The Henson Journals

[140]

Saturday, July 24th, 1909.

Ottawa.

The air is pleasant, but the rain continues pitilessly. In these circumstances it is hard to determine how best to use the time before we take ourselves off to Montreal.

Query:–

Is 'slut' an inadmissible word from the gentleman–diarist's point of view? My wife protests against its application to those women in the train: but I think 'tis a good word enough, and very suitable.

[There are two kinds of forest fires viz; leaf fires in the spring, and soil fires in the autumn. The former admit a fresh growth of timber, but the latter destroy the fertility of the soil. The distinction is very apparent as one traverses the country. Sometimes the blackened poles stand up amidst a luxuriant growth: sometimes they stand bleakly from a naked & withered soil.]

After breakfast we sent a telegram to Mr Fleet in Montreal announcing our advent by the afternoon tram. The cost of telegrams in this country is determined on the basis of distance. For this telegram I paid 25 cents.

We packed our grips, & strove to facilitate the task by a ruthless destruction of letters. Then, the rain being somewhat abated, we went forth of the hotel holding umbrellas and clothed in macintoshes [sic]. Not far from the hotel lies the ample & stately Parliament Buildings. Here we sought to [139] present a letter of introduction which Miss Markham had given us to Dr Doughty, the keeper of the Archives. We were referred to the Archives Bldg. which lay at some distance. On our way we visited the Roman Catholic Cathedral, which, seen from the hotel windows has a fine aspect, but on close inspection is found to be a tawdry building, in the worst possible taste. Herein, perhaps, it is a fit symbol of the Church, whose worship it serves. Seen from afar by the schism–harassed Protestant, the Roman Church has an aspect, noble & calm but viewed from within by the disillusioned convert, how pathetically altered is the prospect! The papers report the death of Father Tyrrell. He was precisely a disillusioned convert. I had just succeeded in making his acquaintance, before leaving England: indeed I carried away with me a letter from him which is yet unanswered.

Dr Doughty received us with kindness, & showed us his collection of archives with laudable pride. The maps of Canada dating from the 16th & 17th centuries are extraordinarily interesting. Wolfe's chair adorns the Archivist's office.

We visited the Parliament Buildings. An obliging attendant showed us the chamber in which respectively the House of Commons & the Senate of the Dominion Parliament hold their sessions. The Speaker is elected for every Parliament, & he has his own chair. Portraits of the Speakers adorn the lobby. The Library is a very fine octagonal building. We were shewn the foundation stone of the Buildings on which a gilt [140] inscription records that it was laid by Albert Edward Prince of Wales in 1860. The Senators are chilly mortals. The attendant said that they keep their house heated to a temperature of 85 o. He explained the fact by the advanced age of the senators. From the Parliament Bldgs we went to a modest little collection of stuffed animals, fish, and – on an upper floor – paintings. The attendant, a buxom Frenchwoman, was eager to show a painting which her son, a pretty boy of 13, had done. If the lad had painted the sketch without copying, he had shewed unusual promise. In any case 'twas well done for so young an artist. We returned to the hotel, lunched, paid our reckoning & departed for Montreal.

We were met at the station by Mr Fleet & Dr Symonds, who brought us to the former's house. Here we found some letters awaiting our arrival, & our baggage battered but not destroyed. After dinner Dr Grenfell, the Labrador missionary–doctor, came in. He said that he had often seen me in Bethnal Green when I was at the Oxford House. Mr Fleet exhibited on the screen in his back–drawing room some remarkable coloured photographs taken by his wife, who is extremely skilled in this art.

Dr Grenfell told me that he had introduced reindeer into Labrador with the happiest results. The herd were thriving mightily, & doing all sorts of useful service to the inhabitants. Students from Yale & Harvard render much assistance to the mission in the summer months.

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