The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1908-08-06
Trip to Quebec.


bration at Quebec in Honor
of the Booth Anniversary Of
the Founding of That An
cient and Unique City-the
Visit of the Prince Of Wales
and the Enthusiastic Recep-
ton Given Him-Vice-Pres-
ident Fairbanks and Other
Notables Present---Various
Matters of Interest as They
Impressed the Observant
Writer.
\ little trip Off is worth while if for no
other reason than the delight OF getting
back home and being at home. Travel
and sightseeing are WEAKNESS to the
flesh and cost money at every turn. Yet
thew furnish something to talk and write
OF. One becomes more or less satisfied
with his own ideas and surroundings by
have long had curiosity to see how peo-
ole do and live in foreign countries, and
as never can bear the idea Of crossing
the ocean until ships go in pairs; and as
law business is a little dull at this season,
my brother and | concluded to go
to Quebec and help celebrate the
Booth anniversary of the founding OF that
French city on American soil-Or rather
rock. | doubt if he would have gone but
that his wife and children were at Co.
lumbia Univef sity in New York taking
summer course At the station we met
up with Mr.. Bat Parham who thinking
himself sick had started to New York
City for little high priced treatment.
We struck New York City Sunday
morning after an afternoon and all night
ride There we saw buildings one story
high, two stories high and from that on
up to 81 stories highland then comes
Jump to ~ stories and then another
one to 81 stories high: and we hear still
other heights are being planned. 7O5
feet is the highest to date If one is near
it gives pain in the neck to look at it
long. We rode in the subway, the horse
cars, the electric surface cars, the eleva-
ted railway-and the B. r. Il. which
took us to Coney Island, which is one
aggregation of side shows, restaurants,
seabreeze and people. The New York
Times stated there were hall million
people at Coney the day we went. They
moved on and saw sights. There were
myriads of catch penny, catch nickel and
catch dime devices, and all seemed to be
catching We had a fine dinner on a fine
hotel porch in a fine sea breeze at Man
haitian Beach. 1t cost us money, too.
The hotel walters were as fine bralny
looking men as our candidates for gov
ernOr. 1t would imagine be embarrass-
| ing to people with less cheek than law
yers and supply merchants to be waited
on by them.
Just as A. A and were worn out to a
FRAGILE and were starting back to Column
bia heights, a lonesome feeling came
over Bat and he concluded he'd like to
see the Prince of Wales too. SO he look
| ed us up that night and we took the
train early next morning for Quebec via
Clayton, Thousand Isles, the st. Law
| renee River and Montreal. Trains in 200
miles OF New York City go like a bird,
only faster. Up toward and in Canada
| they go about as they do in North Car
DINA ard Virginia
We went along the Hudson and saw
the Catskills where Rip Van Wrinkle is
supposed to have slept, and thousands
of New Workers. now sleep in the cooling
| mountain breezes. The scenery OF the
Hudson and st. Lawrence is too fine for
me to describe. Bat says they are as
pretty as the Rhine He has seen both.
The Mohawk Valley is beautiful also.
This stream though small has as the
Hudson several railroads along it's
banks but much wider and more fertile
and beautiful bottoms The crops from
Albany to Quebec, some 400 miles, con-
sist chiefly of timothy hay and Irish po-
! tatoes and apples. with here and there
small patches of oats, barley, buck
wheat and occasionally a field of hops
that run to the tops OF poles 10 or II
feet high
When we passed from and back into
the United States we saw two custom
houses, ione belonging to the United
States and one to Canada. A man
boarded the train and demanded to
search our baggage. All my life, and
especially in campaign years when a
little wrought up over tariff, I've been
wishing to go to Canada, that prosper
| Gus colony of free trade" England, SO
could get something cheap and free of
tariff duties. 1t seems the law allows
one to bring back $4,000 worth duty
free. SO when we got to Quebec the
| first thing we wanted after getting
breakfast was to find a free trade store
| and buy our hundred dollars worth to
| bring back duty free Well sir, we tried
| and tried A. \. was a kitchin-Bryan
Democrat, | a Republican and Bat too
pleasant to differ from either; but I'll
| leave it to them if we couldn't have
nct
| cheap in Henderson or Oxford as there.
Well, not anything; the only exception
was Catholic goods-beads, crucifixes,
| candles and other things used by Catho-
lies to remind them that the old bad
man will get them if they don't do what
the priests say. They were really cheap.
But before getting to Quebec | wish
those who may never see it to know
| the st. Lawrence river is, on an average,
| about three or four miles wide; that it is
ever clear and blue and never rises or
| falls, flowing from the lakes only, and
| that in its first 40 miles from its source
| there are 1.642 islands, ranging in size
from few feet to many acres, nearly all
| OF them and the shores OF the river in
| many places being occupied by fine resi-
| dences in which rich people spend the
| summer. They have their yachts and
lighthouses and they fish and frolic No
mud there, and the land does not wash
| at all. We didn't see gully after leav-
| ing New York, nor any red clay, nor
muddy stream. The lighthouses and
| wharves and many of the houses on the
| islands were right down at the water
| level We toured the islands by night
| on Il vessel with search-light which
| would show us the islands and houses
and lovers in the hammocks, etc, etc, as
plain as day.
| Next day we sailed down the river 200
miles to Montreal, passing through four
or more rapids where the waters were
shallow and the bed of the river rocky
and the boat, though big as a Chesa-
peake bay steamer and loaded with hun
dreds of people, would dash about and
at times CRATE upon the rock bottom to
the terror OF the passengers. 1t is i'm
possible to navigate up these rapids so