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
From Major Hill Park the riverside avenue goes east over the Rideau,
whose Falls are famous, but now obscured by a lumber mill; past Rideau
Hall to Rockhill Park. Rockhill Park is a delight. It has all the
joys of the primitive wilderness plus a service of street-cars. Its
promenade under the fine and scattered trees follows the lip of the
cliff along the Ottawa, and across the blue stream can be seen the
fillet of gold beach of the far side, and on the stream are red-sailed
boats, canoes, and natty gasolene launches. How far Rockhill Park
keeps company with the Ottawa, I do not know. A stroll of nearly two
hours brought me to a region of comely country houses, set in broad
gardens--but there was still park, and it seemed to go on for ever.
There are two or three Golf Clubs (every town in Canada has a golf
course, or two, and sometimes they are municipal) over the river on the
Hull side--a side that was at the time of our visit a place of
pilgrimage from Ottawa proper. For it is in Quebec, where the "dry"
law is not implacable as that of Ottawa and Ontario. Hull is also
noted for its match factory and other manufactures that make up a very
good go-ahead industrial town, as well as for the fact that in matters
of contributions to Victory Loans, and that sort of thing, it can hold
its own with any city, though that city be five times its size.
The chief of the Ottawa clubs on the Hull side is the County Club, an
idyllic place that has made the very best out of the rather rough
plain, and stands looking through the trees to the rapids of the Ottawa
river. It is a delightful club, built with the usual Western instinct
for apposite design, and, as with most clubs on the American Continent,
it is a revelation of comfort. Its dining-room is extraordinarily
attractive, for it is actually the spacious verandah of the building,
screened by trellis work into which is woven the leaves and flowers of
climbers. The ceiling is a canopy of flowers and green leaves, and to
dine here overlooking the lawns is to know an hour of the greatest
charm.
The Prince was the guest here on several occasions, and dances were
given in his honour. For this purpose the lawn in front of the
verandah was squared off with a high arcadian trellis, and between the
pillars of this trellis were hung flowers and flags and lights, and all
the trees about had coloured bulbs amid their leaves, so that at night
it was an impression of Arcady as a modern Watteau might see it, with
the crispness and the beauty of the women and the vivid dresses of the
women giving the scene a quality peculiarly and vivaciously Canadian.
IV
The circumstances of Monday, September 1st, made it an unforgettable
day.
The chief ceremonies on the Prince's program were the laying of the
corner-stone of the new Parliament Buildings, and the inauguration of
the Victory Loan. But something else happened which made it momentous.
It happened to be Labour Day.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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