The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1942-07-02

Usually most of us know a
great deal about our next door
neighbors, their comings and 60
ings, past and present activities.
But with the exception OF my
knowledge of Wolf and Mont
calm, the early French settlers
and other historical facts, l knew
little else of our next door Cana
dian neighbors until journing a
cross the border recently. The
trip. however, was a revelation
of how much 1 had been missing.
From the time we had crossed
the border after being questioned
bv custom and immigration Off
GERS. we were given, in the lam
guage of the province OF quebec
"Bienvenue Royale." AS we
were guests of the Canadian gov
eminent, they made every effort
!. ~ give the entire party OF around
X5O, newspaper editors, publish
ers and associates, royal well
come. and of course were sue
cessful in their efforts. Both the
trip and the country are mucn
too extensive to discuss In full
here. but the writer will pass on
a few brief impressions.
A Prayer For Victory
The province of Quebec is pre-
dominantly French and Cathollc'
and most of the people are very
devout. From the time we VISITED
the Notre Dame cathedral, IN
Montreal on our first day there,
we were impressed with the num-
Der of people who daily came to
the churches to pray for victory.
Far up the Saguenay rlver'
where standing on the spot where
one of the first churches was
,.ouilt on the North American con-
8Inent. a little church still stands
Using the same bell that once
called the Indians to worship, this
same prayer was being offered
Even in the humming indus
trial plants where millions OF
bullets were being turned out
daily. here and there were sta
tues, symbols of religion.
Speaking OF French
Or perhaps we should say
speaking French as that was
lust about what the majority OF
people in Quebec do. There IS
enough English spoken, however,
for one to get along, even II ne
knows no French. But II one
knows any French at all, 1t Is
quite interesting to listen-ln on
most of the conversations, read
the advertisements, signs ana
other public notices.
~ Many of them are written IN
both French and English as are
the inscriptions on monuments
and buildings. Most of the pub
lie speeches are made in the two
languages, toe.
Even the animals must have
some knowledge of the two IN
some cases. Fortunately there
are still dozens of horses and car
riages ready to carry the tourists
about the city of Quebec, and gas
and tire rationing is no problem
with them. One Ramona, who
took a group of us on sight
seeing tour explained that since
his horse must haul both English
and French, that he, like the
driver, understood both. And be-
/, lieve it or not, he spoke to the
horse in French and he responded
accordingly. He also spoke to him
h in English, later, and the animal
obeyed perfectly! But we are
still wondering whether or not
he was an educated" horse or
merely understood the tone OF
his masters voice.
Later on we heard a French
man appeal to white peafowrs
vanity by repeating "tres beaux"
"very fine, to us, and eventually
the tail feathers were spread in
all gorgeousness. An American
standing by remarked, eyes
that's just like a woman, brag on
her and she will really beam he1
very best"
We learned afterwards that the
peafowl had been originally ship
ped from Florida, but perhap:
had been there long enough tt
understand the meaning of tire:
!, beauX."
p An About For War
One could not have visited thu
vast ammunition factories, seer
great ships in the making, review