lute with songs of welcome the coming of jocund
spring. May-day soon followed, "the maddest merriest day" in all the
calendar. In the early morning the _habitant_ repaired to the
seigneury to assist in erecting the May-pole. Almost every one he
knew--man, woman, or child--was there with similar intent. Presently
the tall fir-tree, stripped of its bark, was firmly planted in the
farmyard, and a deputation waited upon the Seigneur to beg his
acceptance of this homage. A fusillade of blank musket shots was now
kept up until the May-pole was thoroughly blackened. This done, the
doors of the manor-house were thrown wide open in welcome; and the
rest of the day was one long banquet. The Seigneur's tables groaned
beneath burdens of roasted veal, mutton, and pork, huge bowls of stew,
pies, and cakes, to which was added white whiskey and tobacco. Songs,
stories, and homely wit sped the day until the banqueters were weak in
flesh and spirit. Baptisms, betrothals, and weddings also were
occasions of feasting; and the long-suffering Seigneur hardly escaped
standing godfather to every child born within seven leagues of the
manor.

Even the holy sisters came under the spell of the joyous life in which
they moved; and one of the Ursuline nuns who came to Quebec with
Madame de la Peltrie, thus writes in 1640:--

"Although confined in a small hole, with insufficient
air, yet we continue in good health. If in
France one eat only bacon and salt fish, as we do
here, one might be ill without a word said; but we
are well, and sing better than in France. The air is
excellent, and this is a terrestrial paradise, where the
difficulties and troubles of life come so lovingly, that
the more one is piqued, the more one's heart is filled
with amiability."

Behind all this gaiety, however, brooded the Church; for even in her
lightest moments Quebec never strained far on her sacred leash. From
its foundation as a mission trading-post to its consecration as an
episcopal see, the rock city remained a fortress of the faith. Its
early governors, Champlain, D'Ailleboust, and Montmagny, were monks
military, dividing their services equally between faith and
fatherland. First the Recollets, then the Jesuits, came into spiritual
possession; and later on, episcopal rule succeeded to the influence of
Loyola's disciples. The relative estimation in which these various
orders of the Church were held being illustrated by a Ca