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Heading south along rue des Jardins brings you to the narrow rue Donnacona, where a sculptured hand holding a quill - a monument to the women who, since 1639, have dedicated their lives to teaching young Quebecois - rests on a pedestal. It seems to point the way to the Chapelle des Ursulines , built by a tiny group of Ursuline nuns who arrived in Quebec in 1639 calling themselves "the Amazons of God in Canada". Their task was to bring religion to the natives and later to the daughters of the settlers, a mission carried out in the classrooms of North America's first girls' school - the buildings still house a private school. They also cared for the filles du roi , marriageable orphans and peasant girls imported from France to swell the population. These girls were kept in separate rooms in the convent for surveillance by the local bachelors, who were urged to select a wife within fifteen days of the ship's arrival - a fine of three hundred livres was levied on any man who failed to take his pick within the period. Fat girls were the most desirable, as it was believed they were more inclined to stay at home and be better able to resist the winter cold. The Ursulines' first mother superior, Marie Guyart de l'Incarnation, was widowed at age 19 and left her son with family when she entered the Ursulines de Tours monastery twelve years later. Her letters to him once she finally made it to Quebec give some sharp insights into the early days of the city: "It would be hard to live here an hour without having the hands protected and without being well covered. Although the beds are covered well with quilts or blankets, scarcely can one keep warm when lying on them." Her likeness can be seen in a replica of a posthumous portrait by Pommier in the interesting little museum (May-Sept Tues-Sat 10am-noon & 1-5pm, Sun 1-5pm; Oct-April Tues-Sun 1-4.30pm; $4), housed in the former home of one of the first nuns. A painting by Frere Luc, though executed in France, pictures a Canadian version of the Holy Family: Joseph is shown presenting a Huron girl to Mary, while through the window one can glimpse Cap Diamant and the St Lawrence flowing past wigwams and campfires. Other paintings, documents and household items testify to the harshness of life in the colony, but lace-work and embroidery are the highlights, particularly the splendid ornamental gowns produced by the Ursulines in 1739. Marie de l'Incarnation's remains are entombed in the oratory, but public access is limited to the adjoining chapel (May-Oct Tues-Sat 10-11.30am & 1.30-4.30pm, Sun 1.30-4.30pm; free), rebuilt in 1902 but retaining the sumptuous early eighteenth-cent-ury interior by sculptor Pierre-Noel Levasseur. A plaque indicates General Montcalm's resting place below the chapel, though only his skull is buried there. The collection of seventeenth and eighteenth-century paintings were acquired from France in the 1820s. Next to the museum the Centre Marie-de-l'Incarnation (Feb-Nov same hours as chapel; free) sells religious and historical books, and displays a few of Marie's personal effects.
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