University of Virginia Library

Chapter VI.

FESTIVITIES IN A PARSONAGE.

GOD had heard the poor widow's prayer. A few days after
the priest had taken our cow she received a letter from
each of her two sisters, Genevieve and Catherine.

The former, who was married to Etienne Eschenbach, of
St. Thomas, told her to sell all she had and come, with her
children, to live with her.

"We have no family," she said, "and God has given us the
good things of this life in abundance. We shall be happy to
share them with you and your children."

The latter, married in Kamouraska to the Hon. Amable
Dionne, wrote: "We have learned the sad news of your husband's
death. We have lately lost our only son. We wish to
fill the vacant place with Charles, your eldest. Send him to us.
We shall bring him up as our own child, and before long he
will be your support. In the meantime, sell by auction all you
have, and go to St. Thomas with your two younger children.
There Genevieve and myself will supply your wants."

In a few days all our furniture was sold. Unfortunately,
though I had carefully concealed my cherished Bible, it disappeared.
I could never discover what became of it. Had
mother herself, frightened by the threats of the priest, relinquished
that treasure? or had some of our relatives, believing it
to be their duty, destroyed it? I do not know. I deeply felt
that loss, which was then irreparable to me.

On the following day, in the midst of bitter tears and sobs, I
bade farewell to my poor mother and young brothers. They
went to St. Thomas on board a schooner, and I crossed in a
sloop to Kamouraska.

My uncle and aunt Dionne welcomed me with every mark
of the most sincere affection. Having soon made known to
them that I wished to become a priest, I began to study Latin
under the direction of Rev. Mr. Morin, vicar of Kamouraska.
That priest was esteemed to be a learned man. He was about
forty or fifty years old, and had been priest of a parish in the
district of Montreal. But, as is the case with the majority of
priests, his vows of celibacy had not proved a sufficient guarantee
against the charms of one of his beautiful parishioners. This
had caused a great scandal. He consequently lost his position,
and the bishop had sent him to Kamouraska, where his past
conduct was not so generally known. He was very good to me,
and I soon loved him with sincere affection.

One day, about the beginning of the year 1822, he called me
aside and said:

"Mr. Varin (the parish priest) is in the habit of giving a
great festival on his birthday. Now, the principal citizens of
the village wish on that occasion to present him with a bouquet.
I am a pointed to write an address, and to choose some one to
deliver it before the priest. You are the one whom I have
chosen. What do you think of it?"

"But I am very young," I replied.

"Your youth will only give more interest to what we wish
to say and do," said the priest.

"Well, I have no objection to do so, provided the piece be
not too long, and that I have it sufficiently soon to learn it well."

It was already prepared. The time of delivering it soon
came. The best society of Kamouraska, composed of about
fifteen gentlemen and as many ladies, were assembled in the
beautiful parlors of the parsonage. Mr. Varin was in their
midst. Suddenly Squire Paschal Tache, the seigneur of the
parish, and his lady entered the room, holding me by each hand,
and placed me in the midst of the guests. My head was
crowned with flowers, for I was to represent the angel of the
parish, whom the people had chosen to give to their pastor the
expression of public admiration and gratitude. When the
address was finished, I presented to the priest the beautiful

bouquet of symbolical flowers prepared by the ladies for the
occasion.

Mr. Varin was a small but well-built man. His thin lips
were ever ready to smile graciously. The remarkable whiteness
of his skin was still heightened by the rose color of his cheeks.
Intelligence and goodness beamed from his expressive black
eyes. Nothing could be more amiable and gracious than his
conversation during the first quarter of an hour passed in his
company. He was passionately fond of these little fetes, and
the charm of his manners could not be surpassed as the host of
the evening.

He was moved to tears before hearing half of the address,
and the eyes of many were moistened when the pastor, with a
voice trembling and full of emotion, expressed his joy and gratitude
at being so highly appreciated by his parishioners.

As soon as the happy pastor had expressed his thanks, the
ladies sang two or three beautiful songs. The door of the
dining-room was then opened, and we could see a long table
laden with the most delicious meats and wines that Canada could
afford.

