Famous Firesides of French Canada Part 9

INTERESTING SITES.

Few visitors to the city, as the Palace cars of the Canadian Pacific Railway carry them into the mammoth station on Dalhousie Square, realize the historic a.s.sociations which cling around this spot. In the magnificently equipped dining-room of the Company's Hotel, as delicacies from the most distant parts of the earth are laid before the traveller, he should call to remembrance the lives of deprivation and uncomplaining endurance which have made the ground now crowned by the beautiful edifice full of the most tragic interest, and filled with memories which will be immortal as long as courage and stout-heartedness are honoured.

Two hundred and fifty years ago the sound of hammer and saw here awoke the echoes of the forest. Workmen who had learned their craft in old French towns, when Colbert, the great statesman and financier, was developing the architecture and industries, revenues and resources of the kingdom, here reared a wind-mill, the first industrial building in Montreal.

The winds of these autumns long ago turned the fans and ground the seed of harvests toilsomely gathered from corn-fields, among whose furrows many a time the arrow and tomahawk spilt the blood of reaper and sower.

The old mill with its pastoral a.s.sociations of peaceful toil in time pa.s.sed away, and was succeeded by a structure dedicated to the art of war, for on the same spot stood _la Citadelle_. This stronghold, though primitive in its appointments, was important during the French occupation and evacuation of New France, being the last fortification held by French troops on Canadian soil.

This old earthen Citadel, a relic of mediaeval defence, was, about seventy years ago, removed, its material being used in the leveling and enlargement of the Parade Ground, or, as it is called, the "_Champ-de-Mars._" Its demolition might be regretted were it not that in an age of progress even sentiment must give way before advance. The grand Hotel Viger, although built to promote the comfort of the people of the Dominion, has not destroyed the pathetic interest of the early struggles and heroism which still clothes its site, and which heightens the present appreciation of a civilization of which the old mill and fort were the pioneers.

The hospitable hearth of James McGill, graced by his n.o.ble-minded French-Canadian wife, has also long since disappeared; but through his endowment, and the prince-like gifts of William Molson, Peter Redpath, Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, Sir Wm. Macdonald and many others, the torch of education has been lighted here, which shall s.h.i.+ne a beacon for ages to come. Although but three-quarters of a century old, yet the University of McGill compares favourably with older inst.i.tutions, its Mining Building being the most perfectly fitted up in the world. Its sons take rank with the most cultured minds in Europe and America, influencing to a most marked degree the educational thought of the day.

The year 1896 marked an epoch in its history, when a graduate of the cla.s.s of '68 was elected to the Presidency of the British Medical a.s.sociation, one of the most august and learned corporations in the world. In calling a Canadian, Dr. T. G. Rodd.i.c.k, M.P., to this eminent position, a signal honour was conferred, it being the first time the office was held by a Colonial member. Thirty-five years ago, a French-Canadian youth, slight in form, with broad brow and eyes full of deep thoughtfulness, stood before the Faculty and friends as the valedictorian of his cla.s.s. That slender boy is to-day the great Canadian Premier, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the eloquent Statesman and the honoured of Her Majesty the Queen.

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FAMOUS NAMES.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Brant]

Conspicuous among the portraits of soldiers, heroes and navigators which adorn the walls of the different rooms of the Chateau, is one, a full size painting of an old Highland Chief, a veritable Rhoderick Dhu, in Scotch bonnet and dirk, who, with the call of his clan, and the pipes playing the airs of his native glen, led the charge of Bunker Hill. He was Sir John Small, who came to Canada with his regiment, the famous "Black Watch," and served under Abercrombie in the battle of Carillon.

One of his descendants, visiting Boston early in the century, found on the walls of a museum, and where it may still be seen, a painting of the battle of Bunker Hill with General Small on his white horse, rallying his men to the attack. It was to the credit of the successors of those who fought that day, although only thirty or forty years had elapsed since their forefathers had met in mortal combat, that the most gentle courtesy and kindness were shown on both sides by their descendants.

A fine picture of a full-blooded Indian is that of Brant, the great Mohawk Chief, an ally of the English and a cruel and ruthless foe; on one occasion having, it is said, slain with his own hand, forty-four of his enemies. Other portraits of Jacques Cartier, Champlain, Vaudreuil, Montcalm, deLevis, Dorchester, deSalaberry and Murray are also there to be seen and admired.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Sir John Small

British Leader in the Battle of Bunker Hill.]

