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Show 194 TRAVELS THROUGH LOWER CANADA~ The houfes for the morr part arc built of log ; bu~ the~ arc much . ..n. , I better· built than thofc in the Umted State ; the more com P' l-~ ,ttl c. f . . I fi 1 le to fit n1orc ·lofcly together, and infl:cad o ocwg c t ogs arc maL . h, rough and uneven on the oudid ' arc plan ~d and whrtcwa{hcd. At t _c in fide alfo the walls arc generally 1.m d W·l t1 l cl e a 1 [) 0,a rds, ' whe. rca~ 111 the UnitcJ States the common 1o g-h ou .(ie s :ue left 'a s roug h w1thlll as they are without. One ci rcumfl:ancc, howev ·r, . renders_ th " Cana-dian he ufcs very difttgrc able, ancl that is the IJ~attcntto!~ of the inhabitants to air them occafion<tlly by opening the w111dows, 111 con(equencc of which tbcy have a clofc h eavy finell within doors. As we tr~wclled by land from ~chcc to l\1ontrca1, we fc. rc~ly obfc_rve i ten hou(es the whole way with t]Jc wind w open, not ~·Ith{bndmg, that the weather vas very warm. If you afk the people why the~ cl_on t 1 t a little frcn1 air into their houics, th ir conil:ant anfwer is, as 1t lS to a.ll queftions of a fimilar tendency, " Ce n'dl: pas la manierc des babl- " t:ms''-lt is not the cuflom of the people of the country. . Some of the lower claffes of the French Canadians have all the ga1ety ~nd vivacity of the people of France; they dance, they flng, and feem determined not to give way to care; other , to :1ppearancc, have a great deal of that fullenncfs and bluntnefs in _their manners_ charac: tcri.llic of the people of the United States; v, ntty, however, J~ the aicendant feature in the charaCter of a11 of them, and by worlmg upon that you may make them do what you pkafe. Few of _the t~1en ca_n read or writ·; the little learning ther is amongfl: the mhabJtants lS confined to the women: a Canadian never makt:s :;1. bargain, or takes any fiep of importance, without confn1ting his wife, whofe opinion is generally abided by. Both men and women arc funk in igno~anc and fuper.llition, and blindly devoted to their pridls. The followmg an c-dote may ferve to !hew how much they are (o. . On the cv ning b fore we reached ~cb~.-c, we flopped at the v llage of St. Augufl:in Calvaire, and a[tcr having fl:rollccl about for fome time, returned to the farm-houfe where we had taken up ur qu: rtcrs for the night. The people hatl cooked fome fiG1, tlnt had been jufi: caught, while we had been walking about, and every thing being ready on our return, S T. A U G U S T I N C A L VA I R E. 195 return, we r:tt down to fupper by the light of a Jam1, which was fufpc ncled from the ceiling. The glimmering light, however, tint it afJorded, fcarc ·ly enabled us to fcc what wa , on the table; we complai ned of it to the man of the hou[c, and the lamp was in confcqucnce trimmed; it was replcnifhcd with oil; t:tkcn down and fct on the table; i1ill the light was very bact " Sacrc Dicu!" exclaimed h , " but "you D1all not cat your fi(h in the dark;" [o faying, he flepped afide to a fm:tll cupboard, t k out a andlc, r.1 d having lib htcd it, placed it befide us. All was now goino- on welJ, when the wife, who had been abfcnt for a few minutes, fuddcnly returning, pou1ed forth a vulley of the mofl terrible e c rations againfi: her poor hufband for h av ing prcCumcd to luve aCl:cd as he had done. Unable to anfwcr a Gnglc vi ord, the fellow flood aghaO:, ignor:mt of what he had done to offend her; we were quite at a lofs alfo to 1 now what could have giv n rife.: to fuch a fuddcn fiorm., the wi~e, however, fnatching up the candle, and hafl:ily cxti 11guifhing it, addrencd us in a plaintive tone of voice, and explained the whole aflitir. It was the holy candle-" La chandelle benite," which her giddy huflnnd had fct on the table; it had be n confecrated at a ncighl>ouring hur ·h, and fuppoJing there D10uld be a tempefl: at any time, with thunder and lightning ever fo terrible, yet if the candle were but kept burning while it la{led, the houfc, the barn, nnd every thing elfe belonging to it, were to be fccurcd fi-om all danger. If any of the family happened to be fick. the candle was to be lighted, and they were infh ntly to recover. It had b en given to her that morning by the pricfi: of the vilbge, with an afiurancc that it poffcffcd the miraculous power of prcfcrving the fa~ mily fi-orn harm, and fllc was confident tlut what he told her was trnc. To have contradictccl the poor woman would hc1vc been uidcf- 1 for the fake of our ars, however, we endeavoured to pacity her, and that l>eing accompliG1cd, we f.·n clown to [upper, and e'en made tl1e mofl: of our fi£11 in the dark. The village of St. Auguftin Calvaire is about .five leagues fi-om ~c .. bee, at which lafl: place we arrived early on the next morning, the fourth of our voyao-c. When the wind is fair, and the tide f.wourablc alto, it docs not take more than two days to go from Montreal to ~ebec. Cc2 |