# The Tourist's Maritime Provinces/Chapter 1

THE TOURIST'S MARITIME PROVINCES
CHAPTER I
GENERAL INFORMATION CONCERNING THE MARITIME PROVINCES, NOVA SCOTIA, NEW BRUNSWICK AND PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND
Transportation—Customs—Provincial Railways and Steamers—Routes—Tourist Bureaux—Cabs and Trams Motorways—Money—Postage—Telegraph and Telephone Lines—Language—Climate and Seasons.
Transportation.
Steamers from the United States.
A weekly service between New York and Halifax is maintained by the well-equipped steamers of the Red Cross Line (17, Battery Place, New York; pier adjoining Hamilton Ferry, Brooklyn). The voyage of 570 miles is accomplished in somewhat less than two days. Regular trips as well as the 12-day vacation tours advertised at an inclusive cost of $5 to $9 a day, permit of a 24-hour call at Halifax en route for St. John's, Newfoundland, the ultimate destination of the Stephano and Florizel, where a stay of two to three days is made. Returning to New York, another day is spent in the Nova Scotia capital.
The Red Cross steamers are exceptional in their cleanliness, attractive furnishings, and cuisine. ​They are designed to battle in winter with the ice of northern seas and are therefore very staunchly constructed. The voyage from New York through Long Island Sound and thence northward to Halifax is very little longer and far less arduous than one made overland by way of Boston or Montreal.
The mail packet Trinidad of the Quebec Steamship Company, Ltd. (A. E. Outerbridge and Company, 29, Broadway, New York), proceeds from New York every two weeks in the summer season via the Sound to Halifax, arriving in about 48 hours, and departing again, after a stop of half a day, for the Canso and Northumberland Straits, Gaspé Basin (Quebec) and the city of Quebec. A side excursion is made up the river Saguenay. The return itinerary includes a call at Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, besides a stop at Halifax.
The Plant Line (Commercial Wharf, Boston) offers a convenient schedule and fast service between Boston, Halifax, Hawkesbury and Charlottetown. Steamers leaving Boston at noon reach Halifax (390 miles) the following afternoon. Hawkesbury, at the southernmost point of Cape Breton Island, on the Gut of Canso, is an overnight sail from Halifax, and is about eight hours distant from Charlottetown, the terminus of the Plant Line. The Evangeline, pride of this service, is ​the largest ship plying between the United States and the Provinces.
The Boston and Yarmouth Steamship Company (Central Wharf, Boston) offers the shortest route between the States and Nova Scotia. During the summer, six to eight sailings a week, both east and west bound, are scarcely sufficient to meet the demands of the tourist traffic. The crossing between Boston and Yarmouth consumes about 17 hours. Distance, 240 miles.
A direct, all-water, bi-weeldy service between Boston and St. John, New Brunswick, is performed by the steel steamers of the Eastern Steamship Corporation (Central Wharf, Boston), with additional Sunday sailings out of Boston from July to September. Distance, 280 miles. Time, 20 hours.
The Coastwise Service of the International Line, administered by the above-mentioned Corporation, is maintained by steamers which call at Portland, Eastport and Lubec, Maine, on the way between Boston and St. John.
Steamers from Canadian Ports to the Provinces.
The Cascapedia of the Quebec Steamship Company sails fortnightly from Montreal and Quebec for Pictou, Nova Scotia (147 miles by rail from Halifax), via the St. Lawrence River, Gaspé Basin, Percé (Quebec), Summerside (Prince ​Edward Island) and Charlottetown. The trip of about a thousand miles is made in five days.
Reference has already been made to the summer service of the Quebec Steamship Co., Quebec–Halifax.
The Black Diamond Line has regular sailings between Montreal, Summerside, Charlottetown, Sydney, N. S., and St. John's, Newfoundland.
Trans-Atlantic Steamers.
Many passenger lines from British and Continental ports touch at Halifax, N. S., and at St. John, N. B. There is frequent connection, also, between the West Indies and Halifax.
