AT HOME
FINALLY the day came when Oisette must say good-by to Quebec, to
grandmother, to ancient Carleau, to Napoleon, to the yellow canary, and
then pay a last visit to the Terrace, and say good-by to everything
there. The lovely view, the harbor boats, the statue of Champlain, the
beautiful Château Frontenac, the band, and last, but not least, to the
little Sage girl, who had been so friendly to her.
All these things would soon be memories, banked in her mind forever
and ever. Monsieur Tremblent and Oisette returned to Montreal by
rail, leaving the ancient walled city soon after the noontime, and,
journeying back by a fast express, they reached the Place Viger
railway station at six o'clock. Oisette proved to be a very good
traveler. She enjoyed the view, she did not jump down from her seat and
tear about as some other children were doing, but sat as her father
had told her, and counted or tried to, the trees as they flew past.
Sometimes she hummed softly her favorite song:
"Alouette, gentille Alouette, Alouette Je te plumerai,
Je te plumerai la tête, Je te plumerai la tête,
O Alouette, gentille Alouette, Alouette Je te plumerai."
A very pleasant surprise was when they reached Montreal, and her father
decided to stop at the Place Viger Hotel for a meal before they should
take the trolley home. For, to tell the truth, Oisette was very hungry
indeed, and so was her father.
Presently they were seated at a little table out on a beautiful stone
balcony, with pretty striped awnings, potted plants, where there
was an orchestra of young ladies, all dressed in white, who played
delightful music. The young lady at the piano kept smiling at Oisette.
It was a new experience for our little Quebec cousin to have a full
course dinner, served so beautifully, and to have pink ice cream. Do
you know that ice cream is almost unknown in a _Habitant_ home? To be
sure, French children on the streets of Montreal have recently acquired
"the ice cream cone habit"; but vendors of these sweets do not peddle
their wares out in the country. Oisette ate her dessert slowly, her
dark eyes followed the waiter as he came and went, and now and then she
would glance over at the pianist.
When the meal was finished and they were about to depart, to her great
surprise, as they passed near the piano, she heard a voice say, "Bon
soir, Oisette." Monsieur Tremblent stopped, too, and shook hands with
several of the musicians; and Oisette gasped with surprise, for one
of them was a cousin of Oisette's mother. This orchestra was composed
originally of the members of one family. Five sisters all trained by
the nuns at the Sacred Heart convent. In three years' time three of
the sisters had married and in each case the gap had been filled by
another pupil from this same convent. They were still known as the
five sisters, and they still dressed exactly alike. The one who had
addressed Oisette was the newest member of the little company. Only the
winter previous, at the convent, our little Quebec cousin had played a
duet with this Mlle. Archambeau, and had done her part so well that one
of the nuns had said to her, "We shall hear of our little Oisette on
the concert stage some day."
During the five minutes' rest accorded this hotel orchestra these
girls chatted like magpies with the travelers, and sent messages to
the other members of the family, and said they hoped to get out to
the melon farm some day during the summer, and warned Oisette that
she must practice well on the piano, so that she might some day play
another duet with her friend. Then the leader tapped his baton and the
voices ceased. But the cousin whispered to Monsieur Tremblent: "We are
going to play 'The Rosary' now. You'll hear it as you go down in the
elevator."
When the-round-the-mountain car stopped at Cote-des-Neiges that night,
Monsieur Tremblent and his little daughter alighted in the dusk. They
planned to surprise the household. By crossing a meadow they approached
the house from the rear, and thought it would be great fun to slip
into the kitchen in the darkness and leave their parcels, and then
perhaps take off their wraps. Oisette wondered if she might manage to
be discovered playing the piano. The French Canadian loves a practical
joke.
But it happened that some one in a motor car passed the trolley in
which the returned travelers were journeying and the motor stopped
at the Tremblent farm about ten minutes before the car was due, and,
of course, the visitors said whom they had seen. So Madame Tremblent
was ready with every room lighted, and doors open, and Carleau was
barking his head off with excitement. The Dudley children were tearing
up the road, calling out, "Welcome home!" On the stove was a big pot
of pea soup very hot, and on the table a big bunch of field daisies,
which the Dudleys had brought early in the day. The big parlor lamp
with its red shade was lighted, which meant that it was a very special
occasion. Everybody gazed in surprise at Oisette. She certainly had
grown a little taller, and she had a nice little manner, which quite
unconsciously she had acquired from her grandmother. She forgot her
shyness and told them everything; from the time she had left home until
to-night when she had dined at the Place Viger. No pea soup to-night,
thank you!
