The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-11-22
A Canadian Legend.

An eclipse of the sun or moca alarms
the habitant, who has heard from the
fathers and the old men before them of
the signs and tokens that preceded the
great earthquake of 1868 Father HE
rosme Lalemant, In the Relation for
that year, says that in the fall of 1862
fiery serpents were seen in the heavens,
and ball-of fire rushed from the moon,
and, with noise like thunder, burst
and fell behind Mount Royal On Jam
uary 2, 1868, three suns and rainbow
appeared, and on February 8, at five
p. M, the first shock was. felt of the
earthquake that shook Lower Canada
efor six months. The year 1885 is known
as the year of great darkness, the earth
on two Sundays, October 9 and October
16, aying been enYeloped in a ssfiery
yellow atmosphere" On April IL, 1872,
tradition says darkness prevailed on the
Saguenay River, the heavens mourning
for the death of Jesuit, Father Jean
Baptiste Lacrosse, who died at Tadou-
sac on that day. The story ofthe mira
cles wrought when that good man died,
as told by DR.. Tache in his Forestiers ct
Voyageurs, and by rAbbe Casgrain in
On Pelerinage a la ne-aux- -Coudres, is a
characteristic Gulf legend Father La
brosse was native of Poitou He ar
rived at Quebec in 1854, and for nearly
thirty years preached the gospel to white
men and Indians along the st. Law
renee and down in the wilds of Acadia
On the night of his death he was at the
house of an officer of the trading-post
at Tadousac, and, although nearly sew
enty years old, appeared to be as strong
and hearty as man of forty. He was
tall and robust, and his long white hair
and sanity face made him look every
inch an apostle. AT nine d. m. he rose,
and in solemn tones told his friends that
the hour of his death was at hand At
midnight he should die, and the church
bell of Tadousac would announce the
news to his Indian children, who were
camped there for the spring trade in
peltries, and to all the Gulf He bade
the company farewell, charging them,
as he left the house, to go to ne-aux-
Coudres and bring Father Complain, the
cure, to give his body Christian sepul-
ture: The party sat in silence, listen
ing for the bells, which on the stroke
of midnight began to toll. Thesrillage
was aroused, and the people hurried to
the chapel, and there, before the altar,
lay the old Jesuit, dead. They watched
by the corpse until daylight, when the
post officer ordered four men to take a
canoe and go to Qe-aux-C Coudres. Al
fearful storm was raging in the Gulk
and ice foes almost choked the wide ex-
panse of water. ssF Fear not,'' said the
officer to the fishermen; eFather La.
brosse will protect YOU They launched
the canoe, and great was their surprise.
to find that, while the tempest howled
and the waves and the ice seethed ike.
a ealdron on each side of them, a peace
full channel was formed by some invisi-.
bic hand for their craft. They reached
lHe-aux-C Couores-oYer sixty miles, as
the crow flies, from Tadousac--without
accident. Father Complain was stand
ing on the cliff, and, as they neafed the
shore, he cried out: ss Father Lacrosse
is dead, and you have come to take
me to Tadousac to bury himr' How
did he know this? The night pre-
vious he was sitting alone in his
house, reading his breviary, when
suddenly the bell in the church (dedi-
Gated to St Louis) began to toll. He
ran down to the church, but the doors
were locked, and when he opened them
he found no one within, and still the
passing bell was tolling. As he ap-
preached the altar Father Complain
heard voice saying; g Father Lacrosse
is dead. This bell announces his de-
| parture. Tomorrow do thou stand at
the lower end of the island and await
the arrival of canoe from Tadousac-
Return with it, and give him burial. -
And at all the mission posts where Fa-
ther Lacrosse had preached Chicout;-
mi. PIle Verte. Tfois-P Pistoles, Rimou-
/ ski, and along the Baie-des-C Chaleurs-
the bells, of their own accord, rang out
the death of the old Jesuit, at the same
hour. And for many a year, whenever
the Indians OF the Saguenay visited Ta-
dousac, they made a pilgrimage to his
grave, and whispered to the deadwithin
through a hole in the slab of the vault,
/ believing that he would lay their petit
tions before God.-Edaoard Farres. ga
zitlaHtic Aonthty. s s.