Page:This Canada of ours and other poems.djvu/69

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NOTES
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French-Canadians were in exile, "bannis de leurs foyers." Written to an old French air, its simple but touching words have given it an extraordinary popularity in the Province of Quebec.


NOTE 3.

THE GREAT DIVIDE.

(Page 33.)

Stephen, a station on the Canadian Pacific Railway, marks the summit of the Rocky Mountains. Here all trains are delayed to allow passengers to see the exact spot where the waters of a mountain spring divide, and overflow towards both the east and the west. These divided drops flow in opposite directions and by devious courses, and after descending more than 5,000 feet, they reach the sea levels of the Atlantic or the Pacific.


NOTE 4.

THE WHITE STONE CANOE.

(Page 34.)

The works of Schoolcraft contain many beautiful Indian legends, some of which, Longfellow tells us, he wove into his "Song of Hiawatha." "The White Stone Canoe" is one which he did not so immortalize, though it possesses great interest, and is rich in poetry and curious traditions. He made use of one of its incidents, however, where Chibiabos

"In the Stone Canoe was carried
To the Islands of the Blessed,
To the land of Ghosts and Shadows."

In my treatment of the story I have naturally fallen into the