86 JOHN LESPERANCE ON THE 
are full of entertainment, while his volume of sketches entitled “A La Brunante” has 
some ravishing bits. M. Faucher enjoys the distinction of having been elected an hono- 
rary member La Société des gens de lettres de France. Among essayists of a more serious cast, 
the lead is taken by Oscar Dunn, whose “ Dix Années de Journalisme” contain a number 
of important studies on moral and philosophical subjects, written in a fine judicial spirit 
and the purest French. This purism is further manifested in the “ Glossaire Franco-Cana- 
dien,” a little book in which the author catalogues and accounts for terms that are exclu- 
sively French-Canadian. The world of Canadian literature lately. suffered a great loss by 
the death of Larue, one of the most dashing and captivating writers of Quebec, and it is 
to be regretted that Dr. Taché has not continued to put forth such legends, sketches and 
studies as rendered his earlier career so brilliant. A number of the best essayists may be 
found among the clergy, such as Messrs. Desaulniers, Raymond, Desmazures and Lacasse. 
I shall not trespass on your time by enumerating the large class of miscellaneous writers, 
but content myself with naming the well-written dissertations of Siméon Lesage on agri- 
cultural matters, the useful volume of Paul de Cazes on the resources of the Province and 
Dominion, the admirable work of Ernest Gagnon, on the “ Chants Populaires du Canada,” 
the memoirs of Meilleur and Chauveau on the progress of education in French Canada, 
and the descriptive studies of LeMoine, eclipsed, as they are, however, by his numerous 
works in English. 
VI. 
JOURNALISTS. 
It is well known that in France journalism is a training school of literature, through 
which most of the cief writers have passed at some epoch of their career. It is the same 
in Canada. Our French countrymen are certainly not very general readers, yet the 
number of their newspapers is greater than is usually supposed, while in some branches 
of higher journalism they are somewhat ahead of ourselves. There are four French dailies 
in Montreal, four in Quebec, which is quite up to the Toronto scale. There are three 
papers in Three Rivers, two in St. Hyacinthe, two in St. Johns, on the Richelieu, and one 
in every little town of the Province. Furthermore, they have one monthly literary 
review, which is more than we can boast of, one illustrated weekly, three or four literary 
weeklies, and such popular periodicals as the Soirées Canadiennes where authors deposit 
their fugitive pieces. It will be allowed that this is not at all a bad showing. What 
detracts considerably from the character of many of these journals in their intensely per- 
sonal style of polemics, but that appears to be in the habits of the people and they seem 
to enjoy it. On the other hand, it must be said that some of the writers on the French 
press rank among the best in the country. DeCelles wields a vigorous pen and is master 
of a broad style. He has many of the qualities of Veuillot. Provencher is possessed of 
a grim humour and is a powerful writer withal. Dansereau left a profound trace during 
his career in journalism. Then there are Trudel, Bienvenu, Gélinas, Beaugrand, Demers 
and Tremblay in Montreal; Tarte, Desjardins, Tardivel, Langelier, Levasseur, Bouchard, 
Huot and one or two others in Quebec. 
The French population may be set down, in round numbers, at a million. Of this 
number, taking the usual average of ten per cent., not more than 100,000 can be said to 
