St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-08-14

| ed the country to the southwark, and
| the same system was followed along its
route. This may be given as the origin
al cause of the long and narrow farm OF
the habitant. The reason of it lies in
the fact that in country OF long win.
tiers and deep SHOWS, it is far easier to
keep open one long straight street than
it is to break roads in all directions to
farmhouses scattered over an immense
area. 1t is also far more conducive to
general sociabilitv. The result is that
from Quebec, almost from Montreal,
eastward along the river and the road,
the landscape shows almost continuous
dotted lines, the dots being the little
houses of the habitants bordering on
road and river
The voyageur and the carter have gone
the way of the old American stage
driver. The young people of the region
have gone, by thousands to find employ
ment in the mills ofNew England. Others
are employed by the transportation
lines and the industries which have fol-
lowed those lines into the country of the
habitant. The maintenance of the pictur
esque life of these historic people depended
upon their isolation, and the isolation ex
lists no longer. The old feudal system,
with it's established rights and customs,
was superseded in 1854. With the re-
ligious life of the region, the laws Of the
land have had less to do, and change in
that important department of habltant
lie is less noticeable than in other lines.
Except that, in the main, a ready and
willing allegiance is rendered to their
spiritual leaders, one might say that
they were priest ridden as badly as ever
were the Filipinos. But the priesthood
is generally respected and loved, and
many of its members are from among
the people themselves. Churches are
built by a tax levied upon the real estate
of all Roman Catholics in its vicinity, and
these taxes are collected by law, like the
taxes of the government, Wayside
shrines are numerous, and a system
which would find much of keen opposi
ton in most lands meets little here save
support and approval.
The notable change in the life of these
people follows the line of the inevitable
influence OF closer contact with a larger
| and more energetic world. The old life
was that Of all isolated pastoral people
who went out as pioneers, carrying with
them more of good race stock than of
worldly goods. The Shrek of the loco
motive whistle sounds the death war
rant of all such life The end may come
by gradual decay through modification
of old customs and the adoption of new,
but, with the advent of the railroad and
the telegraph, the end is only question
of time. The old we'll sweep of the habi
tant is giving way to the pump, and in
time the pump will be the gravity Of the
pressure and the faucet. There is much
of beauty in the simplicity of the old
habitant life, but the world of today has
no use for ornaments of that kind The
forests are good for timber, and pulp
wood and matches. The fields are want
ed for hay and oats, and for butter and
cheese. But the richest contribution
which the Canadian habitant brings to
the new world into which he must now
come is his wealth of story and legend,
of history and narrative. In that line,
he has no rival on this side of the Allan
tic Albert G. Robinsan in the New
York Evening Post.