[70] To St. Francois Street, The Name Of The Historian,
Ferland, Was Awarded; The Historian, Robert Christie, [71] Has Also His
Street.
This met with general approval.
"On ascending," says Abbe Faillon, "from the Lower to the Upper Town by a
tortuous road, contrived betwixt the rocks, and on the right hand side, we
reach the Cemetery. [72] This road, which terminated at the Parish Church,
[73] divided itself into two, - on one side it led to the Jesuits (Jesuits'
College) and to the Hospital (Hotel Dieu); and on the other, to the Indian
Fort [74] and to the Castle of Saint Louis. The Castle and King's Fort,
guarded by soldiers night and day, under the orders of the Governor, was
of an irregular shape, flanked by bastions, fortified by pieces of
artillery, and contained in its interior several suites of apartments
separated one from the other. At the distance of about forty toises (240
feet) from the Castle was seen, on the south side, a small garden, fenced
in, for the use of the Governor, and in front, towards the west, was the
Place d'Armes (now the Ring), in the form of a trapezium."
St. John street, for years without a rival as chief commercial
thoroughfare for retail trade in dry goods, sees its former busy aspect
daily fleeting since the invasion of that bitter foe to wheeled vehicles -
the street railway. Its glory is departing: the mercer's showy counter and
shelves are gradually replaced by vegetable and fruit stores. Stately
shops on Desfosses, Crown and Craig streets are rapidly diverting the
Pactolus of the city custom northwards. In the dark ages of the
Ancient Capital, when this lengthy, narrow lane was studded with one-story
wooden or stone tenements, Old Sol occasionally loved to look down and
gladden with his rays its miry footpaths. To our worthy grandfathers 'twas
a favorite rendezvous - the via sacra - the Regent street - the
Boulevard des Italiens - where the beau monde congregated at 4 P.M.,
sharp; where the merry jingle of the tandem grelots invaded the frosty
air in January; where the freshest toilettes, the daintiest bonnets - those
"ducks of bonnets" invented fifty years ago by Mrs. T - d - ensnared
admirers; where marten or "silver fox" muffs of portentous size - all the
rage then - kept warm and coursing the stream of life in tiny, taper hands,
cold, alas! now in Death's pitiless grasp; where the old millionaire,
George Pozer, chinked his English guineas or piled up in his desk his army
bills. Alas! Jean Bourdon, the pioneer of our land surveyors, you, who,
more than two centuries ago, left your name to this vaunted locality - your
street as well as your name are getting to be things of the past! Shall we
bid adieu to this oft travelled over thoroughfare without deigning a
parting glance, as we saunter on, at that low old-fashioned house, No. 84,
on the north side of the street, where, for a quarter of a century and
more, Monsieur Charles Hamel's book and church ornament emporium held its
own against all the other book stores?
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