|
Interesting Sites
Few visitors to the city, as the Palace cars of the Canadian Pacific
Railway carry them into the mammoth station on Dalhousie Square, realize
the historic associations which cling around this spot. In the
magnificently equipped dining-room of the Company's Hotel, as delicacies
from the most distant parts of the earth are laid before the traveller,
he should call to remembrance the lives of deprivation and uncomplaining
endurance which have made the ground now crowned by the beautiful
edifice full of the most tragic interest, and filled with memories which
will be immortal as long as courage and stout-heartedness are honoured.
Two hundred and fifty years ago the sound of hammer and saw here awoke
the echoes of the forest. Workmen who had learned their craft in old
French towns, when Colbert, the great statesman and financier, was
developing the architecture and industries, revenues and resources of
the kingdom, here reared a wind-mill, the first industrial building in
Montreal.
The winds of these autumns long ago turned the fans and ground the seed
of harvests toilsomely gathered from corn-fields, among whose furrows
many a time the arrow and tomahawk spilt the blood of reaper and sower.
The old mill with its pastoral associations of peaceful toil in time
passed away, and was succeeded by a structure dedicated to the art of
war, for on the same spot stood la Citadelle. This stronghold, though
primitive in its appointments, was important during the French
occupation and evacuation of New France, being the last fortification
held by French troops on Canadian soil.
This old earthen Citadel, a relic of mediaeval defence, was, about
seventy years ago, removed, its material being used in the leveling and
enlargement of the Parade Ground, or, as it is called, the
"Champ-de-Mars." Its demolition might be regretted were it not that in
an age of progress even sentiment must give way before advance. The
grand Hotel Viger, although built to promote the comfort of the people
of the Dominion, has not destroyed the pathetic interest of the early
struggles and heroism which still clothes its site, and which heightens
the present appreciation of a civilization of which the old mill and
fort were the pioneers.
The hospitable hearth of James McGill, graced by his noble-minded
French-Canadian wife, has also long since disappeared; but through his
endowment, and the prince-like gifts of William Molson, Peter Redpath,
Lord Strathcona and Mount Royal, Sir Wm. Macdonald and many others, the
torch of education has been lighted here, which shall shine a beacon for
ages to come. Although but three-quarters of a century old, yet the
University of McGill compares favourably with older institutions, its
Mining Building being the most perfectly fitted up in the world. Its
sons take rank with the most cultured minds in Europe and America,
influencing to a most marked degree the educational thought of the day.
The year 1896 marked an epoch in its history, when a graduate of the
class of '68 was elected to the Presidency of the British Medical
Association, one of the most august and learned corporations in the
world. In calling a Canadian, Dr. T. G. Roddick, M.P., to this eminent
position, a signal honour was conferred, it being the first time the
office was held by a Colonial member. Thirty-five years ago, a
French-Canadian youth, slight in form, with broad brow and eyes full of
deep thoughtfulness, stood before the Faculty and friends as the
valedictorian of his class. That slender boy is to-day the great
Canadian Premier, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the eloquent Statesman and the
honoured of Her Majesty the Queen.
Next: Famous Names
Previous: The Fur Kings
Viewed: 618
|
|
Breeds.ca - Download the EBook Guinea Pigs
Informational
