d out upon the broad expanse of the
treacherous lakes, and endured without complaint the severity of winter
and the exposure of forest life in summer.

[Illustration: CHATEAU DE RAMEZAY.]

Their ranks were continually increased by those who were impatient of
the slow method of obtaining a livelihood from the tillage of the soil,
when the husbandman was frequently driven from the plough by the sudden
attack of Indian foes, or interrupted in his hasty and anxious
harvesting by their war-whoop, or perhaps was compelled to leave his
farm to take up arms, if the occasion arose, so that in many instances
the homesteads were left to the old men, women and children. The
excitement of the chase and the wild freedom of the plains had a
fascination that many could not resist, so much so that the king had to
promulgate an edict, to stop, under heavy penalties, this roving life of
his Canadian subjects, as their nomadic tendencies interfered with the
successful settlement of the colony.

To the lover of the quaint architecture of other centuries, there is an
indescribable charm in these time-worn walls, which are still as
substantial as if the snows and rains of two centuries had not beaten
against them. The interior is equally interesting in this regard, as the
walls dividing the chambers and corridors, though covered with modern
plaster and stucco, are found to consist of several feet of solid stone
masonry, while the ornamental ceiling covers beams of timber, twenty
inches by eighteen, which is strong, well jointed and placed as close as
flooring. Above this is heavy stone work over twelve inches thick, so
that the sloping roof was the only part pregnable in an assault with the
munitions of war then in use. Upon removing a portion of the modern
wainscotting in the main reception room, there was discovered an ancient
fireplace, made of roughly hewn blocks of granite. A crescent-shaped
portion of the hearthstone is capable of removal, for what purpose it is
not known. With old andirons and huge logs, it looks to-day exactly as
it must have done when Montgomery and his suite, in revolutionary
uniform, received delegations in this chamber, and when Brigadier
General Wooster, who succeeded him, wrote and sent despatches by courier
from the French Chateau to the Colonial mansion at Mount Vernon.

[Illustration: Salon in which Montgomery held official receptions, 1775.

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The rooms of state in those days were, it is sai