The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1895-01-30
An Unconventional Outing.

finally materialized in an unexpected man
ner, and after Madam fatty protested she
would not be dragged off to explore horrid
NAL odorous Frenchy Cities we folio we'd
the advice Of the "man-who.h had been
there" and got excursion tickets for Que bee
via Montreal, the Stadaconia and Hoche-
laga Of Champlain's time.
Ours was not the most direct, but the
most delightful, route, according to the
man-who- ad-been-there, and experience
verified his judgment. Those who have
taken that autumn trip through the YER
mont hill country, over the Green Noun
tains, gay with red and gold, across the
state to Rutland. the Marble City, up the
shores Of Lake Champlain to st. Adams,
know the luxurious raptures experienced
on the Green Mountain Flyer as we prac-
tically fly over the steel rails to Proctor,
where Senator Proctor has built up not only
a model to wn nut the largest marble pro.
ducing company In the world; Shelburne,
now famous for containing DIR. Seward
Webb's 5000 acre estate Burlington. Yer.
monts beautiful Queen City, the home of
Edmunds, Phelps and Cannon, and the
rendezvous OF artists - even Palmer Cox
there evolves brownies each summer.
A day was most happily spent at 81. AL
bans, Madam's former home. To our mind
the finest view is obtained just in front OF
the residence OF the late Ex-Governor Smith.
Here are best realized the valuable in
formation and startling inaccuracies Of Mr..
plain and Its Shores" In Boston we often
wondered where the carloads OF Canadian
horses came from; on our way to Montreal
through the fat peat land we wondered
where all the Canadian horses could 60 to,
for, as far as the eye could reach, every
rectangular lot had from five to twenty fl We
horses.
II not accustomed to Canadian ways, IL
will surprise the average American on seat
ing himself in the carriage Of the hote Of
his choice to have pudgy hand held under
his nose and "twinty-foi ye cints or hid"
yelled at him, and at even hotel Except by
an American" to have the Fren ,h clerk
charge just double the regular rates, though
on presenting the house schedule he blandly
smiles and says with his inimtable shrug,
"Zhat Ah.h That zs moitie for re plazaire
of la bslle Amaricaine." Another un-Amer-
lean custom is the long line of carriages
drawn up in front Of the hotel-the more
popular the hotel the greater the array of
carriages. The regulation way is to go to
the door and hold an auction with the
guides-in undertaking each other they
usually ultimately reach the regulation
price Not being sufficiently nervy, we or.
dered ours from the Office and only paid %
per cent more than the authorized charge;
however, we never found better teams or
more obliging guides than are in every Ca.
madam city. Two OF our. compatriots
scooped US on the economy OF the trip by
getting. at the W. .. 7. U. clearinghouse.
a nights lodging, three meals, and three
prayers, for dollar each with a prayer
meeting as p ,emium.
We were familiar with the city but spent
hours driving about, mentally comparing it
with the Fl ochelaga Champlau found, with
a few hundred Hurons in one long bark
wigwam fortified with double row of up
right tree trunks in place of some of the
best streets and most substantial stone
structures on the continent OF the many
4 t~,l
Mr. Smith of the Print Works, of pinky, inn
pc ted stone, divides honors with the stone
castle of the late Sir Hugh Allan on Mt
Royal. Although we did the city by the
job, instead Of being afraid we would stop
long enough to see something, a la Ameri-
can guide, La Can idien in velvet coat was
afraid we would not see everything, appar-
entity feeling quite hurt We did not spend
hours inside Notre Dame and St. Peter s
cathedrals and the exquisite Jesuit church
we had previously visited.
As usual the base OF Nelson's monument
was covered with a crowd of lazy, begging
cripples whom we chased off to get chance
to re-read the inscriptions. However much
Lady Hamilton may have flattered herself
she was first in Lord Nelson's affections, &C.
cording to provincial history, she was far
from being the only one for whom the AID
miral rsked honor, as he had several severe
attacks Of ''la grande passion" in Montreal
and Quebec, recovering only in time to es-
cape military discipline.
Possibly that we might better appreciate
the living city, we were driven through the
beautifully laid out city Of the dead on the
pride in pointing the cemetery filed with
victims OF the "choler-ah," and also the
"women's female prison" From the sum.
NIT of Mt. Royal we overlooked the La
chine Rapids up the river, the shipping be-
low, the city with its terrible contrasts Of
nj 1nr md na1n nd fai Hall "a
Island named for Champlain's young wife
rescued from heresy by extreme measures,
now owned by the Grey Nuns, the richest
of their order on this continent. The drive
down the mountain is a succession OF double
SIS.
Having mutually compacted not to perpe-
trate any of our kind of French among
Frenchmen, we unbushingly said mo, oh
no." to our guides "Parlez. vous francais,
madam ct ma mselle?" early in the day,
and thereafter he look d polite and swore
most villainously at his steed and chance
acquaintance. After much persuasion we
were driven as near the five points" as the
driver dared go, and 1t was infinitely worse
than anything we had ever seen before.
The streets were 80 narrow the carriage
hubs sometimes hit the doors, opening into
indescribable filth and poverty-no floor but
the earth, covered with garbage, and in
rooms not fifteen feet square lived, evil
IDENTIFY, five generations together with hens
and chickens, pig or two, goat, and only
the census euumerator knows how many
half.naked nasty babies rolling on the floor
with more dogs. In one sunny corner a
hog and an old hag snoozed ON the same
pile of rags. Yet not two miles away the
business streets were so clean the wind
could scarcely raise dust. At five in the
afternoon we boarded the steamship Que
bee and went out in the clear September
twilight, and through the starry night
steamed down the blue pathway disco yered
by Cartier three hundred and fifty years
before, where, f)r unknown centuries saw
age nations skulked in moi 'eless canoes
making war upon brute creation less bru.
tai than themselves. Trader and trader
priest and pirate, had gone up and down
the broad river with discoverer and dis
covered in craft far different from our float
ing palace, In the march of centuries local
tribes had been exterminated by the AL
gonquin. they in turn by the Huron, the
Huron fading as a nation during the fearful
struggle for supremacy between French
and English. Only white cross and an
idly Tapping windmill leagues apart on the
high green banks broke what would other
wise be a peaceful monotony few miles
from either city.