DURING the present year, eighty-six have been baptized, and, adding to these the fourteen of last year, there are a hundred souls in all who, we believe, have been rescued from the service of the devil in this country since our return. Of this. number God has called ten to Heaven,—six while they were young, and four more advanced in age. One of these, named François Sangwati, was Captain of our village. He had a naturally good disposition, and consented very willingly to be instructed and to receive Holy Baptism, a course he had previously praised and approved in others. I admired the tender Providence of God in the conversion of a woman, who is one of the four deceased. I baptized her [5] this Autumn at the village of Scanonaenrat, when returning from the house of Louys de saincte Foy, where we had gone to instruct his parents. The deafness of this sick woman, and the depths of the mysteries I brought to her notice, prevented her from sufficiently understanding me; and, besides, the accent of that Nation is a little different from that of the Bears, with whom we live. My own imperfect acquaintance with the language rendered me  still less intelligible, and increased my difficulties. But Our Lord, who willed to save this soul, immediately sent us a young man, who served us as interpreter. He had been with us in the Cabin of Louys, and had heard us talking of our mysteries, so that he already knew a considerable part of them, and understood very well what I said. It is said that this woman, who was named Marie, in the midst of her greatest weakness foretold that she would not die for eight days; and so it happened.

They seek Baptism almost entirely as an aid to health. We try to purify this intention, and to lead them to receive from the hand of God alike sickness and health, death and life; and teach them that the life-giving waters of Holy [6] Baptism principally impart life to the soul, and not to the body. However, they have the opinion so deeply rooted that the baptized, especially the children, are no longer sickly, that soon they will have spread it abroad and published it everywhere. The result is that they are now bringing us children to baptize from two, three, yes, even seven leagues away.

Moreover, the divine Goodness which acts in us according to the measure of our Faith, has thus far preserved these little ones in good health; so that the death of those who have passed away has been attributed to incurable and hopeless maladies contracted beforehand; and, if another has occasionally suffered from some trifling ailment, the parents, although still unbelieving, have attributed it to the neglect and irreverence they have shown toward the service of God.

There is in our village a little Christian girl named Louyse, who at six months began to walk alone; the  parents declare they have seen nothing like it, and ,attribute it to the efficacy of Holy Baptism. Another person told us one day, with great delight, that his little  boy, who had always been sick and much emaciated before Baptism, had been very well since then. This will suffice to show how Our Lord is inspiring them with a high opinion of this divine Sacrament, which is strengthened by the perfect health God gives us, and which he has given to all the French who have been in this country; for, they say, it is very strange that, except a single man who died here from natural causes, all the others, during the twenty-five years or thereabout in which the, French have been frequenting this region, have scarcely ever been sick.

From all this may be easily gathered the present state of the young Christianity of this country, and the hope for the future. Two or three things besides will help to the same end.

[1.] The first is the method we pursue in the instruction of the Savages.

We gather together the men as often as we can; for their councils, their feasts, their games, and their dances do not permit us to have them here at any 'hour, nor every day. We pay especial attention to the Old Men, inasmuch as they are the ones who determine and decide all matters, and everything is ordered by their advice.  All come willingly to hear us; all, without exception, say they have a desire to go to Heaven and fear the fiery torments of hell. They have hardly anything to answer us with; we could wish sometimes that they would bring forward more objections, which would always afford us better opportunity to explain our holy Mysteries in detail. Of a truth, the Commandments of God are very just and reasonable, and they must be less than men who find therein anything to censure. Our Hurons, who have as yet only the light of nature, have found them so noble, so agreeable to reason, that after having heard the explanation of them they would say, in admiration, ca chia attwain aa arrihwaa,

Certainly these are important matters, and worthy of being discussed in our councils; they speak the truth, they say nothing but what is to the purpose; we have never heard such discourse." Among other things which made them acknowledge the truth of one God, Creator, Governor, and Preserver of all things, was the illustration I employed of the child conceived in its mother's womb. " Who," said I, but God forms the body of. this child; who out of one and the same material forms the heart, the liver, the lungs,—in short, an infinite variety of members, all necessary, all well-proportioned, and joined one to another? Not the father, for these wonders take place in his absence, and sometimes after his death. Nor is it the mother, for she does not know what takes place in her womb. If it be the father or the mother that forms this body at discretion, why is not a son or a daughter begotten at will? Why do they not produce children, handsome, tall, strong, and active? And, if parents give the soul to their children, why do they not impart to all of them great minds, a retentive memory, and all sorts of noble and praiseworthy qualities, seeing that there is no one who would not desire to have such children if this were in his power?" To all this the Hurons, full of wonder, make no reply. They confess that we speak the truth, and that indeed there is a God; they declare that henceforth they will recognize,  serve, and honor him; and, desiring to be promptly instructed, they ask us to teach them the Catechism every day; but, as I have said, their occupations and amusements do not permit that.

