National Republican., 1883-08-04
A Few Sublime Fancies Dispelled by a Few
Other Ridiculous Realities.
The Confusion Of Tongues and Hands
in Bonsecours Market
Visits to Notre Dame, st. Peters, "the Mountain the
Famous Drive, and the Cemeteries.
a sandaled Monk Suggests BIT OF the
Foreign Element.
SnecinL LHiler.

struck us as we drove from the quay to the
Windsor was the solidity and massiveness Of
the buildings, and, crossing Victoria square,
after riding the length Of st. James street and
oil the way up University street, this grow
upon us to such degree that it positively
amounted to an architectural indigestion by
the time we reached the hotel. The evening
was one of rare beauty and the city was at
its loveliest. The st. Lawrence was trans
muted to gold and the Victoria bridge was
like silver thread across its glitter and sheen.
The mountain loomed large and purple in the
background, and the spires of Notre Dame
dominated roof and tower. We were In an
entirely historical humor, and expected to sec
through memory's magic lens the troops of
Cartier, the brave Champlain, the batteaux Of
La Sale, the tonsured priests of Maisonnou-
vean; but alas at every turn Jumbo's pic
ture met us, the baby elephant frolicked over
yards of fence and wall, and the knightly and
priestly shades fed before the name of Barnum,
for the circus was en- route to the city, and
the habitans were agog with expectation.
The Windsor is proudly called "the hand
soonest hotel in the world" but, fresh from
its namesake in New York, and from the
charming cafe of the Brunswick, disputed
the statement at once, and stuck to my colors
with true Yankee Doodleism. 1t is large
by the Gray Nunnery on one front, and st.
Peters on tho other. The first is one of the
oldest establishments in Montreal, and is the
refuge and asylum for afflicted humanity
from the cradle to the grave-literally, for in
its six stages are gathered the poor friendless,
and helpless, beginning with the foundlings
and orphans, and passing through all the
intermediate conditions to decrepit old
age. The order is rich in lands, and
their revenues are all expended in the sup
port of their establishment, for they do not
teach or increase their income by begging.
1t is essentially an order of service and |
should think the tenderest charity and most
ardent faith would be necessary to make the
task an attractive one, for so many of their
patients and inmates are what l call the dev
ills poor, as opposed to the gentle, submissive,
and grateful people for whom it is pleasure
to take trouble. The habit of the order is
the ugliest in Canada-a gray-brown dress,
black cape, and frightful headgear of white
linen and black gauze. But the faces are the
faces of those who know no self, and so are
beautiful in their expression OF abnegation.
st. Peters is a fac siinile of the great cathe-
dral at Rome, but is on q reduced scale-one-
half. Its walls grow slowly toward roof, and
in their gray incompleteness, with the moon
light streaming through their spaces-so elo-
quent of feature, arch, and grain-it had all
the effect of ruin, but ruin with the novel
past.
In the early morning we put Jumbo as re-
motely behind US as possible and started on ,
our pilgrimage. The Bonsecours market and
church were the first objective points, and
when we reached them we found the traffic
of the day under full way in tho one, and the
other TRANQUILITY resting in the gray (every
building in Montreal is gray repose of its two
centuries. The air was "furiously vocal with
the shouts of customers and buyers, whose
hands flew as fast as their tongues, and who
seemed all to have twenty fingers instead
of ten, as they roared themselves purple
in the face over twenty-five cent purchases
and infnitesimal quantities, English is al
most an unknown tongue here, and the
French is spoken exactly as it was when the
sturdy Breton Cartier dropped the seeds of
civilization along the shores of the st. Law
renee SO the effect is quaint and distinctive,
even to foreigners The church is the one
built by the blessed Mother Bourgeoys, aided
by French piety and moneys and is pecu-
liarly dear to the hearts of the people. The
sanctuary lamp is a full-rgged ship of solid
silver, the result of vow made during a
great storm by the crew who brought help
and supplies to the colony when it was
languishing under the combined fury of the
1roquois and the winter.
From Bonsecours to Notre Dame the French
and English stores jostle each other, the new
on the Champ dc Mars-which has withered
under the blight-and find comfort in the
near neghborhood of the bank of Montreal
and the bank of British North America, with
their respectively classical facade and fine
carving.
Notre Dame is the parish church," and is
vast structure, with seating capacity of
over ten thousand and space for three thou
sand more. 1t is Il cluster of churches, for the
side chapels are twelve in number and each
pretty little building in itself. The decora-
tions are magnificent and the carvings of q
high order, The lavishness of the eXpendi-
ture in its building may be reckoned from
the fact that in the recent renovation $4,000
worth Of gold leaf was used in the sanctuary.
The choir is famous; it numbers some fifty
members but includes only male voices, and
the masses are said to be second to st. Peters
at Rome alone. The pietas of the chu ch and
the stations are celebrated, and justly, for both
carving and tinting, they are all of wood-are
purely artistic
The town towers of Notre Dame are the
subject of many aboating song aud folk poem,
and one of them resounds to the changer of the
"Grande Cloche," which rouses the people
to danger when fire is abroad. The sound is
mellow, but martial, and its vibrations reach
far and wide; the mountain echoes it, and the
habitans have invested it with sort of
personality.
ne 10 Juo pOluJ VI 0NUIy lSlSl-
Once in Montreal Everybody and everything
goes to, comes from, or is of it in some way,
and this is perhaps best accounted for by the
fact that the dead take their rest on "the
mountain" The English cemetery, the pa
thetic, lonely jewish cemetery, and "Cotv de
Neige" all lie on its breast, and the famous
drive Of the city is to the point Of view in
Royal Hill park, the summit of Mount Royal.
The French Canadians have Lying love for
their dead, if l may so express it, and their
walks and pleasure trips all tend to Cote de
Neige Whole families start early in the
morning, with lunch baskets, babies, and
knitting or sewing, and spend the day there
chatting, working, and sleeping; or they slip
away singly or in groups to say tho stations"
for the better rcposo Of those who have "emi-
grated, as they phrase it.
These stations are very wonderful set of
wood carvings, illustrating tho ''way of sor-
row" the phases of ChrisJ's suilerings from
the hall of PLATE to his sepulcher They are
in groups of from five to fifteen figures, and
are in bass relief they are sheltered in
shrines Of red sandstone and are set about
an eighth Of mile perhaps further, apart
they are by the side of steep, winding,
flinty path, which terminates in mound
q mound Whereon, rising sharp and agoniZed
against the sky is represented the tragedy of
Golgotha. The figures Mt this point are of
heroic size, but dwarfcd to the proportions of
life by height and distance In the center.
PALE patient, expiring, is the Christi to his
right and left the good and bad thief and at
His feet His mother and st. John. They are
also of wood and 40 beautifully wrought and