the
existing French government. So a good many emigre priests were brought
out, among them Mr. Le Courtois, so long the cure of Malbaie. This
movement soon spent itself. In time the Church in Canada had a number of
seminaries for training priests and it now levies a heavy tithe upon the
best intellects of the country. Recently a new emigration of French
priests to Canada has taken place. But they have not been wholly
welcome; their tone is not quite that of the Canadian priesthood;
sometimes they assume patronizing airs and they are felt to be
foreigners. I have even heard a French Canadian priest say in broken
English to a Protestant from the Province of Ontario: "I feel that I
have more in common with you than I have with the French priests who are
flocking into this country."

The Canadian cure is the priest always. Unlike the clergy in other parts
of Canada he wears his cassock even when he goes abroad; one sees dozens
of these black robes in the streets, on the steamers and trains. He does
not share in the amusement of other people. In Quebec Anglican clergymen
play golf and tennis; probably if a cure did so he might be called to
account by the bishop. Occasionally priests ride bicycles, but even this
is looked upon with some suspicion. Into general society the priests go
but little. They come together in each other's presbyteries for mutual
counsel and to celebrate anniversaries, such as the 25th year of the
ordination of one of their number. The large presbyteries, which one
sees even in remote parishes, are necessary to house the visiting clergy
on such occasions. They assist each other when their parishes have
special fetes. But their social intercourse is chiefly with each other.
The courtly abbe of old France, a universal guest in salons and at
dinner tables, is hardly found at all in the Province of Quebec. Nor is
the scholar usual. Even in small parishes there are rarely less than 500
or 600 communicants and the calls upon the cure's time are heavy. There
are, of course, priests of literary tastes; as there are those with a
taste for art, to whom are due the occasional good pictures found in the
parish churches. Some priests interest themselves in agriculture and
give wise guidance to their people. But behind everything is the solemn,
severe, exacting, conception of the priest's high function as the medium
of God's speech to man. He is almost sexless--a being apart consecrated
to an awe-inspiring office. A