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The Montreal Snow Shoe Club (MSSC) was founded in 1840 by twelve well-known young men of Montreal. It was the first club of its sort in North America (and probably the world) and led the way for hundreds of other clubs like it to be established across Canada and the United States. Though as a club the MSSC was significantly pre-dated by others such as the Royal Montreal Curling Club and the Montreal Hunt, it was snowshoeing that pioneered the organization of sport in Montreal. In the 19th century, only lacrosse (and much later, ice hockey) exceeded the total number of urban snowshoe clubs in Canada.〔S. F. Wise and D. Fisher. “Montreal” in Canada’s Sporting Heroes: Their Lives and Times (Don Mills, Ontario: General Publishing Co. Ltd., 1974). pp. 13-26.〕 In the period before 1867, Lindsay remarks, "a history of snowshoeing in Canada is virtually a history of snowshoeing in Montreal, and, in particular, the Montreal Snow Shoe Club".〔Peter L. Lindsay, “A History of Sport in Canada, 1807-1867” (Ph.D. diss., The University of Alberta, Edmonton, 1969), p. 71.〕 The MSSC laid the foundations for many other winter and sporting clubs to be established in Montreal, and notably the world's first Winter Carnival. The MSSC organized an array of races, but they are best remembered for their night-time torchlit processions from McGill's Gatehouse up through Mount Royal Park, wearing their traditional take on the outfits of the old Québécois trappeurs and the infamous tasselled 'tuque bleu'. At the top a hearty dinner was served in their clubhouse, the club's songs were further sung and before the descent new members were "bounced". The MSSC significantly added to Quebec's reputation throughout the British Empire as the most sociable, colourful and cheerful place to spend winter. ==Early years== In 1840, the first twelve members of the as yet unnamed Montreal Snow Shoe Club (though mainly Anglo, there were several French names too) started by meeting up every Saturday to 'tramp' out into the surrounding countryside. After a walk of between ten and twelve miles, they repaired to a well-known café on St. James Street, where the proprietor, one Monsieur Tetu, "afforded every luxury relished by the jolly crew".〔The Montreal Snow Shoe Club: its history and record, with a synopsis of the racing events of other clubs throughout the Dominion, from 1840 to the present time. By Hugh W. Becket (Beckett Bros., 1882)〕 Tetu's was well-known not just for his choice viand and Henry Hogan's bowl of punch that "served to magnetize those from whom old age had eradicated their tender passion;" but in the continuing melodic synonyms of the club's first historian, Hugh Becket: "Dame Rumour has accused more than one of the handsome fellows who stretched their pedal extremities under mine host Tetu's mahogany, of being attracted thither through the mesmeric influence of the fair dame presiding over the establishment in conjunction with her lord".〔(History of the Montreal Snow Shoe Club from 1840 (1882), by Hugh Becket )〕 In 1843, when membership had significantly increased, the club was informally organized with Colonel Charles Ermatinger of the Royal Montreal Cavalry being elected president. Its 'rules' were drawn from the unwritten traditions of this "Band of Brothers", when memory stood in the place of Minutes and loyalty to the common law of Snow Shoers made any formal code unnecessary. In addition to the weekly 'tramps', the club introduced annual races at the old horse racing field along the St. Pierre River, in what is now Verdun. In good spirit, the club relished all challengers, no matter of their station in life: The MSSC, made up of British officers and Canadians who would become associated with Montreal's Golden Square Mile, competed alongside non-commissioned officers, former voyageurs and native Indians (notably Narcisse and 'the wonder' Keroniare). In those days, ingenuity was welcomed, and Ermatinger heartily congratulated an Indian named Deroche, who on a particularly icey day had beaten him in a steeplechase, having cleverly attached spikes to his snowshoes beforehand.〔 These tournaments soon became an array of popular individual events cheered on by throngs of spectators. The races were concluded with a large dinner given for all the competitors; involving toasts, prize-giving, speeches, snowshoeing songs, jokes, dancing and "bouncing," the name given to an unusual but favourite custom of the Montreal snowshoers. It was started by the MSSC and afterwards popularly adopted by all the other snowshoe clubs set up after them. Guests of honour, new members or winners of snowshoe races were "bounced", by being thrown into the air repeatedly and caught either by hands or a blanket, as depicted in the picture.〔(McCord Museum, Montreal )〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Montreal Snow Shoe Club」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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