Such A Morning
I Have Seldom Seen, And Quebec Lay Basking In Beauty.
Surely that
morning's sun shone upon no fairer city!
The genial rays of that autumn
sun were typical of the warm kind hearts I was leaving behind, who had
welcomed a stranger to their hospitable homes; and, as the bell rang, and
the paddles revolved in the still deep water, a feeling of sorrow came
over my heart when I reflected that the friendly voices might never again
sound in my ear, and that the sunshine which was then glittering upon the
fortress-city might, to my eyes, glitter upon it no more.
The John Munn was a very handsome boat, fitted up with that prodigality
which I have elsewhere described as characteristic of the American
steamers; but in the course of investigation I came upon the steerage, or
that part of the middle floor which is devoted to the poorer class of
emigrants, of whom five hundred had landed at Quebec only the day before.
The spectacle here was extremely annoying, for men, women, and children
were crowded together in an ill-ventilated space, with kettles, saucepans,
blankets, bedding, and large blue boxes. There was a bar for the sale of
spirits, which, I fear, was very much frequented, for towards night there
were sounds of swearing, fighting, and scuffling, proceeding from this
objectionable locality.
A day-boat was such a rare occurrence that some of the citizens of Quebec
took the journey merely to make acquaintance with the beauties of their
own river. We passed the Heights of Abraham, and Wolfe's Cove, famous in
history; wooded slopes and beautiful villas; the Chaudière river, and its
pine-hung banks; but I was so ill that even the beauty of the St. Lawrence
could not detain me in the saloon, and I went down into the ladies' cabin,
where I spent the rest of the day on a sofa wrapped in blankets. A good
many of the ladies came down stairs to avoid some quadrilles which a
French Canadian lady was playing, and a friend of mine, Colonel P - - ,
having told some one that I had had the cholera, there was a good deal of
mysterious buzzing in consequence, of which I only heard a few
observations, such as - "How very imprudent!" "How very wrong to come into
a public conveyance!" "Just as we were trying to leave it behind too!" But
I was too ill to be amused, even when one lady went so far as to remove
the blanket to look at my face. There was a very pale and nervous-looking
young lady lying on a sofa opposite, staring fixedly at me. Suddenly she
got up, and asked me if I were very ill? I replied that I had been so.
"She's had the cholera, poor thing!" the stewardess unfortunately
observed. "The cholera!" she said, with an affrighted look; and, hastily
putting on her bonnet, vanished from the cabin, and never came down again.
She had left Quebec because of the cholera, having previously made
inquiries as to whether any one had died of it in the John Munn; and
now, being brought, as she fancied, into contact with it, her imagination
was so strongly affected that she was soon taken seriously ill, and brandy
and laudanum were in requisition. So great was the fear of contagion,
that, though the boat was so full that many people had to sleep on sofas,
no one would share a state-room with me.
We were delayed by fog, and did not reach Montreal till one in the
morning. I found Montreal as warm and damp as it had been cold and bracing
on my first visit; but the air was not warmer than the welcome which I
received. Kind and tempting was the invitation to prolong my stay at the
See House; enticing was the prospect offered me of a visit to a seigneurie
on the Ottawa; and it was with very great reluctance that, after a sojourn
of only one day, I left this abode of refinement and hospitality, and the
valued friends who had received me with so much kindness, for a tedious
journey to New York. I left the See House at five o'clock on the last day
of October, so ill that I could scarcely speak or stand. It was pitch-
dark, and the rain was pouring in torrents. The high wind blew out the
lamp which was held at the door; an unpropitious commencement of a
journey. Something was wrong with the harness; the uncouth vehicle was
nearly upset backwards; the steam ferryboat was the height of gloom,
heated to a stifling extent, and full of people with oil-skin coats and
dripping umbrellas. We crossed the rushing St. Lawrence just as the yellow
gas-lights of Montreal were struggling with the pale, murky dawn of an
autumn morning, and reached the cars on the other side before it was light
enough to see objects distinctly. Here the servant who had been kindly
sent with me left me, and the few hours which were to elapse before I
should join my friends seemed to present insurmountable difficulties. The
people in the cars were French, the names of the stations were French, and
"Prenez-garde de la locomotive!" denoted the crossings. How the
laissez-faire habits of the habitans must he outraged by the clatter
of a steam-engine passing their dwellings at a speed of thirty-five miles
an hour! Yet these very habitans were talking in the most unconcerned
manner in French about a railway accident in Upper Canada, by which forty-
eight persons were killed! After a journey of two hours I reached Rouse's
Point, and, entering a handsome steamer on Lake Champlain, took leave of
the British dominions.
Before re-entering the territory of the stars and stripes, I will offer a
few concluding remarks on Canada.
CHAPTER XIV.
Concluding remarks on Canada - Territory - Climate - Capabilities - Railways
and canals - Advantages for emigrants - Notices of emigration - Government -
The franchise - Revenue - Population - Religion - Education - The press -
Literature - Observations in conclusion.
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