Part 5: Saint-Fortunat, Saint-Samuel and Surrounding Villages

[copyright 2017: Dennis M. Doiron]

August 1. Beautiful weather with a lot of smoke and a strong odor of burnt land.

We learned this morning that the village of Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes burned again, and at one-thirty we saw the fire flare up again. Victor hurried to put two loads of hay in the barn before coming to drive us to Saint-Fortunat.
At four-thirty, we left for Saint-Fortunat. Along the route, we saw the first grain being put into the barn. We arrived at

[54]

___________________________________

Narcisse Girard’s at nine-thirty. Before arriving at the house, we saw a light, but upon arriving at the door it was out. They had just put themselves to bed, but we made them get up right away. Narcisse was so excited that he put on his pants, as the song says, sens devant derrière, with the front behind. They were all fairly well. We continued the visit until eleven o’clock. After that, we let them go back to sleep. The weather was clear and cold.

Narcisse and Julie Lamontagne Girard, in front of their home in Saint-Fortunat. Circa 1905.

____________________

August 2. This morning the weather was overcast, but at nine o’clock it was sunny.

We attended mass. I shook hands with a crowd of people whom I met again after eighteen years of absence and many others that I no longer knew but who recognized me still very well.  At twelve-thirty, we returned to Narcisse’s. In the afternoon, we visited the garden and other places around the house.

[55]

____________________________

All the relatives and several friends come to visit us. We stayed together into the evening until eleven o’clock. The weather is still nice.

August 3. The weather is clear.

We saw milk wagons pass by that are coming from the fromagerie. At noon I went to bring Marie to the village, and as there was a town council meeting, I permitted myself to attend it. They were reviewing the tax rolls and, as always, had some trouble with the inspector’s accounts. I saw that it was still the same routine in Saint-Fortunat. I received a letter from Cyriac Dumont who told us that Henriette’s overcoat had been found. At six in the evening, I returned to Narcisse’s house. The weather is overcast and threatens a storm. Henriette did a laundry. At ten in the evening, the rain arrived.

August 4. We had a violent thunder and lightning storm at five this morning. At six-thirty, some drops of rain still fall,

[56]

____________________________________

and at eight o’clock the sun appears off and on.

At two o’clock in the afternoon, I wrote to Télesphore and also to Narcisse

Lamontage for my baptismal certificate. I then went to visit Narcisse’s land, which is much improved since my last visit in the summer. On my return to the house, I ate the first carrots of the season. They are small but good. At six-thirty it was nice, but the sun appeared only with difficulty. We went to Monsieur Letourneau’s for an evening visit, but we had trouble, the door was locked. We came back to Narcisse’s at eight o’clock. We received a letter from Virginia [one of Télesphore´s daughters], which brought us news from Sanford.  At ten o’clock, we went to bed. The weather was very dark.

August 5. At six o’clock this morning, we had a heavy rainstorm and the rain continued to fall calmly until noon. It was a small rain that did a great good.

[57]

__________________________________________

It was desired by all the farmers.

At noon there was a heavy rain. I told myself that the weather was great for sleeping and went to sleep in the hay. Although I felt well, I only slept for three hours! I came back to the house at five o’clock in the evening. We spent the evening at Joseph Girard’s where we discussed three subjects: farming, logging, and two-lane roads. We returned at ten o’clock in the company of Narcisse’s family. The weather was overcast, or to say it better, it was very dark.

August 6. No sun. Again the weather threatens us with a bad day. At nine o’clock, the weather is clear and the sun is very hot.

_____________________________

Télesphore next to Odelie on a trip to Québec in 1919. The other women in the photo are unidentified. Although not certain, it appears to show a farmhouse on the sixth rang road in Saint-Fortunat. The handwriting in the upper left corner, next to 1919, appears to be au départ [the time of departure], with départ separated in two syllables.

___________________

I went to the sixth rang. At nine-thirty, I stood on my former land, there where I spent many of hard labor. I found all in good order except for a small section which is in trees today, but where I had cut some beautiful grain when I owned it.

