Canadian Cities of Romance

CANADIAN CITI E S of R O MAN C E By K A T H E R I N E A L E H “ M R S H N R V I ' . J O G A N ) N “ ” “ ’ A U T H O R O F Gr e K n ittin The Wiz z te y g , ’ ” Comm ue etc . , D O R O T H Y S T E V E N S P U B L I S H E D a t T O R O N T O by M c c L E L L A N D an d S T E W A R T COPYR I LIMITE D TORONTO C A N A D I A N C I T I E S o f R O M A N C E These sketches call attention to aphase of Canadian history largely unregarded , the romantic background of many of our towns and cities . The writer has not t described every romantic ci y of Canada , nor does this claim to be a modern guide book . The portrayals are unique , not only because of the vivid impressions of one a a who is poet as well as prose writer of distinction , but on account of the association established between certain authors and certain places . The volume is there a a . fore liter ry sketch book , as well as a book of cities E BL R TH P U ISH E . So many of my friends , from one end of Canada to the t other, have helped me in the matter of hese stories that thei r names would make a substantial addition to this book . I can only return thanks , and say that each request has been met with the utmost kindness and goodwill . the Canadian H ome J u r nal To Editor of the o , for the ‘use of excerpts from a series of my stories of Cana dian cities , I am especially grateful . KATH ERINE HALE . — Q UEBEC AN I M M ORTAL DOM ES AND DREA M S OF MONTREAL K INGSTON AND H ER PAST — HALI FAX A HOLDING PLACE TH T T H E POR OF S . JO N — FREDERI CTON TH E CELESTIAL CITY OTTAWA—A TOWERED TOWN — TORONTO A PLACE OF MEETI N G HISTORIC BACK GROU NDSOF BRANTFORD GOLDEN WINNI P EG EDM ONTON AND JAS P ER PARK CALGARY AND BANFF — V AN COUV ER TH E WESTERN GATEWAY — V I CTORI A AN ISLAND CITY 1 1 ‘ ” THE GOTHIC TowER OF P ARLIAMENT H ILL Frontisp t er e ” QUEBEC TA K ES ON A MEDIAEVAL ASPECT S H E SPEAK S THROUGH DOMES AND TOWERS OF SOM E FAR OFF DREAM T C AT A RA Two A OP HE H E U DE MSAY, FOR HUNDRED YEARS HOUSE IMPORTANCE” ’ ’ ” THE P LACE D ARMES CENTRES THE CITY S LI FE A DISTINCTIVE AND BEAUTIFUL FEATURE OF K INGSTON ARE THE MAR TELLO TOWERS “ To MAR K A CERTAIN PREPAREDNESS THERE ARE DREAMS Go DOWN THE H ARBOUR WITH THE TALL SHIPS OF T ” S . JOHN THAT UA T B CK TH R T Q IN , RED RI HOUSE, E EC ORY T G V R T H U F T N HE OLD O E NMEN O SE, REDERIC O W HERE TH E SPLENDID CHATEAU LAURIER ON THE OLD CANAL LOOK S DOWN “ THE CARVED STONE DOORWAY ” THE WHIRLPOOL OF K ING AND YONGE ” CH P ” I E S WOOD ON THE ANCIENT RESERVE OF THE SI x NATIONS I NDIANS 127 H ERE THE FIRST CATHOLIC MISSION WAS ESTABLISHED AND NAMED T B ” S . ONIFACE 1 3 C A N A D I A N C I T I E S o f R O M A N C E BUILDINGS” “ ” THE BUSY STREETS OP A MODERN CITY “ ” A GREAT BROWN FUGUE OP GIANT HILLS “ ” THIS STRANGE YOUNG COLOSSUS ON THE SHORES OF BURRARD I NLET ” PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS PROM THE IVY-COVERED Eu PREss H OTEL 14 Q U E B E C— A N I M M O R T A L — Qu ak e A n [mmofla/ H E city of Quebec has been loved by generations of Canadians . Like some beautiful old native o s ng there is hidden in her , quaint repetitions and the racial themes that link her , decade by decade , with the past and the present . She has been the price of . less subject many a picture , song and story Most pictures reflect the tones of spring and summer , when the St . Lawrence runs deep blue and the Laurentians are wrapped in purple . Then in the narrow alleys of the Lower Town and the stony streets that wind up to the Citadel , there are always tourists delighted to be beguiled by the drivers of the old fashioned caleches . But Quebec in midwinter is less familiar . A Cana dian artist, Horatio Walker , who has depicted this “ t ' aspect with great beau y, says I live in the midst of fi dif culties , hemmed in by snow on the deserted Island r of Orleans , but