rm,
Borne like a sunbeam on the air,
Swept by amid the battle storm,
Cheering the helpless sufferers there,
Amid the cannon's smoke and flame,
The earthquake sound of shot and shell,
Winning by deeds of love, a name
Immortal as the brave who fell.

Hail angel! whose diviner spell
Charmed dying heroes with her prayer,
Staunching their wounds amid the knell
Of death, destruction and despair.
Thy name by memory shall be wreathed
Round many desolate hearts in prayer;
By orphan lips it shall be breathed,
And float in songs upon the air.

MADELEINE DE VERCHERES:

The Heroine of Castle Dangerous

IT was the twenty-second of October. Hills until recently tapestried,
and valleys which had been flaming with the glory of autumn were now
putting on the more sombre garb of early winter, though still the soft
haze of fall hung over fields and forests in the small Canadian colony,
on the bank of the St. Lawrence River, twenty miles below Montreal, a
settlement commanded by the French officer Seignieur de Vercheres.

Peace and quiet reigned throughout the small community on that October
morning, while all its inhabitants except the very young or the infirm
were busy harvesting.

Because of its location in a direct route between the hunting ground of
the Iroquois Indians and Montreal, the fort protecting the settlement
was known as the "Castle Dangerous" of Canada. At night all the farmers
and other settlers of the community left their log cabins and gathered
in the fort for protection, then went out in the morning, with hoe in
one hand and gun in the other, to till the fields, leaving the women and
children safe inside the fort, which stood in an exposed position beyond
the homes of the settlers. Outside the fort stood a strong block house
connected with it by a covered passage, and both were surrounded by a
palisaded wall. Fort and blockhouse and wall were necessary protections
in those days when English, French and Indians were at war in the
Canadian provinces in the name of Church or King, or for personal
betterment, and when the Indians were resisting with powerful
determination the religion and customs which the white men were trying
to thrust upon them, and attempting to prevent the aliens from securing
the rich supplies of skins which were annually brought down t