do than listen to your
stupid conversations. And I’m not leaving an irresponsible fool in
charge of locking up.”
“Why not? When I was helping out my grandpa in the mornings,
I left you in charge of opening up.”
If he hadn’t mentioned his grandfather, she would’ve listed all
the reasons why she was more trustworthy than he was. But
Grandpa Murphy had passed away only a few months ago, and she
knew Boone was still upset about losing his beloved grandpa. She
was upset too. When she was younger, she had spent almost every
weekend on Boone’s grandparents’ small ranch, riding horses and
helping his grandfather muck out stalls or his grandmother bake
cookies. So she let the argument go and climbed the steps to the
porch.
A wreath hung on the door with red, white, and blue artificial
flowers and stars-and-stripes ribbon. Her mother loved decorating
for every season and holiday. Usually she covered the entire porch
with her decorations, but the wreath was the only thing that
heralded the upcoming Memorial Day and summer.
Which was odd, Emma thought as she pressed the doorbell. And
even odder was the invitation to supper with Boone.
Boone read her mind. “I wonder what’s going on? Our parents
usually don’t invite us to dinner at the same time after what
happened on Fourth of July last year.” He chuckled. “Talk about
fireworks. You certainly exploded that night.”
“With good reason,” she said. “You completely ruined my date
with Brad Jenkins by monopolizing the conversation with
embarrassing stories about when we were kids.”
“Embarrassing? I thought the story about you running through
the sprinklers in your underwear was pretty cute.”
“If I’d been three!”
 A smirk settled on his face. “I don’t know. I thought it was pretty
cute when you were fifteen. Although when the sprinkler hit you in
the gut and knocked you down, that wasn’t cute so much as damn
funny. I laughed so hard I thought I was going to pass out.”
She whacked him on the arm. “I could’ve been seriously injured.
And it would’ve been all your fault, you idiot.”
“How was it my fault? You were the one who took the dare.” He
smiled. “You never could turn down a dare, Em.”
She hated the name Em even more than she hated Emmie.
Emmie just ticked her off, but Em brought back too many memories.
That night in Simple Park, they hadn’t just run through the
sprinklers. They’d kissed for the first time and changed their
relationship forever. If Emma could go back and redo that night, she
would’ve ignored the dare. Maybe then she and Boone would just
be two friends who ran a hardware store together. Instead of
enemies who made each other’s lives miserable.
The front door swung open.
“There’s my peanut Em and Em.” Her father stepped out on the
porch and pulled Emma into his arms for a tight hug.
Michael Johansen was a great hugger. And a great father. He
was a loving, patient, quiet man who loved gardening and books.
He had been the accountant and business manager for the
hardware store while Boone’s father, Dean—who was as gregarious
and outspoken as Boone—had dealt with all the customers and
sales reps. It had been a perfect partnership.
And friendship.
The two men had been best friends since college. If anyone had
needed a friend at the time, it had been Emma’s father. He had just
lost both his parents and his younger brother in a car accident and
was struggling with grief and depression. Dean Murphy had taken
Michael Johansen under his wing. Dean had even brought Michael
back to his hometown of Simple for all the holidays. Which is how
Michael had fallen in love with Emma’s mother.
Emma hugged her father back tightly and took a deep breath of
his familiar scent of Old Spice deodorant, potting soil, and books.
Some of the tension she always felt around Boone eased.
“Hey, Daddy.”
They held each other for a few seconds more before her father
drew away and turned to Boone. At one time, he would’ve pulled
Boone in for a hug. But after Boone returned from college and
traveling, he’d started acting weird whenever her father tried to hug
him—like he was too macho for hugs—so her father only patted his
shoulder. “Hey, Boone. I haven’t seen you since the funeral. How
are you holding up?”
Boone looked away and grumbled. “Fine.”
While Emma bristled at Boone’s rudeness, her father seemed to
take it in stride. “Have you decided what you’re going to do with
your grandparents’ place now that you’ve inherited it?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’ll sell it. It doesn’t make any sense for
me to live there when it’s so far from town and the hardware store.”
“No, I guess it doesn’t.” Her father got a strange look in his eyes.
“But things change. So it might be best to hang onto it for awhile.”
Before Emma could ask him what he meant, he waved a hand.
“Come on in, you two. Boone’s folks are already here. Dean is out
back grilling the steaks and the women are in the kitchen cooking . .
. or more likely chattering up a storm.”
Her father was right. When Emma got to the kitchen, she found
her mother and DeeDee Murphy standing at the counter making
deviled eggs and talking nonstop. The two women were more like
sisters than best friends. They had both grown up in Simple and had
known each other since grade school. They became inseparable
after Gina fell in love with DeeDee’s boyfriend’s best friend.
Emma knew they’d had high hopes of their children getting
married one day and strengthening their bond even more. But
things hadn’t gone according to plan. Still, the two moms refused to
let go of the dream.
“I really thought it would work,” DeeDee said as she filled the
white portion of the hardboiled egg with deviled yolk. “I just
thought they needed time to get all their differences ironed out.”
“I did too,” Emma’s mother said. “But obviously we were both
wrong. It’s a shame. Maybe this new—” Gina glanced up and saw
Emma standing in the doorway. “Emma!” She hurried over and gave
her daughter a quick hug.
Gina Johansen was all about efficiency. She didn’t waste her
time on long hugs . . . or long anything. She read magazines instead
of books. Couldn’t sit through a movie longer than ninety minutes.
And refused to make any meal that couldn’t be tossed in a crockpot
and forgotten about while she ran to her multiple committee
meetings. Gina was a professional volunteer. She had been a Girl
Scout troop leader, a cheerleading coach, a softball coach, a
volleyball coach, a room mother, president of the PTA, Sunday
school teacher, and chairman of so many town committees that
Emma had lost count.
If anyone needed a volunteer, Gina Johansen was the person to
call.
“How are you doing, honey?” She brushed back Emma’s hair and
