The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1853-09-19
THE DAILY DISPATCH
LETTERS FROM THE NORTH
Correspondence ofthc Di-psch.l
MoSrREAr. September 1853

| The most beautiful residences in and near
Montreal, belong to successful merchants
and professional men. These are generally
Englishmen and Scotchmen-th latter par
ticularly, are proverbial for making fortunes
in a Colony, sooner than any other adyentu-
rers. Shrewdness, industry and honesty ge-
| nerally enable them at the age of fifty to re-
tire from business, and enjoy the rural de-
lights of the tasty and comfortable villas
| with which they so well know how to adorn
| every hill and grove near the city of their
residence. With much good sense the fortu-
| nate business men of Montreal have selected
the vicinity of fine mountain near the city,
| fer their country villas. Natural advantages
| have combined with architectural skill in
making their residences the most beautiful I
have ever seen. Ispent portion of yester-
| day in riding around this mountain, and
| looking at the most tasty and luxurious pri-
| yate residences have ever seen. Theyillas
| vastly inferior to those near Montreal in the
| arrangement OF the gardens, orchards, parks.
| shrubbery, &c. s.s5
| do not know how many Catholic Priests
| there are in QUEBEC and MONTREAL, but l
should suppose from the number of those
sloyenly bipeds, constantly on the streets,
| that there are enough to consume all the SUI
| perfiuous food and money of their credulous
| victims. They teach cleanliness, humil-
| ity, abstinence and many other virtues
which from their appearance, do not think
they practice The paintings of the martyred
saints burnt, fayed alive, boiled in oil,
| pierced with swords, starving in dungeons,
| dying on the cross, and perishing on the
| scaffold make the walls of their Cathedral
| eloquent with the sufferings of good men,
| whose examples of self-restraint | fear few
| of the modern Priests initiate The tempta-
| ton of st. Anthony is a magnificent fable in
| the eyes of these men.
| They are almost universally fat, well fed,
| sleek, greasy yfellows-uncouthi in manners and
| appearance, and sloyenly in attire Their ap-
| pearance is indicative of neither education,
| talent, or dignity. They remind me of all the
| crushing satires levelled at them by Scarron,
| Rabelais, and Voltaire. The faith of the
| French and Irish in such men, struck me as a
| melancholy delusion. 1t appeared to me the
most awful PROCLAMATION of the attributes of
| Divinity, to see one of these coarse, sensual
! looking fellows, enter one of the little boxes
| for hearing confessions, and act the part of
| divine being in hearing confessions of sins,
| granting forgiveness or imposing punishment.
| When saw two OF these ill-omened looking
| birds approaching each other with shambling
| gait and downcast eyes, | was reminded of
| the celebrated remark of ROMAN author,
| who said THAT he could not see, how two
| ROMAN ACGURs could look each other in the
| face without laughing"
Far different were my impressions of those
much beled and traduced people-rhe Nuns
| of QUEBEC. | say belied and traduced for the
Hotel Dieu. one of the Nunneries of Quebec,
| was the pretended scene of the horrible oc-
| currences revealed by the notorious MARIA
| Monk. There are three Nunneries in QUE.
Rec, two of which visited. These were the
| ''Hotel Dieu," founded, believe, in 1914, and
| the Black, or regational Nunnery found
ed in l659-the first for the reception of sick
| and diseased persons, the latter for the edu-
/ cation of young females 90
| No one, however prejudieed against Nuns
and Nunueries, can visit these places, look
| into the hospitals and school rooms, and en-
| terrain any but favorable impressions of the
| angels in human forn-many of them in the
bloom of youth-who are deyoting their lives
| to the revolving duties of the sick ward of
hospital, and to the monotonous labors of cul-
| tivating the intellects and improving the
morals of the poor children of worthless and
| depraved parents No one after witnessing
| these things can afterwards, without certain
| quahns Of conscience, listen to the diatribes
| of the believers of the narrative of MARIA
| Monk. ...sss .s
| At one of these Nunneries, I beheld some
of the most miserable creatures that have
ever seen, watched over and every comfort
administered by these poor Nuns. There is
no suffering pauper, who applies for admis-
| sion in this Nunnery who applies in vain.-
| On neat. clean soft beds, in well ventilated
rooms cleaner than any private apartment, |
| haxra oya 7 tha ~
blind and the diseased tenderly cared for
Sailors, smittcn by some terrible malady in a
foreign port, away from home and friends,
| havereceived the softest and sweetest atten-
| tlons that women can give to suffering hu-
| manity. | saw delicately nurtured beautiful
| women, administering medicine and food to
| old men looking as wretched and battered as
| Belisarius. There was no mystery, no decep-
tion, no fraud upon the public about the Nun
merry for the sick and infirm.
Once day, and for some hours, YOU are.
allowed to visit the rooms of the Nunnery,
| talk with the sick, and watch the Nuns in their
| missions of mercy. / shall never forget the
| appearance of an cid blind man in one of the
wards of the hospital. Some frightful acei-
dent had deprived him of his vision and both
1 of his arms, leaving him the most helpless be-
| ing that had ever seen. He sat in large
| and comfortable arm chair, with a child stand
ing or slttlng by nm TO render him constant
attention. He wore sad yet resigned look
| After a few moments a Nun approached and
| addressed a few words to him, and the mans $
| face, sightless as it was, seemed to light up
with pleasure and gratitude as he eagerly
| listened to her. There was no deception, no
| assimilation therc-it was the look of an old
mutilated man, happy in the attentions and
humanity OF a good, pure woman. found
the inmates of this hospital provided with
every comfort and necessary; good diet, the
| best medical attendance, soft beds, clean
rooms, baths--in word, every thing necesa-
| ry for their welfare. Nor were the recipients
! OF the charity of the Nuns Catholics exclu-
| sively. In relieving misery they asked
| not the religion of the sufferer There were
ihose who had encouraged the FIRE brand
| GAvAzzl in his assaults upon the Catholic re-
ligion as well as those who fell beneath the fire
| ofthe British soldiers, who shot down the par
| Elephants in the GAvAzzI riots. Here MERcY,
like JUSTICE, held equipoised scales, with
bsndanged eye, recognizing no difference be-
| tween Catholics and Protestants.
At tthe Nunnery of the Black Nuns l had
more ample opportunities for seeing the Nuns
| than at the Hotel Den At twelve o'clock
they assembled in the chapel of the Nunnery
| to perform religious service There / saw
| them all and finer set of faces never saw
| among the same number of females. | do
Il