“ Patrick's Church in Quebec, was thoroughly acquainted with the character of the Irish people, and much beloved by them. He offered his services, which were at once accepted; but some of his confrères felt badly over the matter and remonstrated: "You must remember, my dear sir, that you have a mother and sisters dependent on you for a home, and you hold your life in your hand, if you go to —— in the present state of feeling, as the Irish say they will not have a French-Canadian priest." ”

“ I see they had the honor of a visit from the Prince on his late trip to Quebec, who lunched with them.
I will attempt no further description of old Quebec, Mr. Le Moine has too thoroughly exhausted the subject, but confine myself to a description of people and incidents illustrative of the to me good old times. Perhaps the beauty of the prospective is enhanced by the distance, but to those who have passed the meridian of life the past must ever be dearer than the present, for it alone is peopled with so many of the loved we look for in vain now. ”

“ Were I rich I should purchase the property myself, and for old times let some one occupy it who would keep up somewhat its former appearance. Such a thing would not have occurred in Montreal. The Montrealers have too much ambition for their city to let it deteriorate, and consequently property becomes more valuable every day. Why, to think Americans should have been permitted to carry off bodily the house where Montgomery's body was laid and are making a fortune out of it, having set it up as an Indian curiosity shop in some part of the States. ”

“ The pure mountain air, the quiet, the absence of rush and excitement, must surely be most grateful to such parties, while for those who want a livelier existence, the trips in excursion steam-boats, the visits to various other fishing grounds, the power of jumping on the railroad that comes to your door and whirls you off for a few hours to other lakes, is a matter not to be lost sight of. ”

“ For, my friends, in those early days the almighty dollar was not worshipped as now; in fact, very few of those moving in the highest society were rich—good family, culture and education were the tests, and no amount of money would have introduced a vulgar person into the charmed circle; in fact, permission to subscribe to the Quebec assemblies was a matter of almost as great moment as admittance to old London Almacks. ”

“ The poor, the crippled, old women, young children, have here a comfortable home, with delightful surroundings, and on a height and with a view of the Citadel, Quebec.
When Mère St. Monique asked me to go and visit the Catacombs under the church, I decidedly objected, but Josephte, as I called her in our youth, always would have her way, and I am glad she did so here, for I do not know whether similar places for burial are existent elsewhere in this country or only a new creation in Canada, but I am glad I went into them. ”

“ Here he built a beautiful residence with every luxury and appliances then known, splendid walks in the shrubbery, beautiful gardens, and even a residence for a physician, as at that time there was a great deal of ship fever, and he employed a great number of workmen in his ship building and other mercantile business. He brought out his wife (with her lady's maid) , who, accustomed to society life, must have been indeed startled at the contrast of her surroundings, for here she was virtually in a wilderness. ”

“ Previous to the year 1853, or thereabouts, there was no railroad below Quebec, and vehicles were the only means of transport; but when time and means permit, it is surely the most agreeable of all ways of travelling. We were frequent visitors at Crane Island, and our downward drive to St. Thomas, where we took sail boat to cross, were in the habit of stopping at various way-side houses, not inns, simply neat commodious places where we were always expected and welcomed, and sure of a meal and bed. ”

“ A thoroughly respectable house like the Campbell House, of Pointe Sèche, could not be without its ghost, and it's doubly guaranteed by having two of them: one a lady who is heard to moan and sob and say she was shut up from every one (it is presumed Mrs. C., who, instead of dying of ennui and country fare, took the more sensible plan of returning to England) ; the other, the apparition of a gentleman, supposed to have been murdered because he disappeared—a rejected suitor put on board a vessel by Mr. C. for making too violent love to a cousin and quarrelling with a more favored lover. ”

“ Being young, rich and pretty, this young girl accepted an aged man of very high rank, refusing one of the finest young men in Quebec, of whom she was fond, and commenced a life of unhappiness with a gentleman who in his dotage made her live almost a recluse in the country, and dress up and go through the drill as if he were commanding still. ”

