From the Blessed Virgin to Neptune seems indeed a far call. Yet it was mention of this figure which recalled to Jobin’s memory that about the same time he did this he also carved the figure of Neptune to stand on the old hotel of that name on Mountain-Hill Street near South Matelot, in Quebec.
The student of history, abroad in Quebec, is familiar with the old carved-wood figure of General Wolfe, now sacredly preserved, after an escapade to the West Indies, in the library of the Historical Society of Quebec. But few there be who know that Jobin carved the substitute which fills in the niche in the old house on the street corner, and that it is thanks to Jobin that Wolfe still mounts guard on the corner of Rue Saint Jean. A new interest must cling to this old scarlet-coated figure of the General whose romantic boat-ride down the river to attack the city in the rear gave Quebec to the Empire. It is said that a condition of an old will provides that a figure of Wolfe must always stand in this niche in the old house facing the street, so that the passing world may never forget how much it owes to Wolfe.
Jobin’s work of carving sacred figures either for use in churches, in cemeteries, in church or monastery gardens, or as crosses and calvaires by the roadside, has been deeply appreciated. For some churches he has carved practically every figure in use.
For l’eglise at Saint Henri, he says he has carved as many as thirty-two figures in all; for the church at Riviere de Loup, seventeen; for the church at Saint Foye, three--the Blessed Virgin, Christ on the Cross and The Sacred Heart.
As Jobin told of the Saint Foye “figures” he rasped the wood of a new figure growing under his hand. He paused in his work as he recalled “That church was burned, but my figures they....” No word completed the sentence but the rasp went up in a dramatic sweep to indicate the high standing figures escaping the flames.
Of the roadside calvaires carved by Jobin, one at Beaumont is a good example. Another stands at Visitation. The latter is a new one erected last summer.
Although much of Jobin’s work is bought in the Province of Quebec, orders are constantly coming to the old carver of Saint Anne’s from other parts of Canada. And many a figure in the United States attests to his skill as woodcarver.
