Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-10
CHATEAU RICHER. Canada.

CHATEAU RICHER. Canada,
August Fl. 1911.
Below Quebec the st. Lawrence river,
on both banks, is guarded by a bluff or
sloping ridge which rises
River gradually by q series of ter
races or benches to the alti-
No. tude OF 1000 and $500 feet,
and the farms all have a frontage on
the river and run back up the slope a
distance of four and half miles. Origin
ally each family had one-sixth OF mile
frontage on the river in order that they
might have the benefit of variety OF
soils and also that they could get at their
boats to fish Every family catches and
cures fish enough during the fall months
to last through the winter just as farm
ers OF New England pack salt pork away
In barrels. smoke hams and bacon and
dry beef
If 1t is considered imperative that every
farm should reach the river. and as
families have grown and the original
holdings have been divided among the
sons it has been customary to split them
the long way, as lumberman splits a
log go that some Of the farms are now
not more than twenty-five or even
twenty feet wide. and four and one-half
miles long. lie DOttOill IdIIu along Tie
shore Is rich and the soil will produce
almost any kind of vegetables and grains.
The next terrace Is a meadow and grows
the hay; and~as the heights are ascend
ed the variety of the crop changes. until
finally the woods are reached where the
farmer spends his time in the winter
chopping down carefully selected trees,
cutting, the trunks and limbs into stove
lengths and hauling the crop to the VII
lage on his sledge for shipment by rail
or boat to Quebec.
j
The province Of Quebec was originally
divided into seigniories. like the baronies
of Europe, and the seign-
SeipniOrieS Tors were the aristocracy:
the lords Of the manor
VI ~uooee' Each seignior usually had
frontage Of three or four leagues
along the river. extending back four and
half miles from the shore, and leased
the land to permanent tenants or habi-
tants as the early French settlers pre-
ferred to call themselves. The habitant
paid his rent In shares Of his crops, ac-
knowledged a certain allegiance to the
seignior and was liable to be called upon
to support him with arms In case OF
emergency. seignior could sell his
rights and g. habitant could sell his land
without the consent Of the other. but the
rights pertaining to the land were con-
veyed with the soil and a change OF ten
ant or a change Of seignior made no
difference with the payment of ties or
other obligations.
| Large tracts OF land passed from the
| seigniors to the church and the religious
orders. This parish, for example, belongs
! to the Theological Seminary at Quebec,
which receives ronfa1S ropnlorlV from the
habitants. whose ancestors have occupied
| the lands for successive generations for
go years. The revenue of the seminary
| from this source amounts to about $15,OH'
| a year. and in addition. 1t has more than
| a half million acres OF timber. from which
5000 or 10000 cords OF wood are cut
| every winter. The stumpage Is usually
| sold to contractors, who cut the wood
and ship it to town.
| The ancient feudal relations have been
habtant pays his ties as
| Feudal he would pay his taxes, he
n,.. considers himself the own
Ase'"'AonS' err Of the land. instead of
the tenant Of the seignior. and no power
on earth could dispossess him either of
the idea or the farm. Along the shore OF
1 the river Is n tTOlley hHe WHICH IuIss
about twenty-five miles east from Quebec
| and furnishes transportation for series
of villages inhabited by fishermen. me-
chanics and laborers, who travel back
and forth between their homes and Que
| bec families Of sailors who are employed
| on the river or have gone to sea. and
| various other well-to-do people, who live
| In mansard cottages. with high, steep
| roofs covered with tin, and broken by
many dormer windows. The tin roofs are
very disagreeable to the eyes OF stran-
gers. because they glisten so fiercely In
| the sun. their reflections are almost blind
| ing. Tin is used almost universally for
| roofing, on churches as well as houses.
| and is never painted. variety OF gal
| vanized sheetiron has been introduced as
substitute and is equally disagreeable-
| The reason Is that wooden shingles are
| scarce and tin roofs shed the heavy
snow as fast as II falls which. OF course.
| is q very important consideration in a
country where snow lies from six to ten
feet for four months in the year.
| Each farmhouse is surrounded by q
group OF OuthOuSes-a very large barr
and very large woodshed-necessary te
the principal crops. All the buildings arr
painted white In the summer they OTTER
afford a pleasing contrast to the greer
| fields that surround them.
There Is another string or villages dnC
| farmhouses on the first terrace. which is
about $50 feet above and mile back
! from the river bottom Looking from the
| citadel at Quebec you see what you would
think was a continuous settlement along
| the ridge as far as the eye can reach
Back on the second terrace and still
back OF that. are other little villages OF
| farmers, frugal. economical and indus
trious. whose conditions and habits are
as primitive as they were century ago
They live In comfortless cabins of one
large room, which is kitchen. dining
room and parlor combined, with a eel
| lar reached by a trap door for storage
| below, and an attic above, with little
| dark boxes for bedrooms opening on the
side There is a kitchen garden. q
chicken yard pig sty. half a dozer
cows which furnish milk for the mos
delicious cheese and butter you ever
| tasted; a sad-eyed, clumsy horse and va
rious outhouses for the shelter of tools
and other appurtenances. The weather
| is so severe here in the winter that every
| thing has to be sheltered.
These houses are grouped around big
| church. and, although the village l have
| in mind is only sixteen miles from Que
bee 1t might be 1.6OO miles
! contArtad Judging from the appear
ance of things. We called
villages. upon several Of the farm
| ers' families and found them hospitable,