for these wonders to all the tests that
modern scientific canons could require and that they were undoubtedly
true. The Archbishop of Quebec, Mgr. Begin, wrote a prefatory note
approving of the teaching of the book, and adding that Mother Marie
Catherine's life could not fail to be an inspiration to young girls to
live nobly. This simple belief in the constant occurrence of the
supernatural is not found only in the remoter parishes of the Province
of Quebec as a French Canadian writer seems to indicate;[31] it appears
everywhere. All Christians believe in a God who shapes human events and
hears and answers prayer. But many, Catholic and Protestant alike,
believe that the energy of God, in response to man's appeal, is applied
through the ordinary machinery of nature's laws. Modern thought is
pervaded with the conception of nature's rigour. I have seen good
Catholics shrug their shoulders at the wonders narrated by Marie
Catherine de Saint Augustin. But others, and these not only the
ignorant, think that this attitude shows the lack of a deeper faith.
Must God and his saints, they ask, be confined within the narrow
framework of nature's laws? Cannot He do all things?

So it is not strange that the Canadian peasant dwells in a world charged
with the supernatural. Night furnishes the opportunity for goblins to be
abroad; the flickering lights on the marshes are goblin fires. Then,
too, the vagrant dead wander about restlessly, sinful souls refused
entrance to Heaven until they have sought and secured adequate prayers
for their pardon and relief. To cross a cemetery at night might attract
the fatal vengeance of the dead thus disturbed. The grumbling mendicant
at the door may really be an evil spirit bent on mischief. With a few,
magic and the gift of the evil eye are still dreaded forces and it is
well to know some charm by which evil may be averted. Since night is the
time of danger, if abroad then be watchful; if at home close doors and
windows, ere you go to sleep. I was once on a fishing expedition with
habitant guides when we had to share the same _cabane_. The air becoming
insufferable, I got up quietly, opened the door and went back to bed.
Presently I heard one of the guides steal softly to the door and close
it. When I thought he was asleep I opened it again. But in vain; once
more it was closed. In the morning nothing was said about it. Certainly
not cold was what he feared, for the weather was hot. I do not think