84,
On The North Side Of The Street, Where, For A Quarter Of A Century And
More, Monsieur Charles Hamel's Book And Church Ornament Emporium Held Its
Own Against All The Other Book Stores?
It is now occupied as a dwelling
and a notarial office by an ex-Mayor and late member for
The city, P. A.
Tourangeau, Esq., N.P. Vividly, indeed, can we recall the busy aspect of
its former counter, studded with gilt madonnas, rosaries, some in brass
mountings, variegated Job beads for the million; others set in ebony and
silver for rich devotes, flanked with wax tapers, sparkling church
ornaments, bronze crucifixes - backed with shelves of books bearing, some,
the visa of Monseigneur de Tours - the latter for the faithful; others in
an inner room, without the visa - these for city litterateurs; whilst
in a shady corner-cupboard, imported to order - sometimes without order -
stood a row of short-necked but robust bottles, labelled "Grande
Chartreuse" and "Benedictine," for the especial delectation of a few
Quebec Brillat-Savarins - the gourmets!
Monsieur Hamel, a sly, courteous, devout old bachelor, had a honied word,
a holy, upturned glance, a jaunty welcome for all and every one of his
numerous "devotes" or fashionable pratiques. A small fortune was
the result of the attention to business, thrift and correct calculations
of this pink of French politeness. Monsieur Chas. Hamel, honoured by his
familiars with the sobriquet "Lily Hamel," possibly because his urbanity
was more than masculine, in fact, quite lady-like - the creme de la
creme of commercial suavity.
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