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Show were dwarfed by the magnitude of this year's, which marked the seventy-fifth anniversary of the foundation of the St. Jean Baptiste society. In other words, it is seventy-five years since the French-Canadians proclaimed him as their patron saint. It also marked Montreal's public acknowledgment, and thanks to Pope Pius X for canonically naming St. John the Baptist as the patron pa-tron saint' of French-Canadians, no matter to what flag they give allegiance. allegi-ance. Quebec made this public demonstration demon-stration of thanks to his holiness last year at the foot of the Laval monument through the Hon. A. Turgeon. The St. Jean Baptist association is a French-Canadian patriotic society as St. Patrick's is to the Irish, St. George's is to the English, and St. Andrew's is to the Scotch. The association was founded in 1834 by Ludger Duveray, a Montreal ojur-nalist, ojur-nalist, with a group of other prominent French-Canadians acting with him. The first general secretary was G. E. Cartier, afterward Sir George Etienne Cartier, the greatest of French-Canadian statesmen, and the man without whose aid and statesmanship Sir John A. MacDonald never would have succeeded suc-ceeded In confederating the provinces of Canada. His Grace Archbishop Bru-chesi Bru-chesi is the grand chaplain of the association. asso-ciation. The celebration opened on June 22 and continued, for five days. Thousands of visitors from other parts of Canada and the United States were present. There are over forty organizations in the United States affiliated with the association. asso-ciation. On June 22 took place the opening open-ing of the national congress. All the French-Canadian societies in Canada and the United States were' represented at the congress, at which questions of vital interest to the French-Canadian race were discussed. Wednesday, June 23, the women's section of the society opened its sessions. The women's section sec-tion numbers more than 7.000. In the evening of June 23 were the bonfires. This part of the program was divided into three sections, covering the whole city, north, east and west, and at 9 o'clock the bonfires were started in each section. The spectacle was most brilliant. bril-liant. The chief event on June 24 was the , celebration of pontifical mass in tha open air at 7 o'clock in Lafnotaine park by his grace Archbishop Bruchesi. Before Be-fore mass the great procession was held in which every French-Canadian society on the continent was represented. In the afternoon there was a great musical festival at the National Lacrosse grounds. The chief event of June 25 was the laying of the comer stone of the Lafon-taine Lafon-taine monument, at which were delivered deliv-ered a number of patriotic speeches in honor of the memory of the great French-Canadian statesmen. THE MOON AN THE POTATO CROP The moon has nothing to do with the growth of potatoes. This statement sounds about as self-evident as a -commencement oration, yet, according to a recent investigation by the department of agriculture, 75 per cent of our farmers farm-ers have been planting potatoes and other crops according to the almanac. It is a very general belief that potatoes planted in the dark of the moon produce the best crop, while the full moon variety va-riety are likely to "run to tops." It seems a bit absurd to suppose that a respectable old moon like ours could find nothing better to do than to stay up nights ruining the potato crop. So Uncle Sam, who has an unquenchable curiosity in such matters, began poking into the moon myth and discovered that it deserved respect only because of its age. His agricultural department workers work-ers found that they could raise Just as poor potatoes in the dark of the moon as in the light. Success Magazine. |