H ON THE FKONTIEK. 



among the younger children those who had been born 

 after their parents had been converted that many looked 

 appreciably different from wild Indian children. Their 

 parents' minds had been doubtlessly imbued with the 

 ideas and notions of the whites, French influences had 

 been brought to bear on their intellects, and, lo and 

 behold ! some of the little ones were almost as fair as the 

 holy fathers, and had quite a French cast of face. His 

 reverence regarded me with an austere countenance. His 

 mouth was very solemn, but there was an irrepressible 

 twinkle in his eyes. He called me " un malin" and said 

 that, having long since abandoned philosophy for theology, 

 he could not throw any light on the question. "We spent a 

 day at St. Mary's most pleasantly. Though heretics, we 

 were blessed at our departure, and contributed our little 

 mite towards assisting "the children of Mary." We left 

 the mission with our best wishes for its success, and with a 

 feeling of hearty respect for the devoted men who were 

 willing, in the discharge of duty, to spend their lives far 

 away from La Belle France they loved so well, trying to 

 make a set of lazy, lying, thieving, murdering, savages into 

 good Christians and respectable citizens no easy task, as 

 experience well attests. 



In due course we arrived at what was then a very small 

 settlement close to Fort Riley, and near it for the first time 

 pitched our tent, intending to remain there a day or two, 

 in order to obtain such information as we could to guide our 

 future movements, rest and recruit the animals, and renew 

 our stock of provisions and grain. 



Up to that time we had not seen any of the larger 



