It seems very strange now to drive to the top of Chapel Street in Souris and see the vacant lot where St. Mary's Convent stood for so many years.

First, the brick structure begun in 1876, and completed in 1881, was demolished. For a time, the wooden annex built in 1919 remained. It was renamed MacDonald Hall in memory of the founder of the Convent, Reverend Donald Francis MacDonald, parish priest from 1864 to 1902. MacDonald Hall served the community well for a number of years but was torn down after a fire gutted the building so extensively that it was beyond repair.

Still the site was not vacant, as a large square house belonging to the parish and later sold to Herbert Cheverie still remained. This summer this house was moved to a new lot.

The Convent was a large, flat-roofed structure of four floors. There were entries at each end and a broad outside staircase in the centre leading up to the second floor entry.

The first floor had cloak rooms, recreation room, kitchen and dining, rooms for boarders and Sisters. The second floor held office, music room, chapel, reception room and parlor. The classrooms were on the third floor and sleeping quarters on the top floor. And then there was an attic as well.

In 1889 the building was heated with thirteen stoves. Coal for these stoves had to be carried from the basement to ther various parts of the building, including the top floor. Later furnace and radiators were installed but the building was always difficult to heat properly.

St. Mary's Convent in Souris

The buildings are gone but, for those of us who attended school there, the memories remain. Who could forget Grade One and Mother St. Elizabeth. When she opened her big high cupboard to sell a pencil or scribbler to her small students, the cedar smell of the pencils filled the classroom. There must still be hundreds of Souris residents who learned their ABC's from Mother St. Elizabeth, for she taught there for many years.

A move to Grade Three in the main building was a big step forward. You were no longer in the "Baby Class". In Grade Three you learned to write the date and year. It was probably the first recognition that passing time meant more than birthdays.

There were concerts in the music room or the assembly hall in the annex and special occasions when the Mother Provincial paid a visit. All these events required that students dress in school uniforms - dress black dress with white collar and cuffs.

And there were the fun times too. One big event was Mi-careme's visit in mid Lent. A loud knock on the classroom door and in he came dressed in his weired costume. It was exciting but terrifying. In Grade Five I had an open bottle of ink in my hand when the knock came. The class and I spent a long time scraping the ink from the hardwood floor of the classroom with razor blades.

To each his memories of St. Mary's Convent. The buildings are gone but, if you wish another look at the old school, you'll find it painted by Pat Kent on the mural in the lobby, over the reception desk at Colville Manor.

Copyright
Waldron H. Leard