Many of the streets of Montreal, such as Dorchester, Sherbrooke, Wolfe, d'Youville, Jacques Cartier, Guy, Amherst, Murray, Vaudreuil, de Lagauchetiere, Olier, Mance, Longueuil, and others equally well named, will carry down to future generations the memory of those who were prominent in the making and moulding of Canada. It is strange that one of the most insignificant streets in the city, a mere lane, of a single block in length, should bear the name of Dollard, the hero of one of the most ill.u.s.trious deeds recorded in history, an event which has rightly been called the Thermopylae of Canada. The facts were as follows:--In 1660 the Colony was on the eve of extinction by the Iroquois, the whole of the tribes being on the war-path with the intention of sweeping the French from the St. Lawrence. Dollard des Ormeaux and sixteen young men of Montreal determined upon a deed which should teach the savages a lesson. They bound themselves by an oath neither to give nor take quarter. They made their wills and took the sacrament in the Chapel of the _Hotel-Dieu_, and then started up Lake St. Louis. They were not accustomed to the management of the frail canoes of bark, and day after day struggled to pa.s.s the currents of St.

Anne's, at the head of the island, where now the pleasure yacht spreads its white sails to the breezes of summer, and on whose sh.o.r.es the huntsmen and hounds gaily gallop when in the woods of autumn the leaves turn crimson and gold under the mellow hunter's moon. At last, after a week had been thus spent, they entered the Ottawa River, proceeding by the sh.o.r.es until they descried the remains of a rough palisaded fort surrounded by a small clearing. It was only a circle enclosed by trunks of trees, but here they "made their fire and slung their kettles. Being soon joined by some friendly Hurons and Algonquins they bivouacked together. Morning, noon and night they prayed, and when at sunset the long reaches of forest on the opposite sh.o.r.e basked peacefully in the level rays, the rapids joined their hoa.r.s.e music to the notes of their evening hymn." As their young voices floated through the forest glades, and they lay down to sleep under the stars of the sweet May skies, they thought of the bells tinkling in the still air of their loved _Ville-Marie_, where those they had come to die for sent up for them _Aves_ around hearth and altar. In the words of a Canadian poet, it is thus described:--

"Beside the dark Uttawa's stream, two hundred years ago, A wondrous feat of arms was wrought, which all the world should know.

'Tis hard to read with tearless eyes this record of the past, It stirs our blood, and fires our souls, as with a clarion blast.

What, though beside the foaming flood untombed their ashes lie,-- All earth becomes the monument of men who n.o.bly die.

Daulac, the Captain of the Fort, in manhood's fiery prime Hath sworn by some immortal deed to make his name sublime, And sixteen soldiers of the Cross, his comrades true and tried, Have pledged their faith for life or death, all kneeling side by side.

And this their oath, on flood or field, to challenge face to face The ruthless hordes of Iroquois,--the scourges of their race.

No quarter to accept nor grant, and loyal to the grave.

To die like martyrs for the land they'd shed their blood to save.

And now these self-devoted youths from weeping friends have pa.s.sed, And on the Fort of _Ville-Marie_ each fondly looks his last.

Soft was the balmy air of spring in that fair month of May, The wild flowers bloomed, the spring birds sang on many a budding spray, When loud and high a thrilling cry dispelled the magic charm, And scouts came hurrying from the woods to bid their comrades arm.

And bark canoes skimmed lightly down the torrent of the _Sault_, Manned by three hundred dusky forms, the long-expected foe.

Eight days of varied horrors pa.s.sed, what boots it now to tell How the pale tenants of the fort heroically fell?

Hunger and thirst and sleeplessness, Death's ghastly aids, at length.

Marred and defaced their comely forms, and quelled their giant strength.

The end draws nigh,--they yearn to die--one glorious rally more For the sake of _Ville-Marie_, and all will soon be o'er.

Sure of the martyr's golden crown, they shrink not from the Cross; Life yielded for the land they love, they scorn to reckon loss.

The fort is fired, and through the flame, with slippery, splas.h.i.+ng tread, The Redmen stumble to the camp o'er ramparts of the dead.

Then with set teeth and nostrils wide, Daulac, the dauntless, stood, And dealt his foes remorseless blows 'mid blinding smoke and blood, Till hacked and hewn, he reeled to earth, with proud, unconquered glance, Dead--but immortalized by death--Leonidas of France; True to their oath, his comrade knights no quarter basely craved,-- So died the peerless twenty-two--so Canada was saved."

The historian says:--"It was the enthusiasm of honour, the enthusiasm of adventure and the enthusiasm of faith. Daulac was the _Coeur-de-Lion_ among the forests and savages of the New World." The names and occupations of the young men may still be read in the parish registers, the faded writing illumined by the sanct.i.ty of martyrdom. The "Lays of Rome" recount among her heroes none of greater valour than these by the lonely rapids in the silence of the Canadian forest.

