New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-09-16


RESCUE VIEWS OF LIFE AMONG THE HABT-
TANs "-MoNrMoRENCY FALIs-A MONUMENT
OF THE HEROIC AGE.
| iFRoN Az OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT rRrBuNE.l
| QUEBEC, Sept. 1l.-This is the season when
the walled city Of the North makes her stirring
appeal to the imagination. To city whose glory Is no
thing but memory the budding promise Of the carly
year seems like mockery and until flaming branch
or maple here and there and shudder Of frost in the
evening proclaim The summer ended this ancient
scat OF vanished empire fall into harmony with her sur
roundnss. The faded splendor Of Quebec, the visible
records Of history which began in heroic devotion TO
country and religion before the pilgrims landed, the
sulen fortress IFS rock the long sweep Of city wall
with guns still IN position tell OF armed struggles for
empire, the time stained churches from which the
Jesuit missionaries forth to mortyrdom. streets
and houses belong ug TO older continent and bygone
aee,-all these with the romance ami patuos which i'll
vest them are surely subjects t0 auumnal musng And
apart from the melancholy, retrospective sentiment
which comes with the rpening year, She pearly haze
now swimming in the air mellows and soitens every
PROSPECT ald drops veil Of mystery and poetry over
every distance. IL j. not the clean American sky over
head. the visible atmosphere OF the Old world which
the early autumn weather brings 70 shed halo Of ro-
nance about the most commonplace officers, and one
hardly needs marshal in memory the shade, Of Mont
gomery and Montcilm. and Wolfe and Frontenac, and
Camplan. and jacques Cartier the Jesuit missionaries
and Rccolec Fthcr feel that the ground he stands
OH has been haliowed by heroic passion.
with the spell OF the past upon him, the visitor is slow
to persuade himself to leave the rich IN nstor-
teal suggestion for even brief excursion. But after
time he Is ured away to the battlefield, and when
sands OH brow Of the promentOry the gray
road which stretches through the village OF Beau
port will offer invitation which he cannot resist All
tine caa-h drivers in the city divine his thought before II
fairly formed, and th" mob bears down upou him with
manifestation Of business energy strangely out Of keep
] in, rl1fI f.il al
these aston.hng vehicles, whose body suspended by
straps high above single pair of wheels. he Is soon
swinging down PERCEPTIONS street with the driver
balancing himself on narrow perch In 'front.' Across
tie River Charles he r. yond tIccy limits, and on
perfect road with the Lawrence shining below hlm on
the ght and on the LEFT fertile farmland stretching
away indefinitely toward the Arctic Circle The river
bank il low and broad acres of level reoccked bottom
land extend away from H., sometimes 90 the distance OF
half mile the meadow suddenly rises to gher
plateau AID along brow OF this terrace the road Is
generally laid The aud has descended to She present
occupant from come oil -eignory." After the French
fashion, real estate Inherited by the eldest son. but
Il divided mp nong all the children, suodyided of the
generaton and For some reason too 1t mas
been ordained divisions made invariably III one
direction. the boundary lines are all parallel
Thus happens that the farms to-day are only three or
four rods widc and perhaps many miles long, and
inst here these slender ribbons Of land all the road
on their way the river Mt acute angle, many OF
them having hardly the frontage OF city ot Tie cot
t.es on these tcuuatcd frns Of single pattern
and the line of them along the road makes
the village Of Beaufort They Of whitewashed stone
the halcoued windows being the survival Of fashion
imported from sunny France by some remote ancestor
Flovering beans and moruu g-eories Chamber up the
walls. while narigolG, and sunGowcrs bloom content
ooly BIS the doorway. fir chances be saturday af
tcrnoon there w Dee few ot activity in the fields Of
nav or OATS for this narketday and half the popHa-
tou - i'm tue city ButevcTy porch is decorated with
stout woman ou E.r knees diligently plying mop and
BRUSH and line of scrubber- three or four miles long
tesG,s In an eloquent aud impressive way the preya-
lent Canadian cleanliness.