Rail Connection from the United States and Montreal, Canada.
The most direct all-rail route from New England to the Maritime Provinces is via the Boston and Maine, Maine Central and Canadian Pacific Railroads from Boston to St. John, N. B. Thence by way of Moncton and Truro to Halifax or Sydney (Intercolonial Railway); and by way of Moncton and Painsec Junction to Point du Chene where the steamer is taken across Northumberland Strait to Summerside, Prince Edward Island. The "Provincial Express" leaves Boston daily at 7:30 p. m., arrives in St. John about 10:00 the following morning and in Halifax at 10:00 p. m., Atlantic Standard time (one hour earlier than Eastern or Boston time). Distance, Boston–St. John, 455 ​miles; Boston–Halifax, 730 miles; Boston–Sydney, Cape Breton, 882 miles; New York–St. John by all-rail route via Boston, 681 miles; New York–Halifax, 956 miles; New York–Sydney, 1108 miles.
Time, St. John–Point du Chene about 4 hours. Distance, 108 miles. Time of passage Point du Chene–Summerside, P. E. Island, about 3 hours. Distance, 35 miles.
The most direct connection between New York and Montreal is made over the New York Central and Hudson River, the Delaware and Hudson and Grand Trunk Railroads. Distance, about 300 miles. Time, 12 hours. Montreal may be reached from other points by various roads via Albany, Utica, Buffalo, Detroit, Chicago and St. Paul, or over the trans-continental lines of the Canadian Pacific and Grand Trunk Railways. Distance, Chicago–Montreal, 850 miles.
From Montreal there is a morning and an evening express on the Intercolonial Railway for Moncton (junction for St. John and Point du Chene, N. B.) and Halifax. The Ocean Limited (daily at 19:30 = 7:30 p.m.) reaches Halifax (836 miles) in about 27 hours.
Distance, Montreal–Quebec via Intercolonial Railway, 163 miles.
​Distance, Montreal–St. John via Canadian Pacific Railway, 483 miles.
Fares on Canadian railways approximate three cents a mile. Each passenger is entitled to a free baggage allowance of 150 pounds. The railway coaches are similar in arrangement to those of the United States. With very few exceptions, train service is suspended throughout Canada on Sunday.
Customs.
Travellers entering Canada submit their baggage for inspection at ports of entry or frontier stations, unless, by special request, it has been bonded through to some other Customs station. Canadian Customs inspectors will examine baggage at Portland, Maine, and at the Central and Dearborn R. R. stations, Chicago, and bond it through to the passenger's destination. Hand baggage is inspected at frontier ports.
Personal effects, including wearing apparel, are admitted free of duty, also 40 cigars and 100 cigarettes in open packages. A deposit is required on fire-arms, fishing tackle and like importations, but is returned if the traveller leaves Canada within six months.
United States Customs officers will examine ​baggage entering the United States, at St. John, Quebec and Montreal railroad stations. Baggage not bonded through from these points will be examined at the international boundary or port of arrival. Residents of the United States may bring in articles for personal use, or souvenirs or curios not bought on commission or intended for sale to the value of $100, exempt from duty. But all articles must be declared. Each passenger over 18 years of age may bring into the United States 50 cigars, or 300 cigarettes, or 3 pounds of smoking tobacco for his personal use, free of duty in addition to the $100 exemption.
Non-residents of the United States must declare all articles aside from personal effects.
Provincial Railways and Steamers.
The most extensive rail system in the three Maritime Provinces—Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island—is the Intercolonial road, operated by the Canadian Government. It may truly be said to have "founded confederation," for previous to its construction the Provinces had no rail connection with other parts of the Dominion, whose inhabitants the haughty Provincials dubbed "Canadians." Seventy years ago, Nova Scotia's orator-journalist, Joseph Howe, made bold to predict in a speech delivered at Halifax that "some of his hearers would live to hear the whistle of a steam engine among the passes of ​the Rockies, and to make the journey from Halifax to the Pacific in five or six days." This prediction the Intercolonial Railway has valiantly helped to fulfill.
