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Secondary sourcePainting1925

The Order of Good Times Established by Samuel de Champlain

Charles William Jefferys · 1925

A 1925 painting by Charles William Jefferys depicting Champlain's Order of Good Cheer, a winter society he founded at Port-Royal.

Depicts the winter society Champlain founded to keep morale high, quoting his own account of its purpose.

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Painting of a lively 17th-century feast in a wooden hall. A bearded man in a white collar and gold chain stands at right holding a staff, while servants carry platters of food and a fiddler plays. Feathered and fur-clad figures sit at left.
Charles William Jefferys, The Order of Good Times Established by Samuel de Champlain, 1925.

About this source

What it is

This painting by Charles William Jefferys, made in 1925, shows a feast inside a wooden hall, imagining the 'Order of Good Times' (Ordre de Bon Temps) that Samuel de Champlain established. The accompanying quotation, taken from Champlain's own 1613 account of his voyages, describes how the order worked: a chain was ceremonially placed around the neck of one man each day, giving him the duty of hunting, with each man competing to bring back the best game.

Why it matters

Champlain's own words show he created this custom to keep morale and health up during a hard winter, and that it was appreciated by both the French and the Indigenous people present. Jefferys' image became a standard illustration in Canadian classrooms, showing how later generations visualized Champlain's leadership and the shared life at the settlement.

Look closer

  • What does Champlain's own account tell us about why he created this order?
  • How does the painting's composition show different groups of people at the feast?
  • Why might this scene have become a popular classroom image in Canada?

This painting is part of the curated material that grounds the AI version of Samuel de Champlain on Humy.ai — when students ask about related events, the AI can quote it and cite it.

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