studied her. “You look a little pale.” She glanced back at DeeDee.
“Doesn’t she look a little pale, Dee?” Before DeeDee could answer,
she continued. “Are you taking your vitamin D, Emma? Eating plenty
of vegetables? How about if I make you one of my spinach
smoothies?”
Her mother’s smoothies were god-awful, so Emma quickly
declined. “I’m good, Mom.” She glanced at DeeDee and smiled.
“Hey, Dee.”
“Hi, my sweet girl.” Even with one hand holding an egg half,
DeeDee pulled Emma in for a tight hug. She was a good hugger
too. “Is Boone coming?”
“He’s outside with Dad and Dean.”
DeeDee drew back and her green eyes lit up. “You two came
together?”
“No, we just arrived at the same time.”
The light faded. “Oh. Well . . . how are things at the store?”
While her mom and DeeDee finished the eggs, Emma told them
about her idea to buy the empty space next to the hardware store.
“Then we can start keeping lawn mowers and larger lawn
equipment at the store instead of having to order it. Of course,
Boone hates the idea. But if I can get you guys onboard, he won’t
have a choice.”
Her mother and DeeDee exchanged looks. Something was
definitely going on. But before Emma could ask what, Dean hollered
in the open window.
“Steaks are done! Let’s eat.”
Emma carried out bowls of beans and potato salad while
DeeDee carried the platter of deviled eggs and her mother carried a
pitcher of lemonade and a bottle of wine. Once everything was on
the table, Emma started to pull out a chair. Unfortunately, Boone
had chosen the same chair. A gentleman would’ve let her have it.
But Boone was no gentleman. At least, not where Emma was
concerned. He held tight to the chair and a tug of war ensued . . .
until his mother got after him.
“Boone!”
He released the chair and Emma went stumbling back, dragging
the chair with her. She would’ve fallen if Dean hadn’t caught her. He
sent a warning look to his son before he took the chair from Emma
and held it out for her to sit down.
Usually her parents and the Murphys talked and laughed all
through dinner, but tonight their conversation seemed awkward and
forced. Even Boone noticed. Instead of digging into his food like he
normally did, he barely ate as his gaze shifted between their
parents. Finally, he tossed his napkin onto his plate.
“Okay, so what’s going on?” His gaze narrowed on his mother.
“Let me guess. You and Dad are getting a divorce.”
DeeDee’s eyes widened with shock. “Of course not.”
“Where would you get a crazy idea like that, son?” Dean asked.
“Your mother and I love each other and would never even think
about divorcing.”
Boone hesitated for a moment before he shrugged. “My mistake.
So why did you invite me and Emma here?”
The parents exchanged looks again before Dean spoke. “We’ve
decided to move to South Padre Island. We’ve been thinking about
it for a long time. Mike and I want to do some fishing. And the girls
like to wander around on the beach.”
Emma looked at her parents in shock. “You’re moving too.”
Her mother stood and started collecting the plates. “It’s a very
nice retirement community right on the water with plenty of
activities for the residents. And since there’s no real reason for us to
stay here, we thought—”
Emma stared at her. “There’s a reason. Your daughter.”
 Her mother stopped cleaning up. “A daughter who is grown and
rarely comes to see us.”
Emma wanted to argue, but she couldn’t. She hadn’t spent a lot
of time with her parents lately.
“I’ll come to see you more,” she said.
“It’s not just that, Emma,” her father said. “There’s not much to
do in Simple and we’re young enough that we want to enjoy our
retirement.” He paused. “But us deciding to move isn’t the main
reason we called this meeting.” He cleared his throat. “We’ve
decided to sell the hardware store.”
Emma was too stunned to speak. Her father had always wanted
her to run the store and spoke often of his grandchildren doing the
same. Since he had no extended family left, he thought of the
hardware store as his legacy. Which was why Emma worked so hard
at trying to make it successful. And now he wanted to sell it? It
made no sense. Boone didn’t think so either.
“What are you talking about?” He stared at her father. “You and
my dad gave the store to me and Emma.”
“We gave you the business to run,” Dean said. “We never
officially signed over anything.”
Boone snorted. “Funny, but you always told me that a man’s
word was good enough. Now you’re going back on your word? What
kind of bullshit is that?”
“Watch your mouth,” Dean snapped.
“No, he’s right, Dean,” DeeDee said. “We shouldn’t have acted
like we were going to give them the hardware store.” She looked at
Emma with sad eyes. “We just thought that if we put you two
together, you would get everything figured out and go back to being
close. But our plan seems to have backfired. Instead of becoming
friends, you’ve become the worst enemies.” Tears filled her eyes.
“And we just can’t stand to stay and watch it. Nor can we let you
continue to ruin your lives.”
Gina sat down and nodded. “Dee is right. It’s heartbreaking to
see our kids frittering their lives away with hate. We want our
children to be happy—to fall in love and start families. But no single
person in town is willing to get in the middle of your feud. And
enough is enough. If you two don’t have the hardware store to fight
over, you can both move on. You’re young enough to start over
somewhere else.”
“But I don’t want to move on,” Emma said. “I love Simple. This is
where I grew up. Boone can move and leave me the store. He
doesn’t even like Simple. After college, he didn’t even come home.
Instead, he traveled around like some vagrant bum.”
Boone snorted. “Just because I choose to take a little time off
and travel doesn’t mean I don’t love the store . . . Emmie.” He
leaned closer. “And seeing how it was my mom’s dad who opened
the hardware store in the first place, I’m the one who should get it
and you’re the one who should leave.”
That got her dander up and she jumped to her feet. “My father
worked his butt off to make the hardware store what it is and so
have I. I’m not handing it over to a smug, irresponsible, insufferable
—”
“That’s enough!” Her father slammed his hand down on the
table, rattling the stack of dirty plates and causing her mother’s
wine to spill. Since her father rarely raised his voice, Emma shut up
and turned to him.
He sighed and ran a hand through his thinning salt and pepper
hair. “We aren’t asking you what you want. We’re telling you what
we’re doing. And we’re selling the hardware store. As of now, Boone
Murphy and Emma Johansen’s ongoing feud is over.”
 CHAPTER TWO