For nearly half the total mileage of its trunk line, Halifax to Montreal (836 miles), it runs through the provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The division Truro–Sydney traverses for 200 miles the northern section of Nova Scotia, including part of Cape Breton Island. The main line of the Prince Edward Island Railway and its branches (260 miles) is under the control of the Intercolonial.
Both the Government Road and the Canadian Pacific Railway traverse the 90 miles from Moncton to St. John, the latter using the rails of the Intercolonial. Several branches of the Canadian Pacific reach points in southern and northern New Brunswick. The Intercolonial Loggieville–Chatham Jc.–Fredericton division (129 miles) joins the New Brunswick capital to the main Intercolonial line, Halifax–Montreal. Fredericton and St. John are connected by the Canadian Pacific and by steamers on the river St. John (84 miles).
The New Brunswick Division of the National Transcontinental Railway (Grand Trunk System) is operated by the Intercolonial Railway, Moncton to Edmundston, 230 miles. From Edmundston to Connors, N. B. (32 miles) the ​Temiscouata Railway follows the St. John River along the Maine boundary. This road, which pierces a sportsman's country, has its northern terminus at Rivière du Loup, Quebec, on the St. Lawrence River (Intercolonial Trunk line).
From St. Leonards (26 miles southeast of Edmundston) the International Railway goes through a primitive region to Campbellton (112 miles), thus linking the Canadian Pacific and Intercolonial roads. Campbellton is on the main Intercolonial line near the Quebec frontier. Small steamers leave this port once a week, on arrival of the Ocean Limited from Montreal, for ports on the Gaspé Peninsula. Matapedia, 12 miles west, is the starting-point of the Quebec Oriental Railway which, with its supplementary line, the Atlantic Quebec and Western, gives a long-needed rail service to towns on the famously beautiful Gaspé shore.
The dividing line where Eastern Standard changes to Atlantic Standard time passes through Campbellton.
The southern peninsula of Nova Scotia is served by the Dominion Atlantic Railway (Canadian Pacific) and by the Halifax and Southwestern. A branch of the latter crosses the province from the Atlantic on the east coast to the Bay of Fundy on the west. The main lines of the Halifax and Southwestern and the Dominion Atlantic meet at Yarmouth. At Digby (66 m. north of ​Yarmouth) passengers embark for St. John, N. B., on the fast steamers of the Canadian Pacific Railway which traverse the Bay of Fundy (47 m.) in 2 to 3 hours. Those who arrive at St. John by rail or steamer from the United States or Montreal may shorten the journey to points in Nova Scotia by crossing to Digby on this line. The S.S. St. George is driven by turbine, and having triple screws has a speed capacity of 23 knots an hour.
A sail across the Basin of Minas (Wolfville–Kingsport–Parrsboro) is provided by the Prince Albert of the Dominion Atlantic Railway. The time of the steamer's departure to and from Parrsboro (connection by Cumberland Ry. with Intercolonial at Springhill Jc.) is determined by the tides of Minas Basin.
The Dominion Atlantic joins Windsor, N. S., to Truro; and Windsor to Windsor Jc., en route to Halifax.
A branch from the line Truro–Sydney connects at Stellarton with Pictou, N. S., from which. point the Northumberland of the Charlottetown Steam Navigation Company crosses every week-day to the capital of Prince Edward Island, 50 miles distant, unless prevented by ice. The winter service is maintained by ice-breaking craft.
​At Mulgrave (184 miles from Halifax en route to Sydney) small steamers connect with the Intercolonial for Arichat, Canso and Guysboro on the Atlantic side, and for other towns on the Gulf of St. Lawrence side of northern Nova Scotia. Also for St. Peter's, Grand Narrows and intermediate points on the Bras d'Or Lakes. The Weymouth connects at Hawkesbury with the Boston boat and passes through the Lakes to Sydney.
