III. PASSAGES FOR TEANSLATION INTO FEENCH

YvoN Kaelec, the father of Jean-Paul, died in the prime of life. He was swept away by the waves on a stormy night. For two years the poor widow kept her six children. But then Jean -Paul wanted to help his mother. He was a sailor born, and went as an apprentice on board the Jeune-Marie. His ship left Saint-Malo to join the fishiiigfleet on the banks of Newfoundland. The voyage was a pleasure trip for him ; but soon he shared in the sailor's life of toil and danger. Every morning he left the ship to take up or lay down the lines. One day he was with one companion in a dingey ; he was busy taking up the lines, when a sudden gust of wind carried them far from the buoys. In vain they sought to regain the ship ; they soon saw with terror that they were lost in the fog. For two whole day s and nights they drifted. On the third day, however, the mist slightly lifted. They sighted, at only a short distance, a three-master bearing down upon them. Their signais were seen. They were taken on board half dead with cold and exhaustion.

While the Jeune-Marie was sailing towards France, Jean-Paul was leaving it farther and farther behind. He resolved, however, to make the best of ill-luck. He had hardly been a week on board the Maëlstrom when they sighted the island of Cape Breton. They went up the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and steered towards Prince Edward Island. The captain had taken a fancy to Jean-Paul. He told him that the mail-bags are put on board a double-bottouied boat, the keel of which rests on steel runners. This strange boat ia dragged across the ice. It is launched when the open water is reached. The journey is slow, rough, and perilous. In the raonth of October 1882 the crossing of the strait lasted three weeks. The passengers and crew ran short of provisions, and ail the woodwork of the cabin was burnt to stave off the cold. It took the Maëlstrom no less than a week to reach Québec, tlie old French town, founded in 1603 by Samuel Champlain.

The captain had offercd to take Jean-Paul and his companion back again to PVance. He paid thom the same wages as his Norwegian sailors for ail the tinie they had passed on board his vessel. Jean-Paul's first enre was to Write to his mother. He inforniod her that he had arrived safe and sound at Québec. While they were unloading the Maëlstrom he had plenty of time to see the sights of the town. People and things seemed faniiliar to him. He was no exile in an unknown land. He had seen Le Havre. Cherbourg, ail the great channel-ports, but they ail seemed to him farther from his dear Brittany than this old city of

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Québec — this relie of old France, planted on the threshold of America. In the public garden he saw the monument raised in 1827 to the memory of Wolfe and Montcalm, the English and French gênerais who died in the fatal battle of the Plains of Abraham. England nobly laid together in one tomb the two heroes whom the same death had united in the same glory.

Above and below Québec there are small Canadian tugs which traverse the St. Lawrence in every direction. One of thèse tugs came alongside the Maëlstrom. A strong hawser was made fast between the great sailing-vessel and the little steamer, and the Maëlstrom stood out into the stream. The day seemed short to Jean-Paul ; the night was magnificent. His watch was nearly over. Suddenly a violent shock made the vessel quiver from stem to stem — the towrope had parted. The men on the watch and ail the crew rushed up. The captain rushed up also. " We hâve struck on a sunken tree," he cried ; "run to the pumps and see if she is making water." He gave orders for an anchor to be let go. A few minutes afterwards the hawser was again thrown from one side to the other. They tripped up the anchor, and at break of day Montréal was in sight. The Maëlstrom was towed into dry dock. Then the full extent of the damage was soon discovered. The repairs would take at least two months ; by that time the river would be closed by the ice. The captain then decided to discharge his crew. The sailors readily found employment on outgoing steamers. Jean-Paul obtained a situation in M. de Mauriac's house and was paid a good salary.

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The winter was corne ; and winter in Canada is the season for rejoicings and invigorating sports. At the first fall of snow the finishing touch is put to ail préparations, skates are overhauled and sledges repainted. Every morning Octave, one of M. de Mauriac's sons, went to fiiid out if the ice was thick enough. At last, on the 20th of December, they were able to skate. But an accident took place. Three people were thrown into the water. In a moment Octave was on the scène of the disaster. He flung hiniself flat upon the ice, and crawled towards the gaping fissure. He had succeeded in snatching from death a yonng lady, a young man, and a child, when the ice broke under his efforts and he was thrown into the water. This unexpected catastrophe wrung a cry of anguish from those standing by. Suddenly Jean-Paul plunged beneath the ice. In the dim light he caught sight of his friend, reached hira and seized him. But he lost his breath. Gatliering his strength, however, he delivered one desperate blow on the ceiling of his prison and lost consciousness. When he came to he found himself in M. de Mauriac's room. He saw the pale countenance of Octave at the other end of the room. For many hours the two doctors summoned to the latter's bedside had despaired of his life. Nature, however, got the upper hand. His recovery was rapid, and joy returned to the household.

