St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1889-10-17
LETTER FROM FATHER BOISSON-
VAULT,

| Advertiser, in regard to the French
| Canadian element in the New Eng
| land states. AS both writers seem
to have been inspired to speak thus
on account of the census of my par
| ish, please let me state the facts as
| gave them to you and at the same
time. | will answer in a few words
the uncharitable remark of those
gentlemen.
1t was very unkind of you, Mr..
Editor, when speaking of the French
Canadian population to compare
them, the Canadians, to the Chinese.
You forget that the French Cana
dams are Christians and the Chinese
are Pagans In the great war of In
dependence, France, the mother
country of the Canadians, gave us
2S, 900 soldiers to fight against Eng
land and advanced the magnificent
sum of $40, 900, 900 to help us in the
cause of freedom and liberty. Now
to the point.
LIST. In regard to the census of my
parish. | informed you that the
Catholic population was 2,OSO.
| They are not all French; | have 10
Irish families and these with a few
German Catholics, number about
| 400 souls. | cannot ignore them, for
they are just the same to me as my
own compatriots. A priest makes
no distinction in regard to the ma
| tionality of his flock.
I'd. The above writers have mis-
used the name of Rome. They say
that Rome is encouraging the French
| Canadians to emigrate into the New
| England states, to Catholicize them.
| Bv Rome they understand the CathO-
lie clergy. On this point | give them
a fiat denial | am a missionary
among these people for more than
| twenty years, and | have not met
one single family but which has left
Canada against the will of its pas
tor The Bishops of Canada do all
in their power to encourage the set
Element of the public lands of Quebec;
they have agents of department in
each of the leading cities of New Eng
| land. The duty of these agents is to
try to have the Canadians return to
| their own country.
Sd. In regard to their language.
1t would be very unjust to try to de-
stroy a people on account of its
language. l see nothing wrong in
adhering to their own language when
the very same is taught in all the
great schools of New England and
| throughout the rest of the United
States. And here we follow the
teachings of our church which gave
directions on this subject in the coun-
| Gil of Baltimore when all the Bishops
of the states met in 1886 The Bish-
ops have advised and encouraged the
pastors to establish parochial schools
where the English language will hold
the first place. Deliberations of the
I council, page II No. 147.) They say
the English language must be taught
with correctness, intelligence and
easiness. 1t is what we do in our
parochial schools here and elsewhere.
In spite of heavy taxes paid by our
people to educate the children of
other denomina tions, | have always
supported ten teachers to educate
our own children, and the highest
classes have always been taught by
competent teachers whose mother
tongue was English. In the first
class of our male school the English
language alone is taught. In the
other divisions the learning of French
is optional, and there is no reason
to find fault with parents who desire
to have their children taught both
languages A visit to our Convent
and schools will convince you of
what | say. No doubt you remem-
Der the sensa ton created in Haver-
| hill, Mass, when the priest was ac-
cused of teaching only French and
| CatechiSm in his schools and what
an alarm was sounded throughout
the land Immedia tely a committee
of investigation was established to
visit the parochial schools. The re-
suit proved favorable to the church.
| They were obliged to knowledge
that the parochial schools were just
as good, and i'll some localities, su-
per-ior to the public schools. Now
the school question. In your editori-
al YOU said that as foreigners do not
send their children to the public
schools, the next generation will be
no more American than their fathers.
| Do YOU mean to insinuate that it is
impossible to become good, loyal
! American citizens without being edu-
Gated in public schools? If so, de-
ny this. Today there are many
Americans in all stations of life, men
who have the respect of the entire
country, and who have been brought
| up in Catholic schools. Where did
our real Americans come from before
| the public school system was intro
duced into this country? What
made them good Americans? Was
it public school education? Why did
Washington at the close of the war
speak of Catholics as he did
4th. Just a word concerning farm
ing. These writers state that the
French Canadians have good share
of the northern farms. Why then
complain that the lands are not cul-
tivated, and talk about having
Danes and Swedes coming to settle
here? But they are also mistaken
here.
have the gazetteers of Essex, La
mobile and Caledonia counties In
these three counties there are 90
towns, averaging about 800 farmers
in each, making total of 17,4O0
farmers We find about 353- French
names, or one French farmer in so.
This number has not excited the fears
of anyone. especially when we know
that the French Canadians have
been emigrating into the New Eng
| land states for more than eighty
years. and considering that these
states are on the borders of Canada.
do not speak for the Boston Ad-
vertiser and Max O'Rell, but l speak
for nv friends of Saint Johnsbury, es-