. Lawrence almost anywhere was to leave human habitation.
The hamlet of St. Elphege was part of the half-wild parish of
Repentigny. The cause of its existence was its position some miles up
the Assumption, as a gateway of many smaller rivers tributary to the
latter, which itself was tributary to the River of Jesus; and that in
turn, less than a mile further on, to the vast St Lawrence. It
flourished on the trade of wandering tribes from up the Achigan, the
Lac-Ouareau, the St Esprit, and the Rouge, and on the sale of supplies
to rude settlers above and the farmers below. It flourished by the
energy of one man--this man, its founder, the Merchant Lecour. He had
started life with small prospects; his ideas were of the simplest, and
he was at first even a complete stranger to writing and figures. In his
youth a common soldier in the levies of the Marquis de Montcalm on the
campaigns towards lake Champlain, he had acquired favour with his
colonel by his steadiness, had been given charge of a canteen, and in
dispensing brandy to his comrades had found it possible to sell a few
small articles. The defence of New France against the British collapsed
on the investiture of Montreal by Sir Jeffrey Amherst in 1760. The
French army surrendered, and part of it was shipped back to the
motherland. Lecour remained, and shouldering a pedlar's pack, plodded
about the country selling red handkerchiefs, sashes, and jack-knives to
the peasantry. Being attracted by the convenience of the portage for
dealings with the Indians of the north, he selected a spot in the forest
and built a little log dwelling. Success followed from the first.
Beaver-skins rose into fabulous demand in Europe for cocked hats, and
made the fortunes of all who supplied them. The streams behind Lecour's
post were teeming with beaver-dams. He easily kept his monopoly of the
trade, and several times a year would send a fleet of boats down to
Quebec, which returned with goods imported from Europe. Finally he
extended his dealings throughout the Province into varied branches of
business, and "the Merchant of St. Elphege" became a household name with
the French-Canadians. The home of the Lecours--half dwelling, half
vaulted warehouse--was one of four capacious provincial stone cottage
buildings, standing about a quadrangular yard, each bearing high up on
its peak a date and brief inscription, one of which read "A Dieu la
Gloire!"--"To God the Glory."

Just at the end of the