But if one would really learn to know the French-Canadians of to-day, he must not be content to observe only the brisk city men in their offices and stores, nor the dainty little maidens who on Sundays promenade in gay attire on Dufferin Terrace, before that great modern hotel, the “Château Frontenac.” He must visit the markets, where the country people drive their trade in eggs and butter, poultry and small pink pigs, knitted goods and queer homegrown tobacco. He must go into the country beyond and around Quebec, and penetrate, if possible, into the quaint little wooden or stone houses, where all kinds of old-world employments are carried on by the busy mothers of families, which not infrequently number ten or a dozen children. The French-Canadians generally are credited with being a thrifty, industrious folk, but it looks to an outsider as if the women do the heavier share of the work, for, not content with those tasks of sweeping and cleaning, cooking and milking, spinning and sewing, nursing the babies and all the house mothers’ other miscellaneous duties, the women, in their flat, black mushroom hats, are constantly seen with the men, hoeing root-crops or working in the hay-fields. [Illustration: VIEW OF QUEBEC, SHOWING CITADEL.] The “habitants,” as the country folk call themselves, are a conservative people, following customs much the same as those of their ancestors who first settled in Canada. But the conditions under which they live are greatly changed. During the last years of the French régime, Canada was neglected by her mother-land, and amongst the officials sent out to govern the country were not a few bent on enriching themselves at any cost. The last Intendant of New France—an official charged with the administration of justice, and the management of the finances of the colony—was a clever scoundrel named Bigot, and his devices for diverting the public funds to his own pockets, and squeezing all manner of corrupt profits from the people, were endless and shameless. In those days there was no such thing as municipal government in Canada, and the affairs of the settlement were managed chiefly by the Intendant; and appeals to the king—three thousand miles away—were difficult and often ineffective. The system of land tenure in New France has been described as “a mild form of feudalism.” The king gave large grants of land under certain conditions to a number of seigneurs, usually of good family, who in turn made grants to tenants or “censitaires,” who were expected to clear and farm the lands, paying to the seigneur a small rent, sometimes in money, oftener in kind. The seigneur might also demand a certain portion of the fish caught by his tenants, and require them to use, and pay for the use of, his mill and his oven. But if they fulfilled the stipulated conditions, they could not be dispossessed.