seigneur, Louis Hebert, was a Parisian apothecary, and
many of the Canadian gentry were sprung from the middle
class. There was nothing to induce the dukes, the counts,
or even the barons of France to settle on the soil of
Canada. The governor was a noble, but he lived at the
Chateau St Louis. The seigneur who desired to achieve
success must reside on the land he had received and see
that his tenants cleared it of the virgin forest. He
could afford little luxury, for in almost all cases his
private means were small. But a seigneur who fulfilled
the conditions of his grant could look forward to occupying
a relatively greater position in Canada than he could
have occupied in France, and to making better provision
for his children.

Both the seigneur and his tenant, the habitant, had a
stake in Canada and helped to maintain the colony in the
face of grievous hardships. The courage and tenacity of
the French Canadian are attested by what he endured
throughout the years when he was fighting for his foothold.
And if he suffered, his wife suffered still more. The
mother who brought up a large family in the midst of
stumps, bears, and Iroquois knew what it was to be
resourceful.

Obviously the Canada of 1672 lacked many things--among
them the stern resolve which animated the Puritans of
New England that their sons should have the rudiments of
an education. [Footnote: For example, Harvard College
was founded in 1636, and there was a printing-press at