St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-08-01
A Summer Vacation.
Down Among the Blue-Soses.

sign. And yet there Is much III HALIFAX
that is beautiful, much that is we'll
worth the seeing. 1t is emphatically an
ancient city. The sound of the saw and
hammer died away years ago, and the
owner of a brick kiln would be a bank
rupt.
One would suppose that a ban had
been placed upon all building and re-
pairing, twenty years ago. Alas, when
it came, one man had not his house COM
pleted, and the weather-beaten frame,
bare except of half dozen boards.
stands as warning to all who would
make innovations on town fast be
coming fossil. The one building we
saw being erected must have been the
work of an escaped lunatic.
There are however some fine bald
ings, enterprising mercantile firms, and
horse railroad two miles long. One no
ticeable feature in the buildings is their
manner of covering. \ majority of the
/ houses of the city are of wood, and of
these by far the larger part are shingted
from ridgepole to foundation. When
nicely done and painted, the buildings
look quite neatly but when old they
look doubly dilapidated.
/ Reasoning as we do from fossils, an
old church told us this had always been
the style of building. 1t was an inter
esting relic that we found,-an old
/ Dutch church, built in I76I, thirty -tive
feet bv seventeen III dimension, and
shingled from the tip of its miniature
stceple to the ground. Out i'll the
country as far as we have seen through
the Provinces, nine buildings out of ev-
cry ten are SO adorned, from want of
clap board timber, we were told. We
could but remark the number of places
where liquor was sold. No wonder the
alms-house is peopled when almost
every third sign is of ale, beer and
whiskey.
Soon after we landed, "A beggar wo
man taught us the mournful truth that
United States money, powerful as we
had thought it to he, could not accom-
plish everything. On offering her what
we had supposed to he genuine pen
ny, keep it, kind sir; keep it." she
exclaimed Its worthless to me-"
| Eighty five cents for ii dollar was all
the exchange merchant would allow us,
and we soon had the luxury of rattling
silver in our pockets. Notwithstanding
the discount on money. the low prices
here make everything much cheaper
than in the States.
The government of Great Britain ev-
identity thinks Halifax needs either
Wdtchjng or guarding. a fleet of six
men f-war lie in the harbor and as
many forts protect the entrance. Do
they fear that Halifax will try and run
away. or that some one will want to
get in? Under escort of one of Her
Majesty's corporals we examined the
citadel. Its massive walls are built of
granite and surrounded with earth
works. The cannon sweep the harbor
and all the city, and make it very
strong position. About one thousand
soldiers are quartered i'll and about it
who appear to amuse themselves i'll
playing cricket, parading the streets i'll
their scarlet uniforms and white gloves,
and farming. Within the fort every
thing is in the strictest military order.
We watched drill, whether sample
. of British tactics we do not know
Five men, uniformed, and armed with
scythe, IA rake, Il shovel, pickaxe
, and hoe, marched i'll line, followed hy
a sergeant armed with cane, who Mt
tered in an imperious tone the com.
t mands, File right Eyes 'front.'
: don't be looking round :"
= 1t seemed strange to our American
: eyes to see the British flag on all tn,
I principal buildings of the city, and tn,
| sight of the Stars aud Stripes wavin!
D over the United States Consulate wal
t hailed with delight. Under its shadow
we lell al nome
E There is a large navyyard here, ant
=, the ground for half mile along thu
o harbor is labeled "Admiralty Posses
sions." upon which the public are warn
! ed not to trespass. There seemed littl
:. need of the warning however, for the.
, are enclosed by massive stone wall
!, twelve feet high, and before the gat
o paced one of Her Maiesty's regulars
, As he had bayonet we did not try t.
! enter.
There are twenty-four places of wor
ship in the city, several public librarie
. and reading rooms Including SOM
=, very pleasant rooms of the Y. NJ. c. a.
and nineteen newspapers published
F The Free School system has not lon,
: been at work in Nova Scotia. but som,
fine school buildings have already beer
il, erected in Halifax.
o Passing from the Metropolis toward
i the north ria the Intercolonia
Railway, we find emphatically eth
poor mans region and the disconsO
late look the people cast upon us as w
pass adds force to the conclusion
: Rocks, stumps and salt marshes mus
: afford them precarious living. Truro
ii however, at the head of the Bay @
II II Funday, is a thriving little place. an,
: at S.ellartOu eight miles from Pictou