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RotnEu &C
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THE COUNTRYMAN.
BY J. A. TURNER.
— “BREVITY IS THE SOTFL OF WIT -
$1 A YEAR.
VOL. III.
TURNIVOLD, PUTNAM COUNTY, GA„ MONDAY, OCTOBER 27, 1862.
NO. 5.
Quebec.
•'The battled towers, the donjon keep,
The loop-hole grates where captives weep,
The flanking- walls that round it sweep,
In yellow lustre shone.”
Night had fallen when our boat reached
her wharf, and as I walked out I looked up
and saw frowning walls a long way above
our heads. To one who has never be
fore been out of the old United States,
the first glimpse of Quebec presents some
thing new and strange ; something that he
has read of, but never saw. If, like myself,
he has been a reader and admirer of Walter
Scott and kindred writers, he sees a faint
picture of what has often been apparent to
his mental vision.
But jugt then he has not long to indulge
in such fancies, for he must look after his
baggage. One other thing, though, he can
not help observing, here, as well as every
where else in Canada, it is this ; that the
policemen are worth something. They are
stationed fora purpose and they accomplish
it. When a boat lands at a city of any
size, and.the gang-way is fixed for passen
gers and their baggage to land, a rope is
stretched to prevent hackmen from coming
in and annoying travelers to death, while
they are bunting out and claiming trunks,
valises or hat-boxes. All this trouble is
avoided where' the check system Ts carried
out to perfection, but i speak of cases where
it is not. Well, 1 have noticed in cities under
the republican form of government, that a
policemen takes his stand inside the rope.
D. iwn comes the phalanx of packmen, with
their deafening cries, while the policeman,
raising his hands and his voice, cries to the
mob, Keep back gentlemen ! keep back !*’
The new and timid among the aforesaid
gentlemen do keep back, or if they yush too
far forward, the policeman, seeing at a
glance that they are new and timid, pushes
them back. But if be recognizes the mod
est ones, be also knows those that are bold
and disregardful of his authority, and these
he manages not to see, while they advance
at a charge, surmount the slight obstruction
of the rope, mingle with the crowd of trav
elers, shout their offers of “hack—cairiage,”
and a scene of turmoil, noise and confusion
ensues, that is a shock and outrage t,o any
gentleman disposed to take things quietly.
How different from all this, was the pro
ceeding in her majesty’s dominions ! The
steamer moved easily to her place. The
gang-way was fixed with but little noise.
out parade, while the burly policeman, with
his huge club, stood silent and cool. How
ever the storm might rage without, whatev
er might be the maneuverings and anxie
ties among the hackmen outside of the
charmed circle, neither it nor they dared to
cross the magic line formed by that little
rope, and inside of that, everything was de
liberate, quiet and orderly. On one occa
sion I did see a luckless wight of a hack-
man, in his eagerness after a fare, crawl un
der the rope, while he thought the Argus
was looking in a different direction but the
latter saw him, collared and dragged him
off without a woid, instantly resuming life
position, as if nothing had occurred. In
fact nobody seemed to notice it. In New
York, ten to one hut a row would have
been the consequence of such a summary
proceeding.
In M ontreal, I noticed that policemen
were stationed at the entrances of the prin
cipal hotels, and no vehicle was allowed to
stop the way, long, to the exclusion of oth
ers. I recollect that H. and myself, after
getting into our seats, stopped to say 7 a few
words to some of our companions who were
on the side-walk, when the carriage was
peremptorially ordered “ on” by the police;
and it went on. My blood boiled t little at
first, but a moment’s thought cooled me off.
A long line of vehicles were waiting their
turn to come to the entrance we were occu
pying, and while we could say wliat we
wished to our friends at any other place, no
other place would sexve the purpose of
those who were waiting, but that occupied
by 11s.
After seeing my baggage all right at the
wharf, in Quebec, I took a seat in a coach
that passed through a gate in the wall, up
a crooked way to the city. We continued
to wind and ascend, through narrow, ill-
lighted streets, till we reached the Russell
House. Having registered my name, I
sought some supper,and found that the way
to the dining room led through several long,
narrow passages. After satisfying the pangs
of hunger, it being late in the night, I ap
plied for my bed room. Again they start
ed me up a narrow, winding stair-case, and
ushered me into a most antiquated-looking
chamber, with two sides straight, and on*
elliptical. I could not help thinking of
what the fly said to the spider in reply to
the polite invitation of the latter. I had
never seen such a predilection for narrow
things, except in the Spanish tqweio of
ing features were added to the narrow
ones.
Soon after breakfast, next morning, I
started out to the Falls of Montmorenci,
distant some 10 or 12 miles. My dri
ver was a jolly, droll, shrewd Hiberiau—
more like Lever’s Irishmen, than any I
ever saw before. His vehicle, like the
most of those lying in wait for single gen
tlemen nr Quebec, was the ugliest sort of
calash, or open gig. Sometimes two peo .
pie ride in one of these and then the driver
sits—on the dash hoard ! Indeed, even
when he has but one passenger, as in my
case, he often, in going up hill! takes the
aforementioned strange seat, for the par-
pose of keeping the shafts from tilting up
wards and spilling the passenger backward.
I remember seeing but one more grotesque
looking carriage, andt hat was in Montreal
—a one-horse omnibus, on two wheels, thy*
body 7 o-f which seemed to he a perfect cube ;
width length and depth the same.
The road to the falls ran. for a number
of nnles. through a French village, or sub
urb. This village is on a pretty, level
plain, we having descended hour the city
to get into it. The only street is the road
by which we traveled, on both sides of
which are built the houses, not paiallel with
it, but each having one corner projecting
toward it. The houses were almost as
near together as in any ordinary village,
and y 7 et there was a farm, ample for the
wants of the inmates, attached to everyone.
They are only a few feet “ front,” as they
say in cities, and then they run hack a con
siderable distance. The fields look more
like long lanes than anything we have
But they were lanes of deep soil, on which
grew such crops of small grain as 1 had
hardly dreamed of. It was the latter part
of August, and oats not yet cut.
"We met great crowds of the villagers,
most of whom spoke nothing hut French.
Every male not under 10 years old had a
pipe, either in his mouth, or in his hat band.
The little children were at the doors, bow
ing and waving their hands in tiue French
style. There seemed to be a great many
very old people, but thpy all appeared hale
and hearty. My driver assured me that
many of them had spent long lives in that
village, tiie place of thsir birth—never hav
ing been 10 miles from home. They ap
peared a simple, happy, contented race.
r I‘he Fails of tfoutmorenci are the pretti
est 1 ever saw, and I can hardly think tha^
The rope was stretched quickly and with-
Florida ; and in Quebec, steep and wind-