The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1872-09-27
Correspondence.
For the Journal.


Cartier-Champlain and the Jes-
uits.
There are few cities on the Amer
ican Continent that have so much |
in them to command our admiration |
of the beautiful and the magnificent, |
with so little that is mean and shah
by to detract therefrom, as Monreal
the metropoliton city Of British
America.
With the Noble st. Lawrence pure
and fresh from the wild commotion
of the La Chine Rapids, for its long
eastern frontage, the Ottawa in the
distance, and Montreal Mountains
sloping in all directions into fertile |
plains, for its magnificent western
background, its location like the
rock-ribbed promotion on which
Quebec sits impregnable, attracted
the eye of the Indian hundreds Of
years before Maisouneuve, with sol
emn mass beneath a tent, conseerat-
ed it to the protection of the Queen
Of Angels and named it Vile Marie.
As Quebec is now place of impor-
tance. so was the Indian Stadacona,
but as Montreal is now, so was the
palisaded Indian village of Hoche-
loga, nesting here amidst fields of !
maize between the mountain and the
river, the metropolis of the tribes
and nations which dwelt and roam
ed among the forests north of the
st. Lawrence.
The massive and imposing stone
edifices, of Montreal, its unrivaled
churches, and the air of tidyness
generally prevalent throughout the
streets are in harmony with its beau
tiful location and surroundings.
There are no such strong contrasts
between palated structures and sqal-
id novels, between magnificent thor
oughfares and slums reeking with
filth and corruption as distinguish
too many cities. The buildings are
substantial and fine even to the wa
ter's edge. Montreal is much Amer
icanized and modernized as COM
pared with Quebec, yet one has
scarcely set foot on that long line Of
docks which are said to almost rival
those of Liverpool, ere he is con-
scious of foreign glamour which
adds charm to all his surround
ings. Carts take the place of drays.
Two wheeled rockaWays struck us
as a novelty. The one horse bar
ouches unlike our modern Ameri-
can carriages, made in the interests
of horse flesh and livery establish
ments barely large enough to hold
two, are designed to carry four or
five persons besides the driver.
French takes the place Of the Ger
man heard in our American cities,
only in much larger proportion. In
deed one can hardly tell whether
Montreal is French or English. The
converts and the eathedrals, the
black-robed priests and the pale
faced nuns, so common as to cease
to be novelty, reminds US most en-
pha ically that Montrealli like all New
France, for once, indeed, is the Off
spring of religious zeals, and that
true to its origin Catholicism, is
still the prevailing religion. Unlike
the Catholicism of the American
Republic, borne in on her tide Of
foreign emigration after Profession
ism had claimed the country as all
its own, Romanism too had its home;
here the cross was raised, masses
were chanted, and the consecrated
host partaken by the Indian neo-
phyte, years before the congrega-
tion psalm-singing of the New Eng
land Puritans echoed through the
forests Of Massachusetts.
Twas that which was foreign and
tun-american which had for us the
greatest interest. Immediately af-
ter supper we sought the church of
the Jesuits but were disappointed in
finding no Sunday evening service.
On the following morning, after pre-
pairing for the days expenditures by
going through the humiliating pro
cess of exchanging American cur
rency for Canada paper and silver at
a discount of fifteen cents on a dol
lar, our company of seven including
two ladies from Cleveland who had
joined US, started in a two horse
bsrouche for a drive around the
mountain, stopping first at the
church of Notre Dame. This
French Cathedral, built after the
gothic style of architecture with
two towers, 225 feet in hight, i'm
presses us most as we enter beneath
its lofty arches, with its vastness,
capable of holding as it is 10000 per
sons. Worshippers were dropped
here and there, and before the differ
ent affairs, in the attitudes of prayer,
whilst various companies of Ameri-
can tourists, with more curiosity
than devotion in their hearts, stroll
led through the long aisles, gazing
upon the ornamentations and paint
ings which are here only tolerable.
We are assured that a splendid fu-
ture is in store, however, for the in
side of Notre Dame. Passing
gift depositan, inscribed to st. JOS
eph, we dropped in our silver,
prompted somewhat by the remem
brance of st. Joseph's church at Ere
mont. We shortly after came to
two other boxes, one for the relief
of the poor one, the other for the
relief of the souls in purgatory. Al
/ though we must confess to having
always felt to strongly sympathize
with the weakness { } of DR.. john
son who was accustomed TO pray for
mis- dead mother, stern Protestant
though he was, nevertheless with
some Protestant misgiYings as to
whether the purgatorial box would
prove a paying investment, our coin
this time went for the relief of the
poor. As we were about to leave
we were urged by a viYaciOus
Frenchman to ascend the tower but
this we had set down for the after
noon. After we drove around the
base of the mountain distance OF
nine miles, French cottages and
peasant villages dotted the beautiful
plains on our right as far as the eye
could reach whilst, the green sum
nit and slopes and the rock-ribbed
, sides of the mountain rose grandly
On nr1r left We aimed To he at the