Annals of our ancestors; one hundred and fifty years of history in the ...

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ANNALS OF OUR ANCESTORS
by this accident its effect did not remain to dampen the pleasure
of our trip.
The voyage was a pleasant one, cool and cloudy most of
the time, and so we had a good chance to see without the glare
of the sun dazzling our eyes. Great flocks of gulls hovered
over our ship, and the young people took pleasure m tossing
bread and crackers to see them dive after the food. We were
also interested in the porpoises; this animal seemed never to
show his head above the water, but turned and tumbled all
over himself, now and then disclosing a dash of white like a
flag of truce.
We had plenty of time to study the crowd on board and to
observe the different ways in which different people enjoy a
voyage amid such scenes. The bookworm was among us.
I noticed her on the forward deck, a shawl wrapped about her
shoulders and an open book in her hand, deep wrapped in its
mysteries. At long intervals she would yawn and look off
to the hills or to some pleasant summer island, but I could
see that she was giving the shore and water but passing notice,
not taking in at all the lovely homes half hidden among the
trees and flowering shrubs. There hour after hour she sat,
buried in a book while the boat moved along the beautiful and
historic St. Lawrence, bringing into view many a hamlet of
storied interest where one's imagination had its ground already
prepared to construct poetry, romance and tales of dar-
ing and adventure. Even the signs of prosperity were of
interest to me: great fields of buckwheat waving in the breeze;
pastures in the cool, deep shadows of the clouds; unrolled to
my imagination was the history of the winning of the fields
from forest and wild hill and valley, the greatest and best
battle of our ancestors. With what rude tools, compared
with those of to-day, did they build up the great rural expanse
of our land, and to some extent in this had our own people
shared. These were thoughts linked with the scene that came
to me.
We made a short stop at Montreal and obtained a good
view of the city, but our objective point was Quebec, "the
Gibraltar of America." With what interest we watched the