I had never before been present at a priest's dinner. The
honorable position given me at that little fete permitted me to
see it in all its details, and nothing could equal the curiosity with
which I sought to hear and see all that was said and done by the
joyous guests.

Besides Mr. Varin and his vicar there were three other
priests, who were artistically placed in the midst of the most
beautiful ladies of the company. The ladies, after honoring us
with their presence for an hour or so, left the table and retired
to the drawing-room. Scarcely had the last lady disappeared
when Mr. Varin rose and said:

"Gentlemen, let us drink to the health of these amiable
ladies, whose presence has thrown so many charms over the first
part of our little fete."

Following the example of Mr. Varin, each guest filled and
emptied his long wine-glass in honor of the ladies.

Squire Tache then proposed "The health of the most venerable

and beloved priest of Canada, the Rev. Mr. Varin." Again
the glasses were filled and emptied, except mine; for I had been
placed at the side of my uncle Dionne, who, sternly looking at
me as soon as I had emptied my first glass, said: "If you drink
another I will send you from the table. A little boy like you
should not drink, but only touch the glass with his lips."

It would have been difficult to count the healths which were
drank after the ladies had left us. After each health a song or
a story was called for, several of which were followed by
applause, shouts of joy, and convulsive laughter.

When my turn to propose a health came I wished to be
excused, but they would not exempt me. So I had to say about
whose health I was most interested. I rose upon my two short
legs, and turning to Mr. Varin, I said, "Let us drink to the
health of our Holy Father, the Pope."

Nobody had yet thought of our Holy Father, the Pope, and the
name, mentioned under such circumstances by a child, appeared
so droll to the priests and their merry guests that they burst into
laughter, stamped their feet and shouted, "Bravo! bravo! To
the health of the Pope!" Everyone stood up, and at the invitation
of Mr. Varin, the glasses were filled and emptied as usual.

So many healths could not be drunk without their natural
effect—intoxication. The first that was overcome was a priest,
Noel by name. He was a tall man, and a great drinker. I had
noticed more than once, that instead of taking his wine-glass he
drank from a large tumbler. The first symptoms of his intoxication,
instead of drawing sympathy from his friends, only
increased their noisy bursts of laughter. He endeavored to take
a bottle to fill his glass, but his hand shook, and the bottle,
falling on the floor, was broken to pieces. Wishing to keep up
his merriment he began to sing a Bacchic song, but could not
finish. He dropped his head on the table, quite overcome, and
trying to rise, he fell heavily upon his chair. While all this
took place the other priests and all the guests looked at him,
laughing loudly. At last, making a desperate effort, he rose,
but after taking two or three steps, fell headlong on the floor.
His two neighbors went to help him, but they were not in a

condition to help him. Twice they rolled with him under the
table. At length another, less affected by the fumes of wine,
took him by the feet and dragged him into an adjoining room,
where they left him.

This first scene seemed strange enough to me, for I had
never before seen a priest intoxicated. But what astonished me
most was the laughter of the other priests over that spectacle.
Another scene, however, soon followed which made me sadder.
My young companion and friend, Achilles Tache, had not been
warned, as I had, only to touch the wine with his lips. More
than once he had emptied his glass. He also rolled upon the
floor before the eyes of his father, who was too full of wine to help
him. He cried aloud, "I am choking!" I tried to lift him up,
but I was not strong enough. I ran for his mother. She came,
accompanied by another lady, but the vicar had carried him into
another room, where he fell asleep after having thrown off the
wine he had taken.

Poor Achilles! he was learning, in the house of his own
priest, to take the first step of that life of debauchery and
drunkenness which twelve or fifteen years later was to rob him
of his manor, take from him his wife and children, and to
make him fall a victim to the bloody hand of a murderer upon
the solitary shores of Kamouraska!

This first and sad experience which I made of the real and
intimate life of the Roman Catholic priest was so deeply
engraved on my memory that I still remember with shame the
bacchic song which that priest Morin had taught me, and which
I sang on that occasion. It commenced with these Latin words:

I also remember one sung by Mr. Varin. Here it is:

When the priests and their friends had sung, laughed and
drank for more than an hour, Mr. Varin rose and said: "The
ladies must not be left alone all the evening. Will not our joy
and happiness be doubled if they are pleased to share them
with us?"

