to study the language of the Hurons in order to make herself useful to
the young girls of this tribe. Ever tranquil, she did not allow herself
to be carried away by enthusiasm or stayed by fear. 'We imagine
sometimes,' she wrote to her former superior at Tours, 'that a certain
passing inclination is a vocation; no, events show the contrary. In our
momentary enthusiasms we think more of ourselves than of the object we
face, and so we see that when this enthusiasm is once past, our
tendencies and inclinations remain on the ordinary plane of life.' Built
on such a foundation, her piety was solid, sincere and truly
enlightened. In perusing her writings, we are astonished at finding in
them a clearness of thought, a correctness of style, and a firmness of
judgment which give us a lofty idea of this really superior woman.
Clever in handling the brush as well as the pen, capable of directing
the work of building as well as domestic labour, she combined, according
to the opinion of her contemporaries, all the qualities of the strong
woman of whom the Holy Scriptures give us so fine a portrait. She was
entrusted with all the business of the convent. She wrote a prodigious
number of letters, she learned the two mother tongues of the country,
the Algonquin and the Huron, and composed for the use of her sisters, a
sacred history in Algonquin, a catechism in Huron, an Iroquois catechism
and dictionary, and a dictionary, catechism and collection of prayers in
the Algonquin language."




CHAPTER VII

THE SMALLER SEMINARY