that of infants. God
alone knows what restless anxiety the conversions which they succeeded
in bringing about caused to the missionaries and the pious Bishop of
Petraea. Yet every day Mgr. de Laval ardently prayed, not only for the
flock confided to his care but also for the souls which he had come from
so far to seek to save from heathenism. If one of these devout men of
God had succeeded at the price of a thousand dangers, of a thousand
attempts, in proving to an Indian the insanity, the folly of his belief
in the juggleries of a sorcerer, he must watch with jealous care lest
his convert should lapse from grace either through the sarcasms of the
other redskins, or through the attractions of some cannibal festival, or
by the temptation to satisfy an ancient grudge, or through the fear of
losing a coveted influence, or even through the apprehension of the
vengeance of the heathen. Did he think himself justified in expecting to
see his efforts crowned with success? Suddenly he would learn that the
poor neophyte had been led astray by the sight of a bottle of brandy,
and that he had to begin again from the beginning.

No greater success was attained in many efforts which were exerted to
give a European stamp to the character of the aborigines, than in divers
attempts to train in civilized habits young Indians brought up in the
seminaries. And we know that if success in this direction had been
possible it would certainly have been obtained by educators like the
Jesuit Fathers. "With the French admitted to the small seminary," says
the Abbe Ferland, "six young Indians were received; on the advice of the
king they were all to be brought up together. This union, which was
thought likely to prove useful to all, was not helpful to the savages,
and became harmful to the young Frenchmen. After a few trials it was
understood that it was impossible to adapt to the regular habits
necessary for success in a course of study these young scholars who had
been reared in complete freedom. Comradeship with Algonquin and Huron
children, who were incapable of limiting themselves to the observance
of a college rule, tended to give more force and persistence to the
independent ideas which were natural in the young French-Canadians, who
received from their fathers the love of liberty and the taste for an
adventurous life."

But we must not infer, therefore, that the missionaries found no
consolation in their troublous task. If sometimes the s