[58]

___________________________________

At ten minutes after ten o’clock, I sat and rested on the spot where the old house stood that had sheltered me from the age of twelve years until the age of thirty, a place where I enjoyed happy days - I can say that as a fact. We were not rich, but we were happy. I saw clearings in good order everywhere. Half the land has changed in the neighborhood.  

I went to visit the site of our first house that was built in 1859 and was burned to the foundation in 1866, but we did not see any trace of the building. At eleven-thirty, I went to Janvier [Lamontagne]’s house. His daughter was alone, the whole family was occupied with gathering hay. I had lunch, then I helped them rake hay over the tree roots with a small rake. This made me recall former times here. At five-thirty, the day was finished. I was

[59]

_______________________________

tired and wanted to return to the house. Narcisse and Arsène [Lamontange]'s families came to pass the evening with us.

The children of Janvier and Marguerite Pelletier Lamontagne. Granby, Québec.

Back row: Joseph, Hermenegilde, Arthur, Alphe, Emile

Front row: Arsène, Emilia, Leonie, Noella and Pierre Lamontagne.

_______________________

August 7. The weather again threatens a storm.

The first who have hay to cut hurried to put it in the barn before noon. I went to the blacksmith’s to have Janvier’s horse shoed. I returned and at noon it rained a little. I am not well. I am having trouble with a leg, a red swelling which bothers me.

At four in the afternoon, we went to visit Joseph Pelletier. We found them well and in good humor. Madame Pelletier, although sick, still does her share of the work. Here we saw a successful farm. In the evening, the children came to visit. When they all gathered together, it was like a wedding party. It is a family in which it appears everyone loves each other. You see everyone getting along. During the evening, there was a strong storm with thunder and lightning which lasts more than an hour.

[60]

_____________________________

After that, the visitors left, each to their homes. Joseph and I talked until eleven o’clock.

August 8. The weather is still overcast.

This morning, the four of us talked until ten o’clock in the morning. The time passed quickly, it felt good to recall the good old times. We went to eat lunch at Joseph Lemay’s house. Francis Masse was visiting while on a trip. The weather turned clear and the sun appeared. At five o’clock, we went to Arsène Lamontagne’s. Friends came to pass the evening with us. At nine-thirty in the evening, we went for a walk as far as Narcisse’s place.

August 9. The weather is cold and overcast.

We attended mass. I am always running into old friends, happy to see them again after several years of absence. Henriette received her overcoat. At noon, the sun was shining. We went for lunch at Stanislas Laitres’ house where everyone appeared very happy to see us. Stanislas received us with an open heart. We had lunch

[61]

______________________________

in the house where our children were born and also where my father and mother died. In the afternoon, we went to see the garden. The orchard I found better than when I saw it in previous years. At four o’clock in the afternoon, we went to the chokecherry trees on the steep slopes of the stream. They are rather high and we had some difficulty picking them. The house was in rather good order, but the kitchen and the barn were ready to fall in. We passed the evening alone with them talking about the good old times when we lived as neighbors. The weather was clear.

August 10. The weather is overcast this morning.

At nine o’clock, we went to Joseph Alain’s house. He was busy cutting hay and has two hired men. I went to join them in the work. The sun appears occasionally. After lunch we had a glass of “Canadian Champagne.”  We

[62]

___________________________________

had a lot of fun, the four of us.  All afternoon and evening it was a little cool, they had to make a fire. We stayed to visit until eleven o’clock.

August 11. Plenty of sun and warm. At nine o’clock, several drops of rain fall.

At nine-thirty in the morning, we left to go visit Monsieur Fréchette at the Clairance [Note: This is a reference to the first area cleared of trees in Saint-Fortunat by the earliest settlers on the eighth rang.] He wasn’t at his house. He had gone to Sherbrooke to see his daughter who is a nun. We were very well received by his son, Elzeard, who is married to the daughter of Stanislas Laitres. We went to visit the garden and the surrounding area, all is very beautiful. They appear to live happily and comfortably. At two o’clock in the afternoon, we returned to Théode Gosselin’s house, but we found the door locked, so we visited Narcisse’s house. The sun was very hot. I wrote to Joseph Lambert and Cyriac Dumont. At six o’clock in the evening, the

[63]

_______________________________

weather was very ugly to see. A strong thunderstorm was developing, which arrived at eight o’clock in the evening.