B oone felt completely blindsided . When Michael Johansen had called

and asked him to dinner, Boone had known something was up. And
he’d thought he’d known exactly what that something was. For the
last eleven years, he’d expected the divorce bomb to be dropped
and had prepared for it. But he hadn’t been prepared for his loving
parents to sell the hardware store out from under him. A hardware
store that had been in his mom’s family for over sixty years. Boone’s
mom’s father had started the store and then sold it to Boone’s
father and Michael when he’d been diagnosed with lung cancer.
Grandpa Sims had passed away before Boone was born, but
DeeDee had talked often about how proud her father would’ve been
to have his grandson running the store he started.
Boone wasn’t about to let the store go to some stranger.
“Then I’ll buy it,” he said. “I’ll sell Grandpa Murphy’s ranch and
buy it with the money.”
“No, I’ll buy it.” Emma jumped in. “I can get the money.”
The fathers exchanged looks before Boone’s dad spoke. “They
only way we’d agree to sell the store to one of you is if the other
one decides they don’t want it. And it doesn’t look like that’s the
case. So we’re not going to sell it to either one of you.”
 Boone stared at his father. “That’s it. You’re just going to sell the
store to a complete stranger?”
His father nodded sadly. “You haven’t given us any other choice.
Our kids are more important than a store.”
“When?” Emma asked. “When are you selling it?”
“We’re leaving for South Padre in a few days. We planned to put
our houses and the store up for sale before we leave. But if you or
Boone would be willing to give up the store to the other one, we
could wait to sell it until we get back at the end of the summer.”
Dean glanced at Michael. “What do you think, Mike?”
Michael nodded. “That will give Emma and Boone three months
to figure out what to do.” He got up. “Come on, Dean. I’ll show you
that fishing boat I’ve been looking at online.”
When the fathers were gone, Boone turned to his mom. Tears
brimmed in her green eyes.
“I’m sorry, Boone,” she said. “You have to know it hurts your
father and I more than it’s hurting you. But things have gotten
completely out of hand between you and Emma. Everyone in town
has bets on who is going to kill the other one first.”
Gina Johansen placed a hand on DeeDee’s shoulder. “It’s a funny
joke to the townsfolk. But to your parents, it’s heartbreaking. We
want our children to be happy and you’ve proven that you can’t be
happy together. So it’s time to accept that. For your sakes and for
ours.” She got up and she and his mother started collecting the
plates and glasses.
After they left, he turned to Emma. When they were kids, she
had worn her light blond hair in pigtails with bows that made her
look like a cute puppy. In high school, she had worn it in a high
ponytail that swung from side to side as she strode the halls in her
purposeful walk. Now she wore it shoulder length and curled in
loose waves that reminded Boone of the freshly churned butter
Grandma Sims had always served with her homemade bread.
The curls framed a face that was as familiar to him as his own.
High forehead, arched brows a shade darker than her hair, robin’s
egg blue eyes with short lashes that she’d constantly complained
about in high school. A slender nose with a slight tilt at the tip. And
a wide mouth with full lips and a set of perfectly straight teeth that
had once been covered in braces. He could still remember the smile
she had flashed him the day she’d gotten those braces off. It had lit
up the world. Or maybe just his.
She wasn’t smiling now.
He expected her to blame him for their parents’ decision. She
blamed him for everything. But Emma was as unpredictable as
Texas weather. Boone hadn’t been able to forecast her moods since
grade school.
“I need a drink,” she said. “You want to go to Cotton-Eyed
Joe’s?”
Alcohol and Emma wasn’t a good idea. It had been a long time
since he had mixed the two. But he needed a drink in a bad way, so
he followed her to the bar on the outskirts of town. He pulled his
truck into the spot next to her Civic and got out. They didn’t speak
on the way to the door. He held it for her and she accepted his
courtesy with a simple nod. Once inside, they showed their IDs to
the doorman, then Boone led Emma to a high-top table in a corner
far enough away from the DJ booth so they could talk. Rather than
wait for the waitress, Boone decided to head to the bar and get
their drinks.
“I’ll be right back,” he said.
“I want a margarita on the rocks with—”
 He cut her off. “A splash of olive juice and three olives.” When
she looked surprised, he shrugged. “Everyone in town knows the
weird dirty margarita you drink.” When he reached the bar, he was
shocked to find Cal Daily tending it. “Hey, Cal. When did you start
working here?”
“Tonight is my first night. I’m working nights hoping to save up
to buy the old gas station.”
Cal had become the resident mechanic in Simple. He was a
hardworking man who’d had a string of bad luck. His wife had left
him. His mother had just recently passed. And the mobile home he
and his teenage daughter were living in had burned to the ground.
Boone had offered him a loan until he got back on his feet, but Cal
wasn’t one to take charity.
“I thought you were going to get a loan at the bank for the gas
station?” Boone said.
Cal shook his head. “Miss Applegate turned me down flat. And I
can’t say as I blame her. My credit isn’t that great. What can I get
you to drink?”
Boone wished he could offer another loan. But if he could talk
Emma into letting him have the store, he would need the money in
his savings—along with whatever he made on his grandparents’
property—to buy the hardware store. Although that was a pipe
dream. Emma would never let go of the store. Even if just to spite
him.
After paying for the drinks, Boone headed back to the table. He
stopped short when he realized the Taylor Swift song the DJ had
just started playing. “Love Story” had been Emma’s favorite song
their senior year of high school. She’d squealed whenever it came
on the radio and requested it at every dance they went to that year.
But now she hated the song. Whenever it came on the radio at
work, Emma would always switch the station. Boone knew why.
Emma’s Romeo had turned out to be a real asshole. Her hatred for
the song was confirmed when he reached the table and saw the
scowl on her face. She took the margarita from him and downed
half of it before he could even take off his hat and sit down. They
didn’t talk until the song was over and his bottle of beer and her
glass were empty.
“South Padre?” he grumbled. “Where did that come from?”
She nodded. “I’m not buying that my mom loves the beach.
Remember when we went to Disneyland that year and we all went
to the ocean? After we got back to the hotel, all she could talk
about was how sand had gotten everywhere and how the ocean salt
had dried out her skin.” She paused. “But Daddy does like to fish.”
“Which is why this is probably his stupid idea.”
Emma’s eyes narrowed over the rim of the margarita glass she
was sucking dry. She lowered the glass. “Are you calling my dad
stupid?”
Her dad wasn’t just stupid. But Boone had kept that secret for
years and he wasn’t about to reveal it now. Or ever.
He checked to see if any beer was left in his bottle before he
spoke. “I just want to figure out what got into their heads to move
to South Padre Island. They love Simple and always have.”
“They loved Simple when their kids weren’t the center of gossip.”
She stopped stabbing the olive in her glass with the cocktail stirrer
and lifted her gaze. Her eyes held sad resignation. “We did this to
ourselves, Boone. Our inability to get along has made us the
laughingstock of the town. I’ve never given much thought to what
people say—and I know you don’t. But now I realize how hard it’s
been for our parents to go to the grocery store for milk and get to
hear about their kids’ latest fight.”
 “And whose fault is that?”
She paused with the olive an inch from her mouth. “Are you
saying I’m the one who starts all our fights?”
“Most of them. Everyone knows I’m easygoing.”
Just like that the hate was back in her eyes. Funny how it made
him feel more comfortable than the sad resignation.
She dropped the olive back into her glass. “That is such bull
crap, Boone Murphy. You start just as many arguments as I do with
your smug, gloating attitude. We both know you hate accounting
and yet you’ll argue with me about how to do the books. Just
because you got your master’s in business at Harvard while I only
got my bachelor’s at Texas Tech, doesn’t mean you’re smarter than
