Its early condition - now that the settlers by the
banks of the St. Lawrence have become a great people, with a literature
all their own, rich in its very youthful exuberance, with their language
preserved, and the free exercise of their religion guaranteed no less by
the faithful adherence to treaty obligations, than by their own hardy
devotion, we can calmly review the past, and gratefully acknowledge the
blessings bestowed on the country through the instrumentality of that lady
who founded that holy sisterhood in our midst, which daily labours to
honour the Intelligence of God, by the cultivation of intellectual graces.
Few, indeed, are the families in Quebec which have not experienced the
value of the Ursuline community in our city. One of the crowns of
womanhood is gained in Christian education - an education which falls upon
the soil of the soul, like freshening dew, and adorns the heart and mind
with the flowers of virtue. Hence the life of the Venerable Mother Mary
should be carefully studied and pondered over; hence her deeds should be
proclaimed and her saintly legacies preserved, and therefore, it is, that
the writer humbly calls attention to a new work, written by a daughter of
Erin, written lovingly and sweetly in the quiet precincts of the Ursuline
Convent, Blackrock, Cork, and in which may be found the story of the
devoted French woman, whose name is now inseparably linked with that of
Canada, told in chaste language worthy alike of the virtuous theme, and of
the ability which marks the narration. The earlier days of the French
Colony are depicted therein; and with an accuracy no less commendable than
useful. In fact the book is eminently a readable one, the object of the
publication being to extend the knowledge which all of us ought to possess
of one whose life glorified God, and whose advent to our shores was a very
benediction."
JAMES JOSEPH GAHAN.
Quebec, 27th January, 1881.
We copy the following from the Quebec Gazette, 10th October, 1793: -
THE VARIATION OF THE NEEDLE AT QUEBEC.
"For the information of the curious, the particular benefit of Land
Surveyors, and safety of seafaring people, please to insert in your
Gazette, that from critical observation on the variation of the
needle at Quebec, it is found to be on the decrease, or in other words to
be again returning to the Eastward, - a proof of which is, that in 1785,
when the Meridian line on Abraham's Plains was ascertained by me, the
variation was found to be 12 degrees, 35 minutes West; whereas at present
the variation is no more than 12 degrees, 5 minutes West, having in the
space of eight years diminished half a degree.
I am sir,
Your most obedient humble servant.
(Signed,) SAMUEL HOLLAND.
Quebec, 8th October, 1793.
How do matters now stand, Commander Ashe?
"VARIATION OF THE NEEDLE AT QUEBEC."
(To the Editor of the Morning Chronicle.)
DEAR SIR, - "For the information of the curious, the particular benefit of
Land Surveyors, and safety of sea-faring people," I will endeavor to
explain how our compass variation stands.
With regard to the reprint from the Quebec Gazette of 1793, in the
Chronicle of the 23rd instant, in which Major Samuel Holland observes that
he had passed our Maximum Westerly Variation, it is very likely that such
was the case, as I find that Major Sabine in 1818, found the Variation for
London to be 24 deg. 30' West, and in 1822 to have retrograded to 24 deg. 12':
this was not only the case in England, but all over Europe where
observations were taken, so that there is no doubt that the same
disturbing influence was affecting the needle here in 1793. Whatever that
influence is, it must shortly alter. Major Samuel Holland's observations
have affected us in the opposite direction, for in 1860 Captain Bayfield
found the variation for Quebec to be 15 deg. 45' West, with an annual increase
of 5', which would give the present variation as about 17 deg. 0' West. This
agrees very closely with observations taken here last November for
deviation, which with range of only 7 deg. 30', gave a mean result of 17 deg. 3'
9" West. I am, &c,
E. D. ASHE,
Commander R. N.
Observatory, Quebec, Feb. 23rd, 1876.
OUR CITY BELLS - THEIR NAMES.
1st. Bell, Louise; 2nd, Olivier Genevieve; 3rd, Pierre Marie; 4th, Marie-
Joseph-Louise-Marguerite; 5th, Jean-Olivier, &c.
"Now, on the gentle breath of morn,
Once more I hear that chiming bell,
As onward, slow, each note is borne,
Like echo's lingering, last farewell."
(The Evening Bells, of the General Hospitals:
by ADAM KIDD. - 1829.)
"Quebec Bells are an institution of the present and of the past:" so says
every Tourist. To the weary and drowsy traveller, steeped at dawn in that
"sweet restorer, balmy sleep," under the silent eaves of the St. Louis or
Stadacona hotel, this is one of the features of our city life, at times
unwelcome. We once heard a hardened old tourist savagely exclaim,
"Preserve me against the silvery voice of Quebec Evening Belles, I
rather like your early Morning Bells." Another tourist, however, in one of
our periodicals closes a lament over Quebec "Bell Ringing," with the
caustic enquiry "Should not Bell Bingers be punished?"
Being more cosmopolitan in our tastes, we like the music of our City Bells
in the dewy morn, without fearing the merry tones of our City Belles,
when the silent shades of evening lends them its witchery. There is
certainly as much variety in the names as there is in the chimes of our
Quebec Bells.
Though the Bells of the "ancient capital" are famous in history and song,
Quebec cannot boast of any such monsters of sound as the "Gros Bourdon" of
Montreal - weighing 29,400 lbs., dating from 1847, "the largest bell in
America." The R. C. Cathedral in the upper town, raised in 1874, by His
Holiness, Pius IX to the high position of Basilica Minor, the only one
on the continent - owns two bells of antique origin; the Parish Register
traces as follows, their birth and christening.
