Mr. Dobell The Proprietor Is Largely Engaged In Mercantile
Operations, And For Many Years Past Has Carried On The Most Extensive
Business In The Lumber Trade.
In 1865 we alluded as follows to this bright Canadian Home, which the
shadow of death was soon to darken:
"Crowning a sloping lawn, intersected by a small stream, and facing the
Etchemin Mills, you notice on the south side of the St. Lewis road, next
to Clermont, a neat dwelling hid amongst huge pines and other forest
trees; that is one of our oldest English country seats. Family memories of
three generations consecrate the spot. Would you like a glimpse of
domestic life as enjoyed at Sillery? then follow that bevy of noisy, rosy-
cheeked boys in Lennoxville caps, with gun and rod in hand, hurrying down
those steep, narrow steps leading from the bank to the Cove below. How
they scamper along, eager to walk the deck of that trim little craft, the
Falcon, anchored in the stream, and sitting like a bird on the bosom of
the famed river. Wait a minute and you will see the mainsail flutter in
the breeze. Now our rollicking young friends have marched past ruins of
"chapel, convent, hospital," &c., on the beach; you surely did not expect
them to look glum and melancholy. Of course they knew all about "Monsieur
Puiseaux," "le Chevalier de Sillery," "the house where dwelt Emily
Montague"; but do not, if you have any respect for that thrice happy age,
the halcyon days of jackets and frills, befog their brains with the musty
records of departed years. Let the lads enjoy their summer vacation,
radiant, happy, heedless of the future. Alas! it may yet overtake them
soon enough! What care could contract their brow? Have they not fed for
the day their rabbits, their pigeons, their guinea-pigs? Is not that
faithful Newfoundland dog "Boatswain," who saved from drowning one of
their school-mates, is he not as usual their companion on ship-board or
ashore? There, now, they drop down the stream for a long day's cruise
round the Island of Orleans. Next week, peradventure, you may hear of the
Falcon and its jolly crew having sailed for Portneuf, Murray Bay, the
Saguenay or Bersimis, to throw a cast for salmon, sea-trout or mackerel,
in some sequestered pool or sheltered bay.
"There we'll drop our lines, and gather
Old Ocean's treasures in."
Are they not glorious, handsome, manly fellows, our Sillery boys? No
wonder we are all proud of them, of the twins as much as the rest, and
more so perhaps. "Our Parish" you must know, is renowned for the
proportion in which it contributes to the census: twins - a common
occurrence; occasionally, triplets.
Such we knew this Canadian home in the days of the late Henry Lemesurier.
MONTAGUE COTTAGE.
"I knew by the smoke which so gracefully curled,
Above the green wood that a cottage was near."
- Moore's Woodpecker.
Facing Sillery hill, on the north side of "Sans Bruit," formerly the
estate of Lieut.-Col.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 270 of 451
Words from 141364 to 141872
of 236821