August 12. Beautifully sunny this morning.

Narcisse left to go bring a load of cheese to Stanfold. At ten o’clock in the morning, I allowed myself several hours of good sleep. At two o’clock in the afternoon, I went to see grand-pére Girard. He was in the fields and still works at gathering hay despite the seventy-eight years which he carries on his shoulders and despite the aggravating heat. He is still rather alert but is very deaf. At four o’clock in the afternoon, I went to Janvier’s house at the other end of their land. There was no more hay to put into the barn. The weather was overcast. At seven o’clock, we walked again to Théode Gosselin’s house. We found them all in a very good mood.

August 13. It rained all

[64]

______________________________

night.

At nine o’clock, we left to go to Joseph Bourassa’s house. There was a heavy rain which continued all morning, and there were some small rain showers in the afternoon. They were all in good health and appear to live rather well. I went to visit their land. It is in good order, the grain is better than average. He raises pigs for the market. At seven o’clock in the evening, Eusèbe Lamontagne and his wife and D’Assise Guay and his family came to visit us for the evening until midnight. We had a lot of fun, we spoke of everything that interests farmers.

Joseph Bourassa, husband of Delvina Demers Bourassa, Télesphore's youngest sister. Circa 1885-90.
____________________________

Delvina Demers Bourassa. Circa 1885-90.
______________________

Angelina, Wilfred, and Georges Bourassa,

children of Roland and Delvina Bourassa. Circa 1900.

______________

The farmhouse of Joseph and Delvina Demers Bourassa, on 7th Rang Road, south of the center of town. The people in the photo are unknown, though the woman to the right appears to be Marie Demers Aubin, one of Télesphore's sisters. Circa 1900 -1910.

________________

August 14. It is overcast and cold.

At nine o’clock, I received my baptismal record. The weather was good for haying all morning, but at noon it showered enough to get everything very wet. At two-fifteen, the rain stopped. I went to eat blueberries, raspberries and choke-cherries. My leg remained

[65]

_____________________________

swollen without hurting me much.  At four o’clock in the afternoon, I went to D’Assise and Simeon Guay’s farms. They are busy with cutting hay. While bringing a load of hay to the barn, the wagon overturned. They have very good grain here. I saw a young family blessed with two beautiful twin girls. It is very fine to see them in their cradle. They are three months old. Monsieur Simeon Guay is their “treasurer.” We passed the evening with them. There were showers all evening.

August 15. It is very sunny.

Simon cut the last hay which remained to be done.  Today, i went to see D’Assise’s land on the eighth rang.  His land is ten acres by fourteen deep and is nicely leveled and cleared. He has a good new house of ten by twenty feet. We joked around and then we left to visit grand-père Guay. While passing by, we went to Narcisse’s house and

[66]

___________________________

had lunch, then we went to père François Guay’s house. We arrived at three-thirty in the afternoon. Poor old folks, they were so happy to see us, they cried. They are still well, and both have sharp minds, but the old man is very deaf, which is not surprising as he wears a crown of ninety years of hard work. We went to visit the site of the house where Henriette grew up, there where we made our courtship. We went to eat cherries in their garden. The neighbors came to pass the evening with us. We slept in the house where we had started our honeymoon.

August 16. It is sunny.

We left to go to mass at the church in Saint-Julien. It is a temporary chapel that

replaced the old church that burned four years ago. The small chapel in rough wood is constructed on the

[67]

___________________________

same plan as the old one. The parish is in disagreement on the subject of where to place the new church. It is here that I was married and also where our four oldest children were baptised. After the mass, I met several people whom I already knew. I found that the village had hardly changed.
Then we went to Lac Noir [now, Thetford Mines] with Janvier to visit Paul Fortier, one of their sons-in-law. We took a bad turn, and our route was three miles longer, which caused us to arrive at two-thirty in the afternoon. We were well received. Edouard Laflamme visited with his wife, another in-law of Janvier. They seem to have a rather good life, the two of them. Several people came during the afternoon. All their heads were a little warmed up with Canadian whiskey, the kind that makes it easier to talk politics.
In the evening we

[68]

____________________________________

went to Edouard Laflamme’s. Here we had some more whiskey. It appears that temperance is not the fashion of the day. Janvier is still very loose with his talk. We visited until eleven o’clock. After that, we left with some of us sleeping here with the Laflamme’s, and others went to sleep at Paul Fortier’s.

