The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-11-28
MAIDS AND NATIONS OF NEW
FRANCE.

The pioneer women who disembarked on
the shores of Massachusetts in 1920 have
been celebrated ever since in romance and
poetry for their courage in Drawing the
hardships and perils of a land of which
little was known except it's dangers. OF
course they deserved all the praise they
have received, but there are others. Twelve
years before the pioneer women of Ply
mouth colony landed a French colony had
been planted on the headlands Of Quebec,
which was increased from time 10 time
by the arrival of small groups Of women
from the mother country. These pioneer
women of Canada played as important a
part ia its growth and are as worthy of
eternal remembrance-at least some of
them, for they were not all OF equal virtue
and merit-as their Anglo-Saxon sisters of
New England. Yet they have been COM
psratively little written about. and the
history of many of them is buried and lost
past recovery. a monument in Montreal
preserves the memory OF one of them,
Geanne Nance. and an island resort in the
St Lawrence recalls by its name the brief
sojourn of Helen de ~Champlain on these
shores. But these reminders convey no
information and the memory of others
AdS btNi WuoIl HtSltClCOs EIduClS IdIh-
man in his histories and numerous writer's
since in works Of fiction. lave portrayed
the hardships and adventures encountered
by the French men and women who
founded Canada. but Maids and Matrons
of New France" by Mary Sifton Pepper.
is the first book devoted entirely to the
ladies of France who left a life of ~civiliza-
ton and luxury to dwell in an unsettled
country Will a rigorous climate and sur
rounded by savages. The field is an at
tractive one for the historian as well as
the novelist and the bare recital of facts
carries with it all the elements Of pic
turesque narrative. The author has made
a thorough study Of the subject, her
labor on the translation Of The Jesuit
Relations" and other works having given
her special qualifications for the prepara-
tion OF the present work. She treats the
subject by periods. The first period deal
ing with the pioneer women of Acadia. the
second with the pioneer women OF Quebec,
the third with the maids OF Montreal, and
the fourth with the advent in 1906 Of a
regiment OF French soldiers known as the
C~arignan Regiment, and the importation
of several -cOnsignments Of Kings girls
as the French maids were called who were
destined 20 become the wives OF settlers
and soldiers. The entire period covered
Is from the early part Of the seventeenth
century TO near its close. The earlier
chapters tell what is known concerning the
Warehouses de Garcheville, first patro-
ness OF American missions: Madame de
Champlain. the first lady OF Cana
da; Madame de Ia Peltrie. found
ress OF the first girls school
tn Canada; Mother Marie Guyard; Jeanne
lie Der. the recluse OF Montreal. and many
OF their contemporaries. The women Of
the fourth period. including those who
came over 10 get husbands. were OF a less
heroic and less elevated type than their
pioneer sisters. but none the less interest
Ing In a way. Recurring to the first period
one learns that the Warehouses de Guer-
choyille, the first patroness OF American
nissions. was clearly identified with the
sarly history Of the colony. though she her
self ala not .mmigrate thither. She had been
one Of the bellies in the earlier days OF
x1na Henry's reign ana was famed