THE SOCIAL SIDE.
The Frenchmen, and the wives of those who were fortunate enough to
possess them, were a great social feature in those early days. There
were things they would not participate in, and people with whom they
would not associate, but they were not more aloof than people, say of the
same English standing, would have been. At one time there were four
Counts of the most unimpeachable birth and breeding, resident in the
village of Whitewood, viz.: Count De Langle, Count Henri De Soras,
Count Joumillhac, and Count De Beaulincourt. As far as we remember
Count De Beaulincourt did not participate in any of the business enter-
prises of his compatriots. He purchased three or four acres in the town-
site which was mostly covered with dense poplar and here he erected a
commodious frame house in which he and the Countess and children were
enabled to live shrouded from the public view. Count De Beaulincourt
was an artist of no mean ability. He engaged himself with his painting
and took little or no part in the public or social life of the town.
Count De Langle left his horse ranch and started a general store on
a cash basis which he conducted for about three years. He was a pleas-
ant mannered, fair, good looking man of medium stature, and sold his
bacon and sugar from behind the counter the same as any other store'-
,keeper would do. His wife was a beautiful and charming young woman
who was much liked in the village.
Perhaps nothing will show how these Counts identified themselves
with the town life better than this little fact. Mr. W. H. Hudson, M. A.,
principal of the Whitewood school (now principal of Ladysmith Colleg-
iate near Nanaimo, B. C.), was not only an Oxford classic, he was a fine
musician, and he started a town band. Count Joumillhac, tall, and with
a great physique, could be seen any time playing one of the big brass
basses on the street, and alongside him the handsome Count De Langle,
and one of Count De Beaulincourt's boys. I forget what instrument Count
De Langle played, but probably it was the French horn. The most out-
standing social event of those days and times at Whitewood was what was
known for years afterwards, and is still spoken of by the old-timers as
the Frenchmen's ball. The Frenchmen chartered the Commercial Hotel,
kept by two Englishmen, John Taylor and his son-in-law, Sam Wilson,
and invited the elite of the district and some who were not particularly
elite or anything else. It was a grand success. One would not have
thought it possible to scare up so many claw hammer coats, and white
shirts and low necked dresses in the whole country. But they were there.
And the French Counts were certainly good and courteous and generous
hosts.
One of the last to return to France was Count Henri De Soras. He
was the oldest of the Frenchmen, or nearly so, and it was understood that
he was entitled to possess the ancestral chateau in France, but he pre-
ferred to let his mother live and reign there. We thought we had seen
the last of him, but in the dead of the ensuing winter he returned to
Whitewood. Returning from a social visit one bitterly cold night I said
to him: "I can quite understand your coming back, but why did you
come back in the dead of winter?" He always spoke English very much
like a Frenchman and he replied: "In Paris it rain and rain. Fog. Then
I say I am going back to the Nordwest. My friends say, 'You are crazy;
why you go?' I say, 'I must go where there is some snow, and so here I
am." However he did not stay long. He was one of the finest characters
I have ever met. I think this will be illustrated by the following. I have
mentioned Charles Larry of New Hampshire. The present Charles~Larry
of Whitewood, who runs the forge in that town, is an old North West
Policeman. He went to France in the great war, and was a visitor at
Count De Soras' noble ancestral chateau. The Count's mother had died;
and the Count, an old Zouave officer, was too old for active service. He
entertained Sergeant Larry with the greatest kindness, treating him in
every respect as an equal, and somewhat to Mr. Larry's embarrassment,
as confessed by him to the writer, he gave a formal dinner in his honor,
to which the French noblesse of the vicinity were invited.
M. De Wolff remained in the West residing at Winnipeg. All the rest
returned to France. One and all they deserve a place of high honor
among the Saskatchewan pioneers. It is always a pleasant memory to
think of these gallant and courteous gentlemen of Old France; and the
writer, who knew and worked among them, is glad and proud to have the
opportunity of paying a permanent tribute to their worth.
Note:
Since the above was written we find we have omitted the name
of Count de Seysells. There are probably other omissions from lack of
memory.
Bibliography follows:
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