James Fulford, a new member from Toronto, has sent me the following,
which may raise a smile in these days that may seem chilly to cosseted
Europeans:
In "With the "Ophir" round the Empire; an account of the tour of the
Prince and Princess of Wales, 1901" the writer comments:
I am not sure that this feeling of home was not due in part to another
cause. It was raining. The climate of Canada has been woefully
misrepresented. Most people remember the words, " Our Lady of the Snows,"
and forget the licence of the poet. There is a popular belief that in the
Dominion they leap from " winter to summer without a spring." I heard
some doggerel the other day which puts the case in a less subtly
humorous way:
There was a small boy in Quebec,
Who was buried in snow to the neck.
Said a friend: 'Are you friz?'
Says he: 'Yes, I is,
But they don't call this cold in Quebec.'"
See
http://www.archive.org/stream/withophirroundem00maxwuoft/withophirroundem00maxwuoft_djvu.txt
Best regards to all
John R
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