“ In fact, the hills are almost perpendicular, and almost inaccessible to a nervous party, who in descending feels as if he must fall on the horse's tail, and ascending drop out of the cart behind. Yet to the young and active it is a wild, lovely summer resort, its unusual scenery presenting a most pleasurable and novel spectacle. ”

“ L—— is not by any means a man you would credit with being a religious enthusiast; but I will never forget the solemnity of the act, as, raising his hand towards Heaven, he uttered these words: "He who made these waters can alone make the gas."
Mr. Thomas, a wealthy gentleman, with his son, for health and occupation, takes the management here. The latter, quite a sport, drove us with his blood horses to the station, at a pace that made me tremble. There a grand old-fashioned coach with four spanking horses waits at the railroad station to drive you in style to the hotel. ”

“ Somewhere, I think, back of Point Levis, there lived a Canadian farmer, whose old domestic had become very much disgusted at the changed aspect of the home—from a respectable, quiet domicile it had become a most disorderly house; half intoxicated people coming in and out at all hours, arriving with carioles loaded with things kept out of her sight. ”

“ The house, which was formerly the residence of the Governor-General of Canada, is fitted up in a style of comfort and in a degree of elegance not surpassed by any establishment of the kind. French being the language of the Institution, the pupils possess rare facilities for acquiring a thorough and practical knowledge of this language. French conversation is compulsory, and enters into the competition for the highest honors. The course in the English language is thorough and complete. ”

“ The English reserve was tempered by French suavity, and as Captain Warburton, in his Stadacona Feuilleton, says, "There were such a number of pretty girls in Quebec, and so attractive, such pleasant manners, combining maidenly reserve with refined out-spokenness, they were irresistible, and some English mammas, it was said, murmured sadly when they heard their darling sons were to be sent to Canada, fearing they would be effectually captured, as they certainly would be, in the silken but enduring nets of the fair demoiselles ”

“ So many of my once dear associates have gone on before me, I often ponder on what must be the feelings of one living to a hundred years, who stands totally alone without one he has known in his earlier days to greet him. ”

“ Of course, it must have been for the novelty of the thing that Lady Elgin used it instead of having one brought from Quebec. Perhaps one gets so tired of formality and grandeur, a change becomes a welcome relief. ”

“ Gale, an oldtime school master, who fixed his residence there, and taught many of the (after) prominent men of Quebec. His wife, a prim little lady of wax-doll complexion and flaxen hair done up in frizzes, was quite a character as well as her husband. A very kind-hearted little lady she was, with a peculiar gift of hospitality, and her cakes and home-made wine were of wide renown. Mr. Gale had a taste for antiquities; a small museum, in great part contributions of curiosities, the gifts of his admiring scholars, was one of his cherished parlor ornaments. ”

“ An aviary adjoins this, and at times the soft cooing of doves mingles with the other caged inmates and the notes of the wild birds in the adjacent shrubbery. All is so quiet here, you might fancy yourself miles from civilization. It is a fitting home for a literary man, and bears everywhere an impress of elegance and refinement. Mr. Le Moine has some very curious heads of rare animals and numerous trophies of the chase and rare birds sent by admiring friends. ”

“ But in 1863 the directors resolved to have a building of their own, and they purchased from Mr. H. Atkinson the site upon which the present handsome banking house is built. A certain historical interest attaches to almost every spot and locality in Quebec; and to none more so than to that very site. There, on a cold stormy December morning, in 1775, when the simultaneous assault on Quebec was made by Montgomery and Arnold, stood a small body of resolute men, ready to sacrifice their lives in defence of the city. ”