August 17. This morning, it is raining.

We played a game of cards, me and Janvier against Narcisse and Fortier. We had fun all morning. After lunch, I went to see Louis Lallier. I found him very well, but not Madame Lallier. They appear to be living comfortably. It continued raining. At five o’clock, we went to see Arthur Gosselin who lives next to the train station. They have a nice-looking small house. I found the place changed a lot. Today, the village is incorporated. The asbestos and iron mines

[69]

____________________________________

provide a living for numerous families. The rain continued to fall all day and into the evening.

.

August 18. This morning, the sun appears.

Arthur went away for his work. At eight o’clock in the morning, we went to visit William Cookson’s family. We were very well received by his wife, Amanda Laitres [a daughter of Stanislas Laitres]. They appear to live well.
At nine-thirty, we left for Saint-Pierre-de-Broughton. The weather was cloudy. At ten-forty-five, we arrived at Broughton. The wagoneers charge two piastres and a half to make a trip of six miles. At the hotel, we were served a very good lunch for twenty-five centins, and I paid two piastres for the wagon ride to Pierre Plourde’s house. His wife Exelia Demers was the only one home. Pierre had gone to a house raising. They are nicely settled, and it is a good place for a mill. Here the grain is almost all ripe.

[70]

___________________________

The farmers have already ground the new grain. The mill runs by a turbine. He also owns twenty-eight arpents of land.

Exilia Demers Plourde, daughter of Theodore, Télesphore’s oldest brother,
and Phelomene, Henriette’s sister. Circa 1890-95.

_______________

August 19. The weather is overcast.

After breakfast, a condemned chicken was slaughtered for lunch. It rained all morning, but after lunch the weather became clear. At three o’clock, it rained again until six o’clock, after which the weather cleared. Pierre [Thibodeau] took me to visit his land and his sucrerie [a sugar maple grove] which is well-established and which is only eight arpents from the house. Here the best land of Broughton is found in the County of Beauce. We went to spend the evening at Pierre Thibodeau’s house. We played cards until eleven o’clock. This evening was so cold there was a frost.

August 20. Sunny and cold.

At eight-thirty in the morning, we left for the train station. At ten o’clock,

[71]

______________________________

we left Broughton for Saint-Évariste and arrived at Nazaire Demers’ house at eleven-thirty in the morning. All the men were working, and we found them all rather well. Upon arriving, we met some people from Sanford. The weather was cold, there was ice this morning at Tring Station. The village of Tring is beautiful. There are three mills for separating the asbestos rocks. Here at Saint-Évariste, the village is making rapid progress. The village has changed a lot since my last visit. Arthur and Alfred [Demers´] families came to spend the evening with us. We played cards until one o’clock in the morning.
This evening is very cold.  

August 21. The weather is cold and overcast.

Arthur and Alfred came to pass a part of the morning with us. At eleven o’clock, they decided to accompany us to Honoré Demers’ house in Saint-Samuel . We left

_________________________________


Awaiting permission to publish the photograph.
To see the image, click the link below.

__________________________________

Saint-Évariste. Post Card, circa 1910-20.

Collection numérique de Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) :

http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/10271.

[72]

_____________________________

at eleven-thirty from Saint-Évariste and arrived in Saint-Samuel at one-thirty in the afternoon. Narcisse was at the train station to greet us. Sinaï works at the station as the second agent. We found them all in rather good humor and in good health. At three o’clock, we began visiting the garden, the orchard and the mill. They have an orchard which gives them fruit. Last year the trees had dried out. After supper, there was a large card party. At eleven o’clock, we say the evening prayer and go to bed.

August 22. Sunny and warm.

We prepared for a picnic in the blueberry fields. We left at nine-thirty in the morning and had three wagons with four people in each. At eleven o’clock in the morning, we were in the blueberry fields. It was very hot. We worked until two-thirty and had

[73]

_____________________________

a box and some buckets. We gathered a good amount and posed for some pictures in the fields. At five o’clock we returned, and at six-thirty Pierre Plourde arrived with his family. After supper, we played cards. At eight o’clock, a strong thunderstorm struck, the lightning blinded us, and the rain fell in a torrent. At midnight, we prepared to go to bed. It rained again. The boys went to sleep on the hay in the barn.