Point Tupper, to which place trains are conveyed by ferry from Mulgrave, across the Strait of Canso, and Hawkesbury are on the Island of Cape Breton. Point Tupper is the southern terminus of the railway of the Inverness Coal Company which skirts the Island's western coast as far as Inverness (62 miles); and of the Cape Breton Railway, Point Tupper–St. Peter's (31 m.). St. Peter's is on the canal which gives access from the ocean to the Bras d'Or Lakes.
A steamer connects at Grand Narrows and Iona for Baddeck, on the Little Bras d'Or, 55 miles from Sydney. Sydney and North Sydney are the points of departure for a steamboat which calls at Baddeck (55 miles) and at Whycocomagh (80 miles) on the Lakes; also for other steamers which touch ports on the most northerly promontory of Cape Breton Island, including Bay St. Ann, ​Ingonish, Aspy Bay and Bay St. Lawrence, or make weekly connection with Louisbourg and Arichat, continuing to Mulgrave and Hawkesbury.
The lake and coasting steamers afore-mentioned are moderately comfortable. Those which breast the open Atlantic and the Gulf of St. Lawrence are not recommended to travellers who suffer from sea-sickness. The meals on most of the boats are poor and on some are execrably bad.
The Reid–Newfoundland steamers which sail on alternate week-day evenings from North Sydney to Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland, 100 miles across Cabot Strait, are strong, handsome vessels, especially designed for this service.
The mail steamer, Halifax–St. Pierre, on the Miquelon Islands, calls at North Sydney during the summer.
From Sydney, 5 miles across the bay from North Sydney, a road branches to the new town of Louisbourg, which has succeeded the historic French city and fortress of that name.
A new line is being pushed to completion between Dartmouth (opposite Halifax) and Guysboro, along the northeast shore of Nova Scotia through a farm and timber country. Small coastal steamers, some of them only indifferently clean, ply between Halifax and Nova Scotia ports both northeast and southwest of the capital. Farquhar & Co. have two new boats connecting Halifax ​with places on the "eastern" (northeastern) shore and the coast of Cape Breton, West Newfoundland and P. E. Island.
Little craft run between Pictou and the Magdalen Islands, via Souris (P. E. I.); and connect St. John with St. Andrews, St. Stephen, Eastport (Maine), Campobello Island and Grand Manan Island, N. B. Two lines of steamboats connect St. John and Fredericton.
The mail steamer for St. Pierre, Miquelon Islands (a French colony), leaves Halifax every fortnight.
The traveller will find officials and employés on trains and steamers throughout the Provinces and the Colony of Newfoundland unusually courteous. One cannot commend too warmly their attitude toward those temporarily under their care. In all that goes to make travelling agreeable, the Intercolonial Railway has set standards rarely attained in countries where speed is the chief requisite. The cars are roomy, clean and comfortable, the attendants immaculately uniformed, the service polite and efficient. Conductors are never too pompous, brakemen never too impressed with the dignity of their office to lend a strong and willing arm in case of need. Even the emergency which compels one to ride on a "mixed" has its reward ​in the cup of tea proffered by the master of the train if it is lunch hour in the caboose, or in the informing chat with a blue-overalled handy-man who relates moose stories, scraps of folk-lore, or news of mining and agricultural ventures with the same facility with which he uncouples a freight.
There are minor railways whose gait would exercise a Russian's patience. The vagaries of time-tables which decree the departure of certain trains on different days to specific stations are not always easy of solution. Some schedules, especially those on Prince Edward Island lines, make havoc of early morning naps. But on main roads, travel in the Sea Provinces is an unvexed delight.
Routes.
​Rocks from Moncton, N. B.; a further journey across Northumberland Strait to Prince Edward Island via Point du Chene, returning via Pictou to upper Nova Scotia; and a tour thence to the Bras d'Or Lakes, Lake Ainslie, and the Margaree Valley before continuing to Sydney, Louisbourg, and the east coast of upper Cape Breton.
