# 2 Sept 14

The Pearce story.
If you remember, the family had just pulled in to Torontoa and after being shuffled about in their train car were ready to head out to Montreal so lets pick up the story again.

  The second morning they crossed into the province of Ontario and swung northward into the black spruce forests and then on around Lake Superior. That night they arrived at the Toronto Rail Station and their car was moved to a different track and left overnight. The following morning at daylight, they were shunted with much banging and jolting onto still another track and hitched to a different train that would continue on to Montreal. The train backed into the station and more passengers were loaded aboard and they finally left just before noon on the final leg of their rail trip.

Chapter 3.

  The rail line now passed through town after town and various cities, as a result the trip was at a much slower speed and broken by frequent stops. Consequently the afternoon passed slowly and one more night was spent on board. After a fitful sleep they pulled into the Montreal station just after seven am.

  After they had gathered all their luggage together on the station platform, Doctor Pearce found a porter and had everything moved out side to the street. “We will have to take a taxi from here, our hotel is somewhere near the docks and much too far to walk.”

 On the third try a taxi large enough to accommodate the whole family and their luggage was engaged and in moments they were tearing through streets and alleys; John quite enjoyed the ride but Mrs. Pearce kept her eyes closed most of the time and his sisters alternated between gasps and squeals. Doctor Pearce remained stoical.

  The trip lasted about one half hour then the taxi pulled up in front of an old three story brick building that by way of an ivy covered sign boasted itself as the ‘Chateau Petit Lyon’.

  The rooms were small and there were not enough beds for all, after some haggling and arguing the doctor was able to secure a second room only two doors from the first.  “We will have to make the best of it,” was his comment. “Our ship sails in three days time. The good thing about that is we will be able to do some exploring. Right now I shall telephone Cunard and make sure everything is in order for our departure.”

  He had barely uttered the words when there was a knock on the door, It was the desk clerk, “Pardon, Messieur but this message arrived before your arrival, it is urgent.” He passed a folded note and left before Doctor Pearce could say anything.

  Doctor Pearce unfolded the note and read it to himself then said, “A message from the Cunard office saying to call immediately. I’ll go down and be back as soon as I have talked to them.”

  The family all waited in the one room although both John and Jean wanted to check on the other room. “No.” Mrs. Pearce said, “We will wait until your father returns.”

  A restless hour later Doctor Pearce let himself into the room and with an unusually grim expression said, “I’m afraid our rail journey is not over yet, it seems that for the foreseeable future all trans-Atlantic ships sailing from Canada will be leaving from Halifax. The next one leaves the day after tomorrow and we will be unable to be there in time; I have reservations for the next sailing after that, it will leave in a fortnight.”

  Mrs. Pearce said nothing, just pursed her lips in silence but in answer to the children all making various noises to express their unanimous displeasure with the news she said, “Now, now it is the Lord’s will, he must have a reason for this change.”

  “Well my dear I think that this may have more to do with a Government decision than the L ---- ah ahem.” He lapsed into silence as Mrs. Pearce directed a glare in his direction.  Then, “Anyway I have booked us seats on the train leaving tomorrow evening, we will have to find accommodation when we arrive, I also cabled London.”

The next day dragged through the morning and although they had almost the whole day to explore and sight see, their hotel was removed from the downtown area and the scheduled departure of eight pm dampened any desire to travel very far.

  Finally Doctor Pearce after inquiring at the desk, discovered that there was a street car with a stop only a block from the hotel, it could be boarded for a minimal price and  after meandering about would return to the same stop after two hours.

  “It will be like going on an escorted tour except the conductor won’t tell us much.” He declared.

  However the conductor turned out to be a friendly sort and having very few passengers other than the family, entertained them with a history of the area they traveled through and pointed out a number of old land marks.

  On their return it didn’t take long to repack their few belongings. “We can put in the rest of the day here or we can leave now for the train station and wait.” Said Doctor Pearce.

  Without hesitation all agreed it would be better to leave right away. Even Mrs. Pearce agreed. “At least there will be things to observe and there will probably be a few shops nearby.” Was her comment.

  They packed their luggage down the stairs and after a short wait for a taxi were on their way back to the station they had arrived at some thirty two hours earlier.

  Although they were quite early for the train, the luggage clerk checked in their bags, so unencumbered except for two small overnight cases they set off to explore the area. After the second clothing shop, Doctor Pearce said to Mrs. Pearce, “Why don’t you take the girls while John and I explore on our own? We can meet back at the main entrance, um oh say in two hours that will be five o’clock, then we will have time to have an early dinner at that restaurant inside.”

  In short order the two males of the family were exploring on their own.

 Just over two hours later they were all being seated in a cafeteria. The children for the first time in their lives were soon biting into hamburgers on a bun albeit the two younger ones shared one between them. After dinner the family strolled around and through the station several times then finally took seats on the hard wooden benches and with varying degrees of patience waited for boarding time.

  They boarded just before eight o’clock and a few minutes later the train jerked a few times, then slowly moved out through the yard. There was still some day light left when they moved out onto a bridge span and on across the St. Lawrence River. They were in a day coach so all had to make themselves as comfortable as possible on their seats. Margaret and Mary fell asleep almost right away and didn’t stir for many hours. Jean composed herself on one seat and was soon sleeping some what restlessly. John stared out the window at the lighted streets they passed then later out into the darkness, his head drooped as he gradually fell asleep and when his mother twisted and pulled him down onto his seat he mumbled in protest but didn’t wake up. The two parents talked quietly for awhile, then settled back and dozed fitfully through the night.