Moreover, the harmony of all points of Christian Doctrine pleases them wonderfully; "For," they say, " you always speak connectedly, and consistently with what you have said; you never wander off, you never speak save to the purpose; we, on the contrary, speak heedlessly, not knowing what we say." It is a characteristic of falsehood to embarrass itself in a multitude of contradictions.

The evil is, they are so attached to their old customs that, knowing the beauty of truth, they are content to approve it without embracing it. Their usual reply is, oniondechouten, "Such is the custom of our country." We have fought this excuse and have taken it from their mouths, but not yet from their hearts; our Lord will do that when it shall please him.

[2.]Thus, then, we deal with the Old Men. As the women and children caused us much trouble, we have hit upon this plan, which succeeds fairly well. Father Antoine Daniel and the other Fathers go every day through the Cabins, teaching the children, whether baptized or not, Christian doctrine,—namely, the sign of the Cross, the Pater, the Ave, the Credo, the Commandments of God, the Prayer to the Guardian Angel, and other brief prayers, all in their own tongue, because these Peoples have a natural inaptitude for learning any other.

On Sundays, we assemble all these young people twice in our Cabin, which serves as a Chapel. In the morning we get them to assist at Mass, even to the offertory, before which we solemnly bless the holy water; then I make them say all together, after me, the Pater, the Ave, and other prayers they know. In the afternoon I propose to them some little question from the Catechism, and make them give account of what they have learned during the week, giving to each some little prize according to his merit.

This method, along with the little rewards, has wonderful results. For, in the first place, it has kindled among all the children so great a desire to learn that there is not even one who, if it can stammer out words at all, does not desire to be instructed; and, as they are almost all fairly intelligent, they make rapid progress, for they even teach one another.

I cannot tell you the satisfaction and consolation these little children give us. When we consider their Fathers, still plunged in their superstitions, although recognizing sufficiently the truth, we are afraid that God, provoked by their sins, has rejected them for a time; but, as for the children, without doubt he holds out his arms to them and draws them to himself. The eagerness they show to learn the duties of a Christian keeps us from doubting it. The smallest ones throw themselves into our arms, as we pass through the Cabins, and do not require to be urged to talk and to learn. Father Daniel hit upon the plan of quieting a little child, crying in its mother's arms, by having it make the sign of the Cross. And indeed, one day when I had just been teaching the Catechism to them in our Cabin, this child made us laugh; its mother was carrying it in her arms, and was going out; but, as soon as she reached the door, it began to cry so that she was compelled to turn back. She asked it what was the matter. "Let me begin again," it said, " let me begin again, I want to say more." I then got it to make again the sign of the Cross, and it immediately began to laugh and to jump for joy. I saw the same child, another time, crying hard because it had had its finger frozen; but it quieted down and laughed, as soon as they had it make the sign of the Cross. I dwell willingly upon this matter, as I am sure pious souls take pleasure in hearing all these particulars. In the beginnings of this infant Church, what can we speak about if not the stammerings of our spiritual children?

We have one little girl, among others, named Marie Aoesiwa, who has not her equal. Her whole satisfaction seems to be in making the sign of the Cross and in saying her Pater and Ave. Scarcely have we set foot in her Cabin, when she leaves everything to pray to God. When we assemble the children for prayers or for Catechism, she is always among the first, and hastens there more cheerfully than many would to play. She does not stir from our Cabin, and does not omit making the sign of the Cross, and saying over and over fifty times a day the Pater and Ave. She gets others to do the same; and, one of our [14] Frenchman having newly come, her only greeting was to take his hand, and have him make the sign of the Cross. Often she is in the field when our Fathers recite their Office there; she stands in the road, and, almost every time they return, she begins to make the sign of the Cross, and to pray to God in a loud voice.

Another little girl named Catherine had often been wayward about receiving instruction, and so had not been rewarded like the others. Some days afterward,  one of her companions brought her to one of our Fathers, giving him to understand that she was quite disposed to learn; but, when it came to the point, she acted as usual. The little girl who had brought her became annoyed, and used all her little natural rhetoric to make her open her lips and to get her to speak,—sometimes using threats, sometimes holding out a reward from me if she spoke properly; she was so earnest that she succeeded, to the great satisfaction of those of our Fathers who were listening to her.

Another benefit that results from this practice—which is in conformity with our Institute—is, that even the adults become instructed by this means; for the desire of the fathers and mothers that their children should be praised and rewarded leads them to be instructed themselves, in order to teach their children; particularly many older girls take pleasure in imitating the younger ones. When they are returning from the forest, they often stop the first of our Fathers whom they meet, and say to him, ta arrihwaienstan sen, "Teach me, I pray thee;" and although they may be well laden, they are not satisfied unless he has them say the Pater and the Ave. Sometimes they anticipate us, and, from as far as they can see one of our Fathers, they begin to recite what they know. What a consolation to hear these districts resound with the name of Jesus, where the devil has been, so to speak, adored and recognized as God during so many ages.

