Westward with the Prince of WalesNewton, W. Douglas (Wilfrid Douglas)
History
Westward with the Prince of Wales
Newton, W. Douglas (Wilfrid Douglas)
Canada -- Description and travel; Windsor, Edward, Duke of, 1894-1972
One had the impression, from the difficult perches on which people were
to be found, that wherever the Prince would go in Canada, to whatever
lonely or difficult spot his travels would lead him, he would always
find a Canadian man, and possibly a Canadian woman standing waiting or
clinging to precarious holds, glad to be there, so long as he (or she)
had breath to cheer and a free hand to wave a flag. And this
impression was confirmed by the story of the next months.
IV
Saturday, August 23, was supposed to give His Royal Highness the
half-day holiday which is the due of any worker. That half day was
peculiarly Canadian.
The business of the morning was one of singular charm. The Prince
visited the Convent of the Ursulines, to which in the old days wounded
Montcalm was taken, and in whose quiet chapel his body lies.
The nuns are cloistered and do not open their doors to visitors, but on
this day they welcomed the Prince with an eagerness that was altogether
delightful. They showed him through their serene yet bare reception
rooms, and with pride placed before him the skull of Montcalm, which
they keep in their recreation room, together with a host of historic
documents dealing with the struggles of those distant days.
The party was taken through the nuns' chapel, and sent on with smiles
to the public chapel to look on Montcalm's tomb, originally a hole in
the chapel fabric torn by British shells. The nuns could not go into
that chapel. "We are cloistered," they told us.
These child-like nuns, with their serene and smiling faces, were
overjoyed to receive His Royal Highness and anxious to convey to him
their good will.
"We cannot go to England--we cannot leave our house--but our hearts are
always with you, and there are none more loyal than us, and none more
earnest in teaching loyalty to all the girls who come to us to study.
Yes, we teach it in French, but what does that matter? We can express
the Canadian spirit just as well in that language." So said a very
vivid and practical little nun to me, and she was anxious that England
should realize how dear they felt the bond.
The Prince's afternoon "off" was spent out of Quebec at the beautiful
village of St. Anne's Beaupre, where, set in lovely surroundings, there
is a miraculous shrine to St. Anne. The Prince visited the beautiful
basilica, and saw the forest of sticks and crutches left behind as
tokens of their cure by generations of sufferers.
News of his visit had got abroad, and when he left the shrine in
company of the clergy, he was surrounded by a big crowd who restricted
all movement by their cheerful importunity. A local photographer,
rising to the occasion, refused to let His Royal Highness escape until
he had taken an historic snap. Not merely a snap of the Prince and the
priests with him, but of as many of the citizens of Beaupre as he could
get into a wide angle lense. This was a tremendous occasion, and he
yelled at the top of his voice to the people to:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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