Stray leaves : or, Traces of travel

A rain‑soaked departure from Montreal sets the tone for a contemplative pilgrimage across the St. Lawrence. As the ship pulls free, the crowd’s waving handkerchiefs and the cathedral’s Benediction blend the ordinary with the solemn, while the narrator records the vivid mix of French hymns and English prayers that echo through the decks. The journey quickly becomes a moving tableau of faith, camaraderie, and the awe‑inspiring river that stretches before them.

Onboard, priests and lay travelers alike turn the vessel’s decks into makeshift chapels, filling the night with chants of Veni Creator, the Magnificat, and familiar hymns such as Nearer My God to Thee. The passage through Quebec’s historic port brings a brief encounter with the cloistered Ursuline nuns, whose gentle singing adds a quiet reverence. Through lyrical snapshots of villages, hills, and the river’s grandeur, the diary captures the pilgrim’s sense of being simultaneously rooted in tradition and adrift on a new, boundless landscape.