Or the traveller beginning his tour in Halifax or Yarmouth may proceed to Cape Breton after visiting southern Nova Scotia, retrace his steps to Pictou, N. S., cross to Prince Edward Island, recross to Point du Chene, N. B., proceed northwestward to the Bay de Chaleur region from Moncton, and come to St. John by rail from Campbellton—St. Leonard's—Fredericton, and by river from the capital to the chief port of New Brunswick. Or, arriving first at St. John, by rail or steamer, the course may be reversed, and the tour ended at a Nova Scotia port.
Those who approach the Provinces from the west will conveniently visit New Brunswick first, then Prince Edward Island, Cape Breton and lower Nova Scotia.
Even a short tour will certainly embrace the Fundy shore towns of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, with side trips to the Bras d'Or Lakes.
Tourists coming east via Montreal or Quebec, or those who travel westward to visit the northern section of New Brunswick, will find it a rewarding ​experience to extend their journey to Percé and Gaspé Basin on the coast of the thumb-like peninsula which projects into the Gulf of St. Lawrence as part of the Province of Quebec. If the traveller elects to make the voyage from Montreal or Quebec by St. Lawrence River steamers, he can disembark at Gaspé Basin, continue to Percé by rail, and thence to Matapedia (junction of the Peninsula road with the Intercolonial line, Montreal—Halifax). Or, after a tour of the Gaspé coast, the steamer may be resumed at Percé for Charlottetown and Nova Scotia ports.
If the tour of the Maritime Provinces is to be supplemented by an excursion to Newfoundland, the steamer may be boarded at North Sydney, Cape Breton, for Port-aux-Basques, Newfoundland, the Island crossed by rail to St. John's, the capital, and another steamer taken back to Halifax or New York.
A trip to the very interesting French colonial islands of Miquelon may be taken from Halifax, and the return steamer left at North Sydney, the voyage to Newfoundland being pursued from the latter port. There is no passenger service between Newfoundland and the Miquelon Islands. Tugs or motor-boats may sometimes be engaged for the crossing, but at an immoderate rate.
Tourist Bureaux.
In Halifax and Yarmouth the interests of the ​visiting stranger are efficiently conserved by Tourist Committees allied with the Chambers of Commerce. There is no provincial organisation as in New Brunswick, with associates in principal tourist towns.
The New Brunswick Tourist Association has its headquarters at 23, King Street, St. John. Its secretary will give information as to routes, connections, sporting outfits, and places to stay. There is a branch at 608, Queen Street in Fredericton.
The Publicity Agency in the Royal Bank Building, Charlottetown, serves as a general bureau for the somewhat limited tourist attractions of Prince Edward Island.
Cabs and Tramways.
The fare for cabs, and the hire of carriages and motor-cars for pleasure trips is less in Provincial towns than the price asked in places of corresponding importance in the States. In Halifax and St. John, sight-seeing vehicles leave at stated hours from positions near the principal hotels and offer a comprehensive tour of the city for a small sum. A pair of horses and a landau (four persons) may be hired for an entire afternoon's drive within city bounds for $5; a horse and buggy all day for $4; one-horse carriage, $1 an hour; two horse, $1.50. ​In the country, the hire of a horse and buggy costs $2 to $3 a day.
The province of Nova Scotia has but four tramway systems throughout its length of 370 miles. These operate as urban and inter-urban lines in Sydney (Cape Breton), in Pictou County (Westville, Stellarton and New Glasgow), in Halifax, and in Yarmouth. In these towns as in St. John, Moncton and St. Stephen, N. B., the car-fares approximate those in American cities.
Motor-ways.
A maze of good roads extends from Halifax to distant suburbs, and through many sections of the province, both north and south. There is not yet a motor highway from the capital to Yarmouth via the Annapolis Valley such as motorists might desire, but this is a blessing promised for the future. The road from Annapolis to Kedgemakoogee Lake (35 miles inland) is fair in summer, and the road Wolfville—Annapolis—Digby—Weymouth (Clare District of Acadians)—Yarmouth is excellent for most of its length (150 miles). About Yarmouth the highways are especially well made and maintained.
