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AT THE FORKS OF THE GRAND that he and the Prince were kindred spirits, and to experience in each royal triumph a vicarious thrill. His father had been a pros- perous landowner, a magistrate, and a colonial aristocrat. He himself had received the education of a gentleman, and his sistersI were attending the Adelaide Academy for Young Ladies in Hamilton. In I859, he had done a grand tour of the British Isles, and had even gazed upon the royal mansion. And so by September I3, the day before His Royal Highness arrived in Paris, Curtis was all a-quiver. In the morning, he walked up to the Junction Station to view the special platform and the two arches of evergreen that were being erected. In the afternoon he left his work and again walked up to view the preparations. Like many other Parisians, Curtis was disappointed that the Prince would not be able to tour the boulevards of the town, visit the public buildings, lay a few corner stones, dig up a few sods; nor, from a lofty eminence, drink in the natural beauties of the majestic Grand and Nith. He regretted, too, that His Royal Highness would catch only an occasional view of the Prettiest Town in Canada, and might be unduly impressed by the taverns, shacks and cattle pens that then surrounded the Junction Station. But he probably hoped that the arches would help to divert the royal attention. On Friday morning, September 14, the sun rose warm and splen- did. From all sides, townsmen and farmers began to converge upon the Junction. About I i.30 a.m., Curtis escorted his mother, two sisters, and Mrs. Carrol to the scene for "the purpose of seeing his Royal Highness the Prince of Wales etc.". There, as a preliminary, they watched Mayor Charles Whitlaw, together with the councillors, mount the steps to the official platform; and they noted how the mayor fingered a roll of parchment he carried - a roll that con- tained an illuminated address, and read in part as follows: The Mayor, Councillors and Inhabitants of Paris, being aware that it is not within the limit of time at your disposal in your tour through Canada to visit all towns through which you may pass by rail, yet having learned that your Royal Highness would change cars at this place, we avail ourselves of the short time thus afforded to bid you a hearty welcome to this portion of Western Canada, and from the feeling of devotion we entertain for our beloved Queen, your mother, we bid you thrice welcome. On the occasion of the visit of your Royal Highness to this country as heir apparent we see in it an earnest desire manifested by our most efficacious sovereign to cement still more closely the affections of a free, happy and prosperous community to the British Empire of which we form a part. . . . May your Royal Highness be protected during the remainder of your continental tour, carried safely back to the land of your fathers and restored again to the bosom of the Royal Family Circle. For almost an hour, Curtis felt the growing tension. Then the great moment arrived: 256