nt-girl, brought up in a disorderly
family, by no means choice or refined in her language; but the Sisters,
for whom she conceived a great affection, saw that she was generous,
fearless, and determined, and that was enough.

With the girls, with the young men, with the workmen, no sort of direct
or indirect pressure was ever for a moment employed. The associations
which they formed were managed by themselves, M. Harmel, the priest whom
he finally brought to Val-des-Bois, and for whom he built a chapel, and
the missionary brethren, giving advice and aid only when and as it was
asked. One excellent workman, who had been in the factory for many
years, and who was much esteemed by M. Harmel, was asked one day by the
priest why he had never taken any interest in the religious
associations. 'I do take an interest in them,' he replied, 'and they are
doing a great deal of good. I don't feel moved to join them, but I do
them a great service often. Many a time in the cabarets I hear a man
say, "Oh, the papa Harmel is a good man, no doubt; they are right to
call him there 'the good father.' He is all that, but nobody can get any
work there unless he is a little saint!" Then I get up and say, "Don't
talk like a fool! You see me; I have worked for 'the good father'
thirty-five years. I have never done my religious duties, but nobody
treats me the worse for that! That shuts them up!"'

One great obstacle, at the outset, to the success of these associations,
out of which the 'Christian Corporations' were eventually to grow, was
the hostility of the elder married women to the 'Enfans de Marie,' and
the other societies of young girls. They objected that these societies
broke up the Sunday balls, and when they were asked whether these Sunday
balls did not lead to a good many scandals, they replied, 'Oh, young
people must amuse themselves; we used to amuse ourselves!' They insisted
too, that the girls would neglect their home duties to attend mass and
the meetings of their new societies. One particularly recalcitrant dame
made her husband's life a burden to him, because he not only encouraged
his daughters in going to the Sisters, but actually went to mass
himself. Finally, one day the poor man came to see the Sisters. He was
evidently much exercised in his mind, and showing the Sisters a small
sum of money he had, he said, 'I have saved this up to bring my old
woman to a better mind, and I want you to help me.' They asked him how.
'Why,