CHAPTER IV.

EARLY YEARS OF MARGARET BOURGEOIS, AND HER VOCATION FOR THE CANADIAN
MISSION.


Margaret Bourgeois was born in the city of Troyes, in Champagne, on the
15th of April, 1620. Her father, Abraham Bourgeois, was an honest
merchant of that city, who espoused Guillamette Garnier. If these good
people were not distinguished for high birth or the possession of great
wealth, they were at least remarkable for the purity of their lives, for
sound religious principles, and for unusual probity of character. As
they belonged to the middle class of society, their means were limited,
yet they took care to have their children educated, and instilled into
their young minds a cordial love for the duties of religion. Their
family consisted of five children, two boys and three girls, Margaret
being the third born to them. She was baptized in the parish church of
St. John of Troyes, and nothing is known of her infancy or childhood
except that at a proper age she learned to read and write, with the
other attainments of early school years. Of this we are certain, that,
at an early period, she became a practical Christian, and never deviated
from the principles she then imbibed. Almighty God had special designs
on her future life, and from childhood infused into her heart a great
love of labor and mortification, which foreshadowed what she was one day
to become. Scarcely had she attained her tenth year when she was to be
seen among her little companions, like a mother in Israel, assembling
them together in secluded places, far from the noise and bustle of the
city, instructing them in the discharge of their duties, principally in
practices of piety, advising them to love labor and shun idleness, the
fruitful source of the sins of youth, and to select such work as