The country roads which follow the east coast, Yarmouth—Halifax, are more used to the wheels of the ox-cart than to the rubber shoes of the automobile, but are often much better than one would ​expect, especially in the Bridgewater—Lunenburg—Chester—Hubbards region.
The roads north of Truro are much travelled by motor-cars as far as Antigonish and St. Peter's and into the Cape Breton counties. Motorists speed from Sydney to Baddeck and St. Peter's for the week-end. Others more venturesome essay the trip across-country to the ravishing Margaree Valley and on to Cheticamp facing the Gulf of St. Lawrence, or pursue the rugged cliff roads from Sydney to Ingonish.
Automobiles are forbidden on the country roads of Prince Edward Island and are allowed on the streets of Charlottetown and suburban roads on specified days of the week only. This to safeguard the poise of the highly-esteemed island equine.
The roads in and about Moncton, N. B., are alive with shining cars. The drive to the wonderful Hopewell Rocks (20 miles) is much in favour. Likewise the tour to St. John by way of Petitcodiac, Sussex, Hampton and charming Rothesay.
The hills of St. John are ruinous to springs and tires. Automobiles are barred from the public parks here as in Halifax. The level Marsh Road and the Manawagonish are the best-kept driveways. On the way to resorts down the coast and along the St. John and Kennebecasis Rivers one meets occasional motor vehicles. Occasional ones, ​too, on the coast roads of the north, but New Brunswick offers comparatively few good roads inducements to the motor tourist.
A deposit equal to the duty is required on cars brought from across the border into all provinces of the Dominion, but will be refunded upon departure for the United States within six months.
Money.
The dollar is the unit of currency in Canada, and United States notes and silver are accepted now at par. Only the nickel and copper coins of the United States are refused. The Canadian five-cent piece is a small silver coin, the cent an inconveniently large bronze one. The 20-cent piece is easily confused with the silver quarter of both Canada and the United States. Besides paper notes of $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 denomination, the Canadian Government issues a $4 note, also gold coins which until recently were done at the Royal Mint in England.
A list of principal banks in the chief tourist towns of the Provinces is given at the rear of this volume. The Travellers' Cheques and Letters of Credit issued by reliable banks, tourist agencies and express companies are recommended as a safe and convenient means of carrying funds. As a provision against contingencies, travellers will find it advantageous to have their local banker certify to their signature before leaving home.
​In all but exceptional instances, wearing apparel in Canada is more expensive than in the United States, quality for quality. The only exceptions of importance are furs, and rugs and garments made of wool, which may be of either British or Canadian manufacture.
Postage.
Letters: 2 cents per ounce to Canada, Newfoundland, the United States, Mexico, Great Britain and her Colonies. Five cents per ounce to other countries, including the French Islands of Miquelon (south of Newfoundland).
Postal cards: 1 cent to Canada, the United States and Mexico; other countries, 2 cents.
Newspapers: 1 cent for each 4 ounces to Canada, the United States and Mexico.
Books, Photographs and Printed Matter: 1 cent for each 2 ounces to all countries.
Merchandise: 1 cent per ounce to Canada and the United States.
Registration, 5 cents. Special Delivery, 10 cents.
Provincial tourist literature bears the insistent phrase, "Do not use United States stamps," from which it may be inferred that there are visitors who fall into this error.
Telegraph and Telephone Lines.
The Canadian Pacific and the Western Union Telegraph Companies serve the Provinces. Prince ​Edward Island is telegraphically connected with the mainland by the cable of the Anglo-American (Western Union) Telegraph Company. It is said that this cable under Northumberland Strait was the first to be laid in American waters, and the second to be laid anywhere in the world.
The minimum rate for telegrams within the Dominion is 25 cents per 10 words; to the United States 40 cents for 10 words. "Night letters": 50 words for the day 10-word rate.
Cable to Newfoundland from the Maritime Provinces, 85 cents for 10 words, minimum rate. To Great Britain, 25 cents per word.
The Maritime Telegraph and Telephone Company gives connection to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick towns. Long distance communication with points in the United States is also made.
