Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-10
THE CANADIAN HABITANT AT HOME
f. CURTIS


was fnal The inhabitant is great
politician and loves the excitement OF a
campaign He will walk ten miles TO
attend a political meeting. He used to
he a hard drinker and still has terrible
thirst, but temperance movement IN the
Roman Catholic Church OF late years has
caused a decided Improvement. The IN
habitant always got drunk whenever he
attended a political meeting, and often
when he went to town. but that practice
has been stopped in great measure.
Many of the priests will not administer
communion to men who get drunk and
ers. Our host delivered himself very
freely on this subject and declared that
there was less intemperance among his
neighbors than in any other part of the
world, His remark was sweeping and
seemed to be based upon universal
knowledge of mankind. He has very
poor opinion of conditions in the United
States and declared that the life Of the
French-Canadian emigre in the factory
towns of New England was very demon
manners and morals, and said that he
would never allow any of his family to
go to the United States.
This is very largely true in many cases,
no doubt. but the parish priests as a rule
are stubbornly opposed to hav
Emigration their Pensioners so to
Opposed the, the United 1a States makes ana
self-reliant and destroys that submissive
disposition to the clerical authority that
has always been one of the character
istics of the French habitant. The young
men and women who leave these primi-
tive villages for Lowell, Providence, Fail
River or Boston will never be contented
to come back to them, and, although
they are very clannish and the emf
gres from the same localities In Can
ada are accustomed to flock together and
seek employment in the same factories
in New England. they are never Willing
to resume the dull and isolated existence
in which they were born.
Their influence has enlarged the
mental horizon Of their parents. their
brothers and sisters and netghbors, ana
in their periodical visits to their Ca
madam homes they invariably introduce
innovations that are sometimes resisted
by the conservative element of the
population and always by the priests
There is little enterprise among the
habitantS OF these primitive villages
unless they are awakened by visits to
the United States or have the privi-
lege of going away to school. All French
Canadians place a high value upon
education, although II Is modern IN
novation and few of the passing gen
Grafton can read or write. Middle aged
and young men and women are quite
as well instructed as any agricultural
population in Europe They speak no
English and have a French dialect of
their own. 1t has developed with
the centuries from the patois of Brit
tany which their ancestors brought
over the sea with them. Partisan
could scarcely understand a Canadian
habitant.
There is school attached to every
church and a convent in almost every
large village or town,
Schools where girls from dis
tant farms are boarded
4A04u1At. during the week and
sent home Saturdays. There are many
high schools for boys and they are we'll
attended. The expense is paid by the
government, the teachers are selected
by the priests, and religious instruc-
ton receives as much attention as
arithmetic or geography. In this sec
ton there are several primary schools
for the benefit Of little children who
are not able to walk as far as the reg
ular schools. They are little better
than kindergartens but as the children
grow older they are sent to the regu-
lar parish schools.
We drove around among the villages
back in the hills in a rough blackboard
with one broad seat intended for four
people sitting back to back. The
horses We're harnessed to a long pole.
which. / was told, is necessary because
Of the steep hills and the sharp curves,
and after we had climbed two or three
Of the terraces and We're back in the
forest section thousand or twelve
hundred feet above the river we
recognized the advantage of that sort
of gear.
The roads are good in dry weather. but
after heavy rains are almost impossible,
and the hills are too steep for an auto
mobile. Mr.. j. N Baker of Chateau Rich
err was our guide. He is the only Eng
lshman and the only Protestant in the
parish. He owns and operates stone
quarry and supplies the contractors of
Quebec with building material. He is
also the fortunate owner of beautiful
glen called Sault la Puce, which being
interpreted means the glen of the jump
ing flea A daShing stream has worn a
path from the forests on the higher ter
races through the limestone rocks TO the
river, and at one point has cut a gorge
forty or fifty deep and about fifteen hun
dred feet long in fantastic lines 1t is a
beauty spot, like gem among rather
commonplace surroundings. but it is in
accessible except by climbing fences and
pleasure resort particularly as there are
three other water falls below over which
the same river OF the jumping flea drops
400 feet in half mile.
Not far away are the famous falls OF
the Montmorency river. which are higher
than Niagara, although
Montmorency quite narrow The water
plunges into pit at the
rails. foot of the precipice sew
enty feet deep, escapes through a sun
terranean channel about thirty miles long
and rises in tumutuous manner at a
Mace called Taureau. east OF the Isle OF
orleans in the ST. Lawrence. The place
IS carefully avoided by boatmen. Ihefe
was formerly bridge across the top OF
the falls. which fell one day while a man
and woman were driving across 1t In a
c.rriape They went down with the
wreck but no trace was ever iound OF
them nor Of their horse, nor or tnelr
vehicle. The whole outfit must nave peen
suent down into the pit. carried under
The ground to Taureau and from there by
The current of the st. Lawrence 10 the
sea. 49,. o,,,.s oyer
Very little Of the water that comes over
,.ontnorency flows away on the SURFACE,
hut a considerable part Is force" tnrousl II
a sluice gate by Il dam az the top anu 10
converted into about 5000 horsepower
Of electricity. which runs the troliey
rai,wavs lights the city of Quebec and