Among those whom I met, was an enterprising manufacturer, who boasted of his being 'a Cork boy,' a pupil of the Christian Brothers, and an apprentice of the Messrs. Hegarty, the eminent tanners of his native city. He was doing a thriving business, his orders being over $100,000 in advance of his means of supply. He had left the States some dozen years before, being anxious to afford his young family the advantages of a sound Catholic education, which at that time was not of such easy attainment in the city where he then resided as it has since become. Prosperous himself, he was enthusiastic in his description of every thing in Montreal, particularly the position occupied by his co-religionists. 'We Irish Catholics,' he said, 'are in a strong position in this city. There is no city in the States in which we occupy a more favourable position than we do here. We feel ourselves at home here; we are not foreigners, as we are sometimes considered elsewhere. The laws are good, and we have all that we can fairly desire, and we can educate our children in the best manner, and just as we please. In fact, we could not be better off. This is the place for an honest and industrious man, but not for the idler or the drunkard. There is no fear, in this country, of a sober man, who is willing to work; but he must be sober and industrious.'
My worthy friend was himself a rigid teetotaller - to which fact he attributed most of his prosperity.
It is foreign to the purpose of this book to describe the public institutions and buildings of any place; but I cannot refrain from expressing my admiration of Montreal, which is in every respect worthy of its high reputation. It has an air at once elegant and solid, many of its streets spacious and alive with traffic and bustle, its places of doing business substantial and handsome; its public buildings really imposing, and its churches generally splendid, and not a few of them positively superb. This description of the churches of Montreal is not limited to the Jesuits'
