MusEuM AND Art NOoTES 99

A short address was then given by John A. Fraser, M.P., who confined his
remarks to a graceful tribute to the fine character and splendid endeavour of the men
and women who laid the foundations upon which we build. He was followed by
Roderick Mackenzie, M.P.P., R. M. Campbell of Horsefly, and William Adams,
ex-M.P.P., all of whom spoke in similar strain. The last speaker, Mr. John Hosie,
Provincial Librarian and Archivist, took occasion to tell of the work of the Archives
Department at Victoria, and appealed to the company to assist him in his work He
also announced that it was the intention of the Government to restore immediately
the old Court House at Richfield, and that there was a possibility of the building
being used, after restoration, as a museum for Cariboo relics. This announcement
was received with applause.

An important part of the program was the happy introduction by Mr. Louis
LeBourdais of the honoured old-timers on the platform. Calling upon each in turn,
Mr. LeBourdais made an appropriate little speech, and the old-timers individually
bowed their acknowledgments, after which the audience sang lustily “For They Are
Jolly Good Fellows.” The ceremony opened with the singing of “O Canada” and
closed with “God Save the King.”

The main feature of the evening’s festivities was the dancing in the historical
old Theatre Royal, built in 1869, and on an overflow platform across the street. The
Legion Band from Quesnel furnished the music, supplemented by a local orchestra
composed of fiddles, mouth organs, banjo, guitar, accordians and drum. Some of the
instrumentalists in both the Legion and the orchestra were descendants of notable
old-timers. Chief among them were Jack Hamilton, son of Gavin Hamilton, Hudson’s
Bay Factor, and John Houser, whose mother was one of the honoured guests at the
unveiling. Free whiskers were on hand to all who would wear them, and the supply
soon gave out. The dancing continued far into Sunday morning. Non-dancers found
diversion in games of chance and other attractions. By 8 a.m. on Sunday morning,
when the church bell began to peal for the service conducted by Canon Parrott, the
sounds of revelry had barely ceased. The old church was built by the Rev. Mr.
Reynard in 1869, and not a few visitors attended the divine services. The writer has
visited many similar primitive edifices in his time, but has never entered one with
such clean-scrubbed floors, pews and woodwork. Quite obviously the care of the
interior is a labour of love to someone.

By Sunday afternoon Barkerville had almost resumed its wonted peace. Barker-
ville old-timers had retired to their porches to converse in groups over the memorable
happenings of the day before, but the giddy crowd had gone, and it will be many
moons ere Barkerville again sees a repetition of the stirring events of August 10, 1929,

(Gas
noon