he others. Meeting one of his converts on his return, M. Harmel
asked him about his experience. 'Ah, sir!' the man replied, 'it is all
very well, but I shall never be caught there again!' 'And, pray, why
not?' 'Why I thought I was the only man going to confess. I saw no one
when I went into the confessional, and the good priest was very good,
and I was glad I went. But when I came to commune in the church, there
were three of my comrades! How I looked at them, and how they looked at
me! It will be all over the factory to-night, and we four will have no
peace for six months! No! I shall not do this again!'

The manufactory prospered. If the example of M. Harmel availed little
against the public sentiment of the workpeople educated in utter
indifference to all religion, in the way of inducing them to attend to
their religious duties, his unvarying justice and benevolence, his
readiness to succour and to advise them in all straits, and his
unobtrusive devotion to his faith, at least exerted a wholesome effect
upon their general conduct; and the factory of the Val-des-Bois earned
a high reputation for its freedom from flagrant scandals and disorders.
But this did not satisfy M. Harmel. After twenty years of single-handed
and uphill work, he determined to seek help. On February 28, 1861, he
established three Sisters of St.-Vincent de Paul in a small house which
had been a wayside inn, and set about Christianising his people in
earnest. There was no pomp or parade about the matter. The good Sisters
were quite content to establish an asylum for the little children in
what had been the stable of the inn, and to open their school in two
little upper chambers. Two Jesuit Fathers came and devoted a month to a
regular mission. Processions were organised and lectures given, some in
the factory, others at the little inn. The novelty of the enterprise
excited the attention of the people, and when a decided movement at last
of interest in the mission made itself clearly felt, M. Harmel took
advantage of it, with the help of the Sisters, to form Christian
associations, first among the young girls, then among the young men, and
then among the workmen themselves. The first young girl who gave an
effectual impulse to the work, was a girl selected by the Sisters, with
their usual sound instinct, because they found her capable of absolute
devotion to a not by any means estimable mother, and to a decidedly
reprehensible sister. She was a peasa