cannot leave the wonde of Quebec in ” winter . Snow in Ontario towns often means a sort of gray . gloom . But Quebec under a white Cloak is a set . place high in air , crystal Clear and full of sunshine The railway route from Montreal runs in places 1 7 C A N A D I A N C I T I E S o f R O M A ‘ N C E through glittering barbaric jungles of what appear to be enormous silver ferns sometimes changing to avenues of innumerable arches of diamonds , crossing I n — and recrossing the sparkling air frozen larches , bent into fantastic curves by the weight of snow . It is enchanting to arrive ~ in a winter twilight when i a fading sun s on Point Levis . As we drove to the a Ch teau Frontenac , our horses lashed with the native - fury of a French Canadian cocher , the shadows in the Ci ty had deepened so that we were not prepared for the n beauty of su set from the Terrace . The rosy light on Levis had dyed itself into deep crimson , and there was an afterglow on the Laurentians and the blossoming of electric stars in buildings far away across the river . It was the sudden finding of new magic in a familiar cu t place , for Quebec at midwinter , off from its life ae of shipping , takes on a medi val aspect of which the world in general knows nothing . From the Chateau Frontenac , set in a great open space below the Citadel and commanding the St . Lawrence , Levis , and the Laurentians beyond , one glimpses a life altogether Canadian , in the far early sense . The low French sleighs , piled with fur rugs ; the driver in his coonskin coat, belted with a gay wool len scarf , standing erect as he drives ; nuns in their l black robes ; friars in dull brown , with careful ga oches 1 8 C A N A D I A N C I T I E S o f R O M A N C E by your window and watch the ice blocks pass on the r as . wint y river, silent and inevitable Fate Below, in the City, a strange unknown life is pro gressing . Here th e Ursuline Convent stretches out its . is long stone walls Just below Laval , more like a mediaeval palace than a modern university . Suddenly a su n ray strikes the dome of the Basilica ; within are the endless whispers of prayers . u it w ou ld If I could paint my Q ebec in sound , be to ' laII hter the ringing of bells , the g of French children W . and the almost inaudible , incessant hisper of prayers The romance of Quebec is like charm in an individ ual , a thing of endowment . From out some hidden spring of being and by long conspiracy of the ages , this place where Canada began possesses beauty that is in itself a heritage . Three centuries ago the Ci ty was founded by e l h ndred . n ar a u Champlain But y years before that , . Stadacona J acques Cartier saw and loved , 'an Indian “ village ruled by its Chief , Donnacona , the Lord of ” Canada ) which lay at the meeting of the St . Law ’ rence and the St . Charles , a stone s throw from the present Ci ty . The faith of Cartier in his vision of a Canada to be , faith which counted death as nothing, is a memory t more keen than the ma ure affection of Champlain , 20 Q U E B E C— A N I M M O R T A L who succeeded where Cartier had failed to place France in the new world . Yet when Champlain ar a tu rived , cen ry later , there was still need for the “ courage of a great dream . When Alexander built Alexandria he could draw with th e might of a master upon the resources of three continents . When Constantine built Constantinople he brought to it the — treasures of the ancient world the marbles of Corinth , s . the serpent of Delphi , and the horses of Ly ippus But from no such origin does the life of Canad a pro o c . e d Champlain , in rearing his simple habitation at Quebec , had no other financial support than could be r d awn from the fur trade . His hungry handful of followers subsisted largely upon stale pork and smoked eels .

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