rived, and it was two
years after that date when the first Presbyterian minister came to be
the spiritual head of the Selkirk Colonists. Before this the education
and elevation of the people was represented by a few schools chiefly
maintained by private or church effort. The writer intends to bring out,
from selected quotations from different sources, the few bright spots in
the gloom--the pictures of silver--on a rather dark background.

ABBE DUGAS' STORY.

The good Father's story circles around the first Canadian woman known to
have reached Red River. This was Marie Gaboury, wife of J. Baptiste
Lajimoniere, who reached the Forks in 1811 in the very year when the
Colonists were lying at York Factory. The Lajimonieres spent the winter
in Pembina. It was the brave husband of Marie Gaboury who made the long
and lonely journey from Red River to Montreal. The Abbe says: "J.B.
Lajimoniere was engaged by the Governor of Fort Douglas to carry letters
to Lord Selkirk, who was then in Montreal. Lajimoniere said he could go
alone to Montreal, and that he would make every effort to put the
letters confided to his care into Lord Selkirk's hands. Being alone,
Madame Lajimoniere left the hut on the banks of the Assiniboine to
become an inmate of Fort Douglas. Lajimoniere is reported to have urged
upon Lord Selkirk in Montreal to send as part of his recompense for his
long journey, a priest to be the guide of himself and family. Father
Dugas says: (See printed page 2.)

"Lord Selkirk before his departure had made the Catholic colony on the
Red River sign a petition asking the Bishop of Quebec to send
missionaries to evangelize the country. He presented this petition
himself and employed all his influence to have it granted.

"Though a Protestant Lord Selkirk knew that to found a permanent colony
on the Red River he required the encouragement of religion. Should his
application succeed the missionaries would come with the voyageurs in
the following spring and would arrive in Red River towards the month of
July. This thought alone made Madame Lajimoniere forget her eleven years
of loneliness and sorrow.

"Before July the news had spread that the missionaries were coming that
very summer, but as yet the exact date of their arrival was not known.
Telegraphs had not reached this region and moreover the voyageurs were
often exposed to delays.

"After waiting patiently, one beautiful morning on the 16th of July, the
day of Our Lady