Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-08-12
(By MRS. M. e. PLASSMANN)

OF long after the establishment of
n Labre's mission among the Chey-
ennes, Mother Amadeus was asked
to open one at st. Peters. where
the Jesuit Fathers thought there should
be an Ursuline Novitiate.
AT once Mother Amadeus set out for
st. Peters, accompanied by four young
women, two of them novices. They went
to Helena, and from there by stage sixty
nine miles to the Mission. On passing
through Prickly Pear canyon. they
stopped to pray at the grave OF Malcolm
Clarke. who was murdered by Blackfeet,
his death being the cause of the Baker
massacre. Mother Amadeus had read the
account OF this tragedy written by Helen
Clarke, daughter OF the murdered man,
which was contributed to the Montana
Historical records. 1t is a thrilling mar
rative admirably told.
On alighting from the stage at their
| destination, these women were confront
| ed by Skull butte, which the fathers ex-
| planned received its name from the num-
Der of F1athead and Blackfeet skulls
found there. They also told how once
| when these tribes were about to engage
in battle. Father DeSmet stepped between
the combatants, and with uplifted arm
n voice stayed the onset.
The sisters were invited that evening Of
their arrival to take supper with the
fathers. The meal was not the product
Of a chef. but special pains had been
taken to have it good. The sisters saw
on the table what they mistook for fruit
cake, 1t being very dark in color. AS the
rest ate it they followed suit only to dis
| cover 'it was bread, bread OF ecclesiasti-
cal baking" That night one of the
novices was installed as baker at the sis
ters' house, and the next morning the
fathers were surprised by the gift of a
loaf Of white bread.
! Shortly after the opening Of the mis-
sion, Mother Amadeus fell Ill with pneu-
monia. On hearing Of this, Mother STAN
islaus came on from Toledo, Ohio, and
finding Mother Amadeus better, urged
her, together with her four companions,
to go to Toledo. This Mother Amadeus
refused to do. On leaving st. Peters
when it's foundress was convalescent
Mother Stanislaus left Mary Fields, a col
ored woman, formerly a slave, to care fol
Mother Amadeus. She proved to be 9
valuable addition to the c~onventua
household, where she spent the rest OF
her life, dying at Columbus hospital
Great Falls, at an advanced age. She was
the first negro woman some OF the In
dams had ever seen.
The first children received at st. Peters
were sent by Father Erbschweiler from
the mission in the Little Rockies. he
had opened for the Gros Ventres, Chip
pewas and Assiniboines. There was O
wagon load of girls to be fed and combed
and washed before they could enter the
dormitory.
1t would have been far easier to have
cut the girls hair. cut for some unknown
reason, Indian girls always strenuously
objected to having their hair cut. The
sisters never willingly offended their
pupils, but 1T was no pleasant task to rid
the heads of vermin.
A PRESBYTERIAN minister, who was TAX
ing one of his mixed blood relatives east
to school, when going down the Mis-
souri, saw At to cut the child's hair. "She
fought like a little demon" I was told,
and hated the man ever after. The sis
tiers lie not wish to ~antagoniZe their
charges.
Mother st. Francis and Mother Mary of
the Angels had Joined Mother Amadeus,
and helped to tighten her labors. The
former of these sisters, who had come
with Mother Amadeus from Toledo, was
destined later herself to be the foundress
Of a mission.
From the beginning the school pros
pered, and continued to do SO until it
was removed to Great Falls where, no
longer known as st. Peters mission, but
as Mount Angela academy, an outgrowth
of the mission, 1t testites in a practical
manner to the executive ability OF its
missionary foundress. The little school
at st. Peters has sent out m trained
to fill acceptably any station in life. One
OF these-Mrs. Plummer of Missoula-re-
Gently won a poetry prize in a nation
wide competition.
The next Ursuline Mission after that
Of st. Peters, was opened in September,
1887, by Mother st. Francis, at the re-
quest Of Father Erbschweiler, in the Lit
tie Rockies. n was named st. Paul's.
From 1t we are told, went out many
lovely girls, who were here civilized and
educated"
A month later, st. Francis Xavier mis-