1648-49.] CHARITY AND CONVERSION. 367 



discipline, and subordination. Some of the men 

 were assigned to household work, and some to the 

 hospital ; while the rest labored at the fortifications, 

 tilled the fields, and stood ready, in case of need, to 

 fight the Iroquois. The Father Superior, with two 

 other priests as assistants, controlled and guided 

 all. The remaining Jesuits, undisturbed by tem- 

 poral cares, were devoted exclusively to the charge 

 of their respective missions. Two or three times in 

 the year, they all, or nearly all, assembled at Sainte 

 Marie, to take counsel together and determine their 

 future action. Hither, also, they came at inter- 

 vals for a period of meditation and prayer, to nerve 

 themselves and gain new inspiration for their stern 

 task. 



Besides being the citadel and the magazine of 

 the mission, Sainte Marie was the scene of a boun- 

 tiful hospitality. On every alternate Saturday, as 

 well as on feast-days, the converts came in crowds 

 trom the farthest villages. They were entertained 

 during Saturday, Sunday, and a part of Monday ; 

 and the rites of the Church were celebrated before 

 them with all possible solemnity and pomp. They 

 were welcomed also at other times, and entertained, 

 usually with three meals to each. In these latter 

 years the prevailing famine drove them to Sainte 

 Marie in swarms. In the course of 1647 three 

 thousand were lodged and fed here ; and in the 

 following year the number was doubled.^ Heathen 

 Indians were also received and supplied with food, 



1 Compare Ragueneau in Relation des Hurons, 1648, 48, and in hia 

 report to the General in 1649. 



