banks of the
Hudson, an aged face, with eyes dimmed with the tears of long years of
waiting, looked sadly at the vessel that was bringing back to her the
dust of her young soldier husband, which had so long lain in the gorge,
near the fatal bastion. Forty-three years before, he had buckled on his
sword to fight for what he considered a righteous cause, at the command
of his leader, Washington. Expecting a speedy return, he marched away as
she listened to the drum beats growing fainter and fainter in the
distance, and, after half a century had passed, he was still to her the
young soldier in his brave, blue coat, who had kissed her for that long
farewell. All that is left on Canadian soil to recall this gallant
though luckless soldier is the low-ceiled cottage where his body was
laid out, a small tablet on the precipice, which reads, "Here Montgomery
fell, 1775," and another of white marble, in the courtyard of the
military prison in the Citadel, recently erected by two patriotic
American girls in memory of the volunteers who fell with him.

One hundred New Year's Eves came and passed away, and, on Dec. 31st,
1875,

"There was a sound of revelry by night,
And Canada's Capital had gathered there
Her beauty and her chivalry, and bright
The lamps shone o'er fair women and brave men."

It was with no desire to re-kindle the rancours and strifes of that
distant period, but to properly celebrate an event of such importance,
and commemorate that night of blustering storm, gallant attack and sore
defeat a century before, that the Centennial Montgomery Ball was given.
Soldiers and citizens, in the costumes of 1775, some in the identical
dress worn by their ancestors in that memorable repulse; and the ladies
in toilettes of the same period, received their guests as they entered
the ball-room, the approaches to which were tastefully decorated. "Half
way between the dancing and receiving rooms was a grand, double
staircase, the sides of which were draped with the white and golden
lilies of France, our Dominion Ensign, and the Stars and Stripes of the
neighbouring Republic. On the other side of the broad steps were stacks
of arms and warlike implements. Facing the guests as they ascended the
stairs, among the huge banners which fell gracefully about the dark
musketry, and parted to right and left above the drums and trumpets,
there hung from the centre a red and black pennant--the American colours
of 1775. Imm