here in the
forest-camps the lumbermen lived lives more wholesome, but more lonely,
Shock found scope for the full energy of his passion to help and serve.

"A hospital is what they need up here, doctor!" he exclaimed one day
after they had made a tour through the shacks and bunks where men sick
and injured lay in their uncared for misery. "A hospital is what they
want, and some kind of a homelike place where they can meet together.
And by God's help we'll get this, too, when our hands are somewhat
free. We have all we can do for the next few weeks." And so they had.

Shock had early recognised that the evils which were so rampant, and
that exercised such a baneful influence in the community, were due not
so much to any inherent love of vice as to the conditions under which
the men were forced to live. Life was a lonely thing on the ranges,
without colour, without variety, and men plunged into debauchery from
sheer desperate reaction from monotony. Shock believed that, if there
could be established a social centre offering intellectual interest and
physical recreation, much could be done to banish the vices that were
fast becoming imbedded in the very life and character of the people.
And so he planned the erection of a building that would serve for
church, manse, club-house, schoolroom, and library, and would thus
become a spot around which the life of the community might gather in a
clean and wholesome atmosphere. He appealed to the Church Manse
Building Fund for a grant, he drew his plans for his building, and
throughout the summer quietly set about gathering his materials. One
and another of his friends he would persuade to haul a load of logs
from the hills, and with good-natured persistence he would get a day's
work now and again from the young fellows who frequently had more time
on their hands than they knew how to reasonably make use of, with the
result that before they were well aware of what was being done a log
building stood ready for the roofing and plaster. His success
stimulated his friends to more organised and continued effort. They
began to vie with each other in making contributions of work and
material for the new building. Macnamara furnished lime, Martin drew
sand, Sinclair and The Kid, who had the best horses and wagons, drew
lumber from the mill at the Fort; and by the time summer was gone the
building, roofed, chinked, and plastered, only required a few finishing
touches to be ready for the op