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No notable books were produced in the English-speaking provinces except "Acadian Geology," a work by Dr. Dawson, who became in 1855 principal of McGill University, and was, in later years, knighted by the Queen; but the polished verses of Crémazie and the lucid histories of Canada by Ferland and Garneau already showed that French Canada had both a history and a literature.
From the moment the intellect of the French Canadian was stimulated by a patriotic love for the past history and traditions of his country, volumes of prose and poetry of more or less merit commenced to flow regularly from the press. Two histories of undoubted value have been written by French Canadians, and these are the works of Garneau and Ferland.
"It was," says the Abbé 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."
All but Le Maudit Pensonneau. He was busy rounding up the horses. "Here's my uncle Larue's filly that was taken two weeks ago," said Le Maudit, calling from the hobbling place. "And here are the blacks that Ferland lost, and Pierre's pony half these horses are Caho' horses."
Accordingly, he did not lose a moment after receiving the decrees appointing him Bishop of Quebec. On May 19th, 1675, he renewed the union of his seminary with that of the Foreign Missions in Paris. "This union," says the Abbé Ferland, "a union which he had effected for the first time in 1665 as apostolic bishop of New France, was of great importance to his diocese.
It is allowable to think so, when his panegyrist, the Abbé Gosselin, acknowledges it in these terms: "Did he sometimes show too much ardour in the settlement of a question or in the assertion of his rights? It is possible. As the Abbé Ferland rightly observes, 'no virtue is perfect upon earth. But he was too pious and too disinterested for us to suspect for a moment the purity of his intentions."
Lawrence, "the advanced guard," as the Abbe Ferland calls it in his History of Canada, of the vast French empire, which, according to the project of Louis XIV., was to extend from the Straits of Belle Isle to the Gulf of Mexico. The colony was not, however, to be established on a firm basis, until it had passed through much tribulation.
On the morning of the 28th word came from the trenches that Private Ferland of my regiment had been struck in the head and killed. Ferland transferred to the 48th at Valcartier. He had seen service in the American Army and Navy and wore a medal for bravery which I understood he had won in the Philippines. He was of French Canadian descent and was a very good soldier.
And not only did the colonists dress without the slightest affectation, but they even made their clothes themselves. "The growing of hemp," says the Abbé Ferland, "was encouraged, and succeeded wonderfully. They used the nettle to make strong cloths; looms set up in each house in the village furnished drugget, bolting cloth, serge and ordinary cloth.
"With the French admitted to the small seminary," says the Abbé Ferland, "six young Indians were received; on the advice of the king they were all to be brought up together. This union, which was thought likely to prove useful to all, was not helpful to the savages, and became harmful to the young Frenchmen.
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