I am. The only reason you went for your master’s was because you
wanted to stay in college raising hell for two more years on your
parents’ dime instead of coming back to Simple and working like I
did.”
She was right. He had stayed in school just so he didn’t have to
come back to Simple. But not because he didn’t want to work. He
just hadn’t wanted to face the truth that his perfect life wasn’t so
perfect. So he’d stayed at Harvard and gotten his MBA. Then after
getting his degree, he’d decided that maybe he didn’t ever want to
come home. For another year, he traveled around working odd jobs
until he’d finally grown up and figured out that life wasn’t perfect.
Now he was back where he belonged and had settled into a life that
wasn’t the dream he’d once had, but it wasn’t so bad either.
“At least I experienced life,” he said.
Her eyes widened. “I experienced life. I went to college.”
“Yeah, a college that was only a few hours away so you could
come home every weekend to work in the store with your daddy.
You are such a daddy’s girl.”
 “It’s better than being an ungrateful son who didn’t even call on
his mom’s birthday or Mother’s Day. And you’re right. I did come
home every weekend in college to work in the store. Which is why I
should get it.”
He placed his arms on the table and leaned closer. “You don’t
even like hardware. You only want the store because I want it.
You’ve always wanted what I want. And I have a scar on my
forehead to prove it.”
She glanced at his left eyebrow. “I had the Tonka truck first.”
“But it was my truck. You gave it to me for my third birthday and
then didn’t even give me a chance to play with it. When I tried to
get my turn, you bashed me in the head with it.”
“This isn’t the same thing.”
“It’s the exact same thing. You want everything, Em. And when
we were kids, I always gave in. Well, I’m not giving in now. I
deserve the store just as much as you do. Admit it. You’d rather pick
up a book than a hammer.”
She glared at him. “You don’t have to like hardware to sell it.”
He held up his hands. “Fine. Then what are we going to do? If
we can’t figure out who gets the store, we’ll both lose it. Maybe we
should flip for it.”
“You want our lives controlled by the flip of a coin?” She rolled
her eyes. “That is so you, Boone Murphy.”
“So what do you want to do, Emma? You always have a plan.”
“And you always fly by the seat of your pants.”
The waitress arrived while they were glaring at each other and
they ordered another round. After they emptied those, they ordered
another. Halfway through her third margarita, Emma suddenly
straightened and a sparkle entered her eyes. A sparkle that Boone
knew all to well. It had gotten him into enough trouble over the
years that he was instantly wary.
“My mom is right,” she said. “We have been frittering our lives
away. One or both of us should be married by now—or at least in
love. It’s pathetic that we’re not.”
The wary feeling intensified. “There’s nothing pathetic about my
life. Yours, on the other hand, is the definition of pathetic. If you’re
not at work, you’re holed up in your house reading or going out on a
date with some loser.”
Her scowl grew meaner. “At least I date. You just hook up with
every single woman in Simple.”
“Not every woman. I’m scared of Miss Gertie.” Miss Gertie was
over ninety and owned Dixon’s Boardinghouse with her niece, Reba.
The woman looked like a shriveled old apple and was meaner than
a rattlesnake.
“I’m serious, Boone,” Emma said. “Don’t you want a family?”
He had. He had wanted a marriage exactly like his parents had.
But that dream evaporated a few nights before his senior prom.
Now he just wanted . . . hell, he didn’t know what he wanted. He
just didn’t want to lose what he had.
When he didn’t answer, Emma spoke. “Well, I want a family. I
want a husband who loves me and kids I can spoil.”
Boone knew this. Getting married and starting a family was
something Emma had mentioned often when they were teenagers.
She wanted four kids. Two boys and two girls. She had made an
entire list of names to choose from. He was glad he had never had
to choose . . . and also more than a little sad.
“And you need to grow up and settle down too, Boone,” she
continued. “Which is why I think the first person to get engaged
should get the hardware store.”
 His stomach felt like it had when she’d talked him into going on
the roller coaster ride at Six Flags amusement park after eating four
churros and a super-sized cherry slushie.
He stared at her. “Are you crazy?”
“Crazy smart.” She rested her arms on the table and leaned in
closer. So close that he got a whiff of herbal shampoo and tequila.
“It makes perfect sense. Why should we stay here if we can’t find
anyone we want to spend the rest of our lives with?”
“But our parents are planning on selling the store in three
months. You expect us to find someone to fall in love with that
quickly when we haven’t found someone in our entire lives.”
“Because we’ve been too busy with the store to seriously look.”
“You’ve dated plenty.” More than he cared to think about.
“But not seriously. And you need to stop tomcatting around with
all the single—and married—women.”
“I have never gone after a married woman.”
“Delia Stevens.”
He cringed. “Okay, but in my defense, she told me she was
divorced. I didn’t know it wasn’t final until Wylie showed up at the
hardware store looking for me. Thanks again for pointing at me
ducked behind the counter.”
She shrugged. “Do the crime and you need to pay the fine. And
you talked him out of punching you anyway. You can talk anyone
out of anything so it should be easy to talk some unsuspecting
woman into marrying you. Of course, we don’t have to actually get
married in three months to get the store. We just need to be in a
serious relationship.”
“And how will the other person know it’s serious and not fake?”
he asked.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
 schools. … The only important amendment to this Act was passed
in 1875, and provided that the legislative grant, instead of
being divided between the Protestant and Catholic schools as
heretofore, should in future be distributed in proportion to
the number of children of school age in the Catholic and
Protestant districts. Already immigration had begun to upset
the balance of numbers and power, and as the years went on it
became evident that the Catholics were destined to be in a
permanent minority in Manitoba. This trend of immigration,
which in 1875 made legislation necessary, has continued ever
since; and to-day the Catholics of the province number only
20,000 out of a total population of 204,000. No further change
was made in the educational system of Manitoba until the
memorable year of 1890. In that year the provincial
legislature boldly broke all moorings with the past, and,
abolishing the separate denominational schools, introduced a
system of free compulsory and unsectarian schools, for the
support of which the whole community was to be taxed. … To
test the legality of the change, what is known as Barrett's
case was begun in Winnipeg. It was carried to the Supreme
Court of Canada, and the Canadian judges by a unanimous
decision declared that the Act of 1890 was ultra vires and
void.
{60}
The city of Winnipeg appealed to the Privy Council, and that
tribunal in July 1892 reversed the decision of the Canadian
Court and affirmed that the Act was valid and binding. … The
second subsection of the 22nd section of the Manitoba Act
already quoted says: 'An appeal shall lie to the
Governor-General in Council from any Act or decision of the
legislature of the province, or of any provincial authority,
affecting any right or privilege of the Protestant or Roman
Catholic minority of the Queen's subjects in relation to
education.' But if the legislation of 1890 was intra vires,
and expressly declared to be so on the ground that it had not
prejudicially affected the position which the minority held at
the time of the Union, how could there be an appeal from it? …
The Governor-General, however, consented to refer the question
as to his jurisdiction to the courts of justice. What is known
as Brophy's case was begun, and in due course was carried to
the Supreme Court of Canada. The decision of that tribunal,
though not unanimous, was in accord with public expectation.
The majority of the judges felt that the previous judgment of
the Privy Council had settled the matter beforehand. The Act
of 1890 had been declared intra vires on the ground that it
had not interfered with the rights which the minority
possessed before the Union, and therefore there could be no
appeal from it. …