August 23. The weather is very nice.

Plourde and Honoré are both visiting the mill. Plourde is a mill operator like the others. He loves to make masterpieces. We went to church. We visited the new mill -  a saw mill and a card mill, and it also contains other machines. It is a big mill. Afterwards, we attended mass. It is a beautiful church in nicely finished stone. The mass lasted two and a half hours. We returned

[74]
_______________________________

only at one in the afternoon. This weather was nice. After lunch we played pelottes with two boys on each side.  At four o’clock, the game was over - nine to one. We left to go eat blueberries. Arthur and Nazaire complained of tooth aches. At six-thirty, we took a tour around the island in a rowboat. Upon returning we played cards until eleven-thirty.

August 24. Sunny and cold.

Honoré left to drive Nazaire, Arthur and Sinaï to the station. At eight o’clock in the morning, Pierre Plourde left for Saint-Évariste. At one-thirty, it was cloudy with showers from time to time. At four o’clock in the afternoon, we went to Saint-Évariste to visit Arthur’s family. We left the women at the house to speak of fashions, and we

[75]

_______________________________

went to the horse races. We saw two races in the “three and thirty.” The weather was nice. Pierre Plourde was at Nazaire’s. We spent the evening at Arthur’s. All the Demers and the Beaudoins spent the evening there.

August 25. It is a beautiful sunny day.

At noon, we posed for photographic portraits at Nazaire’s on the porch and at Arthur’s in his shop. At two o’clock in the afternoon, we went to the races. It was very interesting, the horses were equally fast. They arrived so close together that they had to race again, and again, at the most, there was no more than a foot of difference between the two horses. It is rare to see such evenly matched horses, it was very beautiful to see.
At seven o’clock in the evening, we went to Alfred’s. We had supper in the company of his grandfather and one of his brothers-in-law from Lambton.  After the evening get together, we went to sleep at Arthur’s, while Honoré and his wife passed the night at Alfred’s.

Family portrait taken on Nazaire Demers´ porch, August 25, 1908. Standing: Rose Anna Demers, Alphonsine Demers, Nazaire Demers, Lea Beaudoin, Sinai Demers, Albina Beauregard and Arthur Demers. Front row: Honoré and Victoria Demer, Télesphore and Henriette Demers.

[76]

____________________

August 26. The weather is dry, but without sun, and cold.

We had breakfast at Alfred’s. At eleven o’clock, we left for a picnic in the cypress woods and cooked lunch outdoors. We had provided ourselves with our favorite liquors and cards. At four o’clock in the afternoon, we returned. The weather was clear and cold. We had supper at Nazaire’s. At nine o’clock, we went to bed.

August 27. The day is foggy. At nine o’clock in the morning, beautiful sun, rather warm.

At eleven-thirty, Honoré’s family left for Saint-Samuel. Before noon, we went to church. It is a beautiful country church, a good village. Our wagon was pulled by two horses. After lunch, we left for Saint-Hilaire-de-Forsythe. We had lunch at Nerie Beaudoin’s house. They have a baby who was dying.

[77]

______________________________

We returned to pass the evening with Arthur, where we played the card game “Apples.” The women joined in the card game. We played until eleven-thirty and passed the rest of the night at Nazaire’s.

August 28. It is a very beautiful, sunny day.

At eight-thirty, we left for Disraeli. We saw farmers working, some gathering hay, others grain. We arrived at Tring-Jonction at ten o’clock, and at noon we arrived at Disraeli. We went to have lunch at the hotel, and at two o’clock Janvier arrived. We went to Baptiste Dubois’ house at two-thirty. We found they have aged a lot. Sofrenie has very bad legs, she can hardly walk. We went to see his land. We walked for three hours. It is a very beautiful property, up to forty arpents. At six o’clock in the evening, we went to bed. The weather is nice.

[78]

__________________________________

August 29. Foggy weather. The sun appears at eight-o’clock in the morning.

