t and her robe of snow,
And she stands in her beauty fair between
The Royal Mount and the river below."

The two nationalities live harmoniously side by side in commercial and
social life, both retaining their racial and distinctive
characteristics. The old _chansons_ of Brittany are still heard from the
hay-carts and by the firesides, and up and down the rivers ring out the
same songs as when the "fleet of swift canoes came up all vocal with the
songs of _voyageurs_, whose cadence kept time among the dipping
paddles."

The Chateau de Ramezay has suffered many changes and modifications in
the various hands through which it has passed since its foundation
stones were laid, but the citizens of Montreal, revering its age and
associations, are restoring it as much as possible to its original state
and appearance; and the thousands who yearly pass through it testify to
the romance surrounding the walls of the old Chateau, _Ville Marie's_
grandest relic of an illustrious past--a past which belongs equally to
both French and British subjects, and which has developed a patriotism
well expressed in the words of the eloquent churchman, Bruchesi,
Archbishop of Montreal, who says:

"I know the countries so much boasted of where the myrtles bloom, where
the birds are lighter on the wing, and where gentler breezes blow. I
have passed quiet days on the beach at Sorrento, where the Mediterranean
rolls its blue waves to the foot of the orange tree. I have seen Genoa,
the superb and radiant Florence, and Venice, the Queen of the Adriatic.
More than once I have gazed upon the beauty of Naples glittering with
the fires of the setting sun. I have sailed upon the azure waves of the
Lake of Geneva. I have tasted the charm of our sweet France. My steps
have trodden the blessed soil of Rome, and I have trembled with
unspeakable gladness. But all these noble sights, all these undying
memories, all this sublime poetry, all these enchantments of nature did
not take the place in my heart of Canada, my Fatherland, which I have
never ceased to regard with enthusiasm and admiration.

What nation can boast of a purer or more glorious origin? May the future
of Canada be worthy of its noble past. May charity, true charity, reign
among all our citizens as among the children of the same mother. Let us
have none of those intestine divisions which enfeeble us,--none of those
unhappy jealousies capable of compromising the most sacred interests."