IN OLD QUEBEC

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2507, 7 July 1915, Page 4

IN OLD QUEBEC

WHERE A,GREAT PAGE IN HISTORY )m WRITTEN U '' ! —-IPLAINS'OF ABRAHAM "REVISITED •u. • ■ Old! Quebec, wh'erel a' great) page in tho history of British! Empire-building was written, was visited by Mr. F. M. B. Fisher while en tour, and his impressions of that romantia corner of the great Dominion are interesting. He writes: _ "Quebec was a source of greatest deliglit to me, for it is. a part of that old/ old European world planted- down on tho banks of the mighty St. Lawrence. As soon as I arrived I turned, off to the Chateau Frontenac,' deposited my 'grips,' had a hurried breakfast, and started off to walk'.along the battlements till I reached ' the historical 'Heights of Abraham,' -where' the English and French met and settled the fate of Canada, v .. Just imagine, if you can, how 'much: ground I managed to cover in ono day, for I arrived 111 the morning by train- at 7, and left at- night by boat at 6, hack to Montreal, by. river. I stood on the pedestal of the monumeiit erected to the mem--ory of Wolfe, who fell oii September 13. 1759. I walked, across the battlefield to where Montcalm felL '-Oh, irony of Fate, for hero -upon this hallowed ground where English and French fought to the deatll in 1759 I find soldiers,-, both English and French, in course of training to fight shoulder to shoulder in the European war of 1915. Although' upon private property I ventured down the path,- and up again, where, Wolfe and his gallant army ascended from tho' boat landing, to tho plains above. Then' I started back to walk to the. old part of the city. r All the Frenoli names are perpetuated. I go along the Avenue Carrier, and peep into the Cathedral of Notre Dame, where the labourer.,and"the.widow, and the 1 busy merchant are stealing quietly m for a few moments' meditation and prayer, whilst each confessional box has some humble penitent kneeling openly at a little , aperture through which : the 'tale of sin' is told. This church is founded 1688, the: yean of William and Mary. The Clatter of Frenoh Sabots, ."Thus I pass streets and avenues with such names as Rousseau and Voltaire, and soon, in the older quarter, I come to tiny little Champlain Street, all paved with wood, and only about 20 feet in .' width. Here chattering and dishevelled French women chatter. across -the street from their, antique latticed windows, and grubby little French children in their sabots play about the doorsteps. Then I find the tiny chapel 'erected by "the great Champlain in 1615, destroyed by the Kerkis in 1629, ■ during tho siege of Quebec, and ' ultimately -'restored. The atmosphere of it .all is so wonderful. Then I discover tho little Chapel of Perpetual Adoration. •: This, too, is most impressive, for here the nuns take turn and turn • about, -and over since its foundation tliero has . been continuous singing in' this chapel. Every,-minute of each! year, and every year of each century this perpetual adoration goes on 1 . "Next 1 wander round under tho cliff to where .the historical fight took place in 1775,' when' tho United States soldiers invaded Canada. They were , repulsed, and ' tho , United States General, Montgomery,', was. .6-lain., Then I visit tho begutifm -and-famous.'.'Gates of the City'—handsome and ; massive are. And ~ so ,-I. wander, round all day,- not oven sparing a few moments for luncli, until 1 have -seen all there is of note. Tho situation of the. city is indescribably grand,' and jt makes' one thrill with , pride to see waving proudly over the fortress the Union Jack of Old England. On To Montreal. ■"At 6 o'clock I catch my boat, just as a tremendous deluge of rain comes down, and in' tho setting sunlight I hear the great boom of a gun from the fortress; _ tho Union Jack flutters' down to its night's rest, and I bid farewell to beautiful Quebec. Arrived at Montreal at 7. and wont to tho' Ritz Carlton Hotel. After breakfast I visit the Art Gallery,:which contains theworks of many old masters, 'such as Rembrandt (1606-69), Romriey, Franz, Hals, Faed, Miller, Rubens, several Turners, Sir Ed. Poynter, Gainsborough, Van Dyck; 'Wilkie/ Sir Joshua Reynolds,- Cdnstablo, Corot, a wonderful portrait of himself by R-aeburn,-arid many gems from tho brushes of immortal French, German, and Russian artists. A small but' Engrossing col--' lection. Then I am driven over Mount Royal, a place of great' beauty, an 4 vast and lovely residences o'f. poor, souls lost in the Lusit'ahia disaster. I lunch with Colonel Gardner at. St.' James's Club. Just through the window at which'we sit is a stately old mansion, situated on an area of land for which the owner had a f month before refused a ; million . dollars (£200,000). That owner, too, a' widow, was drowned in the Lusitania. We visit the gorgeous Notre.Dame Cathedral, which seats' 12,000 of a congregation. A beautiful cathedral; We Isee. the monks come down the street,, bare-, footed, save -for sandals, and , the orowns of their heads all shaven."- ■