ee, among
many other instances that might be quoted, a fine example of her
enthusiasm for Heaven when, cast out of her convent in the heart of the
winter by a conflagration which consumed everything, she knelt upon the
snow with her Sisters, and thanked God for not having taken from them,
together with their properties, their lives, which might be useful to
others.

If Madame de la Peltrie and Mother Mary of the Incarnation occupy a
large place in the history of Canada, it is because the institution of
the Ursulines, which they founded and directed at Quebec, exercised the
happiest influence on the formation of the Christian families in our
country. "It was," says the Abbe Ferland, "an inestimable advantage for
the country to receive from the schools maintained by the nuns, mothers
of families reared in piety, familiar with their religious duties, and
capable of training the hearts and minds of the new generation." It was
thanks to the efforts of Madame de la Peltrie, and to the lessons of
Mother Incarnation and her first co-workers, that those patriarchal
families whose type still persists in our time, were formed in the early
days of the colony. The same services were rendered by Sister Bourgeoys
to the government of Montreal.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] Allusion to a verse of the poet Boileau.

[8] _History of the United States_, Vol. II., page 821.

CHAPTER XI

A TROUBLED ADMINISTRATION

A thorough study of history and the analysis of the causes and effects
of great historical events prove to us that frequently men endowed with
the noblest qualities have rendered only slight services to their
country, because, blinded by the consciousness of their own worth, and
the certainty which they have of desiring to work only for the good of
their country, they have disdained too much the advice of wise
counsillors. With eyes fixed upon their established purpose, they
trample under foot every obstacle; and every man who differs from their
opinion is but a traitor or an imbecile: hence their lack of moderation,
tact and prudence, and their excess of obstinacy and violence. To select
one example among a thousand, what marvellous results would have been
attained by an _entente cordiale_ between two men like Dupleix and La
Bourdonnais.

Count de Frontenac was certainly a great man: he made Canada prosperous
in peace, glorious in war, but he made also the great mistake of aiming
at absolutism, and of allowing himself to be