"He have in de parish five, ten, twenty children all call Mathurin; he is
godfadder with dem--yes. So he go about with plenty of sugar and sticks
of candy in his pocket. He never forget once de age of every leetla
child dat call him godfadder. He have a brain dat work like a clock. My
gran'fadder he say dat Mathurin have a machine in his head. It make de
words, make de thoughts, make de fine speech like de Cure, make de gran'
poetry--oh, yes!

"When de King of Englan' go to sit on de throne, Mathurin write ver' nice
verse to him. And by-and-by dere come to Mathurin a letter--voila, dat
is a letter! It have one, two, three, twenty seals; and de King he say
to Mathurin: 'Merci mille fois, m'sieu'; you are ver' polite. I tank
you. I will keep your verses to tell me dat my French subjects are all
loyal like M. Mathurin.' Dat is ver' nice, but Mathurin is not proud--
non. He write six verses for my granmudder--hein? Dat is something.
He write two verses for de King of Englan' and he write six verses for
my granmudder--you see! He go on so, dis week, dat week, dis year, dat
year, all de time.

"Well, by-and-by dere is trouble on Pontiac. It is ver' great trouble.
You see dere is a fight 'gainst de King of Englan', and dat is too bad.
It is not his fault; he is ver' nice man; it is de bad men who make de
laws for de King in Quebec. Well, one day all over de country everybody
take him gun, and de leetla bullets, and say, I will fight de soldier of
de King of Englan'--like dat. Ver' well, dere was twenty men in Pontiac,
ver' nice men--you will find de names cut in a stone on de church; and
den, three times as big, you will find Mathurin's name. Ah, dat is de
ting! You see, dat rebellion you English call it, we call it de War of
de Patriot--de first War of de Patriot, not de second-well, call it what
you like, quelle difference? The King of Englan' smash him Patriot War