Bcyou,tBeauport the terrace rises slowly and draws
closer 10 the river. last the bottom land dsap
pears and tine bold buf comes quite 10 the rivers edge
Here the trees hic,cu into wood and from out Of IT.
depths comes thc of waterfall II is seven miles
from where the calah crosses the MonmoiencY
which comes rushing down from the North, tts brown
current broken into il leaps from ledge to ledge
Beyond the b-dsc ia neat tavern and neatcr bar
ilail, who take tue qulrtcr-Cnnadau money, II yo1
please which opcus the eac to miracle NJ once OF
lr,.c and ,raudcur short walk through the ever
green wood where tine hides itself leads TO the
vcr, " tuc precpce, which it umbe- to the level
OF the IT. Lawrcnce 30 feet below. The Fall has worn
its way back distance from the great river but
not Ia narrow cLasih for either side the soft rock
ma. crumbcd away leaving huge amphltheatre, upon
Who's. steep and shifting slopes no vegetation find
the green Island Of Orleans. resting in the broad river
ike picture OF peace, De seen. while almost direct
Is under foot the NOumor,ucy If plun-iug into the
mysterious dcptas below From the further side Of this
chasm lon, flight of 800 stops has been let down to
rude platform facing the Fall, and from various points
alon. the descent the O the lcapmg water is most
fascinating The ledge OF rock over which the river
pours is of harder texture than that below II does
not crumhl. readily unier the action OF frost and
food 20 that seeds have found tine TO gcrmnate and
roots have fastened in It's crcvres unt IFS face shag-
Nv with "a growth Of arbor VITAE and stunted spruces.
AGAINST the rch dark green OF this wall of foliage hangs
tb ~ bic stream Torn hy projections o. rock
into "A luminous mist. it has vapory hshtness soft,
coulke grace which the behodcr hardly reconcile
with its echoing thunder, the culver Of the rock on
which he stands and the rush Of the wind sucked down
with it out Of the -tl above This iy gale drives
the fine spray clean the cavern agansc its oppO'
site wall Transforming the sterile slope within the limits
of this shadowy rainfall into bank OF ycrdurc where
nestle the most delicate harebes and shyest mountain |
From the bluff above the stairway the prospect up the
It Lawrence j. one To he rcnenbered even among the
wonderful views about quebec. Inc cry li'eL a. II |
crccps MP the cliff under The sheterng citadel with its
metal roofs all gtterng IKE silver IN the sun, i not
seen 10 better aIanase rom any oiher point As tne
cash rolls back toward this enchanted town the stout
woman "a again seen on her polished porch before every
white cottage IN Beauport N, i no, on ner sues now
Bat arraycd clean gown, with her hair neatly |
dressed, she kns or sews and awaits me return rom
the market Ia procession Is encountered long before
The calash reaches the city limits Loads OF " habl-
The planet nrong the road The abpr OF the day have
not suDducd the Gaic ylyacy OF ola or young and one
feels assured that the contrntucut OF the
ou the porch Will De aroused INTO administrative enjoy
mcut when family cart IT, safely moorcd at home
Uerr f. evidently "a simple folk who make no question
fbat life Is worth living. They bear one burden, II is
,rlouII.rng sense Of wrong The land is theirs
IN. saw mud here among them j. the conqucrln9 Eng
li-lmau The visitor rides up along the city wall which
reminds him of old and his Hymputhles are
yyrh the vanqushed. stepping down from the calash
al Last he stands the Dattcmeut aud looks out over
country ne has travcred The red hight Of the SET
ting sun rest, on spires Of the chuIcn OF BEAUFORT
parish The white cottages gmmor IN the gathering |
shadows Farther % yoOns the wooded promOLtory
from which TIE AOntmoreuoy leaps To the 81 Lawrence