Evening star., 1898-09-06
CANADIAN COUSINS
They Welcome the Tourists From
the States.
AMERICAN WOMEN INDEPENDENT
How They Stand Up for Their
Rights in Montreal.
D L LIN ESS OF TR ADE
MERICAN WOMEN INDEPENDENT
d L l. l. \ E S OF r r A D e
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

the stopping place of the American tour
ists. An Industrious traveller, who has
carefully read the guide book over night
and who gets up early in the morning can
do" the city and its surroundings in day,
if ne or she cannot spare a week. Most of
the visitors, however, stop over on their
way to Quebec and the Saguenay and make
a second stop en- their way back. Montreal
is a great, fine commercial metropolis, yet
the dollars Which the American tourists
leave are something more than a drop in
the bucket of it's prosperity. Whether the
Canadian cousin is in i'll humor or good
humor toward his relatives IN the states,
they are always welcome to come a-visitng
and leave the earnings which have been
saved up against the journey.
Majority of Tourists Are Women.
The majority of these toursts-probably
three-fourths-are women, many of them
school teachers freshening themselves for
the duties of the school room whicn are
soon TO begin. They travel in pairs or in
parties. and they generally show an indie
pendence and readiness to resent the pet
ty eXactions of which travellers are the vic
TINS that makes man, the superior beng,
despise himself for his own cowardice. They
have the courage to ask what it costs be-
fore committing themselves to the mercieS
in seeing the sights. They insist know
ing the exact terms from the hotel clerks,
and show a willingness to stay over anoth-
day to dispute a swiudling charge for
baggage When they give a fee it is IN pro-
portion to the services rendered. OF course
10 cents Is enough for the sleeping car
porter, the bell boy who brings the ice
water. or the waiter who fetches cold soup;
but what male traveller dares offer dime
Instead of a quarter. The American woman
or gIrl travelling in Canada does it, and she
may in time be abe to shame her fellow
countryman into asserting his rights.
Stood Up for Their Rights.
A pleasing exhibition of this independence
was that which l witnessed on the street
cars. The companies have a small placard
hanging n the cars which says in English
and in French that silver from the settle
ments Of the straits will not be taken in
payment of fares. No one would imagine
that this meant American silver. A party
of yo ing women, who had been visiting the
Grey nunnery, and whose Canadian small
change had gone to gladden. the orphan
wards of the nuns, boarded the car and
offered American quarters and nickeis in
payment The conductor politely explained
that the rules of the company would not
permit him to accept these. But what
are We 10 do?" exclaimed the chaoeron of
the party, who might have been six months
older than her charges. We have Ca
madam money. It's i silly rule, anyhow"
The conductor did not suggest that the
young ladies would have to get of and
walk. He collected the remainder of his
fares and then returned and again Of
fered the nickes and quarters, which he
refused, with a second explanation that the
rules of the company would not permit him
to accept them His fair passengers waited
for Developments Finally the conductor
said he would take the coins at discount
five nickels to pass 90 cents and
quartz" at the same valuation. The spokes
woman fired UP at once. Said she: Isn't
our American money good as yours?
I'd like to know if it isn't. Wen not be cheat
ed in that way" And they were not cheat
ed This well-bred outburst was followed
by the request, in softer tones: Stop the
car, please. Here is our hotel Then, in
the sweetest possible voice: The company
can have those nickels by sending to US for
them" Two Americans of the male species
had followed the controversy with pride and
admiration But each one had a guilty
each was conscious of having been meek
enough to pay fare out of a quarter taken
at the valuation of 20 cents.
Some Independent Comments.
The independence which the young wo-
men tourists show in their financial deal
ings is also manifest in their comment on
persons and things. 1 gather from whirl
wind Of these frankly spoken opinions that
Quebec is the most charming old place on
the continent. and that the pilgrimage to
the Church of St. Anne de Beaupre was
unsatisfactory because no one is allowed
TO carry away as a souvenir single one
from the pyramid of crutcheS left there Icy
the lame whose lameness has been mirac-
ulously cured. 1t is also the common eX-
perience that shooting the rapids of the
St. Lawrence is not SO exhflaratinS in fact
in fiction, because it is not so dangerous;
that the Indian pilots in their fancy trap
pings, are gratuitous circus spectacle
hardly worth the money; that the only in
teresting people in Quebec province are
the French Canadians, because the people
who talk English are SO much like the
people at home. So IL happens that the
French quarter of Montreal is the only
really interesting quarter, and its charm
cannot be appreciated in hasty tour Of
its outskirts. The public buildings, the
business blocks, the art galleries, the in
stitutions are splendid and substantial.
The churches and cathedrals are of mag
nificent and harmonious architecture.
Everything is in keeping with what consti-
tutes a magnificent city, such as Montreal
Is; but there are many fine cities, and
travellers do not, as a rule, carry away
with them lasting impression of these
evidences of grandeur and wealth. 1t is
Il disappointment, after hunting along the
quays and wharves for the oldest church
In Canada, to find that Notre Dame de
Bonsecours has been so often rebuilt and
embelliShed that little of the original Struc-
ture remains. Yet there Is enough to re-
call the historic associations of 250 years,
and Our Lady of Good Help, as the name is
rendered in English, is a reminder that
Montreal is not given over solely to COM
merce and shipping.
The I.ord Nelson Monument
There is what some one has called
piece of modern antiquity in jacques Car
tier Square. 1t is not a monument to that
intrepid pioneer of France in the new
world, might be inferred. 1t is the
monument to Lord Nelson, and there is
touch of the irony of history in the loca-
tion of this English victor over French
and other fleets in this spot meant to COM
memorate great Frenchman. The citi
Zens of Montreal did themselves proud"
in the early part of the century, when they
erected this memorial to the hero Of Trafal-
gar, who had once dweIt among them: but
the statue was neither cast in bronze nor
sculptured from enduring marble 1t is
grimy and crumbling, and the ambitious
efforts 10 stucco naval engagements on the
sides have not lost their grotesQueness.
But the inscription has a suggestveness
at the present time, for in reciting that
Nelson destroyed the vessels of the enemy
without losing any of his own ships the
thought of Dewey at Manila and of some
I.TE4 lee aT..rz