Page:Tourist's Maritime Provinces.djvu/413

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CHRONOLOGY—ST. JOHN'S—LABRADOR
349

received and cared for without religious, racial or national distinctions.

Water Street is solidly built of grey stone. The most conspicuous buildings are the Court House whose corner-stone was laid by King George when Prince of Wales, the Post Office, and the railway station, at some distance from the passenger wharves. The Colonial Museum is an interesting exposition of native products, animals and Indian relics.

Strangers admire the pure Gothic of the Church of England Cathedral, and visit the ridge above it to see the painted ceiling and altar-piece of the Romanist Cathedral and the pillared House of Parliament. Government House, a mansion of dark stone, is at the head of a wind-blown and unsightly street overlooking the harbour. Nearly all the buildings of this "most stubbornly English" of all the Empire's over-sea capitals are of dull coloured wood. Few trees gain a footing in the shallow soil which covers the city's rocky foundations. The brighter the summer sun the more dreary in contrast is the municipal landscape. There are, however, several drives and vantage-points which dispel the memory of St. John's gracelessness.

From the crest of Signal Hill is unfolded an inspiriting panorama of bays, looming sea-walls, the spreading ocean, inland meadows, lakes and groves. Cabot Tower was erected at the peak to