The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-03-01
MONTGOMERY THEATRE.
 Monday Night
 Harry Wards Minstrels. Prices: Lower floor, 75 cents; Dress Ci le, 50 cents. Seats now on sale. --adv
THE FRENCH CANADIANS.

THE FRENCH CANAD1ANs.
 Instructive and Entertaining Ac-
 count of Our Northern Neighbors. London Times.
 At meeting of the Royal Colonial In- stitute. Sir c. Clement Smith, presiding. Mir. Howard Angus Kennedy read pa- per on "The French Canadians" MT. Kennedy, in the course of his paper. said that the significance of the French pop ulation in Canada had not been generally realised. They were not sumcaen.y nke to our own linemen, nor were they suf- ficieptly unlike LIS to excite the curiosity We feel in savages and orientals: botn their past career and their probable fu- ish empire. France, in spite of repeated dreams of a vast colonial empire. had never been able to provide colonists. In fact. though Champlain founded the only a handful of 5000 or 5000 farmers and fur hunters that came under our sway 1l0 years ago. Yet at the present day they numbered 100000 or more. The early history of the settlers was TO- mantle one. and had supplied long list of heroes and martyrs. This early war fare left it's mark on the country of to- day. Farms were planned in long rip- bon-like strips, with narrow frontage of river along which the houses were built in string. They were thus within easy hail of each other. and were close to their only way of communtcatton- the river. The English wars threw them into a close alliance with the Indians. observed today.
 A further foreign element was intro duced by the Scotch and Hessian soldiers marrying French wives. and among the rav xlf rnk mi rt1 Ao ng Ross and Schiller were frequently found Under the old regime the colonists had been practically serfs and without polit- ical rights, and 1t was not till the late Queens reign that any desire for self government arose. Such a desire was perfectly legitimate, and got its complete fulfllment in 1867, when the Federal sys- tenn was introduced. The French Canadi- ans as whole were not interested m politics, and were generally content to leave questions of high policy on one side. Jean Baptist, as the French Canadian variety of John Bull is called, combined courtesy and hospitality with stubborn ness which became almost cOmbatitive- ness when he did not meet with consid- eration. Though he could swear power fully, his profanity was really superfi- cial and he was usually pious ana charitable soul He was on the whole temperate though there was still room for improvement. In the province of Quebec more than half the municipalities prohibited liquor licenses. The habitant, as he is called, carried thrift to penu- rious extreme. and had a great horror of direct taxation. In one parish the mu- nicipal tax only came to f76 year with an assessment of R100.000. The County Council only levied rates to the value of E40 for the whole county. and the local School Board accounted for something like e10O. He considered that the most typical habitant was to be seen on the north shore of the St. Lawrence, and in nnt otta nf British descent was found The houses were substantial looking. but not very large, though families of over dozen were quite common.
 Various crops of cereals were grown and the threshing was performed by ma chine worked by team of horses perpet- ually walking up a sort Of treadmill. This was called a double wospaurs-a cor was not really a patois. but form of old French maintained almost uncorrupt- ed Several English words had crept in. either for the sake of brevity or to ex- press some new idea. The state of the roads was very bad, and each man was supposed to keep in order the portion
 in front of his house. If farmer want ed to draw a heavy load he sent round to his neighbors whose houses he passed, and they would patch up the highway for his use. The farming had been not much less primitive than the road-mak- ing. but an improvement was taking place.
 Agricultural education was carried on by itinerant government lecturers and priests who had given up their spiritual work for this object. On almost every farm the tobacco plant was grown. and the habitant smoked no other. The life of the woman was fully occupied. and. besides her ordinary household duties. she had to spin, weave. sew. work in the field. and lead the family prayers. But the old home industries were gradually Adj fs hA nf tnrr aAA circulation of cash, and the spinning wheel and handloom will soon go the way of the wooden blow. The food of the country was plain, but, consisting chiefly of pea soup and salt pork, 1t becomes monotonous and produces dyspepsia.
 The men were as busily occupied as the women, and during the winter the poorer habitants left their families and took work with one of the "'lumbermen. In spite of the hard work the race was sociable and happy. There was no poor law, and a man in misfortune could al- ways get his wants supplied by his fei low parishioners, who. were too proud to let their poor wander Into another parish to beg. He described the attitude of chil- dren to parents as one of freedom, but not disrespect. The parents made joint will. and were usually. but not %lways. succeeded by the eldest son. He often entered into possession in their lifetime. and bound himself to support them, pay for their burial supply doweries for his sisters, and start his brothers III IarrnS of their own. Almost all the marriages sprang from affection. and 1t was rare to find a man over 25 or A women over 2O still unmarried The habltant had taken free advantage of his right to buy out his freehold in some districts. while in others he hardly seemed to know of it's exist cnce. /The original seignorial families had all been merged in the people, ana the old mansions and rent rolls had pass ed into other hands. The power of the church was great and the tithes were regularly paid. as well as the supplement" ta-y Ievies which cannot be collected by law. The French Canadian was religious. though highly superstitious. and the shrine of St. Anne de Beaupre was the center of a pilgrimage resembling that of Lourdes The French Canadian was. in word simple and shrewd, industrious and gay, thrifty and generous.
 A Printer Greatly Surprised
 "I never was eo much surprised in my life. as I was with the results cf using