return for two years), she felt abundantly repaid by the many advantages
and lasting good it produced. On her arrival in Paris, her first visit
was to the church of Notre Dame, to renew, before the altar of the
Blessed Virgin, the consecration she had there made of herself, in 1646,
in company of the Montreal Association. She implored the blessing of the
Queen of Heaven, on herself, her fellow-laborers in the schools of
Montreal, and her present undertaking, and then set to work to
accomplish her end. She visited some of the old friends of M. de
Maisonneuve, who were all persons of merit and high social position, and
were known to have much influence at court, in order to induce them to
procure her the favor of an interview with his majesty. These people had
not at all forgotten her, and had several letters of recommendation in
her favor. They knew the good she was capable of effecting, and made it
a point of honor to assist her. The King was in due course of time
informed of the matter, and seemed to be rather favorably inclined to
grant her request, yet six weary months elapsed without his giving a
decisive answer. Learning that his majesty was at Dunkirk in the May of
1671, she repaired thither, to renew solicitations, and at last obtained
the long-sought letters, which contained Catholic sentiments worthy of
the great French monarch. Being authorized by the royal patent, she next
tried to procure a new corps of volunteers, who would, like the first
heroic band, generously renounce home, family, and country, without hope
of ever returning, who would be willing to cross the great ocean, then
but imperfectly known, and devote their future lives to the instruction
of wild savages, as much as to the advancement of the French colonists,
expecting also that the relentless Iroquois would repay their Christian
love with the tomahawk or the scalping-knife, and in those days how
often was the expectation verified. Yet these considerations were
precisely what attracted a great number of talented young girls, fully
capable of sustaining and perfecting the enterprise, and worthy to share