“ Woolsey was elected president, and Mr. White, vice-president; and the Board engaged the services of Noah Freer, as cashier. Mr. Freer held a commission as captain in the army; he had seen service, and had been military secretary to Sir George Prevost, during the war of 1812. Steady-going merchants may have shrugged their shoulders and questioned the wisdom and propriety of appointing a soldier to such a position; but Captain Freer took kindly to the business of civil life. He was accurate, precise, and methodical in all he did; and a courteous gentleman in his intercourse with the public. ”

“ A rich tradesman lived on Mountain Hill, who had a pretty wife, who, not content with every needful luxury for her happiness, must needs sigh for, to her, the unattainable (that was entrée to the castle) . On one occasion a military gentleman of high position who owed this tradesman some money said he regretted the circumstance, and that if he would give him time he would do anything possible for him in return. ”

“ I must not forget to state that at the village, about a mile from the hotel, is a Roman Catholic Church and fine Ursuline Convent, a delightful boarding school for young ladies, who enjoy boating every day and pleasant little trips to an island now belonging to the Nuns. There is also a telegraph in the hotel, and any amount of vehicles and horses and boats for visitors—also cheaper boarding houses in the village for those who require them. ”

“ A lumber merchant, doing a large business with ample means, his house was the home of generous hospitality. It is thirty years since I visited it or more—it then gave you an idea of one of England's far-famed country homes; Everything handsome, well ordered grounds, its steel grates (then a novelty) , and handsome paperings, a host so courteous, his wife a refined lady of the old school—all appeared to promise long years of happiness to its inmates, when in a day, alas! all was changed. Mr. Patton was most energetic in his efforts to hasten the building of the railroad from Quebec to St. ”

“ You say some of you are advised by your physician to take wine, well, that is all right, and put your liquor beside your pills, and as you do not think it necessary to give physic to all your friends because the doctor orders it for you, neither do I think the tonic that may do you good necessary to sow broadcast to those to whom it may prove a bitter poison. ”

“ The ferry boats, summer and winter, land you in close proximity to the railroad, and carriages take you west towards St. David or east to St. Joseph. After driving up a very steep hill you come to a road branching off to the west beside which is the little old English Church and Cemetery, the former being now renewed under the supervision of its popular pastor, Rev. Mr. Nicholls, grandson of the much-esteemed Bishop Mountain. Higher up and last is the Roman Catholic parish church, a monument to the zeal and perseverance of the late Rev. ”

“ Charles Campbell, a retired officer of Her Majesty's 99th, I think, father of our old friend, A. C., joint Prothonotary of Quebec.
Mr. Le Moine, in his able work, "The Explorations of Eastern Latitudes," by Jonathan Old Buck, F. G. S. Q., so graphically depicted the Plains of Abraham and its surroundings, I can but touch on old personal memories, which as they please me in writing, for I live but in the past, may serve to amuse you, my readers, in an idle hour. I will now stop at Spencer Wood, and visit the pretty home of our favorite author. ”

“ On her death-bed, unable to forgive the wound to her pride, she made her daughter promise that, eschewing all thoughts of love, she would promise her to marry only a man of such position she would be able to look down on those who had snubbed her mother. ”

“ HORSE BOATS AND ICE BOATS.
Near the site of the old convent just described, we used to embark on a horse boat to cross to Levis in summer, and in winter a canoe, managed by expert boatmen, who paddled their way through shoal ice, and, on reaching any large piece, with wonderful strength and skill raised the canoe and pulled it on the ice as we do a sleigh. These boatmen were so inured to their work that an accident rarely happened. But there are records of a whole canoe full of people being swamped. ”

“ And yet, poor unfortunate, he cannot leave the house without taking from the hand of the fair lady of the house a glass of wine, and that offer he was expected to accept perhaps at twenty or thirty houses. A year or two later it was considered bon ton to offer nothing in the parlor, but an obsequious waiter tendered ale, wines and other delicacies, catching the departing visitor in a parlor near the hall door. This was something better. A gentleman could refuse a waiter's demand—not so easily a lady's. ”