"You saw Notre Dame, and the great procession?" inquired the Honorable.
"Yes, I saw that vast Cathedral fifteen thousand full! And the Curé of Colonization climbed up in the midst, and I heard the most glorious words that were ever spoken to French Canadians!"
"Was the procession like ours here?"
"At Dormillière? Pah!—we have two Curés, a beadle and the choir-boys! Theirs was a mile in length. There were nineteen bands playing music, all in fine uniforms, and there were all the Societies of St. Jean Baptiste walking, with their gold chains and their badges, and as many as forty magnificently decorated cars, bearing representations of the discovery of Canada by Jacques Cartier, and the workings of all the trades, and innumerable splendid banners, of white, and blue, and red and green, with gold inscriptions and pictures—and the Curé of Col——"
"Were the streets well decorated? How were the arches and flags?"
"They were good. The streets were full of flying tricolors and Union
Jacks stretched across them. They were lined with green saplings as we
do here. The crowd was enormous. There were thousands from the States.
And the Cathedral of Notre Dame was all excitement; for the Curé——,"
"Tell us about it! Every one speaks of it! What did he say?"
(A well-known priest had just electrified the people of the land with an extraordinary declaration.)
"But, to speak of his aims, I must recollect the numbers of our people."
"Breboeuf, mon brebis," said Chamilly, turning to the little fellow, "what is the number of the French Canadians?"