92 Life of The 



remove them, and to make these people comfortable 

 and happy. 



To his faithful priests, who bore with him the 

 "burden of the day and the heat," he was even 

 more affectionate, merciful and indulgent. He was 

 well aware of the toils and of the fatigues they were 

 obliged to undergo in consequence of the extent of 

 their missions. He knew well the danger to which 

 they were exposed on those missions, where, without 

 roads, they were obliged to hunt their pathway 

 through the prairies, guiding themselves by the stars 

 in the heavens, and often sleeping beneath its blue 

 arch with the heath for their pillow, and the howl 

 of the prairie wolf around them — without bridges 

 which would enable them to avoid the madly-rushing 

 current of the swollen river — exposed to the rains 

 and the fogs, and the pestiferous exhalations of a 

 country rank with festering vegetation. He saw 

 them stricken down by sickness in the midst of their 

 career, and in places too where their danger was 

 increased by the want of proper care. His com- 

 passionate heart grieved for them, and with his 

 usual consideration he formed amongst them an 

 association, by means of which those thus afflicted 

 might be removed to Chicago, where they would 

 receive proper attendance until health was restored ; 

 and if in Chicago this could not be effected, then 

 funds were supplied for journeying wherever in 

 Europe or America it might be necessary that the 

 invalid should go. Those who had laboured in the 

 vineyard of the Lord until old age and its attendant 



