he poorer children came in for an equal share of her kindness and care,
and her motherly solicitude followed them after they had gone forth into
the world. She had warm friends among the most notable families of St.
Louis, but Mother Duchesne was no respecter of persons, and the poor
were equally welcome, even more so, perhaps, to her time, her counsels,
her prayers, her sympathy, and her services.

CHAPTER VI

MISSION TO THE POTTOWATOMIE INDIANS

She had been six years at Florissant when Mother de Galitzin arrived as
Visitatrix of the American houses. One of Mother Duchesne's first
petitions to her was to be deposed from her office of Superior, on her
usual plea of her total unfitness for it. To the sincerity of her
estimate of herself, her letters to the Mother Foundress bear ample
testimony. In one of them, for instance, she affirms that she was of the
nature of a servant, "and," she adds, "it takes more than that to make
one fit to govern others." Mother de Galitzin granted her request, and
sent her to St. Louis to take her place in the ranks as a simple
religious. The Superior of the house, Mother Eleonore Gray, was one of
her former novices. Here, for the first time in her life, and to her
intense mortification, one of the best private rooms in the house was
assigned to her, and she was treated with all the respect and deference
due to her. It was a heavy trial to her to be waited upon so continually
and attended to so carefully, especially as it interfered with her dear
practices of poverty and penance. However, her stay in St. Louis was not
long. Early in the year 1841, she had a visit from the great Jesuit
missionary, Father de Smet, whom she loved as a most dear son, while he
revered and loved her as a mother. One of the first things he always
did, when the needs of his missionary work brought him to St. Louis, was
to visit his holy friend; but this time he had a special object in view.
He wanted a foundation of the Religious of the Sacred Heart among the
Pottowatomie Indians, whom the Jesuits had lately taken under their
care. This was for the heroic Mother Duchesne like the blast of a
trumpet for a warhorse. Her apostolic zeal was ablaze in a moment, and
her longing to work among the Indians was as ardent as when she listened
to the discourses of Dom de Lestrange, just thirty-five years
previously, day for day; for the Father's visit took place on the Feast
of Pentecost.

Mother Duchesne's eloquent a