Our Little Quebec CousinSaxe, Mary S. (Mary Sollace)
General
Our Little Quebec Cousin
Saxe, Mary S. (Mary Sollace)
Children -- Québec (Province) -- Juvenile literature
"Oh!" she said, "are you going to the Citadel in one of those funny
calêche things? I am crazy to ride in one. I want to go in one that
has a yellow lining. Father says I would look like a fried egg if I
got into one of that color." Monsieur Tremblent had always liked this
little girl when she visited his farm, so he said: "If you will get
permission from your people, you shall ride with us this morning. We
will be three fried eggs."
While Monsieur Tremblent was making a bargain with a calêche driver,
little Helen Sage was rushing about the Hotel Frontenac to find some of
her family and leave word with them where she was going. At last,
having found all the bedrooms empty, she went to the desk and wrote on
a telegraph blank,--"Have gone to the Citadel with the Melon family.
Yours, Helen." This she tucked under her mother's bedroom door, and
with a light heart skipped out to join her little friend.
When you come to think of it, both these little girls are little
Quebec cousins, so it is like having two heroines to a story! Oisette
knew well the early history of this wonderful walled city. The French
achievements, and the names of the early Jesuits who suffered and
worked among the Indians. And Helen Sage knew well the English side of
the story: how General Wolfe had climbed with his army up the steep
cliff and surprised Montcalm on the Plains of Abraham and captured
all of Canada for the English. So Monsieur Tremblent found it very
interesting to listen to their comments as they walked about inside
the picturesque Citadel. Helen knew the age and history of the chain
gate by which they entered. She knew, too, which of the cannon had been
captured by the British at Bunker Hill. She patted it and said: "It is
the nicest cannon here, isn't it? Father says, 'They have the hill but
we've got the cannon'!"
The result of this trip was very interesting. Helen insisted on taking
Oisette in their motor the next morning all over the city of Quebec,
until she knew every bit of it externally. The St. Louis Gate, named
by Cardinal Richelieu after his Royal Master, Louis XIV of France;
the Dufferin Gate, named from one of the earlier Governor Generals
of Canada, the Earl of Dufferin, a most popular Irishman, who helped
blend the two nationalities in a wonderful manner. A fascinating old
curiosity shop in an old house that was once the town house of the
Duke of Kent. She pointed out all the tablets and the headquarters and
the graves of the famous warriors of olden times. And, in her turn,
Oisette took Helen to see "Notre Dame des Victories," the oldest church
in this country, built as Champlain directed. She showed her the sign
of the Golden Dog, and read to her the inscription:
"Je suis un chien qui ronge l'os
En le rongeant je prends mon repos,
Un jour viendra, qui n'est pas venu,
Que je mordrai qui m'aura mordu."
Translated this reads:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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