"Still the undaunted Archbishop of St. Boniface went on, and

for a last time appealed to that Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council which two years and a half before had so spoiled
and disappointed the Catholic hopes. In January 1894 the final
decision in Brophy's case was read by the Lord Chancellor. For
a second time the Lords of the Council upset the ruling of the
Supreme Court of Canada, and treated their reasoning as
irrelevant. It will be remembered that both the appellant
prelates and the Canadian judges had assumed that the clause
in the Manitoba Act, which conferred the right of appeal to
the Governor-General, was limited to one contingency, and
could be invoked only if the minority were robbed at any time
of the poor and elementary rights which they had enjoyed
before the Act of Union. But was the clause necessarily so
limited? Could it not be used to justify an appeal from
legislation which affected rights acquired after the Union? …
In the words of the judgment: 'The question arose: Did the
sub-section extend to the rights and privileges acquired by
legislation subsequent to the Union? It extended in terms to
"any" right or privilege of the minority affected by any Act
passed by the legislature, and would therefore seem to embrace
all the rights and privileges existing at the time when such
Act was passed. Their lordships saw no justification for
putting a limitation on language thus unlimited. There was
nothing in the surrounding circumstances or in the apparent
intention of the legislature to warrant any such limitation.'
… In other words, the dispute was referred to a new tribunal,
and one which was free to consider and give effect to the true
equities of the case. The Governor-General and his responsible
advisers, after considering all the facts, found in favour of
the Catholic minority, and at once issued a remedial Order to
the Government of Manitoba, which went far beyond anything
suggested in the judgment in Brophy's case. The province was
called upon to repeal the legislation of 1890, so far as it
interfered with the right of the Catholic minority to build
and maintain their own schools, to share proportionately in
any public grant for the purposes of education, and with the
right of such Catholics as contributed to Catholic schools to
be held exempt from all payments towards the support of any
other schools. In a word, the Governor-General and Sir
Mackenzie Bowell's Administration, exercising, as it were,
appellate jurisdiction, decided that the minority were
entitled to all they claimed. The Government of Manitoba,
however, had hardened their hearts against the minority in the
province, and refused to obey the remedial Order. …

"The refusal of the provincial Government 'to accept the

responsibility of carrying into effect the terms of the
remedial Order' for the first time brought the Parliament of
Canada into the field, and empowered them to pass coercive
legislation. A remedial Bill was accordingly, after an
inexplicable delay, brought into the Federal Parliament to
enforce the remedial Order. … The Cabinet recognised that the
Federal Parliament had no power to spend the money of the
province, and so all they could do was to exempt the minority
from the obligation to contribute to the support of schools
other than their own. The Bill bristled with legal and
constitutional difficulties; it concerned the coercion of a
province; it contained no less than 116 clauses; it was
introduced on the 2nd of March 1896, when all Canada knew that
the life of the Federal Parliament must necessarily expire on
the 24th of April. Some fifteen clauses had been considered
 when the Government admitted, what all men saw, the
impossibility of the task, and abandoned the Bill. … While the
fate of the remedial Bill was still undecided, Sir Donald
Smith and two others were commissioned by the Federal
Government to go to Winnipeg and see if by direct negotiations
some sort of tolerable terms could be arranged. … Sir Donald
Smith proposed that the principle of the separate school
should be admitted wherever there were a reasonable number of
Catholic children—thus, wherever in towns and villages there
are twenty-five Catholic children of school age, and in
cities where there are fifty such children, they should have
'a school-house or school-room for their own use,' with a
Catholic teacher. … In the event the negotiations failed; the
baffled Commissioners returned to Ottawa, and on the 24th of
April 1896 Parliament was dissolved. The Government went to
the country upon the policy of the abandoned Bill. On the
other hand, many of the followers of Mr. Laurier in the
province of Quebec pledged themselves to see justice done to
the Catholics of Manitoba, and let it be understood that they
objected to the remedial Bill only because it was not likely
to prove effective in the face of the combined hostility of
the legislature and the municipalities of the province. …
Catholic Quebec gave Mr. Laurier his majority at Ottawa. …

{61}

"When the Liberal party for the first time for eighteen years
found itself in power at Ottawa, Mr. Laurier at once opened
negotiations with Manitoba. The result was a settlement which,
although it might work well in particular districts, could not be
accepted as satisfactory by the Catholic authorities. It arranged
that where in towns and cities the average attendance of
Catholic children was forty or upwards, and in villages and
rural districts the average attendance of such children was
twenty-five or upwards, one Catholic teacher should be
employed. There were various other provisions, but that was
the central concession. … Leo the Thirteenth, recognising the
 difficulties which beset Mr. Laurier's path, mindful, perhaps,
also that it is not always easy immediately to resume friendly
conference with those who have just done their best to defeat
you, has sent to Canada an Apostolic Commissioner."

J. G. Snead Cox,
Mr. Laurier and Manitoba
(Nineteenth Century, April, 1897).

CANADA: A. D. 1895.
Northern territories formed into provisional districts.

"The unorganized and unnamed portion of the Dominion this year

was set apart into provisional districts. The territory east of
Hudson's Bay, having the province of Quebec on the south and
the Atlantic on the east, was to be hereafter known as Ungava.
The territory embraced in the islands of the Arctic Sea was to
be known as Franklin, the Mackenzie River region as Mackenzie,
and the Pacific coast territory lying north of British
Columbia and west of Mackenzie as Yukon. The extent of Ungava
and Franklin was undefined. Mackenzie would cover 538,600
square miles, and Yukon 225,000 square miles, in addition to
143,500 square miles added to Athabasca and 470,000 to
Keewatin. The total area of the Dominion was estimated at
3,456,383 square miles."

The Annual Register, 1895,

page 391.

CANADA: A. D. 1895.
Negotiations with Newfoundland.

Negotiations for the entrance of Newfoundland into the

federation of the Dominion of Canada proved ineffectual and
were abandoned in May. The island province refused the terms
proposed.
CANADA: A. D. 1896 (June-July).
Liberal triumph in Parliamentary elections.
Formation of Ministry by Sir Wilfred Laurier.

General elections held in Canada on the 23d of June, 1896,

gave the Liberal Party 113 seats out of 213 in the Dominion
House of Commons; the Conservatives securing 88, and the
Patrons of Industry and other Independents 12. Much to the
general surprise, the scale was turned in favor of the
Liberals by the vote of the province of Quebec,
notwithstanding the Manitoba school question, on which
clerical influence in the Roman church was ranged against that
party. The effect of the election was to call the Liberal
leader, Sir Wilfred Laurier, of Quebec, to the head of the
government, the Conservative Ministry, under Sir Charles
Tupper, retiring on the 8th of July.

CANADA: A. D. 1896-1897.
Policy of the Liberal Government.
Revision of the tariff, with discriminating duties
in favor of Great Britain, and provisions for reciprocity.

