6 JOHN RBABË 



mant, of Dollavd dos Ormeaux aud of Madeleine de Verdières, caimot be without qualities 

 which commaud veneratiou and lead to greatness. In daring and useful enterprise, 

 Canada has an honour-roll not less conspicuous. Champlain himself did not shrink, not- 

 withstanding the many calls on his time, from setting the example. Following in his 

 track, the Jesuits established the wilderness missions in what is now the garden of Ontario. 

 One after another undertook long aud perilous quests. To-day, with our network of rail- 

 ways giving speedy communication in all directions, we cannot realize the difficulties and 

 dangers which those brave men faced. Long before an intercolonial railway or even an 

 intercolonial road had been dreamed of, three Recollet Brothers had walked every foot of 

 the distance (excepting the water to be crossed) between the St. John Eiver and Quebec. 

 From Champlain's visit to the great lakes till the Verendrye brothers reached the Rocky 

 Mountains, the work of exploration went on, northward to Hudson's Bay, southward 

 to the Grulf of Mexico, — while in all directions over the intervening areas were set up mis- 

 sion stations and trading posts, the relics of some of which remain to this day. Marquette 

 and Hennepin, La Salle and Le Moyne d'Iberville, and scores of lesser names, illustrate 

 the story of North American discovery. 



And what of the mass of the people? We are at no loss for information regarding 

 them. From Louis Hébert, our pioneer habitant, to the volunteer who fought with Mont- 

 calm, weighed down by multiplied disadvantages, for the independence of a land which a 

 degenerate court affected to despise, we have many and many a glimpse of them — at their 

 pleasures, at their work, keeping the Indian foe at bay or returning thanks for security 

 vouchsafed. In the main, they were industrious, orderly, sociable, courageous, moral and 

 devout. 



State of Education. 



That they were not ciuite without opportunities for the development of their intelli- 

 gence is evident from the attention which the royal government gave to piiblic instruction. 

 (Chauveau : Instruction Publique en Canada, p. 48.) The religious orders had also under- 

 taken the work of education among the people of the colony as well as among the Indians. 

 {lb., p. 52.) In 1663 the Grand Seminary was founded by Bishop Laval, but as early as 

 1637, five years before the foundation of Montreal, Father Rohault, son of the Marquis de 

 Gamache, who had given a large sum of money for the purpose, had begun the construc- 

 tion of a college in the city of Quebec. (lb., pp. 52, 53.) The Seminary of St. Sulpice dates 

 from 164'7, when Montreal was only five years old. The Institut des Frères Charron 

 was in operation, with various success, from 1688 to 1'74'7. [lb., pp. 53, 54.) These insti- 

 tutions could not have existed in a country where education was wholly neglected. That 

 the daughters of the habitants were taught by the ladies of the Ursuliue Convent we know 

 from a letter of Madame Marie de l'Incarnation, which M. Suite has in xiart reproduced 

 with pertinent comments. He reminds his readers of the danger of mental degeneracy 

 and coarseness of manners resulting from the constant occupation of the men in pursuits 

 which, if necessary, were not elevating, and indicates the providential character of the 

 inspiration that would compensate for the forced neglect by cultivating the gifts and 

 graces of the female sex. He gladly emphasizes the benefit which it has conferred on 

 French Canadian society and on the French language, mentioning as one of its probable 



