[copyright 2017: Dennis M. Doiron]
Early Monday morning, we prepared for the ride to Saint-Hilaire-de-Dorset and started off with our cousins, Fortunat, Télesphore, Alphonsine and Rosanna. We felt badly about not be able to prolong our stay in Saint-Samuel since we were having so much fun,
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but the time for goodbyes was at hand. It was difficult to delay our departure any longer. We started on our way at nine o’clock after we said our good-byes to all the family and thanked them for the warm welcome and goodwill with which we had been accepted among them.
The rain that fell on Sunday had damaged the roads badly in many places, and when we arrived in the woods, we saw that the wind had toppled a number of trees along the route and several trees had even fallen completely across the road. A Monsieur Beaudoin of Saint-Hilaire was working to clear the road so that wagons could pass. There was a considerable amount of damage, but happily the fallen trees had not struck an inhabited area, otherwise there certainly would have been lost lives to record.
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While going to our cousin’s place, we passed close by the home where Monsieur Israel Morin and his family resided. While passing by, we saw Adelia, but we were not able to speak to her. From there we passed close to the church or, rather, close to the school house. I would have loved to have had a camera to take a photograph, but in any event, because our cousins had constructed it, I am going to make you a description of the bell tower. I forgot to ask where they had received the building plans. There were four small towers at the summit of the church which supported the bell, which did not weigh too heavily on the tower because its weight was evenly distributed.
Continuing on our way, we reached the residence of our cousins, Nazaire and Télesphore. We found them rather well organized. As Télesphore’s wife was
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unknown to us, we were eager and so pleased to make her acquaintance. She was very kind and so much fun to be with.
After exchanging several words, Lea [Nazaire's wife] prepared our lunch which we ate with gusto. Everything seemed so good to us in Canada, everything seemed so healthy. After eating lunch, we thought that a small walk was in order seeing that we had ridden eleven miles in the wagon.
We went to gather raspberries and collected a good provision in a short period of time. On our return to Télesphore’s, we were served some maple sugar while Demerise [Télesphore's wife] prepared supper.
Demerise Letourneau Demers, married to Cousin Télesphore (Honoré Demers' son), circa 1900.
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After supper, we passed the evening at Nazaire’s. We found several young
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people there, among them the messieurs Beaudoin and their sisters, Monsieur Alay and his sister, as well as two messieurs Buteau who lived next to the messieurs Demers. Monsieur Pitre Buteau is a cheesemaker and lives with his brother.
We had a wonderful evening. I was accompanied by my cousin Fortunat. Éva performed the several pieces of music that she was able to play, but with a little difficulty. After that, the mademoiselles Demers together sang, “The Pyrenees Mountains.” It has to be said that this was no small thing to see!
The next day Éva went to the village with my cousin Rosanna and, also, with Nazaire who was their carriage driver. During their absence, Alphonsine and I went to visit the sawmill in the company of Télesphore’s wife. All
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worked marvelously at the mill. In the afternoon, we made a short visit to Monsieur Beaudoin, who lives near Nazaire.
We received an invitation to go to the double wedding of Monsieur Begin to Mademoiselle Dumont and Monsieur Dumont to Mademoiselle Lavalliere. We truly wanted to go, but we had to consider our clothes. Our travel clothes had started to be a bit dusty. But in considering everything, we had to go to the wedding - even though they had not wanted to send us our clothes, we still had to have fun! Fortunat offered to accompany me, to which I was happy to agree. We left with several couples, in, I believe, six wagons which made up a part of the wedding party. The wedding reception was held at Monsieur Couture’s.
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Awaiting Permission to Publish the Photograph.
Click the link below to view the image.
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Une Veillée Autrefois, par Edmond-Joseph Massicotte.
Collection numérique de Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Quèbec :
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We had danced several dances, but after the violon broke, there was not much enticement to dance.
We left an hour after midnight. The moon was brilliant and everyone went home happy with the party. Éva spent part of the evening with Monsieur Buteau because he had come with Rosanna, who did not like to dance. Éva had the honor of dancing with him and seemed to have a lot of fun.
We left an hour after midnight. The moon was brilliant and everyone went home happy with the party. Éva spent part of the evening with Monsieur Buteau because he had come with Rosanna, who did not like to dance. Éva had the honor of dancing with him and seemed to have a lot of fun.
On Wednesday morning it was necessary to think about taking the road for Saint-Fortunat. Time was running short, so it was necessary to greatly shorten our visits. And as we had to travel fifty miles by wagon, we could not hold off the departure for long. After thanking our cousins for the way they had received us, we gave everyone a last goodbye and departed with Fortunat at eight-thirty.
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While passing through the village of Saint-Évariste, we made a quick visit to the church. We noticed that it appeared very nice on the outside, but as the construction was not yet completely finished, we did not see any finished work inside. After saying a small prayer, we went back to the wagon and continued our way. The village is still rather small but well constructed. From there, we continued to the village of Lambton where we stopped several times to get off the wagon and rest. And we went again to make a visit to the church, which is not as beautiful as the one in Saint-Évariste, but is better finished inside. As time was running short, we recited only an “Our Father,” after which we continued our journey.
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Awaiting Permission to Publish the Photograph.
Click the link below to view the image.
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The Church at Saint-Évariste. Post Card, circa 1900.
Digital Collection of the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec (BAnQ) : http://collections.banq.qc.ca/ark:/52327/1970460.
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The hours rolled by rather quickly. It seemed to me we had only gone several miles but we in fact had already gone more than halfway. We finally arrived at Disraeli. It was ten minutes to four and as we had thought we would be arriving by train, I had told my uncle, Hilaire Aubin, of our coming, and he had come to meet us. But seeing that we had not disembarked from the train at ten o’clock, he had gone to the sawmill of the messieurs Champoux. We were completely unaware that he had come to the village. After we had gone to the Begin Hotel for several hours of rest, we were informed that my uncle had arrived early in the morning to meet us.
To take a break from the wagon, we went for a walk in the village. Passing by the
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church, we entered and observed that they were celebrating “forty hours.” [Note: In the Catholic faith, forty hours is a devotional service of forty continuous hours in prayer by a series of participants before an exposed Blessed Sacrament, the body and blood of Christ, in the form of a consecrated Communion wafer.] We prayed to the Blessed Sacrament, after which we returned to the Hotel Begin. But we observed on our arrival that our uncle had not yet returned. Not knowing in which part of the village to find him, we preferred to wait there than to search for him. But hardly had ten minutes passed when we saw him coming.
After greeting him, we put ourselves back on the road to Saint-Fortunat. Éva boarded my uncle’s wagon, and I continued with Fortunat. I had so much fun in his company because there had been so many years that we had not been able to talk to
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each other, and, even more, because he gave me not only the affection of a cousin but
the intimate friendship of the closest of friends.
the intimate friendship of the closest of friends.
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