"The position of the Canadian Liberals, when they came into

power after the General Election of 1896, was not unlike that
of the English Liberals after the General Election of 1892.
Both Liberal parties had lists of reforms to which they were
committed. The English measures were in the Newcastle
Programme. Those of the Canadian Liberals were embodied in the
Ottawa Programme, which was formulated at a convention held at
the Dominion Capital in 1893. … A large part of the Ottawa
Programme was set out in the speech which the Governor-General
read in the Senate when the session of 1897 commenced. There was
then promised a measure for the revision of the tariff; a bill
providing for the extension of the Intercolonial railway from
Levis to Montreal; a bill repealing the Dominion Franchise Act
and abolishing the costly system of registration which goes
with it; and a measure providing for the plebiscite on the
Prohibition question. Neither of these last two measures was
carried through Parliament. Both had to be postponed to
another session; and the session of 1897 was devoted, so far
as legislation went, chiefly to the tariff, and to bills, none
of which were promised in the Speech from the Throne, in
retaliation for the United States Contract Labor Laws, and the
new United States tariff. …

"The new tariff was a departure from the tariffs of the

Conservative regime in only one important direction.
Protective duties heretofore had been levied on imports from
England, in the same way as on imports from the United States
or any other country. The 'National Policy' had allowed of no
preferences for England; and during the long period of
Conservative rule, when the Conservatives were supported by
the Canadian manufacturers in much the same way as the
Republican party in the United States is supported by the
manufacturing interests, the Canadian manufacturers had been
as insistent for adequate protection against English-made
goods, as against manufactured articles from the United States
or Germany. The Conservative party had continuously claimed a
monopoly of loyalty to England; but in its tariffs had never
dared to make any concession in favour of English goods. In
the new tariff, preferences for England were established; and
with these openings in favour of imports from Great Britain,
there came a specific warning from the Minister of Finance
that Canadian manufacturers must not regard themselves as
possessing a vested interest in the continuance of the
protective system. …

"When the Minister of Finance laid the tariff before the House
of Commons, he declared that the 'National Policy,' as it had
been tried for eighteen years, was a failure; and … claimed
that lowering the tariff wall against England was a step in
the direction of a tariff 'based not upon the protective
system but upon the requirements of the public service.'
During the first fifteen months of the new tariff, the
 concession to England consists of a reduction by one-eighth of
the duties chargeable under the general list. At the end of
that time, that is on the last of July, 1898, the reduction
will be one-fourth. The reductions do not apply to wines, malt
liquors, spirits and tobacco, the taxes on which are
essentially for revenue. While England was admitted at once to
the advantages of the reduced tariff, this tariff is not to be
applicable to England alone. In July, it was extended to the
products of New South Wales, the free-trade colony of the
British Australasian group; and any country can come within
its provisions whose government can satisfy the Comptroller of
Customs at Ottawa, that it is offering favourable treatment to
Canadian exports, and is affording them as easy an entrance
through its customs houses as the Canadians give by means of
the reciprocal tariff. It is also possible, under a later
amendment to the Tariff Act, for the Governor in Council to
extend the benefits of the reciprocal tariff to any country
entitled thereto by virtue of a treaty with Great Britain.
{62}
Numerous alterations were made in the general list of import
duties. Some of these involved higher rates; others lowered
the duties. But if the changes in the fiscal system had been
confined to these variations, the new tariff would not have
been noteworthy, and it would have fulfilled few of the
pledges made by the Liberals when they were in Opposition. It
owes its chief importance to the establishment of an inner
tariff in the interests of countries which deal favourably
with Canada."

E. Porritt,
The New Administration in Canada
(Yale Review, August, 1897).

CANADA: A. D. 1897 (June-July).

Conference of colonial premiers with
the British Colonial Secretary.
 See (in this volume)
ENGLAND: A. D. 1897 (JUNE-JULY).

CANADA: A. D. 1897 (October).

Self-government for the Northwestern Territories.

By an Act passed in October, a system of self-government,

going far towards the full powers of a provincial government,
but having some limitations, was provided for the Northwest
Territories.

CANADA: A. D. 1898 (January).

Encyclical Letter of the Pope on the Manitoba School Question.

On the report made by his delegate, Monsignor Merry del Val,

Pope Leo XIII. addressed an encyclical letter to the Roman
Church in Canada, concerning the duty of Catholics in the
matter of the Manitoba schools (see above: A. D. 1890-1896),
which was made public at Quebec on the 9th of January, 1898.
The letter has great general importance, as defining with
precision the attitude of the Church towards all secular
school systems. With a few unessential passages it is given in
what follows:

