Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-10-18

ihu III TIE AlDIOu at %, iustcdu VI gfs a
day as at the Windsor. This morning
we interviewed another old French horse
man, and finding out from all quarters
that the Oldest as well as greatest source
of horse speed and excellence near Mon
treal was at and in the neighborhood of
Vercheres, thirty miles down the river,
we started for that quarter by the steam
er which leaves daily at 3 80 p. m. This
steamer we found quite a comfortable
one, with a well-warmed cabin extending |
nearly the whole length of its upper
deck. Nearly If not quite all of the pas
sengers were French. AS the day was
somewhat rainy as we'll as cold, most of
them kept inside, but for while three
of us stood outside at the stern and |
watched Americas Northern city whilst
it receded in the distance, ourselves borne |
on the great river that ceaselessly con-
tinues its course to the north.
Winter has not fully come, but the ON
nous shadow of it rests over the land
and kisses alike the plains and the noun
tains. There is little that is cheerful IN
the scenery and yet this is a wonderful
land of great productiveness and value.
The comforts of French inn have
been exchanged for the accommodations
of large sized but not inviting Ameri-
can hotel. AS they have started their
furnace today, however, we do not feel
disposed to complain. Last night, with
out any fire, it was cherries enough. 1t
rained last night when we came to Water
loo, and has rained all day very busily.
So it was raining as we left Middlebury
last Tuesday and | think has rained more
or less every intermediate day: at least
the heavens have been clouded the whole
time. Perhaps that accounts in part for
the absence of frost here in Canada,
though have been told that at Montreal
the frost does not generally come until
well into October.
have been much interested today in
looking over the histories of several of
these eastern townships of Lower Canada.
ST. Armand, Durham, Sutton, Bronze,
Potten and Bolton. All of them, |
am told by an intelligent native citi-
zen here, or nearly all the Eastern
Townships were settled largely from the
States, commencing shortly after the
revolutionary war. For long time
these settlements were composed almost
entirely of Protestants, but now in most
of them the French Canadians outnum-
Der the English speaking population.
The following grass, the mud, the
cold, suggest the coming winter. This
morning attended the Methodist church.
1t is neat building of brick. The audi
ence was small, but both the sermon and
singing were very good. wrote last at
the French inn at Narennes. From Var
ennes to Vercheres, nine miles, we were
carried next morning through the mud
in an old carriage with two seats and one
horse. The road was fearful, for this
fiat country of the St. Lawrence and
Canada Is nearly all clay, and the season
has been very wet. Farms on the way
are all rich; houses and barns reasonably
good. Cattle and horses and sheep
abound, all large and all fat from the
magnificent meadows where they Craze.
After one sees Canada it is no longer a
mystery that she has vast crops of hay
and oats or potatoes, and thousands of
horses and cattle and sheep or large
quantities of apples to sell. In all the
world there are very few regions that
can equal the fertility of the valley of
the St. Lawrence. 1t is vast tract of
land, level as floor, without single
stone to mar its surface and with soil
so deep and strong that as far as the eye
can reach it is covered with a wonderful
burden of grass-no ferns; no weeds
nothing but the most luXuriant grass,
matted so heavily that 1t wouldn't seem
possible for weed to get through it.
A river moves on towards the North
a river which connects the great lakes of
America with the ocean; river whose
mouth and whose source should belong
and whose mouth must belong to the
great American Republic. This country,
so sweet and so rich, with its people so
intelligent and thrifty, is part of Amer
lea and America will have only the ocean
for its boundary lines.
At Narennes are a number of quite
pretty places. and one of the most SUI
perb stone cathedrals in the world, SUI
perb in its beauty and fairly so in its
size. Vercheres is larger village. 1t
was being washed with the rain when
we entered it, and got no chance while
we were there to appear in dress suit, OF
even to come out. La PlW reigned SUI
preme. But we found here two French
men who conversed readily in English
, and who in the fullest possible manner
assisted us to get the early horse history
which we had come for, of this eventfu
region. Impressed with the sincere and
= intelligent character of its people, we re-
/ turned by cars the next day to Montreal
, TO the traveller the gate of Montreal is
its very attractive and elegant new depot
from which he enters or makes his exit
: from the city with equal pleasantness
, Our second glimpse of the city was hard
, " more than the first. We saw, how
ever, its business streets and the very at
tractive goods that were shown in many
Of the shOD windows As soon as Cana