This exercise also enables us to improve greatly in the use and knowledge of the language, which is no small gain. Generally speaking they praise an approve the Christian Religion, and blame their wicked customs; but when will they leave them off entirely? Some say to us: "Do you think you are going to succeed in overturning the Country?" Thus do they style the change from their Pagan and Barbarous life to one that is civilized and Christian. We reply that we are not so presumptuous, but that what is impossible to man is not only possible but easy to God. Here is another indication of their good will toward the Faith. Monsieur de Champlain and Monsieur the General du Plessis Bochart rendered us great service last year, by exhorting the Hurons in full council to embrace the Christian Religion, and by telling them that it was the only means not only of being some day truly happy in Heaven, but also of cementing in the future a very close alliance with the French,—who, if this were done, would readily come into their Country, marry their daughters, teach them different arts and trades, and assist them against their enemies; and that, if they would bring some of their children next year, to be instructed at Kébec, our Fathers would take good care of them. And, inasmuch as the Captains of the country were not there, they asked them to hold a general council on their return, concerning the points mentioned; also to give me the letters with which they were pleased to honor me, in which these Gentlemen informed us of what had been said, in order that we might be present at the Huron Council, and be able to avail ourselves of what they had done.

In accordance with this, in the month of April last, having been invited to an Assembly or Council, where all the Old Men and Chiefs of the Nation of the Bear met to deliberate on their great feast of the dead, I took occasion to show them the letters of these Gentlemen, and asked them to decide, after careful  deliberation, what they wished to answer thereto. I told them that every man, as possessing an immortal soul, would at last, after this life, go to one or the other of two places, Paradise or Hell, and that forever; but that these places were widely different, since Paradise is a place abounding in blessings of all kinds, and free from all manner of ills; Hell, a place where no blessing comes, and where ills of all kinds abound; that it is a fiery furnace, in the midst of which the damned would be forever tormented, and burned without ever being consumed; that they must now consider to which of these two places they preferred to go some day, forever, and to do this while they were still in this life, because the matter was decided so far as it concerned all the dead for whom they had made or were going to make feasts; that all those who had slighted God and broken his commandments had followed the path to Hell, where they now were tormented by punishments that could not be imagined, and for which there was no remedy. I told them that, if they wished to go to Heaven, we would teach them the way; and, inasmuch as all affairs of importance are managed here by presents, and as the Porcelain that takes the place of gold and silver in this Country is all-powerful, I presented in this Assembly a collar of twelve hundred beads of Porcelain, telling them that it was given to smooth the difficulties of the road to Paradise. It is customary to employ such terms, when they make presents to succeed in some difficult enterprise.

Then all, in turn expressing their opinions, said that they dreaded these glowing fires of Hell, and that they preferred the road to Heaven. There was, nevertheless, one who—either seriously, or more probably in  jest—said it was very fine that all should wish to go to Heaven, and be happy; but that, as far as he was concerned, it did not matter even if he should be burned in Hell. I replied that God gave us all the choice of the one or the other; that he did not know what Hell fire was, and that I hoped he would change his mind when he was better informed.

You see the inclination of the Hurons, and especially of the Nation of the Bear, to receive Christianity; and this will be greatly increased by the fact that we have already baptized many of their children. For they say, " We do not wish to be separated from our children, we desire to go to Heaven with them. You can judge," they say, " how much we approve your talk, seeing we willingly listen to it, without contradiction, and permit you to baptize our children."

I must not forget to express on this occasion the satisfaction which Louys de saincte Foy gives us; he certainly performs his duties as a Christian as much to our edification and pleasure as formerly he failed therein. In this month of September he had a desire to return to our house at Kébec for the winter, in order to resume quietly [20] the good instructions he had had formerly from our Fathers in France, and to devote himself again to the practice of virtue and Christian piety. We strongly approved this design, the more so as he could have taken with him some young relative who might have been instructed and baptized there; but as some difficulty came in the way of his resolution, he concluded that he would pass a good part of the Winter with us. This he has done with much satisfaction and profit, both to himself and to us; for he has resumed attendance upon the Sacraments, and the habit of  prayer. At Christmas he made a very good general Confession for the period since his Baptism.

Besides, in our Catechizing and teaching of the Savages, he served as Interpreter, and has translated several things into the Huron language for us, wherein we admired the facility with which he understood our language, and comprehended and explained the most difficult mysteries. In short, he gives evidence that truly he has the fear of God before his eyes.

To conclude this chapter, we hope to send you Fathers Antoine Daniel and Ambroise Davot with a band of honest little Hurons, to make [21] a beginning for the Seminary, from which we can reasonably expect much fruit in the conversion of these Peoples. If there were Nuns at Kébec, I believe we might be able to send also girls for a Seminary. There are here a number of fine little girls, who, if they were well brought up, would not yield in any respect to our young French girls. It makes our hearts ache to see these innocent young girls so soon defile their purity of body and beauty of soul, for lack of a good example and good instruction. I doubt not at all that the divine Goodness will crown with great blessings those in particular whom he inspires to contribute to the foundation of these Seminaries, and to the education of these young plants of this infant Church.

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