It was enough for every militia man to know that the country needed his services, and personal interests were cheerfully sacrificed.

Instances of devotion to Queen and country were general.

Business matters were but a secondary consideration.
Merchants and their clerks left their shops, students their colleges, professional men their offices, while factories were shut down and farmers left their ploughs in the furrows to take up their rifles to assist in the national defence.

Those who were obliged by age or infirmities to stay at home were not idle, but nobly did their part in raising funds to assist the families of those bread-winners who had gone to serve on the frontier posts.

All over the country large sums were raised for this purpose, and the patriotic Relief Committees were exceptionally busy attending to the proper distribution of food and supplies, both among the volunteers and the needy families who were depending upon them.
In the order calling out the troops for active service the Governor-General placed the whole force under the command of Lieut.-Gen.
Sir John Michel, and added: In former times the Commander-in-Chief has had occasion to call for the active services of the volunteer force to maintain international obligations, and as a precaution against threatened action.