"It was with extreme solicitude," wrote the Pope, "that we

turned our mind to the unhappy events which in these later
years have marked the history of Catholic education in
Manitoba. … And since many expected that we should make a
pronouncement on the question, and asked that we should trace
a line of conduct and a way to be followed, we did not wish to
decide anything on this subject before our Apostolic delegate
had been on the spot, charged to proceed to a serious
examination of the situation, and to give an account to us of
the state of affairs. He has faithfully and diligently
fulfilled the command which we had given him. The question
agitated is one of great and exceptional importance. We speak
of the decision taken seven years ago by the parliament of
Manitoba on the subject of education. The act of Confederation
had secured to Catholic children the right of education in public
schools in keeping with their conscientious convictions. The
parliament of Manitoba abolished this right by contrary law.
By this latter law a grave injury was inflicted, for it was
not lawful for our children to seek the benefits of education
in schools in which the Catholic religion is ignored or
actively combated, in schools where its doctrine is despised
and its fundamental principles repudiated. If the Church has
anywhere permitted this, it was only with great reluctance and
in self-defense, and after having taken many precautions,
which, however, have too often been found unequal to parrying
the danger. In like manner one must at all cost avoid, as most
pernicious, those schools wherein every form of belief is
indifferently admitted and placed on an equal footing—as if in
what regards God and Divine things, it was of no importance
whether one believed rightly or wrongly, whether one followed
truth or falsehood. You well know, venerable brothers, that
all schools of this kind have been condemned by the Church,
because there can be nothing more pernicious nor more fitted
to injure the integrity of faith and to turn away the tender
minds of youth from the truth. … For the Catholic there is but
one true religion, the Catholic religion; hence in all that
concerns doctrine, or morality, or religion, he cannot accept
or recognize anything which is not drawn from the very sources
of Catholic teaching. Justice and reason demand, then, that
our children have in their schools not only scientific
instruction but also moral teachings in harmony, as we have
already said, with the principles of their religion, teachings
without which all education will be not only fruitless but
absolutely pernicious. Hence the necessity of having Catholic
teachers, reading books, and textbooks approved of by the
bishops, and liberty to organize the schools, that the
teaching therein shall be in full accord with Catholic faith
as well as with all the duties that flow therefrom. For the
rest, to decide in what institutions their children shall be
instructed, who shall be their teachers of morality, is a
right inherent to parental authority. When, then, Catholics
demand, and it is their duty to demand, and to strive to
obtain, that the teaching of the masters shall be in
conformity with the religion of their children, they are only
making use of their right; and there can be nothing more
unjust than to force on them the alternative of allowing their
children to grow up in ignorance, or to expose them to
manifest danger in what concerns the supreme interests of
their souls. It is not right to call in doubt or to abandon in
any way these principles of judging and acting which are
founded on truth and justice, and which are the safe-guards
both of public and private interests. Therefore, when the new
law in Manitoba struck a blow at Catholic education, it was
your duty, venerable brothers, to freely protest against the
injury and disaster inflicted; and the way in which you all
fulfilled that duty is a proof of your common vigilance, and
of a spirit truly worthy of bishops; and, although each one of
you will find on this point a sufficient approbation in the
testimony of his own conscience, learn, nevertheless, that you
have also our conscience and our approbation, for the things
which you sought and still seek to protect and defend are most
sacred. The difficulties created by the law of which we speak by
their very nature showed that an alleviation was to be sought
for in a united effort. For so worthy was the Catholic cause
that all good and upright citizens, without distinction of
party, should have banded themselves together in a close union
to uphold it. Unfortunately for the success of this cause, the
contrary took place. What is more deplorable still, is that
Catholic Canadians themselves failed to unite as they should
in defending those interests which are of such importance to
all—the importance and gravity of which should have stilled
the voice of party politics, which are of much less
importance. We are not unaware that something has been done to
amend that law. The men who are at the head of the federal
government and of the Province of Manitoba have already taken
certain measures with a view to decreasing the difficulties of
which the Catholics of Manitoba complain, and against which
 they rightly continue to protest.
{63}
We have no reason to doubt that these measures were taken from
love of justice and from a laudable motive. We cannot, however,
dissimulate the truth; the law which they have passed to
repair the injury is defective, unsuitable, insufficient. The
Catholics ask—and no one can deny that they justly ask—for
much more. Moreover, in the remedial measures that have been
proposed there is this defect, that in changes of local
circumstances they may easily become valueless. In a word, the
rights of Catholics and the education of their children have
not been sufficiently provided for in Manitoba. Everything in
this question demands, and is conformable to justice, that
they should be thoroughly provided for, that is, by placing in
security and surrounding with due safe-guards those
unchangeable and sacred principles of which we have spoken
above. This should be the aim, this the end to be zealously
and prudently sought for. Nothing can be more injurious to the
attainment of this end than discord; unity of spirit and
harmony of action are most necessary. Nevertheless since, as
frequently happens in things of this nature, there is not only
one fixed and determined but various ways of arriving at the
end which is proposed and which should be obtained, it follows
that there may be various opinions equally good and
advantageous. Wherefore let each and all be mindful of the
rules of moderation, and gentleness, and mutual charity; let
no one fail in the respect that is due to another; but let all
resolve in fraternal unanimity, and not without your advice,
to do that which the circumstances require and which appears
best to be done. As regards especially the Catholics of
Manitoba, we have every confidence that with God's help they
will succeed in obtaining full satisfaction. This hope is
founded, in the first place, in the righteousness of the
cause, next in the sense of justice and prudence of the men at
the head of the government, and finally in the good-will of all
upright men in Canada. In the meantime, until they are able to
obtain their full rights, let them not refuse partial
 satisfaction. If, therefore, anything is granted by law to
custom, or the good-will of men, which will render the evil
more tolerable and the dangers more remote, it is expedient
and useful to make use of such concessions, and to derive
therefrom as much benefit and advantage as possible. Where,
however, no remedy can be found for the evil, we must exhort
and beseech that it be provided against by the liberality and
munificence of their contributions, for no one can do anything
more salutary for himself or more conducive to the prosperity
of his country, than to contribute, according to his means, to
the maintenance of these schools. There is another point which
appeals to your common solicitude, namely, that by your
authority, and with the assistance of those who direct
educational institutions, an accurate and suitable curriculum
of studies be established, and that it be especially provided
that no one shall be permitted to teach who is not amply
endowed with all the necessary qualities, natural and
acquired, for it is only right that Catholic schools should be
able to compete in bearing, culture, and scholarship with the
best in the country. As concerns intellectual culture and the
progress of civilization, one can only recognize as
praiseworthy and noble the desire of the provinces of Canada
to develop public instruction, and to raise its standard more
and more, in order that it may daily become higher and more
perfect. Now there is no kind of knowledge, no perfection of
learning, which cannot be fully harmonized with Catholic
doctrine."

CANADA: A. D. 1898 (September).

Popular vote on the question of Prohibition.

Pursuant to a law passed by the Dominion Parliament the

previous June, a vote of the people in all the Provinces of
the Dominion was taken, on the 29th of September, 1898, upon
the following question: "Are you in favor of the passing of an
act prohibiting the importation, manufacture or sale of
spirits, wine, ale, beer, cider, and all other alcoholic
 liquors for use as beverages?" The submitting of this question
to a direct vote of the people was a proceeding not quite
analogous to the Swiss Referendum, since it decided the fate
of no pending law; nor did it imitate the popular Initiative
of Swiss legislation, since the result carried no mandate to
the government. It was more in the nature of a French
Plébiscite, and many called it by that name; but no Plebiscite
in France ever drew so real an expression of popular opinion
on a question so fully discussed. The result of the voting was
a majority for prohibition in every Province except Quebec,
Ontario pronouncing for it by more than 39,000, Nova Scotia by
more than 29,000, New Brunswick by more than 17,000, Manitoba
by more than 9,000, Prince Edward's Island by more than 8,000,
and the Northwest Territories by more than 3,000, while
British Columbia gave a small majority of less than 600 on the
same side. Quebec, on the other hand, shouted a loud "No" to
the question, by 93,000 majority. The net majority in favor of
Prohibition was 107,000. The total of votes polled on the
question was 540,000. This was less than 44 per cent of the
total registration of voters; hence the vote for Prohibition
represented only about 23 per cent of the electorate, which
the government considered to offer too small a support for the
measure asked for.

CANADA: A. D. 1898-1899.
The Joint High Commission for settlement of all unsettled
questions between Canada and the United States.

As the outcome of negotiations opened at Washington in the

previous autumn by the Canadian Premier, relative to the
seal-killing controversy, an agreement between Great Britain,
Canada and the United States was concluded on the 30th of May,
1898, for the creation of a Joint High Commission to negotiate
a treaty, if possible, by which all existing subjects of
controversy between the United States and Canada should be
settled with finality. Appointments to the Commission by the
three governments were made soon afterwards, Great Britain
 being represented by the Lord High Chancellor, Baron
Herschell; Canada by Sir Wilfred Laurier, Premier, Sir Richard
Cartwright, Minister of Trade and Commerce, and Sir Louis
Henry Davies, Minister of Marine and Fisheries; the United
States by Honorable John W. Foster, ex-Secretary of State,
Senator Charles W. Fairbanks, Senator George Gray,
Representative Nelson Dingley, and the Honorable John A.
Kasson, Reciprocity Commissioner. Senator Gray having been
subsequently appointed on the Commission to negotiate peace
with Spain, his place on the Anglo-American Commission was
taken by Senator Faulkner.
{64}
The Joint Commission sat first in Quebec and later in
Washington. Among the questions referred to it were those
relating to the establishment of the boundary between Alaska
and British Columbia; the issues over Bering Sea and the catch
of fur seals; the unmarked boundary between Canada and the
United States near Passamaqnoddy Bay in Maine and at points
between Wisconsin and Minnesota and Canada; the northeast
fisheries question, involving the rights of fishing in the
North Atlantic off Newfoundland and other points; the
regulation of the fishing rights on the Great Lakes;
alien-labor immigration across the Canadian-American border;
commercial reciprocity between the two countries; the
regulation of the bonding system by which goods are carried in
bond across the frontier and also the regulation of traffic by
international railways and canals of the two countries;
reciprocal mining privileges in the Klondyke, British North
America and other points; wrecking and salvage on the ocean
and Great Lakes coasting waters; the modification of the
treaty arrangement under which only one war vessel can be
maintained on the Great Lakes, with a view to allowing
warships to be built on the lakes and then floated out to the
ocean. The sessions of the Joint Commission were continued at
intervals until February, 1899, when it adjourned to meet at
Quebec in the following August, unless further adjournment
should be agreed upon by the several chairmen. Such further
 adjournment was made, and the labors of the Joint Commission
were indefinitely suspended, for reasons which the President
of the United States explained in his Message to Congress,
December, 1899, as follows: "Much progress had been made by
the Commission toward the adjustment of many of these
questions, when it became apparent that an irreconcilable
difference of views was entertained respecting the
delimitation of the Alaskan boundary. In the failure of an
agreement as to the meaning of articles 3 and 4 of the treaty
of 1825 between Russia and Great Britain, which defined the
boundary between Alaska and Canada, the American Commissioners
proposed that the subject of the boundary be laid aside and
that the remaining questions of difference be proceeded with,
some of which were so far advanced as to assure the
probability of a settlement. This being declined by the
British Commissioners, an adjournment was taken until the
boundary should be adjusted by the two Governments. The
subject has been receiving the careful attention which its
importance demands, with the result that a modus vivendi for
provisional demarcations in the region about the head of Lynn
Canal has been agreed upon [see (in this volume) ALASKA
BOUNDARY QUESTION] and it is hoped that the negotiations now
in progress between the two Governments will end in an
agreement for the establishment and delimitation of a
permanent boundary."