Prince Edward Island has a well-established telephone system.
Language.
Among the Acadians of the Pubnico and Clare Districts of lower Nova Scotia, in some northern settlements of New Brunswick, in the territory north of the Margaree River (on the west coast of Cape Breton) and at Arichat on the Isle Madame, one's French will be exercised in converse with the inhabitants, though the young people usually have command of some English.
The Acadian tongue is to-day much the same as ​that which the peasants of Brittany and Normandy spoke at the beginning of the seventeenth century—the period of the first migrations from France to the New World. The Acadians' accent is better than that of the Quebec French, but their grammatical observance is less exact. Like Henry the Fourth and his subjects of three hundred years ago, the Clare Acadians say j'ons for j'ai (I have) and ils avont for ils avaient (they have), and they use the old form for "man," houme for homme. Proverbs and phrases used by Molière are still current in the district about Weymouth. Sometimes new words are derived from the English—montains for mountains, instead of montagnes; or words unequivocally Anglo-Saxon are introduced into a French sentence. "Il est très smart" is a phrase one often hears, and "God knows!" is a familiar interjection on the lips of habitants who speak no other English.
In the remote region beyond the Margaree, many miles from the railroad, the French heard in farm or fishing cottage is almost incapable of being understood by unaccustomed ears. Here, the language has degenerated to an unlovely patois.
There are other parts of Cape Breton where nearly all the natives "have the Gaelic," where one hears the tongue of the Highlands in guttural discussion on trains and street corners, and where the sermon is first given in the kirk in English and then repeated in Gaelic for patriarchs and ​grave-faced wives who, though Canadian-born, cling to the language of their fathers.
Climate and Seasons.
It is well agreed that the summer climate of the Atlantic Provinces is nearly perfect, especially near the numerous gulfs and bays and on the ocean shore. Days that are hot in the United States are merely warm in the benign region of the Bras d'Or and the Bay of Fundy. Winds from the St. Lawrence Gulf cool miles of coast line on Cape Breton and Prince Edward Islands and northern New Brunswick. From Yarmouth to Sydney, Atlantic breezes blow upon the face of Nova Scotia. Even inland towns whose thermometers sometimes register an uncomfortable degree in the day are fortunate in their refreshing nights. The average summer temperature of coast towns is 62°, the average maximum 80°. In the woods of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and on the water-edge fires are often grateful on mid-summer evenings, and by the ides of September the blazing log is welcomed on many a hearth at the close of a day that has been warm and sunny.
Winter is not so dry nor so cold in the provinces by the sea as in those which lie further west, and therefore not so inviting. In this part of the world spring gives way reluctantly to impatient summer. Even in June the atmosphere is often too raw for out-door pleasures. July, August, ​September and gay October are the dependable months,—warm enough and cool enough, and comparatively free from fogs and protracted rains. Off Prince Edward Island and on the Bay Chaleur coast, fogs are practically unknown.
* ↑ See Cascapedia and Black Diamond Line under "Steamers from Canadian Ports."
* ↑ See Note 1, and Quebec S.S. Co. under "Steamers from the United States."
* ↑ The reader is referred to the pamphlet, "Summer Excursion Fares," issued by the Canadian Government Railways, Moncton, N. B., as to fares to and in the Provinces, local steamer rates, routes, etc.
* ↑ See Boston and Yarmouth S.S. Co., under "Steamers from the United States."
* ↑ See under "Rail Connection from the United States" for route to P. E. Island, Point du Chene–Summerside. The Intercolonial Railway will soon put in service an ice-breaking car ferry which will transfer trains from Cape Tormentine (reached from Sackville, N. B.) to Cape Traverse, P. E. I., about 10 miles. To this end the Prince Edward Island road gauge will be changed from narrow to standard.
* ↑ This term as locally used applies to the coast above Halifax. The "Southwestern Shore" extends from Halifax to Yarmouth.
* ↑ Halifax: 50c per person per mile. St. John: 30c per person from stations and landings to hotels or central points.