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Chapter 17:
The Canadian Parishes and Lion:
Bay du Vin, on the winter was entirely cut off from the world. It was a village of Northern fishermen. Anglicanism was traditional, since English had been their ancestors. They were not spiritual and very sinful sexually (Lion's version). Actually they were typical peasants. Gordon and Lorne was on the Tobique and consisted of several churches. Lion had to be on the go for weeks at a time. Sandwiched in with presbyterians, Holy Rollers and Roman Catholics, he made no headway though he worked very hard. New Denmark, or Salmonhurst, or Drummond, call it what you will, it was Danish for the most part, and the rest was made up of destitute English emigrants, a foreign belt out in the newlands and a scattering of french. It was sandwiched in between French settlements and was a wonderful place to live.
The people were gay, hardworking and full of life. They were Anglicans because of an accident. They came out to the coutry as emigrants and when a death occurred, they sought a priest to bury the dead. The man was an anglican who persuaded the bishop to license a Dane as a lay reader. The man was a schoolmaster and helped the Bishop translate the Book of Common Prayer into Danish. But the Dames were Anglican in name only. They kept the traditional vestments and ceremonies of the Formal Lutheranism. This was it. I had the time of my life. I learnt Danish. I learnt to cook, to sew, to ski, to skate, to dance, and we nearly sang our heads off. Lion was respected by the Danes and he respected them; Neither loved the other.