CANADA: A. D. 1899 (October).

Modus Vivendi, fixing provisional boundary line of Alaska.

See (in this volume)

ALASKA BOUNDARY QUESTION.

CANADA: A. D. 1899-1900.
Troops to reinforce the British army in South Africa.

A proposal from the Canadian government to assist that of the

Empire in its South African War was gratefully accepted in the
 early stages of the war, and a regiment of infantry called the
Royal Canadian, numbering a little more than 1,000 men, sailed
from Quebec, October 30. In the following January a second
contingent of more than 1,000 men was sent to the field. This
latter comprised squadrons of mounted rilles and rough-riders,
and three batteries of field artillery. In the same month the
Canadian government accepted an offer from Lord Strathcona to
raise, equip and transport at his own expense a body of 500
mounted men from the Northwest.

CANADA: A. D. 1900 (November).

General election.

The general election of members of the Dominion House of

Commons was held November 7, resulting as follows:

Provinces. Liberal. Conservative.

Independent. Total.

Nova Scotia. 15 5
0 20
New-Brunswick. 9 5
0 14
Prince Edward Island. 3 2
0 5
Quebec. 57 8
0 65
Ontario. 33 54
5 92
Manitoba. 2 3
2 7
Northwest Territories. 2 0
2 4
British Columbia. 3 2
1 6

Totals. 124 79
10 213

As in the election of 1896, the Liberal Ministry of Sir

Wilfred Laurier found its strong support in the province of
Quebec. Its party suffered unexpected losses in Ontario. The
slight meaning of the election was summed up by Professor
Goldwin Smith as follows: "The net result of the elections
seems to be a Government resting on French Quebec and an
Opposition resting on British Ontario. The minor provinces
have been carried, as usual, by local interests rather than on
general questions. Apart from the distinction of race between
the two great provinces and the antagonism, before dormant but
somewhat awakened by the war, there was no question of importance
at issue between the parties. Both concurred in sending
contingents to South Africa. The Liberals, though they went in
at first on the platform of free trade—at least, of a tariff
for revenue only—have practically embraced protection under
the name of stability of the tariff, and are believed to have
received from the protected manufacturers contributions to
their large election fund. The other special principles, such
as the reduction of expenditure and discontinuance of the
bonus to railways, proclaimed by Liberals before the last
election, have been dropped. So has reform of the Senate. It
is not likely that the Liberal victory will be followed by any
change either in legislation or government, or by any special
reform. Mr. Bourassa and Monet, of the French-Canadian members
who protested against the contingent, have been re-elected.
Great as may be the extent and warmth of British feeling, the
statement that Canadians were unanimously in favour of
participation in the war must not be taken without
qualification. For myself, I felt that so little principle was
at stake that I voted for two Conservatives on their personal
merits."
{65}

CANAL, The new Bruges.

See (in this volume)

BRUGES: A. D. 1900.

CANAL, The Chicago Drainage.

See (in this volume)

CHICAGO: A. D. 1900.

CANAL, City of Mexico Drainage.

See (in this volume)

MEXICO: A. D. 1898.

CANAL, The Elbe and Trave.

See (in this volume)

GERMANY: A. D. 1900 (JUNE).

CANAL, Interoceanic, The Project of the: A. D. 1581-1892.

The early inception of the project.
Movements towards its realization.

"The thought of uniting the two great oceans by means of a

canal across the American isthmus sprang up, as is known, from
the moment the conviction was reached that the passage which,
from the days of Columbus, was thought to exist towards the
Southern Sea, was not a reality. … Nevertheless the first
survey of the land was not carried out until the year 1581,
when, in obedience to superior instructions, Captain Antonio
Pereira, Governor of Costa Rica, organized an expedition and
explored the route by way of the San Juan river, the lake, and
the rivers emptying into Gulf Nicoya, Costa Rica. Thirty-nine
years later Diego de Mercado submitted to King Philip III his
famous report of January 23, 1620, suggesting the route by the
river and lake, and thence through Costa Rican territory along
the Quebrada or Barranca Honda to Salinas Bay, then called
Puerto del Papagayo. Either because the magnitude of the
undertaking was at that time superior to the necessities of
trade, or, as was said, because Spain considered the canal
antagonistic to her interests, the era of independence arrived
without the execution of the project ever having been entered
upon. After independence the Congress of Central America, in
which Costa Rica and Nicaragua were represented as States of
the Federation which succeeded the Colonial Government,
enacted on June 16, 1825, a decree providing for the
construction of the canal, and in that same year Don Antonio
José Cañas, Diplomatic Representative of Central America in
Washington, addressed the Secretary of State, Mr. Henry Clay,
informing him of this resolution and stating that: 'A company
formed of American citizens of respectability was ready to
undertake the work as soon as a treaty with the United States
insuring the coöperation of the latter was signed; that he was
ready to enter into negotiations for the treaty, and that
nothing would be more pleasant for Central America than to see
the generous people of the United States joining her in the
opening of the canal, sharing the glory of the enterprise, and
enjoying the great advantages to be derived from it.' The
Government of Central America could not carry the undertaking
into effect, notwithstanding that among the means employed to
reach the desired result there figures the arrangement
concluded with the King of Holland in October, 1830. But,
though the hopes centered in the undertaking were frustrated,
to the honor of Central America the declarations of that
Congress, which constitute, like the concession for the canal
itself, one of the loftiest public documents ever issued by
any nation of the earth, have become a matter of record. The
Central American Federation dissolved, this important matter
attached to Nicaragua and Costa Rica directly, and the
boundary line between the two republics having been determined