The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1888-04-11

The outdoor life of Quebec surprises
q stranger from more southern eli
mate. Having in mind the furious
tempests OF O Canadian winter, when
very often neither man nor beast is
safe outdoors, he fears that suffering
or even death is frequently met here
when one leaves the house. And GER
tainly nature looks into Quebec with
uncommon freedom; the entire dome
of the sky, rising from vast expanse
of waters, plains and mountains, is
visible from many parts Of the town;
so that when the sun shines in this ex-
ceptionally clear Northern air he beams
on everything, in great rustic effusion
rare in city sun; you almost take the
firing of the midday gun for his uni
versal guffaw, rolling through the
cloudless sky. Then when q gale
swoops down it bears in upon you ia
miliarly, even with terrible eagerness
and ferocity; and fancy too that the
moon and stars hover close about Que
bee, for when / go out on a clear night
they stare with large-eyed wonder-as
well they may, at near view OF such
| o creature! But the Canadian winter,
excepting during the tempest, is sea-
son full of comforts and enjoyments !;
for business sleeps, the Lower Town
seems empty, and life turns either to
frolicsome outdoor sports-for which
the good air furnishes abundant vigor
or to warm and intimate social pleas
ures. Even if the thermometer be as
low as ten degrees below zero, you will
often find the children outdoors
cherubic bundles of fur and wool wal
lowing In the snow as if it were hay,
the babes in their little sleds, and
people out snow-shoeing, skating in the
rink, or driving in their coy "carioles !"
the horses may be silvered over with
frost, and your own eyelashes laden
with globules of ice, or now and then
you may have to rub your nose with
snow to warm it after freezing; but, as
q rule, everybody is very comfortable
in furs, with help of moderate exercise.
This French people in America seem to
have overcome the dependence of their
blood on a warm, sunny climate; they
walk the streets in any weather with a
comfortable, moderate. often perhaps
mincing gait, while their English
friends stride over the snow with q
men have the hardest experience; in
fur caps. and long buffalo coats with
collars coming mp to the top OF their
heads, they look like bears masquerad-
ing as men they tighten the national
red sash about their waists, stamp their
feet, swing Their arms, and keep up q
continual scufiiing and joking to short
en- the tedium of their long hours; and
should not omit to add that their
rubicund noses promise well to defy
the frost. In Drawing the gloom and
ferocity of winter storm the city has
certain savage as we'll as pathetic
aspect; q northeast gale comes up the
st. Lawrence in bounding gusts, and
scaling the cliffs of Cape Diamond,
throws the snow back defiantly into
the sky; and the battlements shake
out hoary names from their crests. But
the human elements of the scene are
more timid; the little house crouching
down into the snow-drifts look like
tattered toques with tassels of white
on any poor soul that cannot escape the
snow-laden gust, cutting as sand
blast with bowed heads, and occasion
al turning about to catch breath, even
the well-clad hurry on, and like silent
phantoms soon fit out of sight into the
white obscurity. When the brooding
gloom settles over the city at twilight
the bugle throws its CHEEKY notes into
the arctic silence of the glacis; as you
struggle along the ramparts the Ange-
lus rings from over the monastery wall.
while the cannon point to the night APP
preaching over the moutain-tops.
II. Far,sham IN Harper's Magazine.
aL. .f..io