The Catholic bulletin. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1911-1995, 1913-07-19

Joussard, 0. M. l., the CoadJutOr, a
short man, with a hard-bitten, sun
scorched face; factors and traders
from outlying posts (believe me, right
merry gentlemen); Judge Noel and his
legal company, who have been dis
pensing justice in the regions beyond;
lean-hipped, muscular trappers, who
toe-in from walking on the trails;
equally lean-hipped river-men who
toe-out from keeping their balance on
log; children from the mission
schools; black-robed nuns, doctors,
Government officials and stalwart
ranchers in homespun and leather
even bankers. This short gentleman,
who always looks as if he had just
heard good idea, is George Fraser,
wit and journalist. The tall man in
khaki, with the positive shoulders, is
Fred Lawrence, pioneer and trader,
likewise Fellow of the Royal Geograph-
ical Society; these and other interest
ing folk, the pictures of whom even
my newly cut quill stops short at delin-
eating. In truth they are all here-the
world and his wife-eXcepting only
white girls. TT would seem too much
like. a special miracle" explains an
Irish rancher,' to find half dozen col
leens set down here in Grouard-some-
thing like finding posies in the snow
of December" And the good Bishop
Grouard is overcome because he
doesn't deserve the homage of these
people. Truly, madame, did not
think to receive all this honor. l am
only an old voyageur, who gets near
to the end of the river
Does the paddle grow heavy,
Monsignor, l ask, "or is it that the
journey is long?"
mon, non, madame, it is the
thought of home at the end and the
loved ones"
"But surely, Monsignor, the end
is yet long way off. Your eyes are
not dimmed, neither is your natural
force abated. And did we not this
very day hear you speak to the tribes
in six tongues?"
six, was it?" queries the Bishop
six! All, we'll! they seem to come
to me easily. l feel like the man who
had only to open his mouth to have
roast ducklings fly therein"
Now, this old Northman has a close
grip on twelve languages-it was
Father Fahler, o. NJ l., who gave me
the list-so that his modesty is truly
disconcerting in an age wherein vanity
seems to vary inversely with talent
He is master in the use of Greek
Latin, French, English, Cree, Eskimo
Rabbitskin, Chippewaien, Beaver, Sla
Wis, Dogrib, and LoucheauX.
Bishop Grouard is an exegete anC
printer of no mean order, having
translated the service book of thu
Catholic Church into seven Ian
guages and printed them himself
do not know if the printing press h
brought into these northern fastnes
was the very first, but if not, it wa
assuredly the second, for there is onl.
one other What these books hav,
,, meant to the tribes it is not for mer,
terrestrial folks to say, but if the Cath
Ollie doctrine of supererogatory work
be reasonable and true one, of
surety it is a splendid balance tina
!, is laid up to the good Bishop
! account. In the mort southerl,
: provinces where people, like books,
, is an easy matter for the publisher
to roll out scores of editions to tn
greedy public, but up here in the Nortl
publishing a book becomes both
joke and tragedy. In the first place
. people do not care for books; in tn
second, the people do not know tn
alphabet This was how Bisho
Grouard came to build schools TO
the children. He had to teach tn
Indians to read. If you care to, 20
may go to the Bishops driveway an
see the children. There are hundred
of them, or even more, but if 20
|. wait while we will go together, 70
y they are giving a play tonight, an
at this moment are rehearsing thei
d parts. 1t was Sister Egbert and Siste
Ignatius who wrote the play, and tn
theme, 1 have heard, is an incident i
a long time to learn reading; beside!
there are many directions. And the
the older folks whose eyes are smoke
: dimmed by the tepee fires may neve
n hope to con the letters. For thes
n people the kind Bishop painted pit
n lures of angels on the walls. and o
q the ceilings of the church, and he mad
n one of the Crucifxion, over the altar
d a glowing canvas instinct with Twin
: reality. The onlooker may truly sa
n of this what Ruskin said of Raphael
e TRANSPORTATION: 1t goes directly
e the heart. 1t seems also to call 20
= by name"
If you have lived long in the Mort
b you will have been wondering thi
while back how our workaday eccles
n astic got his materials into GrouarC
t How came his printing press, his type
/ his papers, his canvases, and hi
e paints? Where did this man get tn
furniture for his schools, his hospital
:, and his church? Where did he ge
r the boards for all these buildings?
s The boards, curious person, wer
) cut at his own saw-mill, from whicl
: boards he fashioned the furniture wit
4 his hands. "But how" you persist
a did he bring in the machinery for hi
. saw-mill?"
!, That was easy; he brought it her
! in a steamboat. Anyone could tel
7 you that.
' But where did he get the steam