In the genial summer months passers-by are admonished by a pungent, not
unhealthy, odor of tannin, an effluvia of tamarac bark, that tanners and
curriers have selected their head-quarters in St. Vallier street. History
also lends its attractions to the venerable thoroughfare.
Our forefathers would tell of many cosy little dinners, closed, of course,
with whist or loo - of many recherche pic-nics in days of yore, kept
up until the "sma' hours" at two renowned hostelries, only recently
removed - the BLUE HOUSE and the RED HOUSE, - chiefly at that festive and
crowning season of the year, when
"The snow, the beautiful snow,"
called forth the City Driving Club and its silvery, tinkling sleigh bells.
A steward - once famous as a caterer - on closing his term of service at the
Chateau, with a departing Governor, more than a century back, was
the Boniface at the Blue House: Alexandre Menut. A veritable Soyer was
Monsieur Menut. During the American invasion, in the autumn of 1775,
Monsieur Menut, owing to a vis major, was forced to entertain a rather
boisterous and wilful class of customers: Richard Montgomery and his
warlike Continentals.