Albert Ferland, son of Alfred and Joséphine Hogue Ferland, was born on 23 August 1872 in the oldest district of Montreal, the area that would one day be called simply "The Parish," rich in history, its buildings dating from the ancien régime. Born into the midst of these surroundings, he had the past in his blood, so to speak. He spent his childhood in Montreal, close to Mount Royal--which he saw as his mountain--and from there he looked off toward his first horizons: the hills of Beloeil, Rougemont, and SaintBruno. For five years, from 1879 to 1884, he lived in the nearby Lac Simon (Labelle) area, in the heart of the Laurentian Hills; his father, a modestly successful industrialist, had decided to install his large family there in the open country on the edge of an Indian reserve. At the age of twelve Ferland returned with his family...