We left for Saint-Fortunat. We stopped for lunch at père Aniset Croteau’s house. He appears a little broken by the eighty years that he carries on his shoulders, but his wife, who is at least sixty-five years old, has a face of a forty year old. Phidelin Croteau and his wife came to talk with us. It was a pleasure for us to meet with our former, close neighbors. It was nice and warm. We arrived at Janvier’s at four-twenty-five. After supper, we went to Narcisse’s to sleep.

August 30. At five o’clock, there are several drops of rain, but at seven o’clock it is very sunny.

At eight-thirty, we left to go to mass with Narcisse, who is always our wagon driver in Saint-Fortunat.

[79]

________________________________

We are beginning to hear talk about the election. The conservatives won a majority of the Assembly. We had lunch at père Luc Gosselin’s house. He is starting to appear old. After lunch, we went to visit the cemetery, which is in very bad shape, you could even say that is abandoned. The stones with their inscription tells us where the bodies of our relatives rest. It is here that our father and mother sleep their last sleep. We also have three young children and several relatives here who form a part of the large family of the dead. We went to spend the evening at Joseph Cote’s. His little boy Is sick. The weather is nice, but the nights are cool. I forgot to say that I heard mass in the first bench that I had occupied in Saint-Fortunat.

August 31. Sunny and hot.  

At eleven o’clock in the morning, we visited Joseph Laitres who occupies the house of the late Paul Vermette. In the afternoon, I

[80]

____________________________

go to Joseph Bourassa’s house to look for two letters that arrived for us during our stay in Saint-Samuel. I came back for supper at Joseph Laitres’ house, and at seven o’clock we go to Narcisse’s. Nobody is home, but we found them with the cows, busy with the end-of-day chore of cleaning the barn. They were tired from their day. They had stored grain all afternoon. At nine o’clock, everyone went to their bedrooms.

September 1. Sunny and hot.  

At eight-thirty in the morning, we left to visit Saint-Ferdinand-de-Halifax. We arrived at the village at eleven o’clock and ate lunch with Madame Boucher (Charlotte Hamel) [sic]. She has a lot of trouble. Modeste and Marceline are staying with her, and Modeste occupies the best part of the house. Marceline will leave Friday for the hospital for treatment of her eyes. I went to search for the baptismal record of Henriette who finds herself with a change to her name. She

[81]

______________________________

Is now Hélène. We went to visit the church where Hélène was baptised and made her first communion, and to see the first land that père Simon Lamontagne occupied when Hélène came into the world. In the second rang, we saw where she went to school. We went to sleep at Janvier’s. Philias Blouin just knocked on the door to seek help from someone. His wife is sick.

September 2. The day is overcast.

At nine o’clock, we went to Narcisse’s. The sun began to come out. I went to the field where Narcisse was busy removing large rocks with a machine run by pairs of oxen. It was necessary for him to add a pair of horses to raise the stones. The harvest is very far along, the farmers are finishing mowing their grain. At five o’clock in the evening, Joseph Girard did some butchering - he killed a beautiful pig of four hundred pounds. The weather remained

[82]

______________________________

overcast. The messieurs Letourneau and their women came to pass the evening with us. They returned to their families at eleven o’clock. It was a very black night.

September 3. The weather is cold and overcast.

At nine o’clock in the morning, Julie [presumably Julie Lamontagne Girard, Narcisse's wife] came to drive us to Joseph Gagnon’s house on the eighth rang. The boys were busy raising large stones, everywhere one sees heavy work which is being done to remove the large rocks. At three o’clock in the afternoon, Julie returned to her house. We passed the evening playing cards, but the card party was not very pretty to see, as we had very unlucky cards. At nine-thirty, we went to bed. It is cold.

September 4. Beautiful weather, but cold. There is a white frost.

At three in the afternoon, Joseph Gagnon came to drive us to Eusèbe Lamontagne’s house.  All went well. In the evening we played cards again with only four of us old folks.

[83]

___________________________

We had a lot of fun and played badly for the benefit of our hosts. At midnight, we went to sleep.

September 5. Very sunny and cold. At eight o’clock in the morning, it was overcast, but at nine o’clock in the morning, it is very sunny and hot.