When at last she went to bed she gazed about her own room with a new
interest. The room seemed smaller than she had thought it before, but
her pictures were so pretty. Nowhere had she seen anything she liked as
well as her Joan of Arc banner wrought in silk. And there was her own
bedspread again, "the music of the spheres," placed there in honor of
her return.
"Chime, chime, chime, chime," rang the church bell next morning. This
was the bell that had awakened our little Quebec cousin since her
birth. It sounded like an old friend, but what a funny, feeble little
bell it was after the great tongues of the Quebec bells to which her
ears had become attuned.
Presently she heard the popping noise of firecrackers, and Carleau
barking madly in the door yard: and she remembered that it was July
first, Dominion Day, a legal holiday all over the great country
of Canada since 1867. There would be no work done by the English,
and the trolley cars would bring numerous picnic parties out to the
countryside: and the Dudley family were going to have great doings.
They had tried to tell her about it last night, but her mind was still
centered on Quebec.
By the time she had finished her breakfast and was out in the morning
sunshine, she gazed with rapture at the Dudley's house. First of all,
the Union Jack was flying from a tall flag staff, then the piazza was
draped with red, white, and blue; all the posts were wound with red,
and strings of Chinese lanterns were dancing in the wind. She was told
that there was to be a children's party and she was to come over to it,
and they would like her to sing a little song, as there was to be an
entertainment with the piazza for a stage. "You are to sing in French.
Our governess says that will make a pleasing variety," explained the
children.
"Here is what I am to recite," demonstrated Queenie Dudley, making a
deep bow toward Oisette:
"Four fingers, a thumb, on each little hand;
Make five jolly holidays all through the land,
Victoria Day comes first, Dominion Day with its noise,
Then Thanksgiving and Christmas for girls and for boys,
Then comes the New Year, brimful of good cheer,
Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year."
"But that is not suited to the summertime," objected her brother.
"Father taught you that for a Christmas party. You should have learned
a new one by this time."
"Bosh," said young Queenie, "you always recite the same old thing,
every party we have or go to. You just make your bow and say:
"Speaking pieces. What's the use, I'd like to know?
Getting up before so many when it scares a fellow so!"
Presently the piano was moved close to the window, and the governess
played some tunes and told the children to let her hear them sing.
They all joined in with a will, and sang "The Maple Leaf, the Maple
Leaf Forever"; and "Oh, Canada." When they had sung this once through
in English, she coaxed Oisette Mary to repeat it alone in French, which
she did in a very winning manner. All day long on Dominion Day these
children romped together. Oisette felt it was good to be home with
her dear little neighbors again; and when at last, tired out after
the party, she went home and nestled down in her little bed she said
an extra little prayer of gratitude to Our Lady for giving her such a
happy first day home, and then, tucking the rosary under her pillow,
she was soon asleep.
* * * * *
Oisette, like so many little French Canadian girls who are convent
trained, will become proficient with her needle, she will play the
piano, she will always greet one with a pretty bow and a soft shy
voice should one come to visit her in this wonderful great land of
Canada.
The Province of Quebec is not all French, there are little girls with
a Scotch accent, and there are those with an English accent, and in
Ontario there are those very like American children. But perhaps the
French Canadian child with her quaint little ways in her humble home
proves far the most interesting to the traveler, and her simple life
teaches every one who knows her a lesson of obedience and contentment.
"Chime-Chime-Chime-Chime"--yes, the story ends here, but the bells
still call and call little Oisette to awake, to come to prayers, to
attend vespers--"Chime-Chime-Chime-Chime."
Our little Quebec cousin bows her head when she hears them
"Chime-Chime-Chime-Chime"--and life goes on.
THE END
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=BLUE BONNET'S RANCH PARTY=
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=THE PIONEER BOYS ON THE GREAT LAKES;= OR, ON THE TRAIL OF THE IROQUOIS.
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=IN THE DESERT OF WAITING:= THE LEGEND OF CAMELBACK MOUNTAIN.
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Cover design and decorations by Peter Verberg.
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* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Page 41, "skii-jumping" changed to "ski-jumping" (is a ski-jumping
contest)
Page 58, "labelel" changed to "labeled" (Everything is labeled)
Page 63, "illustrous" changed to "illustrious" (illustrious past, and
now)
Page 70, "Pere" changed to "Père" (this same Rev. Père de)
Page 92, "Napoelon" changed to "Napoleon" (the name of Napoleon)
End of Project Gutenberg's Our Little Quebec Cousin, by Mary S. Saxe