Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

RotnEu &C 7 » ^ v.3 4c? -3 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-