y in
height but perhaps a hundred feet long, was surmounted by lofty gables
and a very steep roof, built thus to shed the snow and to give a roomy
attic for bed-chambers. The attic was lighted by numerous, high-peaked
dormer windows, piercing the expanse of the roof. This main building was
flanked by one or more wings. Around it clustered the wash-house
(adjoining the kitchen), coach house, barns, stable, and woodsheds. This
homelike cluster of walls and roofs was sheltered from the winter storm
by groves of evergreen, and girdled cheerily by orchard and
kitchen-garden. On one side, and not far off, was usually a village with
a church-spire gleaming over it; on the other a circular stone mill,
resembling a little fortress rather than a peaceful aid to industry.
This structure, where all the tenants of the seigneur were obliged to
grind their grain, had indeed been built in the first place to serve not
only as a mill, but as a place of refuge from the Iroquois. It was
furnished with loopholes, and was impregnable to the attacks of an enemy
lacking cannon.

The dress of the upper classes was like that prevailing among the same
classes in France, though much less extravagant. The long, wide-frocked
coats were of gay-coloured and costly material, with lace at neck and
wristbands. The waistcoat might be richly embroidered with gold or
silver. Knee-breeches took the place of our unsightly trousers, and were
fastened with bright buckles at the knee. Stockings were of white or
coloured silk, and shoes were set off by broad buckles at the instep.
These, of course, were the dresses of ceremony, the dresses seen at
balls and grand receptions. Out-of-doors, and in the winter especially,
the costumes of the nobility were more distinctly Canadian. Overcoats of
native cloth were worn, with large, pointed hoods. Their pattern is
preserved to the present day in the blanket coats of our snow-shoers.
Young men might be seen going about in colours that brightened the
desolate winter landscape. Gay belts of green, blue, red, or yellow
enriched the waists of their thick overcoats. Their scarlet leggings
were laced up with green ribbons. Their moccasins were gorgeously
embroidered with dyed porcupine quills. Their caps of beaver or martin
were sometimes tied down over their ears with vivid handkerchiefs of
silk. The _habitants_ were rougher and more sombre in their dress. A
black homespun coat, gray leggings, gray woollen cap, heavy moccasins