stage that left for Prescott. We were all up early that morning, eager
to see Montreal. The clouds had gone and the mountain looked fresh and
green. The town consisted of a few rows of buildings along the river.
There being no wharf or dock the ship was hauled as close to the shore
as her draft allowed, and a gangway of long planks on trestles set up.
Nearly every passenger walked over it to say they had set foot on
Canada. A number of the men went into the town to see it. In two hours
one of them was brought back drunk and without a copper in his pockets.
Mr Kerr told me he would stay in Montreal if he got a place. He returned
in the afternoon to tell us he had got work and to take away his few
belongings. He bade all good-bye. On coming to me, I went with him, for
he had asked the mistress that I go with him to see the town. The
narrowness of the streets and the foreign look of the houses with their
high-pitched roofs impressed me less than the muddy roadways, for I had
never thought there could be a town with unpaved streets and no
sidewalks. Mr Kerr, on his way to his boarding-house, showed me the shop
where he was to begin work next morning. While we were in his bedroom a
gong sounded for supper. It was all new to me, the people, their talk,
and the food. I wondered to see meat and potatoes for supper, hot buns,
and apple-pies. After supper we had a walk, and in going along one of
the streets there was a man before us carrying a baby. Raising her head
above his shoulder the child looked at us and said something to him.
Without reflecting, I wondered how a child could have learned French so
early in life. On turning back to the ship Mr Kerr took me into a shop
and bought me a cap, and I had need of one. On coming in front of the
ship, he shook my hands as if he did not want to let me go, and made me
promise I would write him and tell where we had settled. For himself, he
would stay in Montreal at least long enough to get his belongings by
ship from Greenock.