A fortnight after the accident M. de Mauriac came into Jean-Paul's room, and said to him: "Tlio doctors ordcr Octave to abstain from work for a month, and to take plenty of exercise. Captain Hendricksen grants you a

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month's furlough, and Octave is waiting to take you to his club. You could not hâve better weather for a snowshoeiûg expédition." By the next day Jean-Paul tried on his snow-shoes, enjoyed the sport, and did great crédit to his friend's teaching. Tobogganing, too, fiUed him with delight. One day a young American lady asked an Englishman how he liked his first expérience of the toboggan. " Is it not delightful ?" " Oh y es ! charming ; I would not hâve missed it for five hundred dollars." " Corne, then, we will begin agaiu." '* I would not for a thousand dollars ! " "Let us begin again," said Jean-Paul after his first trial. But of ail the attractions of the season at Montréal, the carnival and ice-palace are the most characteristic. To heighten the eifect of its fine proportions and ingénions architecture, the palace is always constructed on a slight eminence. Skilful workmen build it with blocks of ice, using water as raortar. In a few days, the shape of the palace becomes apparent. Then, as night closes in, the towu lights up, and the torches of the carnival dance like numberless will-o'the-wisps.

The ship-owners had commissioned Captain Hendricksen to make important purchases of timber at Ottawa. But the French of the country was so uncouth that the captain requested Jean-Paul to accompany him as interpréter. The woodcutters sélect the finest trees and fell them. They are then loaded on sledges, and carried off to the nearest river. There they are piled up. When spring comes, the woodcutters form long rafts of the felled trunks. About a hundred of thèse rafts are fastened together and taken down stream towards Montréal and Québec. To steer thèse clumsy masses, rare strength and skill are required. Captain Hendricksen struck a bargain for a cargo of timber with

the owner of the principal saw-mill at Thurso. A short visit to Ottawa, the new-born capital of the dominion, brought their trip to an eud. There Jean-Paul went to see the magnificent Parliament House, which overlooks the banks of the river.

At Edmonton station, they both got out of the train. They were expected. A middle-aged man hastened to meet them, and gave Captain Hendricksen a cordial shake of the hand. This gentleman, M. Dubois, was the manager of the great agricultural enterprise which M. de Mauriac had started five years before. A short drive in a sledge brought them to the farm. This included a group of buildings of considérable size, with outhouses, barns, granaries, stables, and cowsheds. M. Dubois told them many interesting détails about the working of the estate. "AU our machinery is of the most perfect pattern. We hâve spécial workmen to efFect ail repairs on the spot. The farm has its masons, smiths, carpenters, and engineers. At harvesttime we set on foot an army of men." Army is the Word, for the work is carried on with military précision. " And now let us go and see the work of our squatters," said M. Dubois. When winter is coming, tlie squatter settles in a corner of the forest, and builds for himself a rude liut. Then he sets to work and fells the trecs one after the other. The roots are destroyed by burning a heap of branches piled ovcr the stumps. While M. Dubois was giving this explanation, the report of a fire-arm was heard. A Canadian elk had been wounded by a squatter, and was running away distraught. Three foxes were coming after it and trying to raake it retrace its steps towards the forest. They succeeded, but on the branch of a tree, near the border of the forest, there was an

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American badger waiting for the elk. When the latter passed under tlie brandi the badger pounced upon it. But M. Dubois killed the badger, and the foxes ran away.

At Galgary, the travellers again got on the main Une of the Canadian Pacific. It is there tliat it enters the Rocky Mountains. The railway was protected from avalanches by a kiud of wooden gallery. At Summit City the railway reaches the altitude of 1600 mètres. Our friends broke the last stage of their journey by an excursion to the Caribou mines. At first, when the precious ore was still found in quantities in the bed of the streams, there was a sudden rush of gold-seekers of every nationality. But for one that won a fortune, a hundred perished from misery and want. Lucky miners, intoxicated with success, devised the maddest ways of squandering their newly-won wealth. One of them came down one day to Victoria, with £7000 in his pocket. He went into a drink-shop, and not satisfied with standing Champagne to ail those présent, he stopped the passers-by to treat them. Either thèse were too few or the cellars too well fiUed ; there was still some Champagne left. So he had ail the glasses filled and swept them off the counter with his stick. When he went away he had not a farthing left.

On the eve of their departure, when Jean-Paul retumed to his hôtel, he was handed a letter bearing the Montréal post-mark. It came from M. de Mauriac. He said that he and his family could not reconcile themselves to the

thought of losing Jean-Paul so soon. If he wished it, a lite in accordance with his tastes awaited him in Canada, and he and ail his family would be welcome on the farm managed by M. Dubois, Jean -Paul hastened to pass the letter on to his faithful frieud Captain Hendrickseu. How could he give up his sailor's life and sever himself from his mother - country ? The worthy captain, however, overcame his scruples. Now, on the border of the forest, there rises in the midst of a smiling garden a pretty little cottage. The inside tells of a life of cheerfulness and ease. The little ones are grown up and their good mother is young once more. News often cornes from Captain Hendricksen ; he complains a little of his rheumatism, and sometimes speaks of retiring. Jean- Paul no longer seems to miss the sea. In the evening when work is done and he looks around him on his peacefiil home, he feels himself overwhelmed with blessings, and his heart is full of happiness.

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