96 THE HURON AND THE JESUIT. [1636-37. 



cheaply as they offered salvation, they sometimes 

 failed to find a purchaser. With infants, however, 

 a simple drop of water sufficed for the transfer 

 from a prospective Hell to an assured Paradise. 

 The Indians, who at first had sought baptism as a 

 cure, now began to regard it as a cause of death ; 

 and when the priest entered a lodge where a sick 

 child lay in extremity, the scowling parents watched 

 him with jealous distrust, lest unawares the deadly 

 drop should be applied. The Jesuits were equal 

 to the emergency. Father Le Mercier will best 

 tell his own story. 



" On the third of May, Father Pierre Pijart 

 baptized at Anonatea a little child two months old, 

 in manifest danger of death, without being seen 

 by the parents, who would not give their consent. 

 This is the device which he used. Our sugar does 

 wonders for us. He pretended to make the child 

 drink a little sugared water, and at the same time 

 dipped a finger in it. As the father of the infant 

 began to suspect something, and called out to him 

 not to baptize it, he gave the spoon to a woman 

 who was near, and said to her, ' Give it to him 

 yourself.' She approached and found the child 

 asleep ; and at the same time Father Pijart, un- 

 der pretence of seeing if he was really asleep 

 touched his face with his wet finger, and baptized 

 him. At the end of forty-eight hours he went to 

 Heaven. 



ready for baptism. On the same page we have another subject secured 

 to Heaven, "sans doute par les merites du glorieux Patrlarche S. Jo- 

 seph." 



