Herr Kalm, stretching out his arms as if to embrace the lovely
landscape and clasp it to his bosom, exclaimed with fresh
enthusiasm, "See Quebec, and live forever!"
"Dear Kalm," said the Governor, catching the fervor of his friend,
as he rested his hand affectionately on his shoulder, "you are as
true a lover of nature as when we sat together at the feet of
Linnaeus, our glorious young master, and heard him open up for us the
arcana of God's works; and we used to feel like him, too, when he
thanked God for permitting him to look into his treasure-house and
see the precious things of creation which he had made."
"Till men see Quebec," replied Kalm, "they will not fully realize
the meaning of the term, 'God's footstool.' It is a land worth
living for!"
"Not only a land to live for, but a land to die for, and happy the
man who dies for it! Confess, Kalm,--thou who hast travelled in all
lands,--think'st thou not it is indeed worthy of its proud title of
New France?"
"It is indeed worthy," replied Kalm; "I see here a scion of the old
oak of the Gauls, which, if let grow, will shelter the throne of
France itself in an empire wider than Caesar wrested from Ambiotrix.
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