The Grey Nunnery is situated on St. Paul Street, Montreal. It is four
stories high, besides the basement. It occupies a large space of ground,
I do not know how much, but it is a very extensive building. The roof
is covered with tin, with a railing around it, finished at the top with
sharp points that look like silver, about a foot in length, and
three feet apart. Over the front door there is a porch covered with a
profusion of climbing plants, which give it a beautiful appearance.
The building stands in a large yard, surrounded on all sides by a high
fence, so high indeed, that people who pass along the street can see
no part of the nunnery except the silver points on the roof. The top of
this fence is also finished with long iron spikes. Every thing around
the building seems expressly arranged to keep the inmates in, and
intruders out. In fact it would be nearly impossible for any one to gain
a forcible or clandestine admittance to any part of the establishment.
There are several gates in the fence, how many I do not know, but the
front gate opens on St. Ann Street. Over each of the gates hangs a bell,
connected with the bells in the rooms of the Superior and Abbesses,
which ring whenever the gate is opened. There is always a guard of two
men at each gate, who walk up and down with guns upon their shoulders.
While attempting to give a brief description of this building, I may as
well say that it is constructed with non-conductors between the walls,
so that the ringing of a bell, or the loudest shriek, could not be heard
from one room to the other. The reader will please bear this in mind, as
the reason for the precaution will appear in the course of my narrative.
The priest, who met us as we left the boat, conducted us to the front
door and rang the bell. Soon a lady appeared, who drew a slide in the
middle of the door, exposing one pane of glass. Through this she looked,
to see who was there, and when satisfied on this point, opened the
door. Here let me remark, that since I left the nunnery, I have heard of
another class of people who find it convenient to have a slide in their
door; and if I am not very much mistaken, the character of the two
houses, or rather the people who live in them, are very much
alike, whether they are nunneries of private families, Catholics or
Protestants. Honest people have no need of a slide in the door, and
where there is so much precaution, may we not suppose that something
behind the curtain imperatively calls for it? It is an old adage, but
true notwithstanding, that "where there is concealment, there must be
something wrong."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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