At ten o’clock, we went to Joseph Bourassa’s. He was at the ninth rang. He had gone to bring logs to the sawmill with his two boys. At five-thirty, it was clear and hot. At eight-thirty, Joseph arrives from the mill, and at nine-thirty we go to bed.

September 6. Cloudy. At eight o’clock in the morning, it is very sunny.

He prepared the wagon to drive us to the church to hear the mass. After mass, we went for lunch at Joseph Fortier’s house. Lazare Côté ate lunch with us. He arrived from Baie-St-Paul where he went to drive Monsieur ------ to the Asylum for the Mentally Ill. At five o’clock, we went to Louis Lemay’s house for supper. In the evening, all the neighbors

[84]

____________________________

came to spend the evening with us.

September 7. It is very cold.

All the men were busy storing grain, the harvest is far along. We went for lunch at Flavien Côté’s house. We talked about Sanford and his son, Flavien. During the afternoon, we went to visit the Provenchers and at Joseph Cote’s. After that, we went to Honoré Grenier’s. We went to visit the land that Damase [Télesphore´s brother] owned when he left for Minneapolis, Minnesota. We spent the evening at Honoré Grenier’s. The weather was still cold.

___________________

The family of Damase Demers, Télesphore´s brother, circa 1885-90. Sitting: Rebecca Lantagne Demers holding Arcille, Amanda, and Damase holding Napoleon. Standing: Damase, Jr, Marie Delia and Calixte.

___________________

September 8. The weather was foggy and cold, but a eight o’clock it is very sunny and warmer.

At nine o’clock in the morning, we went to the Provenchers’ to have lunch with them. At one o’clock in the afternoon, we went to Luc Gosselin’s. There was a town council meeting, but there wasn’t a

[85]

___________________________________

quorum. I spoke with Orelle Laventure, who is still a bachelor and hasn’t changed much. Madame Guillaume Gosselin has plenty to do with her young family of three piglets. She made them drink with a spoon. It is a hard job. At seven o’clock in the evening, we went to church to attend the prayer. At nine-thirty in the evening, we went to bed.

September 9. Overcast.

At six-forty-five in the morning, the parish priest was going to give Holy

Communion to grand-pére Bedard who is staying with his son, Louis. At eight-thirty, we visited Louis Garneau and ate lunch with them. They appeared very happy to see us. We found them very lively for people of their age.
At one o’clock in the afternoon, we went to Louis Bedard’s home. The grandfather was pitiful to see, he can no longer walk. He moves about with great difficulty with the use of a chair,

[86]

_______________________________________

and he is very deaf. He appeared happy to see us. Louis was busy with harvesting grain, so grand-pére Bedard spoke with me all afternoon.
After supper, they came to drive us to Narcisse’s. It was nine o’clock in the evening, and they were in bed. It was a very hot day with strong winds, and it was very smoky with a strong smell of smoke.

September 10. Clear and hot, the sun is red, and there is a strong odor of burnt land.

At eleven o’clock in the morning, Narcisse finished cutting his grain. There is fire everywhere: Colraine, Disraeli, Garthby, Stanfold.  The smoke was rather thick, we could not see from one concession to another. After lunch we went to Janvier’s. They were busy with harvesting potatoes. It is a very good harvest. I met a Russian, Monsieur Charles Fortier, a rather presentable traveling salesman who speaks six languages. He arrived in the country only two years ago. In the evening, the families of Narcisse, Assène and Philias Blouin came to pass the evening with us.

September 11. Clear and hot.

There hasn't been any morning dew for eight days. This morning we could not see to the seventh rang because of the thickness of the smoke. At eight o’clock in the morning, I went to the other end of Janvier’s property to harvest oats. At noon, the train began to slow, and at three o’clock in the afternoon, I went on strike. I have had enough ! After dinner, Janvier came to drive us to Joseph Bourassa’s. We stopped at Narcisse’s while passing by to say good evening to them. At six-thirty, we arrived at Joseph Bourassa’s. Janvier stayed to spend the evening with us, and Eusèbe Lamontagne’s family came also. We spent the evening together until ten o’clock. The smoke is almost all gone. We can see the neighbors.