This proposition was received with applause, and we passed
into the drawing-room, where the ladies awaited us.

Several pieces of music, well executed, gave new life to this
part of the entertainment. This resource, however, was soon
exhausted. Besides, some of the ladies could well see that their
husbands were half drunk, and they felt ashamed. Madam
Tache could not conceal the grief she felt, caused by what had
happened to her dear Achilles. Had she some presentiment, as
many persons have, of the tears which she was to shed one day
on his account? Was the vision of a mutilated and bloody
corpse—the corpse of her own drunken son fallen dead, under
the blow of an assassin's dagger, before her eyes?

Mr. Varin feared nothing more than an interruption in those
hours of lively pleasure, of which his life was full, and which
took place in his parsonage.

"Well, well, ladies and gentlemen, let us entertain no dark
thoughts on this evening, the happiest of my life! Let us play
blind man's buff."

"Let us play blind man's buff!" was repeated by everybody.

On hearing this noise, the gentlemen who were half asleep
by the fumes of wine seemed to awaken as if from a long
dream. Young gentlemen clapped their hands; ladies, young
and old, congratulated one another on the happy idea.

"But whose eyes shall be covered first?" asked the priest.

"Yours, Mr. Varin," cried all the ladies. "We look to you
for the good example, and we shall follow it."

"The power and unanimity of the jury by which I am

FESTIVITIES IN A PARSONAGE.

p. 54

condemned cannot be resisted. I feel that there is no appeal. I
must submit."

Immediately one of the ladies placed her nicely perfumed
handkerchief over the eyes of her priest, took him by the hand,
led him to an angle of the room, and having pushed him gently
with her delicate hand, said: "Mr. Blindman! Let everyone
flee! Woe to him who is caught!"

There is nothing more curious and comical than to see a man
walk when he is under the influence of wine, especially if he
wishes nobody to notice it. How stiff and straight he keeps his
legs! How learned and complicated, in order to keep his
equilibrium, are his motions to right and left! Such was the
position of priest Varin. He was not very drunk. Though he
had taken a large quantity of wine, he did not fall. He carried
with wonderful courage the weight with which he was laden.
The wine which he had drank would have intoxicated three
ordinary men; but such was his capacity for drinking, that he
could still walk without falling. However, his condition was
sadly betrayed by each step he took and by each word he spoke.
Nothing, therefore, was more comical than the first steps of the
poor priest in his efforts to lay hold of somebody in order to pass
his band to him. He would take one forward and two backward
steps, and would then stagger to the right and to the left.
Everybody laughed to tears. One after another they would all
either pinch him or touch him gently on his hand, arm or
shoulder, and passing rapidly off would exclaim, "Run away!"
The priest went to the right and then to the left, threw his arms
suddenly now here and then there. His legs evidently bent
under their burden; he panted, perspired, coughed, and everyone
began to fear that the trial might be carried too far, and beyond
propriety. But suddenly, by a happy turn he caught the arm of
a lady who in teasing him had come too near. In vain the lady
tries to escape. She struggles, turns round, but the priest's hand
holds her firmly.

While holding his victim with his right hand he wishes to
touch her head with his left, in order to know and name the
pretty bird he had caught. But at that moment his legs gave

way. He falls, and drags with him his beautiful parishioner
She turns upon him in order to escape, but he soon turns on
her in order to hold her better!

All this, though the affair of a moment, was long enough to
cause the ladies to blush and cover their faces. Never in all my
life did I see anything so shameful as that scene. This ended
the game. Everyone felt ashamed. I make a mistake when I
say everyone, because the men were almost all too intoxicated to
blush. The priests also were either too drunk or too much
accustomed to such scenes to be ashamed.

On the following day every one of those priests celebrated
mass, and ate what they called the body and blood, the soul and
divinity of Jesus Christ, just as if they had spent the previous
evening in prayer and meditation on the laws of God! He,
Mr. Varin, was the arch-priest of the important part of the
diocese of Quebec from La Riviere Ouelle to Gaspe.

Thus, O perfidious Church of Rome, thou deceivest the
nations who follow thee, and ruinest even the priests whom thou
makest thy slaves.