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ECHOES FROM THE PAST.

Near a modern window in the gallery leans an old spinning-wheel, which was found in the vaults. By its hum in winter twilights, a hundred years ago, soft lullabies were crooned, and fine linen spun for dainty brides, over whose forgotten graves the blossoms of a century of summers have fallen. In hoop and farthingale they tripped over the threshold of the old church of _Notre Dame de Bonsecours_. They plighted their troth as happily before the altar of the little chapel, as do their descendants in the stately church of _Notre Dame_, with the grand organ pealing through the dim arches and groined roof.

The old, old wheel is silent, and the fingers that once held distaff and spindle have crumbled into dust, but the n.o.ble deeds and glorious names of those days gone by are carven deep in the monument of a grateful country's memory.

Over an archway in the picture gallery is an enormous oil painting, dark with age, of the British Coat of Arms, which, it is whispered, was brought over hurriedly from New York during the American Revolution.

The museum of the Chateau is daily receiving donations of interesting relics, and has already a fine collection of coins, medals, old swords and historical mementoes--some of the autograph letters of Arnold, Champlain, Roberval, Vaudreuil, Amherst, Carleton, the de Ramezay family and many others, being of great interest.

These early days have pa.s.sed away forever. The whirr of the spinning-wheel, or shout of the hunter, no longer sound along the banks of the St. Lawrence. No canoe of the painted warrior now glides silently by the sh.o.r.e; for Montreal with its three thousand inhabitants when Vaudreuil beat his retreat, to its present population of 300,000, has thrown its magnificent civilization around these spots hallowed by the footprints of the great men whose feet have walked her ancient streets.

"She has grown in her strength like a Northern queen, 'Neath her crown of light and her robe of snow, And she stands in her beauty fair between The Royal Mount and the river below."

The two nationalities live harmoniously side by side in commercial and social life, both retaining their racial and distinctive characteristics. The old _chansons_ of Brittany are still heard from the hay-carts and by the firesides, and up and down the rivers ring out the same songs as when the "fleet of swift canoes came up all vocal with the songs of _voyageurs_, whose cadence kept time among the dipping paddles."

The Chateau de Ramezay has suffered many changes and modifications in the various hands through which it has pa.s.sed since its foundation stones were laid, but the citizens of Montreal, revering its age and a.s.sociations, are restoring it as much as possible to its original state and appearance; and the thousands who yearly pa.s.s through it testify to the romance surrounding the walls of the old Chateau, _Ville Marie's_ grandest relic of an ill.u.s.trious past--a past which belongs equally to both French and British subjects, and which has developed a patriotism well expressed in the words of the eloquent churchman, Bruchesi, Archbishop of Montreal, who says:

"I know the countries so much boasted of where the myrtles bloom, where the birds are lighter on the wing, and where gentler breezes blow. I have pa.s.sed quiet days on the beach at Sorrento, where the Mediterranean rolls its blue waves to the foot of the orange tree. I have seen Genoa, the superb and radiant Florence, and Venice, the Queen of the Adriatic.

More than once I have gazed upon the beauty of Naples glittering with the fires of the setting sun. I have sailed upon the azure waves of the Lake of Geneva. I have tasted the charm of our sweet France. My steps have trodden the blessed soil of Rome, and I have trembled with unspeakable gladness. But all these n.o.ble sights, all these undying memories, all this sublime poetry, all these enchantments of nature did not take the place in my heart of Canada, my Fatherland, which I have never ceased to regard with enthusiasm and admiration.

What nation can boast of a purer or more glorious origin? May the future of Canada be worthy of its n.o.ble past. May charity, true charity, reign among all our citizens as among the children of the same mother. Let us have none of those intestine divisions which enfeeble us,--none of those unhappy jealousies capable of compromising the most sacred interests."

Our fathers' battle-cries are hushed, The ancient feuds are gone; Canadians now and brothers, With G.o.d we're marching on.

With spears to ploughshares beaten, The furrowed land is won.

Through bannered fields of waving corn In peace we're marching on.

The North wind through the pine woods Swells out our paean song, To the music of its harping We bravely march along, And join the trampling millions, In chorus deep and strong.

To drum-beats of a nation's heart, We proudly march along.

O, fair, blue skies, and mountain streams Whose flas.h.i.+ng sands run gold, No standard but the Triple-Cross Thy breezes shall unfold.

With roaring surge of circling seas We shout our patriot song For Home and Queen and Canada, With G.o.d we're marching on.

On, marching on, while brave the colours float From sea to sea, with cheer and song, This watchword pa.s.s the ranks along, Our Land is marching on!

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