Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1881-12-03
The Canadian Habitant.

E. Farrer in the December Atlantic.
The habitant is a model Of thrift He grows
his own tobacco. makes his own .'beef'' moe
| casins, and manufactures his own whisky His
wife spins the wool out of which is made retouf5
| tlu pays kind of frieze in which he clothes
| himself. His house is picture of neatness. The
outside is whitewashed at least twice year: the
inside is swept and garnshed until it is as bright
as new pin. The floor of pine boards is
! scrubbed and sanded every day. The walls are
| hung with pictures, somewhat gandy as to color
Of the pope st. Cecilia st. Joseph and st. Anne,
| and photographs of the parish priest and of the
| children who are away in New England OF
Minnesota. Over the fireplace. in which huge
Fl0gs blaze in winter time, hangs the family
fus'l, the old fiint-lock a sire carried under
MOntcalm. and now used to kill an occasional
bear, and to fire a tese de joie ON st. Jean Bap-
tste day and other great occasions. Near it are
medals brought from Rome by the priest or
the bishop, and the rosary that has come down
as an heirloom in the family. The house is
decorated with sampler work of saints and
angels. for which the women are famed. A
cfuc!flX hangs above the fusil, and in settle
mentS near church the house is ALWAYS SUP
piled with holy water. The patriarch of the
family sits in the inge-neuk. putting blasts of
smoke from his long pipe up the believing
chimney and sporting the tOque.a an Old-fashioned
red night-cap with brilliant tassel, which his
| regime. The goodwife, in mantelet of cal
leo, skirt of hOmespun blue and neat Norman
cap. is at the spinning wheel; the eldest
daughter. soon to marry the honest husband
man in the next clearing. is weaving her linen
outfit at hand-lOOm. The pot in which the
pea-sOup, the staple dish, is made is gurgling on
the fire; smaller pot contains the pork; and in
the Gulf parishes the tidude, composed of alter
nate layers OF pork and Goldfish, is still the
piece de resistance The bedrooms are furnished
patchwork quilts of Cunning and patient work
manship. Here, too, are pictures of the Ma
donna and st. Jgnatius. and a small plaster
figure of the great Napoleon, medtating with
folded arms on the cliffs of ST. Helena; a
bough of palm blessed at Easter tide; holy
water, specific against lightning; and the snow
shoes on which the habitant visits his little king
dom of 80 or 100 arpents in the long winter sea-
son. The housewife bottles an infinite variety Of
preserves in the fail, raspberries, blueberries,
backberries. huckleberrieS and other wild fruits
which the bush and the swamps yield in abund-
ance; and in the spring the naples furnish sweet
harvest of sugar. When the defrichelr cOmesin
from the woods on cold evening, he fOrtifies
himself with a draught Of the mordant whisky;
the blessing of God is asked on the more SUBJ
stantial repast and he falls to. valiant trench
erman. with an appetite as keen as his AK. The
bon hO'm'ne gets out his rOsin and his bow. the
lads and lasses come in from the neighboring
farm houses, and as LOngfellow has it Of the
Acadians in Evangeline:
sGayly the old man sings to the vibrant sound OF
his fiddle,
sTous les Bourgeois de Chartres find lie Carlton
de Dunkerque'"
The dances of the olden time still hold their own
in the country districts. The cOtillons. the
gigues. the galopades, the minuets. the danses
rondes and ancient ballads, the ''Claire FOn-
tame" and 'En ROulant," are ever new. At 10
o'clock the grandfather puts away his fiddle and
reyerently gives his blessing to the company,
which now disperses to be up and at work by
the first peep of morning.